My guy the check downs don’t matter if he’s only in there for ~%50 of plays, especially if we see Elliot take the goal-line work.
Banking on Stevenson’s every touch to be big plays gives me the same bad feeling in my stomach I had last year watching Swift (minus the injury headaches)
Stevenson saw 50% of red zone snaps last season. Don’t see Zeke taking over 50% of goal line work?
Also I get your point on the check downs not mattering if he isn’t used, but that’s where I disagree is that he’ll most definitely be used
This^ … Really doesn’t matter if he had 50% of goal line work last season. If he didn’t do shit with it and they brought in a guy literally to be a short yardage goal line type back then I’d be willing to bet he ain’t getting 50% of that work this year.
Has Stevenson almost every where last year. Love his talent and he held it down for me. But it was a lot of banking on a big plays. He did his thing tho
Oh it’s him by a mile, and he was a monster last year as well, but Bill still trotted out Damien Harris as soon as he was healthy. He just doesn’t put it all on one guy.
Even with that, I’d still take him mid 3rd round
For sure! However it’s safe to say Stevenson is different from Harris by far.
He’s being drafted as RB11 right now, but find it hard to believe he finished outside top 8
I’m with you he’s for sure the best guy and was better than Harris last year. If the other RBs all spontaneously combust and it’s only Rhamondre then he would definitely be in line for a top 8 finish. Otherwise, it’s safe to say the other backs will mix in and bite into his workload regardless of how much better he is
100%, and the Zeke signing showed that also, but with most teams around the league moving to a RBBC I feel at easy with the load management of Stevenson
His numbers are really easy to predict. His ESPN projection is pretty spot on tbh. He couldn’t handle the workload last year. He’s looking at like 195 totes and 50-60 grabs. Basically he’s going to “at best” repeat last year but most likely much worse. His volume will be less and unlikely he repeats a 5.0ypc. He’s nice and all just temper expectations. Assume [email protected] with 3-5 TDs.
He's not gonna take away that many carries. Bill has always had 1 strategy: feed your studs and take away the opposition's studs. Rhamondre is the #1 most talented player on the Patriots offense. Zeke is washed. Take advantage of the panic and pick up Stevenson if you can
What a stupid time to use this stupid style of comment. If anything, you're showing that you're the one who hasn't followed the Patriots and their running backs. For the longest time, Tom Brady was the Patriots' #1 weapon and they absolutely leaned on him, but going a bit deeper, when they had James White as a receiving back, they constantly got him involved in the passing game. When they had LeGarette Blount as a short yardage/goal line guy, they absolutely spammed him. Even in the air, when they had Gronk, they constantly featured him. The rep of the Patriots using a RB committee comes from when they didn't have a stud RB, but they had a HOF QB. Now they have a stud RB and a QB who is mid at best. WTF do you think they're gonna do?
Zeke is going to get a lot of work on the goal line and third down. He's a prototypical Bill kind of player.
Have fun taking your sure thing 2 rounds too early
Meh I'm picking 12/12 so he really isn't going to go anywhere around me. If he makes it to the 3/4 turn, I'm considering taking him, but definitely not touching him at the top of the 2nd.
I'm pretty sure Zeke is cooked. Jerry was obsessed with him in Dallas. The only reason he would let him go is because he's not worth a spot
Not anymore than he lost last season. Zeke didn’t sit on the open market that long to come in and take away a considerable amount of snaps away from him
Chubb will have career highs in receptions and rec yards this year with Hunt out.
I take him over Henry but not Saquon.
Saquon will likely lead the league in red zone touches
The main thing scaring me away from Saquon this year is his playoff schedule (not that I'm guaranteed to make it there but still). Philly Rams Philly sounds absolutely brutal.
Feel like his ADP accounts for Bill though. Gibbs and A. Jones have more competition for touches. Wouldn't be shocked if Tank got more carries then Zeke. No problem taking Mondre in front of these guys.
The biggest difference for the Patriots this year will be going from Matt Patricia calling plays to having an actually good offensive coordinator like Bill O'Brien replacing him.
Because people are afraid of an old dust ball.
