It’s that time of year once again! Football Absurdity will bring you a breakdown of every notable fantasy football-relevant player throughout June, July, and August. We continue with the running backs. Today, we take a look at David Montgomery, who is one of the last men standing who did anything significant in the Chicago Bears’ 2020 playoff appearance. The team around him looks completely different, but David Montgomery has been a steady Eddie for Chicago. What can we expect from him in our 2022 fantasy football leagues?
David Montgomery ADP and AAV:
Average Draft Position: RB16, 31 overall
Average Auction Value: $24.2
David Montgomery Statistics:
| Year | G | GS | Rush | Ru Yds | Ru TD | Tgt | Rec | Yards | TD | Touches | Opp | Total Yards |
| 2021 | 13 | 13 | 225 | 849 | 7 | 51 | 42 | 301 | 0 | 267 | 276 | 1150 |
| 2020 | 15 | 14 | 247 | 1070 | 8 | 68 | 54 | 438 | 2 | 301 | 315 | 1508 |
| 2019 | 16 | 8 | 242 | 889 | 6 | 35 | 25 | 185 | 1 | 267 | 277 | 1074 |
| Year | YPC | Rush/G | Ru Yd/G | Tgt/G | Rec/G | Catch% | Yds/Tgt | Yds/Rec | Touches/G | Opp/G | Yds/G |
| 2021 | 3.77 | 17.3 | 65.3 | 3.92 | 3.23 | 82.4% | 5.90 | 7.17 | 20.54 | 21.23 | 88.5 |
| 2020 | 4.33 | 16.5 | 71.3 | 4.53 | 3.60 | 79.4% | 6.44 | 8.11 | 20.07 | 21.00 | 100.53 |
| 2019 | 3.67 | 15.1 | 55.6 | 2.19 | 1.56 | 71.4% | 5.29 | 7.40 | 16.69 | 17.31 | 67.13 |
| Year | Std Pts | HPPR Pts | PPR Pts | Pts/G | HPPR Pts/G | PPR Pts/G | Pts/Tch | HPPR Pts/Tch | PPR Pts/Tch |
| 2021 | 153 | 174 | 195.0 | 11.77 | 13.38 | 15.0 | 0.57 | 0.65 | 0.73 |
| 2020 | 210.8 | 237.8 | 264.8 | 14.05 | 15.85 | 17.7 | 0.70 | 0.79 | 0.88 |
| 2019 | 145.4 | 157.9 | 170.4 | 9.09 | 9.87 | 10.65 | 0.54 | 0.59 | 0.64 |
2022 David Montgomery Fantasy Football Overview:
David Montgomery is an insanely solid floor play in fantasy football leagues, mostly because the man just gets a ton of touches that he turns into 1,000+ yards every single year. Since joining the NFL, he ranks eighth in 20+ touch games, with 18 such games. You might have heard of the guys ahead of him in this stat: Derrick Henry, Dalvin Cook, Ezekiel Elliott, Nick Chubb, Joe Mixon, Christian McCaffrey, and Alvin Kamara. If you don’t know those names, look them up in the first round of your fantasy draft, because all of them (except Kamara because of legal issues) are up in there. Yes, even Chubb, whose ADP is RB8 and pick 12 overall. I’m shocked, too. But, this shouldn’t really shock you, as David Montgomery is there alongside Josh Jacobs (17 20+ carry games since 2019) as solid, but unspectacular RB2 producers. And, that’s where he should land this season, as well.
David Montgomery missed four games last season, but still managed to finish in the top-ten in carries, red zone touches, goal-line carries, and inside the top-24 in receptions, rushing yards, receiving yards, targets, and evaded tackles. He’s a compiler, and by that I mean he compiles a lot of production, every dang week. To explain further, let’s look at his weekly finishes: David Montgomery finishes inside the top five twice, and outside the top 30 (not a valid flex play, even) just twice. He never finished lower than RB38, and never higher than RB2. He was a perfectly steady running back, with an average finish of RB18 on any given week.
Granted, they have a new coaching staff, so things won’t look exactly the same, especially since Khalil Herbert performed well when given an opportunity (97 yards per game in his four contests with more than five touches last season). But, at the same time, the Bears should have a more prolific running game thanks to employing elements of the 49ers’ run game, which seems to work there. So, any work lost to Herbert should get offset by having more runs at a higher efficiency clip from Montgomery. I’m also not particularly worried about Montgomery not getting touchdowns; he has 8 per season in his three years in the league, and with a guy going where he is, touchdowns are just cherries on top of decent production.
2022 David Montgomery Fantasy Football Draft Strategy:
David Montgomery Salary Cap Value: $30
Draft Ranking: Find out for your league settings in a Beersheet! (coming in early July)
David Montgomery is the perfect guy to get in the third round of your fantasy drafts, as no matter what you did in the first couple of rounds, David Montgomery will find a slot on your roster. Are you going robust running back? Get David Montgomery, he won’t bust as your RB3/flex. Did you skip RB in the first couple of rounds? Well here’s David Montgomery, an insanely steady force to buoy your RB1 slot while you try to figure out which guys to take as upside plays for your RB2 slot.
Montgomery is priced precisely this way, as well. He’s RB16 by ADP and is pick 33 on average. By salary cap (auction) draft prices, he’s $25 (one-eighth of your budget), or RB18 overall. So, he’s going right where he should for someone looking for a “solidly unspectacular” running back, which is exactly what David Montgomery should produce for you in 2022, the same thing he’s produced for you in the last three years.
Best Case Scenario:
David Montgomery balls out in the new-look Chicago Bears offense, reaching brand new heights, as he finishes the year as RB13.
Worst Case Scenario:
David Montgomery falls apart alongside the Chicago Bears offense and finishes the year as RB23.
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[Statistics are sourced from pro-football-reference.com, airyards.com, and ftnfantasy.com]
[Image Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/32/David_Montgomery_in_2019.jpg, cropped under CC BY SA 2.0]
