The Patriots Tight Ends
When the Patriots traded for Martellus Bennett the league was up in arms about how to cover Rob Gronkowski (6’6″, 265 lbs) and Bennett (6’6″, 275 lbs) at the same time. With Gronkowski being out the first two weeks, and limited last week, the league hasn’t had a chance to see the damage these two can do together.
This week might be the week that it happens but due to the Patriots bringing along Gronk slowly, and with their quarterback situation, you might have to wait another week to see how New England plans to exploit their two humongous tight ends.
Bennett had one huge game in Week 2 when he had 114 yards and a touchdown. The other two weeks he’s gotten just 14 and 10 yards. He’s not someone you can count on right now each week but if you’re looking for lightning in a bottle, and have no other options, you can consider starting him out of desperation. Just understand you’re more likely to be disappointed than happy with such a risky move.
If you have Rob Gronkowski there is no way to avoid starting him. If you’re like me and started him last week, you were very disappointed with his zero points. He only played 14 snaps last week because the Patriots are bringing him along slowly but he can’t wait to get back to full strength. ESPN’s Mike Reiss reports that he said, “I can’t wait until I’m going crazy out there again.”
The Patriots played on Thursday night last week and the extended rest should help Gronkowski. He’ll be in there for more than 14 snaps this week but he may not receive a full workload quite yet. One major concern is who will be throwing to the Patriots tight ends. We’ll tackle that on the next slide along with how we think Tyrod Taylor will do.