The New England Patriots continue to suffer setbacks as they head into their campaign to defend their Super Bowl title. With Tom Brady officially suspended for the first four games, the pressure is on the playmakers to perform for Jimmy Garoppolo. The run game will be critical to the Patriots in the first four games and that is already showing signs of having issues as LeGarrette Blount will start training camp on the non-football injury list.
Blount's 2015 campaign is off to a rough start. The running back will be suspended for the first game of the season following a violation of the NFL drug policy. Now, the Boston Globe is reporting that running back reported to camp and failed his conditioning test. The Patriots had players run 20 sprints of 50 yards in under eight seconds each time. Blount only completed 12 of them according to Ben Volin of the Globe. That likely does not thrill head coach Bill Belichick and draws into question the issues of the run game.
The Patriots took hits this offseason when they allowed both Shane Vereen and Stevan Ridley to leave in free agency. That saw New England lose two strong playmakers. Now the run game is the Blount show, but some doubt he is able to handle the responsibility. Behind Blount is a lot of question marks as Brandon Bolden returns from injury along with James White, Travaris Cadet and James Develin. They all represent a big unknown which could lead New England to try and add a veteran body.
Outside of Blount, the rushing game for New England is very young. The team could easily add a veteran for very cheap in a low-risk, high-reward type of situation. Players like Ray Rice, Steven Jackson and Chris Johnson are all available along with Ben Tate and Felix Jones who are looking for contracts. Veteran running backs normally get swept up during training camp so the Patriots would be wise to make a move soon.
New England is placing a lot of faith in their playmakers this season especially at the start when Garoppolo is seeing his first stint of playing time in the NFL. The backup quarterback saw a brief amount of playing time last year coming in for Brady who was being benched. He did record a touchdown. Julian Edelman and Brandon LaFell have all expressed confidence in Garoppolo's ability to succeed, but time will tell if that is true.
