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The Chicago Bears had the most potent rushing offense in the NFL during the 2022 season, and if they decide not to bring back David Montgomery for their follow-up campaign in 2023, they could become a top landing spot for one of the most gifted running backs on the market this offseason.
Bleacher Report’s Kristopher Knox recently laid out a list of the top 2023 pending free agents for teams to keep an eye on in the upcoming Super Wild Card Weekend of the NFL playoffs and identified New York Giants running back Saquon Barkley as one of the biggest names to watch in the game ahead. He also noted that the Bears — should the Giants allow Barkley to hit free agency — could be one of his top two destinations.
“Chicago has a promising signal-caller in Justin Fields, but it hasn’t done a great job of surrounding him with talent,” Knox wrote on January 13. “Barkley could aid Fields on the ground and provide an elite outlet in the passing game. Chicago also happens to lead the league in projected cap space and could lose starting back David Montgomery in free agency.”
Barkley Would Give Bears an Elite Option in Backfield
Barkley is in the midst of a career resurgence with the Giants, having finished up the 2022 regular season with the fourth-most rushing yards (1,312) and the ninth-most rushing touchdowns (10) in the league. He has also been an absolute workhorse with a career-high 295 rushing attempts that have given the Giants the second-best rushing offense among this year’s playoff field, averaging 148.2 yards per game as a team.
Despite his high workload, Barkley has also continued to make securing the football a top priority for himself. While more-productive backs such as Derrick Henry (six) and Josh Jacobs (three) each coughed the ball up numerous times during the regular season, Barkley only fumbled once and has just six fumbles over 60 career games.
Now, the Bears might not want to invest a ton of money into the running back position, but it doesn’t get much better than Barkley in a crowded free agency class that is also set to include Jacobs, Kareem Hunt, Rashaad Penny and Jamaal Williams. When healthy, Barkley has been noticeably more explosive and productive than Montgomery, and his potential pairing with Khalil Herbert in the Bears’ backfield could give them an elite one-two punch behind quarterback Justin Fields.
According to Spotrac’s calculated market value, Barkley could command a salary near $12 million per year on his next NFL contract that would put him in line with Cincinnati’s Joe Mixon in terms of average annual value. By comparison, Montgomery is projected to earn close to $8 million in salary on his next deal. Both are price tags the Bears could afford with more than $110 million in projected cap space for the 2023 season, but would a running back investment be wise with so many other needs?
David Montgomery’s Future Will Determine Bears’ Interest
Of course, none of the speculations about the Bears potentially being a fit for Barkley will matter if Chicago renews its investment in Montgomery for the 2023 season. The 25-year-old Montgomery is due to become an unrestricted free agent for the first time in his career and has suggested he would like to remain with the Bears moving forward, but it is unclear if he and the Bears see eye-to-eye on his next contract’s value.
Montgomery, a 2019 third-round pick, has been relatively consistent for Chicago’s backfield over his first four seasons, rushing for at least 800 yards and no fewer than five touchdowns in each one. He has also shown steady growth as both a pass-catcher and a blocker for the Bears offense in that time; although, it has been his mentality and competitiveness that have impressed Chicago’s new regime the most.
“I’ve always wanted to keep David,” Poles told reporters on January 10 during his end-of-season press conference. “I love his mentality, how he plays the game. I told him that to his face. He’s part of the identity that we had this year that kept us competitive. Now, the second part of that is just the contract situation. That’s something that we’ll see how that goes and if we can find common ground. Obviously, I’ve learned that you can want a player, and the value’s got to come together for it to happen, but I love the way that he attacked this season. That’s a guy that does everything right.
“I’m a big David Montgomery fan.”
The problem with retaining Montgomery — or signing Barkley — is the Bears seem to have a competent No. 1 option for their backfield in Herbert. Despite missing four games and having 72 fewer carries, the 2021 sixth-rounder nearly held pace with Montgomery over the course of the 2022 season with 731 rushing yards and four touchdowns on his 129 total carries. There are questions about Herbert’s abilities as both a pass-catcher (just 23 career receptions) and blocker, but there might be enough potential there to ward off the Bears from spending significant resources on another running back.
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