FOXBORO -- Tickled as it may make Patriots fans to see that Ben Watson is back in the fold in New England, it probably won't lead them to assume that the team's tight end group will produce as it did a year ago with Rob Gronkowski leading the charge.
Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels stated the obvious on Friday when he addressed the state of the position with reporters: There is no way to replicate what Gronkowski did for the Patriots.
"Look, nobody's gonna replace Rob," McDaniels said. "It doesn't matter what we're doing or who we bring in. That person is not just going to drop into the offense and say, 'OK, I got his role covered.' That's not gonna happen.
"I think what you do is you take the best group that you can put together, figure out what their strengths are and try to play to 'em. At this point, it would be unfair for me to say that because I haven't really seen any of them out there in our scheme against a defense. Obviously nothing in pads. I think OTAs and training camp will be big for us this year in terms of evaluating what we have and the way we should play. But, in May, it's tough to say. It's tough to project that."
Projecting how the tight end position will factor into the offense was relatively straightforward for the bulk of Gronkowski's career. When healthy, he was going to be one of Tom Brady's go-to receivers and one of the team's most dominant run-blockers. Now, this spring and summer, there's going to have to be some serious self-scouting that occurs to make sure that the tight ends in uniform on a week-to-week basis — a long way from being determined — are put in positions to succeed.
Watson, Austin Seferian-Jenkins and Matt LaCosse look like the best bets to contribute as veterans who have NFL production on their résumés. Second-year tight end Ryan Izzo could be a factor. Undrafted rookie Andrew Belk, the only rookie at the position brought aboard this offseason, is also looking to carve out a role.
"Obviously," said tight ends coach Nick Caley, "Rob is a great player. Great. He's done a lot for the organization. We love him. But the focus is really the guys we have here, trying to niche a role, and trying to take on as much responsibility as they can, and be as detailed as they can to allow them to execute. We're a long ways from where we need to be right now. The focus is working to continue to improve, continuing to learn and grow, and any roles they earn will be earned based on what they do moving forward here."
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