The New England Patriots lost Stevan Ridley for the season on Sunday and now in Week 7 running backs Brandon Bolden, Shane Vereen and James White will take over for Tom Brady in the offense and those are solid fantasy football starters to use going forward for owners of Ridley and they will be in action on Thursday against the New York Jets.
Ridley had just started to get hot and now he will be out for the year after suffering a torn ACL and that makes Shane Vereen the top starter for the Pats. Bolden and White are solid pickups in deeper leagues, but it's really Vereen that could get a major boost with Ridley down. Vereen is a great PPR option as well and that makes him very valuable for some owners moving forward. Ridley was just starting to get hot again and now his season is over.
The Patriots offense had been off to a slow start, but Tom Brady and Ridley had been playing much better in recent weeks and now they have the chance to see what Vereen can do with a bigger role. Ridley had his best season two years ago with 1263 yards and last year he was in the dog house and it looked like he finally was getting out of it. Ridley ends the season with 340 yards on the ground and two TDs and it came after he had his best game of the season two weeks ago.
Ridley had two 100 yard games this season with Week 2 and against the Bengals in the big win for the Patriots and now the team will have to figure out a way to replace him. Vereen did not have a big game against the Bills, but he didn't need to and now he could be ready to breakout against a reeling Jets team. Vereen is already well on his way to passing his career high in rushing yards and he comes in with 18 catches already after putting up 47 receptions last season.
Bolden is not as great of an option as Vereen, but with the way the Pats do things, he could end up breaking out at some point. Vereen, Bolden and White will get carries and in that order is how fantasy owners should rank those players. Bolden has had big games in the past, but he had just 55 rushes last season and so far he had 25 yards on 15 carries in six games. The Patriots can be mysterious with their RBs, but with Ridley out, it should be all hands on deck more often than not since Vereen won't get every carry.
The New England Patriots have lost Stevan Ridley for the season and now Shane Vereen, Brandon Bolden and James White are the best fantasy football options at RB moving forward for Tim Brady, while Brandon LaFell, Rob Gronkowski and Timothy Wright have all been playing well in recent weeks and are also solid start options for Week 7 against the Jets.