Wide-Open Running Back Competition About to Heat Up

[PatsFans.com Article]

Wide-Open Running Back Competition About to Heat Up

Lee Schechter

Wide receiver and cornerback competitions may be stealing the show at Patriots' training camp. Though, running back remains the most questioned and uncertain position on the Patriots' roster.

Continue reading...

 

[long distance]

I do look forward to see Gaffney tomorrow.
And I wish for a balanced offense to see how RB battle is coming along.

 

[BobDigital]

Gaffney has made a surprising amount of noise. I don't see how we keep him with how important that out of the backfield RB who can catch is to Brady (cause we do need a solid backup for Lewis) but prime PS candidate.

 

[mgteich]

We seem to be in fine shape. We will have a healthy Lewis and Blount. Also, we have lots of competition for the other positions, including at least one utility player (Develin and/or Bolden).

 

[long distance]

Gaffney has made a surprising amount of noise. I don't see how we keep him with how important that out of the backfield RB who can catch is to Brady (cause we do need a solid backup for Lewis) but prime PS candidate.

BB mentioned Gaffney's ST value (praising his good work in kicking game). That makes him even more interesting to watch. I like Bolden (great hart, great teammate, dependable) but we saw last year that an upgrade at power back would be more than welcome. Gaffney's good at catching as well but i see it more like Bolden/Gaffney and White/Foster with Brown maybe most versatile backup RB with an edge if healthy.

 

[oldrover]

The x factor for the RB's is how long will Dion play before he gets injured again.

Can you use the in-season IR on a guy who's not hurt... yet?

 

[BelichickFan]

Definitely hoping for the best with Gaffney. It was a few injuries ago but he had great athletic testing in his draft year so there's some interesting upside.

 

[Big Bucks]

All aboard the Gaffney train. choo choo

 

[Bill Lee]

The x factor for the RB's is how long will Dion play before he gets injured again.

Indeed, it's all part of the life of a Pats fan, we don't draft high so we need to get lucky with injury prone players. Some times it works, some times it doesn't.

All aboard the Gaffney train. choo choo

This year's training camp binky?

 

[RobertWeathers]

I'm calling it....

Blount
Gaffney
Lewis
Develin
White

 

[mosey threetupu]

Jonas Gray was turned into a serviceable RB? I can't believe people are still barking up that tree because of one game they went 6 OL against a terrible run D. I get the point and even agree but terrible example. BJGE would have been a much better one.

 

[captain stone]

We seem to be in fine shape. We will have a healthy Lewis and Blount. Also, we have lots of competition for the other positions, including at least one utility player (Develin and/or Bolden).

I wouldn't describe the shape of our RB situation as fine, and we have no idea just how healthy Lewis & Blunt are, if at all. .

 

[TheRazorsEdge]

With Donald Brown being out so long... the door is open for Gaffney. Putting my support behind the guy ..

 

[captain stone]

I was impressed with Gaffney tonight, mostly because he was on the field. His TD showed great vision,
though he also on more than one occasion ran straight into the pile.

I was sad to see Iosefa not make the most of his limited opportunities; he also committed a penalty that
cancelled a nice gain.

Jimmy White did what Jimmy White does: make catches in the open field, not make contested catches,
and not run for any meaningful yardage.

And passtheBlunt has a couple of nice runs, enough to make one believe that there's still gas in the tank
for a 16-game regular season; but then the rest of his carries were completely useless.

Brandon Bolden, as he has done in the past, looks like the best RB on the team; and when Brandon Bolden looks like your team's best RB, then your team is in deep doo-doo.

Overall, this is simply not an impressive RB group; it's merely a collection of JAGs.

 

[Kdo5]

I was impressed with Gaffney tonight, mostly because he was on the field. His TD showed great vision,
though he also on more than one occasion ran straight into the pile.

I was sad to see Iosefa not make the most of his limited opportunities; he also committed a penalty that
cancelled a nice gain.

Jimmy White did what Jimmy White does: make catches in the open field, not make contested catches,
and not run for any meaningful yardage.

And passtheBlunt has a couple of nice runs, enough to make one believe that there's still gas in the tank
for a 16-game regular season; but then the rest of his carries were completely useless.

Brandon Bolden, as he has done in the past, looks like the best RB on the team; and when Brandon Bolden looks like your team's best RB, then your team is in deep doo-doo.

Overall, this is simply not an impressive RB group; it's merely a collection of JAGs.

I'm more pleased with James White than you seem to be. Yeah he probably should have made the TD in the endzone but meh it was a good defensive play too. Yeah he hasn't proven himself to be much good running the ball but who has in this offense besides Lewis? Blount looks increasingly mediocre as time goes on. I really like him in the pass catching role. He is the best insurance we have for Dion Lewis.

 

[supafly]

I'm more pleased with James White than you seem to be. Yeah he probably should have made the TD in the endzone but meh it was a good defensive play too. Yeah he hasn't proven himself to be much good running the ball but who has in this offense besides Lewis? Blount looks increasingly mediocre as time goes on. I really like him in the pass catching role. He is the best insurance we have for Dion Lewis.

I went into the offseason thinking that he could be replaced, but I'm changing my mind a bit with the injury to Brown, the return to mediocrity from Foster, and the continued strong open field pass catching from White. I think that he definitely makes the team at this point.

 

[captain stone]

I agree that White makes the 53, as of now. Besides, what other choices do we really have?

 

[supafly]

I agree that White makes the 53, as of now. Besides, what other choices do we really have?

I was hoping that we'd see Brown and Foster pushing him, but as of now I don't really see that happening. Not meaning to suggest that neither can make the team, but as you said--it doesn't appear as though there's realistic hope that either one can take over White's role.

 

[TheRazorsEdge]

Willing to give White one more shot.. kid has good hands. He's a very poor man's vereen. That's OK when you have someone like Lewis to offset.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Willing to give White one more shot.. kid has good hands. He's a very poor man's vereen. That's OK when you have someone like Lewis to offset.

He seemed to run tougher last night. Little harder to bring down. He played very well

He's already a lock to make the team. He's outstanding in the passing game