I think we used to use them enough to help the offense. Justin Swift didn't rack up a ton of catches, but he was used much more than any TE in Snyder 2.0.
It just depends on the year. Tannahill caught 23 passes in 2012 which is as many as any year in Snyder 1.0. TEs have generally caught 17-22 passes and FBs about 4-7 throughout Snyder's career. This year was really strange because there were no catches by a TE, which only happened in 2005, but the 13 catches by a FB were only surpassed by 15 in 2000 and those were caught by Rock.
IMO, its entirely possible that part of the reason Dimel played so much this year is that the writing was on the wall with Gronk. Not that we wanted him to leave, but I'm sure our coaching staff knew he was already on track to have his 2nd degree by December this year meaning it was likely he was going to be heading to the NFL regardless.