Pats sign OC Koppen

[Don_the_patfan]

@AlbertBreer

Koppen's 2-year deal is worth about $6 million, so it looks like NE expects him to start. May have to adjust that Konz pick in my mock.

I didn't see this as a necessity and was looking forward to drafting a guy at C in the draft. That is not happening now. Could it be that Waters is retiring and Connolly needs to help at G? I hope not but it's a possibility. 3 mill per year is starter money. Helps depth but wish we had moved on.

[hendersonsplow]

I don't think this changes anything as far as the draft goes. Just gives them more flexibility. Won't stop them from drafting a center but they won't reach either.

They signed Light to a 2yr 12M deal last year and drafted Solder 17 overall. And we don't know how Koppen's deal is structured.

[Hyped]

I also didn't see it as a major necessity since we had Connolly, but depth is always good. Maybe Waters/Light plan to show up for camp...and after 2 weeks decide to hang em' up like Bruschi did a few years ago.

Speaking of veteran players..Faulk said he wanted to come back for another year...I love Faulk, but I don't know about that.

[hendersonsplow]

Some details per rotoworld (and Mac's football blog)

4/13/2012: Signed a two-year, $3.05 million contract. The deal included a $350,000 signing bonus. Another $2.7 million is available through incentives based on playing time. 2012: $850,000 (+ $150,000 workout bonus + $200,000 in per-game roster bonuses), 2013: $1.1 million (+ $200,000 workout bonus + $200,000 in per-game roster bonuses), 2014: Free Agent

According to this, much of the money is in incentives.

[Hyped]

Looks like Koppen is rolling the dice on winning the starting job. If he doesn't win it..I think the Pats will keep him on as a back up for a year before cutting him because his base salary is 1.1 in 2013.

[ItIsWhatItIs]

It may also mean they're not certain that Mankins will be 100% by the start of the season. IMO the more depth they can build on the OL, the better. We got lucky by signing a Pro Bowler like Waters at the last second last year. Can't hurt to have more bodies around, and it looks like Koppen's deal is almost 100% incentive-laden.