0:05

This is the Patriots Catch twenty two

0:07

podcasts with Evan Lazar and Alex

0:09

bart.

0:11

Lazarre.

0:12

Everybody nailed it. He joined as always by

0:14

our bar.

0:19

Here is Evan Lazar and Alex Bars.

0:22

Why did he quit because he was getting Yes,

0:24

because he's getting wrap beat out of him. He would have

0:26

quit, Yes, he would have no matter what, quit because

0:29

he would have quit rap beat out of him. He didn't want

0:31

to play football anymore because he was getting

0:33

the crap beat out of him. I disagree

0:35

with that. I think Andrew Luck just didn't want to play anymore

0:37

because he was going out there every

0:39

Sunday. I disagreed off. I think

0:41

he just didn't want to play anymore. I'll tell you why he

0:43

didn't want to play. He quit like ten

0:46

years or he couldn't. He couldn't play.

0:48

He was so hurt.

0:53

He was not Yeah, this is

0:55

a bizarre take. Andrew Luck was not fine.

1:00

Do you think I could get through the show today without without

1:02

pissing people off out? Without getting

1:04

somebody through that right on Twitter, right on

1:06

Twitter, right on Twitter, And and then

1:08

they'll tell us that they don't listen to the show, right

1:11

they don't listen to the show. But we're

1:13

going to post things that you say on No.

1:15

I think I think the account that posts has been a very

1:17

pretty pretty loyal listener of ours.

1:20

Let's not give any credit. I'm

1:22

just saying I'm not gonna piss anything. I'm not

1:24

gonna press anybody off.

1:25

No.

1:25

I love our listening, especially

1:28

if they're gonna throw you under the bus like

1:30

that.

1:30

I love our listeners. But I feel

1:33

like once I would say

1:35

once a month, maybe maybe it's a little bit more

1:37

frequently than that. Morell maybe you can you

1:39

can tell me if it's more frequently, But like

1:42

once a month, I say something on here

1:44

or on Unfiltered that pisces people off, and

1:46

it can and it's either we get bombarded

1:49

by emails about it or it's all over Twitter

1:51

or whatever, and everybody is just like

1:53

coming at me because I you

1:56

know, maybe I don't know.

1:58

You took something that is settled fact and

2:00

you had me debating it like it was a take. You heard

2:02

me in that clip say this is a weird take. It was settled

2:04

fact, and we're debating it like it was a take

2:06

that was that was something for me.

2:08

Sometimes some job sometimes,

2:10

like you said, sometimes you have to

2:13

you have to exaggerate a little bit, and

2:15

you have to say some things that are maybe

2:17

a little bit controversial, and don't

2:20

sausage just to get the people going. That's

2:22

all all right? Anyways, Evan Lazar,

2:24

Alex Bars Patriots Catch twenty two.

2:27

Uh.

2:27

Here for you today. We are going to talk

2:29

about OTAs the

2:31

first look at Patriots OTAs. Both

2:34

Alex and I were out there on Monday to

2:36

watch the Patriots practice. And

2:39

I have a whole list of things I want to get to and

2:42

we'll get to those in a second. But before we

2:44

really get going here, Hey, Patriots fans,

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not seen on TV, go to buy Toyota dot

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Light, the official beer sponsor of the

3:01

New England Patriots. All right, so here's

3:03

where I want to start with Monday's

3:05

practice. And on Tuesday,

3:08

Alex, I gave you this take off

3:10

the air and our show

3:13

before the show, which is just our text back

3:15

and forth about these things. And I

3:17

told you that I wasn't thrilled about the reps

3:20

and the efficiency of practice. I

3:22

don't want to give that take again. I think you know,

3:24

we can move off that. It was one practice. Let's see

3:26

what next week. Will you give it? Yeah?

3:28

Yeah, yeah, I did on Unfiltered on Tuesday.

3:33

Basically, all I felt like was the

3:36

big thing for me on Monday and

3:38

throughout this entire spring program is

3:41

what does a Gerrod Mayo practice

3:43

look like? And I think in a lot of ways

3:46

that is almost more important at

3:48

this point of the year than what each

3:50

individual player looks like, because we'll get

3:53

to that like training camp, when the pads go on, is

3:55

when we'll really get to start

3:58

an analyzing individual player

4:00

and position groups and all the stuff that we do on

4:02

here. We'll get to that point. Right

4:04

now, it's just interesting to me, and maybe

4:06

this is a little inside baseball, but it's just

4:08

interesting to me to

4:11

evaluate somebody else's

4:13

practice like I have only watched and

4:16

take joint practices out of it because those don't really

4:18

count. I've only watched

4:21

a Bill Belichick ota at this point

4:23

as a professional reporter,

4:26

I've only ever watched a Bill Belichick

4:29

ota and One of the things that I

4:31

always thought was so fascinating

4:33

about how Belichick ran a practice

4:35

was how efficient practice was. There

4:38

just wasn't a whole lot of standing around. Everybody

4:40

had a job to do, everybody had a responsibility,

4:43

Every minute was allocated for somehow

4:46

they never had guys just standing

4:48

around doing nothing, And this practice,

4:50

I felt like, was a little bit different in that regard.

4:53

But I understand. I got, you know,

4:56

some people push back on me on Tuesday at

4:58

PU to not overreact to one practice. They're

5:00

probably right, Let's see what it looks like over

5:02

the next couple weeks. But I think we both felt

5:04

like this a little bit watching and I don't want to put

5:07

words in your mouth, but just watching

5:09

it and seeing Vederian Low

5:11

get reps at left tackle over Caden Wallace

5:14

and Bailey Zappy get reps at quarterback

5:16

over Drake May and you can trickle

5:18

that all the way down the entire lineup. I

5:21

get that there's a rookies have to

5:23

earn it. There's a seniority about it. But

5:25

I think one thing that you hear so much

5:27

about nowadays, with the rules

5:29

and with the CBA and all this kind of stuff,

5:32

you only have a finite amount of

5:34

practice time and on

5:36

field work in the NFL

5:38

calendar that you

5:41

aren't preparing for an opponent. Like once

5:43

you get into the regular season and you have

5:45

game weeks and you're practicing Wednesday

5:47

through Friday and it's all game plan oriented,

5:50

that's you're not going to be giving the third

5:52

string tackle reps right when

5:54

you're getting ready for the Cincinnati Bengals, Like,

5:56

that's just not gonna happen. So this time of year

5:59

is why a guy and I don't

6:01

want to just harp on Drake May because I think that

6:04

you know, it furthers the point. A guy

6:06

like Caiden Wallace who is switching positions

6:09

from right tackle to left tackle, needs

6:11

every single rep that he can

6:13

get, every single rep that he can

6:15

get. And this time of year, especially

6:18

at tackle and quarterback, when there's no contact

6:21

and all you're doing is really going through

6:24

the fundamentals of those reps,

6:26

it's maybe even more important in my mind

6:29

than when the bullets really start flying, because

6:31

that if you're not ready for that by

6:34

having a solid foundation in the spring,

6:36

and then you get to the summer and the pads

6:38

go on and now Matthew Judon's coming

6:40

off the edge at you and you're Caden Wallace, It's

6:43

gonna look ugly. So I

6:46

think that that's the big takeaway that I had first

6:48

of all, and then we can get into the individual

6:50

players, but I just felt like we

6:53

need to see a little bit more of the

6:55

guys that you're a draft and developed

6:58

team, right. The rookies are the are

7:00

the future, they're the core, develop them,

7:02

develop them. Yeah, so I

7:04

mean, I agree with you.

7:05

I do think it's important to put the caveat

7:08

on there that this is one practice,

7:10

yes, and they've had what one or two more since

7:12

I think they're practicing today behind

7:14

closed doors, like we don't get to see everything.

7:17

So maybe it was you know, day

7:19

one.

7:20

All right, we're gonna put the veterans out there, let the rookie

7:22

see how an NFL practice is run.

7:24

And maybe we go.

7:25

Out there next week and it's a ton of Drake Man, it's a ton of

7:27

Kaden Wallace. So you

7:29

know, I'll I'll kind of hold

7:31

off on that one practice. I don't

7:34

I hope that's not indicative of the full plan,

7:36

but I will give them for now the out

7:39

of kind of and and Girod may have talked about this

7:41

that the way they split reps,

7:43

they may do it one way one day, in another way another

7:45

day, and we're not there all the day.

7:47

So it's tough to say, but I

7:49

do hope Caden wall is changing positions

7:52

Drake May.

7:53

You're trying to get him ready, you're trying to develop him,

7:55

and if he's not going to start the season, which

7:58

I'm okay with, I

8:00

think it's it's really hard.

8:03

You now have to do two things at once. You

8:05

have to get Jacoby Brissett ready to

8:07

start the season, and you have to

8:10

get going on Drake May's development. So

8:12

to also throw Bailey z Appy in there,

8:14

who you know, some reports have indicated he's

8:17

probably not a part of the long term plans. What

8:20

does that accomplish? And I've seen people say,

8:23

well, you know, if Jacoby

8:25

Versett gets hurt, you don't want to go to Drake May.

8:27

You gotta have the next guy up.

8:28

That that should be the third most important thing, right

8:30

that that shouldn't be more important than mayed it

8:32

because ideally that just means.

8:34

You want to get May ready even quicker. So

8:37

it was one practice.

8:38

I do think that distribution was

8:40

notable if it stays

8:43

that way. The other thing, I'll say, I think you're

8:45

the one who pointed this out to me, and we were out there. We've seen

8:47

in the past under Belichick, and

8:49

I don't think this is just a building like I think a lot of teams do

8:51

this. Those practice fields

8:53

out back. If you've ever been in training camp, you know it's two

8:56

fields.

8:57

Yeah, they have two fields.

8:58

And right now you have ninety players

9:00

on the roster, you have like a full you

9:03

know, full two teams. Yeah, you

9:05

could have multiple groups

9:07

repping at once. And they only

9:10

did that very briefly on Monday. Yeah,

9:12

for the most part, it was one offensive unit, one

9:14

defensive unit. And I'll say this credit

9:16

to the rookie quarterbacks when when

9:19

Bailey Zappi was out there running the offense,

9:22

Drake May you could see him talking to Alex

9:24

van Pelt, talking to Jacobe Burssett about

9:27

what was going on. And there were a couple of times where

9:29

I saw Joe Milton, you know, he's standing

9:31

behind Baby zapp Jacoby

9:33

Brissette. Yeah, and he's like actually

9:35

miming through you know, the snap to drop

9:37

back all that what he would do. So Bill used

9:40

to harp on that a lot, like, even if you're not in the

9:42

play, the mental reps right, stay

9:44

ready, be ready. So it's good to see those guys

9:46

doing that. But you could have, and

9:49

this is what they did very late in practice. You

9:52

could have Jacoby Brissett and Drake May

9:54

on one field, in Bailey Zappie

9:56

and Joe Milton on the other with the backups

9:59

and that way, it's just there's more reps. It's

10:01

more reps available. So again maybe

10:03

it's the first practice. They just wanted to get their

10:05

you know, their feed under them. Yeah, but

10:07

that's something I would like to see them at. If they're not going

10:10

to change the order, at least

10:12

multiple you know, get

10:14

get multiple units out there and double the reps

10:16

you have available.

10:17

That's that's a great point. And I

10:20

just think that I don't want people to get

10:22

bogged down by order. Like I'm not really

10:26

all that worried about the order of

10:29

things. What I'm more worried about is

10:31

we talked to Bill O'Brien a little bit about this last

10:33

year when there was some indecisiveness about

10:36

the quarterbacks. It's

10:38

really hard to get more than two quarterbacks ready

10:40

to play, right, And so if

10:43

you're giving the Lion's share of the reps

10:45

Jacoby Brisset because he's your starter for

10:47

the beginning of the year, which is fair fine,

10:50

then someone is

10:52

losing reps If Bailey Zappi's in the mix

10:54

here and right now it's Drake May and it shouldn't

10:56

be Drake May. I don't care about Joe

10:59

Millen. I know, I'm sorry. I just don't you know

11:01

how many reps he gets he gets, you know, and

11:04

I hope that he develops into a player for him,

11:06

Well, it's not I don't care about

11:08

volume for Joe Milton.

11:09

Here's what I'll say about Joe Milton. I do think

11:11

they should keep three quarterbacks. Yeah, and he's

11:13

the most likely third. They're

11:16

gonna keep three, right, I don't think Zappy's

11:18

gonna be one of them. So are you keeping Joe

11:20

Milton or do you have to go out and

11:23

find this year's Nathan

11:25

Rourke, Will Greer whoever. I'm

11:28

not saying the first day of OTAs was going to decide

11:30

that. But I'm hoping that some chance, and maybe this is

11:32

what the preseason games are for, but I'm

11:34

hoping that it's some chance we

11:36

get to see whether or not Joe Milton can be that.

11:38

Yeah, that's fair. I just look at it

11:40

and say they have too many quarterbacks.

11:43

Yeah, and Mayo said that they have too many

11:45

quarterbacks. I think they're aware of it. You know, Albert

11:48

reported it, and he had talked to Gerrod for the story,

11:50

so you know it's probably coming from from

11:53

some solid intel. They

11:55

have too many quarterbacks. It's really hard to

11:57

run practice with four quarterbacks and have everybody

12:00

have if you're trying to get everybody

12:02

equal opportunity, which is sort of what

12:04

it felt like. Yeah, besides Jacoby

12:06

who kind of dominated the reps, but for

12:09

the next three Zappi, Drake, made

12:11

Joe, Milton, it felt like they were trying to get them

12:13

equal opportunity. You're not really getting

12:15

any of them true working at

12:18

that.

12:18

Point, unless I'm

12:20

not necessarily saying I believe this, but I'm just thinking

12:22

out loud here. I mean, they've harped

12:24

competition, competition, competition. Do

12:27

you think there's a part of them that's

12:31

that Zappi's actually competing with Persett for

12:33

the starting job.

12:34

I thought of that, and I think there's a chance,

12:36

because I do think if all things were equal, that

12:39

if we were just going based off of results

12:41

that Zappi could push Jacoby

12:43

Brissett. Yeah, but Jacoby

12:46

Brissett's value, his experience, his

12:48

mentorship, Like that's such a big

12:51

part of the equation right

12:53

now for the Patriots. If you just told me in a vacuum,

12:56

do I think that Jacoby Brissett and Bailey

12:58

Zapi could be an a legit quarterback competition,

13:00

I would say yes. But at the same

13:02

time, it's that's not the situation, you

13:04

know, there's more context of the situation.