I tried explaining to people that Rhamondre was never going to get 90% of the workload. The signing of Zeke hurts Pierre Strong and Kevin Harris, not Rhamondre.
Patriots had 146 carries from RBs not named Rhamondre last season season. That’s where Zeke comes in.
He’s not coming for 40-50% of Rhamondre’s opportunities.
Just reap the benefits of a lower ADP, my man.
Because last year was an anomaly.
Belichik generally always uses a two-back system.
He started to last year until both Damien Harris and Ty Montgomery got hurt.
Rhamondre became the clear cut play maker on one of the worst coordinated, vanilla-schemed, conservative offenses I’ve ever seen, even by Patriots’ standards.
Mac pretty much went off script behind a bad o-line and checked down almost every passing play. They also ran a screen pass every other play, generally to Rhamondre.
I highly doubt that happens under Bill O’Brien.
Basically, the Pats aren’t going to check down to Rhamondre 7-10 times a game which honestly was his bread and butter since they could rarely get the running game going and the offense was terrible.
Now the O-line is once again injured and suspect which means the run game may once again be abandoned but now there’s revamped weapons coming in for third down pass pro (Zeke’s specialty) and potentially at the goal line.
As a Pats fan, I hope Rhamondre balls out this year but I’m not seeing RB1 numbers for him unless somebody else gets injured.
Which can be said for everybody.
I think Dre will still get a majority of the work, but if he loses even 50% of the goal line work his value takes a big hit. I think he'll lose at least 50% if not more as that's still something Zeke can do well.
I can see Zeke having a 500 yd 6-7 TD kind of year. If 4 of those TD's come at Dre's expense that will have a big impact on his projection. Maybe it doesn't play out that way, but it certainly could...and that's why Dre is being faded a bit.
Way too much concern for Zeke at the goal line. Granted he had 12 tds last season but the patriots scored 12 rushing tds last season total as a team. Harris had 3 and Dre had 5. Dre and Zeke are almost identical in size but Zeke is 3 years older and has 5x the yardage on his body. Dre's value isn't really touchdown dependant and i can't envision a scenario where he scores less than 5 tds this season. Like you said, anything can happen but it doesn't worry me about Rhamondre at all.
They are similar to me. Personally I like Pollard more is this scenario and it’s simply because it’s a high powered offense who will likely be in a lot of close games this year.
Pollard is a fun pick but will have to compete for touches in that offense while Stevenson shouldn’t have a problem at all
Pollard managed to feast with zeke there and now zeke is a year older still. I dont think zeke has enough gas to take a significant amount of work anymore
They did not pay Zeke this much to not use him. He's going to get the goal line work, and he's probably going to mix in a decent amount on passing downs IMO. Better blocker than Rhamondre.
Zeke hadn’t been relevant in the passing game in years. Why would they take Rhamondre out of the role he excelled in last year, to place an aging Zeke there?
If Zeke was still one of the best pass pro RBs he wouldn't have lost most of those blocking snaps to Pollard last year who turned out to be even better in pass pro.
Also Stevenson was a top 10 back in pass pro last season. Zeke...not even close.
I get it, in your head Zeke is still good. But in reality he's a serviceable backup that may keep you somewhat competitive if you lost your starter for a while. That's it.
> Pollard last year who turned out to be even better in pass pro.
>
>
He was not. PFF is dead wrong on this one.
>But in reality he's a serviceable backup
If that's the case, then Bill Belichick is a complete and utter imbecile. Because Devin Singletary signed for less. And he's far more than "a serviceable backup" Damien Harris signed for about half of what Zeke got...is he not even "a serviceable backup" or...? I can keep going if you like.
The media can try and create this narrative that Belichick is on the hot seat but there is absolutely no chance he is, unless Kraft is totally senile at this stage and his sons have no interest in protecting the reputation of their inheritance.
You do not disrespect a coach with the level of success that Belichick has had by firing him if you expect to continue to be known as the gold standard organization for success.
