Patriots Trade Logan Mankins To Tampa Bay For Tim Wright, Draft Pick
BOSTON (CBS) -- On the first major cut-down day of camp, Bill Belichick has made a jaw-dropping move.
The Patriots have traded offensive guard Logan Mankins to Tampa Bay in exchange for tight end Tim Wright.
The deal was first reported by Fox Sports' Jay Glazer.
Mankins, 32, is a six-time Pro Bowler and five-time All-Pro. He was drafted out of Fresno State by the Patriots with the final pick of the first round in 2005.
Wright, 24, went undrafted out of Rutgers in 2013. The 6-foot-4, 220-pound tight end played in 16 games for the Buccaneers last year, catching 54 passes for 571 yards and five touchdowns.
The Patriots also receive a draft pick in the deal. ESPN's Adam Schefter reported that it will be a fourth-round pick.
Mankins possessed the second-highest cap number on the Patriots' roster at $10.5 million, behind only Tom Brady. It was due to go up to $11 million next season. That contract had been agreed upon in August 2011, a deal which made Mankins the highest-paid interior offensive lineman at the time. The season before that, in 2010, Mankins held out until early November after he felt the organization was not honest in its effort to restructure his rookie deal. Those issues were worked out, though, as evidenced by the big-money deal with a $20 million signing bonus in 2011.
Mankins served as a Patriots captain for the last three seasons.
The deal will certainly register on the list of Belichick's most surprising moves -- a list that already includes releasing Lawyer Milloy and trading Richard Seymour, Randy Moss and Mike Vrabel.
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