It's official, life without Rob Gronkowski has begun for the Patriots as the tight end officially announced his retirement from the NFL on Sunday night.
This doesn't come as a huge surprise given what happened last season, although him taking until now to decide left the door open for a potential return.
It obviously is a huge loss for the Patriots who are now tasked with replacing his production, as no one player will ever be able to replace him. Here are the tight ends under contract for 2019: Jacob Hollister, Stephen Anderson, Ryan Izzo and Matt LaCosse.
Clearly, more is needed, but from where?
The top free agents have signed elsewhere, although it is worth pointing out Jared Cook has agreed to sign with New Orleans, although nothing officially has been signed. He reportedly chose the Saints over the Patriots because he felt he had a better chance of getting to the top of the depth chart there, so perhaps this changes his mind?
Other than Cook, there really are not any worthy free agent tight ends available so the attention will shift towards the draft, which isn't the worst thing because there are some very good ones coming out. The only problem is the best ones may not be around when the Patriots pick at No. 32 overall. Fortunately for them, they have 12 picks overall and six in the top 101, so trading up would not be a problem.
Here are some names to keep an eye on: T.J. Hockenson (Iowa), Noah Fant (Iowa), Irv Smith Jr. (Alabama) and Jace Sternberger (Texas A&M).
The Patriots offense is likely going to change as well since it was so reliant on the tight end position over the years and maybe the team will shift towards a more run heavy offense like it showed in the playoffs. This is arguably its strongest position going into 2019, even with Tom Brady at quarterback.
One thing is for sure, the Patriots will be adding multiple tight ends in the coming weeks.
