Monty to Lions?!!

[ChileBear]

Didn't see that coming. Guess we get another RB in the draft.

[dawhizz]

I try to sign Mattison from the Vikings, do a little in division RB switch of our own (or even Jamaal Williams for a real switcheroo). 

[Stinger226]

I preferred him back but can upgrade the position in the draft. Plenty of RBs in the draft but at what point do they draft one?

[dawhizz]

Looks the Bears moved quickly and signed Travis Homer. He’s more of a 3rd down/ST guy so I guess they are giving Herbert the starting job. Homer’s also supposed to be a great pass protector, which given how our O-line is shaking out is gonna be needed. 

[Stinger226]

13 minutes ago, dawhizz said:

Looks the Bears moved quickly and signed Travis Homer. He’s more of a 3rd down/ST guy so I guess they are giving Herbert the starting job. Homer’s also supposed to be a great pass protector, which given how our O-line is shaking out is gonna be needed. 

I think Poles is watching his spending maybe there will be a Orlando Brown sighting soon. He was the best OL free agent.

[Stinger226]

He's just a core ST player that is a depth piece at RB. The key here is good in pass protection.

[BearFan PHX]

Thats too bad, I always liked Monty's tough running style. But I had to admit over time Herbert was getting more yards against the same defenses.

[killakrzydav]

#thrilled

[BearFan2000]

9 hours ago, dawhizz said:

I try to sign Mattison from the Vikings, do a little in division RB switch of our own (or even Jamaal Williams for a real switcheroo). 

Wouldn’t mind Mattison at all.  Dude deserves a starting gig but will never be a feature back sitting behind Cook. Whenever Cook has missed time there’s little to no drop of in their run game production. 
 

I will miss Monty. He played with heart and determination. Wish him well except against us.  

[Lucky Luciano]

i think this was a mistake. we had a tough rb who could drag a pile, catch very well and more important he was a good+ blocker for fields. he was familiar with the system and went cheap.

this was a step back for protecting fields.

[Pixote]

44 minutes ago, Lucky Luciano said:

i think this was a mistake. we had a tough rb who could drag a pile, catch very well and more important he was a good+ blocker for fields. he was familiar with the system and went cheap.

this was a step back for protecting fields.

I agree with you. Some on the forum are celebrating his departure. Not me. I think it was a mistake to allow him to leave.

Yes, maybe Herbert shines as RB1. Yes, maybe we draft a RB that becomes a Pro Bowler. But maybe that is too many maybes.

[Connorbear]

53 minutes ago, Pixote said:

I agree with you. Some on the forum are celebrating his departure. Not me. I think it was a mistake to allow him to leave.

Yes, maybe Herbert shines as RB1. Yes, maybe we draft a RB that becomes a Pro Bowler. But maybe that is too many maybes.

Poles came from KC and they don't spend money at RB. He didn't draft Monte. Love the kid and hate to see him go (especially in division) but we need to trust Poles and Cunningham have a plan. 

Peace

[adam]

Though he got some tough yards, he was a terribly inefficient RB. A career 3.9 YPC, which annually put him between 30th-40th for RBs. Great person, teammate, etc, but just not someone you would want to invest in due to where the Bears are at in team building. 

I never understand his head juke thing he did EVERYTIME he got the ball outside of the tackles. It looked almost like a nervous tick, and more than half of the time it allowed the defender to close on him, compared to if he just hit the hole or when north and south immediately.

Now he joins Swift up in Detroit, so I don't know if he will see as many touches there than he did in Chicago as the lead back. That will be something to watch.

[Lucky Luciano]

1 hour ago, adam said:

Though he got some tough yards, he was a terribly inefficient RB. A career 3.9 YPC, which annually put him between 30th-40th for RBs. Great person,

here is the deal.... we had NO offensive line. we had NO passing game that ANYONE was afraid of. monty was lining up mostly with a stacked 8+ in the box defense that KNEW all they had to do was stop the running game.

i'm sorry but in my opinion he was worth WAY more than a mere $6mil to this team. now we have yet ANOTHER hole to fill and will either have to pay more than monty got or hope a draft pick can do half the stuff he did.

