Could Okorafor be a STEAL at LT for the Patriots? | Greg Bedard Patriots Podcast - video Dailymotion

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Greg and Nick discussed Stephon Gilmore, Bill Belichick, Brandon Aiyuk and Patriots players in ESPN top 10 lists, before diving into the film on Chuks Okorafor and giving his worst-case and best-case scenarios.  In this episode of the Greg Bedard Patriots Podcast, the focus begins on the potential impact of cornerback Stephon Gilmore with the Patriots amidst concerns about his performance and fit within the defensive scheme. The conversation delves into the emergence of young talent like Christian Gonzalez and the depth of the Patriots' secondary lineup, including players like Jonathan Jones and Alex Austin. The podcast also explores the future of Bill Belichick's coaching, trade scenarios, and a detailed analysis of offensive lineman Chukwuma Okorafor. Discover if Okorafor could be a hidden gem at left tackle for the Patriots with the right guidance and development.  0:00 - Intro 0:32 - Gilmore's Fit with Patriots 2:24 - Secondary Depth Analysis 4:37 - Christian Gonzalez's Recognition 6:33 - Patriots' Big Season 10:14 - Potential Brandon Aiyuk Trade 14:28 - Chuks Okorafor Evaluation 21:06 - Worst Case Scenarios for Chuks 25:15 - Best Case Scenario for Chuks    ************************************************ Patriots Content Brought to you by....  Prize Picks - PrizePicks.com/CLNS Download the app today and use code CLNS for a first deposit match up to $100!  Gametime - https://gametime.co Take the guesswork out of buying NBA tickets with Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code CLNS for $20 off your first purchase. Download Gametime today. Last minute tickets. Lowest Price. Guaranteed. Terms apply.  Merch Store - https://shop.clnsmedia.com  Social Media!!!!  Patriots Twitter- https://twitter.com/patriotsclns  Patriots Instagram-  https://www.instagram.com/patriotsclns/  Facebook- https://facebook.com/clnsmedia  LinkedIn- https://www.linkedin.com/company/clnsmedia/about/  Tik Tok - https://www.tiktok.com/@clnsmedia *********************************************************  ABOUT PATRIOTS COVERAGE ON CLNS:   Welcome to the CLNS Media Network’s YouTube channel for New England Patriots  football.  CLNS Media is the leading online provider of audio/video coverage for the 6X Super Bowl Champions.  Get complete inside access to the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro and everywhere on the road. CLNS Patriots credentialed insiders Greg Bedard, Andrew Callahan, Tayler Kyles, John Zannis, Alex Barth and Mike Kadlick provide instantaneous news and analysis all in real time, as well as full access to complete videos from the players, coaches, ownership and everyone else inside Patriots Place.  If you enjoy CLNS’ Celtics  All Access and are craving more Boston sports content, you head over to CLNS’ Patriots  Press Pass at   https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqX7G3pEDTseNxtoDU27PEg?sub_confirmations=1

Transcript

00:00This is the Gregg Bedard Patriots podcast with Nick Cavins.

00:10He's Gregg.

00:11I'm Nick.

00:12You know the deal.

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00:30Let's hit some headlines, Gregg, to start this thing off.

00:33Stephon Gilmore.

00:34Still out there.

00:35Still available.

00:36And he spoke with Jocena Anderson recently.

00:39And really the sexiest comment he made is that there's not 64 cornerbacks that are better

00:43than him.

00:44When you look at Gilmore and the Patriots and their situation, could he be a fit in

00:49your eyes?

00:51So we sort of talked about this before and I haven't watched any film of Gilmore of late.

00:56I do remember watching him a few times last year.

01:01Not only Patriots related, but also Raiders related.

01:09So my opinion hasn't really changed.

01:11I think, and I hear from Patriots fans all the time on Twitter, they want Gilmore.

01:17They remember Stephon Gilmore who is here.

01:19The defensive player of the year, Stephon Gilmore.

01:23I understand that.

01:24And he's still a baller.

01:26And he's a guy that you want in the fight with you.

