LeGarrette Blount’s unlikely path to his second Super Bowl

LeGarrette Blount wasn’t drafted. He’s been cut by two different NFL franchises and traded for a lowly seventh-round draft pick. He’s one of the oldest starting tailbacks in the league.

And now, he finished the season with the league lead in rushing touchdowns, and he’s about to play in his second Super Bowl.

Blount has taken the long road to become an important piece on one of the league’s top teams. The former two-star recruit had no offers from FBS programs when he graduated from high school. He planned to attend Auburn as a walk-on but failed to meet the program’s academic standards, instead leading him to East Mississippi Community College.

East Mississippi has a history of turning potential washouts into football stars. Another former Patriots back, Antowain Smith, began his career there after working in a factory for two years after high school. Chad Kelly, D.J. Pettway, and Denico Autry all kicked off prolific SEC careers after earning their stripes as small circuit stars.

Blount thrived in his new environment, rushing for more than 2,300 yards over two seasons and developing from an overlooked high school recruit into a vaunted junior college transfer. He spurned offers in the south to take over the spot Jonathan Stewart vacated at Oregon and made an immediate impact upon arrival. He needed only 137 carries to rush for more than 1,000 yards and 17 touchdowns in his first season against the toughest competition he’d ever faced.

That breakout year primed him for a huge senior campaign. He was named to the Walter Camp and Doak Walker Award watch lists, but he took himself out of the running minutes after his first game of the year:

Blount’s postgame punch earned him a two-and-a-half month suspension from the team and branded him a troublemaker. He only carried the ball in two more games that season, finishing the year with 22 carries for 86 yards. His awful 2009 seemingly squashed his NFL hopes; no team gambled on the mercurial back in the 2010 draft.

But talent outweighed Blount’s problematic behavior as it often does in professional football. Tennessee gave the Oregon back a second chance by signing him as an undrafted free agent that summer. He wouldn’t latch on with the Titans — though he would punch a teammate during training camp — but found a home in Tampa Bay. The Buccaneers claimed him off waivers and put him to work immediately.

Blount was a rookie revelation. He rushed for 1,007 yards in just 13 games to cast his redemptive arc upward. His premiere put heavy expectations on his shoulders, but the burly runner failed to live up to his 2010 numbers. His yards per carry fell from 5.0 to 4.2 to a pedestrian 3.7 as Doug Martin usurped his role in Tampa Bay’s starting lineup in 2012.

His once-bright star dimmed, Blount now was a young veteran with a cheap price tag, looking for a new start. That made him a perfect fit for Bill Belichick’s Patriots.

New England has made a habit of buying low on young, talented players and trying to rehab their value in Foxborough. It worked with players like Randy Moss, Mike Vrabel, and, more recently, Akeem Ayers. It failed with guys like Chad Ochocinco and Albert Haynesworth. For the low price of a seventh-round pick and a kick returner who never saw action in Tampa Bay, the Patriots were willing to roll the dice.

Tailback has always been a complementary position for Belichick’s teams in New England. Only once in 17 seasons has he had a superstar runner to take the pressure off Tom Brady, and that was a 30-year-old Corey Dillion. Blount joined the ranks of guys like Smith, Lawrence Maroney, Sammy Morris, BenJarvus Green-Ellis, and more as part of the team’s rushing platoon.

But the former Buccaneer quickly proved he could be more than just a tertiary piece. He ripped off five yards per carry and scored a then-career-high seven touchdowns for the Pats, earning his place in the team’s starting lineup. Though New England would lose him that offseason after the Steelers signed him to a two-year, $3.85 million contract, the franchise jumped on the opportunity to re-sign him after personal issues led to his departure from Pittsburgh.

At age 30, a time when most NFL tailbacks are on their last legs, Blount has been better than he’s ever been. For the first time in his career, he’s been the main option in the Patriot backfield, He’s set career highs in carries, yards, touchdowns, and first downs. More importantly, he’s avoided the controversy that marred his time at Oregon, with the Titans, and with the Steelers.

Blount has been a model citizen in New England, earning praise from Belichick and helping to power one of the league’s most dangerous offenses. His battering ram approach has been a valuable weapon in short-yardage situations and a dynamic counter to the more elusive running of Dion Lewis and James White. Although the power back can still make tacklers look stupid in the open field:

Blount works best in New England, and the Patriots have thrived with the troubled runner in their backfield. On Sunday, he’ll have the opportunity to rise up from two-star recruit to two-time Super Bowl champion.