New England Patriots: Travis Kelce is good, but Rob Gronkowski is great

When healthy, there is no doubt New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski is the best in the league, so let’s stop the Travis Kelce comparison.

When it comes to the tight end position, Rob Gronkowski and Travis Kelce are elite on the field. Both players have been so dominating over the past few seasons it’s almost unfair to compare the two, but at the same time how can you not? When it comes to pure numbers, the New England Patriots tight end leads the pack, but Kelce is not far behind.

So, when Pro Football Focus pitted the two against one another in its Fantasy Football showdown, it got me to thinking. If both players were available in a real draft, which player would teams take?

It’s obvious who the Patriots would select if they were in that position. From a pure numbers standpoint, either player would light up fantasy boards. When healthy, either Gronkowski or Kelce has finished as fantasy’s top tight end over the last four years. One of them will probably do so again this season.

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But, on the actual football field, who really is better?

It may not be a completely fair assessment since Gronkowski has the luxury of catching the ball from the great Tom Brady, but what the man does on the field by combining his size with athleticism is magnificent to watch.

In his eight-year career, Rob Gronkowski has four 1,000-yard seasons. He holds the franchise-record in touchdown receptions and already ranks fourth on the all-time touchdown list by a tight end. While health has slowed him at times, Gronkowski proved in that Week 15 game in Pittsburgh that when he is locked in, he is an unstoppable force.

Kansas City Chiefs fans are saying, well so isn’t Travis Kelce. If there was no Gronk, he would certainly be the top tight end in the game. The man has averaged 975 receiving yards the last four seasons while exhibiting the same type of athleticism as Gronkowski.

A statistic called leadership

Where a real life General Manager may separate the two is in other aspects of the game like blocking. As dominate as Gronkowski has been in the passing game, he has sacrificed his body to do whatever the team needs him to do to win games.

New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick has complimented Gronk’s blocking ability several times over the last few seasons and has also complimented his leadership, an area where Kelce could take a few notes.

"“He’s a great guy to have on the team; forget about the talent and all that,” Belichick told reporters back in 2015. “Just the way he goes about his job, the way he works and trains in the weight room, his physical conditioning; his mental concentration and focus to be well and do well and improve are very, very good.”"

While that statement may have fluctuated a little with the drama-filled offseason of the New England Patriots when it comes to Gronkowski, but his importance on the field is undeniable. From a numbers standpoint the same could be said about Travis Kelce, but he hasn’t showed up in the big games like Gronkowski.

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Yes, Kelce has proven to be more durable. However, when healthy, Rob Gronkowski has been the more dependable tight end in big games. He not only single-handedly manhandled the Steelers’ secondary in that game back in December, he had key touchdowns in both Super Bowl XLIX and Super Bowl XLII.

So, if I was a real time GM and I was putting an NFL team together in 2018, Rob Gronkowski is the tight end I’m drafting.

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