The New England Patriots circled through multiple running backs over the course of the 2025 season, but at the end of the day only two players made a sustained impact. Rhamondre Stevenson and TreVeyon Henderson were the clear-cut 1-2 in the team’s backfield.
They are not the only players worth taking a look at with the offseason underway, however; the team currently has seven running backs plus two fullbacks either signed or headed for free agency. What the list beyond the top duo shows, however, is that there are some questions that need to be addressed in the coming weeks and months.
Advertisement
Patriots running back depth chart
Rhamondre Stevenson: Coming off an offseason marked by personal tragedy, Stevenson delivered a quality season as the Patriots’ No. 1 running back. He did have some fumble issues early on, putting the ball on the ground three times over the first five games, but rebounded strongly to play some of the best football of his career over the second half of the season. Productive as a ball carrier, receiver and pass protector, he finished the year with a combined 18 in-game appearances as well as 1,291 scrimmage yards and 10 total touchdowns. | Signed (2029 UFA) | $7.42M cap hit
TreVeyon Henderson: The 38th overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, Henderson out-performed Stevenson in the regular season and proved himself a big-play hitter along the way: the speedy rookie scored four touchdowns of 50-plus yards. However, his highlight-reel plays were not enough for him to keep a consistent role throughout the year considering the inconsistent vision and pass blocking issues he had. As a consequence, he ended up playing only 31.4% of snaps in the playoffs and gained only 109 of his total 1,241 scrimmage yards in the tournament. | Signed (2029 UFA) | $2.53M cap hit
Antonio Gibson: Serving as a rotational second option at running back as well as the Patriots’ primary kickoff returner, Gibson was decent in his first five games before suffering a torn ACL against the Bills. He ended up touching the ball 27 times for 112 yards and a touchdown on offense, and also averaged 28.5 yards on 12 kickoff returns (an average helped by a 90-yard TD in Week 2 versus Miami). | Signed (2027 FA) | $4.14M cap hit
Advertisement
Jack Westover: Statistically, Westover did not appear to have a big impact on the Patriots in 2025. The second-year man touched the ball just two times for a grand total of 8 yards. However, he ended up playing 23.3% of offensive snaps as the team’s featured fullback. Even though he was a bit hit or miss, that is nonetheless a solid output for a player who had entered training camp as a tight end. | ERFA
Terrell Jennings: Jennings started his second NFL season on the practice squad, was eventually promoted to the active roster, and ended the year on injured reserve because of concussion and hamstring issues. In between, he appeared in seven games as a rotational option, gaining 82 yards on 24 touches and finding the end zone once. | Signed (2027 ERFA) | $1.08M cap hit
Lan Larison: A highly productive player during his time at UC Davis, Larison was expected to compete for a backup spot at running back behind Stevenson and Henderson. However, a broken foot sustained in the preseason opener against Washington forced the team to shut the rookie free agent down for the remainder of the season. | Signed (2028 RFA) | $893k cap hit
Brock Lampe: The aforementioned Jack Westover only moved to fullback because of an injury suffered by the only true fullback on the roster at the time, undrafted rookie Brock Lampe. A foot injury forced the Patriots to move Lampe to injured reserve in late July and prevented him from making any noticeable impact on the team in 2025. | Signed (2028 RFA) | $890k cap hit
Advertisement
Elijah Mitchell: Mitchell started the 2025 season with the Chiefs but was released in late December after appearing in only one game. He found his way to the New England practice squad but was later released before returning via a reserve/futures pact after the Super Bowl. | Signed (2027 UFA) | $1.08M cap hit
Deneric Prince: Prince joined the Patriots in mid-August but spent only two days on their roster before being waived with an injury designation. He went unclaimed and reverted to injured reserve, where he spent the remainder of his third season in the league. | ERFA
Patriots offseason preview
New England’s running back group is a two-tier society at the moment. You have roster locks Rhamondre Stevenson and TreVeyon Henderson at the top, and everybody else in a tier below fighting for their roster lives.
Advertisement
While the first two project to have the most direct impact on the Patriots’ offensive success in 2026, their outlook for the offseason is pretty straight-forward: try to improve in the second year under coordinator Josh McDaniels to hopefully form a true two-headed monster. Stevenson and Henderson have the makings for it, but they only showed so in flashes during their 2025 campaign.
When it comes to the offseason, the second group of players is the more intriguing.
Let’s start with the free agents. Jack Westover and Deneric Prince are both carrying the exclusive rights level, which means the Patriots can simply keep them around by signing them to a minimum-level tender. Westover seems like a safe bet for that to happen, with Prince also a candidate if the team sees any value in him relative to the rest of the running back depth chart.
What that rest will look like depends on its health. Antonio Gibson, Terrell Jennings, Lan Larison and Brock Lampe all suffered what can effectively be described as season-ending injuries (although Jennings came close to returning). Ideally, all of them will be close to 100% by the start of training camp, but the Patriots could very well have brought in some competition at that point.
Advertisement
Elijah Mitchell fits that mold to a degree, but the draft and rookie free agency might have more attractive options available. That is particularly true in case the team opts to part ways with Gibson: coming off major knee injury and a limited overall role in the Patriots’ offense, he and his a $4.14 million salary cap number could fall victim to the numbers game at the position. Releasing him would create net savings of $2.1 million versus a $1 million dead cap hit.
Of course, such a move — which is not guaranteed even though there is an argument for it — would not be the only one. Expect New England to reshuffle the deck a bit behind Stevenson and Henderson.
Read the full article here
