Greg Bedard and Nick Cattles catch up after Greg's trip to Mobile, Alabama, and he discusses what he noticed at the Senior Bowl practices. They talk about the recent news about the Patriots coaching hires, and what could be next as Vrabel fills out his staff. Plus, Greg elaborates on his recent take that Josh McDaniels may have been forced on Vrabel by Robert Kraft.
0:00 - Intro
1:43 - Ben McAdoo Stays On
4:28 - Brian Belichick and Mike Pellegrino
8:07 - Will the Patriots Trade Joe Milton?
11:49 - Where's the WR Coach?
13:34 - PrizePicks
14:37 - Front Office Dynamics
26:35 - Gametime
27:51 - Vrabel and McDaniels a Forced Marriage?
54:10 - Notturno Home Services
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0:00 - Intro
1:43 - Ben McAdoo Stays On
4:28 - Brian Belichick and Mike Pellegrino
8:07 - Will the Patriots Trade Joe Milton?
11:49 - Where's the WR Coach?
13:34 - PrizePicks
14:37 - Front Office Dynamics
26:35 - Gametime
27:51 - Vrabel and McDaniels a Forced Marriage?
54:10 - Notturno Home Services
************************************************
Patriots Content Brought to you by....
💰 Prize Picks - https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/CLNS
Download the app today and use Code CLNS at PrizePicks.com/CLNS & Get $50 instantly when you play $5!
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Social Media!!!!
🏈 Patriots Twitter- https://twitter.com/patriotsclns
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🏈 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
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SportsTranscript
00:00This is the Greg Bidard Patriots podcast with Nick Cavins.
00:10This episode is brought to you by PrizePix, largest daily fantasy sports platform in North America.
00:15Download the PrizePix app today. Use code CLNS. Get $50 instantly when you play $5.
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00:26Take the guesswork out of buying tickets with GameTime. Download the GameTime app.
00:30Create an account. Use code CLNS for $20 off your first purchase.
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00:39If you're looking for a team that puts your comfort first, visit NoternoHome.com slash Bidard for 10% off your next service.
00:47You could save up to $1,000. The big boy is back from Mobile, Alabama.
00:52Oh, Alabama. I will get to a bone that I have to pick with Greg that I've been waiting.
00:58I've been I've been waiting days. I've been waiting days to go after Greg.
01:02I was I could feel it. I could feel it down in Alabama. I could feel your angst.
01:07I tweeted at you, by the way, when you were asking for questions and I asked if you missed me, you never got back to me.
01:11I did on the pod. I said no, but I said I said no.
01:16But you and I will be beefing soon enough as soon as I get back.
01:20I watched the pod. I must have missed that part. I must have just didn't hear it.
01:25It was right at the end. Oh, that's what I think.
01:28I thought you were wrapping up. There was like 50 seconds left. And I said, OK, they're done.
01:31And I shut it down. So I missed that part. All right. Fair enough.
01:34But we will get to it. We'll get to Greg, who is all of a sudden siding with Felger and Maz.
01:39We'll get to that a little bit later. But first, let's start with the news of the morning, Greg.
01:43Ben McAdoo staying. Are you surprised by that?
01:48Yes and no. I think and I was just looking this up.
01:54I think that Ben is a I mean, he's done everything.
02:00But I remember, you know, when I covered him with the Packers, he was a tight ends coach for a while, for like six years.
02:05So as far as I know, you probably are up on this more than I am.
02:11They do have an opening at tight ends, coach. I could see him sliding in there the way Mike Rabel.
02:19And we'll get into this the way Mike Rabel is putting together that offensive staff.
02:24It's not surprising in one respect. You know, to me personally, is it somewhat surprising?
02:34Yes. But we will get into that. It's part of the discussion that we're going to get into a little bit.
02:40Yes, it is. By the way, Thomas Brown has tight ends coach to his title.
02:44So I don't think McAdoo will be doing that job, but he will be doing something.
02:48And we should bring up the fact that, you know, McAdoo and a lot of people will look at this last year's team and say Alex Van Peltz quarterbacks and TC McCartney quarterbacks.
02:57But I believe it was. I hope I get this right. Somebody did a great job.
03:01I don't know if it was Doug Kite or Mark Daniels, but one of those guys wrote a story during the year, the later portion of the year about Ben McAdoo and what his role was.
03:10It was actually McAdoo who was working with Milton every day. TC McCartney and Van Peltz had May and Brissett to work with.
03:18Milton was kind of tucked off to the side with McAdoo on a daily basis.
03:22So if anybody out there is super excited about Milton and we'll get to him in a minute.
03:27But if anybody's out there super excited about what they saw from Joe Milton, a lot of that credit actually should go to McAdoo and not necessarily Van Peltz, because that was kind of his pet project in 2024.
03:38And I am pretty sure I am pretty sure it was Mark Daniels.
03:41So I wanted to make sure we give him credit. And also, I think Mark reported at the time that Ben ran some meeting on Thursday.
03:51I don't know if it was third downs. I think it was third downs or red zone.
03:55But that was, you know, Milton and whatever he discussed on Thursday was sort of his primary responsibilities.
04:03Yeah, he helped game plan situationally, and he ran the scout team defense, I believe, on Thursday practices as well.
04:10So that's what McAdoo did. If any of you were wondering last year, I don't know if you have any more thoughts.
04:16I did hear you and Giardi the last few podcasts you guys did this week down there in Mobile.
04:22I know you touched on it a little bit. Pellegrino, Brian Belichick, both gone. Any more thoughts on that?
04:29Do you think this is a critical mistake? Do you think it's a mistake?
04:33How do you feel about Vrabel and how he's replacing these guys?
04:37You've got a number of people. You've got Booker coming in. You've got Richardson II coming in.
04:42Justin Hamilton was just reportedly hired yesterday.
04:46How do you think this defensive backfield kind of shakes out with these new coaches?
04:51You know, I'm fine with it because, look, it's Vrabel's defense that they're going to be running and he wants his people.
05:02And so I'm all good with that. I mean, I do think that Pellegrino and Brian Belichick did a really good job when they were here,
05:10especially Pellegrino. A little bit harder to tell with Brian Belichick.
05:15I thought Pellegrino the entire time he was here did a really nice job with his cornerbacks.
05:20I thought, you know, not only did he get high end guys like Stefan Gilmore and Christian Gonzalez to play at a good level,
05:27but, you know, whether it was Jonathan Jones or Marcus Jones or developing a guy like Alex Austin,
05:34who, you know, went from he looked completely lost when he first got here to, you know, being a legit NFL player.
