Written by Johnny Maffei
Maybe Gronk coming out of retirement sent Belichick down memory lane. Once upon a time Tom Brady had two of the best top tight ends in the league.
One loved to party, caught 78 TDs and counting from Brady, and has three rings.
The other unfortunately was a murderer, can't sue for defamation, and also caught a Super Bowl TD from TB12.
The 2019 Pats brought Ben Watson out of retirement for a whopping 17 catches and 17 YPG, gave former 7th rounder Ryan Izzo 6 receptions, and gave 13 receptions to Matt Lacosse, who went undrafted in 2015.
BB and Nick Caserio realized they missed Gronk, and if Brady can't throw to Lacosse and Izzo, how can Stidham or Hoyer?
The Patriots grabbed the Las Vegas (almost wrote Oakland) Raiders 91st and 159th picks for New England's 100th, 139th, and 172nd picks.
With pick 91 New England grabbed their first offensive player of the draft, Devin Asiasi.
Asiasi is a 6'3" 260lb beast out of UCLA. He also played at Michigan. He ran a not so astonishing 4.73 40 yard dash but has some of the best hands in this TE class. The San Mateo (sound familiar?) native caught 44 balls for 4 TD and 641 yards in 2019. His biggest game came on the road against rival USC when he had 5 catches for 141 yards and a score, very Patriot-esque!.@ASI2X is headed 2⃣ NE #Patriots select TE Devin Asiasi with the 91st overall pick. #PatsDraft pic.twitter.com/E3CR3NQrhm— New England Patriots (@Patriots) April 25, 2020
His draft report says he needs to improve his blocking. As great a pass-catcher Gronk was for NE, his blocking was praised maybe just as much. If Asiasi can't block well he won't workout in the Patriots system. There will be no decoys, everytime he goes to block and catch a pass, he won't be able to sell it, some of the reason why he fell to pick 91.
The Patriots made another late round 3 trade, this time, with the Jets.
The Pats traded ahead of the Steelers for this one to select Virginia Tech TE Dalton Keene.Trade terms: #Patriots receive 101st pick— New England Patriots (@Patriots) April 25, 2020
Jets receive 125, 129 and a 2021 sixth round pick
Keene had 21 catches for 5 TDs at VT in 2019. His biggest game by far was at The U for 73 yards and a hat trick.
The Hokie alum screams versatility. The H-back position is what he is most NFL-ready for. He can also play a role on special teams for the Pats.
Even though he can get speed on LBs, Keene's receiving numbers aren't very impressive, especially after a down year for the whole ACC. Keene will have a lot to prove to Stidham, but Stidham isn't as picky as Brady was in 2019.
The Pats still have numerous picks which explains part of why they traded up for a projected H-back, but maybe Bill sees something in Keene that nobody else sees. After all, it is his pièce de résistance.
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