The New England Patriots are expected to make a few moves to their roster over the offseason. The team is currently projected to be around the lower tier of the league in terms of salary cap space with just over $18 million at their disposal.

One of which is expected to impact the state of their backfield with the bulk of their backfield set to hit free agency. According to Field Yates of ESPN, the Patriots have cleared the picture a bit by bringing back veteran running back Brandon Bolden on a one-year extension that runs through this upcoming season.

The 28-year-old has spent the first six years of his career with the Patriots playing in a limited role recording fewer than 300 rushing yards in each campaign. Despite playing in all 16 regular season games for just the second time, he put together one of his least productive offensive campaigns with on 67 rushing yards on 13 carries. This includes failing to get a carry in all but three games cracking double-digit yardage total twice.

Much of this was due to the fact that the Patriots possessed a crowded backfield with the likes of Dion Lewis, Rex Burkhead, Mike Gillislee  James White all taking up more playing time ahead of him. Lewis and Gillislee were the primary assets in the running game meanwhile both Burkhead and White were effective options in the passing game out of the backfield.

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Although, Bolden did play a key role for the Patriots on special teams. He was part of multiple units and was credited with eight special-teams tackles in the 2017 regular season (tied for second-most on the team).

With both Burkhead and Lewis set to become free agents, this could a shake-up in the backfield with Bolden getting a heavier workload in 2018. There was already chatter prior to Super Bowl LII that Lewis could be on the move as he could be on the receiving end of much attention on the open market with several opportunities to be a clear-cut starter and workhorse running back elsewhere.

Nonetheless, Bolden's return could the first of many dominos to fall for New England in the coming weeks.