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The New England Patriots’ tight end position was a mixed bag in 2025.
Hunter Henry was one of the team’s most reliable players but he was relatively quiet in the playoffs; Austin Hooper was a limited factor in the passing game and mostly employed as a blocker; C.J. Dippre did receive some interest from other teams while on the practice squad but has yet to show why the. Patriots decided to promote him to the active roster midway through the season. Together with fullback Jack Westover and practice squad option Marshall Lang they formed the core at the spot last season.
Even though Henry is a solid starter-level contributor and team captain who remains under contract through 2026, the future at the position is murky. He will turn 32 during the upcoming season, Hooper is a free agent, and neither Dippre nor Lang are proven options who could definitively be counted on moving forward.
As a consequence, tight end is a definitive need for the Patriots this offseason. How it will be addressed remains to be seen, but judged by their statements this week, the draft seems like a definitive option.
“Just looking across the board, I think there’s volume at the tight end class,” head coach Mike Vrabel said at the Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. “Whether they’re premium players or what people would say are first-round picks, I just know that when you go and you evaluate other teams and you get ready to play for them, there’s a bunch of fourth- and fifth-round tight ends that end up starting, playing and contributing. So, wherever that value is, I just think that there are some names there.”
Vrabel, a part-time tight end during his playing career, added that he would h ave a better job to evaluate that particular position to help build a clearer vision for the future. What said vision will be remains unclear, but given Henry’s age and the lack of viable options alongside him an infusion of developmental talent looks to be on the menu.
There are several candidates available throughout the draft — from early-rounders like Kenyon Sadiq (Oregon), Eli Stowers (Vanderbilt) and Max Klare (Ohio State), to late-round options such as Nate Boerkircher (Texas A&M), John Michael Gyllenborg (Wyoming) or Dan Villari (Syracuse).
The latter three have all had pre-draft contact with the Patriots already, and seem like potential targets in the mold of what Vrabel mentioned.
“Obviously, there are so many different types of players in that position,” said executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf during his Combine presser on Tuesday.
“When you go back and look at Josh [McDaniels]’s offenses over the years, there have been a ton of different players — different sizes and skillsets that he’s been able to utilize. That’s something that we’ll kind of fine-tune here as we spend more time with these players here in the draft and then obviously looking at the free agents. But Hunter we have, and Westover and C.J. Dippre, and Hoop’s a free agent. So, we’ll kind of see what happens with that room.”