By Tom E. Curran
According to official league statistics, the Patriots ran 1134 offensive plays last season.
The leading offensive participant? Tom Brady, who was in for all but 12 snaps. The least active participant among those who took snaps? Late-season addition Lousaka Polite who took 10 snaps. Brady's backup Brian Hoyer was in for for those aforementioned 12 snaps. Hoyer edged Dane Fletcher who came over to play 13 offensive snaps in 2011.
Here's a full list of offensive participants from highest to lowest.
1. Tom Brady (1122 out of 1134 snaps) 98.94 percent
2. Brian Waters (1111) 97.97
3. Rob Gronkowski (1092) 96.3
4. Matt Light (1034) 91.18
5. Wes Welker (997) 87.92
6. Logan Mankins (990) 87.3
7. Aaron Hernandez (843) 74.34
8. Nate Solder (862)76.01
9. Deion Branch (820) 72.31
10. Dan Connolly (764) 67.37
11. BenJarvus Green-Ellis (392) 34.57
12. Danny Woodhead (367) 32.36
13. Sebastian Vollmer (336) 29.63
14. Ryan Wendell (328) 28.92
15. Chad Ochocinco (324) 28.57
16. Stevan Ridley (191) 16.84
17. Marcus Cannon ((157) 13.84
18. Julian Edelman (117) 10.32
19. Nick McDonald (106) 9.35
20. Donald Thomas (104) 9.17
21. Kevin Faulk (87) 7.67
22. Tiquan Underwood (87) 7.67
23. Matt Slater (40) 3.53
24. Dan Koppen (32) 2.82
25. Shane Vereen (26) 2.29
26. Dane Fletcher (13) 1.15
27. Brian Hoyer (12) 1.06
28. Lousaka Polite (10) 0.88
It's interesting to see how close the total snaps were for running backs Woodhead and Green-Ellis. Given the style of the Patriots offense, it's understandable why New England wouldn't value a player like Green-Ellis as much as his new team, the Bengals do. Cincinatti plans to be more run-based.
Of the players listed above, Light, Green-Ellis, Ochocinco, Underwood, Faulk and Polite are either unsigned, retired or with other teams.
We will fill you in on how many snaps acquired free agents played last year with their former teams.