Shane Vereen (1 Viewer)

[Leroy Hoard]

In my main league (PPR), he ended up pretty low in the season ending rankings primarily because of his rushing numbers. He had 4 games where he was an asset to your lineup, 6 games where he killed you, and in the other 6 it was possible you had a guy on your bench doing just as well that week.

Is there a team that swings as far back and forth in terms of (non)usage of their RB's as does New England?

I ask because, to my mind, Vereen isn't going to be much of a fantasy asset until he lands on a team that will actually let him run the ball. I think if he goes to another team as the "pass-catching back", it's still going to be tough sledding for his owners because not too many other teams are going to pass it 50 times a game and get him involved enough to be reliable in that capacity week in and week out.

I think Indy is about as ideal a situation as he could land in. They pass a lot but also don't have a high-end runner already in place...no disrespect intended to Mr. Herron. That looks to me like a situation where he might get more reliable rushing touches.

Indy would be a nice spot for him.

 

[Biabreakable]

I am not sure why but Shane Vereen continues to be a bit below average in his catch rate compared to other RB.

2012 5 games 13 targets 8 receptions 61.5% catch rate
2013 8 games 69 targets 47 receptions 68.1% catch rate
2014 16 games 77 targets 52 receptions 67.5% catch rate

Career 159 targets 107 receptions 67.3% catch rate

29 games 159 targets 5.5 targets/game = 88 targets 67.3% catch rate = 59 receptions.

That is likely the expected projection for Vereen if he stays with the Patriots.

Unless something changes which causes his catch rate to improve he will need a higher number of targets than he has already been getting to become a more consistent starter.

In 2014 only Forte, Bell and Fred Jackson had more targets out of all RB. All 3 had much better catch percentage as well. (Forte 78.5% Bell 79% Jackson 73%)

So I cannot put the low catch rate too much on the volume of targets he gets. This has been pretty consistently who he is so far and I don't see a scenario where he will play with a much better QB than Brady.

 

[Chaka]

Unfortunately it's not the norm...obviously he can do it but his MO is looking like a reliable third down back that can catch, run and protect but he's not really the type to have many of those "electric" plays...he's going to have a solid career and there's not a team he can't help but I think his ceiling is a little limited stats-wise...

It's not the norm for anyone, even the very best backs in the league don't do that normally. I am as big of a Vereen skeptic as anyone in the thread but knocking him for big play ability seems odd.

 

[Anarchy99]

Part of the reason his catch rate is low is Brady has a tendency to get rid of the ball into the dirt in Vereen's direction when under pressure. So there will be a fair amount of targets that in reality are just non sacks. On some other passes I recall Brady not giving Vereen much chance to catch the ball as he was getting hit while getting rid of it. Not sure we can blame Vereen's for either of those. To be fair to Brady, I do remember several times when Vereen just flat out dropped passes with the typical trying to turn and run upfield before securing the football.

 

[Biabreakable]

I expected Vereen's catch percentage to progress to the league average for a RB 73% but it didn't. Thanks for some explanation as to why this is. Or how this might be somewhat different if he were to change teams.

The catch rate or success of the targets I do think has some influence on a QB and teams willingness to target that player. With the catch rate being below average I consider it doubtful that the team and QB would decide to increase the number of targets unless the catch rate improved. I do think they have some relationship to each other although I am not sure how to test that.

 

[Boston]

Unfortunately it's not the norm...obviously he can do it but his MO is looking like a reliable third down back that can catch, run and protect but he's not really the type to have many of those "electric" plays...he's going to have a solid career and there's not a team he can't help but I think his ceiling is a little limited stats-wise...

It's not the norm for anyone, even the very best backs in the league don't do that normally. I am as big of a Vereen skeptic as anyone in the thread but knocking him for big play ability seems odd.

It really isn't when you are trying to figure out his fantasy value...if he's not a threat to go the distance like Sproles of a few years ago you're not gonna get those extra points that make him much more viable fantasy-wise...I like him a lot but as I said before he looks like he maybe a RB who's better in real football than fantasy football just like Kevin Faulk was...

 

[Run It Up]

In my main league (PPR), he ended up pretty low in the season ending rankings primarily because of his rushing numbers. He had 4 games where he was an asset to your lineup, 6 games where he killed you, and in the other 6 it was possible you had a guy on your bench doing just as well that week.

