Taylor Kyle’s from CLNS Media is joined by former NFL pro scout and Madden ratings adjuster Andre Weingarten for a deep dive into the Patriots’ coaching staff and roster!
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00:00:00What's going on everyone. Taylor Kyle's here for CNS Media coming at you with another episode
00:00:23of Pats Daily brought to you by our good friends at Prize Picks and Game Time. Y'all I'm really
00:00:28excited about this episode. I've been talking to our guests today for a minute trying to get this
00:00:33together. Truly one of the smartest, most insightful people I know in this business.
00:00:38Now I'm lucky enough that I have a lot of guests who have some good insights, but this man
00:00:42is different. He has spent time adjusting ratings for Madden. He spent time as a pro
00:00:46scout in the NFL. Incredible attention to detail. So excited to dive into his perspective on the
00:00:52Patriots. So without further ado, everyone, Andre Weingarten, one of my good buds. Before we get
00:00:58into the weeds, man, how you doing? And welcome to the show. So excited to have you. I am doing
00:01:03absolutely fantastic. I'm really excited to get into this. Thank you so much for having me.
00:01:08I know this is going to be a blast. Oh yeah, buddy. All right, let's get right into it. So
00:01:12let's talk about Patriots offense. Whole lot of changes. The defense we'll talk about later.
00:01:16Way more continuity on that side. Yes. On offense, we'll start at the top. Yep. The coaching staff,
00:01:22very different. Obviously Alex Van Pelt, true offensive coordinator for the first time in
00:01:26his career. He's had the opportunity, but wasn't really the guy in charge of calling plays. It was
00:01:31never truly his offense. And obviously he got some other additions to the staff, like Ben McAdoo,
00:01:36somebody he worked with with the Packers, who I think is going to be really good in whatever role
00:01:40he's in in New England because of his familiarity with guys on the staff and knowing how to work
00:01:45with Van Pelt. TC McCartney, who kind of dabbled as a quarterback's coach in Denver, but now
00:01:50obviously was a defense coach with the Browns, now a quarterback's coach in New England. We'll
00:01:54see how that shakes out. Scott Peters for the offensive line, someone I'm really, really excited
00:01:58about. Wide receivers we got. A couple of guys who didn't have a ton of experience when it comes
00:02:03to actually coaching in the NFL. Tyler Hughes has never been a position coach in the league,
00:02:08but has a really interesting background on his own. Type 1 Underwood, played for the Pats,
00:02:12was really good coaching receivers down in Pitt. Now he's the assistant wide receivers coach doing
00:02:17technique and stuff like that. Then Bob Bicknell for the tight ends, just so we can get all the
00:02:21names out there. All that being said, what are some reasons for optimism with the staff? Because
00:02:28there are a lot of question marks. There's a ton of stuff that we could pick apart, but what are
00:02:31some things that you look at and say, you know what? I think this could be a pretty good unit.
00:02:36Yeah, absolutely. I mean, there's a lot to like. So I think the one thing that people don't
00:02:41remember is that Alex Van Pelt has called plays in a game before. If you remember when Kevin
00:02:46Stefanski was out with COVID and he was locked in his basement against the Pittsburgh Steelers
00:02:50in, was it the wild card round of 2020? Yeah. Alex Van Pelt called the plays. Now the script
00:02:56was great. The plays themselves afterwards were a little hit or miss, but he has a legitimate
00:03:03playoff games worth of experience as a play call. That's one way to get thrown into the fire for the
00:03:08first time. But, so he has done it before. I'm sure he's learned from it. Learning under Kevin
00:03:13Stefanski. I mean, Stefanski is one of the, I have a lot of thoughts on Stefanski in general.
00:03:19He is a really high attention to detail coach and that rubs off on everybody around him. Van
00:03:26Pelt's very interesting. Obviously he's worked with Aaron Rodgers. He was Rodgers' favorite
00:03:30in terms of his quarterback coach, I believe, period. He's talked about, Rodgers does the left
00:03:36foot up stance, which we'll get to with May later. Alex Van Pelt is a really excellent teacher in
00:03:41that and full believes in it. And then on top of that, you have, before I get into the offensive
00:03:48line, Troy Brown is still on staff. He's a skill technique coach. I think that's going to be some
00:03:53really good cross training, especially with the new kickoff rules. So I think there's going to
00:03:57be some overlap between the skill position and their functional movement and his experience with
00:04:03Taekwon Underwood. I think in general, a lot of the staff can do a lot of different things.
00:04:09If the tight ends need help, they have TC McCartney. If McCartney needs help with
00:04:13quarterbacks, Ben McAdoo, quarterback whisperer, quarterback guru. He's been that guy his entire
00:04:18career. The head coaching stuff was where he faltered in New York after two really good years
00:04:24scheming up that offense. So that's a veteran in the room who brings a lot of value there.
00:04:29I am huge on Scott Peters. Huge. So Peters, first and foremost, learned under Bill Callahan,
00:04:36former player. He's done a lot of things. From what I've heard, he is one of the best teachers
00:04:41in the sport when it comes to offensive line play. He uses Brazilian jiu-jitsu in his training a lot.
00:04:47Gets a lot of force, right? Brazilian jiu-jitsu, a lot of hand strikes, a lot of force in your hands.
00:04:52And I think that's an area that this offensive line, especially some of the now second year
00:04:57players could really benefit from. Just getting some shock in their hands. And obviously, if
00:05:02you're working more outside zone, you don't need as much shock in your hands as you would in a
00:05:06power scheme. But being able to have proper hand placement, quick timing with your punch, all that
00:05:11stuff. I am ecstatic for Scott Peters to be in New England. We're in the exact same page, man. Scott
00:05:17Peters won because of the petty obviously. The attention to detail you also mentioned with
00:05:21Stathansky is one thing that jumps out when you look at the Browns offense. I spoke to Bobby
00:05:26Peters last week and he was mentioning how the diversity, just how effective they are with all
00:05:31these different run schemes. It's a restaurant that has like 80 things on the menu, but none of
00:05:35them are really good. And you're like, all right, you're doing a lot, but you're not actually doing
00:05:38much. They have a diverse run game that not only is effective in all those areas, but all the things
00:05:43that build off of it. There's so much intention that's really exciting. And we don't know how
00:05:47much of that is going to carry over for Alex Van Felt. But I am actually curious because of his
00:05:51background with the Packers. And I know that Drake May, he said when he visited, he was watching
00:05:55Aaron Rodgers films. So now I kind of got in my head. That actually makes a lot of sense because
00:05:59he's got Jayvon Baker, has a similar skill set to like Devante Adams. They don't have a Jordy
00:06:04Nelson, but if Tyquan Thornton works out, he kind of that vertical threat who can get you home runs
00:06:08in the slot. Randall Cobb, DeMario Douglas, very similar skill sets there. And then Jaylen Polk,
00:06:13kind of like a James Jones type where he's not super responsive, but he can win at every level
00:06:17and it's super reliable. So what are some things that you think maybe from his Packers days that
00:06:21Alex Van Felt could incorporate into this Patriots offense? I think there's a lot. I mean, first off,
00:06:26that's also an Elliott Wolfe thing, right? You take Ron Wolfe, you take Elliott Wolfe,
00:06:29there's a lot of influence from a very successful program, right? With McAdoo, with Van Felt,
00:06:35with even the scheme that Stefanski ran was very, it's very similar to what Matt LaFleur
00:06:43does. Obviously it's a little bit more diverse and he came through the Kubiak line instead of the,
00:06:48you know, the McVeigh line like LaFleur did. So there's some branches, even though they all
00:06:52kind of root back in the Shanahan and Walsh and all that stuff. But I think you're going to see
00:06:58a lot of the under center, right? You're going to see a lot of the play action and obviously the
00:07:03left foot forward in the gun. You know, just looking at some of the things that the Browns
00:07:07did last year, you know, they used a lot of 13 personnel, which that is a staple for them. It
00:07:13wasn't a huge portion of their total plays though. They just did it more than others.
00:07:17They were sixth in 11 personnel percentage. So they were in three wide a lot. They were fourth
00:07:23in empty, which is something that Deshaun Watson masters in. It helps someone like Joe Flacco a
00:07:29little bit more. And they were also second in six offensive line percentage. So 10% of their
00:07:36plays came with six offensive line. They loved the jumbo sets. So I think you're going to see
00:07:41a lot of different things in that regard. And I think the same thing that we learned from Peters,
00:07:47that we learned from Callahan, that we learned from Stefanski, we can apply to Van Pelt. He will
00:07:51put his players in the best position to succeed in their scheme. If it means that they're not going
00:07:57to see guys running outside zone to their side as much because they're 348 pounds, then that's
00:08:04probably going to be true. You know, the offensive line group, which I know we'll get to a little bit
00:08:10later, it's a very interesting group with a lot of diverse strengths. So it's a little hard to
00:08:17project exactly what they're going to aim for because I know that outside zone is on the menu,
00:08:22especially with the heavy play action emphasis and trying to move a little bit away from that
00:08:26gap scheme. But if they wanted to lean more into gap in certain weeks, certain situations, they can
00:08:33because of the interior, because of different factors that we'll get to.
00:08:37And not only has Van Pelt preached this, but also his players keep repeating, even people who just
00:08:42talk about Van Pelt, he puts his players in position to succeed. That can be lip service
00:08:46in a lot of places where you say that, but then it's like, all right, yeah, but you got to use
00:08:50five, eight outside the numbers half the time. Like, what are we doing here? But with Van Pelt,
00:08:54again, with those offenses, you do see how there's such an attention to detail in the way they deploy
00:08:58guys. And there's rarely a time you're looking at the tape and it's like, why would you do that?
