Let's be realistic. Shiancoe was brought in to give a veteran presence. He got hurt in TC and was a non-factor during the season. He was a low risk/high reward potential signing.
I disagree on some level. Belichick was obviously quite hopeful that Schiancoe would work out in a positive way, due to his insane patience with him and the fact that he made him our only IR exempt player so early in the season.
If he thought of him as simply a "veteran presence" he would have held off on making him our IR exempt player and been more cautious with that designation by waiting longer in the period to use it, as it could have been used on other more important players.
And while we're speaking of "low risk/high reward type signings" Jake Ballard is the absolute definition of that.
The only people who have had "great plans for other good TEs" are the fans. And even then, much of the expectation was overblown. As it was with Shiancoe.
I'm mainly speaking of the fans, but again the point still remains that our TE corps was talked about by many different outlets and was supposed to be a lot better. We took DEN's #1 TE, and brought in Schiancoe and Winslow. Those 5 guys should have been able to accomplish
something. All I'm saying is let's wait and see about Ballard, some people here are starting to speak of him like he's going to be the savior to the 2013 season. The truth is he's coming off a major injury, has no idea of our system, and probably won't even contribute that much unless one of Gronk/Hernandez gets injured unless it's to block in the 3 TE formations.
I have hopes for him too, and I do think he should be the TE #3, but I am also assuming that Belichick will address the position again with more competition. In that scenario, Ballard could in theory be the #4.
If the Patriots signed Fells and he somehow hid his injury from them and their doctors, shame on them. We'll have a better idea of whether that was the case or not because if he was injured all season long then they'd probably expect a much better player out of him for the upcoming season based on past seasons and better talent. I am guessing he has a good chance of not even making the team though, and could just end up being part of the competition (if that).