05:41I think that's all a credit to, you know, Mike Pellegrino. And I thought he did a really good job.
05:46And look, it's, you know, I don't love it for him because I'm more of the, you know, if you do a good job,
05:54like you should be able to earn your way or, you know, have a real opportunity to be on this to continue on the staff,
06:01especially for continuity for the players. From what I understand, he didn't really.
06:07He and I assume Brian Belichick were in the same bucket. They didn't get a real opportunity to stay on the staff.
06:13So I don't love that. But, you know, that's from 10,000 feet.
06:18I mean, again, it's Vrabel. It's Vrabel's defense. You know, from what I understand,
06:24they might be going to more of quarters coverage than predominantly man.
06:28We'll have to see how that develops and whether that indeed develops.
06:32You know, maybe that's not Pellegrino's forte, but I'm all for coaches.
06:36And again, this is going to be part of our discussion that's coming up.
06:40I'm all for coaches. Picking guys who know how to run their stuff.
06:45And so I don't have any big complaint about it.
06:48We're going to break a record for teases towards a later.
06:53Quarters is interesting because I wonder how you handle Christian Gonzalez.
06:56If you're going away from man coverage as much as they played this past year.
07:00To me, it's like lean in on Gonzo. Let him do what he does.
07:04We'll see. We'll see how this all unfolds. Obviously, we've got plenty of time.
07:09Pellegrino, to me, was really good. And I thought he did an excellent job.
07:14So many guys. I mean, just so many guys. Miles, Brian and Jonathan Jones and J.C.
07:20Jackson and Jack Jones, if he could get his head straight.
07:23Marcus Jones, Alex Austin, the last couple of years.
07:27So many guys that he either took and improved like Jonathan Jones or developed
07:32like pretty much all of those other guys I just mentioned.
07:34I thought he did a tremendous job and I was disappointed to see him go.
07:39I really was. It was the first staff move him and Brian Belichick.
07:43That was the first two staff moves that I've seen that just kind of let me,
07:47you know, left me disappointed and I disagreed.
07:49I thought they should have kept those guys in the staff.
07:51But look, I'm not saying that Vrabel can't replace them.
07:54I'm not saying they're irreplaceable. I get it.
07:57It's just I thought those guys did a good job, especially Pellegrino.
08:00And if if I had it my way, I would have liked to see those guys stay here,
08:03especially Mike Joe Milton. Interesting name.
08:07I know Brian Baldinger came out, kind of threw Joe Milton's name into the ether.
08:13You also mentioned it on the podcast with GRD yesterday.
08:17You also mentioned it at BSJ.
08:19Greg has a great write up, by the way, at BSJ if you want to check that out.
08:23But it sounds like Joe Milton, he might be available, Greg.
08:27Is this more a case of the Patriots pushing this and saying,
08:31maybe we should look into this?
08:32Or is this because teams have already started to contact the Patriots
08:36about possibly moving Milton?
08:39So from what I understand and, you know, it's interesting because I got this guy,
08:45of course, Twitter being Twitter, you know, coming at me and being like,
08:50you know, they're they're open to listening or they could be open to listening,
08:56which is the way I think I termed it.
08:57And he's like, that's a nothing burger from Bedard.
08:59Like, you know, look, if I wanted to, if I wanted to be a flamethrower and like,
09:04you know, I cared about, you know, social interactions and, you know,
09:10whatever clicks, then I would put like, Joe Milton is on the trade block.
09:16Like, no, people know by now, like I'm going to give you as accurate as I know
09:21it to be at the time.
09:23And from what I heard, there's been some internal discussions
09:29and it's sort of gone outside of internal to, and I don't think they're,
09:37I don't think people are calling right now.
09:39I think, I think there have been calls, you know, at, at some point in time,
09:44again, there's been a regime change.
09:46They're still going through that.
09:47There's still, there's a lot of evaluations going on.
09:50So, but for, you know, from what I understand, I think the Patriots now,
09:54as they're getting towards the end of that process are now contemplating
10:00listening to offers on Joe Milton from this perspective,
10:04that they think the timing might be right for that.
10:07Given Milton's film in the, in the final game of the season,
10:11which was really impressive and that this is a weak quarterback draft.
10:16And, you know, they drafted him in the sixth round.
10:19You know, if you can get a good pop on it, maybe you just, you know,
10:23maybe you just do it again, trade him and then do it again with somebody else.
10:27And so, you know, I think I would guess that they're going to start listening
10:33because, you know, if you look at it,
10:36like the third round quarterback evaluations, like if you're talking like
10:39Riley Leonard or Dylan Gabriel or, or whoever, like,
10:45would you rather draft those guys or go with Joe Milton who has all the,
10:52all the physical skills that you want, size, running ability, arm strength.
10:58And now you have NFL film, you know, against, you know,
11:01some of the bills backups, but still it's NFL film.
11:04It's better than the college film.
11:05Or would you rather use your third round pick on to trade to the Patriots for a
11:11Joe Milton?
11:12So I think if the Patriots could get like a third round pick and perhaps it
11:16goes up, but at least a third round pick to go from six to third,
11:19that's a great return on investment.
11:21And I think you have to entertain that.
11:22Tell you what, you know, I'm a Notre Dame football fan.
11:24I take Joe Milton over Leonard.
11:26I'll answer that question for you.
11:28So it'll be interesting to see what they can get.
11:30And by the way, if Greg was going to be a flamethrower,
11:33he'd go on Felger and Maz and talk about forced marriages.
11:36We'll get to that later on.
11:38The last thing I wanted to touch here quickly,
11:40we've got more stuff to talk about, especially the front office,
11:43but a lot of people asking me,
11:45I'm sure a lot of people are asking you, Greg,
11:47what's going on with the wide receivers coach?
11:50Why haven't we heard anything about a wide receivers coach?
11:52Do you have any information as to why we have not heard anything regarding that
11:57position on the coaching staff?
11:59No, I, I have nothing.
12:01I was down at Mobile trying to find out.
12:05I was stalking Mike Vrabel with my powerful binoculars from across the stadium
12:10as he talked to various people.
12:13And it looked like he was conducting some interviews there.
12:16He was not, I did not spot him at Thursday's practice.
12:21I didn't spot Elliot Wolf as well.
12:23I could just be, be missing them.
12:25Vrabel's kind of hard to miss.