00:09:02That doesn't really make a lot of sense. That's going to be way more relevant when we do get to
00:09:05the offensive line. But you mentioned the left foot up, you mentioned empty. These are things,
00:09:10obviously, Drake made. One thing I think empty is going to be great for him. Like once he really
00:09:14gets his accuracy down, I think that's going to be a tough formation to stop with him. And even
00:09:18mentioned, I asked him about the left foot up and how the adjustments been. And he acknowledged,
00:09:22you know, it is still an adjustment. He's getting used to it. And you did see him practice like the
00:09:26same day I asked him that. He had some passes that were behind his receivers in the quick and
00:09:30the short game, which was something you saw at UNC. But the downfield passing game is what you
00:09:35want to see. He's been good in that. And even the last OTA that we saw, and this morning, this is
00:09:40being recorded on Monday. So there's going to be another OTA by then. But what we saw, the short
00:09:45stuff, like he's pumping to create windows, throwing his receivers open so many times in
00:09:49tight coverage, he was putting the ball where nobody else could get it. And it's like, that's
00:09:53it. That's what you want to see him do consistently. So when it comes to Drake May, he's got to fend
00:09:58off a very good veteran quarterback and someone who can play in this league. I think if he plays
00:10:03well, there's no real reason to take him out unless May is just way better behind the scenes.
00:10:07So from your perspective, can May become the starter at some point this season?
00:10:11Could it even be week one? And what does he need to do to unseat Jacoby Brissett?
00:10:15So yes, to all of that. I'm very excited about Drake May. I think very highly of Jacoby Brissett
00:10:22as a leader, as a professional quarterback who can win you games in the NFL. Do I think he's a
00:10:27long-term option quarterback? I don't know. He's in that fringe starter tier. And there's a bunch
00:10:33of guys in that tier. You might say that there's 24 true starting quarterbacks in the NFL that
00:10:37might be pushing it. And you have a bunch of guys who can be spot starters. And I think we can name
00:10:42a million of them. But for Drake May, I think the big thing is between the left foot up, which
00:10:49remember it's a shotgun only thing. So right in under center, you are square. So he has to
00:10:56establish muscle memory as a quarterback before he is on the field. Because what happens is when you
00:11:03try to overwrite muscle memory, and then you get into a pressure situation, your body defaults to
00:11:08what is natural. So if the footwork and some of those things are make it or break it things for
00:11:15him, which I don't know, I think that's a little dramatic, but it's like, he needs to rework.
00:11:19He needs to throw a platform too.
00:11:20Right. And I think on the move, he is excellent. I think it's the static in the pocket footwork,
00:11:27whether it be opening up to throw to his left, to his right, just sometimes that stride length gets
00:11:32a little bit wide. I think the repetition is something that you need to drill in low pressure
00:11:37situations before you put someone out there, because otherwise they will never improve in it.
00:11:43It's just, it's just not happening. You don't have enough reps in practice throughout the
00:11:47season to keep refining it because you're going to start reverting. So, and then if you're doing
00:11:52that and you're thinking about your footwork as a quarterback in the NFL, you are toast.
00:11:58It's there's enough to think about as a rookie with the difference in speed of play and everything.
00:12:04So I think those are the big things for him. Just a couple of things on the left foot up.
00:12:09It's interesting. You mentioned the quick game because it is technically a little slower
00:12:14to do quick game with the left foot up, but it's easier to disguise
00:12:18because the defensive backs are reading off of your drop. So you are sliding, you're taking
00:12:24one extra step. So it looks like you could be going to a three-step from the gun and said,
00:12:28you settle at one. So you have less of a tell. So you're sacrificing a little bit of speed,
00:12:35but you are gaining deception, which is more important than that extra slide. So that is
00:12:42one of the trade-offs. It's also better to throw to your left a little bit more because you have
00:12:48that extra step. Your feet are underneath you a little bit better. It helps you gain better depth
00:12:52in your drop. So if you're going to throw a seam, if you're going to throw a deep route from gun,
00:12:57you get that extra step, that fourth step on a three-step drop. So it gives you a little bit
00:13:02of extra time, gives you a little bit more patience to let that route develop. So there's
00:13:06a lot of benefits to it. It's not an end all be all, and there's plenty of benefit to the right
00:13:11foot up approach, but those are the true benefits to that left foot up approach that I have observed,
00:13:17read, learned about over time. So it's a change. It's a change in a lot of ways.
00:13:24It's a change in your timing. It's a change in your feel. But because of all those things,
00:13:29you can get a lot more comfortable. So I think for Drake specifically, getting all of that footwork
00:13:35down to muscle memory comes first, and then we can go from there. If he is wowing everybody
00:13:42on the field, he's processing, he's doing all those things, he's being the leader that we've
00:13:45already seen so far. He's checking all of the boxes, but you don't need to rush him
00:13:52through that process. Muscle memory takes a certain amount of time for everybody to develop.
00:13:58It varies. Some people have said it takes 2,000 reps. Some people have said it takes 5,000. Some
00:14:03people say it's more. It just depends on how natural the transitions are for things that
00:14:09he has never done before. This is why I had you on, man. Stuff like that. I've read the
00:14:15press conferences. I've asked Van Pelt. I've asked Drake May about the left foot. Van Pelt
00:14:19always says he wants it to be more like Mozart than Metallica because it is about that rhythm
00:14:23for him. But I had no idea. I didn't even think about that. That's really cool insight.
00:14:28I'm actually curious. Before we move off from Drake May, and I will say in practice,
00:14:32they're trying to get that muscle memory down. And it's why I can't stand when people watch
00:14:35these practice clips and pick apart what these guys are doing. It's like you have no idea what
00:14:40they're being told to do behind the scenes, like how deliberate you're supposed to be,
00:14:43how quickly they want it done. For Drake, I'm just like, go as slow as you need to because
00:14:47exactly that. You need it to be natural because when the pressure's on, you're going to default
00:14:51to your habits. You're not going to rise to the occasion. So I really do think it's really going
00:14:56to be incumbent on Drake May when that happens. And luckily, they have a McAdoo and a Van Pelt
00:15:00where they've seen so much of this. They're not going to rush him out there. They're going to
00:15:03know, yeah, no, he's not there yet. We're going to take a minute. But even more than the physical,
00:15:07in terms of processing, I think that part of Drake May's game was grossly underrated,
00:15:11especially for a 21-year-old with two years of experience. There are things he does where is
00:15:15he perfect? No. But he's doing things you don't see from guys that are five years older than him
00:15:19that have been in the league for years. And he's doing them. You're just like, he's not thinking
00:15:23about this. This is a field thing. So from your perspective, what kind of processor is he? And
00:15:27what are the things he needs to get better at? Obviously, there's going to be growing pains.
00:15:30He's going to make mistakes. But what are some of the big no-nos that he's got to avoid?
00:15:34I think the big one, and I think we saw with Trevor Lawrence, is you got the big arm and you
00:15:39have a lot of trust in your arm. And the NFL windows are a lot tighter. And I think he experienced a
00:15:44little bit of that in his last season at North Carolina that he didn't experience the year before
00:15:50with a much better team and scheme and everything around him. I think it really is just a matter of
00:15:56getting a feel for, what can I get away with? Because that arm arrogance, as people like to say
00:16:01these days, he has it. He has it in spades. He can drop his arm angle. He can take his time,
00:16:07and he can be deliberate with his motion. He can speed up his motion. The practice clips I'm
00:16:13watching, I'm like, oh, his motion is slower. It's more deliberate. But then you watch his film,
00:16:18it's like, OK, so he's just choosing to do that because he's focusing on other things.
00:16:23Right? You don't know what the coaches are asking him to focus on in that moment, in that time.
00:16:30You're throwing a lot. You don't need to rear back and snap it like you have Aaron Donald in
00:16:36your face every single time if your footwork is consistent. Because everything is guided by your
00:16:43footwork. It's your core. It's your weight transfer. It's your footwork. The arm is the
00:16:47last piece. And a lot of that, as we see with him, is quarterback avoiding windows. Right?
00:16:55Fitting the ball into a window around players. He has the size. He has the capability that he can
00:17:00do that. He can drop his arm angle. He can throw left-handed. Not far, but he can throw left-handed.
00:17:06You know? So, like, I think for him, the processing really comes down to
00:17:12I saw a lot of good processing from him. I was very impressed with his film.
00:17:16And then, obviously, the physical tools. That even if you are a tick slow as a processor,
00:17:21when you have his physical tools, you make up for it. And I think something that is totally
00:17:27not discussed often enough is he has a center who can handle all the protections.
00:17:31David Andrews is one of the smartest human beings in the NFL. And if you want him to,
00:17:37if you want Drake May to handle protections or you want him to have fail safes and do other things,
00:17:41great. You know? And that might be something that they choose to do.
00:17:44But you don't need to. It's not a requirement. You don't have a replacement level or a rookie
00:17:51center that you need to put that burden on the quarterback as well. Is it important for him to
00:17:56know what the protection calls are made by the center? Absolutely. Because that's how you determine
00:18:01who your hot is. But it's like, you know, but does he have to be the one to say, okay, I'm going
00:18:07through this entire week and I need to now understand all of their fronts and all of their
00:18:12blitz packages, as well as their backend coverage. The answer is no. Like you need to be able to
00:18:17recognize it, but you don't have to be right every time because the pressure is not on him
00:18:23in that situation. Now reminds me of my homes. I know there was, I think it was on, uh,
00:18:28I think it was on Travis Kelsey's podcast where he was talking about, yeah, as a rookie,
00:18:32he said specifically the Patriots, they were sending blitz packages at him. He's like,
00:18:35I didn't know what to do. I'm just like, uh, yeah, everybody just do your job because he had
00:18:39no idea. And it forced him to have to learn how to figure all that stuff out. But like you said,
00:18:43it's a lot to put on a rookie's plate already. He did handle some of his protections in college.
00:18:47So you have to think, okay, it's a good starting point, but obviously very different in the league.
00:18:51And also you mentioned how he can speed up his arm again. That's why it's so frustrating when
00:18:56people say, oh, it's so slow. Cause I've seen him have a rusher bearing down on him. And you
00:19:00think there are times like, I think two or three times I saw where that windup did kind of get to
00:19:05him when he got strip sack, but way more often than not, you're seeing that thing come out way
00:19:09faster than you think. Because most of the time it's like, all right, he's kind of just doing his
00:19:13thing, but it's like, oh, he's about to get hit. Oh, wow. It's out. He's fine. So I agree, man.
