TE Daniel Fells and Jake Ballard cut

I was hoping Ballard would make the team, but I guess BB knows best. I really did think Fells would make the team, though.

Bravo777 said:

I was hoping Ballard would make the team, but I guess BB knows best. I really did think Fells would make the team, though.

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In the world of Gronk news. This is a very good sign of his rehab. If he was still far behind..they would have kept 1 IMO

If everyone's right about Gronk going on reserve PUP, then he should be at practice tomorrow. No reason not to at this point. Not that Bill would bother to tell us or anything.

Spiral said:

If everyone's right about Gronk going on reserve PUP, then he should be at practice tomorrow. No reason not to at this point. Not that Bill would bother to tell us or anything.

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Why? If he's a part of the final 53, there's no reason to hurry him back to practice if he's still not 100% ready to go.

Re: Ballard Cut

Yikes, didn't see that coming - I would've thought that Ballard getting the axe would be a sign that Fells was sticking. So that puts us at 2 healthy TEs?

Seriously, didn't see it coming at all.

Re: Ballard Cut

How did TE become a weakness on this team? My head is spinning.

Re: Ballard Cut

Coach42 said:

How did TE become a weakness on this team? My head is spinning.

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Aaron Hernandez .....

Sudfeld will be fine as the starting Tight end until Gronk comes back...he seems to catch everything thrown his way from brady

Re: Ballard Cut

ATippett56 said:

Aaron Hernandez .....

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I suppose I didn't plan for murder..

Sudfeld is not the backup for Gronk.

I think that Hooman will play in one TE sets. Sudfeld will get plenty of reps in 2 TE sets and perhaps some in four receiver sets.

RIpats88 said:

Sudfeld will be fine as the starting Tight end until Gronk comes back...he seems to catch everything thrown his way from brady

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This says to me the following:

1) Gronk is basically healthy, but was likely being held out for precautionary reasons. (and the first two weeks are against some teams that may have comically bad offenses, so he might sit those as well)

2) Develin is going to make the team.

3) Expect to see more 3 WR / 1 RB / 1 TE and 2 back sets.

Jared said:

This says to me the following:

1) Gronk is basically healthy, but was likely being held out for precautionary reasons. (and the first two weeks are against some teams that may have comically bad offenses, so he might sit those as well)

2) Develin is going to make the team.

3) Expect to see more 3 WR / 1 RB / 1 TE and 2 back sets.

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You may be right.

What it says to me is that the team was more concerned with Fells' salary than they were with having him be a traditional blocking TE here, which he was fine at and knew the system. He could certainly be a candidate for a return after the BUF game when his salary wouldn't be guaranteed for the year.

Or maybe they'll attempt to stay even par while saving a few bucks with signing someone else.

I just don't think we'll necessarily be straying as much from the 2 TE sets as you seem to do. I think we'll see around the same numbers as last year--about 50% of the time. The possibility exists that you may be right that we'll use more 3 WR sets until Gronk returns though.

mgteich said:

Sudfeld is not the backup for Gronk.

I think that Hooman will play in one TE sets. Sudfeld will get plenty of reps in 2 TE sets and perhaps some in four receiver sets.

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I think if you are going to play a 1 - tight end set and want your best players out there, playing sudfeld is the best choice over Hooman being that like Gronk he can stay in to block, or splt out wide and catch passes.

Hooman IMO doesnt offer much other than blocking.


but once Gronk comes back, I definitely see Gronk out there for 1TE sets, and Sudfeld playing that "move TE" role

This shouldn't be surprising to many. Fells and Ballard are JAGS. Hoomanawanui is the third amigo of this lot. He should be thanking his lucky stars at this point because he's an average Tight End too.

Ninkovrabel should couple as an emergency Tight End. We've seen it before so why not? I have more faith in him making a play than Hoomanawanui.

Given the subtractions of Ballard and Fells with Sudfeld's emergence, I can only believe that the Gronk Monster is going to be back sooner than later.

Jared said:

This says to me the following:

1) Gronk is basically healthy, but was likely being held out for precautionary reasons. (and the first two weeks are against some teams that may have comically bad offenses, so he might sit those as well)

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I sincerely hope this is the case.

2) Develin is going to make the team.

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What I think happen is the Patriots wanted to get out of paying Fells his guaranteed contract, so Develin will be on the initial roster and then hopefully they’ve gauged the market properly and Fells will linger, in which case Develin will be released, sent and resigned to the practice squad, and Fells will return on a non-guaranteed contract in season.

3) Expect to see more 3 WR / 1 RB / 1 TE and 2 back sets.

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I agree with this, I also think they will use 2 RB’s a lot more with Vereen playing a flex role.

I think once you get away from looking at the offense as primarily a 2 Tight End offense you can look at our group and as long as Gronkowski returns healthy in the first 3-4 weeks of the season it is actually a very good group of players who fit specific needs well.

 Gronkowski is your all world tight end, he will be able to play the Y and also split out into a flex role in the slot or out wide, and there is basically no tight end to ever play the game that is more dominate when healthy than him.
 Sudfeld is your flex tight end, he will not play all the snaps like Hernandez did in prior years, but he will be mixed in on a pretty regular basis, and this will allow us to still utilize the 2 tight end set enough to make teams preparing for it relevant and necessary.
 Hooman is your full back and tight end combo, he will be used in goal line situation as blocking back, and also in 2 tight end formations in which we want to go heavy and run the ball.

One more thing I want to point out is with Svitek, and Cannon on the team as competent OT’s we will be able to use Solder as a TE more as we did in 2011, and rarely last season, this is huge in running situations and I expect him to catch his first career touchdown this year

mgteich said:

Sudfeld is not the backup for Gronk.

I think that Hooman will play in one TE sets. Sudfeld will get plenty of reps in 2 TE sets and perhaps some in four receiver sets.

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Not sure I agree with that.

I'm not "sure" either. We're all guessing. No one that I know had us starting the season with Hooman, a rookie, and an offensive lineman as the #3 TE.

AndyJohnson said:

Not sure I agree with that.

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ausbacker said:

This shouldn't be surprising to many. Fells and Ballard are JAGS. Hoomanawanui is the third amigo of this lot. He should be thanking his lucky stars at this point because he's an average Tight End too.

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I've got to hand it to you, you've had this pegged from day one.

I didn't necessarily agree as much b/c I thought that Ballard still had a shot as long as his health returned. Unfortunately it did not. FWIW--I never bought into the hype that he'd catch more than 20-25 balls though. Strangely enough, it seemed as though some already had him pegged for the HOF here.

I still think that Fells is a fine blocker for the more traditional inline role, but that his contract certainly came into play with this decision. It's possible that we attempt to get someone cheaper, but I'm not entirely sure that we won't be sacrificing some of the blocking aspect. If not, maybe we still see him return after week one when his pact isn't guaranteed.

I still think Hooman is a JAG though, and think the only reason he made is was due to the other 2 situations not working out.