Montgomery reveals the magnetic pull of Houston's winning culture and Coach Ryans' demanding mentality as key factors in his decision.
The Houston Texans struggled at the running back position in 2025. Joe Mixon missed the entire season with a mysterious foot injury that the fan base never really got any clarity on, and Woody Marks and Nick Chubb stepped in. Both backs had their moments, but neither really played amazingly for the offense. Houston wanted to improve the running game to open up the offense, and the franchise took a step toward that by acquiring David Montgomery from the Detroit Lions.
The Texans acquired Montgomery from the Lions in exchange for Juice Scruggs, and a draft pick in each of the next two years. It will probably wind up being a worthwhile trade for the organization as Montgomery has proven he can be a great running back when given the opportunity to do so. He had some great years in Detroit, but the emergence of Jahmyr Gibbs cut into Montgomery's touches. It made sense for the running back and Detroit to part ways, and the Lions did well by considering Montgomery's input on his trade destination.
Houston is a competitive team in the grand landscape of the NFL. The group has won a playoff game in each of the last three seasons, and Montgomery is looking to be the piece to get the franchise to its first AFC Championship Game. He spoke with the media on Friday, and he was asked about what went into his decision to come to Houston, "For me, you look at the whole organization. I was in Detroit which has been a successful organization. And I practiced against Houston a couple of times, they've always been like the hardest team to practice against. You can kind of tell the morale, the kind of mentality you get from both sides of the ball, and that Coach Ryans brings to the table too. You also get to look at yourself and be like 'Yeah, I want to play for a guy like that.'"
The program that Head Coach Demeco Ryans has built over the last three seasons appears to have been the driving force behind Montgomery's decision to come to Houston. He also wanted to play for Ryan, having seen him up close during joint practices.
The Lions and Texans held a joint practice right before the 2025 season, so Montgomery had a decent understanding of how things work in Houston. Now, he gets to run the rock for the Texans, hopefully en route to a deeper playoff run.