BEST & WORST Moves of Patriots Offseason w/ Cerrone Battle | Pats Interference - video Dailymotion

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98.5 The Sports Hub's Cerrone Battle makes his show debut to run down the four best and three worst moves on the Patriots' offseason. Cerrone and Andrew also cover the team's ongoing "search" for a new head of their personnel department and predict which players will be the next to sign an extension.  EPISODE TIMELINE:  0:00 Ongoing "search" for a new head of their personnel department  14:12 Training camp will be fun  21:00 Gonzo vs Rookie WRs  22:05 New Patriot Way  22:47 BEST and WORST moves on the Patriots' offseason  1:03:00 Which players will be the next to sign an extension  1:04:30 Underrated Topic of Offseason  Get in on the excitement with PrizePicks, America’s No. 1 Fantasy Sports App, where you can turn your hoops knowledge into serious cash. Download the app today and use code CLNS for a first deposit match up to $100! Pick more. Pick less. It’s that Easy!  Take the guesswork out of buying NBA tickets with Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code CLNS for $20 off your first purchase. Download Gametime today. Last minute tickets. Lowest Price. Guaranteed. Terms apply.

Transcript

00:00:00So I was thinking the other day, it's about time that we bring on some fresh faces, some

00:00:17new voices, some fresh meat, if you will, onto the podcast.

00:00:20And with that, we have presumably the next candidate in the Patriots' de facto GM search.

00:00:24In the meantime, you can find him on NBC Sports Boston and occasionally on 98.5, the Sports

00:00:30Hub.

00:00:31Saron Bottle, I've been looking forward to this a long time.

00:00:32Thank you for coming on, my guy.

00:00:34Thanks, man.

00:00:35Thanks for having me on, man.

00:00:36I appreciate it.

00:00:37So if you've seen Saron on TV, or I don't know if 98.5 does any video component when

00:00:42you do their shows, I'm going to describe this in a way that's going to make everyone

00:00:45uncomfortable.

00:00:46It looks like you're in a producer's wet dream because you're surrounded by soundproof paneling,

00:00:51where people who complain about my sound quality don't know.

00:00:54I bought these very cheap Amazon Squares to offset some of the echo in my office here.

00:01:00You, sir, sound like you could be in God's office or producer room.

00:01:05You got the pro mic ready on, you got the headset.

00:01:07I have none of this.

00:01:08I'm very jealous.

00:01:09And anyone producing me surely is going, please have Saron on more before he's even said another

00:01:13word.

00:01:14Look, man, it's the same setting, man.

00:01:16I got the same cheap soundproofing around, and I got my cheap mic here, my cheap headphones.

00:01:23It's aesthetic, but I mean, I guess it works.

00:01:25It comes off good.

00:01:26But I mean, you'd be shocked if I told you where I really was.

00:01:30Well, I asked you that just now off air, because I know one of the last times I saw you on

00:01:35NBC was around North Carolina's Pro Day, and you live in the Raleigh area.

00:01:38So you got to see Drake May more than any of us really have in person and kind of tipped

00:01:44everyone off.

00:01:45Hey, Gerard's got these googly eyes.

00:01:47Elliot is staring at him the way that you would across the bar from a woman that you

00:01:51want to go up to and talk to.

00:01:52You don't have the right line yet.

00:01:54Did you see this coming?

00:01:55Could I just ask you that off the top, Drake May, number three?

00:01:58No, I mean, I didn't see it coming no more than anybody else did.

00:02:01My whole thing was the reason I went over there to see for myself was I wanted to see

00:02:07what all the hype was about, the arm talent and all that stuff.

00:02:11How they say, blow you away if you see it.

00:02:13So all right, well, let me go see.

00:02:15And when I went, it was very impressive.

00:02:20But the thing I took away from the whole experience was watching the reactions of the teams.

00:02:25The other coaching staff, Washington had all their staff there, the Patriots were there,

00:02:28and a bunch of other teams were scattered around.

00:02:32And I somehow some way ended up standing next to those guys like I was a part of it.

00:02:35And I didn't say anything.

00:02:36So I just let it slide.

00:02:37No one made me move.

00:02:39So I got to see their reactions up close and personal.

00:02:42And they were high fiving and shaking their head like, wow, this is impressive.

00:02:47And then sure enough, there's Elliot Wolf creeping up to get a closer look.

00:02:51And at that point there, I said, you know what?

00:02:54They really like this kid.

00:02:55I mean, I didn't see what they did with other pro days and how they treated other players.

00:02:59But that can clearly tell they were impressed by him and were getting a closer look as they

00:03:05possibly could.

00:03:06But also, so were other teams.

00:03:09Everybody else was blown away by him.

00:03:11And the biggest point I made coming out of that was, even if it's not May, if you want

00:03:17one of these quarterbacks, you better get one and get them early because they're going

00:03:20to fly off the board.

00:03:22And sure enough, as the draft day comes, they're all gone by the time you got to 12.

00:03:26And I think we all understand the importance of a quarterback.

00:03:29But everybody wants the young, fresh face.

00:03:31And all those teams were fighting for their guy.

00:03:33But my biggest thing was, I'm glad the Patriots, they saw their guy.

00:03:37If he's the right guy or not, we don't know.

00:03:39But they believe in him.

00:03:40They saw their guy and they stayed at three and they picked him.

00:03:43So I got to give him credit for that.

00:03:45For sure.

00:03:46People on this podcast or who have listened to me anywhere know how I feel about Drake

00:03:49May, who's going to come up later in this episode because we are running down today

00:03:53the best and worst of the Patriots offseason.

00:03:56Time has slowed down a little bit.

00:03:57The NFL schedule is not being released until next week.

00:04:00We have Drake May week at the Herald.

00:04:01I don't know how many people care, but we have fresh stories for you because we have

00:04:04the time and space to bring you everything we know about Drake May.

00:04:08So when we run down the best and worst, we will have the four best moves in your opinion

00:04:11and in my opinion, and then the three worst moves of the Patriots offseason.

00:04:15But if we were just to do an episode about the news of the week, which again, I just

00:04:19said there's not a whole lot going on, it would be the ongoing de facto GM search because

00:04:24we can just never have anything simple or easy here in New England.

00:04:29Bill doesn't want to do titles.

00:04:30The Crafts don't want to go to the GM.

00:04:31I would love just to tell you it's a GM search.

00:04:33It is not.

00:04:34Anyway, it's for a primary position for which the NFL has certain hiring practices.

00:04:39The Patriots are trying to fulfill.

00:04:41It's for their personnel job, de facto GM.

00:04:44And today it was reported that they have a second candidate who has accepted an interview.

00:04:48And this is Samir Suleiman, who's from the Panthers.

00:04:50He follows Brandon Hunt, who's director of scouting for the Eagles.

00:04:54And I will just cut straight to it because this is something purdue by Tommy Kern, you've

00:04:58worked with, I've worked with NBC Sports Boston, that this is largely going to be a dog and

00:05:01pony show.

00:05:02And it's unfortunate.

00:05:03I don't want to jump totally into the Rooney rule.

00:05:06I think I've tipped my hand about how I feel about this already, but there's your immediate

00:05:10take on what is currently the news of the day is the Patriots quote unquote search for

00:05:14their new quote unquote GM.

00:05:16I mean, it's, it's kind of sad that, you know, it's, I'm going to say sad, but if they already

00:05:22know they have their guys in place, bringing guys in for interviews and stuff, knowing

00:05:26that they're not going to possibly get it.

00:05:28That stinks.

00:05:29I mean, even for the head coaching positions and stuff like that around the league, I would

00:05:34hate to just be a guy you bring in just for the sake of bringing you in.

00:05:37But I mean, you know, it's, it's, it's interesting.

00:05:40I saw your article this morning and I just kind of, and I'm going to shake my head about

00:05:45it like that.

00:05:46Like you said, can't get anything easy, nothing smooth.

00:05:49It's always something crazy, but I hope Wolf is the Wolf is going to be the guy and the

00:05:53guy that, you know, that, that has the vision and they, they follow it.

00:05:56He was there for the draft process, free agency.

00:05:59And I would hate for whoever's already there, who's been doing the work to get bumped out

00:06:04for somebody else coming in or the guy on the other end coming to get the interview,

00:06:09knowing that they already got their people in place and they're just bringing you in

00:06:12for the sake of bringing you in to make it look good.

00:06:14I mean, that's kind of tough, but I hope they don't really make any, any changes really

00:06:19right now, except unless they're filling something that wasn't already there.

00:06:23But I don't want to see them make any changes now after you, you're basically put your roster

00:06:28together on what you're going to go with going into the summer.

00:06:31Right.

00:06:32And a couple of things on this, the search started not with interviews, but with no thank

00:06:37yous, which you had three reported candidates, two of which I can tell you off the top of

00:06:40my head, Trey Brown with the Bengals.

00:06:42And we knew before Elliot Wolf was even promoted, had a connection to drive Mayo experience

00:06:47in the league comes from a front office that as of late has done some pretty good business

00:06:51as well as Quentin Harris, who is a VP with the Cardinals at three GM interviews got released

00:06:55from Arizona.

00:06:56I think last week or earlier this week and just said, no, thank you.

00:06:59And so these are candidates who would have fulfilled the requirement of the Rudy rule

00:07:03to external minority and or female candidates have to come in person interview for the job.

00:07:08They just said, why would I waste my time when Elliot Wolf, right, right.

00:07:12Presumably.

00:07:13Right.

00:07:14I'm not, I haven't spoken to them, but like you just talked about for a job.

00:07:16And so the disappointment for me, the embarrassment for me is not only, Hey, we have this job.

00:07:21Why don't you come in?

00:07:22And I got a text yesterday from an executive that I've gotten a little closer with over

00:07:26the last couple of years, which says this Patriot search and a crying laughing emoji

00:07:30as the third denial came in, it's that they could have just done this on the front end.

00:07:34Like ultimately Saron, I think this is an optics issue.

00:07:37It's not a material consequence for the football department and there might even be an upside,

00:07:42but am I wrong in that?

