Bears running back D’Andre Swift ($5,900) is nursing a groin injury and was limited in practice sessions for both Wednesday and Thursday. He’s officially listed as questionable for Saturday’s pivotal matchup against the Packers in Chicago.
Under new HC Ben Johnson, Swift and Kyle Monangai ($4,900) have been one of the best running back duos in the NFL. If Swift gets ruled out, Monangai would step into a starring role.
Monangai dazzled with Swift sidelined in Week 9, rushing 26 times for 176 yards against the Bengals in one of the league’s top rushing performances of the season. The back also hauled three of his five targets for 22 yards. Monangai finished with 25.8 FPTS, which is a tremendous output for a player who didn’t find the end zone.
With Swift inactive for this tilt, Monangai saw 83.9% of the running back carries for Chicago and logged a season-high 73.8% of the snaps. While Monangai didn’t score a touchdown, he saw eight red zone carries in the game. As a receiver, Monangai ran a route on 57% of his team’s dropbacks and saw a target on 17% of those routes.
Twenty-nine touches is truly a mammoth role, and Monangai could see this type of volume again if Swift is ruled out for Saturday’s pivotal NFC North matchup. As it stands, Chicago is just one game ahead of Green Bay for the division lead.
The Packers are allowing the NFL’s second-fewest yards per carry (3.8), but should be far less imposing on Saturday after Micah Parsons suffered a season-ending knee injury in Week 15.
Monangai is in line for a huge workload if Swift is inactive, becoming a must-play for Saturday’s two-game slate on DraftKings at a very reasonable $4,900.
