Patriots' Tight End Woes Have Continued Into Second Year

The position has gotten younger, but their impact has been minimal, potentially worse, compared to last year.

It was a disappointing game for the New England Patriots on Sunday. They were unable to defeat the Denver Broncos and also had some troubling issues. One for those issues is at tight end, where the production woes have continued on since the 2019 season. 

New England has been trying to replace Rob Gronkowski ever since he left. So far they have been rather unsuccessful. With Gronkowski, the Patriots had a unique weapon. Besides his quality blocking ability, Gronkowski was a big part of the passing game. He was someone that Tom Brady would consistently look his way.

The Patriots tried to improve on the position in the 2020 NFL Draft. They drafted Dalton Keene and Devin Asiasi who seemed as though they would be able to make an impact right away. 

But that hasn't been the case. None of New England's tight ends have been able to do anything in the passing game. NESN's Zach Cox broke down just how much the tight ends have been struggling compared to the rest of the league. 

The Patriots ranked last in the NFL last season in receptions by tight ends. Through six weeks this year, same story. pic.twitter.com/DNVAQPoWRb

— Zack Cox (@zm_cox) October 20, 2020

Ryan Izzo has been the primary tight end so far this season. He has six catches for 82 yards and a fumble this season. Izzo is also the tight end on the roster to record a catch thus far. 

Izzo proved to be a liability in Week 6. He had a costly fumble that killed any momentum that New England had gained. Also, it has been stunning to see how little Asiasi has been usitlized in the passing game. He's had opportunities downfield, but Cam Newton isn't looking in the rookie's direction. 

Asiasi was Wide Open in the 4th Quarter @scottzolak. Didn’t sound like you believed me so here’s the evidence

Cc: @Marc_Bertrand @hardy985 pic.twitter.com/NDMF1o6nvA

— Jim Louth (@JimLouth) October 20, 2020

With no tight end production, opposing defenses are able to focus in on shutting down Julian Edelman and are able to stop the run more effectively. The Patriots offense is no longer the scary monster that used to haunt opponents. 

Now New England is simply a running team. The team will go as far as Cam Newton and Damien Harris will take them.

Patriots fans got to see the start of this demise last season. Even with Tom Brady at quarterback, New England struggled to get their tight ends involved. Patriots tight ends only had 36 receptions and two touchdowns, with 38-year-old Benjamin Watson recording 17 of those catches. 

New England tried to fix their tight end problems this offseason, but so far they have been unable improve on the stat sheet from that positional group. In fact, you could argue they have gotten worse, and now it seems like the Patriots will have to make a trade in order to acquire some serious talent at the position.