One of the most unsettled positions on the Chicago Bears’ offense heading into the 2023 season is the running back position, but the team appears to be bracing for a potentially big season out of newcomer D’Onta Foreman based on the incentives they included in the one-year contract he signed earlier this year.
Foreman signed a one-year deal with the Bears in March that ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported at the time to be worth a total of $3 million. In actuality, though, Foreman is only set to make $2 million in 2023 from his base deal, while he can earn an additional $1 million in incentives if he can hit some rather lofty benchmarks this season
According to an incentives breakdown that NFL insider Ari Meirov put together for the 33rd Team, Foreman has six total incentives to chase during the 2023 season with five of them requiring him to rush for at least 1,000 yards. He stands to make an additional $250,000 for crossing the 1,000-yard threshold and can add two more payments of $250,000 if he can eclipse both the 1,200- and 1,500-yard markers as a rusher.
If Foreman rushes for 1,000 or more yards in 2023 and the Bears make the playoffs, he earns another $75,000. That number doubles to $150,000 total if he can rush for 1,200 or more yards while helping the Bears to a playoff berth. The final incentive offers him $100,000 if he rushes for six or more touchdowns, which feels more attainable than the other incentives but still hoists some serious expectations on his shoulders for 2023.
Perhaps Foreman is simply taking a chance on himself to capitalize if the opportunities present themselves in 2023, but both he and the Bears have to know that those specific benchmarks — as difficult to attain as they already are — would be near-impossible for him to meet if he was not given a legitimate chance to win the starting job. So, don’t be surprised if Foreman makes a strong case to be Chicago’s lead back for Week 1’s opener.
D’Onta Foreman on Cusp of Breakout After 2022?
Foreman turning into a dynamic leading rusher for the Bears in 2023 certainly isn’t out of the question given how he has improved over the past few seasons.
After three years of early-career obscurity, Foreman emerged as a productive backup for Tennessee in 2021, stepping up while Derrick Henry was injured and rushing 133 times for 566 yards and three touchdowns on the season. He then signed with Carolina for 2022 to serve as injury insurance for star Christian McCaffrey and ended up getting a prime opportunity to show off his featured-back abilities when McCaffrey was traded, putting up five 100-yard games and rushing for 914 yards and five scores on the year.
While Foreman has mostly been billed as a power back (6-foot-1, 236 pounds) since arriving in Chicago, a deeper dive into his one-year stint with the Panthers suggests he has far more in him than short-yardage and goal-line touches.
According to Pro Football Focus, Foreman was one of the top 10 backs in the league in 2022 among those with at least 125 carries in terms of breakaway percentage (33.2%) on his runs. He also displayed good field vision and high-speed physicality when moving with the football, having 21 runs of 10 or more yards (four more than David Montogomery) and averaging a ninth-best 3.26 yards after contact per attempt.
The Bears may still prefer to take a by-committee approach to their backfield for the 2023 season, but no back on their roster has more evidence to support a breakout case than Foreman, including Herbert — their top returning back who shined in a rotational role with Montgomery during his second year in the league in 2022.
Foreman Wants to ‘Be the Guy’ for Bears Backfield
Foreman won’t have a cakewalk to the Bears’ top running back job. Herbert might be a different build, but he put in quality work with the Bears behind Montgomery in 2022, finishing with 731 yards and four touchdowns on just 129 total carries. Chicago also invested a fourth-round pick into Texas standout Roschon Johnson, who may need more time than the others learning the offense but could be a force when ready.
In truth, it could be beneficial for the Bears to figure out how to use all three backs in a rotation that could change week to week based on the opposing defense’s weaknesses. Foreman, however, is setting out to prove he can be “the guy” for the Bears backfield.
“I can’t really speak for the coaches and the plan that they have,” Foreman said on March 17 during his introductory media availability. “I came here to try to be the guy. I think if I didn’t come here with that mentality that I would be doing myself a disservice [and] I think I would be doing the team a disservice.
“I can help us win. I didn’t come here to take a back seat to anybody. I’m a team guy, I’m first a team guy, be able to do anything I can to help — and that’s any role that they put me in — but I think coming here with the mindset of me wanting to be the guy, wanting to be a person who can help this team and make a lot of players for this team, I know that’s my mentality.”
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Bears Contract Incentives for Free Agent Hint at Prominent Role in 2023