01:30Just in my opinion, and from talking to NFL personnel people, asking them about him, the

01:41opinion is nearly unanimous that he has lost a step, that he is no longer the man cover

01:46corner that he used to be.

01:49And that's sort of where, for me, Nick, the sort of breakdown about him coming to the

01:56Patriots and being an asset.

01:57Now, I'm not telling you, if he came here, he wouldn't be a bad player.

02:01He'd be fine.

02:02But where the Patriots are in terms of their scheme, which I think is going to be even

02:07more man to man and man to man heavy with Gonzalez back and Jonathan Jones can play

02:12man.

02:13They can all play man.

02:14One of the most man dependent schemes in the country when they're going well and when they're

02:20healthy.

02:21I just don't see that as a fit for Gilmore anymore, a perfect fit.

02:25I think he's more of a zone corner now, which is weird because he used to be a much better

02:29man corner than he was a zone corner.

02:32That was some of his issues in Buffalo and early on here with the Patriots.

02:36So I just don't see him as a great fit.

02:40And the other thing about not fitting with the Patriots is, remember, these guys are

02:46now draft, develop.

02:49They want the kids to play.

02:50And so instead of bringing in a patchwork 30 something player at any position, not just

02:57cornerback, is that the right thing for this franchise that is building two, three, four,

03:02five years down the road where they're taking snaps from Isaiah Bolden, Alex Austin, you

03:09know, Marcellus Dial, who they just drafted.

03:13Like, is that the best thing for the team long term?

03:16And I would say I don't completely rule it out, but I would just think that I tend to

03:22doubt that he would be a fit for those reasons.

03:25Yeah, I know Giardi wrote recently and has said that, oh, no, it wasn't Giardi.

03:30I think it was Andy Hart who said he wasn't necessarily bullish on this secondary.

03:35I think their secondary is pretty deep.

03:37I'm not telling you that they've got top end talent all over the joint, but you've

03:41got Christian Gonzalez.

03:42And as long as he's healthy, you know, I've got no issue with him.

03:45We'll talk about him in a minute.

03:47And I think, you know, on the opposite side between Jonathan Jones, Alex Austin, Isaiah

03:51Bolden, you brought some of those names up.

03:53I think you're fine at outside corner to Marcus Jones.

03:57Obviously, it'd be nice if he stepped up and could play slot for you.

04:01And you got a number of safeties now, whether or not Dial can play safety in case you get

04:06into trouble and Duggar struggles again in the back end.

04:09Or maybe Jalen Hawkins, who they brought in, had a lot of snaps at minicamp.

04:13He might be the answer, but I think they've got numbers in the secondary.

04:16And if Austin is able to be at least solid on the outside, you're set up really well,

04:21I think, for this year.

04:23And I would not be rushing to go out there and sign Stephon Gilmore as much as I love

04:27Gilmore.

04:28And I do love the dude.

04:29I just think, like you said, they're they're in a different situation as a team in the

04:32middle of a rebuild.

04:33It would not be at the top of my list.

04:36Let's talk about Christian Gonzalez for a minute.

04:37Greg, I don't know if you saw this, but ESPN has their top 10 at each position.

04:44And Jeremy Fowler, he talks to scouts and executives and there's votes and all of that.

04:50And surprisingly, I thought it was pretty surprising.

04:54Gonzalez finished with an honorable mention.

04:56Now, my people might say honorable mention that dude played four games last year and

05:01he got and he got honorable mention on this list, not just merely votes.

05:05And there was some pretty good football players that just get votes and not an honorable mention.

05:09So there was an AFC executive in there, Greg, in the story that that called Gonzalez a stud

05:15and said he'd be higher if he played more games last year.

05:19Just kind of your reaction to that, that that he's already being mentioned in the top 10

05:22to 15 by a lot of people around the league after playing only like a month in his rookie

05:26season.

05:27Yeah, I tell you the truth.

05:29I wasn't that surprised because I do think like he just kept getting better and better

05:33every game.

05:34And he was just coming into his own when he sustained the injury.

05:38I did see that.

05:39I looked through the series by Jeremy Fowler.

