Dan Connolly rumbled for a 71-yard kickoff return Sunday against the Packers. (AP)

FOXBORO — Here are the five most important things you need to know about the Patriots on Wednesday:

1. Kicking away from Dan Connolly. The big offensive lineman was nowhere to be seen on Wednesday, but was a big topic of conversation nonetheless. He was named the AFC Special Teams Player of the Week for his 71-yard kick return in the second quarter of the win over the Packers — the longest kick return by an offensive lineman in NFL history, according to Elias Sports Bureau.

“I got asked [about him] here too — were going to kick away from him,” said Buffalo coach Chan Gailey with a laugh. “I think that’s a good story. I don’t know when’s the last time that happened, probably not ever. We probably won’t kick it to him. I hope we don’t kick it to him, to be honest with you.”

Connolly, who suffered a concussion later in the game and was not available to the media on Sunday or Wednesday, wasn’t around to comment, but Patriots coach Bill Belichick smiled when he was asked about the possibility of the Bills deliberately kicking away from Connolly on Sunday.

“Yeah, I bet Chan’s really worried about that,” Belichick said with a smile before turning serious.

“It was an excellent run on his part,” Belichick said of Connolly’s effort. “It was timely, and he did a good job with the opportunity. One thing about Dan is, we worked on that play a lot in practice. We squib kick every week, and I’d say he probably handles the ball if not every week, I’d say at least every other week. Sometimes they go to Alge [Crumpler]. Sometimes they go to Rob. But we work on that on a regular basis.

“Dan’s always well prepared. He has been throughout his career. He was on the practice squad, released by a couple of teams, but kept working, kept getting better, has developed a role for himself and has been a very productive player for us this year,” added Belichick. “Even though he’s played a lot on offense, he still took a lot of pride in the kickoff return. We’ve had a lot of production on the kickoff return unit with him being a part of it as the middle guy there in the wedge. His opportunity came up to handle the ball, and he did a nice job with it. He found some open space and picked up a couple blocks and turned it into a big play. [It was a case of] preparation meets opportunity, and he delivered.”

2. Connolly, Tom Brady, Deion Branch and Aaron Hernandez were among those who weren’t on the field at the start of practice on Wednesday afternoon, held on the lower fields behind Gillette Stadium in sweats and shells. In addition, linebacker Tully Banta-Cain and defensive linemen Brandon Deadrick, Myron Pryor and Mike Wright were also not present, while Ron Brace returned to practice for the first time since suffering a mild concussion two weeks ago against the Bears.

The only no-show that was something of a surprise was the absence of Banta-Cain, who has been a fairly regular presence the last few weeks and has not been listed on any recent injury reports. More should be revealed when the injury report is released at 4 p.m.
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Piggybacking on this story I wrote for Tuesday about how agents go about negotiating rookie deals with the Patriots, it’s worth a look at just how many members of the 2010 rookie class have actually put pen to paper, and how many are still waiting on a deal.

New England has five of its 12 draft choices signed — wide receiver Taylor Price (third round), tight end Aaron Hernandez (fourth round), punter Zoltan Mesko (fifth round), offensive lineman Ted Larsen (sixth round) and offensive lineman Tom Welch (seventh round) are all in the fold.

First-rounder Devin McCourty is one of seven Patriots' draft picks who haven't agreed to a contract. (AP)

On the surface, the fact that the Patriots have less than half their picks done with training camp a month away might be cause for concern. But when stacked up against the rest of the league — and when you consider the circumstances that surround the players that are unsigned — Brian McIntyre of “Mac’s Football Blog” says the Patriots are pretty much in line with the rest of the league.

McIntyre, who does an amazing job following the day-to-day news of professional football, also provides an invaluable service by compiles signing information on all 250-something draft picks, breaking it down round-by-round as well as team-by-team.

As a result of his exhaustive work, few writers are as qualified to talk about the signing and negotiation process as McIntyre. And says that when it comes to signing the 2010 NFL draft class, things are ahead of schedule.

“With the exception of a handful of teams who appear to be waiting until after the Fourth of July to get going, rookie signings league-wide are ahead of schedule,” he wrote in an e-mail to WEEI.com on Tuesday evening. “Ninety (of 256) players had signed contracts by June 29, 2009. As of today, 115 of 255 have already signed. New England is no exception.”

When it comes to the Patriots, McIntyre notes that a year ago, the Patriots only had one of their 12 picks, fourth-round guard Rich Ohrnberger, signed to a contract by June 29. This summer, they’ve already got five of 12 signed, and three more should fall in short order.

“Three more (Brandon Deadrick, Kade Weston, and Zac Robinson) are clumped together so tightly (picks 40, 41, and 43) in the seventh-round that their deals shouldn’t take more than a few minutes to finalize. Once those three sign, they’ll be able to focus on [first-rounder] Devin McCourty and the three second-round picks.”
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