Chicago Bears: Position battles to watch during 2019 training camp
Running Back: Mike Davis vs. David Montgomery
While it was the worst kept secret that the coaches felt that Jordan Howard wasn’t a fit in Matt Nagy’s offense, when the Chicago Bears finally pulled the trigger on a deal sending him away, many fans still had a negative reaction. Howard was a popular player and his first two seasons were very good for the Bears.
The Bears picked up Mike Davis as a free agent. He had his best season in Seattle last season when he ran for 514 yards and had four touchdowns. He added 214 receiving yards and a receiving touchdown. He did that in a backup role.
The Bears feel Davis is ready for added work. He was the San Francisco 49ers fourth-round pick (126th overall) in 2015. In two years there, however, he rushed just 54 times for 108 yards and a touchdown. He moved on to Seattle in 2017 where he had 68 carries for 240 yards his first season before taking a big step last season. He’ll be one of the featured backs in the Bears offense now.
Davis’ competition will be David Montgomery. Montgomery was the Bears’ first pick in the third round of this year’s draft. With that pick, the battle is on. Do the Bears go with a veteran (with little experience) or with a rookie?
Montgomery has the elusiveness both inside and outside that the Bears covet. While Tarik Cohen owns the nickname “The Human Joystick”, Montgomery isn’t too far behind. He also has the soft hands and moves to take passes in space and not just down the sidelines.
Both Davis and Montgomery are similar players. Add Cohen (and Cordarrelle Patterson) and the Bears have themselves a pretty athletic and elusive backfield.
Grading each NFL team's 2019 offseason. dark. Next
Winner: Montgomery. Montgomery was the Bears top pick and they moved up to draft him. He is very similar to Kareem Hunt (minus the character issues so far), a back that Nagy loved in Kansas City. There won’t be much a difference, though. Both players will have similar numbers in terms of carries. Nagy likes to have his lead player, however, and I think it’ll be Montgomery.