The Patriots brought in undrafted Rutgers tight end Kenny Fletcher for a tryout Wednesday, adding another body to a position group that's clearly still being evaluated heading into the season. Fletcher, 6-5 and 250 pounds, spent the offseason and preseason with the Buccaneers before hitting the market—the kind of camp casualty Mike Vrabel and Eliot Wolf are mining for depth as cutdown deadlines loom.
This move tells you something about the current state of New England's tight end room. Hunter Henry is the headliner, but the Patriots are clearly not confident enough in their backup options to lock anything in stone right now. Bringing in a physical specimen like Fletcher—a legitimate NFL frame at the position—suggests Vrabel's staff is still searching for a reliable second option behind Henry.
Fletcher didn't get drafted, which means there's risk baked in. Rutgers wasn't exactly a tight end factory, and the fact that Tampa Bay let him walk after preseason is worth noting. But here's the thing: undrafted tryouts are exactly how you find value on limited budgets. If Fletcher has even a sliver of football intelligence and can learn the playbook quickly, he's the kind of dart throw that occasionally sticks. The Patriots have done this successfully before—it's a low-cost, high-upside move.
Whether Fletcher sticks depends on execution. Can he understand coverage? Can he block? Is he reliable enough to get on the field in real situations, or is he just a body? Those answers will come during the final week of evaluations. But for now, this is smart roster management from Vrabel and Wolf: keep searching, keep adding options, keep competing for spots until the roster is final. That's how you build depth without mortgaging draft capital.