D’Andre Swift gets rave reviews from Giants front office on ‘Hard Knocks’ season premiere originally appeared in NBC Sports Chicago
The newest iteration of “Hard Beats” premiered on Tuesday, giving NFL fans an inside look at the Giants’ offseason. Even though the show follows GM Joe Schoen and others in the Giants front office, Bears fans got a little insight into one of the team’s new players.
In one scene, the Giants’ personnel team analyzed the running backs on the market if they needed to replace Saquon Barkley. The Giants team got emotional when it came time to discuss D’André Swift.
“This guy, from a physical talent standpoint, can make up for some of the things that you lose with Saquon from an explosiveness standpoint, from a passing game standpoint,” Giants director of pro scouting Chris Rossetti said. .
Interestingly, the Giants thought it would be difficult to bring Swift onto the team.
“Price would be a big issue for him,” Rossetti said.
“It’s going to be tough to get him out of Philadelphia,” assistant GM Brandon Brown said. “This is home for him.”
The Bears ended up signing Swift to a three-year, $24 million deal. Ultimately, Barkley replaced Swift in Philadelphia on a reported three-year deal worth $37.75 million. The Giants ultimately signed Devin Singletary to a three-year, $16.5 million contract and added Tyrone Tracy in the fifth round of the draft to remake their RB room.
One of the reasons the Giants may have passed on Swift was that they didn’t see him as a bell cow despite his talent.
“If you sign him, he will be a more compact player,” Rossetti said. “You’re going to match him with someone.”
The contract the Bears offered Swift indicates he will get the majority of the work in the backfield this year, but there will still be opportunities for Khalil Herbert and Roschon Johnson to get snaps in two defensive sets and in rotational roles.
It’s difficult to gauge how well the run game is doing in the early stages of the offseason. The Bears won’t put on the pads until the start of training camp, and then we’ll get our first idea of how things may or may not pan out.
Bears rookies report to Halas Hall for training camp on July 16. The veterans follow a few days later, on July 19th.
