Running back Dion Lewis was a pleasant surprise for the Patriots in the first half of the season, but he tore his ACL last Sunday and will miss the rest of the season.
The Patriots will have to adjust their offensive approach with Lewis out of the lineup and James White is one of the players who could be part of the solution to the loss of Lewis on passing downs. The 2014 fourth-round pick has played sparingly over the last two seasons and was a healthy scratch last week, but looks like a better fit for that role than LeGarrette Blount or Brandon Bolden and offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels suggested the Patriots will be giving him a chance to prove he can handle it.
“James is a guy who continues to get better,” McDaniels said, via CSNNE.com. “Hopefully his best football is in front of him. You know, he’s still a young player, has only been in our system for a year and a half here I think. And going forward, whatever his role is, I’m sure James will be prepared, and will give our team everything he has. So I really like his approach and his mentality, and he’s got a maturity about him that I really feel good about. He’ll have an opportunity now to step in there and play a little bit more with Dion’s situation.”
White probably isn’t the only part of the plan to replace all of what Lewis brought to the offense, but handling some of it in the near term would be the best way for White to earn a bigger piece of the pie over the long haul. If he can’t, the Patriots may need to look outside the organization for other options that fit what they’re looking for out of the backfield.