00:19:17I think the processing, there is going to be things that every rookie has to get over,
00:19:21but I feel like he's starting at a much higher place. People do give credit for it, but he is
00:19:25still a rookie quarterback and it helps any rookie quarterback to have a strong run game.
00:19:30Now for Mondrey Stevenson and Antonio Gibson, I feel like are the kind of one,
00:19:34two punch this team needed. Like Zeke, he was nice in theory and he did as much as he could.
00:19:39And I don't want to credit what he did because the amount that he took on once Mondrey got hurt
00:19:43was incredible, but it was pretty obvious once he got signed and they were doing all the pony
00:19:47stuff with two backs. It's like, can he do this? Yes. Do you really want him running all these
00:19:52routes? Not really. Antonio Gibson is not that he's like a freak athlete where he's almost
00:19:57Mondrey size, but he's more explosive. He's quicker. He's a more dynamic mover. And that's
00:20:02where I think you really can move him outside in the slot and give him an actual route tree and let
00:20:07him attack downfield. But also in the run game, I think he didn't get to show it as much later in
00:20:11his career at Washington, but I think in this widespread scheme, he's a great fit and Mondrey
00:20:15can pretty much do anything. Right. So with the backs in mind, we're not really going to talk
00:20:19about the depth guys. We have no idea what that's going to look like, but if those backs and also
00:20:23the offensive line, they have zip, say we have two, so core for it. Left tackle, left guard city.
00:20:28So center, David Andrews, right guard, either Nick Levrett or a laden Robinson, and then right
00:20:34tackle Mike. And when is this a run game that you think can take over a lot of the load so that
00:20:39whether it's Drake or Jacoby, they don't have to be the guy necessarily. And they can rely on that
00:20:44run game to handle a lot of the difficulties. Yeah. I mean, so sort of, I think that's the
00:20:52best way I can put that. I have concerns. So I think the big thing is that your best wide zone
00:21:00player would have been Cole strange from a weight perspective, from everything. I don't know exactly
00:21:07how far he's out. I know he's going to be missing time into the season, but whether he plays this
00:21:11year or not, they have to figure that other spot out, right? Like that's, that's just what it is.
00:21:16I would describe remandering Gibson as rock solid, but unspectacular, right? Like they are
00:21:24dependable players. Gibson scares me a little bit. He has a ton of potential, but he fumbles a lot.
00:21:32That is something that he has had his trouble with his entire career. His vision has been
00:21:36inconsistent. And part of that is reps. Part of that is the scheme that he's been playing in.
00:21:41If you're asking him to just find space, he can do it. And I think that he is a better fit in this
00:21:46type of system where he's running more wide zone, where he's running more outside and yes, excellent
00:21:52receiver. Like as you're receiving back, he is better than what Zeke is as a receiver, not,
00:21:58not necessarily past protection, but as a receiver, he's better than what time Montgomery has been.
00:22:02And Ty has definitely flashed in years past that he could do certain things.
00:22:06So it's not like that role is the same, but he's probably closer to end of career,
00:22:11James White than anyone else has been since his departure. So from that perspective,
00:22:18you know, I like the two backs and obviously the, the whole discussion is what is the tipping point
00:22:23of great versus replacement level at running back. And I think they are well above the
00:22:29replacement level, but they're not special. Either one of them as a duo, they can be useful.
00:22:36It's really hard to be good in the NFL without a passing threat. Just, you know, you're going to
00:22:41load up the boxes. You're going to do all those things. The Browns for all of the good that they
00:22:46had with their scheme and everything, they were still 26th in yards per carry and 30th in time
00:22:51of possession per drive. It's really hard. And they ran the ball a lot. They had the fourth
00:22:57most attempts in football, but they weren't as effective because Jerome Ford is not Nick Chubb.
00:23:04The offensive line was enchanted, right? Yes, I know. You know, so like the drop-off was dramatic.
00:23:13And I think that's something that at a point the running back has to take over the game,
00:23:18but there has to be enough respect of the passing game. So I don't think the run game by itself can
00:23:23carry the offense. But if it's humming and they refine the technique of these players, I think
00:23:32there's something there because I am huge on Sidiso based on what I watched. He shows some
00:23:38really good potential. I think he can really seal. He's good enough in space. He's not a special
00:23:45mover in space, but he can do that. He needs some seasoning. He's a leaner and pass pro,
00:23:51but he's a good overall run blocker. I thought out of the group, he was probably the third best
00:23:59both zone and power blocker on the team last year, I think.
00:24:04Yeah. And I mean, Andrews is about as good of a power scheme blocker as you're going to get at
00:24:11center. I mean, that dude is a wrestler and he really will just put guys down. The double teams
00:24:20between those two were really impressive and they really created big opportunities that some of the
00:24:25other guys really just didn't capitalize on. Okorafor is an outside zone guy. He is a zone
00:24:33blocker. He spent 75% of his time in Pittsburgh in his own blocking scheme. He's better on the
00:24:39front side of zone because he is pretty decent of an athlete in space. He has solid movement skills.
00:24:46He stays decently under control, but his grip strength is really not good. So you don't want
00:24:54him using his leg drive to try and displace somebody. You want him on the move and doing
00:25:00that. You want him on the front side because on the backside, he is just, whether it be reaction
00:25:05or short area of quickness, he's not good enough to cut those guys off consistently. So it's
00:25:11actually a pretty decent fit because on Ueno, you can do a lot of different things with him.
00:25:15He was excellent on inside zone at tackle. He was good at ceiling. Sometimes you leave that
00:25:22end of the line guy unblocked anyway. So you have some options there.
00:25:30I don't love the other options at right guard that you mentioned. There are two guys who I don't think
00:25:36I've actually watched in a long time. I assume that means that Mafia is not in the running for
00:25:43that spot at the moment. He is. He has been. He's taking steps at center and he has been involved
00:25:49at guard, but you talk about the hand fighting and how much Scott Peters is going to help.
00:25:53I just got to see it before I can believe it because that's the big thing with him. It felt
00:25:59like he was playing with his hands closed all the time. I'm just like, dude, you are so strong. Use
00:26:05your fingers. Hands closed, outside the shoulders. Yes. So he's in the running. So what do you feel
00:26:11about him? Because he is one where his fit is awkward, but he does have talent. So I shouldn't
00:26:17completely write him off. Yeah. I think he does show some things. I don't think he's a good mover.
00:26:24So he's more of your gap scheme, interior guy, which has a guard you can kind of live with,
00:26:29depending on what it is. Like I wouldn't want him pulling. I would want city pulling
00:26:34to a new side from left to right. I think that's something that you could do as a drive blocker.
00:26:39I think he has the core strength and the leg strength to drive guys, but because he's not
00:26:44a particularly good mover and because his punch was weak, he really struggled in both phases. But
00:26:49I think if you get those hands a little bit tighter, you're going to get there because in
00:26:53a phone booth, he can work on those double teams. You're just not going to get him climbing with a
00:26:57high hit rate at that second level. And you have to live with that. Some of the other guys on roster,
00:27:04Jake Andrews, from what I saw from preseason, he was good on double teams, right? Smart player.
00:27:10He was sturdy versus nose tackles. That's his wrestling background. He can get some movement
00:27:15and plays with good awareness, but he's kind of sawed off. His range is kind of limited.
00:27:20I don't know if that's good enough to play guard. It's definitely good as a successive center
00:27:25whenever that happens, depending on how that competition works out. And then Michael Jordan,
00:27:34you know, I've watched him for years. He's definitely a better fit in the zone blocking
00:27:39scheme. His movement skills were not highly touted, but we could work in space. His pass
00:27:45pro has in the past been a disaster. So I think that's something that needs to be figured out.
00:27:49But if you want to maybe put him as a sixth lineman on the end of the line, you know,
00:27:55you could theoretically do something with that. But my ideal with Cole Strange would be a core
00:28:02four Strange, David Andrews, So Unwinu. Without, I mean, maybe Andrews at right guard, Jake Andrews.
00:28:13He did get a little bit of run at guard late last season.
00:28:16Yeah, yeah, exactly. And a little bit in the preseason. You know, is Caden Wallace a guard
00:28:22or a tackle? You know, he's a refined pass protector for what he is. I don't know if
00:28:28I trust him on an island necessarily, but if you reduce his splits a little bit, he's big.
00:28:32He can do some things, you know, from, from everything I saw, his technique was pretty strong.
00:28:38So, you know, maybe that's a guy who could compete for that right guard spot. I,
00:28:42I can't imagine when you say Leverett and who else was the...
00:28:46Right guard is probably Leverett and Leighton Robinson.
00:28:49Yeah. That, that would be one of them.
00:28:53I feel like Leighton's probably my favorite to start if you had to pick somebody,
00:28:57because I do like his upside, but that's just me.
00:28:59Yeah. I mean, we're kind of talking like bottom 10, bottom five right guard situation in the
00:29:05league, if that's where we end up at. And that's a problem. But one quick thing,
00:29:12Patriots are one of those teams that has an assistant offensive line coach. And in the past,
00:29:16the way they handle it, they have a coach for the starters and they have a coach for the backups.
00:29:20That's a huge deal because development is very hard in the NFL. It's almost impossible.
00:29:25It's almost impossible. It's why so many people go to outside people for,
00:29:31for that help at quarterback at all sorts of positions. It's why Duke Mannyweather is so
00:29:36highly touted because he really works with these guys in a way that teams don't have the time to.
00:29:40So if you have someone like, was it Aaron Kugler?
00:29:45Robert Kugler. Yeah.
00:29:46Robert Kugler. Yeah. Yeah. Kugler. You know, that is a tremendous asset to a team to have an
00:29:52assistant offensive line coach who can work with these young guys, teach them everything that Scott
00:29:58Peters is doing with the starters and help prepare them up that pipeline with life reps.
