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One of the more underrated moves of the New Orleans Saints offseason might be the signing of free agent running back Ty Montgomery, if his new position coach’s thoughts are any indication. Joel Thomas works with the running backs in New Orleans, and he spoke at length on what Montgomery — who experienced some starts and stops with the New York Jets and Baltimore Ravens, after rising to prominence for the Green Bay Packers — brings to the table.
Intriguingly, Thomas has something of a history with Montgomery; he saw firsthand what the converted wide receiver can do when Montgomery starred for the Stanford Cardinal against Thomas’s Washington Huskies back in the day. While Montgomery has since lined up more often at running back than at receiver, Thomas still sees plenty of room for growth from the 27-year old.
“When you look back at it, he has only been a running back for five seasons so that is where I see the piece of putty we can hopefully mold into what we want him to be within our offense,” Thomas said in a recent conference call “I love the versatility out of the backfield. We can line him up in empty. We can put him back there as a single back seven-yards deep. I don’t think he’s gonna be put in a single position and that’s what he does.”
Thomas also pointed to a pair of past Saints running backs who made a name for themselves catching passes: Travaris Cadet and Pierre Thomas. But he was quick to clarify that Cadet didn’t have the size or ability to run between the tackles that Montgomery boasts, whereas the “PT Bruiser” lacked his route-running nuance. In some ways, Montgomery has the best of both worlds.
He continued, “The meetings I’ve had with him, he is smart, obviously Stanford educated, but he’s smart, very coachable, I like what he’s bringing to the table as far as what we’ve got with this signing.”
Still, it would be surprising if Montgomery carves out a big role in the offense. He’s behind Alvin Kamara and Latavius Murray on the depth chart (at least; special teams ace Dwayne Washington is also in the mix, along with a few other reserves). But if Montgomery can do more than pick up Kamara’s playbook and show enough in training camp to earn snaps once the season starts, his No. 88 might continue to catch the eye.
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