The New England Patriots have a lot of areas to address in the NFL Draft, and one of those areas is the running back position. With Rhamondre Stevenson and Antonio Gibson on the roster, a potential move would threaten their workload in the 2025 season.

According to Alex Barth, writer and podcaster for 985TheSportsHub, Vrabel said that he thinks the Patriots will pick a running back in the draft. Barth also provided a quote from Vrabel talking about Stevenson and the current backfield.

“Having a good young runner is potentially something that we’d like to do – the guys coming back, Rhamondre and [Gibson], I think were a good one-two punch.”

In 2024, Stevenson finished with 801 rushing yards, while Gibson finished with 538 yards. The overall running game suffered from a combination of poor offensive line play and neither running back taking complete ownership of the backfield.

Barth also mentions that Vrabel said that Stevenson knows he needs to do a better job of holding onto the football. In 2024, Stevenson had seven fumbles, which led all running backs in the NFL.

The fumbling issues for Stevenson have been present throughout his entire career, but his 2024 was the worst year of his career. Across his four-year career, Stevenson has 14 total fumbles, with half of them occurring in 2024.

His fumbling issues, combined with a lackluster season running the ball, makes the running back position one to strongly consider in the NFL Draft for the Patriots front office.

In a very strong running back class according to most draft analysts, the Patriots likely can find a good running back on day two or day three. Pairing a good young running back alongside Drake Maye would make a lot of sense for the Patriots.

The first round of the 2025 NFL Draft is on Thursday, April 24th. The Patriots would likely begin their search for a new running back in rounds two and three of the NFL Draft on Friday, April 25th.