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Patriots TE Ben Watson Retires

March 16th, 2020 at 11:38am CST by Sam Robinson

For the second straight year, Ben Watson announced his retirement. The Patriots tight end will step away from the game, he announced Monday in a lengthy post (on Twitter). The expectation was for the two-stint Patriot to again retire, and Watson confirmed as such Monday.

Watson previously retired after his 2018 Saints season but backtracked on that, joining the Patriots in their effort to replace Rob Gronkowski. In doing so, Watson became the first pure tight end to play past his 39th birthday.

The 2004 first-round pick caught 17 passes for 173 yards last season. For his career, he will end up with a 547/6,058/44 line. Watson is one of just 20 tight ends to surpass 6,000 yards. The 16-year veteran sits 20th on the all-time receiving list at this position. Watson ended his career having played for the Patirots, Browns, Saints and Ravens.

While Watson will once again retire, he remains a part of the NFLPA’s executive committee. He was voted to stay on in his post last week.

Benjamin Watson Likely To Retire

January 5th, 2020 at 11:23am CST by Rory Parks

Patriots tight end Benjamin Watson is likely to retire, as the 39-year-old told reporters, including Zack Cox of NESN, in an emotional interview last night (video link).

New England was eliminated from the postseason on Saturday, and Watson, who was brought in to help fill the void left by Rob Gronkowski‘s retirement, caught three passes for 38 yards in the game. He also had a long reception called back due to an ineligible receiver downfield penalty.

Of course, Watson announced in December 2018 that he would be hanging up the cleats, but he chose to come out of retirement to sign with the Pats in May. Unfortunately, he was suspended for the first four games of the 2019 season due to a violation of the league’s PED policy — he reportedly took a testosterone supplement subscribed by his doctor while he was still retired — and New England released him on October 7. But he re-signed with the team shortly thereafter, and he ended the season with 17 catches for 173 yards.

In sixteen seasons in the NFL that included two separate stints with the Patriots and Saints, in addition to stops with the Ravens and Browns, Watson — who has been a finalist for the Walter Payton Man of the Year award on several occasions — compiled 547 catches for 6,058 yards and 44 TDs. He also captured a championship ring as a member of the Patriots’ Super Bowl XXXIX team.

Watson said, “there’s only so much your body can take, and so much you want to put your family though, before you want to settle down and have some roots. Figure out what the next chapter of your life is going to be.”

Patriots To Re-Sign Ben Watson

October 14th, 2019 at 12:34pm CST by Zachary Links

The Patriots are set to bring back tight end Ben Watson, a source tells ESPN.com’s Field Yates (on Twitter). Watson was cut just last week, but he’ll return in the wake of injuries to tight end Matt LaCosse and fullback Jakob Johnson. 

Watson, 38, is still looking to make his 2019 season debut. He flirted with retirement before he signed with the Pats – then, he was slapped with a suspension for the first month of the year. Then, he got cut just before he was eligible to play.

Watson started his career in 2004 as a first-round pick of the Patriots. He been a key player in many offenses throughout his career, but he took on more of a backup role in 2018 with the Saints. Even as a secondary type in New Orleans, he still finished with 35 receptions for 400 yards and two touchdowns.

Patriots To Cut Benjamin Watson

October 7th, 2019 at 3:17pm CST by Zachary Links

That’s a wrap on Ben Watson‘s second stint with the Patriots. The Pats have declined to activate Watson and will release him, making him a free agent (Twitter link via ESPN.com’s Mike Reiss). 

We’ve seen Bill Belichick tinker with the roster before, so it’s theoretically possible that Watson could return to the Pats later this season, perhaps at a cheaper rate. But, for the time being, the club will cut ties and save $2MM against the cap.

Watson, 38, missed the first four games of the season while serving a PED suspension. He returned to practice last week, but he was not added to the roster in time to face the Redskins on Sunday. The Patriots easily handled the Redskins, beating them 33-7 and sending Jay Gruden packing in the process.

