Malik Beasley Who Dat Daily.com Saints Contributor
New Orleans,LA – The New Orleans Saints have made some key moves to solidify the running back position behind Star Alvin Kamara and back up Latavius Murray. The team inked versatile running back wide receiver Ty Montgomery in free agency, who was with the New York Jets last season. The Saints also signed undrafted Notre Dame bowling ball back Tony Jones Jr who averaged 6 yards per carry for the Fighting Irish.
Montgomery 27, is a 7 year player who had previous stints with Green Bay, Baltimore & The Jets. The combo back brings more experience and talent to the third running back position then his predecessor. He can do things that Washington simply can’t do and is seen as a better compliment. In his best season 2016 Montgomery averaged 6.9 yards per carry and had 7.9 yards per catch plus he kick/punt returns on special teams.
New Orleans Saints running backs Coach Joel Thomas was high on Montgomery saying “‘Im a fan of Ty Montgomery, yes he’s on our team, but I was (familiar with him) before he got here just because he can do everything that is required within our playbook. Obviously, he has a route running skill-set that he had in college at Stanford. I coached against him when I was at Washington and he was at Stanford so I was very familiar with him as he came into the league, but he’s got the ability to run routes. 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. 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.”
So you can see why the idea was floated about an position change for power back Dwayne Washington. If the team decides to go with only three running backs and a full back he could find himself out in the cold. I have to give credit to where i heard the idea originally from listening to “The Sports Coma with Big Q & The Guys.“ I said to myself that makes a helluva lot of sense, especially since the team just released full back Ricky Ortiz.
The lone full back on the team now is Michael Burton. Burton 28, is 6th year pro who had stints with Detroit, Chicago & Washington. He battled former Saints FB Zach Line (retired) for the job last season and is now seen as the front runner. If Washington 26, who is 6th year pro working on 3rd season with New Orleans can make the switch it would not only guarantee him a spot but adds another layer of versatility to the offense.
The biggest and most outstanding thing about Dwayne Washington is not the fact he plays special teams but is he averaged 7.5 yards per rush (when given the ball). I for one would most certainly be a fan of having him at full back simply because it make the Saints even more dangerous offensively.
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