Report: Patriots To Sign Former Jets Running Back Danny Woodhead

A RB who’s a 3rd down back and can split out wide? Sounds somewhat familiar…

The Pats love those wily little guys, and more importantly know how to use them

But yes, he’s got that interesting not-quite-one-position mutability. Plus he’s a gifted special teamer.

dunno man, he’s versatile n Belichick loves versatility in his players…could be a nice addition to the end of the roster

I was surprised they used the roster spot for another RB, but hey, things can change

Kris Jenkins could fight for a starting spot ;)

“The guy can do a bunch of things, but none of them well” – sounds a lot like Wes Welker when he came out of HS? or when he came out of college? when he received 1 and only 1 scholarship offer, wasnt drafted, and was cut time and time again?

He can’t break tackles which makes him useless at RB, he is tiny and isn’t a great route runner so he doesn’t offer anything as a WR, and he is too small to make tackles and shed blocks, so he offers nothing on STs.

I’m pretty sure all those things were said about Wes Welker and Kevin Faulk at some point in their careers.

Lots of Jets fans have man crushes on him because he is a small, white RB, but he was cut for a reason.

He had Mark Sanchez throwing to him. That will hurt any receiver’s chances. He was running behind Thomas Jones and 3rd round pick Shonn Greene. He’s not going to break into the Jets starting line-up at running back.

Looking at the Patriots roster- we need all the help we can get at RB and he could be a solid change-of-pace back. If he gets 5 offensive touches in the game, then he’s worth the roster spot. And while it’s true that he’s small and won’t be muscling through any defense, the Patriots specialize in getting players in the open field (see: Wes Welker, Kevin Faulk, Julian Edelman), where they don’t need to break tackles and just have to get away from players. I’m thinking Woodhead is good at getting away from players.

If you guys want to believe that you just stole the next CJ or Welker from the Jets, thats fine. But you will find out pretty soon that there is a reason that he was cut.

Wes Welker was cut from his original team, the Chargers, after training camp his rookie year.

Another small, shifty guy who was cut from his original team after training camp? Some WR called Troy Brown. (Thankfully the Pats resigned him after waiving him for final camp roster cutdowns).

I’m not saying he’ll definite be the next Welker or Brown, but those training camp castoffs have a knack of finding success in New England for some reason.

The PATS system is designed to find open space for this exact type of player. Slot screens, RB screens, and quick slants have been the bread and butter yard gainers since BB and Brady took control. It is an extension of their running game.

I see no reason why this guy won’t be just as successful as Edelman, Gaffney, and Givens. Guys who were used for this exact reason: to supplement the running attack with one on one quick hitter outside the tackles.

…ever.

The real issue with it is how much a practice squad guy actually knows – if he had a better grasp of the playbook, he’d probably be on the actual roster. The Jets signed Kevin O’Connell after the was cut by New England and hoped to suck him dry of information; however, the real reason he was cut in the first place was that he was struggling to learn the playbook in the first place.

Players don’t have non-disclosure agreements; nor do coaches. The best example of that would be the Bucs trading picks to the Raiders for Jon Gruden. While much of the credit for the Bucs winning the Superbowl in Gruden’s first year as coach belong to Dungy and the Tampa-2 scheme and personnel assembled by Dungy, the fact was the Raiders turned up to the Superbowl using all the same calls and schemes that Gruden had installed there. Gruden had taught the defensive players of the Bucs (especially John Lynch) all the playcalls the Raiders would use, and the Bucs often knew what the Raiders were going to do before even the Raiders did.

As one article put it:

The Bucs were so well prepared for one Raiders play that safety John Lynch called it before it happened. The result was Dexter Jackson’s second interception of the game. “I was in the slot with (Jerry) Porter one-on-one, so I told Dexter cover me, and he did,” Lynch said. "I ended up coming off on the smash, but Dexter got over there.
The Raiders’ formation and their situation tipped Lynch, who had seen the exact same play from the exact same formation in a similar situation in practice earlier in the week. “We were so well prepared today,” Lynch said. “It’s uncanny how the plays we ran in practice showed up, same formation, same motion.”
The Bucs knew Rich Gannon as well as they possibly could know a quarterback they hadn’t faced in years. For that, they can thank Gruden, who took the highly unusual step of playing the role of Gannon on the scout team during Thursday’s practice. As the pool reporter for the Bucs, I witnessed this performance, but Gruden asked that I not write about it until after the Super Bowl. Then he said, “What did you think? How did I look?” Asked who practiced well, he said, “I can’t talk about it, but I had a hell of a day today.”