As the 2025 NFL season winds down and then quickly ramps up to the playoffs, awards are beginning to filter out. One announced by ESPN is the 2025 All-Rookie team. A key one for Patriot Nation was the New England Patriots' dynamic running back, TreVeyon Henderson, who, after finally getting the opportunity, excelled. He has now been named to ESPN's All-Rookie Team.
Henderson was the Patriots' and Mike Vrabel's second-round pick in the 2025 draft. Vrabel knew he needed explosiveness on offense; he had none. Henderson was drafted to provide it, and didn't disappoint. Drake Maye had no big-playmakers in 2024, and when Henderson finally got the opportunity to step in, he stepped right up.
The rookie in 16 games (though his role was limited in eight of the first nine games) ran for 851 yards, a 5.1-yard average, and seven touchdowns, including four of over 50 yards for scores. He's also caught a healthy 35 passes for 221 yards and another touchdown. If he'd been used earlier, he'd easily have 1000 yards in the bank.
TreVeyon Henderson has only scratched the surface of his talent
Mike Vrabel knew he needed one key attribute in particular on offense: explosiveness. Few backs in the NFL can match Henderson's. He's a take-it-to-the-house threat every time he gets his hands on the ball.
The Patriots haven't had a back like Henderson since Dion Lewis from 2015-2017 and Curtis Martin back in the late '90s. ESPN's Ben Solak said this about the dynamic rookie,
"On a down-to-down basis, Henderson has not been as consistent as several other rookie backs this season. He misses lanes as a runner, and despite his reputation as an elite pass protector, he has some errors in that capacity. With that said, the way he creates yardage with the ball in his hands is simply impossible to ignore.
Henderson is a walking home run in both the handoff and checkdown game, and that profile of missed tackles and hidden yardage created tends to expand a player's role over his career. For the peaks, Henderson gets my nod."
While Solak gave Henderson his first-team nod, he missed the boat on a couple of important factors that need to be pointed out.
TreVeyon Henderson has done more with less than probably any other NFL back
ESPN's Solak correctly noted that Henderson's pass-blocking (though it was a top attribute in college, highlighted by observers before the draft) was lacking. What he didn't say was that this reason led to his being an also-ran in the Patriots' backfield until injuries almost literally forced him into the lineup. This was a coaching blunder that kept his explosiveness bottled up until Week 10.
Solak also neglected to mention that the Patriots' offensive line has been a major cause of his "miss(ing)es lanes". The fact is, there haven't been many lanes either for Henderson or any other Patriots back. The Patriots' best run-blocker on the O-line is Will Campbell, yet before he was injured, they still ran 66 percent of the time to the right or strong side, limiting Campbell's impact.
One of Mike Vrabel's prime offseason objectives has to be upgrading that offensive line. He did a super job of raising it from a bottom-of-the-NFL level unit to a decent one in the 2025 offseason. Yet, they have still allowed a whopping 47 sacks of their MVP-level quarterback, Drake Maye, and failed to open many running lanes at all.
In 2026's offseason, Vrabel needs to add better-quality offensive linemen in both pass and run blocking. If he adds road-graders on the O-line, expect Henderson to be even more explosive and his colleagues in the running back room to be more effective, as well.
It was never a one-off season rebuild. Vrabel still has a lot of work to do, and one place to address is further improving his O-line.