AP

The Patriots released Austin Seferian-Jenkins this week in a move that takes one of their post-Rob Gronkowski tight end options off the table.

Benjamin Watson is another of those options, but he will miss the first four games of the year with a suspension. Matt LaCosse, Stephen Anderson, Ryan Izzo and Andrew Beck are also in the mix right now.

That group could change before the season gets underway and anyone who winds up in the mix was given a high bar to clear from quarterback Tom Brady on Thursday.

“That has to be a position of strength, even if it’s not one player, but multiple players doing different roles,” Brady said, via ESPN.com. “There were times in my career before that where we had similar approaches. No one is going to make any excuses for our offense. We’re going to do everything we can to be the best we can be, score every time we touch the ball. The tight end position is a big part of our offense and those guys are going to have to do a great job for us.”

Watson is the only current member of the group who has caught a regular season pass from Brady, although the last of those came in 2009 when Watson’s first stint with the team came to an end. That assures there will be some new wrinkles for Brady in his 20th season.