Before the 2018 trade deadline, the Ravens made a rather quiet move by acquiring wide receiver converted running back Ty Montgomery in exchange for a 2020 seventh-round pick. The former Stanford Cardinal wideout was drafted by the Green Bay Packers in the third round of the 2015 NFL Draft. During his time in Green Bay, Montgomery switched to the running back position due to his impressive elusiveness and change of direction abilities.

Montgomery is listed at 6-foot and 216 pounds. At the 2015 NFL Scouting Combine, he ran a 4.55 40-yard dash, which is in the 61st percentile, per Mockdraftable.com. Montgomery is an athletic playmaker, who is excellent after the catch.

With the Packers, Montgomery was utilized as a running back, wide receiver, and a kick returner. His career stats do not jump off the screen, but he has the potential to be a difference maker for the Ravens. Montgomery’s strengths fill a void on Baltimore’s current roster.

Strengths

Excellent after the catch

Fantastic agility and elusiveness

Adept in pass-protection

Can win one on one matchups

Good contact balance, does not go down easy

Ideal play strength

Athletic

Weaknesses

Lacks ideal burst

Vision is questionable at times

Four career fumbles on limited touches

Durability concerns — placed on IR in 2015 and 2017

Questionable play diagnosis skills

Role

Montgomery will not be Baltimore’s featured back. However, his ability to contribute in the passing game should make him an immediate impact player. He could slowly take snaps from Javorius Allen on third downs and obvious passing situations due to his innate ability to make defenders miss and pass block. He should not receive a ton of carries but could be utilized in the screen game. As a former wide receiver, Montgomery is a serviceable route runner. In Green Bay’s offense, he specifically excelled when running angle and wheel routes.

Pass protection

There may have been a call at the line that had the left guard shift to his right, which forced Montgomery to be one on one with a linebacker. Regardless, he stopped the bull rush attempt. He displayed great technique by getting lower than his assignment and attacking the body. Unfortunately for the Packers, the left tackle was pushed back by a ‘long-arm’ move. David Bakhtiari defended this move by pushing down on the defender’s hands and using his leverage against him. By throwing his assignment to the ground, it actually created a lane for the linebacker as Montgomery was tripped.

Montgomery was tasked with blocking a linebacker on a quick passing concept, and he held his ground. He is a physical blocker, who displays excellent hips, fluidity, and strength.

The Vikings showed a blitz with seven men on the line of scrimmage. However, they only sent five. With Green Bay’s offensive line trying to decipher this blitz, Montgomery was responsible for the blitzing linebacker through the A-gap. Not only did Montgomery block Eric Kendricks, but he cleared a lane for Aaron Rodgers to step up in the pocket.

Montgomery was tasked with picking up the A-gap blitzer. Despite not having an ideal angle or positioning, Montgomery quickly made up ground and forced Harrison Smith to the opposite side, which gave Rodgers the ability to reset and deliver a pass.

Although this block is far from flashy, it may have been Montgomery’s best block this season. He completely altered the linebacker’s path and helped clear a lane for Rodgers. Montgomery’s motor is also worth mentioning as he did not stop blocking even when Rodgers began scrambling.

Receiving threat

Baltimore is in the bottom half of the league in YAC (yards after the catch). They rarely turn short yardage receptions into significant gains. Luckily for the Ravens, YAC is Montgomery’s greatest strength. He is dangerous with the ball in his hands as he can make multiple defenders miss despite not having elite, top-end speed. This play was called back due to a block in the back. However, Montgomery still gained a significant amount yards well before the penalty. When he caught the football, there were four defenders in his vicinity. Somehow Montgomery was able to make something out of nothing and cut back to the other side of the field.

With nowhere else to throw the football, Rodgers checked it down to Montgomery, who made multiple defenders miss en route to picking up the first down and more. Simply put, Montgomery is a mismatch. The Ravens greatly lack a tight end or running back who can consistently win matchups against linebackers. Fortunately for the Ravens, Montgomery can be that type of player. Against pattern match Cover 3, he outran a linebacker by using the width of the field and picked up the much needed first down.

Marty Mornhinweg’s offense does utilize running backs in the passing game with a variety of routes. One of those routes is the wheel route, which Montgomery is adept at running. The Bills were running a Cover 3, but the rub concept tricked the cornerback into staying shallow instead of dropping, which allowed Montgomery to be wide open along the sidelines. As a former wide receiver, Montgomery has solid, reliable hands.

This appears to be another Pattern match coverage, which had Montgomery matched up with a linebacker. Not only did he improvise well off of the ‘scramble drill,’ but he completely burned his linebacker en route to picking up a huge gain. Plays like this used to be Javorius Allen’s bread and butter, but he has not had many plays like this one this year.

Being a wide receiver at Stanford, Montgomery knows how to create separation quickly. On a simple shallow ‘in’ route, Montgomery instantly created separation with a cut to the outside before quickly turning back inside. He then picked up the first down due to his solid awareness of where the marker was and ability to operate in space.

Vision

Green Bay’s running game is not too much different from the Ravens’. The Packers run similar concepts such as inside and outside zones, and although the blocking rules may be a tad different, Montgomery’s reads are likely close to the same. Due to the penetration from the three-technique, Montgomery was forced to bend it back. The impressive aspect of this run was that he never danced around, but rather made every step count. He avoided the defender, quickly cut upfield and gained six yards despite the play not being perfectly blocked.

On an outside zone play, Montgomery has three key reads. His first read is not open, which leads to him then identifying the open lane between the center and guard. Montgomery not only hit the hole immediately, but he made one defender miss with a nasty juke move. Alex Collins and Javorius Allen have struggled to make defenders miss this season, which is another reason why the addition of Montgomery could be a positive one.

Although he displayed great vision on the previous two clips, Montgomery made a bad read on this play. On a power concept, he never anticipated or saw the linebacker, which led to him running into his own defender and stopping the run near the line of scrimmage. One of the most important skills or traits a running back needs to have is instincts. The ability to not only read a play, but adapt to the situation is critical, and Montgomery showed a lack of that on this play. With his first read being clogged up, he was unable to adapt and create something.

Special Teams

This return was called back, but it showcases how dangerous of a returner Montgomery can be as he does not go down easy. Montgomery hit the hole hard and made several defenders miss en route to picking up a significant gain.

Even though the Rams blew this return up, Montgomery made multiple defenders miss as he picked up a couple of extra yards. There is a lot to like about him as a returner due to his ability to make defenders miss in space.

Montgomery’s ball security is certainly a question mark as he has four combined career fumbles. This was his first, and only, fumble on a kick return, but it came at the worst time. Reports suggest that Montgomery was told to take a knee, but he did not listen and took it out anyways. This was the deciding factor in this game as it did not give Rodgers a chance to make a play.

Final take

Montgomery is not a superstar by any stretch. However, he could have a role in Baltimore’s offense due to his innate abilities in the passing game. As a runner, Montgomery is not an upgrade for the Ravens. For a seventh-round pick in 2020, this trade was well worth it even if Montgomery signs elsewhere in March.