New England Patriots 2013 training camp battles

Joe Soriano is the lead editor of FanSided’s New England Patriots website, MusketFire.com.

The New England Patriots have several intriguing training camp battles that are quite fluid, and these battles aren’t necessarily about who starts. For instance, the position battle at running back between LeGarrette Blount and Brandon Bolden is for the fourth spot on the roster at running back, but the winner could end up receiving the second or third-most carries on the squad.

Safety, defensive end, and offensive guard feature several storylines regarding the back-end of the roster, and there is even a fierce competition at punter. Everyone likes to focus on the Patriots rookie receivers and the battles going on there, but it seems to me that the six receivers who will make the roster are pretty much set (Aaron Dobson, Danny Amendola, Julian Edelman, Kenbrell Thompkins, Josh Boyce, and Matthew Slater).

The position battle that stands out the most to me is at tight end, and this is under the assumption that Rob Gronkowski will hit the PUP list in order to preserve is health and make sure he is at full strength when the Pats need him most.

Assuming Gronk is on the PUP list, there will be a fierce position battle for who will start in his stead. Jake Ballard, Zach Sudfeld, Michael Hoomanawanui, and Daniel Fells are the four men fighting for the job, and there seems to be no consensus on the pick. Ballard has the best track record of the four in terms of production, but his recovery from microfracture surgery has left him slow and “rigid” (as described by beat writer Zuri Berry last month) throughout offseason workouts and training camp. If Ballard’s health wasn’t in question, then he would be the starter. But since we don’t know exactly how he can play following his recovery or even if he is fully healthy, he isn’t even a lock to make the 53-man roster.

Michael Hoomanawanui and Daniel Fells return from last year, and both players make their living in this league as blocking tight ends. Fells doesn’t get much credit from the fan base, but he had some excellent performances last season and was one of the NFL’s best run blocking TEs last season. His pass-catching is mediocre and his contract doesn’t favor him, but he isn’t getting cut if Gronk is on the PUP (I’ll get to his status if Gronk is not on the PUP). Hooman is the better option to start over Fells due to Hooman’s superior pass-catching ability (as he has showed in camp, he is extremely underrated in this regard), and he also has the versatility to be an H-back (the Patriots don’t use a fullback, so he was in that role a lot last season).

Zach Sudfeld is an undrafted free agent out of Nevada, and he is by far the most intriguing name of these four. A standout during OTAs and minicamp, Sudfeld has been even better in training camp and is receiving rave reviews from coaches, players, and beat writers alike. Sudfeld’s blocking needs polishing, but that’s not because he isn’t a good blocker. In fact, blocking was his biggest strength in college. No, he need seasoning in that facet because blocking in the Pistol offense at Nevada is simply a whole lot different from blocking in the NFL.

Out of those four tight ends, Sudfeld is clearly the quickest and most athletic of them, despite the fact that some of that ability was sapped by a severe knee injury in college. Sudfeld is a very smooth pass-catcher, and he offers the most upside of the four.

If Rob Gronkowski is able to start the season, then the focus turns from who starts to who gets cut. My pick would be Fells, because he is the oldest of the bunch and is set to make the most money of the four. He’s also the worst pass-catcher of those guys, but he is also arguably the best blocker (obviously aside from Gronk, who is easily the best at everything on this team at TE). I could actually see Ballard getting cut if his recovery ends up being slow enough, but he offers more upside than Fells if he does get healthy.

Fells vs. Ballard is an interesting roster spot battle to watch if Gronkowski is able to start the season (which looks unlikely but is still very much a possibility), while the battle at tight end truly gets interesting and becomes wide open if Gronk is on the PUP. But since we don’t know Gronk’s status or what these TEs are exactly playing for (not only that, but the No. 2 TE will be utilized heavily so that’s enough of a position battle to watch too), it’s all-in at this point.