00:07:43That it's just kind of like a superficial, you know, you take the hit now you have to

00:07:46do it, but in a couple of days this will be over with.

00:07:50I hope so.

00:07:51I mean, for their sake, the good thing about it here in the new England area is you have

00:07:57other things distracting people from this right now, you know, you got the Celtics and

00:08:01the Bruins and all this stuff going on.

00:08:04It's, it's a, it's a good way to kind of sneak in anything you want to do right now.

00:08:08But I mean, it's hopefully it will blow over, but I mean, it's kind of an embarrassing thing

00:08:14to do.

00:08:15And I completely understand why the other guys have said, you know what, I'm not going

00:08:18up there for that.

00:08:19I'm not doing this.

00:08:20And they could have done it a better way, but I just think it's a, not a, I wouldn't

00:08:24say completely bad look.

00:08:25It's just, you know, it's just real unattractive right now.

00:08:29And I think they could have did things a better way.

00:08:31Yeah.

00:08:32Last couple of things.

00:08:33We'll wrap on this because again, we, you and I both expect Elliot Wolf will keep the

00:08:36job that he is holding right now.

00:08:38Roster control.

00:08:39The reason they have to fulfill the Rooney rule now, it didn't earlier, it's because

00:08:44technically Elliot's role did not change and the Patriots did not list with the NFL.

00:08:48Okay.

00:08:49So you're the primary personnel leader, your designated designation for this job, which

00:08:54used to be Bill Belichick, Bill Leaves, it'll fill up with one person.

00:08:57It was all collaboration.

00:08:58I don't know if you've heard that word yet before the soft season, it's very collaborative

00:09:01in Foxbro, but everyone inside the league that I've talked to people within the team

00:09:07expect Elliot to get the job.

00:09:08And I will just, you know, diss out by saying this, not to mention that there are these

00:09:12interviews today with Brandon Hunt and Samir Suleiman, not even in Gillette stadium.

00:09:17They're just, they're just meeting with Patriots brass in Boston and then washing their hands.

00:09:21And it seems like that's going to count is that if you did the blind test, not only just

00:09:25the guy who has had your roster control, got to pick the quarterback of the future, spend

00:09:29$123, $24 million guaranteed for agency, but it spent 20 years in an NFL front office,

00:09:35including as an assistant GM and interview for GM jobs elsewhere.

00:09:39You kind of have your guy.

00:09:40No.

00:09:41Yeah.

00:09:42I would hope so.

00:09:44You mentioned you, you gave this man the power to do all this stuff.

00:09:47He's the one at the pro days looking at the QB.

00:09:50Like I, that's the guy we should get.

00:09:52You know, if, if you don't trust him in that position, then you did something terribly

00:09:57wrong.

00:09:58I mean, it's just, it'd be, you talk about a bad look, but I think they have to know

00:10:02that he's their guy.

00:10:03I think they knew he was their guy from the beginning, but they had just following the

00:10:07league rules right now and doing their doing what they're supposed to be doing.

00:10:12I just, it's weird.

00:10:14I mean, I know they're forced to kind of do it, but I think it's, it's, it comes off as

00:10:18a bad look, but I hope Wolf is their guy and I would be completely stunned if they come

00:10:23out and hire somebody else and he's out of the building.

00:10:25Yeah.

00:10:26You talk about a story.

00:10:27Can you imagine?

00:10:28Right?

00:10:29Like we're all ready to wash our hands too, just the off season, all the changes get used

00:10:33to the normal.

00:10:34I'm going to go to practices, write up way too many words about Drake Mays completion

00:10:38percentage in the routes for my pickers running.

00:10:40It's like, Oh, there it goes.

00:10:41Samir Suleiman, new Patriots GM, because why not?

00:10:44This dude who's really for background only dealt with contracts, granted, he's done it

00:10:47for 20, 25 years in the league.

00:10:49It's an impressive resume, but like their other searches, we should know again, finally,

00:10:53before we move on, they could be interviewing Brandon Hunt, director of scouting with the

00:10:57Eagles who came up on the pro side and Samir Suleiman for jobs that will be underneath

00:11:02Elliott Wolfe in the way that they did Adrian Clem to be their offensive line coach when

00:11:06Belichick hired Bill O'Brien and they know the Patriots and their defensive coordinator

00:11:09search and they kind of knew DeMarcus Cummings.

00:11:11He was getting a job like, Hey, why don't you, why don't you come over for a firm interview?

00:11:16Maybe you'll be our defensive backs, coaches on linebackers coach.

00:11:18It didn't work out, but that, that was definitely part of the process.

00:11:21Okay. Speaking of Elliott Wolfe, his first off season, I've given it a B, a solid B.

00:11:25I did the same with the draft.

00:11:26You're great for his, his first off season as well.

00:11:29I give you, I agree with you.

00:11:30I'll go with a solid B.

00:11:31I mean, it's the only reason I wouldn't go with some with the A pluses is because we

00:11:35haven't seen the guys play yet, but I think they feel they tried.

00:11:39Their best to fill their needs.

00:11:41They, they, I mean, trying to get, you know, Calvin Ridley or some of these other

00:11:45receivers to come in, you knew that was going to be a challenge in the beginning because

00:11:48people didn't really know what they were dealing with.

00:11:50I mean, they didn't even have a quarterback at the time.

00:11:51So I understand that.

00:11:53But as far as the draft and stuff like that, you get your quarterback of the future.

00:11:57You went offense heavy.

00:11:58You went to which offensive line you wouldn't got receivers.

00:12:01You didn't get the receiver profile that the fans want.

00:12:04We want a guy that everybody wants.

00:12:06I wanted to draft four guys that run a four to 40 and have a 50 inch vertical leap.

00:12:10It's like, you actually have to draft guys that can play football.

00:12:13We, we see a Taekwon over there with all the speed in the world struggling on the

00:12:18football part of it, but he has all the athletic ability, but they've gone out.

00:12:22They went and got receivers poke.

00:12:24I like poke.

00:12:24I seen enough of panics to where I seen poke play enough football.

00:12:28You know, I haven't seen all these other guys play, but to them, they wouldn't, they

00:12:32feel their needs offense heavy.

00:12:34They re-signed their key guys on the defensive side of the ball, signing a winner as

00:12:40your, as one of your right tackle guy, wherever you're going to put him, but keeping

00:12:43him around, keeping some of your defensive players around some of the smaller moves

00:12:47they made with Osborne and stuff like that.

00:12:50I got to give him credit for trying to address their needs.

00:12:53Now, will they work and pan out time will tell, but I think, I think they did the

00:12:58best they could with the situation that they were dealt with coming to coming in

00:13:02of what happened after last season.

00:13:04And I think that's the key point, right?

00:13:06Like what, what is the context here?

00:13:08What, what are you working with?

00:13:09What is the ultimate ceiling here?

00:13:10If you're the chiefs, obviously you can go out and get Marquise Brown on a discount

00:13:15deal.

00:13:15The Patriots slide that offer across the table.

00:13:17He's crumpling it up and throwing it back in your face.

00:13:20So we need to understand this is not to excuse the Patriots.

00:13:23It's just to be in touch with your own reality as a media member, as a fan, as

00:13:27someone in that front office, like again, these candidates to turn the Patriots down

00:13:30for the GM search, understand the context of what that job is.

00:13:34It's not going to them.

00:13:35Why waste their time?

00:13:36So for us, I think when you hear B, if you're someone who goes, Oh my God, they

00:13:39didn't get a number one receiver.

00:13:40You still don't have a left tackle.

00:13:42How are you guys going so easy on Elliot Wolfe?

00:13:44First of all, we'll get to that.

00:13:45That's the three worst moves, but in totality of what they did, retaining the

00:13:49talent available to them and getting the talent outside that realistically would

00:13:53have come here.

00:13:54Um, not to mention the draft, solid B, this is a double into the gap.

00:13:57You know what off the bat, it's not going over the fences, but you and I, I don't

00:14:01know about your baseball playing career.

00:14:02We're at a red Sox.

00:14:03I would have taken a double at every step of my baseball.

00:14:06You better believe it.

00:14:09Uh, go ahead.

00:14:11No, I'm just going to say, I mean, look, like I said, time will tell what these

00:14:14guys, but they S I give them credit for staying where they were in the drafted

00:14:20three.

00:14:20You know, I know teams wanted to move up in some of the reports, some outside

00:14:24reports, you believe one thing or the other.

00:14:26They stayed there.

00:14:27They got their guy.

00:14:28They believed in that guy.

00:14:29And then they went out and got him young receivers for him to work with.

00:14:33And then they wouldn't address the, I wouldn't say the backup quarterback

00:14:35position, but bringing in another quarterback in the draft, I don't know

00:14:38if to create competition or whatever it may be, but they went and they tried to

00:14:43address needs, even getting a tight end later in the draft, the younger tight

00:14:46end to go with the guys they have now.

00:14:47I mean, is he a full tight end?

00:14:49I don't, time will tell, but they, they tried to address that need

00:14:53even later in the draft.

00:14:54So I, for right now I have to give them, you know, I have to give them that

00:14:58B, I have to give them credit for that.

00:15:01On a simple fact alone, training camp is going to be lit this year.

00:15:04I don't know.

00:15:05It's it's for that alone.

00:15:07It's like, okay, we got a real receiver competition now in training camp.

00:15:12We're going to be watching every little thing they do.

00:15:15I was out there and I met you guys for the first time.

00:15:17We're out there watching Juju look slow.

00:15:20We're watching, you know, park and not be able to catch those fade routes in

00:15:23the back of the end zone over and over again.

00:15:25And then the, the stink, stink, stunk thing comes out.

00:15:28Everybody kind of like, well, yeah, that's what I saw.

00:15:30But now with these young receivers coming in with Osborne, with Douglas coming back

00:15:34now, now you're going to with, with Drake may throwing them the ball.

00:15:38Now we're going to be looking at this totally different in a different

00:15:41perspective, in a different light.

00:15:43So I think they kind of did their job and I'll give them a B on it, on

00:15:46this whole, this draft and off season.

