Don’t be surprised if New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski sees a dip in targets in 2016 with the addition of fellow tight end Martellus Bennett. ESPN beat writer Mike Reiss pointed to Bill Belichick’s recent comments on SiriusXM Radio in concluding as much.
Martellus Bennett’s presence could curtail Rob Gronkowski fantasy production
The Patriots are no strangers to running multiple-TE sets, but with Bennett’s talent as a pass catcher it could take targets away from Gronk. We assess the fantasy impact.
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”They are kind of interchangeable,” Belichick said. “They can both block and can both catch down the field, they can run the intermediate routes, they’re both huge targets. I know the quarterbacks love throwing to them. I think it gives us a little variety, just in terms of having to match up against one guy is hard; now having to match up against two of them hopefully we can put some pressure on the defense, both in the running game and passing game.”
Reiss said he expects Gronkowski’s touchdown numbers to remain in his career norms, and perhaps increase, but he sees the combination of Bennett’s presence and Jimmy Garoppolo replacing Tom Brady for the first four games as impacting the number of targets Gronkowski receives.
Fantasy spin: The Patriots have not had a complementary tight end with the talent and pass-catching ability of Bennett since Aaron Hernandez last played opposite Gronkowski in 2012. With both Bennett and Gronkowski on the field at the same time, it is only natural that the targets would be spread out more liberally. But Gronkowski remains the elite tight end in the league. Bennett still represents a decent No. 2 TE option with upside if Gronkowski continues to have injury issues.
