ivanvamp

I would suspect that most Patriots fans tend to be fans of Aaron Hernandez. He's just a good football player. Very good receiver, good open-field runner, and is pretty exciting to watch. The thought of him and Gronk together for the next six seasons is, generally speaking, an encouraging one.

But how good is Hernandez, really? Here are his stats the first three seasons:

2010: 14 g, 64 tar, 45 rec, 70.3%, 563 yds, 12.5 ypc, 8.8 ypt, 6 td
2011: 14 g, 113 tar, 79 rec, 69.9%, 910 yds, 11.5 ypc, 8.1 ypt, 7 td
2012: 10 g, 84 tar, 51 rec, 60.7%, 483 yds, 9.5 ypc, 5.8 ypt, 5 td
TOT: 38 g, 261 tar, 175 rec, 67.0%, 1956 yds, 11.2 ypc, 7.5 ypt, 18 td
Per Game: 6.9 tar, 4.6 rec, 51.5 yds, 0.48 td

So, combining what we observe with what the numbers tell us, just exactly how good is Aaron Hernandez?

We know he's a bit of a Swiss Army knife - can play out wide, from the slot, on the line, or in the backfield. He abuses linebackers and is pretty big for corners (though there are plenty of WRs that are bigger than he is). For a TE he's pretty small and not a very good blocker. He is also not terribly durable. 38 games in 3 regular seasons means he misses, on average, slightly more than 3 games per year. And he often plays very banged up.

He is signed to a reasonable contract through 2018. I wonder what he would fetch in terms of a trade. If the Pats are looking to upgrade their team, what kind of return would they get for Hernandez? I'm not advocating trading him; I'm just wondering.

What is the feeling around here about Hernandez? Love him? Is he an absolute key to this team? Is he overrated? Should they consider moving him to improve elsewhere?

VJCPatriot

1. It's a tough proposition to trade Hernandez when half the time Gronk isn't even on the field. The other issue is that our double TE offense creates mismatches and allows our running game to flourish at the same time. I don't see any point in getting rid of AH.

2. If a redraft were done, I'm sure AH would be taken in the 1st round so a 1st round pick is the minimum compensation to expect in return. But considering the big contract plus signing bonus we just shelled out to him, a lot of dead money would hit the cap for the Pats so it would be cap suicide to make such a move right now.

__________________

ivanvamp

A lot of guys here know way more about how the cap stuff works than I do, so I'll trust what you say here on that.

I like Hernandez a lot and think he's valuable. But if the Pats like him, you can bet that other teams like him too. When looking to improve your team, and if you're thinking about a trade (which, granted, maybe NE isn't considering at all), generally you have to give up something good to get something good. I'm trying to think through where the Pats could afford to give in order to get something they really need.

Because I think Gronk + Ballard in a 2 TE set would still work very well, even though Hernandez brings a lot to the table.

BrickPat

Trade AH...let Welker walk....who is going to catch the ball?

RhodyPatriot

Aaron Hernandez is very athletic. He's also overrated, overpaid and is very inconsistent.
Never know what Hernandez is going to give you game to game.
Pretty pathetic when the absence of Gronk is always referenced as the reason for AH's lack of performance especially since Aaron pulls a bigger paycheck from Bill Belichick than Gronk does.
Believe it or not!!!!

randomk1

He's better than the numbers indicate. He's been slowed down by injuries the past 2 seasons and there are also guys like gronk and wes to share targets.

Not sure i could even trade him for a high pick because that's hardly guaranteed.

And AH is just 23.

__________________
Three out of Four. Back-to-back.

DarrylS

Aaron Hernandez is better when Gronk is on the field, Gronk is better when Aaron Hernandez is on the field...

Both make each other better...

__________________
"Being the best doesn't mean you always win. It just means you win more than anyone else".. tweet from Kurt Warner to Tom Brady.

randomk1

What do you mean lack of performance? His only issues so far have been some drops and injuries but when he is on the field he is constantly making plays.

__________________
Three out of Four. Back-to-back.

Gronkandez

His performance when healthly is good as long as he gets out of bounds at the end of halves.

The probem is when Gronk is out he can't fill Gronk's role. He just can't block well enough IMO.

randomk1

Yeah? Who can fill Gronk's role?

__________________
Three out of Four. Back-to-back.