13:06

Well, and that's why I would hope that's not the case. But

13:08

I wonder if they look at it and they say, Jacoby's here,

13:11

he's going to be a resource one way or the other.

13:15

We're gonna let Zappi compete.

13:16

Yeah, And again that's I I would just just get your

13:18

starter ready because if

13:22

that's the case, find out early, find out

13:24

early so you can even if Zappy

13:26

does beat him out. Now it's

13:28

Brisett or Zapi is one guy and Drake

13:31

May is the other. Because those two

13:33

guys the starter, which should be

13:35

Jacoby Brissett, but the

13:37

starter and Drake May need to be the two getting

13:39

the majority, the majority, the majority of the reps.

13:41

Yeah, I agree with that, all right. The

13:44

other thing that I wanted to hit on off

13:46

the top, and then we can open up the phone lines and emails

13:48

too. I think that there's and

13:51

I'm saying this, I'm not singling

13:53

anybody out, you know, he said at the top of the show. Everybody

13:56

gets mad at me, right, I'm not singling anybody. I'm

13:58

saying it for myself to I

14:00

think that we have to be careful with

14:02

Drake May's, our assessment

14:05

of Drake May. And I think what I'm

14:07

hearing a lot of is, first

14:10

of all, even for even somebody

14:13

like me, that that is as

14:15

nerdy about this kind of stuff as anybody.

14:18

None of us are our quarterback

14:20

experts in terms of mechanics

14:22

and footwork, like none of us coach quarterbacks.

14:25

Okay, So to get into

14:28

the details of how

14:30

his footwork looks and how his mechanics

14:33

look and he's tapping the ball and

14:35

his shoulders are shrugging and all like, all

14:37

this kind of other stuff I think is

14:39

doing him a big disservice. He's

14:41

a young player, he's raw. We

14:43

knew that coming in, and it's

14:46

his first true NFL practice.

14:48

Rickie Mediamp doesn't count, right, it's his

14:50

first true NFL practice, So

14:52

I just hope that we are careful

14:56

with how we assess things with

14:58

Drake may moving forward from mechanical perspective,

15:01

because already based off of really

15:03

two practices if you want to count rookie Minicamp,

15:05

but Monday as well with

15:08

OTAs, I'm hearing a lot

15:10

of what's

15:12

the word just criticism,

15:15

nitpicking of you know, oh,

15:17

he's got this this hitch in his throat,

15:19

and he's got this tick now at

15:21

the tapping of the ball, and he's got you know, all

15:24

these different things that we're

15:26

throwing out there. It's totally fair to

15:29

be critical, it's totally fair to tell

15:31

you what your eyes see. But on this show, what I think

15:33

is most important at all this is

15:35

I want to kind of break down the things

15:37

into two categories of what

15:39

I think are legitimate things that he needs to

15:41

work on, not concerns, but things that

15:44

he needs to work on mechanically, and

15:46

things that I think that are either

15:49

missing the point or kind of getting a little bit overblown.

15:51

I guess about his mechanics.

15:54

So I have a couple of different things that

15:56

I've heard and a couple of different things that I've

15:58

seen as well that I want to put in those two

16:00

buckets. You know what, what's a legitimate thing

16:02

that I'm worried about, not worried, but a legitimate

16:04

thing that he needs to work on. And what's the

16:07

things that are getting a little bit out of control?

16:10

And I think the just starting

16:12

with the the out of control, because I

16:14

think that's the easiest way to start. The

16:17

tapping of the football is

16:19

a non issue. It's a non issue

16:22

now if he's as an old

16:24

football, if he's burping the baby,

16:27

that's different. Right. What he's

16:29

doing is he's he's he's tapping

16:31

the football because it's a mechanical cueue,

16:34

right, it's a rhythm thing. And what

16:36

he's trying to do is you

16:39

want your your hips to fire first,

16:42

So you want to keep your upper body closed

16:44

to the target and you want your hips

16:46

to fire for first because then it creates like a

16:48

coil, right where you're like working on the

16:50

axis of your body to kind of snap

16:53

and create that that torque

16:55

to to drive the football. Like when we

16:57

see Dak Prescott warming up and he's doing the

17:00

hip thing and everybody's making fun of him for it. That's

17:02

what he's trying. That's the motion that he's trying

17:04

to warm up or get loose, trying

17:06

to do. So, when you tap

17:08

the ball like a lot of quarterbacks

17:11

do, and I'll get to that in a second, when you tap

17:13

the ball, what you're doing is you're giving yourself a rhythmic

17:16

queue of fire

17:19

the hips right, start, start the motion right.

17:21

While what it also does is it keeps

17:23

your front, you know, your your top of

17:25

your body closed. So when I say

17:27

you know close, you want your shoulders like this, and

17:30

your shoulders are going to fly open like that, you

17:32

want them to stay closed until your hips fire.

17:34

If you're if you're opening before your hips

17:37

fire, then the whole mechanical chain is broken

17:39

and you're not getting any lower bod right. And now

17:41

all you're throwing with is your arm, which

17:43

is what you want to avoid. So the

17:46

tapping of the football is something that old

17:49

quarterback cliche,

17:51

like old quarterback teachings from thirty

17:54

years ago would tell you that that's that's

17:56

a bad habit. The main reason

17:58

why is because it might

18:01

slow down your release by like a tick

18:03

of a second, and it gives the defense

18:06

a queue that you're about to throw the ball

18:08

right, that was what people used to say. Then

18:12

as time progressed, somebody named

18:14

Tom Brady started tapping the ball. And

18:17

I don't think anybody's jumping tom Brady's throws

18:19

because he's tapping the football. Right didn't really seem

18:22

to be an issue for him. So tom Brady

18:24

started tapping the ball. Aaron Rodgers

18:26

taps the ball. Patrick Mahomes taps

18:28

the ball. Matthew Stafford taps the

18:31

ball. These are just some guys recent

18:33

that I can off the top of my head that

18:35

I know do this. And I

18:38

actually think that it could be a good

18:40

thing for Drake May because we are,

18:43

you know, the Patriots are trying to tie his mechanical

18:45

chain together and keep him sound. And

18:48

if it takes that little queue to make him

18:50

do it, to help him do it, then I actually think it's

18:52

a good thing. Now, it has to be efficient, it

18:54

has to be quick, and it has to be part of

18:56

the overall motion. You don't want him going

18:59

out of his way to bring

19:01

the football to his offhand and tap the ball.

19:03

The other guy, you know, just really quickly. I thought

19:05

it was funny that was tapping the

19:08

ball is Caleb. Yeah,

19:10

So Caleb was tapping the ball and Bears

19:12

practice. I didn't hear anybody being like, he's

19:14

burping the baby.

19:15

The other thing is you mentioned this being efficient too sometimes.

19:17

I know, like with Brady, if it's

19:20

a play where you really have to get the ball out, yeah,

19:22

he just wouldn't do it.

19:23

Like there were certain things. It's like a quick game or screen

19:26

you know, receiver, perimeter screen. Yeah,

19:28

of course.

19:28

The other thing is there's a difference I think what people are

19:30

maybe mistaking it. And you touched on this a little bit.

19:33

What's called burping the baby right, yeah. So there's

19:35

tapping the ball, which is tap and throw right

19:38

yeah. And then if you can if you're just listening,

19:40

I'm doing this with the water bottle you here, like shaking

19:42

around. Burping the baby is

19:44

different. That's where you're in the pocket right and you're

19:46

waiting to throw and you're tapping the ball.

19:49

So that's that's bad. You don't want

19:51

to do that. And the big reason I think

19:53

there's a couple of reasons, but like the big reason is if

19:56

you don't have two hands on the football, you

19:58

know you're you're tap it and

20:00

a pass rusher comes around and boom knocks it out.

20:03

It's ball security, right, But to me, that is

20:05

holding. The problem with Drew is

20:07

that he used to hold the ball forever like

20:10

It's not no, it's not even that. It's because

20:12

this was something with Rogers out of college. Actually,

20:14

I remember this when he first came in the draft. The two

20:16

things were he held the ball high and he would

20:18

pat it, and it just it makes

20:20

it a very easy target for pass

20:23

rushers to get their hands on in the pocket.

20:25

You don't want to be tapping the ball in the pocket.

20:27

You want two hands on the football.

20:29

But if it's one quick before you throw, you

20:32

know, if pass rusher gets there in that tenth of

20:34

a second, all power to him. That's

20:36

different than just sitting there and repeatingly

20:38

tap and repeatedly tapping the ball.

20:40

Yeah. I just I

20:42

think that some of these things, And hopefully we'll get a

20:44

chance to talk to Drake Man Alex

20:47

van Pelt soon about

20:50

this because I'm curious, and even TC McCartney

20:52

too, I'm curious if this is something

20:54

that they're telling him to do versus

20:57

I mean doing it on his own, or will

20:59

he do it a little bit in college, Not that I

21:01

saw as much as what they what he

21:03

tried to do on Monday. If they're telling him

21:05

to do this, then there's a rhyme,

21:08

there's a method to the madness. If he's just

21:10

all of a sudden ticking, then that's a different story.

21:12

But I don't think that's what's going on. I think what's going

21:15

on is that he is trying to que

21:17

himself up or have a rhythm

21:19

to his motion so that he's

21:21

more mechanically sound through the motion. And

21:24

that's exactly why Brady used to do it. It was a rhythmic

21:26

cue for Brady, and Brady

21:28

did it. And I know this is not a great example

21:31

because I know you're gonna tell

21:33

me he sucks. But I always remember

21:35

there was a segment, I think it

21:38

was one like a Monday night football broadcast

21:40

or something like that, where they talked to Jimmy

21:42

g about tapping the

21:44

ball and he said that he always

21:46

was told as a kid that was a bad habit,

21:49

don't do it. And then he got to New England

21:51

and Brady started tapping the ball and he was like,

21:53

well, I feel more comfortable, more

21:55

natural doing it, And this guy's

21:58

tapping the ball and he's winning super Bowls ever the other

22:00

year, so I now think that this

22:02

is probably overrated in terms

22:04

of it being a bad thing.

22:05

Yeah, again, it's are you if

22:08

you're using it correctly, it's fine. If it's

22:10

just that one tap and go, then

22:14

there's actually a reason to it. It's when you

22:16

get in the pocket and you're doing it without

22:18

purpose that it becomes an

22:20

issue.

22:21

Yeah. Yeah, So that that thing

22:23

I put in the bucket of non issue.

22:25

I actually think that it's purposeful

22:28

that they're trying to do it with him. The one

22:31

thing, the two things that I put in that I

22:33

think really are things

22:35

that I think need to be worked on for him. The

22:37

number one thing is

22:40

the load up to his throat, Like

22:43

his release time and his load up is it

22:45

needs to be more efficient.

22:47

Well, he's never here's the one thing I will tell

22:49

people. He's never going to have the

22:51

quickest release time because he has.

22:52

Really long arms.

22:53

Yeah, and those quarterbacks like it's just your

22:56

arm's got to move, it's got to cover more

22:58

distance. Yeah, So he's always gonna have a little

23:00

bit longer of a release, but there are still ways he can cut it

23:02

down.

23:02

So he's got a little bit of a hitch with his shoulders. There's

23:04

no doubt about that like when he comes and

23:06

he starts to separate his hands and he comes

23:09

out, his whole shoulders kind of just

23:11

like go up, like his whole body goes up.

23:13

And it's not a very it's not an efficient or

23:15

like smooth motion. So that's going

23:17

to have to be fixed because that those split

23:19

seconds in the NFL do matter, right.

23:22

That's that's the difference between a

23:24

pass breakup and a completion in a lot of cases.

23:27

Now, some big arm quarterbacks like Drake

23:29

may get away with it because the ball is

23:31

they have such velocity on the throw that

23:33

they can make up for it with velocity. But

23:36

I think that those types of things ideally he

23:38

would not be doing. You know, the load up or

23:40

the hitch that he has when he goes into his throw

23:43

is noticeable.

23:44

Uh.

23:44

Just to go back real quick to the tapping the ball,

23:46

because you just reminded me of this, because I think this is

23:48

the way some people see it when you talk about,

23:51

you know, speeding up the release and cutting

23:53

down on it. Yeah, the tap is not extending

23:56

the release. No, Like you said, you're not throwing

23:58

during that portion of the release anyway, because you got to get your hips

24:00

going first, right, These are things that you're

24:02

talking about now where.

24:04

Talking about is actual.

24:05

He's adding steps to the throw and

24:07

it's making the throw take longer. So I

24:10

think that's why some people are concerned about the tapping

24:12

the ball. Honestly, to bring it all

24:14

together is because they think it's an extra step he's

24:16

adding. You're not doing anything with

24:18

the ball in that point and release anyway, so it doesn't

24:20

matter whereas this stuff with the shoulders,

24:23

you could just be throwing the ball at that point.

24:25

Yeah, I wonder if so.

24:28

Another thing, and I know I keep on bringing up Brady

24:30

is not to compare the two of them like the

24:32

career wise or anything like that, but Brady's the best

24:35

mechanical thrower I've ever seen, so everything

24:37

that he did had a purpose to it. With his mechanics,

24:40

he at some point in his career changed

24:43

having his front arm tucked in

24:46

so he would bring the ball back and it would

24:48

be very efficient. Right, Whereas with Drake

24:50

May, when I see him bring the ball back, I see

24:52

his front hand go up. It's like a

24:54

baseball throw. Yeah, and that's why the motion

24:56

is like extended and the shoulders

24:59

go up like this.

25:00

Right.

25:00

So if you're able to maybe tuck

25:02

in the hand the front arm a little

25:05

bit like Brady used to do, and he used to

25:07

put like a

25:10

tennis ball or something like that to keep his

25:12

front shoulder. He actually his left hand would usually

25:14

end up like on his right shoulder. Yeah. Yeah, so that's

25:17

what I see with the shoulder

25:20

hitch. I think that is legitimate that

25:22

that needs to be more efficient and cleaned up and

25:24

be a little bit quicker, because you're right, he is

25:26

going to have a little bit of a more of a looping, longer

25:28

release naturally. I mean, Josh, yeah,

25:31

so too. If

25:33

you're just really efficient with your upper body

25:36

though, and everything is kind of level

25:38

and there's no hitch to it, then you he'll

25:40

speed it up. That will speed it up,

25:43

and then he has the velocity that it's not going

25:45

to matter that he might be a little

25:47

bit slower to the point, you know, to the release

25:50

point than some other people.

25:51

Uh.

