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00:00How do you sell players to come play in New England?
00:02I think the easy answer is just pay them more money, which we can get to,
00:06because I have questions about that with Kraft.
00:08How do you sell them? Is it as simple as Drake May?
00:11So I think, to put money to the side, because I think money is the number one thing everywhere.
00:15I know like Miles Garrett was saying it isn't the most important thing, but whatever.
00:18It is for almost every single player.
00:20Maybe you can find like 1% of guys that isn't.
00:23So I think you can sell them on a few different things.
00:25One would be Drake May.
00:27I think another would be Mike Vrabel.
00:29I think both of those guys are pretty easy sells, to be honest.
00:33And then depending on the player and the position,
00:36don't you also sell them on their role and how important they're going to be to the turnaround?
00:40Like I think if you brought in...
00:41Right, it's like we have Vrabel, we have Drake May, we have nothing else.
00:45You guys can be part of it.
00:46We're set at coach quarterback.
00:48Yeah.
00:48You guys can be part of the turnaround,
00:50and you're going to be the best player at your position.
00:52You're going to be a leader at your position.
00:54Yeah.
00:54You're going to get a lot of play.
00:55If you're a receiver or running back, there's tons of playing time for you.
00:58Yeah.
00:59Yeah.
00:59And the NFL is different than the other sports, too,
01:02because actually maybe the NBA is even becoming this way, too.
01:06They're really market-proof.
01:08You don't have to play in New York.
01:09You don't have to play in LA to be on every commercial and super famous.
01:15And if you're winning and you're really good, you're going to be there.
01:18You see Rob Gronkowski everywhere you go, right?
01:21You can do that.
01:22So if that's something that any of these players that aren't familiar
01:24with New England are worried about,
01:26I don't think they need to be worried about that at all.
01:28And just the nature of the NFL, bad teams can become good teams overnight.
01:32You know, it happens all the time.
01:33You could point to a million examples.
01:35You could point to Washington this year, Houston last year, on down the line.
01:40Be like, hey, we could be that.
01:42Why can't we be that?
01:43We have a coach that knows what he's doing.
01:44We have a quarterback who is at least arrow pointing up.
01:49So yesterday when we did our top 10s, we didn't have him starting the year in the top 10,
01:53but it doesn't mean he can't jump into that conversation at some point.
01:56They at least know who their guy is, which is a leg up on 10 other teams.
02:01No, for sure.
02:02So I think Vrabel is a good one.
02:03I think selling a player on their role is always a big one.
02:07And I think Drake May.
02:08I mean, you hope guys want to play with Drake May.
02:10I saw an interview with Miles Garrett yesterday.
02:12Maybe this is what you were referencing.
02:14But he was asked, I think by Mina Kimes,
02:16would you want to play with a guy like Jaden Daniels?
02:19I mean, would that be a big factor?
02:20And it's like, well, yeah.
02:21You want to play with a good quarterback if you're a defensive player.
02:24You want to play with a guy on the other side of the field.
02:26He doesn't want to play with more Jameis Winston, Deshaun Watson, DTR.
02:30Bailey's happy?
02:31Yeah, he doesn't want to play with those guys.
02:32And so, of course, you want to play with a young, up-and-coming quarterback.
02:36Now, is Drake May viewed that way?
02:39I'm starting to wonder if we've even undersold it to a degree, Keith,
02:42given how popular he's been, just interview media wise,
02:47coming out of the Pro Bowl and into the Super Bowl.
02:49And these interviews, this is a local one,
02:51but there's been a bunch of national ones as well.
02:53And on top of that, just watching some of his popularity
02:56at the Pro Bowl with other players.
02:57He's going around interviewing guys,
03:00you know, poolside, leading up to the Pro Bowl.
03:02And so maybe there is more of a draw with him than even we give it credit for.
03:06Yeah, I think, you know, when these guys come into the league as really high picks,
03:10you know, like Matt Jones was a first-round pick, but he was 15th.
03:13There was four quarterbacks taken ahead of him.
03:15It was like maybe a little bit different.
03:17But Drake May, like all his, all college year,
03:20there were thoughts about him being like the number one pick in the draft.
03:23So he came in with a little bit of hype and then he didn't start right away.
03:27But then once he started playing, I think,
03:30you know, just what other teams were saying about him.
03:32Remember when they played the Rams and you heard like what
03:34Sean McVay had to say about him.
03:35That's true.
03:36Like there's definitely something that other players and coaches take notice of.
03:39Yeah, and I'm trying to remember how many of it was players.
03:42There definitely were coaches.
03:43McDaniel did it.
03:44I mean, McVay did it.
03:45Those are two great offensive minds.
03:46Very complimentary.
03:47Josh Allen might have played the Bills.
03:50So he might be an even bigger selling point than we prop it up to be.
03:55What's your confidence level Kraft is going to spend?
03:56Because I think that's the biggest.
03:58It's lower than any of the other things.
04:00Like convincing someone that it's okay to play in New England and, you know,
04:05selling them on joining a team that just won four games,
04:10a second year quarterback, Mike Vrabel, like all of that stuff.
04:13I think it's a lot easier to sell when you have the money behind you.
04:16The fact that Robert Kraft is going to do it.
04:18I don't know.
04:19I was shocked.
04:20He didn't do it last year.
04:21Now, maybe did he learn his lesson?
04:23Right?
04:23I think he may learn his lesson from just giving the job to Drodd Mayo.
