Down a Dwayne
Did Pats pour their money into wrong TE?
With the advantage of hindsight, the Patriots’ decision to transition from Martellus Bennett to Dwayne Allen has left them thinner at tight end than a year ago.
It’s important to keep that perspective, though, because the idea made plenty of sense in March. But at this point, with Allen unable to get in sync with quarterback Tom Brady, the Patriots have received little production at tight end when Rob Gronkowski has been off the field, either when he’s needed a breather or Thursday when he missed the victory against the Buccaneers with a thigh injury.
Allen’s struggles were magnified in the latter example when he played a season-high 50 snaps but wasn’t targeted with a single pass. On the season, Allen doesn’t have a catch and has been targeted only six times — none on third down — while playing a career-low 40.8 percent of the offensive snaps.
“Dwayne is learning, and adapting to our system and what we do each week,” offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels said. “He’s only played five games in our offense and continuing to work hard to try to get better. I would say he’s not the only one that’s in that situation.”
Allen admitted over the summer that it’s been a challenge to learn the offense after five seasons with the Colts. Privately before the start of the regular season, those within the team even expressed concerns about Allen’s fit within the offense.
That point essentially was reaffirmed Thursday when CBS analyst Tony Romo mentioned during the game that undrafted rookie Jacob Hollister has a better rapport with Brady than Allen, which sounds like information Romo gleaned during his round of pregame interviews.
This won’t be a backbreaking issue as long as Gronkowski stays healthy over the course of the remainder of the season, especially if Allen can return to form as a high-end blocker in heavy packages. It qualifies as a first-world NFL problem to be concerned about the backup of the best tight end in the universe.
However, if Gronk goes down for any length of time, either a series or a season, smart defenses will give them the 2015 treatment. When Gronkowski was limited late in that season, defenses recognized Brady had little desire to throw to Scott Chandler, so they covered him accordingly. That’ll have adverse effects with the rest of Brady’s targets because superior coverage linebackers can focus on running back James White and the safeties can keep an eye on receivers Brandin Cooks and Chris Hogan.
Allen always has been known as a blocking tight end. He’s averaged 2.0 catches for 23.4 yards per game over his career with the pass-happy Colts, so the Patriots likely weren’t counting on him to become a new player in their program. But they clearly had to think he could complement Gronkowski to a certain extent.
Again, to revisit history, the Bennett-Allen exchange was a perfectly logical move at the dawn of the offseason. The Patriots sent a fourth-round pick to the Colts for a sixth-rounder and Allen, who is scheduled to earn $17.4 million over the final three seasons of his contract in 2017-19. The average annual value of $5.8 million would be the 19th highest among tight ends if it were the terms of the total deal (the Colts paid Allen $11.9 million in the first year of his contract extension).
The money added up, especially with Bennett believing he’d earn $9 million per year in free agency, which would tie him with Gronk for the fourth most in the NFL. The Patriots were hesitant to give Bennett that type of cash because they feared an oncoming decline in production due to the deteriorating health of his ankles, though he played through those injuries throughout 2016.
So with Bennett initially asking for big money and a barren group of free agent tight ends to serve as his replacement, the Patriots and Colts worked out a deal for Allen. It made financial sense, and Allen had an established reputation as one of the best blocking tight ends in the league, even earning substantial praise from Bill Belichick before a Patriots-Colts game in 2015.
Bennett ultimately settled on a three-year, $21 million pact with the Packers a day after the Pats acquired Allen, and the 30-year-old has 20 catches for 194 yards in five games with Aaron Rodgers. Bennett’s health has held up so far, as his snap count (84.5 percent) is second among Packers skill-position players.
It was worth wondering in March if the Patriots would have given Bennett a comparable deal to keep him in town if they could have projected his tempered market. And with Allen struggling through five games, the second-guessing has lingered.