0:05

This is Patriots Playbook,

0:08

the legend. Welcome into the What month

0:10

is this? They need a corner, They need

0:12

a corner, you

0:15

did, I know? Listen, Well, that's

0:17

why I'm setting you up here. I'm throwing you a big fat

0:19

softball. It's time for you to smash it out

0:21

of the park. You're not gonna pick me up to the eighteen wheeler.

0:23

You're gonna pick me up with the Camaro. Camaro. All right, all right

0:26

on and Eldrid in the Camaro. Watch out, ladies,

0:29

ready said go Now, here's your host

0:31

of Patriots Playbook, John

0:34

Rook. We

0:37

press the button. It's been so long here Eldridd

0:39

in a Camaro. Okay, that's that's that

0:42

has to happen at some point, Matt. Maybe

0:44

we can do a you know, maybe

0:46

we can arrange for him to drive

0:48

his Camaro during the regular season rather

0:50

than the eighteen wheeler that he drives

0:52

in for a you know, right, and

0:55

get him to well, but he doesn't have the horn, he didn't

0:57

have the thing going right, but

0:59

he's as a passenger for well, yeah,

1:03

I could do that. I can bring the sound

1:05

sound effects, right.

1:10

Hep for Eldred's sake, he's got a better looking

1:12

passenger. You no offense job.

1:15

Wow, let's start right

1:18

like that? Shall we do that? That's good,

1:20

Evan Lazar. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much.

1:22

Welcome into the Playbook, the April

1:25

pre Draft edition, off

1:27

season monthly edition of Patriots Playbook.

1:29

And you know it, Originally

1:32

we had intended what we were with the thought process

1:34

today was to because this is the day

1:36

before the draft, and because we're gonna be doing live draft

1:38

coverage here on Patriots dot Com Radio

1:41

tomorrow, which you'll be a part of

1:43

it all weekend, really throughout the entire draft.

1:45

So if you're out and about,

1:47

or you're watching something else on TV,

1:50

or you're watching the Celtics choke again

1:52

or whatever it may be, which was amazing last

1:54

night, I can't I know, I know, I know,

1:56

I listen. I was watching your tweets. Evan,

1:59

was more and more pissed off guys that I saw, you

2:01

know, and you were one hundred percent right Because

2:03

I'm sitting there with my wife with Miss Robin. We're

2:05

watching the game and we're like, they're

2:07

gonna blow this, They're gonna blow this, and she's

2:10

like, turn it off. I can't watch it turn it off,

2:12

and I'm like no, because I know the

2:14

car wreck's coming. I can't turn it off.

2:16

I'm gonna rubber neck.

2:18

You know, I'm in a Celtics show.

2:20

But that was

2:22

lousy.

2:23

That was lousy, and the head

2:25

coaches is in my.

2:28

Iran. I can't speak. I cannot

2:31

speak ill of Joe Missoula because he's a

2:33

Rhode Islander. He's from Johnston, Rhode Island, where

2:35

I spent you know, twenty five years of my residence

2:37

here in New England. So I will not speak

2:39

ill. But he made a mistake, and

2:42

he's made several mistakes, and I am

2:44

willing to live up to a certain

2:46

number of those because of his relative inexperience

2:49

as a head coach. But when

2:51

that inexperience then costs you in the postseason,

2:55

yeah, all that's are off.

2:56

Plus what you know, when your

2:59

window is open, wide

3:01

open to go on a title run and

3:03

you put a coach in charge of a zero head

3:05

coaching experience for a team that should

3:08

win a title, correct, it's a lot

3:10

of pressure.

3:11

It is. It is. So I'm gonna I'm gonna

3:13

give him one pass, okay, And

3:15

they need they need to figure out a way

3:17

to win it Thursday night, which of course is

3:19

when they will have to play Game six in Atlanta,

3:21

and of course that'll be going right up against.

3:23

The draft, so right up against, right up against.

3:25

They get lucky if they blow it again, and then half of

3:28

New England will be watching the draft instead of

3:30

and.

3:30

Half of New England probably won't care, which is probably

3:32

gonna be for their benefit at any rate. All right,

3:34

So we'll get back to the original premise then, because

3:37

the thought process was we were

3:39

going to combine Catch twenty two in the playbook

3:42

for this week. But then, of course I'm listening

3:44

to ninety eight five this week to filgrin maz

3:46

because they always do draft stuff, and Alex

3:48

Barth is working for them during the afternoon,

3:50

so his day job, as I used his day

3:52

job. Yes, it's important. So we're pulling

3:55

off half of catch twenty two. Does that make

3:57

you catch eleven?

3:58

Sure?

3:58

Okay? Right, So we're taking at eleven here,

4:01

uh, And he's going to join the playbook for the pre

4:03

draft show, and then you will be a part of the

4:05

Patriots Unfiltered Draft Show tomorrow

4:08

night during the draft party.

4:09

Draft party with me and

4:12

Deuce and Paul and Fred and

4:14

Tamara and Alice. I'm sure we'll be around too, so

4:16

it'd be a good time.

4:17

Yeah, there's there's no room for Rook, so you know, just

4:20

go right ahead and always welcome. Yeah. Oh

4:22

yeah, it depends on who you talk

4:24

to. Look, we

4:27

made Matt spit out his sput out my coffee.

4:31

See, Matt's been in on all these these Uh,

4:34

he's been in all these conversations. We

4:36

don't really need Rook and he's

4:38

he's my advocate. He's my Matt.

4:40

Matt's my advocate, Matt Marine, Matt,

4:43

I wouldn't listen if I was going to war

4:45

with you in Afghanistan. That's one guy i'd want to sit next

4:47

to me in the foxhole. Absolutely, Okay, yes, sir,

4:49

that's one guy I'd wanted my foxhoul.

4:52

So yeah, I told you earlier when Marine said

4:54

that he survived Afghanistan so he can survive

4:56

the draft. I'm just gonna keep telling

4:58

myself that on Thursday night, right, I'm

5:02

gonna be like, listen, relatively

5:05

speaking, Marine in Afghanistan.

5:07

So this is really just not very high

5:10

on the things that we need to worry about.

5:12

I understand completely. So you'll

5:14

understand if there's angst in Evans's

5:17

voice after the pick has made it fourteen, No,

5:19

no, no better yet, they're gonna trade down.

5:22

They'll trade down then you I

5:24

think you'll start to hear his throat titan.

5:26

Trading down is. I'm not totally

5:29

out on trading down, but you

5:31

gotta tell me what the first thirteen picks

5:33

were, Okay before I sign off.

5:35

So if you have if you have a guy like Skeronsky

5:38

from Northwestern, or you have a guy

5:41

like Broderick Jones from

5:43

from Georgia, or Quintin

5:46

Johnson from TCU, or

5:48

hell my favorite, which is b Jon Robinson,

5:51

although they don't need him, but it wouldn't

5:53

it wouldn't kill me to see him slip that far because

5:55

the guy's a tremendous offensive talent.

5:57

You may be one of the better running backs to come out of the Pros

5:59

or to come into the Pros. I don't know, probably

6:02

at least in Saquon right, Yeah, yeah, without

6:04

a doubt, because yeah, he's that multipurpose

6:06

kind of back. I got to talk about him a little bit

6:08

because you guys won't talk about him at all tomorrow.

6:10

But he's one of those guys that is

6:13

tailor made to a twenty first

6:15

century offense. He's good enough and shifty

6:17

enough and strong enough to go between the tackles

6:20

and make guys miss He's got that certain

6:22

degree of missibility, which is the term that I

6:24

like to use. But he can also

6:27

Man, can you imagine that's sound of a gun. Go look

6:29

at the tape if you have it yet, and I know many

6:31

of you have, But boy, can

6:33

you see him on one of those wheel roots out of the backfield? Yeah?

6:35

I mean he's a top five player in the draft, no

6:37

doubt about it. I'm fascinated to see

6:40

where he falls in the first round because

6:43

it's really going to be a bigger conversation

6:45

of running back value and where the position

6:47

is.

6:48

And that's the nature Hume. You're right, Evans, that's

6:50

the nature of the beast over

6:52

the what maybe the last six to ten drafts

6:55

where the value of running back up high

6:57

just has not been there because running

6:59

back largely take such a physical

7:02

beating. Their prime is only

7:04

five or six.

7:05

Years, right, and you look at I think

7:07

the main thing is most teams look at, especially

7:09

a top half of the first round pick as

7:12

a five to ten year investment that you're

7:14

hoping for your organization is going to be somebody

7:16

that you're gonna have as a pillar

7:19

of your team for a decade.

7:21

You know, that's always the old draft

7:23

cliche. Oh, you draft this guy is gonna be your

7:25

left tackle for a decade. You know, that

7:28

doesn't always work out like that, as we know. But

7:31

running backs, you're really drafting that guy

7:33

for the life of his rookie contract. You're looking at

7:35

four or five years, and at that point

7:38

we'll see if he still has enough

7:41

gas in the tank to carry

7:43

it into a second contract. But Saquon

7:46

went second overall to the Giants.

7:48

Zeke went fourth overall to Dallas. But

7:50

Dallas didn't have a ton of other needs

7:53

at that you know, they were a playoff team that got

7:55

the pick from somebody else, right, right,

7:58

so they took Zeke you

8:01

at fourth overall. I

8:03

just I don't know in

8:05

this particular draft, I don't know

8:07

where Bijon goes. Because

8:09

the teams at the top of the draft have such

8:12

major needs at important positions.

8:15

Arizona's not in a position to take a running

8:17

back. They just need too much talent on their

8:19

roster for a positional value standpoint,

8:22

the one team that really stands out to me, well,

8:24

there's two, but the one that really stands

8:26

out to me is the Philadelphia

8:29

Eagles at number ten because that's

8:31

a team that has everything

8:33

tremendous roster. They don't

8:35

necessarily need to pick a corner because

8:38

they have no playable corners right now,

8:40

so they have fantastic roster

8:42

talent as it is. And with a running

8:45

quarterback, you now put Bijon in

8:47

that backfield with Jalen Hurts and forget

8:49

about it. I mean, how do you defend that

8:51

package of the Reid option

8:53

with Hurts and Bijon being the one that gets

8:55

the ball. Miles Sanders was there every

8:58

down back last year. He's gone so.

9:01

To play the Eagles twice if that happens.

9:03

Yeah, so I think that that's the spot.

9:06

I also wouldn't roll out Tennessee

9:08

at eleven if they feel like they're gonna

9:11

trade Derrick Henry. They did it last

9:13

year with AJ Brown and they ended up drafting

9:15

Traylon Burks with the pick. So

9:18

maybe they do another one for one swap

9:20

where they find somebody to take Derrick

9:23

Henry and then they just put Bjeon

9:25

right in and don't skip a beat. But I really

9:27

like the Eagles at ten for Bjon?

9:30

Why not?

9:31

Cherry on top for them?

9:32

Why not? And then that's usually teams that will

9:34

take backs like that, especially that high, because

9:37

they just their need is specific and

9:39

they've got enough depth where they can gamble

9:42

on something like that.

9:42

Yeah.

9:43

Absolutely, So all right, so we

9:45

got the Bejon issue out of the way. If he does slip,

9:48

we'll see, but I don't expect him to, as

9:50

you don't I before

9:52

we get to potential draft picks, and

9:55

before we look at, you

9:57

know, the positions really that need

9:59

to be addressed by New England and realizing

10:02

of course that if you're listening to this on

10:04

the podcast after the draft, the

10:07

funny part will be we're either really right

10:09

or really wrong, okay, because yeah,

10:12

well but that's okay. Yeah. So

10:14

what I want to do is I want to think philosophically

10:16

as well here today, because clearly, if

10:18

someone is kind of going through the website and they're like,

10:21

hey, let's hear what they talked about before the draft, let's se

10:23

how right those guys work because they tuck all the time. Okay,

10:25

not necessarily, but philosophically, we

10:28

need to I think discover a few things about

10:30

where this team is. Specifically.

10:33

There was a story that came out today.

10:36

Yahoo Sports put it out. Did you read it.

10:39

I don't know what the headline is, so I can't. I can't

10:41

tell you.

10:42

The headline was Bill Belichick

10:44

must crush this NFL draft

10:47

the rest of his career, and the Patriots

10:49

place in the AFC East may

10:52

hinge on it. And the story is written

10:54

by Dan Wetzel, who I know a little bit. I've

10:56

read his stuff for a long time. He's a very knowledgeable

10:59

writer, especially a football writer,

11:02

and he's writing for Yahoo. But that was this story

11:04

he put out today, and when I

11:06

read it, my initial thought

11:08

was I've been thinking this for like two or three

11:10

years, and now

11:12

somebody's finally doing it. And

11:15

I'm thinking, you know what, I can't argue

11:17

with anything the guy has said, or any

11:19

of the thoughts and the general premise of

11:21

the headline. It's really hard to argue

11:24

it his lead.

11:26

The most important NFL draft of Bill Belichick's

11:28

career came in two thousand and one of the second chance head

11:30

coach trying to rebuild, the Patriots managed

11:33

despite lacking a first round pick to select

11:35

a few contributing talents Hed Jr. Redmond,

11:37

Greg Randall, and famously uncovered Tom

11:39

Brady with the one hundred and ninety ninth pick. If

11:41

not for that draft or that Brady

11:43

pick, we probably aren't talking about Belichick

11:46

as an NFL head coach all these

11:48

years later. He's right, because

11:51

we could have seen Cleveland. Redo

11:54

is what we could have seen on Thursday.

11:56

Belichick will oversee his twenty fourth

11:59

draft in Fox bro and the

12:01

stakes are as high as they were in the beginning.

12:03

And I'm one hundred percent behind that they are.

12:06

And look, I know the Crafts have long

12:08

said, first of all, we like Bill.

12:10

We love Bill. We love what Bill has done for the for

12:12

the area, for the for the program, for the franchise,

12:15

for New England, for Boston, for Patriots

12:17

fans everywhere. Six

12:19

Super Bowls are unmatched. Well

12:22

they're they're matched, but by one guy.

