Top 10 Belichick-Era Patriots Draft Successes: #5 Dan Koppen

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[Editor's Note: For the month of April leading up to the draft, Bud Light will be sponsoring the NFL blogs here at SB Nation.  Each day, we'll count down the top 10 Bill Belichick era Patriots "busts" and "booms" in the NFL draft." -Greg

Belichick-Era Patriots Top 10 Successes #5

Name: Dan Koppen

College: Boston College

Drafted: 5th Round, 164th Overall, 2003

Position: Center

Years with Team: 8

Where is he now? New England Patriots Starting Center

Comments: It isn't too hard to see why Dan Koppen is listed as one of the best draft successes of the Bill Belichick era.  As a fifth round pick, Koppen was never seen as a top-flight prospect.  Undersized, not athletic.  Still, he was technically sound, played hard and had all of the intangibles.  Nevertheless, he came in and was a starter by week two of his rookie season.  He never relinquished that spot, and has missed only one regular season game since 2005.  Talk about consistency.  He's won two Super Bowls with the team and has one Pro Bowl under his belt, although he remains an underrated commodity.  In fact, the Patriots, due to Koppen's consistency, haven't had to worry about the center position in nearly a decade.  Koppen is 31 now, and some people have concerns about his ability to hold up against big nose tackles in the AFC East, but there's no way you can argue against Koppen as one of the biggest draft steals and successes of the Bill Belichick era.

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