The value of Shane Vereen/Stevan Ridley

BelichickFan said:

Agreed, I'm not a huge James White fan but surely he could give us what Vereen is giving us. If we got him back real cheap, fine, if not then Blount, Gray, Gaffney, Bolden, White are more than enough to compete in training camp and establish roles.

I would be perfectly happy going forward with Ridley and Vereen too, I just wouldn't use much cap space to do it.

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IllegalContact said:

how do you know white can give you that?

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BelichickFan said:

I don't know what White can do but Vereen's contributions are limited enough that any competent RB who can catch should be able to match it. I actually think Vereen is a little under utilized in the passing game but he doesn't do anything special, YAC are just OK, he has plenty of drops on anything of above average difficulty. Again, I'm not hating on him, I like Vereen (and Ridley), I just think for what he does we can get it at a lower cost. And if White can't there's plenty of pass catching RB who can. I'll admit I'm not a big James White fan but we're not talking about replacing Matt Forte here.

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IllegalContact said:

well....Danny Woodhead could do that except he was a liability in pass pro.....if you can't do pass pro, it's a deal breaker. If white could do pass pro, he would have been out there more

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BelichickFan said:

I don't think any of us know why White hasn't played but I have no reason to believe it's a lack of pass protection ability. I don't know but unless you can point to your info I'm not sure you do either. I think they just don't need two smaller backs active on game day. If Vereen were to have broken his leg I think we'd have seen plenty of White (who, again, I'm not that high on).

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IllegalContact said:

whatever........going into a football season without a 3rd down RB who can pass pro is incredibly stupid.....especially if you have a pocket passer

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IllegalContact said:

whatever........going into a football season without a 3rd down RB who can pass pro is incredibly stupid.....especially if you have a pocket passer

and until someone has proven they can, it is just as ignorant to assume they can do so

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livinginthe past said:

I'm kinda conflicted on the subject of Vereen's value - especially as he is due to be a FA as the end of this season.

I know people often over-react when evaluating their own guys - but Vereen seems to go down with first contact about 98% of the time - the TD run yesterday, however, was excellent.

For a guy that is effectively a scat back - he has inconsistent hands and you rarely see him beat guys straight up with ankle breaking jukes - which is what i'd expect from a guy that cannot run up the middle - even against light fronts.

Also factor in his injury history and you have a guy who is pretty underwhelming most if the time.

Stevan Ridley has been pretty unlucky in his career to date - issues with fumbles coupled with a coach who has nuclear levels of intolerance to fumbling led to a loss in playing time - the injury this year has further lowered his value on the open market.

I do love the way Ridley runs - with authority and power - I think he is mostly under-rated.

Which RB should we keep? Which RB will get more FA attention?

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chasa said:

The only reason danny wood head isn't on the patriots is because the chargers paid a kings ransom for him, Someone will overpay for vereen as well, and it won't be the patriots.

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chasa said:

Woodhead>Vereen.

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Oswlek said:

I've been a big Vereen fan since he was drafted, and I fully expected the team to retain him with a 3yr $7mm type of contract, but this hasn't been the best walk year for him. He is almost completely valueless as a runner and NE isn't even utilizing his receiver skills much. It's basically just a bunch of wheel routes.

Barring it being mostly on the OL or White being a complete whiff - both of which seem possible at this point - Shane isn't going to get much of an offer this off season.

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chasa said:

Short of ridley signing for Vet minimum to try and make the team in camp hes gone, Vereen is on the fence for me, there have been times this season where brady gave him a perfect ball and he's dropped it, and his running has been very lack luster.

I honestly could see both of them not coming back

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chasa said:

Develin isn't going anywhere, BB loves him,

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BelichickFan said:

I don't disagree but there's nothing to suggest he can't. He was a good, willing blocker at Wisconsin, he was lauded in camp for how mature he was and for his ability to learn the offense. Again. I don't love James White nor do I know how good he is in pass protection but I have read zero to suggest it's a problem now or going forward.

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robertweathers said:

$2.5m/per is not a kings ransom for Woody. You could argue that is what he deserved. He put up good numbers the last 4 years here and in SD.



It's close. Real close. Tough to argue. Loved Woody!

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rochrist said:

The same could be said for just about anyone. JE dropped a perfect pass yesterday, and it wasn't the first one this year, either.

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chasa said:

JE has back to back 1000 yard seasons and is Brady's security blanket.

Vereen only gets a few opportunities a season, and hes dropped most of them.

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chasa said:

The only reason danny wood head isn't on the patriots is because the chargers paid a kings ransom for him, Someone will overpay for vereen as well, and it won't be the patriots.

Woodhead>Vereen.

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rochrist said:

? He's on pace for 55 catches. In the best year of his career, Kevin Faulk had 58.

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