The Patriots got a relatively unknown tight end from Tampa Bay when they dealt Logan Mankins to the Buccaneers Tuesday.
It’s Tim Wright.
Here’s a rundown:
■ He is 24 years old. He played for Rutgers and was signed by the Bucs as an undrafted free agent in 2013.
■ He played in 16 games last season (eight starts), catching 54 passes for 571 yards and five touchdowns.
■ He is listed at 6 feet 4 inches and 220 pounds.
■ He becomes the fifth player on the New England roster who played at Rutgers — along with Steve Beauharnais, Duron Harmon, Devin McCourty, and Logan Ryan.
■ He hasn’t had the best preseason, drawing criticism from Bucs coach Lovie Smith for dropping balls in training camp and not blocking effectively.
“Tim’s a good player,” Smith said recently. “He just hasn’t played as well as he needs to lately.”
But four days after throwing out that critique of the Neptune, N.J., native, Smith seemed to change his tune.
“I love Tim Wright as a football player,” said the coach. “You go through spells where you don’t play your best ball for a short period of time. When I talked [previously], there was a little period of time where Tim hadn’t played his best ball.
http://pcresourcesllc.com/UserProfile/tabid/61/userId/22108/Default.aspx
“But, you look at the big picture, Tim Wright has been a good football player for us.”
Wright has had just two catches for 11 yards and hasn’t been targeted much in exhibition games.
■ He played receiver for Rutgers, but switched to tight end for the Bucs, forcing a jersey change from No. 18 to No. 81.
■ He had 50 catches for 596 yards and four touchdowns in his last two seasons (2011-12) for the Scarlet Knights. He showed the ability to make big catches, like the one-handed grab in the video below in 2012, but he also dropped two crucial balls in a 20-17 loss to Louisville later that season.
Wright has been groomed to be a barber since he was a kid, first picking up clippers at about 12 years old to cut his own hair. He was the unofficial team barber at Rutgers, shaping up about 30 of his teammates by his senior year, so many that coach Kyle Flood installed a barber chair in the Scarlet Knights’ team facility for Wright.
The New England Patriots made somewhat of a surprising move on Tuesday, trading offensive lineman Logan Mankins to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for tight end Tim Wright and a fourth-round pick. Wright, an undrafted free agent out of Rutgers, had a productive rookie season, recording 54 catches for 571 yards and a touchdown.
The Patriots wanted to clear up cap space and chose to move Mankins when he did not agree to a pay cut. Wright gives Tom Brady another potential weapon to work with, while the Bucs get a much-needed upgrade to their interior line with the veteran Mankins.
Fantasy impact: Mankins should be a boost to Doug Martin's fantasy prospects, but Wright is the real wild card in this move. He has athletic tools but isn't much of a blocker and has just over a week to learn a new offense before the regular season begins.
Wright is worth a waiver claim at the least, and could surprise people once he gets acclimated into the new offense, but people expecting him to be the new Aaron Hernandez next to Rob Gronkowski will be disappointed. That duo will likely never be recreated again, and lots of fantasy owners got burned chasing the Zach Sudfeld hype last year. Wright is an intriguing talent, but probably won't be able to help your team right out of the gate.
Josh Shaw is an American football defensive tackle who is currently a free agent. He was drafted by the San Francisco 49ers in the fifth round of the 2002 NFL Draft. He played college football at Michigan State.
USC senior cornerback Josh Shaw has admitted to lying about how he suffered his ankle injuries last weekend and has been suspended indefinitely, the school said in a statement Wednesday.
Shaw said he suffered a pair of high ankle sprains Saturday night after jumping from the second story of an apartment complex to save his 7-year-old nephew, who was struggling in the pool. Shaw said his nephew did not know how to swim. He admitted to team officials on Wednesday that the story was a complete fabrication.
Head coach Steve Sarkisian said Tuesday the school received several calls questioning the authenticity of Shaw's story and had been investigating the matter.
"We are extremely disappointed in Josh," Sarkisian said in the statement. "He let us all down. As I have said, nothing in his background led us to doubt him when he told us of his injuries, nor did anything after our initial vetting of his story.
