TreVeyon Henderson on being drafted by the Patriots: 'My heart sunk'
You can't always get what you want.
For TreVeyon Henderson, that turned out to be a blessing in disguise. The New England Patriots rookie running back revealed ahead of Super Bowl 60 that he didn't want the team to draft him.
Drafted in the second round of the 2025 NFL Draft with the 38th overall pick, Henderson thought he was destined to land with the Chicago Bears, who had the 39th pick.
The running back explained how it all went down on draft night:
"When I was getting the call, my TV was a little bit late and the Chicago Bears, I thought that they were up," Henderson said via CHGO Sports. "And when I got the phone call I thought that it was a Chicago Bears and they told me it was New England Patriots.
"I was smiling but my heart sunk at the time because like during the draft process everyone was telling me like Patriots is the last team, the last one you want go to. I'm believing whatever they said, you know I'm trying to dodge the Patriots at all costs. But then I got picked by them. Man it was such a crazy moment."
It wasn't always an easy rookie season for Henderson, who found himself buried on the depth chart behind Rhamondre Stevenson and Antonio Gibson earlier in the year.
The first domino fell when Gibson suffered a season-ending torn ACL in Week 5. It opened the door for Henderson to get some game reps, which only grew over time. Then he was thrust into the starting role when Stevenson missed time with a toe injury.
Chicago might've been a more favorable room for the former Ohio State star to join, given that D'Andre Swift would've been the only competition in the backfield.
Despite traveling down the path of more resistance, Henderson still finished the season with 215 touches for 1,132 scrimmage yards and 10 total touchdowns.
And now he'll be playing in Super Bowl 60.
Perhaps he ended up in the right spot after all.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Patriots' TreVeyon Henderson thought the Bears were going to draft him