Is there a team that swings as far back and forth in terms of (non)usage of their RB's as does New England?

I ask because, to my mind, Vereen isn't going to be much of a fantasy asset until he lands on a team that will actually let him run the ball. I think if he goes to another team as the "pass-catching back", it's still going to be tough sledding for his owners because not too many other teams are going to pass it 50 times a game and get him involved enough to be reliable in that capacity week in and week out.

I think Indy is about as ideal a situation as he could land in. They pass a lot but also don't have a high-end runner already in place...no disrespect intended to Mr. Herron. That looks to me like a situation where he might get more reliable rushing touches.

The other issue with Vereen is he doesn't appear to have "big-play" ability...this is the area where I over-estimated him...he's not the type of RB to take a screen-pass and go 50 yards to the house...I like Vereen and hope the Pats resign him because he's very reliable...as I've said before he looks like he can be Kevin Faulk part two...while that's good for real football it probably isn't for fantasy purposes...

Pretty sure someone posted a nice video of Vereen taking a screen pass 90 yards vs the Dolphins.

Jets if I'm not mistaken, absolutely beautiful play.

I think his supposed lack of big play ability is based in his utilization. He's basically the behind the LOS Welker/Faulk. Very few designed plays with potential for big gains besides that bomb like against NYJ and the criminally underused wheel route that he's actually disgustingly productive with.

 

[Road Warriors]

I am not sure why but Shane Vereen continues to be a bit below average in his catch rate compared to other RB.

2012 5 games 13 targets 8 receptions 61.5% catch rate
2013 8 games 69 targets 47 receptions 68.1% catch rate
2014 16 games 77 targets 52 receptions 67.5% catch rate

Career 159 targets 107 receptions 67.3% catch rate

29 games 159 targets 5.5 targets/game = 88 targets 67.3% catch rate = 59 receptions.

That is likely the expected projection for Vereen if he stays with the Patriots.

Unless something changes which causes his catch rate to improve he will need a higher number of targets than he has already been getting to become a more consistent starter.

In 2014 only Forte, Bell and Fred Jackson had more targets out of all RB. All 3 had much better catch percentage as well. (Forte 78.5% Bell 79% Jackson 73%)

So I cannot put the low catch rate too much on the volume of targets he gets. This has been pretty consistently who he is so far and I don't see a scenario where he will play with a much better QB than Brady.

I suspect there are a couple of aspects that could be impacting the catch rate. This data is inclusive of his wrist injury(s?) where his catch consistency was relatively poor.

Also, for much of his time in NE, Vereen has run a higher % out of more typical WR sets and running more vertical routes trying to create mismatches as opposed to most RBs that see a higher percentage of their targets on outlets in the flat or underneath.

If he stays in NE, I don't see his usage changing, so the numbers you ran are probably pretty accurate.

If he goes to another team, it's likely he would be used in a more traditional RB pass-catching role, and his catch % may rise to a more typical 75% or so ( that you would expect to see of a top pass catching back ).

 

[Faust]

Rotoworld:

A source tells the Boston Herald that free agent RB Shane Vereen is hoping to land $5M per season on his next contract.
It's wishful thinking from Vereen, who is obviously looking to go high in negotiations. The bigger takeaway is that he fully plans to hit the open market and not re-sign with the Patriots before March 10. Vereen, a fine passing back, should be aiming for something around the three-year, $10.5M deal Darren Sproles got from the Eagles.

Source: Boston Herald
Feb 19 - 11:54 AM

 

[Chaka]

Rotoworld:

A source tells the Boston Herald that free agent RB Shane Vereen is hoping to land $5M per season on his next contract.
It's wishful thinking from Vereen, who is obviously looking to go high in negotiations. The bigger takeaway is that he fully plans to hit the open market and not re-sign with the Patriots before March 10. Vereen, a fine passing back, should be aiming for something around the three-year, $10.5M deal Darren Sproles got from the Eagles.

Source: Boston Herald
Feb 19 - 11:54 AM

Sproles is still a better all around player but I imagine will be targeting more than Sproles got just based on age alone.

