Patriots: Free agent tight end targets all have injury concerns

While the New England Patriots can’t afford not to pursue an available veteran tight end in free agency, they must also be wary of injury histories.

Anybody with eyes knows the New England Patriots need to do something about their tight end position.

In 2019, 18 different players logged at least one reception during the team’s regular season campaign. If you rank all 18 of them in descending order from the most receiving yardage to the least, you get a list that starts (predictably) with Julian Edelman and ends with Eric Tomlinson, a tight end/fullback who only played two games with the Pats.

In the midst of all the other names in between Edelman and Tomlinson are three tight ends: Ben Watson, Matt LaCosse, and Ryan Izzo — all three in straight succession. Watson is eighth, LaCosse is ninth, and Izzo is tenth on that list.

That’s not a great place to be, make no mistake about it. Especially when you consider some of the great tight ends of the Patriots’ past — Watson himself in his younger days, Martellus Bennett, Aaron Hernandez, and (oh yeah) Rob Gronkowski — it just goes to show you how far the tight end position has fallen in recent years for the Pats.

Consider the harsh reality that as unproductive as they were this year, Jakobi Meyers, Rex Burkhead, and Josh Gordon all had more receiving yards than New England’s trio of tight ends, one of which was always supposed to be starting at any given time.

Heck, Sony Michel had more catches this past season than Izzo — and he had just one less than LaCosse. And we all know how inconsistent and non-dangerous Michel is as a pass-catcher.

The moral of the story is that the Patriots clearly need help at tight end. So now the question becomes: where are they going to get it?

The draft seems like a great place to start looking as far as the future is concerned. But by and large, rookie tight ends rarely make a major impact in their first season — that much is well-known at this point in NFL history. Any tight end the Pats draft will most likely need to learn the offense and his role in it for at least a season before seeing significant playing time.

New England clearly needs to plumb the free agent pile for a reinforcement at TE. Thankfully for the Patriots, there are several intriguing options this year at tight end.

Unfortunately, all the best names all come with two major problems if you’re a New England fan. First, they’re all going to be expensive — the top guys might even already be too pricey for the Patriots to afford to ink, regardless of what happens with Tom Brady and his cap hit. Second, quite a few of them carry some injury risks.

Let’s start with Tyler Eifert. The 29-year-old has spent his entire career with the Cincinnati Bengals, but he’s hardly been able to stay on the field. A former first-round pick out of Notre Dame — all the way back in 2013, if you can believe it — Eifert has played a full 16-game season just once.

The good news is it came just last season. The bad news is he’s still proven himself to be the epitome of injury-prone over the course of his seven-year professional career.

The Patriots reportedly expressed interest in trading for Eifert at various junctures last year but were never able to make it happen. Could this be the offseason that they finally get their man? (And perhaps the better question — should they?)

Eifert isn’t the only big name at the top of the tight end free agent mountain who carries significant injury baggage with him. Hunter Henry is younger and more talented, a 25-year-old who himself comes as a high-end draft pick (second-rounder).

Henry has been in the league four years now — all with the Chargers — but he has yet to play a full regular season. He also missed the entire 2018 season with an ACL tear. When healthy, he’s one of the better red zone weapons and blocking tight ends in the league. The problem is he’s rarely healthy.

Austin Hooper is probably the biggest prize amongst the tight ends in free agency this spring. He also has the smallest injury history — he played two full 16-game seasons from 2017-2018, and he managed to play 14 games his rookie season as well in 2016.

He did miss three games last year with an MCL sprain, but there’s no denying he’s a player on the rise. His receiving yardage total has steadily risen every year he’s been in the league (271 in 2016, 526 in 2017, 660 in 2018, and 787 in 2019). His touchdowns have also increased, going from three each in his first two seasons to four in 2018 and then six last year.

The problem is that Hooper might well be outside the Patriots’ price range. New England is already staring at a situation with very little cap room and flexibility with regards to contracts. Perhaps if they decide to let several players walk and shed a few other contracts, they might be able to finesse his addition.

More likely, they’ll need to roll the dice on a player they can afford. That player might be someone like Henry, Eifert, Jordan Reed, or Eric Ebron. Make no mistake — any of these players would be a tremendous upgrade over their 2019 situation.

But now it’s just a question of how much faith Bill Belichick and company have that all these guys are fully-healed, ready to contribute, and — most importantly — capable of staying on the field for a full season and then into the playoffs.

Who would you like to see the Patriots sign in free agency? Who gives you the biggest pause based off their injury history? Let us know in the comments section below!