Over the next few weeks, WEEI.com and the “6 Rings” podcast will take a position-by-position look at the Patriots’ roster heading toward the opening of training camp at Gillette Stadium on July 27. While there will still be some potential roster moves made by New England leading up to and through the regular season, for better or worse the talent on the current roster is the talent that will play out on the game field this fall. Today we start with a look at the expensive, top-heavy tight end position.
Tight End
Current roster (Year, 2021 GS/GP): Hunter Henry (7th, 10/17), Jonnu Smith (6th, 11/16), Devin Asiasi (3rd, 0/1), Dalton Keene (3rd, 0/0), Matt Sokol (1st, 0/0)
Key losses: None.
Key additions: Sokol, a waiver claim who spent 2021 on the Jaguars practice squad. His only NFL experience includes two games of mostly special teams for the Chargers in 2020.
Overview: The time between Rob Gronkowski’s retirement and last season’s bought-and-paid-for rebirth was a bit of a black hole at the tight end position in New England. The Patriots simply didn’t have much of a plan to fill the void created by Gronkowski’s departure, never mind have the talent or bodies in place to even come close to replacing his Hall of Fame-caliber contributions.
But last spring New England invested heavily to sign free agents Hunter Henry and Jonnu Smith – each earning contracts worth more than $12 million per season to put them near the top of the NFL tight end pay scale.
Henry hit the ground running in New England putting up the types of numbers the former first-round pick made commonplace when healthy with the Chargers. His 50 catches and 603 yards were in line with his work for L.A., while he also set a career high with nine touchdowns, most since his rookie season in 2016. Henry became a favored target for rookie QB Mac Jones and arguably one of the most consistent players on the team.
While Henry was producing at or near realistic expectations, Smith struggled mightily in his first fall in Foxborough and didn’t come close to living up to his paycheck. The former Titan never looked comfortable in the Patriots offense, catching just 28 passes for 294 yards and one touchdown. Smith never put up huge numbers in Tennessee – 41 catches, 448 yards and eight touchdowns were his career bests, all in 2020 – but even those relatively tame numbers look huge compared to what he did last fall.
While Henry is what he is at this point in his career – which is a productive, consistent tight end who you pretty much know what you are going to get from – Smith is a massive wild card in the 2022 Patriots’ offense.
The rest of the tight end depth chart in New England is dubious at best, as former third-round picks Devin Asiasi and Dalton Keene have done virtually nothing in their first two seasons, while Matt Sokol (6-6, 260) is a young, big-bodied journeyman who’ll have to prove his worth. The trio may be fighting for a third roster spot at the position, although none would be considered a surprise cut at this point.
Reason for hope: Henry is a good, solid foundation to build from at the position. He’s not Gronk, but he’s not Ryan Izzo, either.
Henry’s rapport and comfort with Jones should only grow in their second season together. Smith remains an intriguing athlete who should provide upside as a playmaker considering Bill Belichick once called him the best run-after-catch tight end in the game. Forget living up to his contract, if Smith can get back to his production level in Tennessee it would provide a boost to the Patriots’ passing game and make the guys around him more dangerous as well. He also could get a few more looks in an H-back type role with the Patriots going without a traditional fullback this season, something that might get Smith advantageous matchups in coverage. A year into the system and having spent the entire spring working in the offseason program can only help Smith get more comfortable and maybe more productive. At the very least maybe he might be a capable blocker and play-action option.
Reason for pessimism: Smith is never going to be the centerpiece of the Patriots’ offense that it seemed former offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels wanted him to be when he arrived last offseason. He’s never going to live up to his contract. And given that he’s not surrounded by guys like Derrick Henry and A.J. Brown as was the case in Tennessee, Smith may never get the chances he got in that offense. In 2021 Smith looked uncomfortable and awkward despite his athletic tools. It’s hard to imagine he’s suddenly going to settle in and take his game to the next level in his sixth NFL season. Given that Henry is the only known, respectable commodity on the tight end depth chart and has missed time to injury every season except last fall, the Patriots’ tight end spot lacks obvious depth or upside.
Position grade -- C: The Patriots don’t have a Pro Bowl talent at tight end, as Henry is good but doesn’t measure up to the game’s elites. There is no depth at tight end, either, unless Smith has a breakout season a year after he would have settled for even a single breakout game. The young tight ends are at the make-or-break point of their careers and may not even make the regular season roster. New England has C-level tight end talent right now. That’s better than it was in 2020, but certainly nothing like the Gronkowski-led glory days at the spot.