The tight end spot is one of the deepest positions the Patriots currently have. The Patriots' offense typically relies on the TE to block and be a target in the red zone. Lets take a look at this position battle.
Benjamin Watson, the longest tenured TE on the roster, is coming off of a down year. The former first round pick now entering his sixth season with the team, but is coming off a bad year. Big Ben's only good statistical game was week 11 at home against the Jets where he caught eight passes for 88 yards and a TD. The rest of the year he had 13 catches, a high yardage game of 40 yards, and one other TD while struggling to stay healthy. He has not practiced much this summer, and he has not played in a preseason game. Having said that, he proved an above average blocker, and is entering a contract year.
Chris Baker, the free agent pickup via the Jets, enters the TE fold. His numbers last year resembled Watson's. He played in every game, and went catch-less in five of them. He did not catch a TD last year, but in the Patriots first preseason game he caught two TDs from Brady. Baker finds himself in a good opportunity here if he can adapt to the system, and continue to develop that kind of rapport with Brady. He has been seeing the most first team reps with Watson out, and Belichick loves picking players from division rivals (see Wes Welker, Sammy Morris).
Alex Smith joins this tight end group after the Patriots traded a 2010 fifth round pick for his services. Just like Watson and Baker, Smith is coming off a season where he caught about 20 balls (21). The fifth-year player out of Stanford will be battling for TE reps, but will have to step up his game to get them consistently.
David Thomas has struggled to stay healthy in his three seasons with the Patriots. The team has been using Thomas at TE and fullback this summer so far, in an effort to make him more versatile with no true FB on the roster. This may allow the team to keep four at this position.
There were a lot of mediocre performances from these four last season, but the Patriots will hope one can step up at this position. If one does, the tight end could play a bigger role in our mostly spread offense.
If you haven't seen them, check out the running back and wide receiver previews.
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