Lions Send David Montgomery to Texans: What This Means for Fantasy Football

The NFL is starting to heat up as a new league year approaches. Today, there's been a couple trades made, and I'm going to discuss one of them at length here.

Let's discuss the real-world and fantasy football implications of the Lions and Texans trade that just went down.

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Trade Details and Stats

The Texans get running back David Montgomery in the deal. The Lions get back offensive lineman Juice Scruggs, a fourth-round pick and a seventh-round pick.

Montgomery is 28 years old and has spent seven years in the NFL. He started with the Bears, and has had some success over the past three years with the Lions.

He's coming off a 2025 season in which he had 716 rushing yards and eight touchdowns over 158 attempts as the No. 2 back for Detroit. Montgomery added 192 receiving yards on 24 catches and 29 targets.

Montgomery has made 79 starts over 105 career games, but probably shouldn't be viewed as a high-end starting option at this point of his career. He's a starting option, but better as a 1A/1B guy.

Scruggs is 26 years old and has three years of NFL experience. He's played in 37 games, making 20 starts.

Scruggs started just once over 17 games last year. He made 13 of his starts in 2024.

The picks are assets the Lions can use in the coming years to help build their team back up after missing the postseason in 2025.

Texans' Outlook with Montgomery

Montgomery joins a running back room in Houston that includes Woody Marks and Joe Mixon. Nick Chubb was there this season, and Dare Ogunbowale and Jawhar Jordan are other options.

I'm guessing that trading for Montgomery means the end of Chubb's run in Houston, and it probably spells the end for Mixon as well. Adding Montgomery is a bit of a blow for Marks as well, who led the team in rushing in 2025.

Marks had 703 rushing yards and two scores over 16 games. He added 208 receiving yards and three scores on 24 receptions and 36 targets.

Montgomery has been the top backup in Detroit, but still has plenty of gas in the tank, as his 2025 numbers show. He would have been the top Houston back with his Detroit numbers from this past season.

After Marks, Chubb was RB2, going for 573 total yards and three touchdowns on 135 touches. Jordan had 227 total yards and no scores on 50 touches. Ogunbowale had 101 total yards and a touchdown across 21 touches.

Houston clearly didn't like the production they got from the RB room, so they added a more proven option in Montgomery. Sure, he's not the youngest option anymore, but he can help the RB room until the team locks down a workhorse option.

Right now, I'd view Montgomery as the team's No. 1 fantasy back for 2026. Marks being around will likely make them both standard league flex options at best, while being pretty solid deep-league assets.

I'd expect Montgomery to get a bigger share of the workload, but Marks still to be pretty involved. Again, I see Mixon not being a factor, or around, and I don't see a need for a third back after Montgomery and Marks.

Trading away Scruggs takes away an offensive line option. The Texans also dealt Tytus Howard away in a trade with Cleveland on Monday, so expect Houston to overload the o-line group in free agency/NFL draft.

While it cost three assets, I think Houston will get the most value out of this deal. It will all come down to what the Lions do with those picks though. 

Lions' Outlook

Down Montgomery, not a whole lot changes in Detroit. Jahmyr Gibbs is still the workhorse back for the Lions, and he might take on even more in the years to come with Montgomery no longer around.

Sione Vaki, Jacob Saylors, Kye Robichaux and Jabari Small are the running backs still on the roster in Detroit, and none of them have done much offensively in their careers.

I'd expect the Lions to spend a draft pick on a running back, or maybe even to land a free agent. Whoever goes into 2026 as the backup in Detroit will be in a reserve role, but Montgomery has shown that a back could deliver in that role.

We will have to wait and see which back gets the No. 2 role in Detroit before making more fantasy predictions for that player/role. 

This trade more solidifies Gibbs as a top-end fantasy talent, someone worthy of a high-end pick. It opens a pretty big role in the team's offense, and I'll be interested to see who ends up landing that role.

Scruggs will be an option on the offensive line, but maybe just a depth option. He doesn't really move the needle a ton in real life, but he could help the team out eventually.