I can agree that they might press him to restructure, and his cap hit really is getting up there.
I do not agree that they'll be out shopping for another running back, although I am constantly surprised by BB as well. Faulk is fine in his role - you could especially see it in the playoffs, when Dillon was hit or miss and Maroney was dead in the water. As for the role of 3rd down/goal line back, I don't expect the Pats to carry that guy -- they expect every back to make every run, and that's for a reason. You can only carry so many specialists. Heath Evans already does that for the Pats, to the extent they use a goal line/3rd down guy. The Pats are pretty well stacked at the position, despite opinion here to the contrary. I think opinion is to the contrary here, because Maroney had a so-so first year, in aggregate. I expect Maroney to be a capable featured back.
One exception I could see happening: I do not know how long the 'Skins signed TJ Duckett for, but he's now trapped on a roster with Ladell Betts having exploded in the absence of Clinton Portis. Duckett came into the league as a bruising tailback, and ended up as a goal line/3rd down vulture down on his luck.
Don't know much about what he'd cost, whether he's available, whether he's an undesireable in some way, whatever... but if all those factors sort out to the positive side of the ledger, he'd fit the role you're talking about, bringing that 3rd down/goal line skill set he shares with Heath Evans, as well as the potential to push for every-down duties. In that scenario, I think Heath goes bye-bye.
For now though, we have CD still chugging through defensive lines, and Maroney still learning at his no doubt soon to be surgically repaired knee. And behind that tandem we have an excellent change of pace man, and a good goal line/3rd down option... It looks like a case of creating a problem to fix it, rather than fixing a real problem.
PFnV