Ty Montgomery

Patriots To Sign Ty Montgomery

The Patriots have reached agreement with Ty Montgomery (Twitter link via Josina Anderson of CBSSports.com). The running back’s two-year deal could pay up to$4MM, according to a source who spoke with Anderson. 

[RELATED: Patriots To Sign T. Mitchell]

Montgomery, 29, spent the first three-plus seasons of his career in Green Bay, moving from wide receiver to running back. His best work came in 2016, when he collected 805 yards from scrimmage and three touchdowns. He was traded to the Ravens midway through the 2018 campaign, and he served as Le’Veon Bell‘s backup with the Jets in 2019.

Montgomery signed with the Saints in 2020 and spent last year at both positions. He finished out with 15 carries for 44 yards, plus 16 catches for 95 yards. The Patriots may look to reprise that role for the former third-round pick, using him as a receiver, a James White-type running back, and a special teamer. The Pats could use a player like Montgomery, especially after backup RB Brandon Bolden left to join the Raiders.

Meanwhile, the Pats still have some work to do up front after trading standout guard Shaq Mason to the Buccaneers.

Minor NFL Transactions:  12/15/21

Today’s minor moves:

Arizona Cardinals

Buffalo Bills

  • Activated from reserve/COVID-19 list: LB A.J. Klein

Cleveland Browns

Dallas Cowboys

Green Bay Packers

Indianapolis Colts

Miami Dolphins

New England Patriots

New Orleans Saints

Philadelphia Eagles

Pittsburgh Steelers

Seattle Seahawks

Minor NFL Transactions: 12/9/21

Here are Thursday’s minor moves:

Arizona Cardinals

Cleveland Browns

Dallas Cowboys

Detroit Lions

Las Vegas Raiders

Minnesota Vikings

New Orleans Saints

Pittsburgh Steelers

Saints Re-Sign Ty Montgomery

Ty Montgomery is heading back to New Orleans. NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero reports (via Twitter) that the Saints have re-signed the veteran to a one-year pact. Specifically, it’s a “veteran benefit deal” that includes a $137.5K signing bonus.

The 2015 third-round pick spent the first three-plus seasons of his career in Green Bay, including a 2016 campaign where he collected 805 yards from scrimmage and three touchdowns. He was traded to the Ravens midway through the 2018 campaign, and he served as Le’Veon Bell‘s backup with the Jets in 2019.

Montgomery signed with the Saints last offseason but spent the beginning of the season sitting on IR. With much of New Orleans’ running back corps sidelined by COVID protocol, Montgomery had a chance to start in Week 17, finishing with 105 rushing yards on 18 carries. He finished the 2020 season having appeared in six games, and he made an additional appearance in the postseason.

The 28-year-old has displayed plenty of versatility throughout his career, serving as a running back, wideout, and return man. He’ll likely serve a similar Swiss Army Knife-type role in 2021, although it’ll be tough for him to surpass Alvin Kamara or Latavius Murray on the running backs depth chart, and he’d be (at best) the team’s fifth wideout heading into the offseason.

Minor NFL Transactions: 10/19/20

We’ll keep track of today’s minor moves here:

Arizona Cardinals

Cincinnati Bengals

Dallas Cowboys

Houston Texans

  • Claimed off waivers from Colts: DT Eli Ankou

New Orleans Saints

Minor NFL Transactions: 9/26/20

Here are Saturday’s minor moves:

Arizona Cardinals

Buffalo Bills

Cincinnati Bengals

Cleveland Browns

Denver Broncos

Green Bay Packers

Indianapolis Colts

Las Vegas Raiders

New England Patriots

New Orleans Saints

New York Giants

New York Jets

Philadelphia Eagles

San Francisco 49ers

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tennessee Titans

Washington Football Team

Contract Details: Colvin, Saints, Thompson

Details on a couple of recent NFL deals (Twitter link via ESPN’s Field Yates unless otherwise specified):

  • Aaron Colvin, CB (Redskins): One year. Veteran salary benefit. $910K base salary, $137.5K signing bonus.
  • Ty Montgomery, RB (Saints): One year. Veteran salary benefit. $910K base salary, $137.5K signing bonus.
  • Patrick Omameh, OL (Saints): One year. Veteran salary benefit. $1.05MM base salary, $137.5K signing bonus.
  • Chris Thompson, RB (Jaguars): One year. $1.05MM base salary. $250K signing bonus, $100K available in roster bonuses.

Saints Sign RB Ty Montgomery

The Saints will add to their running back room by signing Ty Montgomery. The former Packers, Ravens and Jets back agreed to a deal with New Orleans on Friday, Nick Underhill of New Orleans.Football tweets. The Saints announced the move.

Montgomery has experience as a wide receiver and running back and operated as the Jets’ kick returner last season. He will join Alvin Kamara and Latavius Murray with the Saints.

Being permitted to wear No. 88 despite switching to running back years ago, Montgomery profiles as an interesting utility piece for a team that has gotten considerable mileage from this type of player in recent years. The former third-round pick out of Stanford moved to running back in 2016 — his second NFL season — and averaged 5.9 yards per carry that year. He also caught 44 passes for 348 yards in 2016. However, Montgomery has not contributed much statistically beyond that season.

