TreVeyon Henderson was apparently a popular draft pick as the New England Patriots turned down multiple deals to draft him in the second round. The Patriots are going to find out really quickly, though, that workload could be an issue with Henderson.
This past season, Henderson had a running mate in now-Cleveland Browns running back Quinshon Judkins. Having Judkins alleviated some of the workload for him, while it didn’t affect his production, it’s maybe something to keep in mind this season as he’ll most likely get most of the reps.
The Patriots still have Rhamondre Stevenson, which could be a similar scenario to his last year at Ohio State. Henderson hasn’t had a season with more than 183 carries. That could be a cause for concern for the Patriots if they want him to be a true feature back in the offense.
Patriots may have a workload issue with TreVeyon Henderson
It may not be something to worry heavily about, but rather something to keep an eye on. Henderson has been a feature back, but hasn’t had to carry the ball upwards of 18 times per game. In the NFL, that could very well be what the Patriots are looking for out of him.
This past season, if you look at the top 20 running backs in the country, just one had less than 200 carries and that was Issac Brown from Louisville. Two of them had over 300 carries, one being Ashton Jeanty. Again, it’s not like that will be a big deal, but it’s something to monitor. New England might have to manage that and that could be a problem.
It could affect his durability too. The last few Ohio State running backs have had a lot of injury issues, which could be linked to the reduced role in college. J.K. Dobbins has had injuries throughout his entire NFL career as has Trey Sermon.
Hopefully Henderson isn’t the next. Where it could be a problem is if Henderson does start strong this year, he could be an asset to the offense to take pressure off of Drake Maye. By that logic, his usage would go up.
This is all speculative though. He could end up not having a usage issue, despite not having a lot of carries throughout his collegiate career. He still eclipsed 1,000 rushing yards in two of his four seasons. And because of his role as a pass catcher in the backfield, that could contribute to his usage as well, taking less of a toll on him running between the tackles.