25:51

The other thing that I would say, and we talked about this a little

25:53

bit during practice, uh that I

25:56

noticed that I don't It

25:58

depends on who you listen to, you know. Some quarterback

26:01

coaches don't think it's a big deal. Some quarterback

26:03

coaches think it's a big deal. I

26:06

what I see with Drake May a lot of the time is

26:09

that he'll tilt his shoulder backwards,

26:12

so his front shoulder is

26:14

going to be up, like you know, backwards, and his

26:18

his lower shoulder, his back shoulder is going to

26:20

be lower, and you're you're tilting like

26:22

on an axis backwards, right. And

26:24

when what happens with that when

26:26

you do that shoulder tilt is that it puts

26:28

an upward trajectory on the football. So the

26:30

ball is just naturally going to have more air under

26:32

it because of the way that you're throwing. Now, Paul

26:35

brought up on Tuesday's PU and I was

26:37

talking about this that Drew Brees used to do

26:39

this. Yeah, but Drew Brees used to do it because he was six feet

26:42

tall.

26:42

But like, so you said, you don't remember Brady

26:44

doing it. I remember Brady. It was on the deep

26:46

balls. But I remember Brady doing this from time to time.

26:48

If he was loading up, like to throw like

26:51

a sixty five seventy yard bomb to Randy

26:53

Moss. I'm sure he did it. But when

26:55

what you really are don't want to see him do is

26:58

do it on throws that you don't need

27:00

him to do that because you want him to just drive the

27:02

ball parallel. So I feel like

27:04

that will come.

27:07

Eliminating the shoulders will come with like you

27:09

said, flying that front arm out, Yeah, because

27:11

if you're flying your front arm out, the

27:13

motion is kind of carrying you that way. If

27:16

you keep the left arm tucked in, there

27:18

isn't a ton of reason to lean back.

27:20

Yeah. I just feel like he has such

27:22

a good arm that I don't think he needs

27:24

the tilt right, So, like he should

27:26

be able to keep his shoulders even and

27:29

just drive the ball because if.

27:31

You're flying your left arm out, it's

27:33

naturally gonna push you back a little bit, right.

27:36

Yeah, So maybe, like I'm saying,

27:38

could the two be related. It could be.

27:40

I just noticed it on Monday,

27:43

in particular, when he would

27:45

try to throw the ball down the field a little bit more

27:48

on some of the deeper throws, that he was tilting

27:50

back a lot, And I just I don't think

27:52

the biggest thing is is I don't think he

27:54

needs to do it, because I think he's got enough arm

27:56

strength to just do it without it. And he's not

27:59

gonna He's tall, so he's not gonna have to worry

28:01

about bat passes to the line of scrimmage and things

28:03

like that. The reason why Drew Brees used to do it

28:05

was to get it over the line of scrimmage. Yeah, that's

28:07

why he would do it. Drake May is not going to have that

28:09

problem. Shouldn't At six foot four and

28:11

a half, like he's gonna be able to just throw the ball.

28:13

So I would put those two things

28:16

in the category of needs

28:18

to be worked on. And I think the biggest

28:20

thing that I came away from this just to wrap

28:23

this whole thing up and put a bow on it,

28:25

is that I come away from these

28:27

two exposures to Drake

28:29

May, you know, rookie Mini Camp and Monday, I'm

28:32

less concerned now about the footwork and

28:35

more kind of concerned about the his throwing

28:38

footwork. Looks like they've made like significant Yeah,

28:40

the footwork looks a lot better. I think maybe

28:43

in the draft evaluation, I

28:46

because I wasn't watching it up close and I was just

28:48

watching it on film, I don't know if

28:50

I necessarily noticed how much

28:52

the motion itself needs

28:54

to be in I'll say this too.

28:56

This might be a minor thing, but I noticed

28:58

it about both rookie quarterbacks strong

29:01

cadence. Those guys come to

29:03

line, they get it out. Yeah, and

29:06

that may sound like yeah, no, dull, like they're playing

29:08

quarterback. You'd be surprised how many

29:11

young quarterbacks, especially with all these

29:13

college teams now where they go silent count

29:16

and I guess they'll get rid of this now. But like the plays on the

29:18

cards, everybody kind of knows what's going on, and

29:20

you've got the clap, the

29:22

clap, cadence and all that. Yeah, you

29:25

know, I've heard of examples where they have to really drill

29:27

any kids when they get into the league, like what goes

29:29

into calling out of cadence. Both these guys

29:31

May Milton, they're

29:34

they're they're barking it out. They're out there,

29:36

they're giving a strong cadence. H you

29:38

know, every you can hear it all the way on the other end

29:41

of the field. It's with purpose, it's with confidence.

29:44

Don't sleep on that. That's a good

29:46

sign this early.

29:47

Yeah, and a lot of West Coast

29:49

coaches are really big on cadence.

29:51

Yeah. Also having you

29:54

know, Dak Prescott's okay, here we

29:56

go, right, everybody makes fun of it, but

29:58

there's a lot of you

30:01

know, West Coast coaches, which is what Mike McCarthy

30:03

is and comes from this tree with Van Pelton

30:06

everybody. They're really big on cadence.

30:08

And my guess is that a lot of the quarterbacks

30:11

behind the scenes, like Jacoby Brissett Drake

30:14

may are probably trying to have similar

30:16

cues and cadences so that

30:18

it's all the same no matter who's under center.

30:21

So that's a very very big thing I

30:23

think for a lot of West Coast coaches.

30:25

Well, I would just throw into the McCarthy

30:27

angle. Who worked with Rogers. We know Rogers

30:30

uses the cadence as a weapon. Yeah, in terms

30:32

of getting guys to jump off side, because you

30:34

know with Dak, it was the it's the okay, here

30:37

we go. Aaron Rodgers, I don't remember

30:39

what it is, but he has his own one, and so like

30:41

defensive players used to tee off on it,

30:43

like okay, with Snap's coming, so he used to write

30:46

you dummy snacks.

30:46

Well, so so Dak has said this, Okay, here we

30:49

go.

30:50

When he says that, basically,

30:52

what that means is because

30:54

there's other people the lines communicating, the receivers

30:57

might be talking okay, here we go. When

30:59

Dak says that it's everybody else on the field

31:02

from here.

31:02

I'm talking. Now, you're done with your adjustments.

31:05

It's on me.

31:06

Except there is I

31:08

think, a dummy call before it where

31:10

he can say okay, here we go and essentially fake

31:12

the snap. Rogers has a similar thing

31:14

too, and so wouldn't surprise me if

31:16

they're coaching Drake may On like, because that's

31:18

the thing. Some quarterbacks are lazy with the cadence.

31:21

They go up and they're all right, yahy twenty

31:23

two and so and then

31:25

they call Hyke. But it's like, you

31:27

know, the hut or whatever it is, sounds

31:29

different than everything else, whereas with a

31:32

guy like Rogers, with a guy like Dak, it

31:35

all.

31:35

Sounds the same.

31:36

It's all said with the same volume, with

31:38

the same energy, and it makes it that much tougher

31:40

for the defense line up. I know this sounds

31:43

super super minor. This is as

31:45

in the weeds as we get. But this stuff

31:48

can matter, and you know, it's good

31:50

to see young quarterbacks understanding

31:53

that. I think with Milton Date, they

31:55

use the cadence in certain ways of Tennessee. It's

31:57

probably a little less of an adjustment for him. But

32:00

again for both these guys, come out strong, cadence.

32:03

You hear some things where guys don't always come out

32:05

of college understanding the importance of that part

32:07

of the game. And it feels like with May and Milton

32:09

they've drilled it in easy.

32:11

Yeah, it's all this fundamental

32:13

stuff is why people

32:16

This is why I harp on the reps, right,

32:18

because all these fundament This is the time of year

32:21

to be working on these fundamental things. This

32:23

is the time of year to start tweaking

32:26

a little. And you know, you know, I said that we have to be

32:28

careful of how we assess Drake May, and I also

32:30

say that the Patriots have to be careful with how much

32:32

they try to tweak. You have

32:34

to pick, and this is why I wanted to put

32:37

things in buckets, you know, like what's important

32:39

what's not. And I'm just giving

32:41

you my opinion. I'm sure that they have a laundry

32:43

list of things that they feel like need to be fixed,

32:45

and I'm you know, missing a bunch of them. But

32:48

you have to pick, like a handful. You can't try

32:50

to completely change

32:52

everything that the kid does, right,

32:54

you have to try it, because then he's going to become robotic

32:57

and he's not going to be himself and he's going to feel off

32:59

and it's not gonna work. So you have to

33:01

pick a few things to try to harp on

33:03

on what he could really fix and what he you

33:05

know, what we should really not be so concerned

33:07

about. And I think that's important

33:09

as well, so that strike may

33:11

before we open up the phone lines and everything. I do also

33:14

want to talk about the offensive line here briefly.

33:16

Obviously, we got the news from Drod Mayo before practice

33:18

that Cole Strange is month to month, and I and Rapaport

33:21

added to that that there's some

33:24

doubt about cold Strange's availability to start

33:26

the year the regular season in

33:28

September. So this

33:31

is a big topic of

33:33

both the whole cold Strange experience

33:36

since a minute they drafted him and Sean

33:38

McVay and let's need we're up there laughing

33:42

at them drafting him on draft night

33:44

in twenty twenty teens.

33:46

Round yeah, today, where

33:49

there's a conversation about just

33:53

the pick itself, Cole Strange's

33:55

future, but also you know, obviously what the team

33:57

is going to look like without him comes September.

34:00

I think the biggest thing is and I understand

34:03

that you can't hold this

34:05

against Elliott Wolf necessarily because

34:07

he wasn't the one making the final calls

34:09

in all these situations. And it's not about holding

34:12

it against anybody, but the

34:14

Cold Strange pick has had such a giant

34:17

domino effect on a

34:19

lot of their decision making when

34:21

it comes to the draft over the last couple of years.

34:23

And to be fair, most first round picks,

34:25

one way or another do have a ton of domino

34:27

effects.

34:28

Right.

34:28

It can be good, some can be bad. It's not

34:31

necessarily that they

34:34

that Blaydon Robinson is like a bad

34:36

player or a bad prospect or a bad pick

34:38

in the fourth round. But these assets,

34:41

it's about the assets, right, It's who.

34:43

Could they have been taking if they weren't chasing

34:45

their tail at card Yeah? Really, I mean, honestly, if you

34:47

really want to go back, it goes back to trading Shack

34:49

Mason.

34:50

Yeah, I mean, well, the domino effect of Joe

34:52

Toney, Shack Mason, Ted Karris creating

34:55

all of this void. But by not retaining

34:57

those players or trading away one of those pla

35:00

and Jack Mason's case opened the door

35:02

to have to draft Cole Strange. We

35:05

all knew at the time Cole Strange was a reach

35:07

and was a risky pick at the time, and

35:10

it's turned out that for

35:12

once in a blue moon, sometimes the media is right. The media

35:14

was right about this one, and

35:16

that's gonna be the one that people off the Yeah,

35:19

and it's it's not about blaming Elliott

35:21

Wolf or this regime for the

35:23

Cole Strange pick in twenty twenty two, although they were

35:25

here. But it's not about blaming them for it.

35:28

It's just in revision

35:30

is history, the domino effect

35:32

of like we said that the asset

35:35

allocation, they've been chasing their tail is a great

35:37

way to put it. They've been chasing their tail at Guard

35:39

ever since because he didn't fix the

35:41

problem. So with that all

35:43

being said, what is

35:45

Cole Strange's future on the

35:47

Patriots, I think is a really interesting question

35:50

because can't make the

35:52

club from the tub, right, and even

35:55

when he's been out there, he's had some ups and

35:57

downs. He was I think he was starting to

35:59

play a little bit better, yeah, towards

36:01

the end of the year last year before he got hurt. But

36:03

in general, I think that one

36:05

of the other things about Cold Strange that bugs me

36:08

is people that try to act like Cold Strange is good

36:10

when he's healthy. Cold Strange has

36:12

been a inconsistent

36:14

player even when healthy. You know, some

36:16

good, some bad, streaky, I

36:19

would say, you know, has some good film

36:21

a couple games in a row, and then we'll have a stinker.

36:24

You know that sort of thing. So I'm

36:26

still not sold even on a healthy Cold

36:28

Strange being in a starting guard in the league.

36:30

Well, here's what makes it so tough for me is

36:33

we talked last year about

36:36

how when he struggled early, how important

36:40

the summer would have been for him and how important training

36:42

camp would have been for him, and he lost that

36:44

development window and it felt like he was chasing

36:47

until you got halfway into the year and suddenly

36:49

started playing a little better before he got hurt.

36:52

He's gonna miss this summer too. She's

36:54

now gonna miss this summer, another development window.

36:57

And now next year he's gonna be going into the final year

37:00

contract at age twenty seven,

37:03

essentially having missed two

37:06

full spring training camps,

37:09

which stunts a player's growth.

37:11

It does, It just does. That's what happens.

37:14

He's undersized, so you worry

37:16

about his durability from that point. It's

37:18

just.

37:20

Missing missing two training Camps is

37:22

so much bigger than I think people realize, especially

37:25

for a player like that. And if

37:27

you know, there's a real chance that I

37:29

think we both think City Show.

37:31

Is a solid player.

37:32

Yeah, let's say Laden Robinson

37:34

wins the other spot or at some point takes

37:36

it over from Nick LeVert or Michael Jordan. I

37:41

have to like double check myself every time I say it. What

37:44

are the chances of city So in Lane

37:47

Robinson proved? They're both starting caliber cards.

37:52

Both. Yeah, the odds are not

37:54

in their favor. You don't think so that both of them

37:56

are starting calib starting I'm not saying all pro but

37:58

like you feel good about him,

38:01

I think we just just by the sheer

38:03

math of it, like they're all right.

38:04

Let me put it this way between City So,

38:07

Leighton Robinson, Nick Leverett.

38:10

Yeah, what are the chances that they have throw anybody else

38:12

you want in there? At Tonio Maffi? What are the chances

38:14

that they have two guys that we look at it, We get to like October

38:16

and it's like, yeah, all right, they're they're good at guard.

38:20

Man.

38:21

I love I love is a strong word.

