Green Bay Packers: Running back battle breakdown, 2017 Edition

The Green Bay Packers have a tough decision at running back as three rookies and a former receiver currently fill their backfield. Who will start this season?

Only one month until real football. Training camp is just a stone’s throw away, which means that the camp battles are ready to go. Incumbents will be pushed by signings and draft picks, and vice versa. So it’s obviously time to speculate wildly about those battles.

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We debated major quarterback battles in New York, Chicago, Denver, and Houston. Now we turn to the Green Bay Packers and their running back ultimatum. Three rookies and a former wide receiver make up the current Green Bay backfield. Who will have the job this season?

Two brothers from New York, Dan Salem and Todd Salem, discuss the Green Bay Packers in today’s NFL Sports Debate.

Green Bay Packers RB Contenders

Ty Montgomery
Jamaal Williams
Aaron Jones
Devante Mays

Details

Todd Salem: The Green Bay Packers selected three running backs in the 2017 NFL Draft. Williams came off the board first, in the fourth round, followed by Jones in the fifth and Mays in the seventh. The message was pretty clear. Green Bay needed to improve its running game.

Last year, the Packers salvaged a running game by shifting wide receiver Ty Montgomery into the backfield. He was pretty darn effective, though the team still divvied up carries, allowing six different players to tally at least 30 carries.

Montgomery averaged nearly six yards per carry but only handled the ball 77 times. It would be quite the optimist who thinks he can become a 200-carry guy in year two of this transition.

Dan Salem: It’s rare for a wide receiver to become a running back. Most players do not possess the physical characteristics necessary to make the switch, but Montgomery was the exception. He successfully changed roles last season and aims to build on his prior success in the backfield. Yet it’s unlikely he maintains an average of six yards per carry, or that he is the team leader in carriers every single game.

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More NFL teams than ever before are time sharing at running back, and the Packers have been doing so for quite some time. The position has been a trouble spot of the Green Bay offense for several seasons, due to injury or otherwise. It’s likely to be a point of contention once again, no matter who earns major reps from week to week.

Selection

Todd Salem: Montgomery is the obvious choice to start in the backfield in Week 1. He is essentially a receiver no longer. The move came out of necessity but lasted because of success. However, I don’t see him holding up over the course of a full workload.

All three rookies hail from smallish schools, with Williams’ alma mater of BYU being the highest profile. That likely means it will take time for them to get acclimated to the NFL. However, I could see Williams being a short-yardage guy pretty quickly, and Jones has the athleticism to siphon carries away from the starter Montgomery. Despite Montgomery’s successful transition to the new position, it feels like the Green Bay backfield is going to be another crowded timeshare in 2017.

Dan Salem: It’s hard enough for first-round running backs to come in and start right away. Only recently have we had a few exceptions to this, and those players were top 10 picks! I expect all three rookies to receive an equal opportunity at first team reps during the preseason, but only one to actually emerge in Green Bay’s Week 1 offense.

My money is on fourth-round pick Jamaal Williams, because any player drafted in the later rounds is a total crap shoot to even make the team. Williams likely gets some red zone opportunities early in the season, as well as those short yardage plays you alluded to. If he can show some speed, I expect him to play a key role on power running plays as well.

As for the starting running back, if Ty Montgomery is not the Week 1 starter, then that player is not on the team as of yet. Green Bay will be forced to add someone, anyone, from the remaining free agent pool to take on first team duties at running back. This is a bit scary for Packers fans, because a former wide receiver is now your starting running back. But you need him to be great.

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There is no wiggle room here; with the second best option for reps being a fourth-round pick, one injury and the whole thing goes down in flames. If the Packers have roster space, they likely bring in a veteran running back for added insurance prior to Week 1.