 

[Road Warriors]

Rotoworld:

A source tells the Boston Herald that free agent RB Shane Vereen is hoping to land $5M per season on his next contract.
It's wishful thinking from Vereen, who is obviously looking to go high in negotiations. The bigger takeaway is that he fully plans to hit the open market and not re-sign with the Patriots before March 10. Vereen, a fine passing back, should be aiming for something around the three-year, $10.5M deal Darren Sproles got from the Eagles.

Source: Boston Herald
Feb 19 - 11:54 AM

Sproles is still a better all around player but I imagine will be targeting more than Sproles got just based on age alone.

I like Vereen, but not at that price, IMO. Cap needs to go to Interior O line, secondary, D line.

Vereen may see a bump in production if he finds the right situation, but his role in NE isn't worth 5mill on the cap.

 

[Chaka]

Rotoworld:

A source tells the Boston Herald that free agent RB Shane Vereen is hoping to land $5M per season on his next contract.
It's wishful thinking from Vereen, who is obviously looking to go high in negotiations. The bigger takeaway is that he fully plans to hit the open market and not re-sign with the Patriots before March 10. Vereen, a fine passing back, should be aiming for something around the three-year, $10.5M deal Darren Sproles got from the Eagles.

Source: Boston Herald
Feb 19 - 11:54 AM

Sproles is still a better all around player but I imagine will be targeting more than Sproles got just based on age alone.

I like Vereen, but not at that price, IMO. Cap needs to go to Interior O line, secondary, D line.

Vereen may see a bump in production if he finds the right situation, but his role in NE isn't worth 5mill on the cap.

Agreed.

 

[Chaka]

Vereen's not a starting RB. He's a role player, in a perfect place right now. He goes anywhere else and he's going to lose value.

Please come to Nawlins!!!!!

That might be the only situation in the NFL worse for Vereen's fantasy value than New England. At best it would be a push.

 

[bostonfred]

Vereen's not a starting RB. He's a role player, in a perfect place right now. He goes anywhere else and he's going to lose value.

Please come to Nawlins!!!!!

That might be the only situation in the NFL worse for Vereen's fantasy value than New England. At best it would be a push.

the saints and colts are the two best cases imo, not worst

 

[humpback]

Vereen's not a starting RB. He's a role player, in a perfect place right now. He goes anywhere else and he's going to lose value.

Please come to Nawlins!!!!!

That might be the only situation in the NFL worse for Vereen's fantasy value than New England. At best it would be a push.

Disagree. His value would probably be highest in the Sproles-role.

 

[Chaka]

So no one paid attention to how Sean Payton used his backs?

He'd get a ton of targets but even if Ingram leaves he might not even see 50 carries and certainly won't get much goal line work. NO would be a push.

Argee that Indy would be a nice landing spot.

 

[Run It Up]

Well, hes definitely gonna get his opportunity to test the market at that number, I still think there is a good chance he comes back to NE, theres no way a team will pay him that.

 

[humpback]

So no one paid attention to how Sean Payton used his backs?

He'd get a ton of targets but even if Ingram leaves he might not even see 50 carries and certainly won't get much goal line work. NO would be a push.

Argee that Indy would be a nice landing spot.

Uh, yes, that's why I said it would be a great spot for him. Sproles was a top 5 RB (ppr) his 1st year under Payton.

 

[SproutDaddy]

So no one paid attention to how Sean Payton used his backs?

He'd get a ton of targets but even if Ingram leaves he might not even see 50 carries and certainly won't get much goal line work. NO would be a push.

Argee that Indy would be a nice landing spot.

Sproles did well with his limited touches. My wanting him there would be for the same manner. It wouldn't be worse than NE.

 

[Chaka]

Sproles averaged 6.9 yards per carry in his first season in N.O. and he increased his value through the return game (3 TDs). His end of season overall ranking was great (7th in my league, non-ppr even) but it dropped to 13th on a PPG basis because of multi-game injuries to Fred Jackson, Adrian Peterson, Darren McFadden and Ahmad Bradshaw all of whom were having excellent seasons and outproducing Sproles by a significant margin (the combo of Kevin Smith & Jahvid Best also outproduced him as they were each the #1 RB in Det for long stretches that year because of injuries).

Beyond that can't we agree that Vereen isn't Sproles?

