According to multiple reports Tuesday morning, the Bengals added to their running back room when they acquired versatile Bears running back Khalil Herbert and his 4.8 career yards per carry to go with 45 career catches.
The 5-9, 212-pound Herbert has a similar efficient profile to both Bengals incumbents Chase Brown and Zack Moss. With Moss on the shelf with a neck issue and Brown coming off a 27-carry game in the win over the Raiders, the Bengals grabbed Herbert at the trade deadline as they prepare for Thursday night's game in Baltimore. They reportedly gave the Bears next year's seventh-rounder.
Herbert, a 2021 sixth-round pick out of Virginia Tech via Kansas on the last year of his rookie deal, brings a burst and a nose for goal-line situations to Cincinnati with 11 career touchdowns, nine on the ground. He's coming off a career-high season of 132 carries and 20 catches, but he hasn't been used much this year with the Bears.
Chicago is transitioning to a backfield manned primarily by their offseason pickup D'Andre Swift with Roschon Johnson being used on goal-line and short-yardage situations. Before being inactive the last two weeks, Herbert had eight carries for 16 yards to go with two catches.
He had a much busier first three years in Chicago in both the running and passing games before this season and is known to be particularly effective running zone schemes. In 2022, he led the NFL with 5.7 yards per carry on 129 carries during a season NFL Next Gen Stats put him in the top five for most efficient running backs. Last year he led the Bears with 611 yards and missed five games with an ankle injury.
In his first three seasons, he averaged nine carries per game and never had a season he carried for less than 4.6 yards per. He's got the vision to pop a big run (his longs the last two seasons are 63 and 38, respectively), as well as a workload ability. He's had nine games of least 18 carries.
