Photo: Glaring Stat Perfectly Illustrates Patriots’ Drop-Off At Tight End

Does New England get enough from their tight ends? Well, the drop off from this season has been really steep when compared to other seasons. The defending Super Bowl Champions play without retired tight end Rob Gronkowski. Gronk gave the Patriots great production at tight end from the time he was selected in 2010 until his last game, the Super Bowl. Despite Gronk’s excellent replacements, the Patriots had hard time coping with the unit. Ben Watson, Matt LaCosse, Ryan Izzo and Eric Tomlinson tried really hard but they did anything but fill the void.

This is far from good. If by any change you didn’t know it, Gronk has until Nov. 30 to return to the team, of course if he wants to do that. Gronk can’t apply for reinstatement after this point.

But, it looks like Gronk won’t return this season. He was in pain last season, and struggled to score. Many said that it was actually his shell, and it was more than obvious that Gronk can’t catch up with his earlier stats.

Tom Brady would gladly see his former teammate doing something he likes. Brady says it’s really important to see Gronk happy.

The best tight end is gone

In one of his most recent interviews, Gronk said that he won’t return this season. He explained all the problems he had last season. His head was pounding, and he suffered a lot of concussions throughout his professional career. Yes, Gronk would gladly let his son play the game, but he really has to teach him how to avoid any risk.

Gronk was really great throughout his season, but his pain was too bad for him. He could no longer cope with that. His injuries, the sore back… Gronk spent a big portion of the season on the Patriots’ injury report, and that’s bad.

He didn’t want to make a decision about his retirement, but head coach Bill Belichick asked him to do that. So, Gronk decided to retire, and the Patriots struggle to fill the void. Let’s not forget that he hasn’t filed his retirement papers yet.

Let’s see what happens by the end of this month.