00:30:04And I'm curious when you bring that up. So when the Patriots took Caden Wallace,
00:30:08a big thing, I wanted them to take Kingsley Suamataiah. I felt like he was the kind of
00:30:12guy where like, yes, that could be your franchise left tackle, but they continued this trend from
00:30:17the past couple of years where they go with guys who have a lot of experience. And to me,
00:30:21that was a sign that they kind of want guys who they can coach up pretty quickly where you've seen
00:30:27a lot. So really it's more of a technique thing. And once you get that down, it'll snap in versus
00:30:31not only do I have to teach you technique, but you're going to be seeing stuff you've never
00:30:34seen before. And with so little practice time, it's really tough for those guys to truly reach
00:30:39their potential. So do you think that's maybe one of the reasons the Patriots have leaned more
00:30:43towards experience with like a Caden Wallace and someone like a Kingsley who neither guy's probably
00:30:49going to start as a rookie, but you kind of think that Caden with his experience has a higher chance
00:30:54of contributing or sooner than maybe a Kingsley? Yeah, I think absolutely that's the case. And I
00:30:58think the other thing is from what I've gathered, Caden Wallace was a Scott Peters pick. Yeah,
00:31:04that's what it sounds like. He kind of has some optimism with it. It's like, I think he's earned
00:31:09enough equity in the league to be like, if Brian Callahan or Jeff Stoutland or Scott Peters says,
00:31:16that's the guy I want. I have a really high grade on him. Okay, cool. We can't afford to miss him.
00:31:23Okay. Jordan Maialata was that guy with Jeff Stoutland, right? He saw that potential with him
00:31:29and that was his pick, how he knew that he had someone who could develop him. And they took that
00:31:33time and they did that. If you're going to put a developmental player one way or the other,
00:31:37Scott Peters and this top offensive line group is the type of group that I would expect to be
00:31:41able to do that. For all we know, Caden Wallace could end up being the starter at left tackle by
00:31:46the end of the season, depending on what happens with Chucks, because he's always been kind of
00:31:50your swing, more right tackle than left tackle in terms of quality, especially as a pass blocker,
00:31:57in my opinion, just from what I've seen technique wise. So it's like, Wallace was a right tackle as
00:32:04well, wasn't he? He was a right tackle, but he did say that that was really because obviously
00:32:08they had Olu on the left side, but he said in practice, he did get reps. So he has some
00:32:11experience, but not extensive. Okay. Yeah. So, I mean, that cross training is valuable and having
00:32:15a swing tackle that you can trust is fantastic, but nonetheless, it's like either way, you're
00:32:21going to have someone who is maybe more experienced on the opposite side who's playing left tackle.
00:32:27There's a lot of challenges there. Yeah. That was the most offensive line talk I think I've had on
00:32:33any of these shows that didn't have Brandon Thorne and I'm here for it. That was fun.
00:32:38All right. Now let's get into something a little more tangible. All right. This Patriots wide
00:32:42receiver court. This is a group I'm higher on than a lot of other people. I feel like they're
00:32:46being written off because they've been so bad historically. The way I see it, they've got solid
00:32:51veterans like Kendrick Bourne. I'll be honest. I don't know if he's going to start the season.
00:32:55Like there was a video of him running and I'm looking and thinking he might need a little bit
00:32:59more time and that's fine. They have KG Osborne. So they have someone like him. They have DeMario
00:33:03Douglas, who are at least two guys where you pretty much, you know, KG Osborne is going to be
00:33:07solid. DeMario Douglas is someone I think he's kind of pointing up. Taequann Thornton and Jalen
00:33:12Rager as your, you know, veteran exes. Not great. But then the way I see it, you have Javon Baker
00:33:19and Jalen Polk, two guys who Polk probably sooner than Baker, but I think both those guys can be
00:33:24significant contributors. And if they are, I think you're talking about a much improved passing
00:33:29game that people are going to have to take seriously. And if you have Drake May, Baker,
00:33:33Polk, and DeMario Douglas all growing together and getting that chemistry, I don't know if you
00:33:38saw the video where Drake's talking with Polk and Baker about how he wants to run where it's like,
00:33:42that's the kind of stuff you want to see where they're at constant communication and they're
00:33:45getting that chemistry. I feel like it really is a group that can surprise. And then at tight end,
00:33:50Hunter Henry and Austin Hooper solid, especially Hunter Henry red zone monster. Like that's really
00:33:55what he's there for. And it's a chain mover. Hooper doesn't get a lot of acclaim and I don't
00:33:58think he deserves like a ton of, you know, you don't have to get excited necessarily,
00:34:01but he's solid. He's a good receiver. I think better than he got to show in Vegas.
00:34:05He's a good enough run blocker and Jaheim Bell. Again, I think this, these young guys we're
00:34:10talking in three years. I think this is a group that's going to be pretty intimidating because
00:34:13he's got rare athleticism, which as we know with tight ends, that's a pretty good indicator for
00:34:18success. Yes. So how do you feel about this receiving core yourself? Again, I gave my
00:34:23thoughts on it, but I'm not trying to talk into an echo chamber and I know you're going to tell
00:34:26it to me straight. So how are you seeing this? I think you left out a name. I know he might be a
00:34:31considered a bubble player, but Juju Smith Schuster is still on the roster. Honestly,
00:34:37I'm guilty. I constantly forget. And he did say he was a hundred percent to be fair. So I think
00:34:42the interesting thing with this group is that it's going to come down to a lot of schemes
00:34:47because I think as these guys are developing and they're playing, I think your play time is going
00:34:52to be determined by your effort, especially in the run game. I think, I think, I think it's
00:34:57going to be a starter real quick. Pope born on Juju. We know all three of them can do it right.
00:35:06Like that is something that they have established. Pop is small, but willingness is important.
00:35:13Really? That is your baseline. I've seen guys who are six, five to 40 who aren't willing to run
00:35:17block. And I'm sorry. Oh, I'm sorry. Just because I recently watched this. Cause I wanted to know
00:35:22if they were going to let him, I watched how they used Elijah Moore. It was a lot of like RPOs,
00:35:27like he's not really at the plate or they'd even put him outside. So I'm not sure they're
00:35:31going to make him run black a lot. I'm sorry. That's right. Yeah. I think you can see a lot
00:35:35of things. I'm, you know, based on personnel and based on experience, I wouldn't be surprised to
00:35:39see them doing some Robert Woods types things, digging out with Polk, crack blocking on toss
00:35:45to that side, you know, front side play that sort of stuff. You know, I think from a scheme
00:35:52perspective, getting open, I think some of them are better than others. Right. But I think play
00:35:57action is your ticket. And I think play action working over the middle of the field, you have
00:36:02very savvy veterans in Douglas born Juju and you have depth with all three of them. You have
00:36:08Osborne as well, who has some foot speed. You know, he's not he might not necessarily be the
00:36:13the true field stretcher, but he can he can scoot. You know, he's been used as a vertical
00:36:19threat at times in Minnesota. So, you know, there's there is something there. But.
00:36:27I'm cautiously optimistic about the group. I don't. There's not one player who can take over
00:36:34a game. And that is a scary proposition because in the NFL, everyone's dinged up
00:36:39and you sometimes just need someone who can just do that. I think that's going to come down to Van
00:36:45Pelt. I think it's going to come down to the play action game, the timing, the consistency of all
00:36:50these guys. If they can if they make a trade for a wide receiver at some point, which they have all
00:36:57the cap space in the world to do so. That that is a decision, but I really like this wide receiver
00:37:03group next year. This year, I think there's going to be some growing pains, but I mean,
00:37:10you're going to see the flashes, right? Baker is just a spectacular catch monster. You know,
00:37:16he just does rare things down the sideline, body control on the sidelines.
00:37:23Over the middle of the field, right? You know, you have some real tough guys
00:37:27and then you have guys who can sit down and zone and the league is predominantly zoned.
00:37:31Um, but another factor is if you start incorporating with Drake may read option
00:37:38even a little bit, you're going to see that man coverage number go down even a little bit more.
00:37:42Yeah. Right. Because you can't turn your back on the quarterback who can move like he can.
00:37:47Um, and, and he's wiggly on top of everything else. You want to do some of those RPOs
00:37:51where you have that read option with the built-in bubbles on outside of that. Like you can do some
00:37:57things and you can start stretching more horizontally that you could not do in years
00:38:01past, both from an arm perspective and from athleticism perspective. So there's a lot of
00:38:06creative elements that can really be, you know, entrenched into this group. And then I agree with
00:38:12you. Hunter Henry is Hunter Henry to me is the most consistent player on the offensive group period.
00:38:21And I think the only person to me who could challenge that would be like David Andrews,
00:38:24right? I'm talking like full offense group. I think Hunter Henry is the most consistent
00:38:29where he can just go out there. He can find a soft spot in zone. He can make those catches
00:38:33in the red zone. He can set up a DB. He can set up a linebacker with a stick. Like he's just,
00:38:39he's that guy. It really comes down to him staying healthy. And it comes down to whatever
00:38:44that depth situation looks like. But again, if you're going to be running a lot of 11 personnel,
00:38:50then, you know, the backup tight ends aren't as necessary and you can kind of bring them along
00:38:55more slowly. And then obviously you have more coaches with cross-training, which is something
00:38:59that New England has done forever, right? McCartney, tight ends coach, right? Having a second
00:39:04guy, you know, you can really play it by ear and say, Hey, you know, I'm watching these guys and
00:39:09I see something here. And then you can collaborate, you know, for a group that seems like ego is not
00:39:15as big of a portion of their identity. That people are a little bit more relaxed and a little
00:39:20bit more collaborative right now. I think that's something that's really impressive that could
00:39:25continue to be built up. So another guy in that group, Bob Bicknell, I remember he had one of the
00:39:31most fascinating resumes. He's coached like almost everything. It's like receivers backs,
00:39:35like he's been all over the place. That's another really fun one. And even like McAdoo, like those
00:39:40guys just have experience coaching so many different things and working with so many
00:39:43different groups. It is going to be interesting to see how they collaborate. One last thing for
00:39:47the receivers. What do you think is the ceiling for Jayvon Baker? Because he's someone I like to
00:39:53get different opinions. Cause I think he could be like mid to low tier wide receiver one.
