Patriots Reach Agreement With Light

[lurker1965]

This improves the team but.... I am POed, Solder gets a redshirt year? WTF, total waste of a first round pick. The Pats were within range of Kerrigan, Quinn and other impact defensive players. Now they will pay Solder for at least one, maybe two of his years to sit on the bench? He will only be signed for four years, which means at best they will get 75%.

Plus Quinn was my binkie.

Sign, rant over, go Pats, you can never have too much depth.

1) The guy at earliest got a playbook last week. This off season is bad for all rookies, not just Solder. Expect some 6 man lines and stuff on short yardage to let him get experience and expect him to play significantly (if not start) by November before bemoaning the waste of a draft pick.

2) With a possible change to a 4-3, outside line backer is not the priority it once looked like. Was that the plan all along or did BB see Quinn and Kerrigan go and think "oh, diddleypoo"? I don't know and I doubt BB is telling until he retires.

And if Light can play RG ....different footwork than what he's been doing for the past 10 years. It can be hard to unlearn some things.

For years he has been pushing people to his left. I'm sure he is smart enough to remember to push them to the right instead. However if muscle memory happens once, Brady gets creamed. And if you think Matt Light will have his wits about him 100% of the time, read my last post.

 

[italia44]

Re: Bedard: Matt Light agrees to 2-year deal!

We ask players to check their egos at the door, but we don't ask them not to have any. Very often when a veteran FA isn't ready to walk away he finds a one year deal unpaletable because it's as if the league is telling him that's all he has left. He may even be thinking that may be the case, but he doesn't want to be dictated to. He wants his options open. We've lost more than a couple of FA targets because we don't tend to acquiesse to the option. Occasionally we do. We did for Alge for example, but that didn't mean he'd automatically be here in that second year...

Exactly.......If they really wanted Moss back,they would have offerred him 1yr+ with options.They didn't and Thankfully,he won't be a distraction.
:rocker:

 

[SanAngeloState]

The value of continuity on an NFL offensive line is something worth considering in the whole Light vs Solder debate too.

Dan Koppen Excited to Reunite With Logan Mankins, Matt Light - New England Patriots - Jeff Howe - NESN.com

Ironiclly, the OL would be a lot better without the guy who is quoted in that, Koppen. He gets run over. Hopefully Cannon can help him.

 

[jmt57]

It Is What It Is » A ‘fired up’ Matt Light is ready for a little competition at left tackle | weei.com | Christopher Price

“Hey, you know, competition is the name of the game,” Light said of Bill Belichick and the Patriots taking Solder in first round. “There’s always going to be guys, pushing everybody at every level, when you have a coach like Bill and the rest of the staff. I think it’s a good thing. I think it drives all of us. That’s why we’re out here. We’re out here to compete – compete against each other, compete against the opponent. Drafting a guy that will come in and fill in for these old bones, it was inevitable. Hopefully we’ll have some fun teaching him a thing or two out here.”

“Hey look, I’m excited,” Light said of returning for a 11th season with the Patriots. “I’m excited for all these guys that are out here, for all the work both sides did to get this deal done. This is a heckuva time. We’ve been sitting around waiting for this moment. For me personally, my family and everybody else, we’re really excited to be back here in New England.”

“There has not been a time in my life that I’ve been more ready to play the game of football,” Light said. “I think being away from it, not being able to be around the guys, not being able to enjoy an offseason program like we do around here, for a lot of guys in our locker room it was painful.

“We’re all fired up for this,” Light said.

 

[Off The Grid]

Seriously...

I can't BELIEVE we were able to pull Light back in!! :rocker:

1 ~ I have been SCREAMING to supplant Light for YEARS.

2 ~ I was ECSTATIC with Joy when they drafted Nate "Universal" Solder.

But there is no way in HELL I want that Rook to be the only thing standing between General Brady and Oblivion...just yet.

And as much as I like Steve Maneri, I have NO use for Mark LeVoir...and #3 would've been a LITTLE high on the old Depth Chart for Maneri at this early juncture. Both Kaczur and Ojinnaka make better Guards then Tackles, in my opinion.

Hauling Light back in is an ENORMOUS coup.

Even if he only ends up starting for part of a season, it's an intensely vital part.

 

[sbpatfan]

People act like having both Light and Solder is a bad thing. Would you rather be in the Colts situation where they have no other choice but to leave their 90 million QB fresh off a neck surgery in the hands of a rookie?