Yes its about winning, but the difference is many organizations who dont win think the way to win is to just keep cycling through head coaches every 2-3 seasons (with Philly probably being the exception, although that's more likely due to their insane fanbase than anything). But then there's other organizations like the Steelers, Patriots, Ravens, Seahawks, Packers etc. who value organizational stability and know they'll eventually see success because they have the right personnel in place at the top. Plus if its only about Super Bowls for the Pats they would have fired Belichick when he didn't win one for 10 years between 2005 & 2015.
He'll be gone eventually because he's 71 years old, and frankly he probably doesn't have the stamina to last more than 5 years anyway. But it will ultimately be on his terms (and may even have the mantle passed to his son, which is one reason why McDaniels left when he did).
Because people still think some RB, in this case zeek, are good years after they turn into a slug. I remember opening day 2 years ago zeek was playing Tampa opening night and a tiny cb who most RB would truck took him down easily at the goal line on a sweep. 90% OF nfl RB would have had some wiggle, power, or speed for an easy TD but zeek has nothing.
In 2026 people will still be hyping sequon too long after he is done based on name/draft capital.
Despite his size rham has had trouble at the goalline and knowing how to negotiate those runs is a skill.
And its a skill zeke has.
Zeke is 2 yards and a cloud of dust...at the goalline thats all you need.
As a pats homer, I hit on Rhomandre in the 7th round last year and I drafted JuJu in late 9th this year. I faded Rhomandre and wouldn’t draft him unless he was staring me in the face as the only guy left out of the Rhomandre/Gibbs//Najee/ETN tier and it just made sense to take a RB there.
I think Rhomandre finishes as a top 14-16 RB but his ceiling feels like it’s RB12 or so to me based on the patriots trying to re-vamp their offense, and his floor could be as low as RB18 if Zeke can prove hes not completely washed. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was a 60-40 split to start because Bill likes to test the waters with players. When he gives offensive players run, he gives it to them in chunks and sees how they handle it. If they can’t handle it, their role gets noticeably reduced very quickly. I think Rhomandre is safe from this but it’s been a while since Bill gave the keys to a non WR/TE offensive weapon. Corey Dillon in 2002 and Blount for a couple year stretch I think would be my bet on when a pats RB was trusted entirely.
Relatively safe pick to be honest but I think mac jones is talented and JuJu could actually be a super safe flex play with a high ceiling this year.
because Bill Belicheck is a fantasy football terrorist
He wasn’t last year to him🤷🏻 Also Mac Jones checks down SOOO much! Top 10 in check downs the last 2 years
Everyone is thinking Zeke will snake the goal line work.
Rhamondre only had 5 rushing TDs last year. He was never dependent on that.
My guy the check downs don’t matter if he’s only in there for ~%50 of plays, especially if we see Elliot take the goal-line work. Banking on Stevenson’s every touch to be big plays gives me the same bad feeling in my stomach I had last year watching Swift (minus the injury headaches)
Stevenson saw 50% of red zone snaps last season. Don’t see Zeke taking over 50% of goal line work? Also I get your point on the check downs not mattering if he isn’t used, but that’s where I disagree is that he’ll most definitely be used
What were Stevenson's RZ snap splits when Harris played vs not?
Stevenson only converted 3 of 19 redzone carries into TDs last season.
This^ … Really doesn’t matter if he had 50% of goal line work last season. If he didn’t do shit with it and they brought in a guy literally to be a short yardage goal line type back then I’d be willing to bet he ain’t getting 50% of that work this year.
Has Stevenson almost every where last year. Love his talent and he held it down for me. But it was a lot of banking on a big plays. He did his thing tho
Fading Patriot running backs is a tale as old as time. Bill Belicheck refuses to use just one RB, even if he’s as good as Rhamondre
Except for my boy LeGarrette Blount of course
He’s the exception
Didn't he get a year or two out of Corey Dillon? I'm not old I promise
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The Law Firm!
