Opinion: Time Is Now For Rookie Backs To Enter The Fray

The New England Patriots placed fullback James Develin on their Injured/Reserved list on Monday afternoon with a neck injury that he suffered last weekend against the Miami Dolphins.

Those who understand what Develin means to the offense are mourning the loss, perhaps for the season. But those who understand and watched what Johnson did in extended playing time during the preseason see a glimmer of hope for a vital position on the Patriots' offense.

During the Patriots' run to the title last season, Develin was on the field for every single rushing touchdown, plowing the row like a pack mule and knocking the chocolate out of anything in his way. Needless to say, that kind of explosive lead blocking is required in short yardage situations and for the running game in general.

Rookie running back Damien Harris

Develin also displayed soft hands for such a monstrous entity, and took handoffs from quarterback Tom Brady on a few of those short yardage situations, and no one on the opposing defense really looked thrilled to be taking him on with the ball in his hands, but those who did dealt with a bruise or three.

So the question begs, how do the Patriots reach for effectiveness in the running game without Develin leading the way?

And the answer is simple: If Jakob Johnson is the run-blocking load that he showed in the preseason, if he can ragdoll defensive ends like he did regularly, the Patriots may have a true fortuitous find in a player who was essentially forced on Belichick by the league, as the German-born Johnson was "assigned" to New England as a part of their relentless pursuit of global domination...

...trying to get football (soccer)-mad Europe to love their brand of football by making training camp exemptions to the roster limit of teams who accept European-born players into their camp as part of the league's "Pathway to the NFL" program.

Johnson's chances of making the team were slim-to-none before he arrived in Foxborough by way of North Carolina State University, and as camp wore on and as the intense German kept staggering defensive linemen and linebackers during practice, scrimmages and in preseason games, his chances of making the team really didn't increase all that much due to Develin having a stranglehold on the fullback spot, but his chances of hanging around on the practice squad increased exponentially.

And if you're on the practice squad, you are one injury away from being on the active 53.

Go ahead and YouTube the lick he put on a Carolina Panthers defensive end on a Brandon Bolden touchdown run, then while you're at it, watch the video of him catching offerings from Jarrett Stidham in the same game. If that small sample size is the real Jakob Johnson and if he can come close to replicating such against starting NFL defensive fronts, the Patriots will be ok.

Just ok? Truth be told, that would be better than what we've seen of the Patriots' running game so far this season.

New England Patriots' fans breathed a collective sigh of relief on Sony Michel's first quarter touchdown run against the New York Jets this past Sunday, thinking that the real Michel had emerged and whatever imposter had been wearing his uniform in the Patriots' backfield had been tarred and feathered and run out of town on a rail, in the best of New England judicial tradition.

But when Michel reverted back to his early-season funk on his next run, and his next and his next, one thing became painfully clear: Michel still possesses only two tools in his toolbox, running the ball and picking up the blitz in pass protection, despite the team's off-season assertion that he would be used more in the passing game.

But he hasn’t been, targeted out of the backfield just once in three games - not nearly enough to put a scare into defensive coordinators, who obviously have caught on to the fact that when Michel was on the field last season, almost eighty percent of the time, the play call was a run.

How this impacts the overall effectiveness of the offense is two-fold. The opposition will key on Michel, knowing that they will be right eight out of ten snaps. That brings the residual effect of the opposition bringing run blitzes to overwhelm the offensive line, which re-establishes the line of scrimmage two or three yards deep in the backfield.

The result? How about 2.4 yards per carry. Ouch.

That average places the Patriots' running attack third from the bottom of the league, and this despite having more rushing attempts than all but five other teams - not the performance anyone was expecting, based on how the Patriots dominated teams on the ground at the end of last season and how they performed in the preseason.

But in the preseason, rookie third-round pick Damien Harris handled the majority of the load and was impressive in doing so, bringing a bit of a fullback mentality in powering through contact between the tackles while displaying elusiveness with a wicked jump cut when running in space.

In other words, he gets more than what's blocked for him. Add to that his sharp route running and soft hands out of the backfield and what you get is what the Patriots need to counter the aggressiveness that opposing defenses are enjoying on early downs.

It's no secret that I've been critical of Michel, not because of anything other than his motivation seems to melt when he doesn't have room to run. He looks disinterested after a negative run or two and has been replaced in the lineup by Rex Burkhead in each of the first three games.

Burkhead is running at a clip of 4.7 yards per carry, and while not elusive at all, he gets more that what's blocked for him by sheer determination. James White is averaging 5.1 yards per carry with his short-area elusiveness and despite the fact that he's not going to power through many tacklers in the box.

Why the disparity between Michel's production and the other backs on the roster? Simply, Michel's one dimension allows opposing defenses to stack the box with confidence, while Burkhead and White offer passing game versatility, which forces defenses to play a lighter box which poses less resistance between the tackles.

It's as simple as that. Having a versatile back in the lineup lightens the box, which allows the offensive line to dictate to the defensive front instead of being bull rushed into the backfield. It got so bad against the New York Jets on Sunday that the Patriots' offensive line looked like they were pass blocking on running plays...

...the Jets' forcing a pocket to contain Michel as if he was a quarterback dropping back to pass. Even when the Patriots tried running wide, the aggressiveness of the defense overwhelming the offensive line allowed their edge-setters to force the play back inside.

So it's no mystery why Burkhead has replaced Michel in all three games. In fact, both Burkhead and White are skilled enough in both phases of the offense that they can be split wide, pulling a linebacker or safety to the perimeter, helping the offensive line, which is starting two backups and has little to no help from the tight end position without the retired Rob Gronkowski or Dwayne Allen.

But the best of both worlds rests in the hands of Harris, who is a hybrid of White and Burkhead.

Harris has been active for just one of three games this season, dressed and on the sideline against the Jets, but only so because White was excused from Sunday's game to witness the birth of his son - but Harris saw no action on offense.

That said, it's time for Harris, particularly given the fact that New England's receiver corps is also crippled by the injury bug, which may force White to play more of a wide receiver role just so Brady has a full complement of pass catchers to target.

The other part of this equation is Johnson.

In addition to being placed on the IR, Develin was given a designation to return, meaning that he could be taken off IR sometime in November - but that is a stretch for two reasons. First, neck injuries are weird. Nothing throws the fear of God into a football player quite like injuring a susceptible area, and with Develin's brute force attacking style, any collision carries the possibility of compression.

So teams are very careful when dealing with neck injuries. But secondly, the IR already carries starting left tackle Isaiah Wynn and rookie wideout N'Keal Harry - and since NFL rules prohibit more than two players returning from the injured list during the season, it forces Belichick to make a tough decision.

Wynn has to return. Nobody wants to see Marshall Newhouse protecting Brady's backside if there is another option in the wings - so that takes care of one spot. Harry's status is a little more muddled, but if injuries continue to pile up in the pass-catching corps, Harry becomes a priority to return, if he isn't already.

That leaves Develin out in the cold, which means Jakob Johnson for the rest of the season.

So James Develin is probably gone for the season, and Michel is bogged down by his lack of versatility. The Patriots may be able to get away with that scenario against the cupcakes that they play the first half of the season, but will need an effective running game to get past the border wall that they face in the second half...

...so there's no time like the present to get Harris and Johnson incorporated into the system, so that they can acclimate and gain the experience that will help the offense when the weather turns cold and running the ball is key.

#runthedamnball