Before we get started, let's take a look at how his combine went.
Unless you're scouting him for the UFC and really want a great wingspan, the athletic traits are not going to wow you. The poor 40 yard dash was not all that surprising and didn't hurt him as much, because he is a bigger back. The vertical jump was hilariously bad as I might be able to jump 28.5 inches (okay, I can't, but maybe ten years ago I could), but I don't know a single person who gives a crap about vertical jump for running backs. The broad jump is excellent, especially when you factor in his size. And the 3-cone drill and 20-yard shuttle would have been the most interesting to see him perform, because I do think that would have highlighted his quickness and agility.
The first thing that stood out to me was his balance. This is where the title of this piece came from, as he can take hits, make cuts, and spin off defenders while still staying upright.
Texas has nine guys in the box. All they want to do is stop David Montgomery, and with the safety darting in, they have the play dead to rights. The safety spears his right shin, and somehow Montgomery just bounces back a yard and darts outside. He shows good acceleration to beat the edge defender around to the outside before finally getting pushed out after gaining seven yards on what should have been a two-yard loss.
Here, he sees a single hole that quickly gets filled by the Texas linebacker, but that isn't going to stop Montgomery on 2nd and 3.
Despite the linebacker covering the only available area along the line of scrimmage, Montgomery is able to spin inside and drag the linebacker for three yards to get the first down. He just has an innate ability to find any crease that may exist.
Here he has a play that is designed to go inside, Montgomery analyzes the situation and bounces it outside. After that, what he does is simply not fair.
After bouncing outside, he puts a stupid juke on Amani Hooker (coincidentally, the player I wanted the Bears to take in the third round) before finally being drug down by an ankle tackle by an Iowa linebacker after gaining 13 yards. This is a play where so many backs never see that hole to their left, and even after making that cut, most guys are getting about three yards with a pretty reliable tackler in Hooker filling the hole. Montgomery is not most running backs.
I don't know if there is 5% of professional running backs who could do this.
Any other player is running into that linebacker as it's damn near impossible to stop your momentum at that point after the catch. Montgomery slips while making the cut (because it's damn near impossible), but it helps him pick up an additional six yards while the Iowa linebacker is busy hugging air. An underrated part of this play but maybe even more appealing for the Bears coaching staff is the way that he catches the ball by framing his hands away from his body as opposed to body catching it. It's that technique that will make him a reliable pass catcher out of the backfield.
Speaking of the passing game, he is at least a willing pass blocker.
He does let the defender get under his pads which initially pushes him back, but he shows good balance by staying upright, resetting his feet and stopping the defender after that. The big thing that I liked to see is he kept his head up while blocking, because many running backs do not seem to think it's a good idea to see the guy they are trying to block.
His ability to stop and start is top notch.
There are two Texas defenders in the only hole available to him, and what he does here is purposeful hesitation. He freezes BOTH defenders before juking to his right and using a stiff arm to keep distance from the first defender.
If you're looking to nitpick the guy, the 40 yard dash is indicative of his lack of breakaway speed, but other than that, everything else you'd want to see is there. Vision, quickness, power, patience, and ability as a receiver, I'm a BIG, BIG fan. The craziest thing about the clips that I showed for Montgomery is that these were from his two worst games of the season. He had a combined 77 yards in those two games, yet I'm not sure if you could find five running backs who could put up his sort of highlights in their two best games.
Please sit down before I make this comparison, because it may sound extreme, but there was only one name that popped into my head while watching Montgomery: Le'Veon Bell. Bell was this exact player in college. Now I will say that Bell got even better when he got to the pros when he shed weight which benefitted his speed and quickness, but Montgomery is right there with the traits that he possesses. David Montgomery is the type of player that a team is justified in trading up for, and I think Bears fans are going to be very happy with this pick as he has the traits to be the best running back in the class.
