Chicago Bears: 5 post-NFL Draft roster questions

How many touches will the “feature back” receive in Matt Nagy’s offense?

Everybody was delighted to hear Nagy address the elephant in the room during one of his first chances he had with the media as offseason activities began. Nagy told the media that Jordan Howard is undoubtedly the team’s feature back — as if it should be any different.

My question, though, is this: How many touches will Howard get per game?

With the creativity of Nagy’s playbook, there will be quite a bit of balance and touches will be spread out quite a bit. But, you have to remember, Howard is a guy who gets better as the game goes on. He needs consistent touches in order to continue wearing down the defense.

Kareem Hunt averaged 17 carries per game last year under Nagy, but that was without a real threat backing him up. Hunt could also manage to make most of the catches out of the back field because of that.

The Bears have the luxury of Tarik Cohen backing up Howard, who will handle passing downs, taking away most of the receiving opportunities in the back field. If Howard gets 17 carries per game, I think he will be just fine. But, will Cohen’s role expand in 2018?

That, my friends, is a resounding “yes.” So, this question is really up in the air right now. Obviously, Cohen is a bigger threat when he’s in space, thus making him more of a receiving back. However, he’s run the ball well on simple draw or dive plays as well.

If I had to guess, I’d see Howard getting anywhere from 15-to-18 carries per game this season. Will that be enough for him to launch into a rhythm and wear down his opposing fronts? We’ll see.