The Detroit Lions and former Chicago Bears running back David Montgomery reached an agreement on a three-year, $18 million deal that included $11 million guaranteed, a source told ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Tuesday.
With Montgomery’s departure, the Bears signed former Seattle Seahawks running back Travis Homer to a two-year deal worth a maximum of $4.5 million, according to his agent, Spencer Cannold.
The 25-year-old Montgomery joins a Lions running back corps that scored a league-leading 23 rushing touchdowns last season, including a league-best 17 by Jamal Williams and five by De’Andre Swift. Williams enters this offseason as an unrestricted free agent, while Swift remains under contract until 2023, the final year of his rookie deal.
In a weighted class of free agent running backs, Montgomery had the 10th-most rushing yards (801) and fifth in receiving yards (316) among those players. He generated his highest yards per catch (9.3) in 2022 and recorded his first touchdown since his second season in Chicago.
Montgomery was drafted in the third round of the 2019 NFL Draft with the 73rd overall pick by former Bears general manager Ryan Pace. In four seasons with Chicago, Montgomery totaled 3,609 rushing yards and 26 touchdowns, along with 1,240 receiving yards and four TD receptions.
From 2019 to 2021, Montgomery led the Bears in rushing and posted a career-best 1,070 rushing yards in 2020, when an injury to former Chicago running back Tarik Cohen allowed Montgomery to emerge as the team’s top rusher.
Perhaps his greatest on-field attribute is his ability to stay healthy while playing through an injury-prone situation. Over four seasons, Montgomery appeared in 60 games and missed only six due to injury. In 2022, the running back sustained an ankle and knee injury during a Week 3 victory over the Houston Texans and missed only one game as a result.
At the conclusion of the 2022 season, Bears general manager Ryan Poles praised Montgomery for his contributions on the field and leadership that helped save the locker room during a 3–14 season.
Homer, the Seahawks’ sixth-round pick in 2019, has seen limited time on the field, totaling 453 yards and a touchdown on 83 carries over four seasons.
ESPN’s Courtney Cronin contributed to this report.
