One of the more underrated ball carriers in the league, New England Patriots running back LeGarrette Blount is about to have the best opportunity of his career. Now that Shane Vereen and Stevan Ridley are playing elsewhere, the door is wide open for Blount to grab the top spot in the New England backfield and run with it. Mark these words: Blount will be the team’s first four-digit rusher since the 2012 season.

In case you haven’t heard, Blount and his teammates just slipped the biggest Super Bowl rings ever onto their fingers this past Sunday.

Perhaps no other back in the NFL resembles the running style of Marshawn Lynch as much as Blount. It’s a rare carry when Blount doesn’t gain an extra yard or two in the duration of being tackled. He keeps it north-south, barreling into linebackers while also flashing agility and quickness when needed.

As evidenced by his 1,000-yard rookie season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2010, all Blount needs is 200 carries to surpass the millennium mark. Now that Jonas Gray is the only other ground-and-pound back on the roster, expect the Oregon product to see the bulk of the workload. Sure, Gray will see his fair share of carries too, but Blount ought to be handed the ball at least 200 times over the course of the regular season.

Taking into account his career average of 4.6 yards per rush, Blount needs about 218 attempts to surpass the 1,000-yard mark in 2015.

The Patriots must establish the ground game as an integral part of the overall offensive attack in 2015. For the games in which they will be without Tom Brady, the Patriots will need the run to help Jimmy Garoppolo navigate through his first NFL starts. And when Brady is back at the helm, the soon-to-be 38-year-old will benefit from a potent run game slowing down blitzes.

With that in mind, it’s not too difficult to see how Blount will receive over 200 carries. In September alone, with Brady gone four games (or fewer, depending on the June 23rd appeal), Blount should be one of the league’s top rushers.

So there you have it. As a result of his punishing running style and the Patriots’ need for a dependable ground game, Blount will become the fifth player in the Bill Belichick era to rush for 1,000 yards in a season.