Green Bay Packers starting running back Ty Montgomery, a converted slot-receiver selected in the 3rd round of the 2015 NFL Draft, certainly doesn’t have the body-type, resume, and hype of a NFL workhorse running back. However, Montgomery’s rare blend of elite rushing vision and smooth receiving abilities make him the perfect running back in Green Bay’s offense, a scheme centered around short, high-percentage passes that serve as a proxy running game. Montgomery punctuated his breakout campaign with 121 combined touches for 805 yards and 3 touchdowns after he took the reigns as the starting running back for injured Eddie Lacy in Week 6 of 2016.
Montgomery racked up 162 rushing yards on only 16 carries and found the end-zone twice in his most productive game of his NFL career, a thrilling 30-27 victory against the Chicago Bears. On his highlight reel 61-yard rush of the game, Montgomery escaped through the line of scrimmage and broke away from defenders with combined quick acceleration bursts and powerful stiff-arms and spins. Montgomery also flashed his dual-threat ability as he accumulated 10 receptions for 66 additional receiving yards out of the backfield to go along with his expected 9 carries for 60 yards on the ground in an earlier match-up against the Bears. During the Packers’ playoff run to the 2017 NFC Championship Game, Montgomery earned 14 valuable touches in the Packers’ victory against the Giants and another 17 critical touches in the Packers’ win against the Cowboys the following week, which is very encouraging for his future role as a dynamic offensive weapon for the Super Bowl LII contenders.
BenK’s Razzball Ruling: Underrated! Ty Montgomery is the ideal mid-round target for fantasy drafters employing a zero-RB strategy. Montgomery combines a coveted dose of explosive ceiling games to go along with his highly consistent rushing and receiving floor of 12-15+ touches per game.
As of July 19, 2017, FantasyPros.com consensus experts ranked Montgomery as the 24th PPR running back available with an ADP of 46. This ranking is slightly behind untested rookie running backs such as Leonard Fournette, Joe Mixon, and Christian McCaffery. Montgomery does have the highlighted benefit of starting the season as the focal point of a fast-paced and high-scoring offense to balance out his perceived lack of pedigree compared to Fournette, McCaffery and Mixon. Fournette will be the bell-cow runner for the Jaguars, but Vegas sports-books have set the Jaguars projected win total between 5 and 6 games, which could lead to fewer rushing opportunities as the Jaguars offense tries to quickly throw its way back into contention. McCaffery and Mixon are both dynamic prospects oozing with upside, but they both could see limited red-zone touches in their first year in the NFL.  Panthers’ quarterback Cam Newton and Bengals’ running back Jeremy Hill have both proven to be elite at plowing their way into the end-zone as they both average nearly double-digit touchdown runs per season throughout their careers.
