Notebook: Montgomery Opens Up About Mental Health Struggles

Notes on David Montgomery, Josh Paschal and kicker Brandon Aubrey.

Detroit Lions running back David Montgomery (5). / Eamon Horwedel-Imagn Images

Detroit Lions running back David Montgomery has excelled in the early stretch of his time with the organization.

Signing a three-year deal last offseason, Montgomery had over 1,000 rushing yards a year ago and has enjoyed a good start to his second campaign with the team. However, there were times in his career where it wasn't as easy to recognize his success.

During an appearance on SI's fantasy football podcast, Fantasy Dirt, the running back shared the mental health struggles he had to overcome early in his career.

"When I was a rookie, I had a real, real stressful time in the league," Montgomery said."I was at a point where I would have this suicidal thought and it was just a depression. It was just a depression. It was just a depression and a scary year for me. And unfortunately, the people in fantasy were kind of helping me be aided to feeling that way. And I was at a point where I was scared to live."

Montgomery explained in the interview that a phone call from his nephew helped him overcome what he faced, which stemmed from treatment from fantasy football managers who were upset with his performance.

"And I was in a very dark place, a very dark place," Montgomery said. "And from that point on, hearing my nephew's voice, I made a vow to myself and a promise to myself that I would never, ever allow anybody else to have that much control over my mind, my body to make me feel like I wasn't worth anything or valued in a light to where I had a purpose on this Earth."

Glenn expects more from Josh Paschal

When Marcus Davenport suffered a season-ending injury in Week 3, defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn turned to third-year Kentucky product Josh Paschal to fill the void.

Not known for his pass rush prowess, Paschal more closely resembles a physical edge-setter. He did have three pressures against the Seahawks in Week 4, but Glenn still is working to get the most out of Paschal as they enter a grueling stretch.

"That's something that I've talked about when Davenport went down. He was gonna have to step up," Glenn said. "I expect more from that player, also. And he expects more from himself. Yes, he did a really good job against Seattle, but we have to consistently be able to do that week in and week out. I'm looking forward to seeing how he's gonna come out this week, and I know he's gonna do a good job. He's practicing his butt off, he's learning a lot from Hutch, and those guys put in a lot of time together on how they want to operate and how they want to rush the passer."

Pressuring Brandon Aubrey

The Cowboys have one of the league's best kickers at their disposal in Brandon Aubrey. The second-year kicker is 50-of-54 in his career, with a 17-of-18 mark of kicks beyond 50 yards.

Lions' special teams coordinator Dave Fipp explained what his team's special teams units can do on field goal block to put pressure on the talented kicker.

"You just try to apply pressure to him," Fipp said. "Force them to execute efficiently and protect it the right way. Make the guy kick on time and make him kick a certain trajectory ball, and then you put as much pressure on him as you can for him to execute. Then, ultimately, if they go out there and execute like they've done a good job of, he's done a good job of, then he ends up making a lot of kicks."

Taylor Decker, David Montgomery set third quarter tone

Over the last two years of Ben Johnson's tenure as offensive coordinator, the third quarter has been a time where the offense has struggled. However, against Seattle in Week 4, the tone was set by Montgomery's 40-yard bruising catch-and-run.

On the play, Taylor Decker took out several Seahawks defenders with his blocking. Additionally, the Lions had several skill position players blocking down the field on the run.

"You talk about our poor third quarters," Johnson said. "When you have a play like that to start off our third quarter, you know we're just gonna start rolling from there. From D-Mo to Decker to the skill guys blocking downfield, that was really impressive to watch."