David Montgomery
I have absolutely no shame in admitting I am firmly entrenched in my seat on the David Montgomery bandwagon. While I understand the sentimentality that left some fans nervous about Jordan Howard‘s departure to the Philadelphia Eagles, those fears will be washed away before the bye week once they get a glimpse of what Montgomery will do for this team.
The rookie running back out of Iowa State has been compared to Kareem Hunt, which (from a talent standpoint at least) should really excite fans. Personal issue notwithstanding, Hunt was one of the best running backs in the league when he was on the field.
In the PFF College era, only twice has a running back forced more than 100 missed tackles on carries+receptions in a single season. And it was David Montgomery who did it both times.
— PFF (@PFF) April 13, 2019
He forced 185 missed tackles on carries alone the last 2 years.https://t.co/uq0TNCSocs pic.twitter.com/04FIVbH9Yt
Not only is he a much better receiver than Howard (both out of the backfield and split out wide) but he is infinitely more elusive than Jordan was. In his last two seasons at Iowa State, he forced an astounding 185 missed tackles.
The net effect of this will be longer, sustained drives and big plays for chunk yardage or long touchdown runs. Consider that 3rd and 8 situation where Montgomery releases out of the backfield for a dump off then beats two defenders to sneak to the sticks and out of bounds. It is something Cohen did so well last season.
While he will split carries (read not snaps) at first, he will take over the lion’s share of the running responsibilities in short order. The benefit of Montgomery is that he can stay on the field for all three downs meaning his snap count will start out and remain high for the entire season — giving him endless opportunities to make a huge impact on this season.