Chicago Bears: How Does Smith Saga Affect Montgomery?

While all the attention has been on the Chicago Bears/Roquan Smith saga, David Montgomery also has a contract situation. How does Poles’ approach affect Montgomery?

The theme of the day since the Chicago Bears began training camp has been drama. They had drama with offensive lineman Teven Jenkins and whether he’d stay and play in a new position or get traded. There was also drama with linebacker Roquan Smith and his contract situation.

The Smith situation blew up incredibly when he went public with his dissatisfaction with negotiations. He requested a trade, which of course was denied. Ultimately, he ended negotiations and returned without a new contract. That drama is to be continued.

However, there is another situation that isn’t being talked about much. Running back David Montgomery is also in the final year of his contract. He has done everything the team asked of him and more.

Montgomery is the best runner to play with the Bears’ porous offensive line. He is always among the NFL leaders in broken tackles. In his career, it seems he is constantly getting hit behind the line of scrimmage. He bounces off and ends up getting positive yards, though.

In the final year of his contract, Montgomery is ready to break out. He ran for 846 yards last season despite missing a month because of a knee injury.

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Montgomery stays low-key

While there is a lot of noise concerning Smith, there is not a peep heard from Montgomery. He has said nearly nothing about his deal. The only thing he is concerned about is playing ball.

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I just come here to play football. That has nothing to do with me. I’m sure everyone else is handling it who has to handle it. I’m just worried about football, and I’m ready to play…It’s going to take care of itself. I ain’t really worried about that. I got bigger fish to fry. I’ve got a game coming up this week.

Perhaps this is the main difference between Smith and Montgomery. Smith doesn’t have an agent so he has to worry about the negotiations and about his play. Montgomery has his agent so he just goes out and performs and gets updates from his agent. Additionally, his agent can keep some of the ugliness of negotiations away from Montgomery while Smith has to experience it.

Montgomery wants to let his play do the talking. He won’t go out and talk about whether he is mad or happy about the negotiations. He’ll just keep playing and see wait for the final offer.

If the Bears won’t pay Smith, will they pay Monty?

The Smith situation doesn’t invoke much hope that Montgomery will get his deal to stay in Chicago. Smith is among the best linebackers in the league yet the Chicago Bears won’t pay him as such. General manager Ryan Poles allegedly offered Smith a back-loaded deal with “fake” money that Smith likely never sees. The guaranteed money is probably the biggest stumbling block to getting a deal done.

Unlike linebackers, running backs are undervalued. Many teams go with a running back by committee. They take a beating game in and game out so they fall off of a cliff in their career quicker than other players.

Montgomery has a market value of $12.9 million. If Poles refuses to pay nearly $20 million to Smith, the odds are low that he’ll pay Montgomery $13 million.

The Bears have second-year player Khalil Herbert and rookie Trestan Ebner. The question is, however, is Montgomery more valuable to the offense than the others combined?

Montgomery is ready to show that he is. The others have either the ability to run well or catch well out of the backfield. Montgomery can do both well.

The Bears are projected to have the highest salary cap space in 2023. They can afford to dish out big contracts to their two best players. Both Smith and Montgomery are young players entering their prime. They are home-grown talent and keeping them helps in the rebuild. There is no purpose in drafting players just to have them leave when their rookie deals are up. At some point, they have to pay for their good, young talent.