12:26Wolf, Wolf is easy to miss.
12:30But, you know,
12:31perhaps I wouldn't be surprised if they were conducting some interviews on
12:35that, but yeah, I mean, that's the next big hire to go down.
12:39Sean Jefferson, by the way, staying with the Jets.
12:42That was reported this morning.
12:43I know some people were wondering if Sean Jefferson was a possibility here.
12:47He's staying in New York.
12:49I do wonder, Greg,
12:51if this is a situation where they're waiting for somebody or trying to get
12:55somebody out of a contract.
12:58I know when I was seeing all the video from Vrabel and down there in Mobile
13:03and he's talking to Kevin Stefanski,
13:04I couldn't help but wonder if he was trying to pry Chad O'Shea away from
13:08Stefanski.
13:09So I wonder if there's some of that where they're trying to get somebody,
13:13but that somebody's under contract and they're,
13:15they're trying to wiggle that guy free.
13:18Or like you said,
13:19it might just be they're going through a bunch of interviews and they don't
13:22have as much urgency as we thought they would filling that position just
13:26yet. All right.
13:27Before we get into the front office dynamics down there in Mobile,
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14:37So the Patriots had a contingent down there in Mobile,
14:40and I know you talked about this during the week with Mike on the podcast.
14:45You had Matt Groh, you had Elliot Wolfe, you had Ryan Cowden, you had Vrabel.
14:53Am I missing anybody? Was Alonzo Highsmith down there?
14:57He was. He was not with the group.
14:59He was mostly hanging out with a lot of former Packers and Browns colleagues
15:06in one end zone, keeping a close eye on the offensive linemen, the one-on-ones.
15:11So Alonzo Highsmith was there.
15:15I don't know if it's necessarily a question,
15:18but the one thing I wanted to bring up here to start is
15:21I don't know if we appreciate, or at least appreciated,
15:26how far behind the eight ball the front office was last year.
15:31And this is not to excuse. This is not to excuse Elliot Wolfe.
15:34It's not to excuse all the decisions that he made or the decisions that he did not make.
15:39I want to make that clear. We always have to do that.
15:41The caveat, so people, if it gets aggregated or people are getting mad,
15:46this is not to excuse Elliot Wolfe and everything he did in the last 365 days.
15:51But I do think the fact that Wolfe and Mayo did not even make the trip, Greg,
15:56last year to Mobile, and this idea that Wolfe was working on trying to hire the staff
16:02with Mayo, and you had turnover, right?
16:06I mean, you had Wolfe bringing in Highsmith, you had Belichick leaving,
16:10you had them working on the new grading system that they did not install
16:14and actually use last year, but there was so much going on.
16:18Did we underappreciate that in real time about how much of a mess it was?
16:22Yeah, I mean, I don't really care about Mayo, you know, as far as him being down there,
16:28but that Elliot Wolfe, your de facto general manager, isn't at the Senior Bowl,
16:35it's not great, and I think it started the ball rolling on them
16:41sort of being behind the eight ball last year.
16:44Wolfe had to hang back and help Gerard Mayo with staffing,
16:49and so I think Elliot was thankful to be back in his element at the Senior Bowl
16:58doing his thing, freed up where he doesn't really have to worry about staffing
17:04or anything like that.
17:05Vrabel knows what he's doing.
17:07He has all these guys around him, whether it's Cowden or John Stryker
17:12or any of those guys, so I think he's thankful to be back in his element
17:20and doing the job the way that he always thought he would do it.
17:24It's just a reminder of we don't know what we don't know,
17:27and certain things are reported out, and we can go off of what we're watching, right,
17:31what we hear, and what we read, but the people behind the closed doors
17:35know exactly what's going on.
17:37Again, I get people being frustrated.
17:40They should be frustrated about some of the things that Wolfe did
17:43over the last year.
17:44He certainly did not pass the test necessarily,
17:48but if you're Robert Kraft and you're Jonathan Kraft,
17:52and we heard that the Crafts were making phone calls throughout the year
17:55of how should this program be run, and they knew what was going on,
18:00and they probably sat there and said to themselves,
18:03well, did Elliott Wolfe really have the opportunity?
18:06Did he have the opportunity to wrap his arms around the job?
18:10Is this the part where we say goodbye to him or we look at it and say,
18:14we gave him Gerard Mayo.
18:16Mayo had no network.
18:18He's doing Gerard Mayo's job in some cases.
18:22You got Robin Glazer thrown in there not making decisions,
18:25but Robin Glazer's in there during the interview process.
18:28It was just a cluster bleep.
18:31I think Robert looking at that and saying,
18:34I don't want to fire Elliott, when you start to put all these pieces
18:38together, I don't think that's outrageous.
18:41I don't think Wolfe, obviously, we've talked about this, Greg,
18:44I don't think Wolfe is making these decisions.
18:46This is going to be Vrabel and Cowden, and we'll talk about that in a minute
18:49as far as their dynamics down there in Mobile.
18:51But I just think it does kind of open your eyes,
18:54at least it did to me, of going back and saying,
18:57man, he didn't even go down to Mobile.
18:59He wasn't at the GM meetings.
19:01This dude wasn't doing the basics that a GM is supposed to do because he
19:07was having to deal with other stuff.
19:09And I think the Crafts probably took some guilt on that and said,
19:13we put him, like they said, they put Mayo in a bad spot,
19:16but they also put Wolfe in a bad spot.
19:18And they probably said, you know, we think this guy's smart.
19:21He's got the resume.
19:23We've seen him do some good things.
19:25Let's just hold on to him, and let's see how Mike feels about him.
19:29And I think that's kind of where they landed.
19:31As far as the dynamics in Mobile, Greg, I know you mentioned Matt Groh.
19:37I don't know why.
19:39Every time I see Matt Groh, I think of Napoleon Dynamite.
19:41I apologize, Matt.
19:43But I saw this one picture, and it was Cowden, Vrabel,
19:49and Wolfe to the left.
19:51And I think it was Cam Williams and somebody else with computers
19:54in front of them to the right.
19:56And sitting in the seats was Matt Groh all by himself.
20:03Does that pretty much tell us what's going on here?
20:06It seems like it.
20:07Now, I will preface this by saying, like, basically anybody you talk to
20:11about the Patriots and their dynamics, they're basically like Matt Groh
20:18is an interesting guy and sort of an odd guy.
20:21I wouldn't say interpersonal skills are high on his asset list.
