The first major trade of March is upon us: Longtime Lions RB David Montgomery has been traded to the Houston Texans. Dan Campbell and company received a fourth-rounder, a seventh-rounder and OL Juice Scruggs in return.

RELATED: Updated fantasy football rankings after the Montgomery trade.

David Montgomery Fantasy Football Outlook With Texans

The 28-year-old veteran back did plenty of good things across his three seasons with the Lions, notably racking up a whopping 33 touchdowns on the ground from 2023-2025–the sixth-most among any running back. This accordingly led to plenty of fantasy points for Montgomery's loyal fantasy managers.

While 2025 was a down year in terms of counting numbers, that seems to be more of a cause of the Lions preferring Jahmyr Gibbs than a pure indictment of Montgomery. After all, Monty's average of +0.8 rush yards over expected per carry was good for the 11th-highest mark at the position–and actually two spots ahead of Gibbs himself!

Unfortunately for Montgomery, it's far from a given that this Texans offensive line will provide the same fantasy-friendly environment that he was used to in Houston. In fact, my "Running Back Supporting Cast Rating" has the veteran bell-cow leaving the league's single-most fantasy-friendly setup for one of the worst environments in football.

Maybe the team manages to massively improve PFF's reigning 27th-ranked offensive line—they've at least begun to try by trading Tytus Howard to the Brown. Still, it wouldn't be surprising to see Montgomery's rushing efficiency land a bit closer to what we saw in Chicago (3.9 yards per carry) relative to Detroit (4.5).

Fantasy Football Rankings Updates For David Montgomery, Joe Mixon, Woody Marks & Jahmyr Gibbs

The deal sure seems like it spells the end of Joe Mixon's time with the Texans. They can save $8 million against the cap while inheriting just $2 million in dead money by cutting Mixon at any point this offseason. It's also certainly not good news for Woody Mark's lead-back potential—it'd make sense if the rising second-year talent is utilized more exclusively on pass downs in 2026. This is probably for the best, considering Marks ranked among the league's worst RBs in more advanced metrics than not last season.

Woody Marks in 2025 among 49 qualified RBs

• Yards per carry: 3.6 (48th)
• Yards after contact per carry: 2.6 (45th)
• Tackles avoided per carry: 13.8% (44th)
• Explosive rush rate: 5.1% (42nd)

This brings us to the fantasy ranks. I'm currently riding with the following updates ahead of 2026:

• Montgomery: RB22 ahead of injured starters in not-great offenses like Cam Skattebo and Quinshon Judkins, but behind lead backs in better offenses like D'Andre Swift and Kyren Williams.
• Marks: RB48 in the same tier as pass-down complements with potential three-down handcuff upside like Kenneth Gainwell and Tyjae Spears
• Mixon: RB80 in a group of guys who we aren't even sure will have roles in 2026 … because are we even sure if Mixon is going to play football ever again?

Obviously, the Texans and everyone else still have free agency and the draft to throw a wrench in the ole fantasy ranks, but for now, Monty profiles as a touchdown-dependent RB2 in a good-not-great offense. Not exactly firework material, but hey, better than the more clear backup role he was looking at in Houston!

As for Jahmyr Gibbs: The consensus fantasy RB2 ahead of next season now has as good a case as ever for RB1, and hell, 1.01 overall treatment. After all, Gibbs has averaged a whopping 25.1 half-PPR points in eight career games where Monty was sidelined or played under 25% snaps. Get ready for an offseason of debate between Gibbs and Bijan Robinson–even if the most likely answer is probably just "yes."

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