If your plan is to only use the larger cogs in the rear with the granny, then with proper chain length, it should work. Shifting to smaller cogs with the granny will cause chain slack but that's not a serious problem, big/big is where the major problems happen.
Assume that you're looking a newer 105 RD. The RD-5700-A has 34T total capacity. The older RD-5700 has just 33T. Any older short cage RD have even less total capacity.
As for front derailleur clearance, it depends on what you have, since you didn't mention it.