A significantly disappointing season for the Chicago Bears that’s already seen their head coach and offensive coordinator jettisoned is now saddled with a different kind of adversity — key injuries.
Primary running back D’Andre Swift is officially listed as questionable for Sunday’s Week 14 road matchup against the San Francisco 49ers due to a quadriceps injury. Meanwhile, second-year complementary back Roschon Johnson has been ruled out for the game due to a concussion.
With Swift potentially joining Johnson on Sunday’s inactives list, who’s the next man up in Chicago’s backfield?
Chicago’s Running Back Depth Chart
Swift remains atop the RB depth chart and was only able to turn in a limited Friday practice during Week 14 prep. Meanwhile, Johnson has been slotting in as the clear No. 2 option behind him since the trade of Khalil Herbert to the Cincinnati Bengals at the deadline.
Veteran pass-catching back Travis Homer is normally the No. 3 running back but will bump up to No. 2, at minimum, on Sunday, while Darrynton Evans, who was elevated from the practice squad Saturday and also made 11 regular-season appearances with the Bears across the 2022 and 2023 campaigns, is No. 3 on the depth chart in Week 14.
Here’s everything you need to know about Homer and Evans.
Who Is Travis Homer?
Homer has been a constant complementary offensive and special-teams presence since entering the league as a sixth-round pick of the Seattle Seahawks in the 2019 NFL Draft.
He spent the first four seasons of his career in the Emerald City, compiling 83 rushing attempts for 453 yards and a touchdown while also securing 52 of 61 targets for 464 receiving yards and two additional scores across 552 snaps from scrimmage. Homer additionally amassed 444 kickoff-return yards and one touchdown over the first three seasons of that stint.
Homer arrived in Chicago via free agency prior to the 2023 season. Yet, despite appearing in 16 regular-season games in his team debut campaign, he logged all of six snaps from scrimmage while participating in another 252 on special-teams kick and coverage units.
The sixth-year veteran has been only slightly more involved this season, recording three carries for 16 yards across 46 snaps over his first eight games. All three of those touches came during Weeks 1 and 2. Homer’s single-game career high in rush attempts is a modest 11, which came way back in Week 18 of his 2021 rookie season.
While he should be amply familiar with the offensive scheme at this point, the fact that Homer has never filled a true lead role at the NFL level likely makes him a candidate to share a fair amount of touches with Evans should a Swift absence render them the top backfield duo against San Francisco.
Who Is Darrynton Evans?
For a third-round pick — which he was back in 2020 — Evans has been very sparsely used while already spending regular-season time with three teams over the course of his career.
The Tennessee Titans selected Evans out of Appalachian State with hopes of having him potentially serve as the lightning to Derrick Henry’s thunder after he gained 2,667 rushing yards (6.1 yards per carry) and scored 25 rush TDs over his final two college seasons.
Yet, the injury bug would persistently plague Evans during his time in Tennessee. A hamstring injury helped limit him to five games as a rookie, while a preseason knee injury the following summer led to Evans starting the 2021 campaign on injured reserve.
Once activated, he played all of one game before being shut down for the season due to the same issue.
The Bears initially claimed Evans off waivers following the Titans’ decision to cut ties in the 2022 offseason. He ultimately spent a bulk of that season on Chicago’s practice squad before a late-November elevation. Evans subsequently logged 14 carries for 64 yards and one catch for 33 yards over the final six games of the 2022 campaign.
After spending offseason time with the Indianapolis Colts and Buffalo Bills, Evans was re-signed by the Bears off the Miami Dolphins’ practice squad in October 2023 and posted 105 rushing yards on 30 carries alongside a 7-49 receiving line over five regular-season games.
Evans had been on injured reserve with the Bills due to a preseason hamstring injury until being released on Oct. 29. The Bears re-signed him to their practice squad on Nov. 6.