TE Austin Seferian-Jenkins released

Is Belichick prepared to treat September like it's an extension of preseason (Again)? Right now the TE depth chart is ugly. That said, I won't question BB too much. Especially after the coaching masterpiece he pulled off last year.

reamer said:

DT TE is fixed!

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patsinthesnow said:

Matt LaCosse TE1 as of today

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Sad we didn't go after Jared Cook or think someone in the Draft at that position was worth a dam. Who's our Blocking TE again ??

PatsFan2 said:

Sad we didn't go after Jared Cook or think someone in the Draft at that position was worth a dam. Who's our Blocking TE again ??

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They did go after Jared Cook. He didn’t want to sign there because he didn’t know the status of Gronk.

Charges dropped against free-agent TE Griffin

After the charges were dropped, Griffin makes sense. Brate also makes sense but only if he were willing to take a pay cut as part of a trade.

EDIT: Plus, Griffin is familiar with the Pats offense, after playing for BOB.

I’m not that worried regarding the TE position because most teams are bad at TE.

However, I don’t want to see Demariyus Thomas get the Reggie Wayne, Eric Decker, and Torry Holt disease and say “F**k it, I quit!”

mgteich said:

I don't see the lack of depth.

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I'll have what he's having.

Matt LaCosse has 27 career receptions over parts of four seasons after being undrafted. He missed 2016 with a knee injury and spent 2017 between practice squads and game-day inactives. He became the #3 TE in 2018, and played more when the #1, Jake Butt tore his ACL. He's your presumptive #1 to start the season.

Benjamin Watson is suspended the first four games. He's 38.

Ryan Izzo declared for the 2017 draft after making 19 receptions at Florida State as a redshirt junior. He ran a 4.94 40 - before his injury.

Andrew Beck is a raw undrafted rookie noted for being a decent run blocker and a high drop rate.

Stephen Beck is, wait for it, undrafted. 36 career receptions.

Patjew said:

No, you are right. There is no depth at TE. Call me crazy but I'd like a depth of at least one semi-proven TE week 1.

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Agreed.

To me, the position seems like a collection of bodies rather than a positional group.

But as I said, I am not going to question BB all that much.

1. TE is a fairly lean position league wide - especially from an Offensive Statistical output POV (I realize blocking doesn't show up in the stats).
2. WR depth seems like there will be a talented guy or two who doesn't even make the team; so that is a switch from the "TE focused years"
3. I know others disagree, and from a statistical POV, they aren't wrong, but the best way to keep a 41 year old QB productive for a few more years is to give him a top notch running game. They have clearly invested in that position. Whether they "transitioned" or not seems to be the quibble.
4. Defenses have gone small and fast, with less beef, so this piggybacks off of 3.
5. Good/Great blocking and 300-500 yards may be all they need from the TE position.

EDIT TO ADD - I would also like to mention I hope, as I did with Flash, that ASJ gets the help he needs. Addiction is an insidious monster requiring the best a person has to battle it 100% of the time. It's terribly hard to fight when you are an everyday schmoe. I can't imagine the pressures and requirements it takes to be a top flight athlete make it any easier to fight.

Gee whiz golly gosh...I've never seen a situation like this before at any position...I'm real scared now....looks REAL BAD!!!!!!!!..rolls what's left of my eyes after all these years..

Urgent said:

I'll have what he's having.

Matt LaCosse has 27 career receptions over parts of four seasons after being undrafted. He missed 2016 with a knee injury and spent 2017 between practice squads and game-day inactives. He became the #3 TE in 2018, and played more when the #1, Jake Butt tore his ACL. He's your presumptive #1 to start the season.

Benjamin Watson is suspended the first four games. He's 38.

Ryan Izzo declared for the 2017 draft after making 19 receptions at Florida State as a redshirt junior. He ran a 4.94 40 - before his injury.

Andrew Beck is a raw undrafted rookie noted for being a decent run blocker and a high drop rate.

Stephen Beck is, wait for it, undrafted. 36 career receptions.

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In the offseason, mgteich has a habit of equating mere body numbers with legitimate talent depth.

TheRainMaker said:

I’m not that worried regarding the TE position because most teams are bad at TE.

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This is basically how I feel. It's like a power hitting short stop; most teams don't have them. When you do, it helps a lot, but once you lose it, you're just back to the pack. All this assuming at least two of the bodies in camp can play to a mediocre level. If we swing and miss on ALL of them, I'm not sure any one player leaving would have made the difference.

SammyBlueCat said:

Austin Seferian-Jenkins - Wikipedia

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I was not surprised to see him released. I don’t always read all that much into social media posts, but I will say- I follow him on Instagram, and from his first post after Pats picking him up to now...he seemed somewhat unstable. He’s deleted all his posts a couple times- fights with commenters, his stories are full of “only god can judge me/haters/you don’t know my struggle/dark thoughts/angry/passive aggressive stuff- the exact type of content some folks I know who are struggling with addiction issues post.
Hopefully whatever personal things he’s dealing with, he takes care of.

And we didn’t draft one because...

Good luck ASJ. Your contributions won’t be forgotten.

Arialgg said:

I was not surprised to see him released. I don’t always read all that much into social media posts, but I will say- I follow him on Instagram, and from his first post after Pats picking him up to now...he seemed somewhat unstable. He’s deleted all his posts a couple times- fights with commenters, his stories are full of “only god can judge me/haters/you don’t know my struggle/dark thoughts/angry/passive aggressive stuff- the exact type of content some folks I know who are struggling with addiction issues post.
Hopefully whatever personal things he’s dealing with, he takes care of.

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I don't know how much of that is specifically symptomatic of a substance issue but that behavior is concerning nonetheless.

We are moving from being one of the most TE centric teams in the league to being a team where TE is an afterthought.
Just another in a long line of largely successful scheme alterations.

I’d rather deemphasized TE than expect someone else to be gronk.

Somewhere in the middle would be nice though.

And none of this is because of ASJ because he was a long shot to make it to sept when he was signed.

AndyJohnson said:

We are moving from being one of the most TE centric teams in the league to being a team where TE is an afterthought.
Just another in a long line of largely successful scheme alterations.

I’d rather deemphasized TE than expect someone else to be gronk.

Somewhere in the middle would be nice though.

And none of this is because of ASJ because he was a long shot to make it to sept when he was signed.

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I'd be with you....except that we don't have depth at OT...we don't even have a swing tackle who could come in and take some snaps at TE in a jumbo package.

We need to beef up blocking at that position as well as get a reliable swing tackle...Wynn and Cannon don't have a DURABLE track record....yet....

Keyser Söze said:

And we didn’t draft one because...

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After Hock and maybe Fant, there wasn't much they liked?

I mean, what are the odds that guys like Mack and Wahring are going to be any better than old Watson or LaCosse?

Whenever the Pats get a guy like ASJ, I can't help but hope he finds the magic formula. And in those instances (Van Noy, Vrable), it's pretty amazing.

But for every one of them, there are many more like ASJ. Ah well. Here's hoping he figures it out.

Patjew said:

No, you are right. There is no depth at TE. Call me crazy but I'd like a depth of at least one semi-proven TE week 1.

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Despite Andy's objections Lacosse is semi-proven. He has good hands but according to what I've read his blocking needs to improve. Hopefully a little Scar magic will help.