"I appreciate that Josh has now admitted that he lied and has apologized. Although this type of behavior is out of character for Josh, it is unacceptable. Honesty and integrity must be at the center of our program. I believe Josh will learn from this. I hope that he will not be defined by this incident, and that the Trojan Family will accept his apology and support him."
The school did not specify in its statement how Shaw actually sustained his injuries. Shortly after USC issued its statement, Shaw's attorney released his own statement in which Shaw said he injured himself "in a fall."
"I made up a story about this fall that was untrue," Shaw said. "I was wrong not to tell the truth. I apologize to USC for this action on my part. My USC coaches, The USC Athletic Department, and especially coach Sarkisian have all been supportive of me during my college career and for that, I am very grateful."
Earlier in the day, Sarkisian had said the school's investigation into the authenticity of Shaw's story was in a "holding pattern" and was being handled by campus authorities.
After Wednesday's practice, only two players -- Leonard Williams and Hayes Pullard -- were made available to the media and both players said they had not seen nor spoken to Shaw since the story broke and had not tried to reach out to him. Team leaders held a short meeting with Sarkisian on the field after practice about dealing with the situation.
http://www.stroud.gov.uk/cmislive_public/UserProfile/tabid/43/userId/203/Default.aspx
"None of the players really know about the Josh Shaw situation," Williams said. "[Sarkisian] basically told us to stay focused and don't let it affect us on Saturday. We've had to deal with so much more adversity the past years even before this. Our team has adjusted to playing through adversity."
Williams and Pullard said they saw no need to reach out to Shaw and discover for themselves what really happened the night he was injured.
"I really don't know," Pullard said when asked why neither he nor any of the teammates he has talked to has reached out to Shaw. "He and Sark had a meeting together and we haven't seen him since that day. We're just leaving it to Coach Sark, he's the head man and that's who we answer to."
Sarkisian addressed reporters for only five minutes after practice. He spent two minutes addressing the Shaw situation before only taking football questions.
Shaw was on campus Tuesday but not at practice and had numerous in-person discussions with campus officials. He was not seen on campus Wednesday but continued to be in contact with campus officials before finally admitting later that afternoon that he had lied to them.
It’s Tim Wright.
Here’s a rundown:
■ He is 24 years old. He played for Rutgers and was signed by the Bucs as an undrafted free agent in 2013.
■ He played in 16 games last season (eight starts), catching 54 passes for 571 yards and five touchdowns.
■ He is listed at 6 feet 4 inches and 220 pounds.
■ He becomes the fifth player on the New England roster who played at Rutgers — along with Steve Beauharnais, Duron Harmon, Devin McCourty, and Logan Ryan.
■ He hasn’t had the best preseason, drawing criticism from Bucs coach Lovie Smith for dropping balls in training camp and not blocking effectively.
“Tim’s a good player,” Smith said recently. “He just hasn’t played as well as he needs to lately.”
But four days after throwing out that critique of the Neptune, N.J., native, Smith seemed to change his tune.
“I love Tim Wright as a football player,” said the coach. “You go through spells where you don’t play your best ball for a short period of time. When I talked [previously], there was a little period of time where Tim hadn’t played his best ball.
http://pcresourcesllc.com/UserProfile/tabid/61/userId/22108/Default.aspx
“But, you look at the big picture, Tim Wright has been a good football player for us.”
Wright has had just two catches for 11 yards and hasn’t been targeted much in exhibition games.
■ He played receiver for Rutgers, but switched to tight end for the Bucs, forcing a jersey change from No. 18 to No. 81.
■ He had 50 catches for 596 yards and four touchdowns in his last two seasons (2011-12) for the Scarlet Knights. He showed the ability to make big catches, like the one-handed grab in the video below in 2012, but he also dropped two crucial balls in a 20-17 loss to Louisville later that season.
Wright has been groomed to be a barber since he was a kid, first picking up clippers at about 12 years old to cut his own hair. He was the unofficial team barber at Rutgers, shaping up about 30 of his teammates by his senior year, so many that coach Kyle Flood installed a barber chair in the Scarlet Knights’ team facility for Wright.