[Stinger226]

KC and Philly have something in common they always go thru RBs. Neither has had a bell cow rusher. They met in the SB. I wanted to  keep Monty but Poles wants to have a dynamic offense, Monty was not that ideal back.

[CrackerDog]

Loved Monty’s old school running style and thought he was a great team member.  Better build the o line if we plan to be anything like Philly or KC.  Leaving Fields with fewer weapons in the backfield and no o line protection worsens things.  Still plenty of time to address but just pointing out that there’s a lot yet to do and losing Monty ain’t going to help.   

[adam]

1 hour ago, Lucky Luciano said:

here is the deal.... we had NO offensive line. we had NO passing game that ANYONE was afraid of. monty was lining up mostly with a stacked 8+ in the box defense that KNEW all they had to do was stop the running game.

i'm sorry but in my opinion he was worth WAY more than a mere $6mil to this team. now we have yet ANOTHER hole to fill and will either have to pay more than monty got or hope a draft pick can do half the stuff he did.

If he was worth way more than $6M, he would not have signed with Detroit for only $6M. That was his market and may have been the highest bidder. He is a workhorse, but not dynamic enough. Clearly Poles wanted an upgrade there, otherwise Monty would've been signed. The Bears had the money.

There are a lot of things to consider. Performance and longevity. RBs do not last long in this league.

How do you feel about Jordan Howard? He had a 4.3 YPC when the Bears traded him after 2018, then ultimately drafted Monty that year to replace him. Howard spent 1 1/2 years with Philly then got traded to Miami. Signed back with Philly in his 6th year, then went to NO in his 7th year (age 28), had 1 rush for 1 yard and hasn't played since. He left the Bears with 3370 rushing yards and cumulatively did not hit 1000 yards over his next 4 seasons combined.

[Alaskan Grizzly]

2 hours ago, Lucky Luciano said:

here is the deal.... we had NO offensive line. we had NO passing game that ANYONE was afraid of. monty was lining up mostly with a stacked 8+ in the box defense that KNEW all they had to do was stop the running game.

i'm sorry but in my opinion he was worth WAY more than a mere $6mil to this team. now we have yet ANOTHER hole to fill and will either have to pay more than monty got or hope a draft pick can do half the stuff he did.

On the one hand, in regards to losing a piece for offense I agree with you but, comparing Herbert's production last season to Monty's (with the same oline blocking) its clear that Monty isn't the feature back anymore.  

Monty:  201 rushes for 801 yards (4.0 avg) 5 TDs

Herbert: 129 rushes for 731 yards (5.7 avg) 4 TDs

Another thing to factor in is that Monty's overall production (total yards) peaked back in 2020 with 1,070 yards and since then has gotten 849 (2021) and 801 last season.  As Mike Greenberg pointed out this morning, contributing RBs have become "a dime a dozen" in today's market.  Austin Ekeler (probably the lead FA RB right now) has improved over the last three years; 530 yards / 1 TD (2020), 911 yards / 12 TDS (2021) and 915 yards / 13 TDs (2022) and is still looking for a place to call his new home.  Meanwhile Dallas just released Elliot with Pollard taking more of the carries and production.  Chicago with Monty was in the similar position as Dallas was with Elliot.  I'm never a fan of losing a player like Monty but in this case it makes sense when the bigger picture is considered.   

[adam]

There have been very few backs in recent history to exceed their previous seasons totals after signing their 2nd contract when it is $5M or more.  The track record is terrible. At most some guys like Henry did the first year, but then dropped off after that. It seems like in the 80s and 90s, mid-30s was the age to stop giving contracts to RBs, then it dropped to 30 in the 2000s, and it is really getting close to 5-6 years in the league is the new line. So 2nd contracts are becoming risky propositions for RBs. I find this somewhat interesting considering the league has transitioned to a more passing league, you would think that would give RBs a little longer peak career windows, but that doesn't look like the case.

