NY Jets: Will the team re-sign or decline Ty Montgomery?

The NY Jets have a number of in-house free agents set to the open market this offseason and one of which will be running back Ty Montgomery.

The NY Jets offense somehow took a major step back in 2020 behind a porous offensive line and an overwhelmed head coach in Adam Gase. And one of the biggest sufferers of the offense’s lack of identity was Ty Montgomery.

Montgomery was signed by the Jets in April with hopes that he could be a jack-of-all-trades offensive weapon to help out quarterback Sam Darnold. But by Week 3, he had nearly been fazed out of the offense altogether.

The converted wide receiver shined in training camp and the preseason and was the clear-cut backup running back behind Le’Veon Bell. Montgomery was being used in a variety of two-back sets and it seemed as though the Jets had big plans for their free-agent addition.

But the regular season provided different fortunes.

Montgomery wasn’t used much in Week 1 but responded in a big way by playing 38 percent of the team’s offensive snaps in Week 2. He would rush three times for 25 yards and haul in three catches for an additional 15 yards.

This was the Montgomery that Jets fans expected to see. Unfortunately, they wouldn’t see much more of that version.

Montgomery would go on to play 15 percent of offensive snaps or less in 10 of 16 games touching the ball just 45 times all year. He was usurped on the depth chart by veteran Bilal Powell who assumed the No. 2 running back role before long.

Now a free agent again, will the Jets look to bring back Montgomery?

Should the Jets re-sign him?

If used correctly, Ty Montgomery could be a dangerous offensive weapon. He has great hands for a running back, is a very capable blocker, and could be used effectively while running outside the tackles.

However, the Jets wholly ignored his skill set in 2019.

Be it a product of their offensive scheme or simply Gase preferring Powell over him, Montgomery was left on the sidelines more often than not last season. That’s especially confusing considering how high the team seemed on him going into the year.

Montgomery could be a very effective part of the offense. But if last year was any indication, it doesn’t appear that he will be given the opportunity to do so with the Jets.

Unless the team was to completely change the way they anticipate using him in 2020, it makes little sense for the Jets to re-sign him.

Will the Jets re-sign him?

The Jets seemed to have big plans for Montgomery going into the season, but for one reason or another, those plans fell by the wayside.

Now, Montgomery was still a very effective special-teamer and he did return 18 kicks for 364 yards last season. However, that only resulted in an underwhelming average of 20.2 yards per return — the lowest of his career to this point.

It seems highly unlikely that the Jets will look to re-sign Montgomery in the offseason given the fact that he was used less and less as the year went on. Again, he could still be an effective role player for an NFL offense.

But don’t expect that to be for the Jets in 2020.

Montgomery came to the Jets with plenty of potential, but hopefully another organization could capitalize on his unique skill set next season.

Odds of re-signing: 12%