For now, the Pats seem content to move forward with Matt LaCosse and Ryan Izzo as their tight ends. LaCosse played 73 offensive snaps for New England over the weekend and Izzo caught the first touchdown pass of his NFL career.

Patriots TE Ben Watson Won’t Play Sunday

October 5th, 2019 at 12:10pm CST by Ben Levine

The Patriots will have to wait at least a week for Ben Watson to hit the field. ESPN’s Field Yates reports (via Twitter) that the veteran tight end didn’t travel with the team to Washington and won’t be playing vs. the Redskins tomorrow.

The 38-year-old briefly retired this offseason before joining the Patriots, the team that drafted him back in 2004. Shortly after signing with New England, Watson was hit with a four-game suspension after testing positive for a banned substance. The veteran ended up missing Wednesday’s practice, which was an indication that he might not be ready to go this weekend.

With the retirement of Rob Gronkowski, the Patriots have been relying on Ryan Izzo and Matt LaCosse early on this season. While Watson is getting older, he’ll provide Tom Brady with another reliable target. The tight end took on more of a backup role in 2018 with the Saints, but he still finished with 35 receptions for 400 yards and two touchdowns.

The Patriots have until 4 p.m. on Monday to activate Watson to the 53-man roster.

AFC East Notes: Patriots, McCourty, Dolphins

August 7th, 2019 at 7:07pm CST by Ben Levine

Ben Watson is now in his second stint with the Patriots, and the veteran tight end acknowledged that he has a greater respect for coach Bill Belichick than he did during his first go-around.

“I definitely have a different appreciation for him than I had 15 years ago,” Watson told SiriusXM Radio (via ESPN’s Mike Reiss). “There are many ways he hasn’t changed. Sitting in the team meeting room, he says a lot of the same things, because they are still true. Being much older than I was before, I’m able to appreciate that a lot more — a lot of the coaching, and embrace it in a way I wasn’t before. I can also see him separate from the coach, he does enjoy himself, he does smile, he does do all those things as a young player you thought he never did.”

The 2004 first-round pick spent the first six seasons of his career with New England, and he came out of retirement to (partly) replace the offensive production of Rob Gronkowski. Watson will sit out the first four games of the upcoming season after failing a drug test.

Let’s check out some more notes out of the AFC East…

  • The Patriots have had an undrafted rookie make their 53-man roster for 15 straight years, and Reiss writes that NC State wideout Jakobi Meyers is the leading candidate to earn a spot this year. The six-foot-two wideout was seen practicing with the first team all week, and the Patriots’ depth chart is currently struggling with Julian Edelman sitting out. Meyers hauled in 92 receptions for NC State last season, breaking Torry Holt‘s school record.
  • Safety Devin McCourty is about to start his 10th NFL season, but the Patriots veteran hasn’t thought about when he’s going to hang up his cleats. “I’ve been having a lot of fun this year,” McCourty told Jeff Howe of The Athletic. “I haven’t thought about next year or anything else. I’m just trying to see how much better I can get in year 10 and see how good I can be still at, in a couple weeks, (when I turn) 32 years old and still playing football and trying to embrace that.”
  • The Dolphins defense should look a whole lot different next season, and Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald writes that much of that can be attributed to the defensive-minded Brian Flores. The team’s new head coach is planning on having several different looks (or “groups,” as Flores calls them) on defense, including 3-4, 4-3, 5-2, and something else altogether different. “It really comes back to trying to put the right personnel groupings out there to match up with what the offense is doing and try to maximize the skill set of our players,” explained defensive coordinator Patrick Graham. “If it’s five or 10 safeties, then that’s what it is.”
  • Defensive lineman Tank Carradine is a fan of the defensive scheme, noting that it could help him become a three-down player. “There are different schemes that we run, and I have to be able to set the edge, play inside,” Carradine said. “They’re trying to move me all over the field. That’s something that I like. It’s giving me a chance to play different positions and be all out there and be an every-down player.”

Latest On Benjamin Watson’s Suspension

May 27th, 2019 at 9:05pm CST by Ben Levine

Ben Watson recently joined the Patriots, but the veteran tight end won’t be suiting up for the team until Week 5. We learned yesterday that the 38-year-old will be suspended for the first four games of the 2019 season.

