As a member of the selection panel for the NFL 100 All-Time Team, Bill Belichick made clear his appreciation for players who contributed on both offense and defense.
Two-way players are rare in the modern NFL, but the Belichick’s New England Patriots have found one in Elandon Roberts.
Roberts, now in his fourth season as a Patriots linebacker, has emerged as the team’s unlikely top option at fullback following season-ending injuries to James Develin and Jakob Johnson. He’s played 15 offensive snaps since making his lead-blocking debut in a Week 7 win over the New York Jets, including seven against the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 11 and four in Sunday’s 13-9 victory over the Dallas Cowboys.
Belichick believed Roberts’ hard-hitting approach would translate into quality blocking, and he’s been pleased with the results thus far. The Patriots coach labeled one block Roberts laid against the Eagles one of the best he’s seen all season.
“Elandon’s got a very physical style of play, and he’s got a good skill set,” Belichick said Tuesday in a conference call with reporters. “He can run. He’s a very compact guy with good lower-body strength and leverage and power. I think we’ve all seen that on the defensive side of the ball and in the kicking game. We lost a couple fullbacks here on our roster with James Develin and Jak, so we’ve used Elandon some at fullback. He had a big block in the Philadelphia game at the end of the game in the four-minute offense — probably one of the best blocks we’ve had all year.”
Pushed down the depth chart in a deep and talented linebacking corps, Roberts has played a career-low 22.8 percent of New England’s defensive snaps this season, but he’s increased his versatility. The first-year team captain is on pace to log more special teams snaps this season than he did in his first three seasons combined, and he’s seen action in all three phases in three of the Patriots’ last five games.
Offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels said there was a natural “adjustment period” for Roberts, who hadn’t played a snap on offense since before high school, but that the 25-year-old defender has earned the trust of the coaching staff.
“He does everything you ask him to do,” McDaniels said. “What a great teammate. That’s why he’s a captain. He’s a good player, and he’s a great teammate. He’s unselfish. We’ve asked him to play a lot of different roles. I think he played in the kicking game a number of snaps, on defense, on offense — whatever he can do to help the team. He’s got a great attitude. He’s physical. He’s aggressive. He loves contact and hitting, and he made a few really important blocks that would have made James Develin very proud towards the end of the (Cowboys) game there. We have a lot of confidence in him in that (personnel) grouping.”
Belichick shares that confidence.
“Elandon’s got a great attitude,” Belichick said. “He was elected team captain — I think that’s a reflection of his hard work and unselfishness attitude and play. He’s been willing to do whatever he can to help the team win, and he certainly helped us in that four-minute offense last week and helped us against the Eagles, too. We just weren’t able to pick it up, but he blocked well. It’s a tough position to play. … But he’s worked hard at it and gotten better at it, so if we get into those situations and we need somebody that can do that, I think he’s shown that he’s capable of it.”
Roberts is the latest in a long line of Patriots players who have been asked to play out of position during Belichick’s coaching tenure, including Julian Edelman, Matthew Slater, Troy Brown, Mike Vrabel and Richard Seymour. Reserve offensive lineman James Ferentz also made a cameo at fullback earlier this season — following in the footsteps of players like Dan Connolly, Russ Hochstein and Dan Klecko — and tight end Ben Watson has been used in that role, as well.
