The Chicago Bears are expected to sign a former Las Vegas Raiders running back to their roster amid injury uncertainty with prospective back Roschon Johnson.
According to CBS Sports’ Matt Zenitz, the Bears are signing 2022 seventh-round pick Brittain Brown to their running back room after hosting him and several other backs — including veteran Jamaal Williams — for workouts last Saturday at training camp.
While the Bears have not yet announced Brown’s signing, he is joining the roster at an opportune time. The Bears have a clear starter in veteran D’Andre Swift, but they also have Johnson recovering from a foot injury, which has opened up competition behind him between seventh-round rookie Kyle Monangai and the other roster-hopeful backs.
The Bears also worked out running backs Aaron Shampklin and Tyrion Davis-Price, a 2022 third-round pick for the San Francisco 49ers, at Halas Hall last Saturday.
Brittain Brown Has Struggled to Win Proper NFL Role
Brown has spent three years in the NFL, splitting his time between the Raiders and the Seattle Seahawks, but he hasn’t seen much regular-season playing time in that span.
As a rookie, Brown produced 189 all-purpose yards for the Raiders in the preseason and earned a depth role on their 53-man roster for the 2022 season. Despite appearing in six games, though, he didn’t record any carries and played all 61 snaps on special teams.
Since then, Brown has not played a regular-season snap. While the Raiders had planned on him competing for a depth role in their rotation once again in 2023, he sustained an undisclosed injury in camp and spent the entire season on injured reserve. He tried to reclaim his spot the following year, but the team waived him before the 2024 season and left him to sign with the Seahawks’ practice squad, where he spent most of the year.
In Chicago, Brown will get a fresh opportunity to win a role on an NFL roster, but he has the odds stacked against him with only two preseason games left to play and two rushers — Monangai and second-year Ian Wheeler — already impressing for the Bears.
Are RB Workouts a Bad Sign for Roschon Johnson?
Brown could wind up acting as nothing more than a camp body for the Bears over the next several weeks, but the Bears’ decision to work out four running backs and then sign one to their roster does raise questions about the extent of Johnson’s foot injury.
Johnson popped up on the Bears’ injury report last Thursday with a foot issue and has since missed two practices and their opening preseason game. Two days later, they brought in four free-agent running backs for workouts, including a veteran in Williams who has considerable experience and has a history working with coach Ben Johnson.
To some, a move like that suggests Johnson could miss extended time, but it would be more concerning if the Bears had signed a proven asset like Williams instead of Brown. Instead, it feels more like a signing designed to ramp up the bottom-roster competition and handle snaps until Johnson is back than a move to replace him for the long term.
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