A lot of people didn’t expect the Chicago Bears to be quite so aggressive when they traded up in the 3rd round last April to draft David Montgomery. Not with the limited supply of draft picks they had. Yet GM Ryan Pace has proven time and again he has no fear when it comes to being aggressive for players he covets. This might explain why the one person who was the most surprised by the entire sequence of events was Montgomery himself.
The Bears released their Player Profile video on the rookie running back last week. Jeff Joniak conducted an interview and the first question out of his mouth was for Montgomery to take him back to draft day. The kid described just how shocked he was that Chicago placed a phone call to him. He likely felt that he was about to get drafted at that point but the Bears weren’t on the list of teams he’d expected. Mostly because they didn’t pick until the #87 spot.
When head coach Matt Nagy revealed that they’d moved up 14 spots to grab him, Montgomery was elated and fired up. He couldn’t wait to get started with the Bears and made it clear he planned on being there for a long time.
David Montgomery is morphing into what the Bears hoped
Things didn’t get off to the best start for Montgomery. The Bears offense spent pretty much the entire first half of the season mired in a slump they couldn’t seem to get out of. However, as things went along the rookie began to carve out a role for himself and he’s become the unquestioned presence on the ground they’ve needed. After rushing for just 231 yards in his first six games, he has 449 in the previous seven. With 853 total yards, he might be able to crack 1,000 for the season as a rookie.
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In many ways, he embodies what Chicago wants from its running backs. Not necessarily blazing speed but more of a steady, dependable approach and a refusal to die easily from play to play. Montgomery has 17 broken tackles thus far in 2019, ranking him 11th in the NFL. This puts him in the same area as Christian McCaffrey. Not bad for a 3rd round draft pick. As his comfort within the offense grows, there’s no telling how much better he could get.
