Martellus Bennett

The New England Patriots have a colorful new star in tight end Martellus Bennett, AKA the Black Unicorn. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

The New England Patriots have one of the most colorful stars in the NFL playing tight end for them this season. They also have Rob Gronkowski.

Following a Wednesday trade that cost them only to trade down from the fourth round to the sixth, the Patriots acquired the services of Martellus Bennett, a long, athletic target that's one of the best receivers at his position. He's also a pretty weird dude.

Read anything about Bennett and you'll discover that he's a fountain of charisma, full of goofy quips and glib quotes that reporters will be all too happy to put into print. His nickname, the "Black Unicorn," came from a chatty exchange he had during his time with the New York Giants.

When talking about the way he was running in training camp, Bennett talked up the way he was maintaining his speed even with the extra weight: "I'm kind of like a black unicorn out there. It's amazing to watch. You go out there and you see a big, black guy running down the field, it's usually me."

This sort of chatter is nothing out of the ordinary for Bennett, who told Boston media Thursday that his goal was to "try to be a dandelion" when talking about dealing with the trade winds that ultimately blew his 6-foot-6 sails from Chicago to Foxborough.

Like Gronkowski, his new tight end running mate, Bennett has a personality that's likely to stand out among a franchise that's produced a number of wet blankets when it comes to off-the-field presence.

But unlike Gronk -- he of the Gronk Party Ship and many shirtless endeavors -- Bennett's off-field focus is catered to a younger market -- literally. Bennett already has plans for what he wants to do with his earnings and post-retirement career: He wants to make animated films.

In fact, Bennett's already started. Last year, he released a 28-minute short feature, "Zoovie: A Warm And Fuzzy Tale," telling the story of a penguin named Cosmo.

Here's the entire film for your viewing pleasure:

ZOOVIE: A Warm And Fuzzy Tale from Marty on Vimeo.

"ZOOVIE" features Bennett -- along with ESPN's Cari Champion and rapper Asher Roth -- as voices for the film and was the product of a collaboration between Powerhouse Animation and Bennett's own company, the Imagination Agency.

The 29-year-old tight end, who provided the initial sketches and storyboards for the film himself, is dead serious about his endeavors in animation. But overall, that passion is just part of a personality that has a tendency to bounce off the walls.

A 2015 profile from Chicago Magazine took an in-depth look at Bennett as a cartoon maker and as a colorful personality himself -- "a whirlwind of creativity," according Shane Minshew, executive production director at Powerhouse.

"He doesn't just come up with ideas or stories. Marty comes up with entire worlds," Minshew told the magazine. "And it's endless, just one after the other. His style is like Dr. Seuss meets The Nightmare Before Christmas with a dash of ADHD and a twist of that shaking-with-joy sugary cereal rush that a kid would get watching Saturday morning cartoons."

Bennett's tempered sort of madness is a regular spectacle for anyone who spends time to learn his story. One time while talking to an ESPN reporter for a feature, Bennett spotted a four-foot fiberglass Hello Kitty in a store window, stopped the car, walked in and quickly got to work haggling the price (down from "several thousand dollars") before taking it home.

Bennett's highlight reel of quotes is about as impressive as his one on the field. Here's a recap of some of Bennett's best lines from one prolonged exchanged in that Chicago Magazine profile:

"I was banned from IHOP. Not all IHOPs, just the one on Highway 6 by my house where I grew up. I stole a lot of pancakes."

"I only read the left-hand pages, so I finish books twice as fast."

On dinosaurs: "They're awesome. I think we can all agree on that."

When it comes to colorful personalities in NFL locker rooms, there's often concerns about "distractions" and issues in the locker room. For Gronkowski (a very strong parallel in terms of personality and production) it's worked out, even for the seemingly dour Bill Belichick-era Patriots. Much of that has to do with production. Gronkowski's proven himself on the field, so he gets to have fun off it.

The hope for Bennett is that the Patriots get more of the same. So far in his career, it's hasn't been an apparent problem. But when it comes to perception, the newly acquired tight end doesn't seem to care.

Here's his take on it from and ESPN profile back from his time with the Bears.

As for Bennett's Patriots career, he projects to be a wonderful new toy for Tom Brady to utilize in the offense (maybe to revive that potent two-tight end attack). For fans, though, it's going to be a long wait until training camp to see Bennett's personality start to come out, and then the regular season to really see him shine on the field.