The New England Patriots surprisingly made it all the way to the Super Bowl last year on the back of an unsustainable year from Drake Maye. Luckily, they added a stud wide receiver in A.J. Brown to make that unsustainability a bit more sustainable. But what about the rest of the team, for fantasy football purposes? Let’s take a look at the 2026 New England Patriots’ fantasy football sleeper, undervalued, and overvalued players!
Sleeper: Romeo Doubs, Wide Receiver (WR51, Pick 123 OVR)
There was a brief moment where Romeo Doubs was the Patriots’ wide receiver one after they signed him away from the Packers to the tune of a four year, $68 million contract. While A.J. Brown is going to soak up all the targets—and the coverage—Doubs will reap the benefits. He finished as WR37 last year, despite getting only 85 targets. He’s a red zone beast, ranking in the top-fifteen in red zone targets in each of his last two full seasons. Doubs also ranked top-25 in average depth of target last season, as he made his way further downfield after being outside the top-35 in each of the two seasons prior.
Ultimately, Doubs was a part-time player who averaged 1.95 fantasy points per target last season (21st), which indicates that a bigger role could pay dividends. He did that on a much worse offense in Green Bay, compared to how the Patriots offense was moving last season. If he gets that same role on the 2026 Patriots, as the defense gives its attention to A.J. Brown, then top-25 is in the cards for Doubs.
Undervalued: Rhamondre Stevenson, Running Back (RB30, Pick 71 OVR)
Overvalued: TreVeyon Henderson, Running Back (RB21, Pick 50 OVR)
I’m lumping these two together, because their values are intrinsically linked for 2026 fantasy football, so let’s recap the basic and advanced statistics for TreVeyon Henderson and Rhamondre Stevenson, and see why Rhamondre might be the better pick at his ADP.
The running back room was split down the middle last season, with many folks getting upset that Rhamondre Stevenson stymied a TreVeyon Henderson breakout, as both had about half the opportunity share (49% for Henderson, 45% for Stevenson). But, I don’t really see that changing this season, as the Patriots made it all the way to the… *checks notes* Super Bowl?!
If you listen to the haters, TreVeyon Henderson was bad last year. But, he finished the year rushing for 911 yards at 5.1 yards per carry. He just didn’t beat out Rhamondre Stevenson (48.9% opportunity share). But, how was he on a per-touch basis? Among the 49 backs with at least 100 carries last season, he was twelfth in explosive run rate, twentieth in success rate, thirty-second in juke rate, and dead last in yards after contact per attempt.
Let’s compare that to Rhamondre Stevenson, who we left for dead after the Henderson draft pick. Rhamondre ranked twenty-second in success rate, and fifth in explosive run rate, juke rate, and yards after contact per attempt. On a down-to-down, and on a big play, basis, Rhamondre was the more successful back last season. In terms of money opportunities, they also tilted Rhamondre’s way, as he had seven goal-line carries to four for Henderson, and Rhamondre running 17 routes per game to TreVeyon’s 13.
All this adds up to Rhamondre eking out TreVeyon Henderson in points per game, as Rhamondre finished as RB21, and Hendo RB24. And again, this is with TreVeyon winning the touch battle. Unfortunately (or fortunately, for you), drafters are drafting as though Henderson won the backfield from Stevenson.
Ultimately, I thought I liked Henderson at his cost, and I still might, but he strikes me as a more talented Chuba: a guy stuck in a time share despite everyone desperately hoping he wasn’t.
I do, however, want to slam the draft button when it comes to Rhamondre at his cost, going off the board as RB30.