12:24

Unmatched. Okay, so thank

12:27

you. But the

12:30

business of the sport

12:33

comes first. And if

12:35

you are to sustain what

12:37

the Steelers tried to do, well, let's go back

12:40

further. The Packers tried to do in the

12:42

sixties, what the Steelers did in the

12:44

seventies, what the

12:46

forty nine ers tried to do in the eighties what the Cowboys

12:48

started in the nineties. Boy, they had it going in

12:50

the early nineties. You're too young for that, right

12:53

on the cuss Okay, you're on the cusp of that one. Yeah,

12:56

but you know the record books, you see the

12:58

numbers, and you understand, well they won, you know,

13:00

three and five, so pretty good, pretty

13:02

good run right there. And then, of course what the Patriots

13:05

were able to accomplish in both the two thousands and

13:07

the twenty tens with winning three in those

13:09

things, how do you sustain beyond

13:12

what those teams just did. And the

13:15

fact is is that none of those other

13:17

teams could. The Patriots did it once

13:20

and now it's time for build a show. He's still got

13:23

enough gas left in the tank to do it again. If

13:25

not, it's time to move on. That's my

13:27

own personal thought. So I

13:29

think this is a hugely important

13:31

draft for the Patriots. They got to get it

13:34

right because of the

13:36

one significant thing, especially

13:38

because of one significant thing that happened

13:41

this week in the NFL

13:43

to our lovely rivals in

13:45

New York by pulling in a four

13:48

time NFL MVP at

13:50

quarterback in Aaron Rodgers a

13:53

forty year old to be quarterback. Yes,

13:56

but haven't we gone through that? Okay,

13:58

we've been through a forty year old quarterback here,

14:00

and he could play a little bit. He's not

14:02

the same guy. I get it.

14:04

Yeah, I hear you.

14:06

But you are now

14:08

out of four teams in the AFC East, you're

14:11

fourth on paper,

14:14

on paper, and I think here's the scary

14:16

part. I think you'll agree here. But

14:18

if you don't say so, the

14:20

Patriots are better this time now

14:23

than they were this time a year ago on paper.

14:25

On paper, if you include coaching on paper,

14:28

then yes.

14:28

So my question to you here the philosophically

14:31

is, Okay, how much did Aaron rodgers

14:33

arrival in New York

14:37

change the Patriots outlook on this

14:39

draft and this season?

14:42

I don't think all that much because I think that

14:44

the importance of the draft was hugely

14:48

important regardless of who the quarterback

14:51

was in New York. And I just look at the Jets

14:53

as a team that had

14:55

a better roster than you. Anyways. I

14:58

really believe that or at least had had

15:00

guys, especially younger guys

15:03

like Garrett Wilson, like Sauce Gardner,

15:05

who are guys

15:07

that you can look at as franchise

15:10

changing, altering players that are gonna

15:12

be Jets for the next ten

15:14

years. Like we were just talking about, right they plugged

15:16

this guy in, He's going to be a franchise

15:18

star for you for the next ten years. They

15:21

already had some of those places in place. And I

15:23

think the team last year at the Patriots

15:25

be twice was better than you and a lot

15:27

of areas other than quarterback and maybe

15:30

coaching, and that's why those games

15:32

were won by the Patriots and not won

15:34

by the Jets. So in

15:37

a lot of ways, I think it changes just

15:40

this year number of teams that

15:42

are now competitive in the AFC. When

15:44

you look at it from a Patriots point of view,

15:47

I think you can really make the argument for ten

15:50

or eleven teams to make

15:52

the seventeen playoff, and you

15:54

are maybe the twelfth team or the eleventh team

15:56

in that mix, depending on how positive

15:59

you want to be right now about the outlook

16:01

of this team. So I think that there's

16:03

the Jets are now squarely in the

16:05

playoff contending mix. I'm not ready

16:08

to put them in Super Bowl contending quite yet.

16:10

Let's see what Aaron Rodgers looks like.

16:13

Does he look like the guy he was last year? Or does

16:15

he look like the guy two years ago? Right, Let's see

16:17

how blocked in he is, Let's see how

16:19

he invested he is, and then let's

16:22

go from there. But in general, I come

16:24

back to with this draft always

16:26

that they need

16:29

guys like they

16:31

got. You know, Bill was

16:33

talking at Devin McCarty's retirement

16:36

press conference about that

16:38

draft. I think it was what the twenty ten

16:41

draft. I want to say, Devin

16:45

mccorty, Rob Gronkowski first

16:47

round, second round, knocked

16:50

it all the way out of the park, hit

16:52

it on lansdown Street. Those

16:55

are the types of drafts that become

16:57

building blocks for organization

17:00

and really spearhead everything that's

17:03

going on here. So if I

17:05

look at it from a Patriots perspective, and I

17:07

think corner and we

17:09

call it obviously Gronk's tight end, offensive

17:12

playmaker, you know, pass catcher.

17:15

Those two positions again, could be two

17:17

positions that they really ought

17:19

to hit on in this draft, you know, dB and

17:22

playmaking, offensive weapon. If

17:25

they can do something like that, And I

17:28

bring that up just because he's

17:30

done it before. Has it been ten years?

17:32

Yeah, it's been ten years. And that's I've been

17:35

steadfast on that in every program that we've

17:37

had that he has got.

17:39

Bill's got to show me that he can still draft,

17:42

because it has been a long, long

17:45

time since they've had a first round pick

17:47

that we've all felt really good about, probably

17:51

Dante high Tower and Chandler Jones,

17:53

and that draft in

17:55

twenty twelve was the last

17:58

time that they truly hit on

18:00

a first round were years ago. Yeah,

18:03

And quite frankly, I

18:06

don't know how many gms

18:09

separate the coach for a second. I

18:11

don't know how many gms make

18:14

it through the last

18:16

eleven drafts, eleven drafts that the Patriots

18:18

have had and keep their jobs because

18:21

I think a lot of owners, if

18:24

it was a separate person, right, the coach and the GM,

18:26

a lot of owners would say, well,

18:29

Brady dragged us there, right, you know, Brady's

18:31

the one that got us into

18:34

that contending tier in

18:36

the NFL. But this

18:39

roster has fallen apart, and

18:42

at some point that that string runs out,

18:44

even on Bill, even on somebody as

18:47

good as Bill.

18:48

That's the nature pro football, though, right,

18:51

And this happens to every team. It just hasn't happened

18:53

New England in the last twenty four years because

18:55

that's when Bill came in, and he had

18:57

extraordinary success because he

18:59

had wrong early drafts. He had strong early

19:02

identification of veteran players.

19:06

You once upon a time it felt

19:08

like they hit on every right,

19:10

every first round pick, and it felt like

19:12

you just knew it's a given that

19:14

that guy might not be. You know,

19:16

Ty Warren wasn't a Patriot Hall of

19:18

Famer, He wasn't an all time great player,

19:21

but he was a very good player.

19:23

And what they.

19:23

Wanted him to do, and that was that

19:26

was the bottom line. We knew that they were going to clear

19:29

that bar, and then we knew

19:31

that there was also another bar that they could clear that

19:33

was a Patriot red jacket type

19:35

of guy, and they just haven't

19:38

had that. You know, Cole Strange, We'll

19:40

see, but it's not. That's not happening for Cole

19:42

Strand he's not probably not.

19:43

But I again, I still

19:45

can't judge last year's draft. It seems like,

19:48

Okay, they got some wor couple pieces out of

19:50

that. They they dipped into free agency

19:52

as well, and or they dipped into

19:54

undrafted free agency as well and got guys to stick.

19:56

They've done that. What nineteenth straight years now. Yeah, so

19:59

you know, I think you can cert expect something

20:01

like that to happen again this year because the Patriots

20:03

are have been very good at recognizing

20:05

the undervalued talent, but sometimes

20:08

they depend too much on the undervalued

20:11

talent. Yeah, and this is the difference

20:13

between the Patriots to me minus

20:15

Tom Brady. Let's move that equation out of it. But

20:18

this has been the largest difference between the Patriots

20:20

successful and the Patriots of the last three years

20:23

is they just have they haven't scored

20:26

big when they've needed to score, and some of that unrecognized

20:28

or even recognized talent because they've

20:30

dipped to oh, you know, this guy's fine, Oh

20:33

this guy's good, or this guy we can pay or whatever

20:35

it may be. They're too worried about that. You got to get

20:37

guys that can produce on the field,

20:40

now.

20:41

Yeah, I just think they really have to

20:43

look at it. And I understand

20:45

that there's been drafts. You know, the eighteen

20:48

Draft always comes to mind when I say stuff like

20:50

this, because they drafted win Michelle

20:53

Dawson with their first three picks. Georgia,

20:55

Georgia, Florida, right, Like, those are huge, big

20:57

time programs and we're not talking about guys.

21:00

And we're not talking about any of those guys still here.

21:02

No, we're not talking about UT Chattanooga, right,

21:04

we're talking about three Georgia played

21:07

or won the national championship that year. If

21:09

I remember correctly, you know, with

21:11

those two guys, I believe they've won the last two. Yeah.

21:13

So I'm not saying

21:16

it's it's a fail safe there, it's

21:18

never goes wrong when you do this. But

21:20

I really feel like in this draft, my one

21:23

prerequisite going into this draft

21:26

is I want a name brand

21:29

pick in the first round. We cannot

21:32

have a cold strange.

21:33

And with fourteen, with fourteen

21:35

picking up in the upper half, now, and that's a

21:37

big car too, Okay, you need

21:40

your chances of getting a name brand

21:42

something, somebody that everyone's

21:44

talking about or has talked about, or has been in every

21:46

mock or whatever is out there. Your chances

21:49

are very strong to do that. But if you take

21:51

a step back and first of all, trade

21:53

down, which we know Bill leads the world in

21:55

draft day trades, right, and don't

21:58

be surprised if it happens to

22:01

me, The most likely thing to happen is

22:04

going to be a first

22:06

night trade. That's the most likely thing to happen now

22:09

if they keep fourteen, all right, we

22:11

want you said they need a brand name, and I

22:13

agree with you. The question is what

22:15

brand name do they do? They go

22:18

and they get So this kind

22:20

of leads me into my question for our listeners

22:22

today. For you,

22:25

I want you to answer. I'm gonna answer it as well because

22:27

I have my own thoughts. We shared you know, who

22:29

you know I like in the first round if he's

22:31

there tomorrow, and I

22:34

want everyone to contribute on the show. And

22:36

here's the thing, Matt, We're gonna do our best today

22:39

to keep track of the different names,

22:41

okay, and we're gonna find out

22:43

and we're and so next month, yeah,

22:46

next month, next month, all right.

22:48

If we have somebody who nails it, all

22:50

right, who nails the first round pick, Okay,

22:53

then what we'll do if it's if it's one

22:55

of those name brand guys, We're gonna put everybody's

22:57

name in a hat, okay, and they're gonna co

22:59

ho the show with me. All right,

23:02

So we're got there's some incentive here for you.

23:04

Uh.

23:04

And we did this, you know, with our our fantasy

23:06

football league winner, who was where

23:09

the hell was he luxemberg Luxemburg?

23:11

I see even Evan remembers that, because that's good. Evan

23:13

has a mind like a steel trap over here.

23:16

I have a mind like a mouse trap. So that's

23:18

the difference between the two of us here. But

23:20

yeah, I think that's worth it. We can definitely

23:23

do that, right, So we'll have somebody come

23:25

on as our you know, quote unquote a Patriots

23:27

playbook fan expert, and you nailed

23:29

the first round pick. So that's what we're gonna do. So

23:31

I want you to come in answering

23:34

this question today. All right, Eight five

23:36

five PATS five hundred is the toll

23:38

free number, eight five five Pats

23:41

five hundred, web radio at

23:43

Patriots dot com. That's the email. If

23:45

you can't pick up the phone, a call, ship off

23:47

the email, or just hit me up on Twitter

23:50

at JR Broadcaster. Okay,

23:52

and use those three ways, and

23:54

this will verify everything that we got

23:57

here. All right, But here's the question. If I'm Bill

23:59

Belichick, I would draft

24:01

blank?

24:04

Am I supposed to answer that?

24:05

Now?

24:06

Would you like to sure? If

24:08

I'm Bill Belichick, I would draft

24:10

Jackson Smith and jigbo Okay, I

24:13

knew he was going there. I knew

24:15

he's going there. Now, if I was going receiver,

24:17

I would probably go Quentin Johnson. But I'd only say

24:19

that because I grew up in Fort Worth

24:21

and he's a TCU guy. So see, I'm

24:23

letting my bias get in the way. Jean,

24:26

Yeah, Jeon, Yeah, Well yeah, if

24:28

he's there.

24:31

So this whole process, I

24:33

had been a big Jay Flowers guy. I love

24:35

Za Flowers. I've read a lot of stuff that you've

24:37

written about Jay Flowers. Yeah.

24:38

And the Patriots have known about this guy, and they've

24:40

seen him, and they followed me.

24:42

They have been They love him. They know

24:44

more about Zay Flowers than any other prospect

24:46

in the draft. I just know that because

24:49

he's at the Shrine Bowl. He was at

24:51

BC's pro They were at BC's pro day, which is

24:53

right down the street, and they had him in for

24:55

an extended visit with Bill O'Brien and the staff

24:58

a couple of weeks ago. So this is

25:00

a guy that they have been in

25:02

meeting rooms with in Vegas. They've

25:04

been in meeting rooms here at Jillette Stadium.

25:07

In terms of guys at the top of the draft, just

25:10

by this sheer amount of time

25:12

spent with with the with the guy that

25:14

there's no way they know any more than anybody else

25:17

about Zay Flowers, right, you know that's that's their

25:19

guy. So I've been a huge Zave Flowers

25:21

guy. I believe in the talent.

