Could the LeGarrette Blount standstill be coming to an end?
Saying the running back market has developed slowly would be an understatement. Guys like Adrian Peterson and Jamaal Charles are still out on the open market with no clear path to a new team at the moment, a third of the way through April. Then there is LeGarrette Blount, the guy who scored 18 rushing touchdowns and rushed for over 1100 yards, both career highs, last season for the defending Super Bowl Champion New England Patriots.
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According to CSNNE’s Mike Giardi, the Patriots have an offer out to LeGarrette Blount.
To this point, we haven’t really heard anything out of the Blount camp, besides a caught-on-tape quote at a recent Celtics’ game from Blount inferring he deserved to get paid. With the Patriots signing Burkhead and flirting with Adrian Peterson, there was some question as to what the plan was with LeGarrette Blount and the running back position in general, as they are pretty well stocked at the position with the likes of Dion Lewis, James White, newly signed Rex Burkhead and recently re-signed Brandon Bolden.
Re-signing Blount has always been the best route for the Patriots. The two, player and team, are perfect for each other. After the smoke cleared from the Adrian Peterson visit, it became even more clear that Blount was the best option for the Patriots. Blount has shown that he can be effective whether he gets the ball 10 times or 20. He knows the system and he knows the coaching staff and as far as we know, has never had any issue throughout his entire tenure with the Patriots.
Despite the numbers at the position, the Patriots still lacked a early-down back, one who can drive the ball down-field. Blount, without the name cache of Peterson, has proven to be reliable for a team who has won two of the last three Super Bowls.
LeGarrette Blount had a career year in every major statistical category in 2016. Rushes (299), touchdowns (18) and yards (1,161) are going to be hard to top in 2017 but even 75 percent of that will be enough for a locked-and-loaded Patriots’ team looking to repeat. Last year, Blount signed a contract worth $1 million with a signing bonus of $100,000. He should and will, most likely, get more than that but it is unlikely he will get the amount of money from any team he thinks he may deserve. The best bet for both sides is to get a deal done and prepare for 2017 with one less hole to fill.
I can be contacted at c32.ian@gmail.com or on Twitter: @iglen31
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