When the Patriots shockingly selected running back TreVeyon Henderson with their second-round draft pick last year, there was immediate excitement about what the offense could become with a two-headed monster in the backfield.
Rhamondre Stevenson had already established himself as a threat in the years prior, so having an explosive player like Henderson join him would only make them better. Yet once the season began, it was clear that it wasn't going to come to fruition, at least not right away, and it is a lingering concern this offseason.
Although they seemed to finally click down the stretch, the duo still struggled with consistency, which negatively affected the offense's overall success when it mattered most. Some of it can be blamed on the offensive line's struggles, but they can't shoulder all the blame.
And apparently, it's something that is on Mike Vrabel's mind well ahead of the 2026 season, as he shared his thoughts on the group with reporters and sent a clear message to Henderson and Stevenson.
Mike Vrabel makes it clear that he wants to see better play from the Patriots running backs
While speaking to the media at the NFL’s Annual Meeting earlier this month, Vrabel didn't mince words on what he wants to see from the running backs next season, making it very clear that the biggest issue was consistency.
With an improved offensive line and an extended season under their belt, there's no reason to believe that Henderson and Stevenson can't accomplish what their head coach is asking of them.
“We want to be more consistent running the football. This isn’t like we’re going to run it every single play. It’s just that I felt like there were too many times where we wanted to run it, and it was just inefficient. Now we popped some, which was great. We had some explosives. … But I want to be able to do it more consistently to allow for some of the run actions in the passing game to really come alive.
It’s a tough league if you have to sit there and drop back and throw the football as much as we did in the last game of the season.”
Fortunately, there was a lot of progression from the pair near the end of the season, where it seemed like things were finally working out the way they should. The hope is that they can continue that in 2026, and there will certainly be pressure on them to do so.
It should be a bit easier now that they will have a more reliable offensive line to create space for them to run, with the addition of Alijah Vera-Tucker at left guard and Jared Wilson moving to center. On top of that, a season of experience for left tackle Will Campbell should help his consistency, too, which will be huge for the running backs.
They'll certainly need Henderson and Stevenson to get better with a much more difficult schedule lined up for this fall. Maye will need the security blanket of the run game to get things going, so there will be a lot of work for the duo to do the rest of the offseason to ensure he has that.