New England Patriots Positional Preview: Running Back

In this article I will be evaluating the New England Patriots Running back corp. for the upcoming season. Let’s begin.

First off, the running back position is fairly deep.

The expected starter is Laurence Maroney who up to this point has been injury plagued and has not lived up to expectations. I expect him to have a fairly good season this year but he will be sharing carries with the other running backs and he may be benched if he does not produce results.

Patriots still have veteran running back Kevin Faulk who can still be the third-down back and perform amazing catches (remember last season's Moss-like catch?). I expect him to play the role he always has; being an incredibly reliable receiver, running back, and support player.

BenJarvus Green-Ellis is still around and I love him. He is a power runner and he showed a lot of improvement in his game play last season. I expect him to be a backup and reliable again.

Eric Kettani will replace Heath Evans as fullback. He is from Navy and performed well against Army with 125 yards. He has average hands and average running ability.

Omar Cuff was recently signed and I expect him to go to the practice squad. He is from Delaware. I have personally never seen him play so I can make no conclusions.

Sammy Morris is back and hopefully will not be injury plagued again. He can bring in 500-plus yards as a backup and I expect him to share the spot with Maroney and Taylor.

Now to Taylor, the No. 16 rushing halfback of all time is with the Patriots. He was dropped by the Jaguars and now is with the Patriots. He can also still perform and I expect him to get a lot of touchdowns. He is the Patriots steal for this season.

Check back for more positional preview articles.