David

Montgomery

Montgomery functioned as a rumbling breather back in between RB Jahmyr Gibbs’s explosive gains. Lions head coach Dan Campbell technically attempted to get Montgomery into the end zone on a two-point conversion attempt following Gibbs’ second touchdown, but the play was unfortunately unsuccessful. Montgomery remains a borderline RB2/3 against the Eagles next week.

Montgomery out-produced Jahmyr Gibbs across the board this afternoon, which tells you all you need to know about the Lions’ surprising lack of run-game effectiveness. Montgomery’s score came on a fourth-and-goal plunge after he was stood up on the previous two plays. With the exception of Week 3, Montgomery isn’t spiking weeks, though his five overall touchdowns are keeping his FLEX case afloat. He will need to score with greater regularity down the stretch for fantasy managers to feel truly good about him in their RB2/FLEX spots. The Commanders await for Week 10.

Montgomery was vastly overshadowed by the 218 yards from scrimmage from backfield mate Jahmyr Gibbs, the latter of whom put up the third most yards from scrimmage for a back in franchise history. Even so, Montgomery remains an integral part of the one-two punch in Detroit and he should return better counting stats moving forward. Continue treating Montgomery as an RB3 ahead of a post-bye, Week 9 matchup with the Vikings.

Gibbs significantly out-touched backfield mate David Montgomery, the latter of whom turned four carries into 24 yards and caught two targets for 37 yards through the air. The large disparity in backfield work was likely resultant from consistently negative game script after the Lions trailed for much of the game, leaving the offense more one-dimensional than they would otherwise like. The 4-2 Lions will look to shake off their loss in Week 7 with a home matchup against the Buccaneers on Monday Night Football, before getting a mid-season breather with a Week 8 bye.

This one had some extra meaning for Montgomery. The 28-year-old running back returned to his hometown, where he was a high school quarterback, and was playing in front of his paralyzed sister for the first time. Montgomery threw the second touchdown of his career, a three-yard pass to Brock Wright in the second quarter. He also added an eight-yard touchdown run at the end of the third quarter. The Lions had no problem letting Montgomery out-carry Jahmyr Gibbs 18-12 in this one, but don’t expect that split to stick going forward. Montgomery is an RB2 against the Chiefs in Week 6.

Montgomery got his shot at his weekly touchdown in the third quarter. The Lions got the ball inside the five after a Joe Flacco interception and gave it to Montgomery twice in a row. He couldn’t find paydirt and Amon-Ra St. Brown scored on third down. Jahmyr Gibbs has out-carried Montgomery 37-21 over the past two weeks. Both backs can get home because of how many touchdowns there are up for grabs in Detroit, but his dwindling role makes him a riskier bet for Week 5 versus the Bengals.

Montgomery played well behind backfield mate Jahmyr Gibbs as far as snap rate and opportunity count are concerned. He put the Lions on his back when it mattered most, however, with carries of 72 yards and 31 yards in the fourth quarter, the latter of which put the Lions up by 14 points with under two minutes to play as he found paint for the second time. The bulk of Montgomery’s fantasy value remains tied to his high touchdown expectancy in one of the league’s top offenses, making him a more difficult weekly start than others drafted around him this offseason.

For the second straight week, Montgomery saw 11 carries. The difference this time is the modest workload came in a home blowout win rather than uncompetitive road defeat. As you might expect, Montgomery’s touchdown came from the one-yard line. With only 27 touches through two strange games thus far, Montgomery will look to establish a higher usage floor in next week’s road date with the Ravens.

Montgomery had no room to run in this game, limiting him to a dreadful 2.3 yards per carry. On the other hand, that was actually slightly better than Jahmyr Gibbs’ mark of 2.1 YPC. Montgomery also out-carried his teammates 11-9, though Gibbs managed 10 receptions on the day. Even with Gibbs seeing the bulk of the backfield targets, Montgomery was involved on some play-action looks and was again more efficient than Gibbs. The Lions’ line struggled against a stout Green Bay defense, tanking the entire offense. They should manage a better showing versus the Bears next week, though it’s clear they have taken a step back compared to 2024. Montgomery will cling to RB2 status for one more week for now.

“In past years, you’d often see Montgomery get the first bulk of carries before Gibbs takes the field. There was a clear pecking order in practice, and that often translated to games,” Pouncy continued. A shift where Gibbs takes on more of the early-down workload from David Montgomery would qualify as a fantasy earthquake, something that could push Gibbs ahead of Bijan Robinson and Saquon Barkley in the No. 1 overall running back conversation, while also pushing Montgomery down the board quite a bit. Pouncy also notes that “perhaps the staff is recognizing [Gibbs] is too talented for a true 50-50 split.” We aren’t sure quite how much stock to put into this, but it’s certainly a noteworthy report from Lions camp.