FOXBORO — Rhamondre Stevenson was arguably the Patriots’ most effective offensive weapon over the last two seasons, despite the late injury that cut short his 2023 campaign.

Now, the fourth-year running back is preparing to play in his preferred offensive scheme for the first time.

New offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt brought to New England the outside zone run game he ran with the Cleveland Browns, which differs from the gap-based schemes the Patriots typically employed during the Bill Belichick era.

Van Pelt’s rushing concepts are familiar to Stevenson, though, who played in an outside zone offense in college at Oklahoma.

“It’s my favorite scheme, to be honest with you,” Stevenson said after Tuesday’s training camp practice. “Outside zone, that’s what I like, and that’s what we’re running. Everybody else in our room seems to like it, as well, so we’ll see what we can do with it.”

Stevenson believes the ground game is going to be “very important” to the success of New England’s new-look offense, which still has major question marks up front, at receiver and behind center.

The Patriots have experimented with several different offensive tackle combinations thus far in camp, though their latest setup with Chukwuma Okorafor on the right side and rookie Caedan Wallace on the left has stuck for the last four practices. The top two options in a receiving corps that lacks proven high-end talent have not fully participated in any practice this summer, with Kendrick Bourne still working his way back from a torn ACL and DeMario Douglas dealing with a hand injury.

And, of course, there’s the quarterback competition between veteran Jacoby Brissett and top draft pick Drake Maye, which Brissett is leading by miles at this stage.

Given all that uncertainty, Van Pelt would be wise to lean on his Stevenson-led rushing attack this season to offset some of the offense’s shortcomings. That unit excelled in Monday’s practice, with Stevenson, Antonio Gibson and Kevin Harris — the favorites to occupy the top three spots on the depth chart — all ripping off big gains on the first day in full pads. Tuesday was more of a mixed bag, with the second offense in particular struggling to open holes.

“It’s exactly what I thought it was going to be,” Stevenson said when asked how the run game has fared thus far. “Only Day 2 (in pads), still working on our tracks and just getting that chemistry between the running backs and the O-line. But I feel like the O-line is doing a great job of just taking what they learned from shirts and shorts and putting it all together.”

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Stevenson has a 1,000-yard rushing season on his resume (2022), and the Patriots underscored his importance when they handed him a four-year, $36 million contract extension last month. He’s the first Patriots-drafted running back to receive a second contract with the team since James White, who was drafted seven years earlier.

Time will tell whether Van Pelt’s offensive adjustments will help Stevenson take his career to the next level, but the 26-year-old is optimistic.

“I’m enjoying it, and they’re coaching it up very nice for everybody to understand,” Stevenson said. “I feel like it should be a good scheme for us.”