Yards From The TE Position

[mgteich]

Is it unreasonable to expect 1250 yards from the TE position in 2014? If we had that last year, we would have more than equalled to the 2012 total for passing yards. And yes, it would help to have fewer drops this year by the wide receivers.

I understand that this taking one position in isolation. Of course, if the tight ends aren't producing, we would need to make the production up elsewhere.

Personally, I don't think that 1250 is at all unreasonable.

Also, I expect it reasonable for the WR's and the RB's to produce at least what they did in 2012, especially if Vereen plays more games.

 

[varjao]

well depends on gronk's availability to stay healthy.

Gronk + another decent TE = at least 1000 yards

 

[TonyTucker]

78 yards per game? No, Gronk and a draft pick should cover that.

 

[supafly]

I agree that it's not unreasonable, but I wouldn't be as concerned about reaching a certain yardage plateau (I doubt that you really are) as I would be having at least one healthy option come January.

I'm a bit surprised that we didn't sign a guy like Owen Daniels. He's looked good for HOU. I'm guessing that he may not have been fully healthy enough yet to warrant a fair enough contract proposal, but what do I know?

We've got to go TE in the first 2-3 rounds I think.

 

[DarrylS]

Yardage production is nice, but would much rather see an increase in overall catches, 1st down production and TD's...

We went from 2300+ yds receiving, 169 receptions and 24 TD's in 2011 to 744 yds receiving, 53 receptions and 6 TD's in 2013... that is an amazing drop off, and a critical need for this Offense...

 

[varjao]

what one can honestly expect from DJ Willians?

 

[patfanken]

I recently read an article by some national guy who declared that Ron Gronkowski was the single most impactful receiver in the NFL after Charles Johnson. The key word here is "receiver" rather than TE. I agree and go one step further in fact.

Ron Gronkowski is the single most impactful non-QB offensive player in the league. He not only impacts your passing game, he improves your running game as well. There hasn't been a player in the NFL who has put up the TD numbers that Gronk has. Think about it. The kid has scored 42 TD's in just 50 games over a 4 year career in the regular season.

Now unfortunately reality steps in. Gronk is coming off an major knee injury. Granted ACL's are no longer the death knell of careers, but they do take time to heal, not only the injury, but the mental damage that occurs. So with that in mind, I see Gronk likely being at 90% for most of this year, as well as likely to miss some games before coming back.

Those realities included in a calculation, I can see the him having a mere mortal 900 yd, 10 TD kind of a season. So in the end I think MG's estimate for 1250 yds from the TE position is conservative. That's a number a healthy Gronk should produce on his own. He's that good. But given what we suspect will happen for the rest of FA and the draft, even with a 90% Gronk, the TE position will vastly improve its 2013 production.

 

[Brady6]

Is it unreasonable to expect 1250 yards from the TE position in 2014? If we had that last year, we would have more than equalled to the 2012 total for passing yards. And yes, it would help to have fewer drops this year by the wide receivers.

I understand that this taking one position in isolation. Of course, if the tight ends aren't producing, we would need to make the production up elsewhere.

Personally, I don't think that 1250 is at all unreasonable.

Also, I expect it reasonable for the WR's and the RB's to produce at least what they did in 2012, especially if Vereen plays more games.

I think it is best to wait until the draft concludes and we see whom if any prospects we draft at the tight end position before we determine a yardage expectation.

 

[BradyManny]

I recently read an article by some national guy who declared that Ron Gronkowski was the single most impactful receiver in the NFL after Charles Johnson. The key word here is "receiver" rather than TE. I agree and go one step further in fact.

Ron Gronkowski is the single most impactful non-QB offensive player in the league.

I would agree with this. I think even on this forum where everyone is admittedly huge Gronk fans, people severely underestimate the kid's impact.

Our offensive production went right from middle of the pack to #1 based upon his return. In 2011, he was basically our MVP, he rivaled Brady for impact, and if not for Bernard Pollard & an unfortunate tackle, he'd have a Super Bowl ring to show for it.

He's a beast. He would single-handedly make any offense he was in considerably better, and that's how we measure the worth of a player. He's a Revis, Brady, Moss-in-his-prime type player.

Let's hope he gets to 100% and stays that way next year.

 

[Jimke]

what one can honestly expect from DJ Willians?

It's tough to know what the Pats have in DJ Williams. He won the
Mackie award and was a candidate a couple of other years so he was good in college. Mallett was his quarterback. Maybe with a full offseason and
training camp he will show something. He didn't do much elsewhere.

 

[mgteich]

I also expect us to draft a TE in the first three rounds, probably the in first two.

I agree that it's not unreasonable, but I wouldn't be as concerned about reaching a certain yardage plateau (I doubt that you really are) as I would be having at least one healthy option come January.

