Bears sign David Montgomery to 4 year deal

[malagabears]

 

[beardown3231]

His early reviews have been glowing. A lot of people are comparing him to Forte. I hope it all pans out

[G08]

Adam Jahns has been RAVING about him -- I can't wait to see him in Camp!

[BACK2MACKSACK]

Even though our earliest pick was in the 3rd round, we still ended up with a potential player that can have great impact. Considering our roster doesn't have any significant holes and RB is an undervalued position, giving up that 1st round pick to get Mack wasn't that bad.

I also don't know why Josh Jacobs was rated so highly and may have been a reach with the 1st round pick we gave up. He's never proven that he can carry the load as a Bellcow RB and he's had the unfair advantage of playing behind an Alabama offensive line.

Unlike past GM's, Ryan Pace has shown that he is very stingy with draft picks. Most GM's don't hold too much value on mid to late round picks but Pace is very pragmatic with his decisions. He may not be right all the time, but you have to respect the thought process with his choices.

[soulman]

IMHO only the fact that the NFL has become more pass oriented and therefore RBs are no longer valued as highly has made Montgomery a 3rd round pick.  That's subtracts nothing from his ability as a runner.  It only means he also has to be a very good pass receiver as well and the word coming from OTAs is that he is.

[Heinz D.]

19 hours ago, beardown3231 said:

His early reviews have been glowing. A lot of people are comparing him to Forte. I hope it all pans out

He'll  be better than Forte. 

[soulman]

2 hours ago, Heinz D. said:

He'll  be better than Forte. 

In this offense I believe he will and to be better than Matt Forte is a pretty lofty goal to achieve.

[HuskieBear]

21 hours ago, G08 said:

Adam Jahns has been RAVING about him -- I can't wait to see him in Camp!

Jahns compared him to Cohen in the sense that even though they were in shorts and you can't really see how a guy is a "football player," there is a "wow" factor when the guy is on the field and that you can tell that the bears got a really good one

[Pool]

I will laugh really hard if Montgomery is better than Jacobs.

[Heinz D.]

16 hours ago, Pool said:

I will laugh really hard if Montgomery is better than Jacobs.

Prepare your ribs for some hard-laughing...

[AZBearsFan]

17 hours ago, Pool said:

I will laugh really hard if Montgomery is better than Jacobs.

Were he to get a Howard level workload I think he’s really set up to be. Scheme fit is perfect. That said, I think Jacobs is going to be really good. I think this “down year” RB class has a chance to surprise a lot of people. I’m really bullish on both Montgomery and Jacobs overall but especially given the situations in which they landed, and I think Henderson with McVey could do some special things despite seeing him as more of a complementary player overall. 

[Sugashane]

8 hours ago, AZBearsFan said:

Were he to get a Howard level workload I think he’s really set up to be. Scheme fit is perfect. That said, I think Jacobs is going to be really good. I think this “down year” RB class has a chance to surprise a lot of people. I’m really bullish on both Montgomery and Jacobs overall but especially given the situations in which they landed, and I think Henderson with McVey could do some special things despite seeing him as more of a complementary player overall. 

With the concerns over Gurley's knee they might be giving Henderson a lot more touches than we were thinking too. I'm not huge on Henderson but that WR corps is a major pain and will spread the defense out. Just 1-2 open lanes and there might be some really big plays from him.

[soulman]

15 hours ago, AZBearsFan said:

Were he to get a Howard level workload I think he’s really set up to be. Scheme fit is perfect. That said, I think Jacobs is going to be really good. I think this “down year” RB class has a chance to surprise a lot of people. I’m really bullish on both Montgomery and Jacobs overall but especially given the situations in which they landed, and I think Henderson with McVey could do some special things despite seeing him as more of a complementary player overall. 

"Really good" is mostly relative to the team who drafts you and the scheme they run.  Jordan Howard was "really good" as a rookie in Fox's offense but not so much in Nagy's.  Montgomery can be "really good" because he's a more ideal fit for the scheme as you say.

Just because this class lacked a Gurley, an Elliott, or a Barkley I don't view it as a weak class but rather a well stocked group of productive backs.  Quantity replaced 1st round quality but in many cases there isn't all that much difference.  I thing we drafted a very good RB.

[AZBearsFan]

10 hours ago, soulman said:

I thing we drafted a very good RB.

I do too, and not just because of the fit. Montgomery’s versatile skill set is a great fit for the modern pass-focused NFL in general. 

[dll2000]

I thought that kid in the video on Howard did an excellent job explaining why he struggled in Chicago with examples.  

Most run plays can be run from gun or under center with the differences coming in backfield footwork and alignments.   NFL basically does 4 running plays 95% of time.  IZ, OZ, Power and Zone Read  (Power is basically reverse zone blocking on frontside with pulling guard from backside). (Zone read is IZ except you aren't blocking one guy (usually end man on LINE OF SCRIMMAGE or EMLOS for short, but a clever coach can literally let anyone go unblocked and be the read) - the unblocked man is the QB read to give you a man blocking advantage.  Blocking scheme is same under center versus gun for same play (usually), but backfield action is a little different obviously.    

All zone blocking is in a nutshell is you double your play side gap to second level accounting for any stunts on the way.  Teams use it almost exclusively because its an easy answer to defensive stunts.  Like a double team off a basketball pick you simply switch men on a stunt.  Why all these idiot Packer fans and Twitter know nothings keep saying Gary was doubled on every play.  He wasn't doubled.  He was zone blocked in a spot that often started as a double team per zone blocking rules, but it was still almost always two guys accounting for two guys.  He was chipped on occasion.  I digress.     

Anyway, Howard had success with Fox because Fox ran a lot of zone from double TE from under center.  Nagy conversely runs most plays from gun with 3 WRs.   

It works out that you have to hit holes quicker and make quicker decisions with Nagy scheme versus Fox scheme which requires patient running that is slower developing.  

Howard ran every play from gun like he did when ball was under center, he patiently waited for hole to develop taking too much time and it didn't work.  He was too slow and not quick.  He was a very good under center zone running back.  He would have been really good for Shanahan in 90s Denver and had 1500 yard seasons, but not so much for Nagy and Bears.   

That's why I thought a very explosive back like Justice Hill would have been ideal in my mind.  But by all accounts thus far Montgomery is explosive despite his lower end 40 time (which still concerns me).  

A little tip if you ever find yourself coaching and are using zone read concepts.  If you can get QB and line to learn to let any man along LINE OF SCRIMMAGE go and be the read you can neutralize dominate players you cannot physically block.   You can't use it every play, but mix it in and it works great.