Running back Rhamondre 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–with new running back TreVeyon Henderson aboard, he still will enter the season as the team’s top option in the backfield.
Stevenson cracked the 1,000-yard mark in his second NFL season, when he want for 1,040 yards on the ground and added 69 catches and 421 yards receiving, but has had injury troubles in the past two seasons, and was not helped much by the Patriots’ woeful offensive line.
The line will be better in 2025, and the hope is that Stevenson, who was signed to a four-year, $36 million contract last year (but with an out after 2026), will be, too. He averaged 5.0 yards per carry in 2022, which dropped to 4.0 in 2023 and 3.9 last year.
But his stats are not at the foremost of mind for Stevenson and the team at this point. That’s because he is just two months removed from losing his father at the young age of 54, and the Patriots are giving Stevenson space to process the death.
Rhamondre Stevenson Lost His Father in March
ESPN’s Mike Reiss reported the sad news this week, writing on the site that this is the second personal loss in the last year for Stevenson:
“Running back Rhamondre Stevenson’s father, Robert, passed away in March at age 54. Stevenson also lost his childhood friend, Brandan Harley, last season. Understanding that Stevenson has experienced sudden and heartbreaking losses in a short period of time, teammates privately say they hope to provide him as much support as possible once he starts spending more time at the facility.”
Reiss mentioned, too, that the Patriots’ signing of veteran running back Trayveon Williams last week could be linked to the uncertainty around Stevenson. By the time Week 1 comes around, of course, Stevenson will be ready. But for the start of OTAs this week, the Patriots will want all positions filled.
Patriots Seeking to Boost Running Game
While the addition of Henderson in the second round of the NFL draft was noteworthy, the Patriots do have a combination in Stevenson and Antonio Gibson that coach Mike Vrabel has spoken highly about.
“Having a good young runner is potentially something that we’d like to do – the guys coming back, Rhamondre and [Gibson], I think were a good one-two punch,” he said last month.
But the Patriots wanted a higher-ceiling, home-run type of back in the mix, and Henderson fits that bill.
As Eliot Wolf, the team’s VP of personnel, said:
“TreVeyon Henderson had a great career in high school. He’s a five-star running back coming out of Virginia. Continued onto Ohio State, started as a true freshman, played there for four years. Extremely productive player, extremely good speed, pass protection, pass game. Although he’s a little bit undersized, we view him as a three-down back and a really good compliment. He’s a threat with the ball in his hands, speed to take at the distance anytime he touches it.”
