The Chicago Bears' annual training camp is in full swing as first-year head coach Ben Johnson prepares for Saturday's preseason opener against the Miami Dolphins. Even though Johnson's first camp started on the wrong foot, the Bears are finally showing some fight, leaving the fan base optimistic about Chicago's outlook in 2025 and beyond.
Johnson isn't the only new name at Bears training camp, as the front office added plenty of fresh faces through free agency and the 2025 NFL draft. Some of Chicago's rookies haven't wasted any time proving their value to the coaching staff, including a late-round pick who might just end up with a key offensive role when all is said and done.
Bears Rookie Kyle Monangai is Running Away with RB2 Job
Back in April, the Bears used a seventh-round pick to draft running back Kyle Monangai out of Rutgers. The Roseland, NJ native was coming off a first-team All-Big Ten performance, and the hope was that he could compete with Roschon Johnson and Travis Homer for the honor of being D'Andre Swift's primary backup.
Well, it looks like it hasn't taken the ex-Scarlet Knight long to prove his worth.
According to Bears reporter Ben Devine, Monangai has been "running exclusively as the RB2" throughout training camp, giving a good indication of what Johnson's staff has planned for the rookie runner this fall.
RB Kyle Monongai is running exclusively as RB2 behind D'Andre Swift. #DaBears
— Ben Devine (@Chicago_NFL) August 5, 2025
Day 3 selections don't often find themselves in big roles in their rookie season, so it's exciting to learn that Monangai is capitalizing on his early training camp opportunities. The Bears need more than just Swift to produce out of the backfield, especially since every other RB on the team besides him finished with 150 or fewer rushing yards last season.
Hopefully, Monangai can provide the RB room with some necessary juice. The 23-year-old stud's potential was on full display in his last two seasons at Rutgers, as he converted 498 carries into 2,541 rushing yards and 21 touchdowns in 24 games. He even paced the Big 10 with 1,262 rushing yards in 2023 and followed that up with a conference-leading 256 carries in 2024, proving that he can handle a big workload if the Bears need him to.
Although a strong training camp performance is always a great thing, it'll be up to Monangai to prove his worth when it matters the most: during actual games. The former Rutgers product will have his first chance to do so this weekend when the Bears face the Dolphins, who finished with the sixth-best Pro Football Focus run defense grade (73.7) last season.
Having said that, if he keeps his foot on the gas and finds a way to do some damage against Miami's frontline, it might not be long before Monangai becomes a household name among Bears fans.