Lamar Jackson vs David Montgomery

“If Lamar Jackson can bounce back, Henry could inch back closer to his 2024 production (RB4 in fantasy points per game).”

“Injuries and a steep decline in rushing production cratered Lamar Jackson ‘s fantasy value in 2025. After finishing QB1 in fantasy scoring in 2024, Jackson plummeted to a QB20 fantasy finish last season and was QB16 in fantasy points per game at the position. Jackson lost three games to an early-season hamstring injury and one game to a late-season back injury.”

“Lamar Jackson cratered many fantasy rosters in 2025. Before an early October hamstring injury, he was on pace for 3,700 passing yards, 437 rushing yards, and 47 total TDs.”

“The most obvious thing to consider is your positional strengths and weaknesses — trading for Lamar Jackson when you already have Josh Allen probably isn’t a good idea.”

“If you want an elite QB, pocket your picks for a round and a half and take Lamar Jackson, instead.”

“There isn’t a single drafted player on the Ravens that goes higher than I would take them, with Lamar Jackson standing out as the single best 1QB value I have ever seen if you want to get a top-two quarterback, going at pick 46, 19 picks past QB1, Josh Allen.”

“With plenty of time to recover from last season, Jackson is a ticking time bomb for fantasy production.”

“Things did not go well for Lamar Jackson in 2025, but he still displayed his ceiling early on before injuries started to stack up.”

“For what it’s worth, Lamar did speak highly of Doyle’s offense this spring, saying: “ It’s a different system than what I’m accustomed to being in, and I feel like there’s going to be a lot of explosiveness this year.”

“The case for Lamar staying near the top of the market: he’s not even 30 years old, he was still playing at an elite level in weeks one and two last season before his injury in week three derailed the rest of his year, and he has never failed to have an MVP-caliber first season under a new play caller, which is exactly the situation he’s in again this year.”

“Jackson's 2025 performance was marred by injury and a subpar level of play (by his standards). Therefore, while he has tremendous leverage by virtue of the restructure and the $84.34MM cap number it created for 2027, he may want to come to the negotiating table on the heels of a better season.”

“Todd Monken, reflecting on where things went wrong in Baltimore last season, feels that he didn't get the most out of Lamar Jackson. "I didn't coach well enough," Monken said. "I didn't get Lamar to play at his best when the best was needed."”

“David Montgomery (RB – HOU) At this point in the draft, I didn’t have a running back yet, so I wanted to start taking swings on players I felt had starter upside, and David Montgomery is definitely one of them”

“Last season, Montgomery bested Marks in explosive run rate, missed tackle rate, rushing success rate, yards after contact per attempt, and yards per route run. Legit, every per-touch metric that I care about. Montgomery is the superior back, even at this stage of his career, and he’ll be a strong volume-driven RB2 that could flirt with RB1 production.”

“David Montgomery now finds himself as the Texans’ do it all workhorse for 2026. Last year, he was phased out of the Lions’ offensive plans as the season moved along, which led to his RB32 finish in fantasy points per game. In Weeks 12-18, he was the RB43 in fantasy points per game with a 32.1% snap rate, 8.2 touches per game, and only 42.8 total yards per game.”

“A Case Study at the Round 4 Turn Currently in best ball ADP, DJ Moore and David Montgomery are priced right next to each other, with average draft positions of 47 and 48, as of July 27th.”

“Gibbs, like Bijan, has seen his total volume increase each year of his NFL career and is projected to take on an even bigger load now that Knuckles, aka David Montgomery , is gone.”

“All this adds up to an offense that will be on the field a lot while nursing leads in the second half, and that’s all David Montgomery time, baby.”

“Flip this to David Montgomery last season, who didn’t get a lot of volume, but was 19 th in yards per touch, 32nd in true yards per carry, and 29 th in yards created per touch. What you see is a bell cow-style individual, very similar to Joe Mixon in the past, and this is the type of player that (despite being aggressively average) can put up a ton of fantasy points on volume alone.”

“Montgomery should absorb a workload close to what Joe Mixon saw in 2024.”

“David Montgomery (RB – HOU) Montgomery’s price has crept up steadily all offseason to the point where one analyst is no longer comfortable with it, now sitting around the second pick of the sixth round. There was real confidence in him right after his team traded real draft capital to acquire him, but the cost has now outpaced that confidence.”

“We were only a year removed from Joe Mixon scoring 11 times on the ground in Houston in 2024, so it is easy to get to David Montgomery having touchdown upside in a larger role with the Texans.”

“Montgomery is, by all accounts, the lead back in Houston, with Marks handling the occasional third-down work. The Cincinnati native and Iowa State product’s ADP reflects a low-end RB2 finish. However, he could easily end the season as a high-end RB2.”

“The best RB value pick based on current ECR is David Montgomery. He is RB24 in ECR, and although Houston has struggled with their offensive line play and overall offensive output, Monty should get most of the RB touches in what projects to be a somewhat improved line and offense.”