New England Patriots: James Develin Out 6-8 Weeks
As preseason injuries continue to knock star after star out of the 2015 NFL season, New England’s fullback James Develin broke his leg on a 10-yard reception in Friday’s game against the Carolina Panthers.
Freakin’ preseason, man.
According to ESPN’s Mike Reiss, Develin is staying in Charlotte for surgery and the team is hoping for a return in 6-8 weeks. He needed help to get on the injury cart and had an air cast on his leg after the game.
At the risk of being too dramatic, losing James Develin for what is, optimistically, going to be at least half of the season impacts the team way more than a lot of people, fans included, may think.
What? He’s a fullback, right? Do the Patriots even need one anymore? As of 2013, there were only 22 total fullbacks in the NFL. The only position that NFL teams stocked less of was nose tackle. Come on, this isn’t Lorenzo Neal clearing space for Eddie George, LaDainian Tomlinson, and former Patriot Corey Dillon. It’s a passing league now, right? Who cares about a fullback that went undrafted from Brown University and has 15 career rushing yards (not a typo) and a measly 105 receiving yards since 2013?
Well, if you enjoyed seeing New England blow out almost everyone a la 2007 after Week 4’s Kansas City Barbecue game last season en route to Tom Brady’s fourth Super Bowl ring, check this out:
ESPN Stats & Info released a study last fall that looked at how the Patriots seemingly flipped a switch after Week 4 last year. The most interesting, and perhaps unexpected part? When the Pats had two skill position players in the backfield, the team actually led the NFL in completion percentage and first downs per passing attempt. New England also finished second in the NFL in total QBR with two backfield players. And when New England ran play-action passes with two guys in the backfield, their completion percentage is a whopping 77%.
This can mean a lot of things. It might mean a fullback like Develin opening holes for guys like LeGarrette Blount or Jonas Gray. It might mean that the first thing a linebacker sees on first down is Develin’s 6’3’’ and 251 pounds coming straight at them with Blount’s 6’1’’ 245 pounds right behind. It might mean a running back and a tight end flanking Brady in a passing situation. It might be a running back and a fullback both staying in pass protection or picking up a blitz before Brady takes a sack on third down. Usually, over the course of a game, it involves all of those things to varying extents.
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Add in the fact that Pro Football Focus put Develin on their All-AFC East team last season and called him “…the best blocker in the division when used”.
And now one of the dudes that helps make all those things happen is out for at least half of the season, and that’s assuming everything goes like it should with surgery.
Speaking on the subject of who would take Develin’s place, Bill Belichick didn’t have much to work with:
“We’ll take a look at that. I’m not sure right now, it just happened last night. We’ll look at what our options are, talk about the situation and figure out what we want to try to do.”
Translation: New England wasn’t counting on losing a guy that’s suited up every game for the past two years on offense and special teams to be gone for, at best, a significant part of the season.
The Pats actually had another fullback on the roster until last week, but Eric Kettani was waived in one of the first rounds of roster cuts.
On the positive side, if there’s any coach in the NFL that can adapt to losing a player and tweaking the offense to fit who’s on the roster, it’s Bill Belichick.