Must target big time tight end
How the Pats can rebound and get back to the Super Bowl
Welcome to How to Fix the Patriots!
This week, we’re unveiling five steps the Pats can take to return to the Super Bowl. We kicked off this series Monday with an offensive fix that could have helped them survive the Titans in the Wild-Card round of the playoffs.
Today, we re-stock the poorest-performing position on the roster in 2019.
Say what you will about the Patriots’ failures at wide receiver last season, they weren’t for lack of effort.
Bill Belichick broke character by drafting N’Keal Harry in the first round of last April’s draft. The Pats signed a bevy of low-level veterans throughout the offseason. They gambled on Antonio Brown in September. They gave up a secondround pick for Mohamed Sanu in October.
None of them, of course, panned out as hoped.
As for the Patriots’ plan at tight end, that lacked some juice. Last offseason, Rob Gronkowski did keep the front office hostage by delaying his decision to retire through the first two weeks of free agency. That was his right. Still, it cost them; much like drafting a single tight end over the past four years has.
But this is all history. The future is the concern here. And to avoid repeating recent history, the Pats must attack the tight end market on both fronts this offseason: free agency and the draft.
Because this cupboard is too bare, and the consequences of ignoring this position were too costly in 2019.
The problem
Like the Pats’ off-field plan for their receivers, effort was not the issue on the field for their tight ends.
Ben Watson, Matt LaCosse and Ryan Izzo demonstrated great effort. They ran hard and blocked with sufficient ferocity. The problem was performance.
Among Patriots who played at least 80 offensive snaps, Watson, LaCosse and Izzo finished with the worst
Pro Football Focus player grades on the season. Julian Edelman and Phillip Dorsett graded out as more effective run blockers than all three of them. Combined, they failed to match Gronkowski’s modest receiving output the year before (47 catches, 682 yards and three touchdowns).
The Patriots understood the position was a weakness.
For the first time in at least a decade — and perhaps longer — more than 11% of their offensive snaps were taken without a tight end on the field. The position has tied the Pats offense together throughout the Belichick era, and last season it unraveled their best plans; forcing players like Jakobi Meyers and Brandon Bolden on the field instead as a fourth wideout or second running back, respectively.
Aside from quarterback, tight end is the most involved position in the offense; from pass protection to run blocking, route running and grasping every base scheme. It embodies Belichick’s belief in building through tough-minded, versatile players. A two-way tight end can be devastating to defenses.
The absence of one can quietly cripple an offense, too. In the regular-season finale, Miami sent the Pats tumbling into the Wild-Card round with a defensive plan built on inside blitzes on early downs, two-high coverage on third downs and constant double teams of Julian Edelman. The middle of the field was there for the taking, all game.
Watson, Izzo and LaCosse couldn’t capitalize. It’s time to find a tight end who can.
The fix
You can almost hear the retort from Foxboro: “Easier said than done!”
Yes. But here’s the thing about re-stocking a bare cupboard: whatever you add is better than what you have. Neither players needs to be a star, though a potential Pro Bowler should be available: Hunter Henry.
The oft-injured Charger is the complete package and will be sought-after in free agency. His fellow free agents Eric Ebron, Austin Hooper and Tyler Eifert are more gifted receivers than blockers, who nonetheless deserve a long look. Signing one should be balanced with a blocking-oriented mauler.
Some of the better run blockers who figure to be available are Johnny Mundt (L.A. Rams), Marcedes Lewis (Green Bay) and Lance Kendricks (L.A. Chargers). San Francisco’s Levine Toilolo could be an option, having opened his career as a strong run blocker; skills that, per PFF, have declined lately in favor of better receiving production.
Considering the Pats’ historically disciplined approach to free agency, it’s probable Henry prices them out. That’s OK. They should still pursue. If that fails, Hooper is enough of a twoway threat to provide an appreciable upgrade at the position, and Ebron would threaten teams down the seam in a way no one has since Gronk in 2017.
Picking 23rd overall, the Pats also project to have their pick of the tight end litter in the draft. Notre Dame’s Cole Kmet is viewed as the No. 1 prospect at the position. Kmet checks in at 6-foot-5 and 250 pounds, standing in the same neighborhood as Jared Pinkney, a Vanderbilt prospect, and Missouri’s Albert Okwuegbunam.
Washington’s Hunter Bryant, Purdue’s Brycen Hopkins and Harrison Bryant, out of Florida Atlantic, are all regarded as receiving tight ends. Arkansas product Cheyenne O’Grady is a character risk with immense receiving talent whom Patriots defensive line coach Bret Bielema will have intel on.
Despite their recent history, the Pats have proven they’re willing to invest heavily in the position through the draft. Belichick took a tight end with two of his first five first-round picks in New England. He drafted two more in the 2010, going with Gronkowski and the late Aaron Hernandez. For whatever reason, assimilating into the Pats offense has proven easier for rookie tight ends than receivers.
So go back to inking veteran wideouts, and double dip here. Improved tight end play is the most direct route to revitalizing the offense, and the options are aplenty.