Last season was probably a little bit of a breakout year for Matt LaCosse. In 2018, he had 24 catches, 250 receiving yards, and one touchdown for the Broncos, which isn’t a big performance until you consider he had gone three years between making a catch in the NFL. However, this season he’ll have the opportunity to really make a name for himself.
LaCosse just so happens to find himself on a new team and in a much better situation now that he’s with the Patriots.
Rob Gronkowski has retired and, for now at least, it doesn’t appear that he is having any second thoughts. Offseason addition Ben Watson, who is a very accomplished pass-catching tight end in his own right, is suspended for the first four games of the season. That leaves LaCosse as the guy mostly likely to step in and take over as the starting tight end this year.
Now it is going to be up to LaCosse to take advantage of the chance if he wants things to remain that way.
LaCosse does have the potential to be Gronk-lite in that offense.
LaCosse, of course, isn’t going to be the same kind of threat in the passing game as Gronk was. Not many tight ends in the history of the NFL have been, for that matter. Having said that, LaCosse’s potential was evident when I watched his film.
Not for nothing, but their statures are remarkably similar, with LaCosse standing at 6’6 just like Gronk, and with LaCosse only about 10-15 pounds lighter. LaCosse is also pretty damn athletic for his size, although not quite on Gronk’s level.
As far as his versatility, LaCosse showed last season in Denver that he can line up anywhere from stud tight end to all the way out wide as a legit receiving threat. So the Patriots will be able to utilize him in a lot of the same ways they did with Gronk when they drop back to throw the ball.
And to top things off, he has pretty good hands, too.
Where LaCosse diverges from Gronk most noticeably is his ability, or I should say inability, to block in the run game.
Gronk wasn’t just good, he was a dominating blocker in the run game. Gronk could bury defensive ends just as easily as he could linebackers, which was one of the reasons defenses had so much trouble matching up with him. It’s easy to say put a defensive back on Gronk, but then what happens when the Patriots decide to pound the run at you like they did much of last season?
LaCosse, on the other hand, was actually a liability at times as a blocker last season in Denver. Like, every blocker loses sometimes, but it got ugly for LaCosse enough times on film that it had me cringing a little.
Blocking is an area where he can improve with better technique, and he will certainly need to if the Patriots plan on running the ball with him in the game. The good thing is it didn’t appear that his struggles were due to a lack of effort, so hopefully the Patriots’ coaching staff can get him squared away on that aspect of his game.
I will say he looked much better in that area in the first preseason game against Detroit, though. Still not at Gronk’s level, but he was more than holding his own.
At the end of the day, however, nobody is going to be sweating how many pancake blocks LaCosse deals out this season if he ends up with a ton of catches and forces opposing defenses to account for him. I would like to see him continue to improve as a blocker, but the Patriots saw the same film I did before they signed him. I think it’s safe to say they brought him in more so for his receiving skills than his blocking.
Truth is, I think LaCosse is going to have a huge year catching the ball as long as he stays healthy.
It’s easy to forget, but back in 2016 when Gronk only played in eight regular season games, Martellus Bennett stepped in and ended up with 55 receptions and seven touchdowns.
I’m not saying LaCosse is going to put up those numbers, but I’m not saying he won’t, either. If he can get off to a strong start in those first four games with Watson out, it’s reasonable to believe that LaCosse can at least come close to doubling his receptions from a year ago. I certainly think he will have a lot more touchdowns, as well.
He has to show the team what he can do in those first four games, however. We all know that with Bill Belichick sometimes it doesn’t take much to get in the doghouse. The Patriots already know what Watson can do — he’s caught 35 or more passes in eight out of his 16 seasons in the NFL, including the last three seasons. If LaCosse starts off slow, he could find himself right back on the bench in a hurry.
The Patriots also signed Lance Kendricks, who is heading into his ninth year in the league, right before training camp commenced to help shore up the tight end position. He may challenge LaCosse for playing time, too. However, while Kendricks is a quality veteran player, I think LaCosse has a lot more upside at this point in both of their respective careers.
LaCosse suffered an ankle sprain in that first preseason game and then missed the next one, but it doesn’t appear to be a major injury. Hopefully, he will be able to finish the rest of the preseason strong.
Matt LaCosse may never find himself in this position ever again, where he has the inside track to be the starting tight end for a team with Tom Brady as quarterback. He is in a situation this year in which he is almost guaranteed to get some opportunities in the passing game, in the first four games at least, and those passes will be thrown by one of the greatest passers who has ever lived.
If there were ever a time when he was going to break out, this pretty much has to be it for him. If LaCosse brings that sense of urgency into this season, he may well surprise all of us with his offensive output.
Confidence level: High