The New England Patriots are making moves at running back — again.
The Patriots announced today that they’ve re-signed fifth-year running back, Brandon Bolden, who was an unrestricted free agent.
The terms of the deal have not yet been disclosed.
Bolden signed with the Patriots as a rookie free agent out of Mississippi. The running back has appeared in 67 games for the Patriots, making six starts.
#Patriots re-sign RB Brandon Bolden: https://t.co/zk6Cfc6UlR
— New England Patriots (@Patriots) April 5, 2017
Bolden has been a great depth option for the Patriots at running back, but his main contributions come from special teams. He’s had 203 rushing attempts in his career for 845 yards and six touchdowns to go along with 46 receptions for 366 yards and two touchdowns.
Bolden has had 20 special teams tackles and one blocked punt, which offers more reasoning into his importance to the team’s special teams unit.
The Patriots have made headlines for their recent activity at running back, including having star rusher Adrian Peterson in for a visit. Peterson left without a contract, but it still raised eyebrows around the league.
LaGarrette Blount, who was the team’s leading rusher in 2016, still remains unsigned. The Patriots also added ex-Bengals running back Rex Burkhead this offseason to go along with their group of James White, Dion Lewis and the returning Bolden.
The Patriots still seem to have a void at running back in the bell-cow department. White, Burkhead, Lewis and Bolden are all inexperienced in terms of carrying a full workload, so one has to assume the team will still be in the market for a true 20-plus carry back.
It’ll be interesting to see if the team does opt to sign the future Hall of Famer Peterson, or if they just used his visit as leverage in contract talks with Blount.
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Either way Patriots fans can be rest assured. Bill Belichick definitely knows what he’s doing and he’ll most likely get his guy.