He might get a small bump from receiving totals, O/U 70 receptions imo (I'm not convinced Vereen has the hands to be an 80-100 reception guy though I admit I could easily be wrong about that) but the O/U on his carries is likely 50 and how much goal line work can you honestly see him getting in a place like N.O.? In three seasons in N.O. Sproles got six carries inside the 5 (out of 44 total), he had 6 targets out of 69 inside the 5. Sproles converted 4 of those 11 opportunities into TDs. That works out to 3.7 opportunities/season and 1.3 TDs/season. It just doesn't seem like that is how they utilize the Sproles type RB in N.O.

It is hard to project Vereen's goal ability inside the 5 considering how much time he has missed but last year, playing 16, games he converted 22% of his carries inside the 5 and 50% of his receptions. Bump that conversion rate against Sproles usage in N.O. and you get 1.44 TDs/season inside the 5.

Only point being is that if he ends up in N.O. he is going to have to make his hay on explosive plays with about 140 touches/season (Sproles high was 173).

N.O. and N.E. are the last places I would want to see any of my dynasty RBs. I would much rather see what Vereen could do in a place like Indy where he might see 230 touches.

 

[humpback]

If you're going to try and discredit the season Sproles had in NO, this discussion is pointless. Nitpick all you'd like, but the reality is Sproles had by far his best seasons for fantasy in the situation you are saying is the worst.

I don't think Vereen is a bell-cow RB, so his value is going to be highly dependent on the number of targets he receives. No, he isn't Sproles, but he's a heck of a lot closer to Sproles than he is a guy like Murray, for instance. Sproles didn't get many carries or goal line work either, but all of those receptions in a great offense added up to fantasy gold.

I agree than Indy could be good, but completely disagree that NO is the worst- IMO it's easily one of the best for him. To be clear, I'm not saying Vereen will duplicate what Sproles did, just that it would give him one of the best shots at fantasy relevance.

 

[Chaka]

If you're going to try and discredit the season Sproles had in NO, this discussion is pointless. Nitpick all you'd like, but the reality is Sproles had by far his best seasons for fantasy in the situation you are saying is the worst.

I don't think Vereen is a bell-cow RB, so his value is going to be highly dependent on the number of targets he receives. No, he isn't Sproles, but he's a heck of a lot closer to Sproles than he is a guy like Murray, for instance. Sproles didn't get many carries or goal line work either, but all of those receptions in a great offense added up to fantasy gold.

I agree than Indy could be good, but completely disagree that NO is the worst- IMO it's easily one of the best for him. To be clear, I'm not saying Vereen will duplicate what Sproles did, just that it would give him one of the best shots at fantasy relevance.

He would get plenty of receptions in New Orleans and likely not much else.

And it's not nitpicking to point out that comparing a guys career year (Sproles) to the potential of another guy (Vereen) is extremely unrealistic. How much money would you wager that Vereen could put 6.9 ypc on 87 attenpts? How much that he could return three kickoffs for TDs in a single season (or that he would even have the responsibility in N.O.)?

I am sorry if pointing out that his end of season overall rankings don't tell the whole story of his 2011 end of season rankings but they don't.

 

[humpback]

If you're going to try and discredit the season Sproles had in NO, this discussion is pointless. Nitpick all you'd like, but the reality is Sproles had by far his best seasons for fantasy in the situation you are saying is the worst.

I don't think Vereen is a bell-cow RB, so his value is going to be highly dependent on the number of targets he receives. No, he isn't Sproles, but he's a heck of a lot closer to Sproles than he is a guy like Murray, for instance. Sproles didn't get many carries or goal line work either, but all of those receptions in a great offense added up to fantasy gold.

I agree than Indy could be good, but completely disagree that NO is the worst- IMO it's easily one of the best for him. To be clear, I'm not saying Vereen will duplicate what Sproles did, just that it would give him one of the best shots at fantasy relevance.

He would get plenty of receptions in New Orleans and likely not much else.

And it's not nitpicking to point out that comparing a guys career year (Sproles) to the potential of another guy (Vereen) is extremely unrealistic. How much money would you wager that Vereen could put 6.9 ypc on 87 attenpts? How much that he could return three kickoffs for TDs in a single season (or that he would even have the responsibility in N.O.)?

I am sorry if pointing out that his end of season overall rankings don't tell the whole story of his 2011 end of season rankings but they don't.

