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Connolly had not yet proven himself as a full time starter and they may have been giving Koppen time to right the ship but he was clearly declining. He was only the starter for week one last year.
He didn't get beat out for the job.
Starters sometimes lose their jobs, just because Koppen started week one doesn't mean he would have been the starter the whole year.
Koppen was better than Connolly last season. Connolly wasn't winning the center job. If he had been going to win that job, Koppen would not have been brought back this year.
Koppen got very little interest this year on the open market. The tape doesn't lie.
Neither does an age/injury combo, when it comes to early FA interest.
It's not disrespectful to say a player's done when he clearly is. He's had a nice career but it doesn't look like he has much left and the decline was starting in 2010.
Connolly got tooled up in game one, just as Koppen did. Koppen was on the field for the Patriots best drive last night. It's by no means sure that Koppen is not still going to be the Patriots' best center come the regular season.