After spending the last month testing the waters in free agency, center Dan Koppen is staying in New England.
Koppen and the Patriots have agreed to a two-year deal worth about $6 million, NFL Network’s Albert Breer reports. The contract likely means Koppen can be penciled in as the starting center in New England in 2012, removing a need that some thought they’d address in the draft.
The Patriots took Koppen out of Boston College in the fifth round of the 2003 NFL draft, and he’s been a starter in New England since his rookie year. Last year, however, he suffered a serious ankle injury in Week One and was lost for the season, and there was talk that the Patriots had decided they were prepared to move on without him and keep Dan Connolly as the starting center.
In the end, however, the Patriots have kept both Dans, and they’ll have good depth in the interior of the offensive line.