FOXBOROUGH – It’s always a good sign when a free agent signing builds an immediate rapport with the franchise QB.
New fullback (and maybe more) Reggie Gilliam met the media in a press conference setting for the first time inside the New Balance Athletics Center on Tuesday. Gilliam did sit down in a roundtable scrum soon after signing with the rest of the free agent class, but now that he’s actually been doing some football stuff, it was nice to get a little bit of his perspective as a newcomer.
When asked about getting to know Drake Maye, Gilliam’s answer should be music to fans’ ears.
“Yeah, actually, Drake and I have kind of hit it off the bat right away,” he said. “Kind of from the very first workout on the field, we were stretching together just kind of getting to know each other. And then the last couple of days, we’ve been meeting after our little practice out there and kind of going over some schemes.”
Becoming a reliable set of hands, eyes and ears for Drake Maye as a blocker, skill player and protector is a big piece to New England having any chance of repeating some of last year’s success.
Gilliam was also asked about getting to know McDaniels. The newest toy in the offensive toy box immediately smiled.
“He’s a high-energy guy and he definitely likes his fullbacks, you know with James Develin,” he said with a chuckle. “New England’s been known for having that fullback back there and that’s been part of the success of this organization.”
While many fans (rightfully) are excited to see a potentially old-school fullback in the offense again, Gilliam is technically listed as a tight end on the Pro Football Reference website. He’s got just 16 career catches (135 yards, 2 touchdowns), but is ready to do whatever McDaniels’ creative mind can come up with.
“I’m learning the entire offense, not just fullback,” Gilliam explained. “I’m learning different positions and how he can spread you out one way, or have you in motion this way. He’s very versatile.”
Gilliam is also ready to show that he’s more of a pass-catching threat than people think.
“Yeah, absolutely. I feel like I’ve been underutilized before, and I feel like a lot of people don’t know what I can do with the ball in my hands. Because, you know, it hasn’t really been displayed. I haven’t had the opportunity to do so. I definitely feel like there’s some untapped potential there.”
Going back to Develin popping into Gilliam’s answer about McDaniels, that wasn’t random. Develin has been a standout as someone Gilliam could emulate on the field for Maye and the offense.
“I was actually watching film yesterday and I seen James Develin split out running a go rout,” he said. “I was like ‘hey, if he can do it, I can do it.’ No disrespect to James, but I’m a little more agile than him. But, it’s just nice to see that Josh values the position in a way that’s more than run your head into a wall.”
Don’t get it twisted though, the Patriots want to establish the run with more physicality this season, something that was made clear to Gilliam in free agency.
“Yeah, they preached to me that they liked my physicality,” Gilliam added. “They like my style of play and McDaniels echoed that. So, I just heard a lot of the ‘we want to be physical. We want to run downhill. We like how you play and we think that you’d be an asset to this team.”
While no one knows how good of a fit Gilliam will truly be until the pads come on in August, it sounds like there’s versatility and a little unpredictability coming back to the offense.