20:26Not that that's damning or anything like that.
20:29I mean, just look at freaking Bill Belichick, for crying out loud.
20:34But it just seems like from observing them and also talking to people
20:38that were around the Patriots at the East-West Shrine game as well,
20:43it just seems that Matt Groh is on the periphery,
20:47that he's not as intimately involved as he used to be.
20:52And you see this dynamic happen when organizations bring in new people,
20:58and it just feels like that.
21:01And again, I don't know anything, but just from observing them,
21:04it seems like Matt Groh is one of those guys who will be on
21:07through the draft and then we'll quietly hear about him
21:10leaving the organization.
21:12Yeah, Burt Breer recently in this past week said something along the same lines
21:16where he could see Groh being gone eventually.
21:22It's somewhat like high school when you see some of this stuff.
21:28There are little cliques that get built, right?
21:30And so looking at that picture, it was like the junior high kid
21:34who didn't have any friends sitting at the table by himself
21:37having his peanut butter and jelly sandwich with his lunchbox.
21:41I felt bad for Matt Groh in that moment because he did look like the kid
21:45that wasn't allowed to play with the other kids,
21:48which was a rough picture for him.
21:51I'm sure he'll be fine. Belichick will grab him.
21:53He'll be put in some role for UNC and make six figures.
21:55I think he'll be good.
21:58I wanted to ask you about Stretch, John Stryker,
22:01because we haven't really dove into him as much as I think we could.
22:05What have you heard about Stretch, his personality maybe,
22:09his role, his impact? Tell us about that guy.
22:13I got to meet him in Mobile.
22:16How tall is he, by the way? Is he taller than you?
22:18He's freaking tall.
22:21It was hard the way our interaction.
22:25I will say he's tall and long.
22:27You see why he got the nickname Stretch.
22:34He's very nice, very smart.
22:39I enjoyed my interaction with him and look forward to more.
22:44What struck me, because you hear about him.
22:49Talking to people in Tennessee,
22:51he was more of Rable's administrative assistant,
22:55but with game day duties.
22:57I guess that holds up.
22:58Basically, how I would describe him,
23:00I'm like what I think, this is just my feeling.
23:03He didn't tell me this or anything like that.
23:05It seems like he's basically Bears Nigerian,
23:09who is Belichick's right-hand man and gatekeeper,
23:12but also like Ernie Adams.
23:15He's a mix of both.
23:17He's basically Rable's gatekeeper.
23:20Then he's also very smart, will be up in the booth,
23:25game day, game management, all that stuff.
23:29Definitely interesting job description
23:34and look forward to seeing him in action.
23:37Have you ever seen Bussing with the Boys,
23:39or I should say Bussing with the Boys, Taylor LeBron or Bill Thompson?
23:44No.
23:45I know of them and I've seen maybe clips.
23:49Do yourself a favor.
23:50Anybody who's watching this podcast or listening,
23:53go to YouTube and search Bussing with the Boys, Mike Rable.
23:58He did an episode with them in his final year in 2023.
24:02I think it was right before the Titans went to camp.
24:05It tells you a lot.
24:08For any Patriots fan who wants to know Mike Rable
24:13at a level that you might not know him,
24:15and if you want to know how he runs, especially the first year,
24:18because some of the talk, because Will Compton and Taylor LeBron
24:22were both with Rable in 2018, his first year with the Titans,
24:25and they go through how tough Rable was his first year with that team.
24:30I find that fascinating and how he changed
24:35and how he evolved as a coach,
24:37where he might have been a little bit more hard-ass that first year.
24:40He talks about weeding certain people out.
24:42If you're a Patriots fan and you want to have a feel
24:45for how Mike Rable will handle this roster this year in that locker room,
24:50I would suggest you go to Bustin' with the Boys and watch that episode.
24:53It's fantastic.
24:55Rable's absolutely hilarious, by the way.
24:57He's really, really funny.
25:00I know people say it all the time,
25:02but in this episode, you could really get a feel for it.
25:04But I bring that up because he talked about stretch,
25:07and they talked about that 2019 game against the Patriots
25:11where Rable, as we all know, we all remember,
25:14Rable got the best of Belichick with the intentional penalties
25:18and wasting clock, and they get into stretch.
25:23Rable is over the top as far as how much this guy means
25:29to him, to the operation, and says how smart he is
25:34and gives him a lot of the credit for the strategy stuff
25:37that we see from Rable and says he's brilliant.
25:40Rable did mention that as Belichick was losing his mind,
25:44Rable was smirking, not necessarily because he was smirking
25:49at Belichick, but he was smirking because apparently
25:51he said stretch was losing his mind in the headset
25:53because he had known the rules, and stretch was helping
25:57Rable get through this, and so stretch was throwing a parade
26:00because he was seeing Belichick's reaction,
26:02and he knew they got the best of him.
26:03So I guess he was, I would guess, screaming expletives
26:07and losing his mind, and that's why Rable was kind of smirking
26:09because he was trying not to laugh to what stretch was doing
26:12in the headset.
26:13But yeah, I mean, I guess, and Taylor LeJuan also speaks
26:17very highly of him, so does Compton.
26:19I guess stretch is a very vital piece of the puzzle
26:22for Mike Rable, so I think he's a guy that we do not
26:25want to overlook.
26:26With that said, before we get to the forced marriage,
26:29before we get to the offensive staff, Greg wants to get
26:32to game time.
26:34We all watch the games on TV.
26:37That's what we're comfortable doing, but to really enjoy sport,
26:41you have to be there in person, and game time helps
26:44to get you there.
26:45It's the way I get there.
26:47Game time picks, filters out all the fluff to show you
26:49only incredible deals and great seats so you don't have
26:51to waste time searching through thousands of tickets.
26:53I love the all-in pricing.
26:55Toggling this feature shows the total up front with none
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27:01at other ticket places.
27:03They got the seat views on there, get a panoramic view
27:05from your seat in the app before you buy.
27:08I was just looking for events coming up at TD Garden.
27:13If you've never been to the Beanpot, they got some great
27:16deals on there.
27:17Monday night is the semifinals.
27:19It's great stuff.
27:20You can get in for $60 all-in at a few places.
27:27They got some great deals.
27:28You could sit close to the boards for $156, $145 all-in.
27:38Make sure to download the game time app, create an account,
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27:47Download game time today.
27:49What time is it?
27:50Game time.
27:51It's time.
27:52It's time.
27:53It's time.