05:42You know, what I found interesting is in, of course, you go through every position and

05:46you want to know where the Patriots are, especially the Patriots that got paid and got paid a

05:53lot and, you know, sort of, you know, top 10 money.

05:56And so I'm just going off the top of my head.

05:59I didn't write it down, but I know when I think was I want to say he was.

06:05He was honorable mention because there was a blurb about him, Kyle Duggar.

06:12Honorable mention got a blurb, Christian Barmore got votes, Hunter Henry got votes, Matthew

06:19Judon got votes.

06:21So Devon Gotchow, I don't think was anywhere on the list.

06:26Jabril Peppers got votes.

06:29So, you know, I was immediately, you know, you look at the guys like a when you Duggar

06:36Ramond Ray Stevenson.

06:39I think he was honorable mention, I think, you know, you just you look at how the Patriots

06:45paid them.

06:46They paid them as top 10 guys and they aren't viewed there right now.

06:51But this just shows you that this is a big season for them to take the next step.

06:55They got paid.

06:57Well, and some of it, especially when you're dealing with the offensive guys, it has to

07:01do with the offense itself and how crappy it was.

07:04And that kind of brings you down.

07:06But they need to take a step up and they all need to be top 10 players the way they're

07:11getting paid and the way they're viewed across the league.

07:14All right, let's jump to their former coach, Bill Belichick, Tom Pellicero of the NFL Network

07:19reporting on Rich Eisen show this week, Greg, that Belichick, quote unquote, intends to

07:24coach in 2025 and he's fully invested in doing it again in 2025.

07:30Just your reaction to that.

07:31There have been people saying that, oh, maybe he'll stick with TV.

07:33I know Tom Curran kind of threw that out there.

07:36Is that even an option or is this a full go coach Belichick raring to get back next season?

07:41Yeah, I haven't I haven't talked to anybody in Belichick world recently.

07:47I think they're all they're all off on vacation.

07:50But I would say as of right now, I agree with Tom.

07:54I think he's intending to coach.

07:56I think he's full steam ahead with that.

07:59But I did hear Tom Curran's comments and I thought they were interesting.

08:03And I don't rule that out, that that Bill is doing all this media stuff and maybe he

08:09likes it.

08:10And he also has that new relationship that we won't really talk about.

08:15So maybe he's maybe I don't rule out that he he enjoys life and he's just like, why

08:24am I going to go back to that?

08:26And Tom made the point about the media.

08:28Why do I why do I want to deal with these a-holes in Philadelphia?

08:32You know, Jeff McLean and all those guys up my rear end, like, you know, Howard Eskin.

08:38I don't want to deal with all that stuff.

08:39So I'm just going to I'm just going to stay in media where everyone's kissing my ass and

08:43telling me how good I am and everyone already views me as the greatest head coach of all

08:47time anyways, because of all the Super Bowl rings I have, do I really need 16 more victories

08:52to pass Don Shula to pass him in people's minds?

08:56Of course I don't.

08:57But at the basis, you just have to remember that William Stephen Belichick is, you know,

09:05I equate him to a great white shark where they only do a few things.

09:10They eat, they make little sharks, and that's about it.

09:15And all Bill Belichick knows is how to coach football and grind film and grumble at the

09:21media.

09:22And so that doesn't change.

09:24I mean, now that this is his 50th year in the NFL, like just, you know, a few months

09:28of him enjoying himself.

09:32I don't think it's going to change who he is at this stage in his in his life.

09:37And so, yeah, I think he I think he's he he intends to be back coaching whether or

09:42not anybody wants him and all that comes with that.

09:45We'll have to see.

09:47He's a coach, man.

09:48He's a football coach through and through.

09:50And I just can't imagine him sitting back being that close to Shula and living the rest

09:54of his life thinking, man, I was that close.

09:57I was one good season, two good seasons away from from leapfrogging Shula.

10:02We know what Shula said back in the day with the Belichick stuff.

10:05I'm sure that's still a hair across Belichick's ass to a point.

10:09So I would be surprised if he's not trying to get back.

10:12All right.

