Khalil Herbert on the move? RB may find new landing spot after being listed as inactive against Washington

Khalil Herbert inactive for week 8, could we see a trade happen soon?

From an official statement from the Chicago Bears, Khalil Herbert, among other rumored players up for trade, are inactive this week against the Washington Commanders.

The Chicago Bears posted on X (formerly twitter) that Khalil Herbert, Dominique Robinson and Nate Davis among others were inactive this week against the Washington Commanders.  All three of these players have been rumored to be on the trade block, with Herbert not active most of this season and falling down the depth chart behind D’Andre Swift, Roschon Johnson and Travis Homer it’s hard to believe that the Bears are not looking to trade him away from the team.

Inactives for #CHIvsWAS: pic.twitter.com/cjtvKo5sv3

— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) October 27, 2024

Over the last few days there has been a lot of speculation as far as the fate of the Chicago Bears former go-to guy out of the backfield, and without saying it I believe we may have our answer after being listed as inactive this week just two weeks away from the trade deadline.

Khalil Herbert has not had a single touch since Week 3 in their loss to the Indianapolis Colts, which leaves him with just 8 carries on the season and 16 rushing yards which pales to his last 2 seasons.  In 2022 Herbert had 731 rushing yards over 129 carries and in 2023 he was equally impressive with 611 rushing yards over 132 carries.  It’s obvious that the Chicago Bears are not planning to utilize his dual threat capabilities since the addition of D’Andre Swift, and Roschon Johnson and Travis Homer are more than capable of marching the ball downfield.

The only question left is what happens next for Khalil Herbert and the Chicago Bears for the remainder of the 2024 campaign.  Given everything we’ve seen from the current active roster I think it’s fair to say the Bears have given us an answer, that unfortunately Herbert may be a healthy wash and is on the trade block, just waiting for the right offer to come along.

To this point there are no teams that have officially been mentioned as possible destinations for the young runningback, Chicago has already shut down a possible landing spot with Minnesota according to reports.

Ryan Poles and the entire front office may not be so keen on sending Khalil Herbert to a team within the division, but that does not mean there are few opportunities left.  The Bears still need offensive line help, and Herbert could be the perfect leverage to pick up a veteran interior lineman to replace Larry Borom or Nate Davis and protect Caleb Williams in the pocket.

Khalil Herbert has been stellar since coming into the league in 2021, but it truly does look like the Bears are ready to move on from him.  Not allowing him to get some in game reps and keeping him inactive this close to the trade deadline tells me they want to keep him healthy so that the Bears can try to get top dollar from a team in desperate need of help in the backfield.

Currently there’s not too many teams with the need for a runningback, but I’m sure we’ll have an answer either way in the coming weeks.  I don’t want to see Herbert leave the team, I believe he still has some value and a lot of heart to leave on the field, given the opportunity.  But don’t be too terribly surprised to see Khalil Herbert in another teams colors after the 2024 NFL trade deadline.

I will continue to remain hopeful that this is all just a decision made from the front office to keep him healthy and have him play in the playoffs, but with having zero play time in the last 5 weeks (including the bye week) I fear that this may be the last we see of Herbert in blue and orange.