What does your intuition say about Shane Vereen?

voluntarysaftey said:

I'm going to say bust

He hasn't shown the flashes we were hoping for, and if you wind up injured your first two years in the league its improbable to recover from that.

I hope I'm wrong, but I'm not yet confident of the RB group

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Excellent point when discussing offensive skill position players. Especially RB.

As to your second point, i have to disagree. Though we lack depth, I LOVE Ridley. If he can hang on to the ball better, he can be an excellent three down back. Sure would love to see a better veteran behind him though.

Mogamedogz said:

Oh, dont let all the injury prone smoke being spread around in here confuse what i am saying.

I dont think it'll be the injuries, I just dont think he will ever be an effective player at this level. Injuries aside.

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I think you maybe forming a opinion to soon. He is young with a ton of natural ability. Generally 2nd round players take longer to show results. That is what keeps them out of the 1st round.

I think we should see what he does this year and even give him into year 3 before we make distinctions. Cunningham year 3, and Brace year 4 are just showing up in the results column this year.

AndyJohnson said:

So this thread was just a creative way to disguise a bashfest?

Vereen has a ton of ability. There is absolutely no reason to believe he will fail if he is healthy.

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He has good measurables and played well in college, but we have no idea if that will translate to the pro game. Injuries aside, the fact that he did not overtake Woodhead or steal more reps from Ridley gives reason to doubt his success. Part of the problems are some fans expectations: people on this board have compared him to Marshall Faulk and Thurman Thomas.

Mogamedogz said:

My intuition tells me that Vereen will not live up to his draft position.

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My intuition tells me draft position doesn't mean much if anything after the player's first day of practice.

he was challenging Ridley for the starting job in camp, before he got hurt he was getting more first team reps than anybody else.

My intuition says he is injury prone and is never going to amount to much, and therefore, we should be looking elsewhere.

Nothing against the kid, but all he's proven here is that he can't stay on the field.

Mogamedogz said:

Let me preface this by saying that I would NEVER root for a Patriot draft pick to fail, simply for right to say "I TOLD YA SO."

I've rooted for this team for almost 30 years. Before Kraft, before Drew, LONG before Brady, and before many of you were even born. My family have been season ticket holders for more than half of that time. Patriot football is coded in my DNA (and now, my children's).

THAT SAID..

My intuition tells me that Vereen will not live up to his draft position.

Now, before all of the butthurt starts pouring in, and the one star rating, and the crying for the mods to move it to the PS forum.. just remember, im only asking for your GUT FEELING on the kid. Nothing more.

He's young, hopefully he works out great for us, sky is the limit, give him a chance... I AGREE.

I just want to know what you "feel" for him is.

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You don't need intuition to make the inference you're making. The draft is a crapshoot anyways. You're going to draft busts every now and then.

hovis said:

Part of the problems are some fans expectations: people on this board have compared him to Marshall Faulk and Thurman Thomas.

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I'll take another Kevin Faulk right now!

Though his injuries are fluky, being there matters. If Ridley has some sort of breakout year, it could be hard for Vereen to break through. He's got the tools, he just needs a bit of good luck...or less bad luck.

I've been higher on Vereen, but Ridley has definitely shown something this year and earned his spot.

Here's hoping Vereen can put it all together the next time out.

ATippett56 said:

I'll take another Kevin Faulk right now!

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Kevin Faulk now occupies that same space with Troy Brown and Tedy Bruschi as players I absolutely hate not seeing on gameday.

Mogamedogz said:

Let me preface this by saying that I would NEVER root for a Patriot draft pick to fail, simply for right to say "I TOLD YA SO."

I've rooted for this team for almost 30 years. Before Kraft, before Drew, LONG before Brady, and before many of you were even born. My family have been season ticket holders for more than half of that time. Patriot football is coded in my DNA (and now, my children's).

THAT SAID..

My intuition tells me that Vereen will not live up to his draft position.

Now, before all of the butthurt starts pouring in, and the one star rating, and the crying for the mods to move it to the PS forum.. just remember, im only asking for your GUT FEELING on the kid. Nothing more.

He's young, hopefully he works out great for us, sky is the limit, give him a chance... I AGREE.

I just want to know what you "feel" for him is.

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has the whiff of an often injured, never quite reaching his potential so-so running back who leaves the pats, heals up nicely and has a hall-of-fame career. sorry, did that sound like sarcasm?

