Ever since the retirement of Rob Gronkowski, the tight end position has been a headache for Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots.
The Patriots went from dominating in two tight end sets, to a team that hasn’t had a decent pass-catcher at the position for two seasons. During the 2020 season, things are much worse. Ryan Izzo was the only active tight end in Week 8 and that was due to injuries across the board.
Dalton Keene is limited with a knee injury, Devin Asiasi and Jake Burt both are on the injured reserve list right now. The only other available player to be activated on the roster is Rashod Berry, who was converted to a defensive end in the NFL. Berry played primarily tight end and some defense during his time at Ohio State, giving the Patriots flexibility.
If activated as a tight end in Week 9 against the New York Jets, he’d likely just act as a blocker.
In his morning video conference, Bill Belichick leaves open the possibility that practice-squad DE Rashod Berry could flip over to TE (if available health-wise) to address depth challenges. Berry played some TE at Ohio State but has been exclusively on defense in NE to date. pic.twitter.com/JVwz2nYyeT
— Mike Reiss (@MikeReiss) November 6, 2020
Izzo and Keene still could potentially hit the field on Sunday, but time’s running out for the Patriots to make the decision.
