Pierre Strong Jr. talks about taking advantage of the opportunity for him and Kevin Harris while Rhamondre Stevenson has limited participation during Patriots’ practice.
Rhamondre Stevenson is in line for a breakout season.
Don't just take it from us -- ask NBC Sports analyst Matthew Berry.
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The acclaimed fantasy football guru praised the rising third-year running back in a recent column, "100 Facts You Need to Know Before You Draft," mentioning Stevenson and the Patriots for fact Nos. 57-61. Additionally, Berry ranked Stevenson as his No. 10 running back in his preseason positional rankings. Let's break Berry's Stevenson facts down one by one:
"57. Last year only four running backs had at least four games with 65 rushing yards and four receptions: Christian McCaffrey, Saquon Barkley, Josh Jacobs and… Rhamondre Stevenson."
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That's an elite trio of running backs mentioned alongside Stevenson. McCaffrey is known as one of the league's best backs, largely due to his prowess as both a runner and pass-catcher. Barkley just received a raise from the Giants after a career season where he had 1,312 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns. Then there's Jacobs, who led the NFL with 1,653 rushing yards in 2022. Pretty good company for Stevenson.
"58. Rhamondre Stevenson’s 17% target share last year was third highest among running backs."
Stevenson took a massive step forward as a receiver last season, which is evident by that statistic. Target share measures the percentage of all passing targets directed at a particular player. If a player has a higher target share, it's likely that the player is a trusted (and open) weapon for the quarterback. Stevenson had 69 receptions and 421 receiving yards on 88 targets last season after totaling 14 receptions and 123 yards on 18 targets as a rookie.
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"59. Last year, Rhamondre Stevenson had 15+ touches in 14 of 17 games."
Similar to the last point, this is more evidence that Stevenson had the ball in his hands a lot last season. Berry touches on it last with fact No. 61, but the Patriots' offseason moves signal that those numbers could only increase in 2023.
"60. Since 2017, no team averages more PPR points per game from the RB position than… the New England Patriots."
The Patriots have cycled through a number of running backs over the last six seasons. Even so, the position remains productive for fantasy football when using a PPR (point per reception) format -- whether it's been Dion Lewis, James White, Rex Burkhead, Brandon Bolden and now Stevenson.
"61. With Damien Harris moving onto Buffalo, the Patriots current running back room contains Pierre Strong who has 10 career carries, 5-foot-6, 190-pound J.J. Taylor and Ty Montgomery, who, since 2018 has more receiving yards than rushing yards."
This is perhaps the most important point when considering Stevenson for fantasy football. While the Patriots have flirted with Ezekiel Elliott, Dalvin Cook and Leonard Fournette, they remain committed to Stevenson as their RB1. There isn't a lot of experience behind Stevenson, with Strong and Kevin Harris playing sparingly as rookies last season.
It's far too soon to start drafting your fantasy football teams, but it's already obvious that Stevenson could be one of the league's best running backs.
