Mt. Healthy's David Montgomery of Bears among top fantasy football running backs ranked

The Chicago Bears selected former Mt. Healthy High School standout David Montgomery in the third round of the 2019 NFL Draft out of Iowa State. Some fantasy football experts are suggesting that the third round of fantasy football drafts might be where owners should think about taking Montgomery.

Yahoo Sports' Brad Evans includes Montgomery as his running back on his 2019 All-Man-Crush Team and offers the following praise:

Monty possesses the necessary tools and environment to blast box scores starting Week 1 against Green Bay. Powerful, versatile, balanced and elusive, he’s the only RB in the advanced analytics era to accumulate 100 missed tackles in a college season, according to Pro Football Focus. And he did it twice behind a pair of questionable Iowa St. lines. His 0.37 missed tackles forced per touch outpaced Saquon Barkley and Kareem Hunt. Suffice it to say, he embarrasses defenders at the point of attack, leaving them grasping at a ghost. Also an accomplished receiver, he’s a legit three-down back with a similar athletic profile as Hunt, who recall exploded under Nagy’s tutelage in Kansas City.

Ignore the naysayers who steadfastly claim Mike Davis poses a meaningful threat or Tarik Cohen will limit Montgomery to early down-only work. On 270 touches last season, a far less talented Jordan Howard finished RB20 in .5 PPR. The youngster’s superior skills will dwarf Howard’s lackluster efficiency, likely on 15-plus touches per game. Toss in Chicago’s solid offensive line and positive game scripts due to an elite defense, and the sky’s the limit. Grabbing him in Round 4, or even Round 3 of deeper leagues, isn’t an overreach. His ceiling is top-10.

Fearless Forecast: 248 carries, 1,073 rush yards, 31 receptions, 258 receiving yards, 9 total touchdowns

ESPN's Dan Graziano wrote this earlier this month:

Nagy said Montgomery is turning the heads of his veteran teammates.

"He's a dog," safety Eddie Jackson said. "He's got it early. A lot of guys don't have it early, but he's got it early. Takes coaching and installs it into the game. He's the truth. He's going to be something special."

It's hard to know (fantasy alert!) exactly how things will work out at running back from week to week, but I get the sense they'd like Montgomery to develop into an every-down back and that it could happen sooner rather than later.

"I tell people he kind of reminds me of Saquon [Barkley]," cornerback Prince Amukamara said, and I said wait a minute, and he said, "No, just from his build, his movements. Obviously, Saquon has put it on tape and is on a whole different level, but I see a little bit of that in him."

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