The Bills declined to match the Patriots’ two-year, $6.4 offer they signed running back Mike Gillislee on Monday, officially making Gillislee the newest Patriot and likely putting an end to LeGarrette Blount‘s time in New England.
Along with free agent signee Rex Burkhead, the Patriots have now added two running backs who should both contribute, along with James White and Dion Lewis. The entire spectrum of possibilities is now covered in the backfield, giving the Patriots multiple options to attack defenses with. There’s the pure pass catching threat that is White (though they’re no longer afraid to hand it off to him in short yardage situations as we saw multiple times in the Super Bowl), the elusive Lewis who will now be a full year removed from ACL surgery, the balanced run/pass ability of Burkhead (along with his four-down contributions) and the pure downhill running of Gillislee.
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