David Montgomery Camp Update — August 31: A Backfield Cut to Three
2026 NFL Season · Monday, Aug 31
Houston's cut to fifty-three left three running backs — David Montgomery, Woody Marks, and British Brooks — with four backs waived behind them. Montgomery had no attributed work in a week when most starters rested, and the thinned room concentrates the September touches he was signed to take.
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The backfield question got its answer at the deadline: three backs. The roster Houston announced carries David Montgomery, Woody Marks, and British Brooks, per the club's official roster page, after Noah Whittington, Jawhar Jordan, Deuce Vaughn, and Owen Wright were all waived Sunday, per the club's transaction report. The depth is not going far — Whittington and Jordan are expected back on the practice squad, per Jonathan M. Alexander at the Houston Chronicle, and Houston made no waiver claims — but below the 53 is below the 53. Behind the tandem, exactly one back survived the cut.
Montgomery's own week was quiet by design. Most starters were rested for Friday's 16 to 13 finale loss in Carolina, per Jared Koch at Texans On SI, and the writeup of Wednesday's joint practice in Charlotte describes passing plays only and never names him, per Marc Vandermeer at HoustonTexans dot com. Last week's watch item asked whether he would take the first-team backfield work when the starters played; the starters never really played, so that question carries into September unanswered. The blocking in front of him did make news: Braden Smith is out a few weeks with a foot injury, Trent Brown is the frontrunner at right tackle for Week One, per Koch, and Ryans called the offensive line "really the bright spot" of the Charlotte joint-practice week, also per Koch.
The June read on Montgomery was that the juice was real and the bet was touches, in a tandem with defined lanes — and last week's episode noted that the tandem's other half, Marks, had the better August week again. Nothing in this window's reporting moved that in either direction; what moved is the arithmetic. A three-back room with one body behind the tandem is the version of this roster that concentrates touches, which was always the bet on him. We'll check back once real games start keeping score.
_Data via nflverse._
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