00:15:49So the reason I burst out laughing there for a second about your point in training

00:15:52camp is because it's the first thing that comes to mind when I think ahead about

00:15:56this team and it really means nothing to anyone else who's not going to be sitting

00:15:59there on the Hill and the media tent or going faithfully like someone who might

00:16:03go to church every day to every single day of training camp, because it doesn't

00:16:07matter wins and losses, right?

00:16:08The Joe Milton can throw the ball 80 yards and you have your Bob Baker, who's

00:16:12going to be saying insane things every time they let him talk to media and

00:16:15practice, but it matters to me, Saron, because I will be there at church every

00:16:19day.

00:16:19I will be on the Hill.

00:16:21I will be taking notes.

00:16:22And if we've learned anything from watching the Patriots play offense the

00:16:25last two years and tell me if I'm wrong, it's, you have to take your victories

00:16:29where you can get them.

00:16:30And I'm not talking Pittsburgh on Thursday night, December, everyone's like,

00:16:33yeah, that was nice, but did it cost us a quarterback?

00:16:36I'm talking about just simple joy of completed passes downfield and receivers

00:16:41and make you excited.

00:16:42And it's going to be a fun training camp.

00:16:44This probably won't be a fun season marked by wins and losses, but as far as

00:16:48the growth, the flashes for what has been just such a limited, I called him, you

00:16:52know, a pocket bound point guard without a shot.

00:16:56Right.

00:16:56That was Mac Jones.

00:16:57Yep.

00:16:58Drake Bay is taking step back fadeaways and Joe Milton just wants to shoot from

00:17:02half court.

00:17:06And you got to, you drive to receivers that, that have no problem going up,

00:17:10getting those fade routes, but they'll do a one hand with style.

00:17:13And it's like, and like you said, they're going to be running their mouth about it,

00:17:16like showing you what they can do.

00:17:18It's, it's trying to impress people, showing people that they made a mistake by

00:17:22not taking them, but these guys, they look like they're football players.

00:17:25Now, will it train?

00:17:26Like you said, will it translate to 10 wins?

00:17:29I don't know.

00:17:29Time will tell, but at least there's some excitement.

00:17:32Like you said, we saw a completion of a slant pass over the middle and it was

00:17:36like high fives and claps like, Oh, there's, there's one, you know, now the

00:17:40bar will be set a little higher in, you know, and plus new offensive coordinators

00:17:45and stuff like that.

00:17:46So the play calling is going to look different.

00:17:48The formation is going to look different and it's just going to have a different

00:17:51feel to it for a Patriots offense, something that we haven't really seen

00:17:55in four or five years now.

00:17:56So I think it's going to be real exciting and people should, should be, should be

00:18:01turning out in massive crowds to see training camp this year.

00:18:04Yeah.

00:18:04I think it'll be the most fun camp in summer.

00:18:06And again, people who are listening to this going, that doesn't matter.

00:18:09I want to see a week one.

00:18:10I want to see in September fair.

00:18:12What I will also say though, is this energy, this contagious positivity, this

00:18:16freshness, this newness is going to be felt not most on the Hill with me sweating

00:18:21my ass off.

00:18:22It's going to be in the locker room, right?

00:18:23Like the energy you talked about, Kendrick Bourne to pop Douglas going into

00:18:27year two, Jayvon Baker, Jalen Polk, Drake May, obviously like this is new life

00:18:32and energy for the team.

00:18:33I think you will see that in a way that because of the fracture relationships,

00:18:37coach quarterback, just Belichick's overall program, which again worked for

00:18:40years, Hall of Famer, best coach ever.

00:18:42I don't need to say that anymore, but just kind of drag the team down a little

00:18:46bit.

00:18:46I'm not saying Drake May getting along with Alex Van Pelt is putting points in

00:18:49the board, but it's just going to have, as the kids would say, vibes, better

00:18:53vibes in the building.

00:18:54So if you don't care about how I feel, just watch and listen and hear how they're

00:19:00talking this summer and this season.

00:19:02I think it's going to be good.

00:19:04Real thing I'd add to that quickly.

00:19:06Um, the return of Judon and Gonzalez, I think is a key thing that's getting kind

00:19:11of overlooked, but imagine the first day of training camp when they're out there

00:19:15with pads on and you start and you see the one-on-one drills and it's Polk and

00:19:19Gonzalez going back and forth.

00:19:21That's to me is an exciting thing to see.

00:19:23I'm going to, everybody's going to be on their feet to watch Gonzalez young, young

00:19:28DB against your young receiver, going at it every day at training camp by him and

00:19:32Polk that, I mean, I'm not a Baker, excuse me, Baker and Gonzalez, the trash

00:19:36talk back and forth and the one-on-one with that, that's going to be exciting.

00:19:40And that's going to make the coaches kind of look around like, okay, we got

00:19:43iron sharpening irons here.

00:19:45And it's a, it's a good foundation to have when you're rebuilding a team.

00:19:48So I, I, I got to give them credit for that.

00:19:50And I just can't wait to see it in person.

00:19:52I'm not expecting them to win 12 games, but I'm expecting it to be far more

00:19:56exciting in way more intriguing than what we've seen the last couple of years.

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00:20:41It's funny.

00:20:42You mentioned Gonzalez because we talked to him yesterday and

00:20:44recording here Wednesday morning.

00:20:45It's gray.

00:20:46It's rainy.

00:20:47It's somehow May in New England.

00:20:49He, it was the first time he spoke to us since, since last year,

00:20:53since, since before the injury.

00:20:54And he was, he spoke as if he thought Bill was still the head

00:20:57coach because he wouldn't give details on anything injury related, which is fine.

00:21:01We know to keep it general.

00:21:02Or do you think you'll practice in OTAs?

00:21:05I'm not looking for a guarantee.

00:21:06Like, are you cleared yet?

00:21:07How's the, how's the shoulder?

00:21:08He said he was healthy, but I looked up not only just his age.

00:21:12He's only two months older than Drake May.

00:21:14So let's say May hits, Gonzalez hits far more.

00:21:16You've got three cornerstones under 25 right there.

00:21:19Throw in Polk or Jayvon Baker.

00:21:20If you're feeling optimistic, if not, here's my second point.

00:21:24Is that he played against Polk in college and Polk went for

00:21:27three catches and 91 yards.

00:21:28And I asked him about that, that play.

00:21:30It was a post route against cover for it.

00:21:31First of all, he made clear it was not his fault, but it's just to say that

00:21:34like the guys that they brought in, yes, we don't know about Jalen Polk.

00:21:37You have had success against NFL defenses, that Oregon defense, a lot

00:21:41of NFL defenders on it, even though we haven't seen them at this level.

00:21:45And so he's got a lot of respect for Paul guy goes back to Texas and just a

00:21:49little tidbits here and there, because it was good to hear from Christian Gonzalez,

00:21:52even if he didn't really want to talk to us too much.

00:21:54So he did say he was a little sick that the rookies this year won't have to

00:21:57wear numbers in the fifties and sixties.

00:22:00I'm very glad for that.

00:22:03It's time to move on from all the old ways.

00:22:05I mean, even the good and bad, it's just time to start and start new

00:22:09and new and fresh and something different, a different look at different vibe.

00:22:13Like I said, not expecting them to go out and win five, five, six Superbowls,

00:22:17but it's, it's time to move on from the old.

00:22:20And I think Brady's roast was the opposite.

00:22:23The, the, the exact ending we needed to everything old with the Patriots.

00:22:27They clowned each other and got it all out the way.

00:22:29And now we can move on to something new.

00:22:31Yeah.

00:22:31I, uh, I have to keep focused.

00:22:34I would love to talk Brady.

00:22:37My first tweet was like, I can't, I can't quote any of this.

00:22:39Not that I felt obligated to be here participating in.

00:22:42And then of course I said a couple of quotes out there.

00:22:44So those are, those were the highlights to me or thoughts are on expert or whatever.

00:22:48Okay.

00:22:48Really quickly.

00:22:49You have four best moves.

00:22:50I have four best moves.

00:22:51You have the Patriots three worst moves to the off season.

00:22:54I expect there to be some overlap.

00:22:55I've already hinted the Drake may will come up in this conversation.

00:22:57So for the first.

00:22:59The best move your top out of these four that they made this entire

00:23:03off season really quickly was what

00:23:06quarterback getting Drake may.

00:23:07That's my number one getting Drake made because everything

00:23:10revolves around the quarterback.

00:23:11If the quarterback's not right, none of it, none of it's right.

00:23:13None of it's going to matter.

00:23:15It's a, they've made sure that it's a QB league and everything

00:23:18success is all determined about that.

00:23:19QB.

00:23:20They went and got them a quarterback.

00:23:22They got their guy, you know, it wasn't the guy I wanted initially, but that's

00:23:25all good, but they got their guy and they got their quarterback and

00:23:28they started building around them.

00:23:29So getting Drake may was my number one off season move that I, you know,

00:23:33my number one on my list for the best offense off season moves.

00:23:36So, and another thing that will not put any points on the board, but because

00:23:40it's may, and these are the things that we talk about, what's your impression

00:23:43been of may when he's met the media here so far, a couple of interviews here and

00:23:48there, he sounds like he sounds like he's nervous.

00:23:51First of all, it sounds like he's real nervous talking real fast.

00:23:54I mean, he is a country kid, so he's going to, he's going to kind of talk

00:23:57fast like that real excited, but I think he's genuinely like enthusiastic

00:24:02to be a Patriots quarterback.

00:24:03I mean, the whole idea of, is he happy to be here?

00:24:06Does he want to be in the north?

00:24:07All this other stuff.

00:24:09I think the dude's real excited about being an NFL quarterback and

00:24:13he's happy to be, you know, to be a Patriot.

00:24:16I'm pretty sure they embracing it.

00:24:17They were impressed by having the one-on-one meetings with

00:24:19him and interviews, whatever.

00:24:21So, I mean, I think people up in new England are going to have to adjust to him,

00:24:27but to me, he sounds like every other player in the south when they do

00:24:31interviews, but it's, it's, it's going to be a, uh, it's going to be an adjustment.

