It only cost the Patriots a fourth-round pick to put together the league’s scariest receiving duo. New England swapped the 127th pick in 2016 NFL Draft for Bears tight end Martellus Bennett, a move that has surely knocked a few hours off AFC coaches’ sleep schedules.

The Patriots have spent the last few years trying to forget they once employed a tight end who was later convicted of murder, but have been longing for the days when Aaron Hernandez and Rob Gronkowski drove defensive coordinators mad with their versatility. The team picked up veteran Scott Chandler before the 2015 season to try to replicate that pairing. In 2014, it was Tim Wright trying to fill that void. While those two had some good moments, neither proved to be the game-changer Hernandez was during his short NFL career.

Bennett is the player the Patriots hoped Chandler would be last season. At 6-foot-6, 273 pounds, he has the frame to outmuscle defensive backs.

But he’s also quick enough to shake any linebacker in coverage.

With the football-catching monster wearing 87 on the field, defenses won’t be able to give Bennett extra attention.

“I have no idea,” said the usually boastful Rex Ryan when asked how the Bills will defend the two tight ends. “I just think it’s unusual to have two guys that are like 6-7 and can run, catch, block. So, yeah, it’s going to be a major challenge. There’s no doubt about that. It’s scary when you look at them. Those are two huge guys. How we’re going to defend them, I don’t know.”

While Bennett and Gronkowski are at their most dangerous in the passing game, it’s their contributions in the run game that make them such an imposing pair. Gronkowski is considered one of the best run-blocking tight ends in the league.

Bennett doesn’t have nearly the same reputation as a blocker, but he’s been a average-to-good run-blocker throughout his career.

Martellus Bennett's PFF run blocking grade rank (out of ~ 60-70 qualifying TEs) '15 18th

'14 11th

'13 19th

'12 7th

'11 5th

'10 6th

'09 11th — Pat Thorman (@Pat_Thorman) March 17, 2016

When the Patriots have both on the field, they’ll typically have the blocking advantage in the box. But defenses can’t exactly load up on run defenders — that will play right into New England’s hands.

Having two dynamic tight ends allows the Patriots to play faster, as they did during Hernandez’s last season when New England ran the fastest offense in the league, per Football Outsiders . They can go with a run-heavy formation one play, and split Gronk and Bennett out wide in a spread formation the next. If they go no-huddle without substituting, the defense will be stuck with immobile linebackers to cover dangerous receivers in space.

Let’s take a look at what defenses will be up against when New England goes up-tempo with a hypothetical three-play sequence:

It’s first down. The Patriots come out in their two-tight end personnel grouping and line up in a tight formation. The defense has to respect the run here because of the size and strength the Pats on the line of scrimmage. The defense answers with base personnel (that is, four defensive backs and seven defensive linemen/linebackers) to defend against the run.

Even with New England in a condensed formation, there are still plenty of matchup problems for the defense. The defense has to add a safety to the box to help against the run, leaving Julian Edelman and Danny Amendola one-on-one on the outside. And either Gronk or Bennett is getting a one-on-one matchup with a linebacker.

OK, let’s say the Patriots run it on first down and the defense, geared up for a run, holds them to a modest three-yard gain. That’s a win for the defense, but now Tom Brady has the Patriots hurrying to the line. The defense is scrambling as the offense spreads out.

Now the defense has even more problems. With the two tight ends on the outside, how does the defense match-up? Keep in mind they have only seconds to figure this out. No matter how they line up, there’s mismatches all over the field. Not wanting to leave a linebacker on Gronkowski out wide, the defense has to put a safety on him. That leaves one safety deep and no help over the top on the outside. And now we have Bennett on the outside versus a linebacker, Dion Lewis (who’s basically a receiver wearing a running back number) matched up with a linebacker and only six defenders in the box to defend against a possible run.

To avoid these match-up problems the defense can play zone, with defenders covering parts of the field rather than specific receivers. But Brady tears up zone defenses, especially simple zone coverages without any pre-snap disguises. Against the no-huddle, that’s really the only brand of zone coverage a defense can play.

“You can’t hardly scheme anything [against the no-huddle],” Alabama coach Nick Saban said of up-tempo attacks. “The most important thing is to get the [play] call [in] so the guys can get lined up, and it’s got to be a simple call. The offense kind of knows what you are doing.”

The matchup zones coverages that defenses use to get the best of both zone and man coverage require a lot of communication, but there’s no time to talk when the offense is firing off plays every 15 seconds.

Playing man coverage is really the only way to defend these supremely intelligent quarterbacks who can find the holes in a zone coverage before the ball is even snapped. There are no voids in man coverage — a quarterback, even one as good as Brady, can do nothing if no receivers get open. But good luck trying to match-up with this receiving corps man-to-man.

Back to our hypothetical…

So Brady just shredded the defense for a big gain, and the defenses has no idea what to do. The Patriots are hurrying to the line again, but now they are emptying the backfield. The threat of the run is gone, but they have five very capable receivers lined up outside with only four defensive backs on the field to cover them. Everywhere you look, there are problems.

That linebacker can’t cover Lewis in the open field, Bennett has a mismatch on the right side and the defense has only one guy to cover Gronkowski. And, oh yeah, there are still two excellent route runners lined up in the slot with maybe the greatest quarterback ever pulling the strings. This is a nightmare for defensive coordinators, and one they will be facing throughout the 2016 season.

****

New England will play a reactionary style of football. The defensive personnel will dictate the Patriots’ offensive strategy. If a team wants to play five or six defensive backs to defend against the pass, the Pats will pound the ball on the ground all game. Stay in base personnel, and Brady will throw for 400 yards and three touchdowns.

There are a few teams capable of matching up with New England’s versatile group of skill players. Carolina can with its three quick linebackers Luke Kuechly, Thomas Davis and Shaq Thompson, who actually held up in coverage against Larry Fitzgerald on a few plays in the NFC Championship. Arizona has a chance with hybrid players like linebacker/safety Deone Bucannon and corner/safety Tyrann Mathieu in the starting lineup. Seattle has a similar set-up in their nickel package, with safety/destroyer of worlds Kam Chancellor capable of holding his own in tight quarters as an ancillary linebacker. And, of course, the Broncos with their deep secondary and dominant pass rush will give any offense trouble.

The other 27 teams don’t really stand a chance against this offense — and I’m not sure the four I just listed really do either. With all of these weapons and Brady continuing to improve every season, there’s some 2007 Patriots potential here. I don’t know about 16-0, but this team will get close to the undefeated team’s record for points scored in a season.

The last time the Patriots had two good tight ends and could play at a blistering pace, they averaged nearly 35 points a game and made it to a Super Bowl. It’s still very early in the offseason, but expect similar results in 2016.