25:24

I have no concerns about size. I know a lot

25:26

of people bring up that he's small and slight

25:28

framed. Don't care. Not in

25:30

today's NFL. This is you night train lanes,

25:32

not coming across the middle and knocking his head off anymore.

25:35

Right, Like this is in the seventies. We don't

25:37

play football like that anymore. So I'm

25:40

not worried about any of that. The reason

25:42

why I I say now

25:45

Jackson Smith and jigbo over Za is

25:47

two reasons. One, I've

25:49

had enough people that I trust their opinion

25:52

tell me that there's really one

25:55

true blue chip receiver in this

25:58

draft, and it's jsn Right,

26:00

There's really only one. It's not one of those

26:03

drafts like we've had in the last couple of years

26:05

where there's you know, Jamar Chase

26:07

and Jalen Waddle and DeVante Smith

26:10

or you know all they're just receivers all

26:12

over the place. In the first round. This is a thinner

26:14

receiver draft. It's a thinner receiver draft. In the

26:16

first round. Js End's the one surefire

26:19

guy that everybody has. The

26:21

other thing I would say about it is, oh,

26:24

yesterday. I don't even know what made

26:26

me do it, but I just I went through some

26:29

games of Alabama in twenty

26:32

twenty one when Bill O'Brien first

26:34

got there as the offensive coordinator, and

26:37

between Mechi and actually

26:39

Slay Bolden, the amount

26:41

of those little quick

26:43

hitter type throws with just a shifty

26:46

slot receiver that are still

26:48

present in Bill O'Brien's offense. It

26:51

is exactly it's exactly the same as

26:53

the twenty eleven Patriots with Wes Welker. Right,

26:55

it hasn't changed. It's still an

26:57

offense that that first

27:00

and second level separation ability

27:02

and that ability to just cut on a

27:04

dime and him get open at the top

27:06

of the route. That guy is still going

27:08

to catch a hundred passes in this offense. And

27:11

the guy that fits that to a t is

27:13

Jackson Smith and Jigba. So I think JSN

27:16

comes into this offense year one

27:19

has I think he has eighty catches as

27:21

a rookie at the minimum.

27:23

Well, now is he available

27:25

at fourteen?

27:25

Is he available at fourteen? And I

27:28

think there's a real conversation here. You

27:31

have the Texans

27:33

at twelve, who, depending on what they

27:35

do at two, if they do draft

27:37

CJ. Stroud, then pairing him

27:39

with his college teammate at twelve makes

27:42

a ton of sense. Thirteen.

27:45

The Packers just jumped the Patriots in that

27:47

Aaron Rodgers trade up to thirteen. Most

27:49

people think tackle, I think for the Packers,

27:52

or maybe edge rusher, but there

27:54

are some murmurs out there that it could have

27:56

been for Jackson Smith and Jigba. So

27:59

for the Patriot it's I think that you're really

28:01

looking at either banking on

28:04

that not being the case, right and those two teams

28:06

not going in that direction, or trading up

28:08

for let's to say, maybe eleven to

28:11

get him, which I think I would

28:14

do.

28:14

That's a very You did that in your mock here

28:16

on the website.

28:17

It's a very It's rare for Belichick.

28:19

He's only done it four times, and two

28:22

of those times is in the same draft, so he's really

28:24

only done it in three different draft rafts. But

28:26

we're not asking him to trade up from

28:28

fourteen to two. We're asking him to

28:31

trade up from fourteen to eleven,

28:33

like it's it's a jump, it's not if.

28:35

You got fourteen to eleven, do

28:37

they still take JSN? Is that what you think they should

28:40

do?

28:40

It's what I think they should do. Okay, I can't

28:42

What do you think they will do? I think they would trade

28:45

if they were to trade up, even if they stay at

28:47

fourteen, I still think

28:50

that it's either a trenches pick alignment

28:52

on either side of the football, or

28:54

maybe they would trade up for a cornerback. But

28:57

I don't trust Bill Belichick or

28:59

think I shouldn't say. I don't think Bill

29:01

Belichick would trade up for a receiver.

29:03

It's just not in his DNA. Now, they've

29:06

done it in the past, like in the second round last year

29:08

for Taekwon. That's a totally different animal. Trading

29:10

up in the first round for a wide receiver. I

29:13

don't see them doing. I think

29:15

it's ultimately a trench's pick.

29:17

I think they look at it from let's

29:20

build this thing from the inside out, whether

29:22

it's a pass rushers.

29:25

Now you're talking my language, because if

29:27

I were Bill Belichick, I'd draft Broderick

29:30

Jones. Yeah, I think

29:32

Broderick Jones will be there at fourteen. That's

29:34

my thought, and I think that we

29:37

all know that if you're going to try to

29:39

make Mac Jones a viable quarterback beyond

29:41

this year, and he needs to have every

29:43

chance he can get because they screwed up

29:46

last year. And I think everybody can see that, and

29:48

hopefully Bill can too. He

29:51

needs his backside protected and

29:53

you need to have some confidence. Now. The only trouble

29:55

with Broderick Jones. You and I were talking about this

29:57

before the show. He's not quite yet

29:59

the hollished piece of the puzzle that

30:02

you need on the line. He's athletically inclined,

30:05

but he's six ' four, he's three ten, he's

30:07

got long arms, he's got everything that you need

30:10

in order to play that outside that tackle

30:12

spot. He's still a little raw,

30:16

but he's got pedigree. He's got

30:18

thet you know, he's been

30:20

at Georgia, he's won championships, he's a leader,

30:23

he's everything athletically, he's the fit.

30:25

It just may take a little more development. And

30:27

this is where you hope that you made the right hire and Adrian

30:29

clam in the offensive line to coach this guy up.

30:32

Yeah, all right, so but all things

30:34

being equal, we talked about getting a guy that everybody

30:37

knows and a guy that you know you need.

30:39

I'm answering that one with Broderick Jones.

30:42

I am not trading down, even though I said,

30:44

I think that might still be the most likely

30:46

way they go. I could see them trading down

30:48

to pick up another pick, and I don't

30:50

know, the top fifty to top one hundred. I could see

30:52

them doing that. So if they were able to swap

30:55

out first round picks for somebody and get an extra

30:57

top hundred guy, I definitely could see them doing

30:59

that.

30:59

By the way, Yeah right, me too.

31:02

And I think, and I still believe my overall

31:04

prediction is just that that's what's gonna

31:06

happen. Yeah, that they'll trade down, they'll

31:08

get and they'll still keep a first round pick,

31:10

just lower in the round. They may still

31:13

go offensive line with another you know, type

31:15

of lineman, but they'll get an extra top one hundred

31:17

guy. I think to me, that's the top

31:19

pick. However, if they keep fourteen

31:22

Broderick Jumps.

31:22

Yeah, it's it's a good pick. And I think

31:25

based off of their history very

31:27

recently with Mac Jones in twenty

31:30

twenty one, I do think that they

31:32

see the value in at least picking

31:35

when unfortunately, when they're up

31:37

this high, not going

31:39

back too far right, we've seen them trade

31:41

out of the first round or trade back

31:43

like last year in the twenties

31:45

because they're already in the twenties. So at that point

31:48

you're already in second round territory

31:50

on a team's board. I think

31:52

at fourteen, especially with how unique the

31:54

Patriots.

31:55

Board, it's a unanimous first round

31:57

guy that everybody has.

31:59

Right, and I think that especially

32:01

with how different their board

32:03

tends to be from everybody else's.

32:05

We learned that last year their their

32:07

first.

32:07

Round guy being there.

32:10

It seems very likely like because maybe

32:12

some other teams might not view player

32:15

X as a first round guy, but the Patriots do, so

32:18

I think that that's a really nice pick. I think

32:20

the biggest thing that you you look at with Brodrick

32:23

Jones, his ability,

32:25

his athletic ability, and his ability to block

32:27

in space, whether it's like getting in front

32:29

of a screen or in the run game is

32:32

tremendous. Okay, it's absolutely

32:34

tremendous. It's probably the best trade

32:36

any offensive lineman in the draft has if you're

32:38

just looking at singular abilities,

32:41

right, singular things that stand out on

32:43

film. His standout trait is

32:47

he blocks on the move like a tight end, you

32:49

know, and that is that's

32:51

that's great. I think one thing that you look at with

32:53

that, and I think this happens a little bit with

32:56

Lineman picks is people it's boring, right,

32:58

it's a tackle you don't want to tell it doesn't

33:00

it's not flashy.

33:01

I'm all for making mech the

33:03

best guy he can be, especially

33:06

now the subject we talked about about twenty

33:08

minutes ago. Yeah, with Aaron Rodgers

33:10

coming into the division and so the three quarterbacks

33:13

Josh allen to a type of law Aaron

33:16

Rodgers.

33:16

Yeah, yeah, come on, yeah,

33:18

but he's it won't be boring around

33:20

here in the fall. His ability to

33:23

block on the move, I don't think will be boring to people.

33:25

And I also would say that their ability

33:28

to then incorporate that into their

33:30

offense, and knowing that they have this athletic

33:32

specimen at left tackle, they

33:34

can do a lot of really fun things to

33:37

his side of the field, right. They can flip flop

33:39

him too, screens, yeah, you

33:41

know, stretch runs or outside

33:43

runs to his side, let him combo,

33:45

you know, hit, you know, bump, a guy at the line of scrimmage

33:47

and then go up to the second level and block at

33:49

the second level. Like those things are things

33:51

that now Bill O'Brien can get in the room and

33:53

say, we can scheme around and

33:56

could also.

33:56

Be attacked eligible tight end and a lot

33:58

of the formations and the potential as well.

34:00

Yeah, I mean that's the forty nine ers

34:02

do that with Trent Williams, or they move him around and put

34:04

him at the point of attack. Sure, so it potentially

34:07

now the one concern that I really have with broder

34:09

Jones, I guess it's one concern

34:12

that's twofold one. He only made nineteen starts

34:14

at Georgia, so he's still relatively

34:16

young, relatively raw. He's an

34:18

underclassman who declared for the draft. The

34:21

big thing about the Patriots, especially at

34:23

the offensive line position, is they typically

34:25

draft experience guys. We're talking

34:28

about senior bowlers. We're talking about five

34:30

years seniors like Cole Strange

34:32

captains, guys that have started thirty plus

34:34

games in their collegiate career. I

34:36

did some research on it, and then I had

34:38

to go back aways to find the last lineman

34:41

that they took early that didn't

34:43

go to the Senior Bowl. I think

34:46

every if I'm not mistaken,

34:48

every first round lineman they've ever drafted

34:50

was a Senior Bowl guy. Wow, So that

34:53

that's rare. Now, with that being said, they

34:56

don't get an opportunity to draft guys like Broder

34:58

Jones because they're not up at fourteen too

35:00

often.

35:01

Let me ask you a different question

35:03

then, all right, just because since you brought it

35:05

up, what lineman are we talking

35:07

about? We're in the Senior Bowl that would be takable

35:10

at fourteen.

35:11

I would say that the one guy

35:13

that has really generated a ton of buzz

35:15

as we get into the deep process here

35:18

is Darnel Right from Tennessee, who

35:21

was fantastic in the fall season, especially

35:24

against good competition. I think there

35:26

is nobody better against Will Anderson

35:28

from Alabama than Darnell Right last

35:30

year. He was fantastic in that game against

35:33

Alabama. Goes to the Senior Bowl,

35:35

has a great Senior Bowl week, had

35:37

a great combine. You know, this has checked

35:39

all the boxes throughout the process.

35:42

But he's a right tackle, so

35:45

I think you had do I

35:47

I don't necessarily care too much about

35:49

that, but I do think that that's a factor that

35:51

you do have to think about is

35:54

the right tackle? Is that

35:57

still worth it now? I think nowadays

35:59

and today NFL, these

36:01

pass rushers line up all over the place. They

36:04

flip flop guy like von Miller.

36:06

He rushes off the right side right.

36:08

He likes to stand up over the right tackle

36:10

and rush off that side more than the backside.

36:13

So they got to block the same guys.

36:15

I think there's some element to that. But

36:17

he's a people moving right tackle, great

36:20

play strength, great balance, great

36:22

core strength and anchor and pass protection.

36:25

And he's pretty agile and athletic

36:27

for his size. So he fits the bill to

36:29

a t as a Patriots right tackle. But

36:33

I think that you do have to have a conversation of

36:36

it's not left tackle, right right, and do

36:38

we still care about that correct right?

36:40

Let me ask you one more hypothetic Okay,

36:42

just because the rumor might be at

36:44

least has been the last twenty forty

36:46

hours, have seen that a guy likes Skearansky Northwestern

36:49

might slip to fourteen. If

36:51

it does, do you take him

36:53

short arms and all, which is what he allegedly has.

36:56

I'm picturing a Tyronosaurus rex and purple.

36:59

Is that, like you know, Barney the dinosaur running around.

37:01

You know, that's Skeronsky from Northwestern a little

37:03

bit. Do they take him over

37:05

Jones if he's available.

37:09

I can't say no. Do they,

37:11

like, in my mind predicting Bill.

37:14

I can't say no because they have not. Historically,

37:18

they have not been a team that has

37:20

favored arm length as much as

37:22

other teams. I don't think that they historically

37:25

think that it's a big factor and

37:28

as big of a factor as everybody else does. Dante

37:31

Scarnekia famously has

37:33

come out and said that arm length is hogwashed,

37:36

right, that is, it doesn't matter. So

37:40

in that respect, I can't roll it out. Scarnsky

37:42

is the best tackle or the best lineman. I should say

37:45

he's the best lineman in the draft. And

37:47

I think there's something to be said for the fact that

37:50

wherever he plays as a pro, he's

37:53

gonna make the line better. Whether it's a

37:55

guard or it's a tackle, your

37:57

line got better because he's in your room,

37:59

which you slice.

38:00

And that may be ultimately what they decide to do, because

38:03

we know they need that improvement overrle.

