Roschon Johnson

After three years in Chicago across multiple coaching staffs, Johnson has never established himself on the field. He is widely viewed as fighting for a roster spot in 2026, not competing for a meaningful role, and is borderline cuttable even as a depth piece with a potential late-round draft pick addition looming at RB.

Johnson missed significant time in 2025 due to multiple injuries including foot (Week 1), back (Weeks 8-9), and thumb (placed on IR in November), plus concussion history from 2024. This pattern of recurring health issues severely limits his availability and roster security.

Johnson is firmly third on the Bears depth chart behind D'Andre Swift (career year in 2025, locked in as RB1 on final contract year) and Kyle Monangai (cost-effective RB2 at $1.03M cap hit with 3 years remaining who demonstrated starter capability). He has zero path to a meaningful role unless both players miss significant time.

Johnson is in the final year of his rookie deal (2026) and has given the Bears no reason to re-sign him. Multiple reports suggest he may not even make the roster out of training camp given his special teams-only role and the emergence of Monangai.

Swift (3559) and Monangai (3297) led the NFL's #3 rushing attack in 2025 and own the entire backfield. Johnson logged effectively zero meaningful snaps (0% snap/carry/target share across his 2025 game logs) and has no path to standalone volume.

Multiple analysts (Bleacher Report's Moe Moton, SI Bears) label Johnson a cut candidate entering the final year of his rookie deal. At best he is RB3/special-teamer and must beat out Brittain Brown and UDFA Coleman Bennett to make the roster.

If the Bears utilize Johnson more in the red zone or goal-line situations, he could generate TD upside that exceeds his baseline touch projections, similar to a backup RB role model like AJ Dillon.

Swift is entering the final year of his contract in 2026, and the Bears could save $7.4M by releasing him. If Chicago moves on from Swift, Johnson could compete for the RB2 role behind Monangai, though his health and performance make this unlikely.

If both Swift and Monangai suffer injuries, Johnson could briefly see elevated touches as the emergency option. However, his own injury history and lack of 2025 production make him an unreliable handcuff with minimal dynasty value.

If Monangai struggles or sustains injury in 2026, Johnson could reclaim a complementary role. However, given his age (25) and recent health issues, this is a low-probability scenario for dynasty relevance.

The only meaningful 2026 path to value requires both Swift and Monangai to miss significant time simultaneously — a low-probability scenario, but the sole realistic catalyst for Johnson getting starter-level touches in the near term.

New RB coach Eric Studesville (replacing Eric Bieniemy) brings fresh eyes to the position group. A coaching reset occasionally provides depth backs an opportunity to re-establish themselves, though there is currently no signal this benefits Johnson specifically.