10:13Another thing I wanted to ask you about David Lombardi in The Athletic this week writing

10:17about Brandon Ayuk, he brought up three options and one of the options was a trade.

10:23And he mentioned Joey Bosa.

10:25There's this idea that San Francisco is looking for a defensive edge player pass rusher to

10:31put across from Bosa from Nick Bosa.

10:34And I wanted to ask you, Greg, your thoughts on a possible deal.

10:37I'm just going to put this on the table for you, and I want your yes or no and why or

10:41why not.

10:42If you were the Patriots, would you trade Matthew Judon in a 2025 second round pick

10:48for Brandon Ayuk if that was something San Francisco would do?

10:53Yes, I would.

10:56I would definitely do that.

10:57That allows me to keep my first round pick.

11:02It takes the Judon issue off my plate, and it makes me a better team.

11:09I'm fine with Keon White playing more.

11:12To me, there's nothing not to like about that.

11:15Of course, when we get in, so I agree with you.

11:18I mean, I like the deal.

11:20Of course, as we've talked about before, we can play fantasy football all we want and

11:28fantasy GM, which I love to do.

11:30But are the San Francisco 49ers just on the precipice?

11:35Put yourself in Kyle Shanahan's shoes, how close he has been, and now he has a quarterback

11:40who's healthy that he thinks is the right trigger man.

11:44You're that close to a Super Bowl.

11:48Are you going to trade off one of your most important pieces on offense because you don't

11:52really have a guy like that?

11:54Everything is primed for this year in the San Francisco 49ers, and do you hamstring

12:02yourself a little bit by dealing your best vertical outside threat?

12:07All right, we'll take a break here.

12:09It's the middle of the summer.

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14:26All right, let's jump to the offensive line now, Greg.

14:30You had the opportunity to watch not one, not two, but three games from Chuuk-Sakhoor

14:35for last year with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

14:38We will do a deeper dive in a few minutes here, but just your initial 30,000 foot evaluation

14:46of Chuuk-Sakhoor and what you saw, generally speaking.

14:49Yeah, so I guess my overview of Chuuk-Sakhoor would be ideal size, guys like 6'6", 34-inch

15:01plus arms, smooth athlete, moves well.

15:10I would say I worry a bit about his strength.

15:17I worry about him against power.

15:20I also worry about him against top speed edge rushers on the outside a little bit because

15:25he's not the greatest athlete.

15:27His relative athletic score was not great when he came out and was a third-round pick,

15:32but I got to say this, Nick.

15:36You watch him and you see him get pushed back against power, but at the end of the day,

15:42the dude's pretty effective.

15:43It's not pretty, and it's not classic, and he's definitely not strong, and he doesn't

15:48have a great punch, and he's certainly not going to bowl anybody over in the run game

15:53unless they're like a corner or a small safety.

15:58He lacks in the running game, but just as far as his effectiveness on what he's going

16:06to be asked to do and what offensive linemen, especially offensive tackles, are asked to

16:10do, which is basically keep the guy in front of them away off the quarterback for enough

16:14time, I think he's going to be pretty effective for the Patriots, and I think he can be even

16:20better if Scott Peters and Robert Kugler can get him to play, develop his punch, get

16:27him to play a little angrier, get him to play a little bit more physical, and if they can

16:32do that, the Patriots could have a pretty good steal on their hands, and I'm not going

16:37to sit here and tell you he's going to be an all-pro or a pro bowler or anything like

16:40that, but do I think he can hold down the fort without a ton of help at left tackle?

16:47Yeah, I do.

16:49I think he's going to be decent for this team from what I've seen.

16:53Now interestingly enough, he was benched after playing two of his best games, Greg.

16:58Yeah.

16:59What'd you make of that decision and that situation in Pittsburgh?

17:02So I was going through his PFF scores, and that's basically where I start my film study.

17:09I want to see two of his worst games, and I want to see two of his best games, and so

17:13I haven't watched the fourth game, which would be a second quote-unquote bad game, I've got

17:18to tell you.

17:19So I watched the Cleveland game, which in terms of his overall, I'm just going back

17:25to his grade, his overall offensive grade, week two against Cleveland, he had a 37.6.

