Darrynton Evans has officially departed the NFC North and found a new home with another rebuilding squad in his original division in the AFC.
Evans signed a new contract with the Indianapolis Colts on Friday, March 31, ending his one-year run with Chicago and taking another one of the Bears’ free agents off the board for next season. Evans — a 2020 third-round pick for Tennessee — will now move back to the AFC South and play for his third team in four seasons in the league.
Evans was primarily a rotational player for the Bears in 2022, splitting backup reps with Trestan Ebner behind the primary tandem of David Montgomery and Khalil Herbert. He did average a career-best 4.6 yards per carry on his 14 rushes, though, and added a 33-yard reception to his resume despite having a minimal role for Chicago.
Evans is now the second Bears running back to bolt for another team in free agency; although, his departure felt inevitable after the Bears declined to tender a qualifying offer to him as a restricted free agent at the start of the new league year on March 15. Montgomery also defected to one of the Bears’ divisional rivals, the Detroit Lions, for a three-year, $18 million contract in the first wave of free agency.
Bears Reinforced Backfield With Pair of RB Signings
The Bears won’t be losing any sleep over Evans’ departure. While they have now lost two of their four running backs from last season, they have already acted to fortify the position group for 2023 with the signings of D’Onta Foreman (one year, $2 million) and Travis Homer (two years, $4.5 million) in the first week of free agency — both of whom did more in 2022 than Evans did for the Bears.
Foreman is the featured addition to the position. The 6-foot-1, 235-pound power rusher is coming off a career-best season in which he racked up 914 yards and five touchdowns on 203 carries and is expected to be a complementary piece alongside Khalil Herbert, who himself touched career-high numbers in carries (129), rushing yards (731) and touchdowns (four) during his second season with the Bears in 2022. The two of them together — so long as both keep marching forward — should keep Chicago’s ground attack potent, especially with a mobile 1,000-yard rusher in quarterback Justin Fields.
As for Homer, he can essentially fill the role that Evans had been filling with a little extra spice in the special teams department. He rushed 19 times for 74 yards and caught another 16 passes for 157 yards and a touchdown (on 18 targets) for the Seattle Seahawks last season. Homer also played more special teams snaps last year (130) than Evans has played in his entire career (99) and was an ace for Seattle’s third phase, giving him far more of a reason to justify a roster spot than Evans did.
Long-Term Questions Remain for Bears’ Backfield
The Bears have reloaded their running back room for the 2023 season specifically, but there are still some long-term questions about the position group:
1.) Herbert has proven he is capable of running like a true NFL lead back in his first two seasons, but can he make the necessary improvements as a pass-catcher and blocker to become a mainstay for the Bears beyond the two remaining years of his rookie deal?
2.) Foreman’s strong season for Carolina suggests he, too, could contend for the long-term lead back position with the Bears if he can up the ante from his near-1,000-yard season in 2022, but he has far more average-to-below-average seasons on his resume than good ones. Even if he does continue his climb, will he be someone the Bears are interested in reinvesting in come next offseason when he needs a new contract?
3.) Ebner is the only running back that general manager Ryan Poles has personally drafted, but he struggled to leave much of an impression during his four games of increased reps while Herbert was out with an injury in 2022. Is the organization comfortable trusting him to take the next step in his second season as a rotational piece or would they rather use one of their 10 draft selections on selecting a new running back from the 2023 class who could potentially pass him up on the depth chart?
Fortunately, Poles won’t need to answer these questions just yet. Most of the answers will take a season to emerge. But for a general manager whose job is to constantly think about and plan for the future, don’t be surprised if Poles guards against the negative outcomes and uses one of his mid-round 2023 draft picks on a new back for the group.
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Bears Running Back Bolts for AFC South in Free Agency