Patriots Catch-22 4/30: Recapping the 2024 NFL Draft

This is the Patriots Catch twenty two podcasts with Evan Lazar and Alex Bart.

And Lazarre.

Hello, everybody nailed it, joined us always by our bar. Here is Evan Lazar and Alex Bars. You know the distracted boyfriend name? Yeah, it's you, Josh Allen and Drake May.

Why is everybody so obsessed with me and Josh Allen? Because you're obsessed with Josh, Well, I am not obsessed with Josh Allen. That's not true. I said one thing to him in the tunnel in the at at an Orchard Park one time, like two years ago, and I haven't been able to live.

In I just showed you. I just showed you a funny meme. You're the one that's getting defensive.

That sounds about right. I just showed you a funny meme and you're the one that's getting defensive. Is like the basically the cru of our entire friendship pretty much. That's what it's all about, all right. Evan Lazara, Alex bar sorrow re late. Sorry, sorry everybody. Sorry. There was an accident maybe on ninety three here in Boston, and it took me about an hour and thirty minutes to get here. Not that anybody cares about my traffic or my morning commute, but.

Sorrow relate, all right, Bill would sit you.

Yeah, you're right. We'd probably get cut like Jonas Gray. Yeah, we'd be done. We'd be done. I met Jonas Gray, by the way. It's something different for the organization draft party thing. Really super nice guy seems like it. Yeah, super nice guy. Didn't deserve what he got and I'm just kidding. I have no idea what he did. Anyways, do you know what's easy to drink? Easy to enjoy?

Alex what bud like?

The official beer sponsor of the New England Patriots. And Hey Patriots fans, if you want to see Toyota's best offers, including those not seen on TV, go to buy toyota dot com Toyota's official website for deals from the official vehicle of the New England Patriots, Toyota. Let's go places, all right, today's show, we are going to go pick by pick from the Patriots draft. We're probably not gonna talk too too much about Drake May because not only

And that puts the cap on top of that.

Yeah, and maybe that's the that's the way that they go about it, But for right now, I think you can be excited if you're a Patriots fan about this young nucleus of offensive weapons and quarterback obviously that they have going on. And two, I think that the way they were very thoughtful in how they drafted these receivers for Drake May. Yeah, and I think that's a really

Yeah, it's an old belichickism, right. It's not about collecting talent, it's about building a team. And we talked about on Friday how the goal now has to be to build around Drake May. And that's what they did. They didn't just go out and draft receivers. They drafted receivers whose best skills line up with Drake May's best skills and vice versus. So, yeah, you have this big arm downfield quarterback who maybe isn't the most accurate, and then you

Faster version, just by the time speed.

Whereas I don't know that they had they did have a guy like Jalen Polk in the building, and they didn't pay him and let him go to the Raiders instead, they had a guy. So when I look at it too in terms of being complimentary Jalen Polk, there's a lot of similarity to Jacobe Myers and to what I think they wanted Juju from the Shoester to be last year with Javon Baker, and it is it's Javon, not Chevan. Yeah, it's Jevon Cool. That's what Brugler had. Well, now you'll

And you know, I gave you that comparison about uh, I'll tell you.

And I don't know. I think it's jahem Bell, but if it's Jay heme Bell even better. But I think it's Gee.

I love that they have the jas, they have the j Jal.

I thought you enjoy that, all right, But yeah, so so Jalen Polk, I think is the guy they wanted Juju smith Suster to be and Jaevon Baker kind of profiles as the guy you think they wanted Devonte Parker to be. So we'll see what happened. Like Juju still might be on the team, We'll see what happens. But you know, long term, at least they went out and

Yeah, it's a great way of putting it. Now, with that being said, because we're not we're not always just Sunshine dot Com, I gotta I gotta play both sides of it a little bit. I think the one thing that you can definitely say for the Patriots in this draft is that when we look back on this draft in hindsight, the three players I think that we're gonna look back on and wonder, Yeah, if they got it right. Xavier Ligett, who I think they wanted to trade up

I wonder how much, oh, you're saying that we're comparing them to. Yeah, I don't think the Patriots were interested in McConkie.

I don't think so either, and we can get to that in a second. But fair or not, the J's which I'm doing now, that's awesome. The jamb are going to be compared, their careers are going to be compared to these guys. That that's just the bottom line. It's the same thing that we do with Taekwon Thornton and George Pikett's right, like, did.

You add Troy Franklin on that list?

And I'm about to at Troy Franklin to that list. I think Troy Franklin at the top of the fourth round was with somebody that they were trying to target and they got jumped by Denver. So my one criticism of this draft, and and again, we don't know if they're going to be right or wrong comparing them to those receivers, So I'm not going to hold it against them until they're wrong about it, right, Like, we don't know.

