Was Michael Lombardi half-right this past April?

[RJB87]

I agree with this. BB will be around for another 10+ years. He loves this game. The only way I see him disappearing is if John Hopkins wants him to coach their Lacrosse team! (I'm j/k obviously)

 

[borg]

The future contracts for these two could get very interesting. Both rookie contracts end in '13. Gronk is scheduled to earn 60% more than Hernandez based on rookie contracts.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

The future contracts for these two could get very interesting. Both rookie contracts end in '13. Gronk is scheduled to earn 60% more than Hernandez based on rookie contracts.

Second-rounder v. fourth-rounder with "issues."

GRONK is the more important of the two to resign, I think, but if the Pats can find a way to hang on to both, they will.

 

[borg]

Second-rounder v. fourth-rounder with "issues."

GRONK is the more important of the two to resign, I think, but if the Pats can find a way to hang on to both, they will.

Issues??
I agree Gronk has more value because of his line blocking...but Hernandez averages 2 catches/game more than the Gronk.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

Issues??
I agree Gronk has more value because of his line blocking...but Hernandez averages 2 catches/game more than the Gronk.

Issues: TE Aaron Hernandez reportedly failed multiple drug tests at Florida - Orlando Sentinel

Note that he got a "weird" contract:

Hernandez signed a four-year contract on June 8, 2010.[11] The contract included a signing bonus of $200,000—less than half the bonus received by former Patriots fourth-round pick placekicker Stephen Gostkowski in 2006.[12] To compensate for the small signing bonus, the deal also includes a series of roster and workout bonuses that add up to an additional $700,000, which means that "Hernandez can wind up getting the money a third-rounder would over four years, but he's gotta walk the straight and narrow to do so."[13]

 

[chris_in_sunnyvale]

Here's a link of BB talking about Bavaro last year.

Gronkowski has a little Bavaro in him - New England Patriots Blog - ESPN Boston

That BB would even talk about this in the context of Gronkowski's play says a lot about Gronk. Belichick's admiration of Bavaro is pretty clear.

From the link: Bavaro would be assigned to block LT and Carl Banks (very underrated LB...would have been a superstar on any team without LT) in practice and held his own. In games, Bavaro sometimes would block Reggie White without help.

Keep in mind that these defenders were *in their primes*. LT in '86 and White in '87 had two of the most dominant defensive seasons by any players ever. Yet Bavaro was asked to take them on one-on-one. And the article only glosses over his receiving abilities, which were stellar. And like Gronk, once he had the ball he was a beast to take down. I hope there are YouTube clips of him vs. SF in the '86 postseason carrying the secondary on his back for YAC.

Bavaro is the best complete TE I've ever seen. Plenty of HOF TEs were glorified receivers with average (or worse) blocking ability. Lots of other TEs have been blocking specialists who catch passes on rare occasions. The list of guys who could do both exceptionally is small and I'd love to see Gronk one day put his name above Bavaro at the top of that list. I bet BB would, too.

Regards,
Chris

 

[Uncle Rico]

...I agree Gronk has more value because of his line blocking...but Hernandez averages 2 catches/game more than the Gronk.

Hernandez has been stellar, but Gronk has been deceptively productive as a receiver. I was surprised to see he's on a pace for 1,000 yards receiving this year. I don't see him making it, with Hernandez getting healthy and our high-profile #6 receiver likely to get more receptions, but seeing his stats while knowing all the blocking he's doing, that's really something.

(This past week's game was an example of how deceptively productive Gronk has been: Hernandez had 8 catches, 68 yards on 14 targets; Gronk 7 for 74 on 7 targets.)

 

[Pat the Pats Fan]

This post leaves nothing more to say.

Correction: Mike Vrabel could also play tight end, and he was certainly the most reliable pass catcher of that group, sadly.

Yeah, every pass he caught was a TD!!!:rocker:

 

[PatsBoy12]

After Rod Rutledge, Jermaine Wiggins, Cam Cleeland, Christian Fauria, Daniel Graham, Fred Baxter, Ben Watson, Andy Stokes, Jed Weaver, David Thomas, Garrett Mills, Kyle Brady, Marcus Pollard, Stephen Spach, Alex Smith, Chris Baker, Alge Crumpler and a few more I'm probably forgetting... BB found his guys

Tight end has been an interesting position to follow on this team since BB took over.

Wow, that's a long darn list. You tend to forget about some people as the years go on.

 

[LuRkeR1978]

I believe we also had Eric Bjornson in 2000.

 

[IllegalContact]

I had no problems with graham....... I still think one of the best games I have ever seen by a TE was graham against the panthers in the SB....he alternated between mauling peppers and rucker and still managed to make a beautiful 30 yard grab.....

few appreciate the fact that brady dropped back 48 times and didn't get touched in that game

 

[JoeSixPat]

I'm changing a quote from Lombardi slightly here, but would you agree with this?



He originally said that about Mallett. . . . but I'm thinking that BB finally has the tight ends he's been coveting for almost 20 years now. . . . and wants to take advantage of it.

I know what you're saying... add a legitimate deep WR to the mix and this is the offense Belichick has wanted for a very long time.

Everyone would always say that we shouldn't be down on Graham and Watson, but the production of Hernandez and Gronkowski I think is what Belichick was hoping to see in them - though neither of the previous players were bad - they just weren't at this level

That being said, having a franchise QB is what winning teams need - I know as much as I want Tom to be here as long as he can, his years will eventually catch up with him and I don't think anyone here can rule out any QB scenarios in the future

Maybe its Brady for an unusually long career - maybe its Mallet and maybe its someone none of us have yet contemplated

One things for sure - finding a franchise QB is a lot more difficult than getting lucky in the 6th round

 

[VJCPatriot]

Let's not forget that BB wanted Kyle Brady back in the 90s before the JEST took him one spot before.

Actually, I've heard that BB wanted to draft Sapp in 95 but he got overruled.
The Browns could have had Sapp at pick #10 but instead traded back with San Francisco at #30. Sapp went at #12 to Tampa and nobody remembers the guy that was picked at #30. LOL.
Cleveland Browns | Draft History 1990s

Ironically the Browns deactivated their franchise from '1996-1999', so I think the extra 1st (1996) they got from San Fran in that trade ended up wasted.

 

[fester]

Ironically the Browns deactivated their franchise from '1996-1999', so I think the extra 1st (1996) they got from San Fran in that trade ended up wasted.

No that pick, along with everything else, went to Baltimore. And it turned into Ray Lewis