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The Ryan Nall Era has officially concluded for the Chicago Bears.
The running back and special teams standout had been with the Bears since May of 2018, but Nall has just signed a new deal with the Dallas Cowboys, the team announced on April 8. Nall’s agent, Sam Leaf, first confirmed the news to NFL insider Ian Rapoport earlier in the day.
A favorite of former Bears head coach Matt Nagy, Nall has been in Chicago since 2018, when he signed on as an undrafted free agent. Now, he’ll get a new opportunity with head coach Mike McCarthy and quarterback Dak Prescott in Dallas.
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Ryan Nall: Background & Stats
Nall played his college ball at Oregon State, where he chose to redshirt his freshman year before playing nine games as a tight end-running back hybrid the following season as a true freshman. He caught seven passes for 107 yards while also rushing for 455 yards and three touchdowns on 73 carries that year before he converted to running back the following season as a sophomore.
Nall finished his collegiate career with 2,216 yards rushing on 385 carries (5.8 yards per carry) and 24 scores, while also adding 56 catches for 563 yards and four TDs.
Nall made the Bears’ practice squad in 2018, and he made the active roster the next three seasons, playing in 33 games for Chicago in that span.
His role was largely on special teams, as he played at least 65% of the Bears’ special teams snaps in each of the three seasons he was active. He finished his career in Chicago with six rushes for 12 yards and nine receptions for 71 yards and a score, per Pro Football Reference.
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Nall’s Ties to Previous Regime Were too Strong
After Nagy was fired in January, Nall’s return seemed highly unlikely. He had several standout moments during the preseason, but he never saw the field enough on offense during the regular season to make much of an impact.
Still, he was highly favored by Nagy, who kept bringing him back. “He just did everything he could to become a better running back and a better special-teams player. When you have that, it really helps you out,” Nagy said about Nall in September 2020, via the Chicago Sun-Times.
“We have a lot of trust in Ryan,” Nagy added. “[It’s] a credit to our personnel staff in finding him. He’s earned his way on to this team via special teams and as a role player. Now he’s starting to grow more and more. So that trust factor we have with him, we can do some different things.”
Despite that trust, Nall regularly assumed the RB3 or RB4 role while spending the majority of his snaps contributing on special teams.
He will join a running backs room that includes Ezekiel Elliott and Tony Pollard, so it’s likely his role will primarily be on special teams in Dallas, as well.
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