Rhamondre Stevenson has had a remarkable season, which becomes even more incredible when you take into account the events that transpired over the last year that brought him to this point.
Stevenson lost his father last offseason, which came during what was obviously a significant transition here in New England.
For the second time in two years, the Patriots were transitioning to a new head coach, having parted ways with Bill Belichick after the 2023 season, followed by firing first-year head coach Jerod Mayo at the end of a disappointing 2024 campaign.
That 2024 season was challenging for Stevenson, even beyond the 4-13 finish. Stevenson had the most difficult year of his career from a ball security standpoint, having fumbled seven times while losing three of them.
One of the more difficult situations for Stevenson that year was the fact that frustration began to set in, and he found himself in the crosshairs. Ahead of their 15-10 loss against the Dolphins, Stevenson had fumbled four-straight times leading up to that game, which included losing the football in back-to-back weeks. There were calls locally that Mayo needed to make a statement, given Stevenson’s issues with ball security.
Mayo held him out to begin the game, before later putting out there, much to the frustration of fans and media who felt he needed to be benched. But Stevenson answered the call, carrying the football 12 times for 89 yards that day, including a 33-yard touchdown run, which ended up being his best performance of the season.
“Well, I would say yesterday, those guys rolled quite a bit,” said Mayo the next day on WEEI on that decision. “And the plan was to have Gibby [Antonio Gibson] go in there and start the game off, and we’ll go from there.”
Stevenson would go on to fumble three more times that year, losing one of them in their Week 16 game out in Buffalo.
His performance from that season likely put his name on Mike Vrabel’s radar as he took over as head coach later that following January.
But what was interesting was a particular comment Vrabel made during the coaches’ breakfast last March. He was asked at the time whether or not running back was an area they’d take a look at in the draft (they ultimately did take TreVeyon Henderson), but his comments about Stevenson’s fumble issues were telling.
Having reviewed the film, he clearly noticed that not all of those fumbles fell on Stevenson’s shoulders.
“People are going to talk about Rhamondre and putting the ball on the ground, and he knows that, but we’ll help him there,” said Vrabel. “We’re also going to help make sure the other 10 players know that their job is to protect the guy with the ball as well. There were some opportunities on there for me to teach the other guys that, that second guy in, the guy you don’t see, is the one that’s making the fumble or causing the fumble. So it’s a great opportunity for me to show those other players that their guy is the one coming in there to knock the ball loose.”
“Is that going to all be on the running back? No. It’s going to be on the guy that’s letting his guy get in there and make the hit. So, those are great opportunities for me, but we love to add good young players on offense and skill players.”
Meanwhile, those words were said while Stevenson was out in Las Vegas with his family dealing with a tragedy. At the time, no one knew that Stevenson had lost his father earlier that month. Christopher Price of the Boston Globe touched on it back in January in an outstanding piece he wrote, where Stevenson revealed just how difficult it was for him.
“I’ve lost a [number] of people in my life, unfortunately. But you know, this one hit a little different. It was my Dad,” said Stevenson. “My best friend.”
Vrabel: to “Not know us as people was hard”
Now here Stevenson was coming off what was certainly a difficult season. He was also carrying the weight of the 4-year, $36 million extension he signed the previous June, which has him under contract with the team through 2028.
However, after a tough start in 2025, where Stevenson lost two fumbles against the Steelers in a 21-14 week 3 loss this season, and another fumble against the Bills in Week five, it would have been easy for Vrabel to justify sitting him down.
Yet, Vrabel’s confidence in Stevenson never wavered. He stayed with him, which proved to be a pivotal decision because fellow running back Antonio Gibson went down in Week 5 with a torn ACL, which ended his season.
That put an even bigger need for Stevenson to step up, and Vrabel not giving up on him ended up paying dividends. We saw him gain confidence down the stretch, and he was instrumental to New England’s success the further they went into the 2025 campaign, and then again here in the postseason.
Overall, he finished the 2025 season carrying 130 times for 603 yards and 7 touchdowns, as well as hauling in 32 passes for 345 yards and two more TDs.
Andrew Callahan of the Boston Herald asked Vrabel on Wednesday about the situation Stevenson went through so early in the process, with Callahan asking about Tony Dews’ trip out to Las Vegas to support Stevenson’s family following the passing of his father.
Vrabel admitted that one of the biggest challenges he and his staff faced during that time was trying to support the young running back, given that they hadn’t had a chance to really establish much of a relationship.
“I think there’s things that come up that you’re not really prepared for, and to have Rhamondre have something that traumatic happen to him and his family and him not know us as people was hard,” said Vrabel. “To try to support somebody that he doesn’t know where we’re coming from. He doesn’t know Mike Vrabel. He doesn’t know Tony Dews, other than taking some faith that we’re looking out for him as a person and we’re looking out for him and his family, and what’s best and how they handle it and try to do everything that we could to get him in a place that he could come and do his job and perform and glorify his dad. He’s done that every single day. I’m proud of him. I can’t imagine how that felt and what that still feels like.”
Vrabel then went on to praise Dews, who made the trip and was there for his young player.
“We’re lucky to have people like Tony Dews who care deeply about not only his position, but everybody on this football team, and coaches and staff. Tony, he would have gone the second that I told him. It was just like, ‘Give him a little bit of time, just let’s wait.’ Then, finally, it worked out for Tony to go out there and be with Rhamondre and his family. So obviously, very appreciative of Tony.”
So far this postseason, Stevenson has carried the football 51 times for 194 yards, good for an average of 3.8 yards per carry. His success has been huge, especially given that he’s come up with some big runs in key moments during this playoff run.
The hope now is that he can help this team finish off the year with one more victory. That would likely at least make what’s happened to him over this past year hurt a little less, and it would also be a fitting bookend for what’s definitely been a remarkable turnaround.
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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.