Agreed about NO, however it's better than getting less than plenty of receptions somewhere else and likely not much else. Vereen hasn't been able to stay healthy with his limited workload so far, and hasn't exactly dominated in his limited carries- what makes you think he would be able to handle a much larger role, never mind excel with it?

I'm not saying that Vereen's potential is the same as Sproles', I'm simply refuting your premise that NO is the worst spot for a RB. It seems like you are trying to make my point for me- Sproles had his career year in the exact situation that you said was the worst in the NFL (along with NE). How does that equate to it being the worst spot for a RB? All of the other things are just noise- would you prefer to give Sproles a 4.5 ypc for that season instead of the 6.9 that he actually got? Doesn't make any sense, but okay fine. Guess what? That would have put him in the exact same spot, 5th overall RB in PPR. No one is talking about kick returns since they don't count in most leagues and weren't factored into this at all. Let's ignore that he's never had 3 return TDs in a season and had 0 in the year we're talking about (had 1 punt return TD)- fine, take them/it away- zero change to his fantasy value in this discussion.

So yes, this is all nitpicking because it has minimal to zero impact on things- twist and turn all you want, but he was great in fantasy and had his best season ever in your so-called worst-in-the-league spot for a RB. I have no idea how anyone can deny that.

 

[Faust]

Rotoworld:

Shane Vereen - RB - Patriots

Free agent RB Shane Vereen denied a report that he's seeking $5 million annually.

Rotoworld's No. 7 available running back, Vereen was never a realistic candidate to get $5 million on the open market. He should draw interest from multiple teams, but isn't going to break the bank. Vereen will likely settle for a deal in the range of three years and $10.5 million.

Source: Patriots.com

Feb 27 - 7:26 PM

 

[Faust]

Rotoworld:

Free agent RB Shane Vereen is now reportedly seeking $3.5M per season.

Just a few weeks ago, Vereen was laughably looking for $5M per season. This $3.5M number is far more palatable for a quality passing back, but the Patriots "have shown no willingness to touch that," according to the Boston Herald. So it sounds like Vereen will be playing elsewhere in 2015 -- he'll draw plenty of interest at this $3.5M number.

Source: Jeff Howe on Twitter
Mar 5 - 9:40 AM

 

[dansav]

They paid the kicker more than 3.5 mil. I know the rbs are a revolving door up in NE. I would like to see them sign Vereen.

 

[Road Warriors]

They paid the kicker more than 3.5 mil. I know the rbs are a revolving door up in NE. I would like to see them sign Vereen.

They tagged Gostkowski, but I'm hopeful they work out a more cap friendly long term deal for him.

As for Vereen, I think they need him or someone with his skill set. They've had a "pass-catching" 3rd down back throughout Brady's time in NE ( Faulk, Woodhead, now Vereen ). All these guys were good in the screen game and picking up blitzes.

Maybe White has shown enough that they're comfortable getting similar production for less cap, and feel they can let Vereen go. I have enough trust in the NE font office to evaluate talent on the roster and make these types of calls. I don't think they'll let a guy go in a key area without a plan for replacement.

 

[Run It Up]

They paid the kicker more than 3.5 mil. I know the rbs are a revolving door up in NE. I would like to see them sign Vereen.

They had to tag the kicker.

If they had tagged Mccourty they would be so over the cap. They have to be under the cap by march 10th I believe, Ghost's tag costs the Pats 4.5m, if they had tagged Mccourty it would have been more than double that - they just released Wilfork providing ~8m in space, and they are still over the cap by ~4.5m.

 

[12punch]

They paid the kicker more than 3.5 mil. I know the rbs are a revolving door up in NE. I would like to see them sign Vereen.

They had to tag the kicker.

If they had tagged Mccourty they would be so over the cap. They have to be under the cap by march 10th I believe, Ghost's tag costs the Pats 4.5m, if they had tagged Mccourty it would have been more than double that - they just released Wilfork providing ~8m in space, and they are still over the cap by ~4.5m.

yeah, but that's irrelevant because it's counting a 20m dummy figure on revis

 

[Faust]

Rotoworld:

The New York Daily News' Manish Mehta reports the Jets have identified free agent Shane Vereen as a potential target if they can't re-sign Bilal Powell.
Why is Bilal Powell standing in the way of more talented players? We have no idea. But the Jets really want him back, and the Bills are reportedly set to make a run at him as well. Just on talent alone, Vereen blows Powell out of the water. He'd be an ideal complement to big-bodied bruiser Chris Ivory.

