Pats sign RT Clement, which has nothing to do with RT Kaczur

By Os Davis  |   Tuesday, July 22, 2008  |  Comments( 7 )

New England Patriots
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On Tuesday, the New England Patriots welcomed aboard 10-year offensive tackle Anthony Clement in a move that certainly has nothing to do with the job security of Nick Kaczur, who has been promised that he “will remain on the team.”

Coincidentally, however, Kaczur formally pleaded guilty to a charge of speeding sustained in upstate New York after plea bargaining and wiretapping his way out of a drug possession charge on the same day as the Clement signing.

Regardless of his chances at playing quality time in a suddenly vacant position in 2008, veteran Clement makes for a nice pickup for the Patriots going into camp. A model of longevity on the line, the former second-round pick for the Arizona Cardinals started every game for the New York Jets during the past two seasons. Though he missed all of 2002 thanks to injury, he played every offensive down for the Cards in '01 and '03. In fact, excepting that 2002 season, Clement has appeared in all but two games since 1999 and has started in 109 of 128 possible contests; even further, 10 of those misses came during Clement’s lone season in San Francisco, which shifted him to left tackle for the first and only time in his career.

Statistically speaking, perhaps most impressive about Clement’s resume was his participation as right tackle on the Cardinals' O-line in 2001: The team allowed a stingy 29 sacks that season, thereby giving Clement and linemates L.J. Shelton, Pete Kendall, Mike Gruttadauria (now there’s one of the great names) and Leonard Davis the low-rent distinction of best Arizona offensive line ever.

Add in a nice dash of potential revenge-seeking attitude against the Jets, an AFC East rival, and the only question regarding Clement’s desirability on the Pats’ 53-man roster is that of playoff performance – after 10 seasons of giving it up for also-rans, how will Clement compete during the seemingly inevitable New England playoff run in January 2009?

But that is far away, and we’re living in the present; a present wherein news of Clement’s signing is tagged at the Boston Herald with “Next Article in N.E. Patriots: Patriots lineman to be arraigned on NY drug charge.” (Just a coincidence, to be sure.) The present is one in which the story of Kaczur’s court appearance bumps all other football stories save Brett Favre’s off the top page at ESPN.com while the positive addition of Clement is buried.

To suggest that the signing of Clement is anything other than the convenience of snagging a well-honed veteran to serve as backup would be paranoia, right? Sure, both Clement and Kaczur play right tackle. Sure, the Patriots certainly want no part of scandal this season. And sure, the line play in Super Bowl XLII was more than a bit costly to New England’s 19-0 bid.

But come on, Kaczur’s job is safe, right? Right? Hello ...?

RealFootball365.com: Where we're not paranoid -- it's them, you see, not us -- about the New England Patriots or any other NFL team throughout the year...
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About Os Davis

Os Davis has taken a twisted route to get to RealFootball365.com in his nearly 17 years in professional writing, working in any number of capacities in the sportswriting, news reporting and film criticism worlds. In print media, Os has served as editor at a few publications, including Albuquerque's ...
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