New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers Make a TradeBy Brad Jermeland

As rosters are being trimmed to 75 players around the NFL, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers

and New England Patriots made a trade to help solidify their rosters.

Tampa traded 2nd year TE Tim Wright and a 4th round draft pick to the Patriots for six-time

Pro Bowler Logan Mankins.

Mankins, 32, drafted in the first round back in 2005 out of Fresno State figures to help solidify

a shaky offensive line for the Buccaneers. Although he’s up there in age, Mankins still has a couple years left in the the tank to help the

Buccaneers beyond just this year.

The 24 year old Wright, an undrafted WR converted to TE out of Rutgers played in all 16

games last year posting 54 catches for 571 yards and five touchdowns. Wright was a

pleasant surprise last year having earned the starting TE spot after earning his way onto the

team that training camp.

Wright found it easy to acclimate to the Bucs due in part to playing for his former college

coach Greg Schiano. Schiano was fired after losing control of the locker room and in came Lovie Smith who wasn’t as big a fan of Wright

as Schiano.

Looking down the road, both players figure to help their new teams immensely. The Bucs

have trouble getting the ground game going as well as keeping their QB on their feet and the

addition of Mankins helps that cause.

Wright figures to be a great pass catching option at TE for Tom Brady, who has not found

a replacement since the Aaron Hernandez situation played out and has missed Rob

Gronkowski, the starting TE for much of last year and possibly this year.

Patriot head coach Bill Belichick has a knack for finding Rutgers talent that works in the NFL. A

lot of it might have to do with his son, Steve Belichick, who is now an assistant on his

fathers staff, formerly playing for the Scarlet Knights a couple years back.