When the New England Patriots offense takes the field on Sunday at Gillette Stadium to play the Miami Dolphins, Rhamondre Stevenson will not be the starting running back.

Due to his inability to secure the ball throughout New England’s opening four games, Stevenson will sit on the bench, according to Patriots coach Jerod Mayo, who spoke with Scott Zolak on 98.5 The Sports Hubs on Friday.

Jerod Mayo, to @scottzolak, on Patriots All-Access regarding his plans at RB on Sunday: “Had a conversation with Rhamondre [Stevenson] and he won’t be starting … I’ll be upfront and transparent. But he will play. And he understands he has to protect the football going forward…”

— Mike Reiss (@MikeReiss) October 5, 2024

Stevenson will play against Miami, Mayo did say. With Stevenson out, Antonio Gibson is probably going to start in the backfield for New England.

So far this season, Stevenson has fumbled the ball once in each of the four games, losing two of them. In Week 3, when the Patriots lost to the New York Jets 24–3, he coughed it up. In Week 4, when New England lost to the San Francisco 49ers 30–13, he was taken off the ball in the first quarter.

For the Patriots this season, Stevenson has run 65 times for 267 yards and two touchdowns, averaging 4.1 yards per carry as opposed to his career average of 4.5 yards per carry.

In June, the 26-year-old agreed to a $36 million, four-year contract deal with New England.

Patriots Pulpit Reacts: Fans are growing restless over Drake Maye.

We wanted to know how you thought the team will play in October, when you thought Drake Maye should play, and how confident you were in the team’s direction overall in our most recent Pats Pulpit Reacts survey.

Following Week 1, 77 percent of fans expressed their desire for Drake Maye, the third overall pick, to be benched until the second half of this season or the following one. Now, just 40% of Patriots supporters want Maye to become the team’s starting quarterback within the next month. That percentage has decreased to 60%. Compared to just 4% who desired to see him play right away following Week 1, 23% of respondents would prefer to see him begin as soon as this week.

The Patriots’ fan base has lost a great deal of trust, which peaked at 90% following their unexpected victory in Cincinnati in Week 1. After the team’s third straight loss to the San Francisco 49ers last week, it fell to a new low of 28 percent. Alongside that news comes the season-long loss of center and veteran captain David Andrews.

Despite the low level of fan confidence, October may offer a chance to turn things around. This week, the Patriots take on the Miami Dolphins without starting quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. Later in the month, they travel to London to play the Jacksonville Jaguars, who have yet to win. The team’s remaining two home games are a rematch with the New York Jets and a matchup with the Houston Texans.

The majority of supporters anticipate that the Patriots will win one of those four games, with 46% stating that they think the team will do so. A quarter of respondents anticipate two victories, while a further quarter anticipates no victories at all. Three percent predict that the Patriots will win three of those games, and three more anticipate that the team will finish October unbeaten.

This Sunday at 1 p.m. ET, the Patriots play the Dolphins. FanDuel has New England as 1.5-point underdogs going into the game.