The Chicago Bears ended the Justin Fields experiment by trading him to the Pittsburgh Steelers this offseason. With the No. 1 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, Chicago selected quarterback Caleb Williams, launching a new era for the Bears. Williams changed Chicago’s offensive outlook, and that continued as the team added a new running back and two new wide receivers alongside him.
Let’s preview how the new-look Bears will fare for 2024 fantasy football leagues.
Caleb Williams
Williams played three seasons in college. He started his career at Oklahoma and then transferred to USC as a sophomore when his head coach, Lincoln Riley, took the head coaching job there. Williams played in 11 games for the Sooners and had 1,912 passing yards with 21 touchdowns and four interceptions. He ran for 442 yards and added six touchdowns on the ground.
Williams balled out in his first season with the Trojans. His 4,537 yards with 42 touchdowns, only five interceptions, 382 rushing yards and 10 rushing touchdowns helped him win the Heisman Trophy in 2022. He showed he was human in 2023, taking a step back, but it didn’t hinder him from being selected with the first overall pick.
Williams is among the few rookie quarterbacks expected to start under center come Week 1. Still, rookie QBs are notoriously bad for fantasy football. Williams is being drafted as the overall QB17 this season, likely due to how good C.J. Stroud was last year as a rookie. Williams could be worth rostering if you have a deep bench, but he should start the season on the waiver wire. A few highlight reel plays in training camp could see his ADP rise, but expect him to take some time to adjust to the NFL for now.
D’Andre Swift
Swift was traded to the Philadelphia Eagles during the 2023 NFL Draft. He ended up replacing Miles Sanders and forced his way into a similar workload. Swift played in 16 games and had his first career 1,000+ yard season. He finished with 1,049 yards and five touchdowns on the ground and added 214 yards and another touchdown on 39 receptions.
Swift loses the top-tier Eagles offensive line but should still be able to run by the Chicago unit. What he loses in terms of offensive line talent, he gains in the fact that his quarterback isn’t expected to take away goal-line touches or have 157 carries out of the backfield. He is being drafted as the overall RB22 in half-PPR scoring. Swift projects as an RB2 for fantasy football
Backup RB?
Handcuffs are a hot topic in fantasy football. If the starting running back gets hurt, you want to know which backup to target in case they see a lot of work. Khalil Herbert and Roschon Johnson are the most likely to back up Swift on offense. Herbert is the veteran, while Johnson is coming off a rookie year, during which he showed flashes of his talent.
Last season, Herbert played in 12 games and picked up 611 yards and two touchdowns on 132 carries. Johnson played in 15 games and finished with 352 yards and two scores on only 81 carries. The rookie was more involved in the passing game, but I think from a backup perspective, Chicago will likely start out with Herbert. Johnson may get some work, but for now, Herbert should be the backup to the roster.
DJ Moore
Despite Fields not having a great season under center in his final year in Chicago, Moore still had a great 2023. He finished with 1,364 yards and eight touchdowns in his first season with the Bears after being traded from the Carolina Panthers. Moore finished as the overall WR6 in half-PPR scoring last season.
The veteran wideout should still be in for a big season, even with a rookie QB under center. He should regress slightly because he has way more competition for targets in the offense in 2024. Chicago not only brought in Keenan Allen via trade but also used the ninth overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft to select a wide receiver. Moore will likely regress, and his ADP of WR19 reflects that. With more pass-catching threats and a rookie QB, this is a good range for Moore.
Keenan Allen
We don’t know how many seasons Allen has left, but for the first time in his 12-year career, he will wear a non-Chargers uniform. The veteran wide receiver was traded to Chicago this offseason as Los Angeles decided to go full rebuild with its offense. Allen isn’t the player he was in his prime and, for the first time in a long time, will look to play a complementary role to the WR1 in the offense rather than being the WR1 himself.
Allen brought in 108 of his 150 targets last season for 1,243 yards and seven touchdowns. He is being drafted after Moore as the WR27, but if anything happens to the WR1, Allen should have enough left in the tank to be a great fantasy football asset. If you don’t consider him a WR1 like he has been and can avoid overdrafting him, Allen could be a steal.
Rome Odunze?
Odunze’s future in Chicago is bright. If Allen signs elsewhere or retires next season, Odunze would be thrust into the WR2 role alongside Moore. He projects as the fourth receiving option behind Moore, Allen and tight end Cole Kmet in 2024 and could end up being the fifth option behind Swift. Given all the players in front of him, he’s being taken as the WR44, which is likely too high. Still, Odunze is two injuries away from being the WR1 in this offense.
Cole Kmet
Kmet had a career year in 2023, coming down with 73 of his 90 targets. He had a career-high 719 receiving yards and the second-most receiving touchdowns for Chicago last year (six). Rookie quarterbacks tend to lean on checkdowns as they get used to their progressions in the offense. Despite finishing as the TE7 last season, his ADP did take a hit for 2024, and he is being drafted as the TE16. Kmet, all of a sudden, is in an offense with several mouths to feed. I think he finishes as a TE1 for fantasy football and can maintain a decent weekly target share.
Cairo Santos
Santos got a lot of work in 2023 and benefitted from the Bears’ offense being able to get into field goal range but not into the endzone as much as they’d like. He converted 35 of his 38 field goal attempts and 31 of his 33 extra points. Santos had a long of 55 and hit seven of his eight field goals that were longer than 50 yards. He is being drafted as the K13 but could be an early waiver wire add if the Chicago offense starts the season strong.
D/ST
Chicago’s defense looks impressive on paper. Montez Sweat, T.J. Edwards, Tremaine Edmunds, Jack Sanborn, Jaylon Johnson, Kevin Byard III and Tyrique Stevenson could help get the Bears’ defense back to one of the better units in the league. Still, fantasy managers are wary of it translating to fantasy football success, and the Chicago D/ST unit is being selected as the D/ST13 this season. You could take them with your final pick, or you could leave them on the waiver wire and monitor how they do in the early part of the season to make the switch if they play well.