After being drafted by the Chicago Bears in the third round of the 2019 NFL Draft, David Montgomery finds himself as an impending free agent early in the 2023 offseason. In four seasons with Chicago, the Iowa State product accumulated nearly 4,850 total yards and exactly 30 total touchdowns under his rookie contract. That puts Montgomery in the top 20 all-purpose yardage leaders since 2019, as well as a top 10 rusher in that time period.
However, now, with Montgomery closing out his rookie deal, Ryan Poles and Ian Cunningham need to decide on how to handle the running back position. Do they bring David Montgomery back? Do they hand the reins over to Khalil Herbert who showed how explosive he can be at times? Is Trestan Ebner even in the team’s vision for the future outside of a role player and special-teamer? As you can see, there are plenty of options here.
What will the Chicago Bears do at the running back position?
The only downside we might see is if teams look to franchise tag their own running backs and the top names don’t even hit free agency. I think a few will squeak through, but it is possible that one or two names are scratched off the Chicago Bears board before they even have a chance to sit down and negotiate. Teams could also re-sign their own players before free agency opens on March 15, 2023 (the legal-tampering period begins March 13).
Let’s take a look at how the Chicago Bears can somewhat control the running back market in 2023.
Should the Chicago Bears re-sign David Montgomery?
Montgomery has been a big part of the Chicago Bears offense, especially in 2022, when the running back was a huge factor in the league’s most prolific rushing unit. However, with Montgomery, and a number of other high-quality backs set to become free agents, this may be an opportunity for the Chicago Bears to make their rushing attack even more dangerous in 2023 and beyond.
This offseason, a number of high-profile running backs will likely hit free agency — including Saquon Barkley, Josh Jacobs, Tony Pollard, Miles Sanders, Kareem Hunt, and of course, David Montgomery. Will David Montgomery come back to the Bears on a team-friendly deal or could Ryan Poles even franchise tag him to keep him around? Both are an option.
In recent years, there has been an anti-running back movement. Meaning that teams are less willing to spend a lot of money and/or a high draft pick on a running back. This has been happening for a couple of reasons. First, there is a widely accepted mentality that running backs generally have shorter “primes” where they can be reliably healthy.
Secondly, teams have enjoyed the recent success of backs drafted in the latter rounds, or not at all — Alvin Kamara, Austin Ekeler, and Aaron Jones. A perfect example is the Kansas City Chiefs, who just won the Super Bowl with Isaiah Pacheco serving as their primary back, who the team drafted in the seventh round just a year ago.
Chicago Bears can make a big splash at running back this offseason
While running back is certainly considered a “luxury” position, in that it might not be the most important but can elevate a good offense into a great one, (look at the 49ers after trading for Christian McCaffrey), the Chicago Bears have plenty of cap room to splurge on one of these big-name backs.
David Montgomery, who may be willing to take a hometown discount in order to return to Chicago, is a solid option. However, how much more explosive is the Bears’ offense next year with Saquon Barkley as the lead back?
Certainly, adding a dominant running back would not only give Justin Fields another option out of the backfield in the passing game, but it would provide some relief for Fields as a runner. Teams would have to prepare for a more dominant and explosive run game. Watch out!
The Chicago Bears will do their due diligence this offseason when looking at free-agent running backs as well as those in the NFL Draft, but if the team decided to go after one of the top names on the market, there is no team that would be able to out-bid the Bears in free agency.
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David Montgomery, who played very well over the past four years in Chicago, may very well end up being the team’s backup option this year, but I would be surprised if the team didn’t try to make a big splash in order to try to improve this position even further.