LeGarrette Blount, Jonas Gray, Shane Vereen's Pre-Week 12 Fantasy Outlook

LeGarrette Blount has found a new home, though it's one he's very familiar with. The recently released running back is reportedly headed back to the New England Patriots days after being let go by the Pittsburgh Steelers. 

According to Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports, Blount's agreement with the Patriots is for two years and will add depth to a backfield that's been ravaged by injuries.

Fantasy owners will be intrigued by Blount because of the success he had with New England last year. In 16 games, including seven starts, the 27-year-old ran for 772 yards and seven touchdowns on 153 carries. It was the most rushing touchdowns in his career. 

Bill Belichick, in his own way, has a level of admiration for Blount and his abilities as a running back in the NFL. Here's what the Patriots head coach said following a game-sealing run against Atlanta last year in which Blount found the hole for a first down on a play that seemed busted at the snap, via Nick Underhill of MassLive.com:

"

Nobody will talk about that one, but I think that's as good a run as we've had. I don't know if it gained any yards, but it was a good run.

...

I mean the fact that he even got as close as he did – again, we could talk about whether he did or didn't have the first down – but whatever he got on that was more than on his own.

"

The Patriots have used a revolving door at running back in 2014. Stevan Ridley still has the most carries on the team, despite not playing since October 12 due to a season-ending knee injury. Shane Vereen is the versatile do-it-all back with 70 carries for 328 yards and 35 receptions for 305 yards. 

Jonas Gray became the target of every fantasy owner following a breakout game against Indianapolis in Week 11. The rookie from Notre Dame had 201 yards and four touchdowns on 37 carries. 

As for what Blount's signing means for Gray, Ben Volin of The Boston Globe is here to ease the fears of fantasy owners now in a panic:

The problem for fantasy owners with any Patriots running back on their roster heading into Week 12 is they have a bad matchup. Detroit has arguably the NFL's best defensive line and allows the fewest rushing yards per game (68.8). 

If you add Blount expecting instant results, you will be disappointed. Even though he knows the Patriots' playbook, this is still a player who signed on a Thursday and will have limited practice time before Sunday. 

Joe Robbins/Getty Images

Gray appears to be the feature back at this point, though before last week he never had more than 17 carries in a game and hadn't scored a touchdown. Now, he's going up against a much better defensive front than what he saw in Indianapolis. 

Vereen is the one safe bet to put up any significant fantasy production against the Lions because of his versatility in the passing game. The Patriots love to use screen passes as a de facto running game, which plays into Vereen's strengths on the field. 

There will be a lot of fantasy points to go around for all of New England's running backs in the coming weeks, but Detroit is a bad matchup to look for success in that area. 

If you want to talk sports, hit me up on Twitter.