According to Belichick himself, Johnson made incredible strides during training camp and early in the season but he is still a football novice. Vitale has been playing football his whole life and was an excellent all-around back in college, so you’re really comparing apples to oranges.
I think this is the type of acquisition dovetails with BB and co. wanting to move forward with a more mobile quarterback, in terms of being less predictable on offense and making the defense defend “every blade of grass”, as they say. BB and JMD probably think that Vitale has been underutilized as a pass catching weapon. If you put him in the I-formation with Michel (whom I am not ready to give up) or Harris, the defense has to respect his ability to catch the ball out of the backfield on play action. He is not James White, for sure, but he’s not purely a FB or a short yardage back either. On occasion you could even put him on occasion you could even put him as a single back on passing down initially as a pass protector who can then shed his man and slip into the flat.
