When the Patriots drafted Ohio State running back TreVeyon Henderson in the second round back in April, there were some eyebrows raised. The Patriots surely needed depth at the position, but with Rhamondre Stevenson and Antonio Gibson already under contract, the spot was not viewed as one the team needed to address so early in the draft.
But Henderson has the potential to be a great home-run running back. And Stevenson could be on the hot seat with Henderson’s addition.
In a video on Bleacher Report, analyst Matt Milani had Stevenson as the No. 1 player in the prediction list, “NFL Stars Who’ll Lose Jobs.”
Said Milani: “Rhamondre Stevenson has a little bit more competition than he has had in previous seasons. Not only does he have a new regime, a new head coach and a former but also new offensive coordinator , but he also has a new member in his backfield. TreVeyon Henderson, second-round pick out of Ohio State, was one of the, if not the, most explosive running back in the entire draft class but now he is fighting, pushing Rhamondre for his starting job.”
Rhamondre Stevenson to Have ‘A Large Part’
Stevenson is heading into the fifth year of his career with the Patriots, and while he could be entering the downside of his time in the NFL–even at age 27–he still will enter the season as the team’s top option in the backfield. Coach Mike Vrabel made that clear, even during Stevenson’s absence.
“When you start to evaluate this season and you watch the effort that he played with when he didn’t have the football, he played extremely fast without the football,” Vrabel said. “His ability to step up and protect is taking care of a teammate. It’s protecting the guy with the ball. He did that on numerous occasions. You always saw him downfield when he didn’t have the ball.
“So, he’s going to be a large part of what we do.”
Patriots Will Lean on TreVeyon Henderson
The expectation is that Stevenson will, eventually, give way to Henderson. Of course, there are caveats with that–we’ll have to see how Henderson performs in camp, and how Stevenson addresses the fumbling issues that cropped up in the past two years–but Henderson certainly looks like the future.
“Stevenson will still get plenty of work, he will still get plenty of carries,” Milani said. “But if I were to guess which player will play a more impactful role on the team, especially toward the end of the season, I would not be shocked if TreVeyon Henderson is that guy.
“There is plenty of possibility here that Henderson becomes the starting running back or the lead running back, even if he not viewed as a pure runner who is going to give you 20 carries. By the end of the season, it might be something where Henderson gets 15 touches and Stevenson gets 10. … Throw in Stevenson’s fumble issues of past seasons, especially last year where the ball was on the ground far too often, and you have to consider that fumble issues would also get you on the bench, which will lead to more opportunity for the already polished young player.”
Patriots Star Predicted to Lose Starting Job in 2025