Adam Caplan reported today that the Patriots signed Clay Harbor, their second free agent tight end signing of the offseason. Harbor now joins Rob Gronkowski and Martellus Bennett atop the Patriots’ depth chart.
#Patriots and former #Jaguars TE Clay Harbor agreed to terms on a contract, source said.
— Adam Caplan (@caplannfl) March 30, 2016
F-TE Still a Need
The combination of Gronk and Bennett should be deadly as the Pats have never had two top “Y” tight ends who can both block and catch. Harbor is more in the “F” tight end mold, and can be moved around the formation both as a fullback or H-back. With only second-year player AJ Derby as the other move tight end, this signing makes sense.
If there’s on joke that can stick on Bill Belichick’s tenure with the Patriots it’s his attention to tight ends, often to the point of what feels like overkill. When it works, like it did with Benjamin Watson and Dan Graham, and Gronk and Aaron Hernandez, it can be devastating. They’ve certainly built another group with the potential to be devastating this year.
Derby has good size at 6’5″, 256 pounds, but was out of commission for all of last season and has a lot to prove as a former quarterback who had only played a single season at tight end at Arkansas. He still did well enough for the Pats to take him in the sixth round, and he will now have both a mentor and competition in Harbor.
But realistically any “F” tight end, H-back, Fullback or slot receiver is going to have their snaps eaten into by the presence of two great Y tight ends.