Center Dan Koppen re-signed for 2 years

[DW Toys]

Awesome news.

OL is deep, versatile and highly talented. With one of the best OL coaches in the game. Brady should be happy.

Premiere Talent Mankins, and Waters
Top End Talent Light, Vollmer, Solder
More than Quality starter Koppen, Connolly
Starting caliber but not on our team Gallery
X-Factor Cannon

That is 9 OL that very legitimately would start on alot of teams in this league.

Then add in the fact Connolly can play center or guard, Waters can play left or right, Vollmer and Solder can play left or right, Gallery can play anything except C and I dont think I want him at LT, Cannon seems to be a tackle but alot of talk has been made of making him a guard though I think the need is more at tackle with Light possibly retiring if not then its soon.

And due to the age of Koppen, Light and Waters I still would not be against drafting one though now it would seem a little silly in the first 2 rounds.

Cousin Sign,
Take all O-Lineman off your Draft Board. With the money just spent for Connelly, Gallery and a back up center in Koppen with what you have on the board already and now seeing how the Pats are wooing these declining Vets like Koppen back, Light will return. Make book on that. Absolutely no Roster space for a younger O Lineman now. Wendell is probably a cut.

No O Lineman in the Draft this class.
DW Toys

 

[Gronkandez]

This signing is as about a meh as Branch. I really appreciate the Pats loyalty to their aging players but the consistency to throw money for all once important players was not there, i.e. Vrabel. I think he was more valuable than Koppen or Branch. I can cover Branch.

Still, all three spiraling out of the league, but $3 million per year for a backup Center is a bit much ya think?

DW Toys

The one good thing is I like Connolly in the rotational role as opposed to being the starting center.

What does signing another guy mean for the draft? Not many roster spots left as other have pointed out. Will there be a big trade-up? I doubt it but I also doubt they keep more than four drafted rookies.

 

[ATippett56]

This offense is stacked. I agree with those who mentioned adding a young WR. It wouldn't surprise me if they pick up another RB. But honestly, is there any reason not to dedicate at least the first 3 picks to defense?

How about the first four draft picks on defense?

 

[ATippett56]

Patriots sign Dan Koppen to two-year, $6 million deal | ProFootballTalk

 

[ATippett56]

Cousin Sign,
Take all O-Lineman off your Draft Board. With the money just spent for Connelly, Gallery and a back up center in Koppen with what you have on the board already and now seeing how the Pats are wooing these declining Vets like Koppen back, Light will return. Make book on that. Absolutely no Roster space for a younger O Lineman now. Wendell is probably a cut.

No O Lineman in the Draft this class.
DW Toys

The New England Patriots now have four centers under contract for the 2012 NFL Season:

Koppen
Connolly
Wendell
McDonald

The New England Patriots do not need to select an offensive center in the 2012 NFL Draft.

 

[IllegalContact]

koppen should start since he does not provide depth at any other position (unless connolly proves to be that much better, in which case, I hope they did not guarantee koppen much)

I think they are well stocked even in the event that both light and waters retire though if that is the case, 1 of the top 4 picks on an OL would be wise.

 

[Jimke]

Good news. It may entice Matt Light to return. Keep the old
boy network together.

 

[DW Toys]

The one good thing is I like Connolly in the rotational role as opposed to being the starting center.

What does signing another guy mean for the draft? Not many roster spots left as other have pointed out. Will there be a big trade-up? I doubt it but I also doubt they keep more than four drafted rookies.

"I also doubt they keep more than four drafted rookies" Excellent post about keeping rookies. You are right! The build through the Draft mavens will be slitting wrists. Big problem though. Light is returning no doubt in my mind especially now that Koppen is back because Light can see them extended him two more for substantial dollars even if he is a back up too. Why not! You can project three of your starting O Line and possible four if Gallery fills in for Mankins, over 30. Yikes!

This Koppen signing , Branch, Faulk is a gi..me and I expect Light to play now is all on TB. He agreed to the restructure with guarantees on dollars to his boys. Good for TB as he has their back. The bad news is Koppen is going to get him hurt. He has always been the weak link sack wise and he is a year older. Too many NT's overpower him. They paid Connely and Koppen the same almost and one sits. I don't get it........ but....my own 2 cents who cares.
DW Toys

 

[borg]

Gotta believe either Light or Waters is done. Regardless, the offensive side of the ball is sucking up alot of the cap space....with Gronk and Hernandez in line. It appears the only thin positional group on O is RB.......please don't get nostalgic and resign Faulk. Should be an All-D draft

 

[BTTA]

Cousin Sign,
Take all O-Lineman off your Draft Board. With the money just spent for Connelly, Gallery and a back up center in Koppen with what you have on the board already and now seeing how the Pats are wooing these declining Vets like Koppen back, Light will return. Make book on that. Absolutely no Roster space for a younger O Lineman now. Wendell is probably a cut.

No O Lineman in the Draft this class.
DW Toys

Unless the best player available at each of their spots is an O-lineman.

I had the same thought as a few other posters about a rotation at Center - depending on the defense and interior DL's on each team.

I'm interested in the cap hit on these guys if they are cut.

