3 areas where David Montgomery must improve for Chicago Bears
1. Chicago Bears need David Montgomery to improve in Receiving game
While David Montgomery is not known as a pass-catching back, he is arguably one of the worst at it in the NFL. That is not going to fly if he wants a contract. He has to at least be adequate here. Montgomery averages just 0.98 yards per route run. To be fair, his rookie season of 0.77 is dragging him down, but his last two seasons are at just 1.06 and 1.04.
Last season he ranked 48th in yards per route run out of 68 running backs who qualified as pass catchers. To be fair to him he ranks 29th in drop rate, which means that he is not dropping passes. Still, he ranks 53rd in yards after the catch, so we know the true culprit.
It is easy to say that Montgomery was hurt by his offense and that the quarterbacks he played with did not set him up to create after the catch. He caught his targets and did what he had to do.
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Still, the lack of yards after the catch is too correlated to the lack of yards after contact, and the lack of explosive runs. David Montgomery is a good running back, but without the ability to rip off big runs after getting hit, and rip off big runs by hitting the hole with speed, he is not going to be worth the big-money extension. Keep this in mind as Montgomery enters a pivotal training camp.