FootyChatter.com

NFL NFL Free Agency David Montgomery gave the Lions 33 TDs in three seasons and the running back had plenty of good things to say after news of his trade to Houston. Junfu Han / Imagn Images For three seasons, David Montgomery formed one half of the NFL’s best running back tandem. A player whose physicality and running style epitomized what it meant to play like the current iteration of these Detroit Lions, Montgomery was a fan favorite and core player on some of the winningest teams in franchise history. Advertisement His sudden departure, traded to the Houston Texans on Monday, marks a chapter closed for both parties. “It’s hard to find the right words for a goodbye like this, ” Montgomery wrote in a statement shared on Instagram on Monday. “Detroit has never just been a location to me — it’s been a community. And you all have been more than supporters or a team. You’ve been steady hands, loud cheers, honest feedback, and quiet strength when I needed it most. You believed in me when things were uncertain. You stood beside me through challenges. You showed up — consistently, fiercely, unapologetically. There is something special about the people here. The resilience. The loyalty. The way you don’t just support someone — you ride with them. “I have felt that from each of you, and I will never take that lightly. This isn’t goodbye because something ended. It’s goodbye because something grew. And growth sometimes calls us forward. ” Before Montgomery and the Lions move forward, let’s take things back to the 2023 offseason. The Lions were a team on the rise, searching for ways to improve the roster as they entered a competitive window. Coaches and team officials discussed a desire to maximize their run game behind one of the league’s best offensive lines. Montgomery, a free agent after the Bears let him walk, hit the open market. These two parties found each other. Then, they each ascended. The Lions overhauled their backfield that offseason, signing Montgomery to a three-year deal, then drafting Jahmyr Gibbs 12th overall. At the time, running backs were devalued across the league. The Lions’ decision to invest significant resources into the position was criticized, then later heralded when the vision crystallized. From 2023-25, Montgomery rushed for 2, 506 yards and 33 TDs — sixth among his position. Among running backs with at least 350 rush attempts during that span, Montgomery ranked fourth in offensive rushing success rate. He was often tasked with setting the tone and finishing games. Stylistically, he was a dream fit with Gibbs in Detroit’s backfield. As a tandem, they totaled 8, 185 yards from scrimmage and 82 touchdowns. They made opposing defenses pick their poison as a dynamic 1-2 punch. They earned commercial opportunities, leaning into the nickname “Sonic and Knuckles. ” A remarkable three-year run for a duo that will go down as one of the NFL’s best in recent memory. Advertisement That’s why it’s hard to pinpoint exactly when it happened — the shift in energy. If you ask Montgomery, he might tell you it began in December 2024. An MCL injury forced him to miss the final three games of the regular season. Without him, Gibbs cemented himself as one of the game’s most-feared weapons, totaling 487 scrimmage yards and six touchdowns as the lead back in Montgomery’s absence. The Lions went 3-0 in that span — clinching the NFC’s No. 1 seed on the back of a four-touchdown effort from Gibbs vs. the Vikings in the regular-season finale. In training camp a year ago, Montgomery said missing those three games the previous season gave him the sense that people forgot him. His words told the story of a player who felt overlooked and underappreciated, ahead of a season of personal frustration. “This has probably been the hungriest that I have been, ” Montgomery said. “Because I felt like a lot of people kind of forget that I’m here in the offense, too. I’m not here to prove anybody wrong, I’m here to prove myself right and be the best teammate that I can be. But I definitely got a big chip on my shoulder. ” “Believe me, he is not forgotten, ” Lions coach Dan Campbell said days later. “We know exactly who he is, where he is, and what he’s capable of. ” Around that time, though, it was clear the Lions were quietly preparing Gibbs to become the featured back in their offense. Gibbs took the majority of the first reps with the starting offense in training camp, when previously, Montgomery would take the field first. When asked in August if he envisions an equal workload distribution between Gibbs and Montgomery, then-OC John Morton simply said, “We’ll see. ” When the season arrived, we saw it. Gibbs outpaced Montgomery in offensive snaps (737 to 408), touches (320 to 182) and rush attempts (243 to 158). Montgomery ran for a career-low 716 yards, as Morton and Campbell struggled to find him touches on a consistent basis. In 2023-24, Montgomery ranked ninth in first-quarter rush attempts per game. He fell to 49th in 2025. Advertisement Part of the reason for his decline in production can be attributed to the offensive line. The retirement of Frank Ragnow and the free-agency departure of Kevin Zeitler made it difficult for the team to run between the tackles and protect QB Jared Goff. They fell behind in games against teams with formidable defensive lines and found themselves playing from behind more than in previous years. That game flow worked in Gibbs’ favor. Montgomery totaled just 12 total touches in the fourth quarters of the eight games the Lions lost in 2025 (46th among RBs). Gibbs totaled 34 (11th). “I mean, David is a pro, ” Campbell said in December. “David’s a pro. He goes about his business, he handles it. I know that’s not easy. That’s not easy. … I know it’s not easy, but he’s a pro. ” Montgomery is a pro. He’s also a perceptive soul. The type to internalize actions over words. The energy he dishes out is often a product of the energy he receives — or rather, perceives. So while the Lions publicly said all the right things, their actions said something else. As such, Montgomery’s late-season body language mirrored that of a player ready for a change of scenery. When the year concluded, Lions GM Brad Holmes said the organization would have more in-depth conversations about the best plan for him — seemingly open to a trade if things continued down this path. And at the NFL combine, Holmes suggested that the Lions wanted to make things work with Montgomery and were in contact with his agent, but made sure to say the quiet part out loud. “We would love to have him, ” Holmes said. “Kind of want to put last year in the rearview and just move forward. But a player has to want to be at a certain place as well. ” As we know now, that place is Houston. As word of Montgomery’s displeasure trickled out from the combine, it didn’t take long for the Lions to make a move — trading Montgomery to the Texans in exchange for a fourth-round pick, a seventh-round pick and interior offensive lineman Juice Scruggs. The Texans were reportedly Montgomery’s desired destination, and the Lions will need to fill the void he leaves behind — either in the draft or free agency. All things considered, the Lions received a strong haul for a seemingly disgruntled running back set to enter his age-29 season. Advertisement But the deal itself still marks the abrupt ending of a chapter in team history that should be looked back on fondly. It seems like Montgomery will, as he departs an organization he helped transform. “Please know this: Everything I do next carries a piece of Detroit with it, ” Montgomery wrote Monday. “The work ethic. The edge. The heart. Thank you for trusting me. Thank you for pushing me. Thank you for walking this chapter with me. I’m beyond grateful — and I’ll always be proud to say I was shaped by this city and by you. With appreciation and respect, Dmoe. ” Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle Colton Pouncy is a staff writer for The Athletic covering the Detroit Lions. He previously covered Michigan State football and basketball for the company, and covered sports for The Tennessean in Nashville prior to joining The Athletic. Follow Colton on Twitter @colton_pouncy