GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Just because the Green Bay Packers now have a committee of running backs, it doesn’t mean they’ll employ the running-back-by-committee philosophy.
Their decision to pick three running backs on Day 3 of the NFL draft might be more about finding a workhorse in the mold of Eddie Lacy, who left in free agency and signed with the Seattle Seahawks.
“You’re a different team with a great running back,” Packers senior personnel executive Alonzo Highsmith said. “Teams that say they want a running back by committee, it’s because they don’t have one running back. Of course, we would love to have a guy that can come in and be a horse, but they’re hard to get. It’s a tough position.”
That comment came after the Packers picked their fourth straight defensive player to start the draft. Three of their next five picks were running backs: BYU’s Jamaal Williams in the fourth round, UTEP’s Aaron Jones in the fifth and Utah State’s Devante Mays in the seventh.
Even though Mike McCarthy declared after the draft that converted receiver Ty Montgomery is his starting running back, the offensive-minded coach will have months to figure out what kind of rotation to employ with his new collection of backs. And the fact remains that Montgomery, who made the position switch last fall, carried more than 11 times in a game only once last season.
If there’s “a horse,” as Highsmith put it, among the group, it might be the 6-foot, 212-pound Williams. He owns BYU’s career rushing record (3,901 yards) and runs with the kind of bruising style teams like in an every-down back.
“He’s an aggressive, downhill runner. He’s tough. He’s built to last,” Packers director of college scouting Jon-Eric Sullivan said. “We’re excited about him. We got a good football player, a guy who complements what we already have here.
“He’s durable, and he’s a tough kid. He’s all football. I think up here in the elements, he’ll be a good get for us when it gets cold. We’re super excited to have him. I think he’s going to be a good football player.”
Eight running backs were drafted in the first three rounds combined. The Packers could have picked Oklahoma’s Samaje Perine with the first pick of the fourth round. Instead, they opened Day 3 with Wisconsin outside linebacker Vince Biegel. Perine went six picks later, and it started a mini run on backs. By the time the Packers were back on the clock with their second fourth-round pick, a dozen running backs had been selected in the first three-and-a-half rounds. Williams became the 13th back selected.
“I feel I’m an old-style type of running back -- I like to bruise, I like to pound into people a lot,” Williams said. “I feel like I’m a grinder, a workhorse, and as the game keeps going -- fourth quarter, third quarter -- I’m just getting stronger and stronger and trying to wear the defenses down.”
If that sounds something like Lacy, then the 5-foot-9 and 208-pound Jones might be more like Montgomery. The 5-foot-11, 230-pound Mays is something in between.
“Jamaal is more of your classic, between the tackles, size, strength [running back]; he does have a good speed,” Packers director of pro personnel Eliot Wolf said. “And if you see Aaron's tape, Aaron's really fast. I think he ran 4.51 [actually 4.56 in the 40 at the combine], but that was a little surprising, we thought he played faster than that. He's a guy that consistently can beat the angle of the safety, a lot of long runs for UTEP.”
Jones and Williams have become friends; they met at the Senior Bowl and share the same agent.
"I feel like he has more bigger-back characteristics; I have smaller-back characteristics,” Jones said. “I’m a little bit faster than he is. He’s bigger than me, of course. And I can catch the ball out of the backfield. So a one-two punch, or a three-headed monster, four-headed monster with the backs we have up there. I’m just excited to get up there.”