Patriots tight end Jonnu Smith unconcerned with matching stats to paycheck

Film room: Jonnu Smith seems gear up to accept over the Patriots' fullback role

With Jakob Johnson gone, the Patriots have to observe a new lead blocker. They might already have him on their roster.

By Apr xiv, 2022, eight:00am EDT

Photograph by Ken Murray/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

There is no carbohydrate-coating it: Jonnu Smith did non meet expectations during his beginning season with the New England Patriots. Signing a 4-yr, $50 million contract with the team during the offseason, the tight end defenseless just 28 passes for 294 yards and a touchdown in his outset 17 games with the team.

Smith also gained 40 boosted yards on nine carries, simply the gist remains: he was a relative non-factor as far every bit him touching the football is concerned. That being said, non all about his first season as a Patriot was necessarily disappointing.

Take Smith'southward work as a blocker, for example. The quondam Tennessee Titans tight finish performed well in this expanse, after all, and showed some potential that might have contributed to the Patriots' decision not to retain fullback Jakob Johnson as a restricted free agent.

Smith seems poised to take over Johnson's previous role as a lead blocker in the running game, and his 2021 tape shows just how New England might be using him this upcoming season.

The Patriots primarily used Smith as a traditional in-line tight terminate on either the left or the right end of the line during the 2021 flavour, but he was moved into the backfield on occasion likewise. In total, nineteen of his 547 offensive snaps came as either a atomic number 82 blocker in I-formation looks or in a halfback alignment.

The play above is one of the latter, with Smith (#81) motioning beyond the formation before the snap to set upwardly shop behind left tackle Justin Herron (#75) and left guard James Ferentz (#65). The delayed hand-off to running dorsum Damien Harris (#37) is designed to go this style, with Smith playing a prominent role in opening a hole.

He does that quite well: Smith patiently waited for linebacker Kamu Grugier-Hill (#51) to attack the pocket as a second-level blitzer, pinning him to the outside and keeping him engaged throughout the process. This effectively took him out of the play, and would have helped open up a pregnant rushing lane for Harris. Unfortunately, though, Ferentz was unable to sustain his own block and the run was blown upwardly for no proceeds.

Smith, meanwhile, combined upper-trunk strength and a firm base of operations with some active hands and a good dose of patience. While he will not always be able to register wins like this one, his performance in a limited sample size was encouraging.

The following play is further proof of that:

Essentially the same concept simply mirrored, Smith takes on Houston Texans linebacker Christian Kirksey (#58) in the right-side B-gap. On this play, he was unable to take advantage of his opponents' forrad momentum but still able to keep the defender contained. Smith lowered his shoulder into contact to halt Kirksey's forrad button, which in turn allowed him to reset his feet to mirror the linebacker and keep him from impacting the play.

Again, the Patriots' tight terminate was not the reason why the run failed to generate positive yardage. While wide receiver Jakobi Meyers (#16) was unable to clear out prophylactic Justin Reid (#20), right tackle Yodny Cajuste (#72) got turned simply enough to close the edge. As a result, rookie running back Rhamondre Stevenson (#38) maneuvered directly into traffic on the left side of the line.

New England did not merely use Smith as a halfback-type blocker, the squad also employed him equally a traditional I-germination lead blocker in a classic fullback alignment:

With the Houston defensive front end flowing to its left, the Patriots were able to open up up some space on the other side for a big Damien Harris run — one that would non have been possible without Smith making some other block on second-level linebacker Kirksey. The central on this one is the tight terminate correctly reading what is happening in forepart of him.

Smith essentially had two targets hither, depending on what fellow tight cease Hunter Henry was doing (#85). If Henry kicked within to take Kirksey, Smith would be responsible for Zach Cunningham (#41); if he stayed on the outside as he should, Kirksey would go his human being.

The latter is exactly what happened, with Smith again showing the proper physicality at the attack point and some stout base to seal the linebacker off and create a pigsty for Harris to exploit. New England gained a solid 7 yards on the play to gear up a manageable 3rd-and-3 state of affairs.

Smith performed well in between-the-tackle situations like those three, merely he likewise showed that he can find success every bit a blocker on the motility:

With Mac Jones (#10) handing the brawl off on what looks similar a read-option phone call on the surface, Smith was asked to serve as the pb blocker on a perimeter run. With N'Keal Harry (#1) unable to fully secure his block, nevertheless, both he and left tackle Isaiah Wynn (#76) out-run ball-carrier Brandon Bolden (#25) to the left-side perimeter.

Smith, however, does a solid job identifying his target on the fly — Indianapolis Colts cornerback Kenny Moore (#23) — and staying engaged but long enough to help open the border. With the timing messed upwards that did not really thing, but the Patriots' tight end nevertheless looked practiced on this otherwise messy play.

One underrated attribute of it is him trying to avoid a penalty. As soon as Moore started to gain leverage to the outside, Smith let get off him.

All in all, Smith showed plenty of promise in a lead-blocking role. This, in turn, could prompt the Patriots to give him more than responsibilities in this surface area moving forward.

Plain, the team did not pay $50 million for a fullback. Just Smith making some major strides every bit a receiver and existence able to fill that additional office would certainly be a internet positive for the lodge.

Source: https://www.patspulpit.com/2022/4/14/23020046/film-room-jonnu-smith-fullback-promise-patriots

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