Running Backs For 2015

deters said:

Tyler Gaffney claimed after Panthers cut him. He is 6'0 220 and ran a 4.49 at the combine. Kid was a beast and a work horse at Stanford. They would run him like 40 times a game and he never got tired.

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Agreed on the workhorse part, but I wouldn't read too much into that 4.40 time. Stanford has an unusual training regimen that leads to terrific measurables for many of their players -- numbers that don't necessarily reflect what you see on the field. Gaffney doesn't show a lot of burst, IMO.

robertweathers said:

Depends on what he sees in the market. I think it's a good chance that he comes back to NE. I don't think many teams are going to clamor for the svcs for a slightly above average RB who is coming off an ACL/MCL tear.

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fair enough

As I said, my expectation is that Ridley won't sign with anyone until after the draft. At that point, we might be the only option.

robertweathers said:

Yep. Getting road-graders at the G position first is how you improve the running game.

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I take it that Fleming just isn't good enough for you. He play RG this week and will likely do so next week.

You want a road-grader LG on a passing team? That is pretty novel idea. I agree that we could improve the running game by adding a THIRD new interior OL. We have already added Stork and Fleming. Connolly can be the starter until this newbie is ready.

I truly do not understand all the love for Bolden. Calling him a "Special Teams Ace" is putting him in the same category as Slater or Ebner and he's not. Not even close. Bolden has drawn more penalties on special teams than most other players not named Brandon Browner. I've lost track of the number of good returns that have been called back because of him blocking in the back..

mgteich said:

I take it that Fleming just isn't good enough for you. He play RG this week and will likely do so next week..

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I like Fleming and look forward to him starting. Connolly and Wendell will both likely be gone or with reduced roles next year.

mgteich said:

You want a road-grader LG on a passing team? That is pretty novel idea.

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Thats what Mankins, Stephen Neal and Brian Waters were. Why not better your personal at a position? Drafting guards who are substandard run blockers does not make sense to me.

mgteich said:

Why would Ridley want a one-year show-me contract from the patriots? It is by playing for someone else for one year that he can show that he is a worthy starter. If the patriots think that he is a starter, they will pay him a good incentive laden contract where he would be able to make starter's pay if he performed as he has performed.

That being said, I'd like to have Ridley back on a 3-year contract. A one-year contract wouldn't help the patriots much.

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Why did Jeremy Maclin take a one year contract this year?

Why did Aqib Talib take a one year contract last year?

They were certainly both starting caliber players, no?

If a player is coming off of a major injury and isn't going to see the kind of money that he wants to, he's often willing to bet on himself for one year until he's able to earn what he wants. There's no way that Steven Ridley is going to earn what he wants, or what he feels he's worth coming off of an ACL tear.

supafly said:

There's no way that Steven Ridley is going to earn what he wants, or what he feels he's worth coming off of an ACL tear.

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Granted, but there are legitimate follow up questions as to whether NE is the best place for a RB on a "prove it" deal.

Ridley is a below average back and with the upcoming draft offering a pretty good spectrum of RB talent the pats could pick up Jay Ajayi, Jeremy Langford, Duke Johnson and Cameron Artis-Payne to name a few and the one's listed as well as the majority of backs in the 2015 draft have the receiver dynamic also. Pats would get a upgrade on the cheap for a few years ( thinkn rookie deals are for 3 or 4 years??.. ) , make the back position exciting in New England which has been missing since the Corey Dillion days, a talented back can be picked up in the mid to late rounds because of all the stud backs declaring. I'd like to see the pats pick up 1st choice Jay Ajayi of 2nd choice Jeremy Langford, both are taller/bigger backs, big powered, versatile runners/receivers that would be a great fit in the pats rb system, both projected between late 2nd to 5th round. To all the Ridley lovers, no disrespect to the guy, but he is not the kinda player/rb that will strike fear in the opponent's defense, doesn't have game changing abilities, when people are chatting about good nfl backs you will never hear of ridley or any patriot back for that matter and this draft could change that for the pats and especially coming off surgery from a pretty severe injury for a rb i think that will put a noticeable gimp in rids step unless he's a genetic freak like Adrian Peterson which is highly unlikely lol. I think everyone can agree a stud game changer type of back is never a bad thing to have and can be had in this years draft for pretty much nothing

Oswlek said:

Granted, but there are legitimate follow up questions as to whether NE is the best place for a RB on a "prove it" deal.

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Yeah, I agree. I'm not meaning to suggest that Ridley is a sure-fire lock to return, so apologies if that's how my comment came off.

I stated in the original response that I believe that "one of Ridley/Vereen will be returning," but even that's obviously nothing more than a guess.

I do however, think that Ridley is an excellent candidate to see that 1 year/prove it kind of deal for 2015.

Either way, I'm personally not worried about it in the least. The RB situation is not bad at all (IMO). Gray, Blount, and even a guy like Gaffney is a fine place to start. It wouldn't take much for a mid level FA or a draft pick to make things very similar to 2014, 2013, or any number of yrs aside from Ridley's 1200 yd season.

patchick said:

Agreed on the workhorse part, but I wouldn't read too much into that 4.40 time. Stanford has an unusual training regimen that leads to terrific measurables for many of their players -- numbers that don't necessarily reflect what you see on the field. Gaffney doesn't show a lot of burst, IMO.

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I agree with you. However, one thing that makes Gaffney a tiny bit intriguing is that he played baseball prior to his last year at Stanford. So it's hard to know how much training he was able to do before his final season. He might, in fact, have been unable to participate in such a program and a year in the Pats training program might add quite a bit to his "burst".

