Tampa Bay Buccaneers: What will be Tim Wright’s role?

By Kevin Parvizi | Jun 14, 2015

Just one offseason after the New England Patriots, who were in need of a backup pass-catching TE as insurance to superstar Rob Gronkowski, acquired him from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Tim Wright is back in the Bay Area after being claimed by the Bucs on waivers two days ago. Wright’s release from the Patriots came after his role with the team steadily decreased to the point where he received just ten snaps in the team’s three postseason games, per Pro Football Focus, despite accruing 357 regular season snaps in 16 appearances.

The Patriots decision to sign Scott Chandler, who was once notorious for raising the quality of his performances whenever his Buffalo Bills faced the Pats, combined with Fred Davis flier and A.J. Derby selection in the sixth round of the draft made Wright expendable.

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It’s unclear why he fell out of favor in Foxboro, though, because his small sample size of 33 targets paints the picture of a decent, efficient pass-catching TE during his one season in NE. According to Advanced Football Analytics, Wright averaged a nifty 7.8 yards per target with a team-high 78.8% catch rate, and he was quietly one of the team’s most consistent pass-catchers when called upon.

A versatile weapon, Wright has the ability to line up in the slot with ease, and the Buccaneers took advantage of his skill-set in his promising rookie year of 2013. In that season with more opportunities on a much less competitive offense, Wright caught 54 passes for 571 yards with slightly more yards per reception (10.6 to 10.0 in New England) but slightly less TDs (six with the Pats and five with the Bucs).

Per AFA, Wright also led the Bucs in catch rate that year, catching 71.1% of everything thrown at him with 7.5 yards per target on his 76 targets. He was mostly used in the short and intermediate passing game, but his targets came deeper down the field, thus giving him a slight boost in YPR.

It’s hard to tell if it was the result of a small sample size or something more, but Wright had a lower drop rate this past season with the Patriots with one drop on his 33 targets as compared to four drops on 76 in Tampa. He figures to be a player on the rise at the age of 25 and set to play in his third season in the league, but it’s fair to wonder how much upside Wright, who doesn’t create much after the catch and is mostly a possession guy, truly has.

But the numbers above show that Wright’s ability to move the chains for an offense isn’t a fluke, and he’s also proven to be quite good at using his big, lanky 6’4″, 220-pound frame to win in the end zone. 11 touchdowns in two seasons and 109 targets is nothing to sneeze at, and it will be interesting to see if the Tampa Bay Buccaneers give him an opportunity to make it three straight 5+ TD campaigns.

The keyword with Wright now that he’s back in Tampa Bay is the word “opportunity”, because targets could be hard to come by. Not only might the Bucs look to the running game more often with a rookie QB under center, but Jameis Winston has two excellent receivers to feed in Mike Evans and Vincent Jackson, and second-year TE Austin Seferian-Jenkins has justly been talked up as a potential rising star after barely featuring in his rookie season.

Barring an unexpectedly dreadful August from ASJ, Wright is locked in as a backup on the Buccaneers roster, and his competition is Brandon Myers, who was a one-hit wonder with the Oakland Raiders in 2012 with 79 receptions. Myers turned that garbage time-induced season into a contract with the New York Giants and was promptly released after a horribly ineffective year, looking anything but “safe” as Eli Manning‘s starting TE in the veteran QB’s worst season.

Sep 14, 2014; Minneapolis, MN, USA; New England Patriots tight end Tim Wright (81) against the Minnesota Vikings at TCF Bank Stadium. The Patriots defeated the Vikings 30-7. Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports

Myers caught just 22 passes last year for the Bucs as an afterthought in their offense, so it’s safe to say that Tim Wright is fully expected to earn snaps over him.

Not only will Wright be five years younger and a good deal more promising when the season opens up, but he’s simply been significantly more productive over the past two seasons. Blocking TE Luke Stocker, who earned 331 snaps last year, is lurking around, so that’s something else to keep in mind.

There are no guarantees for Wright with respect to anything, but he’s young, talented, and can function as a safety valve with the versatility to play in the slot.

He won’t have a huge role with team and isn’t the type of player who will go off , but Wright could play a key role for the Buccaneers offense by moving the chains for Winston and racking up some more TDs in the process.

After all, he’s had one of the top ten catch rates in the slot among all TEs in the NFL in both of his seasons, so that’s something Dirk Koetter could take advantage of in his first season leading the Bucs offense.

Next: Will Doug Martin start for Bucs?

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