Lions' David Montgomery: Joining Detroit backfield
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Montgomery agreed Tuesday with the Lions on a three-year, $18 million contract, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reports.
Montgomery is set to stay in the NFC North after spending his first four years in Chicago. His signing indicates Detroit is likely out of the mix to re-sign Jamaal Williams, putting Montgomery in line to split work with D'Andre Swift. Montgomery saw the lightest workload of his four-year career this past season but still accumulated 801 rushing yards and five touchdowns on 201 carries to go along with 316 receiving yards and one touchdown on 34 receptions in 16 games.
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Bears' David Montgomery: Set for free agency
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Montgomery rushed seven times for 21 yards in the Bears' 29-13 loss to the Vikings in Week 18, and he ended the season with 201 carries for 801 yards and two touchdowns along with 34 receptions, 316 yards and another score over 16 games played.
In each of his four seasons, Montgomery has produced at least 1,074 scrimmage yards and six touchdowns. Over his career, he's rushed for less than four yards per carry, but he's handled at least 200 carries each season while missing just five games. He's also been solid as a receiver, having posted at least 301 yards in three straight seasons. Although he maintained his hold on the lead role in the backfield, Khalil Herbert cut into his workload and often appeared to be the more explosive runner. It's possible that Chicago lets Herbert take on the lead role in 2023 with Montgomery now an unrestricted free agent.
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Bears' David Montgomery: Disappointing production in defeat
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Montgomery rushed five times for 24 yards and caught two passes for 12 yards in the Bears' 41-10 loss to the Lions on Sunday.
Other than Justin Fields' rushing success, the Lions completely stymied the Bears offense, which included Montgomery. With Chicago struggling to convert many first downs once the first quarter was over, there was little opportunity for him to accumulate volume. Montgomery will try to end the year on a high note at home against the Vikings in Week 18.
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Bears' David Montgomery: Solid yardage total in loss
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Montgomery rushed 16 times for 62 yards and caught four passes for 22 yards in the Bears' 35-13 loss to the Bills on Sunday.
Montgomery had a touchdown called back on a holding penalty, which kept him from an even better performance. Even though Khalil Herbert returned to action after being on injured reserve, Montgomery has 16 carries to six for Herbert, as Montgomery still appears to have a handle on the lead role. He'll have a favorable matchup against a Lions defense that just gave up over 300 rushing yards to the Panthers this week.
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Bears' David Montgomery: RBs to Start
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Khalil Herbert (hip) is expected to play this week, but I wouldn't worry about Montgomery losing too much work. He should continue to be a standout Fantasy option against the Bills, and Montgomery has scored at least 13 PPR points in four games in a row. Buffalo has struggled with running backs of late, and four running backs have scored at least 12 PPR points in the Bills' past four games, with three touchdowns over that span. Montgomery also has at least three catches in four games in a row, and I don't expect his role in the passing game to change with the Bears lacking talent in their receiving corps. Montgomery should be considered a high-end No. 2 running back in all leagues.
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Bears' David Montgomery: Gets more competition in Week 16
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Montgomery could face more competition for snaps out of the backfield Saturday against Buffalo with Chicago activating Khalil Herbert (hip) from injured reserve Friday, Larry Meyer of the Bears' official site reports. "The way guys can naturally bounce off of him I think is really cool," offensive coordinator Luke Getsy said of Herbert earlier this week. "What's nice, too, is it's a different type of back. I think there's a value in that, in having two different types of style runners like we're able to have here with [Montgomery] and him."
While Herbert was sidelined for the past four games, Montgomery averaged 14.3 carries and four targets per contest, with both figures being marginally ahead of his season-long averages (13.2 carries, 2.5 targets). Herbert shouldn't be much of a threat to poach work from Montgomery on passing downs, but he'll likely earn more carries than the five per game that Darrynton Evans and Trestan Ebner combined for over the past four weeks. Even if the arrival of Herbert results in Montgomery forking over more snaps, there's a decent chance that both backs push for double-double digit touches against the Bills. Saturday's forecast in Chicago calls for sustained winds around 20 to 25 miles per hour as well as temperatures around 10 degrees Fahrenheit, which could prompt both teams to largely eschew intermediate and deep passes and favor the ground game more heavily.
