Chicago Bears: 3 under the radar free agent running backs

If the Chicago Bears don’t want to pursue a big name running back in free agency, they should look at these three options.

For the Chicago Bears, this offseason will be filled with a number of difficult decisions when it comes to their roster. Are they able to re-sign Bryce Callahan, Adrian Amos, or both? Do they ask Kyle Long to take a pay-cut? Will they restructure Khalil Mack‘s contract to free up some additional cap space?

These are all good questions and will be ones to watch this offseason. However, the most compelling and intriguing question is what will the Bears do with running back, Jordan Howard?

Just about every Bears fan has a strong opinion on the subject. Recently, we have even suggested that it makes the most sense for Ryan Pace to bring him back.

But as we have mentioned countless times, the Bears need cap space. And with Howard’s performance, he triggered a proven performance escalator, raising his contract by about $1.3 million.

Therefore, if the Bears decide to move him because they don’t think he fits Matt Nagy’s offense, they would only gain about $2 million total. So it would make sense that they would want to pay his replacement somewhere in that neighborhood.

The Bears could decide to go with an extremely cost-effective option and draft a replacement in the mid-to-late rounds. However, they may also look to the free agent market. If they do, there are a few under the radar options that would be extremely serviceable and relatively inexpensive.

In fact, there are three names that have not gotten much attention when the topic of free agent running backs is raised. Therefore, here are three names worth monitoring.