D’Andre Swift gets rave reviews from Giants front office in ‘Hard Knocks’ season premier originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
The newest iteration of “Hard Knocks” premiered on Tuesday, giving NFL fans an inside look of the Giants’ offseason. Even though the show follows GM Joe Schoen and others in the Giants front office, Bears fans got a little bit of insight into one of the team’s new players.
In one scene, the Giants personnel team reviewed running backs on the market in case they needed to replace Saquon Barkley. The Giants staff gushed when it came time to discuss D’Andre Swift.
“This guy, from a physical talent standpoint can make up some of the things you lose with Saquon from an explosiveness standpoint, from a pass game standpoint,” said Giants Director of Pro Scouting Chris Rossetti.
Interestingly, the Giants thought it would be tough to bring Swift to the team.
“Price point would be a big deal on him,” Rossetti said.
“It’s going to be hard to get him out of Philly,” said assistant GM Brandon Brown. “That’s home for him.”
The Bears ended up signing Swift for a reported three years and $24 million. As it turned out, Barkley replaced Swift in Philadelphia on a reported three-year, $37.75 million deal. 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 RBs room.
One reason the Giants may have passed on Swift was that they didn’t view him as a bell cow back, despite his talent.
“If you’re signing him, he’s going to be more of a package player,” Rossetti said. “You’re going to pair him with somebody.”
The contract the Bears offered Swift indicates that he’ll get the lion’s share 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-back sets and in rotational roles.
It’s hard to judge how the running game will perform in the early stages of the offseason. The Bears won’t put the pads on until training camp starts, and then we’ll get our first idea of how well things may or may not come together.
Bears rookies report to Halas Hall for training camp on July 16. The veterans follow a few days later on July 19.
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