In Sunday’s Week 6 matchup between the New England Patriots and the Buffalo Bills, Patriots running back Stevan Ridley tore both his ACL and MCL, which will cause him to miss the rest of the 2014 season.

Ridley has always been an up-and-down player for New England. He has shown great talent at times, like in 2012, his sophomore year in the league, when he posted a healthy 4.4 yards per carry for 1,263 yards and 12 touchdowns over the season. This season, Ridley has already posted two 100-yard games (101 yards and a touchdown in Week 2 against the Vikings, 113 yards and a touchdown in Week 5 against the Bengals).

Despite these impressive stats, Ridley has spent a lot of time riding the bench during his tenure on the Patriots. Why? Because Bill Belichick is notorious for punishing players who fumble by taking them off the field, and Ridley fumbles a lot. In his short career Ridley has already fumbled 11 times and lost 9 of them for turnovers.

Regardless of his fumbling fault, Ridley provided something that the Patriots don’t have in any other player on their roster: a traditional power back.  Fellow Patriots running back Shane Vereen is talented as a receiver and outside runner, but he’s not a guy you can effectively grind up the middle in goal line and third and short situations. Ridley will indeed be missed.

But the question for Ridley’s agent must be, how much will Ridley be missed really? This season-ending injury lands Ridley in a tough spot regarding his future in New England, considering he is a free agent in 2015. Given his penchant for fumbles and Belichick’s utter disgust for such a thing, it’s entirely possible the Patriots won’t be willing to match whatever an RB-starved team is willing to dole out for a player who is only 25 years old and has had previous success in the NFL.

If Ridley has indeed carried his last carry for Belichick, he will be happy to find a new coach that will use him more consistently and be a little more forgiving on fumbles.