The Green Bay Packers chose not to bring back Eddie Lacy, which has left their backfield very thin at the moment. That could mean they are planning to address the position early in the draft, or it could say a lot about Ty Montgomery.
Montgomery, whose primary position in college was wide receiver, made the full-time switch to running back midway through the 2016 season. Still sporting No. 88 on his jersey, he exploded for 162 yards on 16 carries in Week 15 against the Chicago Bears. Can we expect more of that from him next season?
“Obviously it’s a very heavy lifting position, so availability will be Ty’s No. 1 statistic,” Packers coach Mike McCarthy said this week, via Rob Demovsky of ESPN.com. “He’s a very talented young man, very bright, obviously understands the whole perimeter part of the offense now, so his utilization and the variation that he gives us as far as alignments and assignments and the different things that he can do will definitely benefit us as far as our offensive scheme. He just needs to have a great offseason … but this is a big opportunity for him.”
McCarthy was asked if he views Montgomery as a first-string running back
“I think Ty definitely has that ability,” he said.
While the sample size was not very large, Montgomery rushed for a whopping 5.9 yards per carry on 77 carries last year. He did, however, miss one game due to complications from the sickle-cell trait, and there are obvious questions about whether he is capable of being a workhorse.
Fortunately, McCarthy’s offense is extremely pass-heavy. If Montgomery can stay healthy, he could emerge as a dangerous dual-threat backfield option for Aaron Rodgers. Christine Michael is returning on a one-year deal, but there’s no guarantee he will make the team. At the moment, it appears the starting job is Montgomery’s to lose.
