Since the arrival of Sean Payton as head coach in 2006, the Saints’ offense has earned a reputation for innovation, and Payton a certain renown for helping players reach their full potential, even if that means playing them “out of position.”
Reggie Bush, Darren Sproles, Taysom Hill… Payton has spent his tenure in New Orleans exploiting mismatches by putting his most versatile offensive weapons in any number of alignments and roles.
Running back/wide receiver hybrid Ty Montgomery wants to be the latest in the lineage of do-it-all workhorses in New Orleans.
“To be part of an organization and an offense that, plainly put, it doesn’t really seem like they care what you think your position is” is a big reason why Montgomery said he chose the Saints. “They’re gonna try to put guys in the right spots to win. If that’s receiver, if that’s running back, if that’s quarterback, it doesn’t matter. We’ve seen them do it with Taysom [Hill]. We’ve seen them do with the running backs over the years as well.”
Montgomery entered the NFL as a receiver out of Stanford, but saw his role change in 2016 while playing in Green Bay. The Packers suffered a run of injuries to their running back corps, and Montgomery was forced into duty in the backfield. Since then, he’s straddled both skill positions at least to some extent in each of his NFL stops.
And as a part-time rusher, Montgomery said he certainly took note of what the Saints backfield has been up to in recent years.
“Even when Mark [Ingram] was here with Alvin [Kamara] for a time, I couldn’t tell who was the starter,” Montgomery said. “Both of these guys were putting up big numbers in the receiving game and in the rushing game. So for me, it was just like, that’s a no-brainer.”
He said another major selling point for choosing the Saints is the future Hall-Of-Famer under center.
“It’s one heck of an opportunity to be able to play with a guy like Drew Brees,” Montgomery said. “I’ve watched him from afar being in the league and as a kid, just seeing the type of leader he is, the voice that he has, his presence on the field and off the field as a player and a person.”
In the end, once the Saints came calling, the bidding for Montgomery’s services was effectively closed.
“Honestly, when the Saints called my agent, I’m pretty sure the first question I asked him was ‘Where do I sign?’ And I really didn’t care how much. And he said, ‘Are you cool with the vet minimum?’ I said, ‘Where do I sign?’”
You can hear the full audio of Montgomery’s appearance on WWL Radio’s “Sports Talk” by clicking the podcast link.