04:26He at least changed that.
04:27That's true.
04:28So that's maybe a positive sign.
04:30I don't think you can be super cheap with it.
04:33I just wonder would Mike Vrabel have accepted the job?
04:38So last year, different story.
04:40Drodd Mayo wouldn't have gotten any other job.
04:42So Drodd Mayo got the job, wanted to spend money,
04:44but I doubt he was given any assurances that they were going to do it.
04:48And so that's sort of different.
04:49Would Mike Vrabel take this job?
04:50I think he might have thought he had some assurances early on.
04:53He earned some cash.
04:53I understand.
04:54But they quickly told him, we're not doing that.
04:57Yeah.
04:58But does Mike Vrabel take this job?
05:00And, hey, we're going to bring back some of our own guys.
05:03We're going to cut corners here and be dead last in cash spending for the third straight year.
05:09I would like to think Mike Vrabel would be like, well, what are your expectations then?
05:13How many games do you want us to win if we're not going to spend on players?
05:16So I have a confidence that they kind of have to spend.
05:19I mean, Kraft made reference to this at Vrabel's introductory press conference.
05:23They kind of have to spend.
05:24They look at it, three years rolling annually, the money out.
05:29So they kind of have to spend.
05:31But are they going to get uncomfortable for big ticket free agents?
05:35And I think you'll know that when you see it.
05:37Are they going to outmaneuver, outbid people for T. Higgins is a prominent name
05:42or Ronnie Stanley on the offensive line?
05:44Are they really going to go all out for some of these players like a big ticket item?
05:48It's kind of how we talk about the Red Sox here and there.
05:50And the Red Sox spend no money.
05:52I think the Patriots will spend some money.
05:54I think they kind of have to spend some money.
05:56Yeah, right.
05:57I think it foreshadowed that.
05:58Are they going to, again, outmaneuver other teams for a big ticket free agent?
06:04Can you land that big fish and not turn around and say, well,
06:08this guy wanted to sign there because of his girlfriend and that guy wanted to sign there?
06:12It's not about finance.
06:13No, it is about finance.
06:14It's mostly about finance.
06:15And so are you going to make it about finance and go get players this offseason?
06:19At the top of the market, I still don't have confidence Kraft is going to do it.
06:22I hope he does, but I'm not confident in that at all.
06:24So they have signed big free agents post Brady.
06:28They haven't signed any big free agents post Belichick, right?
06:31You can be like, well, Belichick was the one signing.
06:32I'm like, in 2021, there was no Tom Brady selling point
06:35and they were coming off a missed playoff year.
06:38And you can argue about how good any of these guys are.
06:42But right away, they signed Matt Judon.
06:44They signed both Hunter Henry and Johnny Smith.
06:46They signed Jalen Mills.
06:48They signed a few other guys.
06:51They were very, very active.
06:53Devon Godchild might have been part of that wave.
06:55They signed a ton of guys and some of them were good.
06:58Some of them obviously weren't.
07:00But that's not the thing.
07:01The thing is, they spent a lot of money.
07:03They needed a tight end.
07:04We thought they needed one.
07:05They went out and got two.
07:06Now, whatever you want to say about those guys.
07:08But they were two of the three highest ranked tight ends in free agency that year.
07:11This would be my hope.
07:122021, it's great.
07:13They spent a ton of money.
07:14Yeah, whatever it was.
07:15Quarter of a billion dollars.
07:16I don't remember.
07:17But they went out and spent like crazy.
07:19I'm not going to complain about that.
07:21But can you, beyond just Matthew Judon, who was a premium player,
07:26a premium position rather, can you spend at some premium positions?
07:30Not, let's double up at tight end, which is, I'm sorry, not a premium position.
07:34Well, they got Kendrick Bourne that year.
07:36I know, but that wasn't a top of the market player.
07:38I know it wasn't.
07:38They spent on receivers, but the receivers they spent on were Aguilar and Bourne.
07:42They spent at the top of the tight end market.
07:44Drafted a quarterback.
07:45Flip that.
07:45Why don't you spend on the real premium positions?
07:48I'll give them credit for Judon that year.
07:50There wasn't much else.
07:51So spend it tackle, spend it receiver, spend it corner if you want to.
07:56Like, those are the spots to do it.
07:57And again, I don't really have faith they're going to do that.
08:01I think they're going to spend more than they spent last year.
08:03I think they'll spend more because they have to.
08:04They haven't really spent in three years.
08:06But are they going to get those big ticket players at premium positions?
08:09If they do, I'll feel much better about the Patriots moving forward.
08:12Don't you feel like that should be the case?
08:15I just feel like Bill was pretty unique in that where you would spend money.
08:19You'd have the highest paid long snapper.
08:20You'd have like two of the highest paid gunners.
08:23You would kind of prioritize these weird things.
08:25Even in the years before they got rid of Joe Tooney and Shaq Mason, they had like two of
08:30the four highest paid guards in the NFL.
08:32And you're like, what about wideout?
08:34What about pass rush?
08:35What about corner?
08:36Like, what about these guys?
08:38And I think, I don't know.
08:41I like to think Vrabel would look at that.
08:43Like I said, if he does, then I'll feel much better going forward.
08:45If every time will tell if it's more of the same, they're spending money.
08:48But they're like last year, they technically spent money.
08:51They just brought everybody back off their crappy team.
08:53So not just spending the money, which would be good.
08:56How are you spending it?
08:57And who are you spending it on?