The New England Patriots' passing game will flourish under Drake Maye after trading for No. 1 receiver A.J. Brown. He and free agent Romeo Doubs will take over the top two receiving spots and improve them.
But the ground attack will still be an important facet to take pressure off Maye. In a good news article, Bleacher Report's Moe Moton has ranked the Patriots' dynamic running back duo of TreVeyon Henderson and Rhamondre Stevenson eighth best in the NFL, a very decent ranking.
Yet, Moton may be underestimating their worth dramatically. Stevenson is the team's bell cow big back. He's a big back who can grind out yardage but who's also capable of making decent gains on occasion. Yet, his forte is tough inside running.
When he's not fumbling, he's reliable, and while not a Pro-Bowl-level back, he's a very capable NFL runner. Henderson is another story altogether.
TreVeyon Henderson is the key to a fabulous Patriots' 2026 running game
The Patriots' coaching staff grossly mismanaged Treveyon Henderson's rookie season, and they paid a price for their mistake. As Moton points out, he was grossly underused early in the season and then broke out later on.
Given that he finally came alive down the stretch, it's clear that Henderson deserves a bigger role in Year 2.
"The New England Patriots should give Henderson more touches after he finished his rookie campaign with 1,132 scrimmage yards and 10 touchdowns. Rhamondre Stevenson improved his ball security, dropping his number of fumbles from seven to three over the last two years, but he's not as dynamic as his running mate...The Patriots' duo is underrated, though the offense may be less run-heavy (sixth in rush attempts last year) with the addition of wide receivers A.J. Brown and Romeo Doubs."
What Moton didn't note was the reason Henderson was benched. It was largely due to the faulty reasoning that his initial subpar blocking should keep him on the pine. The running game suffered dearly from this coaching error, and it was obvious once he got to do what he does best, run the ball, not block, that Henderson was special.
Once the coaching staff figured that out, Henderson exploded onto the scene. He broke off four touchdown runs of over 50 yards in a display never seen from the Patriots before. He also did all that with a poor run-blocking O-line (and neither were they a good pass-blocking one, for that matter).
If they use Henderson as they did late in 2025, Stevenson holds onto the ball, and the offensive line finally opens some holes, it's hard not to envision the Patriots' running game being even better than in the latter stages of 2025.
That's clear simply because Henderson will be in the mix for the entire season and not benched for his blocking. A solid running game added to the pinpoint passing of arguably the NFL's best passer, Maye, and the sky will be the limit for the 2026 Patriots offense with Brown and Doubs added to the receiver mix.
All signs point up, and if the offensive line does its job well, the offense could be one of the NFL's best.
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