I don't think Polk. I wouldn't call Polk overdrafted just because of the way the board fell. Ye, and I Wallace is the one, and look, you could argue he was the best tackle on the board. But for a team that desperately my nitpick with the Wallace selection is and that they drafted him. My nitpick with the Wallas selection is your team that needs to tackle. Once you see that run start happening, you need to move up and not get left with Caden Wallace. That's the second guest there for me.

Yeah, that's totally fair. But I agree with you one hundred percent that I don't necessarily view Polk as a as a as a total reach there. And I know that I thought the email was about both of them, but regardless, I think that's out there with both of those guys. So I just want to read you here are my Tier four receivers and what I when I

Not one bees.

We're not talking about t Higgins, Deavonte Smith, not quite on that level. But a guy that can be a really good complimentary receiver to a number one guy. Yeah, maybe like a Kendrick Bourne, or like a Jacobe Myers or you know, somewhere along that lines. So first in the tier I had Lab McConkie, h Lab McConkie, Roman Wilson, Troy Franklin, Jalen Polk, and I had a Day two

But that's but he's gonna end up being good because it's the Niners.

Maybe Jalen McMillan and Jermaine Burn. Those are all my Tier four guys that all basically went, except Troy Franklin, who slipped to the top of the fourth round for whatever reason. Those guys all went on Day two. And my view on it, Jalen Polk has his flaws, There's no doubt about it. He's not a speed receiver. I wouldn't call him a dynamic route runner. But Lad McConkie, who's the most dynamic route runner at all these guys? Certainly, But I think a lot of teams with Ladd McConkie

You know.

Jalen Polk's got twenty pounds on Lad conky in two inches. Same similar thing with Roman Wilson, who I you know, I absolutely loved. But Roman Wilson is a small, sleek slot receiver. You know the comp that I used with him or it was always on manro Saint Brown. He's got good speed, he's got good shiftiness, he's got great route running. But he's a pure slot like that that is a pure inside guy without much size to him.

If they like him, that's where they needed to take him. And a guy that can go outside his frame and get the football, a guy that has some vertical experience is going to be a fit in this offense. So you know what, I've liked them to maybe move back into the first round and get safely get absolutely, But I think for for where they were, it ended it was a good pick. It was a fine pick.

Yeah, yeah, where where do we and this is maybe we should save this for when we bring Javon Baker into this, which I guess we can do and we'll get.

It's so much easier to talk about this draft by position than going in order of picks.

And notice that, Yeah, so with Javon Baker, we just broke down how great the puzzle fits together, and we love it, you know, inside outside guys. But I think the bigger question, and before we get into like kind of a scouting report on Javon Baker, is just who's who's the odd man out in that receiver room now? I think this is gonna be the number one question

Yeah. And I think the two guys you look at here Jujus ms Schuster and Taekwon Thornton. Yeah, because at least with Juju, I mean, they've brought in a player with a very similar skill set who projects to play the same role, and they took him in the second round. So he's making the team, right, It's just a matter of how much he's playing and girod Meyo talked about earlier this offseason playing the kids and getting these younger

Yeah, I think kJ Osborne is gonna make the team just because they signed him to this free agent deal. It wasn't a lot of money. It's not about the money necessarily. Then they can cut him probably and not necessarily feel it all that much. But I just feel like you brought the guy in in free agency and you gave him a little bit of guaranteed money. It'd be weird to then turn around and just cut the guy, you know, yeah, unless he's terrible.

Obviously, okay, so well, but then you have so now it becomes Juju Thornton booty rager for four spots. Yeah, I wonder for one spot.

Sorry, I do wonder what Juju if we start to hear murmurings of June one cut, maybe even a trade for twenty twenty five, you know, late twenty twenty five, pick pick, swap, something along those lines. Somebody, I think it was Perillo, asked me what I see Jalen Polk's floor as an in the NFL, And I kind isn't it kind of late career Juju smith Shuster? Like, isn't it kind of like last year Juju Smith Shuster? Is

He's a little bit.

Faster, I said, yeah, a little bit faster, a little bit better on the nine route, a little bit more better down the field than Jacoby Myers is. But similar player and both of them are incredibly strong at the catch point with great hands. So I look at those guys, it's pretty similar with Javon Baker. The thing that's interesting about him and I I feel it, and I can understand it to an extent because I do think there's

Yeah, it's not great. I mean when you say that reminds me of Aaron Dobson. But I think and that's probably his floor. Yeah. That being said, what he can do explosively on the other end is exciting.

