Had it all gone according to plan for David Montgomery, he would have finished his career with the Lions. But plans change quickly in the NFL.
After Montgomery was relegated to RB2 duties last season as the Lions leaned more and more on Jahmyr Gibbs, he asked to be moved to a team where he could be a featured back again. Now he's in Houston, but Detroit will always have a place in his heart.
"Honestly, when I was in Detroit, I thought I was going to be there for the rest of my career," Montgomery said during a recent appearance on the Deebo and Joe podcast with former NFL stars James Harrison and Joe Haden. "I love the city of Detroit. They showed me an immense amount of love. Coach Campbell, a dope coach.
"But when you get a little older playing the game, at a professional level, and you start to kind of see how things unfold, you gotta get met with, like, a tough decision. And I was met with that. And it was inevitable that it was happening."
The Lions traded Montgomery to the Texans -- reportedly his preferred destination -- for a fourth-round pick, a seventh-round pick and interior offensive lineman Juice Scruggs, the latter of whom put Houston's package "over the top," per Lions GM Brad Holmes.
Montgomery went on to say that "people like to try to create their own narrative and their own perception of how they think I treated" the trade, by pitting Montgomery versus Gibbs. In reality, said Montgomery, "it was something that was out of my hands," in that he didn't control his own role in the Lions' offense.
"And when it came, like, I was sick. I was sad that I had to leave," Montgomery said. "But it's the business part of it. I wish them nothing but respect. And I hope that whatever it is they’re trying to do, we get to see them at some point and it’ll be a fun matchup. But I’m always going to have love for Detroit. That’s always going to be home for me and I’m always going to love that city, but I’m in Houston now. I’m in the H, so it’s time to go."
Montgomery signed with the Lions in 2023 after the Bears let him go, and he became one of the faces of a team that won back to back division titles for the first time in the Super Bowl era. He and Gibbs formed the best running back tandem in the NFL -- Sonic and Knuckles will live in Lions lore for a long time. Over three seasons together, they combined for 74 touchdowns and well over 8,000 scrimmage yards.
"Me and Jahmyr doing stuff together, that was amazing, we go down as one of — I don’t care what nobody says — I think we’re the best running back duo to do it together, the things that we did in the time that we did it in," Montgomery said. "Everybody tries to make (the trade) into, like, me versus Jah.
"But people don’t really understand, that’s my little brother. When he came in, it was about me ensuring that I was able to get the most out of him, so that he can help me improve, too, so we can do the special things we were able to do. If I wasn’t able to be selfless, and he wasn’t able to be selfless, there’s no way we could get some of the things done that we did."
