Anyone surprised about Dan Connolly?

Brit patriot said:

Yes, I do feel we will be looking at Guard in the draft. , and has been previously stated, there will be plenty in the mid rounds. i think most of us knew this was likely Connelly's last season...he is hardly getting any younger.

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I may be totally wrong, but I just feel like we could use a big ugly down in the offensive trenches. The young guys (Cannon and Flemming) seemed like they would be great additions to slide inside. Would love to see that happen, but so far Cannon has been a back-up OT and Flemming comes in as a "6", or better yet blocking TE/FB when we want to ground and pound. Stork has been a everything we could have hoped for at C, Wendell is a tenacious undersized G who can slide in at C if we need. Solder and Vollmer are the German giants on the outside.

If Cannon and Flemming could slide inside and man the interior we'd be rockin' and rollin', but so far I don't see the trust. Why, I don't know. But if that happened with the great (and mostly underrated) edge guys in place this could be an outstanding line this year. Googs has a year under him and Dante still has a voice even in retirement.

Adding a solid young kid can't hurt, but to me it seems like the ingredients are already in place. Many we're flipping out by week 4. After week 5 the questions stopped coming (aside from the shots at Solder, which I thought were mostly undeserved). Googs is a local guy and i think he may prove to be an excellent choice to try to fill the shoes of an undeniable legend and future red-jacket wearing icon who stands head and shoulders above the men he coached at 5-6.

I just watched the Superbowl again on NFLN and after seeing this thread, I focused on Connolly. He seemed to me to be the weak link on that line in that game. Now granted he was often up against Michael Bennett...

I wonder if the Pats are currently penciling Cannon in as a starter at guard.

Hopefully I am wrong, as he was unimpressive there in the past.

I thought his new deal (2015 cap figure of $2,616,667) was a bit high for a non-starter.

Deuce..It's only a message board

Cannon's salary is not particularly high for a swing tackle -- one of the most important positions on a roster with enough depth to survive the season.

If Flemming can take over the swing tackle position, great. That would allow Cannon to focus on playing guard. I would guess the Pats would draft a guard early and probably bring in couple of long shots (late rounds, UDFA) to compete in camp and stock the practice squad.

I expect one or two of:

A J Cann
Ali Marpet
Jeremiah Poutasi
Josue Matias
Tre Jackson

or a tackle conversion project. I'll be really surprised if they don't double-dip on the OL in the first 4 rounds this year, again (and that will tell me that they're really happy with the development curve of Cannon, Flemming and one other.

Last year, i got Easley and Stork right (I did a lot better than usual, lol)). This year I'm thinking Jordan Philips, if he's available and two of the above.

mgteich said:

We need a starting LG. Kline is an OK backup. We could also use a much better young prospect at the end of the bench than Devey.

Sure, I'd like to have the man of many talents and many concussions. Perhaps, it is the money. Perhaps, Belichick has simply chosen to move on.

Whether we bring in a veteran or not, we will need to draft a future starter at OG. I would expect to draft two guards. After all, had Connolly, Kline and Devey. There are three positions.

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I agree with your general point, but we really can't project a solid number due to having no idea where Marcus Cannon or Cameron Fleming fit in.

I would assume that the coaching staff sees at least one of them as a future guard, but who knows?

50-yard-line said:

I expect one or two of:

A J Cann
Ali Marpet
Jeremiah Poutasi
Josue Matias
Tre Jackson

or a tackle conversion project. I'll be really surprised if they don't double-dip on the OL in the first 4 rounds this year, again (and that will tell me that they're really happy with the development curve of Cannon, Flemming and one other.

Last year, i got Easley and Stork right (I did a lot better than usual, lol)). This year I'm thinking Jordan Philips, if he's available and two of the above.

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I can definitely see a double dip on OL this year. I hope we take a guard(or tackle that can play guard) high in the draft as I really think we need a real road grader in there. But I wouldn't be surprised if they gave Flemming a real shot at playing guard this year. They tried that some during the last season, but then he got injured and the musical chairs spun around once again and he missed practise time and games. We kind of got into a situation that worked on OL, so you stick with that. But I could see them give Flemming a shot during the off-season when you don't have to worry to the same extent of taking practise time from someone else who might start the next game.

Wendell and Connelly : without these guys I dunno if NE makes it all the way. Pretty sure they are (along with Stork) the stable vets that calmed down the OL and lead to the resurgence.

But I am not too surprised with Connelly moving on. Despite being a captain and contributing over and above my expectations, Connelly moving on isn't a surprise. As mentioned by others, his age is a factor. And he isn't an all star calibre player.

I wish Dan gL and I hope he has a good season in the league.

