TreVeyon Henderson is incredibly gifted as an athlete, and he has talent. But he has also been incredibly underwhelming during his second season with the New England Patriots, and it's a bit of a concern.
As a rookie last year, Henderson ran for 911 yards on 180 attempts and nine touchdowns in 17 games (though this is a bit misleading, given that he was inconsistent all season and was either a home-run hitter or a strikeout-on-three-pitches type of player; he ran for 76 yards on 30 attempts in the playoffs). He showed glimpses of potential and had a ton of flashes (see: his four two-touchdown games), but he had his flaws.
The Ohio State alum was awful in pass protection and had terrible field vision. He could outrun everybody on the field, but if he didn't have a gap the size of The Great Khali to run through, it wasn't going to matter. He wouldn't have been able to do anything with it.
Unfortunately for Henderson and the Patriots, we are over a quarter into his second NFL season, and things do not look much better, if at all.
TreVeyon Henderson has been abysmal with the Patriots this season
Through six games so far, Henderson has recorded 203 yards on 52 attempts and one touchdown (it was a 39-yard rushing touchdown; if you take that away, he is rushing for 164 yards on 51 attempts -- 3.2 rushing yards per attempt).
The Virginia native is terribly inefficient with the ball. He is one of the worst pass-blocking running backs in the league. And to be direct, he's just not good enough to be a legitimate NFL-level player (at least not yet--he just turned 24 years old on Thursday night).
Against the Chicago Bears in Week 7, Henderson rushed for nine yards on three attempts. He only played 24% of snaps (for context: Rhamondre Stevenson played 69%, and Corey Kiner played 11%; some of this could be attributed to his apparent high-ankle sprain, but his ankle doesn't impact his vision or IQ), and it's looking like he's losing some trust within the coaching staff, which is understandable.
Stevenson is a good running back. He's not a great one. His starting job isn't set in stone, and that's what makes Henderson's underwhelming performances so much more brutal. It's also telling that New England is starting to add Kiner to the mix a little bit more, and it really wouldn't be all that surprising if he leapfrogs Henderson on the depth chart at some point.
There's still time for TreVeyon Henderson to turn it around with Patriots
It's only his second season. He's still young. A lot of his flaws are fixable. And you can't teach the explosiveness and athleticism he has. There is still a world where Henderson isn't a bust and turns into a real asset in New England.
Things don't look great for him right now, but it's too early to give up on Henderson. He was a second-round pick just a year ago, and it's not like it's been all bad for him in the NFL so far.
But he still has a ton of work to do, and until he figures things out, it wouldn't be much of a surprise if he's out of New England sooner than expected.
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