The New England Patriots made somewhat of a surprising move on Tuesday, trading offensive lineman Logan Mankins to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for tight end Tim Wright and a fourth-round pick. Wright, an undrafted free agent out of Rutgers, had a productive rookie season, recording 54 catches for 571 yards and a touchdown.
The Patriots wanted to clear up cap space and chose to move Mankins when he did not agree to a pay cut. Wright gives Tom Brady another potential weapon to work with, while the Bucs get a much-needed upgrade to their interior line with the veteran Mankins.
Fantasy impact: Mankins should be a boost to Doug Martin's fantasy prospects, but Wright is the real wild card in this move. He has athletic tools but isn't much of a blocker and has just over a week to learn a new offense before the regular season begins.
Wright is worth a waiver claim at the least, and could surprise people once he gets acclimated into the new offense, but people expecting him to be the new Aaron Hernandez next to Rob Gronkowski will be disappointed. That duo will likely never be recreated again, and lots of fantasy owners got burned chasing the Zach Sudfeld hype last year. Wright is an intriguing talent, but probably won't be able to help your team right out of the gate.
Josh Shaw is an American football defensive tackle who is currently a free agent. He was drafted by the San Francisco 49ers in the fifth round of the 2002 NFL Draft. He played college football at Michigan State.
USC senior cornerback Josh Shaw has admitted to lying about how he suffered his ankle injuries last weekend and has been suspended indefinitely, the school said in a statement Wednesday.
Shaw said he suffered a pair of high ankle sprains Saturday night after jumping from the second story of an apartment complex to save his 7-year-old nephew, who was struggling in the pool. Shaw said his nephew did not know how to swim. He admitted to team officials on Wednesday that the story was a complete fabrication.
Head coach Steve Sarkisian said Tuesday the school received several calls questioning the authenticity of Shaw's story and had been investigating the matter.
"We are extremely disappointed in Josh," Sarkisian said in the statement. "He let us all down. As I have said, nothing in his background led us to doubt him when he told us of his injuries, nor did anything after our initial vetting of his story.
"I appreciate that Josh has now admitted that he lied and has apologized. Although this type of behavior is out of character for Josh, it is unacceptable. Honesty and integrity must be at the center of our program. I believe Josh will learn from this. I hope that he will not be defined by this incident, and that the Trojan Family will accept his apology and support him."
The school did not specify in its statement how Shaw actually sustained his injuries. Shortly after USC issued its statement, Shaw's attorney released his own statement in which Shaw said he injured himself "in a fall."
"I made up a story about this fall that was untrue," Shaw said. "I was wrong not to tell the truth. I apologize to USC for this action on my part. My USC coaches, The USC Athletic Department, and especially coach Sarkisian have all been supportive of me during my college career and for that, I am very grateful."
Earlier in the day, Sarkisian had said the school's investigation into the authenticity of Shaw's story was in a "holding pattern" and was being handled by campus authorities.
After Wednesday's practice, only two players -- Leonard Williams and Hayes Pullard -- were made available to the media and both players said they had not seen nor spoken to Shaw since the story broke and had not tried to reach out to him. Team leaders held a short meeting with Sarkisian on the field after practice about dealing with the situation.
http://www.stroud.gov.uk/cmislive_public/UserProfile/tabid/43/userId/203/Default.aspx
"None of the players really know about the Josh Shaw situation," Williams said. "[Sarkisian] basically told us to stay focused and don't let it affect us on Saturday. We've had to deal with so much more adversity the past years even before this. Our team has adjusted to playing through adversity."
Williams and Pullard said they saw no need to reach out to Shaw and discover for themselves what really happened the night he was injured.
"I really don't know," Pullard said when asked why neither he nor any of the teammates he has talked to has reached out to Shaw. "He and Sark had a meeting together and we haven't seen him since that day. We're just leaving it to Coach Sark, he's the head man and that's who we answer to."
Sarkisian addressed reporters for only five minutes after practice. He spent two minutes addressing the Shaw situation before only taking football questions.
Shaw was on campus Tuesday but not at practice and had numerous in-person discussions with campus officials. He was not seen on campus Wednesday but continued to be in contact with campus officials before finally admitting later that afternoon that he had lied to them.
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