Fantasy Football Player Notes

After producing a career-high 1,364 receiving yards and eight touchdowns in his first season in Chicago in 2023, D.J. Moore slipped to 966 yards and six touchdowns in 2024. Strangely, Moore established a new single-season high with 98 catches last year, but he averaged a career-low 9.9 yards per catch. Moore didn't exactly click with rookie QB Caleb Williams. Perhaps new Bears head coach Ben Johnson can help promote better chemistry between Williams and Moore, but another concern is that the Bears now have an abundance of pass catchers, with rookies Luther Burden and Colston Loveland joining Moore, Rome Odunze and Cole Kmet.

D'Andre Swift had 1,345 yards from scrimmage and six touchdowns in his first season with the Bears, and things are now looking up for the Chicago offense. New head coach Ben Johnson is taking over as the playcaller, and Johnson worked with Swift in Detroit. The Bears dramatically improved the interior of their offensive line in free agency. And Chicago didn't make any major additions at running back in the offseason. But Swift ranked dead last in rushing yards over expected per attempt (-0.69) among all RBs with at least 90 carries in 2024, so he's not exactly foolproof. Still, he seems like a reasonably good value at a high-end RB3 price

A chalky breakout pick for 2025, Rome Odunze is coming off a rookie year that wasn't awful but didn't exactly give us visions of impending superstardom either. The ninth overall pick in last year's NFL Draft, Odunze had 54 catches for 734 yards and three touchdowns as a rookie. It's understandable that Odunze wasn't a high-volume receiver when he had to share targets with D.J. Moore and Keenan Allen. Plus, rookie QB Caleb Williams didn't exactly the world on fire. Allen is now out of the picture, Caleb Williams has a year of experience under his belt, and the Chicago offense is now going to be choreographed by Ben Johnson, widely regarded as one of the better playcallers in the league. But there's still ample target competition for Odunze. Moore is still around, and the Bears selected TE Colston Loveland and WR Luther Burden with their first two picks in this year's draft. If you're inclined to bet on talent and fade "too many mouths to feed" narratives, Odunze should appeal to you.

Caleb Williams is a polarizing figure in the fantasy community. Depending on whom you ask, his rookie season was somewhere between alarmingly poor and reasonably decent considering the headwinds into which he was sailing. The Bears' play-calling was questionable under offensive coordinator Shane Waldron, and it was hard to see improvement in that department after Waldron was fired in-season. The Bears' offensive line was a sieve, as Williams took a league-high 68 sacks. He finished with 3,541 passing yards, 20 TD passes and six INTs in 17 starts, adding 489 rushing yards but no rushing touchdowns. The Bears have diligently spruced up Williams' ecosystem, hiring highly regarded playcaller Ben Johnson as their head coach, dramatically upgrading the middle of the offensive line in free agency, and adding TE Colston Loveland and WR Luther Burden in the draft. Williams is known for his ability to make plays out of structure, but if he can start making plays *in* structure, he has a chance to take a huge leap forward in his second NFL season.

Most people expected Penn State's Tyler Warren to be the first tight end selected in this year's draft, but the Bears took Loveland 10th overall, while Warren went 14th to the Colts The 21-year-old Loveland is a talented young prospect who joins a Chicago offense that appears to be on the rise. Loveland will be playing for new Bears head coach Ben Johnson, who helped coax a TE1 overall finish out of rookie TE Sam LaPorta in Detroit in 2023. But Loveland faces stiff target competition in his rookie year, since the Bears have D.J. Moore, Rome Odunze and Luther Burden at wide receiver, plus veteran TE Cole Kmet. For now, Loveland is a more appealing asset in dynasty leagues than in redraft leagues, since it seems unlikely he'll make a major impact in his first NFL season.

The Bears spent an early second-round pick on Luther Burden, but how will they use him? Is it possible Burden plays the Amon-Ra St. Brown role as the primary slot receiver in Ben Johnson's offense? Chicago already has WRs D.J. Moore and Rome Odunze, along with TEs Colston Loveland and Cole Kmet. A top-three recruit in the high school class of 2022, Burden showed off his electric playmaking skills with an 83-catch, 1,212-yard sophomore season at Missouri in 2023. Burden wasn't nearly as productive last fall, finishing with 676 receiving yards. But the Mizzou offense struggled at times in 2024, especially when QB Brady Cook was hurt. Burden has a lightning-quick first step of the line of scrimmage, creating instant separation. When Burden has the ball in the open field, the air crackles with electricity. He's as slippery as an eel and has surprising contact balance. Although his target outlook is murky, Burden has the potential to be surprisingly impactful if he can earn a significant role as a rookie.

Well, the Bears didn't address running back early in the draft, but they didn't overlook the position. Chicago selected Monangai in the seventh round of the NFL Draft. Monangai is a squatty pinball back that can handle volume and fight for every blade of grass. He isn't an explosive runner, but he can roll up plenty of chunk gains and handle a ton of volume. Last year, he had 25 or more carries in 55% of his games and at least 18 carries in every game. In his final two collegiate seasons, he ranked 76th and 46th in yards after contact per attempt (per PFF), but he only amassed 31 targets. He'll have to earn his NFL paychecks and rack up fantasy points on early downs. He has to beat out Roschon Johnson for RB2 duties behind D'Andre Swift to have a pathway to fantasy success in 2025, but that's not impossible. Johnson hasn't exactly set the league on fire so far, and he has had trouble staying on the field (concussions). Monangai is a decent last-round pick.

There's no way around it: The Bears' selection of Michigan TE Colston Loveland with the 10th overall pick in this year's draft doesn't bode well for Cole Kmet's 2025 fantasy outlook. Kmet seemed to have a bright future after producing 73-719-6 in 2023 and finishing that season TE7 in half-point PPR fantasy scoring. But Kmet averaged only 3.2 targets per game last season, with WRs D.J. Moore, Keenan Allen and Rome Odunze combining for a 68.7% target share. Moore and Odunze are still around, and the Bears not only drafted Loveland in the first round, but WR Luther Burden in the second round. It would probably take multiple injuries to Chicago pass catchers for Kmet to be fantasy-relevant this season.

The Bears were the DST11 in fantasy points per game last year. Chicago should field a defense in 2025 that could easily be a top 12 unit again with Dennis Allen at the controls. Last year, Chicago ranked seventh in pressure rate.