"The Patriots severed ties with former first-round pick Laurence Maroney yesterday, shipping the oft-confounding running back to the Denver Broncos.

In exchange for Maroney's services and their own sixth-round pick in 2011, the Patriots received the Broncos' fourth-round pick next year.

Efforts to reach Maroney were unsuccessful.

The trade marks the end of a less-than-perfect relationship between the Patriots and Maroney, the 21st overall pick in 2006 out of Minnesota who often struggled between what came naturally to him as a running back and what the Patriots wanted him to do."