Getty James White
The New England Patriots‘ worst fears were confirmed regarding the injury to valuable veteran running back James White.
The do-it-all back suffered a season-ending hip injury during the Week 3 loss to the New Orleans Saints, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter, and now the Patriots will have to scramble to find someone, or a group to fill in for White. The hip injury, while obviously serious was compared to two of the more recent and similar ones by sports doctor David J. Chao.
Sports Doctor Compares James White’s Injury to Tua Tagovailoa and Ryan Fitzpatrick
According to Chao, the injury White suffered isn’t as bad as the one that threatened to end Tua Tagovailoa’s career in college. However, it is still worse than the one that ended Washington Football Team’s Ryan Fitzpatrick’s season earlier this year.
Because White will turn 30 in February, and he just signed a team-friendly one-year, $2.4 million deal to return to the Patriots in the offseason, there will be some question as to if he’ll ever play for New England again–or anyone else.
As it stands, White has played an integral role on three Super Bowl championship teams in New England. No matter what happens moving forward, his legacy in Boston is cemented.
Who Can Fill In for James White?
Because White is currently second on the team in both rushing and receiving yards, New England has a task of finding a player who can make an impact in both the running and passing game. Those kinds of guys don’t grow on trees.
NESN’s Zack Cox spoke about the Patriots’ challenge of replacing White.
Cox wrote:
The obvious question, then, is who fills that void. Brandon Bolden took over most of White’s snaps in Sunday’s game, but he primarily plays on special teams and has limited offensive upside. Ideally, either rookie Rhamondre Stevenson or second-year pro J.J. Taylor — or a combination of the two — would slide into White’s role, with Damien Harris handling lead back duties. (The Patriots traded Sony Michel to the Los Angeles Rams late in the preseason, a deal they might now regret.) Can those youngsters handle that responsibility? TBD. Neither has seen significant playing time this season. Taylor has logged a total of 15 offensive snaps across two games (with one healthy scratch) and has 8 yards from scrimmage on five touches. Stevenson touched the ball twice on five snaps in the opener, then sat out back-to-back games as a healthy scratch after losing a fumble and blowing a blitz pickup during his brief Week 1 cameo. Both were standout performers during the preseason, but that production came against second- and third-string defenders.
The Patriots are likely to have as tough of a time finding someone to fill the leadership void that will be left without White on the field and sidelines.
Unfortunately, all of this is happening ahead of the biggest regular-season game of the year against Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Bill Belichick’s next-man-up approach is going to get a major test on Sunday night.
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