In a Facebook post, Watson explained that he thought he was retiring for good after the 2018 season, so he wasn’t quite as careful with his treatment. He was given Bio Identical Testosterone Cypionate by a doctor, which is banned by the league. Only after he made the decision to return to the NFL did he realize the implications, and he ended up failing a drug test.

Some additional notes and opinions have emerged over the past 24 hours pertaining to Watson’s suspension, which we’ve collected below:

  • While Watson is set to miss four games, he still has a good chance of meeting his incentives. As Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com points out, Watson’s deal with the Patriots includes $650K in incentives: $250K if he appears in 35-percent of the team’s offensive snaps and another $400K if he appears in 45-percent of the snaps. Florio calculates that Watson will need to “get roughly 66 percent of the snaps in the remaining games of the year to earn the full incentive.”
  • Albert Breer of SI.com believes the Patriots could still be in the hunt for more tight end depth. The writer cites the organization’s handling of their 2006 receiver corps; among the three (yes, three) active New England receivers in the AFC title game, one (Jabar Gaffney) didn’t join the team until October. Breer notes that this “a sign of how the Patriots can bring guys along and how they adjust.”
  • Ben Volin of the Boston Globe writes that Watson’s suspension should strengthen Austin Seferian-Jenkins‘ chances of making the roster. The 26-year-old, who signed a one-year deal with the Patriots back in April, had 11 receptions in five games for the Jaguars last season. Meanwhile, Volin believes that fellow free agent addition Matt LaCosse likely has a roster spot locked up, while the team could also lean on some of their young options (including Ryan Izzo, Stephen Anderson, and Andrew Beck).
  • Volin also opines that the suspension could be a blessing in disguise for Watson. While the veteran hasn’t missed a regular season game since 2013, he’s still 38-years-old. The four-game absence could prove to be especially helpful come playoff time, with Volin pointing to previous performances from Tom Brady (2016) and Julian Edelman (2018).

Benjamin Watson To Be Suspended 4 Games

May 26th, 2019 at 4:51pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

The Patriots’ new tight end, Ben Watson, won’t be able to suit up right away. The veteran, who recently came out of retirement to join New England, announced in a Facebook post that he’ll be suspended for the first four games of the 2019 season, per Mike Reiss of ESPN (Twitter link).

In the post, Watson explains that he thought for sure he was retiring for good after the 2018 season, so he wasn’t quite as careful with the treatment he received. He was given Bio Identical Testosterone Cypionate by a doctor, which is banned by the league. Only after he made the decision to return to the league did he realize the implications, and he ended up failing a drug test.

While it’s obviously not a welcome development, the news isn’t blindsiding the Patriots. Watson says in his post that he discussed the failed drug test with teams before signing, so New England was prepared for this suspension. Watson won’t be appealing the ban, as he writes that he wants to”respect the regulations that have been collectively bargained to promote fairness on the field of play and accept the discipline associated with my infraction.”

While the Patriots should be just fine in the first month of the season without him, it will leave them quite thin once again at tight end. Rob Gronkowski‘s retirement this offseason left them with very few proven options at the position, although they have signed a few guys like Austin Seferian-Jenkins and Matt LaCosse.

Watson is 38 now but he remained reliable in 2018, appearing in all 16 games for the Saints. He finished the season with 35 catches for 400 yards and two touchdowns. Just a few years ago he was a huge part of the Saints’ offense and racked up 825 yards and six touchdowns, so he’s a capable receiver. Just yesterday we heard that Watson only considered coming out of retirement for the Patriots and the Saints, despite interest from at least a handful of teams.

Ben Watson Only Considered Patriots, Saints

May 25th, 2019 at 4:44pm CST by Sam Robinson

It appears of the teams interested in helping Ben Watson unretire, one had a substantial lead on the others. Although the 38-year-old tight end was linked to the Chiefs, Bills and 49ers, he was only considering a return if two teams were in the mix.