00:39:57I think if he really becomes a consistent route runner where it's not a lot of wasted movement
00:40:02and it's just like every route is crisp. I think that's where he gets dangerous. Cause I think
00:40:07one, he's got the hands to win, even if he's covered, but I think he could separate just
00:40:11fine and has just enough juice to be that kind of like Amari Cooper, like Devontae Adams kind
00:40:17of deep threat where they're not burning you necessarily, but if they get a step on you,
00:40:21they're behind you and you're going to have to catch up and get them from behind. So
00:40:24right. You see him as being able to be like that X for this team, or do you think
00:40:28maybe they should still long-term try to get a true wide receiver one?
00:40:32I think that really just depends on what his development looks like because obviously he
00:40:36has the pedigree, right? You know, he was at the big school and you know, things didn't work
00:40:42out there for one reason or another and he, and he transferred, but the talent is there.
00:40:47It's why, you know, it seems silly in retrospect, but Al Davis was enamored with five stars
00:40:54prospects. You know, you see a guy falling in the draft. Well, he was a five star once
00:40:58upon a time. He's clearly talented. You know, can we extract that? He is clearly talented.
00:41:05It, he is the master of his own ceiling in this situation. I think he could absolutely
00:41:12Trent get up to a mid tier one, you know, as a ceiling. And I don't, I don't think that is
00:41:21because right when you discuss ceiling, it's like, well, what could they become?
00:41:25And it's not like, how likely is that? Yeah. I don't think it's unreasonable to think that he
00:41:32in three years could be a guy that you look at and you say, okay, that's a good X receiver
00:41:37in this league that he's a starter. He's a 10 to $15 million a year under, under current market.
00:41:47Right. Right. Yeah. It's going to be somewhere in the billions by the time that he gets to this
00:41:51guy. Right. But I don't think that's out of the question. I think you have someone like Jalen
00:41:55Paul. Obviously the Robert Woods comparisons are through the roof. Someone who I really,
00:41:59really liked and just enjoyed watching when I watched Michael Pennix, when I watched those
00:42:04Washington players. I mean, you have two guys who in a really good wide receiver class
00:42:10have a ton of potential. I agree. And then you mentioned the five stars. That was the Patriots
00:42:15MO too. If you used to be a five star and nobody wants you anymore, we'll give you a shot. And it
00:42:19makes a lot of sense. If you believe in your coaching staff, then take a shot on talent.
00:42:23Like, you know, Jalen riggers, sometimes it doesn't work out, but also sometimes it does.
00:42:27All right. It's been an offensive heavy show. It's been an offensive heavy off season. Patriots took
00:42:32seven offensive players out eight in the draft, but this defense needs to get some more attention
00:42:37because with all the predictions about new England's record, I understand people thinking
00:42:41they're not going to do super well, but this is also a defense that kept them in almost every
00:42:46single game. Last season, we're talking the saints, the Cowboys, and then the real end of
00:42:50that Miami game in Miami, but that's a house of fours. You never really expected to win those
00:42:54cold giants giants as well. But I do think this is one where they're going to keep them at least
00:43:01to the point where they can get the ball last and then we'll see how things go. So do you think
00:43:06that this defensive staff is equipped to build on the unit's performance from last season?
00:43:10Cause losing Belichick obviously is huge. He always gives you an edge, but they still have
00:43:14Gerard Mayo. They still have Marcus Covington. They still have Brian Belichick, Mike Pellegrino.
00:43:18Like there's still a lot of guys who were already on the staff, but the question is,
00:43:22can they take a step forward and evolve? Or do you think maybe we will see a step
00:43:27down in production for these guys? Were you stealing my notes? Cause I wrote all that down.
00:43:33At least the continuity in the key spots part. And yeah, so we've been having too
00:43:37much in common, man. You gotta, you gotta dog one of my takes at some point.
00:43:42So I think before we get to the defense real quick, Belichick's influence was more than just
00:43:47defense, right? He was one of the best game planners, period, because he knew what both
00:43:54sides were doing from both perspectives and his feel was unmatched, right? At that spot. And I
00:44:01think that's going to be an area that Gerard Mayo is going to have to, you know, he kind of got
00:44:06pushed into the deep end a little bit and now, you know, you have to swim and you know, there,
00:44:11there are people confidence that he can lean on and people that he trusts, whether it be
00:44:17even someone as easy as his former teammate, Dante Hightower, now the inside linebackers coach,
00:44:22right? Someone who was in the trenches with him and discussed in those meeting rooms for so many
00:44:27years together, right? Like there's, there are a lot of people and continuity there that they can
00:44:33share the way that they think and really come up with solutions. Now they're a very talented group,
00:44:41just in general, right? They were one of probably the top five defenses in football last year.
00:44:48And that was with all of the injuries, right? You're, you're without Christian Gonzalez,
00:44:51you're without Jonathan Jones for half the year, without Marcus Jones, without Matthew Judon,
00:44:55everybody else was dinged up, you know, it's a huge deal. So getting those guys back, I think,
00:45:01is going to be really big for them because I think that helps change your personnel a little bit.
00:45:07You know, I know that they love Miles Bryant. I know he's no longer on the team. He was playing
00:45:13and he was punching above his weight class at a lot of times, especially with his foot speed,
00:45:18with the amount of man coverage that they like to play. So, you know, like he, he fought his
00:45:23tail off and there's a lot of respect there, but the guys that they might have in this role
00:45:27have more juice than him. And that, that, that's a big change. So I think the personnel is stronger.
00:45:33I think it's more seasoned and I think the game planning will take a step back. I think we could
00:45:37probably get to a net neutral with a potential for a little plus minus there, just a, just a
00:45:42little. I would not expect a tremendous variance if all stays healthy. I know the schedule is
00:45:49absolutely brutal, but I think it really just comes down to how good is Gerard Mayot game
00:45:56planning, right? You know, and what that game field comes like, and it might take a little
00:46:00bit of time or he could be sensational because, you know, we don't really know how involved he was
00:46:06on a day-to-day basis with that play calling, with that game planning. Obviously he was involved,
00:46:12but it's the same way that, you know, by title, everyone was very fluid, right? Whether it was,
00:46:18wasn't he listed as defensive coordinator once upon a time, like one season and Belichick,
00:46:24Steve Belichick was? I don't think he ever had the title. I know they tried to give it to,
00:46:28who was the Bucs coach, um, came over for like a hot minute, Sciano. I know that he was supposed
00:46:34to be the, uh, the defense coordinator. Then he left and it basically fell the Mayo and Steve
00:46:39Belichick. I think the way it ran most recently was that Mayo was like running meetings and I
00:46:44think he was doing a lot of the game planning, but I think that Steve was the one who was doing a lot
00:46:48of the behind the scenes stuff as hell. Right. Okay. That makes sense. And then Bill was the
00:46:52one who was kind of running the show at the end of the day. Yeah. So yeah, I would expect a little
00:46:57bit of variance. I think there's going to be some growing pains. Um, so here's another thing. That's
00:47:02just something to keep in mind. Um, do you remember two years ago when the Jaguars hired,
00:47:08I'm trying to remember who the defensive coordinator was. He was with the Buccaneers.
00:47:12Um, he was under Todd Bowles. Yes, I can remember saying, but yeah, I know what you're talking about.
00:47:16So when he was brought over, if you watch the first half of their season, it is a disaster
00:47:23because they are out gapped consistently. They're out leveraged in the passing game.
00:47:29They're asking a lot of things. What happens is you have a coach who is in a first time position
00:47:34to now start calling plays to run that show. And they have all these ideas in their head that
00:47:39they want to try out. And some of them are good and some of them are really bad. So, you know,
00:47:45some, the learning curve sometimes takes a bit of time. And in the second half of that season,
00:47:51they completely right of the ship. I mean, there was literally a play where Foya Luikun was aligned
00:47:56on the opposite side of the center, having to guard Austin Eckler on a free release
00:48:02or a tight, sorry, it was a tight end. It was Gerald Everett on a free roll,
00:48:06flexed out and he had to go all the way. Yes. Like he was over shifted to the opposite side.
00:48:13I'm like, this is literally, there's not a single quarterback in the league. There's not a single
00:48:18wide receiver in the league who couldn't complete this pass and get 20 yards out of it. And so like
00:48:22that sort of thing happens, right? So it just depends on where that line gets crossed of,
00:48:29okay, let's slow down. Let's just be a little bit more regimented conservative. We can throw an
00:48:37idea here or there, but it has to really be strong to be put into the game plan.
00:48:43So how much confidence does it give you? Cause Mayo has been saying that he wants to give players
00:48:47more ownership. Like you are in charge of the defense. I can only do so much. You're on the
00:48:51field. It's on you with the amount of continuity and veteran leadership they have like Jabril
00:48:57Peppers and Kyle Duggar. Those guys, they know what they're doing. Jawan Bentley, one of the
00:49:00guys that always gets them in line. Jelani Tobias, Sione Takitaki, like the linebackers are really
00:49:06smart guys who have a ton of flexibility and knowledge. And then in the front, you have God
00:49:10Shaw, Baramore, Wise, Judon, guys who can just communicate really well and know what they're
00:49:15doing. Even someone like Keon White, who's kind of stepping into more of a leadership role,
00:49:19according to Mayo. Does that give you more confidence that they will be able to execute
00:49:22on the field because they may be trying stuff, but at the end of the day, if it's a critical
00:49:25situation, it's going to be on Bentley and Peppers or Duggar or whomever to be like, all right,
00:49:30we're doing this because we've been together for years. We know how this is going to work.
00:49:33John Jones, I don't want to discount him either. And there are young guys like a Gonzalez, but
00:49:37really for the most part, there's really guys who've been in the league for a while and have
00:49:41already seen a lot of offense. Yes, absolutely. I think communication is the most important in
00:49:46the red zone, right? You see the most bus from as all different types of quality of players
00:49:53when it comes to the red zone, because you have so many communications and calls.