17:32That was his lowest rated game of the season.

17:35Baltimore, which I still have to watch, week five was his second worst full game.

17:42He played three snaps against the Patriots and graded out poorly.

17:46I'm not going to look at that because, I mean, it's just three snaps, but then you look at

17:51it and as he's going through the season, he starts to play better.

17:57Now I watched the Rams game second, I watched the Browns game first, his worst one, then

18:01I watched the Rams game in week seven.

18:04So it was week two to week seven, and the difference between the players was eye-opening.

18:12I mean, it wasn't quite night and day, but he was a lot more physical against the Rams.

18:17I really liked what I saw against the Rams.

18:20And then he plays the next week against Jacksonville, which was his second highest rated game of

18:26the season.

18:27Now, I don't think it was great.

18:29He gave up a sack.

18:30He had a couple penalties in that game, but whatever, that's the PFF grade.

18:34Everyone knows how I feel about PFF grades with offensive linemen.

18:37I actually didn't think he was that bad against the Browns.

18:40And it was his lowest rated game, but then all of a sudden he's on the bench for the

18:46rest of the season.

18:47He barely plays the rest of the season.

18:48So I Googled like a core four benched.

18:51And the story comes up that the reason he was benched in a core four, who is very honest

18:58with the media.

19:00So that'll be nice.

19:03He said that he talked to Mike Tomlin and Mike Tomlin told him he wasn't being benched

19:07for performance.

19:08It was because he overheard Chooks a core four late in the game against Jacksonville

19:15when they were down 20 to 10, sometime in the fourth quarter, Tomlin overheard a core

19:21four telling somebody that if we're going to run these plays, we might as well just

19:26take a knee for the rest of the game.

19:28Like what the hell are we doing?

19:30So he was criticizing Matt Canada, the offensive coordinator who, if anybody's listening to

19:36this podcast, like I've been all over that guy since before the Patriots played them

19:40a couple of years ago.

19:41And I was like, this offense is terrible.

19:43It's a joke.

19:44And what's interesting is that Tomlin Tomlin did what he did.

19:51And then two weeks later he fired Matt Canada.

19:54So a core four got benched for telling the truth and being right.

19:59And so I was just like, okay.

20:03So I mean, that's sort of the basis.

20:05Like he didn't lose his job because of performance.

20:07He lost it because he quote unquote mouthed off a little bit, but he's a truth teller.

20:13Maybe we can get him to write a PSJ.

20:14Maybe you can give us the, maybe we can do a diary for us.

20:17Give us the truth.

20:18What's going on behind the scenes with Mayo.

20:20It is funny.

20:21Like a couple of weeks later, Canada's gone.

20:22It's like, yeah, that's exactly what I was saying, Mike.

20:25This is why I was pissed during the game.

20:28I'm glad you finally realized that after a way too long holding onto that guy, I got

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21:04All right.

21:05I'm going to start with the worst case scenario.

21:09Worst case scenario for Chooks Accor for in my mind, the worst case scenario for Chooks

21:16is that he can't block power well enough that he just gets over overcome.

21:23Now what you will see, Nick, when you watch him play is like, for example, he didn't go

21:29against Miles Garrett very much in the, in the Browns game.

21:33He did go against Zedarius Smith, who is similar to a Matthew Judon type of guy, maybe a little

21:39bit thicker than Judon.

21:42I also saw him.

21:43He had a bit of a tougher time with Trevon Walker of the Jaguars, the former, I don't

21:48know if he was number one or number two, he was one of the top picks in that draft out

21:52of Georgia.

21:54Great athlete.

21:57What you see out of him, especially against these powerful guys is he is Nick, he is going

22:02to give way like three or four yards.

22:06Like when these guys get into them, like, you know, when you think of a classic offensive

22:10tackle, you think of a, uh, you know, a Tyron Smith type of guy, Trent Williams, one of

22:18these guys who are long, big, strong, and like, and they have a punch.

22:23They can't, you know, they keep the guys at arm's length.

22:25Well, core four doesn't do that.

