According to their team website, Patriots HC Jerod Mayo has decided to bench RB Rhamondre Stevenson in favor of RB Antonio Gibson in Week 5 due to ball security concerns.
“I had a conversation with Rhamondre ( Stevenson) and quite frankly this week he won’t be starting,” Mayo said. “And I’ll just be very upfront and, you know, very transparent. But he will play. And he understands that, you know, he has to protect the football going forward. And it’s a mentality at this point. It’s an awareness at this point. It’s really not much more to do about, you know, technique or anything like that. It’s just knowing, you know, you’re a target on a week-after-week basis as soon as you show that you’re gonna put the ball on the ground.”
Stevenson commented on fumbling the ball four times, once in each of the first four weeks of the season.
“I’m super tough on myself,” Stevenson said on Wednesday. “I’m more disappointed in myself than anyone could ever be. It’s very simple: I just have to hold on to the ball and have that mentality to come up with the ball every time. It’s my job to do that and I haven’t been doing it well.”
Stevenson, 26, was selected by the Patriots in the fourth round of the 2021 NFL Draft out of Oklahoma. He was in the final year of a four-year, $4,229,057 rookie contract that included a $749,057 signing bonus when he signed an extension with New England.
He signed a four-year, $36 million contract with the Patriots back in June that includes $17 million guaranteed.
In 2024, Stevenson has appeared in four games and recorded 65 rush attempts for 267 yards (4.1 YPC) and two touchdowns, to go along with nine receptions for 34 yards.
We will have more on the Patriots’ running back situation as it becomes available.
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