Josh McDaniels Addresses On Patriots Offense Progress Without Gronkowski

Rob Gronkowski left the New England Patriots, and the team’s offense has to find a way how to play without the tight end. Offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels is curious about the future development of the team.

“Nobody’s going to replace Rob. So it doesn’t matter what we’re doing, or who we bring in, that person is not just going to drop into the offense and say, ‘OK, I’ve got his role covered.’ That’s not going to happen,” McDaniels said. “I think what you do is take the best group you can put together, figure out what their strengths are, and try to play to them.

“So at this point, I don’t really know. It would be unfair for me to say that, because I haven’t really seen many of them out there in our scheme, against a defense, obviously nothing in pads. So I think OTAs and training camp will be big for us this year in terms of evaluating what we have and how we should play. In May, it’s tough to say. It’s tough to project that.”

That’s why the New England Patriots are different than other teams.

Let’s discuss the Arizona Cardinals. The Air Raid offense will feature just one tight end, and the team has targeted players to fit in the formula, from the selection of Kyler Murray to drafting Andy Isabella and Hakeem Butler.

This approach may work, but the Patriots decided to operate as a unit that reinvents itself every year.

“The biggest thing we try to do with our team, and our offense in particular, is take guys that have a skill and talent and don’t try to fit them to what we’ve done in the past,” McDaniels said. “So you have to have enough flexibility and versatility in your system that you can maybe feature the ‘X’ receiver, or the ‘Z’ receiver, or the tight end or two tight ends, or the halfback. Whatever style you want to be, it should reflect the talents of your team.”

The Patriots selected a few great players, and signed Demaryius Thomas, Maurice Harris and Dontrelle Inman. What will happen in 2019?