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New England Patriots: Futures of Ridley and Vereen?

By Aryan von Eicken

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The New England Patriots have a lot of major decisions on key players that they have to make this offseason. One should not forget other important contributors whose contracts are also up.

The running back duo of Shane Vereen and Stevan Ridley are two of those players whose contracts are up and both could be hitting the open market.

Vereen’s role on the Patriots seemed to vary, based on the opponent they were playing. In games where the Patriots played big and talented defensive fronts, Vereen normally played a majority of the snaps because of his heavy involvement in the passing game. In other games, he barely touched the ball and simply wasn’t a big part of the offense. All in all, Vereen had a quite disappointing year as he barely exceeded his totals from 2013 although he was limited to only eight games that year opposed to 16 this past season.

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Mike Reiss reported that Vereen could be looking for a deal in the area of $ 10.5 million over a span of three years. This leads me to believe that he will not be returning to the Patriots. This team doesn’t normally pay that type of money to running backs and I personally don’t believe Vereen is worth it either.

He does create difficult matchups for defenses to stop, but he has also been inconsistent and had some major drops. I think the Patriots let him take his services elsewhere and instead look to the draft and maybe pick up a receiving back in the later rounds. Vereen will find demand for his skills somewhere else and get a solid contract.

Oct 12, 2014; Orchard Park, NY, USA; New England Patriots running back Stevan Ridley (22) punches the ground after being injured during the 2nd half against the Buffalo Bills at Ralph Wilson Stadium. Patriots beat the Bills 37-22. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Hoffman-USA TODAY Sports

Stevan Ridley is a different story than Vereen. Ridley tore his ACL in Week 6, and will probably not be receiving all too much demand in the free-agent market. He is a first- and second-down back that really doesn’t take part in the passing game. His best season was back in 2012, in which he ran for 1,263 yards and 12 touchdowns.

In 2013, he was benched towards the end of the season because of fumbling issues, but regained the trust of the Patriots coaches this past year before tearing his ACL. He showed some major flashes of potential as he did have two 100-plus yard rushing performances in the five full games he played before his injury.

To me, Ridley is the best running back the Patriots have. Blount is getting older and both Gray and Bolden simply aren’t as talented as him. I think the Patriots and Ridley will likely agree on a cheap one-year deal. That will give Ridley the opportunity to prove himself after his injur, and the Patriots get another year of his service without too much risk. Most running back’s return from ACL injuries without any major complications but still no team seems to be willing to take a chance on giving any of those players a long-term deal.

The Patriots will make sure that they don’t overpay on either of these two players, simply because they have proven that you can stick an undrafted free agent into the backfield and he can still run for 200+ yards in a game.

I think Ridley is a very underrated back who has performed at a high level and should be kept in New England, at least for another year.

Next: Where do the Patriots rank among the best franchises in history?

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