Here are five observations about the Bears’ draft and what it means going forward.

1. David Montgomery’s development as a receiver is crucial to him being a great pick instead of just a good one.

There’s so much to like about the Iowa State running back. As a ball carrier, his obvious strengths — contact balance, lateral agility, vision and feel for finding daylight when the play isn’t cleanly blocked — will make the Bears running game more potent than it was in coach Matt Nagy’s first season.

But Montgomery’s (projected) abilities in the passing game could really elevate the whole offense because they’ll expand Nagy’s options while game-planning on Monday nights and calling plays on Sundays.

Nagy wants as many ways to exploit mismatches as possible, and that means having a running back who can excel on all three downs. A three-down back — even if he lacks blazing long speed, as Montgomery does — facilitates unpredictability with personnel, formations and play selection. That should give the Bears an advantage.

Realistically, it won’t make sense for the Bears to have Montgomery run 10 pass routes a game. He’s a running back whose biggest strength is toting the rock. But the fact he can run routes is how the Bears could seize the advantage. It’s an element of variety Nagy can blend into the game plans.

More specifically, the Bears believe they’ll be able to send Montgomery into pass routes out of the backfield and from alignments removed from the formation (like a typical wide receiver). Remember, Matt Forte had that type of versatility. I’m not saying Montgomery will be as good at it as Forte was, but that comparison can frame our thinking.

“Every running back has his own strength as far as what route he can run,” Nagy said Saturday, “whether … he’s a bigger target or he’s super fast. Some running backs you can put them (as a wide receiver with an empty backfield) and they are better on shallow crosses or better with read routes, and it’s not a vertical route or a post route where they beat you with speed. They just have a good knack at that.

“It’s not always in an empty set. You (deploy) a guy out of the backfield, now (there are) mismatches, right? Is he against a safety or is it a linebacker? Are they playing base defense versus a guy we think we can get an advantage in the pass game? Great. Are they going to play nickel or dime and dare us to run the ball? Well, when you have guys that can play all three downs, it’s nice for the play-caller, and it’s nice for the offense.”

It’s nice for the quarterback too. If Montgomery proves he can threaten defenses by lining up split from the formation, the Bears could motion him out of the backfield to help quarterback Mitch Trubisky diagnose the defense before the snap.

That’s the Bears’ vision for Montgomery in the passing game. At this stage, though, it’s more of a projection than a proven entity.

Montgomery, like many college running backs in spread offenses, wasn’t asked at Iowa State to run routes from an extensive route tree or from a wide variety of alignments. He doesn’t have as much game experience lining up split from the formation as Memphis’ Darrell Henderson, who also ran a 4.49-second 40-yard dash compared with Montgomery’s 4.63. Then again, Henderson isn’t as elusive as Montgomery, and Montgomery’s football character is hard to match.

The Rams traded up to draft Henderson 70th. Three spots later, the Bears traded up for Montgomery. Now the Bears will train him to expand his route tree and excel from different spots in the formation.

Although Montgomery is relatively unproven as a receiver, the Bears coveted him because they project him to be very good at it. His low center of gravity, quick-twitch cutting ability, body control and feel for timing and spacing should make him an effective route runner. He’s also coachable and a dedicated worker in practice. The Bears have little doubt he’ll master what they ask of him.

There’s another element too. Nagy explained Saturday what traits he looks for in a college running back when projecting their effectiveness as a receiver in the NFL.

“No. 1 would be having natural hands; do they have natural hands?” Nagy said. “What you see in the college game right now, the hashes are a lot wider than ours, so a lot of the backs in college aren't running some of the routes we do … because of limited space from the hash to the sideline. So you have to be able to go out and test them and see if they can do it on an individual workout. Or you see pro days or you see it at the combine.”

Montgomery does have natural hands. He caught 71 passes in three seasons at Iowa State. His annual average (23.6) compares quite favorably to that of the 10 other running backs drafted in the first four rounds.

“He does not have breakaway speed, but he’s good in pass protection, and he has shown he can catch the ball out of the backfield,” said Matt Bowen, ESPN analyst and former NFL safety for seven seasons. “Can he fit in your system? Can he produce in the NFL? I have no doubt about that.”

The challenge of expanding Montgomery’s ability as a receiver begins Friday at rookie minicamp. We’ll be watching closely all preseason.

2. Adding Montgomery to the top of the depth chart slots Tarik Cohen and Mike Davis comfortably into ideal roles.

Tack this onto the list of reasons drafting Montgomery made sense. Not only is Montgomery a pro-ready, three-down back who will grind out yards, his presence will allow the Bears to use Cohen more as a wide receiver, which is the staff’s preference.

In 2018, here’s how the Bears’ rush attempts by their top three running backs stacked up:

1. Jordan Howard, 250.

2. Tarik Cohen, 99.

3. Benny Cunningham, 11.

Now, instead of Howard and Cunningham with Cohen, it’ll be Montgomery and Davis. The latter pairing is much more potent.

Hypothetically, let’s say the trio of backs gets 360 rushing attempts again this season. The Bears could comfortably divide 300 between Montgomery and Davis, while reducing Cohen’s carries and exchanging them for pass routes. Cohen would become the true joker back Nagy and the Bears consider him to be.

“It gives you options,” Nagy said. “They’re all weapons. They can play on every down. You feel good about where they’re at, and as coaches we’ve got to figure out exactly what (they’re best at), and then there’s only so many touches, so we have to balance that. And that is the difficult part, but it’s a lot easier to do when you have these types of guys with different strengths.”

Davis had a career-high 112 carries last season for the Seahawks. General manager Ryan Pace wasn’t just gassing up Davis last Tuesday at his annual pre-draft news conference when he insisted Davis can handle a greater workload. The Bears believe that.