Patriots shockingly signing Hunter Henry after Monday’s free agency mayhem
If you thought the New England Patriots shocked you on Monday with a laundry list of signings, then you certainly weren’t ready for Tuesday morning’s news.
According to the latest reports, the Pats have agreed to a three-year contract with former Los Angeles Chargers tight end Hunter Henry in a shocking turn of events.
On Monday, Jonnu Smith agreed to a four-year, $50 million deal with New England to make him the third highest-paid tight end in the NFL.
Now, it seems Bill Belichick wants to go back to that famed two tight end set that the Pats employed for years with Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez.
Smith was reportedly considered the Pats’ top pass catching target, and they’ve now completely changed the complexion of their offense by taking the next best tight end off the board.
Quite simply, this room is stacked.
And New England strikes again: The Patriots are signing former Chargers' TE Hunter Henry to a three-year, $37.5 million deal, including $25 million guaranteed, per source.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 16, 2021
Free agency's top two tight ends, Henry and Jonnu Smith, wind up in New England.
The Patriots have snagged all the tight ends, adding Hunter Henry and Jonnu Smith.
Originally, fans were hesitant in regard to how much Henry would cost, but it appears his market developed fairly quickly.
While among the most talented tight ends in the league, Henry’s had trouble staying on the field, so it always seemed farfetched for him to become one of the top paid tight ends in the league.
The former second-round pick has only seen the field for 55 games since debuting 2016, but has proven to be a weapon in the passing game. He’s a tremendous red zone target as evidenced by his 21 career touchdowns in addition to a viable downfield threat (he averages nearly 12 yards per reception).
Belichick just gave Jonnu Smith ($31.25M) and Hunter Henry ($25M) the two highest guarantees for a tight end contract in the league. Both more than the guarantees for Kelce and Kittle.
— Trevor Sikkema (@TampaBayTre) March 16, 2021
This explains why the Patriots didn’t exactly get their hands on a No. 1 wide receiver. On Monday, they added Nelson Agholor and Kendrick Bourne, two reliable wideouts, but certainly not go-to options in, say, a third and long situation. It seems Belichick is building a foundation of reliable wideouts and then adding matchup nightmares in Smith and Henry to really throw defenses off.
It’s no surprise Cam Newton loves his tight ends, either. Greg Olsen was his favorite target in Carolina, and now he gets two colossal and athletic targets in Henry and Smith.
The Patriots seems to be going for it all in a much different manner than most teams would, and that’s exactly what makes Bill Belichick Bill Belichick.
