Stork or Devey

After two games, our questions with regard to OL seem to have been answered.

INTERIOR (6)
Cannon is the starting LG. Devey is the starting RG until Stork is ready to start at C. As a fallback, if Devey regresses and Stork is not ready, then we have the option of uses our backup center Wendell, and moving Connolly to RG. Kline is the emergency backup and could be our LG if Cannon needs to start at OT, in case of an injury.

TACKLES (3)
Fleming is the 3rd OT and blocking TE. It is not clear who would start if one of the tackles were to be injured. The choice is Cannon or Fleming. I would expect Cannon be the starter.

BOTTOM LINE
This is a line with lots of opportunity to improve. We added Stork and Fleming this year. It is likely that we will another two next year.

You really cannot compare them, Devey is a guard Stork is a center, so the Patriots would have to feel Connolly could perform at RG still, which is not a guarantee.

I am very pleased with the progress of Stork and Flemming to this point all things considered. They look like future starters to me (though how good they can be as starters remains to be seen.

The Patriots are going to give Devey every opportunity to be a starting G and has kind of replaced the hopes they had in Halapio after he was cut.

Right now we have 10 OL on the roster with Baker rightly being the forgotten man. There is a lot of youth here and it shows but I think come playoff time we could be well off. Here is to hoping anyway!

Brady6 said:

You really cannot compare them, Devey is a guard Stork is a center, so the Patriots would have to feel Connolly could perform at RG still, which is not a guarantee.

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Pretty much - if Devey holds up as well at RG as he did in the Minnesota game, then I would be inclined to leave the OL as is. He wasn't good, but he wasn't too bad, and Connolly is a major step up from Wendell at C.

And the other side of that coin is that I'm not a fan of Connolly at RG. It's not the worst thing in the world, but I'm not sure that he's a significant upgrade over Devey. And if the Pats are moving toward having Godzilla-sized guards anyway, then it probably just won't happen unless it has to.

So for Stork to get on the field, it's not just a matter of beating out Devey. If it was, he would already be playing. I think he'd have to beat out Connolly outright at center, which I think could be in play later in the season as he makes up for lost time.

I think you give Devey some rope and give Stork some time to develop. As soon as Stork is ready, he steps in for Connolly. Then you have Solder-Cannon-Stork-Devey-Vollmer, with Connolly backing up 3 interior OL spots and Fleming as the backup tackle and blocking TE/"jumbo package" OL. That gives you solid game day depth and great versatility with 7 linemen, and relegates Wendell and Kline to the inactive list where they belong, and likely to be replaced in 2015.

BobDigital said:

I am very pleased with the progress of Stork and Flemming to this point all things considered. They look like future starters to me (though how good they can be as starters remains to be seen.

The Patriots are going to give Devey every opportunity to be a starting G and has kind of replaced the hopes they had in Halapio after he was cut.

Right now we have 10 OL on the roster with Baker rightly being the forgotten man. There is a lot of youth here and it shows but I think come playoff time we could be well off. Here is to hoping anyway!

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Barker is on the PS.

I think people are overrating the OL play from that game. And, when I say overrating, I mean y'all are crazy. The Patriots put in a game plan that was designed to take the OL out of it as much as possible, and the offense still stunk on ice, mostly because the OL struggled even with what little they were supposed to do, which was move the pile a bit on run plays and hold up for 2.5 seconds on pass plays.

Stork probably has a long way to go before he can make the line calls. That would be a pretty inexperienced interior OL with Canon, Stork, and Devey.

mayoclinic said:

I think you give Devey some rope and give Stork some time to develop. As soon as Stork is ready, he steps in for Connolly. Then you have Solder-Cannon-Stork-Devey-Vollmer, with Connolly backing up 3 interior OL spots and Fleming as the backup tackle and blocking TE/"jumbo package" OL. That gives you solid game day depth and great versatility with 7 linemen, and relegates Wendell and Kline to the inactive list where they belong, and likely to be replaced in 2015.

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I would prefer to have Fleming at RG and Devey on the free agent market. I am not a fan of Devey, I think he is a horrible fit at guard especially.

Elijah said:

Barker is on the PS.

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I read a depth chart with him on the 53. I guess it was wrong then or a bit out of date (was on ESPN)

Deus Irae said:

I think people are overrating the OL play from that game. And, when I say overrating, I mean y'all are crazy. The Patriots put in a game plan that was designed to take the OL out of it as much as possible, and the offense still stunk on ice, mostly because the OL struggled even with what little they were supposed to do, which was move the pile a bit on run plays and hold up for 2.5 seconds on pass plays.

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I don't think that is the case. No one here is happy with the OL at this point. This is more just a discuss of how it is currently put together and what it might look like moving forward. Obviously it needs to improve a lot but I think there was some improvement in the Minnesota game and not just due to not having to deal with Cameron Wake.

Overall I am personally more pleased with Stork and Flemming than Devey to this point. But as long as all 3 continue to improve throughout the season i will be overall happy.

pencilneckgeek said:

Stork probably has a long way to go before he can make the line calls. That would be a pretty inexperienced interior OL with Canon, Stork, and Devey.

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More likely, it'd be

Solder
Cannon
Stork
Connolly
Vollmer



IMO, and that should happen no later than the bye week.

Deus Irae said:

More likely, it'd be

Solder
Cannon
Stork
Connolly
Vollmer



IMO, and that should happen no later than the bye week.

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Agree. Keep Devey & Wendell as a backup, but Solder, Cannon, Stork, Connolly & Vollmer look like the best front 5 we're going to have this season. Could be worse, I suppose, but they still seem to me to be better than at least 50% of the other O-Lines in the league just now.

