Brandon Spikes, Aaron Hernandez, Jermaine Cunningham, Jabar Gaffney, Gerard Warren and now Jeff Demps.
The former Gator running back, who told NFL teams he’d be focusing on
a full-time track career before April’s draft, will join those five UF
alums in New England after signing with the Patriots on Friday.
Demps flew home to Orlando to meet with his representatives and go
over the details of the deal before the agreement was confirmed on the
team’s official website, but the terms of the contract were not
disclosed.
Demps’ decision to join the perennial Super Bowl contenders comes
despite another Gator teammate, Tim Tebow, attempting to recruit him to
the New York Jets. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers also made a strong push to
acquire him.
In New England, there’s a strong chance that Demps will be more than
just an upgrade to the Patriots’ poor kick return game. First of all,
the stock on kick-return specialists in the NFL is plummeting since the
kickoff moved up to the 35-yard line and touchbacks became more
frequent. Secondly, New England is known for valuing versatility both on
offense and defense.
The Patriots hosted Demps for a workout Thursday and, aside from the
fact that coach Bill Belichick has kept an eye on the players recruited
by former Florida coach and friend Urban Meyer, his speed, hands and
experience at multiple positions impressed the team enough to bring him
on board.
“Good with the ball, good speed, caught the ball OK, a little bit
undersized, but they had some good offensive players,” director of
player personnel Nick Caserio told the Boston Herald. “He and (running
back Chris) Rainey split some time, so they kind of used them some
different ways. Florida has had a track record of some pretty good
football players that have come out of there, but any time we go into a
school, we’ll look at everybody, regardless of whatever the circumstance
is.”
New England has a talented group of running backs in Stevan Ridley,
Shane Vereen, Danny Woodhead, Brandon Bolden and Eric Kettani. However,
Belichick has traditionally favored utilizing many backs with different
skill sets and abilities. Demps certainly brings one to the table that
none on the roster have, and that’s raw speed.
Thus, there’s a possibility that the 5-foot-7, 191-pound Demps could
use his pass-catching ability to develop into a more dangerous version
of fellow miniature back Woodhead (5-foot-8, 200 pounds). At Florida,
Demps caught 57 passes for 481 yards (8.3 avg.), and reeled in 16 for a
career-high 172 yards as a senior. However, his ability to go the
distance can add a new wrinkle to offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels’
already-stacked Patriots offense.
New England currently has five running backs on its roster after
leading rusher BenJarvus Green-Ellis and veteran Kevin Faulk departed in
the offseason. Whether the Patriots decide to keep five like they did
last year is still unclear.
At the very least, Demps will get an opportunity to immediately make
an impact on special teams. New England ranked 29th in the NFL on
kickoff returns (21.4 yards per return) and 16th on punt returns (8.9).
“He had a little bit of production, so how that translates over, the
schemes are different, so any returner that comes into the NFL, whatever
they did in college, schematically, is probably going to be a lot
different than what we’re going to ask them to do,” Caserio said.
The Olympics may be over, but it turns out Demps isn’t done being a patriot.