38:23

I like City So. I think City So is

38:25

gonna make it. I think he'll be good. I

38:28

watched them a Leverett in Tampa when

38:31

they signed him in a little bit. I actually watched a little

38:33

bit more yesterday because of all this news that's going on

38:35

with Cold Strange. His Tampa

38:38

film is rough, Okay, I think the biggest

38:40

thing that you see with his Tampa film is

38:42

a lateral movement skill, Like

38:45

he's not. He's not very high level pass

38:47

protector because of his lateral movement and

38:49

he's got shorter arms, so he's got

38:52

some trouble with guys getting into him quickly

38:54

as well. He's good run

38:56

blocker. I think I wouldn't call him a great

38:59

run blocker, but he's he's solid as

39:01

a run blocker. He definitely has the play strength

39:03

to be a decent run blocker. Tampa

39:05

pulled him a lot like they they got him on the move

39:07

a little bit in the run game, and he's got

39:09

some of that ability certainly,

39:12

But the pass Pro film was pretty rough. I

39:14

think that he's a he's

39:17

a third, you know, swing

39:19

stuard, the backup type of player.

39:21

So then maybe Cole Strange

39:23

comes back and his job's waiting for him.

39:25

But yeah, if not, I

39:28

hope Lane Robinson ends up a starter. They took him with one

39:30

hundred third overall pick. That's high for guard.

39:34

Like, there's a chance that they have two starting guards

39:36

and they just don't need col Strange. If not, then they're gonna

39:38

keep him around because he has been you know,

39:40

serviceable when he plays, and maybe he actually gets

39:42

into camp next year bulks up a little bit, gets that

39:44

development. But I just his his

39:47

his development's still stunted right now from all the

39:49

time he's missed. Yeah, and it's it's

39:51

tough to come back from that.

39:52

So last week I told everybody

39:54

that I wasn't that concerned about the offensive line.

39:56

Yet this makes me more

39:58

concerned because now

40:00

you're talking about two spots. Basically you're talking

40:02

about the whole left stone and really three what's

40:05

the third one? The other guard? Well,

40:07

I think City is gonna be okay there, all

40:09

right, Well, I feel good about

40:12

David Andrews City and On being

40:15

starting caliber lineman for them,

40:17

so whatever the configuration is, but I feel

40:19

good about those three. If I

40:22

I on almost wonder, and

40:25

I think they did this on Monday, right, I almost

40:27

wonder if it's better to play City

40:29

at left guard and put Leverett

40:32

in between Andrews and on. So

40:34

that's that's what they did. That's what they should do, right,

40:36

because you're kind of spacing out. If your whole left

40:39

side's a turnstile, then then that's a

40:41

big, big problem. And here's what worries

40:43

me.

40:44

So you're your whole take last week because you believe in Scott

40:46

Peters and that's why you felt good about it.

40:48

And I'm not not and you know

40:50

I'm a big believer. And if it's one

40:53

spot, yeah, you can cover one

40:55

spot. Yeah, But I look

40:57

at it. You have.

41:00

At left tackle, you're either going to have a converted

41:02

right tackle, whether it's it's gonna be Dukes or Wallace,

41:04

it's gonna be or you're gonna have

41:07

well, but just the guys they put out there right, you

41:09

have you have ocor four and Wallace who are

41:11

converted right tackles, or ve Darian

41:13

Lowe who is a left tackle but is a project player

41:15

in his own reguard. You are going

41:17

to have a left guard who

41:20

is moving from playing right guard last

41:22

year and he played left guard in college. But the point it's like

41:24

new position to assignments your

41:27

center's David Andrews you're fine there.

41:28

You're gonna have a.

41:29

Right guard that is probably a rookie

41:31

or a second year player who didn't play a ton last year,

41:34

like a project player there, or a career

41:36

backup right. And then your right

41:38

tackle who is a

41:40

good player. This is his

41:42

first offseason working exclusively at

41:44

right tackles, so there's a different sort

41:46

of training there. So if you look at it, there's

41:49

development needed, like true

41:52

hands on development needed at four

41:54

of the five spots.

41:56

Or starting to play Jenga here.

41:57

That's they are asking a

42:00

ton of Scott

42:02

Peters in this offensive line coaching staff, and they actually

42:05

have a bunch of offensive line coaches, which

42:07

maybe is part of the reason their comfortable. Don't

42:10

they have a third two I'm trying to

42:12

pull it up here. No,

42:14

they said Michael McCarthy, the guy they signed

42:16

for Brown, who's like he's listed as an offensive

42:18

assistant. He's been a line coach career, So

42:21

they have they have a lot of guys there. But you're

42:24

at we'll see and maybe they're I'm not saying they're not

42:26

up for it. I'm not even saying they're not good coaches, but they're

42:29

asking that that offensive coaching specifically

42:32

offensive line coaches to do a.

42:35

Lot that we're starting

42:37

to get into the territory nowhere where

42:39

my my I was at like a three

42:42

last week. Now when

42:44

you start to really break it down, and I don't think that

42:47

even though it's it's super super early for him

42:49

in this transition, I didn't.

42:51

I didn't feel a whole lot of confidence coming from Choose

42:54

the Corra for post practice on Monday

42:56

either about him playing left tackle. He

42:59

seemed like, Yep, this is gonna be

43:02

it's gonna be a test, like this is gonna be a He didn't

43:04

sound super confident. No, So I

43:06

feel like we're starting to teeter a

43:09

little bit, even for me now, like I'm I'm up

43:11

to probably like a six or a seven on

43:13

the concern scale. Like this like doubled my

43:15

level of concern. Not because of how high.

43:18

I mean, I've been clear that I'm not as super high

43:20

on col Strange as a player, But it's

43:22

just like you said, we're moving pieces

43:24

around now, you have younger players playing

43:27

that don't have a ton of experience. You're just starting

43:29

to really shuffle the deck a lot, which is

43:31

I think the bigger concern. I will continue

43:33

to pound the table, continue

43:36

to pound the table for

43:39

Mike On when new playing guard. That doesn't help you, Yes,

43:42

it does because it puts people in natural positions.

43:44

And then who's your right tackle? Wallace?

43:46

All right? Yeah,

43:49

but now the line is a whole left to right,

43:51

Chukes, City, Andrews

43:54

On Wallace, everybody

43:56

is playing their natural spots. City

43:58

was a left guard in college. I know he's got to learn at

44:01

this level and played right guard last year, but

44:03

he was a left guard in college. I think that's really where

44:05

he feels more natural. Anyways, and

44:07

I keep saying it. You developed

44:10

that line and the next year, at

44:12

the top of the draft, you draft Will Campbell

44:14

or Kelvin Banks junior, and he's your left tackle. I

44:16

just wish they drafted a left tackle. Yeah,

44:19

I would have obviously would have expedited

44:21

things. But once you get into the third round at sixty

44:24

eight, when you really start to think about it, if

44:26

you have a much higher grade on Caden Wallace, then

44:28

you should have taken Kaden Wallas. They should trade it up.

44:30

They should have Patrick Paul goes fifty five. There's

44:32

a run coming. That's fair, that's fair

44:34

that it's a totally fair

44:36

second guess of how they handled it. Yeah,

44:38

I just think.

44:39

That, like, k don't get this, Kane Wallace was the best

44:41

offensive lineman on the board at sixty eight.

44:43

I just don't love that they picked at sixty eight.

44:45

Yeah. I just feel like at this point you

44:48

have to almost cut your losses and just make the best

44:50

out of the situation. I think the way to

44:52

make the best out of the situation is to

44:54

at least go into the season with everybody

44:56

playing a position they feel comfortable with playing.

44:59

And I also have been pretty surprised that Annu

45:01

doesn't look slimmed down or lighter

45:04

or any sort of like preparation

45:06

for him to play. He looks the same as he always

45:09

does in terms of like being that you know,

45:11

blocking guard build. I

45:14

just feel like that's not

45:16

only do I think that that probably has

45:18

the highest ceiling in terms of the line this year,

45:21

but I also think that that is the best line that

45:23

you can have for the next three to five

45:25

years. Yeah. And we start talking about

45:27

Drake May and his window on the rookie contract

45:29

and all that, Like, I feel like that's the best thing.

45:32

And if you have the quarterback on the rookie contract,

45:34

you can afford to pay a guard eighteen nineteen

45:36

million dollars a year like they're paying Mike on Wenu, Like

45:38

you can afford that at this point in time, right,

45:40

you have fifty million dollars in cap space still

45:44

and on May twenty third, So

45:46

money is not an issue about asset

45:49

allocation and stuff like that. We'll see

45:51

what they end up doing. It's right now, we're starting

45:53

to get on mess territory with the offensive line.

45:55

We're starting to get there. I mean you

45:58

can say we're starting to get there. Been

46:01

there. I'm sorry to get it all right, Let's take some of

46:03

these calls, and then we have a

46:05

few more things I wanted to get to on OTA's

46:07

But Patrick is in Pennsylvania. What's up?

46:09

Patrick?

46:11

Hey?

46:12

Love gets twenty two keep up some great work. And before

46:14

I said a question, I agree with you, and I

46:16

think Goes chokes City Andrews

46:18

on one who Wallace put everybody in the right

46:20

position. But my actual question is, aside

46:23

from maybe some of the offensive line and running

46:25

back depth, looking at defense outside

46:27

of outside corner, is

46:30

there any other greater team

46:32

needs than that? At this point, I see a bunch of slock

46:34

corners on the roster not

46:36

a lot of true outside guys or at least proven

46:39

guys. Do you realistically see us

46:41

addressing that with a veteran, whether that be Gilmore

46:43

or somebody else, or have you seen enough

46:46

from practice to roll with Gonzo and

46:48

Johnson Jones at the outside and then a mix

46:51

of Marcus Jones, Dial Bolton, Austin,

46:54

et cetera at the inside.

46:55

Thanks guys, Yeah, thanks for the call of Patrick. I'm

46:58

not maybe this is mebe be naive

47:00

like I was with left tackle last week. I'm

47:02

not necessarily concerned that with outside corner

47:05

or corner.

47:05

I say, it's the other way around. I think they

47:07

have more boundary corners and slot

47:09

corners. You got Christian Sauce,

47:12

you got Alex Austin, You've

47:14

got uh Marco Wilson right

47:17

can play on the boundary. I like this guy, Mikey Victor

47:19

of the UDFA they picked up. Jonathan Jones

47:21

can play on the boundary. Marcel's dials

47:23

a boundary corner like you got guys there. It's

47:25

the slot. I

47:27

did not say Isaiah Bolden, but Denk I'd put

47:30

him in that group too. It's the slot that

47:32

worries me more. You know, maybe Jonathan Jones

47:34

goes back in the slot and and I guess

47:36

that's my Mike on WNU at right guard

47:39

where it's like it's

47:41

a slightly less impactful position. But I just

47:43

think the puzzle fits better if you

47:45

do that. But if it's not him,

47:47

you know, I think Marcus Jones can be a good slot corner,

47:49

but he's a small guy. Durability he's gonna be a question.

47:52

And then after that it really drops off in

47:55

the slot. You know, I Sean

47:57

Wade has shown some some progress,

48:00

but is he a guy you're really comfortable with being potentially

48:03

your second slot corner.

48:05

I think Caleb Ford dement to U DFA can play

48:07

in the slot a little bit. But it really thins out

48:09

that to me is now they could add

48:11

a guy on the boundary, move John Jones

48:14

back into the slot full time. You know, he had

48:16

Steph Gilmore and and and now you're in

48:18

good shape. So that's right, add the veteran the slots

48:20

where they're where they're actually thinner, I think.

48:23

So I guess maybe I just it's semantics,

48:25

but like I don't really get caught up too much and inside

48:28

outside right now, when it comes to corners

48:30

because so many of these receivers travel

48:33

in an hour. So like when you play Miami,

48:36

Like, does it really make a difference if you have inside or

48:38

outside guys like Jalen Wattle and Tyree

48:40

kill are gonna line up.

48:41

I think it's more at this point using

48:44

those to describe the

48:47

prototype of the player, the skill set, rather

48:50

than the uh, you

48:52

know, alignment.

48:53

I hear you there. I just think that what I the

48:55

way I look at it, and I think that, again,

48:58

this is probably pretty semantics. But Gonzo's

49:01

gonna take the top X receiver. Yes, right,

49:03

so he's gonna take the top X receiver. Jonathan

49:06

Jones is gonna take the top Z receiver. And

49:08

in today's NFL, not that this is

49:10

probably true always, It's just I only know today's

49:13

NFL. Uh. The zero receiver travels

49:15

like right, Like he's he's an off the line player

49:17

for a reason. He's gonna be moving around. He's gonna

49:19

play inside, he's gonna play outside. He's gonna

49:21

play out of stacks, bunch of alignments. Uh,

49:24

he's gonna come in motion like That's why

49:26

he's playing off the line of scrimmage so that he can

49:28

be a chess piece that they can move around. So

49:31

in my mind, I actually think Jonathan

49:33

Jones is excellent for that role.

49:36

Now, if they play a team with a great Z

49:38

receiver, you know, somebody that plays that

49:41

role that is excellent at it. Maybe Gonzo

49:43

takes that player that week. And then you start

49:46

to get into the issues of Okay, well, now who

49:48

plays the boundary, you know, permanently and

49:50

all that. I get that, maybe you could get into that minutia.

49:53

But to me, it's simple as Gonzo's

49:56

gonna play the boundary. Jonathan

49:58

Jones is gonna be the the shadow, right,

50:00

He's going to run around with whoever's off the line of scrimmage.

50:03

And then, like you said, the true slot is

50:05

really the next trickle down, and I

50:08

think that the ideally it's Marcus Jones, right,

50:10

Ideally he steps out and I think he can do it, but he's

50:12

got to be healthy.

50:13

And then who do you have behind him, because right now it's Sean

50:15

Wade And now you're starting to get into, you

50:17

know, being a little thing.

50:18

Yeah, I think the one spot that I

50:21

look at too is early

50:24

downs, you know, first, second down. I

50:26

think there's a really good chance that their three safety Nickel

50:29

a lot, and you have like a slot

50:31

defender instead of a corner and it's Gabriel

50:34

Peppers or it's Kyle Duggar, you know, something

50:36

like that. Yeah, but I hope it's sick because we've seen

50:38

them do that in the past, over do

50:40

that and they end up putting just guys

50:43

that are too slow on burners. Yeah, if it

50:45

ends up being you know, if you're playing a team that ends

50:47

up just countering with eleven person

50:50

out, then you have to match it with Trim Nickel.

50:52

But I think that a lot of these teams that they play against

50:54

that are going to be a little run heavy on early

50:57

downs or play action run heavy, like that's going

50:59

to be the sequel in their offense, or

51:01

maybe the game plan that week is to play just a bunch

51:04

of zone because they just feel like that's how they match up

51:06

best against an opponent. I feel

51:08

like that that three safety Nickel comes into play

51:10

a lot, So I think that maybe that

51:13

adds a little bit of depth to corner

51:15

or slot corner, I should say, just because the

51:18

the safety is factoring just

51:20

a little bit into how that's gonna work out.