22:27Like, you know, it's either, it's either you, you, you thwart power or you absorb power

22:35and chooks a core four as an absorber of power.

22:38So he is going to let guys get into his chest and move him back, but he is going to bow

22:44up at the last second, grip, grip them, not let go.

22:50He's like I said, long arms, big hands, 10 plus inch hands.

22:54So he's really more of a guy like you will see him punch.

22:57It's not a very effective punch.

22:59If he develops a punch, he could be really good, but he's going to let him get in and

23:03then he's just going to maul him.

23:05He's just going to, he's just going to tie him up and he does a really good job of that.

23:08It's not pretty.

23:10It's not the way a lot of guys teach it, but it's effective.

23:13But it, so if, if that fails him and he can't continue to do that and he gets a lot of holding

23:21penalties and he gets a lot of legal hands to the face, which you do see at times with

23:25him, um, you know, it's going to be, it's going to be a runaway train to the quarterback.

23:32But from what I've seen on film, he does it for about the first three steps.

23:38You're like, oh shit, a core four is going to get pushed right back into Drake May or

23:43Jacoby Bursette and they're going to get bullied.

23:47But at the last second he holds up.

23:49Now the other worst case scenario for me is him and city.

23:53So next to each other can't run block worth a damn and the Patriots can only run block

23:58to the right.

23:59Now they're running a zone blocking scheme now.

24:03So really that should not be an issue.

24:07Like they're not going to be running a lot of power runs like the Patriots used to do

24:11or double team and go to the second level.

24:14It's going to be more like outside zone, inside zone.

24:17So, and he certainly has the athletic ability.

24:19He could get down the field, he could run a little bit, you know, again, he didn't test

24:23great in a lot of areas, but he's effective on the field.

24:27So my worries is that he just, he gives up too much on power.

24:33And I just heard Greg Cosell, he was on with Ross Tucker and both of them had just gone

24:37to the O-line masterminds camp.

24:40And I think it was Trent Williams who talked and one of the things, one of Greg Cosell's

24:45big takeaways from it was Trent Williams said, if you can't block speed, you can't

24:51play in the N or excuse me.

24:53If you can't block power, you can't play in the NFL.

24:56Now that's my worry about a core for that.

24:59He has trouble.

25:00The more he plays, especially on the left side against better pass rushers, that he's

25:06going to have a tough time with power and he's going to be walked into the quarterback

25:10a lot.

25:11So that's sort of my worst case nightmare scenario.

25:14All right, let's finish it up with your best case scenario.

25:20That Scott Peters and Robert Kugler really do a good job of building up his fundamentals.

25:27Again, he's coming from a Steelers organization where we knew, because we talked about this

25:32with Adrian Clem, their line coaching for multiple years was kind of a crap show.

25:38And it was sort of like the Patriots own situation with so many different offensive line coaches,

25:43offensive coordinators.

25:44I'm willing to bet, and I think the Patriots are willing to bet, especially relative to

25:49what they're paying him, that he hasn't gotten the coaching yet.

25:54And I think that if he gets the coaching and Peters is big on punching, physicality, Kugler's

26:02a good teacher.

26:03If they can develop his punch to go along with his smoothness, getting into the kick

26:10slide and all that stuff, and they ramp up his intensity a little bit in terms of, and

26:15I'm not saying he's a wimp.

26:16He's not.

26:17You will see him get after guys after the whistle at times.

26:20He'll drive guys to the ground.

26:22You just want to see it more consistently with him.

26:25So if they can get that consistency and develop his punch a little bit more, I think left

26:32tackle by the end of the season, we could be talking about like, why were we so worried?

26:37Why did all those radio shows spend so much time yelling about left tackle and about how

26:42they haven't done anything when a core four ended up being just fine all year?

26:48We'll see how it unfolds.

26:49That's Greg Omnic.

26:50Everybody have a great weekend training camp next week.

26:53Can't wait for it.

26:54It's going to be a lot of fun.

26:55We'll talk to you early on until then be well.

Could Okorafor be a STEAL at LT for the Patriots? | Greg Bedard Patriots Podcast

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