Patriots roster listed by age ... kind of puts things in perspective a bit.

http://espn.go.com/nfl/team/roster/_/name/ne/sort/age/order/true/new-england-patriots

supafly said:

I agree with your general point, but we really can't project a solid number due to having no idea where Marcus Cannon or Cameron Fleming fit in.

I would assume that the coaching staff sees at least one of them as a future guard, but who knows?

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I think Cannon is what he is, a back up right tackle who can fill in and do a decent job for a few games. I think putting him at guard is a recipe for disaster. Fleming is the wild card. I'm not sure if we know if he can play Guard or not like you said. I think drafting a Guard early is a must. I do hope we can bring Connolly back but even if we do, drafting an interior O-lineman I think is a must. Maybe we even double dip like a few poster pointed out.

IcyPatriot said:

Patriots roster listed by age ... kind of puts things in perspective a bit.

http://espn.go.com/nfl/team/roster/_/name/ne/sort/age/order/true/new-england-patriots

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Thanks. That is a very informative snapshot. Only 5 players who are 30 years old or older:

Brady 37
Gostkowski 31
Ninkovich 31
Branch 30
Vollmer 30

The NFL now, is really all about coaching up young players, getting production out of them on their rookie contracts, and then coaching up their replacements.

My guess is that they have been grooming Fleming to take over the backup swing tackle role and eventually to step into Vollmer's spot. His sub package duty as extra tackle eligible fit's more with that role, IMO. That would free up Cannon to focus on a starting guard role. The Pats are really one rookie starter-quality draft pick at guard away from having a pretty solid o-line. They have excellent (and versatile) depth.

I expect the Patriots to draft two offensive linemen in that pick 96 to 101 range when they have three selections. That was where they picked C Bryan Stork last year. As RayClay said, you have to have playing time available for these guys to develop, and Connolly's presence would slow the development of the young guys.

The Buccaneers are getting older with Mankins and possibly Connolly on their o-line while the Patriots continue to restock with young talent. Which franchise has had the more successful approach over the past 20 years?

ashley1992 said:

I think Cannon is what he is, a back up right tackle who can fill in and do a decent job for a few games. I think putting him at guard is a recipe for disaster. Fleming is the wild card. I'm not sure if we know if he can play Guard or not like you said. I think drafting a Guard early is a must. I do hope we can bring Connolly back but even if we do, drafting an interior O-lineman I think is a must. Maybe we even double dip like a few poster pointed out.

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Even is Fleming is a FUTURE wildcard at RG, he is unlikely to be the present (or future) solution at LG.

hwc said:

My guess is that they have been grooming Fleming to take over the backup swing tackle role and eventually to step into Vollmer's spot. His sub package duty as extra tackle eligible fit's more with that role, IMO. That would free up Cannon to focus on a starting guard role. The Pats are really one rookie starter-quality draft pick at guard away from having a pretty solid o-line. They have excellent (and versatile) depth.

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1) Cannon is a terrible LG.

2) Yes, we are one starter quality LG from being a pretty good solid o-line. Last year that player was Connolly. We need a replacement.

jmt57 said:

I wonder if the Pats are currently penciling Cannon in as a starter at guard.

Hopefully I am wrong, as he was unimpressive there in the past.

I thought his new deal (2015 cap figure of $2,616,667) was a bit high for a non-starter.

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You forget that an additional $1.2M of the new deal was accounted for in the 2014 cap; so his compensation is more than a "bit high".

Wendell is the new Connolly.

mgteich said:

1) Cannon is a terrible LG.

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Cannon was a "terrible" left guard when thrown into the position as an opening day starter with zero reps during training camp (or at any other time in his career). I think most NFL players would be "terrible" the first few times at a new position.

There's no fundamental reason that a capable swing tackle such as Cannon, couldn't play guard, given the opportunity to actually practice the position. I would not jump to conclusions based on a few chaotic weeks in Sept 2014. There were LOTS of problems with the Pats offense at that point, including a QB who wasn't playing well.

I don't know if the Pats will move Cannon to guard. It's only a possibility if they are comfortable with Fleming as the swing tackle.

please pleasE pleaSE pleASE plEASE pLEASE PLEASE sign Stephan Wisniewski so he can be our starter
at LG for the rest of Brady's career, then draft 2 OLmen one of which can play an acceptable LT and the
other an acceptable LG.
Fleming & the overpaid churl Cannon are strictly RG/RT-onlys. Have those 2 duke it out for the starting
RG position, the loser becoming the right side backup. Wendell can then become the backup Center and
the 2 draftees become the backup LG & backup Swing Tackle.
Solder - Wisniewski - Stork - Cannon/Fleming - Vollmer
Draftee - Draftee - Wendell