The Houston Texans shipped offensive lineman Juice Scruggs and a pair of draft picks – their 2026 fourth-round selection and their 2027 seventh-round pick – to the Detroit Lions for veteran running back David Montgomery earlier today.
The 28-year-old Montgomery ran for 716 yards and eight touchdowns this past season, averaging 4.5 yards per carry. The Iowa St. product had 24 receptions on 29 targets for 192 receiving yards.
Montgomery spent his first four NFL seasons with the Chicago Bears, producing 889, 1,070, 849 and 801 rushing yards.
In March of 2023, Montgomery signed a three-year deal with the Lions for $18 million. In 14 games, Montgomery had 1,015 rushing yards, 13 TDs and a 4.6 YPC average. He added 16 catches for 117 yards.
In 2024, Montgomery ran for 775 yards and 12 TDs, averaging 4.2 YPC. He also had 36 receptions for 341 yards.
Montgomery played in four postseason games for Detroit in 2023 and 2024. When the Lions won a pair of games before losing a heartbreaker at San Francisco in the NFC Championship Game in January of 2024, Montgomery had 183 rushing yards and two TDs on 39 carries (4.7 YPC) in a three-game stretch. He also had six catches for 45 yards.
Montgomery had grown unhappy in Detroit with RB Jahmyr Gibbs getting the majority of the touches out of the backfield. He’ll now go into training camp as Houston’s clear #1 RB.
The move tells us that the Texans are poised to release RB Joe Mixon, who missed all of the 2025 campaign injured. RB Nick Chubb is a free agent, while Woody Mark will be back to play behind Montgomery.
Scruggs plays center and has started 20 times in 36 career games for the Texans from 2023-25. He was the club’s second-round pick with the #62 overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft.
FanDuel has the Lions with 16/1 odds to win Super Bowl LXI. Those are the eighth-shortest odds on the board.
The Texans have 20/1 odds to win Super Bowl LXI. Those are the 11th-shortest odds. FanDuel has Houston as the +165 co-favorite with Jacksonville to win the AFC South.
Detroit is the +165 ‘chalk’ to win the NFC North.