The Packers are shuffling their tight ends. They used a combo of Jared Cook and Richard Rodgers last year; now they’re going with a combo of Martellus Bennett and Lance Kendricks. This looks more like a lateral move than an improvement.
Rodgers was usually a blocking tight end last year. He doesn’t have enough speed to get downfield, and his weight has been an issue at times. Kendricks was recently released by the Rams, but he’s probably as good or better in that kind of a role. Kendricks entered the league as a receiving-type tight end prospect out of Wisconsin but bulked up into more of an in-line blocker.
The headliner swap involves Cook and Bennett. I’ve never been a big Cook fan. He has very good speed for the position, and he came on some late last year. Aaron Rodgers identified Cook as the key reason Green Bay’s offense came on in the second half of the season. But Cook has never been good at coming up with contested catches. He’ll drop some balls, and when somebody is on him, the defender is usually able to knock it away.
Bennett is a colorful personality who’s had good statistical seasons with the Giants and Bears, but teams never seem to be particularly interested in re-signing him. He had a few big games with the Patriots last year (going over 100 yards three times and catching 3 TDs against the Browns), but overall I thought he was a disappointment.
Rob Gronkowski got hurt halfway through the year. At that point, I figured Bennett would be a top-5 tight end. Instead, he was mostly a decoy. In the final 10 games (including the playoffs) after the Gronk injury, Bennett caught 21 passes for 295 yards and 3 TDs.
Bennett was apparently playing with ankle and shoulder injuries, but I expected a lot more. While he was less than 100 percent, he was healthy enough that they put him on the field for all of those games.
Overall, Gronkowski was hurt for 14 games (including the playoffs). In those 14, Bennett averaged 39 yards, with 4 TDs. Those aren’t top-15 tight end numbers.
Green Bay has plenty of capable wide receivers, so my early expectation is that Bennett will be underused in a lot of games. Probably about as likely to finishing outside the top 10 at his position as inside, and I don’t think he’s very likely to end up in the top 5.
Here be the numbers for tight ends who started over half the season. (To make Bennett’s body of work larger, I’m including his three postseason games.) Scoring system is standard (6 for TDs and 1 for every 10 yards).
| TIGHT ENDS: PER GAME PRODUCTION | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | St | No | Yds | TD | Pts |
| Jordan Reed, Wash. | 12 | 5.5 | 57.2 | .50 | 8.7 |
| Travis Kelce, K.C. | 16 | 5.3 | 70.0 | .27 | 8.6 |
| Jimmy Graham, Sea. | 15 | 4.3 | 60.8 | .40 | 8.5 |
| Cameron Brate, T.B. | 13 | 3.9 | 47.2 | .62 | 8.4 |
| Delanie Walker, Tenn. | 15 | 4.3 | 54.1 | .47 | 8.2 |
| Greg Olsen, Car. | 16 | 5.0 | 67.1 | .21 | 8.0 |
| Kyle Rudolph, Minn. | 16 | 5.2 | 52.5 | .44 | 7.9 |
| Zach Ertz, Phil. | 14 | 5.6 | 58.3 | .29 | 7.5 |
| Zach Miller, Chi. | 10 | 4.7 | 48.6 | .40 | 7.3 |
| Antonio Gates, S.D. | 14 | 3.8 | 39.1 | .50 | 6.9 |
| Eric Ebron, Det. | 13 | 4.7 | 54.8 | .15 | 6.4 |
| Hunter Henry, S.D. | 15 | 2.4 | 31.9 | .53 | 6.4 |
| Julius Thomas, Jac. | 9 | 3.3 | 31.2 | .44 | 5.8 |
| Vance McDonald, S.F. | 11 | 2.2 | 35.5 | .36 | 5.7 |
| Dwayne Allen, Ind. | 14 | 2.5 | 29.0 | .45 | 5.6 |
| M.Bennett (Gronk hurt) | 14 | 2.6 | 38.7 | .29 | 5.6 |
| Jack Doyle, Ind. | 16 | 3.7 | 36.5 | .31 | 5.5 |
| Coby Fleener, N.O. | 16 | 3.1 | 39.6 | .25 | 5.5 |
| Jason Witten, Dall. | 16 | 4.3 | 42.1 | .19 | 5.3 |
| C.J. Fiedorowicz, Hou. | 15 | 3.6 | 37.3 | .27 | 5.3 |
| Dennis Pitta, Balt. | 16 | 5.4 | 45.6 | .13 | 5.3 |
| Charles Clay, Buff. | 15 | 3.8 | 36.8 | .27 | 5.3 |
| Gary Barnidge, Clev. | 16 | 3.4 | 38.3 | .15 | 4.7 |
| Jared Cook, G.B. | 10 | 3.0 | 37.7 | .10 | 4.4 |
| Dion Sims, Mia. | 12 | 2.1 | 19.6 | .33 | 4.0 |
| Lance Kendricks, L.A. | 16 | 3.1 | 31.2 | .13 | 3.9 |
| Clive Walford, Oak. | 15 | 2.2 | 23.9 | .20 | 3.6 |
| Ryan Griffin, Hou. | 16 | 3.1 | 27.6 | .13 | 3.5 |
| Garrett Celek, S.F. | 16 | 1.8 | 21.9 | .19 | 3.3 |
| C.J. Uzomah, Cin. | 9 | 2.8 | 26.0 | .11 | 3.3 |
| Jesse James, Pitt. | 16 | 2.4 | 21.1 | .19 | 3.2 |
| Jermaine Gresham, Ariz. | 16 | 2.3 | 24.4 | .13 | 3.2 |
| Will Tye, NYG | 16 | 3.0 | 24.7 | .06 | 2.8 |
| Trey Burton, Phil. | 15 | 2.5 | 21.8 | .07 | 2.6 |
| Virgil Green, Den. | 12 | 1.8 | 19.8 | .08 | 2.5 |
| Richard Rodgers, G.B. | 16 | 1.9 | 16.9 | .13 | 2.4 |
| Levine Toilolo, Atl. | 16 | .8 | 16.5 | .13 | 2.4 |
| Josh Hill, N.O. | 9 | 1.7 | 16.6 | .11 | 2.3 |
| Marcedes Lewis, Jac. | 10 | 2.0 | 16.9 | .10 | 2.3 |
| Mychal Rivera, Oak. | 13 | 1.4 | 14.8 | .08 | 1.9 |
| Brent Celek, Phil. | 16 | .9 | 9.7 | .00 | 1.0 |
—Ian Allan