00:24:36But I think he's, I think he's more, how can I say, he's more excited

00:24:40than what we got from, from Mac Jones.

00:24:42He's showing you a little more.

00:24:43He seems like a young kid.

00:24:45That's just happy to play ball.

00:24:47But one thing I can take from the things he said is he's a baller.

00:24:51He's a gym rat.

00:24:52He likes to play football, football is all that matters to him.

00:24:55Maybe it said the whole thing with his brothers and being in a house

00:24:58full of athletes is pops where competition and playing ball is all

00:25:02that really matters and everything else gets put to the side.

00:25:05And I genuinely, genuinely believe that's going to accelerate his growth

00:25:09and his talent in the league, because he could tell he's really

00:25:12about hard work and getting better.

00:25:14So I, hopefully that doesn't change about him, but I think, I think the

00:25:17fans are going to grow to like Drake may.

00:25:20Yeah, they haven't already.

00:25:21Um, you know, it's funny you mentioned the family because that's something

00:25:24that I came close to dismissing in the whole process, right?

00:25:28Like if you're, if you're going to what the house was like when this kid brought

00:25:31up as a reason to believe in him as a prospect, I'm like, you just skipped

00:25:34over, I feel like a hundred things that matter a little bit more.

00:25:38The way I saw him interact, obviously all the success of his brother said he's

00:25:42had the only way to survive in that kind of family is to obviously compete

00:25:46and win and hold your own.

00:25:47And what that has led to from what I've seen in these media appearances is just

00:25:51a real sense of self and sense of comfort in your own skin, something certainly I

00:25:56didn't feel at 21 or know what I wanted to do and how he was going to do it.

00:26:00And whether I even could, this kid might bust out, but he at least

00:26:04will go into that locker room with the kind of security that not only just

00:26:07attracts people to you in any line of work or any line of place, but especially

00:26:10for leaders and in a room of guys who grew up similarly alphas or people having

00:26:15to fight for their own playing time on a team or within a family.

00:26:18And so I think those things work in his favor where it is authentic.

00:26:21It's genuine.

00:26:22Um, but it also gets me thinking of like, you know how those families, especially

00:26:26like if you own a beach house or if you rented a beach house, you have those

00:26:29signs that hang that are like live, laugh, love, what do you think was on the

00:26:33main family household?

00:26:35It's like he kicks a mass, take a lap.

00:26:39Like I, like, but what am I missing?

00:26:43Yeah.

00:26:43I mean, I agree with you, with your, your father being a college

00:26:46quarterback or whatever, I think he played in the Canadian league or

00:26:49something like that, but you got your pops there, you got your older brothers

00:26:53and you can tell they're ultra competitive, but I mean, the one thing

00:26:57I will say about him, I would, you know, when a comparison to what you had with

00:27:01Mac Jones back when things got tight for Jones, you see him on the sidelines

00:27:06looking like he didn't know how to handle himself mentally, what to do next, man.

00:27:10How do I get out of this?

00:27:12And you can already tell the minute that may feels that way.

00:27:16He can see his brothers in the back.

00:27:17Like, dude, if you don't get it together, I'm gonna come down

00:27:20there and get you together.

00:27:21Like you can already tell he's not going to dwell on a negative play too

00:27:26long or a negative quarter or a bad game.

00:27:29And you can see, he's going to want to bounce back, get everybody involved.

00:27:33We're still in this.

00:27:34We're good.

00:27:34You know, you can kind of see he has that mentality.

00:27:37And I think that does come from playing with, you know, growing up with a brother

00:27:41who won a national championship on a baseball field, basketball pops, being a

00:27:45quarterback, just being in that household.

00:27:48He's not going to dwell on down moments too long.

00:27:50And we, we have seen here in the past that you need a quarterback that can

00:27:54handle those moments playing in, in, in new England area.

00:27:57So I think that's going to be a big, you know, feather in the

00:28:00cap for Drake May going forward.

00:28:02Yeah, absolutely.

00:28:03All right.

00:28:03Let's, uh, let's pivot the worst out of your three moves.

00:28:06The Patriots made the soft season was what?

00:28:09This is weird.

00:28:10I might be the only one here not addressing the running back situation.

00:28:15I didn't think, I didn't think they, I wanted to see them get a

00:28:18younger running back in the draft.

00:28:20I think they need a horse and not in the old school guy, get 35 carries kind of way.

00:28:27But I do think they need to replace what you lost from Zeke Elliott, maybe a little

00:28:31more than that, because Stevenson's coming off injury, he's getting a little older.

00:28:36I think they could have went and got a younger, a young running back, a burner,

00:28:40a kind of, and I'm going to say a third down guy, but to kind of do it all running

00:28:43back, but somebody with some burst.

00:28:45And I think the way you protect the young quarterback, if you're going to play him

00:28:49early on, I hope they do, but I think you run the football.

00:28:53I think you find a way to not put the, put your young quarterback, putting

00:28:57me in a position, we've thrown it 45 times by running the football.

00:29:01Now they might address it as time goes on and might believe in the

00:29:04guys they already have there.

00:29:06But I was really looking for them to address the running back situation.

00:29:09And I would say, get a pro bowler, but get a really good running back

00:29:12to help help out your young quarterback.

00:29:14So are you out on Antonio Gibson?

00:29:17No, I think he'd be a good third down back for them.

00:29:19I think it's something they've been missing.

00:29:20And I think that's what's with, uh, Mac Jones had his rookie year, the running

00:29:25back, the production in Mac Jones' first year was crazy.

00:29:28I think they had like 2,500 total yards or something like that.

00:29:32Third down back, I think was a Bolden had like 500 yards of offense

00:29:36that year as a third down guy.

00:29:38And just having a guy to dump the ball off to, if you want to run those screen

00:29:42plays on third, then you have a guy who can legit do it on a, on a elite level.

00:29:47But I think having a third down guy will help you young quarterback out, but I

00:29:50just wanted another guy in the backfield to go along with Stevenson in case he

00:29:55starts to wear down as time goes on.

00:29:58That did not make my list.

00:29:59So I'm glad we're talking about it.

00:30:01And I, you know, it's interesting too, right?

00:30:03Because Stevenson's in a contract year and we have all of these extensions

00:30:07coming up, bar more gets a big bag, you know, Duggar re-signs on when he

00:30:10re-signs and you're looking around going, okay, who's next and Stevenson's eligible.

00:30:14Right.

00:30:15All those 20, 21 draft picks.

00:30:17I don't think it's good business to re-sign running backs to big money,

00:30:20particularly in second contracts.

00:30:22You have to be an outlier in a way that as good as I think Stevenson is, just

00:30:25hasn't proven to be that way, not to mention the workload the Patriots have

00:30:29voiced upon his shoulders these last two seasons, which will accelerate a decline,

00:30:33which might be years away, but you just don't know until it happens.

00:30:36And so I, like you, I'm in on Antonio Gibson and wrote up a scouting report on

00:30:40him for the Herald a couple of months ago, soon after he signed, ran it by someone

00:30:45within the league who was like, okay, this makes sense.

00:30:48It's a little wordy, trim this, but just really underscore the fumbling part.

00:30:52Because that's where everything breaks.

00:30:54If you can't trust the guy to hold on to the ball, he's not going to see the field.

00:30:58And I can talk about how he's a rare power pass catching back, right?

00:31:02You can trust him with green and tackles.

00:31:03He's an excellent pass protector for the PFF or any stats you want to find.

00:31:07He's a good one cut zone running back.

00:31:10There's going to be a zone running scheme, but if he busts, then it's

00:31:13Stevenson and Kevin Harris and so I I'm, I'm with you.

00:31:18I think it would have made my list.

00:31:20Have we gone to five or six?

00:31:21Um, but it's a fair point because you know, whether it's injuries or the

00:31:25fumbling issues, this is something that could crop up a lot faster

00:31:27than any people anticipate.

00:31:29Yeah.

00:31:29And I think it's going to be important.

00:31:31I mean, look at the, what the, the coaching staff, the guys

00:31:34they brought in from Cleveland.

00:31:35We all seen what the Browns have been doing the last few years.

00:31:37They run the football.

00:31:38They, I mean, that's, that's what they do.

00:31:40They run the football and to protect all 10 quarterbacks they use last two years.

00:31:44And, but they still wouldn't win 11 games or something like that last year,

00:31:47but they ran the football.

00:31:49They kept bringing in veteran running backs and it kind of protected

00:31:53Flacco through last season and the other three quarterbacks that played.

00:31:56So I expected them coming in to be more of a run heavy offense than

00:32:01what we've seen in the past, especially with a young quarterback and young

00:32:03receivers, you want to run to your strings.

00:32:06Okay.

00:32:06We can run the football.

00:32:07We got decent tight ends.

00:32:08Okay.

00:32:09We can, we will play that way and play off play action through that.

00:32:12But I was expecting them put it like this to go out and get one of those

00:32:16young running backs, especially through the draft when all the good running

00:32:19backs started fading later and later into the draft, I'm like, wait a minute.

00:32:24You can get an all American here late, but they decided to go with the receivers

00:32:28and show up their offensive line, which I don't have no issues with that.

00:32:31But I was still waiting and looking for them to somehow some

00:32:34way land a running back.

00:32:35Now some kid can pop in training camp, some guy to bring in, but I was expecting

00:32:39them to get a running back out of this.

00:32:40And that, that was my biggest disappointment with this

00:32:43Patriots team in this off season.

00:32:45Okay.

00:32:45Your second favorite move, the second best thing the Patriots

00:32:47did this off season was what?

00:32:49A window, uh, bringing the window back offensive line.

00:32:53We saw the importance of the offensive line or lack thereof, you know, last year

00:32:57or so, so I think retaining him, keeping him in the building and good for him for

00:33:01wanting to stay and good for them for bringing him back and realizing how

00:33:05important he is and I'm glad they got that done and got him signed.

00:33:08So I would say bringing a window back is my second, my second

00:33:11biggest off season move for them.

00:33:14I think this is obvious.

00:33:15Um, and I agree completely.

00:33:17I mean, you could make an argument.

