Peter King: "Guys on the coaching staff at Minnesota overinflated Maroney"

[BleedGopher]

"The last time the Patriots drafted a running back in the first round, it was Laurence Maroney. His disappointing tenure with the Patriots ended in 2010 with a trade to the Broncos. “My feeling is, I think they got bad advice on Laurence Maroney,” King said. “Guys on the coaching staff at Minnesota overinflated Maroney, and the Patriots blew that pick. He’s not a blood-and-guts football player. He never was. And the Patriots made a mistake."

http://itiswhatitis.weei.com/sports...-mm-bill-belichick-charmed-by-chad-ochocinco/

Go Gophers!!

 

[Bob_Loblaw]

The Patriots obviously didn't do their homework if they thought they were getting a "blood and guts" player. Maroney is probably my favorite RB to ever play at the U but when sledding got tough, even in college, it was typically Barber (or later Russell) time. If they couldn't pick that up from just a tiny bit of studying of his college tapes, I guess that is on them.

 

[HermanBoone]

The Patriots obviously didn't do their homework if they thought they were getting a "blood and guts" player. Maroney is probably my favorite RB to ever play at the U but when sledding got tough, even in college, it was typically Barber (or later Russell) time. If they couldn't pick that up from just a tiny bit of studying of his college tapes, I guess that is on them.

This and I think his shoulder is major league messed up and was for awhile. Heck of a player

 

[STPGopher]

This and I think his shoulder is major league messed up and was for awhile. Heck of a player

Purdue 05' seemed to do him in. He was a bull that game, but IMO he was overused. IIRC he carried the ball 40+ times. I think that was the BigTen opener for our Gophers. That was a lot of carries for the first conference game. He took some brutal shots that game.

Mason was usually pretty good about spreading the carries around, and giving backs a breather, but that game and the Micron PC bowl game with Tellis Redmon were two examples of when a substitution could have helped. Tellis' 46 carry game may have not been an option. IIRC we were very thin at RB that season.

 

[EG#9]

Every once in awhile a sportswriter who you thought was pretty good writes something that makes you question why you ever read him. I have followed the Patriots pretty closely and obviously follow the Gophers as well. Probably my geekiest past time is following the NFL Draft. The Patriots knew exactly what they were getting in Maroney, he just couldn't stay healthy. Things really changed for him in New England when he took an ass chewing for going out of bounds in an '08 game against San Francisco instead of lowering his shoulder and trying to get the first down. The problem turned out to be (another) serious shoulder injury and he was out for the year. Belichick was able to trade Maroney this past season to Josh McDaniels who was the OC under Belichick when Maroney was having success. My point is a lot of people inside that organization were very happy with that pick and Belichick and co. spend so much time on the draft that they would't be miselead in to thinking Maroney was some sort of between the tackles grinder.

 

[dpodoll68]

I generally like Peter King, but it is important to give him zero credence on anything he says about any of the Boston teams. Like many sportswriters, he lets his homerism get in the way of being a good journalist. I used to consider Bill Simmons my favorite sportswriter, but his columns are increasingly a thinly-veiled platform to discuss his love of all things Boston. Between those two, Shaughnessy, Gammons, and Bob Ryan, I've really grown sick of all the Boston teams - even more than my usual contempt.