The Patriots have a TreVeyon Henderson issue, and it showed up in the worst possible place: pass protection.
For New England, this is the kind of problem that can quietly reshape an offense. Henderson is still one of the team’s most dangerous players with the ball in his hands, giving the Patriots juice as both a runner and a receiver. But when the game gets into obvious passing downs, his struggles in protection are making it harder to keep him on the field.
Thursday night against the Chicago Bears put that issue in plain view.
“TreVeyon Henderson got an 8.6 grade in pass pro tonight. 8.6 out of 100.
Was also the worst graded Patriot on offense. Completely unplayable in passing situations. https://t.co/YoixTXvACs”
That’s the tension for New England: Henderson brings the kind of explosiveness the Patriots drafted him for, but that same value can disappear if he can’t be trusted to hold up in pass pro. If he’s not staying in to block, defenses can start treating his snaps like run tells.
That matters even more for an offense built around Drake Maye, especially with defenses already trying to heat up a Patriots offensive line dealing with injuries. If opponents know Henderson won’t be asked to protect on passing downs, they can sell out against the run and make life easier on the defense.
This hasn’t been limited to one night, either. Henderson has had trouble winning the coaching staff’s trust in the passing game, while Rhamondre Stevenson has stayed the more dependable option in those spots.
Of course, Stevenson brings his own problem: he can’t be on the field for everything. He is clearly the back New England trusts most in passing situations, but the Patriots also need Henderson’s burst to keep the offense from bogging down and becoming too easy to read.
That leaves Mike Vrabel and the Patriots stuck in the middle. If Henderson stays out there, the defense gets a clue. If he’s taken off the field on passing downs, New England becomes more predictable and leans even harder on Stevenson.
For now, there isn’t a clean answer. The Patriots need Henderson to become much more dependable as a pass blocker, because sitting one of their most explosive offensive players in obvious passing situations is not a long-term fix. Until that changes, New England is living with a real TreVeyon Henderson problem.
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