Chicago Bears: 5 Burning questions for 2019 entering training camp
5. Is too much expected of David Montgomery?
As I mentioned earlier, Pace made a huge decision and took a big chance in trading Howard away. Howard started his career with back-to-back 1,000-yard rushing seasons. He didn’t get to that mark in 2018 but came close, finishing with 935 yards.
From the moment the Chicago Bears hired Matt Nagy the thought was that Howard wasn’t a good fit with his system. Howard is a bruising back who requires the ball a lot so he could wear down the defense. He doesn’t have the ability to hit the edge and avoid the would-be tackler. Also, he doesn’t have the ability to break free and break a big play.
The Bears decided to completely overhaul the running backs unit. They signed Mike Davis through free agency and drafted Kerrith Whyte in the seventh round. Those were nice moves to add depth but they needed someone to be the No. 1 back. They used their first pick of the draft in the third round on Iowa State’s David Montgomery.
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Montgomery is a perfect fit in Nagy’s offense. He is athletic and has incredible balance. He isn’t fast but he is quick and when he puts his foot down and cuts defenders are left in his dust.
Additionally, he is an asset in the passing game. He runs good routes and uses his soft hands to make catches. He uses the same balance and cut in his running game to get away from defenders and make big plays after catches.
Montgomery compares to Cleveland Browns running back Kareem Hunt. They are roughly the same size (Hunt at 5-11, 216 pounds, and Montgomery at 5-10, 222 pounds) and have the same speed (Hunt’s 40-speed at the Combine was 4.62 seconds while Montgomery’s was 4.63 seconds).
Of course, we don’t know if Montgomery will have the same impact on the field that Hunt had in his first two seasons. We won’t know that until he actually starts the regular season. However, there are many out there who expect him to explode out of the box and end up a candidate for Offensive Rookie of the Year. Also, he’s playing for the Chicago Bears, a team with a history of great running backs, including Walter Payton, Gayle Sayers, and Matt Forte.
With all the hype surrounding Montgomery, is too much expected of him too early? There are some lofty expectations expected of him, then add the Super Bowl expectation and that’s a lot of pressure on the young man. I know that I’m a part of that. In a recent article, I had him rushing for over 1,100 yards and getting another 700 yards receiving. Those are Le’Veon Bell numbers.
There may be a lot of expectations on Montgomery but I think he’ll be fine. He’s been great wherever he’s gone, so he looks to carry that into the NFL. The Bears want to make sure he does that in Chicago. Nagy already said recently that they’ll give Montgomery a lot of carries during the preseason. They want him to be as comfortable as he could be as he begins his rookie campaign. It sounds like he’ll get the RB1 tag over Davis.
If Montgomery does reach expectations this season it bodes well for the Chicago Bears’ Super Bowl hopes.