Chicago Bears: 5 NFL comparisons to David Montgomery through 2 seasons
1. Todd Gurley
Remember when people in Chicago used to compare the Bears to the Rams all the time? Sean McVay and Matt Nagy, Wade Phillips and Vic Fangio. The young, but not very promising highly drafted QB. The Rams got to the Super Bowl, and the Bears thought they had the same recipe.
Trubisky and Goff did not work, and the hope is that Montgomery does not fall off like Todd Gurley in the past few years. However, through two seasons, they arguably have the most comparable metrics.
| Rush | Rush | Rush | Rush | Rece | Rece | Rece | Rece | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rk | Player | AV | G | Att | Yds | TD | Y/A | Rec | Yds | TD | Y/R |
| 1 | Todd Gurley | 12 | 29 | 507 | 1991 | 16 | 3.9 | 64 | 515 | 0 | 8.0 |
| 2 | David Montgomery | 15 | 31 | 489 | 1959 | 14 | 4.0 | 79 | 623 | 3 | 7.9 |
Montgomery has 18 fewer carries, for 32 fewer yards and two touchdowns. He has 15 more catches, but for 108 more yards. Montgomery also has a few more receiving TDs.
Of course, for Gurley, his first season was before Jared Goff and was with Jeff Fisher, so it took him time to explode. Montgomery got better from year one to year two, while Gurley regressed. Still, year one of Gurley is similar to year two Montgomery, and year two Gurley is like year one Montgomery.
Both players would be better off with an explosive addition to the offense, and while Gurley got Sean McVay, Robert Woods, Brandin Cooks, Andrew Whitworth, and more, Montgomery now gets Justin Fields.
Next. Film Review: 5 concerns with Justin Fields. dark
The issue with the Gurley comparison is that the next two seasons featured over 1,200 yards but after that came injuries, cuts, and him being a free agent currently.
Still, Gurley had injuries back to college, and Montgomery has not had issues yet. Still, this will be worth revisiting after year three, because that is when contract talk starts.