A Salute to LeGarrette Blount's Patriots Career
Sources: #Eagles are signing ex-#Patriots RB LeGarrette Blount to a 1-year deal worth up to $2.8M. Top FA available & another big weapon.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) May 17, 2017
You won’t see a better play on #NFLTop100 pic.twitter.com/XI44zOfTrq — Jerry Thornton (@jerrythornton1) May 15, 2017
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Every once in a while, if you’re lucky enough and successful enough, a guy who’s universally loved and appreciated can leave to go sign elsewhere under the exact right circumstances. No hard feelings. No kicking him on the way out the door. Just a mutual parting of the ways and he’s always welcome back any time. It happened with Pedro Martinez. Vince Wilfork. Me leaving WEEI for Barstool. And such is the case with LeGarrette Blount.
He had a hell of a run in New England. (No pun intended but I’ll own it.) Make that two runs. The first being the 2013 season when the Pats stole him from Tampa for the low, low price of a 7th round pick and Jeff Demps, who had just informed the team he wanted to be a part time football player, part time tracklete. I don’t know how many ribbons Demps ended up winning, but Blount was a beast. He posted a career-high 5.0 YPA, highlighted by a colossal 189-yard effort against Buffalo in December to clinch a playoff bye. And where the real fun began was his 145 kickoff return yards, because the league has never seen anything like it. A 250 lb M1A1 Abrams tank running back kicks.
Like so many Patriots rentals before him, Blount used that one season to cash in, signing with Pittsburgh to combine with Le’Veon Bell as a nice Thunder & Lightning type of running back tandem. Which lasted until until the two were caught smoking reefer in Bell’s Camaro on the day of a preseason road game. And after a few weeks the Steelers decided they’d look the other way on Lightning but Thunder was starting to wear out his welcome. In a November game against Tennessee he got no touches, then walked off the field before the final play and into unemployment. And no sooner did the Steelers cut him than the Pats swooped in an re-signed him for the Super Bowl run.
Again, he came up huge when called upon in the Shane Vereen-Stevan Ridley-Blount RB rotation. Never more so than the AFC championship game against the Colts when he carried the deflated ball 30 times for 148 yards and 3 TDs against an Indy team that was utterly incapable of tackling him. Then in this most recent title season, he became exactly the kind of bellcow, tough-yardage back that has been on the football Endangered Species list for a generation. His 299 attempts were the most by a Patriot in 12 years and the fifth most in team history. And his 18 TDs lead the league:
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So this is a good signing by the Eagles. A smart move by the Pats as well, making Blount the only tendered Unrestricted Free Agent in the NFL, which lands them a compensatory pick and explains why he took so long to sign. But it works out for everyone involved. The Pats added Mike Gillislee and Rex Burkhead. He’ll make a lot more money. He’ll compliment Darren Sproles and Ryan Mathews nicely. He’ll be entertaining as all hell. And he’ll be one of those guys who’s always welcome back here if he still doesn’t like playing in Pennsylvania and feels like sparking up any time soon. Godspeed.