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With another fumble and another benching, New England Patriots‘ Stevan Ridley seems to have ruled himself out of fantasy football relevance.
The loss of LeGarrette Blount means the team’s running back duties will be relegated to Shane Vereen and Ridley. Vereen started of the 2013 season with an impressive performance of 101 rushing yards and 58 rushing yards, but he suffered a wrist injury that removed him from the field for most of the year. Without Vereen, Ridley seemed to have a set pattern of fumbling the ball, being benched, returning to action and then fumbling the ball again.
Now that Ridley has been benched, his circumstances do not seem to be improving.
Rookie James White has been mentioned as a potential sleeper candidate, but he has yet to showcase his supposed skill set in games. If Rob Gronkowski and Danny Amendola can remain healthy from most of the season, one would have to question how heavily the rushing attack would be implemented.
Surprisingly, the offense ranked ninth in rushing yards in 2013, but that could be in part to the lack of weapons around Tom Brady. White could work his way into fantasy relevance, but Vereen has upside no matter what happens with the offense.
If Gronkowski and Amendola find themselves on the injury report for most of the season, Vereen will continue his roles as an important part of the passing attack. If they do stay healthy, Vereen will see the majority of carries because of Ridley’s fumbling issues and White still learning the offense. No matter what situation he finds himself in, a healthy Vereen is going to produce.
With the preseason wrapping up, fantasy football players are gaining a better idea of the role Vereen will have in the offense.
Jack Delaney is a fantasy football writer for www.RantSports.com. You can follow him on Twitter @jackbmore13, “Like” him on Facebook, or add him to your network on Google.