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Bears' David Montgomery: Scores twice in Week 15 loss
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Montgomery rushed 12 times for 53 yards and a touchdown while catching all three of his targets for 38 yards and another touchdown in Sunday's 25-20 loss to the Eagles.
Montgomery scampered into the end zone from nine yards out in the second quarter to give the Bears a surprising 6-3 lead. He found the end zone again on a 10-yard catch in the third. Quarterback Justin Fields led the Bears with 95 rushing yards, but Montgomery was just one catch and one receiving yard short of Cole Kmet's and Byron Pringle's respective team-high totals. With Khalil Herbert (hip) potentially eligible to return from injured reserve in Week 16 against the Bills, Montgomery could be back in a timeshare after occupying the lead-back role for the duration of Herbert's absence.
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Bears' David Montgomery: RBs to Start
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In three games without Khalil Herbert (hip), Montgomery has excelled as the featured back for the Bears, scoring at least 13 PPR points in each outing against the Falcons, Jets and Packers. He has two touchdowns over that span and three games with at least three catches. He should once again be looking at 17-20 total touches, which is good news against Philadelphia. There have been five running backs with at least 17 total touches against the Eagles this season, and all of them have scored at least 13 PPR points, including D'Andre Swift, Dameon Pierce, Antonio Gibson, Brian Robinson and Jonathan Taylor. Montgomery should be a solid No. 2 running back in all leagues in Week 15.
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Bears' David Montgomery: Good to go
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Montgomery (illness) doesn't have an injury designation for Sunday's game against the Eagles.
Montgomery and QB Justin Fields each missed only one practice with what seem to have been minor illnesses. They'll lead the Chicago rushing attack this Sunday against the NFC-leading Eagles, while the passing game appears more toothless than ever with Chase Claypool (knee) ruled out.
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Bears' David Montgomery: Held out of practice with illness
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Montgomery didn't practice Thursday due to an illness.
While Montgomery's mid-week addition to the injury report isn't ideal, he'll still be in good shape to play Sunday against the Eagles if he can practice in some capacity Friday. The Bears haven't revealed the nature of his illness or its severity.
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Bears' David Montgomery: Scores in defeat
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Montgomery rushed 14 times for 61 yards and a touchdown in Sunday's 28-19 loss to the Packers. He also caught four of five targets for six yards.
Montgomery scored from seven yards in the second quarter to give him a fourth rushing touchdown on the campaign. While quarterback Justin Fields outgained him with 71 yards, including a 55-yard touchdown run, Montgomery turned in a solid performance as Chicago's lead tailback. He'll now gain some rest over the Bears' bye week prior to returning in Week 15 to face a tough Eagles defense.
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Bears' David Montgomery: RBs to Start
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In two games without Khalil Herbert (hip), Montgomery has been a solid Fantasy running back, including Week 12 at the Jets when Justin Fields (shoulder) was also out. Montgomery scored 20 PPR points at Atlanta in Week 11 and 13 PPR points at New York in Week 12, and he should have similar success against the Packers in Week 13. We'll see if Fields can return against Green Bay, but Montgomery gets to face a Packers defense that has allowed six total touchdowns to running backs in the past three games against Dallas, Tennessee and Philadelphia, with Tony Pollard, Derrick Henry and Miles Sanders each scoring at least 21 PPR points.
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Bears' David Montgomery: Contrarian DFS Play
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Montgomery plays for a terrible offense and he's an underdog again in Week 13. I understand why he's contrarian, but he totaled 136 yards against this defense back in Week 2 and that's when he was sharing with Khalil Herbert. He has RB1 overall upside this week and neither his price nor his roster rate will reflect that.
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Bears' David Montgomery: Gets 17 touches in loss
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Montgomery rushed 14 times for 79 yards and caught three of four targets for 34 yards in Sunday's 31-10 loss to the Jets.
