Writer: Gage O'Leary
Twitter: @Gage_Sports_54
Lions sign Montgomery to three-year, 18 million Dollar deal
WHO SAW THIS COMING?... The Detroit Lions Tuesday night made a huge splash by signing one of the best available RB's in the market and one of the best available offensive players available on the market. David Montgomery will no longer be someone Detroit coaches have to prepare for when a matchup between the Lions and Bears is on the horizon. Montgomery is going to a long-time division rival and will for the first time in his career have a good offensive line in front of him. NFL Network insider Tom Pelissero first broke the news at 9:29 pm EST. Since it is Tuesday night, and most people have work in the morning, some Lions fans were probably asleep and will be waking up to the news. Montgomery signed a three-year, 18 million dollar contract with $11 million guaranteed. Some suggested we overpaid, others said that it wasn't an efficient use of our resources, however, I disagree. The Lions and Jamaal Williams had a mutual interest in re-signing, but ultimately, the two sides couldn't agree. That left a hole in the backfield for Detroit and rather than overpaying for an aging Williams, Brad Holmes decided to go out and get a 25-year-old RB with more upside and talent. Montgomery is a few years younger than Williams and has always shown that he has serious talent. To be honest, $18 million could be a steal when this is all said and done. Everything that David Montgomery accomplished in Chicago was with a bad offensive line. Now, he gets to play behind Penei Sewell, Taylor Decker, Frank Ragnow, Jonah Jackson, and whoever the Lions decide to go with at Guard. He will now join a team with arguably the best offensive line in football, they certainly are at least a top 5 unit in the NFL. We could honestly see Montgomery have a career year because of that. The numbers and level of production that Montgomery had put up with Chicago are very impressive given the fact he didn't have a good offensive line to work with. Since being drafted to Chicago in 2019, Montgomery has had over 200 carries each season that he's played, over 1,000 scrimmage yards in each season that he's played. That included an over 1,000-yard rushing season in 2020. David Montgomery in his career has rushed for 3,609 yards on 915 attempts, scored 26 rushing TD's, and has fumbled only 4 times. Montgomery has been efficient in the passing game during his career as well, he has 155 catches for 1,240 yards, and has 4 career touchdown receptions. In his career playing against the Lions, Montgomery ran for 484 yards on 118 attempts and scored 4 touchdowns. Montgomery will join D'Andre Swift in the backfield for Detroit. Swift, as much as he wants to deny it, is injury prone. That is what made Detroit missing out on Jaamal a big loss and therefore created a void in the running back room. This is why I think signing David Montgomery, even for this price, is a great move. Now we have added a dependable running back who can stay healthy and now D'Andre Swift is in a role that better fits him. Detroit drafted Swift in the 2nd round of the 2020 NFL draft. An electric, flashy, and speedy prospect at the time for the Georgia Bulldogs. While D'Andre Swift is a human highlight reel when healthy, he rarely is. Swift hasn't been able to be on the field long enough to produce productive numbers and be a strong contributor to the team. He's unreliable and there was no way that Brad Holmes was gonna go into next season with him as RB1 and not have a solid player behind him. Montgomery will likely get most of the workload but that will only make Swift better. He won't get as much play time but he will have an opportunity to stay healthy. Montgomery isn't the fastest guy so Swift should be able to pick up the slack in that department. We've seen what a healthy Swift can do, and if he can remain healthy this season, the Lions will have an elite 1-2 punch. What does this move mean for the Lions as far as having some of the best talent in the league on the offensive side of the ball? Are they the scariest offense in the NFL? Let's dive in...
Do the Lions have the best offense in the league?
The Detroit Lions had FOUR offensive players in the Pro Bowl last season. QB Jared Goff, WR Amon-Ra St. Brown, C Frank Ragnow, and OT Penei Sewell. Jared Goff took a big step as a Quarterback last season playing better than anyone in the last 10 games of the season. It helps when the big guys up front in the trenches are keeping your jersey clean but Goff was playing some phenomenal football. Detroit got plenty of production last year from the RB room, mostly because of Jamaal Williams who did the heavy lifting with Swift out for a good majority of the season. Williams broke Barry Sanders franchise rushing touchdown record last season. That right there tells you how good the guys in the trenches are. Montgomery is certainly going to be an upgrade over Jamaal on the field. Scary to think what he can achieve with the Lions. Jared Goff had a great supporting cast at the WR position. St. Brown is just about as good as they come, Chark was balling out after recovering from an injury, Josh Reynolds is an example of Brad Holmes brilliance, Jameson Williams came into the fold towards the end of the season, and there were a few more guys there that Goff had to work with. There is a small hole at WR for Detroit with Chark being a free agent but it's not anything to be concerned about. TE is a position that Detroit will likely need to address at some point this off-season but Brock Wright stepped up and played great for the Lions after the Hockenson trade. Right now, the answer to my question in my opinion is no, not quite yet. The Lions have a little more work to do to be considered the scariest offense in the NFL right now... but, they could be closed than we think. If Goff continues to play at a high-level, Jameson Williams develops to be the player we know he can be, we stay healthy at RB, and the offensive line unit continues to do what they do then the Lions could be considered the scariest offense in the league. Regardless of the answer to my question, we're gonna be super fun to watch this season.
Thanks for the read.
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