David Montgomery left Chicago's last game with a knee injury. Initial reports were that it wasn't believed to be an ACL injury, and those proved correct. That's the good news. But Montgomery is expected to miss the next 4-5 weeks with a knee sprain, elevating Damien Williams into the starting lineup.
Williams also picked up a thigh bruise last week, but he's expected to be fine to play this week. (Deeper down the depth chart is sixth-rounder Khalil Herbert.) But should be Williams in the lineup.
Starting running backs are hard to come by in fantasy leagues, and ones likely to play all three downs (like Williams) are even rarer. So he should be the key pickup, or at least one of them, on waiver wires tonight and tomorrow. Williams isn't Montgomery, but he can play.
It may be disingenuous to show what Williams did while working with Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid in Kansas City, compared to the clown show offense that Matt Nagy trundles onto the field in Chicago most weeks. But Montgomery was thriving in it, so maybe Williams will come through with a good month or so of football, too.
Back in 2019, Williams had at least 8 touches in nine regular season games for Kansas City, and then all three postseason games. In two-thirds of those contests (8) he put up over 15 fantasy points (PPR); 20-plus four times. It's two years later (he opted out in 2020) and he's playing in Chicago now, but reasonable to make an attempt to get Williams on your team.
| WILLIAMS WITH 8-PLUS TOUCHES, 2019 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opp | Att | Run | No | Rec | TD | PPR |
| at Jac. | 13 | 26 | 6 | 39 | 1 | 18.5 |
| at Oak. | 9 | 8 | 3 | 48 | 0 | 8.6 |
| Ind. | 9 | 23 | 3 | 15 | 0 | 6.8 |
| at Den. | 9 | 7 | 2 | -1 | 0 | 2.6 |
| G.B. | 7 | 30 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 9.0 |
| Minn. | 12 | 125 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 20.8 |
| at Ten. | 19 | 77 | 5 | 32 | 0 | 15.9 |
| at Chi. | 16 | 65 | 3 | 27 | 1 | 18.2 |
| LAC | 12 | 124 | 4 | 30 | 2 | 31.4 |
| Hou. | 12 | 47 | 2 | 21 | 3 | 26.8 |
| Ten. | 17 | 45 | 5 | 44 | 1 | 19.9 |
| S.F. | 17 | 104 | 4 | 29 | 2 | 29.3 |
--Andy Richardson