Chicago Bears: David Montgomery ready to strut his stuff in the NFL
After the Chicago Bears traded Jordan Howard away, they drafted David Montgomery to take over. He looks ready to do just that.
The Chicago Bears spent the last two offseasons revamping parts of the offense. Before the 2018 season, they worked on the wide receivers corps. The unit took a big jump that season and expects even more in 2019. This offseason, the concentration was on the running game. They traded away the immensely popular Jordan Howard and hit free agency and the draft to change that unit.
That Howard trade was a bomb for some, but not for others. Right from the start of head coach Matt Nagy’s tenure in Chicago, the thought was that Howard didn’t fit in his system.
After recording back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons to start his career, Howard failed to reach that mark. He had a good run in the final five games, where he amassed about 43 percent of his yards (399 of his 935 yards). The Bears traded him to the Philadelphia Eagles for a late-round pick.
After that move, the Bears needed to make sure they had a strong running game. They picked up Mike Davis and Cordarrelle Patterson through free agency. Davis was a backup for the Seattle Seahawks who ran for 514 yards and four touchdowns.
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They needed a No. 1 running back, however. They had to pick one up with their first pick. They did so, drafting David Montgomery out of Iowa State.
Montgomery is the type of running back Nagy wants. He is agile, athletic and has great balance. The one thing you notice on his highlight reels is all the ways he breaks tackles. His balance is phenomenal.
Montgomery draws comparisons to Cleveland Browns running back Kareem Hunt. Both are 5-10, and Montgomery weighs 222 pounds while Hunt weighs 216 pounds. Hunt ran a 4.62-second 40, while Montgomery ran a 4.63-second time. Now we have to see how Montgomery does on the field. If he does run like Hunt the Bears are in great shape.
So far, Montgomery is impressing. He’s showing the coaches everything that impressed the team on his tapes. He’s especially shown a good ability to make catches out of the backfield. He shows good hands and runs great routes.
What impresses Nagy the most is Montgomery’s work ethic. He works to be great, per the Chicago Sun-Times:
"“He’s quiet. But he’s so driven, and you can just see how competitive he is, and he wants to be perfect on every single play. So he’s gonna practice the way he plays. And he’s making plays.”"
Gil Brandt, former NFL executive and current writer for NFL.com, certainly expects big things from Montgomery. He feels Montgomery will be the main replacement for Howard and will lead all rookies in rushing this season:
"The Bears paved the way for Montgomery to become a feature back by trading Jordan Howard to the Eagles before the draft. The Iowa State product rushed for 1,100-plus yards in each of the past two seasons, and if he slides right in and takes up Howard’s old workload (270 touches in 2018), Montgomery should produce like crazy."
While Montgomery impressed the team in minicamps, he should be even more impressive once the pads come on. He doesn’t lose much with them on, which makes him more dangerous on the field. Doing it with shorts is one thing, doing it with full pads is another. When training camp begins, he’ll showcase his slashing ability as well.
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Hopes are running high for the Chicago Bears’ running game, especially Montgomery. If he can be the player the coaches envision it will make this offense extremely dangerous. It’ll be great to watch his NFL highlights.