David Montgomery
Houston TexansDavid Montgomery has 52 carries for 138 yards, 2 rushing touchdowns and 7 catches for 48 yards in 5 games for the Houston Texans this season through Week 8, 8.7 PPR points a game (updated November 4, 2026).
Model Score by season
Up 2.0 from last season.
How good he is at what he is supposed to be doing, out of 100. Not a projection of what he will do next, and not a read on his contract. Median is about 70, and a 95 is rare. How it is built →
STM Take
A short-yardage hammer whose mileage is finally showing.
The case for
- 59 career rushing TDs and 231 catches on 1,890 receiving yards; the dual-threat profile travels.
- Detroit's red-zone hammer role for three years means he holds short-yardage value even with the rank drop.
The worry
- Three straight years of rank decline: tier 2 → tier 4 → tier 7; the trajectory is clear.
- 4.1 career YPC is mid-pack; efficiency was already trending down before the 2025 collapse.
What to watch: Whether Houston gives him short-yardage and goal-line work behind Joe Mixon, or whether the role compresses to backup snaps.
Full take and bio
Montgomery's drop to STTM #26 tier 7 in 2025 (from #15 tier 4 in 2024 and #8 tier 2 in 2023) is a clear three-year decline that ends the Sonic-Knuckles era in Detroit. The 2025 game log peaks at 14.3 PPR with multiple sub-7 PPR weeks; the late-career mileage is finally showing. The Houston move resets the role.
Montgomery was born in Cincinnati and was an Eagle Scout. He played three years at Iowa State as a two-time first-team All-American, and Chicago took him 73rd overall in the 2019 NFL Draft. He signed with Detroit in 2023 and became the "Knuckles" half of the Sonic and Knuckles backfield with Jahmyr Gibbs. He has 6,115 career rushing yards, 59 rushing TDs, and 231 catches. He signed with Houston for 2026.
Comps
The players whose size, testing and production looked most like his at the same point in their careers. The percent is how close.
Plays like: Dameon Pierce, Rudi Johnson, Chris Wells. Built like: Dameon Pierce, La'Mical Perine, Stevan Ridley. Coming out: Gartrell Johnson, Alfred Morris, Corey Clement.
Of his 20 closest coming out: 2 stars, 0 starters, 17 backups, 1 didn't stick.
David Montgomery Injury StatusQuestionable
David Montgomery is listed Questionable (Groin), reported Nov 2. Source: the official NFL injury report, refreshed daily.
This season · 5 games
8.7 fantasy points a game, 44 PPR on the season. Every game on the Game Log, every season on Career. Advanced numbers are EPA and Next Gen Stats.
Contract2026 cap
Every year of the deal, the dead money and what a cut or trade saves on the Contract tab.
Fantasy outlookWeek 9
Our rest-of-season board has David Montgomery at RB30 (the public consensus says RB34); the model has 102 PPR points left for him this season.
Price a trade for him on the fantasy trade calculator, or see the whole board on the Fantasy hub.
Draft & College
Round 3, pick 73 to the Chicago Bears in 2019, out of Iowa State (Big 12). He went about where consensus had him.
In college, 2016-2018, 37 games: 2,988 rush yds, 26 TD, 4.8 yds/carry, 71 rec. Coming out: 4.63s 40 yd, 15 reps bench, 28.5" vertical, 121" broad.
Recruited
Class of 2016 · Running back · High school: Mt. Healthy, Cincinnati, OH
Iowa StateHis full list of offers is not on our record yet; offers for the 2016 class are still being added.