“I was retired. I was done for a few months,” Watson said, via Nick Goss of NBC Sports Boston. “Around I would say, late April, early May I started thinking about it and made myself available. There were really only two places I would consider playing, coming back (to the Patriots) and playing in New Orleans. Once I made myself available I got a call, and I thought it would be an interesting opportunity.”

The Patriots and Saints were Watson’s two most prominent stops during his 15-season run, the former drafting him in the 2004 first round and deploying him for six seasons. The latter featured him frequently before and after the Jimmy Graham trade. New Orleans, though, was not in the mix for Watson. The Saints shelled out some cash to sign Jared Cook, who was coming off his most statistically productive season.

New England lost this generation’s best tight end, but Watson did not factor Rob Gronkowski‘s status into his decision. Though, it’s certainly debatable if the Pats would have been interested had Gronk not informed them he was retiring. That may have forced Watson to consider one of the aforementioned destinations.

“No, I was retired. I considered myself retired,” Watson said about viewing Gronkowski’s retirement as a reason to come back. “I was processing as such and moving forward as such until late in April. (Gronkowski’s exit) wasn’t a factor for me.”

Should the Patriots stand pat with Watson and Austin Seferian-Jenkins at tight end, their 2019 offense stands to look different than their other nine attacks this decade. Most of those, when Gronkowski was healthy, funneled through the future Hall of Famer. This year’s Pats feature bigger names or higher-end investments at receiver, with Demaryius Thomas (should he surmount the Achilles injury that ended his 2018 season) and N’Keal Harry now joining Julian Edelman.

Watson, 39 in December, signed for $3MM ($600K guaranteed). Seferian-Jenkins only received $895K and $50K guaranteed.

Extra Points: Offsets, Comp Picks, Watson

May 18th, 2019 at 7:41pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

Every year there are a few first round picks that take a while to sign. On rare occasions, like in the case of Joey Bosa a few years ago, it causes them to miss regular season action. Last year, it was eighth overall pick Roquan Smith who took the longest to sign, as his negotiations with the Bears lasted into mid-August. The disputes are almost always about offset language, and we could all end up studying offset discrepancies again if an early pick prolongs the process. Interestingly, every first round pick that has signed so far, including first overall pick Kyler Murray, has had offset language included in their contracts, per Albert Breer of SI.com.

As Breer points out, it’s been a big sticking point ever since the 2011 CBA established slotted rookie contracts. With the amount of money locked in, it’s pretty much the only thing for agents to fight over. Breer writes that this year it’s “notable that teams are winning decisively in this area, considering how it caused dustups in the recent past.” While that’s true for now, the majority of first round picks still aren’t signed and it’s too early to be declaring the process smooth.

Here’s more from around the league:

  • Teams are beginning to place more and more of an emphasis on compensatory picks, which isn’t surprising. In an era of professional sports when teams in every league are realizing the value of adding volume in drafts, NFL teams are wising up. Teams like the Patriots have been good at racking up compensatory picks for years, and other teams are starting to catch up. With the deadline for free agents to count against the compensatory pick formula passing recently, outlets are able to make their first projections about what the compensatory scene might look like for the 2020 draft. Our friends over at Overthecap.com came out with their projections, and New England looks likely to cash in once again. They project the Patriots to add two third round picks, for the departures of Trey Flowers and Trent Brown in free agency. The Eagles are projected to get the earliest compensatory pick, for the loss of Nick Foles.
  • Speaking of the Patriots, they signed tight end Ben Watson last week, luring him out of retirement. Now we have more details on his one-year contract, courtesy of Ben Volin of the Boston Globe (Twitter link). His $3MM deal will include $600k guaranteed in the form of a signing bonus. He can also earn a $1.45m base salary, $300k in per-game bonuses, and $650k in incentives assuming he sticks on the roster. Volin writes that it “doesn’t guarantee him a roster spot, but chances are likely” he’ll be on the team. Watson is 38 now so he certainly won’t be replacing Rob Gronkowski‘s receiving production all by himself, but he can play a serviceable role and be a nice veteran leader.
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