51:23

If you ask me, the spot

51:25

on the defense that I feel is

51:28

maybe the most vulnerable. I guess

51:30

the way to put it is edge rusher. You

51:33

only feel that way because they had nobody out there practice

51:35

here. Maybe I just feel like it's the same as last

51:38

year though, where if Judon gets hurt,

51:40

like.

51:41

Who, well, I mean, yeah, if you lose your

51:43

best player, the defense is we're talking.

51:45

About depth and that's how depth works,

51:47

like you, and it's also not just about

51:49

him getting hurt. If they have any

51:52

plans of winning some games this year, yeah,

51:54

then the Judon trade to me is off the table, Like

51:56

you can't if you trade Judon,

51:59

I don't know where you're getting the pass rush

52:01

from, and I like supposed to. Yeah,

52:04

but he's a situational guy.

52:07

Like I'm talking about three downs and I

52:09

know they have bar Moore in the middle, but I'm talking

52:11

about from the outside, Like where does

52:13

the pass rush come from? And this kind

52:15

of goes to the Keon White point that

52:17

I had written down as something I wanted to talk to as well.

52:20

Uh, I just don't know where the pass rush

52:23

on first down comes from outside of obviously

52:25

the interior with bar Moore. If

52:28

Judon's not on this football team, Like where

52:30

it's not going to come from Jennings is

52:33

not going to be on the field because he's

52:35

not his situation. And I say, really

52:38

change what they do from a front mechanic

52:40

standpoint, which I don't think they're gonna do. And

52:43

in terms of pure pass rush, I'm still

52:45

not one hundred percent sold. That's Keon

52:47

White's MO like he

52:49

was pretty good at that last year before you got that concussion.

52:52

I feel like, I feel like he's a disruptor,

52:55

right, And there's a difference between being a disruptor

52:58

and what Judon is. Judn's a sack artist.

53:01

Yeah, but they've they've gotten by for years with

53:03

disruptors. I

53:05

guess I don't know.

53:06

I feel like I don't think you need I don't

53:09

think you need two fifteen

53:11

sack guys necessarily to be No.

53:13

It's more just you

53:16

know, kind of thinking about it without Judon, Like

53:18

if Judni is traded or

53:20

Judai gets hurt again, or whatever

53:22

the case may be, I think you're back into

53:24

a world, which is where I think they were last year,

53:27

where the pressures has

53:29

to be schemed. It has to be you

53:31

know, simulated pressures, creepers, blitz

53:34

is whatever. Well, the other thing I wish to and this goes

53:36

back to my thing about the deep safety.

53:38

Remember is his rookie year. They used to use

53:41

Kyle Duggar's pass rusher. He's like pretty

53:43

good at it.

53:43

They could try to do that again.

53:44

I would look, but then the problem is, all right, so

53:46

now you've got to put Jabrill Pepper's on the back end where

53:49

he's not as impactful as when he's playing near the line

53:51

of scrimmage.

53:52

I hate they don't have real free safety all right?

53:55

Z is in Springfield? What's up?

53:56

Z Hi? How

53:59

you guys doing.

54:00

Do you think they should trade a first and a fourth

54:02

for T Higgins?

54:05

Okay, thanks for the call. Uh No,

54:08

I would not trade a first round pick for T. Higgins.

54:11

And it's not because I don't think that T Higgins

54:13

could net a first round pick.

54:16

The Patriots first round pick is going to be a top ten

54:18

pick next year. Yeah. I don't think T Higgins

54:20

is worth the eighth overall pick in the draft. I

54:22

just don't. Now there's

54:25

a line, right, Like there's there's certain players that I do think

54:28

are worth Obviously I don't.

54:30

This is I'm not saying it's happening by any

54:32

means, But like Justin Jefferson is

54:34

worth the eighth overall pick in the draft,

54:37

I don't think T Higgins is there. I don't think Brandon

54:39

Ayuk is there either. I think the starting

54:41

point for the Patriots on a T. Higgins trade

54:44

is their twenty twenty five second round pick and

54:47

maybe the fourth round pick that he mentioned

54:49

or something like that. But I can't part

54:51

with a top ten pick in the draft for T. Higgins.

54:54

Yeah, I know, I'm not giving up a

54:56

first round pick because of where that pick could be, second or

54:58

fourth. Absolutely I'd go out and get T Higgins because

55:00

this whole thing looks so much more complete if you do that,

55:03

But I'm not giving up a first round pack.

55:05

For my other take on on the T Higgins Brandon

55:07

Ayuk all that we all would love to

55:09

have those guys on the Patriots team. Like you

55:12

said, the whole thing looks a whole lot better. I

55:14

do wonder if they're maybe a year

55:17

away from that move, because

55:19

I think in some respects we

55:21

don't know when Drake May is gonna play. And

55:25

as much as T Higgins will help Drake May in two

55:27

years anyways, it's just a matter

55:29

of when you know like that

55:32

that sort of thing happens. That's fair, you know.

55:33

I don't know that you need to be in the biggest rush to do it, especially

55:36

when you look at the guys that are up next to especially.

55:38

Because they have no intentions whatsoever

55:41

of re signing him in Cincinnati, So

55:43

like why pay? But he's

55:45

not gonna hit the market. He's gonna get traded before

55:47

he gets maybe, I mean he's he's

55:50

gonna have to sign the tag and then he's gonna

55:52

have to get traded on the tag. Like I it's

55:54

a complicated that becomes complicated.

55:57

These guys just don't hit free agency. I guess I'll believe it

55:59

when I I don't necessarily think he's gonna hit with free agency

56:01

either. I just I just think it's a little

56:03

bit more of a complex situation

56:05

than that. I just I look at it this

56:08

year. I don't know if Drake

56:10

May is gonna be ready to play right away. T

56:13

Higgins with Jacobe Brissett, really like all

56:15

that does for you is maybe give you one or two

56:18

more wins, which puts your draft pick

56:20

in a worse spot. And I also think

56:22

that you got to see at receiver what

56:25

Jalen Polk and Javon Baker have and

56:28

that's true. And I'd also throw Pop Douglas in there

56:30

too. You know, I always go back

56:32

to the Green Bay comparison. If in

56:35

a year from now, it Jalen

56:38

Polk, Javon Baker and Pop Douglas

56:40

look like Christian Watson, Romeo

56:43

Dobbs and Jayden Reid, then

56:46

a player like T Higgins or Brandon night Yuka

56:48

is like the cherry on top that maybe makes you like

56:50

ridiculously good on offense.

56:52

Right the trade

56:54

the idea of like a second and a fourth

56:57

for one of these top receivers, which seems to be

56:59

about what it costs that should

57:01

be on the table if it's not T Higgins

57:03

right now, Like I'm okay with that, but you

57:05

look at the list of guys that are gonna be up nexture. I think

57:08

Tara McLaurin got an extension right.

57:10

He did recently. I don't know if it was this past

57:14

Dk Metcalf.

57:16

Dk Metcalf is a big one for me, Like DK

57:18

Metcalf with Drake may would be I mean,

57:20

talk about yeah, fit Terry

57:22

Mclaurin's if I'm thinking

57:25

the extension is gonna be up DJ Moore if they move

57:27

on from him, because they got a bunch of good receivers, there's gonna

57:29

be up. I don't think they're getting

57:31

Garrett Wilson, but like j jaylen Wade because

57:33

they're in the division. But like there's a lot of good

57:35

receivers that are going to be that like pending

57:38

free agent trade candidate guy next

57:40

year, so that that trade

57:43

should be on the table if it's not T Higgins right

57:45

now. To your point, I understand that, you know, maybe

57:47

they want to see what they have this year, and if Drake May is

57:49

not like this anyway, you don't have to rush into it.

57:51

But when we get to the spring,

57:54

when we get to the spring of twenty twenty five, I

57:57

think that that becomes you know, guys like DK Metca,

58:00

that should become a real conversation.

58:01

Absolutely, one hundred percent agree. I just

58:03

look at it, and I look

58:05

at this year, the twenty twenty four season

58:08

as year zero. This is not

58:10

I don't even look at this, no, no, it's it is.

58:12

It is year Zero's the year that you're so bad you

58:15

get the draft pick. I know, to me, this is year

58:17

zero.

58:17

Yeah, it's year one. It's your it's the

58:19

quarterbacks first year, it's year one. That's because he

58:22

might not even play. You time it up to the rookie contract.

58:25

That's just how year zero to me. No, okay,

58:28

this is a full on developmental season.

58:30

It can be year zero to you.

58:32

I'm telling you. You know, having talked to

58:34

people, the way that this thing goes, it's

58:37

considered year one. Okay, well, I disagree

58:39

with that. Here's here's the if you drafted a

58:42

quarterback that was ready to play right

58:44

out of the gate, you know, if it was

58:46

Mac Jones two point zero, or if it

58:48

was you know, Jayden Daniels, who I think we'll be probably

58:51

ready to play right away for Washington,

58:53

then I would agree that this is year one. But since

58:55

you're probably going to plan on sitting Drake May for at

58:58

least six to eight weeks like I, but you

59:00

have to time it to his rookie contract.

59:02

It's not I'm not necessarily the contract.

59:04

I'm not necessarily talking about that. I'm just talking

59:07

about the developmental cycle of

59:09

the entire team. And I look at right

59:11

now that I would like to see what

59:14

the young receivers have. Sure I

59:16

start playing that twenty five million dollars

59:18

a year. What I'm telling you is they went

59:20

to the double box in the video. That's how you know it's getting

59:22

good.

59:23

What I'm telling you is the way

59:25

it's it's it's generally looked at Yeah,

59:27

year zero is the year you're bad?

59:29

Well, right, But why do I care how it's generally looked

59:31

at it?

59:31

Or because I'm educating the audience, because

59:34

this is what the timeline should be for drafting

59:36

quarterback?

59:37

This is out should work. Year

59:39

one is the quarterback

59:41

a guy you're moving forwards with? Yes or no? Is

59:44

I don't know if we're going to have that answer because he might not play

59:46

well, then they'll be behind schedule. But you I

59:48

don't think they'll be behind that. You can find that out behind

59:51

the Chiefs. Behind schedule, like, I don't

59:53

think that means he's there nobody, but they clearly

59:55

knew.

59:56

We didn't see it because he wasn't playing in games.

59:58

They moved on from Alex. They were comfortable

1:00:01

they knew, okay, that Mahomes is the guy.

1:00:03

So just because he doesn't play in games doesn't mean

1:00:05

you don't know what you have in him at

1:00:07

some point though at some point he has played the game

1:00:09

at some point he does, and he's got to have like not

1:00:12

saying that the Chiefs got lucky by any means, but

1:00:14

like that technically could have gone

1:00:16

either way still until he got into an NFL

1:00:18

gave Now sure he played that last regular

1:00:20

season he played. So and you're

1:00:23

saying, Drake May might play six to eight, Drake May

1:00:25

is playing this year. I don't think they're gonna go seventeen

1:00:27

years. So year one is,

1:00:29

let me put it this way, If Drake

1:00:32

May is

1:00:35

is, if let's say worst case scenario, like he

1:00:37

gets out of there and like this guy's not close, then

1:00:39

you're not trading for DK Metcalf next

1:00:42

year.

1:00:42

Because you don't know. Because then if if you

1:00:44

trade for dass trade, which happened

1:00:46

what in between year two and three.

1:00:48

For exactly, if if you're

1:00:50

not confident in Drake Man you trade for DK Metcalf,

1:00:53

you blew that asset when you might have to be

1:00:55

picking another quarterback again in a year or two and

1:00:57

now DK Metcalf's old and he's out of

1:00:59

his problem and whatever.

1:01:00

So that's kind of my point. Year one is

1:01:03

is your quarterback the guy? Yes or no?

1:01:04

Have you checked the first box in the rebuilt category.

1:01:08

Year two, can you just be

1:01:10

competitive? Can you may be surprised in a couple

1:01:12

of games. Are you flirting with the playoff spot?

1:01:15

Year three? You should be.

1:01:17

This is when you should have that receiver in place.

1:01:20

You should go and get that. All these quarterbacks

1:01:22

go into year three, right.

1:01:24

You gotta I think you gotta speed it up a little

1:01:26

bit.

1:01:26

Year three is when you should really be like you should

1:01:28

be in the playoffs. You should be contending for your division. Years

1:01:31

four and year five, that's your super Bowl window.

1:01:33

That's your true super Bowl window. That is what

1:01:35

the path should be for developing a young quarterback.

1:01:37

With Mac Jones, they were ahead of schedule, they

1:01:40

made the playoffs. Year one peaked well

1:01:43

exactly, they got a head of schedule. Well, I think they got a head

1:01:45

of schedule and got a little too comfortable.

1:01:46

They peaked.

1:01:47

So let's just figure out this

1:01:49

year. If they come away from this year and it can

1:01:52

happen behind the scenes, Evan, we may not know it. If

1:01:55

they can come away from this year that yes, we're

1:01:57

gonna invest in Drake May, We're gonna build this thing around

1:01:59

Drake May. Then this year is

1:02:01

a success. Then you go out and get DK Metcalf.

1:02:04

Then you go out and get your left tackle in the draft, and

1:02:06

now you're starting on that upward trajectory

1:02:08

of Okay, we know we have the guy. Now

1:02:11

we've put the pieces around, and let's see what that looks

1:02:13

like. Year three you finish rounding

1:02:15

out the roster, and then year four and year

1:02:17

five you're going for it.

1:02:20

If they don't make the playoffs by year three, I don't

1:02:22

know if maybe if you don't year

1:02:24

three you should be in the playoffs. I don't know.

1:02:26

If I was clear about that, I would say you should be contending

1:02:28

for your division, but you should be in the playoffs.

1:02:31

But if I just think

1:02:33

that history tells us, and

1:02:35

maybe the craft will be more patient, but history

1:02:38

tells us that it's really

1:02:40

a two year window that you have to get the

1:02:42

team.

1:02:43

You're not If no, and I'm

1:02:45

with you on that, and this timeline exists

1:02:47

in that context, Yeah, if you're not

1:02:49

in the playoffs in year three, you are behind schedule.

1:02:52

Yeah. I think that you start talking about

1:02:54

people's jobs at that point. I think the other

1:02:56

thing that year two you should be like

1:02:58

a borderline playoff team, Like maybe you sneak

1:03:01

in said what the Patriots

1:03:03

were Mac Jones rookie year is really what

1:03:05

you want to be in year two. So we have two

1:03:08

different models to kind of look at here.

