LeGarrette Blount Post Retirement Review

By: NFLHeads

    Reports have come out recently that veteran running back LeGarrette Blount is going into retirement, I sort of thought he was effectively retired already because no team had signed him in over a year but whatever. While LeGarrette Blount wasn’t exactly a household name in the 2010’s, I did get to learn a little more about his career as I followed football over the recent years, and he really had a rather unusual career. Today, I will break down that career for you, both the highs and the lows for you to explore. Let’s get started.

    Blount played college football at Oregon. He had what seemed a pretty good skillset, and won the Walter Camp Award and Doak Walker Award, but was involved in an incident at Oregon against Boise State that caused him to miss a significant chunk of the season. I won’t put the incident in this article, but you can of course go research it if you want to.

    Blount fell out of the 2010 draft, and was choosing between signing with the 49ers and the Titans, eventually choosing the latter. In his time in Tennessee, he was involved in yet another incident involving a fight with a teammate, and eventually did not make the team. Blount was soon picked off of waivers by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers who began easing him into the running game. By week eight, he had posted his first 100 yard game, and had begun to be used as a starter. Blount finished with 1007 yards and a 5.01 YPC average. For the next two years, Blount came down to Earth a little bit, not posting a season above 750 yards. This led to him being traded to the New England Patriots for a seventh round pick and running back Jeff Demps.

    From there Blount made his mark as one of the best postseason backs in the NFL, rushing for 166 yards and four touchdowns in his postseason debut against the Indianapolis Colts. After the 2013 season Blount fell into the free agent pool and signed a two year contract with the Pittsburgh Steelers as a complementary back to Le’Veon Bell. Aside from posting a 118 yard game early in the season, Blount made a small impact in Pittsburgh which led to him subsequently being released, and then picked on waivers by who else, the New England Patriots. Blount had another massive postseason game for New England against the Indianapolis Colts, rushing for 148 yards and three touchdowns.

    Blount started another season for the New England Patriots, but did not have a huge impact, only rushing for 703 yards and 6 touchdowns. Unfortunately, Blount would not have a chance to repeat his postseason glory after suffering an injury against the Houston Texans. Even with all this in mind, the Patriots decided to stick with Blount for one more year, resigning him through the 2016 season. This turned out to be a great move by the Patriots. 

    Blount had his career year for New England in 2016, posting 1161 yards for the Patriots, and rushing for a whopping 18 touchdowns, the league high in the same year, in the season. This campaign included four 100 yard games, and four games with two or more rushing touchdowns. While Blount did not post one of his classic massive postseason campaigns, his 18 touchdown year more than made up for it. 

    After completing his massive year with New England, Blount signed a one year deal with the Philadelphia Eagles, where he would face his former team in the Super Bowl that same year. Blount was not a massive part of their running game during the year, only rushing for 766 yards and 2 touchdowns, and was left to free agency the next year. His final year came with the Lions, where he had a quiet year that saw 418 yards and 5 touchdowns, with a pitiful 2.71 yards per carry.

    When all is said and done, Blount had himself a nice little career, especially for an undrafted rookie that did not even manage to make a final roster. Patriots fans will always remember Blount for his massive postseason games, and the fans of the other teams he was on will always remember how good he was on the Patriots.