The New England Patriots decision to sign Ezekiel Elliott may have come as a surprise to many. But for Elliott, it was a natural fit.

In his first public comments since he officially agreed to sign with the Patriots on August 16th, Elliott explained why he decided to go to New England in an interview with the team's website.

“The importance of the [running] back in this offense,” Elliott said. “This is definitely a team that wants to run the ball and wants to be balanced.”

New England has traditionally been one of the teams that has rushed the ball a bit more than others as the NFL has turned into a pass-happy league. The Pats offense ran the ball on 45.73 percent of their offensive plays in 2021, which was the seventh-highest mark in the league.

While the Patriots were 16th last year in that stat, they deviated from their traditional offense with Matt Patricia and Joe Judge taking over and implementing new schemes. Bill O'Brien's return as offensive coordinator will probably make the Patriots offense look similar to what it looked like under Josh McDaniels, as they appear to be moving back to more two tight end sets on offense.

The Patriots have also been known to have at least a few running backs pitch in, as opposed to just having one lead back shoulder the burden. Last season was an exception, with Rhamondre Stevenson playing 66 percent of the team's offensive snaps, which is the most since for any running back since 2011.

Stevenson is also part of the reason why Elliott found his way to Foxborough.

“I've known Rhamondre for a couple of years, so it's nice having him in the running back room,” Elliott said. “I think I'm a good fit and I've been having fun.”

Elliott also threw some praise toward Mac Jones, who was part of the recruiting process to bring him to the Patriots.

“Mac, he's a pro, man,” Elliott said. “He's a pro. He does everything like a pro. I can tell just by going to dinner with him on my visit. He's a great leader.”

Elliott figures to line up behind Jones a good bit during the 2023 season. After Stevenson, the Patriots don't have many known variables at running back. Ty Montgomery hasn't played much the last few seasons and dealt with an injury for most of training camp, while running backs Pierre Strong Jr., Kevin Harris and J.J. Taylor haven't proven much in their young careers. So, it's likely Ezekiel Elliott will end up serving as the backup running back, and potentially the passing-down running back too for New England in 2023.