Opinion: TreVeyon Henderson is emerging as an elite NFL running back

TreVeyon Henderson (Bobak Ha'Eri, Wikimedia Commons)

One of the biggest surprises of the 2025 National Football League season has been the play of the New England Patriots. Head coach Mike Vrabel of Akron, Ohio is doing an incredible job, and we are seeing the emergence of Drake Maye of Charlotte, North Carolina as a premier quarterback.

On Thursday in a 27-14 Patriots win over the New York Jets, the New England star was rookie running back TreVeyon Henderson of Hopewell, Virginia. Henderson found the end zone thrice in the 13-point New England win. With the victory, the Patriots improved to a record of nine wins and two losses. They are now winners of eight straight games and remarkably are the best team in the entire NFL.

What Henderson was able to accomplish on Thursday night under the prime time lights in Foxborough deserved high praise indeed. He had three consecutive major scores. Henderson tied the game at seven on a seven yard rush 44 seconds into the second quarter. He then put the Patriots up 14-7 on another seven yard rush with seven minutes and 54 seconds left in the first half. Then Henderson had his first career touchdown catch. With seven minutes and 46 seconds left in the third quarter, Maye found Henderson wide open, standing all alone by himself in the end zone, for a six yard completed pass. At the time, the Patriots took a 21-7 lead.

Henderson was the Patriots’s second round pick, 38th overall, in the 2025 NFL Draft out of Ohio State. For the season, he has 100 rushes for 492 rushing yards and five touchdowns, along with 26 catches for 165 receiving yards and one major score. The Patriots have a lot to get excited about their rookie running back phenom.