The NFL offseason is heating up.
As the league travels home from Indianapolis following the NFL Scouting Combine, teams are beginning to make moves ahead of the official start to the league year. Last week saw the New York Jets execute a trade with the Tennessee Titans, with Jermaine Johnson and T’Vondre Sweat switching teams, and this week has gotten off to a big start thanks to the Houston Texans.
Early on Monday morning, the Texans traded offensive lineman Tytus Howard to the Cleveland Browns. But then came an even bigger move, as Houston has completed a trade with the Detroit Lions for running back David Montgomery. In return for Montgomery, the Lions are receiving offensive lineman Juice Scruggs, a fourth-round pick, and a seventh-round pick.
Let’s dive into this trade with some grades.
There is no denying that Montgomery is a standout running back who has produced at a decent level for the Lions since he made the move to Detroit for 2023. In his three seasons for the Lions, Montgomery has racked up 2,506 rushing yards on 562 attempts for 33 touchdowns, and added another 650 receiving yards on 76 catches.
But after ripping off 1,015 rushing yards during his first year with the Lions, Montgomery saw his production dip, as Jahmyr Gibbs started taking more of the workload in the Detroit backfield. Montgomery ran for 775 yards on 185 rushing attempts in 2024, and that dipped to 716 yards on 158 rushing attempts last season.
With the emergence of Gibbs, Montgomery was seeing his workload reduced. While rumors of a potential trade were swirling in recent days, the running back denied those reports over the weekend, indicating on social media that he wanted to stay in Detroit.
But those rumors also indicated that the Lions would be looking for a Day Three pick in return.
Instead, they receive an option for the offensive line, and a pair of Day Three picks. In addition, the move created anywhere from $3.5 million to $6 million in cap space for the Lions, depending on how the trade is designated. At the moment Detroit is currently over the salary cap for the 2026 season.
All told, this is a good move for the Lions.
In a vacuum, this looks like a good move for the Texans.
Montgomery is still a productive back, and with the emergence of Gibbs over the past two seasons, the diminished workload for Montgomery in Detroit means he could have a lot left in the tank for when he arrives in Houston. And as many NFL insiders pointed out when news of the trade broke, this move follows a pattern for Texans general manager Nick Caserio. Two years ago the Texans traded for Joe Mixon, who was a big part of their offense the following year. Then it was Nick Chubb who was added to the roster, and now Montgomery.
Three power backs who can give the offense a boost.
However, trades do not happen in a vacuum.
Heading into the NFL offseason, one of the biggest question marks was how the Texans were going to shape their offensive line, and help C.J. Stroud. Bolstering their running game does seem like a smart move — and Montgomery will help in that effort — but a running game is often only as good as the five men up front along the offensive line.
With Howard and now Scruggs on their way out of Houston, two more pieces of that offensive line room have been removed from the board.
That brings the grade down a bit, because we are left wondering how the Texans will shape their offensive line ahead of the new season. With free agency and the 2026 NFL Draft looming, there is time for Caserio to rebuilt that group, but until we see the full vision, it is hard to get fully on board.
