Dalton Wasserman and Max Chadwick of PFF released their 2026 Running Back Rankings recently and you have to scroll pretty far to see the Houston Texans new tailback, David Montgomery.
Despite all the local hype from both Detroit and H-Town, it seems the folks at PFF, and their grading system, don’t hold the runner in very high regard. Meanwhile, the Lions’ Jahmyr Gibbs, who sat ahead of Montgomery on Detroit’s depth chart, lands at #2 overall.
Here’s what they had to say about D-Mo:
26. David Montgomery, Houston Texans
Montgomery enters
his age-29 season coming off of three productive years in Detroit. Though he set new career-lows in carries, rushing yards and missed tackles forced in 2025, Montgomery ranks sixth in the NFL with 33 rushing touchdowns over the past three regular seasons. He’ll continue to play a complementary role in Houston alongside youngster Woody Marks.
6th overall in total rushing touchdowns in the last 3 seasons isn’t too shabby though. Especially with the notion that he will have more feature back time, while having 2nd-year grinder Woody Marks spelling him.
Marks also made the list, albeit in the honorary mention category:
Woody Marks, Houston Texans
Marks is yet another rookie rusher who shined in 2025. Though he averaged just 3.6 yards per carry behind a suspect offensive line, Marks added much-needed toughness to Houston’s backfield. He provided his signature performance in the team’s playoff victory over Pittsburgh, as he rushed for a season-high 112 yards and a touchdown. He should form a competent backfield pairing alongside Montgomery.
Imagine, if you will, a rookie Marks running behind even an average offensive line. Odds are that his yards-per-carry would have been closer to the 4.0 mark. Either way, 3.6 is a positive play, if just barely.
PFF gave Marks a 68.8 overall grade in 2025, landing him 40th out of 55 eligible running backs. Montgomery slotted in at 20th, with a 75.3 grade.
Over the course of his career, which includes 4 seasons as a Chicago Bear, prior to his 3 in Detroit, Montgomery has eclipsed the 1000 yard mark in 2 seasons, racking up 6115 total ground yards in his 7 years in the NFL. While not likely, if he could return to his 2023 form, where he averaged 4.6 yards per carry, amassed 1015 yards and 13 touchdowns in 14 starts, the Texans will have hit a home run with his addition. Odds are, however, that he and Marks will both fall short of the 1k yards mark in 2026 as the offensive line takes time to gel and they compete for carries.
With the unfortunate Where’s Waldo situation with former Texans bell cow Joe Mixon, Montgomery will have all the opportunities to show the world what he’s made of in 2026. But, it’s rare for a runner to have his best season ever in his 8th campaign. Running backs are measured in carries, and D-Mo has 1477 on the odometer heading into this season. That’s a lot of abuse on a human body, no matter how tough.
While it’s easy to get behind him as a Texans fan, it would seem the stats, grades and Father Time take some shine off that apple pretty quickly.
Will Montgomery dominate the Texans rush stats in 2026? Or will Woody Marks continue to make his, well, mark on the NFL?
Hopefully the Houston Texans schedule brings with it a fair number of run defense poor opponents and the 2 tailbacks can feast.
