Heisman Favorite Ashton Jeanty Sends Message on Playing for Bears

Getty Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty.

All of the NFL is watching Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty and his potential Heisman Trophy campaign in 2024 with bated breath, wondering where he might land when he leaps to the highest level in the 2025 NFL draft.

There is one team, however, that Jeanty does not want to play for: The Chicago Bears.

While speaking on a live stream during Boise State’s bye week, Jeanty was asked about where he would like to play in the NFL and shouted out two teams — the Kansas City Chiefs and Dallas Cowboys — as his preferred destinations after his collegiate career.

Before name-dropping the other teams, though, someone asked Jeanty in the stream’s chat about playing for the Bears, prompting the Heisman Trophy favorite to get honest about how the situation in Chicago would not suit him — in more ways than one.

“Bears? Y’all got a back already, y’all got D’Andre Swift,” Jeanty responded. “I’m not gonna lie, Chicago’s too cold. It’s too cold. I can’t do that.”

Ashton Jeanty Could Break All-Time Rushing Record

Jeanty is not just off to a great start to the 2024 college football season; he is off to a historic start that has him chasing Barry Sanders’ NCAA single-season records.

Jeanty has rushed for 1,248 yards in the first six games of Boise State’s season, putting him more than 200 yards ahead of the next-closest rusher, Iowa’s Kaleb Johnson, who has played one more game than Jeanty heading into Week 8. His 9.9 yards per carry also leads all FBS running backs with 75 or more carries through the first seven weeks.

If Jeanty can slightly increase his pace (208 yards per game) over the next six games, he will have a shot at breaking Barry Sanders’ single-season rushing record of 2,628 yards, which he set in 1988 during his Heisman Trophy campaign. Jeanty has also scored 17 rushing touchdowns, putting him in range of Barry’s 37-touchdown record, too.

Even if Jeanty falls short of history, he could still finish with the highest individual honor in college football: the Heisman Trophy. Jeanty remains the frontrunner to win the prestigious award (+225) ahead of Miami quarterback Cam Ward (+600) according to the latest odds from ESPN Bet. If Jeanty were to win the race, he would become only the fifth non-quarterback to win the Heisman Trophy since the turn of the century.

Too bad Jeanty isn’t a fan of the cold, right, Bears fans?

Bears’ Run Game Looks Improved Ahead of Week 8

Even if Jeanty is not in the cards, the Bears could still look into drafting a running back in 2025. They will still have Swift and 2023 fourth-round pick Roschon Johnson under contract, but Khalil Herbert and Travis Homer are both due to become free agents in 2025, giving them reason to add another young back to the rotation as their No. 3.

That said, the Bears may not need to find a new heavy-hitter for their backfield if their current duo can continue its recent production into the second half of the 2024 season.

After averaging just 72.6 rushing yards per game over the first three weeks, the Bears bounced back to run for more than 125 yards in each of their three games leading up to their Week 7 bye. In their most recent game, the Bears ran for a season-high 152 yards with Swift exceeding 90 yards — and five yards per carry — for the second time in 2024.

A good chunk of the credit for the improved run game goes to the Bears’ offensive line, which has played better in recent games after a change to the starting alignment, but Chicago also seems to have found an effective balance with Swift and Johnson.

Swift’s pass-catching ability — he is 13-of-13 for 147 yards in the past three games — has added a versatile wrinkle to the offense, while Johnson has scored three touchdowns in three games as the Bears’ preferred goal-line/short-yardage back over Herbert.

The Bears must still stay productive on the ground through the end of the season to feel good about the Swift-Johnson tandem moving forward. But if they can, they will have no reason to make any significant changes to their backfield during the 2025 offseason.