Getty ImagesMike Wright joined the Patriots as an undrafted free agent in 2005. A history of concussions now threaten his career.
New England released the defensive tackle on Wednesday and also cut guard Richard Ohrnberger.
Letting go of Wright must have been a difficult choice for New England. He led or tied for the team lead in sacks in 2009 and 2010, but missed the final two months of 2010 because of repeated concussions and almost all of 2011 because of recurring concussion problems. Wright was due $2.1 million next season.
New England needs to add a lot of bodies to their defensive line this offseason. Wright’s dismissal creates another hole on a depth chart that is filled with aging veterans and free agents on the defensive line.
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Cue the ” He’ll be on the Jets” posts
Sorry to hear about Wright – great player. But I hope he retires and avoids any worse long-term affects.
Best of luck to Wright, hope he finds a new team or can transition into a coaching/assistant gig somewhere. I don’t know how this creates a “hole.” Pats haven’t head his services for pretty much 2 seasons and it seems they’ve fared well.
A shame about Wright. He was a terrific role player but only played about 7 games the past two seasons.
This is not surprising.
Good luck Mike.
Ohrnberger is the most underrated funnyman in football. Follow him on Twitter: @ohrnberger
Thats too bad for Wright, always liked him. With any luck his head is ok, and he can coach somewhere or something.
Too bad for Ohrnberger, he just moved into a new apartment!
Pats need to cut that waste of space Ocho-Blowhole too.
They need D-linemen? Hey, I heard that fat Albert recently became available and he promises that this time he’s going to try really hard, and he doesn’t care whether it’s a 4-3 or 3-4, and he’ll lose weight, and….oh screw it.
Bummer for Wright. He was getting better and better every year, then the concussions.
I hope he made enough money to secure his future somewhat.
Browns need a guard. Is this guy better than the fools they have now?
need to add more bodies to the D line in camp? Didn’t they have like 28 guys last year? I think they hog them so other teams can’t have at them
I am sure they have a plan they have a lots of picks what 4 in the fist two rounds.
I wonder how many guys had problems like this in earlier years and no one ever knew about it. Must have been tons of them, all injured/disabled to this day. Good luck Mike… time to hang ‘em up.