Monday Patriots Notebook 6/17: News and Notes
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Some Patriots news and notes for this morning:
Patriots running back Rhamondre Stevenson hinted last week that he and the team were “pretty close” to getting an extension done, and these next six weeks will likely be key if the club hopes to lock Stevenson down for the foreseeable future.
Stevenson has certainly impressed since the club drafted him in the fourth round back in 2021. The former standout from Oklahoma made noise during his rookie season, but brokeout in his sophomore season, rushing for 1,040 yards on 210 carries along with five touchdowns that year.
That performance clearly impressed the coaching staff to the point where they were comfortable to let former Patriots running back Damien Harris leave last offseason, with Stevenson emerging as the club’s starter.
Now, as he heads into the final year of his own rookie contract, he’s hopeful that whatever faith they have will see him get rewarded. He finished last season with a 156 carry, 619-yards, and four touchdown performance before the ankle injury he suffered late in the year saw him miss time over the final month of the season before he ultimately ended up on injured reserve.
Fortunately, that injury seems to be behind him. Stevenson is now focused on having a big year, spending this offseason seemingly slimming down. Several reports said Stevenson looked lighter, but the veteran said he’s actually the same weight as he’s been. Instead, he claimed he’s simply been eating better, and it helped him lower his body fat while getting to a “better weight.”
He said last week the goal was to make sure “my body’s ready for the whole season.” He’s probably hopeful that a new contract will come before camp begins, but despite the ongoing negotiations, things sounded fairly positive.
“Not frustrating. It’s just a long process,” said Stevenson. “This is how the process goes. First time going through it.”
Head coach Jerod Mayo praised Stevenson last week, saying the veteran has worked hard and “earned everything” he’s gotten.
“I think he’s one of the better backs in the league. It’s no doubt about it,” said Mayo. “I think over the last couple of years, it’s been kind of tough on him as as far as just getting started. So I’m excited to see what he does this season. And look, he’s earned everything that he gets. He’s our starting running back, and hopefully, we do get something done.”
For now, all Stevenson can do is continue training and make sure he’s ready to go next month. He said last week he wasn’t going to focus on it, saying he’ll let his agent and the front office handle it.
Still, it’s something that will likely be on his mind until it gets done.
“It’s the last year of your deal. It’s obvious. It’s something you got to think about,” said Stevenson. “But right now, I’m just trying to get the deal done right now and get it locked in with the extension. So we see where that goes.”
Meanwhile, The Boston Herald’s Andrew Callahan recently sat down with The Athletic’s Jeff Howe during the most recent Pats Interference podcast, talking about the club’s recent minicamp session from last week.
During the segment, he mentioned that based on what he’s heard, there is still some work to be done before Stevenson is under contract. However, he said things are indeed progressing.
“I think pretty close was a bit of an overestimation,” said Howe. “I don’t think anything’s imminent. I know they’ve been making some progress. I think there would be a hurdle to clear if something like that was going to be agreed upon in the next 24 hours, but look, I think things are moving in the right direction.”
Howe went on to say that with that in mind, there are still likely some things to work out, which could be as simple as the structure of the deal. With that in mind, that’s why he believes Stevenson appeared so confident.
“Honestly, it could be something as simple as structure,” said Howe. “They could be sitting here saying, and I’m throwing stuff against the wall with this because they’re just not going to open up the window to these negotiations until they’re done, but it could be something as simple as saying, ‘Alright, we’re good on the guaranteed money through two years, or 75% of it through two years, we just have to figure out how to structure it the best way to get this thing on the books in time. It could be something very similar to that, and that could be why Rhamondre’s sitting there saying it’s pretty close.”
“Because they’ve agreed on the important parts of the deal, they just have to work out some other things on the back end before everything is passed between sides and agreed upon. So it could be something extremely simple where, with a lot of stuff happening, it could take two or three days, or it could take a week, whatever.”
“But I think it’s consistent with the way Eliot Wolf and Jerod Mayo have worked here. They know how important it is to reward the guys who have put in the time. Yeah, they understand there’s absolutely a perception of sitting here saying, ‘Oh, well, they’re bringing back a bunch of guys from a 4-13 team.’ But it’s not like they’re bringing back the wrong guys. I mean, they’re paying the good players, and you have to do that. The foundation has to start somewhere. You can’t just change an entire locker room for the sake of change.”