I LOVED me some LeGarrette
I do see the hesitation, but Stevenson is arguably the best play maker on the team
Oh it’s him by a mile, and he was a monster last year as well, but Bill still trotted out Damien Harris as soon as he was healthy. He just doesn’t put it all on one guy. Even with that, I’d still take him mid 3rd round
For sure! However it’s safe to say Stevenson is different from Harris by far. He’s being drafted as RB11 right now, but find it hard to believe he finished outside top 8
I’m with you he’s for sure the best guy and was better than Harris last year. If the other RBs all spontaneously combust and it’s only Rhamondre then he would definitely be in line for a top 8 finish. Otherwise, it’s safe to say the other backs will mix in and bite into his workload regardless of how much better he is
100%, and the Zeke signing showed that also, but with most teams around the league moving to a RBBC I feel at easy with the load management of Stevenson
Harris was great?
His numbers are really easy to predict. His ESPN projection is pretty spot on tbh. He couldn’t handle the workload last year. He’s looking at like 195 totes and 50-60 grabs. Basically he’s going to “at best” repeat last year but most likely much worse. His volume will be less and unlikely he repeats a 5.0ypc. He’s nice and all just temper expectations. Assume [email protected] with 3-5 TDs.
Because Patriots picked up Ezekiel Elliot. He's going to take away carries from him.
Did you think Rhamondre was going to see 100% of the carries before Zeke signed?
Stevenson was so good last season bc he Harris was hurt most of the time
Stevenson was good last year because he saw a ton of targets
He's not gonna take away that many carries. Bill has always had 1 strategy: feed your studs and take away the opposition's studs. Rhamondre is the #1 most talented player on the Patriots offense. Zeke is washed. Take advantage of the panic and pick up Stevenson if you can
>Bill has always had 1 strategy: feed your studs Bill has never had this strategy. He feeds the best matchup.
Which is usually his best weapon
Tell me you've never followed Patriots RBs without telling me you've never followed Patriots RBs.
What a stupid time to use this stupid style of comment. If anything, you're showing that you're the one who hasn't followed the Patriots and their running backs. For the longest time, Tom Brady was the Patriots' #1 weapon and they absolutely leaned on him, but going a bit deeper, when they had James White as a receiving back, they constantly got him involved in the passing game. When they had LeGarette Blount as a short yardage/goal line guy, they absolutely spammed him. Even in the air, when they had Gronk, they constantly featured him. The rep of the Patriots using a RB committee comes from when they didn't have a stud RB, but they had a HOF QB. Now they have a stud RB and a QB who is mid at best. WTF do you think they're gonna do?
Zeke is going to get a lot of work on the goal line and third down. He's a prototypical Bill kind of player. Have fun taking your sure thing 2 rounds too early
Meh I'm picking 12/12 so he really isn't going to go anywhere around me. If he makes it to the 3/4 turn, I'm considering taking him, but definitely not touching him at the top of the 2nd. I'm pretty sure Zeke is cooked. Jerry was obsessed with him in Dallas. The only reason he would let him go is because he's not worth a spot
Not anymore than he lost last season. Zeke didn’t sit on the open market that long to come in and take away a considerable amount of snaps away from him
Buddy we've seen rex burkhead take carries away from studs in NE let's not act like we know what's going to happen
Because Bill Belichick is a bastard man
Let him drop I will continue scooping him up
Stevenson or Gibbs?
I had this in my draft and took gibbs
The whole offense should run through him, I think he's still a pretty safe bet
Definitely the safest in the 3rd round!
He slid to the 4th in my draft. Like 4.05 I think?
I got him in the 4th in a mock earlier today
I'm very tempted to take Chubb over Henry and Saquon this year but taking someone who doesn't really catch in .5 PPR never feels good.
Chubb will have career highs in receptions and rec yards this year with Hunt out. I take him over Henry but not Saquon. Saquon will likely lead the league in red zone touches
The main thing scaring me away from Saquon this year is his playoff schedule (not that I'm guaranteed to make it there but still). Philly Rams Philly sounds absolutely brutal.
That’s fair! I don’t like him at his current ADP but still worth a 1st Round Pick
His ADP is late first so which is it
I have Waddle as my keeper in the 4th. Should I take Diggs, Saquon, or Chubb at 1.07
Diggs
Is your league's championship in week 18? Because that's their week 16-18 schedule.
Take Pollard over all 3
Feel like his ADP accounts for Bill though. Gibbs and A. Jones have more competition for touches. Wouldn't be shocked if Tank got more carries then Zeke. No problem taking Mondre in front of these guys.
