On Feb. 19 the Boston Herald reported, citing an unnamed source, that Patriots running back Shane Vereen was heading toward March 10 free agency "hopeful to land a contract worth at least $5 million per season."
Now, the New England running back has taken to Twitter to address that report, and literally laugh if off the way many others had given frugal landscape of modern free agency for NFL running backs.
"Haha not true but who wouldn't be?!?!," Vereen wrote on his verified @ShaneVereen34 Twitter account, while retweeting a link to the original Herald story.
The former second-round pick is coming off a career year in his fourth NFL season. Not only did Vereen help the Patriots to Super Bowl XLIX glory with a game-high 11 receptions, he also notched career highs in rushing attempts (96), rushing yards (391), receptions (52), receiving yards (447) and tied a high for receiving scores (3). He was third in the AFC in receptions among running backs. And after playing in just 26 games over his first three seasons, Vereen played all 16 games for the first time in his career.
So Vereen is clearly hitting the open market with his value at its highest.
Where that price tag comes in and whether he's going to price himself out of New England – a team that's let the likes of BenJarvus Green-Ellis, Danny Woodhead and LeGarrette Blount flee for relatively reasonable free agent dollars in the recent past – remains a question.
But one thing that's not a question at this point, is whether Vereen is really looking for $5 million a year in free agency. Straight from the horse's mouth, or in this case the horse's Twitter, account, that's simply not true.
In fact, it's indeed laughable.
