You’d understand if D’Andre Swift held a grudge, just a little one.
Back in 2022, when he was a Detroit Lion, he lost his grip on the starting running back role as he struggled to regain form after shoulder and ankle injuries. He saw his touches reduced by 66 from the previous year, and Jamaal Williams took the lion’s share.
In a low point against the Green Bay Packers in Week 9, first-year offensive coordinator Ben Johnson held Swift to a season-low 10 snaps.
“I think he got pissed off a little bit,” Johnson told reporters at the time.
That offseason, the Lions traded Swift — their second-round draft pick in 2020 — to the Philadelphia Eagles and set their sights on Jahmyr Gibbs in the 2023 draft.
Swift has reunited this season with his former offensive coordinator: Swift in his second season as the Chicago Bears’ starting running back and Johnson as a first-year head coach.
“Why is (there) no awkwardness? Should there be awkwardness?” Swift said in an interview with the Tribune. “We’re all grown. It’s a business.”
Swift, now 26, acknowledged he was a different player back then, a different person.
“When I was in Detroit, I was young,” he said, adding that he has matured. “Every year is different. (I’m) fortunate enough, blessed enough, to go into my sixth year in the league.
“So (I’m) just real excited to be reunited with him. Excited for the energy he brings in the group.”
Ironically, Johnson might have to lean on Swift almost exclusively when the Bears open their season against the Minnesota Vikings on “Monday Night Football” at Soldier Field.
Backup Roschon Johnson (foot) was listed as questionable on the team’s final injury report Saturday, while rookie Kyle Monangai — who had been limited with a hamstring issue — had no injury designation. Swift got so much work during training camp, for one stretch it was just him, practice squad back Brittain Brown and wide receiver DJ Moore taking the occasional carry.
And Swift has looked up to the task. He was one of the few bright spots for the starting offense during the preseason finale against the Kansas City Chiefs.
Back in ’22, the Lions often turned to Williams for the hard yards. It has been all Swift so far for the Bears.
“He is hitting it hard. He is decisive,” Ben Johnson said after the Chiefs game. “What I appreciated on third-and-1, you could see him see a little bit and then turn on the gas and put his shoulders down to get us a first down.
“Those are areas we will continue to harness out of him.”
General manager Ryan Poles also saw a decisive, downhill runner that night.
“There wasn’t as much dancing with negative rushes, which is going to be big for us to stay on par with the chains and stay with positive gains there,” Poles told reporters last week. “I feel like there’s been improvement, which, a lot of credit to EB.”
“EB” would be Eric Bieniemy, the no-nonsense running backs coach and a former rusher himself.
“You don’t have too much room other than to do the right thing with EB,” Poles said.
With the injuries in the running backs room, Swift has been getting extra attention from Bieniemy.
“He’s just very intelligent,” Swift said. “Very detailed with his teaching, and I wouldn’t even say he overcoaches, but he overcoaches some things to make sure that you understand.
“He’s communicating very well, everything. And everything in the offense, whether it’s the concepts, he makes sure you understand everything so you can play faster.”
Bieniemy said he spent a lot of time with Swift in 2020, when teams were scouting him out of Georgia.
“He’s a great kid, he’s a hard-working kid,” he said. “And one thing I do know, this (game) is very, very important to him.”
Bieniemy said he tasked Swift with studying the details of his position and his role in all aspects of the offense, which he said Swift has taken to heart.
“I’m talking about the details of executing his assignments,” Bieniemy said. “The little things as far as the footwork, alignments, making sure he has a complete understanding of his assignment — and then going out there and making the most of it.
“It encompasses a lot, but … I just don’t want him taking anything for granted. Because in my opinion, he’s been good but I want him to be better. And I know he can be better.”
In 2022 in Detroit, then-Lions running backs coach Duce Staley thought the same thing of Swift. But in an episode of HBO’s “Hard Knocks,” Staley famously challenged Swift to adopt a “dog mentality,” which seemed to question Swift’s toughness in front of a national TV audience. That reputation has dogged him since.
Bieniemy briefly chuckled when hearing about that exchange.
“I have never had that opinion about him, OK?” he said. “In fact, I don’t even watch ‘Hard Knocks.’ So I’ve got to call Duce, my old former teammate, and ask him about that. But, nah, that has never come up in my mind.
“I remember the kid that I saw coming out of Georgia, and that picture is still painted in my head. Now, has his career taken off? I mean, hell, he’s been in the league, now this is, what, Year 6? I mean, he’s obviously done a heck of a job. Now, can he be better? Yes, he can.”
Bieniemy said it starts with never taking anything for granted and maximizing his opportunities. It’s asking with each snap, “what can he do better to help him to grow, to help him to get over that hump?”
“It’s about time he gets over 1,000 yards (for the Bears),” Bieniemy said. Swift rushed for 959 yards last season in Chicago and has only one 1,000-yard season, in 2023 with the Eagles.
Bears guard Jonah Jackson has no doubts about Swift’s abilities.
“I’ve been with D’Andre since rookie year,” the former Lion said. “He was my draft buddy, so this ain’t nothing new to him. He knows how to run the ball and handle business. So we’re going to make sure he looks good. And he makes us look good.”
Looking good would be great, but the Bears will settle for being effective. Johnson hasn’t revealed a lot about how he plans to use Swift, but his Lions offense was based on a strong running game and play action.
A strong running game is exactly what Swift didn’t have last season. The overall offense bogged down, and he averaged a career-low 3.8 yards per carry (though he did post a career-high 9.2 yards per reception).
“The numbers were what they were,” Swift said. “I’m not really worried about last year. Got a game coming up, let’s focus on Minnesota, Week 1.”
He’s ready to turn the page and expressed appreciation for how much he’s likely to be used this season.
“Getting more opportunities because, Detroit, it was kind of a different situation,” Swift said. “Just to have an opportunity to go out there and showcase and be able to produce, and just working on being more consistent with everything as I get older.”
Offensive coordinator Declan Doyle said Swift’s versatility will keep him heavily involved.
“I’m excited for the different ways that we can use him,” Doyle said. “He showed it, he can drop his pads and go get a yard when he needs to. We love what he does in the passing game.
“The main thing is we’re going to try to continue to use him to the best of his ability, as well as the other guys that we want to touch the ball, and try to put them in positions to have success.”
Swift said his preparation this summer gives him confidence he can handle all game situations.
“I feel like I could do anything I’m asked to do, whatever the coaching staff needs me to do,” he said. “Block for 60 plays, run in between the tackles for 60 plays, catch the ball out of the backfield — I just feel like I’m equipped enough to do everything.”