No Mention of David Montgomery

Bears running back David Montgomery enters a contract year and already the slights have begun as he wasn't mentioned among 16 running backs in an ESPN-plus survey and study ranking the top 10 backs.

David Montgomery finished fifth in rushing in 2020, has been top 10 in attempts the last two seasons and twice was in the top 10 at breaking tackles.

Yet, the Bears running back is not among the top 16 backs in the league according to a project conducted by ESPN-plus and Jeremy Fowler, with the help of analyst Matt Bowen.

The study ranked backs according to a vote of 50 NFL people, either players, coaches, scouts or personnel people, and the ranking was also based on film study and interviews.

Montgomery wasn't among the top 10 named or the sixth other players who failed to get into the top 10.

Tennessee's Derrick Henry rated No. 1 at the position, followed by Indianapolis Colts back Jonathan Taylor. The others in the top 10 were: 3) Cleveland's Nick Chubb; 4) Minnesota's Dalvin Cook; 5) New Orleans' Alvin Kamara; 6) Cincinnati's Joe Mixon; 7) Carolina's Christian McCaffrey; 8) Pittsburgh's Najee Harris; 9) Green Bay's Aaron Jones; 10) Denver's Javonte Williams. The other backs who received support were named as Austin Ekeler of the Chargers, Dallas' Ezekiel Elliott, the Giants' Saquon Barkley, Josh Jacobs of the Raiders, Miles Sanders of the Eagles and Antonio Gibson of the Commanders.

Apparently production wasn't required.

Barkley has gained 627 yards total for the last two seasons while battling injuries, including an ACL tear.

McCaffrey has 667 rushing yards the last two years because of injuries and now is in Year 6.

Ekeler went over 557 yards for the first time in a five-year career last year.

Williams has had one season and gained 903 yards.

Sanders has been in the league the same number of years as Montgomery and in no season has he outrushed Montgomery. He has 17 fewer pass receptions than Montgomery.

Cook is a great threat and has missed an average of five games a season.

While putting Montgomery in the top 10 would have been stretching it, getting his name into the mix at least seems logical.

Montgomery would probably be the last to point out the other backs' shortcomings who received votes instead of him.

"I've never been about proving anybody wrong, it's always about proving myself right," he said during the offseason.

It shapes up as a key season for Montgomery, mainly because he doesn't have a contract extension yet and has a new coaching staff. The buzz hasn't been there about a new deal for him the way there has for linebacker Roquan Smith, although team board chairman George McCaskey seemed to like what the former Iowa State back has done and singled him out for praise along with Smith when the Bears fired coach Matt Nagy and GM Ryan Pace at the end of last season.

Montgomery does have something to prove this year as he had been averaging 4.48 yards per rush for four games, including games against each Super Bowl team, then suffered a knee sprain and after his return averaged only 3.46 yards per rush for the remainder of the season. He had been averaging 1.17 yards more per reception before the injury, as well.

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