David Montgomery

There were a lot of talented RBs that I watched in week one, but none impressed me more than David Montgomery. He looked decisive, confident, fast, and an all-around impressive running back. The Rams run defense is not an easy unit to run on and Montgomery was gashing them for big gains repeatedly. The Bengals just kept Dalvin Cook relatively in check on the ground in week one, but that shouldn't scare us off of starting Montgomery as a high-end RB2 this week with upside. We all knew that Montgomery could wear down a defense with a heavy workload as the game progressed, but we haven't seen this level of speed from him before. Only two other RBs in the NFL finished with more Breakaway Yards than Montgomery. Fire him up with confidence this week.

Monty had the Bears backfield almost entirely to himself last year after satellite back Tarik Cohen wrecked his knee. Now he has Damien Williams as a backup, and while Montgomery played 41 snaps against the Rams on Sunday night, Williams played 30. Montgomery averaged 24.8 touches over the final five games of 2020. In Week 1, he had a more modest workload, carrying 16 times for 108 yards and a touchdown, and catching his lone target for 10 yards. Williams, meanwhile, carried six times for 12 yards and caught 4 of 5 targets for 28 yards. This isn't a committee by any means, but Williams has a significant role. He's still not startable, however, and Monty remains a must-start.

Montgomery had 118 yards from scrimmage and a rushing touchdown in the season opener against the LA Rams and he has a much better matchup at home against the Bengals this week. Montgomery is a solid RB1 in the Bears home opener.