 

[supafly]

Ironiclly, the OL would be a lot better without the guy who is quoted in that, Koppen. He gets run over. Hopefully Cannon can help him.

While we all want a high round, high caliber center who will hold down the spot for the next 6-8 yrs, Koppen still does some things pretty damn well.

He has great experience in this system, and a great rapport with the line itself, the calls and reads, Dante and Bill, Brady etc.

I think that ultimately you are right..we will likely see a higher (1-3) round pick at the position next yr, and hopefully that person will be able to do some of the things better that Koppen lacks. However, as a whole, I still will always think that Koppen has become somewhat of a whipping boy on this forum. He is still a vital piece of the line, Belichick absolutely loves him, praises him often, and he makes a lot of instant and very important reads and calls. He also has a very good chemistry with our #1 position and player.

In other words, while we may be able to improve some areas, such as age/youth/quickness/the likelihood and potential of better interior blocking and handling, we are also going to see some areas that will take a couple of steps down, and will take some adjusting to. Whether or not the overall product ends up being better or not will depend on many things, and will remain to be seen.

I certainly expect a higher pick at the position of center next yr, as it certainly needs to be addressed one way or another, but I would not be the least bit surprised to see Koppen play most of next yr too despite the high pick--almost in the same Solder/Light sense and situation.

I think the high majority of posters here are all making an assumption that Koppen will not be extended, and I'm not sure that I agree with that. I would not be surprised to see him here for another couple of seasons, and even wouldn't be surprised that much to see him retire as a Patriot. He is a local favorite, a coach's favorite, and has contributed to many important seasons here.

You're right that the position can be improved in SOME areas, but let's not make him out to be irrelevant either. He has been a consistent starter who has not missed many games, has made the probowl, and has contributed to high rushing totals for the franchise, and the lowest sack total here in N.England since the NFL moved to a 16 game season in 1978.

Many think of Koppen's lack of being able to hold back the NYG's line in the SB, but we have to remember that Neal was out pretty much instantly, and that the guys on the interior (either side of him) sometimes miss assignments too, as it's not always his fault. We all complain about the pressure up the middle at times, but that does not always mean that it's Dan Koppen's fault. Just something to think about.

 

[jmt57]

Tom E. Curran looks at the return of Light, who also answers questions about the roster moves involving Ty Warren, Albert Haynesworth and Chad Ochcinco in his column.

Light's delight at returning to Pats shines through

Asked how happy he was to have signed his two-year deal to get off the free agent market and return to protect Tom Brady's blind side, Light answered, "At the end of the day, it’s more this organization. I shared with the Kraft family what it meant for me to be a part of this over the last decade. The caliber of player that they bring in, the work ethic, the expectations and everything all wrapped into one --there’s a reason why we’ve been successful and there’s a reason why guys want to play here. Again, like I said, I’m just happy to be part of it for another year or two."

ON ROBERT KRAFT'S ROLE IN ATTAINING LABOR PEACE

"I think from day one, even if it went back to last season, it was always ‘Get the lawyers out of the room, let’s get together, let’s sit down [and] let’s have a real conversation’. I guess that’s a hard thing to do, but he was the only one who was really able to make that happen. I think what you saw with [Jeff] Saturday and some of the other guys on the Executive Committee -- their reaction towards his involvement speaks volumes. I know that when we went to the meetings, they let me know how important it was to have him in that room and what kind of leadership and just real experience he brought to the whole conversation, which really was a thing that was really lacking for a long time. We’re all grateful that that happened."

Mike Reiss has a column as well:

Matt Light on his return to Patriots - New England Patriots Blog - espnBoston

Doubt on if he’d return. “There’s always doubt, unfortunately, because it’s a business. I think throughout the whole process, we were hopeful this would be the outcome. We’re happy to be here.”

If he looked at other teams in free agency. “Once it picked it up [after the lockout], it got a little interesting real quick. There was a lot going on at that time, but at the end of the day, we’re back here where we belong.”

Reaction on left tackle Nate Solder as a first-round pick. “Hey, you know, competition is the name of the game. There’s always going to be guys, pushing everybody at every level, when you have a coach like Bill [Belichick] and the rest of the staff. I think it’s a good thing. I think it drives all of us. That’s why we’re out here. We’re out here to compete – compete against each other, compete against the opponent. Drafting a guy that will come in and fill in for these old bones, it was inevitable. Hopefully we’ll have some fun teaching him a thing or two out here.”