Danny Woodhead, will he/should he be with the Patriots next year?

[subroc]

I have always liked Danny Woodhead. I have no illusion that he is the second coming of Corey Dillon. But, I believe he is a nice piece on a team that uses a RB by committee approach. He can catch the ball pretty well for a RB. In addition he has a size “advantage,” being smaller in stature makes him hard to see so that is the advantage. Plus, he is a tough guy who plays on two special teams units as well. These things give him some positional versatility and give him some value as a starter.

He will be an unrestricted free agent (UFA) at the end of this season (in 2013).

So, that leads to the question, should or will the Patriots attempt to resign him now or allow him to test the FA market? What is he worth? $1 mil a year, $1.2 mil, $1.6 mil? $2 mil? At what point in a negotiation do the Patriots balk and just let him test the FA market? Do they want him? As a fan, or someone that watches the Patriots, do you want them to resign him? How much is he worth?

One other thing, this is a guy who is no trouble!

One other thing 2, I believe league minimum for a 4-6 year player is $715,000.

His contract information from Spotrac:

Contract: 2 yr(s) / $1,675,000
Average Salary $837,500
End Year: 2012
Free Agent: 2013 / Unrestricted

  	Base Salary 	S. Bonus 	Misc. Bonus 	Cap Hit
2011 	550,000 	141,666 	8,120 		699,786
2012 	700,000 	141,668 	58,120 		899,788

http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/new-engla...anny-woodhead/



His stats from pro-football-reference:

<PRE>                                                                                                           
                               Rush                          Rece                                          
Year     Age  Tm Pos No.  G GS  Att  Yds TD Lng Y/A  Y/G A/G  Rec Yds  Y/R TD Lng R/G  Y/G YScm RRTD Fmb AV
2009      24 NYJ      83 10  0   15   64  0  16 4.3  6.4 1.5    8  87 10.9  0  24 0.8  8.7  151    0   0  1
2010      25 2TM         15  3   97  547  5  36 5.6 36.5 6.5   34 379 11.1  1  50 2.3 25.3  926    6   1 10
             NWE  wr  39 14  3   97  547  5  36 5.6 39.1 6.9   34 379 11.1  1  50 2.4 27.1  926    6   1 10
             NYJ      39  1  0    0    0  0   0      0.0 0.0                                  0    0   0  0
2011      26 NWE  rb  39 15  4   77  351  1  12 4.6 23.4 5.1   18 157  8.7  0  16 1.2 10.5  508    1   1  5
2012      27 NWE      39  9  1   49  179  2  19 3.7 19.9 5.4   23 246 10.7  2  25 2.6 27.3  425    4   0   
Career                   49  8  238 1141  8  36 4.8 23.3 4.9   83 869 10.5  3  50 1.7 17.7 2010   11   2 16
3 yrs        NWE         38  8  223 1077  8  36 4.8 28.3 5.9   75 782 10.4  3  50 2.0 20.6 1859   11   2 15
2 yrs        NYJ         11  0   15   64  0  16 4.3  5.8 1.4    8  87 10.9  0  24 0.7  7.9  151    0   0  1
</PRE>

http://www.pro-football-reference.co...W/WoodDa02.htm

[lolollort]

He is going to want more money...but I think 2-2.5m/year

He is a solid contributor on our team, sometimes Daniels misuse him but he is a good player.

[WhiteWesWelker]

I think the hope is that Vereen can fill his role in the offense. Woody is small, liable to get dinged up, broken down as he gets older. I think he's gone next year, and I think it will be the right choice.

[bagwell368]

I think the hope is that Vereen can fill his role in the offense. Woody is small, liable to get dinged up, broken down as he gets older. I think he's gone next year, and I think it will be the right choice.

Right. OTOH if Vereen doesn't emerge and Edelman keeps getting reamed by Brady - perhaps not.

[BostonSports96]

Woody has had some good moments with us, but like most of you are saying, I think Vereen will fill his role.

And let's not forget about Jeff Demps back next year!

Same kind of player also.

[lolollort]

True. And demps is 2x faster than woodhead

[ManRamForPrez24]

Demps is one of my all time favorite college football players, but he's got some work to do to be the pass catcher out of the backfield that Woodhead is. I'm not sure he can step in and be the third down/change of pace back that Woody is. Woody is no world beater, but he's fundamentally sound, he has good hands and he's durable. I'm not sure Demps is any of those three.

I really want Demps to have a long future with this team, but I have my doubts.

His speed is tremendous, but he's got work to do.

[bagwell368]

Demps is one of my all time favorite college football players, but he's got some work to do to be the pass catcher out of the backfield that Woodhead is. I'm not sure he can step in and be the third down/change of pace back that Woody is. Woody is no world beater, but he's fundamentally sound, he has good hands and he's durable. I'm not sure Demps is any of those three.

I really want Demps to have a long future with this team, but I have my doubts.

His speed is tremendous, but he's got work to do.

Demps is faster then Woodhead as someone said, but he doesn't have the elusiveness, ability to avoid contact, get low to avoid getting planted, etc.

He needs 15 lbs on him, and a lot of strength work to avoid having a 17 game shooting star career.

[ManRamForPrez24]

His hands are also the size of a 5th graders. He's certainly got promise, but he'll have to change a few things up to have success in NE.

[mrbean]

In all honesty, I didn't think Woodhead was going to make it out of training camp this year, but I'm glad he did. While we have been talking about when Vereen fills this or that particular role, it's been Woodhead out there doing work. He's been a good piece to this offense and I must say I've been a heck of a lot more impressed with him than Vereen, the guy who is supposedly going to replace him.

As to whether or not he should be on this team next year, I guess it depends most on the financial investment. He's obviously not going to be asking for or receiving feature back money. Money issues aside, he's definitely earned his spot in my eyes. Wish I could say the same about his "replacement".

[subroc]

Shane Vereen is the guy they want as the versatile, pass catching back, he just hasn’t proved it. I expect he will be given the full length of his rookie contract to see if he can become that guy (well, maybe 3 years) but he is who they want to have and do that job. That said, Vereen hasn’t become that guy, and Danny Woodhead is. So that all said, I say sign Woodhead to 3 years, $5-6 mil with $3.5-4 mil guaranteed. I believe they could make that offer today and he would sign it in a minute.

Any counter offers? Cut him? More years, more money? Let him test the FA market?


BTW, Jeff Demps is something else again. He hasn’t had a camp yet to even prove he can make a roster spot yet, so let’s not count on him for anything. He really isn’t the competition for Danny Woodheads job, but there is always the possibility he may be in competition for his roster spot, although I highly doubt it. My view of him is they hope he becomes a kickoff return man and maybe punt returner as well to take advantage of that world class speed hopefully use him as a member of the RB by committee as well. I expect this redshirt year is a bit of bulking up considering he had to be pretty lean, comparatively, to participate in the Olympics. I do not know what his pass catching ability is.

[tonyd3b54]

i think vareen could be a very good all around back. i wouldnt be suprised if he took a good amount of carries away from ridley next year.

[Patriot Pride]

Demps looked great in the preseason. One play sticks out in my mind: He was lined up next to Brady in the 'gun and Brady motioned him out to the slot where he ran a route and caught a pass.

Between Demps and Vereen Woodhead's role should be covered for next season. He should only be brought back at a low cap number/ low ammout of years.