Cannon connolly Fleming on the interior with stork eventually starting for connolly. Fleming is a guard stop being stubborn Bill, use common sense for once instead of your way

PatFanCraig said:

Cannon connolly Fleming on the interior with stork eventually starting for connolly. Fleming is a guard stop being stubborn Bill, use common sense for once instead of your way

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Fleming was drafted to be a Big, tough good pass blocking Right Guard.

But Rome wasn't built in a day. Patience little one...

mgteich said:

BOTTOM LINE
This is a line with lots of opportunity to improve. We added Stork and Fleming this year. It is likely that we will another two next year.

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Dan Connolly and Marcus Cannon will be unrestricted free agents for the 2015 NFL Season. The New England Patriots have a boat load of unrestricted free agents for the 2015 NFL Season:

Ridley
Vereen
Cannon
Connolly
Slater
Aiken
Gostkowski
White
Chung
McCourty

Bolden - RFA
Siliga - ERFA or RFA

This seems to be fairly normal list.

The major negotiations will be with McCourty and Revis,


With regard to the OL, we will find out whether Connolly and Cannon are part of the future.
I would expect that Devey and Kline should be mentioned. I expect that they re ERFA's.

ATippett56 said:

Dan Connolly and Marcus Cannon will be unrestricted free agents for the 2015 NFL Season. The New England Patriots have a boat load of unrestricted free agents for the 2015 NFL Season:

Ridley
Vereen
Cannon
Connolly
Slater
Aiken
Gostkowski
White
Chung
McCourty

Bolden - RFA
Siliga - ERFA or RFA

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mgteich said:

This seems to be fairly normal list.

The major negotiations will be with McCourty and Revis,


With regard to the OL, we will find out whether Connolly and Cannon are part of the future.
I would expect that Devey and Kline should be mentioned. I expect that they re ERFA's.

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It's OT to this thread, but as far as I can see there are 7 guys on the roster right now who are likely to be priorities to lock up. In rough relative order of importance/urgency:

1. Darrelle Revis (signed through 2015, but with a huge cap hit under his current deal)
2. Devin McCourty (UFA in 2015)
3. Nate Solder (UFA in 2016; currently playing 2015 under his 5th year option)
4. Chandler Jones (currently UFA in 2016, though team will almost certainly use his 5th year option to keep him under contract until at least 2017)
5. Marcus Cannon (UFA in 2015; currently our starting LG and a valuable T/G)
6. Shane Vereen (UFA in 2015; plays a valuable and important role in the offense)
7. Dont'a Hightower (same situation as Jones; I have been unsure as to whether the team would pony up for the 5th year option on both Jones and Hightower, but if he continues to play the way he has in the first 2 games it is very likely)

Slater and Gostkowski are likely to get another deal, too, though neither should break the bank and I'm guessing their deals will be no more and probably less than they currently make.

I would guess that the priority will be locking up Revis and McCourty, then addressing Solder, Cannon and Vereen. How soon Jones gets an extension will depend on how much of a monster year he has this year. I don't expect Hightower or Jones to get an extension before next year.

The others are very iffy, IMO. I'm hoping that Chung and White get bumped off the roster. Connolly has value as a backup, but given his age I would guess that he gets re-signed for lesser money. Aiken is easily replaceable.

Not sure you can draw any conclusions on Stork yet, he played 12/67 snaps last Sunday.... and Brady only threw the ball minimally(once?) in the second half. He did not even get a snap in the first game...

IMO you need more evidence than the current body of work...

mayoclinic said:

It's OT to this thread, but as far as I can see there are 7 guys on the roster right now who are likely to be priorities to lock up. In rough relative order of importance/urgency:

1. Darrelle Revis (signed through 2015, but with a huge cap hit under his current deal)
2. Devin McCourty (UFA in 2015)
3. Nate Solder (UFA in 2016; currently playing 2015 under his 5th year option)
4. Chandler Jones (currently UFA in 2016, though team will almost certainly use his 5th year option to keep him under contract until at least 2017)
5. Marcus Cannon (UFA in 2015; currently our starting LG and a valuable T/G)
6. Shane Vereen (UFA in 2015; plays a valuable and important role in the offense)
7. Dont'a Hightower (same situation as Jones; I have been unsure as to whether the team would pony up for the 5th year option on both Jones and Hightower, but if he continues to play the way he has in the first 2 games it is very likely)

Slater and Gostkowski are likely to get another deal, too, though neither should break the bank and I'm guessing their deals will be no more and probably less than they currently make.

I would guess that the priority will be locking up Revis and McCourty, then addressing Solder, Cannon and Vereen. How soon Jones gets an extension will depend on how much of a monster year he has this year. I don't expect Hightower or Jones to get an extension before next year.

The others are very iffy, IMO. I'm hoping that Chung and White get bumped off the roster. Connolly has value as a backup, but given his age I would guess that he gets re-signed for lesser money. Aiken is easily replaceable.

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Still Vereen over Ridley? I respectfully suggest you may be in love with the IDEA of Vereen rather than the reality. (Oh, and Danny Woodhead looked pretty darn good in the "new-wave" Chargers offense -- though that is now past history, of course.)

Mike the Brit said:

Still Vereen over Ridley? I respectfully suggest you may be in love with the IDEA of Vereen rather than the reality. (Oh, and Danny Woodhead looked pretty darn good in the "new-wave" Chargers offense -- though that is now past history, of course.)

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Ridley is a solid back, and I think he could be back if the price is right. But BB has shown that he doesn't value that skill set very highly, and that it is replaceable at low cost. The 3rd down back, OTOH, has always been an important part of the offense. Unless Vereen really struggles and/or James White makes Vereen expendable, I think he's more likely to get an extension than Ridley.