My intuition is that it's a problem that the Pats, of all teams, spent a 2nd rd pick on a running back who has yet to consistently see the field. I really like this guy and all of his potential, but if he doesn't contribute this year it's probably another wasted high pick.

Maroney won us a playoff game in '07. This guy has done nothing so far.

My intuition tells me that tomorrow starts the first game of his second year as an NFL player and it is too early to make any judgement. He hasn't started out to have a good NFL career, but many players start out with an unremarkable or even disappointing start to their career to only become good players.

At this point in their careers (after one year), most people on this board were excited about the promise of Darius Butler, Terence Wheatley, and Jonathan Whilhite while thought Kevin Faulk was a bust. In fact, after Faulk's second year even more people thought he was a bust.

I'm a homer's homer...and I don't know what to think of this guy...he never plays...second season you're supposed to be on the field to start if you're a 2nd rounder most fans would opine...right now he's a waste of roster space...is he going to come back and get nicked up again and IR this season?

Joker said:

I'm a homer's homer...and I don't know what to think of this guy...he never plays...second season you're supposed to be on the field to start if you're a 2nd rounder most fans would opine...right now he's a waste of roster space...is he going to come back and get nicked up again and IR this season?

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I agree he isn't off to a good start to his second, but I will give him the month of September before I start to worry. If you look at the Pats' MO for RBs in the past, they are typically cautious about bringing them back from even minor injuries. They typically feel that it is better to air on the side of caution with RBs rather than burn them all out. I mean if they rush RBs back from injury, the Pats could be down to starting Lex Hillard by November.

My guess is he will be back practicing come Wednesday of next week.

meanwhile, some 7th rounder comes in ,runs ten times what Vereen does in preseason, takes all those vicious hits from players desperately trying to make an NFL roster..and he's good to go...this isn't Vereen's rookie season, in which, let's face it, he was a total disappointment...this is a 2nd round pick we're talking about here...we SHOULD be looking forward to great production from a draft choice like this in year 2...and we get...DNP...you think he's playing next week?...me, I'm not so sure about that...

Mogamedogz said:

Positive outlooks and optimistic feelings are more than welcome here..



I've yet to see any sign of that special "ability" translate at this level. And my gut feeling is that it never will. Lots of guys have a ton of ability when they get to the NFL, yet never amount to anything. Vereen strikes me as one of those types of players.

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That is a ridiculous statement. Where would you see it translate? He hasn't been on the field.
Your gut feeling is meaningless. What you guess without any knowledge has zero value.

Dowling, who is in a similar position, I feel differently about. I think he can be a stud in this league.

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There is also absolutely nothing behinf this guess either

Man, a lot of outrage over an honest question/post. It's not too early to question Vereen IMO. I question why he didn't receive more opportunities last year. I don't believe injury was the only reason. He did have one pretty good game in the regular season, then vanished.

And his really productive game in preseason this year came against backups. I have a lot of questions about Vereen, and Reiss appears the only media member tantalized by his potential.

I'd say Vereen won't live up to his draft position. Steven Ridley, thankfully, appears to be on the other side of the spectrum, and looks like a 3rd round value pick.

Draft mistakes happen every year. I believe the Patriots have done a very good job in the last 3 drafts. The Vereen pick being one of the exceptions. I would love to be proven wrong, and he ends up being the next Kevin Faulk. I don't see it happening at this point.

hovis said:

He has good measurables and played well in college, but we have no idea if that will translate to the pro game. Injuries aside, the fact that he did not overtake Woodhead or steal more reps from Ridley gives reason to doubt his success. Part of the problems are some fans expectations: people on this board have compared him to Marshall Faulk and Thurman Thomas.

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How can you say 'injuries aside' then criticize him for what happened because of injuires?

Vereen will be fine.

He was healthy throughout his career at Cal. He's just been fighting a couple of nagging minor injuries that tend to linger (hamstring, foot).

Vereen also has the problem of being a better game player than a practice player-- not that he doesn't work hard in practice, but it seems that he finds an extra gear on gameday. Which on this team isn't going to get you any extra reps (as well it shouldn't).

When he gets his opportunity...or rather earns his opportunity, there will be no question about what his role should be on this team and the abilities he brings to the offense.

He'll be a very good player for as long as he plays.