Is Tim Wright being used right?

Tim Wright has been underutilized so far. (Reuters)

So the Logan Mankins trade has come and gone and neither team has really felt an impact from either of the players each team had received. Logan Mankins has been banged up and the Buccaneers have looked downright pathetic in all phases of the game. For Tim Wright, he simply has not been on the field, which has kept the ball out of his hands. So why isn't he on the field, despite being a good match up advantage?

The biggest thing I can imagine seeing as the issue is the playbook. While the Y tight end position is relatively simple with responsibilities and alignments, the H or "move" tight end position that Tim Wright could possibly line up at, is a bit more complex. Depending on the play call, there could be at least ten different locations Wright could line up, and for each of those locations there are different routes for each location, for each play. With a lot of the routes being coverage based routes, that further deepens the learning required to learn all of the possibilities. Wright has only been with the team for a little over four weeks, and it takes time for a second year player to pick up a brand new offense.

Following week one, Wright was interviewed by Patriots Today asking him about his transition:



As for how much Wright has done while on the field, in his limited snaps, he has seemed to get open and make plays. This Sunday, Wright played five snaps (3 passing plays, 2 rushing plays), with one catch for 20 yards. The week before that, he logged eight snaps (5 passing, 3 rushing), with no catches. Opening weekend, Wright logged his biggest play time so far, with 21 snaps (20 passing, 1 rushing), totaling three catches for 15 yards. The big play time in the opening game could be indicative to the fact that the Patriots began to lose and needed to pass because of the inefficiency of the run game, indicated by the 20 pass play snaps compared to the 1 run play he was a part of. That being said, I do not expect to see Wright run block often, due to his smaller stature for a TE. He will be used as a match up advantage in the passing game primarily. (Snap counts from PFF)

So while his stats may not be flashy, he has made some plays. Despite Brady targeting him only five times, he has caught all but one pass. That is very efficient given how inept the Patriots offense has looked of late. So why isn't Brady targeting him more? It could be that Brady feels more comfortable getting the ball to Edelman and Gronkowski, sometimes throwing a bad pass into tight coverage, without even looking at his other receivers. Distribution has been the biggest flaw in the passing game so far, and it is making Edelman the go-to guy on offense almost every play. Should Brady start to gain more confidence in his other options, and his line provide him more time to do so, hopefully more balls will come his way when he's on the field.

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