Montgomery as Bears' "workhorse" this year?
https://247sports.com/college/iowa-...xvwfuMNvpJZYFKFfEL9iclfQnM91NqmePGdstULsY2eks
Montgomery enters the season as the primary back and is expected to take the majority of the workload. Cohen will get his fair share of snaps but will be primarily used as a gadget back, just like Nagy wants to deploy him as. With some uncertainty at the third running back position, it makes Montgomery and Cohen's even bigger. The big question now is, can Montgomery be that bell-cow back for the Bears in 2020?
Bears offensive coordinator Bill Lazor is confident Montgomery can take that next step and can't wait to see him on the field.
"I think for a young to come in and play as well as he did is not easy so that's an impressive feat and everything he said now tells you that he's serious about what that jump is going to be from Year 1 to Year 2, which we've all seen young players make," Lazor said. "So I'm excited about it. I'm excited to see how he works on the practice field and his level of detail. That's the thing, oftentimes, for those second-year players, now that they've kind of got their feet on solid ground with some of just the small things of that atmosphere they're in, now they can really turn it to those details. And so I'm excited on the practice field to see how he attacks that."
For Montgomery, he showed some flashes of why the Bears were so high on him and traded up to draft him in the third round of the 2019 NFL Draft. The one thing that stood out the most was how he kept his feet moving. Often times it took multiple players to bring him down and finish the tackle. He kept those feet churning and fell forward when finally being brought down. The running back even picked up an off-field honor, being named the rookie recipient of the Brian Piccolo Award, a prestigious honor for the franchise.
That's the good in his game from his rookie season but looking at the tape, there were also times where he struggled. One thing to point out was how he hesitated to find a running lane and get through it. Making defenders miss with sharp cuts was also something that he needed to work on to improve his overall game.
This past offseason, Montgomery has been working on his footwork to get quicker and make sharper cuts. A few different videos of Montgomery with his trainer were posted to social media and he looks to be working hard. However, that has to translate to the field and is vastly different at NFL game speed.
“Just for David, he’s a very highly-motivated individual. He’s a self-starter. He’s probably his own worst critic," coach Charles London said. "I think he learned a lot of lessons his rookie year and I think he feels like he has so much more he can do, so much more that he can be into this offense, and I know he’s ready to do it. He’s out there working hard, he’s working out a few times a day. I just think just his growth from his rookie year to his second year, I think you’ll see him take a tremendous jump there.”
https://247sports.com/college/iowa-...xvwfuMNvpJZYFKFfEL9iclfQnM91NqmePGdstULsY2eks
Montgomery enters the season as the primary back and is expected to take the majority of the workload. Cohen will get his fair share of snaps but will be primarily used as a gadget back, just like Nagy wants to deploy him as. With some uncertainty at the third running back position, it makes Montgomery and Cohen's even bigger. The big question now is, can Montgomery be that bell-cow back for the Bears in 2020?
Bears offensive coordinator Bill Lazor is confident Montgomery can take that next step and can't wait to see him on the field.
"I think for a young to come in and play as well as he did is not easy so that's an impressive feat and everything he said now tells you that he's serious about what that jump is going to be from Year 1 to Year 2, which we've all seen young players make," Lazor said. "So I'm excited about it. I'm excited to see how he works on the practice field and his level of detail. That's the thing, oftentimes, for those second-year players, now that they've kind of got their feet on solid ground with some of just the small things of that atmosphere they're in, now they can really turn it to those details. And so I'm excited on the practice field to see how he attacks that."
For Montgomery, he showed some flashes of why the Bears were so high on him and traded up to draft him in the third round of the 2019 NFL Draft. The one thing that stood out the most was how he kept his feet moving. Often times it took multiple players to bring him down and finish the tackle. He kept those feet churning and fell forward when finally being brought down. The running back even picked up an off-field honor, being named the rookie recipient of the Brian Piccolo Award, a prestigious honor for the franchise.
That's the good in his game from his rookie season but looking at the tape, there were also times where he struggled. One thing to point out was how he hesitated to find a running lane and get through it. Making defenders miss with sharp cuts was also something that he needed to work on to improve his overall game.
This past offseason, Montgomery has been working on his footwork to get quicker and make sharper cuts. A few different videos of Montgomery with his trainer were posted to social media and he looks to be working hard. However, that has to translate to the field and is vastly different at NFL game speed.
“Just for David, he’s a very highly-motivated individual. He’s a self-starter. He’s probably his own worst critic," coach Charles London said. "I think he learned a lot of lessons his rookie year and I think he feels like he has so much more he can do, so much more that he can be into this offense, and I know he’s ready to do it. He’s out there working hard, he’s working out a few times a day. I just think just his growth from his rookie year to his second year, I think you’ll see him take a tremendous jump there.”
