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Lions Want to Do Right By David Montgomery After Down Season

Stephen Douglas

David Montgomery’s time in Detroit might be up.
David Montgomery’s time in Detroit might be up. / Jeffrey Becker-Imagn Images
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David Montgomery played in all 17 games for the Detroit Lions this season. At 28-years old, in his third season in Detroit, he rushed for a career-low 716 yards on a career-low 158 rushing attempts.

Meanwhile Jahmyr Gibbs carried the ball 243 times and was targeted in the passing game 94 times. Gibbs finished the season with over 1,800 yards from scrimmage and scored 18 touchdowns for the Lions. It's pretty clear which way Dan Campbell and the offense leaned this season as they tried whatever they could to overcome injuries that were a big part of their 9-8 record and missing the playoffs.

Now that it's the offseason, it's time to think about the future. The Lions aren't sure if Montgomery is going to be a part of it. On Thursday general manager Brad Holmes spoke honestly about Montgomery's future with the team when he was asked if he expected him to be on the team next year.

"Those are discussions that we're going to have to have a lot more in depth in terms of what is the best plan for him going forward," said Holmes. "Is it somewhere else? Or whatever the case be, but just really appreciate everything that he has done for us if it does end up going that way. I hope it doesn't because we love David Montgomery. He's a good football player and wish we would have been able to get more utilization from him. I know Dan feels the same way. But those are conversations that we're going to have to have. I've got a lot of respect for that player. He deserves to be in a situation where his skill set can be utilized. And so yeah, would love it for it to be here, but if it can't be here, then you would have to just see what you can work out the best for him."

This makes it sound like they want to keep the Knuckles to their Sonic, but they also want to make sure that he's somewhere where he can get the ball and be happy. Who knows how much finances will play into this or what Montgomery wants, but as Holmes said, he handled this season like a professional so it sounds like the Lions want to do what's best for him, which is actually pretty nice.

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Stephen Douglas
STEPHEN DOUGLAS

Stephen Douglas is a senior writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He has worked in media since 2008 and now casts a wide net with coverage across all sports. Douglas spent more than a decade with The Big Lead and previously wrote for Uproxx and The Sporting News. He has three children, two degrees and one now unverified Twitter account.

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