I'm a bit surprised that we didn't sign a guy like Owen Daniels. He's looked good for HOU. I'm guessing that he may not have been fully healthy enough yet to warrant a fair enough contract proposal, but what do I know?

We've got to go TE in the first 2-3 rounds I think.

 

[mgteich]

I agree that a healthy Gronk would blow away this number. The key (for me) is to draft a TE so that even with Gronk available much less, we still have solid performance from the TE position. If this player sits on the bench a lot, that would be fine. That would mean that Gronk is healthy. Some think that Belichick will draft a 6th rounder. To me, that is just a competitor for Williams. I want a top TE (S-J and Niklas seem to fit; I'm even fine with the slipping Amaro).

I recently read an article by some national guy who declared that Ron Gronkowski was the single most impactful receiver in the NFL after Charles Johnson. The key word here is "receiver" rather than TE. I agree and go one step further in fact.

Ron Gronkowski is the single most impactful non-QB offensive player in the league. He not only impacts your passing game, he improves your running game as well. There hasn't been a player in the NFL who has put up the TD numbers that Gronk has. Think about it. The kid has scored 42 TD's in just 50 games over a 4 year career in the regular season.

Now unfortunately reality steps in. Gronk is coming off an major knee injury. Granted ACL's are no longer the death knell of careers, but they do take time to heal, not only the injury, but the mental damage that occurs. So with that in mind, I see Gronk likely being at 90% for most of this year, as well as likely to miss some games before coming back.

Those realities included in a calculation, I can see the him having a mere mortal 900 yd, 10 TD kind of a season. So in the end I think MG's estimate for 1250 yds from the TE position is conservative. That's a number a healthy Gronk should produce on his own. He's that good. But given what we suspect will happen for the rest of FA and the draft, even with a 90% Gronk, the TE position will vastly improve its 2013 production.

 

[jmt57]

As a point of reference, here are the receiving yards by position during the Belichek era, as well as percentage of yards by position for those years.


2013:
380 receptions (4th) for 4,343 yards (10th)
WR: 2,858 yards (66%); 243 receptions (64%)
TE: 744 yards (17%); 53 receptions (14%)
RB: 741 yards (17%); 84 receptions (22%)

39/592/4 - Gronkowski
12/136/1 - Hoomanawanui
2/16/1 --- Mulligan​

2012:
402 receptions (5th) for 4,844 yards (4th)
WR: 2,708 yards (56%); 230 receptions (57%)
TE: 1,479 yards (31%); 116 receptions (29%)
RB: 657 yards (14%); 56 receptions (14%)

55/790/11 - Gronkowski
51/483/5 -- Hernandez
5/109/0 --- Hoomanawanui
4/85/0 ---- Fells
1/12/0 ---- Winslow​

2011:
402 receptions (3rd) for 5,257 yards (2nd)
WR: 2,657 yards (51%); 196 receptions (49%)
TE: 2,237 yards (43%); 169 receptions (42%)
RB: 363 yards (7%); 37 receptions (9%)

90/1327/17 - Gronkowski
79/910/7 --- Hernandez​

2010:
331 receptions (16th) for 4,022 yards (10th)
WR: 2,252 yards (56%); 177 receptions (53%)
TE: 1,161 yards (29%); 93 receptions (28%)
RB: 609 yards (15%); 61 receptions (18%)

42/546/10 - Gronkowski
45/563/6 -- Hernandez
6/52/2 ---- Crumpler​

2009:
390 receptions (4th) for 4,540 yards (3rd)
WR: 3,386 yards (75%); 273 receptions (70%)
TE: 546 yards (12%); 43 receptions (11%)
RB: 608 yards (13%); 74 receptions (19%)

29/404/5 - Watson
14/142/2 - Baker​

2008:
339 receptions (10th) for 3,790 yards (10th)
WR: 2,745 yards (72%); 227 receptions (67%)
TE: 302 yards (8%); 31 receptions (9%)
RB: 743 yards (20%); 81 receptions (24%)

22/209/2 - Watson
9/93/0 --- Thomas​

2007:
403 receptions (2nd) for 4,859 yards (1st)
WR: 3,814 yards (78%); 292 receptions (72%)
TE: 462 yards (10%); 49 receptions (12%)
RB: 583 yards (12%); 62 receptions (15%)

36/389/6 - Watson
9/70/2 --- Brady
4/3/2 ---- Thomas, Vrabel, Mankins​

2006:
326 receptions (11th) for 3,590 yards (11th)
WR: 1,798 yards (50%); 156 receptions (48%)
TE: 1,037 yards (29%); 81 receptions (25%)
RB: 755 yards (21%); 89 receptions (27%)

