With the Patriots currently in the middle of trying to navigate Rhamondre Stevenson’s fumble issues, the last thing they needed was to lose one of their other starting running backs to an injury.
Unfortunately, it sounds like that’s what happened on Sunday night.
Stevenson’s teammate, Antonio Gibson, suffered what appears to be a serious injury during Sunday night’s win in Buffalo. The NFL Network reports that the veteran suffered a torn ACL as a result of the hit he took early in the second quarter during a kick return, which saw him lose the football as he hit the ground grasping his right knee.
Gibson was immediately tended to by trainers and was helped off the field after the play. Cameras later caught the veteran seemingly in tears as he exited the tent and made his way to the tunnel on the way back to the locker room.
He’ll now reportedly miss the rest of the 2025 season, which is a tough blow on a day where the mood is otherwise fairly upbeat here in New England following their 23-20 win over the Bills in Orchard Park, NY.
For now, his injury leaves the Patriots in difficult shape. Gibson was not only the player who played the lion’s share of snaps behind Stevenson on offense, but he was also one of the Patriots’ key people in the return game, having returned a kickoff 90 yards for a touchdown several weeks ago.
He and rookie TreVeyon Henderson have been the club’s two return men on kickoffs, with Stevenson stepping in during Gibson’s absence after he went out of the game.
As for who his potential replacement might be, that’s tough to say. New England doesn’t have much depth-wise behind him. Henderson did see an uptick in snaps after Gibson left, but they’ll still need to add depth, as well as figure out a long-term fill in on kickoffs.
The team has Terrell Jennings, who had a good preseason, on the practice squad, but not much else. That likely means they’ll have to spend some time exploring their options this week to try and fill what are certainly some big shoes with Gibson sidelined.
The Patriots will next face the Saints down in New Orleans next Sunday at 1:00 pm.
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Ian Logue is a Seacoast native and owner and senior writer for PatsFans.com, an independent media site covering the New England Patriots and has been running this site in one form or another since 1997.
It would have been nice to see Lan Larson enter into the mix here in order to gauge if the pats hit on yet another UFA this year.
To bad for Gibson. He was a solid player. But the pats will add a body. I would be concerned on adding to much to Hendersons plate. Henderson is handling quite a bit now as a rookie.