GREEN BAY, Wis. -- No less an authority than Ahman Green, the Green Bay Packers' all-time leading rusher, came away impressed with what Ty Montgomery did last season after his switch to running back.

And Green thinks even bigger things are ahead for the former receiver, because now Montgomery will get the chance to go through the offseason program as a running back for the first time.

Green Bay's Ty Montgomery averaged an impressive 5.9 yards on 77 carries last season. Benny Sieu/USA TODAY Sports

"It’s going to be great for him," Green said Tuesday before he took off on the Packers' 12th annual Tailgate Tour. "He’s going to have time now to get in the playbook and look at it differently, look at it from a running back standpoint and learn his responsibilities in the run game and the pass game and wherever else the team needs him."

Green, who in 2009 broke the Packers' career rushing record previously held by Jim Taylor and finished with 8,322 yards in eight seasons in Green Bay, still follows the Packers closely. He lives in the area, works in the local television market and also trains athletes at a nearby gym. So he got an up-close look at Montgomery, who didn’t make the full-time switch to running back until last October.

Although he only carried 77 times in the regular season, Montgomery’s 5.9 yard average per carry helped turn the move into something more than just a stop-gap because of injuries. Montgomery has made the full-time position switch.

The Packers have made it no secret they plan to add to the running back position, which includes only Montgomery and backup Christine Michael. But Green believes they have a cornerstone in Montgomery.

"I thought he did a phenomenal job," Green said. "To do that, to ask a wide receiver to become a running back -- to ask any player to switch positions -- is tough, because you don’t train for that. For him, that was his second year. He had been training and playing wide receiver for a few years. He played a little running back in high school, but that had been three, four years since then. Now, at the elite level of pro football saying, 'Hey we need you to play running back,' the good thing is he still had the same size, and what he adds to it is the element of endurance because he’s always running routes, deep routes, so he can recover a lot quicker. The speed element is a little bit different. Now he’s got to use more muscle and grit to grind out hard yards between the tackles."