The Shane Vereen/Ridley thread

[Triumph]

Vereen has never fumbled.

Shane Vereen Stats, Splits, News, Photos - California Golden Bears - NCAA College Football - ESPN

 

[BTTA]

During Parcel's draft show, he said RB is the hardest position to evaluate, and hence you have to go on production in college as the primary metric.

Vereen not only hasn't fumbled, but he only had one game where he averaged less than 4 YPC, and had a run of 10 yards or more in every game he played.

 

[Triumph]

Faulk must be retiring.

Stevan Ridley, Shane Vereen Add Exciting Dynamic to Patriots' Offensive Backfield - New England Patriots - NESN.com

 

[Uncle Rico]

Faulk must be retiring.

Stevan Ridley, Shane Vereen Add Exciting Dynamic to Patriots' Offensive Backfield - New England Patriots - NESN.com

Maybe. And you also have Taylor and Morris who might be moving on. SOmeone had a thread here titled (to paraphrase) "we have three holes to fill at RB." Guess BB essentially agreed.

 

[Triumph]

Maybe. And you also have Taylor and Morris who might be moving on. SOmeone had a thread here titled (to paraphrase) "we have three holes to fill at RB." Guess BB essentially agreed.

BJGE was tendered at the 2nd round level.

NESN sees this as insurance in case he moves on. If a team offered a 2nd for BJGE I would take it assuming Ridley works out OK.

 

[Serafino07]

Vereen is not a bad pick, I think he fills in well with the Pat's system. But Ridley? I can't understand why BB picked him over Leshore, who is a beast and could develop into a solid starting RB. Ridley, even if BB likes him alot, could have been had in the 7th round. Taking him in the 3rd round makes no sense at all. I mean, if we wanted/needed 2 RBs, why not take Ingram and Leshore, the top 2 RB prospects in the draft. Chances are one of them could be a stud RB in the league, if not both. Instead, we took Vareen and Ridley. Which 2 would you rather have?

 

[mcgraw_wv]

Ridley looks like a Young Jerome Bettis to me. I like this pick more than Vereen. I wanted a FB in this draft, and I think Ridley will be it. He can line up as a FB and still be a threat to run with it as well as block.

We didn't have a short yardage runner for quite some time, I think this draft is all about changing the offensive philosphy of grind it out, hard nosed running and ball control.

I like this pick a lot.

 

[Rob0729]

Faulk must be retiring.

Stevan Ridley, Shane Vereen Add Exciting Dynamic to Patriots' Offensive Backfield - New England Patriots - NESN.com

Don't count Faulk as the fifth guy on the roster and function as a player coach for the two young guys. The Pats have been carrying 5 RBs for years.

 

[Rob0729]

BJGE was tendered at the 2nd round level.

NESN sees this as insurance in case he moves on. If a team offered a 2nd for BJGE I would take it assuming Ridley works out OK.

Mathias Kiwanika has a second round tender. The Giants are reportedly in the market for a RB. Maybe they can do a sign and trade for each player if the Pats think BJGE is going to move on anyway. Fills needs for both teams.

 

[upstater1]

Vereen is not a bad pick, I think he fills in well with the Pat's system. But Ridley? I can't understand why BB picked him over Leshore, who is a beast and could develop into a solid starting RB. Ridley, even if BB likes him alot, could have been had in the 7th round. Taking him in the 3rd round makes no sense at all. I mean, if we wanted/needed 2 RBs, why not take Ingram and Leshore, the top 2 RB prospects in the draft. Chances are one of them could be a stud RB in the league, if not both. Instead, we took Vareen and Ridley. Which 2 would you rather have?

He didn't take Ridley over Leshore. He took Vereen over Leshore. Your Ingram scenario neglects the fact that we got two picks for Ingram, whereas we spent a 2nd and 3rd for Vereen and Leshore.

 

[Rob0729]

Vereen is not a bad pick, I think he fills in well with the Pat's system. But Ridley? I can't understand why BB picked him over Leshore, who is a beast and could develop into a solid starting RB. Ridley, even if BB likes him alot, could have been had in the 7th round. Taking him in the 3rd round makes no sense at all. I mean, if we wanted/needed 2 RBs, why not take Ingram and Leshore, the top 2 RB prospects in the draft. Chances are one of them could be a stud RB in the league, if not both. Instead, we took Vareen and Ridley. Which 2 would you rather have?

Belichick didn't pick Ridley over LeShore. He picked Vereen over LeShore. LeShore was picked just after Vereen and long before Ridley.

 

[patsinthesnow]

Mathias Kiwanika has a second round tender. The Giants are reportedly in the market for a RB. Maybe they can do a sign and trade for each player if the Pats think BJGE is going to move on anyway. Fills needs for both teams.