00:49:56So if I think that's something that I love that there's more ownership there.
00:50:02There's, I think there's a lot of Koreans to it. We have to see it first, because one of the things
00:50:08is that like Belichick could tell you if they do this, this, and like he could predict that
00:50:13because he saw so much of it. And you can make those checks in the real time situation. And it
00:50:18works. If there's more ownership on the players, there are some really smart guys on that defense,
00:50:24but you have to do it very quickly. There has to be the continuity. So that should help,
00:50:29but they might be slightly less prepared for a situation because you don't have the greatest
00:50:34defensive coach of all time in your ear throughout the week, drilling you on things that you'll never
00:50:39expect to happen. And then the situation comes up. So I think that's really valuable. The
00:50:44communication, because they do a lot of brackets, they do a lot of passing off, even a man coverage,
00:50:49right. They do the whole stuff when they're in the red zone. Yeah. Right. And I mean, just in
00:50:54general, right. They do whole replace on underneath routes where the linebacker will carry in and
00:50:58someone will, the corner will replaces that whole defender. Like they do a lot of that type of stuff.
00:51:02We saw it against Kansas city many times. It's what slowed down Tyree kill, et cetera. So there's
00:51:08a lot of communication that happens on the backend. I think that is something that's going to have to
00:51:12continue. I think they have the people to do it. When you mentioned the communication in the red
00:51:17zone, the first thing that came to mind was last year when Casey had that ridiculous play, where
00:51:22they like had this crazy ship, like three players moved. And you see the defense where like when
00:51:27peppers is looks like he's panicking, you know, you got him. And it's just one of those words,
00:51:31like, I've never seen it before. There's only so much you can do. I think they like burned
00:51:35Alex sauce. And I'm like, poor guy. Like he never stood a chance. Yeah. 1938, you know, Navy film,
00:51:41you know, why aren't you studying that Alex? Come on. You weren't prepped on your 30s defense.
00:51:47Come on, man. But yeah, that's an outstanding point. Yeah. All right. So another thing this
00:51:51defense has talked about is that they do want to have more of an emphasis on the pass rush.
00:51:55I want to get after the quarterback and also generate more turnovers. Now, one thing the
00:52:00Christian bar more may have let slip. I asked him about Jerry Montgomery and he was talking about
00:52:04all the things he's doing and kind of brought up four man fronts. Now we know the Patriots are
00:52:08always multiple, but they are mostly an odd front defense. They'll get into their even fronts,
00:52:12but they really like to live in that five man front scheme. What changes that they do want to
00:52:17get more turnovers, be better in the pass rush. It's obviously getting Judah on back and maybe
00:52:21a better Joshua, Joshua will help. But how do you foresee them maybe making some changes to
00:52:27ensure that was there anything you saw in the scheme where you were like, ah, this would probably
00:52:30help them a lot if they were trying to get after the quarterback more consistently? Well, it's a
00:52:36silly thought just in general, but having Johnny to buy on the line is not maybe your best pass
00:52:42rush plan. That is a run defense. It's, it's, it's part of why their run defense was so good
00:52:48because they weren't really a traditional out front. They were the three, three, five,
00:52:53you know, and whether you want to call it three, three, five, or a five, one,
00:52:57five, whatever you want to call it, it was five down linemen in there with linebacker overhang,
00:53:04someone who is a hybrid and a one backer behind instead of two, right? Like that was what they
00:53:09based out of. They played some traditional base defenses, probably more in the red zone.
00:53:16But, you know, I think part of the thing that we're going to see more of is you can do a lot
00:53:21of zone blitzing out of those looks. So you can do overloads and you can do a lot of creative things
00:53:29that maybe are a little less bell and chicken, um, for lack of a better term. Yes. You know,
00:53:34like there are some things that you can do out of an, out of a five month front or an even front,
00:53:40you know, even front is a little bit more attacking gaps, right? That, that is, that is
00:53:46kind of the difference when you're in a three, three, five, whether you're two gapping in certain
00:53:49roles or your gap and a half, you're reading and reacting. You are not attacking. They were a run
00:53:55defense first front with coverage on the back end. And that was really what they emphasized,
00:54:02which is why the run defense was so strong. So I think the big thing is that a more attacking
00:54:08mindset probably will produce better results in some areas. You know, I think we've seen it over
00:54:14the years with these speed rushers, that setting the edge contain rushing, that sort of thing has
00:54:20been a huge deal for new England forever, right? It's why some guys didn't necessarily pan out that
00:54:26draft Knicks, myself included thought should be better pass rushers or they flashed. I think
00:54:32chase Winovich is an example of that, that it was just, he was not as stout at the point of attack
00:54:36as they needed to get them on the field consistently. I know there's other things there,
00:54:39but literally Joshua asked him what was, what was the reason why you kind of had a fall off last
00:54:45year and very diplomatically and very respectfully pretty much said, yeah, the scheme was not
00:54:50really helping me. I asked him, was it scheme related? He said, yeah. I was like, oh, well,
00:54:53do you think this year it'll help? Or do you think you'll be better in this defense? And he's like,
00:54:56oh yeah, like confidently. So that it's that exact thing where when you're asking Josh Huchey to
00:55:01contain, he's not going to be Josh Huchey, but if you take him off the hook and you let him be 2022
00:55:06Josh Huchey and pin his ears back, that's when you get the guy who's like producing like crazy
00:55:10and being super efficient. Right. And I think having the counterpart plus having better coverage,
00:55:17you know, right. Coverage and pass rush, they're tethered. If you can't cover, you're not getting
00:55:21home. If you're not getting home, you can only cover for so long. Right. Like that's just what
00:55:26it is. And I think the other thing is that, you know, you had some more traditional run stoppers
00:55:31inside and I think the front can be a little bit more varied. Like Keon White played 49% of the
00:55:38snaps this year, this past year, he played about a hundred in an inside three tech role. And most
00:55:44of those were in four man fronts, more of their dime looks, right. They're clear pass rush
00:55:50situations. So I think you can do some stuff there. You might be able to stun slant because both he and
00:55:54Barmore are very athletic. You know, like you can do a lot of different things, creative things
00:56:00when you have the personnel that New England does, because so many of them are hybrids.
00:56:04If you need to ask a Josh Huchey to drop, you can do that. If you need a Sione talkie talkie to set
00:56:09a hard edge, to play off ball linebacker, to rush occasionally, he has experience to buy same thing.
00:56:15Judon, he can drop into coverage. You know, it's good. We saw in Los Angeles, Michael Hoyt,
00:56:21who is listed at over 300 pounds played edge all year and he dropped 200 some odd times.
00:56:27It's a scheme thing, right? Yeah. Yeah. Because they were a three, three, five, and they sent
00:56:35four and they put him on the edge. He's, he's listed at three 10. He was probably closer about
00:56:39two 90, but that's Keon White's role. What it was last year, right? Like you just need someone who
00:56:46can mess with protection. When you are in those fronts, four men fronts are a little bit more
00:56:51straightforward. You have to rely more on stunts and twists up front, but that, so that's, that's
00:56:57why the, uh, the three, four of the odd fronts, they're so popular, right? Because you can do the
00:57:01zone blitz, you can do the overloads, you can do all sorts of things, uh, much more easily,
00:57:06but you can attack much more easily from a format front. So, you know, I think there's a good team
00:57:12has a mixture of both. Um, I think Cincinnati has been a good example of it, that they are
00:57:17a traditional four man front, but they do a lot where they would put Jermaine Pratt as a fifth
00:57:22man on the line is kind of a Jack role. And he would have the rush or he would drop and they
00:57:27would send pressure from the slot. Like you can do some inverted stuff, really screw with
00:57:31protections when you get into those fronts. So I think new England is well-equipped to do those
00:57:36things. It just is a matter of how much they want to do. For sure. I'm also curious before we get
00:57:41off the defensive line, what would a solid year two jump for Keon White look like for you? Because
00:57:47one thing I feel like we mentioned the communication and all the different stunts and everything. I
00:57:52feel like with another year in this system and it sounds like he's really taking on a leadership
00:57:55role with the young guys, especially if he can get some chemistry with like a bar more or whomever,
00:58:00and they can just kind of have that chemistry where are more, he can be the looper and still
00:58:05get, you know, he can get home where he can be the penetrator and do that. And they both have
00:58:09that ability. So what would it look like if Keon White kind of grew into his own mold?
00:58:14I think it really just the pressure numbers have to go up a little bit more consistently.
00:58:20You know, pressure for the interior is really hard because what their job is, is to push the
00:58:27pocket and make the quarterback uncomfortable. Their job is not necessarily to get sacks. If
00:58:32they get them, fantastic. So I think it's a little bit of tape. It's a little bit more of
00:58:37how many stops is he getting? You know, where does he fit? If he can play 60% of the snaps
00:58:45instead of 49, I think that's a win because that means that he has earned that equity with the
00:58:50coaching staff, that he is in condition, that he is productive, and that you have someone out there
00:58:56when you have an Armond Watts in the wings, you have a Gotchow at nose tackle, you have Dietrich
00:59:01Wise still in the group, and then you would bring in O'Shane Ziminez and you have Taki Taki and
00:59:06Tabai on the edge. You know, he can do a lot of things, but if he earns that right to keep playing,
00:59:13that means that he is doing something right. So I think the amount of time that we see him on the
00:59:18field is going to determine how successful the season is, barring injury. You know, production,
00:59:25it's hard. When you do gap and a half stuff, you get no credit for it, but you are clogging lanes,
00:59:32right? Gap and a half, right? You are controlling a gap you're reading, but you're squeezing it
00:59:36with your back to the opposite gap. So you are basically two gapping, but you're in a strong
00:59:42position to rip and get into the gap that you're primarily associated with. So that is a read and
00:59:48react defense that is really, really, really hard to get any credit for, but it's one of the most
00:59:54important things in the game. So, you know, I think he has that in him and he has the flexibility to
01:00:02just do a lot. Everything you mentioned about why the interior is so hard is why I thought
01:00:07Barmore should have been a legitimate pro bowl or all pro candidate. Yes. Because you're talking
01:00:11about like, yeah, he's about as productive, if not more than a lot of the other guys, but it's
01:00:14like, look what he's being asked to do. This is not someone who's running up field. This is someone
01:00:18who's controlling people all the time and still making these crazy flash plays and getting the
01:00:23sacks. It's like, no, none of this is easy. It's all earned. Yeah. And a lot of his big
01:00:28pass rush production comes in those four man fronts and in those penetrating roles as a three
01:00:33tech, but his run defense has taken a huge jump, right? That was the area that was a little bit
01:00:38rough for him. It was why sometimes he wasn't always on the field and he has grown so much
01:00:43in his short career already. That's like he, he earned his payday. He earned the recognition that
01:00:49that new England fans gave him that he probably should have gotten a little bit more nationally.
