Shane Vereen to the Patriots: Fantasy Impact

Shane Vereen has been drafted into an ideal situation with the New England Patriots.

Vereen is a smaller-sized back at 5’9 and 203 pounds but will not be asked to carry the load on the Patriots.

While this is not an ideal situation for fantasy owners, the addition of power back Stevan Ridley will help to keep Vereen fresh and allow him to hold down the featured job with 16-20 touches a week.

Vereen is among the strongest running backs in this draft class, as his impressive 31 reps in the bench press shows.

Vereen shows good instincts in finding running lanes and is an excellent pass catcher out of the backfield.

I initially thought that Ridley was the rookie running back to own in New England but now realize that Vereen was drafted for a featured role with Ridley drafted to play the thunder back/change-of-pace role.

Fantasy Impact:

Shane Vereen should top 250 touches on the season with at least 1,000 yards from scrimmage.

It is always hard to project in a Bill Belichick backfield, so we will not attempt to try.

We currently have Vereen ranked as our No. 4 dynasty league back behind Mikel Leshoure and ahead of the opportunity-rich Daniel Thomas.

Vereen projects as a bye-week filler option with flex upside in his rookie campaign and will have added value in PPR leagues.

Vereen will likely be on the field for more snaps than any other Patriots running back in 2011, and looks to be an emerging fantasy stud who should be ready to break out in 2012.

This article can also be found on Win My Fantasy League.