The retirement of Rob Gronkowski did so much more than just create a roster hole. It also necessitated a change to New England's offensive philosophy. Though, offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels says it is too soon to know just how different things will be come September.
For years, the Patriots' offense has centered around one of the best tight ends to ever play, stretching the field vertically, allowing their mix-and-match group of receivers to exploit matchups in the shallow-to-mid areas of the field.
What's left now is a bunch of unproven talents at the tight end position, with several more young players on the perimeter. According to McDaniels, assessing that talent, and building a scheme around it, will be vital.
“So at this point, I don’t really know,” McDaniels said, via ESPN.com. “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.”
This is part of what makes the Patriots different compared to some other teams in the NFL.
That type of scheme-specific approach that most teams in the league employ can work, but the Patriots have chosen to operate as a unit that reinvents itself on an annual basis.
So what will that be in 2019? We will have to wait and see.
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