01:00:54We can do a whole episode on Christian Barmore. We're going to wrap up the defense with some
01:00:58cornerback talk now. Yes. Christian Gonzalez, defense rookie of the month. Have we seen
01:01:03everything we got to see from him? Does he have a lot more to prove? Of course, but this wasn't
01:01:07somebody who walked in and it was necessarily surprising what he did. I would say he kind of
01:01:11met the high expectations that were set on him where it's like, this guy's a freak. He's got
01:01:15everything you want. And he's smart. He should be able to handle some really tough assignments
01:01:19early on. And he did. So I feel like he's locked in as your cornerback one, barring whatever
01:01:24Jonathan Jones, as solid as they come, one of the toughest SOPs in the NFL. He's either going to be
01:01:30outside inside for you. We'll determine based on your answer to this question. Who do you think
01:01:35emerges as a third corner for this team? You got Alex Saucin and Isaiah Bolden, his young guys with
01:01:40a lot of physical skill and promise. Marco Wilson. He's been in the league for a while, but I will
01:01:45say since he's been with the Patriots, he's like competitive, physical. You like what you see. He
01:01:50may not be necessarily a long-term starter, but a guy who gives you at the very least, I think,
01:01:54good depth. And obviously Marcus Jones, frankly, I see him as more of a bonus. If he's healthy,
01:01:59that's fantastic. But after two season ending injuries, I'm sorry. I just, I can't really get
01:02:03excited about him, especially last summer. He did struggle. So it's like, see outside the inside,
01:02:08you know, there's so much put on that star role, especially where it's like, sure. Do you want him
01:02:13outside where he's out, man, because he's too small or inside where he has all these responsibilities,
01:02:18but he has barely been on the field. How's he going to respond? So who do you think emerges
01:02:22as that third corner? Is Jonathan Jones going to be in the slide? Is he outside what's going on
01:02:27there in your opinion? I have a cheap answer. Okay. I think it's one of the safeties.
01:02:35I think Marcus Jones probably should have the inside position because of his lateral quickness.
01:02:42But as a team, they love deploying three safeties more than they enjoy deploying three corners.
01:02:48I think the Ravens model showed that that is possible because even though Kyle Hamilton
01:02:56lots of praise, excellent overhang defender, the man coverage is not a strength. He can run when he
01:03:03has his leverage, but he will get crossed across his face. And he has the support from very good
01:03:08linebackers and other safeties and scheme and pressure and all that stuff. So I think there
01:03:13is a path forward for one of the three safeties from last year, whether it be Mapu, Duggar,
01:03:19or Peppers to be the guy that you see more in the slot. And they all played slot roles last year.
01:03:25I think Peppers had something like 250 overhang slash slot snaps. Duggar had like 180. I think
01:03:31that's what you're going to get because Jalen Hawkins, who is kind of taking that Cody Davis
01:03:37type role as where he is a really good special teamer. He has experience two seasons ago being
01:03:43a primary free safety. So you have someone with experience kind of like an Adrian Phillips
01:03:49at basically the same point in his career who can go back there and play if you need him to.
01:03:55He still had 120-ish free safety snaps last year, even though there's primary special teams in
01:04:00Atlanta because Jesse Bates was there because Richie Grant, they both were healthy all year.
01:04:05But I think that's who we're going to see because I don't feel entirely inspired by the rest of
01:04:11that group to play that nickel role. I think it's just, it's too difficult. I don't think
01:04:18it benefits Jonathan Jones at this stage in his career with declined lateral quickness to be put
01:04:25in such a disadvantageous position. I think he has played outside of that role for so long that
01:04:33putting him back in there would be more of a stopgap than a positive because he's good against
01:04:39higher level wide receivers. And you're going to have enough situations where there's reduced
01:04:43splits where he has to do things that a slot would do anyway. But having him inside full-time
01:04:49and having him at 5'9 in the run fit is a problem. And that's where it comes down to it. If New
01:04:55England still believes that stopping the run is a priority first, which you would venture would
01:05:00be the case with the people on that staff, right? Gerard Mayo being a linebacker and having that
01:05:07background, you want a bigger body who can move. Peppers to me is probably the best equipped to do
01:05:14it because it's one, the role he played at Michigan that he has not played in his entire NFL career
01:05:23until he came to New England at different points and he thrived it. It was the role that he was
01:05:27best at. And now he has experience being a rotational player. You can do the low to high
01:05:32rotation. You can do the high to low rotation into the nickel. There's so many different
01:05:36possibilities. To me, I think if we're going best player for the role because of how important the
01:05:43role is, Jabril Peppers will be my number one. And then a rotation of Mapu and Duggar based on
01:05:48personnel and assignment would be that if Mapu is that guy, which I liked him a lot from what I saw
01:05:56at Sacramento State. There's things I saw last year that I liked. He was in over his head a
01:05:59little bit at times, but he was asked to do a lot more than he was in college.
01:06:05That's what I don't think people understood. They keep like, is he a safety? And it's like,
01:06:09no, he is their third safety, which in New England makes you a part-time starter.
01:06:13Like that dude was drinking through a fire hose. And I guess Miami, you saw him at free. You saw
01:06:17him at the linebacker. You saw him at the drop safety. You saw him in the slot. It was pretty
01:06:20early on. I'm like, yeah, he's not doing great, but I can't imagine what's going on in this poor
01:06:24kid's head because they're giving him everything. It's like, all right, Adrian Phillips, you're
01:06:29barely on the team anymore. Mapu's taking your spot. I am curious though, because I think the
01:06:34Patriots, one thing with your bro peppers, I think they maximized him because they understood
01:06:38you don't want him in man coverage. Like the giants, I know one game had him against Cooper
01:06:42cup in the slot man coverage. I'm like, what kind of galaxy brain shit is this where you are taking
01:06:47this guy who's very talented, but like cornerbacks can't do what you're asking him to do. And they
01:06:51said, you know what, in these zone schemes on early downs in our big nickel packages,
01:06:55that's where you see Doug, that's where you see peppers. Cause they're basically playing the flat.
01:06:59You don't see them having to cover guys, man to man. And that's where they thrive because they
01:07:02can also blitz. And that's where you get a lot of the run stops like Jennings and peppers.
01:07:06Most of the run stops came on the same play where those peppers blitzes and then Jennings
01:07:10nice inside. And then you can do about it. So in man coverage situations, who comes out in the
01:07:16field? Because that's where you think it's probably going to be like Mapu in the box
01:07:20Duggar as that like McCordy type robber role and then peppers deep. So who's going to be in man
01:07:25coverage and is Jonathan Jones going to move around. Yeah. I, I wouldn't be surprised if
01:07:30they tried making a move for somebody because I just don't trust the body types outside of Marcus
01:07:35Jones, right? You have bigger guys, longer guys who are there. I mean, I have not watched, I can
01:07:42say this honestly. I have not watched a single snap of Caleb Ford, uh, dement. He is the only
01:07:48person who to me has the size profile of a nickel because I've seen Sean way. I've seen Marco
01:07:56Wilson. I've seen these guys and you need to be such a reactive athlete, a short strider,
01:08:02reactive athlete in that role. And that's not who they are right there. A little leggy one way or
01:08:07another. They have good long speed or, you know, but that's why Marcus Jones fits because he is a
01:08:14jitterbug. And Jonathan Jones, even though he's not tall is not necessarily a short strider. He's
01:08:19kind of like a medium length guy. I would never describe his short area quickness as his best
01:08:24attribute. I think it was always his long speed, his intelligence, you know, his ball skills and
01:08:29stuff like that, despite being smaller. So, you know, it's tough. I think Marcus Jones makes sense
01:08:35if you could play Marcus Bryant out there for so many snaps last year, you know, I think you can
01:08:43put him there. I think if you have to put Jonathan Jones in the nickel, I wouldn't call it ideal,
01:08:48but, you know, I think Marco seems like a pretty good four, you know, fourth corner, third outside.
01:08:55He and Sean Wade probably would compete for that spot. Alex Austin's in the mix.
01:08:58I want to see Isaiah Bolden. I think he's, I think he's a pure special teamer right now,
01:09:03but I would love to see him on the field and see what he can do because of his length, because of
01:09:07his size, speed, you know, profile. But I mean, that's a guy who to me is taking what Matthew
01:09:14Slater's roster spot was. I think that he is an elite special team caliber prospect for you,
01:09:21if nothing else. Right. So yeah, I, I don't know if Jones can be Marcus Jones can be the guy,
01:09:31but he might be the guy by attrition. I've really just had John Jones pegged as a slot for so long.
01:09:37And now this is messing with my depth chart. I might have to move some stuff around, but that
01:09:41was a really fantastic point. Now, buddy, I've had you for so long already. We're going to wrap
01:09:45this up, but before I let you out of here, what's your record prediction for this team?
01:09:49How do you think they're going to do? You can do a ceiling or a floor if that's a little bit
01:09:52easier. Cause I know there's so many ranges with this team where they could go. If you have one
01:09:57record you're confident in, you can go with that. Yeah. Okay. The record I'm confident in
01:10:04is six and 11, which is not necessarily the best, but it's also with the assumption that
01:10:09they take Drake slowly. Right. And I, I, and I think that's the right approach. I think this
01:10:15entire staff has a lot of leeway to it. As long as you show growth and there's reason behind it.