1:03:10

I think number one is what's

1:03:14

going on right now with the Houston Texans. So the Houston

1:03:16

Texans are their way

1:03:18

ahead of schedule because of Stroud. But what

1:03:20

they did was what I'm advocating for the

1:03:22

Patriots to do this year, is they allowed

1:03:25

Stroud to play with Nico Collins and Tank

1:03:27

Dell. They realized that Nico Collins

1:03:29

and Tank Dell are dudes, and then they

1:03:31

made this to find trade to

1:03:34

be the icing. I'm with you on that, and look the

1:03:37

other model. The other model is the Buffalo

1:03:40

Bills, who I believe

1:03:42

it was between going into Josh

1:03:44

Allen's third season if they traded for Diggs

1:03:48

because they recognized

1:03:50

that he needed some development and he wasn't ready

1:03:52

yet for that type of move. Whether

1:03:55

he needs development or not, he should be trying to

1:03:57

get him one of tho wide receivers. I think it matters.

1:03:59

I think once you got into year two with Josh Allen,

1:04:02

he showed some significant improvement

1:04:04

wait and he started to play well, and

1:04:06

then they recognized to your point of is

1:04:08

he the guy or not? I don't think the Bills

1:04:11

truly knew that Josh Allen was the guy or not until

1:04:13

the end of his second season, right,

1:04:15

So that's my point

1:04:17

of why I like Josh Allen's rookie year.

1:04:20

If they had made a snap like your point of can this

1:04:22

guy hand can this guy be your quarterback? If

1:04:24

they had made a judgment in

1:04:26

a vacuum based off of Josh Allen's rookie season,

1:04:29

the answer would have been now.

1:04:29

So I'm not saying you have to decide is he the

1:04:32

guy? Yes or no after the first year. I'm

1:04:34

saying, are you confident enough after

1:04:36

the first year? Like you want to be confident enough

1:04:39

after the first year. So

1:04:41

they made the Digs trade going in a year three, right, because

1:04:44

I think they were behind at one point Josh Allen

1:04:46

was behind schedule. The Bills are behind schedule. I think you'd

1:04:48

agree with me on that they didn't know after

1:04:50

the first year. I don't think they were behind schedule.

1:04:53

I think that they knew that they drafted like this raw

1:04:55

developmental quarterback. Sure, okay, but here's

1:04:57

my point. Can you see enough

1:05:00

from Drake May where you're

1:05:02

confident to make that trade going

1:05:05

into year two instead of going into year three.

1:05:08

That's basically my point. That's what happened with Stroud,

1:05:10

Right, Well, so they well,

1:05:13

but again because Josh Allen didn't

1:05:15

check that first box until after

1:05:17

year two, where you're kind of hoping to check it after year

1:05:19

one, where it's just the reason why

1:05:21

Josh Allen didn't check it though, and this is

1:05:24

what I'm trying to get at, is because they knew

1:05:26

going in that he had longer way to go than

1:05:28

c J. Stroud did, so, right, so

1:05:30

they that's the guy that Patriots drafted,

1:05:33

So they drafted a guy that is Josh Allen, they didn't

1:05:35

draft CJ. So you think there's a chance that we're not confident

1:05:37

after this year that Drake May is

1:05:40

the future. I think that there's a chance after this

1:05:42

year that it's incomplete, that we just don't know

1:05:44

yet. Okay, So yeah,

1:05:46

that's what I'm saying. Yeah, but I don't But

1:05:48

it's not like you're saying it to me, like

1:05:51

you're saying it with a negative connotation. I

1:05:53

don't necessarily think that that means it's a negative

1:05:55

thing. I just think that when you look at developmental

1:05:58

tracks like it's gonna take Drake

1:06:00

May potentially longer to hit

1:06:02

his ceiling then I took C. J. Stroud And

1:06:05

but he doesn't need to hit his ceiling in order

1:06:07

for you know what about I mean, like he hit

1:06:09

his potential that you can feel

1:06:11

good about. Does he show you enough? Here's what I'm

1:06:14

saying, can he show you enough this year where

1:06:16

you say, yeah, we're okay trading a second round pick

1:06:18

for DK Metcalf because Drake May

1:06:21

is going to be here being the guy throwing to him right,

1:06:25

which means that he would have to have a season

1:06:28

not not maybe not not

1:06:30

necessarily as good because Stroud just no, one

1:06:32

doesn't have to match straight, but.

1:06:33

But's got to be in the ballpark.

1:06:38

I felt after Mac Jones

1:06:40

rookie year that yeah, this is a guy

1:06:42

I'd go get help. I'm okay kind of blowing

1:06:44

some future assets.

1:06:45

Matt Jones solid rookie year. Though I

1:06:47

think Drake May could do that. I don't disagree.

1:06:50

I don't if he's given the opportunity. I don't

1:06:52

think they're gonna give him the opportunity necessarily.

1:06:54

But well, and then it goes back

1:06:56

to can he show them enough? Behind the scenes where they're

1:06:58

watching him in practice, saying, and if we go get

1:07:01

him a DK man, and I keep using DK Metcalf

1:07:03

just because the contracts. Yeah, man, if we go get

1:07:05

him a DK Metcalf, T

1:07:07

Higgins right whoever, Like he's

1:07:10

really gonna be able to do something.

1:07:12

Yeah, I hear you. And I also think there's a

1:07:14

conversation that we can unpack it another

1:07:18

day when we decide whether or not they're ready

1:07:20

for this trade of the

1:07:22

best stylistic fit for this type

1:07:24

of offense and Drake May and all that kind of stuff.

1:07:26

I hear what you're saying with DK. The downfield ability

1:07:28

is definitely there. I do wonder if, like a more

1:07:31

versatile player just for the system that

1:07:33

they're gonna be running well. But isn't the hope that

1:07:35

Jalen Polk is that guy? Yeah, I

1:07:37

could.

1:07:37

I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about with Metcalf.

1:07:40

It's not just fitting the system, it's fitting the players they have in

1:07:42

place. Because Polk is your Z Pop

1:07:45

is your slot. So can you go get

1:07:47

that true outside guy.

1:07:48

I just wonder if this system, if there's if

1:07:50

there really is a true outside guy, like

1:07:53

if that's really how it's built like I look at

1:07:55

Silly you want like another z well, I just it's

1:07:57

not even just about like the position names.

1:07:59

I'd just think that like you look

1:08:01

at the receivers in San Francisco,

1:08:04

the receivers in Los Angeles with the

1:08:06

rams, like those guys are you

1:08:08

know a U Cooper

1:08:11

cup Like they're these versatile guys that

1:08:13

can play different spots, that can be inside,

1:08:15

that can be outside, that can block in the run game. I

1:08:17

know nobody cares about that here, but that's just the bottom

1:08:19

line.

1:08:20

You know.

1:08:20

They're bigger, thicker receivers as well.

1:08:23

I look at DK. I love DK, so I would

1:08:25

put him out of it in a different category. I think he's

1:08:27

a leade elite and that means that he's

1:08:30

one of those guys that you just make it work, you know,

1:08:32

that type of player. I look at t Higgins

1:08:35

though, and I have a little minor little

1:08:37

bit ahead. He's more that true, he's

1:08:39

less versatile, yeah, but he's

1:08:41

a fade jump ball, big

1:08:44

body receiver like that's who That's

1:08:46

what.

1:08:46

He is, by the way, instead of just continuing to guess,

1:08:48

because we have the power of the Internet, Terry

1:08:51

McLaurin, because McLaurin would be that kind of

1:08:53

guy, that kind of multiples, right. Yeah,

1:08:55

So he's signed through twenty twenty

1:08:58

five with a void year and twenty six, but

1:09:01

he has no guaranteed money on

1:09:03

his contract next year. So he's a

1:09:05

guy I would think unless he gets a new like, he's

1:09:07

gonna need a new contract one way or the other. Whether

1:09:09

Washington gives it to or not is the question. But he's

1:09:12

probably gonna be looking for a new contract next offseason.

1:09:14

So that in theory, I mean, I

1:09:16

think Terry is a great player.

1:09:18

You love, you love Terry McClay. You're a big I'm a big

1:09:20

Terry McLaurin guy. He should have been for all we want

1:09:22

to second guess about, But why are the Commanders

1:09:24

giving Like Jayden Daniels is in the same spot

1:09:27

that Drake may is in. Why would the Commanders be giving

1:09:29

up receiver talent with a young quarterback.

1:09:31

Because I'm

1:09:33

like kind of with you, But also I wonder mclaurin's

1:09:35

gonna be thirty. Do they see it as we're

1:09:38

gonna draft the guys so these two can develop together

1:09:40

and maybe the Patriots they've drafted

1:09:42

the guys.

1:09:43

It's what John dottson there it's Terry

1:09:45

McLaurin. I think there's a third guy. No, it

1:09:48

was Curtis Samuel, who I think is gone

1:09:50

now right, I'm pulling it up.

1:09:51

But they may look at it and say, we want

1:09:54

to draft the guy for Jane Daniels to develop with,

1:09:56

where the Patriots look at it and say, we

1:09:59

got two guys for him to

1:10:01

develop with, but we need a veteran in that

1:10:03

room as well. I'm just thinking it's

1:10:06

they got Demmy Brown, Drake

1:10:08

May's former team.

1:10:09

I think Drake Mace Warmer maybe for like a year.

1:10:11

Yeah, No, he wasn't. He was out in twenty twenty.

1:10:13

Oh they have to mere Bird, Okay,

1:10:16

one of the mooset underrated players in the league, Jamison

1:10:18

Crowd or Jahan dottson. They drafted Luke McCaffrey,

1:10:21

Terry McLaurin.

1:10:24

Yeah, that's a scary room if you kind of that's

1:10:26

a scary room if you take Terry McLaurin out, Like

1:10:28

John Dotson is still an unknown to

1:10:30

me, like I think he's probably gonna be well,

1:10:33

but Evan, this is next year.

1:10:34

So it's if you know you're getting a

1:10:36

top forty pick, yeah, and then it's

1:10:39

we're gonna draft.

1:10:40

A guy, and I don't know if I'm them.

1:10:42

Jayden Daniels is ready like he's twenty. Maybe

1:10:44

maybe I'm talking myself into it, but he's a good player.

1:10:47

I wouldn't worry about it, all right. I know where

1:10:49

you're gonna be a Memorial Day weekend, Alex.

1:10:52

I think at the beach. Yeah.

1:10:54

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1:10:56

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furniture store of the New England Patriots

1:11:21

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1:11:23

Yeah you do, I don't know, do you? Yeah?

1:11:26

For where get parents? Okay,

1:11:29

that's nice, that's nice. Yeah,

1:11:31

Well have you ever given them like we

1:11:33

gave uh my parents, like the towels,

1:11:36

like the nice like towels, and they got like their

1:11:38

initials stitched into them and stuff like that. Now,

1:11:43

is it like the stupid things like what do your parents need

1:11:45

for like their their birthdays or anivisories

1:11:48

like they they're they got, they

1:11:51

got plenty, So it's like what do you give them? You

1:11:53

give them stupid stuff for their second

1:11:55

homes were spoiled. Anyways,

1:12:00

let's let's take some more of these calls and emails and then

1:12:02

we'll get to the last couple of things on my list. So if you want

1:12:04

to call it, it's eight five to five PATS five hundred is

1:12:06

the phone number, and our web radio Patriots

1:12:09

dot Com is the email address, and Eldred's

1:12:11

called in. I'm sure to talk about our receiver

1:12:14

conversation.

1:12:14

What's up?

1:12:15

Aldred?

1:12:16

Heyell, let's holl y'all doing, hey good, look

1:12:19

good like you insight heaven a

1:12:21

lot of things, But uh, I

1:12:24

don't know. The comparison

1:12:26

between what Strout did Strout

1:12:29

did last year and May is

1:12:32

like Apple's oranges, because Strout was a better

1:12:34

passer and you know, championship

1:12:36

wise whatever. But I

1:12:39

do agree with you though, they need to give him

1:12:41

more rep, you know, a lot more rep

1:12:44

than baby Zappy, you know, if him

1:12:46

and the other

1:12:48

quarterback is split. It's been fine to

1:12:51

be fine, but DK metcalf. I

1:12:53

want him in twenty nineteen, but we got Harry,

1:12:56

you know. So but next

1:12:58

year I'll shoot for him. I'm like Alex

1:13:02

Over, I'll shoot for him, you

1:13:04

know, next year, not the

1:13:06

third year, the second year. If Drake

1:13:09

May's the man, So mother

1:13:12

question is why

1:13:14

your body is. I ain't nobody trying

1:13:16

to put Milton into the picture or anything,

1:13:19

because he got the same thing to work on to like

1:13:21

Drake May, the short,

1:13:23

short, accurate medium, you know, just

1:13:26

the throws all that, you know,

1:13:28

but they put one down but praise the

1:13:31

other one, you know, like he can make all the

1:13:33

throws, but both of them can,

1:13:35

but they just ain't doing it equal enough or

1:13:38

dedicated enough, you know what I mean?

1:13:39

Right on point wise, Yeah,

1:13:42

yeah, I look, I think it's a fair point,

1:13:44

aldre Than thanks for the call as always of what's

1:13:47

the difference I guess between Drake May and Joe

1:13:50

Milton. Why did one go in the first round one go in

1:13:52

the sixth round?

1:13:52

Why?

1:13:53

You know Deldrid's point. I actually think

1:13:55

that a lot of people aren't writing off Joe Milton. I

1:13:57

wish more people were writing off Joe Milton, But I

1:14:00

think the biggest thing that you look at with those two guys is

1:14:02

how they read the field. I think that Joe

1:14:04

Milton in college, and we talked about

1:14:06

this a little bit alex Is in the past,

1:14:09

he's one of those guys. And I don't mean to be

1:14:11

mean, but like, you know, when you're playing Madden

1:14:14

and the controller comes unplugged and

1:14:16

like he's just kind of frozen there in the pocket

1:14:18

and you're just like waiting and you're just like, oh,

1:14:21

you know, trying to plug it back in and hit the

1:14:23

button. Like that's what happens to Joe Milton a

1:14:25

lot. He kind of becomes like a statue of he

1:14:27

just kind of freezes up in the pocket. And

1:14:29

I don't think his timing or his

1:14:32

rhythm in the passing game is anywhere

1:14:34

near as good as Drake May's was at North Carolina.

1:14:37

And so really, when you talk about Joe

1:14:39

Milton, you're really just talking about

1:14:41

the raw arm talent with him, whereas

1:14:44

I think Drake May has a lot of

1:14:46

raw tools and intangible, you know, physical

1:14:48

tools. But I also think that he's a

1:14:50

little bit more of a natural quarterback.

