Much could be asked of a handful of young and experienced Patriots players from the get-go in the upcoming NFL season.
Among those players are a pair of rookie tight ends. The Patriots, who received next to nothing from the position group in 2019, addressed its tight end situation in this year’s draft by spending third-round picks on both Devin Asiasi and Dalton Keene.
Most expected Asiasi and Keene to see consistent playing time as rookies upon the two young tight ends landing with New England. That expectation grew when Matt LaCosse, who likely would have entered training camp as the Patriots’ top tight end, elected to opt out of the 2020 campaign. LaCosse’s opt out seemingly adds to the plates of Asiasi and Keene, which is why NFL writer Gregg Rosenthal includes the two rookies among the players with the most work to do before Week 1.
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“If you aren’t familiar with the Patriots’ dueling third-round picks, you aren’t alone,” Rosenthal wrote for NFL.com. “They were not at the top of a relatively weak tight end class. Yet still, no rookie tight ends have a better chance to play right away.
“Following veteran Matt LaCosse’s opting out of the 2020 season, the Patriots have virtually no one else at the position. Bill Belichick loves his tight ends, and the last Patriots reboot in 2010 also included a pair of rookies at the position named Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez, who combined for 87 catches and 16 touchdowns in Year 1. No one is expecting Asiasi and Keene to approach that level of production, but this New England offense desperately needs some youth and speed to emerge. There aren’t many other options on the roster.”
Unfortunately for Asiasi and Keene, they’re entering the NFL in unprecedented times. All preseason games were eliminated amid the coronavirus pandemic, and New England only will have a few weeks of padded practice before it opens the regular season.
So if the third-rounders manage to hit the ground running next month, it will be all the more impressive.