27:54Bring it.
27:55Could you imagine my reaction as I was sitting in my living
28:00room and transparently, frankly, I don't watch a lot of
28:06Felgermast.
28:07I don't listen to a lot of radio, really.
28:09I kind of like doing my own stuff and staying in my own head.
28:12I don't like being, what's the word I'm looking for?
28:18Impacted by somebody else's opinion and then I'm thinking,
28:21I start to think a little bit of that.
28:23So I don't watch a ton.
28:25I really don't.
28:26But I do watch a decent amount when Greg's on because I like the
28:30back and forth and Greg's my guy, so I'll watch it.
28:34And I was watching this week and frankly, I was disgusted when my
28:39guy, Greg, all of a sudden went out there with a heat check with
28:44a, with a, with a bomb.
28:46When he, when he said something along the lines of, you know what
28:50fellas, I'm starting to starting to feel like this could be a
28:53little bit of a forced marriage between Josh McDaniels and Mike
28:58Vrabel.
28:59We'll get to the offensive staff.
29:01I want to keep that separately.
29:03As far as the decision to bring McDaniels in as OC Greg Bedard.
29:09Do you believe that was a Robert Kraft decision and it was forced
29:13on Mike Vrabel or do you think inevitably it was a Mike Vrabel
29:17decision?
29:18Clarify, sir.
29:22It's a good question.
29:26How would I answer that?
29:28Um, I mean, is it possible to be like, sort of like in the middle?
29:36I think.
29:39I think it was a combination of Mike not being able to get his
29:44preferences, whether it be Arthur Smith or Tommy Reese or other
29:50people that we don't know about.
29:52And, um, but also I think the crafts, let it be known to Mike that
29:59they really like Josh.
30:00He's always done a good job for them.
30:02And, uh, they, they would really like Mike to give Josh a really
30:08hard look now.
30:11Do I think it was, you know, forced on Vrabel?
30:14Like he had to do it.
30:16No, but.
30:17My feeling and the, uh, the offensive construction around him is like
30:23a lot of this circumstantial evidence for me.
30:26Um, so it's not part and parcel.
30:28Um, I, I do.
30:31I think that Vrabel, at least for now, uh, decided to, to go along
30:38to get along, but I think he's leaving some options open.
30:42I don't feel like Mike Vrabel is a get along to go along type guy.
30:46I don't see that.
30:47I don't hear that.
30:48I don't feel that.
30:49I don't think we can have it both ways.
30:51I don't think we can treat Mike Vrabel as the Sergeant, the new
30:54Marshall in town who walks in and he's going to run the football
30:57operation, but then suggest that he was kind of giving one, so to
31:02speak to ownership by letting the guy who's going to run his
31:05offense, be Josh McDaniels.
31:07I just, I don't think that's Vrabel's personality.
31:10I also am very confident that Mike Vrabel had all of the leverage,
31:14not most of the leverage.
31:15He had all of the leverage when he was talking to the crafts and
31:18he knew that I knew that you knew that we all knew that.
31:22I don't think Mike Vrabel makes any decision as far as, you know,
31:27a top position on his coaching staff without feeling comfortable
31:31in a position that he's in.
31:33a top position on his coaching staff without feeling comfortable
31:37and believing that that is the right decision, whether it's his
31:39second choice or third choice.
31:41I believe that.
31:42I would also say that it's interesting.
31:44You know, Burt Breer in the middle of December said on Chicago
31:48radio, Chicago 1000, that the top two guys that Vrabel had as far
31:54as who was going to run his offense.
31:55And, and Burt was talking about the Chicago bears at that point
31:58would be Tommy Reese or Josh McDaniels.
32:01So it's not as if McDaniels came out of left field.
32:04It's not as if this wasn't reported out a month before Vrabel
32:08got the job.
32:09It was stated by Burt and it was stated also, I believe by Jeff Howe
32:13in early January, maybe even earlier than that, that Vrabel and
32:17McDaniels was possibly a package and it wasn't just a package
32:20to the Patriots.
32:21It was a package deal and it started with Chicago.
32:24And we talked about that too.
32:26Right, right.
32:27So this isn't, it's, it's rather obvious to me.
32:31And I would also say, I'm not going to get too deep into this
32:35because I'm not an insider or whatever.
32:37I would say I have a pretty good source with this situation.
32:42And that's why I was really confident when Greg and I talked,
32:46and I don't think the podcast ever made the light of day because
32:49the McDaniels news came out hours later, but we were talking
32:52about it on a podcast last week before McDaniels got hired about
32:56or two weeks ago, you know, is McDaniels going to be the guy?
32:59And at the time, Greg said, I wouldn't say he's the favorite,
33:02but I would say he's in the mix and I'm not totally sold that
33:05he'll end up being the guy, but you know, he's, he's, he's there.
33:08He's, he's up near the top of the list.
33:10And I said to Greg, I absolutely believe Josh McDaniels
33:15will have that job.
33:16And I think he'll have the job within the next 36 to 48 hours.
33:19So I do have a little bit of information and I think this
33:24was a situation where.
33:26Vrabel was looking at McDaniels and I think McDaniels was on
33:29his list and I think McDaniels was near the top of the list.
33:32It might've not been the tippity top might've been Tommy Reese.
33:35As you said, Greg, he might've been hoping that Arthur Smith
33:37was going to be able to wiggle his way free somehow, some way,
33:41but I don't think this was Mike Vrabel walking into the office.
33:45And I'm saying this, I'm not saying you're framing it this way,
33:47Greg, but I do think it has been framed in a way where it's Mike
33:51Vrabel walks into the office and he's got his list of, you know,
33:54offensive coordinator suggestions and Kraft sits there and he's
34:00like, I want McDaniels.
34:02Like I don't, I don't like, I don't think that happened.
34:06I would also say, by the way, cause I love research before we
34:10get to the staff issues.
34:13I'm going to play a game here, Greg, with you.
34:14Let's see if, let's see if you get this right.
34:16From 2019 to 2024, there were 30 head coach hires in the NFL.
34:26So 30 from, from, sorry.
34:28It's from 21 to 24, that five-year period, 21, 22, 23, 24,
34:32the four-year period, whatever, 30 hires.
34:35How many of those head coaches do you think brought the top
34:40coordinator with them on the opposite side of the football?
34:43How many do you think had a relationship with that guy?
34:47How many do you think?
34:48So for example, Antonio Pierce, I'll give you one Antonio Pierce
34:52in 2024, right?
