Khalil Herbert (born April 21, 1998) is an American professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offense ...

and

return specialist A return specialist or kick returner is a player on the special teams unit of a gridiron football team who specializes in returning punts and kickoffs. There are few players who are exclusively return specialists; most also play another positio ...

for the

Indianapolis Colts The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. The Colts compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. Since the 2008 India ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the

Kansas Jayhawks The Kansas Jayhawks, commonly referred to as simply KU or Kansas, are the athletic teams that represent the University of Kansas. KU is one of three schools List of college athletic programs in Kansas, in the state of Kansas that participate in ...

and Virginia Tech Hokies before being selected by the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They are one of two remaining ...

in the sixth round of the

2021 NFL draft The 2021 NFL draft was the 86th National Football League draft, the annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2021 NFL season. The draft was held in Cleveland, Ohio from April 29 to May ...

. He also played for the

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team plays its h ...

Early life

Herbert attended American Heritage School in

Plantation, Florida Plantation is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States. It is a part of the South Florida metropolitan area. The city's name comes from the previous part-owner of the land, the Everglades Plantation Company, and their unsuccessful attem ...

. He committed to the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States. Two branch campuses are in the Kansas City metropolitan area on the Kansas side: the university's medical school and hospital ...

to play

. He has roots in Jamaica and the

British Virgin Islands The British Virgin Islands (BVI), officially the Virgin Islands, are a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean, to the east of Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands, US Virgin Islands and north-west ...

College career

Kansas

As a true freshman at Kansas in 2016, Herbert played in eight games with three starts and rushed for 189 yards on 44 carries with three touchdowns. As a sophomore he started six of 11 games, rushing for 663 yards on 120 carries and four touchdowns in the 2017 season. In the 2017 season, he ran for 291 yards and two touchdowns on 36 carries against

West Virginia West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...

. He played in 12 games his junior year in 2018 and rushed 113 times for 499 yards and five touchdowns. Herbert played in four games in 2019 before leaving the team. He finished the year with 384 yards on 43 carries with two touchdowns.

Virginia Tech

Herbert joined

Virginia Tech The Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, commonly referred to as Virginia Tech (VT), is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States ...

as a graduate transfer in 2020. He took over as the teams starting running back. In the Hokies' season opener against North Carolina State, he had 150 scrimmage yards and a rushing touchdown in the victory. Against

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of Royal family, royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobi ...

, he set the school record for all-purpose yards in a game with 358 (208 rushing and 150 kick returning) in the victory. In the following game against

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

, he had 18 carries for 138 yards and two touchdowns. In the following game against

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private university, private Catholic Jesuits, Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1863 by the Society of Jesus, a Catholic Religious order (Catholic), religious order, t ...

, he had 18 carries for 143 rushing yards and a 29-yard receiving touchdown in the victory. On October 31, in a road victory over

Louisville Louisville is the most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeast, and the 27th-most-populous city in the United States. By land area, it is the country's 24th-largest city; however, by populatio ...

, he had 21 carries for 147 yards and one touchdown. On December 12, against

rival A rivalry is the state of two people or Social group, groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

, he had 20 carries for 162 yards and a touchdown in the victory. Herbert finished his one season with Virginia Tech with 155 carries for 1,183 rushing yards and eight rushing touchdowns to go along with ten receptions for 179 receiving yards and one receiving touchdown in 11 games. He averaged 26.9 yards per kickoff return to lead the ACC.

College statistics

Professional career

Chicago Bears

2021

Herbert was selected by the

in the sixth round, 217th overall, of the

. He signed his four-year rookie contract with Chicago on June 2, 2021. Herbert started the season as the Bears kick returner and third-string running back. He earned more playtime after an injury to starting running back David Montgomery. Herbert capitalized on the opportunity by earning 75 yards on 18 carries in a Week 5 win over the

Las Vegas Raiders The Las Vegas Raiders are a professional American football team based in the Las Vegas Valley, Las Vegas metropolitan area. The Raiders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC West ...

. He was named the team's starting running back after Damien Williams was placed on the

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

reserve list just days before the Bears Week 6 contest against the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They ar ...

. Herbert rushed for 97 yards and one touchdown on 19 carries in a 24–14 loss to the Packers. Herbert finished his first season with 433 rushing yards on 103 carries and two touchdowns.

2022

Herbert entered the 2022 season as the Bears' second-string running back behind Montgomery. In a Week 3 game against the

Houston Texans The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston. The Texans compete in the National Football League as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. The team plays its home games at N ...

on September 25, 2022, Herbert rushed for 157 yards on 20 carries and two touchdowns after Bears starting running back Montgomery went down with an injury in the Bears 23–20 win. Herbert was named the FedEx Ground Player of the Week for his efforts against the Texans. He suffered a hip injury in Week 10 and was placed on

injured reserve The injured reserve list ( IR list) is a designation used in North American professional sports leagues for athletes who suffer injuries and become unable to play. The exact name of the list varies by league; it is known as "injured reserve" in ...

on November 15, 2022. He was activated on December 23. In the 2022 season, he appeared in 13 games and started one. He finished with 129 carries for 731 rushing yards and four rushing touchdowns to go along with nine receptions for 57 receiving yards and a receiving touchdown.

2023

Herbert entered the 2023 season as the Bears starting running back after David Montgomery signed with the Detroit Lions. In Week 4, he ran for 103 yards and had four catches for 19 yards and one touchdown. He suffered an ankle injury in Week 5 and was placed on injured reserve on October 13, 2023. He was activated on November 18.

2024

In Week 2 of the 2024 season, Herbert would get his first touchdown of the year in a loss to the

Cincinnati Bengals

2024

On November 5, 2024, Herbert was traded to the

in exchange for a seventh round pick. Herbert made his debut for the Bengals in their November 17 Sunday Night Football game against the

Los Angeles Chargers The Los Angeles Chargers are a professional American football team based in the Greater Los Angeles, Greater Los Angeles area. The Chargers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC W ...

where he would return a single punt for 29 yards in a 27-34 loss. His main role with the Bengals was taking over as the team's kickoff returner from Jermaine Burton. Bengals' starting running back Chase Brown suffered an ankle injury late in the Bengals' Week 17 win against the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football team based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC West, West division. The team is headquartered in E ...

, leading to Herbert's lone start with the Bengals coming in their Week 18 game against the

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. Founded in 1933 P ...

. He finished the game with 69 yards on 20 carries.

Indianapolis Colts

On March 14, 2025, Herbert signed with the

on a one-year contract.

NFL career statistics

References

External links

Indianapolis Colts bioVirginia Tech Hokies bioKansas Jayhawks bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Herbert, Khalil Living people Players of American football from Fort Lauderdale, Florida American football running backs Kansas Jayhawks football players Virginia Tech Hokies football players 1998 births Chicago Bears players Cincinnati Bengals players American Heritage School (Florida) alumni Brian Piccolo Award winners American sportspeople of Jamaican descent American people of British Virgin Islands descent Indianapolis Colts players