crowell33

Last night at 10:00 on Comcast Sportstonight, Bob Ryan disagreed with the recent speculation by Troy Brown, Albert Breer, and Michael Felger about Maroney being released. Ryan feels that Maroney WILL most likely make the 53 man roster.

He did say however, that even if Maroney were to stay healthy for all 16 games ( he never has in his 4 year career ) that he would be "very, very, surprised if Maroney was ever capable of gaining 1000 yards" ( 62.5 per game avg. ).

Ryan not going way out on a limb here, Maroney's career high is 835 yards.

Fencer

250 carries at 4 yards per carry?

Maroney could do both those figures, if healthy.

Could he stay healthy under even that much pounding? Hmm ...

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"To lose one parent may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness." -- Oscar Wilde

the wrothbroughterer

He's never topped 200 carries either.

He's our 3rd best back when he's healthy and with the entire RB corps in a contract year things aren't looking good for him.

DaBruinz

He may not have topped 200 carries as a pro, but he did it his last 2 years of college.

The number of carries in a season has as much to do with the Patriots offense as it does with him.

OH, and Maroney was healthy last year but was sat out of the last game against Houston due to his fumbling the previous weeks.

Maroney was the Pats BEST back last year. Unless you want to ignore the number of draw plays that Morris and Taylor got.. If you do that, then sure, Maroney was 3rd best....

Criptonite

I'm not a big Maroney guy, but how is he not a lock to make this team? Morris and Taylor are very old for a RB and both are frequently injured. They're good, but they are not dependable at all. They're injured much more often than Maroney. Faulk obviously isn't going to carry the load. He almost never gets double digit carries. Then you have a 25 year old RB who's played 3 full years at an average level and who's getting paid very little in the last year of his contract. It only makes sense to give him another chance. It wouldn't be shocking for him to have a great season in 2010. Why would you cut him? To make room for Benjarvus? So you can add another special teamer? All that will do is bring less certainty to the RB position.

I expect Maroney to have another average year, putting up like 800 or 900 yards and getting 4.2ypc. Then in 2011, I wouldn't be surprised if no other team bids high on him and we resign him as a backup. Sure that's disappointing for a 1st round draft pick, but in the grand scheme of things, he can be a player who's talents we utilize for many years in a backup role ala Faulk.

RayClay

Just silly all around. Look at the roster. No one is seriously thinking he won't make it, unless BB has some stealth running back from the outback of Australia hidden somewhere.

Of course he can gain 1,000 yards if healthy, even in a rotation. It isn't that hard. Any NFL running back who plays every game could. Even missing 2-3 games it's not a phenomenal feat.

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mgteich

Even if Belichick has a stealth RB he is ready to trade for, Maroney would still make the roster as a #4 RB and kick returner.

Fencer

Agreed. Unless his troubles are due to lack of work -- and they don't seem to be -- he's safe.

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"To lose one parent may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness." -- Oscar Wilde

Armen Da Pats Fan

Yup, I saw that.

but, he also said he really expects nothing from Maroney and he sets the bar very low on his expectations of SLoMo so he won't be disappointed!

Pretty strong words for a starting NFL running back on a top tier team, wouldn't you say?

Amd it's not like Ryan is a Pats basher...he is a pretty even-keeled guy when it comes to talking Patriots football (unlike say a Felger or a Borges, who have obvious Belichick axes to grind).

I wonder if Pittsburgh or Indy or Jax or the Jets or San Diego is saying, "Yeah, well, we know our guy sucks, but we just set our expectations real low and then we're not disappointed..."

Why does everyone in the universe see how mediocre this kid is except for Belichick?

It just baffles me!

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JackBauer

Maroney is fine.