Spergon Wynn

Shiancoe isn't eligible for PUP.

Funktopus

Well there goes that "theory".

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Lamanai

some thoughts on Ballard and the TE situation:

I doubt Ballard is able to see the field this season due to his injury. However, I do see a minor advantage to putting him on PUP instead of IR. I don't know all the complexities of PUP vs. IR, but I believe that if he's on IR then he is done for the year, can't practice with the team, etc...At least with PUP the team would have a three week window in the middle of the season to get Ballard on the practice field, in meetings, etc...He could do walk throughs, limited contact, etc...This could benefit him next season as he tried to acclimate to to the team. Yes, probably a marginal benefit but worth the effort, no?

As to calling AH a WR, that is OK. But I don't think that'll mean the team carries three other TEs. That'd be extremely rich if you start looking at who'd be active on game day. Especially since none of those guys are likely ST studs. I know Gronk and AH have played ST in the past, but i'm kinda hoping that ends. Looking at the potential/likely roster there are a lot of solid ST players this year that can constitute an excellent ST roster. I don't think they'll need to dip into Pro Bowlers to fill out the ST squad. JMO.

IllegalContact

actually, ballard is bigger than gronk

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AndyJohnson

Take a guy who is a mismatch at TE and turn him into a medicore WR?

ctpatsfan77

He meant mini-GRONK in the same way that Edelman is Welker's "mini-me."

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PP2

Same height, bigger by only 10 pounds and with a 40 time a lot worse than Gronk's. Don't get me started on the difference in athleticism.

Big-T

40 time doesn't really matter when you can line up Gronk & Ballard next to each other in the redzone though, that's a lot of human to try and cover.

Not to mention how good they both are at blocking.

Granted, that's not what the discussion was.

KontradictioN

Though MaineFan's point really doesn't make too much sense, Hernandez has lined up at both TE and WR (and tailback for that matter) a lot. He's a mismatch all over the field. Harder to cover for corners because of his size, harder to cover for LB's because of his elusiveness and speed. With this in mind, I think mediocre is a little bit of a harsh word to use.

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CREDIT - Sicilian

BradyManny

Here's some interesting stats about where Hernandez lined up last year:

Snap Distribution and You - Football Daily Dose - Rotoworld.com

To summarize...

Hernandez was in the slot or wide 64% of his snaps. He was an in-line tight end on only 29% of his snaps (compared to 61% in-line for Gronkowski).

What's interesting is that Hernandez was targeted at a much lower rate when he was split wide. Which, maybe suggests he wasn't getting open on the outside - maybe not, we can't really make that leap I suppose.

Bottom line, Hernandez played wide receiver a lot last year. And the Patriots rewarded him accordingly, I believe, knowing that WRs make more than TEs, generally. Hernandez plays everywhere in the Pats system, to call him a WR or TE, almost doesn't matter.