Opening day countdowns are great. So are player profiles. Here at Musket Fire, we decided to combine them and create a Week 1 countdown-oriented, jersey number-dictated player profile series. Yesterday we looked at No. 39 Travaris Cadet, and a few days before that it was No. 41 Dekoda Watson. Because today marks 38 days until the New England Patriots open 2015, we are profiling No. 38, veteran running back Brandon Bolden.
Signed by the Patriots as an undrafted free agent in 2012, Bolden has appeared in 38 games over the course of his three-year career. In that action, Bolden has rushed the ball 139 times for 634 yards and six touchdowns, and has also has 171 yards on 25 career receptions.
After the departures of Shane Vereen and Stevan Ridley this offseason (all three backs debuted for the Pats in 2012), Bolden is now the longest-tenured member of the Patriots’ backfield. Yesterday, he patted himself on the back for being able to stick around in running back-weary New England.
Bolden’s place on the 53-man roster is pretty secure considering that the Patriots extended him to a two-year deal this winter. Although his carries dropped substantially in 2014 (only 28 after 55 and 56 the previous two seasons), Bolden is still an important cog because of his special teams value.
That being said, Bolden is definitely viewing training camp as an opportunity to see more attempts in 2015. For all we know, Bolden could see a lion’s share of the workload in Week 1 with LeGarrette Blount under suspension. For the rest of the summer, Bolden will compete against Jonas Gray. For instance:
Jonas Gray & Brandon Bolden hard at work on the first day in pads at #PatsCamp https://t.co/LAteWPjGXs
— New England Patriots (@Patriots) August 1, 2015
Bolden chatted with the media after yesterday’s practice. Listen in.
In case you missed them, here are the profiles for No. 42 Xzavier Dickson, No. 43 Nate Ebner, No. 44 Matthew Wells, No. 45 D.J. Lynch, No. 46 james Develin, No. 47 Michael Hoomanawanui, No. 48 Geneo Grissom, No. 49 Joe Cardona, No. 50 Rob Ninkovich, No. 51 Jerod Mayo, No. 52 Dane Fletcher, No. 53 Eric Martin, No. 54 Dont’a Hightower, No. 55 Jonathan Freeny, No. 58 Darius Fleming, No. 59 Chris White, No. 60 David Andrews, No. 61 Marcus Cannon and No. 62 Ryan Wendell.
Be sure to check back on Musket Fire tomorrow morning as we celebrate 37 days until Week 1 by profiling No. 37, rookie safety Jordan Richards.