 

[warx]

*re-signed

 

[JackBauer]

I'm not. I think he'll still be very good despite his injury. Obviously, they must feel confident that he's healed if they gave him 2 years. Great news.

Eh. He was trending down before the injury, which is of greater concern to me than his recovery.

That said, I'm not averse to it because if there's any draft where I'd prefer not to expend more picks on offense than necessary (read: precisely one), this would be it.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

I predicted this in the pre draft remaining FA signings thread. The reason to do it is because you can. He didn't get much interest in FA and really wanted to end his career here. With Mankins possibly on the shelf until mid season and Light potentially hanging them up and Waters not getting any younger and still not committed, it just makes sense to free up Connolly to play guard if needed. It will be interesting to see what the actual deal is and if it's a potential one year one when the details emerge. Connolly got borderline starting center money at 3/$9.7M with $3.25M in signing bonus and $4.5M up front this season in bonus and salary combined. Koppen has said he is fine with competing for the Center job.

 

[BadMoFo]

Re: Patriots resigning Koppen pr Schefter

Means he's a backup again.

 

[JackBauer]

Re: Patriots resigning Koppen pr Schefter

Twitter

Tom Brady will be happy: Patriots are re-signing center Dan Koppen, per league source.​

Interesting whats this mean for Connolly?

It means I'm stealing your avatar

 

[Urgent]

I like it.

Brady said earlier in the offseason: My favorite ass, after my wife's, is Dan Koppen's. So he will be happy.

This also enables the team to trade Wendell or possibly Donald Thomas for one of those magic Sunday draft picks, taking the pressure off trading #31 for a whole bunch of fifth and sixth round picks.

We are willing to use one of those for a guy like Tracy White. They may find a suitor willing to part with a sixth or seventh for a solid OL, trained by Scarnecchia.

 

[malenurse2010]

Successful org's like the Pats cultivate talent behind effective yet aging starters. The Steelers have done the best job of this at linebacker (maybe my reasoning is affected by Lamar Woodley) and along their defensive line. The Pats have done a good job of this on the O-line. David Given's caught 9 passes his rookie, Deion Branch took a while to crack the starting lineup. Just because rookies aren't projected to start from day 1 does not mean they are busts, its usually means your team sucks.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

Getting back to the pre pissing contest predictable unrelated hijack point of this thread...Bedard weights in on what the Koppen signing may mean.

Taking a look at Koppen's return - Extra Points - Boston.com

 

[patsinthesnow]

The Oline is so stacked, love it! The only offensive position that should even be drafted in the first 3 rounds is WR, anything else would make no sense. I know BB surprises us but I think we can believe that we'll draft defense with the first 3 out of 4 picks.

OT-no
OG-no
C-no
RB-no (maybe a very late pick, but Ridley/Vereen/Woody are 3, and then winner of FB battle between Fiammeta, Kettani, and Larsen is 4)
QB-no
TE-no (Fells signing relieves my fear that BB would actually take a 3rd TE in rd 2)
WR-maybe but not needed

The 9 OL spots, the 3 QB spots, the 4 RB spots, the 3 TE spots, are already all on the team for the 53.

 

[jmt57]

koppen should start since he does not provide depth at any other position (unless connolly proves to be that much better, in which case, I hope they did not guarantee koppen much)

I think they are well stocked even in the event that both light and waters retire though if that is the case, 1 of the top 4 picks on an OL would be wise.

That's pretty much my initial reaction as well. This frees up Connolly to be used at any one of the three interior positions, which in turn means Gallery and Waters can be used at either tackle or guard dependent on whatever situation may arise.

The off-season and training camp will play itself out. Last year Koppen was penciled in to be the starting center, but he was lost early; fortunately the Pats had Connolly, Wendell and McDonald in reserve; all three were called upon to start at some point.

By comparison look at what happened to the Jets when Nick Mangold was lost to an injury. Colin Baxter (and someone else, I forget who) were dismal; the Jets line was in complete disarray, Mark Sanchez looked even more lost than usual without Mangold calling out the assignments, the Jets lost three straight and never recovered. Quality depth on an offensive line in the NFL is not a luxury; it is a necessity because injuries are inevitable on this unit.

As far as Koppen goes, let's not forget that NFL contracts are not guaranteed. If he doesn't have a big signing bonus and doesn't show much in training camp it is possible that he could be let go without that big of an impact to the cap.


There are plenty of options if any of the starters for some reason can't go, whether it be injury, retirement, ineffectiveness due to age, or whatever:

LT: Matt Light (Nate Solder; Sebastian Vollmer; Robert Gallery)
LG: Logan Mankins (Dan Connolly; Robert Gallery; Marcus Cannon)
C: Dan Koppen (Dan Connolly; Ryan Wendell; Nick McDonald)
RG: Brian Waters (Dan Connolly; Marcus Cannon; Robert Gallery)
RT: Sebastian Vollmer (Nate Solder; Marcus Cannon; Robert Gallery)

The bottom line is that there are a lot of interchangeable pieces with three players that can play any of the three interior line positions (four if Donald Thomas is still around) and two that can play guard or tackle. This will surely make for some interesting camp battles and debate.



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