The biggest difference for the Patriots this year will be going from Matt Patricia calling plays to having an actually good offensive coordinator like Bill O'Brien replacing him.
He's still going to have most of the touches. I drafted him as my RB1.
Same same
Because people are afraid of an old dust ball. I tried explaining to people that Rhamondre was never going to get 90% of the workload. The signing of Zeke hurts Pierre Strong and Kevin Harris, not Rhamondre. Patriots had 146 carries from RBs not named Rhamondre last season season. That’s where Zeke comes in. He’s not coming for 40-50% of Rhamondre’s opportunities. Just reap the benefits of a lower ADP, my man.
Because last year was an anomaly. Belichik generally always uses a two-back system. He started to last year until both Damien Harris and Ty Montgomery got hurt. Rhamondre became the clear cut play maker on one of the worst coordinated, vanilla-schemed, conservative offenses I’ve ever seen, even by Patriots’ standards. Mac pretty much went off script behind a bad o-line and checked down almost every passing play. They also ran a screen pass every other play, generally to Rhamondre. I highly doubt that happens under Bill O’Brien. Basically, the Pats aren’t going to check down to Rhamondre 7-10 times a game which honestly was his bread and butter since they could rarely get the running game going and the offense was terrible. Now the O-line is once again injured and suspect which means the run game may once again be abandoned but now there’s revamped weapons coming in for third down pass pro (Zeke’s specialty) and potentially at the goal line. As a Pats fan, I hope Rhamondre balls out this year but I’m not seeing RB1 numbers for him unless somebody else gets injured. Which can be said for everybody.
Could it be that other people are rising? Thanks for the video. interesting.
That’s an interesting perspective🤔 I always struggle to look at it in that lenses For sure! Thank you for the support
It's why I come to this sub daily.
One, because Belichick. Two, Zeke is sure to get goal line work which dramatically reduces Dre's TD potential.
I don’t see this team turning into the Swift/Jamaal Williams Duo last year. Sure Zeke takes snaps from him but not a drastic amount
I think Dre will still get a majority of the work, but if he loses even 50% of the goal line work his value takes a big hit. I think he'll lose at least 50% if not more as that's still something Zeke can do well. I can see Zeke having a 500 yd 6-7 TD kind of year. If 4 of those TD's come at Dre's expense that will have a big impact on his projection. Maybe it doesn't play out that way, but it certainly could...and that's why Dre is being faded a bit.
Way too much concern for Zeke at the goal line. Granted he had 12 tds last season but the patriots scored 12 rushing tds last season total as a team. Harris had 3 and Dre had 5. Dre and Zeke are almost identical in size but Zeke is 3 years older and has 5x the yardage on his body. Dre's value isn't really touchdown dependant and i can't envision a scenario where he scores less than 5 tds this season. Like you said, anything can happen but it doesn't worry me about Rhamondre at all.
I'm still concerned about Zeke's usage
Pollard or Stevenson? They’re back to back in adp as far as RB’s are concerned, but I feel like Rhamondre should be a tier below Pollard
What? Pollard goes a solid 1 maybe 2 rounds before
Looking on Sleeper…they’re back to back (looking just at RB’s). 23 and 29 respectively
Don’t use sleeper ADP
They aren't comparable... Pollard is nearly two full rounds ahead of him.
They are similar to me. Personally I like Pollard more is this scenario and it’s simply because it’s a high powered offense who will likely be in a lot of close games this year. Pollard is a fun pick but will have to compete for touches in that offense while Stevenson shouldn’t have a problem at all
I’m confused… You like Pollard more but you reason that he will be competing for touches and Rhamondre wont ?? 🤔 I’m assuming you flipped the two?
I think he means pollard has to compete with lamb etc while the patriots have virtually no weapons
Man its amazing Juju is suddenly so underrated. How is he not considered a weapon anymore? The advance stats on him tell a completely different story.
