Patriots host RB's Grant & Hightower

Leemo said:

Agreed, but neither should be in ahead of vereen or ridley, committee rules

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Unless of course they beat them out in camp/preseason/games and then they should be ahead of them.

signbabybrady said:

I would rather them have confidence in Vareen and Ridley and just resign Faulk.

And if they dont have confidence in them then they should have spent some money on a better option or they should draft another option next week.

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Faulk is finished. Vereen has about 55 career yards and was inactive most of the season while Ridley was benched in the playoffs. They have to give the Patriots a reason to have confidence in them first before being handed the job.

for the right price I would like to see Grant, but I want no part of Hightower and his butterfingers. I'd rather stick with what we have and draft a back in the later rounds than him.

If they (the Patriots) really want a veteran back to push Ridley and Vereen, I'll take Hightower happily.......

If they do sign a vet RB will can go "all in" on defense.... Which desperately needs an infusion of young talent.....

Pleeeaassssse can we get an OLB and DE early this year, Bill?!?

JMC00 said:

Shane Vereen 2010 Highlights - YouTube

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Unfortunately those highlights are from 2 seasons ago and he wasn't facing NFL defenders... It would be nice if you could just plug these guys in as if they had faced that level of competition or been asked to do some of the pass blocking that is mandatory in a BB offense. But that is simply not the case.

This unit needs a veteran presence and it also needs a veteran thumper. Faulk could serve as presence again, but he's not likely to see the field enough to be effective motivation and he's not a thumper. Both kids had issues last season be it durability or blocking prowess or ball security. Until the team is sure those have been worked out or resolved, it's best to have a fall back plan in the form of veteran depth at the very least.

ctpatsfan77 said:

I will probably lose my most recent meal if the Pats sign Addai.

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Especially since we could have drafted him over Maroney. That would be a big hit to our pride. Or we could just blame that one on Pioli

Of the 3 I really like Hightower. They all have injury history, but Hightower looked really good last year. He was on pace for 1000 yds and 7 TDs while being versatile and can play all 3 downs. On top of that he is the youngest so if his injury checks out I would love to have him.

fair catch fryar said:

for the right price I would like to see Grant, but I want no part of Hightower and his butterfingers. I'd rather stick with what we have and draft a back in the later rounds than him.

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Yeah, he had a case of the fumbles with Arizona and his ACL injury with Washington helped cut short his season.

-jamman

I'd be fine with any of the three. Addai seems to fit the best to me though.

signbabybrady said:

I would rather them have confidence in Vareen and Ridley and just resign Faulk.

And if they dont have confidence in them then they should have spent some money on a better option or they should draft another option next week.

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I love Kevin Faulk....but his career is over....Since Vereen didn't see field hardly at all and Ridley is still not ready to be go to guy......there is a need for a Vet RB here. Seems to me that Grant has had the injury bug lately (may be wrong).....Hightower could certainly work here.......

JMC00 said:

Shane Vereen 2010 Highlights - YouTube

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That was 2010 in college....."What have you done for me lately Shane?"

JMC00 said:

Shane Vereen 2010 Highlights - YouTube

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Have never seen this compilation before so thanks! One thing I noticed is that Vereen runs really vertically which will be an issue in NFL.......lastly, the dude missed a fair amount of first downs on that tape, or seemed slow to have awareness of where he needed to get to for the first there......interesting. I am still pulling for this guy tho and he looked great catching some balls on this vid....thanks again

TyronePoole said:

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I'd line up on the goal line with that awww day.

Neither of these two guys are an improvement over the running backs already on the roster. This is a farce.

Mystery Pats Fan said:

Neither of these two guys are an improvement over the running backs already on the roster. This is a farce.

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Yes but we could be adding that one last vet RB that so many have been referring to.

He may not get many touches, but he'd be able to get the job done in a depth/fill in role should someone like Ridley/Vareen go down.

MrNathanDrake said:

Typical. Not surprising at all.

They need a veteran RB to go with the 2 sophomores.

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Why?

It's not like the two second year players havent played the game. They have played it since they were in HS, College and last year in the NFL. I have never thought much of that "they need an experienced veteran." They have coaches, and thats what coaches get paid to do.

Give me one good logical reason why they need to have a veteran.

Mystery Pats Fan said:

Why?

It's not like the two second year players havent played the game. They have played it since they were in HS, College and last year in the NFL. I have never thought much of that "they need an experienced veteran." They have coaches, and thats what coaches get paid to do.

Give me one good logical reason why they need to have a veteran.

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I think you have a point that it's not necessarily 'needed,' but it seems to be a Belichick M.O. if I'm not mistaken.

When using a RBBC and having 2 young guys (possibly 3) who have extremely limited experience in the system and NFL in general, it never hurts to have someone who can come in and get the job done if and when called upon. That may be due to injury or just ineffectiveness.

I think another thing a vet provides besides experience and starter capability is cost effectiveness. There are many vet RB's who can come in and offer what we need here (500 yrd max) in limited situational carries, who have played in big game settings before and have some tricks of the trade to offer, while being relatively cheap too.

It also helps with the leadership aspect in the lockerroom.

I don't know if this has bearing or not, but it's also possible that Belichick has learned from past mistakes when having too many young players at the same position at once. Of course that's just pure speculation though, and nothing more than a guess.

I think that you have a point, but I think that BB probably feels that bringing in a vet has its benefits.

If I had to pick from all 3, it would be:

1.Grant
2.Hightower
3.Addai

He doesn't have a point. You're just being hyper deferential lately.

Lots of folks who post here played since HS and some even through college and they couldn't sniff an NFL field. Ridley played parts of one season and ended up benched because he developed a sudden case of the dropsies. Vereen couldn't even crack the active game day roster by season's end. They remain little more than a couple of intriguing potential prospects for all intents and purposes. There exists therefore a glaring need for both veteran leadership of the unit in the locker room and potentially on the field if one or both of these guys struggle again to get on or stay on the field.

Armchair Quarterback said:

Faulk is finished. Vereen has about 55 career yards and was inactive most of the season while Ridley was benched in the playoffs. They have to give the Patriots a reason to have confidence in them first before being handed the job.

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I think you missed part of my statement where if they don't have confidence they should have invested more in the position or they should draft another option.

Neither of these guys are better than BJGE. When we let BJGE go I felt it meant they were ready for Vareen and Ridley to take over.

Bringing in one of those guys would signal a lack of faith which I find disturbing. Unless the coaches feel Vareen and Ridley can step up then the RB position is worse then last year and Grant or Hightower wouldn't change that. If the Faith isn't there then they should be doing more to the RB position. If the Faith is there then these guys are nothing more than backups and camp fodder and ild think they would want more. With no signing maybe they are just updating the short list.

For the record I like Hightower more than Grant but I don't think either are all that good at this point in their careers and I think you could find something on the street mid season almost as good.

Maybe its me, but if someone can't even spell Vereen, repeatedly, I'm going to assume their evaluation of his football prowess is, shall we say, less than accurate as well and probably not all that closely studied either.

But that's me.

J D Sal

If they have a spot open, I rather see it filled by a guy that was productive in the league. I think Addai is a perfect fit for this team.

I like having a exp vet in pass protection to go along with Woodhead, Ridley and Vereen.