TreVeyon Henderson appreciation thread.

[Ring 6]

As good as Henderson has been overall, I think he kind of contributes to that inability to sustain long drives. As much of a nose as he has for long touchdown runs, they can come at the cost of a few -1 or zero yardage runs where he's slow-playing his cut rather than just sticking his foot in the ground and moving forward. Some improvement from him in that could help with drives stalling out from unfavorable down and distance.

Overall on the running game though, the OL could use some further improvements. Hopefully Wilson improves in year 2 and Bradbury is upgraded either at C or LG with Wilson kicking over to center. Onwenu and Moses could be upgraded, but how practical it is to do so might depend on free agent costs and the draft board.

Another indirect issue for the running game is the lack of separation from the WRs. As productive as our downfield passing game has been, it doesn't very much from WR separation so teams are more than content to play one on one and allocate extra players to the box to play the run and blitz. Continued improvement from Boutte, Diggs being in year 2 back from injury and possibly upgrading Hollins from outside the organization and/or KWilliams becoming a factor are all things that could help. We have a productive passing game now but it's mostly against favorable defenses. It'd be nice to see continued progress to where it can maintain that production while also forcing defenses to leave the run game open more to defend it.

While some backs give up yards for the sake of trying to break a long run, that’s absolutely not true of Henderson. He runs north south and does not hesitate. You are describing the opposite of what he is.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

Already looks like a stud. Crazy to land gonzo-maye-campbell/henderson in the last 3 drafts… hard to do better than that in terms of top end talent

I'd complain about Polk last year, but that helped get Mayo et al. out and Vrabel et al. in, so . . . I wouldn't change it.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

Easily the most exciting young offensive playmaker we’ve had since Gronk. The potential is special.

The run game should be priority number one this off-season. Our offense isn’t able to generate long drives to keep the defense rested, or to get that long clot killer to close out a game, and that’s what killed us more than anything else yesterday.

Adding to this: it would also help if they could, you know, actually run a QB sneak when they need one or two yards. . . .

 

[Dec54]

Dude is a stud. His burst is so quick and his ceiling is incredible. They are starting to feed him more and I know he is a little smaller but his has a great build. I think they have an elite QB and an elite RB in the making. Thats a big development.

He is so good to watch, every time he gets the ball you think he is going off on a run. What a draft

 

[mikey m]

While some backs give up yards for the sake of trying to break a long run, that’s absolutely not true of Henderson. He runs north south and does not hesitate. You are describing the opposite of what he is.

100% this. Until we improve our run blocking, i think he would actually do better play to play to look for more cutbacks. He is very committed to following the blocks even when there is no push there. Still, absolutely love what he brings to the team.

 

[Ring 6]

100% this. Until we improve our run blocking, i think he would actually do better play to play to look for more cutbacks. He is very committed to following the blocks even when there is no push there. Still, absolutely love what he brings to the team.

He cut back fine in the 65 yard run. It’s not that he isn’t going to find a seam, it’s that he gets what’s there by running north south and being shifty within the hole rather than dancing around looking for somewhere to run
Fun fact. If you take his 4 50+ runs and only count them as 20 yards, he still averages 4.3 a carry and without them included at all he’s 3.8.
Henderson is a good RB even without the long runs.

 

[rochrist]

You can't just whittle down every decision to that. Quality of player has to come into question too. Some "old guys" are just flat our better than the "young guys". MHJ really hasn't been that good in AZ. Fed a ton of targets so counting numbers look ok but there's still a lot to be desired there. If he ever were available, they'd have to assess how much of that is coachable or just bad QB play impacting him.

AJ hasn't been great himself this year but he does at least have a track record of terrific WR play that MHJ hasn't shown yet. So again, they'd have to assess what level of decline is "real" for him.

He also has a track record of being a malcontent on a defending champion.

 

[Uptown]

Ohio State needs to do a better job recruiting…

 

[TheRainMaker]

He's that guy when you see him reach daylight, you know nobody is going to catch him. He's easily going to the best RB the Pats have drafted since Curtis Martin. Beef up that O-line in the off-season.

 

[jal]

Henderson has a chance to become a blue chip running back, our first since Corey Dillon in 04. But his body probably can't hold up to a 250+ touch season....I'd much rather get another running back in to spread it around and save Henderson super high touch games for the playoffs.

As for Hendo himself -
(1) has to keep working on the vision with cutback lanes. Ironically it's almost like he's trying to listen to the coaches too much and not letting natural instinct take over. I bet they can fix that over time as there are times he flashes elite vision; he's probably just over-thinking it as a rookie
(2) really needs to improve in pass protection, which is odd as that was a strength coming out. Some of this may be a size issue, but I think a lot of it is still over-thinking. Pretty typical rookie stuff which is encouraging
(3) become more of a weapon in the passing game - I've been shocked how little he's been involved here although it has increased over time. In terms of James White / Kevin Faulk style split out and run routes vs. a LB, that will naturally improve as he learns. But it's bizarre how few screens they've run for him...getting Henderson in space should be a very advantageous situation for the offense, and we have a lot of lighter OL that should play well in the screen game (while being liabilities in power run game)

Overall he's been a very good pick in the second round. I think he will naturally improve on the items above, and my only real reservation is over-using him over the course of a 17 game regular season. They really need to get another back in the rotation to spread out his touches so that he's fresh for a playoff run where his touches can go to 20/game for max impact in the biggest games

 

[TommyD4207]

This is the Henderson pick.

It's why I don't complain about Nick Emmanwori anymore (even though he's been fantastic).

 

[Uptown]

 

[Ring 6]

That’s a good role for him. 100 carries in 7 games is 14 a game and about 240 in a season. Keep him fresh, and get as many of them as you can in big play situations.

 

[ZoisKing]

Looks like Trey is now 1st in OROY odds.

What an insane offseason weve had.

 

[Uptown]

 

[Jim Beankie]

They had 5 drives in the 2nd half, and 3 of them started with the only runs in the half (-1, 65, 5). The INT and final drives had no runs. Curious what the thought process was.

 

[Jim Beankie]

You know I loves me some speed. Hendu wasn't even the fastest ball carrier for the Pats that game, too (KWill was the fastest in the NFL last week).

Next Gen Stats: Top 5 Fastest Ball Carriers from Week 15

A look back at the five fastest ball carriers from Week 15 of the 2025 NFL season according to Next Gen Stats.

www.nfl.com

 

[n1997y]

You know I loves me some speed. Hendu wasn't even the fastest ball carrier for the Pats that game, too (KWill was the fastest in the NFL last week).

Next Gen Stats: Top 5 Fastest Ball Carriers from Week 15

A look back at the five fastest ball carriers from Week 15 of the 2025 NFL season according to Next Gen Stats.

www.nfl.com

Not even sure TreyHey was faster than his blocker on that second TD. Number 10 stayed out in front of him all the way downfield. To my eye they both seemed about the same speed.

 

[A.C Vegas]

I know the betting markets like kalshi are not great but he is the betting favorite to be oroy

 

[Patsfan1645]

Not even sure TreyHey was faster than his blocker on that second TD. Number 10 stayed out in front of him all the way downfield. To my eye they both seemed about the same speed.

Next Gen stats for Maye on that run had him at 20.58 mph. We do have some speed at WR, RB and QB, I would like to see more use of it. I would also like to see some passes to Henderson...I think he would be a mismatch against most if not all LBs in the league.