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          New England Patriots

          Connolly lands on underrated list

          • Mike Reiss, ESPN Staff WriterJul 13, 2012, 10:35 AM ET
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              Mike Reiss is an NFL reporter at ESPN and covers the New England Patriots. Reiss has covered the Patriots since 1997 and joined ESPN in 2009. In 2019, he was named Massachusetts Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. You can follow Reiss on Twitter at @MikeReiss.
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          Pro Football Weekly puts together its top five list of underrated players in the NFL (video here), and uses the following criteria:

          1. Award recognition

          2. Draft position

          3. Name recognition

          4. Salary

          5. Years in the NFL

          Patriots center/guard Dan Connolly ranks second on PFW's list, with draft analyst Nolan Nawrocki explaining the choice.

          "He stepped in at guard in 2010 and did a very good job, and last season, he was outstanding for the Patriots," Nawrocki says. "You look at their history of centers -- Dan Koppen, Damien Woody -- they've always had centers that are very quick and very good in pass protection. He definitely fit the bill. He played as well as anyone last season and I consider him an elite player at that position. I think he's very under the radar around the league in terms of recognition."