James Develin and the Patriots are closing in on a two-year contract extension, a source tells Jeff Howe of The Athletic (Twitter link). The deal will be worth $3.8MM with a $600K signing bonus, a source tells Field Yates of ESPN.com (on Twitter).
Develin signed his first NFL contract with the Bengals, but he has played all of his NFL downs with the Patriots. Save for the 2015 season he lost to injury, Develin appeared in every regular season game for the Pats between 2013 and 2017. Last year, he earned his first career Pro Bowl nomination.
Develin typically doesn’t see a ton of targets in the Pats’ offense, but he provides tremendous blocking ability. Last year, he graded out as Pro Football Focus’ No. 2 ranked run blocker amongst qualified fullbacks and fourth amongst FBs for his pass blocking. Many teams have gotten away from using a fullback, but Develin’s 407 snaps ranked first amongst all players at the position, ahead of other notables such as Zach Line, Kyle Juszczyk, Patrick DiMarco, and Anthony Sherman.
PFT Commenter would be happy about this
Hooray for the Ivy League!