Detroit Lions, David Montgomery agree on 3-year, $18M deal
The Detroit Lions and former Chicago Bears operating again David Montgomery reached settlement on a three-year, $18 million deal, together with $11 million assured, a supply informed ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
Montgomery, 25, joins a Lions operating again corps that scored a league-leading 23 speeding touchdowns final season, together with a league-leading 17 by Jamaal Williams and 5 by D’Andre Swift. Williams enters this offseason as an unrestricted free agent, whereas Swift stays below contract by 2023, on the final 12 months of his rookie deal.
In a loaded class of free-agent operating backs, Montgomery had the Tenth-most speeding yards (801) and was fifth in receiving (316) yards of these gamers. He generated his highest yards per catch (9.3) in 2022 and recorded his first receiving landing since his second season in Chicago.
Montgomery was drafted by former Bears basic supervisor Ryan Pace with the 73rd general choose within the third spherical of the 2019 NFL draft. In 4 seasons with Chicago, Montgomery totaled 3,609 speeding yards and 26 touchdowns together with 1,240 receiving yards and 4 TD receptions.
From 2019-21, Montgomery led the Bears in speeding and posted a career-best 1,070 speeding yards in 2020 when an harm to former Chicago operating again Tarik Cohen allowed Montgomery to emerge because the workforce’s high rusher.
Perhaps his largest on-field attribute is his capability to remain wholesome whereas taking part in a place notoriously related to harm. In 4 seasons, Montgomery appeared in 60 video games and solely missed six as a result of harm. In 2022, the operating again sustained ankle and knee accidents throughout a Week 3 win over Houston and solely missed one sport consequently.
At the conclusion of the 2022 season, Bears basic supervisor Ryan Poles praised Montgomery for his contributions on the sphere and management that helped insulate the locker room throughout a 3-14 season.
ESPN’s Courtney Cronin contributed to this report.