Will Montgomery

William Michael Montgomery (born February 13, 1983) is an American former professional football player who was a center for 10 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Virginia Tech Hokies and was selected by the Carolina Panthers in the seventh round of the 2006 NFL draft.

Montgomery also played for the New York Jets, Washington Redskins, Denver Broncos, and Chicago Bears.

Early life Montgomery attended Centreville High School in Clifton, Virginia and was a letterman in football, basketball, and baseball. In football, he won All-State honors as a senior defensive tackle.

Professional career

In Montgomery's career, he has started in 54 contests as a center, 10 at right guard and 7 at left guard.

Carolina Panthers Montgomery was selected by the Carolina Panthers in the seventh round (234th overall) of the 2006 NFL draft. He played a total of six games in the 2006 NFL season. The Panthers waived Montgomery on September 2, 2007. He was waived by the Jets on September 25, but re-signed on September 29, 2008. Montgomery was waived again on October 14, 2008.

Washington Redskins 2008 season Montgomery signed with the Washington Redskins on December 9, 2008, Montgomery with back-up, Erik Cook, at Redskins 2011 training camp.

2011 season In the 2011 season, Montgomery was moved from his original position of right guard to center. Although he became the starting center, he was moved to left guard after Kory Lichtensteiger suffered a torn ACL in Week 6. In Week 9 against the San Francisco 49ers, Montgomery moved back to center after Maurice Hurt took over as left guard. At the end of the season, he started in all 16 games for the first time in his entire career.

2012 season

Originally scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent in the 2012 season, Montgomery was re-signed by the Redskins to a four-year, $12 million contract. After the NFL cut $36 million from the Redskins' combined salary cap of the next two years, the Redskins restructured Montgomery's contract so $2 million of cap space was gained on March 16, 2012.

In the Week 13 game against the New York Giants, Montgomery jumped into a pile-on in an attempt to recover the ball that Alfred Morris fumbled. Linval Joseph tried to pull Montgomery out by yanking on his leg, but he reacted by kicking him in the groin. Joseph then stomped on Montgomery's stomach. On December 7, Montgomery was fined $10,000 for the incident. Late in the Week 15 game against the Cleveland Browns, he left the game after a player on the Browns team fell on his leg. The next day it was confirmed that he suffered a Grade 2 MCL sprain in his left leg. Montgomery was able to start in the next game against the Philadelphia Eagles.

2013 season Montgomery returned as the Redskins' starting center and not only started every game, but he played every snap.

On March 14, 2014, the Redskins informed Montgomery he was being released, saving the team $1.92 million in salary cap room.

Denver Broncos On April 1, 2014, the Denver Broncos and Montgomery agreed to terms on a one-year contract. Montgomery started the final 8 games at center, helping Denver rank 8th in rushing yards (1,032) in the second half of the season. On October 5, 2015, Montgomery was placed on Injury Reserve.

Personal After retiring from football, Montgomery lost roughly around 80 pounds by December 2017.