Ball security concerns are back on the menu for Rhamondre Stevenson.
Stevenson, who led all NFL running backs with seven fumbles in 2024, put the ball on the ground two times against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday. Both of them were recovered by the opponent, thus playing a major role Patriots’ 21-14 loss in Week 3.
The two turnovers set the tone for New England on a five-giveaway day, but both head coach Mike Vrabel and quarterback Drake Maye expressed their support for Stevenson afterwards.
“He’s
one of our best players. There’s nothing that I think he can do that would change my view of him as a player, as a teammate. He does everything the right way,” said Maye.
“He knows just as much as we know: ball security is the No. 1 thing as a running back. He’s had a great season and a great last weekend. That’s this league. One week you play a heck of a game and he was on the right track this game, and that happens. He knows just as much as anybody else. I just pump him up, be there for him, and I know we need him throughout the season.”
Stevenson entered the 2025 season off a few challenging months both on a professional and personal level, but there was optimism inside Gillette Stadium that he would be able to return to form under new head coach Mike Vrabel and offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels. He was quiet in the season opener against Las Vegas, but followed it up with one of the most productive games of his career — a 142-yard outing in a win over Miami in Week 2.
The arrow was pointing up for Stevenson at that point, but Sunday’s performance against the Steelers was a step back again. It also was a frustrating development considering his history of ball security issues dating back to his 2021 rookie year.
“We were so excited about him and everybody is excited about him, the fans are, and we know what his capabilities are,” said Mike Vrabel. “We’ve got to get him back. We need him. We absolutely need him. You see what he was able to do for us last week, his ability to make some plays.”
Sunday’s fumbles were the 15th and 16th of Stevenson’s career in the NFL. Dating back to the start of the 2024 season, he has fumbled the ball every 30th touch, on average.
The Patriots know they need to improve that number, and his ball security as a whole.
“We’ll just have to look at the technique and we’ll have to look at the ball security,” added Vrabel. “We’re going to need him. We need his ability, but we also need to take care of the football. It’s a long answer to tell you that I’m not really sure 20 minutes after the game what we’re going to do, but we need him because he helped us win the game last week, and it was a different story today.”
