National Football League

Rollins, Montgomery offered skillsets Packers wanted on Day 2 of NFL Draft

Published May. 2, 2015 2:41 a.m. ET

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GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Drafting a four-year college point guard and a return specialist wasn't among the more likely scenarios that existed for the Green Bay Packers in Rounds 2 and 3. Yet, as Ted Thompson finished his work Friday night, Quinten Rollins and Ty Montgomery found themselves on the receiving end of phone calls from the unpredictable general manager.

Before joining the Miami (Ohio) football team last season, Rollins hadn't played the sport since high school in 2009. But his one year of work on the field was so impressive to Thompson and his staff that Rollins' lengthy time off became irrelevant.

"You watch him play and watch his ball skills and it's sort of remarkable," Thompson said. "It's surprising. He didn't start out the year ranked that high because this was his first year of doing it. But he's a pretty natural football player."

Rollins, who measured in at 5-foot-11 and 195 pounds, was third in the nation with seven interceptions. During spring practices, it got to a point where Rollins wasn't sure if he could keep up. Nine months later, he was the MAC Defensive Player of the Year.

"Whatever rust he had he shook off pretty quick," Packers director of college scouting Brian Gutenkunst said. "He's a very natural athlete. Things come fairly easy to him in that sense. Spatial awareness, the ability to bend; he's a very, very fluid athlete."

Gutenkunst added that "maybe there's some advantages" to Rollins not having multiple years of work in a specific college defensive system. Now Green Bay can hand him off to cornerbacks coach Joe Whitt and see what happens. In 2010, Whitt began to work with an equally inexperienced cornerback in Sam Shields and has since helped him become a $39 million man.

"I don't care if they played the position all the way through from grade school, when you're a rookie, you make mistakes," Whitt said. "Some of the mistakes, you just have to see it. You have to make it to learn from it. That's just football. How fast can I expose them to hard situations and get them to feel comfortable out there and be able to play fast."

From 2010-13, Rollins was known for his defensive skills on the basketball court. He became the program's second-all-time leader with 214 steals and was a two-time captain on his team. But it was in Rollins' sophomore year when he "had really been itching" to get back to playing football.

"I didn't really have anybody to really help me make that transition, so I stuck with basketball, finished my education and my career," Rollins said. "Then it just was a matter of the two worlds meeting up again."

Rollins was offered a tryout with the RedHawks football team, earned his spot and is now a professional in the NFL.

"I need to work on everything," he said. "I've only played one year. I'm not coming in thinking I'm polished or anything, I need to work on everything, including my ball skills. Even though that's, I think, one of the solid points of my game, I need to work on everything from A to Z. I can't wait to get to work."

It only took two rounds for the Packers to replace -- at least on paper -- the free-agent losses of Tramon Williams and Davon House. Rollins and first-round pick Damarious Randall will immediately step into competition with Shields, Casey Hayward, Micah Hyde and Demetri Goodson for playing time.

"If it's a first-rounder or a free agent, if you play well, you'll play," Whitt said. "If you don't, you'll sit there and watch."

While Green Bay's secondary needed an influx of young talent, its special teams needed a makeover. The Packers didn't bring back their 2014 kick-returner DuJuan Harris and likely found his immediate replacement with Montgomery. He returned 91 kicks over his four seasons at Stanford, averaging 25.2 yards as a senior.

"When you look at him, he's much bigger; I think he's faster than the guy (Harris) we had last year returning kicks," west coast scout Sam Seale said. "I think he's more explosive. When he touches the ball, he hits the hole. ... I like the kid. He's explosive. He's big."

Seale twice compared Montgomery to being "a bigger Randall Cobb." Montgomery is nearly six-feet tall and 221 pounds.Cobb is listed at 5-10 and 192 pounds.

Montgomery added punt returns to his list of responsibilities as a senior, and two of his 12 attempts were taken all the way for touchdowns.

"He's a very strong runner, very instinctive, has good quickness, all the things you look for," Thompson said. "And I think the key thing is his strength level is better than most."

Montgomery will also be part of Green Bay's wide receiver room. He had 61 catches in both his junior and senior seasons. Montgomery has experience running the ball, as well, carrying it 23 times for 144 yards and one touchdown last year.

"I think he's a very dynamic player," Thompson said. "Certainly he's got strong hands. Good, quick hands. He's very versatile. He does have a lot of return cred from returns in his career. So a guy like that is a pretty good fit for what we're trying to do."

The criticism for Thompson is that three rounds in he's yet to address the Packers' biggest need: inside linebacker. Six of the top players at that position have already been drafted, which leaves Green Bay in a difficult spot in Rounds 4-7.

"I think it's fine," Thompson said when asked about his current inside linebacker group. "I have confidence in the fellas that we have. ... We have concerns at a number of places. It's just part of the spring and draft and going through the process of the summer time. You work all that through."

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