The New England Patriots enter the 2014 offseason with the tight end position as a main focus, as they lost Aaron Hernandez and Rob Gronkowski at different points last season and this year they could try to build that back up in free agency with names like Scott Chandler, Garrett Graham, Jeff Cumberland or Brandon Pettigrew, while they also could target names like Eric Ebron, Jace Amaro and Colt Lyerla in the draft.
Bill Belichick discovered the big secret of the NFL involving tight ends ahead of everyone else, but an unforeseen situation came up for Hernandez and he obviously is done forever, while Gronkowski was seriously injured for the second straight season. Gronk is one of the most productive players in the NFL when healthy, but he has been unable to stay on the field and that could lead the Patriots to add a player in free agency and in the draft, as the position is considered to be deep in this class. Chandler is one of the top names on the market ahead of Graham and his size could make him a possible stand-in for Gronk, although he obviously is not as dominant.
The Patriots have just Gronkowski and DJ Williams on the roster for next season and Chandler had a solid season with 58 catches for 655 yards and two touchdowns for the Bills and after playing him twice each season for the past few years, New England could woo Chandler. Graham is shorter than Chandler, but he was productive with the Texans and had 49 catches for 545 yards and five touchdowns and he could be a cheaper option on the market. The team had Michael Hoomanawanui on the roster last season as well, but he has always been a blocking tight end anyway and is not really a replacement for Gronkowski.
The Patriots could also look to Dustin Keller, Jermichael Finley, Brandon Pettigrew, Brandon Myers and Ed Dickson on the market and those names likely will cost less than Dennis Pitta, who signed a five year contract to stay with the Ravens. Pitta was expected to stay and he signed a deal worth $28.5 million on a five year extension and those other free agents likely will cost much less than that. Ebron and Amaro are considered to be the best tight ends in the draft and they both could be gone by the time the Patriots pick in the first round. Other options could be Oregon tight end Colt Lyerla, Notre Dame's Troy Niklas, Arthur Lynch from Georgia, Jake Murphy from Utah, Washington's Austin Seferian-Jenkins, Trey Burton from Florida and Iowa's C.J. Fiedorowicz.
Ebron and Amaro are getting plenty of hype out of the combine after their forty times and Amaro comes into the draft with some amazing stats after putting up 106 receptions, 1,352 yards and seven touchdowns last season. The Patriots would be thrilled to land either of them after losing Gronkowski to another serious injury.