1:14:53

If that makes sense, like a more natural playmaker

1:14:56

at the position, Whereas right now, I think Joe

1:14:58

Milton's truly just a ball of clay. He's

1:15:00

a big dude that's athletic, that throws

1:15:02

the ball a mile like. I think that that's what he is, Whereas

1:15:04

I think Drake May has true quarterback

1:15:07

instincts and ability to read the field and

1:15:09

timing and all that kind of.

1:15:10

Yeah, I think Joe Milton has those things, he just doesn't

1:15:12

display them as as, uh,

1:15:15

what's what I'm looking for consistently.

1:15:17

Yeah, I don't know.

1:15:18

I just forgot that he's that word all the time. I

1:15:21

think that's the difference. The other difference is where you

1:15:23

look. You try to look at

1:15:26

which way the players are trending. And Joe Milton

1:15:29

was in college for six years and is kind of still

1:15:31

the same player he was when he was

1:15:33

a freshman at Michigan.

1:15:35

And he's older now.

1:15:36

He's gonna be twenty five, right, so there's less runway

1:15:38

there, whereas Drake May's twenty one, he's

1:15:40

got more room to grow. So I think that's really

1:15:42

the difference is one guy has

1:15:44

a lot more time to improve the other one doesn't.

1:15:47

And that's really what it comes down to.

1:15:48

Yeah. Uh, you know some people I

1:15:51

talked to. I wrote both of these guys' profiles,

1:15:53

So yeah, a lot of the guys that I talked to

1:15:55

for Drake May said what you just said, which is that

1:15:58

if you are on top of the fact that he lost his senior

1:16:00

year of high school because of COVID, he

1:16:03

really hasn't played a whole lot of football. He's

1:16:05

only twenty one years old, twenty two years old, and

1:16:07

he's only started I think

1:16:09

it's four seasons between

1:16:11

high school and college. He started two years in high

1:16:13

school, then sophomore in junior year,

1:16:16

COVID wipes out his senior year, and

1:16:18

then he goes on to the North Carolina where he sits

1:16:20

behind Sam Howell for a season,

1:16:23

and then starts at North Carolina as a sophomore

1:16:25

in a junior So he's only started four

1:16:27

actual seasons of football. He hasn't played a ton

1:16:30

and is already at this level. So that tells

1:16:32

you that he's got a very very high ceiling,

1:16:35

right as we Joe Milton,

1:16:37

I think the one pushback that people had about it

1:16:39

was is that there was a lot of just

1:16:42

added circumstance that led

1:16:45

to him having

1:16:48

trouble sticking right in a program

1:16:50

Michigan. In twenty

1:16:52

twenty, the COVID shortened season. They played six

1:16:54

games. He started five of them, and

1:16:57

he didn't He wasn't great, and

1:16:59

they decided to go in a different direction. But

1:17:02

when you look at his skill set and the way he plays

1:17:04

and what he's good at, like, is Joe Milton

1:17:06

really a Jim Harbaugh quarterback? Like

1:17:08

is he really one of those guys that, like,

1:17:11

you know, Jim Harbaugh is like JJ McCarthy,

1:17:13

right.

1:17:14

Right, No, No, Jim Harbaugh's offense doesn't

1:17:16

require throwing the ball more than ten yards out of

1:17:18

the field, right, That's all Joe Milton wants to do.

1:17:20

Yeah, it just it didn't seem like a great stylistic

1:17:22

fit to begin with with Joe Milton.

1:17:25

Who wants to you know, with Joe Milton, you play like an

1:17:27

offense like Tennessee. It's Tennessee, it's tempo,

1:17:30

it's down the field throws like that's

1:17:32

what you want to do with Joe Milton. Michigan's

1:17:34

under center, smash mouth football, old

1:17:36

school offense was not a great stylistic

1:17:39

fit. So I never really understood that to begin with. And

1:17:41

so then he goes to Michigan. It

1:17:44

sits behind some guys for what like a year

1:17:46

or two there, or goes to Tennessee. No, I

1:17:49

go to Michigan'm going Oh okay, start there, wins

1:17:52

the job in twenty twenty, starts

1:17:54

for five games in twenty twenty, and

1:17:56

then transfers, right because it just it

1:17:58

wasn't working out. Yeah, and so

1:18:01

he transfers to Tennessee, wins

1:18:03

the starting job at Tennessee, gets hurt

1:18:06

Hennon Hooker takes the job from him and doesn't

1:18:08

look back that, you know, doesn't let go of

1:18:10

the Rams until Tennon Hooker goes to the NFL.

1:18:13

So that lost another two years

1:18:15

of development for Joe Miller. Right, So his final

1:18:17

year six years later, you know, he's

1:18:19

throwing passes to guys that have been

1:18:21

in the NFL for like four years already in twenty

1:18:24

twenty or whatever. And now he's you know, just

1:18:26

getting strong balls at Juwan Jennings, right, yeah,

1:18:28

getting a shot in twenty

1:18:30

twenty four or twenty twenty three, excuse me, at

1:18:34

Tennessee like that. So it wasn't necessarily

1:18:37

Yes, you could make the argument that he wasn't good

1:18:39

enough to like really take the reins of

1:18:41

the position and take the bowl by the horns and keep

1:18:43

it and maintain it. But

1:18:46

I think that he was an odd stylistic fit

1:18:48

at Michigan. He gets hurt,

1:18:50

tweaks his ankle, and then Hennon Hooker comes in and has

1:18:53

like the best season ever for a Tennessee

1:18:55

quarterback. It's like, what are you supposed to do? So

1:18:57

I think that there's a lot of those types of textual

1:19:00

things that people push back on with Milton and said,

1:19:03

just keep in mind that even though he was in college for six

1:19:05

years and it seems like he's tapped out, he hasn't

1:19:07

played a time, right, so you know, maybe

1:19:10

there is some potential there with Joe Milton.

1:19:12

So I just I just talked up Joe Millton for you. There

1:19:14

you go.

1:19:15

I don't think anybody like there's

1:19:17

very few people are being realistic about Joe Milton,

1:19:20

and it's it's hard to in

1:19:22

both directions.

1:19:23

Yeah, in both directions. There's people saying

1:19:25

he doesn't belong in the league.

1:19:26

He does.

1:19:27

He belongs in the NFL, absolutely

1:19:29

belongs in the NFL. That arm belongs in the NFL.

1:19:32

Yeah, but there's if the rest of it comes along.

1:19:34

But there's also people who see, you know, a couple of clips

1:19:36

from OTA's in wonder if he's pushing Drake May And I

1:19:38

don't think that's the case either. College football.

1:19:40

So this is where the college football thing comes in. There's

1:19:42

a whole thing among college football fans the last

1:19:44

couple years about the Joe Milton experience. Yeah,

1:19:46

and most college football fans kind of figured out by

1:19:48

the end with the dealers with Joe Milton. Watching

1:19:51

Patriots fans experience the

1:19:53

Joe Milton experience in real time is going

1:19:55

to be very interesting.

1:19:56

It's crazy. We see it practice

1:19:59

like against air. Yeah, we've seen it. Throw

1:20:01

to throw like he made an absolutely beautiful

1:20:03

they're just throwing against air, routes

1:20:06

against air. And beginning of practice

1:20:08

on Monday, and he threw a beautiful deep ball, not

1:20:10

the one that he threw the coach, I'm like to an actual

1:20:12

receiver. Then you know, they changed

1:20:15

sides, so he goes from throwing down the right sideline

1:20:17

to throw down the left sideline to throw down the left sideline

1:20:19

was like ten yards out of bounce, like you just like threw like

1:20:22

over through the receiver by a mile and I'm

1:20:24

like, well that's Joe, Like one is an absolute

1:20:26

die. I'm like, couldn't throw it any more perfect?

1:20:29

And then the next throw is just nowhere close,

1:20:31

you know, And that's sort of what you mean by the Joe Milton's

1:20:33

experience. David from

1:20:36

San Jose asks would

1:20:38

you extend Matthew Judon or Remandre

1:20:41

Stevenson first? Like, which guy would you prioritize?

1:20:44

Judon? Because he's not I don't think he's

1:20:46

gonna play on his current deal. I'm with you,

1:20:48

I would extend Judon as well. I

1:20:50

also, you know me, you know where I'm going with this running

1:20:53

back second contract. Running

1:20:55

backs is not for me. I you know, I'm not

1:20:57

against bringing Remondery if

1:21:00

it's reasonable, and I'm never against it, I'm not.

1:21:03

I want to see Antonio Gibson. I think Antonio

1:21:05

Gibson could be like sneaky, sneaky, really good.

1:21:07

And if Gibson's a player, you

1:21:09

know you don't. So I wouldn't

1:21:11

extend Stevenson before the season.

1:21:13

I just wouldn't.

1:21:14

It doesn't mean I'm again springing him back, but I don't think he's

1:21:16

a guy that needs an extension right now.

1:21:17

Jude On like needs an extension right

1:21:19

now. Yeah, So I read a stat the other day that I

1:21:22

didn't realize, and it is a little bit of a of a nerd

1:21:24

stat for you. Antonio

1:21:27

Gibson last year, Yeah, led

1:21:29

the league all running backs

1:21:31

in mistackles force per rush. So

1:21:36

his elusiveness, right, I'll take that

1:21:38

stat. That's a tangible stat. Elusiveness.

1:21:41

Was there like a minimum carries on that? I

1:21:43

think?

1:21:43

So?

1:21:43

I don't know.

1:21:44

Somebody just tweeted it out randomly. Elusiveness,

1:21:47

speed, versatility. He's

1:21:49

big too. I'm talking myself into it a little

1:21:52

bit, being a you know, a sneaky good signing for

1:21:54

them. I wonder if he

1:21:56

only had sixty five carries last year, is.

1:21:58

There is there a world though where he is

1:22:00

closer? Actually, if was it was it per carrier,

1:22:03

per touch, per carry? I think okay,

1:22:05

because he only had sixty eight carries, but he caught forty

1:22:07

eight passes.

1:22:08

Is there a world where he's closer to what was it two

1:22:10

years ago that he had the big year in Washington

1:22:12

twenty one? Yeah, twenty one.

1:22:14

He ran in sixteen

1:22:16

games, ran for one thousand and thirty seven

1:22:18

yards, seven touchdowns, caught forty

1:22:21

two passes.

1:22:21

For another three hundred yards and three scores. I'm not sure

1:22:23

he's gonna have the opportunity. He's not gonna get

1:22:25

that kind of But is there a chance that he's

1:22:28

in terms of efficiency and all that kind of stuff,

1:22:30

is like more on par with that player

1:22:32

than the one that got buried last year. Absolutely.

1:22:35

And look one change I'm hoping from, you

1:22:37

know, with this new offensive coaching staff, and it's

1:22:39

something that they did well in Cleveland the

1:22:42

last two years. Evan, we come in here and it's

1:22:44

like, you know, early October and

1:22:47

I have to get my takeoff about too much m

1:22:49

Andre Stevenson and you're going to run him into the ground.

1:22:51

One it was making fun of me for caring about the running

1:22:53

back depth. No, it's

1:22:56

not even the depth. They had the depth, they just wouldn't

1:22:58

give the ball to anybody else.

1:22:59

Yeah, well, remember that game against the Detroit

1:23:01

two years ago where they're like up thirty with

1:23:04

a minute ago and Kevin Harris is right there

1:23:06

and they're still making Rimondre Stevenson run

1:23:08

between the tackles like the Belichick thing. Right,

1:23:11

So I'm hoping that this year. It's

1:23:13

not that I don't think Rimondre is a good player,

1:23:15

but I think realistically, if you scale back

1:23:18

his workload a little bit, he'll

1:23:20

be right more productive in the opportunities he

1:23:22

has, and a guy like Antonio Gibson

1:23:24

should give you an opportunity to do that without

1:23:26

losing too much. So I two hundred and

1:23:28

sixty five carries is a lot. I don't think he's

1:23:30

getting that. You know, he's three hundred touches.

1:23:33

I think he should be at one fifty. I'd

1:23:35

say somewhere between one fifty and two hundred is

1:23:37

a good number for him, just especially be

1:23:39

based off of how much I think they're gonna want to run the ball

1:23:41

in general. You know, look, Stevenson

1:23:44

was Stevenson was I think eighth

1:23:46

last year in touches because they're leading receiver too.

1:23:48

I forgot hurt, or maybe when he got hurt, he was eighth

1:23:51

in touches. I look

1:23:53

at those two guys, and I don't know. I don't have the numbers

1:23:55

right in front of me, So I don't know what Kareem

1:23:58

Hunts volume was

1:24:00

in Cleveland. But I think

1:24:02

that their roles in terms of how

1:24:04

they're used stylistically, are going to be very similar

1:24:06

to Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt. You know, Kareem Hunt was

1:24:08

more of like the sub package pass

1:24:10

game back, and Nick Chubb was their

1:24:13

work coorse. You know, he was their first and second down

1:24:15

guy. I think that, you know, there's a chance

1:24:17

that Gibson has a little bit more volume. If remembering

1:24:19

off the top of my head, I don't think Kareem Hunt touched

1:24:21

the ball a ton in Cleveland, But

1:24:24

in terms of how they're used schematically, I

1:24:27

think it's going to be similar and Hareem

1:24:29

Hunt had I'll tell you there might have been one

1:24:31

year where they ran the crap out of the ball.

1:24:34

I mean he had two hundred and thirty touches in twenty twenty.

1:24:37

Yeah, had one hundred and fifty last two years.

1:24:39

That's yeah, Yeah, That's where I think in Gibson is

1:24:42

you want to so I was trying to find something. You want to hear something crazy.

1:24:44

No qualifiers.

1:24:45

Do you know who led the NFL in yards

1:24:47

after contact per rush last year? Derrick

1:24:50

Henry No, Christian McCaffrey.

1:24:51

No qualifiers. It's Patriot Oh, no qualifiers.

1:24:54

No qualifiers as a running

1:24:56

back, well he's not a running back, but on rushes,

1:24:59

Kendrick Nope, it was Taekwon Thornton.

1:25:02

Oh, my god, Thornton because of

1:25:04

that one run against Uh was

1:25:06

it the Chargers on he had on the end? Yeah,

1:25:08

he had three carries for fifty one yards. Last year

1:25:10

he averaged sixteen yards after contact

1:25:13

for care doesn't count, all right,

1:25:15

I mean I'm looking at it right here.

