Eye on the Draft: Will the Patriots go for a Tight End in the 1st round?

Unfortunately, we can't talk about the New England Patriots going for ring number 4 on Sunday, instead we must turn our attention to who the Patriots will be investing their future with. They own the 29th pick of the draft, and the early trend (as picked up on by masslive.com) seems to be pointing towards the Pats going after a Tight End, in the form of Jace Amaro.

Mock drafts by WalterFootball.com and CBS Sports have the Patriots taking the Texas Tech pass catcher - though a different CBS Sports mock draft have him going to the Arizona Cardinals at 20. So at 29, he might be a great find, but is a Tight End exactly what the Patriots need right now?

Is Amaro the answer? Check out our scout report here.
Well, I don't know if anyone noticed this last season, but Tom Brady's pass catchers didn't quite seem to be as good this season as they have been recently? I think that got a little bit overlooked this year. Things were especially bad at the Tight End position - there was basically no production there when Rob Gronkowski was missing, both before and after his return. Aside from Julian Edelman, Brady had nothing he could rely on, there were far too many injuries, drops, miscommunications.

Going for a Tight End in the 1st would mean the passing offense would contain a 1st round pick and two 2nd round picks in the form of Gronk and Aaron Dobson. This move could just set the offense up for the post Brady era and give him another decent target to throw to while he's still here.

The Patriots began the NFL's two Tight End revolution, and were finally ready to make it the true center point of the offense in 2013 - then something happened, and only one Tight End was left. This would be a great chance to revive this aspect of the offense, and take pressure off the likes of Edelman.

So there are plenty of good reasons to go for a Tight End early in the draft. But is it really the best thing to do?

The philosophy of the 2013 Patriots has been "We've got Brady, we'll be fine" and lo and behold, we were fine, reaching the same stage as we did in 2012. The only real difference between the last two seasons has been the nature of the victories. In 2012, the offense was able to kill teams off despite having a shaky offense, while in 201 the offense was able to pull out some games, while relying on the defense to keep them in it.

Do the Patriots need a 1st round pick to cover for Gronk?
But when it comes to the AFC Championship games, the same two things cost the Patriots a trip to the Super Bowl: Lack of pass rush and lack of protection of Brady. And guess who was healthy in both those games? Chandler Jones, Rob Ninkovich, and 4/5 of the offensive line. What's crucial in today's NFL? The pass game.

As much as I love Ninko, I'm not sure he's the caliber of pass rusher we need opposite Jones. He's a great locker room guy, he'd be a great backup both at DE and OLB, but if we really want to step up next year, our pass rush needs to be more consistent. The Patriots are set at OT, Nate Solder and Sebastian Vollmer are the guys, but the interior of the line is in trouble, especially with the loss of long time coach Dante Scarnecchia. We all love the toughness of Logan Mankins, but how long can he keep it up for? It also seems like Dan Connolly is a nice backup to have who can slot in across the line, and Ryan Wendell has been a nice stop gap at Center, but it's time to get the future of that position sorted.

The secondary sucks too. Yes, they improved, but can we rely on Aqib Talib, who can't seem to keep healthy. Can we rely on Alfonzo Dennard, who got destroyed in the absence of Talib twice in two Championship games. Devin McCourty needs a long term partner at Safety. The secondary improved, but still is more important than the TE position.

Oh, and we still have Gronk. He's been getting a ridiculous amount of injuries, but it's no need to panic. It's not like it's a consistent problem with a particular injury, it's been because of dirty (but, I suppose, *technically legal*) hits. We saw a Gronk impeded by an arm brace, after a big surgery on his back, but we still saw Gronk powering through 3 defenders for a touchdown, we saw him torch defenses, we saw a reliable target for Brady. Believe it or not, Gronk is still incredible, just unlucky.

Not that TE isn't a need. Michael Hoomanawanui is a decent target, but not a suitable compliment to Gronk. We need a Tight End, but spending a 1st round pick on it isn't the answer. We still don't have that key playmaker on offense, and the offensive line needs a major upgrade. Hell, we got Gronk in the 2nd and Aaron Hernandez in the 4th, so the talent can be there later on.

At the end of the day, I suppose it's not really worth talking about what the Patriots will do with the 1st round pick. It won't be a relevant question on draft day. A better question is who's going to be our trade partner for it?

I'm on Twitter, let me know your thoughts @BrendanAnnely

For a complete list of the Eye on the Draft series, click here.