Shane Vereen could see bigger role with Giants

Shane Vereen's move from the Super Bowl-champion New England Patriots to the New York Giants could include a bigger role for the running back.

Giants head coach Tom Coughlin was asked about how he envisions Vereen fitting into the offense and alluded to using him as much more than just a third-down back.

"I see him in that regard as a pass receiver coming out of the backfield, a pass protector, a guy who runs the ball in the three-wide offense in the run game, if you will, which is very prevalent today in our sport," Coughlin said at the NFL Annual Meeting, according to Jordan Raanan of NJ.com. "So I see him in that regard."

None of the Giants' running backs had a reception longer than 27 yards last season. Vereen topped that number three times and had three receiving touchdowns. He also saw 606 snaps, according to Pro Football Focus, which is more than any Giants running back. 

"Well, you know what (Vereen) can do. Quite frankly, it's something from an attack standpoint we've had some success with, but not to the extent that he has," Coughlin said. 

"When you look at Vereen, a lot of the (Tom) Brady hookup with Vereen was the ball was almost automatically going to him. First down, if it was zone coverage, they were dropping the ball down and he would scoot. So we know that."