Rhamondre Stevenson reminds Bill Belichick of an old-school Hall-of-Famer

"This guy kind of reminds me of John Riggins when Riggins was with the Jets when he was younger."

A former Super Bowl MVP came to mind for Bill Belichick while analyzing film of Patriots’ running back Rhamondre Stevenson during a recent episode of his show “Coach with Bill Belichick.”

“This guy kind of reminds me of John Riggins when Riggins was with the Jets when he was younger,” Belichick said. “It’s hard to get Stevenson on the ground. It was hard to get Riggins on the ground. A lot of times, the tackle was just to push him out of bounds.”

Riggins, a 6-foot-2, 230-pound tailback, was nicknamed “The Diesel” during his playing days because of his bruising running style.

He was the No. 6 overall pick in the 1971 NFL draft and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1992 after a 14-year career with the Jets and Washington. He was named MVP of Super Bowl XVII after running for 166 yards and a touchdown in Washington’s victory over the Miami Dolphins.

Belichick drafted Stevenson in the fourth-round in the 2021 draft and coached him up until last season.

“He has unbelievable contact balance,” former Patriots assistant coach Matt Patricia said. “We obviously spent a lot of time on this guy, targeted him and we really enjoyed our time with him in the draft process. One of the things where he did a great job was just getting him to stay north and south.”

“He’s one of those guys where I’m sure (Belichick) brought a roadmap in there and we put it up there in front of the team and just pointed out ‘hey, this is north, this is east and west, this is not where you want to go, the endzone is down there … once that clicked for him you just saw a big difference in his ability.”

Stevenson has been arguably the Patriots’ most productive offensive player this season, logging more rushing yards than the Patriots’ top two receiving targets (Hunter Henry and DeMario Douglas) have receiving yards combined. He has struggled to hold onto the ball, fumbling in all three games, but his rushing ability is one of the few bright spots in an offense that is really struggling.

Belichick was looking at film of the Patriots’ season-opening win against the Bengals. Stevenson rushed for 120 yards and a touchdown in the 16-10 win. He praised various aspects of Stevenson’s game such as jump cuts, keeping his pads low, and running hard down hill.

Patricia called Stevenson a “unique player.” Belichick said Stevenson also reminded him of another former Patriot tailback.

“This guy reminds me a little bit of Corey Dillon, another big back we had in New England that ran for 1,600 yards,” Belichick said. “Just a tremendous player. Great size, great power, balance. Corey Dillon was a man. I’d still give it to him on 4th-and-1.”