Dustin Keller Visiting Patriots 4/30

Keller is the closest thing to Hernandez out there

MossWelkowski said:

Keller is the closest thing to Hernandez out there

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I'm not bothered what choice of Tight End "type" they select. It's imperative they hit on the pick/signing. In the modern NFL, quality Tight Ends are worth their weight in gold.

AndyJohnson said:

Once again, I am responding to a post that called him a TE1.
I don't know how telling me how he is as a TE2 refutes that.

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Sorry, didn't intend to imply that you were. Most of my post wasn't really a reaction to yours, I just quoted you for a little context, I should have made that clear.

ausbacker said:

I'm not bothered what choice of Tight End "type" they select. It's imperative they hit on the pick/signing. In the modern NFL, quality Tight Ends are worth their weight in gold.

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No I was saying that as a good thing... I should have said.. Hernandez the football player lol

Deus Irae said:

Well, the team's TE group is weak. The FA group left is weak. The draft group is, let's call it, underwhelming.

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Yup - this might be a deep draft, but not at TE

I'm not sure how big a difference there is at #29 or #229 at this position.

Seems to me if Keller passes his physical you sign him even before the draft so you have that much more flexibility

Some of you are severely overrating Keller because he played good against the Pats.

His career numbers are not that good. Someone here said he's a TE1 when healthy. Sorry but that's just flat out wrong.

http://www.nfl.com/player/dustinkeller/1074/profile

His best year ever was 800 yards. He's failed to even reach 700 yards in all the other seasons he's played. And the past two years he's been injured and only put up 317 yards in the past 2 seasons.


He's just camp fodder at this point.

yet valuable camp fodder. He has first hand knowledge not only of Morninweg's system but the Miami system too.Every little bit helps in this league, make no mistake about that.

MrNathanDrake said:

Some of you are severely overrating Keller because he played good against the Pats.

His career numbers are not that good. Someone here said he's a TE1 when healthy. Sorry but that's just flat out wrong.

http://www.nfl.com/player/dustinkeller/1074/profile

His best year ever was 800 yards. He's failed to even reach 700 yards in all the other seasons he's played. And the past two years he's been injured and only put up 317 yards in the past 2 seasons.


He's just camp fodder at this point.

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While he's certainly not a "TE1" by any means, he can offer something in the TE2/3 role--that's for sure.

He's averaged close to 50 catches a year during his career. That's what Hernandez averaged in 2/3 yrs here, so I think we can understand why some would think he can still contribute...

I don't think anyone's overrating him, but they should be cautious due to the injury. Luckily for us, Belichick likely won't mess with him if there are still concerns. If he's healed, bring him in. What could it possibly hurt? Last year they went 12-4 with Matt Mulligan and Hooman. C'mon.

MrNathanDrake said:

Some of you are severely overrating Keller because he played good against the Pats.

His career numbers are not that good. Someone here said he's a TE1 when healthy. Sorry but that's just flat out wrong.

http://www.nfl.com/player/dustinkeller/1074/profile

His best year ever was 800 yards. He's failed to even reach 700 yards in all the other seasons he's played. And the past two years he's been injured and only put up 317 yards in the past 2 seasons.


He's just camp fodder at this point.

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He's TE2/TE3 if he's healthy. That's not camp fodder.

Joker said:

yet valuable camp fodder. He has first hand knowledge not only of Morninweg's system but the Miami system too.Every little bit helps in this league, make no mistake about that.

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Good point. He'd be able to provide some insight much more than any of the usual type of camp fodder signings.

My, what a difference one injured year makes. Last year most around the NFL viewed his signing in Miami as a major addition. Now he's barely worth bringing in to camp for some. I think if he's brought in, it will be to compete for the TE2/3 spot, depending on our draft plans.

MrNathanDrake said:

Some of you are severely overrating Keller because he played good against the Pats.

His career numbers are not that good. Someone here said he's a TE1 when healthy. Sorry but that's just flat out wrong.

http://www.nfl.com/player/dustinkeller/1074/profile

His best year ever was 800 yards. He's failed to even reach 700 yards in all the other seasons he's played. And the past two years he's been injured and only put up 317 yards in the past 2 seasons.


He's just camp fodder at this point.

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I'm not sure I blame Keller for having Brett Favre (at the end of his career), Mark Sanchez, Kellen Clemens and Ryan Tannehill (although he never really got to play with him) as the guys throwing balls to him.

I don't think Keller is as good a player as some people hope but (IMO) he's no scrub. I'm not overly fussed if he's signed by the Patriots or not.

I always thought Keller had massive potential but played scared and I can't see such a horrendous injury as helping him get over that psychological flaw in his game. Having said that, he's definitely worth a look and could be a valuable back up

Brady6 said:

Many posters on here disagree with it claiming that the work metrics do not matter and while I do not think they are the end all be all I do like to look at them just to gauge the type of talent the player had entering the NFL.

