Former Patriots beat writer on RB Shane Vereen: "When [Aaron Hernandez] went down last year, and they were dealing with [Rob Gronkowski] being out...and they were really looking at some options, I kept hearing from people inside the organization to keep an eye on Vereen, that they think he can fill some of the role that Hernandez did so I don't see why that can't happen this year."
Considering his late-season production and the fact that Danny Woodhead is out of the way, Vereen's prospects are looking good. He gained at least 38 total yards in six of his last nine games and scored five TDs in that span. Woodhead quietly finished as fantasy football's #25 RB in 2012, so Vereen could post similar numbers if given a similar workload. The Vereen/Woodhead duo posted #14 RB numbers in standard formats and #12 RB numbers in PPR. Throw in some extra work to account for the loss of Hernandez, and Vereen's arrow is clearly pointing up.
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