Logan Mankins coming off PUP

[BradyManny]

Excellent news. The offensive line just got a whole lot stronger. The ripple effect of these OL additions is clear. The whole line gets boosted tremendously as these guys return, and the depth moves back to being depth.

Now let's just hope Vollmer follows soon.

I'm still confident Waters is returning. There's only two scenarios playing out, one is that it's an old vet wanting to skip camp and has an agreement with the team; the other is that it's an old vet wanting a pay raise for excellent play last season and is holding out until he gets it. All evidence so far suggests it is the former.

Suddenly, what has been a real sore spot all offseason could look like a strength again soon.

 

[Kontradiction]

Great news. Mankins coming back healthy will go a long way toward stabilizing the entire left side of the OL. If Solder can get his act together, they'll be dominant. Now for Waters to return and Vollmer's back to straighten itself out...

 

[BradyManny]

I basically agree, unless there's a $$ question. If -- total wild speculation here -- Waters took a position along the lines of "I'm happy retiring, unless you paid me $3.5 million to change my mind," the Pats might wait to see how much they need him? Maybe? :confused2:

It's possible - but his excused absence from mini-camps; the track record established last year (signing a week before the season starts); and his admittedly confusing comments so far this year all point to it simply being him wanting to take off camp - as far as I'm concerned.

 

[unoriginal]

That could well be...with so many guys out, it's been impossible to get a real read on depth. Plus it's just complicated, given positional issues. For instance, let's suppose that at guard, the Waters-less pecking order goes like this:

Mankins > Connolly > Thomas > Wendell (Wendell's a solid player, but just plain tiny for a guard)

And then let's say that the center depth chart goes:

Connolly > Wendell > Koppen

From that, you just can't conclude whether a C-G pairing of Connolly-Thomas or Wendell-Connolly would be considered stronger.

Well, last year, when both Connolly and Wendell drew starts together (Week 17, Bills), it was Wendell at LG and Connolly at C. But Connolly was the de facto starting center, and Mankins was resting his remaining ACL. The Pats didn't put in Thomas, but he was a mid-season signing after all.

 

[UofApatsfan]

im really worried about solder though - if after a couple seasons he still hasn't learned to bend his knees properly it's reason for concern. i can uinderstand if solder were a rookie though, but he's not. maybe the transistion from RT to LT is a lot for him.

He's a 2nd year player who's only been an offensive lineman for a few years and being thrown into the mix as the full time LT sooner than expected because Light was expected to play longer. Maybe he's not technically a rookie but he's as close to one as it gets.

Expecting great play out of Solder at LT early this year is very optimistic. My hope is he gets better during the regular season and is good to go by the time the playoffs come around. He's still very raw and that's something everyone knew when he was drafted. He was a 1st round prospect because of his potential and physical talent, not because he was a LT with great technique who could start right away.

 

[DaBruinz]

This is excellent news and I am glad I was wrong about him starting the season on the PUP. This should definitely help out. Now all we need is Waters to show up in camp and things will be 10 times better.

 

[Ring 6]

He's a 2nd year player who's only been an offensive lineman for a few years and being thrown into the mix as the full time LT sooner than expected because Light was expected to play longer. Maybe he's not technically a rookie but he's as close to one as it gets.

Huh? He played OT in college. He played a lot of football last year.

Expecting great play out of Solder at LT early this year is very optimistic. My hope is he gets better during the regular season and is good to go by the time the playoffs come around. He's still very raw and that's something everyone knew when he was drafted. He was a 1st round prospect because of his potential and physical talent, not because he was a LT with great technique who could start right away.

I disagree 100%, and I think he proved that last year. Were you watching?