Patriots RB coach Ivan Fears is looking for LeGarrette Blount to return to his "dominant" self.
"I want to see the LeGarrette that I know can be a dominant player when he's playing up his stuff," Fears said. "I want to see him get back to that. He's been hurt, he's been away from us. There's a lot of opportunity there for him. Let's see what he can do. There's got to be some consistency in his play, there's got to be production. Of course with his size we expect to see some physicality."
When Fears says there is "a lot of opportunity" for Blount, he's not lying.
Perhaps somewhat unexpectedly, the Patriots did not draft a bigger back, or any back, in April. They signed undrafted rookie D.J. Foster, a pure pass-catching back, and they signed veteran Donald Brown, who can play all three downs but has never been a 15-20 carry-per-game guy.
In theory, Blount should be in fine position to secure a roster spot and earn carries, the story said. He did not participate in the spring and is returning from a season-ending hip injury, so it'll be important that his conditioning is up to par. Either way, Dion Lewis is going to figure into this offense as well at the RB position, whether or not Blount is part of that 1-2 punch remains to be seen, but it sounds like the team wants him to.
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