34:54He stayed with the Raiders.
34:55Patrick Graham was his defensive coordinator.
34:58Um, you know, you can look at the offensive coordinator or
35:01whatever you could look at Shane Steichen in 2023 offensive guy
35:07brings in Gus Bradley as his defensive coordinator.
35:10They had a relationship.
35:11Out of the 30 head coaches.
35:12How many do you think had a relationship with the guy who's going
35:16to run the opposite side of the football?
35:1825.
35:20Oh no, not that high.
35:22Um, no, actually you're right.
35:24You're right.
35:25Hold on.
35:26No, I'm awful at math.
35:27Not that high.
35:2817, 17, 13 out of the 30 head coaches that were brought in had
35:35what we would say arranged marriages had, had no relationship
35:40with the guy who was brought in.
35:42That's 43%.
35:44So almost a flip of the coin, uh, through four years of hiring.
35:49And I'll give you some examples.
35:50You know, Brandon Staley brought in Joe.
35:53Yeah.
35:54What's your point?
35:56My point is that arranged marriages are not unique.
36:01And I think, and I'm not saying that this was arranged marriage,
36:03but if the argument is that this was an arranged marriage, I would
36:06tell you they happen all the time.
36:08They happen all the time.
36:10And I think because we're in this bubble of new England, it's
36:13painted as Robert Kraft doing something that is not done very
36:17often, which is just BS.
36:19As a matter of fact, when you look at last year's hiring cycle, Dave
36:23Canales, Mayo, Mike McDonald, Brian Callahan, Dan Quinn, all had
36:31people on their staff running the opposite side of the football
36:33that they had absolutely zero relationship with.
36:35So my point is, even if it was arranged, it's not something
36:39that's like looked down upon by the NFL.
36:42And it's not something that is just, you know, an issue where
36:45it's, Oh, Robert Kraft is meddling.
36:48Not necessarily if you believe it's arranged.
36:50And again, I don't believe it was arranged.
36:51I believe McDaniel's was Rabel's call.
36:54Now, as far as the staff, what's your problem, Greg?
36:59So, so this is the, this is the pertinent thing to me.
37:02I don't care about craft.
37:03I don't care about the arranged marriage.
37:05Like that's not it.
37:06Like, I, I don't really care.
37:08And by the way on McDaniel's, I could tell you that I know, like
37:12there weren't in-depth discussions with Vrabel and McDaniel's, uh,
37:17very much at all about the future and things like that.
37:21And even after like, even in the immediate aftermath of
37:26Vrabel getting the job, um,
37:29That's fine.
37:30Um, to me, the bigger issue that I have in where, what my point
37:34was with Felger and Maz was I feel uneasy about what they're doing
37:39on offense, as opposed to what Vrabel is doing on defense is
37:43exactly what he should be doing.
37:45Um, he knows what he wants.
37:47He knows what scheme he wants.
37:48He's bringing in his people.
37:50He's bringing in his people.
37:51He's bringing in his people.
37:52He's bringing in his people.
37:53He's bringing in his people.
37:54He's bringing in his people.
37:55He knows what scheme he wants.
37:56He's bringing in his people that can execute it.
38:00The exact opposite is going on on offense.
38:03You know, I, I think the world of Josh McDaniel's and, you know,
38:08because of his brilliance and what he's learned over the years,
38:13this could end up working like gangbusters.
38:16That's probably what's going to happen.
38:17Cause that's how much confidence I have in Josh McDaniel's who I
38:21think him and Vrabel are very much aligned in, uh, in the fact that
38:25they, they both believe in, in their hearts, that coaching on either
38:30side of the ball is about knowing what you have, knowing what you
38:34don't have and building everything that you do around that.
38:38I think that they are in sync with that.
38:40I think there might be two of the best in the NFL at that.
38:44So it gives me a level of confidence that this is going to no matter
38:49what we're talking about right now, that it's going to work at the end
38:52of the day, because I think that much of both of these guys, um,
38:58my thing is, is, you know, like I said, the defensive side,
39:01they're doing it right.
39:02The offensive side is a complete hodgepodge of people.
39:06Like it's basically like a gumbo stew of, you know, you got Josh
39:10McDaniel's and where he's been, you got, you know, Doug Morone,
39:13where he's been Thomas Brown, where he's been, you have,
39:16now you have Ben McAdoo into the mix, which makes this,
39:20which makes this me even more uneasy about, you know, what they're doing
39:25on the offensive side.
39:26I mean, to me, if you were empowering, if you felt the greatest confidence
39:31in Josh McDaniel's to be the offensive coordinator, you would have,
39:35you would have given him a V a few key hires and we,
39:40and maybe he did.
39:42Maybe he did.
39:43We don't know that yet because Vrabel hasn't talked.
39:46My understanding is he's going to talk.
39:48Once the staff is completely full, we'll see when that is,
39:52what he says and how things came about.
39:55But, you know, especially when you're talking about Josh McDaniel's
39:59and what he does and what he believes in on offense, to me,
40:03offensive line and wide receivers coach, which might happen because
40:07it's still open as we've talked about.
40:10He needs those guys.
40:11And we talked to, this is not new.
40:13We talked about this with Bill O'Brien, the arranged marriage
40:16with Adrian Clem, which was a complete disaster.
40:18You know, when O'Brien's guy, Mike Devlin was,
40:21who's now the Chargers offensive line coach was right there
40:24as Jets assistant offensive line coach that they could have brought in.
40:27And I bet you things would have worked a lot better.
40:29But to me, it looks like, again, this is what it looks like to me.
40:35I'm not saying anybody's told me this, but to me,
40:38it looks like, okay, hire Josh McDaniel's.
40:41Now you're throwing all this stuff together.
40:43He's getting none of his own hires.
40:45And now you're surrounding him now with before it was two.
40:49Now it's three different people who have done the job
40:52of offensive coordinator in the NFL.
40:55And it sort of looks like to me that it's like, okay, yeah,
40:58we'll go with Josh.
40:59Not sure about this, how it's going to work,
41:02but I'm going to leave myself options in case it doesn't work
41:05at the end of the day for whatever reason.
41:07And so that's where I have most of my issue that if I was running the ship
41:13and say I was on top of Mike Rabel, but working with Mike Rabel,
41:18I'd be like, dude, this is what you need to do.
41:20You want your defense?
41:22Go get your people.
41:23On offense, do the same thing.
41:25If you're going to pick a lane and go that way.