Related: Jets

Source: Manish Mehta on Twitter
Mar 8 - 2:18 PM

 

[cstu]

Rotoworld:

The New York Daily News' Manish Mehta reports the Jets have identified free agent Shane Vereen as a potential target if they can't re-sign Bilal Powell.
Why is Bilal Powell standing in the way of more talented players? We have no idea. But the Jets really want him back, and the Bills are reportedly set to make a run at him as well. Just on talent alone, Vereen blows Powell out of the water. He'd be an ideal complement to big-bodied bruiser Chris Ivory.

Related: Jets

Source: Manish Mehta on Twitter
Mar 8 - 2:18 PM

I'm sure the Jets expect to pay Powell far less than Vereen.

 

[Faust]

Rotoworld:

The Giants have reportedly shown significant interest in free agent RB Shane Vereen.

The Giants are in need of a passing back to complement bruisers Andre Williams and Rashad Jennings. Vereen certainly fits that bill and is only expected to command $3.5M in average annual salary. The Jets are also reportedly interested in the ex-Patriot.

Related: Giants

Source: Albert Breer on Twitter
Mar 9 - 8:27 PM

 

[FF Ninja]

Rotoworld:

The Giants have reportedly shown significant interest in free agent RB Shane Vereen.

The Giants are in need of a passing back to complement bruisers Andre Williams and Rashad Jennings. Vereen certainly fits that bill and is only expected to command $3.5M in average annual salary. The Jets are also reportedly interested in the ex-Patriot.

Related: Giants

Source: Albert Breer on Twitter
Mar 9 - 8:27 PM

Rashad Jennings is a bruiser now? He's not a small back, but I'm pretty sure he was seen as a very capable 3-down back when he was signed. Williams, however, is definitely a 2-down back.

 

[Faust]

Rotoworld:

Giants agreed to terms with RB Shane Vereen, formerly of the Patriots.
Financial details are not yet available. Vereen will be joining another committee in New York, divvying up touches with Rashad Jennings and Andre Williams. Giants media has expected Jennings' roster spot to be safe even if the team added another runner. Vereen and Jennings' injury histories are another reason for New York to keep all three runners. Vereen's arrival is likely bad news for Williams, as his role figures to be scaled back on early downs. Jennings will be the primary first- and second-down pounder, with Vereen doing his typical work in passing situations. His arrival dents Jennings' PPR upside.

Related: Patriots, Rashad Jennings, Andre Williams

Source: Mike Garafolo on Twitter
Mar 10 - 1:34 PM

 

[Chaka]

Uhhhh...yay?

 

[Hu-Tang Clan]

For the Giants I think it's a good move, for fantasy not so much.

 

[Wise Old Owl]

I think I'm higher on this landing spot than most. Talented guy that can be productive in a number of ways, Mcadoo has to be excited.

 

[Chaka]

For the Giants I think it's a good move, for fantasy not so much.

Agreed.

Although I don't see Jennings there beyond the 2015 season so they hype train can begin in again earnest in Feb of 2016.

 

[KellysHeroes]

For the Giants I think it's a good move, for fantasy not so much.

Agreed.Although I don't see Jennings there beyond the 2015 season so they hype train can begin in again earnest in Feb of 2016.

Plus Jennings is usually hurt, last yr was a little flucky that he was able to play most of the yr

 

[KellysHeroes]

I like it better than him staying in NE

 

[Biabreakable]

Ben McAdoo was the Qb coach with the Packers so he didn't have much influence on the offensive scheme there. But I decided to take a look at the RB targets there anyways.

2013 Packers

Lacy 44 targets
Starks 13 targets
Franklin 5 targets
FB Kuhn 19 targets

81 RB targets

2014 Giants

Williams 37 targets 18 receptions (48.6% catch rate)
Jennings 41 targets
Hillis 16 targets
Orleans Darkwa 3 targets
Michael Cox 3 targets
Hynoski 0 targets

100 RB targets none to the FB

So there was a few more targets for RB with Eli and the Giants in McAdoo's offense than there was with the Packers. Also the Giants did not throw to their FBs like the Packers have thrown to Kuhn.

