UCLA tight ends coach Derek Sage never wastes the money on NFL Sunday Ticket, a TV service that allows people to watch out-of-network games. As much as Sage loves football, he doesn’t have time to watch the pro game on Sundays. He’s generally working on UCLA’s next opponent for the following week.
But this year is different. He’s getting Sunday Ticket, because of tight end Devin Asiasi, who may be sitting atop the New England Patriots’ depth chart at his position.
“I think it just comes down to opportunities, and he’s got a great one,” Sage told Patriots Wire on Thursday.
Asiasi floated to the top of the Patriots’ depth chart after joining New England as a third-round draft choice. The Patriots also drafted Virginia Tech tight end Dalton Keene in the third round this year. Their skill sets should compliment each other, with Asiasi’s translating more naturally to the NFL game. Why? Well, he’s what Sage calls a “true tight end.”
“We truly believed he was a true 50-50 tight end,” Sage said. “He’s as efficient in the pass game as he is in the run game. And I think that was really what you saw (at UCLA). It was a culmination — it was the tight end position. It was in-line play. It was stretching the field vertically from the in-line spot. It was flexing him out wide. It was throwing him option routes from the in-line spot or the out-wide spot. It was blocking the defensive ends. I just think it was true tight end play.”
Asiasi’s versatility is surely what appealed to the Patriots in a 2020 draft when they seemed to prioritize just that. New England drafted two linebackers that could play inside and outside. It drafted Keene, who can play fullback and H-back on top of his tight end duties. And the Patriots selected two offensive linemen, who could play multiple positions. Asiasi falls into the category of a standard, pro-style tight end. But that doesn’t mean that he’s not versatile. He can certainly be multiple in New England’s offense.
“I think he was the best blocking tight end in the draft,” Sage said. “He was the most complete 50-50 tight end that was as injury-free as a tight end can get. He can stretch the field vertically (in the passing game), and he can put his face in the fire (as a blocker) with some defensive ends and really give what the Patriots are looking for.”
Blocking isn’t the most watchable element of football. But those fundamentals are often what appeal most to Bill Belichick, who spent a long phone call talking to UCLA coach Chip Kelly, a longstanding friend of Belichick, before drafting Asiasi. The tight end has a few ties to the team, including Julian Edelman, who met Asiasi through San Mateo coach Tim Tulloch. Sage thinks Edelman is the perfect veteran match for Asaisi, a player who was suspended for three games in 2018 and who Sage said “needs structure.”
“To walk into a situation, to have a leader, a mentor, an older brother figure in the organization to kind of say, ‘Hey, young buck, let’s be out there at this time for practice. Or hey, let’s get that rehab or prehab before practice today. Let’s get those 30 balls in,'” Sage said.
Asiasi’s rise didn’t happen instantly. He was buried on the depth chart at Michigan before he transferred to UCLA, where he was buried on the depth chart again. It wasn’t until 2019 that he finally put up solid statistics (44 catches, 641 yards, three touchdowns) and caught the NFL’s eye.
Belichick seems ready to entrust Asiasi with a big duty: TE1. We haven’t seen Belichick do that with a rookie tight end since Rob Gronkowski. Perhaps that’s, in part, because New England has been sorely lacking in talent at the position since Gronk. But perhaps that’s also a showing of the faith that the Patriots have in Asiasi.
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