I will be interested to see what Bill O’Brien does with New England’s offense. Specifically the tight ends. The Patriots invested big money on Hunter Henry and Jonnu Smith but didn’t really get much from them last year.
When O’Brien was last in New England, recall, he had a hand in one of the most remarkable tight end offenses in the history of the game, with Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez combining for 169 catches for 2,237 yards and 24 touchdowns. When the Patriots signed Henry and Smith to contracts making them both among the five highest-paid tight ends in the game two years ago, it was with the hope their versatility would create similar matchup problems.
When O’Brien was in Houston, his teams didn’t have the same kind of success. The Texans in 2016 had one of the top half-dozen tight end teams – 115 catches for 1,094 yards and 7 TDs – but four of their other six O’Brien offenses there ranked outside the top 20 (using PPR scoring).
| BILL O'BRIEN'S TIGHT ENDS (team totals) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Team | No | Yards | Avg | TD | PPR | Rk |
| 2011 | New England | 169 | 2,237 | 13.2 | 24 | 536.7 | 1 |
| 2014 | Houston | 35 | 320 | 9.1 | 6 | 103.0 | 29 |
| 2015 | Houston | 41 | 448 | 10.9 | 4 | 109.8 | 31 |
| 2016 | Houston | 115 | 1,094 | 9.5 | 7 | 266.4 | 6 |
| 2017 | Houston | 53 | 630 | 11.9 | 2 | 128.0 | 29 |
| 2018 | Houston | 61 | 745 | 12.2 | 4 | 159.5 | 22 |
| 2019 | Houston | 71 | 767 | 10.8 | 9 | 201.7 | 14 |
| 2020 | Houston | 75 | 913 | 12.2 | 7 | 208.3 | 18 |
Talent, of course, plays a role in things. While O’Brien had an elite quarterback (Deshaun Watson) in his later seasons in Houston, he never had a Gronkowski-Hernandez type player at tight end. The current Henry-Smith combo will be his best pairing since that 2011 season.
O’Brien’s NFL tight ends are listed below. Note that he does have a history of using multiple players at the position. In 2016, C.J. Fiedorowicz and Ryan Griffin both caught 50-plus passes. And in four of O’Brien’s last five seasons, he’s had multiple tight ends finish with 20-plus catches.
It’s early, but I’m expecting Henry will rank in the teens among tight ends on my board – a guy I’d like to select as a second tight end in a typical league. Smith looks worth keeping an eye on, but I don’t know that I’ll be able to get him into my top 30.
| BILL O'BRIEN'S TIGHT ENDS (individuals) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Player | Tgt | Rec | Yds | TD | PPR | Rk |
| 2011 | Rob Gronkowski | 124 | 90 | 1327 | 18 | 330.9 | 1 |
| 2011 | Aaron Hernandez | 113 | 79 | 910 | 7 | 216.5 | 3 |
| 2014 | Garrett Graham | 28 | 18 | 197 | 1 | 43.7 | 48 |
| 2014 | Ryan Griffin | 16 | 10 | 91 | 1 | 25.1 | 62 |
| 2014 | C.J. Fiedorowicz | 7 | 4 | 28 | 1 | 12.8 | 80 |
| 2015 | Ryan Griffin | 34 | 20 | 251 | 2 | 57.1 | 42 |
| 2015 | C.J. Fiedorowicz | 24 | 17 | 167 | 1 | 39.7 | 48 |
| 2015 | Garrett Graham | 19 | 4 | 30 | 1 | 13.0 | 84 |
| 2015 | Kendall Lamm | 1 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 1.7 | 104 |
| 2016 | C.J. Fiedorowicz | 89 | 54 | 559 | 4 | 133.9 | 17 |
| 2016 | Ryan Griffin | 74 | 50 | 442 | 2 | 106.2 | 24 |
| 2016 | Stephen Anderson | 16 | 11 | 93 | 1 | 26.3 | 64 |
| 2017 | Stephen Anderson | 52 | 25 | 342 | 1 | 65.2 | 33 |
| 2017 | Ryan Griffin | 26 | 13 | 158 | 1 | 36.8 | 54 |
| 2017 | C.J. Fiedorowicz | 22 | 14 | 127 | 0 | 26.7 | 65 |
| 2017 | Ryan Malleck | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 1.3 | 109 |
| 2018 | Jordan Thomas | 27 | 20 | 215 | 4 | 65.5 | 32 |
| 2018 | Ryan Griffin | 43 | 24 | 305 | 0 | 54.5 | 40 |
| 2018 | Jordan Akins | 25 | 17 | 225 | 0 | 39.5 | 53 |
| 2019 | Darren Fells | 48 | 34 | 341 | 7 | 110.1 | 17 |
| 2019 | Jordan Akins | 55 | 36 | 418 | 2 | 89.8 | 25 |
| 2019 | Jordan Thomas | 3 | 1 | 8 | 0 | 1.8 | 108 |
| 2020 | Jordan Akins | 49 | 37 | 403 | 1 | 83.7 | 26 |
| 2020 | Darren Fells | 28 | 21 | 312 | 4 | 76.2 | 33 |
| 2020 | Pharaoh Brown | 16 | 14 | 163 | 2 | 42.3 | 52 |
| 2020 | Kahale Warring | 7 | 3 | 35 | 0 | 6.5 | 95 |
—Ian Allan