New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady understands the offense will look a little different this season with Rob Gronkowski out of the mix due to his retirement from the NFL. Even still, however, that doesn’t mean Brady’s expectations are any less for the tight end group that takes over.
“Teams are gonna play us differently without him,” Brady told the media on Thursday regarding the absence of Gronkowski. “We’ve seen it when he’s been on the team, so the other guys are getting up to speed. Matt (LaCosse) has done a good job. Ben (Watson) has done a good job. Stephen Anderson has done a good job.
“That’s gotta be a position of strength, even if it’s not one player but multiple players doing different roles,” Brady said. “There was times in my career before (Gronkowski) that where we’ve had similar approaches.”
LaCosse and Watson have looked like the team’s two best tight ends to this point, which includes the Patriots’ three mandatory minicamp sessions concluding Thursday. Watson, however, will be unavailable until Week Five and with the recent release of Austin Seferian-Jenkins, a position of little depth seemed to get smaller.
Next man up, right?
“No one is gonna make any excuses for our offense,” Brady said. “We’re gonna do everything we can to be the best we can be, score every time we touch the ball. The tight end position is a big part of our offense and those guys are going to have to do a great job for us.”
The Patriots will host OTAs on Monday.
