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Mike Reiss, ESPN Staff Writer
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Quick-hit thoughts and notes around the New England Patriots and NFL:
1. Bell’s intriguing fit: When veteran receiver K.J. Osborn assessed the potential for the Patriots’ offense this season, he said part of the reason for his optimism was the tight end position. Having played in a similar scheme his first two NFL seasons with the Vikings, Osborn noted how the marriage between the run and pass games was a core tenet, pointing to offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt’s recent success with the Browns.
“If you watched them in Cleveland, they had a really strong run game and some really good tight ends, which I think we have here as well,” Osborn said. “That opens up the pass game, opens up the play-action, opens up the RPOs [run-pass options] and whatever [else] we have.”
Patriots tight ends have somewhat flown under the radar — perhaps overshadowed by the media-based attention on No. 3 overall pick Drake Maye, questions along the offensive line, and rookie receivers Ja’Lynn Polk and Javon Baker, among other things. But as rookies officially report for training camp on July 19, it is timely to highlight how 2024 seventh-round pick Jaheim Bell represents one of the Patriots’ intriguing wild cards based on what Osborn said.
The top of the Patriots’ tight end depth chart is solidified with nine-year veteran Hunter Henry, who is coming off a season in which he was one of the few bright spots on offense, totaling 42 receptions for 419 yards and a team-high six touchdowns in 14 games played.
Then free agent signing Austin Hooper (one year, $3 million base value) is a leading candidate to be the No. 2 option. As for the 6-foot-2, 241-pound Bell, what he potentially brings to the group is unlike anything Henry, Hooper or fellow tight ends Mitchell Wilcox and La’Michael Pettway offer.
“He is extremely versatile,” said Jim Nagy, the executive director of the Senior Bowl who scouted Bell for multiple years — first at South Carolina, then Florida State. “This isn’t true helmet scouting, but there was some similar usage to him and what they got out of Deebo Samuel when he was [at South Carolina], just in terms of some of the slot and running back versatility. There was some fullback usage in there.”
Nagy noted that Bell’s versatility continued to show up at the Senior Bowl this year. “Jaheim fully understood that was going to be his calling card; he was going to be a Swiss Army Knife-type player,” he said.
Shortly after Bell took the practice field as a Patriot for the first time, he noted he couldn’t be pigeon-holed to one position, saying: “I just consider myself a ballplayer. I feel like whatever I’m asked to do, I can do it.”
In the 2023 season at Florida State, Bell aligned in the slot on 44% of his snaps and was inline 43% of the time. He totaled 39 receptions for 503 yards with two touchdowns. Including his time at South Carolina, Bell appeared in 42 career games (20 starts) and finished his career with 95 receptions for 1,260 yards and nine touchdowns.
The Patriots, who hosted Bell on one of their 30 allotted pre-draft visits, felt fortunate he was still available late in the seventh round, at pick 231 overall. That might partially be a result of Bell not having prototypical size for a traditional tight end, but creative offensive play-callers can possibly fit Bell in multiple spots, including fullback.
“He is a sturdy guy on contact, but he’s not going to be an ‘iso’ hammerhead blow-you-up lead blocker back there. But he’s certainly a couple notches above, athletically, most fullbacks,” Nagy said.
“So just the ability to get in space, adjust and get a body on people and really sustain contact, he’s going to be able to do that. So he can be an immediate special teams contributor, a developmental fullback, and then the immediate role is in the pass game where you can deploy him in the slot, move him around, motion him, and even put him in the backfield where he can carry it.”
Such versatility is why Bell will be a notable player to watch once practices begin July 24.
“What will be interesting to see is that he has all this versatility, but it’s one thing to be able to do that physically, it’s another to be able to do it mentally. So how quickly can they get that out of him in his rookie year?” Nagy remarked.
“I think that will be a big thing to key on in training camp. Is this going to be something out of the gate to start the season? Will it be more midseason? Or will it maybe be more of a redshirt season to get him up to speed in the playbook and roll it out Year 2?”
2. Coaches return: Assistant coaches are due back in the office this week, which is the first sign that football is right around the corner. The Patriots list 30 assistants on their roster on first-year head coach Jerod Mayo’s staff. They listed 20 assistants on their roster at the start of training camp last year. It’s one sign of the changing times around the Patriots.
