TreVeyon Henderson has been so good he has Mike Vrabel acting pretty out of character
Mike Vrabel had some eye-catching praise for Patriots rookie TreVeyon Henderson this week
While the MVP-caliber play of quarterback Drake Maye has caught the league by storm, the New England Patriots have a slew of young budding stars on both sides of the ball whose play has helped catapult them to an 11-2 start. The Patriots are playing the second-most rookies in the league, behind only the Cleveland Browns, and one of those rookies has unlocked an entirely new element of their offense-drawing high praise from head coach Mike Vrabel along the way.
Rookie running back TreVeyon Henderson has had his light switch click on in recent weeks, and his explosiveness as a rusher has played a factor in elevating New England’s offense to one of the most complete units in the league.
On Monday Night Football, announcer Joe Buck let it slip that Vrabel compared Henderson to one of the best running backs in the NFL in Jahmyr Gibbs of the Detroit Lions. While it’s high praise, it’s certainly not without some very intriguing parallels between the two.
TreVeyon Henderson could be one of the league’s best
It’s a lofty comparison, as you could argue that Jahmyr Gibbs is the best non-Jonathan Taylor running back in the league right now and is one of the best overall playmakers in the league. Gibbs is overall faster, there’s no doubt about that, but Henderson has a bit more power to his game, and they are both elite explosive threats who can take every touch to the house. Their roles are fairly similar in their offenses as well.
In many ways, the duo of Henderson and Rhamondre Stevenson are very similar to Gibbs and David Montgomery in Detroit. Henderson and Gibbs handle a lot of receiving duties and are superb talents that are home-run threats on any given carry, while Stevenson and Montgomery are excellent in pass protection and goal-line duties that their teams turn to when they need to wear down opposing defenses. It’s very much a Thunder & Lightning type scenario. Henderson is still gaining more and more reps, but he’s right behind Gibbs in several meaningful metrics like rushing EPA, success rate, and rushing yards over expectation and is in or just outside the top ten of several other metrics despite a much lower rate of attempts than others ahead of him.
It’s lofty praise for the rookie, but the similarities are plain to see. As Henderson continues to grow and adjust to the NFL, his NFL ceiling very well could be in the same tier as Gibbs as one of the best running backs in the league.
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