After securing the No. 1 seed in the NFC and a first-round bye with a convincing win over the Vikings in Week 18, the Lions received some huge news Tuesday. After missing the last three games with an MCL injury, David Montgomery is expected to be available for the divisional round next week, per Lions head coach Dan Campbell.
While Jahmyr Gibbs has flourished in a more featured role with Montgomery sidelined, the return of the veteran helps Detroit’s offense as a whole and certainly helps its chances of winning the Super Bowl. Gibbs and Montgomery are the best running back duo in the NFL when healthy and in the 14 games they have played together this season, the Lions have produced 143.7 rushing yards per game and they have rushed for 23 touchdowns.
Fantasy-wise, Montgomery’s return hurts Gibbs’ value, as the two backs should go back to a near split timeshare. In the 14 games they have both been active for this season, Gibbs has led the way with 54% of the snaps, but he has only seen one more carry than Montgomery and the veteran has out-carried Gibbs 49-33 in the red zone. However, Gibbs does have the edge over Montgomery in the passing game, with the former seeing an 11% target share and 52% route rate in the 14 games they have both been active for, compared to a 9% target share and 31% route rate for Montgomery. Overall, in those 14 contests together, Montgomery is scoring 15.9 FPTS per game while Gibbs is scoring 19.5 FPTS per game, which is a significant drop from the eye-popping 35.6 FPTS per game Gibbs has produced with Montgomery on the shelf.
In the wake of the news that Montgomery will be back for the Lions’ postseason run, they now carry the best odds to win the Super Bowl on DraftKings Sportsbook at +280.
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