Andre Williams is not a good receiving option. I am a but surprised with how often they threw the ball to him anyways.

I could see 90-110 targets going to RB in 2015 based on the targets from last season.

I would expect Jennings to still get a fair share of those targets when healthy, but I would expect the targets for Williams to go down because he didn't do very well in that area.

2014 Patriots

Vereen 77 targets
Ridley 5 targets
Gray 3 targets
Blount 4 targets
Bolden 6 targets
White 5 targets
FB Develin 8 targets

108 RB targets with 8 of those going to the FB


Shane Vereen has averaged 6 targets/game over the past 2 seasons. 4.8 targets/game last season. His highest total for a regular season being 77 targets in 2014.

If Cruz struggles to be healthy I could see some ancillary targets perhaps going Vereen's way in a psuedo WR type role. But overall I wouldn't really expect Vereen to surpass the numbers he put up last season. There is a good chance his numbers end up worse.

It will be interesting to see if Vereen's catch rate remains below average in the new offense.

Overall I don't see the new destination as terrible for his outlook but I also don't think it is good. I would expect something between 50-70 targets for him in the passing game, depending on how healthy Jennings is, and to a lesser extent Victor Cruz. I would expect Williams targets to drop somewhere in the 10-20 range.

 

[bostonfred]

It isn't the receptions, but whether they consider him a running back as opposed to a pure receiving back.

Coughlin was very clear that he wanted a complete back who could run catch and pass block last year when they acquired Jennings, and then they fed him carries and receptions until he got hurt.

He also likes having a bruiser, but Williams looked terrible last year. The only positive news was his late season emergence, when he had his only two good games. Those games were also at the end of the season against teams that earned the number two and number ten draft picks. How excited were they to stop a big back, I wonder.

then there's vereen, who is the same size as tiki barber at 5'10" 205 (same height, five pounds heavier and a couple tenths slower in the. 40). He's a good pass protector coming from a system where he was asked to protect a lot, and he's a very good receiver, but he's never handled the volume in the nfl.

And that's the million dollar question - is Coughlin going to feed him enough to make him fantasy relevant. I don't think Williams is a threat. I'm not sure Jennings is good enough at 30 to demand carries. If vereen looks the part, he could be a feature back. If they use him as a receiving back only, then he's a bench player even in ppr.

I like him as a fairly high ceiling gamble. I don't see him putting up elite numbers but he could be a very serviceable starter for fantasy teams if things work right.

 

[DropKick]

For the Giants I think it's a good move, for fantasy not so much.

Unless you consider Eli... with the return of Cruz, emergence of Beckham and a versatile option out of the backfield, he could be very, very good.

 

[DaveL]

For the Giants I think it's a good move, for fantasy not so much.

Unless you consider Eli... with the return of Cruz, emergence of Beckham and a versatile option out of the backfield, he could be very, very good.

Should be a fun offense to watch, at the very least. I think Vereen has more upside here than NE

 

[Biabreakable]

Fred makes a good point about the possibility of Vereen being used more as a runner than he has had the opportunity to do in NE.

I guess we should pay close attention to what McAdoo and Coughlin might say about that.

 

[Faust]

Shane Vereen: Moving to New York Giants 'a step up'

 

[Kitrick Taylor]

Fred makes a good point about the possibility of Vereen being used more as a runner than he has had the opportunity to do in NE.

I guess we should pay close attention to what McAdoo and Coughlin might say about that.

I wouldn't want to rely on Vereen as anything more than a RB3 or RB4 this year. Jennings was a good back last year for the Giants until he got hurt. I'd expect them to ease the load on Jennings a bit with Vereen and to a lesser extent Williams. If Jennings gets hurt, Vereen would likely be a high end RB2, especially in PPR. But after the 2015 draft takes place, I expect there will be a lot of guys I'd say that about.

 

[Bri]

When Coughlin was the Giants WRs coach, David Meggett was known to practice with his group.

 

[The Man With No Name]

When Coughlin was the Giants WRs coach, David Meggett was known to practice with his group.

Now he's doing 30 years for burglary and criminal sexual conduct

 

[humpback]

When Coughlin was the Giants WRs coach, David Meggett was known to practice with his group.

And? Meggett was useless in FF, unless you're counting the penal league.