Akiem Hicks was sitting at his locker, chatting with his teammates early Wednesday afternoon, as he does every day. Everything was normal. Some meetings, maybe a bite to eat, and suddenly he was a member of the New England Patriots.
Perhaps he should have seen it coming. During a Wednesday morning conference call, coach Sean Payton expressed a desire to acquire another tight end, and Payton accomplished that goal by shipping Hicks to New England for tight end Michael Hoomanawanui.
“You know, we’re still short at tight end, and that’s an area that concerns me,” Payton said.