With the NFL Combine and free agency out of the way, pro days are in full swing ahead of the 2025 NFL Draft. Those events include teams meeting with players, to get more familiar with them before they have to start making selections.

The New England Patriots had a handful of meetings with prospects on the pro day circuit last week (we’ll be keeping track of all of the team’s reported pre-draft meetings here), but one in particular stands out.

According to NFL Draft insider Tony Pauline, the Patriots met with USC running back Jo’Quavious ‘Woody’ Marks as the Trojans’ pro day late last week. “Marks did meet at length with the Patriots and did a bit of whiteboard work with the team,” Pauline wrote in his pro day recap. ‘Whiteboard work’ means the Patriots went over X’s and O’s with Marks, having him draw up or react to plays on a white board.

This meeting with Marks is notable because the Patriots haven’t had a back fitting his description since Josh McDaniels’ last season with the team in 2021. He’s one of the better pure receiving running backs in this class, with 214 catches and 1,225 receiving yards in his five-year college career.

In 2021 while with Mississippi State, Marks was the team’s second-leading receiver with 83 catches for 502 yards and three touchdowns. Last year Marks transferred to USC and in addition to having his first 1,000-yard rushing season he caught 47 passes for 321 yards.

Under McDaniels – and for the majority of the Tom Brady era – the Patriots distributed their running back snaps by situation. The team typically had ‘early down backs’ (ex. Antowain Smith, LeGarrette Blount, Sony Michel) and ‘passing down backs’ (ex. Kevin Faulk, Shane Vereen, James White). There were also some backs that provided depth at both spots (ex. Rex Burkhead, Brandon Bolden).

However, since McDaniels left the Patriots have changed that philosophy. For the most part they’ve alternated backs on snap counts and/or managed fatigue, with backs playing across multiple situations.

Each approach has its pros and cons. Splitting backs by situation allows players to truly play to their strengths, but can lead to the offense becoming a bit more predictable. Splitting by snap counts limits the predictability, but requires the team to find more well-rounded players and can be more taxing in terms of the overall workload (Rhamondre Stevenson is one of just 16 players with over 700 touches since the start of the 2022 season).

With McDaniels’ back, will the early down/passing down distribution return? If so, Marks is certainly a player that would be a contender to fill the passing down role (with Stevenson likely slotting into the early down role).

Marks isn’t the only option for the Patriots as a passing down back. They may already have one on the roster in Antonio Gibson, who was a college wide receiver before moving to running back as a pro. Gibson caught at least 42 passes in each of the three seasons prior to joining the Patriots in 2024, but had career-low pass catching production last year with 23 receptions for 206 yards.

There are also other options in the draft as well, even if they don’t want to take a running back until Day 3. LeQuint Allen from Syracuse led all draft eligible running backs in receiving in 2024, while also being a solid pass blocker and adding special teams value as a returner. Brashard Smith from SMU, Jaydon Blue from Texas, Marcus Yarns from Delaware, and Mario Anderson from Memphis are other names to know here.

If the Patriots do add such a player, it could also be to add them to their current running back rotation. Still, with Marks’ apparent similarities to former Patriots passing down backs, it’s hard to not think a change (or return) in philosophy could be coming under McDaniels.