The Lions have been up and down this season, but they still look like legitimate contenders in the NFC coming into a showdown matchup on Sunday Night Football against the Eagles. With the Lions’ inconsistency, their backfield has also shifted throughout the season with David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs still splitting time but with mixed results.
In Week 10, the Lions bounced back from a tough loss by beating the Commanders with Jahmyr Gibbs posting a monster game. David Montgomery on the other hand hasn’t gone off in a while, raising questions about his value with Gibbs commanding most of the workload. Let’s break down Montgomery’s potential this week and see if it’s time to move on from the Lions’ running back.
David Montgomery fantasy football outlook
Montgomery is still involved in the Lions’ rushing attack each week. He has at least 11 carries and one catch in three straight games and four of his last five. He has at least 8.0 fantasy points in four of his last five contests as well. His smallest workload was in Kansas City, when he had just four carries for 24 yards but still had over 8.0 fantasy points, since he caught two passes for 37 yards.
He has found the end zone five times this season, including against the Vikings in Week 9, when he had 12 fantasy points.
While his two big games were earlier in the season, he’s still getting enough work to be a solid, touchdown-dependent flex option at this point in the season.
From a snap count perspective, Montgomery is still getting plenty of opportunities. In fact, he had more snaps (38) than Gibbs (35) did in Sunday’s blowout win over the Commanders. He’s played over 30% of snaps in every game this season and is still getting plenty of touches as noted above. While Gibbs out-touched him in the red zone in Week 10, Montgomery had more touches in the red zone in Week 9 and in Week 5, so it isn’t necessarily a troubling trend.
The Bottom Line
While Gibbs has been the much more dynamic and productive option in the backfield for the Lions in the last few weeks, Montgomery is still a solid low-end RB2 or flex play in standard-sized leagues.
The real answer to if it’s time to bench him is who you have to replace him. If you have an option with higher upside, you can go for it, but it’s hard to match his consistent reliability. He hasn’t gone off in a while, but that isn’t because the opportunities aren’t there.
This week, he’s taking on the Eagles, who have been the 11th-best matchup for running backs this season. The Lions are 2.5-point underdogs on DraftKings Sportsbook in what should be one of the best games of Week 11 on Sunday Night Football. If they continue to use both running backs as they have been recently, Montgomery has touchdown-dependent fantasy upside.
Looking ahead to Week 12, Montgomery gets an even juicier matchup against the Giants, who have been the third-most generous to his position this year. He also has a very favorable Week 14 matchup against the Cowboys. In those spots, he’ll still be a flex-worthy play in most formats, and he has the potential to post a big week by getting into the end zone as the Lions work to get their offense primed for the playoffs.
