New England Patriots 2019 training camp primer: Tight ends
Here’s what we don’t know…
The three biggest positional question marks on this roster entering training camp are at tight end, wide receiver, and left tackle. Everywhere else, the Patriots are absolutely loaded.
As of this writing, it looks like the starting tight end job is Matt LaCosse’s to lose. He’s a 26-year-old player who went undrafted four years ago coming out of The University of Illinois, and it’s probably not a stretch to say he’s mostly unknown outside of two states: Illinois and Colorado. Before last season, he might not even have been a familiar name in Colorado, either.
Thrust into action because of injuries to the players ahead of him on the Broncos’ depth chart, LaCosse did enough not to embarrass himself on a bad Denver offense. Still, the fact remains that he didn’t make his first career start until the middle of November last year. He also finished the 2018 season with a paltry stat-line: 24 receptions on 37 targets for 250 yards and just one touchdown.
As the old saying goes, though: “in Bill we trust.” Obviously Belichick and the Patriots must have seen enough in limited appearances by LaCosse last season to bring him east.
The other tight end to keep an eye on throughout camp is Stephen Anderson. Another player who went undrafted, Anderson actually has more NFL experience to his name than LaCosse, despite the fact he currently sits lower on the projected depth chart.
Everyone else outside of Watson, LaCosse, and Anderson is a long shot to survive the initial round of roster cuts. Andrew Beck is an undrafted rookie out of Texas, though it’s somewhat notable the Patriots gave him the most guaranteed money of all their undrafted acquisitions. Ryan Izzo almost went undrafted himself in 2018, but was scooped up by New England with the 250th pick, not long before he found himself on I.R. for his entire rookie season.
Next. Tom Brady and the Pats' Twitter page had a fun exchange. dark
It’s still not out of the realm of possibilities that the Patriots swing a trade for a more proven, veteran tight end from another team. They’ll also keep their eyes and ears open as other squads begin making cuts around the league, hoping that somewhere there’s a team with more tight ends than they have roster spots available.
READ ABOUT THE PATRIOTS’ QUARTERBACKS HERE.
READ ABOUT THE PATRIOTS’ RUNNING BACKS HERE.
READ ABOUT THE PATRIOTS’ WIDE RECEIVERS HERE.
READ ABOUT THE PATRIOTS’ OFFENSIVE LINEMEN HERE.
READ ABOUT THE PATRIOTS’ DEFENSIVE LINEMEN HERE.
READ ABOUT THE PATRIOTS’ LINEBACKERS HERE.
READ ABOUT THE PATRIOTS’ CORNERBACKS HERE.
READ ABOUT THE PATRIOTS’ SAFETIES HERE.
READ ABOUT THE PATRIOTS’ SPECIALISTS HERE.