Let me begin this article with my answer to the question of whether or not Ty Montgomery should be RB eligible in 2016.
The simple answer is NO.
Let me explain why.
Let’s use baseball as a simple example.
In baseball the accepted “standard” is that to qualify for a position you have to have appeared in 20 games in the previous season at the position. In-season some leagues still use 20 games, some use 10, some use five. Whatever your league setup is though, and this might be the most important piece of the entire argument of mine, the entire league knows the rules/qualifications before the season begins. You cannot, under any circumstance, change the rules once the games begin. Period. We all know that.
This is the issue that should easily disqualify Montgomery, a wide receiver, from suddenly qualifying at the running back spot.
As far as I know, no league I have ever participated in has ever set out the rules for qualifying at a “new” position in fantasy football in-season.
This is the easiest, most obvious reason that Montgomery cannot now be considered a running back in fantasy football… the rules do not allow for it. Check your league bi-laws or constitution. Is there anything in there talking about qualifying for a new position? I guarantee you there isn’t. So let me ask you – how can Ty now qualify at a new position? He can’t.
If you’re in the camp that say ‘yes, Montgomery should qualify at running back because he’s played that spot extensively the last two weeks’ let me ask you the following.
Is Terrelle Pryor a quarterback because he has thrown nine passes this season?
Is Jeremy Maclin a quarterback because he has thrown a pass this season?
Is Julian Edelman a running back because he has eight carries this season?
Is Pryor a running back because he has eight carries this season?
Is Le’Veon Bell a wide receiver since he’s often split out to the wide receiver position? Ditto David Johnson and Tevin Coleman who spend a lot of time outside the backfield as they await the snap of the football?
See the problem here? It’s the old slippery slope, and without clearly defined rules there is no way you can say yes to Montgomery qualifying at a new position and no to others.
We need rules, and until we have them it is foolish to even consider adding position eligibility for Montgomery. In fact, the overwhelming majority of providers seem to agree. As far as I can tell, the following list of providers consider Montgomery to only be eligible at wide receiver: Yahoo, NFFC, CBS, RT Sports and MFL (of the major providers I believe only ESPN has given him RB status). Yahoo put together a nice review of their experts explaining why Montgomery shouldn’t have added eligibility. It’s a solid review of the matter.
We need something concrete in place before we can move a guy to a new spot in fantasy football (I would suggest a percentage of snaps played at the “new” position, or even a raw snap count total as the simplest option available). Until we get that, some actual qualification limits, no player should gain additional eligibility. Montgomery needs to remain wide receiver only for 2016. We can talk about adding eligibility to his ledger in 2017, but not right now.
Ray Flowers can be heard Monday/Tuesday and Thursday/Friday, 8 PM EDT, Wednesday 7 PM EDT on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio (Sirius 210, XM 87). You can also hear Ray Sunday nights at 9 PM EDT on the channel talking fantasy sports. Follow Ray’s work at Fantasy Alarm and on Twitter (@baseballguys).