Rusher or receiver, Ty Montgomery views himself as ‘employee No. 14’ with Patriots

Ty Montgomery has handled 258 rushes, 139 receptions and 57 returns over the course of his NFL career. A total of 3,558 all-purpose yards and 10 touchdowns have followed through stops with the Green Bay Packers, Baltimore Ravens, New York Jets and New Orleans Saints.

Now arrives the next stop for the former Stanford All-American.

“I am employee No. 14 of the New England Patriots, and I’ll be doing whatever is asked of me,” Montgomery told reporters of his role during a video conference on Thursday.

Montgomery signed a two-year, $3.54 million contract featuring $300,000 guaranteed in March. The 29-year-old hybrid is listed on the roster as a wide receiver. As recently shared by Patriots assistant coach Vinnie Sunseri, he has also worked with the running backs during voluntary offseason workouts.

“Honestly, just with the culture that’s here, from the outside looking in, when the New England Patriots called, I just couldn’t say no,” Montgomery said. “I didn’t want to say no. I wanted to be here.”

A veteran of 78 games and 20 starts, Montgomery entered the league in the third round of the 2015 draft. His odometer spans 1,430 snaps on offense and 615 snaps on special teams, where he had a hand in a career-high 10 tackles with New Orleans last campaign.

Ex-Patriots receiver Chris Hogan was among his teammates. But Montgomery, who reached out to the two-time Super Bowl champion in free agency, said he did not need much persuasion to join head coach Bill Belichick’s fold.

“I’ve had teammates on other teams that have come from New England, and they always spoke very highly, so I wanted to be a part of it,” added Montgomery. “I wanted to be a part of a team that’s coached by Coach Belichick. I wanted to be a part of a team just with the group of guys that’s here. I just felt like being a New England Patriot was going to make me a better football player.”

In New England’s backfield, the current depth chart includes Damien Harris, Rhamondre Stevenson, James White, J.J. Taylor, Pierre Strong Jr. and Kevin Harris. Out wide, it includes Jakobi Meyers, Kendrick Bourne, Nelson Agholor, DeVante Parker, Tyquan Thornton, N’Keal Harry, Kristian Wilkerson, Tre Nixon and Malcolm Perry.

Somewhere in between stands the 6-foot, 216-pound Montgomery with organized team activities set to begin next week.

“I like being here,” he said. “I love being a New England Patriot. We work hard. And everything we do, we do with a purpose.”