As a fan of another team who's had their starting RB IR'd, this totally sucks. Lewis was incredibly fun to watch...plus you love to see guys like Lewis get their opportunity and make the most of it.
My wife is a UW alum, so we've seen a bunch of James White. It seemed like the Pats were very high on him initially, maybe this is his time to shine? He doesn't have any elite skills for sure, but he is sneaky good in several phases and can be used in the passing game. Being that it's the Pats, I'm guessing whoever they plug in will be very productive since your coaching staff is terrific at scheming to a player's strengths.
Now, regarding Dri Archer....Look anything is possible in this league, and as stated above your staff is about as good as it gets at designing schemes to a player's strengths. But here's the thing with Archer -- while he has very good straight-line speed (although frankly, not eye-popping game speed TBH) and decent quickness, IMO these qualities are more than offset by seemingly enormous deficiencies in *balance* and functional strength. He simply cannot stay on his feet; the slightest brush or nudge, when he's at velocity with his (VERY slight) frame, takes him down. Furthermore if you bring him into the game it has to be with the understanding that you can NOT use him in pass protection as that may get your QB killed.
I always root for ex-Steelers to have successful careers elsewhere and certainly hope the same for Dri. If any team can make him a successful reclamation project, it's the Pats. But I'd be surprised if your FO picked him up, and would be pretty shocked if he found significant success -- even with a coaching staff as good as yours.