And,trust Ridley to be our starting RB? (I see Vareen as a roleplayer)

 

[Triumph]

Draft Breakdown — Scouting Report: Shane Vereen

 

[BelichickFan]

Your Ingram scenario neglects the fact that we got two picks for Ingram, whereas we spent a 2nd and 3rd for Vereen and Leshore.

Ridley not Leshore.

Regardless, the Vereen pick was with the Ingram trade pick so we got Ridley and a #1 for Ingram. I have never watched Vereen, I watch the SEC mostly but Vereen's YPC are very impressive and at almost the same size (Vereen is an inch taller and 5 pounds lighter), Vereen blew Ingram away at the combine, not just the 40 but like Bench, VJ, BJ (to a lesser extent) and the Shuttle and 3 cone. Even the 10 yard split of Ingram's that impressed everyone so much only beat Vereen by .01, basically a tie.

We all have opinions on this interesting draft but, assuming BJGE stays, we've fixed our RB problem and added the Saints' #1 in the process.

 

[rabidfireweasel]

People here are dramatically underrating Vereen. I had him pegged as a late round two pick as soon as he weighed in over 200 lbs and ran a sub 4.5. HE is a dynamic pass receiver, and not just screens. You can split him out wide, he can run legit routes. I can't post links yet, but google search Vereen 2008 highlights. He also isn't some little smurf. He carried 40+ times in 2009 against Stanford in the Big Game, and just broke their wii. He is also an excellent kick returner, who can be paired with Tate. (He has fumbled however. That is just an ESPN statistical inaccuracy).

Ridley is the new Sammy Morris. A decent screen catching hybrid RB/FB. AT the goal line the use either a TE or another OL as a FB. However, between the twenties, they like the flexibility of FB without having to give up a spot to just that guy. He is currently a special teams ace.

Did he go a round or two too soon. Probably. However, once they decided they were going to trade their last 3 and a 4 to Oakland, they decided to take a guy that they thought could help their team right away.

Is BB right? Tough to say. HE hasn't had a lot of success drafting rb's, period. I don't know if these guys will work out. But they both have flexibility and leadership, something he values.

 

[PatsCanDoIt]

With new draft picks or even pre-draft prospects I like to compare them to a current player. At least an athletic comparison. Not necessarily a skill comparison.

Shane Vareen compares to DeAngelo Williams and Felix Jones as an athlete. Now he is much better in the passing game than either of those guys. Check out some highlights. Shane can beat safeties vertically like a WR.

Stevan Ridley compares to Shonn Greene. At first I thought about his ex-teammate Charles Scott but Stevan is just a superior athlete and RB.

That's my two cents.

 

[fumbrunner]

Ridley looks like a Young Jerome Bettis to me. I like this pick more than Vereen. I wanted a FB in this draft, and I think Ridley will be it. He can line up as a FB and still be a threat to run with it as well as block.

We didn't have a short yardage runner for quite some time, I think this draft is all about changing the offensive philosphy of grind it out, hard nosed running and ball control.

I like this pick a lot.

That's fine, but it is a luxury pick in the third round given our pass rushing woes. He may well could have been available in the 5th.

 

[TheSolderKing]

every 1 complains b/c if ESPN or who ever gets a hard on for player x he must be the guy



guess what... it means nothing. Public opinion should not be swayed by ESPN.


I like both of these picks. Our RB minus Law Firm are old.


oh no leshore we passed on...


relax ppl.

 

[Bobs My Uncle]

Given the age of guys named Faulk, Morris and Taylor and the fact that Law firm is a RFA and Woodhead seemingly is an injury waiting to happen, I doubt anyone doesn't see the value in adding a couple of badly needed RB's via the draft. Which means that if anyone is arguing against either of the 2 RB selections they are doing so with the belief that they know the 2 players and how they fit into the Pats system better than BB and the pros he employs to run his draft. With all due respect, I'll presume they know this gig better than any of us.

 

[upstater1]

That's fine, but it is a luxury pick in the third round given our pass rushing woes. He may well could have been available in the 5th.

At this point, we can definitely say that when the Patriots picked Ridley, they had absolutely no interest in the pass rushers still available, and when you looked at the video of the guys that went after that pick, you might understand why, given the half-hearted hustle on display. The only kid that showed consistent hustle and heart in that spot was, well, very very slow.

I'm of two minds about passing on Allen Bailey because I think he can be good in the NFL but he was a Myron pryor type, and the Patriots had had a long look at him.

Even Belichick said that the values in that area were nowhere near what he expected for next year's second round. Remember, when the Patriots took Larsen last year in the late rounds they said he had graded out to a second and third rounder, whereas the year before, they had 2nd and 3rd rounders graded out to 7th rounders.