Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports
Most followers of any sports, especially football, will say “you can never have enough depth.” And they are right. However, after placing tight end Jake Ballard on waivers today, Bill Belichick does not have much depth at the tight end position. That is not a smart move, as he needs to have depth at this position for several reasons.
First of all, Rob Gronkowski is not fully healthy yet. It is not known when he will be fully healthy either. Even if Gronkowski gets healthy by Week 4 or Week 4 (as rumored), there is no guarantee that he will stay that way. Gronkowski has been one of the most injury-prone players in the NFL since he was drafted in 2010, so it would be wise to have a nice backup plan (or two, or three).
Right now, Zach Sudfeld is the top tight end on the depth chart. He has reportedly showed well in training camp, and has been pretty good in the preseason too. However, he is still a rookie undrafted free agent. There is no telling how he will produce once the real games start. Plus, the reason why Sudfeld was undrafted is because he was injury-prone at the University of Nevada. He had a total of five surgeries while there.
Much like Gronkowski, Sudfeld could go down at any moment.
Behind Gronkowski and Sudfeld was Ballard, Michael Hoomananui, who is a good blocker and Daniel Fells, who was too expensive to keep around. Ballard is definitely better than Fells and Hoomananui because he can catch and block. Plus, Ballard was cheap with a salary of just $480,000. That’s not bad for a third tight end.
One other thing to consider is the fact that Josh McDaniels likes to run a two-tight end offense. So it made sense for Belichick to keep four tight ends instead of three, since he would need a backup to both of his starters.
Ballard hasn’t been that good this preseason, but that is to be expected for a player that is coming off a torn ACL. It was going to take time for him to shake off the rust. Belichick simply lost patience in this project, and gave up on a player that could have been very useful if the injury bug struck the remaining New England Patriots tight ends.
Philip Alexander is a New England Patriots writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @steely0906. , “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.
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