38:05

The problem is is that with

38:08

Cole Strange here, with Mike

38:10

Onwenu here, and obviously Scronsky

38:13

is not a center. But with David Andrews here as well,

38:16

where are you playing him as a rookie And

38:20

are you playing him on the outside as a rookie

38:23

just to move him inside long term?

38:26

And is that really worth it?

38:28

Knowing that his long term view is

38:31

probably a guard. Personally, and

38:33

I know a lot of people have some strong opinions about

38:35

this, Personally, I would

38:37

let him fail at tackle first and

38:41

then move him in if he can't hang out and handle it

38:43

right, because I the film is

38:45

so good at tackle at Northwestern, and

38:48

that's that's a conference where he's facing legitimate

38:50

pass rushers. It's not like he's going up against

38:53

you guys that are going to be car salesman and accountants

38:55

in a couple of weeks. Right, He's going up against

38:57

Lucas van Ness and the Ohio State

39:00

guys and the Michigan guys. You know,

39:02

I watched his film from twenty one

39:04

against Hutchinson,

39:08

held up fine against Hutchinson,

39:10

who's longer, and you

39:12

know has all that that was the

39:14

first round, top five caliber player

39:17

we're supposed to did what he's supposed to do. So how much

39:19

am I gonna stress about it, not

39:21

a ton. The only reason why I don't want them to

39:23

take Scaronski is because I know everybody else is gonna

39:25

lose their mind. So they took another guard like I don't.

39:28

I don't want to deal with the backlash right

39:30

because it's it's short sighted and and

39:32

whatnot. It's gonna annoy me. But in terms

39:34

of uh in general, am I afraid

39:37

of taking Scaransky?

39:38

No?

39:38

Uh?

39:39

Man, do you want to make a prediction if you were Bill Belichick,

39:41

you would draft?

39:42

Nope?

39:42

You know he's shaking his head. Now, Okay, I just

39:44

thought i'd offer you the opportunity. Just appreciate

39:47

it. But I rather just keep my mouth closed

39:49

and not proven them stupid. That's

39:52

okay, Well, we're all proven ourselves stupid

39:54

here. That's the ultimate, uh, the ultimate challenge,

39:56

just to find out who's less stupider than others.

39:59

All right, eight five five patch, five hundred.

40:01

Let's get to the phones. Let's find out what you would

40:04

do, and we're gonna lead it off with our buddy Patty

40:06

and agawan. Patty.

40:08

Hello, good

40:10

afternoon, gentlemen. What's going on?

40:12

We're good, We're good, We're good. So if

40:14

you were Bill Belichick, you would

40:16

draft.

40:20

Flowers number fourteen.

40:22

I don't care. I'm not I'm not dropping down

40:24

to take them. I'll tell you what, man, I'm I'm a little

40:26

bit worried that the Packers moved up to thirteen

40:29

because I think they're going to be looking to get a pass catcher

40:31

themselves. And here's kind

40:33

of where I'm coming from. John. We

40:36

heard when when the

40:38

media got the opportunity to speak to all the coaches

40:40

minus Belichick the

40:43

first phase of the OTAs, what did

40:45

Gerrod Mayo say? He said, we feel

40:47

like our defense has been good the last two years.

40:50

And to me, I mean,

40:52

if if I'm smart, if I'm listening to my

40:55

other coaches, we all know. We all saw it at

40:57

fans as media that the

40:59

offense suck last year. And

41:01

I mean part of that was coaching, but a lot of

41:03

that too was getting schematics

41:05

and guys that can't separate, and

41:07

we need that guy. I think that was the one fisting

41:10

piece this offense because we do have decent skill

41:12

players, we just don't have that guy that can

41:14

separate on all three levels. I

41:17

know Evan is on board with where I'm

41:19

coming from, too.

41:21

He'd just do it with a different guy I

41:23

love. Yeah, I've tried not to be too

41:26

heavy.

41:27

I've already pounded the table enough for him.

41:31

And I mean, at

41:33

least from my perspective, if I

41:35

was Bill Belichick, that's

41:38

what I would do. I don't think that's what.

41:40

He's gonna do.

41:41

What I think he's gonna do is just

41:44

do something completely outside the box. But

41:46

I think if he listens to the guy

41:48

like his owner, his offensive

41:50

coaches, and they say, hey, you know, we

41:53

need to get somebody in here, Well, look at look

41:55

at the teams like Buffalo, seems

41:57

like Cincinnati, seems like Miami that

41:59

went out and got the guy, whether it was through the

42:01

draft or through trade or through free agency

42:04

or whatever. Now we if

42:06

we want to be a good, biable offense to compete

42:08

with these teams in the AFC, well

42:11

not just the AFC, in our division, we

42:13

need to get that guy.

42:16

It's a fair point.

42:17

Yeah, Listen, there's

42:19

no wrong answer here.

42:21

I mean we're on the same page when it comes to a receiver

42:24

like that, That, to me is is really

42:26

the missing ingredient. I think with

42:28

line play, I'm I'm with you, John, that there's

42:32

line play is important and certainly

42:34

with a quarterback like Mac Jones who's not a

42:36

mobile guy, keeping him protected

42:39

is really important. I just have more of the school

42:41

thought that I feel like, especially with

42:43

their history of doing a really good job

42:45

of evaluating and scouting

42:48

lineman a little bit later in the draft, that

42:50

I'm confident that Bill

42:52

and the Bills, I should say plural,

42:55

now, the Bills and Adrian Clem,

42:57

and I would say, Dante, you can go

42:59

in there and find them a third round tackle

43:02

that can play the position and can hold

43:04

its down. And I think just as a whole,

43:07

you look at Bill O'Brien being back

43:09

in Adrian Clem now being an offensive

43:11

line coach here schematically

43:14

and in terms of being a five

43:16

man unit in Unison, it's

43:19

gonna be a lot cleaner of an operation

43:21

up front, and I think that that's gonna make a

43:23

lot of dividends as well. I don't necessarily

43:26

know if talent

43:30

was the issue on the line last year. I

43:33

think coaching not

43:35

only from a mental standpoint, but also

43:37

coaching technique, correcting

43:40

flaws on film, all that

43:42

kind of stuff. I think that stuff was

43:44

also a big detriment to that line

43:47

as well. So I think they are still

43:49

going to add some tackles at some point, There's no doubt

43:51

about that. And I would still take I'd

43:53

still take one in the top one hundred if it's not in

43:55

the first round with one of their second or third

43:57

round picks. But I look at receivers.

44:00

Is the most explosive receiver in the draft. He's

44:03

somebody that There was

44:05

a play that they were just showing on NFL Network

44:07

where they actually ran a

44:10

trick play and he was supposed to throw

44:12

it, but the receiver that

44:14

he's supposed to throw it to on the double pass was

44:16

covered, so he just ran for the touchdown.

44:19

He just tucked the ball and he

44:21

just ran for it himself. You know,

44:23

he turned the corner and ran it thirty five yards

44:25

for a touchdown. It just on a

44:28

really what was a broken play. And

44:31

those are the types of plays that they just don't have

44:33

anybody that can do that. They don't have

44:35

anybody that can house the football from

44:37

anywhere on the field. He can take

44:39

it to the house the second he steps

44:42

on the football field, and they just don't have

44:44

that element to their offense, and he would

44:46

bring it. So I'm with you, Patty.

44:48

I've been saying Zay for four months and if

44:51

he ends up being the pick, then I'd be ecstatic.

44:54

And like you said too, Evan, I mean there's a lot of smoke

44:56

there, and like just

44:58

the later maybe not at eight round guy,

45:00

but like a day two guy, guy that I've been

45:03

harping on a lot too, Lake

45:05

Freeland. I mean, the guy gave

45:07

up one sack and in the

45:10

last three years and I'm looking, I'm looking

45:12

at it right now, that's I

45:14

mean, that's thirty over thirty seven games,

45:17

he gave up one sack, you

45:19

know, and over eight hundred, well

45:21

it looks like over a thousand, you know, pass

45:23

blocking snaps.

45:26

You know, you coach that guy.

45:27

Up, you get him in the program, you get him to get

45:29

him to uff his plate strength. And yeah,

45:32

I mean, I know you're only going to carry three three

45:34

tackles into each game, but maybe

45:36

you make like

45:39

one of one of the swing guys in active

45:41

a couple of games and get him in if

45:44

you draft them, to get him a little bit of experience

45:46

this year, and it becomes your starting right tackle next

45:48

year.

45:49

Yeah.

45:49

Yeah, you mentioned earlier, John, we

45:51

were talking about senior Bowl guys. Bike Freeland

45:54

was a senior Bowl guy wasn't

45:56

really great down there, to be honest with you. In the film

45:58

that I saw at Mobile Mobile

46:01

that BYU offense like pass

46:03

protecting on an island in like true pass

46:05

sets. They're not a ton of them on the film

46:08

for him. But I would say that the comp

46:11

is Nate Solder. He's a

46:13

skyscraper. He's six foot eight, three

46:15

hundred and five pounds, three hundred and ten pounds,

46:18

and he is a converted tight end.

46:20

So he's literally Nate Solder. The

46:23

thing that's wrong, you know, the flaw or

46:25

the red flag on his on his film

46:28

is just like Nate Solder. He

46:30

might actually be too tall to

46:32

play tackle because he can't sink in leverage

46:34

blocks, right. He can't get underneath people because

46:36

he's so tall. So it's

46:39

the Senior Bowl a big problem with him.

46:41

In the pass rushing drills that they were

46:43

doing down there.

46:44

Maybe he could just you know, like the quarterback

46:46

could just like hide behind him, you know, that would

46:48

keep him pro rushing.

46:49

Right, guys are gonna be able

46:51

to can't see him, how can you tackle him? I

46:53

can already tell you right now that we're gonna get

46:55

out there at training camp and Blake

46:58

freelin in one on one is gonna go gainst Josh

47:01

and joshu j is gonna smoke him off

47:03

the ball right because o Ja has got

47:05

that explosiveness and that bend right. He

47:07

can get underneath guys and bend underneath and

47:09

turn the corner and really just can't

47:11

get down there. He's on the tenth floor

47:14

and these pass rushers like an ouch can get

47:16

down there right onto the first floor,

47:18

and he just can't get underneath

47:21

it. But he's one of those guys

47:23

that you're not gonna go through him. He's

47:25

got a firm stout anchor.

47:28

He's a better run blocker than he is a pass blocker.

47:30

He can move people off the line of scrimmage, and

47:32

he's got tackle feet. He's got the athleticism

47:35

in the range to play pass protection to tackle.

47:37

He's just gonna have to work around his height.

47:39

Eight five five pats five hundred

47:42

Sean and Vancouver. Hey Sean, you're in the

47:44

playbook.

47:45

Hey guys. Before I get to answer

47:47

your question, I just wanted to bring up one other thing

47:50

of you know. Recently, Bill

47:52

O'Brien said we got a clean slate, which

47:54

is, you know, a good concept but

47:57

I'm also a believer that

48:01

you need to learn from history.

48:03

I mean, those who don't learn from history are

48:05

damned to repeat it. So I

48:07

think you got to, you know, recognize

48:10

your mistakes and make sure you don't

48:12

do them again. Now, one that we've talked

48:15

to for death is basically

48:19

having the people

48:21

in position to coach

48:24

that didn't have the experience, and that was a

48:26

mistake.

48:27

We know that.

48:27

But another one that doesn't get as

48:30

much play is changing

48:32

an offense philosophy,

48:35

specifically blocking, you

48:37

know, for the offensive line, to

48:40

something that you don't have experience in doing,

48:42

and you don't have the people to do it, and

48:44

you don't have the coaches to coach it. So that

48:46

was that was a huge mistake that caused

48:49

other issues and made

48:51

the draft last year a bit strange because I'll

48:54

point it out this way. You know

48:56

you're going to a zone

48:58

blocking scheme. Now you think, oh, we don't have

49:00

the offensive lineman. Even though the offensive line

49:02

was great in twenty twenty one, we don't have the

49:04

right type of players. So let's not

49:07

re sign Carris and let's trade Jack

49:09

Mason. Now you have no guards and you've created

49:11

your biggest need and you're drafting strange

49:14

in the first round because out of desperation you

49:16

trade down and they, oh, we better get this guy

49:19

or something. I don't know what it is, but it was disappointing

49:22

and I don't want to see that again. So I want to

49:24

make sure that this team, you

49:27

know, it, does their job, because if it is, that philosophy

49:30

is do your job. And you pointed out earlier

49:32

a player alike in Warren's he's

49:34

a perfect example of doing your job because you

49:37

wouldn't ask him or he wouldn't go off

49:40

brand and just fly downfield to try

49:42

and sack the quarterback. He's at the

49:45

line, he's holding it up, he's

49:47

allowing other players to make plays, and that

49:49

was his job and he did it great. And you

49:51

know, when you ask coaches to

49:54

or when they're put in position to do things they don't

49:56

know how to do, that's not allowing

49:59

them to do their job. So that that was problematic.

50:01

Now your question.

50:03

If I'm Bill Belichick, I would draft

50:05

yeah who, Yeah,

50:07

this.

50:07

Is your question, right, So I

50:10

like your pick JS and and uh,

50:13

you know the and the tackle

50:15

you know those I'd be happy with that I

50:17

don't think will be there and I'm thinkings Alves

50:19

will be there. I actually see the Patriots

50:22

trading down, stay with Jacksonville and

50:25

you know, going down to the

50:27

Jags of twenty four and then getting

50:29

their second round at

50:33

was at fifty six, right,

50:35

taking those those picks for fourteen

50:37

and still getting Zay Flowers. That's I

50:39

guess it's a bit of a hope

50:43

and rainbow, but that's that's what I'd

50:45

hope to see, So save Flowers. I agree with Patty.

50:47

That's my pick.

50:48

Okay, So which one then are you gonna

50:50

you? If you're Bill Belichick, do you trade down or

50:52

are you taking Zay Flowers?

50:54

Both?

50:55

Oh? So a? So when fourteen

50:58

Zay will make it to twenty four? Right? So with fourteen,

51:01

your inclination is to trade down? Correct?

