New England Patriots sign running back LeGarrette Blount

The New England Patriots today officially announced that they have signed free agent running back LeGarrette Blount, adding another weapon to quarterback Tom Brady's arsenal. Blount, a big, physical runner, was released by Pittsburgh on November 18.

Other outlets reported that the Steelers' move was prompted by Blount's decision to leave the playing field and locker room early after he became disgruntled over his lack of carries.

He previously spent the 2013 season with New England, so coach Bill Belichick already has a rapport and a track record of success with Blount.

At that time, Blount was originally acquired by the Patriots from Tampa Bay in a trade on April 27, 2013, in exchange for RB Jeff Demps and a 2013 seventh-round draft selection.

The 6-foot, 250-pounder, played in 16 games with seven starts and finished with 772 yards and seven touchdowns last season with the Patriots.  In the team's postseason win over Indianapolis on January 11, 2014, Blount ran for 166 yards and set a franchise record with four rushing touchdowns.

This season, Blount played in 11 games with Pittsburgh and had 266 yards and two touchdowns on 65 rushing attempts.

"You know, we tried to sign LeGarrette in the offseason," said Patriots coach Bill Belichick.  "That didn’t work out which is the NFL, it’s the business part of the NFL. He was released, he was available and we were able to work it out for him to come back here. Glad to have him back."

For the last few seasons, the narrative surrounding the Patriots' offense has been that management has failed to provide Tom Brady with the proper weapons to win another Super Bowl.  The team had let go of Randy Moss, Wes Welker, and Aaron Hernandez for a variety of different reasons, but had not made efforts to find comparable replacements.

However, recently the talent around Brady has been getting better, and coincidentally or not, the Patriots are off and running to an 8-2 record.

The most important development has been the return of tight end Rob Gronkowski this season.  With "The Gronk" finally healthy, Brady now has that big play threat that he can target over the middle.

In addition, last week rookie running back Jonas Gray came out of nowhere to rush for 199 yards and four TD's on 38 carries.  Blount now adds another threat in the backfield, as well as depth to that position.

Blount has played in 67 NFL games with 28 starts and has 2,977 yards rushing and 22 touchdowns.  He played collegiately at Oregon.

The Patriots also released first-year DL Casey Walker.
 
Walker, 24, was signed by the Patriots from the Carolina practice squad on Sept. 27. He originally entered the NFL as a rookie free agent with Carolina out of Oklahoma on April 30, 2013. The 6-foot-1, 340-pounder spent part of the 2013 season on the Carolina practice squad and went to training camp with Carolina this past summer. He was released on Aug. 30 and signed to the Carolina practice squad on Aug. 31. Walker played in five games with one start for the Patriots and accumulated 10 total tackles and one sack.

By Staff of TheDailySportsHerald.com