That was an interesting throw-in in the Logan Mankins trade. Patriots pick up Tim Wright. The Bucs were going to cut him; he doesn’t fit their scheme. But he might fit in nicely in New England.
Wright, recall, isn’t really a tight end but more of a receiver. He’s 6-foot-4 and 220 pounds. Nobody wants to line him up as a traditional tight end. But he’s got nice receiving ability. He caught 54 passes last year, the 3rd-most by a rookie tight end this century.
| ROOKIE TIGHT ENDS WITH 50 CATCHES | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Player | No | Yds | Avg | TD |
| 2002 | Jeremy Shockey | 74 | 894 | 12.1 | 2 |
| 2008 | John Carlson | 55 | 627 | 11.4 | 5 |
| 2013 | Tim Wright | 54 | 571 | 10.6 | 5 |
| 2010 | Jermaine Gresham | 52 | 471 | 9.1 | 4 |
Now he’s going to New England. The Patriots like to use formations with two tight ends. Rob Gronkowski is one of the best in the league at that position, but they also effectively worked in Aaron Hernandez a few years back. Hernandez was very similar to Wright – a smaller, mobile, pass-catching guy. Hernandez caught 130 passes in his last 24 games for the team (over 5 catches per game).
Can they get this kind of production out of Wright? Probably not. They’ve got a lot of other pass catchers they’re also working with. But Wright could be worth a last-round gamble in a typical 12-team fantasy league on the chance that everything falls into place and he becomes a tight end who’s catching about 60 passes and 5 TDs.
—Ian Allan