FOXBORO — If the Patriots had 53 players like Antonio Gibson on their roster, they’d be in pretty good shape.
The Patriots veteran running back — one of Eliot Wolf’s top additions this offseason — has been one of the team’s best players since the halfway point of the season, though he’s still fighting for snaps and touches in a struggling offense.
Gibson has carried the ball 86 times this season for 406 yards and a touchdown while averaging 4.7 yards per carry. The former college wide receiver has caught just 17 passes for 178 yards.
Since Week 10, Gibson ranks third among qualified running backs with 5.9 yards per carry, eighth with a 79.4 PFF grade, fourth with a 80.0 run grade, first with 5.1 yards after contact per carry, first with missed tackles forced on 58.6% of his rushing attempts and has no fumbles and no drops.
That’s come with what Gibson called a “change in my mindset and how I approach things.”
Gibson wasn’t happy with how he was playing. So he made changes.
“I don’t think it’s much to it. I feel like it honestly comes down to if you want to change what you’re doing or you don’t, and that’s as simple as it gets,” Gibson said. “You’re gonna change how you’re doing it, or you’re not, and I decided to change it. It’s been working.”
The ex-Commanders running back has tried to stay more consistent in his routine, which means waking up early, getting treatment even if he’s not injured, practicing like he’s in a game, locking in on details in meetings, trimming down, staying dedicated with his workout routine and “doing a little bit extra.”
“It shows. I’m feeling like myself again,” Gibson said.
Gibson is one of the few players on the Patriots’ roster who has noticeably improved this season. Although it’s in a smaller sample size, Gibson is outproducing starter Rhamondre Stevenson in nearly every metric.
Yet Stevenson has played 543 snaps to Gibson’s 244. Even during Gibson’s hot streak, he’s received just 33 touches to Stevenson’s 93.
Stevenson is averaging 3.8 yards per carry and 2.92 yards after contact per carry, and he’s forced a missed tackle on 19.7% of rushing attempts.
The Patriots regard Stevenson as one of their best players, which is why they signed him to a four-year, $36 million contract this offseason. Gibson, meanwhile, signed a three-year, $11.25 million deal.
The Patriots don’t need to move Gibson into the top bell-cow role, but it wouldn’t hurt if he began to eat into Stevenson’s snaps and touches over the final three weeks of the season, when the team desperately needs a jolt against the Bills, Chargers and Bills (again).