41:28And to me, this looks freaking disjointed.
41:31It looks like a gumbo.
41:32Could work.
41:34Could also be a disaster.
41:36I would disagree with disjointed.
41:38I think the question is, the first question to ask is,
41:41is it better to try to hire the best people you can hire
41:43or is it better to hire people that you know?
41:46That seems to be part of the question here, right?
41:50Because the people that you know bring familiarity,
41:53but they also might have a limit.
41:54They might have a ceiling.
41:55Somebody like Thomas Brown is known across the league
41:58as a really high potential type guy.
42:01So do you bring Thomas Brown in to be your passing game coordinator
42:04and tight ends coach?
42:05Or do you go out there and try to bring in like a Szaplinski
42:08or whoever else that you worked with back in the day?
42:10I think that's part of the conversation here.
42:13I don't have much of an issue of trying to go out
42:15and get the best people that you can get.
42:17Secondly, I would say, I think categorizing the offensive staff
42:23as rabble people, I don't know about that.
42:26First, Tony Dews, yes.
42:27Tony Dews is obviously a rabble guy, right?
42:30So we can put him there.
42:31We can put him there.
42:32Doug Marone has never coached with rabble.
42:35I'm not saying they're rabble guys.
42:37It's just all over the place.
42:39I mean, just the fact that Thomas Brown, from what we know,
42:43is the pass game coordinator.
42:45I mean, like what the hell?
42:46That's Josh McDaniel's specialty.
42:48He doesn't need a pass game coordinator.
42:51He's been doing this for like 20 years.
42:53First of all, it's a title.
42:55I'm sure that McDaniels will have plenty of say.
42:57They probably had to give Brown that title to get Brown in the building,
43:00and they probably really wanted Brown in the building because he's a smart guy.
43:03Have you not said – maybe I'm wrong.
43:06I'm not sure if I'm wrong, honestly.
43:08Just a genuine question.
43:09Were you the person who said that Sean McVeigh was friendly with McDaniels?
43:13McDaniels has a great relationship with McVeigh?
43:14Yes, absolutely.
43:15Okay, so I could say Thomas Brown is a McDaniels guy, possibly, right?
43:19If we're going to use the relationship –
43:21No.
43:22Yes, because if we're going to use the relationship that Doug Marone has
43:25with Bill O'Brien and say, oh, well, he's best friends with Bill O'Brien,
43:28so Mike Vrabel brings in Doug Marone, I could say, well, hey,
43:31Thomas Brown was the assistant head coach of Sean McVeigh,
43:34and they have a bunch of McDaniels guys who used to coach underneath McDaniels
43:36out there in L.A. with the Rams,
43:38so McDaniels has to have some working knowledge of Thomas Brown
43:41and probably has had conversations about Thomas Brown.
43:44So I would imagine if McDaniels is good friends with McVeigh
43:47and McVeigh named that guy his assistant head coach,
43:50I would just have to make the leap that there's been a conversation
43:54between McDaniels and Brown, or at least McDaniels and McVeigh,
43:56about Thomas Brown.
43:58That's what I would say.
43:59If we're going to use those links, that's what I would do.
44:02I would also say that young guy, it looks to me, Greg,
44:05what's happening here is McDaniels has his say, Vrabel has his say,
44:09and what they're doing is they're meeting in the middle,
44:11which I think is what you should do.
44:13It's a compromise.
44:14I would love to have McDaniels have all of his guys.
44:17I don't think that's always the case.
44:19I'll get to that in a second across the NFL, especially one recent example.
44:23But you look at Marone again, you know the link.
44:25The two young guys that we know on the staff, you've got Larkin,
44:28who is a McDaniels guy, John Carroll, that link with John Carroll
44:34and all of that, and you've got Ashton Grant,
44:37who is a Vrabel guy from the Cleveland Browns.
44:39So I think it's almost one for one versus Vrabel's walking in
44:43and swinging his big Vrabel and saying, you know,
44:46this is what we're going to do.
44:48The other point I would make is this.
44:51Did you think the Washington Commanders had a good season?
44:56Yeah.
44:57All right.
44:58So what I did was I wanted to find the most recent example
45:02that was as close to what we have right now here in New England,
45:05and it was Washington.
45:08So you have Dan Quinn, former head coach, defensive mind.
45:13He brings in Cliff Kingsbury to be his offensive head coach,
45:17whatever you want to call him.
45:19They had no connection, no connection professionally that I'm aware of.
45:23I looked at both their track records.
45:25I don't know if Quinn knew Kingsbury at all,
45:28if he didn't know him from a hole in the wall.
45:30He brought in Kingsbury, right?
45:32So I know people will say, well, Nick, that doesn't really prove anything.
45:36Well, then I looked at the staff, and I wanted to figure out
45:40who on the offensive staff in Washington was linked with Kingsbury
45:43and was linked with Quinn.
45:46It might shock people, but from my research,
45:49Cliff Kingsbury got two people on his staff.
45:52Two.
45:53It was the assistant quarterback's coach, David Bluff,
45:57who was a backup quarterback for Kingsbury in 2022.
46:03No, sorry.
46:04It was his quarterback's coach or something in 2022.
46:05I wrote that wrong, but he was in Arizona.
46:07No, he was a backup quarterback for Kingsbury in Arizona 2022.
46:11It was Kingsbury's backup quarterback behind Murray.
46:14And the tight ends coach, David, I hope I pronounce his last name correct,
46:17Rye, who was a wide receivers coach with Kingsbury in Arizona 19 and 20.
46:22Those were the only two guys that Kingsbury got on his staff.
46:25That was it.
46:27As far as other guys on that staff, they had two holdovers,
46:31quarterbacks coach Tavita Pritchard and wide receivers coach Bobby Ingram.
46:35And then when we talk about having head coaches on your staff
46:38or fellow offensive coordinators, interestingly enough,
46:43the assistant head coach pass game coordinator,
46:46who you could almost equate to Thomas Brown, was Brian Johnson,
46:49who had no connection to either guy and was an offensive coordinator
46:53for a couple of years before he moved to Washington.
46:56Their run game coordinator and running backs coach was Anthony Lynn,
46:59who had never coached with either guy and was a former head coach in the league.
47:04So what I look at when I'm looking at this Patriots staff, Greg,
47:08my point is I think they're kind of following the Washington blueprint
47:13when it comes to head coach, offensive coordinator,
47:17and the staff underneath that coordinator.