01:10:21As long as there's not pressure from up above to throw him into the fire early.
01:10:27You know, I think that's where we're going to be at. If they make a trade or two,
01:10:31you know, if they get that wide receiver one, that guy who's a clear dominant one.
01:10:35I think that ceiling bumps up a couple of games. I would describe a true dominant wider
01:10:40server one, whether you consider a Higgins and IU Samuel, whatever it is in the, in this scheme
01:10:45as that, I think that there are two war player above what they have right now. And you give
01:10:50more time to develop the younger guys, but I think their ceiling is probably nine wins.
01:10:56I think everything has to go right. I think there has to be some key injuries on opposing teams
01:11:01and they need to grow up quick. And if that's the case, I think nine wins is a discussion.
01:11:07I think they could be in contention going into week 17 when, you know, they have Buffalo and
01:11:12Miami right back to back. Is that the end of the season or is it it's Buffalo and somebody.
01:11:16It's I think, I think the last four are the bills, the chargers, the Cardinals and the
01:11:25I know that they play the bills twice in succession at the end. It looks like it is.
01:11:31Cardinals bills, chargers bills. Okay. Okay. The team, just the order was a little funky.
01:11:36Yeah. Yeah. You, you nailed it though. Yeah. I think they could be in contention heading into
01:11:42that second bills matchup. I, I think they could steal one from Buffalo. I think because they play
01:11:48Miami in new England early in Miami late, they could steal one of those, especially with all
01:11:52the dynamics that they do on defense. I'm still not sold on Miami's defense. Like there's a lot
01:11:57of stuff there. The chargers are a total question Mark. Yeah. They should be more
01:12:03disciplined as a team, but whether that translates to wins is, is yet to be seen.
01:12:08Arizona should be better. It's a make or break year for most of that team, including Kyler.
01:12:13So I think that's definitely going to be a discussion piece, but yeah. One other thought
01:12:20Jabril peppers picked off Josh Allen in a curl flat this season. Yes, he did. I remember that
01:12:27one. That was, he baited the flat, took the curl on a flood concept. Yeah. They baited Allen twice
01:12:34to Alex sauce and had the one when they were in Buffalo where apparently I think Pellegrino told
01:12:38him it was coming. I was looking at the play. I'm like, there's no way he knew this. That was just
01:12:42crazy instincts, but it turned out he knew exactly what was coming. So yeah. Yeah. That's the other
01:12:46thing. I don't, I'm not as high on Buffalo this year. I think, I think it's, I think it's Miami's
01:12:51division with jets as a sleeper and Buffalo needs to prove that they can rally back because when
01:13:00they fired offensive coordinator. Oh my God. Dorsey. Yes. Ken Dorsey. When they fired him,
01:13:11uh, they slowly declined in production. Diggs declined in production and Josh Allen took a
01:13:18lot more hits because Dorsey and Dorsey specifically, the thing that he worked on
01:13:24was protecting Josh Allen from hits. And as soon as Joe Brady took over, Josh Allen was getting
01:13:30clobbered on the quarterback runs and all that stuff because it was the most effective play.
01:13:34And Dorsey's like, this is our franchise quarterback. We want to protect them longterm.
01:13:38We'll see how they go into year two with Joe Brady and all of those guys, but that roster has
01:13:42declined. So if you want an optimistic view, I think new England could be competing for the seven
01:13:47seed going into that week 18 matchup. I think it's more likely they're closer to six wins,
01:13:52but if Drake may blows the staff away and the, you know, someone takes a step at wide receiver,
01:13:58whatever it is, whether it be health or anything that they can be a dependable target.
01:14:03I think that's, I think non-wins is within reach, especially with this defense.
01:14:09We are on the same page to a sickening degree. I think in my initial record prediction, I had
01:14:14them with like 10, which is optimistic. And even now I'm like, yeah, 10 is for sure pushing it.
01:14:17And I totally acknowledge that. But I do think if the young offensive players are guys that it's
01:14:22like, okay, they're surprising. This is like, they're guys you have to take seriously. That's
01:14:26where I think they start sneaking into playoff contention. I'm giving the bills of division
01:14:31out of respect, you know, like until you knock off the King, you have to get,
01:14:35but I completely agree. Like I'm not super confident in the dolphins anyway, because
01:14:39I like to up, but I think he is what he is at this point. You can surround him with much talent,
01:14:43but I just think in those crucial moments where everything just gets so much tighter,
01:14:49I feel like his play style doesn't suit that. He just doesn't, he doesn't have a margin for error.
01:14:53It's, it is very, it is very similar to Brock Purdy in San Francisco where both
01:14:57Shanahan and McDaniel, they run, they run the ship. They, they are playing mad with their
01:15:04quarterback. And it was what McVay did with golf, right? Like all three of those guys have a formula
01:15:11that they control it. And even Lafleur to some extent with Jordan Love, which is part of the
01:15:16reason that they drafted Jordan Love because Rogers wouldn't play ball with that in 2019.
01:15:20If you watch that film back, it is, it's rough from, from not throwing to open guys because of
01:15:27who they were and situations like that. So yeah, Jimmy Graham, wide open, like half of the snaps
01:15:33and just nothing. So but I think, I think you're right. I think that's the exact type of situation
01:15:40in Miami where when Tewit is the one who needs to make the play, when you're behind the sticks,
01:15:44when you have that situation, I don't think he has the arm. I don't think he, I don't think they
01:15:50have the protection. I don't think he has the arm and the playmakers are small. You know, they can't,
01:15:57they're not going to win those contested catches consistently. And you know what they're going to
01:16:02do, right? Because the protection, you know, the, the routes that they can run become a little bit
01:16:08more limited and you can bake those throws. You can sit on those routes and because his arm isn't
01:16:14good, it's a bottom six arm in the league. You know, you get into those trouble just based on
01:16:21NGS pass velocity, bottom five, bottom six. It was, it was in the same tier as Mac Jones
01:16:27and Brock Purdy and Jalen Hurts. And yeah, so.
01:16:31Okay. So we talked about the division. I'm sorry. I got to let you go, but quick.
01:16:35What do you think about the Jets? Real quick.
01:16:38Excellent defense, excellent scheme.
01:16:43They go as far as Rogers goes. I don't trust their wide receiving core beyond Garrett Wilson
01:16:49for year one. Their offensive line is experienced, but not as a unit. And there are a lot of injury
01:16:55question marks. And I don't know if Rogers can handle moving out of the pocket anymore.
01:17:01I wonder if we're going to see the way that Peyton turtled at the end of his career
01:17:07not, not 2015, not, not fall apart because his arm was gone, but the, I can't afford to take
01:17:15this hit. Yeah. 2013, 2014 Peyton Manning. I might, I feel like that's something that could
01:17:24happen there. Their floor should be eight games. If Rogers is healthy, the whole season for sure.
01:17:31Their defense is really good, but they have holes, right? They do just schematically.
01:17:36Their safeties aren't strong. Their linebackers can be picked on in coverage.
01:17:41Their pass rush might not be as potent this year, right? They replaced Bryce Huff with Hassan Reddick.
01:17:48Reddick still is not attending OTAs. He's getting a little bit older. We'll see what happens there.
01:17:54John Franklin Myers is no longer on the squad. So they're depending on-
01:17:57I really like him.
01:17:59Right. So they're depending on Michael Clemens, who's more of a run stopper. They're depending
01:18:02on McDonald. They're depending on Reddick, Quinnen owning everything, which he already does.
01:18:10They should still be a top five, six defense because of scheme, because of Sauce Gardner.
01:18:17But, you know, they can be attacked because both Michael Carter and DJ Reed are very small. So,
01:18:24you know, they can make plays if you are late, but they're not winning at the catch point.
01:18:30And that's a big deal. And Gardner can be beat a few times. Kendrick Bourne got him a few times.
01:18:36Few different people because he's so long and so lanky with reduced splits.
01:18:39He really has to overcommit to the outside stuff. If he's playing hard inside leverage,
01:18:46he's not going to give up inside. And that's really the place you can weaken him.
01:18:50So if you reduce the splits and you push him, stem outside, cut inside, you can do that.
01:18:55And it's where he gave up most of his receptions and most of his problems and then some stuff
01:19:00working down the stem. But yeah, so long story short, the Jets should be pretty good. And for
01:19:09New England, if the kicker situation works out and the defense does what it did, you know,
01:19:14that raises the floor. And that's all you can ask. You know, the defense does not have a single
01:19:21player that I would deem below replacement level as a key contributor. The offense has a few and
01:19:28they don't have anybody that I would deem as a star. And that's tough. You know, it's good to
01:19:34not have replacement level players, right? Buffalo did that where they didn't have a ton of star
01:19:38power for a few years, but they had a bunch of really consistent guys and but they had no one
01:19:43below that replacement level. And that's what carried them through the early Josh Allen years.
01:19:48Then you get Stefan Diggs, you start Allen elevates, Hyde elevates because of his experience
01:19:53with Poyer, Edmonds becomes rangy even if he wasn't consistent, Milano grows because of the
01:19:58role he's in, right? And then you start getting those guys. So, you know, you set that floor and
01:20:05you prevent those busts and those negative plays. Even if you're not getting the huge positives,
01:20:12the opposing team will start getting negatives, right? If you can limit mistakes.
01:20:18Like last year, man, so many games, but they were so close. It's just like, don't shoot yourself in
01:20:22the foot and you'll be fine. But the vision's up for grabs. This is a team that has a range
01:20:28of different outcomes, but it's going to be exciting to see one way or the other. Andre,
01:20:32thank you so much for your time, man. I really, really appreciate it. Finally going to get you
01:20:36out of here. So appreciate your time, my man. And thank you all as always for watching. Now,
01:20:40take care of yourselves, take care of each other. We will see you next time. Peace y'all.
01:20:45Peace.