00:33:18This is number one, just if you're against the idea that a quarterback,

00:33:21you know, uh, at the top of the draft guarantees anything, which obviously

00:33:25it doesn't, but you know, at some point you have to take the swing.

00:33:27They did because of when it was their best player in offense last year, he plays

00:33:31a premium position now that he's a tackle and it's not, you know, a matter

00:33:35of left versus right anymore because the guys on the right side are getting paid

00:33:38just as much because the pressure in your face, as it turns out, is just as

00:33:42bad as pressure behind you and sometimes worse, it might not result in a strip

00:33:46sack as often, but it's going to affect the play and it's pretty valuable.

00:33:49So on whether he's at right tackle or right guard based on his last comments,

00:33:53doesn't seem particularly keen on the idea of going to left tackle, uh, which

00:33:57I know we'll get to a little bit later.

00:33:59You just have to keep your best players.

00:34:00Like he's, he's professional.

00:34:02He's in his prime.

00:34:03He plays a premium position.

00:34:04This was simple.

00:34:05And just imagine for a second, because again, the left tackle

00:34:08situation is vastly different.

00:34:10Yeah.

00:34:10Had on when he walked and they balked at an extra couple of million and he goes

00:34:14to someone like the giant.

00:34:15So I know who had interest.

00:34:17What are we saying now?

00:34:18Like you can't play Drake.

00:34:20You're not going to run the ball.

00:34:21You don't have any time.

00:34:22You don't have anything.

00:34:23Yeah.

00:34:24Yeah.

00:34:24It's now you're looking at it as a tank here.

00:34:26You're looking at your situation where you could be this year's Carolina

00:34:29Panthers, just go from bad to worse.

00:34:32You know, you don't want that.

00:34:33Not around here anyway.

00:34:35I mean, folks would end up losing their jobs with the outcry after that.

00:34:38But yeah, that one move, I think I wouldn't say gave them all hope, but it, I

00:34:43think once he was re-signed, it kind of opened the door for them to re-sign other

00:34:47guys in the building and guys wanting to stay, stick around.

00:34:51And I think that was a vibe that I don't know if the fans are feeling, but how

00:34:54many of these guys want to stay after Belichick left after last season, any of

00:34:58these guys going to re-sign here and then sure enough, they, they re-sign him and

00:35:02guys start sticking around, but I think he was, he's important to this offense.

00:35:06Like you said, probably the most important guy that's offense right now until they

00:35:09figure out on that left side, but I think keeping him around was huge.

00:35:14It allows you to throw the football, allows you to run the football.

00:35:17And it's, it sends a message to your team that we'll, we will take care of our own.

00:35:22If you're good here, you produce here.

00:35:25We're going to pay.

00:35:25You're going to stick around and not really throwing a shot at the old

00:35:29regime, but that never really was a guarantee.

00:35:31So I think signing him was a big sign to everybody on many different levels.

00:35:37And again, just, just to get ahead of what I think some people would counter,

00:35:40what does it matter that you're sending this message to the locker room?

00:35:42If you're good, we'll keep you like, but you might just want to

00:35:44go get a bag elsewhere.

00:35:45That's great.

00:35:46Um, the, the re-signings of internal free agents is so much higher in terms of the

00:35:52success rate, because you know what you have in the player, there's no projection

00:35:56of how is John New Smith going to fit into this offense more, can we get Nelson

00:35:59or the ball downfield or what's it going to be like for Jalen Mills?

00:36:03If he just doesn't want to play corner anymore, then we have to move him to

00:36:06safety and this is to not to knock any of those guys personally, but it used to be

00:36:10in free agency, you remember these guys would take visits and they would go see

00:36:14local teams and then they would weigh their contract offers and then they would

00:36:17sign, they talk behind closed doors, agents and GMs, whoever at the combine.

00:36:23And then they swap contract offers in the days leading up to the legal tampering

00:36:27period that opens and the deals are done.

00:36:30So you don't have time to get familiar to erase some of that uncertainty.

00:36:33And if you know, you feel good about a guy, Ty goes to the guy you already have.

00:36:37Now there's, it's a little more complicated than that, but I think it

00:36:39speaks to a more sound strategy for players.

00:36:43Again, as I've said, play premium positions.

00:36:45I did not name my worst move of the Patriots off season, but I hinted at it

00:36:49just there, they still surround somehow after last season in 2022, when there was

00:36:55a black hole, the right tackle have an established proven starter on the left

00:36:59side, and this is crazy to me.

00:37:00Did this make your list?

00:37:02Yep.

00:37:04It left tackle.

00:37:05I mean, I had it, it wasn't my second one, but yeah, it was his third.

00:37:10I had left tackle on there.

00:37:12They still didn't address it.

00:37:13I mean, they, they, they took the kid from Penn state.

00:37:15Can he play left tackle out of time?

00:37:18We'll tell, I don't know, but like you said, they still didn't

00:37:22get an established left tackle.

00:37:24I think that's, that's the move that would have kept a lot of people from giving this

00:37:28team an A in the off season, a plus if they would have went out and landed a

00:37:32legit left tackle, it changes the way we look at how they're going to handle May,

00:37:37how they're going to run the football, what kind of offense they're going to be.

00:37:41All these things change when you have a stable left tackle on the

00:37:44field, on the team, whatever.

00:37:46But they didn't really address it directly.

00:37:48I don't know if they're going to move guys over or not, but now it's, it

00:37:52opens the door for guys like you to write more articles and do more homework and

00:37:56training camp about how this guy looks at left tackle.

00:37:59They played this guy, they rotated this guy in this guy's going to

00:38:02play the second preseason game.

00:38:05You're going into week one, so-and-so was named the starter at left tackle and

00:38:09you're playing that game all over again.

00:38:11So I really wish they would address that and, and solidify that left tackles, but

00:38:15maybe they tried and this is what they ended up with, but I would have loved to

00:38:20see more effort with that left tackle position.

00:38:23And I think a name, you know, maybe not this week, uh, because Chris

00:38:26Price, the Boston Globe front of the podcast did an excellent job

00:38:30detailing the malaria case that Calvin Anderson dealt with.

00:38:33And that was a guy before he got sick again, three days before

00:38:36training camp, go read Chris's story.

00:38:37105 degree fever.

00:38:39I don't know how high you've gotten in the fever department.

00:38:41I think I topped out at like 102 something as a kid.

00:38:44Yeah.

00:38:45105 is near death.

00:38:47Anyway, the point is he's a guy that last year, you know, with Riley,

00:38:51someone will stick right.

00:38:52Opposite Trent Brown.

00:38:53It didn't happen.

00:38:54Malaria is an outlier, rare case.

00:38:56They think it happened and certainly won't to Calvin Anderson.

00:38:58I think they're banking on him, Takuma Okorafor or Caden Wallace to stick

00:39:02at that left tackle position, but two of them, Wallace and Okorafor.

00:39:06They're like, yeah, well he did it in college and it might've been

00:39:09practice if he was Caden Wallace, and it might've been six years

00:39:12ago if it was Okorafor, but they can do it.

00:39:14And I'm just not there.

00:39:16And I think that's completely fair.

00:39:17And it just reminds me of that exercise we did last year.

00:39:20Throw everyone at the wall, see who sticks at left tackle or

00:39:23right tackle, and you'll just roll.

00:39:24And I don't know Jonah Williams.

00:39:26So I know they were not really in on, seemed like a perfectly fine

00:39:29solution, even as a stopgap because he's proven on both sides goes

00:39:33for three for 45 to Arizona.

00:39:35Maybe he didn't want to come here, but as far as we heard and it was

00:39:37reported, they were in a tyrant Smith, Michael went to, that's kind of it.

00:39:42Yeah.

00:39:43Yeah.

00:39:43I mean, and it's what's, I wouldn't say going to stink, but if you open up

00:39:48the season, first couple of weeks and may or percent, whoever's back there.

00:39:54Is getting blasted from the blind side.

00:39:57It's just going to open up the door for more and more questions of look, see

00:40:00you, you, you derailed the season by not addressing this position, or even

00:40:04if there's inconsistencies of who's starting this week, who started next

00:40:08week and who took the most snaps in practice, all that stuff is just

00:40:12going to lead for more to more questions.

00:40:14But I think if, if I'm bringing in my new young franchise quarterback,

00:40:17if he plays this year or next.

00:40:19The, one of the first things I'm doing is trying to figure out a way to protect

00:40:22his blind side and keep him upright for the foreseeable future, but maybe they

00:40:26see something, one of these other guys that, that, that we don't see.

00:40:30And I hope so.

00:40:30And maybe they believe in the offensive line coaches too.

00:40:33Maybe they believe in these guys to coach some of these guys up better than what

00:40:36they had here in the previous years, coach these guys up Skarnikian style and

00:40:41get these guys to look better than what was advertised and what was expected.

00:40:46Okay.

00:40:46So the draft is behind us.

00:40:48But that means the best is still ahead of us.

00:40:49I'm talking playoff games, Celtics, Bruins, and I'll be there

00:40:53covering the Celtics with the Herald.

00:40:54We lost our guy, Steve Hewitt, which brings me to my real point.

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00:42:22Yeah.

00:42:22And again, they, they believe that this can happen because Alex van Pelt said

00:42:25so, and Scott Peters, their new offensive line coach said so.

00:42:28Scott Peters, very hands-on coach, played in the league seven, eight years since

00:42:32been coaching for Orlander under Bill Callahan, who after square neck, is your

00:42:36best offensive line coach in the league.

00:42:37It's encouraging, but I will say Peters has been in coaching, uh, less than

00:42:41Gerard Mayo has, so, you know, he's not taking the same leap going, you know,

00:42:46from the street to a head coaching job within five years.

00:42:49And again, I think Gerard is capable.

00:42:50There's just going to be growing pains like there will be for a lot of his

00:42:52players.

00:42:53Peter's probably also included in that growing pains group.

00:42:56Uh, we'll see.

00:42:57Cause there are other people in the league.

00:42:58I talked to not assigned Caleb Moss.

00:43:00It doesn't make them right.

00:43:01It doesn't make the Patriots wrong.

