David Montgomery

Chicago Bears RB David Montgomery ran the ball 20 times for 61 yards while hauling in three receptions for 18 yards on Sunday during a win over the Bengals.

Fantasy Impact

It was a mediocre day for the third-year running back. A combined 79 yards on 23 touches versus a sub-par Bengals team. Fantasy managers can chalk it up to the QB juggling the went around as Andy Dalton exited halfway through the game with an injury. With Dalton likely to miss some time expect Montgomery to be leaded upon more with a rookie QB under center.

Chicago Bears RB David Montgomery rushed 16 times for 108 yards and a touchdown while hauling in his lone reception for 10 more yards in Sunday's 34-14 loss to the Rams.

Fantasy Impact

It was a great night for Montgomery. He logged 108 yards and a touchdown on just 16 carries versus the vaunted Rams defense. It's worth a note that Montgomery did play 59.4% of the snaps while Damien Williams played 43.4% of the snaps.

Adam Jahns and Kevin Fishbain with The Athletic seem enamored with David Montgomery's power and speed in camp this offseason, highlighting his knack for breaking through first contact, speed in the open field, and ability to break tackles in the secondary.

Fantasy Impact

Montgomery was itching to get into pads during OTA's and caught some hefty ovations from the fans during his first week in padded practices. During a drill where the offense had to start at its own one-yard line, Montgomery took the ball in a full-tackle practice and broke multiple tackles at the line of scrimmage before busting loose and stiff-arming Marqui Christian in the open field. Montgomery, who has often been described as a plodder, spent most of his offseason doing speed training, and it seems to show early in camp. “I feel a lot looser, like a lot shiftier,” Montgomery said. “Being able to run, just being able to open up and be a technician on how I run when I get those opportunities to run in open space, I definitely feel different and it feels good.” Montgomery saw an uptick in opportunity last season in the wake of an injury to Tarik Cohen and capitalized, finishing as the overall RB1 from Weeks 12-17. Cohen is still week-to-week, and his status for Week 1 is up in the air. While Damien Williams is likely to garner some work for himself, Montgomery has done everything required to earn a workhorse role and will look to build on his breakout Year 2 campaign. Our expert consensus ranking has him listed as RB18, and a step forward could help him easily outperform that ranking.

Chicago Bears HC Matt Nagy reiterates his plan to have RB David Montgomery receive 20 carries a game, per Jeff Dickerson of ESPN

Fantasy Impact

This is the second time HC Matt Nagy has stated his plan to have David Montgomery play in a true workhorse role. Montgomery helped fantasy managers win titles last year, carrying the ball 19 times per game towards the end of the season. He had 1,070 yards with eight touchdowns on the ground last year and added 54 catches for 438 yards. He's being drafted as the RB18. If he manages to get 20 carries a game, he will outperform that draft position.

Bears Head Coach Matt Nagy recently stated in an interview that the goal this season is to get third-year RB David Montgomery 20 rushes per game.

Fantasy Impact

"Depending on what the game is, what's happened the last couple years and why some of David's carries—which aren't low—haven't been quite as high is a lot of guys get it in to four-minute mode in the fourth quarter," Nagy said. "That's where they can get those extra for or five carries, which can bump them into the top five, you know, with 20 rushes a game. That's our goal." While this likely requires more positive game scripts than not, the intent is there. From everything we've heard this off-season, and with Tarik Cohen (knee) not yet practicing, it's certainly possible Montgomery sees a heavy workload, especially early on. He averaged 16.5 rush attempts in 2020, which was still top-5 in the league. Only Derrick Henry (23.6) and Dalvin Cook (22.3) averaged over 20 rush attempts per game. If Montgomery hits this mark, he could be in line for a top-12 fantasy finish in 2021.