49/643/3 - Watson
21/235/2 - Graham
11/159/1 - Thomas​

2005:
352 receptions (6th) for 4,322 yards (3rd)
WR: 2,823 yards (65%); 211 receptions (60%)
TE: 738 yards (17%); 57 receptions (16%)
RB: 761 yards (18%); 84 receptions (24%)

29/441/4 - Watson
16/235/3 - Graham
8/57/2 --- Fauria
4/5/4 ---- Vrabel, Ashworth​

2004:
293 receptions (20th) for 3,750 yards (13th)
WR: 2,486 yards (66%); 162 receptions (55%)
TE: 689 yards (18%); 61 receptions (21%)
RB: 575 yards (15%); 70 receptions (24%)

30/364/7 - Graham
16/195/2 - Fauria
8/93/0 --- Weaver
7/37/2 --- Klecko, Vrabel, Watson​

2003:
320 receptions (8th) for 3,651 yards (8th)
WR: 2,278 yards (62%); 166 receptions (52%)
TE: 694 yards (19%); 66 receptions (21%)
RB: 679 yards (19%); 88 receptions (27%)

38/409/4 - Graham
28/285/2 - Fauria
1/0/0 ---- Andruzzi​

2002:
374 receptions (5th) for 3,767 yards (11th)
WR: 2,428 yards (64%); 222 receptions (59%)
TE: 516 yards (14%); 59 receptions (16%)
RB: 823 yards (22%); 93 receptions (25%)

27/253/7 - Fauria
15/150/1 - Graham
16/112/1 - Cleeland
1/1/1 ---- Vrabel​

2001:
306 receptions (20th) for 3,326 yards (22nd)
WR: 2,383 yards (72%); 192 receptions (63%)
TE: 175 yards (5%); 20 receptions (7%)
RB: 745 yards (22%); 93 receptions (30%)

14/133/4 - Wiggins
5/35/0 --- Rutledge
1/7/0 ---- Bryan Cox​

2000:
328 receptions (12th) for 3,461 yards (19th)
WR: 2,289 yards (66%); 188 receptions (57%)
TE: 458 yards (13%); 51 receptions (16%)
RB: 714 yards (21%); 89 receptions (27%)

20/152/2 - Eric Bjornson
16/203/1 - Jermaine Wiggins
15/103/1 - Rod Rutledge​

 

[Ring 6]

I recently read an article by some national guy who declared that Ron Gronkowski was the single most impactful receiver in the NFL after Charles Johnson. The key word here is "receiver" rather than TE. I agree and go one step further in fact.

Ron Gronkowski is the single most impactful non-QB offensive player in the league. He not only impacts your passing game, he improves your running game as well. There hasn't been a player in the NFL who has put up the TD numbers that Gronk has. Think about it. The kid has scored 42 TD's in just 50 games over a 4 year career in the regular season.

Now unfortunately reality steps in. Gronk is coming off an major knee injury. Granted ACL's are no longer the death knell of careers, but they do take time to heal, not only the injury, but the mental damage that occurs. So with that in mind, I see Gronk likely being at 90% for most of this year, as well as likely to miss some games before coming back.

Those realities included in a calculation, I can see the him having a mere mortal 900 yd, 10 TD kind of a season. So in the end I think MG's estimate for 1250 yds from the TE position is conservative. That's a number a healthy Gronk should produce on his own. He's that good. But given what we suspect will happen for the rest of FA and the draft, even with a 90% Gronk, the TE position will vastly improve its 2013 production.

I totally disagree with all of your comments about Ron Gronkowski.
But if you were making these comments about Rob Gronkowski I would agree.

 

[DaBronxPats14]

If (IF small word BIG meaning) Gronk is 100% and other guy is anything/one resembling a TE then Gronk can get most it himself and combined can be lethal. Interesting to see how much WRs come into play with snap counts.

 

[DarrylS]

I would agree with this. I think even on this forum where everyone is admittedly huge Gronk fans, people severely underestimate the kid's impact.

Our offensive production went right from middle of the pack to #1 based upon his return. In 2011, he was basically our MVP, he rivaled Brady for impact, and if not for Bernard Pollard & an unfortunate tackle, he'd have a Super Bowl ring to show for it.

He's a beast. He would single-handedly make any offense he was in considerably better, and that's how we measure the worth of a player. He's a Revis, Brady, Moss-in-his-prime type player.

Let's hope he gets to 100% and stays that way next year.

The planned TE set from June of last year to opening day changed significantly, and what was intended to be no longer was viable. Thus there was a huge change to integrating our young and new WR's into the offense, and they met the challenge with mixed results... WR's moved from a complimentary role to a primary role.

I suspect that BB and the brain trust will make every effort to avoid this in the future...