Antwaan Randle El ecstatic to complete full circle trip with Bears

Fast forward to 2025 and Randle El’s remarkable career journey has come full circle. Now 45, he’s back in Chicago as Bears assistant head coach and receivers coach under first-year head coach Ben Johnson. The two worked together in Detroit—Johnson as offensive coordinator and Randle El as receivers coach—formulating an explosive offense that averaged a league-leading 28.2 points per game over the past three seasons.

This offseason, Johnson was the league’s most in-demand head-coaching candidate. Randle El would have accompanied him anywhere because of their rapport and belief in each other, but he was ecstatic when Johnson was hired by the Bears.

“We’re both cut from the same cloth, that nothing is going to be given to us, and we’ve got to work for everything,” Randle El told ChicagoBears.com.

Employing that same mentality as a young athlete enabled Randle El to excel in multiple sports. As a high school senior, he was selected by the Chicago Cubs in the 14th round of the 1997 Major League Baseball draft but opted to attend college.

Playing quarterback at Indiana University, Randle El was named first-team All-American, Big Ten MVP and Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year as a senior in 2001. During his career with the Hoosiers, he became the first NCAA Division I player to pass for 40 touchdowns and rush for 40 TDs.