It was a good night for Patriots rookie running back Rhamondre Stevenson, the fourth-round pick from Oklahoma who gained 665 yards and scored seven touchdowns on 101 carries for the Sooners in 2019, despite missing the first five games of that season due to a failed drug test. Against the Washington Football Team in his NFL debut, Stevenson gained 127 yards on just 10 carries, and scored the Patriots’ only two touchdowns in their 22-13 win.
Stevenson’s first touchdown was this one-yarder early in the fourth quarter…
PATRIOTS TD! @dreeday32 | #WASvsNE
📺: @wbzsports / @nflnetwork / Patriots app pic.twitter.com/nYUSKEOypv
— New England Patriots (@Patriots) August 13, 2021
…and then, with 1:04 left in the game, and the ball at the Patriots’ nine-yard line, Stevenson blew past Washington’s backup defense for this 91-yard scamper.
RHAMONDRE STEVENSON COAST TO COST
BOOMER SOONER
— PFF College (@PFF_College) August 13, 2021
The speed on the long run shouldn’t be a surprise. As I noted in my pre-draft scouting report of Stevenson, he brings surprising gap-jumping agility and downfield acceleration for a 6-foot-0. 229-pound back.
My scouting report on Rhamondre Stevenson. https://t.co/PLe9qGIZD4 pic.twitter.com/gYbk5UmWZd
— Doug Farrar (@NFL_DougFarrar) August 13, 2021
Last season, per Sports Info Solutions, 393 of Stevenson’s 665 rushing yards came after first contact, and 173 of his yards came on eight carries of 10 yards or more. So, the explosiveness he showed on that long, game-sealing touchdown shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise.
Stevenson is competing for reps in an interesting running back room that includes Damien Harris, Sony Michel. and James White. There isn’t a defined bell-cow back in that rotation — Harris was the closest last season — and Stevenson does bring the ability to run effectively behind both zone and gap schemes, and some juice as a receiver. Certainly, he’s started off the right way.
