http://m.weei.com/sports/boston/football/patriots/christopher-price/2014/08/26/after-nine-years-logan-mankins-leaves-l After 9 years with Patriots, Logan Mankins leaves legacy of toughnessby: Christopher Price on Tue, 08/26/2014 - 4:45pmFOXBORO -- Logan Mankins played a full season on a torn ACL.Let that sink in for a few moments: a full season on a torn ACL. That’s all you really needed to know about the California native and what he brought in his nine seasons with the Patriots. He rarely missed a practice, let alone a game -- he started every game over the first five years of his professional career at a position that one former New England offensive lineman compared to getting in a car crash on every single play. In all, he missed 14 games in his nine years with the Patriots, and seven of those were because of a contract dispute with the team in 2010.So how do you play on a torn ACL?“I don’t know,” he said with a shrug in 2012. “Put a brace on. Tape an aspirin to it and go.”That was pretty much Mankins in a nutshell. No one was more responsible for infusing the 2013 team with the mental and physical toughness that allowed it to get as far as it did. The son of a California cattle rancher, he's the Marlboro Man in shoulder pads. He's a throwback, a rub-some-dirt-on-it-and-get-back-in-there type that would have been well suited to play in the 1970s. Mankins, who played the entire 2011 season on a torn ACL, came back from an ankle injury late in 2013 and ended up playing the second-most snaps of any left guard in the league in 2014, according to Football Outsiders (1,164).The biggest takeaway from covering Logan Mankins for nine years? There are Chuck Norris facts, and then, there are Logan Mankins facts.Only thing is, most of the Logan Mankins facts were actually true.“I’ve coached a lot of tough guys. I don’t think there’s any that I would put ahead of him. Maybe some on that level, but none ahead,” Patriots coach Bill Belichick said last December. “He’s a tough individual -- tough-minded, physically and mentally tough.”“There’s nobody tougher than Logan Mankins,” quarterback Tom Brady said later that same month.Of course, last season Mankins no longer was the player he once was. He gave up more sacks than he had in previous seasons and actually had to be removed from games because of injury. Ultimately, the Patriots always have believed in cutting ties with a player a year too early rather than a year too late, and Tuesday's trade that sent Mankins to Tampa appears to be the latest example of their business model. Per Albert Breer of the NFL Network, Tim Wright (the tight end acquired by New England in the deal) has a 2014 cap number of $498,333, or just over $10 million less than Mankins. He fills a position of need (he caught 54 passes last year in an offense that had Mike Glennon and Josh Freeman at the helm), and he’s a Rutgers guy, which always helps your cause in Foxboro.But while Mankins’ level of play might not have been what it once was -- and not quite commensurate with his sizable paycheck, which was the second-highest on the team -- that grit will be one of the reasons he’ll be a first-ballot entry into the Patriots Hall of Fame. Brady once said that Mankins played “until the echo of the whistle,” and that was never more evident than in New England’s semi-regular blood feuds with the Ravens, Jets or Broncos. He routinely was seen scrapping after the whistle with the likes of Terrell Suggs or Haloti N’gata or delivering a well-placed shot to Denver’s Ebenezer Ekuban’s groin while blocking on an extra point. He popped Ted Washington -- one of the meanest guys to ever play in the modern era -- with a blindside shot in his first game in the league when Washington was with the Raiders, prompting Washington to point at him and say, “Son, don’t you ever do that again.”It was interesting to watch him mature and evolve over the years. Initially, as a rookie, he was reticent to say much of anything at all when speaking with the media. But as the years went on, it was clear the rookie act was just a put-on. In truth, he was revealed to be one of the smartest guys in the locker room. He didn’t talk much during the week, but he was always a go-to guy after a game. If you waited him out (he was almost always one of the last guys to get dressed), he would give you his unfiltered opinion, win or lose. (That included an occasional shot in my direction for our weekly penalty tally.)But in an offseason of change for the New England offensive line, the departure of Mankins is just another step in the process. The Patriots underwent a seismic shift when Dante Scarnecchia retired after 30 seasons with the franchise, the last 15 as the position coach of the offensive line. And for just the second time since he took over as coach in 2000, Belichick took three offensive linemen in the draft. Now the trade of Mankins is another sign that a position that had been steady-as-she-goes for so many seasons in Foxboro is undergoing major changes.“Logan Mankins is everything we would ever want in a football player,” Belichick said Tuesday in a statement released by the team. “It is hard to imagine a better player at his position, a tougher competitor or a person to represent our program. He is one of the all-time great Patriots and the best guard I ever coached. Logan brought a quiet but unmistakable presence and leadership that will be impossible to duplicate.“Unfortunately, this is the time of year when difficult decisions have to be made -- and this is one of the most difficult we will ever make -- but like every other decision it was made for what we feel is in the best interests of the team.”From a practical perspective, the Patriots will be able to slide another guard into Mankins’ old spot (Dan Connolly? Jordan Devey?) and keep things moving. But replacing the true grit and level of leadership that Mankins delivered on a regular basis will be a far greater challenge, one that could ultimately shape the legacy of New England’s offensive line in 2014.
