Kenny F'ing Powers said:Enough with the Felger shtick. You shit on him ("He left YAC on the field like always!!1!"), called him "great", and then created your own narrative about people calling him transcendent.
Nobody thinks he's transcendent, but he had a great game against the best tackling and most disciplined defense in football. Can't that be enough? We need to give him the boot ("Tell Billy in Houston we said hi!!") and disparage a great game because it wasn't legendary?
Give me a fucking break.
It's also worth mentioning that Faulk fumbled 12 times in his first four years, compared to just 2 for Vereen.Eddie Jurak said:
Here is how they compare after 4 years:
Faulk had 1237 yards rushing at 3.8 yards per carry, and 130 catches (out of 176 targets; 74%) for 1,131 yards (8.7 yards per catch). 15 TDs (8 rushing, 7 receiving). But on the fateful drive in 2001, he was on the bench watching JR Redmond make the key catches.
Vereen had 907 rushing yards (4.2 per carry) and 107 catches (out of 152 targets; 70%) for 1023 yards (10.3 yards per catch). 14 TDs (7 rushing, 7 receiving).
Actually pretty close - and Vereen missed half a season with a broken wrist.
So if he is released after 2 years, that's an AAV of $2.63M, and if he plays the full 3 years, the AAV is $2.4M. Presumably the Pats offered him less than that.According to Yates, Woodhead will earn $7.25 million over the next three years of the deal. Woodhead was given a $3 million signing bonus, followed by base salaries of $750,000 in 2014, $1.5 million in 2015 and $2 million in 2016.
Faulk was using fully inflated balls though.Dollar said:It's also worth mentioning that Faulk fumbled 12 times in his first four years, compared to just 2 for Vereen.
Phragle said:Who gives a shit how his SB was rated? It's not going to affect his FA price. A NFL franchise isn't going to fall in love with his SB performance when Jimmy from Dorchester can look at it rationally.
If we can't get Shane back, I love to see Roy Helu signed. Excellent receiver, very good in pass pro and an extremely underrated runner IMO. Could likely be signed for a fraction of what Shane is rumored to be looking for.
His inconsistency in pass pro has been a concern, particularly wrt blitz pick up. As for cost, projection locally is that Helu will get $5 MM over 3 years.I like helu as well. If he's materially cheaper than vereen, I'd lean that way.
Mugsy's Walk-Off Bunt said:He had 11 catches, and some pretty big plays, but IMO left YAC on the field as he often does. He was great in that game, but not phenomenal, not transcendent and not the potential MVP candidate some folks I've talked to, read on boards, seem to think. A bit overrated.
Yep. I watched. A bunch of times and it never gets old. Appreciate your thoughts re the Seattle D and the patriots' scheme. I also appreciate you not being a complete Internet Tough Guy when weighing in with a point of disagreement.Trlicek's Whip said:
Did you watch Super Bowl 49? Read anything about the Patriots' offensive strategy and why they were successful against the Seattle defense?
The short passes to the edges and seams were to evade SEA's fast front line and faster secondary. "Yards After Catch" was merely an ancillary benefit of the Patriots strategy.
In other words, Vereen did his job and made no mistakes.
To get back on track: Vereen's going to ask for and receive too much money for the Pats' budget when there are cheaper replacements, and I'd rather his overpay goes into the Rainy Day Revis Fund jar.
Mugsy's Walk-Off Bunt said:Yep. I watched. A bunch of times and it never gets old. Appreciate your thoughts re the Seattle D and the patriots' scheme. I also appreciate you not being a complete Internet Tough Guy when weighing in with a point of disagreement.
Kenny F'ing Powers said:
Is that better or worse than the passive-aggressive internet routine?
Ferm Sheller said:My guess is that the Pats drafted James White last year with the expectation that Vereen would be leaving via FA and White would be his (cheaper) replacement. Much like Vereen in his first year, White spent his rookie season stapled to the bench learning the system. They may bring a low cost FA, but absent any other evidence to the contrary, I think giving White Vereen's role is the primary plan.
Montana Fan said:Excellent. He is MUCH better than Maya Angelou.
TheoShmeo said:I hope the sentiment that Vereen is easily replaceable proves correct. But I find it to be somewhat ironic that on a board that routinely dismisses conclusions based on small sample sizes that one of the bases for the conclusion in this case is that the Pats have been able to replace Redmond, Faulk and Woodhead, which is not exactly a large sample.
But here's to Helu signing with the Pats, succeeding and adding to the impression that Vereen's position is easily filled.
This would make sense if finding these replacements was some kind of probability-based exercise and not the product of scouting and talent evaluation. I am pretty confident that the Pats have alternatives in mind that allowed them to not really consider chasing Vereen. Even if that alternative is "downplay the pass-catching back role in the offense."TheoShmeo said:I hope the sentiment that Vereen is easily replaceable proves correct. But I find it to be somewhat ironic that on a board that routinely dismisses conclusions based on small sample sizes that one of the bases for the conclusion in this case is that the Pats have been able to replace Redmond, Faulk and Woodhead, which is not exactly a large sample.
But here's to Helu signing with the Pats, succeeding and adding to the impression that Vereen's position is easily filled.
For most of those 14 seasons, the solution was "re-sign Kevin Faulk." And Faulk wasn't even a BB draftee.DrewDawg said:
It's not a large sample, but it does speak to their ability to find someone at that particular spot since they've been able to do it for the last 14 or so seasons. There may or may not be a reason for that, but it at least it appears that they know what they're doing there.
tims4wins said:
There is a bit of a difference in that Vereen had some injury trouble his rookie year, whereas (from what I know) White has been healthy all year.
The Pats have been pretty successful in finding guys for the change of pace role, but as even BB himself pointed out, Vereen and Faulk were a lot different than Woodhead in terms of pass catching ability.
That said, there are now so many decent pass catching RBs in the NFL that I am sure the Pats will find someone to fill the role - whether it is Helu, Reggie Bush, Pierre Thomas, etc. I wouldn't put my money on White right now if I was a betting man though - I would put it on someone who currently isn't on the team.