The Packers interestingly opened the 2017 season with Montgomery starting ahead of then-rookies Aaron Jones and Jamaal Williams but traded Montgomery to the Ravens after a fumble on a kick return led to a Green Bay loss to the Rams. And he saw little time with Baltimore. Last year, the Jets gave him 32 carries.

That said, Montgomery is still just 27, has a career 4.6 yards-per-carry average and posted a 900-plus-yard receiving season in college. Montgomery compiled back-to-back 61-reception seasons to close his Cardinal career. The Saints, who also did not draft a wideout, are listing Montgomery as a running back.

It would seem likely New Orleans views Montgomery as more of an offensive weapon, considering the team just saw Deonte Harris become an All-Pro returner last season. Harris, whom the Associated Press named as its All-Pro punt returner, functioned as the Saints’ kick returner as well.

In a corresponding move, the Saints waived tight end Mitchell Loewen.

Extra Points: Steelers, Lions, Broncos, Jets

Nat Berhe had a disappointing season in Pittsburgh last year. The safety signed with the Steelers last April, was released at final cuts, and then re-signed before Week 1. He was a minor contributor on defense and special teams for a few weeks, before landing on injured reserve with a pec injury. Berhe remains a free agent now, and he recently told Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com that he had “some early contact” with the Steelers this offseason (Twitter link).

Berhe also told Fowler that he’s open to returning to the Steelers in 2019, but for now he’s “focused on adding size” before landing in a training camp. A San Diego State product, Berhe originally entered the league as a fifth round pick of the Giants back in 2014. He spent the first four years of his career in New York before signing a one-year, $790K deal with the Steelers. It’s not shocking that teams haven’t exactly been beating down his door to sign him.

Here’s more from around the league:

  • 2019 is going to be a very key season for Lions receiver Marvin Jones. After Detroit traded away Golden Tate, Jones was supposed to take over as the clear top receiver. Unfortunately, Jones’ season was ended in late November by a knee injury. According to Dake Birkett of the Detroit Free Press, there was some drama between Jones and the team after Jones criticized Matt Patricia’s policy of having injured players watch games from the press box on social media. Interestingly, Birkett writes that Jones “doesn’t seem long for a Patricia-coached team that has moved on from other players who aren’t yes-sir-I’ll-do-whatever-you-say types.” That being said, Birkett would be shocked if anything were to happen before the end of the season, as they’re counting on Jones to be a large part of the offense. Still it sounds like Jones, who didn’t participate in OTAs or minicamp due to his injury, might not be in the team’s longterm plans.
  • Heading into last season, the Broncos had one of the most stable kicking situations in the league. They had recently given a huge extension to Brandon McManus, but then McManus struggled last season. He wasn’t himself, and then Denver added former AAF kicker Taylor Bertolet this offseason. Despite the addition of competition, it “doesn’t appear McManus’ job is in any jeopardy,” writes Kyle Fredrickson of the Denver Post. Per Fredrickson, Broncos coach Vic Fangio recently said McManus is the “obvious incumbent,” and that Bertolet “would have to knock him out like in a heavyweight battle” to win the job.
  • The Jets made a splashy move this offseason by bringing in Le’Veon Bell, but he wasn’t the only running back they added. New York also signed Ty Montgomery, who has apparently been making an impression. Montgomery started his career with the Packers, and was traded to the Ravens at the deadline last season before inking a one-year deal with the Jets in April. Montgomery so far has “been the beneficiary of Le’Veon Bell staying away for much of the voluntary portion of the offseason program,” as he’s “gotten a ton of reps,” according to Brian Costello of the New York Post. Costello writes that he’s also the “current favorite to be the kick returner” in 2019. Montgomery was a starter at times for the Packers in 2016 and 2017, but fell out of favor in Green Bay. Playing for only $895K with just $90K of it guaranteed, it sounds like he’s got a decent shot to re-establish himself with the Jets.

Contract Details: Gostkowski, Chung, Jets

A look at the details on recent deals from around the NFL:

  • Stephen Gostkowski, K (Patriots): Two years, $8.5MM (original story). $4.25MM each year, with cap numbers of $3.05MM (2019) and $5.45MM (2020). Twitter link via Ben Volin of the Boston Globe.
  • Austin Seferian-Jenkins, TE (Patriots): One year. Worth $895K, only guarantee via $50K signing bonus. Veteran minimum salary of $805K with $40K in per-game roster bonuses. Cap number of $707K. Twitter link via Volin.
  • Patrick Chung, S (Patriots): One-year extension. New “three-year” contract worth $12.9MM, with $6MM in new money. $4MM signing bonus. New 2019 cap number increases to $4.48MM. Twitter link via Albert Breer of TheMMQB and ESPN’s Mike Reiss.
  • Ty Montgomery, WR/RB (Jets): One year. Minimum deal with $90K signing bonus/roster bonus. Twitter link via Manish Mehta of NYDN.