51:04

Yeah, okay unless something crazy

51:06

happens and one of the major guys

51:09

falls like Gonzalez. But I don't think that's happening,

51:11

all right, or even.

51:12

All right, So I'm putting you down, then, Sean is

51:15

if I were Bill Belichick, I'd trade

51:17

down. It's a good bet, okay,

51:20

Which is there's nothing wrong with that, Okay, there's

51:22

absolutely nothing wrong with that. Yeah, I

51:25

actually believe, I actually believe too

51:27

that that will happen. I don't think they're

51:29

gonna, you know, I don't know where they'll

51:31

trade down, which is why, you know, if they could trade down and get

51:34

Zay Flowers, I think everybody would probably

51:36

be pretty happy with that. I'm not sure that's

51:38

the case, so I just stayed with a pick. If

51:40

they're at fourteen and they selected fourteen, I'm

51:43

going with the pick. My pick was Broderi Jones, So there

51:45

you go.

51:45

I like that.

51:46

I'm happy with that.

51:47

Yeah, I would be if

51:50

they're going to trade, try to try to really

51:53

thread the needle here and trade down

51:55

and take Zaye and get

51:58

both things accomplished. I

52:00

don't think you can go lower than twenty, Okay,

52:04

I think that there's two teams. Nineteen

52:06

is Tampa, right, so you.

52:08

Gotta find will and trade partners in that range.

52:10

And twenty is Seattle, so who's

52:14

desperate to get up. Let's say, for argument's

52:16

sake, that there's

52:19

still a quarterback that team's value

52:21

that's on the board, like a Will

52:23

Levis or maybe

52:25

a hen and Hooker.

52:27

Maybe that because he Levis is going number

52:29

one.

52:31

Maybe maybe that is a Maybe

52:35

that's that's a way that

52:37

that you can entice teams

52:39

to trade to

52:41

make that trade, or maybe

52:44

a team uses you, which has happened

52:46

in the past as as

52:49

a lily pad. Right there there, they say they

52:51

go Tampa goes from nineteen to fourteen

52:54

tomorrow afternoon, and

52:56

then during the draft, once that quarterback

52:59

starts, they go from fourteen to nine, right or

53:01

something like that, and that's when they take the quarterback.

53:04

So in my small dream scenario,

53:06

I also see the Patriots moving up in the second

53:09

round and getting Dwan Jones right

53:11

tackle.

53:12

Yeah, yeah, I mean, I think the trade down and then the

53:14

move up in the second round is a good strategy.

53:17

I just would be really wary

53:19

of trading too far down that now you've lost

53:22

all of the blue chip talent. Right

53:24

now you're picking somebody that's

53:26

really in that second or third

53:28

tier.

53:29

That's been made a very good point earlier Sean

53:31

that once you start getting into the twenties, you're

53:33

looking at guys that are in the second round on a

53:35

lot of teams boards, right, So

53:38

if you want the blue chipper, you

53:40

really need to be going in the upper half

53:42

of the first round.

53:43

Yeah, yeah, I just think there's

53:45

too many teams between

53:47

fourteen and twenty four that would

53:50

love to have Zay Flowers on their team, or

53:52

would be willing to trade up to get

53:54

say Flowers that come ahead of you. You know, I look

53:56

at teams like Buffalo and Kansas City

53:58

picking towards the back end of the round. I

54:01

could easily see the Chiefs who love to

54:03

trade up. They traded up from Mahomes. They traded

54:05

up last year from McDuffie to the Patriots

54:07

pick at twenty one, the Chiefs

54:10

trading up from thirty one to twenty

54:12

three. The steal z A Flowers one

54:14

pick ahead of you is that's

54:17

my That's a nightmare for me personally,

54:20

right like that, those are the things that you

54:22

risk. I think if you go too far down.

54:24

Well, the Seahawks would they trade up twenty

54:27

and say of their second

54:29

round fifty two to the

54:31

Patriots fourteen?

54:32

Yeah, I don't know if you're getting the second round pick.

54:35

Yeah, you might have to give something else. They might have give

54:38

up a third Yeah.

54:38

I don't know if you're getting the second round pick unless you're

54:40

really trading, like your scenario to

54:42

go from fourteen to twenty four, I could see

54:44

that nitting a second round pick, because it's a ten

54:47

picking dropworks. But if

54:49

you're going four or five picks down now

54:51

we're talking about nineteen or twenty,

54:54

I don't know if you're gonna get a second

54:56

round or out of that. That might be a third or third

54:58

and a fourth or just a third.

55:01

Right, yeah and the third. Yeah,

55:03

I guess they could still do that, I mean and

55:05

get like eighty three. That

55:08

would make sense.

55:09

Yeah. Last year there was

55:11

a trade between I think it was

55:13

the Saints when they picked a Lava.

55:15

They went from sixteen to eleven. I

55:18

believe is the mat is the trade if

55:20

I remember correctly, and they got a third

55:22

in the fourth. The team that they traded with got

55:25

a third in the fourth, So that was five spots

55:27

in the first round. That's

55:29

you a third and the fourth. So I think trading down

55:32

from fourteen to twenty, I

55:34

think that's a framework that you can kind of

55:36

count on.

55:37

Eight five, five, pats, five hundred.

55:39

Moving along. Raj in Wakefield,

55:41

Hey, Raj, Hey,

55:44

Hi, guys, good good good, all

55:46

right. So if I'm Bill Belichick, I would

55:48

draft.

55:49

Whom Yeah,

55:52

nice ball by even yes,

55:56

I just want to I know

55:58

that even hits man, I know what I'm

56:00

going to say, but in

56:03

this draft, I think there are only

56:05

two players who most

56:07

of the NFL teams say that they have

56:10

the red jacket or the gold jacket

56:13

standard of talent, and those

56:15

are Jalen Carter and B John Robinson.

56:18

Well, I think if they stay at number

56:21

fourteen, I think then the check

56:23

is going to take B John Robinson. Ideally

56:26

they ideally Philadelphia.

56:29

I hope Philadelphia or Atlanta will take them,

56:31

and Patriots will trade back, and

56:33

they may trade they may take a edge rusher

56:36

and in the second round they will up

56:38

and take the running back on Donell Washington.

56:41

That's what ideally it might happen.

56:44

But if if it's fourteen, if

56:46

B John is staring at.

56:47

Them, they're taking they will take him.

56:50

Because they will say, we don't have blue chip players,

56:53

Let's take him and we'll figure it out.

56:54

How.

56:56

Yeah, he'd be a good thing to have to figure out.

56:58

All we all say that we do. We all say that

57:01

they are never taking the best talented place.

57:03

When the best talented player faulty, how to

57:05

take it right. It does not matter how

57:07

which position is. They

57:09

will figure it out how to use it. That's not enough.

57:12

The betist for twenty years.

57:14

Okay, okay, thoughts.

57:18

When I'm driving home, Matt, make sure I don't

57:20

go over the Tobin bridge.

57:23

Hypopectically, if you think through

57:25

it, you say that this wide

57:28

receiver class is not even good to go in first

57:30

on last year's draft? Yeah, yes, Why

57:33

do you think we have to take up? Why

57:35

do you think we need to eat and take the vibray.

57:39

I don't think that this draft has the

57:42

plethora of talent at receiver that some

57:44

of the other drafts have. But I personally

57:46

feel, especially with jasm but also

57:48

is say Flowers that both those guys go

57:51

in the first round of most drafts, right

57:53

that That's that's sort of my outlook on it. So

57:56

I think we're getting a little bit too technically.

57:59

I agree, but this running

58:01

back usually used to go in top five

58:03

pigs right in every in maybe

58:06

three years back.

58:08

Yeah, college,

58:11

then what's wrong.

58:13

In taking him at fifteen fourteen?

58:16

In terms of talent in this draft

58:18

there there's nothing necessarily wrong with it.

58:21

There's a whole rabbit hole of positional

58:23

value that we can go down a

58:25

little bit that it is important

58:28

to talk about. I really feel strongly

58:31

that the running back position in

58:33

today's NFL is as

58:36

devalued as any position in

58:38

football.

58:39

It's a position the Patriots

58:41

itself.

58:42

The Patriots have did that system ten

58:44

years back and now part

58:46

up approach.

58:48

I just think that, on

58:50

top of the fact that running back is a

58:53

is a position that you really second

58:56

guest nowadays, whether or not it truly moves

58:58

the needle for you, it truly makes you

59:01

a much better football team. They

59:03

have a really good running back already

59:05

like here, so I.

59:07

Know they have it. But if you think from the

59:11

philosophy of football things, they're

59:14

like to have a good defense, good offense

59:17

with a good defense, good special teams,

59:20

mistake three quarterback, ball control

59:22

game. That's what they believe in.

59:24

Right mm hm does that?

59:26

Does that quarterback who is mistake free,

59:29

who does not throw interceptions, do

59:31

dumb mistake? They

59:33

have a good defense, they

59:35

are having they will be hopefully having a good special

59:38

teams after two years of disaster. And

59:40

now it's a ball control game. If

59:42

you have two running backs, take the series

59:44

by series control the ball control

59:47

the game.

59:49

Does that.

59:49

The game is the fourth quarter.

59:52

It does not be does that

59:54

win or anything?

59:57

But they can win games. They were they are winning

59:59

games. They were winning like this following

1:00:01

this pass.

1:00:02

I don't know if that wins games like it used

1:00:04

to ten years ago. I just

1:00:06

don't know if it does.

1:00:07

I feel like I know, but

1:00:10

but but that's what he believes

1:00:12

in and he built his entire.

1:00:14

You're loving this because this is your guy. So you're

1:00:17

just you're letting, you're letting.

1:00:20

Through his philosophy. Still, he's the headport.

1:00:23

We cannot if that let

1:00:26

me pretty this way because I I I

1:00:28

I try to be as polite as I possibly

1:00:30

can to to to the head

1:00:32

coach of the team, not to you. I I'm always.

1:00:36

I hope I should have brought this yesterday

1:00:38

on, but I did not want

1:00:41

chance to join that college today.

1:00:42

Or no, that's okay, Yeah,

1:00:45

no, it's okay. I I say

1:00:47

this with all due respect to Bill's

1:00:49

resume and his success. If

1:00:52

he drafts John Robinson at fourteen,

1:00:54

I'm going to start thinking the game has passed him

1:00:56

by that

1:00:58

that that's a twenty years ago philosophy,

1:01:01

that we are going to win the game

1:01:03

with ball control and time of possession

1:01:06

and no turnovers and like

1:01:09

that.

1:01:09

I und I understand your appointment,

1:01:11

but don't you think the gest that the

1:01:14

Sepens will go up with

1:01:17

Bijon.

1:01:20

I just don't know how that. I

1:01:22

don't know how drafting Bijon puts

1:01:26

you any any closer to

1:01:28

to to competing with the team

1:01:30

like Buffalo. You're gonna go into Buffalo

1:01:32

and you're gonna try to run the ball forty times and

1:01:36

win the game seventeen fourteen, and you're going to bank

1:01:38

on your defense to be able to hold Josh Allen to

1:01:40

fourteen points. Like, even if you only give

1:01:43

last year when they went into Buffalo, Josh

1:01:45

Allen, he didn't have very many possessions

1:01:47

because the kickoff returns right, he still went right

1:01:49

down the field on you when he had the opportunity

1:01:51

to. So even if you only give him

1:01:53

six drives, eight drives, he's still gonna.

1:01:55

Score on four of them. Yeah.

1:01:57

Yeah, I I

1:01:59

an agreement that this

1:02:02

team is currently constructed cannot

1:02:04

get into a shootout with Buffalo. They're

1:02:06

not going to win forty one to thirty eight against the

1:02:08

Bills. They have to be they

1:02:11

have to build up their offense, though

1:02:14

to the point where they can win a game

1:02:16

into the high twenties, low

1:02:19

thirties. They can't. They have not won

1:02:21

a game in the mac Jones era,

1:02:23

scoring more than twenty five four points

1:02:27

they have to think about.

1:02:29

By the way, there's nuts.

1:02:30

Oh, for any game where the

1:02:32

opponent scores more than twenty four points.

1:02:34

They've lost.

1:02:34

They've lost at

1:02:37

some point in time. You got to be able to win a game thirty

1:02:39

to twenty seven. You just have to be able to do

1:02:41

it. And I just don't know if the running

1:02:43

back gets you over that hump. It's

1:02:45

just tough, Raj. I love you like a brother. Appreciate

1:02:48

it.

1:02:48

I appreciate the call.

1:02:49

That was a good back and forth.

1:02:50

Absolutely, it was great. And I thought hecause

1:02:53

there's definitely a sound argument. It

1:02:55

was not cousin, Raj, however, So there's.

1:02:57

Definitely there's definitely a sound argument

1:02:59

for So I'm not coming at it and saying

1:03:02

it's it's totally ridiculous, right,

1:03:05

Like there is legitimate.

1:03:07

Yeah, and there is an argument to make for Bejon

1:03:09

if.

1:03:12

I what I look

1:03:14

at it as is, look, they're gonna

1:03:16

have better coaching than this, And I get that, but

1:03:19

look at Christian McCaffrey, look

1:03:21

at Saquon bar Like, look at those players

1:03:24

early on. Look at Christian McCaffrey and Carolina

1:03:27

Christian McCaffrey was the number

1:03:29

one pick and everybody's fantasy

1:03:31

draft for five to

1:03:34

whatever however long he was in Carolina, right,

1:03:36

five six years, whatever it was. They

1:03:38

were a terrible team. He

1:03:41

didn't move the needle. He was

1:03:43

the most productive player in the league from a statistical

1:03:45

perspective. That's why he's going number one

1:03:48

in fantasy football drafts. And

1:03:50

they they stunk.

