The Patriots’ next tight end doesn’t need to be the greatest of his generation (if not all time), but he does need to be a viable five-tool weapon. Rob Gronkowski could catch passes from a traditional line-of-scrimmage position, from a detached alignment and as a lone receiver on the weak side of a formation (where the Patriots masterfully featured him in the red zone). As a run-blocker he was sturdy along the trenches and phenomenal on the move. Whoever replaces Gronk need not be great, but he must be respectable in all five of these areas.
Recall in 2016 when injuries kept Gronkowski out of eight regular season games plus the Super Bowl run.