Pats Sign TE Hunter Henry

Harry Hooper

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We haven't seen such an infusion of personnel since Charles Foster Kane bought all the reporters from the rival newspaper.
 

SeoulSoxFan

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Holy shit, they have a completely transformed offense now. What a fantastic job by Bill, let's fucking go! (Please don't waste it with Cam, though)
Cam may be the best option with this offense.

From Greg Olsen to now Smith & Henry, backed up with Harris & Sony.

I can see a lot of DCs going "oh ffs" after these moves.
 

BaseballJones

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i thought Jones was a late first guy? He moving up?
I think he's been moving up people's draft boards. I wouldn't want to trade up to get him, but if he was there at 15 and Fields and Lance were gone...I think he'd work. I've been pro-Jones for a while and think, with the weapons available to him now plus the quality of the OL, that he would do well here.
 

AlNipper49

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I think that he moves up. I personally love him. He’s not flashy but he doesn’t make mistakes. Granted, he played in a system that could beat the Jets (but then again so does my 13 year old) but every game I saw of his was flawlessly boring.
 

JM3

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i thought Jones was a late first guy? He moving up?
He's not really even a late 1st talent, but he could easily be drafted top 10 once the 4 good QBs go in the 1st 5 or 6 picks.

I'd like to call the new tight end combo JON HUNT. But I don't think that will catch on.
 

E5 Yaz

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I think that he moves up. I personally love him. He’s not flashy but he doesn’t make mistakes. Granted, he played in a system that could beat the Jets (but then again so does my 13 year old) but every game I saw of his was flawlessly boring.
Your 13-year-old just got 3/36 from the Patriots
 

Cellar-Door

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i thought Jones was a late first guy? He moving up?
Maybe if teams are desperate. Talent wise he's probably not even a 1st rounder. He's basically Jake Fromm, he can complete passes in a perfect pocket to open WRs on short routes, his arm isn't good and he wasn't great in the rare cases he faced pressure. He looks very much like a product of being on a team with far more talent at every position than their opponents than anything he does.

He has career backup written all over him. I wouldn't want him at 15, trading up for him seem like a terrible idea. I think you're better off rolling the dice on Mond or Newman in the mid-rounds at that point.

Edit- if we trade up it should be for whichever of the consensus 2-4 guys is falling (my preference is Fields, but Lance makes sense too) those guys have franchise upside.
 

Rosey Ruzicka

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Gotta draft a QB now and we good. Move up and take Jones.
I am on board with this. With COVID returnees and FA signings the defense could be dominant. If they can build an offence that is decent and not turn the ball over, the team starts to look like the early SB teams.
 

Cotillion

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Nah, he just saw that the team sucked and that he had a unique opportunity (namely that very few teams had cap space when he had a huge amount of cap space and that any contracts given out this year will seem like relative bargains in a year or two as the cap rises).

I also wouldn't be shocked if some teams are hurting financially and don't want to be aggressive in free agency regardless of the cap. 2020 must have been shitty for a lot of teams and there's no guaranty that stadiums will be full in 2021.
I still don't get the surprise a lot of people have. The plan was always to have some cap pain associated with Brady finally leaving, have to go a bit bargain basement (and hope to get lucky which they didn't but were also with some different bounces a playoff team), and then have a decent set of cap space to remake the roster in big moves as needed. The only thing that Belichick couldn't have predicted (and he got super lucky on) was Covid coming along and tanking the salary cap making it so all the assumed growth (Cap always go up) put a lot of franchises into a stranglehold of having to cut and restructure guys that in a normal cap year would have just slid under the threshold of the rising cap.
 

pappymojo

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With the moves they have made, I think they built this team not just for this year but for the next 3 or 4 years.

Similarly, the constructed this team so that it eould thrive with Jimmy G. if he becomes available in a trade, or so that it works with a rookie QB if they draft one this year, or so that it works if they are forced to start Cam for the entire year.
 

54thMA

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I'd like to change my vote in the "how many top market FA's will NE sign" thread please.

Holy smokes.

This reminds me somewhat of the 2007 fuck you NFL tour.
 

BigSoxFan

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Wow, imagine having Trent Brown and Onwenu on the line with 2 good blocking tight ends. They're gonna destroy some of these D's just built to cover and rush.
Especially when the QB is built like a LB. Teams are going to have to deal with Harris and Cam slamming into them all game.

We physical, they finesse!
 

