It’s barely been half a season and Patriots fourth-round running back Rhamondre Stevenson’s rookie year has already been quite a rollercoaster ride.
Stevenson found himself on the inactive list for three straight weeks – and likely in Bill Belichick’s doghouse – after fumbling the ball away to the Dolphins in the season opener.
Since then he’s seen his role within the offense grow at times, bringing impact plays to backing up starter Damien Harris.
Then, last week, Stevenson missed practice while in concussion protocols only to be cleared in time to start Sunday’s blowout win over the Browns, a game in which he scored a pair of rushing touchdowns and notched the first 100-yard rushing performance of his young career.
Joining the Mut at Night program on WEEI as he does each and every Monday during the Patriots season, New England captain Matthew Slater had nothing but praise for the way Stevenson has navigated his rookie season to date.
“’Mondre has done a great job of taking tough coaching and applying it and getting better,” Slater said. “I can’t remember a time where a rookie has improved almost every single day the way that ’Mondre has. It’s been encouraging to see him really respond to that. Again, another guy who carries himself with a great deal of humility. Just has continually gotten better each and every day. Now, we really depend on this young man every week to go out and perform at a high level. And he’s done that so far. So, great deal of toughness coming back last week out of the protocol. Gave us a big boost [against the Browns]. Ran the ball extremely well and played physical. It was great to see.”
After his 20-carry, 100-yard effort to beat Cleveland, Stevenson now has carried the ball 55 times for 236 yards (4.3 avg.) with three touchdowns while adding 11 catches for 111 yards (10.1 avg.).
