Tight end remains a position of need for Pats

The Patriots had Rob Gronkowski for so long that tight end depth always seemed solid. As last season proved, however, replacing Gronk was no an easy task. Heading into this offseason, tight end is one position that remains a major need.

At the NFL Combine in Indianapolis last week, it sounded like the Patriots were aiming to rebuild the tight end depth chart.

Although the position isn’t considered strong in this year’s NFL Draft — with no first-round [...]

The Patriots had Rob Gronkowski for so long that tight end depth always seemed solid. As last season proved, however, replacing Gronk was no an easy task. Heading into this offseason, tight end is one position that remains a major need.

At the NFL Combine in Indianapolis last week, it sounded like the Patriots were aiming to rebuild the tight end depth chart.

Although the position isn’t considered strong in this year’s NFL Draft — with no first-round projections — the Patriots are doing their due diligence on all the prospects. The two top are Notre Dame’s Cole Kmet and Dayton’s Adam Trautman. Both are fond of the Patriots offense and both look like players the Pats could target in April.

Kmet even said he models his game after Gronkowski.

"You definitely watch Gronk. He’s the greatest tight end of all-time. I definitely watched how he plays," Kmet said. "I think there are some similarities on how he played and how I try to play. So definitely, trying to model my game after him is something I do."

It’s unknown if the Patriots met with Kmet at the Combine, but it seems likely that they would look at this 6-foot-6, 262-pound tight end, who’s considered the top prospect at this position. When you look at his height, weight, hand size and Combine numbers, he’s a close match for what the Patriots typically draft at tight end.

The average tight end drafted by the Patriots under Bill Belichick, stands 6-3½, weighs 252.6 pounds and has a hand size of 9.8 inches. The Combine averages are as follows: 4.75 40-yard dash, 34.46-inch vertical, 22.8 bench press reps, 113.2-inch broad jump, a 7.07 3-cone and 4.29 shuttle time.

Kmet hits six of those nine targets — height, weight, hand size, 40-yard dash, vertical and broad jump. He didn’t attempt the bench press at the Combine and was a bit slower than the average 3-cone and shuttle times.

The only other tight end to hit as many as six categories was Trautman, who the Pats did meet with at the Combine. Trautman hits on height, weight, vertical, broad jump, 3-cone and shuttle time. He misses the mark on average hand size, 40-yard dash and bench press.

"The thing I picked up immediately — everyone can see this from the outside looking in — the work mentality," Trautman said of his meeting with the Patriots. "Just a lunch-pail mentality. You’re here to work. This is your job. That’s what I anticipated it being. That’s definitely a type of franchise I can see myself playing for — that type of mentality and attitude."

The Patriots also met with Hunter Bryant (Washington), Jared Pinkney (Vanderbilt), Stephen Sullivan (LSU) and Jacob Breeland (Oregon) at the Combine.

Pinkney participated in the 40, where he didn’t hit the mark, and the bench press, which he surpassed. He has the ideal height, weight and hand size. He said he met with the Patriots at the Senior Bowl. At the Combine, however, he was thrown off his game when a member of the Pats called him out for a bad answer.

"It’s interesting because a team that’s been willing for as long as they have, you expect them to come in with a certain mentality. And share that mentality and spread it and part it on you," Pinkney said. "That’s exactly what happened. I gave a kind of wonky answer and he was like, ‘no, that’s a loser’s mentality.’ I was like, ‘OK, my bad.’ ‘You need to be like this and that and that and that.’ I was like, ‘yes, sir. My bad.’ "

Those type of interactions can make or break a prospect. For Sullivan, who hits Patriots marks for height, hand size, 40, vertical and broad jump, that was seen during his Combine interview last week.

"That you had to care about football 10 times better than the next person," Sullivan said. "Those guys are competitive over there. They love to win. If you’re not all about winning, I don’t think you can be a Patriot at all."

In April, we’ll see who (if any) passed the Patriots test.