Rhamondre Stevenson expected to play Week 1

Patriots RB Rhamondre Stevenson (illness) "should play" vs. the Eagles today, NFL Network's Ian Rapoport tweets. Stevenson popped up on Friday's injury report but never seemed in danger of missing this one. He can stay in Week 1 fantasy lineups.

The Patriots named Alex Van Pelt their new OC under HC Jerod Mayo. Van Pelt spent the last four seasons as Cleveland's OC, although he didn't call plays for the Browns. Van Pelt did call plays for the Bills way back in 2009. That team finished 30th in total yards and 28th in points under QBs Ryan Fitzpatrick and Trent Edwards. Van Pelt worked as QBs coach for the Bucs, Packers, and Bengals in between his OC stints and is expected to bring a West Coast offense to New England. We'll see what the Patriots do at QB this offseason. They hold the third overall pick and will have a crack at USC's Caleb Williams, North Carolina's Drake Maye, and/or LSU's Jayden Daniels.

The Patriots are set to hire Jerod Mayo as their new HC, ESPN's Adam Schefter reports. Mayo has been a lifelong Patriot. He was drafted by the team in 2008, played all eight seasons of his career in New England, and then spent the last five years as their inside LBs coach. The team had reportedly been planning for Mayo to succeed Bill Belichick for a while. We'll see what changes Mayo makes to the rest of the coaching staff, particularly whether he keeps OC Bill O'Brien.

The Patriots placed RB Rhamondre Stevenson (ankle) on IR. He'll end up missing the final five games of the season. Stevenson got off to a brutally slow start this year, averaging just 60 total yards over his first eight games. He got rolling over his final three healthy games, though, averaging 91 rushing yards per game on 5.5 yards per carry plus 4.0 catches and 21.7 receiving yards per game. We'll see what New England adds to the backfield this offseason, but Stevenson figures to play a significant role again in 2024. Ezekiel Elliott will finish out this season as the Patriots' lead back. See where he sits in the Week 17 RB Rankings.

Patriots RB Rhamondre Stevenson (ankle) remained sidelined all week and is out for Sunday night’s game vs. the Broncos. That means another start for RB Ezekiel Elliott. We’ve seen his ceiling and floor the past two games: 140 total yards and a score in Week 14; 46 scoreless yards in Week 15.

Patriots RB Rhamondre Stevenson (ankle) is out for Sunday’s game vs. the Chiefs. He remained sidelined in practice all week and doesn’t look particularly close to a return. Ezekiel Elliott will get another game as feature back this weekend after racking up 22 carries and eight targets on a 91% snap rate last week.