A year ago at this time, Ty Montgomery probably had never thought about playing running back. Now he’s the Green Bay Packers’ No. 1 running back.
Even though he hasn’t even played a full season at the position, Montgomery says he already prefers running back to receiver.
Pretty simply, it’s a numbers game.
“Do I want to play in the NFL for a longer period of time and not be as happy because I’m not having the amount of success that I’d like to have?” Montgomery said Tuesday during an appearance at ESPN headquarters in Bristol, Connecticut. “And if running back gives me that, then I’d rather play 6-8 years in the league and having a successful career and having a lot of fun doing it and not always battling to be somebody’s fourth, fifth or sixth receiver, even if it meant a 10-12 year career.”
“So, would I rather be trying to be someone’s No. 1 running back than being somebody’s fourth, fifth or sixth receiver? Would I rather be trying to make someone’s team as a fourth, fifth, sixth receiver and potentially not making as much money as I could if I played 6-8 years in the league and have the potential to make the amount of money I could at the running back position? It all came down to quality over quantity, and I want the quality of years to be what I want.”
Before switching to running back, Montgomery was lost in the shuffle among the Packers’ receivers.
Through the first half of the season, the Packers almost exclusively utilized Jordy Nelson, Randall Cobb and Davante Adams at receiver. Playing time was nearly nonexistent for guys like Montgomery, Jeff Janis, Trevor Davis and Jared Abbrederis, before he was released.
Montgomery saw only 17 snaps through the first four weeks of the season. Then, after Eddie Lacy and James Starks went down, Montgomery actually started to see the field.
So we can understand the appeal of his new position — he actually gets to play.
Now, if the Packers would hand him the ball a little more often, they might have something special. Montgomery averaged 5.9 yards per carry in 2016, but only toted the ball 77 times.