How Patriots' TreVeyon Henderson has quietly turned his season around and what's fueling his latest surge

The 2025 NFL season has not gone the way many expected it would for New England Patriots rookie running back TreVeyon Henderson. Drafted near the top of the second round, Henderson was expected to come in and be a key piece of New England's offense right away, working as an explosive complement to Rhamondre Stevenson in the backfield and potentially even taking over the lead role rather quickly.

When he starred during training camp and the preseason, it looked like it wouldn't be long before Henderson broke out. We even made him the biggest winner of the preseason in our winners and losers column due to his performance on the field and the news coming out of Patriots camp.

Henderson led all rookies in yards per carry during the preseason at 7.1, albeit on only five actual rush attempts. He scored on one of those runs, though, and also caught three passes. All this on just 16 offensive snaps. Oh, and he scored a touchdown on his first NFL touch, taking a kickoff 100 yards to the house. The Patriots are already talking about him like he's going to quickly take over the backfield.

But Henderson hasn't yet been a key piece for the Patriots, mainly because he just hasn't played very well. He's played just 37% of New England's offensive snaps, and before this past week, when Stevenson sat out due to an injury, he had topped 40% in just two of the team's eight games. He has 67 carries for 283 yards and one touchdown, along with 20 receptions for 131 yards. 

Henderson's pass protection, in particular, has come under scrutiny, including from the coaching staff. And it's not that surprising considering he's allowed seven pressures on just 21 total pass-blocking snaps, according to Pro Football Focus. A lot of the film of his trying to block opposing blitzers looks like this:

Henderson was also not effective as a runner until the last two weeks, when he finally started to shine. 

He averaged a mere 3.6 yards per carry from Weeks 1 through 7. Among the 38 running backs with 50-plus carries during that span, that figure ranked 33rd. He was 21st in yards before contact per rush, according to Tru Media, and more concerningly was 36th in yards after contact, showing an inability to break tackles and create yards for himself. 

He did a strong job of avoiding negative runs, but wasn't particularly consistent at gaining five-plus yards a clip (27th) or at ripping off explosives (31st). For a player whose explosiveness was supposed to be his forte, it was concerning to see him struggle in that area.

The last two weeks have been encouraging, though. Henderson carried 24 times for 130 yards against the Browns and Falcons in Weeks 8 and 9 -- an average of 5.4 yards a pop. Were it not for an 8-yard loss on a toss play where the defender tackled Henderson immediately after he caught the ball, that figure would look even better. 

His yards before contact average improved from 1.16 yards to 2.04 yards and his yards after contact average shot up from 2.40 yards to 3.38 yards. The latter figures would rank fourth and ninth, respectively, for the full season. He also gained five-plus yards on 45.8% of his carries and created an explosive gain (12-plus yards) on 12.5%, per Tru Media, each of which represents a significant increase from his Weeks 1 through 7 averages.

At least some of this is because the Pats have done a better job getting him on the perimeter with toss plays and other outside runs. Through the first seven weeks of the season, 53.5% of his runs were up the middle, according to Tru Media. Over the last two weeks, the share has dropped to just 29.2%. 

They've been allowing Henderson to use his speed to the outside of the formation a bit more often, and it's yielded positive results. The toss plays, in particular, have been excellent. He has eight carries for 61 yards on that concept alone. And again, that includes one play where he was tackled immediately eight yards behind the line of scrimmage. He gained 69 yards on the other eight runs.

The up-the-middle stuff has also improved over the past couple of weeks, though. Earlier in the season, Henderson ran for just 52 yards on his 23 carries between the tackles, according to Tru Media. That's obviously dreadful. These past two weeks, he's gained 42 yards on seven such carries. 

That's excellent, and it's encouraging, even if the blocking has been a significant reason for the success of those attempts, because earlier in the season, he wasn't making the most of what the blocking gave him. From Weeks 1 through 7, according to NFL Pro, Henderson gained -52 yards over expected on his carries. In Weeks 8 and 9, that number is +11 yards over expected.

In his first action as the starter in Week 9, Henderson also set or tied season highs in targets (six) and receiving yards (32). He was a defined part of the passing game on check-downs and flat routes out of the backfield, and he made a nice impact for seemingly the first time this year.

Henderson could be in line for another start and another big role this weekend against the Buccaneers (Sunday, 1 p.m. ET, CBS, stream on Paramount+), what with Stevenson again not practicing to begin the week. If he indeed gets that opportunity, the Patriots need to continue putting him in position to succeed by getting him into space rather than forcing runs up the middle, and Henderson himself needs to both follow his blocks and then keep himself upright in pass protection when tasked with blocking for Drake Maye. If he can continue doing what he's done for the last two weeks, then he can potentially maintain a larger share of the backfield work when Stevenson returns.