Montgomery joining the Lions

The Lions and RB David Montgomery reached an agreement on a three-year, $18 million contract (with $11 million guaranteed) late on Tuesday evening. The long-time Bear will be moving across the NFC North and running behind a Lions offensive line that ranked 7th in Football Outsiders' adjusted line yards in 2022. Montgomery is more than capable of shouldering a sizeable workload as well, as he's handled 200+ carries in each of his four professional seasons to date. A logical conclusion to draw from this signing is that free agent RB Jamaal Williams is unlikely to return to the Lions at this point. We'll keep an eye out for news regarding where he lands. Where this situation gets dicey is how it potentially affects RB D'Andre Swift, who posted a career-low in touches (147) in 2022 after battling through yet another season of nagging injuries. Couple this Montgomery contract with a subpar injury history, and we may be looking at a significant dynasty value loss for a former NFL second round pick in Swift. He's already starting to slip down our dynasty RB rankings.

Bears RB David Montgomery carried just 6 times for 24 yards in Sunday's loss to the Lions. He added 2 catches for 12 targets, with Chicago completing only 7 passes all game. It was a particularly disappointing performance for the whole offense a week after Detroit allowed 527 total yards to the Panthers. RB Khalil Herbert also factored in for 5-31 rushing. Chicago faces Minnesota in Week 18, a matchup that afforded Montgomery just 12-20-1 rushing in Week 5, but also 4 catches for 62 yards.

Bears RB David Montgomery scored a TD rushing and another receiving in Sunday's loss to the Eagles. He took 12 carries for 53 yards (4.4 per rush) and caught all 3 of his targets for 38 yards. Montgomery next faces a Bills defense that got run over by Raheem Mostert on Saturday night. then comes a rematch with the Lions, who only allowed Montgomery 44 total yards on 9 carries and 1 catch in Week 10. The team expects Khalil Herbert to come off IR in Week 16, which will affect Montgomery's outlook.

Bears RB David Montgomery ran for 61 yards and a TD on 14 carries in Sunday's loss to the Packers. Darrynton Evans handled the team's only 3 other RB carries. Montgomery drew all 5 backfield targets, catching 4 for 6 yards.

Bears RB David Montgomery matched a season-high with 17 carries in a Week 11 loss at Atlanta. He notched 3.9 YPC and 1 TD, which was setup by a defensive holding call. Montgomery added 3 catches for 54 yards through the air, with a big chunk coming on a beautiful downfield pass by Justin Fields. Rookie Trestan Ebner mixed in for 6 carries (0 targets), but he managed just 1.3 YPC. With Khalil Herbert set to miss at least 3 more games, Montgomery will remain a solid RB2 going forward. Next up is a road date with the Jets.

Bears HC Matt Eberflus said Wednesday that he'll continue deploying a committee backfield with RBs David Montgomery and Khalil Herbert. Montgomery out-snapped Herbert just 56% to 41% in Monday night's win over the Patriots. Montgomery finished with 15 carries and 0 targets to Herbert's 12 carries and 2 targets. "We're going to continue to do that," Eberflus said. "Going to continue to use both of those guys." A committee backfield in a low-scoring offense is obviously rough for fantasy production. We're treating Montgomery as a RB3 and Herbert as a RB4 for now.