47:19It's go out and get the best guy that's available to us.
47:23And then that guy is going to get a couple people, a few people on the staff.
47:27And then we're going to have a holdover or two, which is Ben McAdoo.
47:32And then we're going to go try to find the most talented people that we can,
47:35which is like Doug Marone could be Anthony Lynn,
47:37and Thomas Brown could be Brian Johnson.
47:39I think that's what they're doing.
47:41And I'm not telling you it's going to work, but I don't think it's this.
47:45I just think it's been framed.
47:46And again, not necessarily by you, Greg,
47:48but I think it's been framed as if Vrabel was forced to hire McDaniels
47:54and that McDaniels has had absolutely no say on the offensive staff
47:58and that this is such a rare situation that we don't see in the NFL.
48:02And I would just disagree with all three of those things.
48:04I would disagree with every single one of those.
48:06Okay.
48:07My counterpoint on Washington is that to me it's apples and oranges
48:12because of Kingsbury's system.
48:16And it's not as dependent on how you scheme up the offensive line.
48:24Basically, like Kingsbury, because it's air raid, comes from that family.
48:33Kingsbury's done a great job of – he has schemed at least this year.
48:38It's probably going to change next year because now there's so much film
48:41and people get caught up.
48:43Kingsbury was able to, through his scheme, was able to scheme around
48:48the offensive line, which frankly wasn't very good.
48:51He made it look a lot better because it's a much simplified blocking scheme.
48:58To me, it's different than the Patriots is because the way that the Patriots
49:04game plan – basically, whether it's McDaniels or Bill O'Brien
49:11or whoever, or Charlie Weiss, what happens is that they set the game plan
49:17and then they hand it over what they wanted to do that week, the concepts,
49:21they hand it over to the offensive line coach who draws up all the blocking
49:25for all the plays in that game plan that week.
49:29I don't think Cliff Kingsbury is the same way.
49:33To me, that's why – and this goes back to O'Brien and Adrian Clem –
49:39why I disagreed with it, and I turned out to be right,
49:42was you do things a certain way with this Patriots offense.
49:50That's why, whether it's Josh McDaniels or Bill O'Brien,
49:54wherever they coach, they always had their guy on the offensive line
49:57because the offensive coordinator and the offensive line are so linked
50:01in what they do. It's a valid point that you bring up, and I don't disagree with it.
50:08I just think it's a little different when we're talking about the McDaniels scheme.
50:14One final thing I would say because I think it's a great back and forth,
50:17but I've got to run. I've got to do a live pod pretty soon here.
50:20The one thing I would say is the guys that have coached under Josh McDaniels
50:26also have other jobs right now, so we don't know if they will become available.
50:30Cole Popovich is still in Houston. He has not been fired by the Texans.
50:33He might end up getting the O-line coach job.
50:35Sounds like they're going to hire Nick Caley.
50:37I would not think it's crazy if they brought Nick Caley in as their O.C.
50:40that Popovich will stay as his O-line coach because of that link.
50:44Brasillo is still in New York.
50:47If you're going to hire somebody away from a team, you've got to give them a title.
50:52You've got to give them a promotion.
50:54That's also part of this puzzle that we're not talking about.
50:57A lot of the links that Josh has around the league, these guys have jobs.
51:02You can't just pluck somebody from an organization because they're your buddy.
51:08You've got to have a legitimate title to give to them and say,
51:11we are going to promote them, and that's what we're going to utilize
51:16to bring them into the organization.
51:18It's not as easy as saying, well, he knows Cole Popovich,
51:21why don't he just go get Cole Popovich as the O-line coach
51:23because he's contracted with Nick Cassario down in Houston,
51:26and he might just stay down there.
51:28There's different layers to all of this.
51:31I would just say this.
51:33Would it be more familiar if McDaniels had a bunch of people that he knew?
51:37Yeah, of course.
51:38There's more than one way to skin a cat.
51:40I don't know if this is going to work,
51:42but I do like the idea of get the best OC available,
51:46which in my mind was McDaniels.
51:48I love that hire.
51:49Get the best guy you can get in that top position
51:52and surround him with as many smart people as you can.
51:55So I don't think it's the worst thing in the world.
51:58Good back and forth.
51:59I will say one last point is I will say you're right.
52:03It could work.
52:04But to me, doing what Abraham Lincoln did,
52:09building a team of rivals, so to speak,
52:12within his cabinet might work in politics,
52:15but it doesn't work that well in football.
52:19I don't know where the commanders came from as far as where all those guys came
52:23in terms of the offenses that they had worked in,
52:26but that's what I'm more worried about.
52:28You're talking about a hodgepodge of people who have worked
52:32in vastly different offenses working under Josh McDaniels.
52:36And again, it might work, but it's going to take Josh.
52:40Maybe he's spending a lot of time doing this right now.
52:43He's going to, and this is part of the coordinator's responsibility.
52:46The coordinators have to coach the coaches.
52:48And so he's going to have to get all these guys on the same page.
52:52Again, the bottom line is I have so much confidence in Josh McDaniels
52:57and his brilliance that it will work.
53:00Like I said, the point I made on Felger and Maz was it makes me a bit uneasy
53:06to see them take this approach.
53:08Just a few key hires for McDaniels.
53:11You're right about guys who aren't available.
53:13Dave DiGuglielmo I think is out there.
53:16He was with Josh here.
53:18Josh was bringing him to Indy with him.
53:21That was a possibility.
53:23Again, Vrabel could know about Gouge,
53:26who is not exactly the easiest guy to get along with and been like,
53:30F no, I'm not hiring that guy, so find somebody else.
53:33And maybe that's how they got on Marone, that he's more of a consensus pick.
53:38He has some familiarity with the Patriots.
53:40He has some whatever.
53:42But I will say between all these guys, whether it's Vrabel, McDaniels, Marone,
53:48now Ben McAdoo, you're talking about a lot of people
53:53with a lot of strong personalities and strong beliefs.
53:56I just think it's a very interesting mix that they're putting together.
54:01Could be great.
54:02Could also be rough.
54:04I have so much more for you, but we don't have a radio show,
54:07and I got to cut this thing.
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55:43Hopefully you all enjoyed that back and forth between Greg and I.
55:46We'll see what happens over the weekend.
55:48Any news, we'll be all over it.
55:50We'll talk to you next time.
55:51Enjoy your weekend.
55:53That's about it.
55:54Bye-bye, everybody.
55:55[♪ music playing ♪