Bears should have TreVeyon Henderson on their radar

Mark Rebilas - USA Today Sports

Ariana Pensy - Correspondent - 8 hours ago

INDIANAPOLIS, I.N. - When Ben Johnson was the offensive coordinator with the Detroit Lions, he had a dynamic running back duo. As the head coach of the Chicago Bears, Johnson is looking to develop a strong duo in Chicago. D’Andre Swift will be part of the equation, but the Bears need more than Swift.

This year’s running back class, including Heisman runner-up Ashton Jeanty from Boise State, shows much promise. The National Championship Ohio State Buckeyes, known for their elite wide receivers, also had a talented running back in TreVeyon Henderson.

It is unusual in college football today for a player to stay at one school for four years. However, that is precisely what Henderson did. As a freshman, he led the Big Ten in yards per attempt with 6.8 and finished the season with 1,248 rushing yards and 15 rushing touchdowns. He was named a freshman All-American and second-team All-Big Ten for his performance.

Henderson was still a solid running back in his final three years of college. He was named honorable mention All-Big Ten as a sophomore and first-team All-Big Ten member his junior year. During his first-team All-Big Ten season as a junior, Henderson had 926 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns.

In his final season with the Buckeyes, Henderson again led the Big Ten in yards per attempt with 7.1 and had the second 1,000-yard season of his collegiate career. It also marked the third season Henderson had at least 10 rushing touchdowns.

At the NFL Combine, he had a decent 40-yard dash time as he was tied for seventh among the running backs with a 4.43-second 40-yard dash. His maximum speed was 23.38 miles per hour during his run. He had a good vertical at 38.5 inches and has one of the top athleticism scores from Next Gen Stats among running backs in the draft with a score of 92. His athleticism score is the highest among running backs in this class, including Jeanty.

In addition, his production score of 83 is the fifth-highest among running backs this year, and his total score of 86 is the third-best among the backs. One weakness for Henderson has generally been his size for taking on a heavy workload. However, he is a slightly taller and heavier version of Jahmyr Gibbs with the Lions and could take on a similar role to Gibbs if the Bears were to draft him.

Despite being one of the best running backs available in the draft, NFL Mock Draft Database only gives him a 5.8 percent chance of getting drafted in the first round. The consensus is that he will be a second-round pick, with College Sports Network projecting him to go No. 51 overall. At the same time, the NFL Mock Draft Database ranks him as No. 45. Luckily, Chicago has two second-round picks - at No. 39 and No. 41. This makes it easy for them to obtain Henderson with one of their selections.

The addition of Henderson would bolster Chicago’s running back room, which would greatly help Caleb Williams in his development by giving him a solid running game that he can rely on. Of course, the Bears need to improve their offensive line to ensure they can block for Swift and Henderson. Nonetheless, this would be an excellent pick for Chicago.