1:03:53

Yeah, hard to argue, right,

1:03:55

hard to argue eight five five pats

1:03:57

five hundred. That's the toll. Free

1:03:59

to all of a number at JR Broadcaster

1:04:02

on Twitter if you got some thoughts, or you can send

1:04:04

me the old fashioned email web

1:04:07

radio at Patriots dot Com.

1:04:09

Jody in Georgia up next, Hey Jody,

1:04:12

Hey, how you doing great? So if I'm Bill

1:04:14

Belichick, I would draft.

1:04:16

Whom well I

1:04:19

really want would probably not be there, Christian

1:04:21

Gondalas. But it's got to

1:04:23

be a cornerback. I mean, we got Aaron Rodgers,

1:04:25

Josh Allen and Tua with all these weapons,

1:04:28

we need somebody to lock them down. So

1:04:30

I think we need to get a high end

1:04:32

cornerback to kind of be able to trail

1:04:35

some of these.

1:04:35

Guys longer linked here.

1:04:37

Maybe like Banks or Joey

1:04:39

Porter, something along those lines.

1:04:41

Would you check which one would you take?

1:04:45

Personally? I would probably do Banks, but

1:04:48

I don't know if the consensus is Joey Porter's

1:04:50

probably you know, a little bit higher on people's boards,

1:04:52

but Banks is linked and you know,

1:04:54

athletic ability. I think it's got a lot outside.

1:04:57

What do you think about Banks?

1:04:58

Love Banks, Yeah, he's he's

1:05:00

he's a great player. I

1:05:02

think that you have to probably at this point take him

1:05:04

at fourteen. I don't know if you can trade down

1:05:06

for him anymore. I thought maybe if you'd

1:05:08

asked me a month ago, I would have probably thrown

1:05:10

out of trade down scenario and still get Banks,

1:05:13

like at twenty or twenty one or something like that.

1:05:16

I don't know if you can do that anymore. He's

1:05:19

really consensus corner three

1:05:21

or four in this draft at this point. I think some teams

1:05:23

are going to have him ahead of Joey Porter junior. He's

1:05:26

the most athletic corner in the draft. He's

1:05:28

ultra physical at the line of scrimmage

1:05:30

and pressman. He can mirror receivers down the

1:05:32

field. He doesn't quite have the ball production,

1:05:35

you know, the interceptions, pass breakups things like that

1:05:37

that other guys have. But you watch him

1:05:39

stay glued to a receiver. You look

1:05:41

at the athletic profile, the size,

1:05:43

the physicality. He's a baller,

1:05:46

you know, he's a really really good football

1:05:48

player. I just look

1:05:50

at him and I see a little bit of Marlin Humphrey

1:05:53

on Baltimore like kind of that type of player.

1:05:56

I love Banks. I mean, I think it's a slam

1:05:58

dunk pick. And they're such a great

1:06:00

argument there too about how

1:06:02

many more times are we going to watch the Patriots

1:06:05

get destroyed by Stefan Diggs

1:06:07

when they play Buffalo. Right, they just without

1:06:10

that Gilmour, without that revis without

1:06:12

that tie law, the defense isn't

1:06:14

the same. It's a good defense, but it's not an elite

1:06:17

defense without that number one corner the way that they

1:06:19

play defense.

1:06:20

So and they've already done the J. C. Jackson

1:06:22

experiment where they try to take somebody who they

1:06:24

they thought could be number one but wasn't

1:06:27

quite that guy, you know what I mean.

1:06:28

So, yeah, and I think they have a couple of those guys

1:06:30

now with the Joneses. Right, you know that those three

1:06:33

guys two through four,

1:06:35

that's a great depth chart one through

1:06:37

three, you're still thinking,

1:06:39

all right, they could probably use the alpha

1:06:42

right in that room. So I love

1:06:44

banks. I like taking a corner too. That's

1:06:47

I think this is probably more an

1:06:49

indictment on where they are right now. John, that we

1:06:51

can say tackle, we can say receiver,

1:06:53

we can say corner, and be right and

1:06:56

say yeah, sure, go for it.

1:06:58

They all make sense and that that that's kind of where the roster

1:07:01

is at this point.

1:07:01

Yeah, in all honesty, the

1:07:03

guy that I was thinking if trade down

1:07:06

was gonna happen, which I said earlier, I still

1:07:08

think it might happen. I would think they would trade

1:07:10

down, and depending on where they traded, somewhere

1:07:12

in that twenty probably the twenty four area.

1:07:15

Joey Porter's the guy I thought they would probably try to

1:07:17

snag.

1:07:17

Yeah, he's somebody that's really impressive

1:07:20

at the combine when we got to

1:07:22

talk to all the players at the podiums

1:07:25

in Indy. He's just a

1:07:27

really polished, calm,

1:07:29

cool, collected, confident kid, like

1:07:32

you can just tell that he just he knows

1:07:34

he's going to be playing on Sundays for a long time.

1:07:36

It's not too big for him. He's not worried

1:07:38

about where he's going. He's not worried

1:07:41

about his dad. You know, I think that was a big question

1:07:43

a lot of people were asking him, especially as it relates

1:07:45

to the Patriots. We know that Joey

1:07:47

Porter Senior does not really like Bill

1:07:49

Belichick in the New England Patriots, right, So

1:07:52

how much is that going to be a factor?

1:07:54

Would they take him? With that history?

1:07:56

I can't imagine has anything to do with it.

1:07:58

I don't think it does, because, you know, with a Santa

1:08:00

Samuel Jr. I think maybe he'd had a little

1:08:02

bit of something to do with it. But Joey Porter

1:08:05

Senior never played for the Patriots and doesn't have

1:08:07

any real bad blood with Bill. It's just

1:08:09

a rivalry, right, It's all it was.

1:08:12

So I think that he's a really

1:08:14

interesting player for them. But the one

1:08:17

thing I would just say

1:08:19

with him is I don't think

1:08:21

that he's matchup proof. He's

1:08:23

one of these longer corners. He takes a little bit

1:08:25

of time to get up to top speed. Like, I

1:08:27

don't think you're gonna you're gonna have him

1:08:29

shadow Tyreek Hill, right,

1:08:32

Like, he's not gonna run with a guy like Tyrak Hill.

1:08:35

Now you already have Jonathan Jones and Marcus Jones

1:08:37

to run with Tyreek Hill. So maybe you don't need that

1:08:39

type of corner. But I think more so than

1:08:41

maybe like a Gonzales or a Banks or

1:08:44

a Witherspoon, Joey Porter Junior

1:08:46

is a true big matchup

1:08:49

outside corner, Like you're gonna have to

1:08:51

pick your spots a little bit more with him,

1:08:54

I think than with some of these other guys. So that's

1:08:56

something to consider with him, is

1:08:58

is there enough of those big receipt is that you're

1:09:00

going to go up against it's worth it to

1:09:03

Okay, you play the Bengals and he's got

1:09:05

T Higgins, great matchup for him,

1:09:07

But when you play Miami, where who is he guarding?

1:09:10

He's not guarding Wattle and Hill. I know

1:09:13

that, So that that's

1:09:15

gonna be one thing that I that they why

1:09:17

I've kind of come to the conclusion that they might

1:09:19

have Banks ahead of him on the board.

1:09:23

Okay, Jody, what else you got?

1:09:26

The only other thing I was I was kind of curious

1:09:29

and somebody kind of mentioned it a little bit earlier. I

1:09:32

was really concerned with the pick

1:09:34

swap with the Jets and the Packers, just because

1:09:37

you know, obviously I just thought, I want a cornerback, but

1:09:39

you know, receivers always a big hope. I just don't have

1:09:41

too many high hopes for that. Yeah,

1:09:44

but with Green Bay's up in the front, I

1:09:46

know they got two young guys and Dobbs and Christians,

1:09:50

but I didn't know if if that kind of like snubs

1:09:53

any chances of us possibly getting one

1:09:55

of those guys.

1:09:55

Yeah, we we. We kind of touched on briefly

1:09:57

early when we talked about the whole Aaron Rodgers, you

1:10:00

know, to the Jets deal and how it could affect the

1:10:02

Patriots and their draft, and I would

1:10:04

agree with you, it could potentially, Uh,

1:10:07

it could potentially alter some of the thinking.

1:10:09

Yeah, yeah, I think Green Bay. Unfortunately,

1:10:13

Green Bay's needs are pretty similar to your needs.

1:10:15

I think the Jets though too. The Jets have been

1:10:18

written all tackle written all over their forehead,

1:10:20

like they've been all over the tackles in this draft,

1:10:22

and they're gonna I think they're gonna go tackle

1:10:25

in the first round. So they were already

1:10:27

a team ahead of you that was probably gonna take

1:10:29

one of those tackles that maybe that you wanted.

1:10:31

So I don't think it necessarily changes much of that position.

1:10:33

I think the positions it changes is potentially receiver.

1:10:36

But the Packers, I don't think they've ever

1:10:39

taken a first round receiver in

1:10:41

like the last like thirty years or something crazy

1:10:43

like that. Really, Christian Watson was an early

1:10:45

second round pick. Yeah, so that

1:10:48

is a little one, little caveat to that.

1:10:50

But that was a big thing for Aaron Rodgers.

1:10:52

I know when they you know, some of this stuff came

1:10:54

out about what his big issue what

1:10:56

the Packers was in their front office was that

1:10:58

they didn't really add the offense. It's a talent at the top

1:11:00

of the draft that he wanted. So are

1:11:03

they now going to go against that and take the

1:11:06

year that they traded Aaron Rodgers the year they

1:11:08

finally take a receiver in the in the first

1:11:10

round. That's a pretty big slap

1:11:12

in the face to a franchise icon.

1:11:14

So I don't know if they'll do that. But the tackle

1:11:17

and edge, I think are two other positions

1:11:19

that the Packers could go that

1:11:21

maybe the Patriots have entertained as

1:11:24

well. So yeah, it's a factor. It

1:11:26

certainly changes the deck, and you got

1:11:28

to look at it that way.

1:11:30

Awesome.

1:11:31

I appreciate you guys, all Right, no problem, Jody,

1:11:33

Thank you appreciate that. I did not know this. I

1:11:35

just saw on Twitter. I

1:11:37

don't know. Do you know who Chuck Carlton

1:11:39

wrote Dallas Morning News.

1:11:41

Name sounds familiar.

1:11:42

Yeah, He's been a longtime football writer, covered

1:11:44

a lot of college football, which those

1:11:46

guys right now are experts,

1:11:48

because yeah, because but you

1:11:50

know, he'd been writing with Dallas Morning number of news. He just passed

1:11:53

away, and I'm like, wow, that's

1:11:55

a stunner. Yeah, because I've known of

1:11:57

Chuck Carlton, followed him for a number of years.

1:11:59

You why he started off in that part of the country,

1:12:01

And I'm just like, wow, that's just that's a shocker.

1:12:04

Yeah, it's too bad.

1:12:05

Yeah, absolutely, eight five five

1:12:07

pats five hundred the tot free number if

1:12:09

you want to jump in again. The question today is

1:12:12

if I'm Bill Belichick, I would

1:12:15

draft blank fill

1:12:17

in the blank. That's what we got. We got a

1:12:20

pretty good consensus going well right now.

1:12:22

Right now, we don't have an edge. Nobody has

1:12:24

an edge. We've had Jackson and Jigba,

1:12:26

We've had uh Roderick Jones,

1:12:29

We've had Zave Flowers, We've had trade

1:12:31

down, you know for

1:12:33

a Flowers Uh, and we've

1:12:36

had uh Robinson, Uh,

1:12:38

and we've had Banks. Okay, those

1:12:41

are the guys that we've had.

1:12:42

He's got a slight lead if we want to.

1:12:44

I don't hear what. He's got a slight lead only

1:12:46

because Flowers was selected by Patty and

1:12:49

then Sean in Vancouver said

1:12:51

trade down to select Flowers.

1:12:53

So he's hell give him one and a half.

1:12:55

He's got one and a half. Basically, he's

1:12:57

got one and a half. Aiden in California

1:13:01

writes this in web radio at Patriots

1:13:03

dot com. John Hopaul is, well, glad to hear you

1:13:05

are considering or listening to takes of

1:13:07

about firing Bill, because when I emailed

1:13:09

in January you said it was an extreme take.

1:13:11

My take is still yes, I want to fire him

1:13:14

immediately. We haven't had any

1:13:16

impact players since twenty twelve, which

1:13:19

you pointed out earlier. I

1:13:21

for one am tired. I don't think

1:13:23

you're advocating firing Bill though now I for one

1:13:25

am tired of seeing the parade of players pass

1:13:27

us by, and the whole Max situation

1:13:30

was just botched horribly. I know it's

1:13:32

probably not apples to apples. I don't follow

1:13:34

the Bruins, but look, they fired Cassidy and hired

1:13:36

Montgomery last I checked, they're still pretty

1:13:38

good as in who I think the guy who

1:13:40

can't draft anymore will take. Speaking

1:13:43

of Beligic, he selects Miles

1:13:45

Murphy, so.

1:13:47

He's really just saying that Bill is kind

1:13:50

of just middle finger it to

1:13:52

everybody on Thursday Night. Miles

1:13:55

Murphy and edge rushers in general.

1:13:57

I'm not the biggest Miles

1:13:59

Murphy guy out of this group, but I

1:14:02

am not sleeping on edge rusher being

1:14:04

the first round pick by any means. It's a really

1:14:06

strong class. And if you're just going

1:14:08

off of talent, I think that there's a very

1:14:10

good chance that one of those pass rushers is

1:14:12

the best guy available on the board at fourteen

1:14:15

for them. And when you look

1:14:17

at their roster depth there at

1:14:19

that spot right now, behind Judan and Nucha,

1:14:21

what do you got? Pretty much nothing unless you want

1:14:23

to really count on Ronnie

1:14:25

Perkins and Forriny Jennings finally emerging

1:14:28

from the ABYSS, I'm not, and

1:14:30

then Nucha's in a contract year and Matthew

1:14:32

Judon's thirty one years old. I

1:14:34

think Deuce says it perfectly on PU all the time.