1:25:16

Yeah, because remember it was the Chargers, right,

1:25:19

yeah, game, he had that one and he should have scored, but Devonte

1:25:21

Parker stopped blocking his guy for some reason.

1:25:25

Gary emails in Brandon Bolden was top twenty,

1:25:28

particularly in the first practice of staff needed

1:25:31

to figure out who and what to prioritize

1:25:33

and the rest of OTAs. That determination is

1:25:35

the first of many important influences on the decision

1:25:37

of which three qbs to keep. Okay,

1:25:41

you read that really quick. That part's not

1:25:43

the important. Okay, you're clearly counting

1:25:45

out Bailey Zappi, but the staff is not.

1:25:48

Remember they saw him real NFL games

1:25:50

with last year's lazzy offense. Gary,

1:25:53

I am here to tell you I'm counting out Bailey Zappi.

1:25:55

I'm counting him out. It's not because of anything

1:25:58

that Bailly's Appy has done. Is not because

1:26:00

I think he's a bad guy or a bad locker room

1:26:02

influence. I think all that stuff is a little bit overblown.

1:26:04

But I'm counting Bailey Zappi out because he does

1:26:07

not have a role on this team. He is not

1:26:09

a mentor to Drake May. He's not an experienced

1:26:11

veteran. That's Jacoby Brissett

1:26:14

and he's not Drake May. So he has no role.

1:26:17

I'm counting him out. I'm sorry, Like, there's just

1:26:19

no purpose for him here, Like, what is

1:26:21

the the ideal path? What is

1:26:23

the ceiling for Bailey Zappi here that

1:26:25

he beats out Jacoby Brissett.

1:26:27

Yeah, and starts taking games before Drake May. I Look

1:26:30

to be fair, I won't entirely count him out in that regard,

1:26:32

just seeing the way they're doings of practice.

1:26:34

Uh, Bailey

1:26:37

Zappi at the longest has one

1:26:39

more full season in New England.

1:26:40

That's it.

1:26:41

I just feel like unless he's not gonna

1:26:43

unless he turns a new leaf as a as

1:26:46

a teammate from what we've

1:26:48

seen, and he becomes a guy

1:26:50

that will embrace being

1:26:53

the bridge quarterback slash mentor

1:26:55

to Drake manash backup, slash backup

1:26:57

eventually, because that's what he is and

1:27:00

I'm not even talking about like him being here long

1:27:02

term. I'm just talking about him being here next

1:27:04

season unless he four,

1:27:09

If he completely changes his that's

1:27:12

what he's gonna He's gonna be Jacoby wessaid, right,

1:27:15

he's gonna keep the seat worm, and he's

1:27:17

going to be a mentor to Drake May.

1:27:20

And maybe by keeping the seat worm, he plays some good

1:27:22

football and then in twenty five he goes someplace else

1:27:24

and gets a chance to compete. If that's what he's

1:27:26

gonna do, then okay. I have not

1:27:28

seen that side of Bailey Zappy yet. The

1:27:31

side of Bailey Zappi that we have seen has

1:27:33

been the one that thinks he should start over mac Jones

1:27:36

and has competed like such, which there's

1:27:38

nothing wrong with that is nothing

1:27:40

wrong with that. I'm not blaming him for wanting to compete

1:27:42

in wanting to play. I'm just telling

1:27:44

you that that's not where the Patriots are at. The Patriots

1:27:47

have married Drake May, they

1:27:49

have married.

1:27:50

Him, So yeah, he would essentially have to

1:27:52

do what brock Purdy did to Tree Lance,

1:27:54

which I just don't.

1:27:55

Think is happening.

1:27:57

Brock Purdy was able to do that because

1:27:59

of all talent he had around. So

1:28:02

again, I won't rule out Bailey's

1:28:06

Appy somehow sticking on the roster this year and

1:28:08

maybe starting a game or two, just because seeing how they're doing

1:28:10

things at practice.

1:28:11

But there's no there is no long

1:28:13

term for Bailey's Appy New England. There just isn't.

1:28:15

Yeah, and the fact that he seems to

1:28:18

be.

1:28:19

You know.

1:28:22

That he he seems to do how

1:28:25

do I want to put this?

1:28:27

He's got to be okay that Drake Mays was

1:28:29

drafted to be the face of the franchise. Yeah, and if

1:28:31

he's not, it's really tough to justify keeping

1:28:34

him here.

1:28:34

Yeah, I agree with that. All right, Lawrence

1:28:36

is in Indiana if I can get the mouse to work.

1:28:38

What's up, Lawrence?

1:28:41

What's going on? Guys? First time call, a long

1:28:43

time listener, Love it, Thank you. My question pretty

1:28:45

much is is just like at

1:28:47

least that my thought process is kind of understanding.

1:28:50

Is that offensive tackle you want to protect

1:28:52

the blind side of your QB first? Is

1:28:55

there any reason why we are trying

1:28:57

to force one new at

1:28:59

right rather than putting him at left, considering

1:29:02

we have such problems with the left

1:29:04

tackle right about now.

1:29:05

Thanks for the call, guys, Yeah, thanks for the call,

1:29:08

Lawrence. I think the biggest thing that you

1:29:10

talk, you know, blind side protect there, all that kind

1:29:12

of stuff in order to be a left

1:29:14

tackle. To most people, you really

1:29:17

want that left tackle to be a high end pass

1:29:19

protector, right so on

1:29:22

when who is a bulldozer, great run blocker,

1:29:25

probably a high end pass protector at guard, but

1:29:28

right now, based off the film, he's not a high end pass

1:29:30

protector at tackle. You also usually get you.

1:29:32

Know, coming off that the defense's

1:29:35

right side. To that blind side, you get the

1:29:37

more athletic rushers, so you want

1:29:39

your more athletic tackle over there.

1:29:41

And yeah, the reality he would have the

1:29:43

same issues. I think that chukes. The core

1:29:45

for Arkadan Wallace is he's played on the right side of her

1:29:47

career. Like you play right guard and then

1:29:49

go to right tackle. That's one that's it. That's

1:29:51

an easier move. Yeah, going

1:29:54

from right guard to to left

1:29:56

tackle is a big, big, big

1:29:59

change. It's just it's not worth

1:30:01

putting all that on. Yeah, I think that the you know, that's

1:30:04

the biggest thing is you know you do. I

1:30:06

think that there were starting to get into a world

1:30:08

in football where it's a little bit more even right

1:30:10

tackle. Left tackle got blocked the same

1:30:13

guys right and a lot of the time. Now there

1:30:15

are guys in in that are

1:30:17

specifically guys that like rushing over

1:30:19

the right tackle. TJ. Watt is one of

1:30:21

them. He's one of those guys that prefers,

1:30:24

for whatever reason, probably you know which hand is down,

1:30:26

which foot is forward, you know, all that kind of stuff.

1:30:29

He prefers to rush all over the right

1:30:31

tackle. So certain matchups, the right

1:30:33

tackle is going to have the harder matchup. It's not like

1:30:35

it used to be, you know, back in the day with like Lawrence Taylor

1:30:37

and stuff like that. They always put him on the blind side and that was

1:30:40

what it was. Right Now, guys

1:30:42

are more preference based. I think Max

1:30:44

Crosby is another one that likes to rush over

1:30:46

the right tackle more than the left side. You

1:30:48

know, those two guys are to the best pass rushers in the NFL.

1:30:51

Von Miller was notoriously a

1:30:53

right tackle pass rush. Yeah, so

1:30:56

we're talking about some of the best of the best over the

1:30:58

last you know, decade in the league that have

1:31:00

rushed over the right tackle. So it's not universal. So

1:31:03

I understand what the question, you know

1:31:05

is a good question. I just think that that's

1:31:08

a very big undertaking for on Wenny, and

1:31:10

I think his skill set fits more on the right side than

1:31:12

the left side, which is what I think that they

1:31:15

are getting at all. Right, this

1:31:17

is a question from Nathaniel. He's

1:31:20

asking when it comes to position coaches,

1:31:23

what kind of technique

1:31:25

instruction are they doing versus the

1:31:30

you know, the the trainers, the off

1:31:32

the site trainers, you know, like the Quincy Avery's

1:31:34

of the world, or the Jordan Palmers or like those

1:31:36

types of guys. It's an interesting question,

1:31:38

and I think what you know, he's asking more

1:31:40

about receivers, but even offensive line he mentioned

1:31:43

Chukes a Corps four talking about Scott

1:31:46

Peters being like a technician and things like that.

1:31:48

I think what's really interesting more about this question

1:31:51

than what they're actually doing. You know, the coaches, they're

1:31:53

good coaches. They understand their technique of their positions.

1:31:55

They're talking footwork, they're talking hand

1:31:58

placement for receivers. It's really looking

1:32:00

down into three different categories release,

1:32:03

top of the route, catch point, right, Like, those

1:32:05

are the three different things that you're really drilling

1:32:07

a ton. I think the interesting thing about quarterback

1:32:10

though, and you hear about this a

1:32:12

little bit happening. You got to

1:32:14

make sure that whoever Drake may

1:32:16

is working with outside the facility when he goes

1:32:20

between training a mini camp and training

1:32:22

camp, like in the month of June, you know, and the

1:32:25

beginning of July. I'm assuming

1:32:27

he's gonna go work with Clyde Christensen down

1:32:29

at North Carolina. Is who's been

1:32:31

his guy. I don't know that for a fact,

1:32:34

but I would assume that's who it would be. You

1:32:36

definitely have to make sure that you're teaching the same

1:32:38

things. If he's going to Jordan

1:32:40

Palmer and Jordan Palmer is telling him to do one

1:32:42

thing, but then Alex van pel is telling him to do another,

1:32:45

then you have a problem.

1:32:46

Yeah.

1:32:47

That's why a lot of the time with Bill. That

1:32:50

was the whole Alex Guerrero thing, right, was that Bill

1:32:53

wanted Brady to follow his regiment.

1:32:55

Alex Guerrero did things a little bit differently. Now,

1:32:57

Guerrero was more physical training

1:33:00

than he was like quarterback technique and things

1:33:02

like that, but in general, like that was the whole

1:33:04

argument that they were having was Brady

1:33:07

wasn't lifting weights and he wasn't doing all that kind

1:33:09

of stuff. He was doing his own program. Uh. You got

1:33:11

to make sure everybody's on the same program. And

1:33:14

that's the biggest thing. But yeah, the coaches

1:33:17

here, the position coaches this time of

1:33:19

year, not necessarily in season. In season, your

1:33:21

your game planning, you're scouting

1:33:24

opponents. You're talking about you know, TJ.

1:33:27

Watt and what his go to pass rush move is.

1:33:29

You're not talking about hands and feet and all that kind

1:33:31

of stuff, But that's what you do this time of your pad level,

1:33:34

hands, feet, shoulders,

1:33:36

angles, you know, angles into blocks,

1:33:39

you know what those types of things like all that's

1:33:41

all what goes into offensive line and I think Scott

1:33:43

Pierre is gonna do a good job with that. A

1:33:45

few other things about OTAs here on

1:33:48

my list, got pull up my list. What'd

1:33:51

you think about juju? Uh? And what do we

1:33:53

think about juju? I think this is a topic. You know,

1:33:55

people are talking about this a little bit. He had

1:33:57

some things to say, you know, talked about now he's

1:33:59

a hunter percent versus being sixty percent

1:34:01

this time last year. He also said

1:34:03

the vibes, the vibes in the locker room are

1:34:06

are immaculate.

1:34:07

Yeah, we'll see. Uh, I just are

1:34:09

you gonna you? You were you claim that

1:34:11

you were quite the shooter. Are you gonna ask for for

1:34:14

a shot on the basketball open there? I claim

1:34:16

to be quite the shooter?

1:34:18

I am.

1:34:18

You said you could hit a three in an NBA game

1:34:21

if I was wide open? How are you getting

1:34:23

open? I'm gonna stand in the corner. Do

1:34:25

you know how fast these guys are gonna stand in the corner.

1:34:30

I'm gonna be long these guys.

1:34:32

I couldn't hit some of the threes that Peyton,

1:34:35

Pritchard and Sam Houser hit where there's nobody

1:34:37

within ten there's nobody within ten three

1:34:39

of them because Jason Tatum's

1:34:41

got four guys converging on him in

1:34:43

the lane. And you don't think I alright, So

1:34:45

at some point this year, when the whole team's in the locker room,

1:34:47

I want you to call for the ball and get a shot up. All

1:34:50

right?

1:34:50

You got?

1:34:50

I want to see that you got. Vibes are

1:34:52

so good. The vibes, Uh, you're

1:34:55

the two things I'll say about dude. You won. If

1:34:59

he's gonna be because of the money, which is a

1:35:01

possibility, like it's a ten million dollar, ten

1:35:03

and a half million dollar dead cap hit, just walk

1:35:06

away from him. I maybe

1:35:08

he's could get traded. I doubt

1:35:10

it. I think you also

1:35:12

have to factor in the fact that Kendrick Bourne might not be

1:35:14

ready for the start of the season, so that opens

1:35:17

up a spot for a short term spot for

1:35:19

somebody like Juju. All

1:35:21

things created equal, If Juju Smith Schuster

1:35:24

is healthy and

1:35:26

they're getting Kansas

1:35:28

City Juju Smith Schuster, that's

1:35:31

a good football player. Like I understand

1:35:33

that we're all sour on Juju from last year. It

1:35:35

was a disaster. It was it was horrible, all

1:35:38

true. But if he's if it

1:35:40

was truly health related and his

1:35:42

knee is truly better, then

1:35:45

I don't know, Like it's not a bad thing to have another

1:35:48

thing, it's not.

1:35:48

I just how does he make the team? Because you're gonna

1:35:51

have you know, Pop and Borner locks, and I think Bourne

1:35:53

will be ready. You have Pop and Borner

1:35:55

locks. The two rookies are obviously locks. kJ

1:35:58

Osbourne, we think more likely than is going to

1:36:00

make the team because of his tracked his.

1:36:02

Contracts easier to walk away from than Juju's.

1:36:05

All right, so he's you basically have kJ Osborne,

1:36:07

Juju Smith Schuster, Taekwon Thornton, Jalen Rager,

1:36:09

for the last spot. Keep mind, Jalen,

1:36:13

I don't think you're keeping six. If they keep then all right,

1:36:16

then for two spots Jalen Rager can return

1:36:18

kicks. Yeah, kJ Osbourne was chosen

1:36:20

by this front office unlike the other three.

1:36:22

Yep.

1:36:23

I just think it's an uphill battle. I think the best

1:36:25

case scenario is Juju looks healthier

1:36:27

in camp and they trade him. I