Sports
FOXBORO
– Rex Burkhead has been a
productive player since joining the Patriots in 2017.
That’s
certainly been the case when he’s on the field.
In his first season in Foxboro, the
running back scored a career-high eight total touchdowns (five
rushing and three receiving) in 10 games player. Last year, Burkhead’s
regular-season production was stymied due to a neck injury. He played in eight
games, but in the
playoffs, the back scored three touchdowns. That included two in the AFC
Championship, where Burkhead scored the game winner.
This
year, Burkhead is off to a quick start with the Patriots. On Wednesday, Bill Belichick called the
running back one of the most versatile players on the team.
“Rex has been a good player for us so,
everybody improves and can work on little things every year, but I’d say he’s
been a pretty solid player for us. He plays on all four downs. He can run the
ball, can handle all our regular run plays. He’s a good third-down back. Rex can play on all big
four in the kicking game – kickoff, kickoff return, punt, punt return. He’s one
of the most versatile players on our team.”
In
two games, this year, Burkhead’s averaged 5.0 yards per carry (65 yards on 13
attempts). He’s also caught seven passes for 88 receiving yards. Burkhead is
second on the Patriots in rushing and fourth in receiving. He’s been able to do
that while playing just 34.51% of the team’s offensive snaps. Heading into this
week, Burkhead is also tied for fourth on the Patriots in special teams snaps
(31).
Belichick
compared Burkhead’s versatility with Patrick Chung, Devin McCourty and Kyle Van
Noy.
“There’s a handful of players like
that, that can play on every down, but those guys are rare and play it at a
high level like Kyle, Devin, Pat, Rex, too,” Belichick said. “As a coach, it’s a tremendous luxury
to have on your team, to have players that are that versatile and that
versatile in terms of the variety of things they can do and that versatile in
terms of being able to do it at a high level in all those situations. You’re lucky to have one of
those guys on your team. Maybe two. We have more than that. It’s
something that’s really a great help as a coach in terms of game planning and
managing the entire roster. They give you so much depth.”