1:14:37

If Matthew Judon goes down.

1:14:40

Where is this deal at what.

1:14:42

Does the whole team do so to

1:14:45

get another one of those guys have bookend

1:14:47

pass rushers that can get after these quarterbacks

1:14:50

that are now in your division. There's

1:14:53

some reason in logic to it. I

1:14:55

think what people need to continue to see

1:14:58

what their edge rusher spot. Josh

1:15:00

U j only plays forty percent of the time. Josh

1:15:03

U j is a sub rusher. He is a situational

1:15:06

pass rusher. He is not a three down player.

1:15:08

He's not a run player. He doesn't play on first

1:15:11

down. So as good as he was

1:15:13

last year and as good as he is at rushing

1:15:15

the passer, he is a situational

1:15:18

player. So what we're talking about

1:15:20

with a guy like Miles Murphy or

1:15:22

a guy like Lucas van Ness

1:15:24

or a guy like Nolan Smith, who these

1:15:26

are all guys they've had in for visits. Tyree

1:15:28

Wilson from Texas Tech is a

1:15:30

player that's gonna play eighty percent of the snaps

1:15:34

and you can still get ouch on the field in the same

1:15:36

situations. And maybe Miles Murphy

1:15:38

kicks in, you know, one spot in and

1:15:40

plays more as like an end and then

1:15:43

you still have coming off the edge, right, So

1:15:45

it's not like you have to take one or the other on

1:15:47

the field. So I look at

1:15:49

it and I see Miles

1:15:52

Murphy, Matthew Judaan, josh

1:15:55

U j Christian bar Moore,

1:15:57

Dietrich Wise. Good

1:16:00

luck block in that front, right, you know, that's a

1:16:02

really really tough front to block. Somebody's

1:16:05

getting a one on one somewhere and it's gonna

1:16:07

be a good pass rusher getting that one on one.

1:16:09

So I don't hate it. I don't hate it.

1:16:12

How do you respond to Aaron Rodgers going to

1:16:14

the Jets sack them?

1:16:16

Well, we've talked about that, we talked about

1:16:19

that earlier. Yeah, you just you try to knock

1:16:21

the hell out of them. That's totally true.

1:16:22

I don't hate it. The best defense in football right now

1:16:24

is the San Francisco forty nine ers. They're built

1:16:27

through the trenches. That's how they get

1:16:29

it. They don't have a star in

1:16:31

the secondary, they don't have a star cornerback.

1:16:33

Jadevious Ward's their best corner right

1:16:36

that. That whole defense runs through the front four.

1:16:38

That's that's the entire defense. So

1:16:42

I don't know. I can't, I can't, I

1:16:44

can't say no. I can't say no.

1:16:47

Uh, Chad and the at L whoever

1:16:49

the player is and wherever it is they're

1:16:51

taking. Considering Bill's trading history,

1:16:53

I would just like them to take an exciting potential

1:16:56

playmaker, someone to put

1:16:58

buds in the seats and training and the regular

1:17:00

season. As surprising as it is for Evan,

1:17:03

there are people who consider the cornerback

1:17:05

position exciting to watch.

1:17:07

Shocks does.

1:17:10

He said, Although, by the way, if I am Bill Belichick,

1:17:12

I would trade up and draft Christian

1:17:15

Gonzales.

1:17:15

It's a good pick. Okay, it's

1:17:17

a good pick, great player. I think Christian Gonzalez,

1:17:20

out of all of these corners in this draft,

1:17:23

he is the best

1:17:25

at everything right, Like, there's not a

1:17:27

flaw in his game. He's not. Yes,

1:17:30

he's not as flashy

1:17:33

as Devin Witherspoon, Right, He's not gonna

1:17:35

make the plays on the football that Devin Witherspoon

1:17:37

does. He's not as

1:17:39

athletically freaky or as

1:17:42

long as Joey Porter Jr. But

1:17:45

he is sound and man, he's sounded

1:17:48

zone. He's sound in match, he sound against

1:17:50

the run, like he doesn't do anything bad, and

1:17:53

there's something to be said for that and you watch his

1:17:55

film and he is a smooth sob

1:17:57

out there John, Like that guy's got hit

1:18:00

that got.

1:18:00

Oil all over him. The feet

1:18:03

are fantastic.

1:18:05

He flips the hips and he runs

1:18:07

with anybody like you just looked at

1:18:09

and you're like, how is he so smooth

1:18:12

bound?

1:18:12

Chick a bow bow?

1:18:13

Yes, sir, hips

1:18:15

don't lie. That's

1:18:18

my Shakira.

1:18:18

Evans hips man,

1:18:21

isn't he?

1:18:22

That's that's no way you talk like this at home. Just

1:18:27

this is this is my Shakira. The draft

1:18:30

his hips don't lie.

1:18:33

I love it. I absolutely love it. That's

1:18:35

good stuff. Eight five five patch

1:18:37

five hundred rolling along here. If you're

1:18:39

Bill Belichick, you would take you would

1:18:41

draft whom Claire

1:18:43

in the UK, host of The Claire

1:18:46

Perspective.

1:18:46

Listening live, I love I love it?

1:18:48

Hey Claire? How are you hey?

1:18:51

John?

1:18:52

Hey? Girl? Love

1:18:55

it? Love it? So you probably have something to think

1:18:57

about that hip movement yourself, right, I

1:19:00

got it a bit.

1:19:01

I was shocked to hear this from Evan. This

1:19:04

this a new side of.

1:19:05

Evan Oily hips John.

1:19:08

Okay, a little too much information there.

1:19:13

You can tell that I've been talking about these guys

1:19:15

for four months.

1:19:16

Right, you're tired of look into the damn

1:19:18

tape. Let's draft these suckers.

1:19:20

Let's go all right, Claire, which the

1:19:22

tape?

1:19:23

He's looking at the hips?

1:19:25

Yeah, which which tight end are

1:19:27

you taking in the first round? Claire, I'm

1:19:30

not, Oh the upset

1:19:32

of the century.

1:19:33

I thought for sure you'd be like a Michael Meyer.

1:19:35

Yeah, yeah, me too.

1:19:37

Oh well yeah, I mean he

1:19:39

is kind of my draft for as they say, and he is

1:19:41

the guy that I sort of would want, but he's

1:19:43

the first round guy, and the Patriots

1:19:46

kind of the first round isn't

1:19:48

for the tight endage for them. There's plenty

1:19:50

of kind of depth in the draft. Tiny,

1:19:53

So I'm pretty well, I want I want to say, I'm

1:19:55

pretty sure, but I'm really hoping that they do take

1:19:58

at least I want to, but

1:20:00

they shouldn't take it least on. But if you're

1:20:02

sort of going number four, see if that's

1:20:04

what you're talking about. The problem that I've got that

1:20:08

it's so difficult to choose. There's so many like Evan

1:20:10

saying Gonzales, he's hits amazing.

1:20:13

You've got to know that a lot of the fan base,

1:20:15

like they flowers and they want that shiny

1:20:17

new toy. When it comes to wide receivers, you've

1:20:19

got the edge guys that are good. You've got

1:20:21

I know Evan doesn't want him, and I don't want a

1:20:24

running back in the first round, but b John Robinsons,

1:20:26

you know, an elite player. There's so much

1:20:28

there. Linebacker Jack Campbell amazing,

1:20:31

if you'd be a brilliant Patriot. So it's

1:20:33

there's so many that you could choose at fourteen,

1:20:35

and I'm going to be really boring because

1:20:38

I really want a good tackle. So for

1:20:40

me, it's kind of like the Broderick Jones or

1:20:42

the Peters Goronski because the

1:20:44

thing is, the one thing that keeps drawing me

1:20:46

back to taking a tackle first

1:20:49

is it's so difficult to get

1:20:52

the value of tackling free agency without

1:20:54

a lot of money. The

1:20:57

drafted, where you pick up guys.

1:20:59

And get them, there is a question of value

1:21:01

there.

1:21:01

Yeah, yeah, okay, I want that kind

1:21:03

of that top guy that you pick early,

1:21:06

you pick high, whatever, and he lasts

1:21:09

two years and years and you haven't got to drop

1:21:11

those multi millions big deal

1:21:13

to entice a tackle, to

1:21:16

protect your quarterback, to kind

1:21:18

of build your team for the future, to get

1:21:20

success for the future.

1:21:22

Yeah, it's a really good point about tackles

1:21:24

and the really good tackles

1:21:27

do not come available too often because those guys

1:21:29

typically get resigned or traded.

1:21:31

Exactly.

1:21:32

There's really you know, Mike mcglinchy hits

1:21:34

free agency. Mike mclinchy is a good tackle, but

1:21:36

he's not an elite tackle. And then he goes

1:21:38

ahead and he breaks the record for the most

1:21:40

money given to a tackle for It's

1:21:43

basically what the Patriots did in twenty one, and

1:21:45

the issues that they ran into with that free agency

1:21:47

spending spree was overpaying for

1:21:50

B plus guys exactly. Yeah, and

1:21:52

tackle it's completely point.

1:21:54

Yeah, it's a very valid point position where you're

1:21:57

overplaying with glinchy even though he's not

1:21:59

exactly what you really really kind of want,

1:22:01

but you're overplaying because you need you need

1:22:04

that tackle. And I think the likes of Broderick Jones

1:22:06

and Peter Skrunsky could possibly

1:22:08

really step them up when it comes to alone. It's

1:22:10

kind of boring. I get it. It's not something

1:22:13

that's game changing and sparkly

1:22:15

on the field, but it's something that when you look

1:22:17

at the bigger picture as a

1:22:19

team, as a fanchise, how soudid

1:22:22

you need an O line? How we saw the

1:22:24

problem last year at the lack of depth

1:22:26

and stuff, and I know that they've kind of possibly

1:22:29

addressed that in free agency this year

1:22:31

and stuff. But you want those super

1:22:34

duper guys out there that you

1:22:36

can depend on, that you know called rain or

1:22:38

shine. They're going to protect the quarterback.

1:22:41

And once you've got that, you haven't got a worry that in

1:22:43

two or three four years you've got to dump a

1:22:45

load of money on a tackle. You've still got these

1:22:48

kids on rookie deals, which is you're getting

1:22:50

such value for money. And yeah, like I said,

1:22:52

I know it's boring, but it just feels

1:22:54

like a really good way of

1:22:56

building a team when you've got such these

1:22:58

good skill sets that are kind of at

1:23:01

fourteen.

1:23:01

In this track, And which tackle do you

1:23:03

favor?

1:23:05

I'm really still being between the two.

1:23:08

I really really get off the fence,

1:23:10

Claire, get off the fence. I

1:23:13

know, I know that you just

1:23:16

kind of like nope, no, no, no

1:23:18

fence walking, no fence walking not

1:23:20

allowed.

1:23:23

Moment.

1:23:23

So you joined you joined me with Broderick Jones.

1:23:26

He was my pick.

1:23:27

I'm very glad that Claire that

1:23:30

you you listen to the programs

1:23:33

and you listen to people that talk about

1:23:35

positional value and money. And if

1:23:37

you're following the money with this pick, which is

1:23:39

it, really that's the best way to do

1:23:41

things, especially with this team. Let me tell you

1:23:45

where they can, Where they can, you know, get

1:23:47

the best bang for their buck, that's

1:23:49

typically where Bill Belichick and the Patriots

1:23:51

go.

1:23:51

All right, we have to turn this conversation your

1:23:54

direction, though, however, because we

1:23:56

know that the tight end could definitely be a need

1:23:58

here at some point when to the patrons

1:24:00

take one and who's available.

1:24:04

I was hoping in the second

1:24:06

round, but I think it's still too rich

1:24:08

because of need. But when I've been like mocked and

1:24:10

stuff like that, I've taken Family.

1:24:12

Reporter at like the forty six, okay.

1:24:14

And then later into maybe the fourth. I

1:24:17

really like Luke Shoemaker.

1:24:19

He's so rounded and stuff.

1:24:21

I think much language

1:24:24

for the future.

1:24:25

You've got future as well. The thing

1:24:27

is, at the moment, they do need that blocking tight ends,

1:24:29

and they can't just look at the Porter and think they're

1:24:31

set for the future, because they're not, because none

1:24:34

of what they've got now is you know, you've

1:24:36

got the serious blocking. But if you strengthen

1:24:38

the O line. It maybe isn't as much of a need,

1:24:41

but I think you've got a FAMI. Reporter is the

1:24:43

kind of what they like say, weapon in

1:24:45

adversity commers if you like. And then for me, Shoemaker

1:24:48

is just this really solid value

1:24:50

for many tight ends who can be sturdy

1:24:53

and reliable, and he's like

1:24:55

the future sort of things. So I want

1:24:58

the double dip in and I kind of want the than

1:25:00

the Porter and the shoe maker. Ideally

1:25:03

i'd have Mayor like forty

1:25:05

six, but that won't happen.

1:25:07

Yeah, he won't probably yet. Yeah, he will

1:25:09

probably wouldn't last that long. I see some

1:25:11

max taking him at thirteen. Wait,

1:25:14

Marx taking Mayor higher, Meyer

1:25:16

higher at thirteen.

1:25:17

Yeah, there's a mock today that somebody had

1:25:19

the Mayor at thirteen to the

1:25:21

Packers.

1:25:22

Is a myor? Mayor?

1:25:23

I think it's Mayor?

1:25:24

Is it?

1:25:25

I think?

1:25:25

So? Okay it's Maya.

1:25:26

Okay, he's he's a well

1:25:29

rounded specimen.

1:25:30

That guy is.

1:25:32

Oh it was my draft course, like before

1:25:34

draft crist.

1:25:35

Yeah, he's uh, he's he's an impressive

1:25:37

player. I think that the best

1:25:39

comp to me for him is Jason Witten.

1:25:42

You know, just is he I've heard that

1:25:44

before.

1:25:44

Is he Rock or Travis Kelsey

1:25:46

that he's going to put up fifteen hundred yards?

