Patriots Fans Will Love What Ron Rivera Said About Antonio Gibson

The New England Patriots didn’t sign a household name during the first few hours of the NFL’s legal tampering period.

But they did obtain a productive pass-catching running back that should help reshape New England’s defunct offense.

The Patriots reportedly agreed to a three-year deal worth a maximum of $17.25 million with Antonio Gibson, who spent the first four seasons of his NFL career with the Washington Commanders.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise if Patriots fans don’t know much about the 25-year-old Gibson. But they should be excited about what Gibson can bring to his new team, especially after what Gibson’s former coach in Ron Rivera said about him.

“You see his athleticism because, again, that’s what he came in as a receiver out of Memphis,” Rivera said, per Boston Sports Journal’s Mike Giardi. “And he’s really shown that his pass-catching ability is there. And then once he’s got the ball in his hands, especially in space, he’s a load.”

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Gibson had success right away with the Commanders, running for 11 touchdowns as a rookie before recording a 1,000-yard rushing season in 2021.

Gibson’s production decreased the following season as he shared the backfield with Brian Robinson Jr. And Rivera admitted that the Commanders needed to do a better job of getting Gibson touches due to his versatile skillset.

“I’d like to see Antonio get a few more tries, obviously last year, but Antonio’s shown tremendous growth and we’re pretty excited about who he could be,” Rivera told reporters in May 2023, per NFL.com’s Nick Shook. “This is a guy that played wide receiver at one time coming out and one thing that he did have was every nine touches resulted in a touchdown, so we’re looking for some production from him as well and we’re looking to see that he does fit in into the scheme of things as far as what Eric Bieniemy wants to do with the offense.”

More opportunities didn’t come Gibson’s way this past season, though. But he still ran for 265 yards on 65 carries while registering a career-high 48 receptions for 389 yards and two touchdowns.

Gibson gets a fresh start now with New England. And given Rivera’s praise of him, Gibson sounds exactly like the kind of player the Patriots needed to add to their offense as they look to become more explosive on that side of the ball.