00:43:02I just would feel better with it.

00:43:04Sure.

00:43:04Fire.

00:43:05That's our guy answer at left tackle, or if he gets hurt.

00:43:07Okay.

00:43:08We can juggle a core for Wallace and Calvin Anderson.

00:43:11I don't really want to juggle now.

00:43:13Um, I have two, uh, positive moves left, two best moves.

00:43:17I think you do as well and you have one worst and then I have two to go.

00:43:21So let's start with the positive.

00:43:22One of the third best, fourth best move that the Patriots made this offseason.

00:43:26Um, third best positive for me was the receivers just as a whole, as a unit.

00:43:31I think I like KJ Osborne.

00:43:33I thought that was a good pickup for them.

00:43:35I thought he's a decent player.

00:43:37Some say, well, he's.

00:43:38You know, he only looked good because those guys were around him.

00:43:41It's like, well, maybe what if he would have looked better if they weren't there

00:43:43and he had more opportunity, but I thought KJ Osborne was a good pickup for them.

00:43:47And then the receivers, they addressed it in the draft and it's just going to

00:43:51create competition, like I mentioned in training camp and getting younger guys

00:43:56in there getting explosive, I would say explosive again, these aren't a bunch

00:44:01of four, two, four, three 40 guys, but they're playmakers if that makes sense.

00:44:05I mean, they're, they're playmaking type guys make catches in traffic.

00:44:09They, they all show the same traits, even Osborne.

00:44:12And I think that this is the kind of team they're going to be.

00:44:15I'm going to say too much downfield, 40, 50 odd bombs, but you're going to see

00:44:19these guys go over the middle, break a tackle here or there and get, you know,

00:44:23a lot of yards after the catch instead of the typical, we're going to throw

00:44:26a five yard slant guy lays down.

00:44:28I think I'm tired of seeing that.

00:44:30And I think everybody else is, we might have the opportunity to finally

00:44:34see one of these guys who can take a slant, make a guy miss and tear up the

00:44:39sidelines, these are the kinds of players they brought in guys who I think can even

00:44:43a guy like poke, I think one thing is getting overlooked about him is he played

00:44:47in Washington playing the Pacific Northwest.

00:44:49It rains all the time.

00:44:50The weather's always bad.

00:44:51A guy like him in new England, playing new England, Buffalo

00:44:55and Jersey playing against the jets.

00:44:57Even in Miami, sometimes if it rains or whatever, a guy that can make plays

00:45:01and inclement weather and has shown the ability to do so.

00:45:04So I love what they've done with the receivers.

00:45:07Bringing those odds Osborne.

00:45:08Again, he played in the NFC, NFC North.

00:45:11He played at Chicago.

00:45:12You know what I'm saying?

00:45:12He played in, in some of these elements at green Bay.

00:45:15So bringing in some of these guys to play with, with May and for the future, I

00:45:20really, I really liked the way to address that now with these guys

00:45:23turning the superstars down the road.

00:45:25I don't know, but I think pairing them up with.

00:45:28Uh, pop Douglas and born.

00:45:30I think you finally have something there at the receiving position

00:45:33that we can all look, look forward to.

00:45:35Co-sign.

00:45:36I think it's a great point.

00:45:37And I would add this, you know, to Polk and Osborne too, because

00:45:40you talk about it, they played in Washington and they played

00:45:42in Minnesota and the weather part.

00:45:43I think it's, it's underrated specific to offense, right?

00:45:46But Washington ran a pro style offense relative to what you would

00:45:51see in other college systems.

00:45:52You know, there's a lot of motions.

00:45:53There's a lot of shifts, the route trees, the route combinations that

00:45:55they're using was a lot of eye candy and dress up to get to the

00:45:59same stuff and it worked that's NFL offense, man, like a lot of the

00:46:03straight drop back passing games that you see across the league

00:46:06are very, very similar.

00:46:07It's just, how do you get to those concepts and what do you choose to

00:46:10major in with the Patriots are going to major in, or a lot of play action

00:46:13passing the zone scheme that we talked about and working off of that with

00:46:17their, their boot movement stuff in these shots, you don't kind of offense.

00:46:21Kid.

00:46:21Your Alcorn played it that offense with Kevin O'Connell, a lot of Shannon

00:46:25adjacent stuff.

00:46:26So he'll have familiarity in a way that other receivers wouldn't.

00:46:29It doesn't, again, mean he's going to score more touchdowns, but I love that

00:46:32about Polk and Osborne, there's less of a transition.

00:46:34Um, my fourth best thing just real quick is just adjacent.

00:46:38You talk about the competition.

00:46:40I like the Patriots cut some dead weight on this roster, like DeMonte Parker

00:46:44and your sour attitude, not taking responsibility after losing the game.

00:46:47Vegas see it.

00:46:48Trent Brown talked about playing for an NFC team in the days

00:46:52after they beat the Steelers.

00:46:53I wrote about this in report and said, he's likely not going to come back.

00:46:56He's gone.

00:46:57Um, some guys in the coaching staff.

00:46:58I don't think there was ever a chance that Joe judge was going to

00:47:01be kept in this throughout mail staff.

00:47:03And partly because Gerard Mayo has guys that he wants to hire from the

00:47:06outside and bring this new energy, but just guys that when you talk to people

00:47:10in the building, didn't contribute to what they're trying to do now, we talk

00:47:13about the vibes to advance that, to push it forward, I think is smart because

00:47:18they are in the business of adding talent, but they're trying to do it in

00:47:22a cohesive way, as we always heard, it's not assembling talent or adding

00:47:25talent, it's building a team.

00:47:26Part of that was cutting your losses.

00:47:28Even if Parker for a while was like, you're going to take a seven, six,

00:47:32$7 million cap it just to wave this dude goodbye.

00:47:35And he goes down the road to Philly, but I just, I thought it was smart.

00:47:37They drew some lines in a way that said, if we're going to start over, we're

00:47:40going to do it our way and build a culture as well as a program.

00:47:44Yep.

00:47:44And, and that goes, goes right to my last positive there.

00:47:49Re-signing Barmore, re-signing their guys, just keeping those guys in the

00:47:53locker room, like you see now they ride through the locker rooms on bikes.

00:47:57Everybody's talking about good vibes.

00:47:59It can't get any better than what it is now.

00:48:00Right now.

00:48:01Everybody's paid.

00:48:02Everybody's happy.

00:48:03Everybody's high fiving complete contrast compared to last season

00:48:07where you guys will constantly ask the questions about guys and their contracts.

00:48:10Who's going to get re-signed?

00:48:12Are you going to be around?

00:48:13Have you talked?

00:48:13I don't know.

00:48:14I don't know.

00:48:14I mean, you're still going to deal with, with Judon's thing coming up, you

00:48:17know, in the future, but keeping their own guys, I thought was a huge positive

00:48:22to keeping their core guys, keeping that defense intact.

00:48:26I think that could be a good defense, a borderline, great defense, keeping

00:48:29those guys in being a defensive team.

00:48:31You got a defensive head coach.

00:48:33Play defense, keep the score low, gives you, gives you a chance to win

00:48:37a lot of ball games in the NFL, but keeping those guys around and keeping

00:48:41the morale good in the locker room, I think was huge for this team, this

00:48:45off season.

00:48:46And it was a pleasant surprise seeing them keep all these

00:48:49guys around to get guys paid.

00:48:51I'm with you.

00:48:52And, uh, this will wrap up my, my, my final, you know, best move of the

00:48:56off season, which was just promote Elliott Wolfe because again, you

00:48:59knew the game plan he was going to follow.

00:49:01His dad did it in green Bay.

00:49:03He told you, well, he told the crafts first in meeting what he was going to

00:49:06do before they handed him the keys and said, this is a three month Sunday drive.

00:49:10But I want to see what you cover.

00:49:11See me again.

00:49:12It's a little bit crazy.

00:49:13Uh, you should just give him the keys and say, you have the car as well for

00:49:16as long as we're going to allow you, but it was going to re re-sign core players.

00:49:20He said this at the combine, you know, invest in weapons through the draft,

00:49:25address offensive tackle, and he did it.

00:49:27So I think promoting Elliott Wolfe, who I've said on this podcast, I've written

00:49:30that I'm a believer we can go to the blind resume test.

00:49:33I said it at the start of this podcast, 20 years in front offices, been an

00:49:36assistant GM, been in a different system, but also here for four years.

00:49:39So knows the ins and outs of your building, the strengths and weaknesses

00:49:42of your roster.

00:49:43Um, it's just a smart move.

00:49:45And so that was the first domino that led to unwitting staying Duggar, you know,

00:49:50bar more, which was a great extension.

00:49:51And I think, you know, maybe they get it done down the road.

00:49:54Um, I was happy about it.

00:49:56I just start with him because he's the guy who made the rest of it happen.

00:49:59Yeah.

00:50:00I mean, that's a, that's a good one.

00:50:01I didn't have on my list, but yeah, he's the one that made all this work.

00:50:04He did all this.

00:50:05He, he, he made all these moves and they didn't just say, Hey male, you go do it.

00:50:09Mayo said, no, let this guy do it.

00:50:11He's going to do his thing.

00:50:12You know, we'll, we'll work hand in hand, work together, but you can see they, they

00:50:17let him do it in his vision, the way he thought was best for the team.

00:50:21And I mean, I wouldn't say he hit on, he hit everything, but I think he did the

00:50:26best, like I said, what he had coming out situation they were in.

00:50:30But I, I honestly, I know this might sound weird and people don't buy into it.

00:50:37I think they're a lot closer to being competitive that people

00:50:40want to give them credit for.

00:50:41I think they want to look at this team and just instantly say they're

00:50:44three win four win team, whatever.

00:50:47And I just, I just don't believe that.

00:50:48I think they're just too good defensively.

00:50:51And I think they might just have enough offensively to where they're not going to

00:50:55be as bad for as long as people think they are.

00:50:57I think they, they are building a decent foundation.

00:51:00And I think the, the only way to go from this point now was up.

00:51:03How far up do you go this year?

