04-06-2025
Patriots Assistant Coach Glad To 'Reconnect' With TreVeyon Henderson
The New England Patriots turned to former Ohio State running back TreVeyon Henderson at pick No. 38 ... More overall in the 2025 NFL draft. (Photo by Danielle Parhizkaran/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
Tony Dews had done his homework on the No. 38 overall pick in the 2025 NFL draft.
For the veteran running backs coach, who was hired by the New England Patriots in January, that homework got underway several stops ago. Back when the College Football Playoff national champion now in his room was being recruited out of Hopewell High School in Virginia.
It's now time to see what comes of it with TreVeyon Henderson.
'It's exciting,' Dews told reporters during Monday's session of organized team activities outside Gillette Stadium. 'You know, as assistant coaches, you evaluate the guys that they give you to evaluate and you have an opinion on them. At the end of the day, we're going to coach whoever they put in our room. But certainly, he was a guy that had done some really good things in college, and he fits some of the needs that we felt like we could address with our running back situation. So, I was very excited about it.'
Henderson, 22, once stood as the top running back in his recruiting class. The five-star went on to commit to Ohio State. Soon after enrolling in January 2021, he earned a spot on the Freshman All-American team. His tenure would go on to bring second-team, first-team and honorable mention All-Big Ten selections.
The career in Columbus spanned 47 appearances, 38 starts, 4,614 scrimmage yards and 48 touchdowns across 667 touches. Henderson averaged 6.37 yards per rushing attempt and turned 77 receptions into 853 yards.
'I tried to recruit him back in high school years ago when I was at West Virginia,' said Dews, who was the running backs coach for the Mountaineers in 2017 before entering the NFL ranks with head coach Mike Vrabel's former Tennessee Titans. 'He snubbed me. But it was good to be able to reconnect with him. Obviously, I'm very excited about him and what he may be able to do to help us going forward.'
The Buckeyes team captain shared the backfield with Cleveland Browns second-round draft pick Quinshon Judkins as a senior last fall. A home run of an NFL Scouting Combine, led by a 40-yard dash of 4.43 seconds and a 10-yard split of 1.51 seconds, followed.
Henderson, whose rookie contract in Foxborough remains unsigned, now finds himself on a depth chart that features extended starter Rhamondre Stevenson, veteran change of pace Antonio Gibson as well as Terrell Jennings, Trayveon Williams and Len Larison.
'First and foremost, he's a great human being, he's a great person, great kid,' Dews said. 'And then obviously the physical attributes. He's certainly fast. He brings a speed element to our team that obviously anytime you can get a guy that's as fast as he is, it is beneficial for the whole offensive unit and on special teams. And then, he obviously caught the ball well out of the backfield. He did a really good job, I thought, in pass protection. And in my time that I got to spend with him, he seemed to pick up concepts fairly quickly.
'So, with all those things, you feel like you're getting a good prospect and we'll have to see how it materializes from there.'
