I love this deal. Absolutely love it. Just as much as I hated the way the Pats drafted this year. Aaron Hernandez was the most important offensive player, when it came to game planning, not named Brady. He was the guy that created the matchups that got Gronk open, allowed the holes to open in the running game, and kept guys like Welker (now Edelman) and the outside receivers from being double covered. They moved him all over the field, from the far outside to the backfield to the slot and everywhere in between. I've said for some time that the loss of AH was a bigger blow to the offense than the injuries to Gronk, and while Wright is not exactly like Hernandez, he accomplishes a lot of the same that AH did, when it comes to how they can use him in the game plan. He may very well be the next closest guy to AH in the entire league when you actually look around. He can't block, but he isn't going to be asked to block very often. The Pats passing game opens up their running game, and not the other way around, and this opens up their passing game.
Mankins was clearly on the downside, he's expensive, and BB got more for him now than he would get at any point after today. We've had issues on the O Line in the past, but this team is almost a mortal lock for the playoffs barring some sort of apocalyptic injuries, so there is a ton of time for that group to come together throughout the season. The fourth round pick was just a cherry on top, and if it leads to a Revis extension, well, that's a big ass second helping of ice cream.
I fucking love this trade, and I think folks are going to love Timothy Wright when they see him play. He's the new breed of TE, the TE2 that really is more of a WR/TE. We used to say when the Pats had Gronk, Hernandez, Welker, etc., "how do you cover them all?" I think we'll be saying that again with Wright in short order. He's a player. 54 catches last year with flotsam and jetsum throwing the ball to him is no small feat, especially when you consider they also had no running game after Doug Martin got hurt, so he was facing a ton of double coverage.
I couldn't be happier. Time to go re-sort my TE rankings for my upcoming FFL drafts. Wright just became a top 10 TE.