 

[Alaskan Grizzly]

22 minutes ago, adam said:

There have been very few backs in recent history to exceed their previous seasons totals after signing their 2nd contract when it is $5M or more.  The track record is terrible. At most some guys like Henry did the first year, but then dropped off after that. It seems like in the 80s and 90s, mid-30s was the age to stop giving contracts to RBs, then it dropped to 30 in the 2000s, and it is really getting close to 5-6 years in the league is the new line. So 2nd contracts are becoming risky propositions for RBs. I find this somewhat interesting considering the league has transitioned to a more passing league, you would think that would give RBs a little longer peak career windows, but that doesn't look like the case.

 

Look no further than Ekeler and Zeke Elliott still waiting for calls from teams a few days into FA.  Of course Zeke’s audition as a Center probably didn’t help solidify any teams confidence in his ability to play anything but RB. 

 

[AZ54]

In that context Herbert won't get a new deal either and RB might be a much higher priority for Poles in the draft than we suspect.  If this is your MO then you must always keep good young backs in the pipeline.  

[adam]

4 hours ago, AZ54 said:

In that context Herbert won't get a new deal either and RB might be a much higher priority for Poles in the draft than we suspect.  If this is your MO then you must always keep good young backs in the pipeline.  

The difference right now with Herbert vs Monty is production and usage. Monty has a lot of tread on his tires after 4 years and didn't produce:

There are 26 RBs from 2019 until 2022 with at least 500 carries and 2000 yards rushing. of those 26th, Monty was tied for dead last in YPC at 3.9 with Najee Harris. He is also 1 of 9 RBs with over 1000 touches since 2019 (high wear and tear). 

Looking up these stats, I can't get over how much Joe Mixon's cumulative stats look just like Monty's over the last 4 years even though the individual seasons look very different.

Here are their 4 year totals:

Mixon - 51 GS, 1057 touches, 899 rush att, 3584 rush yds, 4.0 YPC, 28 TD, 158 Rec, 1180 rec yds, 9 TD
Monty - 51 GS, 1070 touches, 915 rush att, 3609 rush yds, 3.9 YPC, 26 TD, 155 Rec, 1240 rec yds, 4 TD

I can tell you this, there is no way Cincy is keeping Mixon beyond his current contract, and I would not be surprised if they cut him after 2023 when his dead money is minimal.

 

[Stinger226]

I loved Monty but Foreman actually had a better year in similar carries. 6'1" 232 can bruise people.

[jason]

Call me crazy, but I like Deuce Vaughn from Kansas State. 

Ignore all the conventional "he has to be whatever-feet tall"-nonsense. His height is an advantage if anything considering how he runs.

Dismiss the "he doesn't work in goal line"-BS. Deuce is an absolute monster and a three-down back. As long as the coaches aren't morons and don't try to slam him through the A-Gap three times in a row (**cough** memories of Garrett Wolfe mismanagement **cough**), then he's fine in GL situations because nobody hits him cleanly.

What's more - I know this is blasphemous before I write it - he gives me Barry Sanders vibes. He's a 2-3 inches shorter, 20lbs lighter, but every bit as elusive. Some of the cuts are absolutely ridiculous. Makes elite defenders miss in a phone booth. And his perceived lack of home run speed never seems to cost him when he's running away from defenders who think they have the angle.

I'd target him with our first pick in the 4th round. 

[BearFan PHX]

32 minutes ago, jason said:

Call me crazy, but I like Deuce Vaughn from Kansas State. 

Ignore all the conventional "he has to be whatever-feet tall"-nonsense. His height is an advantage if anything considering how he runs.

Dismiss the "he doesn't work in goal line"-BS. Deuce is an absolute monster and a three-down back. As long as the coaches aren't morons and don't try to slam him through the A-Gap three times in a row (**cough** memories of Garrett Wolfe mismanagement **cough**), then he's fine in GL situations because nobody hits him cleanly.

What's more - I know this is blasphemous before I write it - he gives me Barry Sanders vibes. He's a 2-3 inches shorter, 20lbs lighter, but every bit as elusive. Some of the cuts are absolutely ridiculous. Makes elite defenders miss in a phone booth. And his perceived lack of home run speed never seems to cost him when he's running away from defenders who think they have the angle.

I'd target him with our first pick in the 4th round. 

oh man he is a squirty little problem for defenses. I would pick him high, but id def take a flyer on him with a later round pick. gadget guy, kick returner, change of pace back