Patriots' Rhamondre Stevenson Disrespected in RB Rankings?
Notably, the New England Patriots have struggled to draft and develop skill-position players in recent years. A bulk of the talent that offensive coordinator Bill O'Brien has to work with in 2023 -- wide receivers JuJu Smith-Schuster, Kendrick Bourne and DaVante Parker; tight ends Hunter Henry and Mike Gesicki; and running back James Robinson -- have been acquired externally.
Perhaps the only notable home-grown player currently on the Patriots is running back Rhamondre Stevenson. A second-round pick from Oklahoma in 2021, Stevenson had some impressive games in his rookie year before topping 1,000 rushing yards and averaging five yards per carry in his second NFL season.
So it's a bit surprising to see that Pro Football Focus only had Stevenson ranked at No. 16 on its countdown of running backs entering the 2023 season.
Wrote PFF:
Stevenson has been very solid to start his NFL career. In each of the past two seasons, he has recorded an 80.0-plus rushing grade. And in both years, he averaged more than 4.7 yards per carry with more than 3.4 yards after contact. The arrow is pointing even higher for Stevenson into 2023 and beyond.
Nothing in PFF's analysis about Stevenson is incorrect, but the conclusion that he's only at No. 16 among all the league's running backs is surprising.
There was a ton to like about Dameon Pierce in his rookie season with the Houston Texans, but has he shown more in the NFL than Stevenson? He came in two spots above Stevenson at 14. For that matter, has Travis Etienne of the Jaguars, at No. 15, been better? Sure, Etienne averaged 5.1 yards per carry last year and had 35 catches for 316 yards. But in addition to Stevenson averaging five yards a carry, he also caught 69 passes for 421 yards.
For quite some time, fantasy football experts have advised viewers to steer clear of Patriots running backs, because Bill Belichick/Josh McDaniels-led teams often spread the wealth in terms of carries at the position. And that was valid advice in the fantasy football world.
But while Robinson could theoretically cut into Stevenson's workload in 2023, he was a horse for the Patriots a season ago, perhaps the only bright spot in a disastrous offense. With a legitimate offensive coordinator in place and more talent around him, Stevenson could very well emerge as a top-10 running back in his third NFL season.
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