New England Patriots: Travaris Cadet worth a look

The New England Patriots are one of the best teams at turning seldom-used fliers in free agency into key contributors to their offense, and they’ve added two of those players this offseason. After signing rusty wide receiver Brandon Gibson, who struggled in 2014 upon his return from a severe knee injury, the Patriots added former New Orleans Saints backup running back Travaris Cadet, as reported yesterday by ESPN Boston’s Field Yates.

Cadet never received a notable number of touches until last season, as the Saints quietly made him a key part of their passing attack after trading Darren Sproles to the Philadelphia Eagles. Seen as a potential high-upside contributor to the Saints passing attack, Cadet caught a promising 38 passes for 296 yards consistently totaling catches ever since he broke out with a six-reception game in Week 4. Before that six-catch effort, Cadet had just eight career receptions.

More from New England Patriots

Since he ran a 4.67 forty when coming out of Appalachian State and never did much for the Saints, it’s fair to assume that the Patriots aren’t expecting anything out of him. That said, he has a great chance of latching on to the Patriots as their next pass-catching back, since Shane Vereen unsurprisingly left to the New York Giants, where he is an excellent fit, while Reggie Bush chose the San Francisco 49ers instead.

So the Patriots are left with Cadet, who becomes yet another potential breakout candidate in New England after quiet, but promising, play with his previous employers. Just 26, Cadet has no real tread on his tires as he joins the Patriots, and it’s fair to argue that he only hit the free agent market because the in-the-red Saints couldn’t even afford to pay him $1.5 million as a restricted free agent, especially since they had just re-signed feature back Mark Ingram in a vital move.

With Stevan Ridley still in free agency and Vereen gone, the running back position is an incredibly interesting one for the Patriots, especially now that Cadet has joined the mix. Of course, Cadet most likely won’t make an impact on the ground, as he has accrued just 11 career carries in his first three seasons.

If Cadet does stick on the Patriots roster, which is obviously very far from a guarantee, then he would likely share third-down duties with second-year pro James White, who is more consistent and has much more pass blocking ability. Cadet is more well-rounded than some think, and the Pats usually don’t sign players who are only good at one specific skill-set. Now, if Cadet can’t prove to be versatile enough, then he’ll have to show that his pass-catching ability is good enough to make up for it.

On the surface, his 38 receptions for less than 300 yards look ho-hum, but they are more impressive once you consider the context. Firstly, per Pro Football Focus, he took just 209 snaps last season, and those 38 catches also came on just 43 targets. He had just one game in which multiple targets thrown at him were incomplete passes, so he was able to function as a safety valve in the passing game with just one drop against him.

Those are promising numbers, though the sample size means that we can’t obtain any significant takeaways from his quality work in the passing game last season. A lot of his value hinges on whether or not he’s a one-dimensional back whose only source of value comes in the passing game, and, if this is true, it then hinges on how good he is as a receiving back.

With Dion Lewis and Tyler Gaffney as intriguing young backs with differing skill-sets (I’m an especially big fan of Lewis’s), the New England Patriots have competition at all spots at the position behind LeGarrette Blount. That said, the fact that they bothered to give Cadet a two-year deal as opposed to a one-year contract means that they see some upside in him, especially since they tabbed him as the guy after losing out on Bush and letting Vereen leave for a richer contract.

Oct 5, 2014; New Orleans, LA, USA; New Orleans Saints running back Travaris Cadet (39) against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during the first quarter of a game at Mercedes-Benz Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports

Again, nobody should expect anything out of a camp flier like Cadet, but he has the upside to be a solid contributor in the passing game. He showed off some YAC ability last season with about 83% of his total receiving yards coming after the catch to go with his 88.4% catch rate. Those are strong numbers, but the numbers don’t mean much to the Patriots behind some of the cursory interest that has earned him this look.

Travaris Cadet is someone to watch for closely in training camp due to his upside and intriguing numbers, especially since we’ve seen another former Saints back (Chris Ivory) have success in the AFC East.

Of course, Ivory is the much better rusher and had a better, stronger track record before joining the Jets, but perhaps Cadet can go from being a rarely-used pass-catching backup RB to becoming the main pass-catching RB in New England.

Filling that role for Tom Brady carries a certain level of cache with it, so let’s see if Cadet, who prides himself on his receiving ability enough to list “RB/WR” as his future position with the Pats on his Twitter bio, has what it takes to seize this opportunity by taking that next step as a player.

Since the Patriots are still expected to draft a mid-round back in this year’s deep class, he’ll definitely have his work cut out for him as he fights for a roster spot on a team that will have plenty of young, unproven backs. That said, Cadet has a leg up given his positive play as a returner, his apparent danger in space, and his possibly excellent receiving ability.

Next: 5 Questions for the Patriots

More from NFL Spin Zone

Home/New England Patriots