Shane Vereen Signing Signals More of the Same for New York Giants in 2014

After a disappointing 2014, the New York Giants have signaled it will be business as usual in 2015. 

According to a report by Fox Sports' Mike Garofolo, Big Blue is set to sign running back Shane Vereen, formerly of the New England Patriots. Vereen will join offensive stars Eli Manning and and Odell Beckham Jr. in what looks like both a fantastic fit and another brick in the road between New York and New England as free agents look to stay in the upper Northeast. 

The question, though, is will it matter?

This is more than just "will it matter?" in the sense that we don't really know which free-agency moves will truly pan out (as I recently wrote). No, this is a questionable move because it signals this team hasn't learned anything from a 6-10 effort last season. 

Head coach Tom Coughlin is back for another season at 68. 

Steve Spagnuolo takes over as defensive coordinator, a position he held from 2007-2008. 

Ben McAdoo remains the offensive coordinator (which is a good thing!), but he's added Mike Sullivan, who was with the Giants from 2004-2011, as quarterback coach. 

This all underneath a front office that has largely been operating under the same status quo for a generation or two, which is remarkable consistency but also a potential cause of some of the dry rot we've seen at the heart of the franchise. 

For a long time, doing the same thing over and over equated to success for the Giants. 

Now, it hasn't worked for a number of seasons, as the Giants have missed the playoffs in three straight years. They're more than just clinging to that last Super Bowl victory. They're being left behind as the power in the NFL shifts away from what their team had done best, and they're recycling old coaches and ideas that have failed in the league over the past few seasons.

Vereen is just another cog in that aged machine. 

Don't misunderstand me: Vereen is a fantastic player. 

At just over 26 (his birthday was March 2), Vereen likely has a year or two of good football left. This is slightly different than recent Buffalo Bills signing LeSean McCoy, who will turn 27 before the season starts, has 747 more total touches in his career than Vereen and has played in the NFL for two extra seasons. 

Statistically and generally speaking, running backs tend to fall off around age 27, as noted here by ESPN.com's Kevin Seifert and also here by Football Perspective guru Chase Stuart. One can reasonably assume that Vereen's lack of carries, playing style and relatively minor injury history (he has had minor foot injuries and went on injured reserve with a wrist injury) should aid him in pushing his own personal curve closer to 28 or 29 years before he really starts to decline. 

"

Shane Vereen had 52 catches for 447 yards and 3 Rec TD last season. Giants RBs combined for 62 receptions for 469 yards and 0 Rec TD.

— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) March 10, 2015"

Vereen also brings a unique skill set to the table. 

According to Pro Football Focus, Vereen was the 10th-best receiving back in 2014, and after the Chicago Bears' Matt Forte and Pittsburgh Steelers' Le'Veon Bell, he spent more time out in a passing route than any other back in the NFL. 

Vereen is clearly more than just another running back. 

As a runner, though, Vereen is more than capable and will combine nicely with current Giants running backs Andre Williams and Rashad Jennings (whom NJ.com's Jordan Raanan expects New York to keep) as an outside runner who can bust things outside far better than either of those backs. 

But this isn't really about Vereen. It's about a team that is still clinging to its past. Vereen is no more the answer for the rushing attack and offense (ranked 10th by yardage in 2014, 13th by total points) than Jennings was when he signed his deal 364 days before Vereen. 

This is similar to when the Denver Broncos acquired Wes Welker, and the world immediately assumed this was the move that would put them over the top. In reality, though, even if Welker had been entirely healthy and even if he'd been the same player he'd been in New England, receivers weren't ever the Broncos' problem. They weren't ever going to get over the proverbial hump by crowding the depth chart. 

Have the Giants done anything differently?

There is plenty of offseason left for the Giants, and their fanbase is more than welcome to continue to hold out hope that Coughlin and Co. have one more Super Bowl run left in them—they've proved doubters like me wrong in the past—but the Vereen signing signals that this team is doing what it's done in the past year again, when a thunder-and-lightning backfield and a vertical passing attack featuring one fantastic receiver defined its offense.  

The questions surrounding the Giants this season have not changed with the signing of Vereen. 

There are still big needs on both sides of the ball that need to be addressed before this even looks like a .500 team on paper. Vereen and Beckham Jr. can both be Pro Bowl players next season, but that doesn't get the Giants fully over the hump. No one is saying this will be the last move of what should be a long and busy offseason for the Giants. 

I'm just not sure it's even much of a start. 

Michael Schottey is an award-winning NFL National Lead Writer for Bleacher Report and a writer for Football Insiders. Follow him on Twitter.