Bewerbungen » David Montgomery used to draw inspiration watching

LAKE FOREST Devin Singletary Jersey , Ill. (AP) — highlights of Walter Payton on his grandfather’s VCR, so consider this a moment of sweetness.The Chicago Bears addressed one of their biggest needs with their first pick in the draft, trading up with the New England Patriots to take the star running back from Iowa State on Friday night.Montgomery said he felt “grateful, blessed.” And being drafted by Chicago was particularly special.“I watched Walter Payton when I was younger,” he said. “Seeing how he ran, trying to correlate a lot of the ways he ran into my game.”Chicago moved up 14 spots to grab Montgomery at No. 73 overall, making him the first Cyclones player drafted since 2014. The 5-foot-10, 222-pound Montgomery ran for 2,925 yards and 26 touchdowns in three seasons. He had 1,216 yards rushing and 13 TDs as a junior.Chicago also acquired a sixth-round pick (205), while New England got the No. 87 pick and a fifth-rounder (162) this year as well as a fourth-round selection in 2020.“He’s just a well-rounded back,” general manager Ryan Pace said. “It’s everything you look for in a running back, starting with his instincts Dawson Knox Jersey , his vision, his ability to make people miss. He’s just a well-rounded player. Good hands. He fits the offense very well.”The Bears had a long wait with no picks in the first two rounds for the first time since 2010. They came into the draft in a far different spot after winning the NFC North at 12-4 in coach Matt Nagy’s first season. The Monsters of the Midway ended a string of four straight last-place finishes and made the playoffs for just the second time since the 2006 team’s Super Bowl run.They sent their first-round pick this year to Oakland in the blockbuster deal for All-Pro edge rusher Khalil Mack just before the start of last season. And they dealt their second-rounder to New England a year ago when they traded up to get receiver Anthony Miller in the second round.Montgomery is known as a calm, patient runner with size and toughness and a knack for breaking tackles. He ranked third in the Big 12 in yards rushing per game at 101.3 last season.Montgomery also had 71 receptions over three years despite playing in a run-based offense. And Pace sees someone with “natural hands” who can be a good route runner.His ability to catch passes out of the backfield is a big plus, considering Nagy’s system favors running backs who can do just that.Howard’s deficiencies in the passing game made him an odd fit and helped punch his ticket out of town, with the Bears trading him to Philadelphia in March. He went from making the Pro Bowl as a rookie in 2016 and running for more than 1,100 yards in each of his first two seasons to setting a career low with 935 last season. His 250 carries were also the fewest for him, though he still had more combined attempts than the other running backs currently on Chicago’s roster — Tarik Cohen, Mike Davis, Taquan Mizzell Sr. and Ryan Nall. Even with receiver Cordarrelle Patterson expected to get some carries, there still was room for another running back.In Montgomery, Pace believes the Bears will have an immediate contributor. As impressed as he was with his physical skills, something else stood out.“There are incredible stories about his work ethic,” Pace said. “Going up to the facility late at night and bringing teammates with him to watch additional tape and get extra work in. You just hear one thing after another about his professional approach to the game Brian Burns Jersey , how important it is to him and his work ethic is off the charts. And how infectious that was to the entire team there.”Chicago heads into the final day of the draft with one pick each in the fourth and sixth rounds, plus two seventh-rounders.The Bears might look for help at tight end and the defensive backfield not to mention kicker, where they have a major hole. Chicago let Cody Parkey go after one rough season that ended with a double-doink miss off the upright and crossbar on a potential winning field goal at the end of the wild-card loss to Philadelphia. The Bears have three kickers with no experience — Redford Jones, Chris Blewitt and Elliott Fry.“Looking at the board right now and where we’re at, I feel really good about the draft tomorrow (Saturday),” Pace said. “Like I said a couple of days ago, this is a very deep draft, especially in the later rounds and yeah, I think we’re going to be able to hit a lot of good players tomorrow.” CINCINNATI (AP)John Ross got up to top speed, ran past a defender and caught Andy Dalton’s long pass in stride, drawing an ovation from the approximately 950 fans watching the first practice of Bengals camp.A day later, he made another impressive catch on a deep throw and heard more applause.Fans haven’t seen any of this since the Bengals made him their first overall pick last year.The speedy receiver from Washington expected to show his big-play ability during his first season in Cincinnati. Instead, he missed most of camp while recovering from shoulder surgery and wound up playing in only three games.He didn’t catch a pass and fumbled on a reverse – the only time he got the ball – before another shoulder injury ended his season.As debuts go Greg Little Jersey , it was about as bad as it gets. He was playing catch-up from the start because of his injury, and every mistake got magnified.”It was everything,” Ross said. ”When one thing went wrong, six things went wrong. Not to make excuses, but it was so much more than me making one mistake on the field. I think it kind of beat me up mentally and took me away from my game.”The Bengals are trying to dig out of one of the worst seasons offensively in franchise history. They finished last in the league in yards in 2017, a franchise first. Offensive coordinator Bill Lazor was given wide latitude to overhaul the playbook.The offensive line has been revamped. Coach Marvin Lewis has said repeatedly that the offense needs to have more big plays this season, the kind they thought Ross would provide when they took him with the ninth overall pick in the draft.Ross ran a record time of 4.22 seconds in the 40-yard dash at the NFL combine, and the Bengals envisioned him providing another deep threat to A.J. Green. Instead, Ross barely got on the field. He’s been healthy and making a good impression.”I’ve kind of showed that I can relax and play the game I’m used to playing,” Ross said. ”Mentally, that was the toughest challenge for me last year. Being hurt kind of messed with me throughout the whole year. When you’re beat mentally, I don’t think you can really be yourself.”Ross was still recovering from shoulder surgery when camp opened in 2017 and wasn’t cleared to practice at the outset. He wound up playing in only two preseason games and making one catch for 6 yards, his total contribution to the passing game last year.He’s already way ahead of last year.”John Ross has done things this offseason we saw at the University of Washington Will Grier Jersey ,” said Duke Tobin, director of player personnel. ”We’re looking for him to take the next step.”EIFERT BACK: Tight end Tyler Eifert was cleared to practice on Monday after working out on a side field the first four days of camp. Eifert was limited to two games last season before more back problems required another surgical procedure. He signed a one-year contract loaded with incentives.Eifert mostly worked out with the backups on Monday. He made a couple of diving plays late in practice, drawing applause from fans.”I could understand how it would be frustrating as fans, hearing, `Oh, he’s on (injury) list again or whatever,”’ Eifert said. ”But trust me, it’s 100 times more frustrating for me because all I want to do is be out there, and I’m doing literally everything I can, spending all my time trying to get back out there and stay out there with the guys.”H-back Ryan Hewitt also was cleared to join practice, leaving only linebacker Vontaze Burfict yet to get approval to practice. Burfict is suspended for the first four games of the season for violating the NFL’s policy on performance-enhancers.—