Ferm Sheller

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Proper planning would be to expect very little, if anything.
Sure, but he was a third round pick who (I think) fell in the draft due to injury. IIRC, his missing the 2019 season wasn't a surprise. Maybe it's true that he can't stay healthy, but if he is healthy I'm thinking that he could challenge for a starting job, or at least add great depth.
 

BigSoxFan

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Sure, but he was a third round pick who (I think) fell in the draft due to injury. IIRC, his missing the 2019 season wasn't a surprise. Maybe it's true that he can't stay healthy, but if he is healthy I'm thinking that he could challenge for a starting job, or at least add great depth.
I think a reasonable hope for him would be to compete for swing tackle spot or further depth. Dude definitely has talent. Just can’t get on the field, sadly.
 

Shelterdog

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I think a reasonable hope for him would be to compete for swing tackle spot or further depth. Dude definitely has talent. Just can’t get on the field, sadly.
Sometimes players do nothing for two years and get good--Ninkovich did nothing his first three years in the league and didn't start until year 5, vrabel did next to nothing for four years, dan connolly didn't start a game until five years into the league, Edelman played a little as a rookie and then essentially didn't play receiver until year five--but it is pretty rare for a reasonably highly drated player to do nothing for years one and two and then contribute.
 

Seels

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Is there any combination of Smith and Henry that's as fun to say as Gronknandez used to be? The lack of syllables really hurts the Pats' flexibility in this department.
I think Hernandez was very overrated as a player and both of these guys are better than he was in almost every way. He was shiftier but that's probably the only edge he has on either player. No one is Gronk. But this is a very formidable duo
 

BigSoxFan

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Sometimes players do nothing for two years and get good--Ninkovich did nothing his first three years in the league and didn't start until year 5, vrabel did next to nothing for four years, dan connolly didn't start a game until five years into the league, Edelman played a little as a rookie and then essentially didn't play receiver until year five--but it is pretty rare for a reasonably highly drated player to do nothing for years one and two and then contribute.
Yup. I really liked the draft pick but sometimes guys' bodies just can't stay healthy but I'm willing to discount a COVID year some. This does feel like a make or break year for him, at least with the Pats.
 

Shelterdog

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Yup. I really liked the draft pick but sometimes guys' bodies just can't stay healthy but I'm willing to discount a COVID year some. This does feel like a make or break year for him, at least with the Pats.
And even if it's just two fluke years of injuries and the player is healthy enough going forward, you're now 25 an inxperienced and only only a rookie deal for two more years so a team might give a guy like Justin Herron the chance instead of you.
 

Average Game James

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I think Hernandez was very overrated as a player and both of these guys are better than he was in almost every way. He was shiftier but that's probably the only edge he has on either player. No one is Gronk. But this is a very formidable duo
Hernandez was pretty good. I mean, in his 2011 season he had 910 yards in only 14 games which works out to 1,040 over a full season. Henry and Jonnu combined for 1,061 receiving yards last year.
 

Euclis20

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Hernandez was pretty good. I mean, in his 2011 season he had 910 yards in only 14 games which works out to 1,040 over a full season. Henry and Jonnu combined for 1,061 receiving yards last year.
And that's as a 22 year old. It's not a stretch to say Hernandez was one of the 4 or 5 most valuable TEs in the league after his first couple of years, he was overlooked somewhat because Gronk had just completed the best season ever for a tight end (also at age 22). 79 catches, 910 yards, 7 TDs...those are elite numbers for any TE, let alone for the second option in his second season who missed a few games. He was also shaping up to be a playoff terror, with 436 yards in just 6 games.

If either of the new guys ends up being as good as Hernandez was as a sophomore (minus the murder) we'll be in good shape.
 

Jed Zeppelin

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I think Hernandez was very overrated as a player and both of these guys are better than he was in almost every way. He was shiftier but that's probably the only edge he has on either player. No one is Gronk. But this is a very formidable duo
Maybe as all-around tight ends with blocking included they have some edge, but Hernandez put up a better receiving season as a 22 year old second-year player than either of these guys will ever have. He was an insanely talented receiver and potentially a Hall of Famer if healthy, and not a murderer.

edit: Covered, I see.
 
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Kenny F'ing Powers

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I think Hernandez was very overrated as a player and both of these guys are better than he was in almost every way. He was shiftier but that's probably the only edge he has on either player. No one is Gronk. But this is a very formidable duo
What the hell? What do you have against Aaron Hernandez?