PATRIOTS NEWS Gronk elected to Pats Hall of Fame

[maust]

Russ was not elite imo, but very good.

agree or not, who do you have as #4 for the all time TE's for the Pats?

Russ Francis was absolutely elite for his era when TE's were more an extension of the O-line than downfield receivers IMO. He blocked downfield with violence and authority. To see Gray fire forward and cut off half the D, Hannah pull to clear the second level and fold it back while Francis destroyed leakers or continued downfield to blow up hapless d-backs ahead of the runner was to to witness a thing of pure football beauty. Gives me a warm glow just remembering it all these years later.

Thinking for body of work with the Pats 4 is a tough call, with the murderer excluded for obvious reasosns. Watson vs Henry, I'd give the nod to Watson as the superior blocker but I couldn't argue with someone saying Henry has the better hands between them.

 

[mike_usagisan]

Thinking for body of work with the Pats 4 is a tough call, with the murderer excluded for obvious reasosns. Watson vs Henry, I'd give the nod to Watson as the superior blocker but I couldn't argue with someone saying Henry has the better hands between them.

I'm not saying that they're on the level to be number 4, but I really enjoyed Graham and Bennett when they played here as TEs.

 

[maust]

I'm not saying that they're on the level to be number 4, but I really enjoyed Graham and Bennett when they played here as TEs.

Bennett was a hella contributor to the 2016 team and Graham's decade here was a solid TE. I'd probably put Whelan ahead of either of them myself but he was before a lot of folks time and the game was different then. It was primarily about blocking then, they took a beating. If a TE scored 4-5 TD's in the 60's he was tearing it up

 

[Ice_Ice_Brady]

Greatest TE in NFL history. At the end of the day, Gronk blocked like an OT, and was so dominant as a pass catcher. Everyone is compared to Gronk, but nobody ever did it better.

Kittle is the only TE who is anything like Gronk