Jakob Johnson now is the New England Patriots’ No. 1 fullback following James Develin’s move to injured reserve on Monday. But to call the untested international rookie Develin’s replacement wouldn’t be accurate.
As Patriots coach Bill Belichick explained Tuesday morning, it would be impossible for one single player to replace Develin, who’s both one of the NFL’s elite fullbacks and a vital part of New England’s offense.
“We’re fortunate to have one James Develin on our team,” Belichick said in a conference call with reporters. “He works extremely hard. He’s a versatile player that does things for us offensively and in the kicking game. (He’s) very dependable and has a lot of experience in our system. So we’re lucky to have him. To have two of him and be able to replace him with another James Develin is just unrealistic. … There’s no one person that can do what he does.”
Belichick has used similar language in the past to describe Patrick Chung, the Patriots’ do-everything safety. Like Chung, Develin also plays a significant role in the kicking game, logging 150-plus snaps on special teams in each of the last three seasons.
The Patriots could look outside the organization to fill some of these holes, Belichick suggested.
“What’s the best way to manage those situations now?” the coach said. “Is it one person? I doubt it. So is it a combination of people on or off the roster? That’s really the conversation, and you go from there.”
Offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels was equally effusive in praising Develin, who had not missed a game since 2015 before sitting out last Sunday’s 30-14 win over the New York Jets. Develin was on the field for 41 percent of New England’s offensive snaps in Weeks 1 and 2; Johnson’s only action against New York came on kneeldowns.
“James is a special guy,” McDaniels said. “He’s certainly played a very valuable role in our offense, and he’s had a lot to do with our success when he’s on the field, and he’s certainly been recognized for that, deservedly so. He provides a toughness and a leadership and a physicality that we love around here, and he’s a great person, great worker, great attitude, always a positive contributor to our performance offensively.
“So, yeah, you’re not going to just plug in somebody and replace that. … We’ll try to do the best we can to put the right guys out there in positions where we think they can be successful. Sometimes, you can put a guy in and get some similar results, and other times, it may take a little while. We’ll see in this case what we’re able to do as we move forward.”
With Develin on the shelf, the Patriots now have lost five key cogs from a rushing attack that bullied opponents down the stretch last season. Tight ends Rob Gronkowski and Dwayne Allen and left tackle Trent Brown are gone, and center David Andrews is on IR, as is Brown’s young replacement, Isaiah Wynn.
Without those pieces, the Patriots have struggled to run the ball effectively this season, posting the NFL’s fifth-worst yards-per-carry average through three weeks. Top ball-carrier Sony Michel has been particularly inefficient, averaging 2.4 yards per rush.
“The goal for us is not to replicate what we did last year,” McDaniels said. “It’s to try to figure out how we can be the best version of ourself this year with the personnel we have playing and available for us each week this season. We’re not going to try to force somebody to do something that somebody else did last year if they’re not suited for it. We’ll try to figure out how to use their strengths to our advantage and to our team’s advantage and try to go out there and be productive offensively with what we have now.
“None of us are worried about what we did last year or schemes we used. We’re just trying to figure out the best positions to try to put our players in this season, and in particular this week against a really good defense that we’re playing on the road against Buffalo.”
The 3-0 Patriots will visit the 3-0 Bills this Sunday.
