{"id":786552,"date":"2026-03-02T11:49:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T11:49:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/786552\/"},"modified":"2026-03-02T11:49:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T11:49:15","slug":"lions-rb-david-montgomery-wants-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/786552\/","title":{"rendered":"Lions RB David Montgomery ‘Wants Out’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Back in January, it was reported that the Lions were examining what was best<\/a> for the future of veteran running back David Montgomery<\/a>. General manager Brad Holmes even went so far as to say that what was best may include him playing \u201csomewhere else.\u201d Well, according to ESPN\u2019s Jeremy Fowler, a trade appears to be a growing possibility<\/a> for the 28-year-old rusher, as Fowler claims Montgomery \u201cwants out\u201d of Detroit. \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Coming out of Iowa State in 2019, Montgomery enjoyed an early career as a lead back for the Bears, taking on RB1 duties in a committee that included Tarik Cohen<\/a> and Cordarrelle Patterson<\/a> as a rookie. In his sophomore campaign, Montgomery essentially served bell-cow duties as Chicago\u2019s leading rusher, but ever since, he\u2019s been forced to share the rock. In 2021, two rookies \u2014 Justin Fields<\/a> and Khalil Herbert<\/a> \u2014 ate heavily into his carries, resulting in the lowest rushing total of his career at that point in time. In the final year of his rookie contract, Montgomery totaled a new low (801) as Fields led the team in rushing (1,143) and Herbert continued to gain ground on him (731).<\/p>\n

As a free agent, Montgomery signed with the division-rival Lions, who were saying goodbye to both of their leading rushers from 2022 \u2014 Jamaal Williams<\/a> and D\u2019Andre Swift<\/a>. While Montgomery may have believed he had made his way back to a bell-cow situation, a month and a half later, Detroit utilized their 12th overall pick on Alabama running back Jahmyr Gibbs<\/a>. It was right back to a split backfield for Montgomery. In their first year together, the Montgomery-Gibbs split for carries (219-182), rushing yards (1,015-945), and rushing touchdowns (13-10) were as close as you\u2019ll see for two teammates having strong rushing seasons.<\/p>\n

In 2024, Gibbs took over RB1 duties. Though Montgomery was still involved in one of the NFL\u2019s most dynamic offenses that season, the Gibbs-Montgomery splits for carries (250-185), rushing yards (1,412-775), and rushing touchdowns (16-12), no longer favored him. This past season, that trend continued in the wrong direction as, for the first time in his career, Montgomery didn\u2019t start a single game all season while recording career-lows in carries (158) and rushing yards (716).<\/p>\n

It\u2019s no wonder, then, that Montgomery is looking for a way out. Luckily for him, the reduced usage has likely done a fair amount of good for his 28-year-old legs, and his remaining contract is fairly reasonable for a trade partner to take on. It also doesn\u2019t sound like Detroit is asking for much in return, as Fowler reports that the team wants \u201ca decent Day 3 pick,\u201d meaning probably something from the fourth or early-fifth round. It should make Montgomery fairly easy to move, and give him plenty of options, should Detroit opt to take his preference into account.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Back in January, it was reported that the Lions were examining what was best for the future of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":786553,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2026],"tags":[597,113,7],"class_list":{"0":"post-786552","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-david-montgomery","9":"tag-detroit-lions","10":"tag-football"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116159432087651478","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/786552","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=786552"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/786552\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/786553"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=786552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=786552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=786552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}