3. Mayo’s adjustment: On an appearance on the “Rise and Schein” podcast, former Patriots safety Devin McCourty shared a story from a visit he had with Mayo a few months ago that highlighted his view of Mayo’s biggest adjustment going from assistant to head coach.
“I think the thing that’s going to be the biggest transition for him, and [where] he’ll continue to grow, is when he said, ‘The amount of stuff I do that has nothing to do with football is crazy,'” McCourty relayed. “I think every new head coach would tell you the same story. You don’t realize how many things Bill Belichick used to handle and do for 24 years as a head coach, and now you’re thrust into that role.”
4. Business matters: The Patriots would ideally like to have all contract-related matters buttoned up by the first practice July 24, giving Mayo a clear football runway as he begins his first training camp as coach. So that leaves another 10 days to resolve the status of the likes of outside linebacker Matthew Judon and defensive tackle Davon Godchaux (and possibly others).
If extensions aren’t struck, one way to bridge the gap is to increase the value of their contracts via incentives to a more tenable financial level for the player.
5. Robinson in fourth round: When the Patriots selected Texas A&M guard Layden Robinson early in the fourth round (No. 103), Nagy, the executive director of the Senior Bowl who previously spent 18 years as an NFL scout, took note.
“Not knowing their draft board, but knowing how teams put boards together, I would venture to guess they had a starter-level grade on him — for the simple fact that Layden is not going to offer a lot of position versatility. He’s really a guard-only player, and to take him where they took him, you’re not drafting a one-position offensive lineman there that you see has a backup ceiling so they probably felt they got good value there,” Nagy explained.
The fourth round started at pick 101, meaning Robinson was the third player selected when Day 3 of the draft began.
“You think about what those conversations were like Friday night, you get the group assembled and you’re looking at the board, those early fourth-round picks are pretty telling on how teams value guys,” Nagy said, before highlighting his background with the 6-foot-3, 311-pound Robinson.
“We spent a lot of time [scouting] him. He had a really good 2021, a little bit of a down 2022 when he was dealing with some injuries, and then had a good 2023. He was one of the guys that I felt like didn’t get enough buzz coming out of Senior Bowl week … He was really good in the 1-on-1 stuff in pass protection. You watch the team stuff and he was moving people off the ball. He is a powerful in-line player.”
6. Baker intel: If fourth-round pick Javon Baker (Central Florida) emerges to provide the receiving corps a much-needed boost, the Patriots might ultimately credit evolving scouting technology as the catalyst for it. When Nagy was evaluating Baker as a possibility for the Senior Bowl, he explained how some of his peers essentially had one question: How will he run?
Baker isn’t a burner, but Nagy said Zebra and GPS technology ultimately revealed he was playing faster than his timed speed — which helped clinch his Senior Bowl invitation.
“I think he climbed through the process when people saw that in-game and in-practice data,” Nagy said.
7. Patriots in Hard Knocks: There were two Patriots-based nuggets in the episode two of “Hard Knocks: Offseason with the New York Giants”, with the most compelling coming when GM Joe Schoen visited New England’s box at the Scouting Combine to speak with executive VP of Player Personnel Eliot Wolf about the No. 3 pick. The clip provided a snapshot of how initial conversations are started on potential draft-pick trades.
Then there was area scout Patrick Hanscomb providing part of his report on Maye, noting Maye’s personality was “a little bit looser” than Giants starter Daniel Jones while adding: “I have no issue with the football character. That’s all going to grade out high. The mental is probably going to grade out high [as well].”
8. No in-stadium practice: Patriots season-ticket members were informed this week that an in-stadium practice – a ticketed event which had been a staple in the early weeks of training camp – will not be taking place this year due to scheduling conflicts. The team will instead host a ticketed season-ticket-member event on the practice fields behind the stadium on Sunday, Aug. 11.
9. They said it: “The Krafts throw a heck of a party. I don’t know how they did it, but the people at the Pats who put that on, I don’t think they could have done a better job.” — Nagy, who worked as a scout for the Patriots from 2002-2009, on attending Tom Brady’s team Hall of Fame induction ceremony
10. Did you know?: Since 2020, safety Kyle Dugger’s 26% pressure rate ranks second in the NFL among defensive backs (minimum 75 rushes), behind only Jamal Adams (28%), who agreed to a one-year deal with the Titans on Thursday.