00:51:04I don't know, but I think it will be trending upwards come

00:51:07December, January with this team.

00:51:09Print the shirts.

00:51:10Decent foundation better than you think at least for a little while, at least.

00:51:15Well, that's it.

00:51:16Yep.

00:51:16No barring any injuries, but yeah.

00:51:19Good.

00:51:19Uh, all right.

00:51:20I have two negatives left.

00:51:21The worst moves of the off season.

00:51:22You have one, I think.

00:51:24Yeah.

00:51:24The one, the one I had left was the left tackle.

00:51:26That was, that was the, we, we, we talked about that one in, you know,

00:51:30addressing that and I had left tackle running back.

00:51:34Um, uh, I thought I had one more up here.

00:51:36I'm sorry.

00:51:36I thought we might've missed one, but yeah, left tackle was my big one.

00:51:40My big off season move that I wish they could have done better, but they might

00:51:44have addressed it, but right now looking at it, I don't, I don't think they have

00:51:47not in the way we all want them to.

00:51:49Yeah.

00:51:49Uh, my two, you know, one is obvious.

00:51:52So I'll start there.

00:51:53Just the, uh, the absence of guys that I've described before that on offense

00:51:58have some gravity to them, right?

00:51:59Playmakers keeps a defensive coordinator up an extra 30 minutes a night before

00:52:03game, we need to take care of X and it doesn't have to be a number one receiver.

00:52:07It could have been the running back you were talking about or a tight end.

00:52:10And I think they got the best tight end of the market.

00:52:12They could have gotten Hunter Henry.

00:52:14They signed someone in for agency.

00:52:15KJ Osborne is willing to sign with them.

00:52:17And the same goes for Antonio Gibson.

00:52:19And they got two receivers in the draft and that's great.

00:52:21But if I'm scheming against the Patriots this season, I'm going,

00:52:25what am I really afraid of here?

00:52:26You know, like it's still a very narrow margin offense and efficiency offense.

00:52:31They're going to shoot for these, these big over the top plays, but unless

00:52:34Jayvon Baker pans out immediately or Jalen, Jalen Polk, you know, looks like

00:52:37he did at Washington right away.

00:52:39I don't really need to protect against the players executing the scheme.

00:52:43It's just understanding, you know, short yardage midfield.

00:52:46Okay.

00:52:46Alex van Pelt wants to dial one up here and that doesn't keep me up because

00:52:49that's just standard offense for people who run it that way.

00:52:52So the lack of players, you know, you can scream about Calvin Ridley.

00:52:55I'm on either side of that.

00:52:57I get it one way or another, but just not being able to fill that

00:53:02or T Higgins, if they were ever available to trade, uh, was a bit of a bummer.

00:53:05So I don't know where you stand on that.

00:53:07Yeah, I, I, I completely agree with that.

00:53:09Missing out on Nagy said not so much just Calvin Ridley, but

00:53:13a Calvin Ridley caliber player.

00:53:14Like you said, somebody who the safeties keep peeking over at them, you know, just

00:53:19somebody they have to worry about now.

00:53:21I mean, do they believe one of these young guys could turn into the next

00:53:24Calvin Ridley at T Higgins?

00:53:25Possibly they could have their guy.

00:53:28I mean, one of these guys can be the next book in the cool.

00:53:30We don't know that, but the first month of the season, no, one's going to be

00:53:34paying any attention to these guys.

00:53:35Not like that.

00:53:35Not in the way to where it opens up the field for everybody else.

00:53:40Now, I think if these guys do, I'm going to say hit not be pro bowl hits, but if

00:53:45these receivers are decent enough along with what they have, I think it does open

00:53:50things up for pop Douglas and Hunter Henry, because you have guys on the

00:53:53outside you might have to worry about.

00:53:55But like you said, if you had a guy that everybody knew, okay, that's T Higgins.

00:54:00We are worried about him at all times.

00:54:02It will completely open it up for everybody else.

00:54:05You're running game.

00:54:05You're tied in just slot guys.

00:54:07And even if he's not getting the ball, just have him out there as a

00:54:09decoy, it opens things up.

00:54:11And I think they missed out on that for a few million dollars or whatever it is.

00:54:16If they couldn't get the wife to agree to live in new England, whatever it might

00:54:19be, but they missed out on that opportunity.

00:54:22Yeah.

00:54:23Yeah.

00:54:23It's a great point.

00:54:24It's the same one that I hammered home around the whole Deandre Hopkins saga.

00:54:28Right.

00:54:28It's not is Deandre Hopkins worth this money in a vacuum in isolation

00:54:33is your number one receiver.

00:54:34He is the number one receiver in all six States.

00:54:36As soon as he lands in new England.

00:54:38And that's that the best that you have here.

00:54:40And what he does is put the rest of the depth chart in its proper order.

00:54:44Okay.

00:54:44Kendrick orange or two or three.

00:54:46Fine.

00:54:46That makes sense.

00:54:47Pop Douglas pops as your, your number two, or that's how it was.

00:54:49You're Smith.

00:54:50Schuster's a number two, five, Kendrick Warren.

00:54:52Number three.

00:54:52Great.

00:54:53Pop Douglas pops.

00:54:54Great.

00:54:54Three or four.

00:54:55It all made sense because everyone had to do more to make up for that

00:54:59absence of a number one receiver.

00:55:01They all got extra attention.

00:55:02Nothing opened up and we all watched the 2023 Patriots play.

00:55:05Offense.

00:55:05Okay.

00:55:06My last one is related just to the searches and we hit on the

00:55:10one going on now at the top.

00:55:11I think ultimately the damage from this is just optics, but the

00:55:14damage is worse because of how things went with the offensive coordinator

00:55:18search and it might end up, and I might even bet on this, that Alex

00:55:22will pan out in a way that will surprise the Patriots and was better

00:55:25than Nick Kaley, who I reported was a finalist, then got a contract

00:55:28offer and rejected that offer.

00:55:30Because of everything Alex van Pelt has brought, but the offensive staff

00:55:35they have now, you talk about guys on the field who don't put a scare

00:55:38into it, not a defensive coordinator.

00:55:40I think Dan Powell is very well-respected.

00:55:42Uh, Ben Bacadu has some track record of working with quarterbacks.

00:55:45Aside from that, these are a lot of cast offs from places that really

00:55:48weren't keen on keeping this assistance.

00:55:50Maybe they become greater than the sum of their parts.

00:55:52That's the mark of a good coaching staff.

00:55:54I think we just haven't seen it.

00:55:56And so when you look at that, their inability to really pull some other

00:55:59assistants who interviewed for the defensive coordinator job, uh, and

00:56:02their names escape me, um, Michael Hodges, I want to say was the linebackers

00:56:06coach from the Saints, defensive backs coach, last name might've been

00:56:08Simmons, uh, Christian, now I'm just blowing it, from the Broncos.

00:56:13Who doesn't go there?

00:56:13Goes to Philly instead.

00:56:15What it showed was the Patriots are either not offering enough money or

00:56:18it's really unattractive from their experience in these interviews and

00:56:22other people around the league talk, they take notice, and so that

00:56:27ultimately leads to either they could have handled the process better.

00:56:30And I know coaches who interviewed with them were not blown away.

00:56:33They just thought it was a very regular, whatever experience, or

00:56:35they were not offered enough money.

00:56:37And so that perception is something the Patriots are already fighting against.

00:56:40The Glorietys are gone.

00:56:41Brady's gone.

00:56:42Belichick's gone.

00:56:43Now I have to come in and sell you on why to hire me?

00:56:48No, no, no, no.

00:56:49You should want me.

00:56:49And they just, whether it was the offensive assistance, the defensive

00:56:52assistance, I think the coordinator core is fine.

00:56:55It's a, it's, it's stupid that they're doing this dog and pony show, but

00:56:58altogether, you know what I mean?

00:57:00Just not great for ownership and by extension, the rest of the organization.

00:57:04Yeah.

00:57:04And I think they're in a position now where, and everything they do, free

00:57:08agency, coaches, searches, front office searches, everybody's kind of in a

00:57:13wait and see mode with them right now.

00:57:14I don't know what to expect.

00:57:15I just, I mean, this is different.

00:57:16We haven't seen anything like this with this team since the nineties.

00:57:19So I think it's, everybody's like, you know what?

00:57:22I'm not willing to go all in on this.

00:57:24I'd rather go to Atlanta.

00:57:25I'd rather go wherever in, you know, little more, even if these

00:57:28teams are bad, they're more established.

00:57:30I'd rather go there than deal with the unknown here and the possibility

00:57:34of me losing my job again next year.

00:57:36So it's, you know what you guys didn't do a good job of selling

00:57:40me on, on coming to new England.

00:57:41I'm just going to go ahead and fall back.

00:57:43And other people, like you said, they're all talking to each other.

00:57:45Like, man, I don't know if I would go up there right now.

00:57:47I think I'd wait and see now if they end up having a turnaround similar

00:57:51to what the Texas did last year.

00:57:54All of a sudden they're going to be knocking on your door.

00:57:55Hey, you still got, you still got those positions open, you know, but it

00:57:58all, it all depends on how the players respond to you this off season.

00:58:03And the fact that, you know, Mayo and Wolf, they, I wouldn't say they're

00:58:06new at it, but being in that position, interviewing guys, they just new to

00:58:10the game and maybe they just, they, they didn't say the right keywords

00:58:14and they didn't, they didn't smooze the right way or whatever it may be.

00:58:18But hopefully they learn from this off season and know what they're dealing

00:58:21with once they go into it next year.

00:58:23Well, in the Texas point or example, I should say it's such a good point

00:58:27because what more toxic franchise was Houston was there in the ownership down.

00:58:33Right.

00:58:33David Cully comes in.

00:58:34Lovey Smith comes in, not just one year coaches, lame duck

00:58:37coaches fired immediately.

00:58:39But minority coaches, Nick is serious in there.

00:58:41How much power does he have?

00:58:42Oh, we're going to hire D'Amico.

00:58:43Ryan's great.

00:58:44Congrats.

00:58:45Well, all of that gets deodorized by CJ Stroud hitting in the smaller moves.