I don't know.

I see some like George Pickens there. He's not quite as athletic, but he's a boomer bust receiver. I think at his best he's gonna have games. Even at his best, he's gonna have games where he gets blanked, but then you know the next week he'll come out four catches, hundred and fifteen yards, two touchdowns. I just think that's the kind of guy he's gonna be. So some people

Yeah, the two guys, I think that you hit it on the nail on the head there with the consistency, because I felt the same exact way, and when I wrote about him today on Patriots dot Com is exactly what I said. He's gonna have games or he's gonna leave the Patriots and receiving yards and he's gonna have games where he's invisible, right, and because of his playing style, not because he's not talented, but he's a big, big play receiver. So if he catches a sixty five yard

Tops was faster though, Wasn't he I faster? No?

I don't think so.

No.

I think he's very very similar. I think Mark Draftible had It's like a ninety eight percent match for the two of them, and they play similarly where I think the one thing that I like about Javon Baker the most is that he's a pretty fluid, flexible route runner. At the top of routes. For a six foot one, two hundred and five pound guy, he can sink and cut. He can you know, stop on the vertical stem and create separation off his breaks at the second level.

Is he a jitterbug?

No, but he's got that fluidity and that ability to sink his hips and cut out of the break at the top that he's going to create some separation doing that. He also creates some separation with his explosiveness through the route break, especially on like double moves. You know, he can make guys look silly on double moves. So he's got a good setup of slant, dig out, go ball right, and then he can win two different ways.

On the go ball.

He can win down the field just running by you, and then he can also win on like a back shoulder or high point or something like that too and just post up on guys. So he's got a nice foundational set of X receiver route running ability that I think is encouraging. Jalen Polk to me right now has verticals and crossers like that's what he runs. Yeah, he doesn't necessarily, And part of it was because that wasn't a big part of Washington's offense. I looked this up

That's what it feels like the plan is. So it's like you tweeted this morning, you're getting ready to debate Will Campbell, and who's the tackle from Texas?

Kelvin Banks.

Yeah, it's one from Texas, right, yeah, yeah, And I just replied Luther Burton, And I mean I'm just you know, having fun, you know, poking fun because it's just another name.

I think you've also told me about Luther Burden for like two years.

Just like I did, say if you're worthy, and how did you endup feeling about him? And so I replied to your tweet, I said, Luther burn just kind of having fun, like these are the names, those are the three big names. And everybody started replying, no, they need a tackle, No, they need a tackle, like they're not going to take receivering Like I don't know that I probably will want them to take a tackle at this time next year, but or you know, a week ago,

So I think with Baker there's probably a little bit more ceiling there in terms of he if he hits his ceiling, I've been trying, you know, Gabe Davis and Romeo Dobs or comp said. I feel like that's who he's gonna be in the league most likely if it works out. But I'm trying, you know, ceiling comps I think are a little bit more different, all right, difficult. Maybe at George Pickens is a little bit better than those two guys. Yeah, maybe we put him in that category. It's not bad.

I don't realize. Do you think Pickens the number one?

I think he's a one B.

He's not consistent enough to be one. That's the big thing. If he was consistent, he would be but he's not.

Yeah. See, I think nowadays in the league, the receiver position is so valuable and is so such a sought after commodity that there's there's it's almost like in baseball where there's aces and there's number one.

Okay, you know, I love doing that at corner we can do that at receiver. Pickens is well, he is by default the number one, he's the best receiver.

He's not nay, he's a number one starter.

Yeah, he's not nay.

Right, So you know guys that That's how I would break down this draft. I think you know you had guys like the Big three, obviously Harrison neighbors of dunes or aces.

Right, Maybe Brian Thomas is like fringy.

Maybe he's an ACE, Maybe he's kind of a tweeter in between those two things. And then you had a couple of guys that were number one starters, Adie Mitchell, Xavier Lagette. I would say maybe Keon come.

The difference. The difference here is to use this analogy because he's it for corners. Every team has a number one by default. Yeah, and it's do you feel good this guy being your best wide receiver? An ACE? You can have more than one A like I would say the Bengals have more than one ACE. Yeah, the Dolphins have more than one ACE. You put Jalen Waddle on most teams? Is the number one? Eagles? Eagles is the best example. Yeah, you put DeVante Smith on most teams?

Right, I feel like the league is just that way. The other The last thing I'll say about Javon Baker and we'll talk about the lineman. H I texted you this yesterday, my confidence Javon Baker, and you just said the j's which makes it even better is Jalen Brown, Because Jalen Brown will hit the three with the hand in his face from like thirty feet out, and then he'll brick a wide open corner three and you're like,

Though.

