The not so talked about off season mistake: Danny Woodhead

Woodhead is one of those guys you love to cheer for. I'm glad he was able to make a name for himself here and get a little more money for himself. Hopefully he continues to do well and gets the playing time that nets him a nice contract. He is a really good fit in San Diego and helps to fill the void left after they let Sproles get away.

As much as I enjoyed being a fan of the guy, this is one of those business decisions that I happened to agree with as much as I didn't like it. Hindsight is a B and who would of known Vereen was going to be injured and Ridley was going to be a fumbling machine?

I've already moved on and just wish the guy the best of luck with his family and career. There was no animosity when he left and he is doing ok for himself where he is at . Good for him and will always be a fan as long as he is not playing the Pats.

Sure the move has backfired to this point, but it's hard to fault the FO letting Woody get away with the crop we had at the time and the potential that was there, Leon to finally give us a legit KR/Blount to be the short yardage specialist and closer/Bolden to build on the potential we saw in season 1. Sure, right now in retrospect I would have easily spent the extra mill to keep Woody over Leon, Blount, or Bolden who I think have all disappointed but as I said hard to fault the FO.

As far as Vereen vs. Woody goes I'd take Vereen any day.

Might have been interesting to see the opposite of the super human tight end offense.

The Woodhead - Vareen - Edelman - Welker - Amendola offense Yikes!!!

Bringing back the smurf city offense ...

Just kidding ... if healthy I like what we have.

Tunescribe said:

I loved Woodhead but prefer Vereen. Unfortunately, they pretty much play the same role.

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Belichick & Co. designed an offense for two outstanding TEs. They've changed details of the offense many times over the years to take advantage of the personnel they had. I have no doubt the staff could have designed wondrous things to get Vereen & Woodhead on the field at the same time.

At the very least have Woody play slot receiver most of the time. He had excellent hands and world class agility and speed.

We all know why Danny wasn't re-signed, regardless of that, I still miss having him on the team.

nice guy, but I don't miss him

DaBruinz said:

Hmm.. Danny Woodhead or Shane Vereen.

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No question, I'd take Vereen over Woodhead (and if Vereen hadn't broken his hand we probably wouldn't be talking about Woodhead -- and the Pats record would likely be better.)

But was that the real choice? The Patriots knew they needed TWO RBs who could catch the ball. Woodhead signed for 2 years @ $1.75 million per year with the Chargers; Leon Washington signed for $1.2 million with the Patriots. Given that Woodhead was younger and proven in the Pats' system, the extra half million for Woodhead looks worthwhile.

I do agree with the comments that from Woodhead's perspective, playing behind Vereen wouldn't have been terribly attractive. So the deal he signed with SD might not have gotten it done here. It's kind of like saying "we could have traded up for X player in the draft"; the deal isn't always there.

Tunescribe said:

I loved Woodhead but prefer Vereen. Unfortunately, they pretty much play the same role.

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This. Woodhead was a nice player and I would have been happy if he stayed, but you can only have so many guys on the team and Vereen is an upgrade, when he is healthy. I guess the question is, should BB have paid more attention to Vereen's ability to stay on the field. I'm okay with how it played out, and I'm glad that Woodhead is doing well in San Diego.

English Patriot said:

It was all about Wes this, Wes that when under the radar a 5'8 guy named Woodhead was allowed to slip through our grasps and not just because he's damn hard to catch but because the Pats let him just walk.

Just how big a mistake was not signing Woodhead or is not an issue at all? His CONTINUED production for Rivers cannot be denied or ignored.

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SD has traditionally used the "3rd down" type back a ton, maybe more than any other team in the league. It is not surprising that Woodhead is producing so well. I think Vereen is a better running, at least even in receiving and a much better blocker.

I made this thread last week.

I came around to agree that the decision may have been more Danny's than the Patriots. They probably set their price and Danny got an offer from SD with more money and a hell of a lot more playtime. Can't fault him or the Pats for that.

tobias funke said:

I made this thread last week.

I came around to agree that the decision may have been more Danny's than the Patriots. They probably set their price and Danny got an offer from SD with more money and a hell of a lot more playtime. Can't fault him or the Pats for that.

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The playtime is the biggest factor to me. Given similar money, I'm sure Woodhead would rather be the exclusive 3rd down back in SD than the backup/split time 3rd down back in NE.

Also, if you extrapolate Vereen's stats over a 16 game season he'd have:

740 Rushing yards
122 Receptions
976 Passing yards
1716 Yards from scrimmage

Vereen's been pretty damn good himself when on the field.

English Patriot said:

It was all about Wes this, Wes that when under the radar a 5'8 guy named Woodhead was allowed to slip through our grasps and not just because he's damn hard to catch but because the Pats let him just walk.