00:58:49Cause Syria was making to build around him offensive line and no one cares.

00:58:53No one cares about Jackie should be and everything he left behind in the mess

00:58:57and the coaches and the firings and the politics, it's all gone because you

00:59:00want you to the quarterback.

00:59:01So this could be a quick turnaround as bad as an off season.

00:59:04Yeah.

00:59:05I mean, that's insane thing happened with the, the lions a couple of years

00:59:08ago with a three wind team or something like that, and they've been terrible

00:59:10forever.

00:59:11It sounds like the lions.

00:59:11Yeah.

00:59:12Yeah.

00:59:13And next thing, you know, they hit on a couple of draft picks and boom, they

00:59:16were in the NFC championship games.

00:59:18They should have won, but it, it, it changed your, your culture can

00:59:22change really fast in the NFL.

00:59:24All it takes is a couple of hits and everybody wants a piece of you.

00:59:28You're on national TV, more prime time spots.

00:59:31Now you're, you're a sexy team, but the Patriots now they have to, they have

00:59:35to hope that these young guys, they have hit and do something to, to change

00:59:40how people view them in the off season, free agency and coaches or whatever.

00:59:44Anybody is trying to bring in to be employed by the New England Patriots.

00:59:48You got to hope your guys hit and change your perception around the league.

00:59:51It's not like the people think you're going to be terrible.

00:59:54They, it's just the unknown after Belichick has departed.

00:59:56That's, that's the part that scares everybody.

00:59:58I think they know the Patriots stink, but you know what?

01:00:00The Patriots also know that and Mayo to his credit is self-aware enough to

01:00:04say the, the league owners meetings, the league meetings or the owners meetings

01:00:08pick one, don't do what I just did.

01:00:10It's they need magnets is what he called guys that, you know, players, free

01:00:14agents want to come and play with that.

01:00:16Brady was Drake Bay plays like CJ Stroud.

01:00:19That's the biggest magnet you could, you could ask for two quick things.

01:00:22Then we'll get you out of here.

01:00:23Cause you've been more than gracious with your time.

01:00:25There was a mailback question I got last week from longtime listener, mail fan

01:00:29alumnus, Gary Langley asking about, do you see any extensions coming

01:00:33up now that Barmore's done?

01:00:34Who's the next guy?

01:00:34Who's going to get the bag?

01:00:35Who's Elliot Wolf eyeing from across the street with the binoculars?

01:00:39Like, let's get a deal done.

01:00:40And I said, I don't see it because in my mind, reading that question

01:00:45and Barmore side is an example.

01:00:47I'm looking at, you know, some kind of record setting contract, multi-year big

01:00:51bag, Stevenson's not going to get it.

01:00:53I don't think it's a running back.

01:00:54Maybe I'm wrong, but the idea of an extension that maybe not is significant

01:00:59in terms of total dollars, but in terms of value and where they play as a

01:01:03position, if it's a one-year deal or a two-year extension, that opens up a lot

01:01:09more, I don't think real peppers is there.

01:01:11I think he might be on the fence for me, but the two names that came to mind

01:01:14were Matt Judon for obvious reasons, last year, $7 million base hour and

01:01:18David Andrews, who's in the last year of his deal, I think without any

01:01:21guaranteed money, can you think of anybody else or do you disagree with

01:01:26the Andrews and Judon picks?

01:01:27I think I definitely agree with Andrews.

01:01:30Judon is a weird one because it's like, you don't want to, I think he can get the

01:01:36bag, but terms of years, I think would be the question for him.

01:01:39How long would you pay a guy like that coming off injury?

01:01:42You know, his arm just disintegrated, but paying a guy like him long-term.

01:01:49I think is going to be the, the question is how many years, but I can see him

01:01:53getting a big contract mainly because his head coach is defensive guy.

01:01:57And I think he understands the importance of when he, when he has

01:02:00an edge rusher out there with what's the Patriots record look like this past

01:02:04season, if Judon is on the field against the giants, against the Colts, against

01:02:10Washington, you know, those bad teams that they just couldn't be, you know,

01:02:15if Judon's out there, I don't think Minshew has, he makes the couple of

01:02:20plays that he made, you know what I'm saying?

01:02:22Little things like that.

01:02:22So I think Mayo understands his importance and will, I think he's

01:02:27going to offer him the bag.

01:02:29Now, how many years that I don't know, but I can't see anybody

01:02:32outside of him and Andrews.

01:02:33I think Andrews with a young rookie quarterback, I think he's the most

01:02:36important guy on that offense right about now, but I can't see anybody else.

01:02:41That's up for a long-term.

01:02:43I think the rest of them, it's a show me situation as well.

01:02:45All right.

01:02:46Which one of you guys now worthy to be the next face of the team?

01:02:49Who are we putting on the season tickets along with Drake may, who's

01:02:52going to be the next guy up?

01:02:54And I think now it's a wait and see.

01:02:56And this year it's somebody has to pop in order to get that bag.

01:02:59But right now, yeah, it's Judon and it on defensive side and Andrews on the

01:03:03offense, forget the season tickets.

01:03:05How about just in the Amazon TV promo?

01:03:08So it's not the head coach, just a player of face America can recognize.

01:03:14It's not wearing a headset.

01:03:15Rod Mayo versus the jets this week.

01:03:17Yeah.

01:03:18Yeah.

01:03:18God, God help us.

01:03:19Uh, and I'm with you.

01:03:20I don't think it will be a bag, but there is something to say of, Hey, you

01:03:23want to build a culture, you want to keep your defense, you want to have

01:03:25buy-in from your top veterans.

01:03:27Resign, Matt, you don't, that does all of that.

01:03:29Not to mention keep your best player.

01:03:30And I think his game will age well, right?

01:03:32He's not one of these quick Twitch guys off of the, uh, you know, very

01:03:36technically sound powered player works well within all of their stunts and

01:03:39twists, you know, just has a real knack for that kind of timing.

01:03:42And so, you know, you just, again, you want to keep players like that,

01:03:45but it's going to be the number.

01:03:46The thing I would say for people just going, well, you have the money,

01:03:49you have the cat space.

01:03:50They do.

01:03:51Let's also know they were top five, top six right now in

01:03:53fridge and cash spending.

01:03:54So they did spend big this off season.

01:03:57Is that.

01:03:59Use your leverage, right?

01:04:00Like I was saying, pay Kendrick Bourne.

01:04:02You've got to bring him back.

01:04:03What do you have?

01:04:03If not for wide receiver, you don't want to be in a position where you just go to

01:04:07the negotiating table saying we have to get something done, which effectively

01:04:11sends a blank check if Matt, you don't want something that's outrageous.

01:04:14And I don't know that he does.

01:04:15You just have to keep in mind that the Patriots and they did.

01:04:19This is off season spent with this.

01:04:20Okay.

01:04:20Last thing.

01:04:21Uh, what's an under discussed storyline from the off season.

01:04:25We can be either looking back or we're looking forward.

01:04:27You're just reading things, Twitter, my stuff, any other things you're on the

01:04:31radio and you're saying we should be talking about this more as it relates

01:04:34to the Patriots.

01:04:35I am sick of what, what my, the, my disappointments, man, running back.

01:04:40I think you got to run the football.

01:04:42I think we've seen enough of that in the playoffs.

01:04:45I mean, the, the chiefs would have been said over and done with if teams

01:04:49would have just ran the football.

01:04:51I think the teams that ran the football were the most dominant teams in the league.

01:04:54I mean, as good as the niners were, they went as far as McCaffrey when

01:04:58they went away from McCaffrey.

01:04:59That was all she wrote.

01:05:01I think you got to run the football.

01:05:02The Ravens ran the football, the coal.

01:05:04I mean, uh, the Kansas city, when things got tight, they ran the football.

01:05:08I think you have to be able to run the football and protect your young

01:05:12quarterback and I think the running back position, yeah, it's getting kind

01:05:17of diminished, diminished around the league, but I think when it comes to the

01:05:20Patriots, I think more discussion should have been on the ground game and this

01:05:23team's ability to run the football.

01:05:25And I think that'll, that'll open so much for this team, but I think

01:05:28it's not getting discussed enough.

01:05:30Fair enough.

01:05:31All right.

01:05:31Next week, running back breakdowns, their own battle will be back here

01:05:34in Pasadena fair to do it, uh, you know, in, in all seriousness, I'm, I'm with

01:05:39you to a point, I think again, to the, the effect that it supports the young

01:05:42quarterback insulates him from having to do too much insulates you as a GM or

01:05:47de facto GM, whatever you, whatever Elliott was probable title is going to

01:05:50be moving forward from injury to Stevenson or Gibson, that isn't just Kevin Harris.

01:05:55So maybe they like, maybe we'll prove me wrong.

01:05:57Um, that that's why that would have helped.

01:05:59Like, I think again, the offensive line is going to be largely responsible for

01:06:02whether you can run the ball or not.

01:06:03And that again, is why I also partly wanted to left tackle that they're just

01:06:06hoping pops up sometime between now and September.

01:06:09All right.

01:06:10He has been thrown battle.

01:06:11You can listen to him on IDA by the sports hub.

01:06:13You can see him on NBC sports Boston.

01:06:15I hope I see you soon.

01:06:16Uh, cause we always have fun regardless of whoever the third amigo is when we're

01:06:19doing segments and it's been a while and you were a pleasure to have

01:06:22here on the podcast, my friend.

01:06:23Thank you, man.

01:06:24Thank you for having me, man.

01:06:25I really appreciate it.

01:06:26And, and man, get yourself ready for, for training camp, man.

01:06:29It's going to be fun.

01:06:31Get you a spot on the Hill because everybody's going to show up this year.

01:06:34Yeah.

01:06:35We're going to get you a Joe Milton Jersey too.

01:06:36Or something.

01:06:40Hey man, I'll rock it every day, man.

01:06:42But thanks, man.

01:06:43It's been fun.

01:06:44And I really appreciate it.

01:06:45You got it.

BEST & WORST Moves of Patriots Offseason w/ Cerrone Battle | Pats Interference

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