FOXBORO — The first kick of TreVeyon Henderson's NFL career, the then-rookie running back took it 100 yards for an opening touchdown. That score, albeit in the preseason, showed that maybe the New England Patriots have something in their second round pick, especially as a returner.

But the regular season rolled around, and Henderson was relegated to just an offensive role. Fellow running back Antonio Gibson took that role, and once he tore his ACL in Week 5, that spot turned into a consistent cycle of changes. Henderson, who had more than 1,000 total yards of offense, wasn't asked to return kicks for most of the year. He finished with just nine returns for 209 yards.

Now in 2026, with Henderson's role on the offense seemingly fading, could the Patriots try to put their explosive 23-year-old back there on kickoffs? Mike Vrabel didn't rule it out this week.

"I think that that's probably something that we'll always consider and weigh the options," Vrabel said. "I think that coming out of the Jets game, we were close on some returns. We had a couple that really weren't very effective against Chicago. We had one that was okay."

Through seven games, the Patriots have relied on Corey Kiner and Kyle Williams to handle the kick returning. Williams leads the way with 18 returns for 432 yards (with a longest of 34 yards), while Kiner is behind him with nine returns, 240 yards and a 37-yarder as his longest. Second-year running back Lan Larison has also gotten two chances in his one game played this season, tallying 49 yards.

Henderson, an Offensive Rookie of the Year finalist from a season ago, hasn't found that same moxie. Last week against the Bears, he was essentially pushed to the side for most of the first half — finishing the game with just three carries all night. On the year, he's totaled 52 carries for 203 yards and one touchdown. He's dealt with an ankle injury that could be potentially impacted his speed, and it doesn't seem like he's the exact same player from what we saw in 2025.

Henderson Remains RB > KR ... For Now

Part of that could be linked to the Patriots' struggles when it comes to running the ball. It's a chicken or the egg scenario. Is Henderson struggling because the run game is poor, or is the running game poor because of Henderson? The Patriots are still trying to identify that.

"We'll see what happens this week. We've got to go run the football, we've got to execute," Vrabel said. "I think he's had some runs where he's helped us, and we all have to be better in the run game, not just one guy. But we'll have to go down to Miami and be able to run it. We'll have to be able to protect and take care of the ball."

Ultimately, while there have been some solid chunk gains, nothing has truly popped yet when it comes to the kick returns. Last year, Gibson had a kick return touchdown that helped turn the tides in a comeback win over the Miami Dolphins. The Patriots are still waiting for that to happen.

And because of Henderson's long touchdown in the preseason as a rookie, he'll always be mentioned as a possible option. We'll see if that option ever sees the light of day.

"We'll focus here on Miami and what we feel like we need to do to be able to create some positive momentum in the return game, whether that's with Corey or Kyle, and then certainly take a look at anybody else," Vrabel said.