Laurence Maroney Traded To Denver Broncos for 2011 Fourth-Round Pick

After being drafted 21st overall in 2006, Laurence Maroney's career with the New England Patriots was defined by waiting.

He waited behind Corey Dillon for a year as a rookie, and had a promising sophomore year though it was overshadowed by the explosive '07 record-setting offense. 

Nonetheless, injuries and ineffectiveness made Maroney the outcast in a backfield where his youth would seemingly give him the advantage. If it wasn't his tapdancing, it was his injuries. If it wasn't either, he was fumbling at the most costly, inopportune times imaginable.

The Patriots waited for Maroney to put it all together.

But when it came to trading Maroney, they felt they had waited long enough.

With no room for five backs in the stable, a report broke from Gregg Rosenthal of Pro Football Talk that New England traded the former first-round pick to the Denver Broncos for a 2011 fourth- and sixth-rounder.

Of those four remaining backs, only one is under 32 years old. That distinction belongs to BenJarvus Green-Ellis, the 25-year-old former practice squad player called up in 2008 when the backfield was depleted with injuries. Incidentally, one of those injuries was to Maroney.

Maroney was often considered a bust, and it's hard to argue. In fact, he was the only one of New England's backs not to average more than four yards per carry in 2009.

But Maroney gets a chance for a fresh start in Denver.

He reunites with former offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, under whom he worked in '06 thru '08. He is also going to get spell duty behind Knowshon Moreno, so expectations won't be as high for Maroney.

Boy, that duo shares quite an interesting pair of last names: Maroney-Moreno.

Having already cut OLB Marques Murrell to add Quinn Ojinnaka after his one-game suspension, one would have thought that the Patriots would make the trade at running back and try to acquire another player for an upgrade elsewhere, but the move could have been made to add another player.

Perhaps they re-sign a former player like Murrell. Perhaps, maybe even Jarvis Green?

The Patriots go into a slugfest with the Jets this weekend, where they will need to be ferocious in stopping the run. Run defense happened to be one of Green's strong suits in his time in New England.

The defensive line will need to manhandle a big and bad offensive line in the New York Jets. Adding Jarvis Green could help them do just that.

It would have been nice if New England had waited for a better offer to come along, especially with the wear and tear that running backs go through. You just never know which star running back will go down next.

Such was proven with Ryan Grant's season-ending ankle injury against the Eagles. With that in mind, the Packers may have given up more for Maroney. Perhaps the Patriots took the best thing they could get at the time while it was still on the table.

Perhaps they just got sick of waiting.

For New England fans who were waiting for Maroney to come around, you, too, can stop waiting.