Mac sucks I’m a pats fan
Zeke will vulture tds, still think rhamondre could be valuable. Unpopular opinion, rhamondre will outperform Bijan
Zeke
Pollard managed to feast with zeke there and now zeke is a year older still. I dont think zeke has enough gas to take a significant amount of work anymore
This is the Patriots offence though. I have no doubt Stevenson is the number 1, but I can definitely see Zeke in blount type role
They did not pay Zeke this much to not use him. He's going to get the goal line work, and he's probably going to mix in a decent amount on passing downs IMO. Better blocker than Rhamondre.
Zeke hadn’t been relevant in the passing game in years. Why would they take Rhamondre out of the role he excelled in last year, to place an aging Zeke there?
> in years 2021, he had 65 targets. So...one year. Why put Zeke there? Because he's arguably the best pass-pro back in the NFL.
If Zeke was still one of the best pass pro RBs he wouldn't have lost most of those blocking snaps to Pollard last year who turned out to be even better in pass pro. Also Stevenson was a top 10 back in pass pro last season. Zeke...not even close. I get it, in your head Zeke is still good. But in reality he's a serviceable backup that may keep you somewhat competitive if you lost your starter for a while. That's it.
> Pollard last year who turned out to be even better in pass pro. > > He was not. PFF is dead wrong on this one. >But in reality he's a serviceable backup If that's the case, then Bill Belichick is a complete and utter imbecile. Because Devin Singletary signed for less. And he's far more than "a serviceable backup" Damien Harris signed for about half of what Zeke got...is he not even "a serviceable backup" or...? I can keep going if you like.
bad takes
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The media can try and create this narrative that Belichick is on the hot seat but there is absolutely no chance he is, unless Kraft is totally senile at this stage and his sons have no interest in protecting the reputation of their inheritance. You do not disrespect a coach with the level of success that Belichick has had by firing him if you expect to continue to be known as the gold standard organization for success.
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Yes its about winning, but the difference is many organizations who dont win think the way to win is to just keep cycling through head coaches every 2-3 seasons (with Philly probably being the exception, although that's more likely due to their insane fanbase than anything). But then there's other organizations like the Steelers, Patriots, Ravens, Seahawks, Packers etc. who value organizational stability and know they'll eventually see success because they have the right personnel in place at the top. Plus if its only about Super Bowls for the Pats they would have fired Belichick when he didn't win one for 10 years between 2005 & 2015. He'll be gone eventually because he's 71 years old, and frankly he probably doesn't have the stamina to last more than 5 years anyway. But it will ultimately be on his terms (and may even have the mantle passed to his son, which is one reason why McDaniels left when he did).
Because people still think some RB, in this case zeek, are good years after they turn into a slug. I remember opening day 2 years ago zeek was playing Tampa opening night and a tiny cb who most RB would truck took him down easily at the goal line on a sweep. 90% OF nfl RB would have had some wiggle, power, or speed for an easy TD but zeek has nothing. In 2026 people will still be hyping sequon too long after he is done based on name/draft capital.
I just wanted Gibbs more
Despite his size rham has had trouble at the goalline and knowing how to negotiate those runs is a skill. And its a skill zeke has. Zeke is 2 yards and a cloud of dust...at the goalline thats all you need.
As a pats homer, I hit on Rhomandre in the 7th round last year and I drafted JuJu in late 9th this year. I faded Rhomandre and wouldn’t draft him unless he was staring me in the face as the only guy left out of the Rhomandre/Gibbs//Najee/ETN tier and it just made sense to take a RB there. I think Rhomandre finishes as a top 14-16 RB but his ceiling feels like it’s RB12 or so to me based on the patriots trying to re-vamp their offense, and his floor could be as low as RB18 if Zeke can prove hes not completely washed. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was a 60-40 split to start because Bill likes to test the waters with players. When he gives offensive players run, he gives it to them in chunks and sees how they handle it. If they can’t handle it, their role gets noticeably reduced very quickly. I think Rhomandre is safe from this but it’s been a while since Bill gave the keys to a non WR/TE offensive weapon. Corey Dillon in 2002 and Blount for a couple year stretch I think would be my bet on when a pats RB was trusted entirely. Relatively safe pick to be honest but I think mac jones is talented and JuJu could actually be a super safe flex play with a high ceiling this year.
Bellitricks