Montgomery helped set up a field goal on the opening drive with a 26-yard catch and run. That was his biggest play on this slick Sunday afternoon at MetLife Stadium, but Montgomery churned out hard yards throughout to keep a Bears offense playing without Justin Fields (shoulder) in manageable third downs. Regardless of Fields' status for Week 13 against the Packers, Montgomery will be in line for plenty of touches.
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Bears' David Montgomery: Finds end zone in lead role
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Montgomery rushed 17 times for 67 yards and a touchdown while catching all three of his targets for 54 yards in Sunday's 27-24 loss to the Falcons.
With Khalil Herbert (hip) on injured reserve, Montgomery operated as the workhorse in Chicago's backfield, though quarterback Justin Fields led the team in both rushing attempts (18) and rushing yards (85). Fields ran in a four-yard touchdown in the second quarter, but Montgomery scored one of his own from two yards out in the fourth to tie the score at 24-24 with 8:16 to go. Montgomery also led the Bears in receiving yards thanks to a 32-yard catch on the same drive as his rushing touchdown. Fields hurt his shoulder late in the game, and if the mobile quarterback is unavailable or limited as a result of the injury, Montgomery could see even more volume against the Jets in Week 12.
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Bears' David Montgomery: RBs to Start
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Khalil Herbert (hip) is on injured reserve, so Montgomery could be looking at his best workload of the season against the Falcons. Atlanta has allowed a running back to score at least 18 PPR points in four games in a row, with seven total touchdowns scored over that span. Montgomery hasn't scored a touchdown since Week 7, so he's due, and he has top-15 upside in Week 11 with Herbert not around to steal touches.
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Bears' David Montgomery: Top DFS Play
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This is Tony Pollard again if Ezekiel Elliott misses Week 11, but if Elliott is back, Montgomery is in a great spot. He should see 20-plus touches against a below-average defense in a game that has one of the highest over-unders on the slate (50). It's been a disappointing year for Montgomery, but Week 11 has the potential to be his best game of the season.
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Bears' David Montgomery: RBs to Start
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Montgomery and Khalil Herbert are both worth starting this week, with Montgomery a useful No. 2 running back in all leagues and Herbert as a flex. The Lions are No. 2 in most rushing touchdowns allowed to running backs with 11 and eight running backs have scored at least 12 PPR points against Detroit. There have also been four sets of tandems to score at least 11 PPR points against the Lions, including the Eagles (Miles Sanders and Kenneth Gainwell), Washington (J.D. McKissic and Antonio Gibson), Minnesota (Dalvin Cook and Alexander Mattison) and Dallas (Ezekiel Elliott and Tony Pollard). Montgomery has at least 15 total touches in five games in a row, and he has two games over that span with at least 12 PPR points. He has scored at least 15 PPR points in three of his past five outings against the Lions. Herbert only had two PPR points in Week 9 against Miami, but he scored 15 PPR points in his previous two outings against New England and Dallas and will hopefully get back on track this week.
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Bears' David Montgomery: Paces backfield in carries
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Montgomery rushed 14 times for 36 yards and brought in one of two targets for eight yards in the Bears' 35-32 loss to the Dolphins on Sunday.
Despite having been the subject of trade rumors leading up to Tuesday's deadline, Montgomery ultimately stayed put in the Windy City and ended up pacing the Bears backfield in carries. Montgomery's workload on the ground actually doubled up that of backfield mate Khalil Herbert, and he was the only one of the two to see a target. Chicago's ground-game usage has been difficult to predict game to game, however, so it remains to be seen if the distribution will remain the same in a Week 10 home matchup versus the vulnerable Lions defense.
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Bears' David Montgomery: Inefficient on ground
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Montgomery rushed 15 times for 53 yards and caught three passes for 22 yards in the Bears' 49-29 loss to the Cowboys on Sunday.
Montgomery had one fewer carry than Khalil Herbert against Dallas. Since Week 2, Montgomery has not topped 15 carries in a game, and he's lost his grip on the undisputed lead backfield role in the last two games. He's posted between 62 and 80 scrimmage yards during those two games, so he's still demonstrating a solid scoring floor, but he'll need to hang onto at least a near-even split in work to retain his current level of productivity.
