The chess matches in the National Football League are often cyclical, with offenses reacting to changes in defensive philosophy and defenses reacting to offenses.
Over the last decade or so, the passing game has taken over with dual-threat quarterbacks and spread offenses turning games into track meets. As a result, the only option for defenses was to get lighter and faster to match the speed of the offenses. Eventually, more athletic coverage linebackers and defensive lines built for rushing the passer began to catch up, with scoring leveling off across the NFL in recent seasons.
With the cycling continuing, offenses have begun to play out of heavier personnel groupings to run over defenses built to stop the pass, with a run-game revolution in the NFL. Along with the resurgent rushing attacks, there has been an uptick in playing multiple tight end sets. More specifically, 12-personnel (2 WR, 2 TE, 1 RB), which offenses are playing at the highest rate since we began tracking personnel groupings in the 2007 season (23.7%).
The Patriots under OC Josh McDaniels are one of the trend-setting offenses featuring multiple tight ends, with New England ranking seventh in 12-personnel usage this season (34.5%). The Pats have built a successful two-tight end package around veterans Hunter Henry and Austin Hooper. The duo has been productive since Hooper arrived in Foxboro last season. The Pats tight end tandem has accumulated 1,411 receiving yards since the start of the 2024 season (fourth-most in the NFL), with 130 catches split between Henry and Hooper.
New England uses their tight ends in various formations to dictate defensive personnel and hunt favorable matchups. That has led to the Patriots averaging 4.6 yards per rush out of 12-personnel (ninth-best in the NFL) with a 53.1% drop-back success rate (12th in the NFL), including several successful offensive plays in last Sunday's game vs. the Steelers.
"It just forces the defense to declare if they want to play base or go to sub personnel," Hooper said this week. "I definitely enjoy playing with Hunter. Playing next to a guy like Hunter who can do so many different things just gives the defense more to think about."
Henry also sang his teammates' praises, saying, "Austin is a proven, very high-level player in this league. Anytime you can have a guy like that next to you and you can feed off of, you know, run game, pass game. A guy that's just a high-level thinker who has played a lot of football, so we think a lot alike on the field."
As for the schematics of it all, there are two primary ways the Patriots are setting up defenses to present advantageous opportunities in their two-tight end sets. First, New England is winning the numbers game in the run game while putting defensive backs at the point of attack by playing with Henry and Hooper lined up on the same side of the formation. By lining up seven blockers on the line of scrimmage, the Patriots are creating extra gaps that the defense needs to account for against the run.
Above, the Steelers match the Patriots under-center formation with a five-man defensive front. The Pats then motion WR Mack Hollins across the field to create a "nubbed" side, which means the "F" tight end (Henry) is the furthest eligible receiver to the right side of the formation. The motion also forces the Steelers to put S Jabrill Peppers on Hollins in the slot, creating three blockers to block the three "bigs" over the right side. The Patriots then ran a duo scheme with a double-team by Hooper and RT Morgan Moses on the play-side DT (No. 99 Derrich Harmon) and Henry kicking out the play-side edge rusher (No. 33 Jack Sawyer). The double-team generates significant movement. Hooper then combos up to LB Cole Holcomb, and RB Antonio Gibson gains 11 yards.
"Morgan is a big, physical dude—super talented veteran, who's done a lot of good stuff in this league. So, really, it's mostly him. They're worried about him, so I have to just help him out," Hooper said of working double teams with the Pats right tackle. "He's a beast, so being in those combo blocks with him makes my life really easy – good player."
Along with getting favorable run looks, the multiple tight end sets produce advantageous matchups in the passing game. Due to the rushing threat, the Steelers put base defense on the field with only four defensive backs against 12-personnel, and the Patriots hunted Pittsburgh's linebackers and safeties in coverage. This season, the Patriots have a 53.3% drop-back success rate when defenses play base personnel (13th in the NFL).
After running the football effectively from 12-personnel under center, the Patriots hit some big plays off play-action out of similar run formations. The Steelers match the heavy personnel grouping with base defense, and the Pats run a "keeper" action with Maye faking the stretch handoff before settling back into the middle of the pocket. Henry then releases on a shallow crossing route, where he wins a foot race with a linebacker (Holcomb) for a 15-yard gain (also peep the "whirly bird" block by C Garrett Bradbury to keep Maye protected).
On Sunday, New England also produced two explosive plays out of a split-back formation with QB Drake Maye in the shotgun. Typically, these formations have two backs in the backfield with the quarterback, but the Patriots are running it with one of their two tight ends offset in the gun.
"It's a pretty standard formation except most of the time there'll be a fullback. Instead, it was me [or Henry]," Hooper said. "It's an unconventional formation for the defense to see a tight end lined up in a non-traditional position like that."
On the first explosive play, Henry and Gibson lined up in the backfield with Maye in the shotgun. Since the Patriots have two tight ends on the field, Pittsburgh is in base defense, leaving LB Patrick Queen in man coverage on Henry. Henry then runs a wheel route out of the backfield, and Maye throws with the perfect amount of touch to hit Henry for an 18-yard gain. The play worked, but you can also see Hollins winning on a crossing route from the left slot versus a safety in man coverage (Peppers). That's also a matchup the Patriots could hunt in this formation.
"Just trying to do different things throughout the week to present different things to a defense," Henry said of the split-back formation. "That's all the guys that are scheming up the plays and all that stuff. Just got to make them come to life on the field."
Later in the game, the Patriots came out in the same formation. This time, Hooper was in the backfield to Maye's right with Henry as the in-line tight end on a key 4th-and-2 play. New England ran a spot concept with Hooper releasing into the flat, WR Stefon Diggs sitting down at the sticks, and Henry clearing out the coverage by splitting the two-deep safeties. Due to the unconventional formation, the Steelers communication breaks down, and Henry is wide open up the shoot for a 16-yard touchdown.
"You can see them communicating how they want to handle it. Drake saw the confusion and snapped the ball, took advantage of it," Hooper said. "Josh [McDaniels] is super smart. He understands what the defense is doing and how to take the fight to them instead of playing offense on the defense's terms. We trust what he calls and try to execute to the best of our abilities. That's our job as chess pieces on the board. The bigger picture stuff is Josh and Vrabes [head coach Mike Vrabel]."
Although they had success vs. the Steelers, the Patriots could be even more productive out of 12-personnel by running the football out of multiple tight end sets more consistently. Still, you can see how their bigger personnel groupings can produce positive plays given the matchups and numbers advantageous they create for the offense.
"I'm excited to have a good 12-personnel grouping that you try to manipulate the defense a little bit. Get them an opportunity in space," McDaniels said this week. "Defensively, you see different things. Some teams choose to play you in base personnel, some teams choose to play you a little smaller. It gives you an opportunity to run some different scheme runs. We have two guys who have certainly been very productive in this league at tight end. We're fortunate to have both of them."
With the league trending toward more heavy personnel groupings, the Patriots are buying into these trends by leaning on their productive veteran tight ends.
DISCLAIMER: The views and thoughts expressed in this article are those of the writer and don't necessarily reflect those of the organization. Read Full Disclaimer
