The Cincinnati Bengals traded for Chicago Bears running back Khalil Herbert in exchange for a 2025 seventh-round pick, the Bears announced Tuesday.
Chicago selected Herbert, 26, in the sixth round of the 2021 NFL Draft. He’s amassed 372 carries for 1,791 yards and nine touchdowns over four seasons in Chicago. He also added two receiving TDs — one each in 2022 and 2023. This season, however, he’s only tallied eight carries for 16 yards through six games.
We have traded Khalil Herbert to the Bengals in exchange for a 2025 seventh-round draft pick
— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) November 5, 2024
Why the Bengals signed Herbert
The neck injury to Zack Moss on Friday shifted the Bengals into desperation mode to locate a running back. The injury looks to be serious and left starter Chase Brown with essentially zero depth behind him and half a season — plus playoffs, potentially — ahead. They were already thin before Moss’ injury and this provides a player capable of filling the role Moss held on passing downs and gives a breather to save snaps on Brown.
“It’s important you can have a guy that can take some of the work load off of him, whether that’s a couple carries or that’s some other snaps in other areas,” coach Zac Taylor said on Monday.
The 7.4 yards per reception and one sack allowed in 96 pass-block reps (via PFF) for his career are surely major pieces of the puzzle for the pass-heavy Bengals offense. Herbert will immediately slip to second on the depth chart in front of Trayveon Williams and Kendall Milton, recently signed off the practice squad. — Paul Dehner Jr., Bengals beat writer
Why Bears are moving on from Herbert
Once the Bears moved Herbert out of their gameday lineup two games ago, making him a healthy scratch for the first time in his career, this seemed inevitable.
Herbert did a nice job throughout his career stepping in at running back when needed, often putting up a high rushing average (4.9 yards for carry). He outplayed his sixth-round draft slot and also proved valuable on special teams, but he’s in the last year of his rookie contract and is one of the final players remaining from the Ryan Pace regime.
Herbert wasn’t going to be re-signed — the Bears are set with D’Andre Swift and Roschon Johnson. The only worry is depth. If either of those two goes down, it’d be Travis Homer getting carries, and while Homer has the backing of offensive coordinator Shane Waldron, he hasn’t been as effective a runner as Herbert.
This is a good opportunity for Herbert, who’s never come close to the playoffs, to play for a contending team. — Kevin Fishbain, Bears beat writer
(Photo: Alex Slitz / Getty Images)
