LIONS SIGN RB DAVID MONTGOMERY TO TWO-YEAR, $18.25 MILLION EXTENSION THROUGH 2027
Detroit Lions running back David Montgomery had plenty to be happy about this weekend. Not only did his team run roughshod over the Dallas Cowboys 47-9, due in large part to his 80 yards and 2 TDs on the ground, but the club also announced they had signed Montgomery to a new contract extension as well..
Per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, the new deal is a two-year contract worth $18.25 million with up to $10.5 million in total guaranteed money. Montgomery had two years left on his current contract with Detroit and is now tied down for four years as the new extension runs through the 2027 season. The standout running back signed a three-year, $18 million deal with the Lions in 2023 after leaving the Chicago Bears as an unrestricted free agent and now agrees to the third pact of his career.
The new extension makes Montgomery the seventh-highest paid running back in the NFL on new money per year at $9.125 million. The sixth-year player trails only Christian McCaffrey ($19 million), the Saints’ Alvin Kamara ($15 million), Colts RB Jonathan Taylor ($14 million), Eagles tailback Saquon Barkley ($12.583 million), Josh Jacobs ($12 million), and Joe Mixon ($9.875 million).
Montgomery, 27, is a key part of a dynamic Detroit backfield that also includes second-year man Jahmyr Gibbs. The former Iowa State Cyclone has started all 18 regular season games he’s played in for the Detroit Lions and averages 4.6 yards per carry and 8.4 yards per catch during that time.
Following Detroit’s Monday Night drubbing of the Seattle Seahawks in Week 4, Gibbs told reporters he felt that he and Montgomery were the best running back duo in the NFL. “I don’t think it’s close at all,” Gibbs told ESPN. “We both can do everything, so it’s hard for defenses to scheme up against us. I mean, the production speaks for itself too.”
“I definitely think what makes us like peanut butter and jelly, what makes us work is that we’re so different,” Montgomery told reporters about Gibbs in June. “We’re like very good in our own way. It’s hard for teams to prepare for us but we’ve got high expectations for ourselves and both of us together we didn’t think that (the 2023 season) was good enough. So, we want to be better this year and we will.”
Montgomery has scored a rushing touchdown in seven consecutive games going back to last season, which is tied with Lions legend Billy Sims (1980-81) for the longest streak in franchise history. He would go on to set a new mark on Sunday when he found paydirt against the Cowboys to stand alone in Lions lore.
A third-round pick in 2019, Montgomery entered week 6 with 282 rushing attempts for 1,286 rushing yards and 17 touchdowns with the Detroit Lions alongside 25 receptions for 211 receiving yards. His 17 rushing touchdowns since the beginning of the 2023 season were tied for the fourth-most in the league during that span. Only Rams’ RB Kyren Williams (22), Dolphins’ RB Raheem Mostert (21), 49ers’ RB Christian McCaffrey (21), Ravens’ RB Derrick Henry (19), and Buccaneers’ WR Mike Evans (18) have more.
Montgomery is the latest running back to receive a contract extension while still under contract with his current team, after the Baltimore Ravens signed sixth-year running back Justice Hill to a two-year extension last month. Hill, who is having a stellar year playing alongside Derrick Henry, had a year left on his deal and is now linked to the Ravens for three seasons, until 2026.
-Maher Abucheri
Twitter: @pabloikonyero
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