Just how big a mistake was not signing Woodhead or is not an issue at all? His CONTINUED production for Rivers cannot be denied or ignored.

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Vereen is better than Woodhead, and when he's been on the field (which he is now) he's been substantially better. So I'll go ahead and ignore it. If the Pats made a mistake, it was in not seeing into the future and anticipating that Vereen would break his wrist in week 1.

Now that he's back, it really doesn't matter.

English Patriot said:

Admittedly i didn't think from Woodhead's side of the argument however it's not like he'd be riding the bench all the time, with 3 rookie receivers and only 1 main TE to throw to he would have still seen alot of snaps just not as much as San Diego can offer.

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Woodhead and Vereen are redundant. The Patriots needed to choose to either hold back Vereens development or take at least some, if not all, of Woodheads role away. Woodhead knew that. There was never any chance of him staying here.

"Not so talked about"?

It seems it is as if we have a two week maximum on re-discussing the topic.

http://www.patsfans.com/new-england...0/1070712-danny-woodhead-leon-washington.html

http://www.patsfans.com/new-england...ould-have-resigned-w-not-welker-woodhead.html

Peachhead said:

Belichick & Co. designed an offense for two outstanding TEs. They've changed details of the offense many times over the years to take advantage of the personnel they had. I have no doubt the staff could have designed wondrous things to get Vereen & Woodhead on the field at the same time.

At the very least have Woody play slot receiver most of the time. He had excellent hands and world class agility and speed.

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So you keep a guy who is good at one position in order to play him at another position where you already have other players?
How would Woodhead feel about changing positions when other teams didn't ask him to?
How many 5'6" slot receivers are in the NFL?

English Patriot said:

It was all about Wes this, Wes that when under the radar a 5'8 guy named Woodhead was allowed to slip through our grasps and not just because he's damn hard to catch but because the Pats let him just walk.

Just how big a mistake was not signing Woodhead or is not an issue at all? His CONTINUED production for Rivers cannot be denied or ignored.

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No offense but if you don’t think it has been talked about you need to read the page more often, outside of Welker there has been nothing we’ve exhausted more than Woodhead not being retained.

I do agree Woodhead has been excellent out and San Diego and he is a player we should have worked harder to retain, but realistically he is receiving starter reps and has been targeted the 3rd most times of any player receiving and has the 2nd most carries of any player rushing on San Diego. That wasn’t going to take place here and unless we tagged him (never happen) Danny was likely gone on his own free will, athletes want to go to a place where they have the playing time and opportunity to develop into the best player they can be, this belief that Belichick can just drag any player back to his cave is barbaric and unrealistic.

jmt57 said:

"Not so talked about"?

It seems it is as if we have a two week maximum on re-discussing the topic.

http://www.patsfans.com/new-england...0/1070712-danny-woodhead-leon-washington.html

http://www.patsfans.com/new-england...ould-have-resigned-w-not-welker-woodhead.html

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These 2 are just the tip of the iceberg to, we have talked about Woodhead six ways to Sunday.

Woody is only on a 2 year contract. He will be 30 at the end of it, and avoided the beatings of a traditional RB. His game doesn't rely on speed anyway.

The legend shall return in 2015.

Arguing Vereen/Woody is silly anyway. Both of them are arguably the top 2 receiving backs in the league at the moment. We chose the younger player on the cheaper contract. We just miss Woody.

Archeryaddict12 said:

I miss woody. Wish he would have stayed, such a good player next to Tom.

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Agreed, he's such a warrior. Loved the way he played. Though I loved Wes Welker just as much, I find I myself rooting for Woodhead when I see him on TV, yet, I have an indifference towards Welker when I see him on TV. I don't root against Welker, but don't root for him (the Manning effect I guess). Woodhead I find myself rooting for him like he's still with the Pats. Just so many memories of Woody making great plays for us. How many times did he get first downs on 3rd down plays. My guess is that they felt he could be replaced by Vereen (similar player) and Washington (cheaper option). Unfortunately for us and the Pats, didn't work out as well as planned. Though Vereen looks really good since he's come back.

fnordcircle said:

Watching Vereen last night we were an unbroken wrist from never having this conversation.

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Seriously.

17 of his 23 receptions have moved the chains.

Also if you take his 3 game receiving sample, over a full season he'd be on pace for a 122 rec and 975 yard season.

I believe the record for a RB is 110 by tomlinson. Not mention 120 rec is top 10 all-time for a season.

Ya he obviously isn't reaching those this year but clearly we are seeing, as much as some disagree with it, the reason why Danny Woodhead was not brought back.