{"id":93796,"date":"2025-09-16T08:59:53","date_gmt":"2025-09-16T08:59:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=93796"},"modified":"2025-09-16T08:59:53","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T08:59:53","slug":"%f0%9f%9a%a8%f0%9f%9a%a8%f0%9f%9a%a8-patriots-backfield-drama-with-treveyon-henderson-losing-touches-is-new-england-facing-a-brutal-shift-in-its-offensive-identity-will-this-running-back-r","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=93796","title":{"rendered":"\ud83d\udea8\ud83d\udea8\ud83d\udea8 PATRIOTS\u2019 BACKFIELD DRAMA: With TreVeyon Henderson losing touches, is New England facing a brutal shift in its offensive identity? Will this running back rotation expose deeper cracks in Bill Belichick\u2019s system? Or is Henderson\u2019s role about to shrink into one of the season\u2019s biggest disappointments?"},"content":{"rendered":"<article id=\"post-100835\">\n<div id=\"post-featured-container-id\">\n<div id=\"post-featured\">\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/GettyImages-2234552663_b0f625-e1757984907397.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 820px) 95vw, 780px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/GettyImages-2234552663_b0f625-e1757984907397.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780 780w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/GettyImages-2234552663_b0f625-e1757984907397.jpg?quality=15&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1100 1100w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/GettyImages-2234552663_b0f625-e1757984907397.jpg?quality=35&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1350 1350w\" alt=\"\ud83d\udea8\ud83d\udea8\ud83d\udea8 PATRIOTS\u2019 BACKFIELD DRAMA: With TreVeyon Henderson losing touches, is New England facing a brutal shift in its offensive identity? Will this running back rotation expose deeper cracks in Bill Belichick\u2019s system? Or is Henderson\u2019s role about to shrink into one of the season\u2019s biggest disappointments? - News 365\" width=\"780\" height=\"439\" \/><\/figure>\n<div>\n<p>Getty<\/p>\n<p>New England Patriots rookie RB TreVeyon Henderson is losing \u201ctouches\u201d because of a \u201cbrutal\u201d issue.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>He was supposed to be a complete running back who made excellent pass protection a core part of the offense, but New England Patriots rookie TreVeyon Henderson is losing \u201ctouches\u201d and reps in the backfield because of a \u201cbrutal\u201d issue.<\/p>\n<p>The second-round pick in the 2025 NFL draft is struggling mightily in pass protection. A problem that showed up often during Week 2\u2019s otherwise satisfying 33-27 win over the Miami Dolphins.<\/p>\n<p>Henderson\u2019s tape is brutal from the game, according to CLNS Media president John Zannis. The latter pointed out \u201cPass pro considered huge strength coming out of college. You want to see a player of his pedigree have their usage tick upward as season goes on, but I think he\u2019s gonna lose snaps because of this.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"30155ebed302302abfb9e352adca830d\">\n<div data-url=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/John_Zannis\/status\/1967635631548576070\">\n<blockquote data-dnt=\"true\" data-width=\"550\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">This TreVeyon Henderson tape is brutal. Pass pro considered huge strength coming out of college. You want to see a player of his pedigree have their usage tick upward as season goes on, but I think he\u2019s gonna lose snaps because of this.<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/twitter.com\/John_Zannis\/status\/1967635631548576070?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>That prediction is already coming true. Zannis captioned his take above a lowlight from Underdog\u2019s Hayden Winks showing Henderson missing a chip against Chop Robinson, allowing the Dolphins\u2019 edge-rusher to sack Drake Maye.<\/p>\n<p>Winks noted how lapses like this one aren\u2019t going to stop Henderson from seeing his workload reduced. Something that\u2019s already happening when veteran Antonio Gibson \u201cis stealing touches,\u201d according to Winks.<\/p>\n<p>Gibson also strengthened his case for more work in the backfield by making a game-changing play on special teams. It\u2019s bad news for Henderson, who made more than one telling mistake in Miami.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Patriots Showing TreVeyon Henderson No Mercy<\/h2>\n<p>No allowance is being made for Henderson\u2019s inevitable learning curve as a rookie. Instead, if the former Ohio State star can\u2019t help protect Maye, he won\u2019t get onto the field as often.<\/p>\n<p>The Patriots have to safeguard their would-be franchise quarterback, but Henderson is struggling with the responsibility. Not only is the 22-year-old missing the mark when chipping edge defenders, but Henderson is also failing to pick up the blitz.<\/p>\n<p>His lack of anticipation proved costly when Dolphins linebacker Jordyn Brooks easily got around a tentative Henderson to drag Maye to the ground. The \u201creally bad rep\u201d was highlighted by Michael Hurley, and it prompted Chad Graff of The Athletic to note \u201cOne of TreVeyon Henderson\u2019s strengths out of college was pass protection. But this has been a rough game for him in that department.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Graff doubling down on Zannis\u2019 reference to Henderson\u2019s expected competence as a pass-protector speaks to the surprising nature of his problems. He was widely compared to former Patriots great James White, but the three-time Super Bowl winner earned his status as a go-to third-down and sub-package back because of his sure hands and solid blocking.<\/p>\n<p>Henderson isn\u2019t displaying either of those things, so he\u2019s inadvertently opened the door for an experienced player already proven in both areas.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Antonio Gibson Earning More Work<\/h2>\n<p>It makes sense for the Patriots to turn to Gibson if Henderson falters. The ex-Washington Commanders starter is a converted wide receiver who knows what it takes to work on passing downs.<\/p>\n<p>Gibson is also a dynamic runner, something he proved with this dramatic, 90-yard kickoff return for a touchdown to hand the Patriots decisive momentum at Hard Rock stadium.<\/p>\n<p>The play was a timely reminder of Gibson\u2019s value. It drew praise from head coach Mike Vrabel, who emphasized \u201cI told you we needed those guys to be weapons for us,\u201d per Patriots.com Staff Writer Evan Lazar.<\/p>\n<p>Gibson answered the call and is proving he still has a place in offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels\u2019 schemes. So is holdover Rhamondre Stevenson, who was one half of a huge play that was the key to victory.<\/p>\n<p>Stevenson and Gibson succeeding in areas where Henderson is struggling only increases the pressure on a prominent draft pick to accelerate his development. If Henderson can\u2019t up his game in crucial areas, Vrabel and McDaniels won\u2019t hesitate to trust others in the Patriots\u2019 backfield.<\/p>\n<p>James Dudko covers the New York Giants, Washington Commanders, New England Patriots and Baltimore Ravens for Heavy.com. He has covered the NFL and world soccer since 2011, with bylines at FanSided, Prime Time Sports Talk and Bleacher Report before joining Heavy in 2021. More about James Dudko<\/p>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>New England Patriots rookie running back TreVeyon Henderson is losing &#8220;touches&#8221; because of a &#8220;brutal&#8221; issue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":93797,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-93796","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>\ud83d\udea8\ud83d\udea8\ud83d\udea8 PATRIOTS\u2019 BACKFIELD DRAMA: With TreVeyon Henderson losing touches, is New England facing a brutal shift in its offensive identity? Will this running back rotation expose deeper cracks in Bill Belichick\u2019s system? Or is Henderson\u2019s role about to shrink into one of the season\u2019s biggest disappointments? - NEWS USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=93796\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\ud83d\udea8\ud83d\udea8\ud83d\udea8 PATRIOTS\u2019 BACKFIELD DRAMA: With TreVeyon Henderson losing touches, is New England facing a brutal shift in its offensive identity? Will this running back rotation expose deeper cracks in Bill Belichick\u2019s system? 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