The Lions might have some reasons to be concerned with David Montgomery right now, and the future is in question

What’s going on with David Montgomery and should the Lions really be worried?

Mike Payton — Detroit Lions Beat Writer
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The thing about box scores is that they don’t tell the whole story. You might look at David Montgomery’s performance in the Detroit Lions’ win over the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday and think that 65 yards and a touchdown isn’t bad.

But Montgomery struggled in this game. That wasn’t the only time he had a rough go this season.

Should the Lions be concerned about David Montgomery?

Let’s start here and say yes, a little bit. But don’t freak out. A few weeks ago, Montgomery had a big 151-yard and two-touchdown game against the Ravens. So it’s easy to just focus on that and think everything has been great this season. Take that game away, and Montgomery has run for 159 yards in four games. In the last two weeks, he’s had instances in which he ran for 12 yards on nine carries.

That was his total in Week 4 against the Browns. Before Montgomery started to separate a bit from the Bengals, that’s what he was at in the third quarter. Just a little runs here and there. He eventually broke the 19-yard run and then the 8-yard touchdown run.

At the end of the day, Jahmyr Gibbs is getting his number called more, and he’s playing better. It was to be expected that Montgomery’s numbers would be lower. That’s why nobody should really freak out over this. But it’s ok to talk about.

This all makes you think a bit about the future. It’s clear that Sione Vaki is expected to have a bigger role as a running back at some point; he just needs to get over these soft tissue injuries that are killing him right now. But when he’s on the field with the ball in his hands, you see the vision for him.

Then, when you look at Montgomery’s contract, you can see the significant drop in dead cap after this season to the point the Lions can essentially have an out any time they want, while the cap hit only goes up.

I’m not saying this is guaranteed to be his last season in Detroit. I’m not saying that at all. What I am saying is that the Lions have plans, and Montgomery can throw a wrench into those plans by turning things around and getting back to his usual self. We don’t have any reason to believe he can’t do that.

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