1:25:49

Probably not, but he's going to be at

1:25:51

like nine hundred and two one thousand every single

1:25:53

year and he's going to block his fine off. Yeah,

1:25:55

you know, just really well rashed.

1:25:58

I think at the worst case scenario, he's like a t.

1:26:00

J. Hawkinson and that's like the low floor

1:26:03

for him. Yeah,

1:26:05

he's a really good player. I love

1:26:07

that you picked that Laporte is one

1:26:09

of your guys though, because he's he's I

1:26:12

probably am higher on laporter than anybody.

1:26:14

I have Lapora Laporta as my

1:26:16

second tight end in the draft, behind Mayor. I think

1:26:18

he's better than Kincaid. I think I

1:26:20

think in Caid gets a little bit overrated.

1:26:23

Uh Laporta.

1:26:25

His athletic profiles off the charts,

1:26:28

his separation ability at the top of the route,

1:26:30

his versatility. He's the I

1:26:33

think the best pass catching tight end in the draft.

1:26:35

So yeah,

1:26:38

he's fantastic player. I really

1:26:41

hope that he he you know,

1:26:44

just looking at Bill O'Brien and the

1:26:46

success that he had with the tight ends here the first

1:26:48

time around. He plays

1:26:50

a little bit more like the other tight end that we don't

1:26:52

say his name around here anymore, but

1:26:57

he's got that kind of skill set, the ability

1:26:59

to the jitterbug. But at six

1:27:01

four two and forty five pounds, it's a it's

1:27:03

a rare, a rare breed, and he's

1:27:06

a really athletic player. I love Laporto.

1:27:09

So you hadn necessary a

1:27:11

two minutes ago, and now you've got the necessary

1:27:14

now.

1:27:14

Because he is my total Yeah.

1:27:16

I love the port not a blocker, but past

1:27:19

catching tight end don't need.

1:27:21

To have some kind of a blocking element because the way

1:27:23

that they line up.

1:27:24

And there

1:27:27

are some guys later on in the draft, like

1:27:30

a Schoonmaker, like a I don't

1:27:32

know if you've gotten this deep yet, Claire, but Breton

1:27:34

Strain from Penn State is one of

1:27:36

those blocking tight end types.

1:27:40

Yeah.

1:27:40

Yeah, the kid from Oklahoma to them

1:27:43

blanking on his name is a little bit later is

1:27:45

more of that like h back

1:27:47

blocking tight end, but he's he's one of those

1:27:49

types that maybe they could pick up. Uh.

1:27:52

But yeah, those guys, there's some blocking

1:27:54

tight ends later on. I love school, Yes,

1:27:57

yes, I love Schoonmaker.

1:28:00

Though he's schoon I don't know, you might be right

1:28:02

on the pronunciation. There's Claire eyes.

1:28:03

He said shoe makers. What you say? Okay?

1:28:06

Yeah, Yeah, he's a really good player.

1:28:09

And I think that he's somebody that you

1:28:11

look at the forty time in the combine

1:28:14

and his ability to just burst

1:28:16

off the line of scrimmage and get up the field, up

1:28:18

the seam or on crossing routes and things

1:28:21

like that. And they didn't throw them the ball a

1:28:23

ton because Michigan didn't really run the offense

1:28:25

through the tight end as much as other

1:28:27

teams do. So I think he has some untapped

1:28:30

potential as a receiver. That a guy that probably

1:28:32

is going to be a better pass catcher in the NFL than he

1:28:34

was in college.

1:28:36

Yeah, I think so. Have you ever got any

1:28:38

opinions on Josh Wiley from Susanastic.

1:28:40

He's a much nicer, but he looks

1:28:42

like he's got something.

1:28:45

Yeah yeah, him in in Mallory

1:28:47

from Miami. I think are two guys that are that

1:28:49

are interesting. Valeri ran the fastest

1:28:51

forty at the combine out of the tight ends, so

1:28:53

he's got some more speed. I think Wiley

1:28:56

Wiley is it like a

1:28:59

classic block fucking tight end, right, Like that's

1:29:01

a guy that can really that's

1:29:03

probably not going to give you much in the passing game at all,

1:29:05

But if you're just looking to get a third tight end in here

1:29:08

that's going to block and short yardage and goal

1:29:10

line and you know, first down and

1:29:12

that type of thing, then he definitely fits

1:29:14

the bill.

1:29:16

Yeah.

1:29:16

I liked him. He's one of those

1:29:19

lighter guys. I'm sort of we'll still be keeping

1:29:21

my.

1:29:21

Eye on definitely, John.

1:29:23

Did you know this is going to be a tight end breakdown

1:29:25

segment?

1:29:26

I wasn't aware of it, but I knew that when I saw

1:29:28

Clear's name on the on the queue

1:29:30

here that I said, Okay, well, we're definitely gonna get some

1:29:32

tight end cover.

1:29:33

They gotta take one, and they do need one.

1:29:35

It's a great class.

1:29:36

I'll be hunter.

1:29:37

Henry and Gaseki are under contract for.

1:29:39

One moree more year, so you might be looking

1:29:41

at the future here. Yeah.

1:29:42

Neither one of them is really a true in

1:29:45

line guy either. You know, gaseckis

1:29:47

certainly not. I think Henry

1:29:49

has.

1:29:49

Which is why I would think that they would want

1:29:52

If they're really gonna consider this as

1:29:54

a draft pick, they gotta find somebody who can come in

1:29:56

and block yeah, because that's not the strength

1:29:58

of the other two guys.

1:29:59

Yeah, I think we're all an agreement that

1:30:01

Mayor in the first round is probably out. So

1:30:04

then you're getting into like the Darnell Washington's

1:30:06

of the world. Tucker Craft from South

1:30:08

Dakota steak and block a little bit.

1:30:10

By the way, don't have Washington. That's the key from Georgia, right.

1:30:12

He hit is huge.

1:30:14

He is a huge mammoth of a

1:30:17

man. He's like six seven and seventy

1:30:19

or something.

1:30:20

I think at the combine he he he slimmed

1:30:22

down a little bit to run well and.

1:30:24

Oh well, but he towers

1:30:26

over everybody. Yeah he's and I'm just like,

1:30:28

dang, who wouldn't want to throw at that?

1:30:30

Yeah, he's And he's got body

1:30:32

control too.

1:30:35

Yeah, he's got that body control to

1:30:37

to make those adjustments to make the

1:30:39

catches, you know. So it's not just the catch

1:30:42

radius. He's he can he can catch

1:30:44

a back shoulder, he can contort his body.

1:30:46

If I'm telling you that, I

1:30:48

mean.

1:30:49

He's a little bit more of like a I think that he's

1:30:53

So that's the biggest thing that I think gets misconstrued

1:30:55

with the combine because he tested so

1:30:57

well at the combine that everybody thinks that he's

1:30:59

this like freak athlete. He's

1:31:02

he's got heavy feet, like he's a plotter. Uh,

1:31:04

he's he's a train right. It takes him a little

1:31:06

while to get up to that top.

1:31:08

Speed one of those guys though, the once he gets going, he

1:31:10

can move.

1:31:10

Yeah. So I think that, you know, as a player

1:31:13

comp like you know, I I when

1:31:15

I did my big board, I just said discount

1:31:17

Rob Gronkowski, like maybe like

1:31:19

end a career Rob Gronkowski, right,

1:31:21

like not prime Gronk, but like

1:31:24

like eighteen to Tampa Bay Gronk.

1:31:26

You know, So like somewhere in

1:31:28

that range, I think is a player that is what he

1:31:30

could become in the league. I don't think that he's going to

1:31:32

be as dynamic of

1:31:34

a pass catcher as the combine

1:31:37

necessarily suggests.

1:31:38

That's what we're with me. He's got a really low

1:31:40

flaw, but the possibility of a really high

1:31:43

series, the gap that he could the

1:31:45

gap between the sort of the skill

1:31:47

set could be so vassed. Yeah, it could

1:31:49

be kind of really he could actually

1:31:52

like knock everybody sucks up, But there's that

1:31:54

risk of him.

1:31:55

Really not kind of Yeah, he's either

1:31:57

in the.

1:31:58

Potential that you think him.

1:31:59

He's either what I just

1:32:01

said, Gronk in twenty eighteen, or

1:32:03

he's Mercedes Lewis right like, and

1:32:06

that's a pretty big difference

1:32:10

play exactly.

1:32:11

That's what worries me about him.

1:32:12

Yeah, Claire, always good to talk to you.

1:32:15

Yes, thanks ketto.

1:32:17

You got it Claire in the UK. Let me end

1:32:19

it with this here, V because I got one

1:32:21

email from Howard and Stratford,

1:32:24

Connecticut. He says.

1:32:26

As I put on my BBGM cap, I

1:32:28

look at the AFC East and the wide receivers the Pats

1:32:30

go up against twice a year, and with number fourteen,

1:32:33

I have to take Deonte Banks, which we've

1:32:35

talked about. So that's a second vote

1:32:37

for Banks, the cornerback from Maryland. Now

1:32:40

the secondary is top five in the league. Added

1:32:42

to the pass rush that is developing with judaon and this

1:32:44

defense takes another step toward tops

1:32:47

in the league. Combined with an NFL

1:32:49

offense coached by experienced offensive

1:32:52

coaches and this team which won eight games

1:32:54

with no offense last year, I could see

1:32:56

an easy pickup of two or three wins.

1:32:58

What do you think just from draft in Deontay

1:33:00

Banks or the whole, the whole puzzle.

1:33:02

The whole puzzle. But he says he starts with Deontay

1:33:05

Banks to create the rest of the dominos

1:33:07

following him.

1:33:08

Yeah, I think if you draft a guy like Deontay Banks,

1:33:10

you hope that you are approaching

1:33:12

a level of like a Sauce Gardner,

1:33:15

get it, you know, that type of flip

1:33:17

for your defense or the Jets went from a good defense

1:33:19

to an elite defense really last year

1:33:21

with Sauce. So I yeah, I

1:33:24

mean I gave my Deontay Banks thoughts earlier,

1:33:26

and I love the player. I think that

1:33:28

that's if you're looking for that missing

1:33:30

piece defensively, then it's probably

1:33:32

a number one corner, Like that's sort of the missing

1:33:35

ingredient for them. So I could

1:33:37

certainly see it. And I think, if you

1:33:40

know, I picked Jackson with an Jigbaz,

1:33:42

the guy that I would want them to draft, I

1:33:44

would say that the guy that I can most say

1:33:46

I think they would draft would probably be Ze

1:33:48

Flowers. But if I had to pick a defensive

1:33:51

player, I would go at Deontay Banks Bank

1:33:53

as well.

1:33:53

All right, Then the final thing I have to put

1:33:55

it here ev is because of the rumor

1:33:58

and I don't know if it's just rumor. We've seen it written

1:34:00

by several of the writers. I think you've even mentioned it

1:34:02

as well here from time to time, But

1:34:05

the fact that the Patriots might just

1:34:07

be interested in finding a quarterback

1:34:10

at some point. I know there's been a talk about Will Levis

1:34:12

because he was a you know, he went to training camp

1:34:14

and all that kind of stuff, and you know, I think he's got

1:34:16

any New England roots and all that kind of stuff.

1:34:18

Here.

1:34:18

See he's born in Newton but lived in Connecticut,

1:34:21

right, Okay, So.

1:34:22

And I think that's a that's ridiculous

1:34:24

to even even consider. He'll be long gone, probably

1:34:27

even before the Patriots take it fourteen. But you don't

1:34:29

know, you don't know where guys are gonna slide. Do

1:34:31

the Pats consider a quarterback?

1:34:34

And when should they consider

1:34:36

a quarterback? Considering now there's

1:34:39

only two of them? Right? Well, I know they signed somebody,

1:34:41

but I mean at the same time, right, they need they

1:34:43

need competition. And what

1:34:46

happens if Mac doesn't turn out

1:34:49

the way that we all think he can and

1:34:51

hope he can, But what if he doesn't,

1:34:53

do they actually get an eye toward that. I'm

1:34:55

just kind of asking you the quarterback conundrum,

1:34:58

if you will.

1:34:58

Absolutely, I I think there's legitimate

1:35:01

interest in Will Levis for the Patriots. I

1:35:03

don't think that this is just a due

1:35:05

diligence pick the guy's brain because

1:35:07

he might go to the Colts and he might play him down

1:35:09

the line or all that type of stuff that gets

1:35:12

thrown out. I don't think that that's I think

1:35:14

there's legitimate interest in the player, and

1:35:16

I think that he fits what they do a little

1:35:18

bit better than maybe on

1:35:20

the surface it looks like he would. I

1:35:23

think Will Levis is a really misunderstood

1:35:25

prospect. I think a lot of people look at him,

1:35:27

his size, his arm, talent, and

1:35:29

they think Josh Allen, Right, you know, he's

1:35:31

just this ball of clay, that

1:35:34

can athlete that gets outside

1:35:36

the pocket and makes these ridiculous you

1:35:38

know, off platform throws fifty yards

1:35:41

down the field. That's not the player

1:35:43

that I saw watching him. I see

1:35:45

a guy that's much more functional in structure

1:35:47

in the pocket, operating

1:35:49

the offense. I think his decision

1:35:51

making issues come when he's improving,

1:35:54

right. I think he tends to cash

1:35:57

a check that you know, whatever right a check is, he

1:35:59

can't cash right, you know, when he goes on in

1:36:01

the move and now he's trying to throw across

1:36:03

his body, across the field or into

1:36:06

tight window coverage down the field,

1:36:08

and that's when he gets these interception numbers, and that's

1:36:10

why he threw so many picks. So I think

1:36:12

that there's a reason

1:36:15

football reasons, you know, in between the lines,

1:36:17

reasons for them to have some interest in Will

1:36:19

Levis. I don't think they go in that direction. Ultimately.

1:36:22

I think if you look at this quarterback class, it's

1:36:24

tough because there's not really

1:36:27

a great middle tier to this