Sport: Football
Born: June 6, 2002
Town: Roseland, New Jersey
Kyle Monangai was born June 6, 2002 in the Essex County town of Roseland, NJ. His parents, William and Gwendolyn, were immigrants from Cameroon. Kyle’s older brother, Kevin, was nine years older. Both were excellent athletes who initially gravitated toward soccer, but switched to football when Kevin began playing in sixth grade. Their parents disapproved, calling it a “gladiator” sport, but Kevin soon became the star of his youth team. Kyle followed suit as a third grader. Although academics always came first, William and Gwendolyn eventually became the boys’ loudest fans.
Kevin went on to play football for Villanova, earning All-CAA honors and signing with the Eagles in 2015. He never made it off the practice squad and later got into coaching with the hometown Giants. Kyle used his brother’s success as motivation in high school and college. He earned a scholarship to Seton Hall Prep and, after two years, moved to Don Bosco in Ramsey. As a senior for the Ironmen, Kyle rolled up more than 1,300 yards from scrimmage and scored 16 touchdowns. Like Kevin, he was quick, powerful and ran low to the ground. In 2019, he accepted a scholarship to Rutgers.
Kyle got on the field for a handful of special teams plays in 2020 and then red-shirted. He Kyle worked his way into the backfield rotation as a freshman 2021 and again as a sophomore before cracking Greg Schiano’s starting lineup as a junior in 2023. That season, Kyle ran for 1,262 yards, averaging more than 5 per carry.
The Scarlet Knights started strong in 2023, but finished with four straight losses to finish 6–6. They were invited to play Miami in the Pinstripe Bowl and beat the Hurricanes, 31–24. Kyle was named MVP of the game. He scored a second-quarter touchdown and gained 163 yards to give him a conference-leading 1,263 on the year. He was named second-team All-Big Ten. Rutgers went 7–6 again in Kyle’s senior year and he topped his rushing total with 1,279 yards, including a career-best 13 rushing TDs in 11 games.
At 5’8”, Kyle did not project as a game-changing NFL runner. The Chicago Bears grabbed him in the seventh round of the draft, having used their first two picks on receivers Colston Loveland and Luther Burden. Kyle began the year as 2023 Pro Bowler D’Andre Swift, who labored through injuries early on before missing several games in the second half. Kyle was effective as a starter, torching the Bengals for 176 yards in Week 9—second only to Anthony Thomas’s team rookie mark.
When Swift returned to the lineup, coach Ben Johnson decided to split their carries. In Week 13 against the Eagles, Kyle ran for 130 yards and Swift added 125, making them the first NFL teammates to rush for 100 yards each since 2019, and the first Bears to do so since Walter Payton and Matt Suhey turned the trick in 1985. Kyle gained 783 yards on 169 rushes during the season, averaging 4.6 yards, which placed him among the league leaders. He also scored five touchdowns. The Bears finished 11–6 and Kyle saw action against in a playoff victory over the Packers and a loss to the Rams.
Kyle started 2026 strong with a 61-yard TD run against Carolina in Week 1. Along with Swift and quarterback Caleb Williams, they racked up 291 rushing yards in an impressive 59–37 victory. A hamstring injury to Williams changed the calculus for the Chicago backfield, which was made more complicated when Kyle came up with a sore leg. But in an impressive Monday Night win over the Eagles in Week 3, Kyle ran the ball 10 times and pummeled Philadelphia defenders as a blocker.