One of the things that Howe noted was the fact that Drake Maye put together a solid performance, completing well over 70% of his passes and looking like he’s taken some solid steps forward ahead of training camp next month. Jacoby Brissett didn’t fare quite as well, with the veteran not quite eclipsing that mark. Albeit, he’s still likely to be the one under center to begin the season, given his experience and his command of the offense, which Maye has made strides but still has room to grow.
Still, Howe pointed out that one metric he’s kept an eye on has stemmed from Tom Brady’s precision and consistency, which had traditionally seen consistent completions during practice. Having tracked the numbers over a long span, Howe noted that the former quarterback consistently completed 70-75% of his throws, which he’s put as the benchmark for any QB coming in to reach.
That’s why the fact Maye has been in that range is something Howe admitted has stood out, and it’s something he’s been pleased to see from the rookie.
“What I liked was that he completed, let’s see, I think you said, 75%, I think I had 76%, I would venture to guess the discrepancy there is because maybe you or I counted plays that got blown dead or called a sack and one of us I f’d him, or whatever,” said Howe. “Going back basically 10 years, so, a large sample size, Tom Brady was usually between 70-75% in this type of setting. So I’ve always set the bar as you want to be in that window.”
“That doesn’t mean that you’re going to complete 70-75% in the regular season, but given everything that we’ve said in the constructive criticism about eventually that processing speed is going to come, eventually, you don’t give him all the points for the check downs that kind of boost those numbers, but for a guy that’s still learning, and again, it’s one practice, I’m talking 70%-75% over the course over an entire stretch of practices … ”
“A whole training camp, that’s where those numbers come from,” said Callahan.
“Yeah, training camp is usually closer to, if he can get between 68%-72%, that’s pretty good. OTAs and minicamp, between 70%-75% – you want on the higher side of that. So in a one-off setting, that’s a really good number to be at while you’re very clearly working through some natural inexperience.”
Maye has been a big proponent of spending time after practice trying to correct mistakes and improve, which often means trying to get his receivers to stay after. Given that those guys are often tired after spending an entire practice running routes, it wouldn’t be surprising if Maye received some pushback there. However, Ja’Lynn Polk said that working on timing and building chemistry is something he’s enjoyed. “We’re working on that timing, [and me] figuring him out and the things that he’s really great at,” Polk said this week via Mike Reiss. “He wants to go out there and get those extra catches in, and if there was something he didn’t feel like he did a great job in practice, he wants to make sure he corrects it after practice and gets it right.” … Reiss also reported on Sunday that the injury Cole Strange suffered last season was a torn patellar tendon in his left knee, which he also noted was an injury Mayo endured himself as a player. As a result, he understands what the young offensive lineman is dealing with, which coincides with his comments on him being “month-to-month” when it comes to his timeframe to hopefully return. … Reiss also noted that offensive lineman Sidy Sow, who spent the majority of last year at right guard after Mike Onwenu kicked out to right tackle, has been getting some work at left guard. That’s a position he played in college, so it’s a transition he’s been happy to make. “It’s been fun switching back over there,” he told ESPN last week. … Bill Belichick spoke during Tom Brady’s induction ceremony about Brady’s incredible ability to avoid bad plays, which he called “historical” during his speech. “With Tom, through his decision-making, preparation, the numbers are just historical in terms of fewest turnovers, fewest negative runs, fewest offensive penalties,” said Belichick. Ben Volin of the Boston Globe pulled the numbers in his most recent Sunday column and pointed out that, from 2001-2019, “The Patriots’ 358 turnovers were the fewest in the NFL (next: Chiefs with 416. NFL average: 489), their 1,763 penalties were third fewest behind the Colts (1,694) and Jets (1,739), though it is not broken down by offense, defense, and special teams. The Patriots and Jets tied for the NFL lead with 32 games of two or fewer penalties. The Patriots’ five games with zero penalties were most in the league. The Patriots’ 110 games with zero turnovers were most in the NFL (next: Chiefs and Packers with 90 each). Additionally, the Patriots’ 13 playoff games with no turnovers were also the most in the NFL (12-1 record).” Just another reminder of how incredible Brady really was.
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