Armchair Quarterback said:

I've been hearing how special (and dynamic and explosive ) Vereen is for 4 years now, and he really isn't.

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Vereen is on pace to have a year receiving that's on par with the very best years Kevin Falk had. Rushing, he's going to exceed all but one of Faulks, at least by some measure. Faulk averaged 4.2 yards a carry for his career, Vereen is currently at 4.2 yards per carry for HIS career. done with arguably a less impressive line blocking for him. Fault averaged 8.6 yards a catch for his career, Vereen is averaging 8.8. I don't really get where all the hate for him comes from, considering how highly regarded Faulk was.

rochrist said:

Vereen is on pace to have a year receiving that's on par with the very best years Kevin Falk had. Rushing, he's going to exceed all but one of Faulks, at least by some measure. Faulk averaged 4.2 yards a carry for his career, Vereen is currently at 4.2 yards per carry for HIS career. done with arguably a less impressive line blocking for him. Fault averaged 8.6 yards a catch for his career, Vereen is averaging 8.8. I don't really get where all the hate for him comes from, considering how highly regarded Faulk was.

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Oh yes, I don't think he is a special player so of course that means I hate him. Very mature way of thinking. Faulk was a good football player, very clutch but I wouldn't necessarily describe him as a special player. He also did a lot of things that can't be measured in YPC.

Do you think throwing out 4.2 YPR or 8.8 YPC boosts your argument of Vereen as a special player? You want to compare stats, why not do it with Woodhead whose numbers are superior pretty much across the board?

He's a decent player, limited in some areas, has some strengths in others but not a special player. Even your cherry picked stats say so.

Lets not forget 33's KR role and leadership (he's the Pats all time all-purpose yards leader).

I like Ridley, but it's a little too soon to see how he'll recover from injury; however, guys like Gronk and Vince have come back from similar so the Pats clearly can manage recovery from that injury. But he has a second issue in his fumbling, which is why we have Blount in the first place. And he's competing for snaps with Blount and Gray as PFK points out.

They have a nice core of guys but no elite players, which seems fine for a pass first team especially since the cost to replace is lower. I could see Ridley on the outside looking in, while Vereen gets signed for maybe 3/8M, about what Sproles got and reflecting that Sproles is better but older.

Armchair Quarterback said:

I've been hearing how special (and dynamic and explosive ) Vereen is for 4 years now, and he really isn't.

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He is a good player in the role that Kevin Faulk once held. I don't think he has been as impactful as we had hoped for when he was flashing in that 2012 playoff game against Houston.

He is very much good enough in the role of a pass catching back. Not a super star but neither was Faulk.

Armchair Quarterback said:

Oh yes, I don't think he is a special player so of course that means I hate him. Very mature way of thinking. Faulk was a good football player, very clutch but I wouldn't necessarily describe him as a special player. He also did a lot of things that can't be measured in YPC.

Do you think throwing out 4.2 YPR or 8.8 YPC boosts your argument of Vereen as a special player? You want to compare stats, why not do it with Woodhead whose numbers are superior pretty much across the board?

He's a decent player, limited in some areas, has some strengths in others but not a special player. Even your cherry picked stats say so.

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Um....a) I didn't say anything about special, I just don't get the dislike that seems to be pretty common here for a player who's pretty close to being a carbon copy of a player everyone loved, and b) Woodhead had somewhat better rushing stats when he was here, but since he's left he's been decidedly less impressive in that area and as a receiver, he's only had ONE year where he exceeded what Vereen will do this year and over the rest of his career he was substantially inferior. He caught 34, 18 and 40 balls in his three years here. Additionally, he was (not through lack of effort), a liability in blitz pickup. So by pretty much every measurable, Vereen has been comparable to both Fault and Woodhead and yet a number of people (the post wasn't directed solely at you) seem to want him gone.

I'm very disappointed in the White pick, I wonder who we could've gotten with that 4th.

varjao said:

I'm very disappointed in the White pick, I wonder who we could've gotten with that 4th.

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Same. I mean it's not like 4th rounders are a guaranteed value or anything but he showed nothing in preseason and was seemingly easily leaped on the depth chart by a UDFA. But training camp reports were very good. Oh well maybe he'll do something next preseason.

In these last draft a 4th was pretty much a 3rd in an average draft. This year was loaded with talent.

Clark Ryan said:

Ridley is a below average back

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I don't believe this. He has had fumbling issues in the past, but in the short sample this year they were not present. Ridley IMHO is a very much above average back-good patience, vision, power and quickness and someone who put the ball in the end zone. I hope he comes back on a prove it deal, but with Gray and Blount signed if he goes elsewhere we are covered.

rochrist said:

Vereen is on pace to have a year receiving that's on par with the very best years Kevin Falk had. Rushing, he's going to exceed all but one of Faulks, at least by some measure. Faulk averaged 4.2 yards a carry for his career, Vereen is currently at 4.2 yards per carry for HIS career. done with arguably a less impressive line blocking for him. Fault averaged 8.6 yards a catch for his career, Vereen is averaging 8.8. I don't really get where all the hate for him comes from, considering how highly regarded Faulk was.

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I like Vereen and have hoped to see more from him. I don't think he compares to Faulk. Faulk was clutch and made it happen. Vereen makes it happen when the defense opens up due to the other threats or scheme. White has not shown much, but if we loose Vereen I will still eat my cheerios in the am.

Bolden is a nice back because he has added a lot of versatility to his game. For the vet minimum and a small signing bonus I would like to see him back.

varjao said:

I'm very disappointed in the White pick, I wonder who we could've gotten with that 4th.

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Can get some decent OL in round 4 ...
I'd rather we pick RB's later on in the draft ... or veteran FA's.