Dustin Keller
Height: 6021
Weight: 242
40 Yard Dash: 4.53
20 Yard Dash: 2.65
10 Yard Dash: 1.62
225 Lb. Bench Reps: 26
Vertical Jump: 38
Broad Jump: 10'11"
20 Yard Shuttle: 4.14
3-Cone Drill: 6.88

Aaron Hernandez
Height: 6023
Weight: 245
40 Yard Dash: 4.64
20 Yard Dash: 2.71
10 Yard Dash: 1.65
225 Lb. Bench Reps: 30
Vertical Jump: 33
Broad Jump: 09'03"
20 Yard Shuttle: 4.18
3-Cone Drill: 6.83

Keller workout numbers indicated a more explosive player entering the NFL, his straight-line speed, and jumping ability was significantly better than Hernandez was. In the other areas, they matched up very similar. At age 29 with a major knee injury I am not sure what type of player he is now however.

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That's combine numbers though. On the field, Keller is a poor man Hernandez.

I'm def interested in Keller, I hope we sign him, but he's not even remotely close to being on Hernandez's level.

If healthy, Keller is better TE2 than Hooman.

Pats are drafting at least 1 TE and likely 2.

Triumph said:

If healthy, Keller is better TE2 than Hooman.

Pats are drafting at least 1 TE and likely 2.

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Agreed. Even with Keller, the Pats have to have quality injury insurance at the position. Keller is coming off of a devastating knee injury and Gronk simply can't be counted on to be there. I think they're going to target guys like ASJ, Nikas, CJF in rounds 2-3 then try to snag a guy like Hoskins later on. That would pretty much make the Hooman expendable and provide the Pats with some quality depth at the focal point of their offense.

KontradictioN said:

Wrong. This is the upcoming Jets season...

Could also be used to represent Rex's job security as head coach.

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O the humanity!!!

KontradictioN said:

Agreed. Even with Keller, the Pats have to have quality injury insurance at the position. Keller is coming off of a devastating knee injury and Gronk simply can't be counted on to be there. I think they're going to target guys like ASJ, Nikas, CJF in rounds 2-3 then try to snag a guy like Hoskins later on. That would pretty much make the Hooman expendable and provide the Pats with some quality depth at the focal point of their offense.

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I don't think it would be fair to dump Hooman, especially considering how hard announcers worked to learn how to pronounce his name.

patfanken said:

3. Obviouisly unless Keller is completely healthy, he's not going to be signed.

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How is it possible you know this? They claimed Ballard and then gave him a year off to recover. BB has shown over the last decade what extreme lengths he is willing to go to in order to field his TE dream package. Premium draft picks, multiple draft picks, FAs, UDFAs, converted DTs, converted DEs, waiver wire, hospital ward. I can't think of any other position on the roster where BB hasn't overturned every rock or jammed square pegs into round holes in order to fill out the TE grouping.

As far as Keller's talent when healthy, he has flashed at times, usually early in the early season and then somehow disappeared for long stretches. Being the grass as always greener poster that I am (LOLOLOLOLOL), I must toss into the equation the fact that the QB delivering the ball to Keller while a Jet had extreme difficulty finding and delivering the ball to any target in the middle of the field. Sanchez had two major flaws besides being a Jet: his height and his low release point. He had difficulty seeing targets over the middle and he certainly had accuracy issues when throwing inside the hashes. No doubt Tom Brady is a TEs dream and just maybe Keller has skills that were never given a chance to blossom because his QB could only chuck the ball down the sidelines.

We'll see on Keller. And regardless who gets signed and/or drafted, no way BB goes into the season as thin at TE as this grouping was last year. BB usually overcompensates in order to correct flawed groupings

MrNathanDrake said:

Some of you are severely overrating Keller because he played good against the Pats.

His career numbers are not that good. Someone here said he's a TE1 when healthy. Sorry but that's just flat out wrong.

http://www.nfl.com/player/dustinkeller/1074/profile

His best year ever was 800 yards. He's failed to even reach 700 yards in all the other seasons he's played.

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I think the peak Gronk/Hernandez years have skewed your perception of what a "TE1" is. Look across the league and you'll find that the minority of teams have a TE reach even 600 yards in a season. Keller, when healthy, was indeed a TE1. Not a star or a major impact player by any means, but starting caliber.

He's not that anymore. Fortunately, he doesn't have to be that to be worth signing. He just has to be a cheap vet who still has enough skills to let the Patriots offer some different looks to match up with defenses, without drastically overdrafting someone in this weak TE draft class.

If the Patriots get 600+ yards from Keller, if he's signed, I would be thrilled. He's not a TE1 but that's good production from the position. There were only 13 TEs in the NFL who topped that total in 2012 or 2013.