This is why you know, I think Gave Davis works so well for Baker. Most likely he's just gonna be inconsistent for the rest of his life, Like that's just the type of guy that's gonna be. But that still could be that there are games where Javon Baker has like one hundred and fifty yards and two touchdowns like that that still exists within his game. It's just that the next week he's probably gonna be invisible. So that's that's what you're gonna have to live with. But I

The They drafted good. They're good at football.

They're not good at underwear Olympics. As much as I love the combine, that's just not going to be their thing necessarily. But you look at some of the in game track and data. Some of the stuff from the Senior Bowl with Javon Baker is really positive too. He had the second fastest time at the Senior Bowl during Senior Bowl practices, only behind tes Walker. But then you look at their discrepancy and forty and you're like, how did that happen?

Right?

Like, he almost touched twenty one miles an hour at the Senior Bowl running routes, which is an impressive speed obviously, So it's a I'm optimistic about these two guys, but I also won't think we did a good job of keeping it in context of I don't think that either one of these guys is a true number one down the road, but they're really good complimentary players that once they do get that number one, now they really have an offense. Like now they really have a big time group.

Hang on, I have the list of guys who will be like the Brinn and ayukx next year. Let me pull this up real quick. It is T Higgins, assuming he doesn't get extended off the franchise. DK Metcalf, Terry McLaurin, DJ Moore, Jalen Wattle, Garrett Wilson all right, and Davonta Smith's gott an extension since I rot, Yeah, so those are they're probably not getting Garrett Wilson, Jalen Wattle, DJ Moore, Terry McLaurin, DK Metcalf. I take any of those guys.

Yeah, yeah, that would be That would be a match made in heaven those two. Yeah, yeah, I I I'm optimistic about it. I think it. It's both guys have reasons to like their games and be excited about their games, even if I think a lot of people and myself included, sometimes get caught up in the four to three guys and just want the the pure speed guys, the pure track guys. We've been down that road before with Taekwon Thornton. We've been down the other road before with like the

Position groups at least through here, and then we can do the late day three guys Like to me, you have Drake May, you have the top one fifth receivers. Yep, you have the top one fifty lineman, and then you do dial Joe Milton en Belt.

Then everybody else. Yeah, don't sleep on Jeen.

Bell though, I we're gonna get to Jeeene Bell. I'm not don't sleep. Don't sleep He's I'll just say, like, for where they got obviously, Drake makes my favorite pick. He's the best player, but like all things considered, where they got him and all that, Jahem Belt might be the best pick of their draft.

Yeah, I think Javon Baker is probably the best value they got in the draft, probably a guy that is a top one hundred talent in most receiver drafts. But there's so much talent in this receiver draft that him, Troy Franklin, like those guys are in my mind top seventy five picks and other drafts. But unfortunately for them, but better for the Patriots. Uh, there's so much talent. And I remember when I did my Best Available for

So I'm supposed to have.

Yeah, offensive line. I totally understand the concerns with Cane Wallace flipping sides. I think they're legitimate. The comparison I always someone told me I think it was carn Brisillo. I don't think it was a scar. I remember one of the offensive line coaches that's been through here told me to take a pen. You're right he or lefty, righty, righty? Write me something with your left hand.

No, this isn't there's I talked to a former college offensive line coach. I know what you're saying. It's not as simple as right with your right hand, right with your left. It's you know, right. You move the paper based on where you are. So if you're used to playing right tackle, so now it's in front of you. Now you go to right guard. Now it's over here. Now you go to center. Now it's over here. Now you're left guard. Now you're writing with your off hand

Everything right, Your drive foot's different. You know, your inside foot's different, your plan foot's different. Your hands are now flipped. Yes, it's all different. Now can he do it?

Yeah?

Any like yes, like in theory, he can do it. I think the things that you look at.

It's a project, though. I don't think people realize how hard being a true swing tackle is. Like, people didn't appreciate Ladry and Waddle enough when he's here. They spent like, let's be honest, they spent two or three years and nobody noticed because there were bigger things going on. They spent two or three years really missing Ladrian Waddle and of all people, so they signed this the uh like the UDFA tackle. Zerry Henry has over eight hundred snaps

Yeah, there were some guys like that in this draft though, to be fair.

Like true swing tackles.

No guys that like a Marius Mams, Tyler Geyon. Yeah, those guys played right tackle in college that everybody thinks are athletic enough to flip.

Giten's unique because he was the right tackle in a lefty quarterback offense. So he like a blind side experience. Yeah, Like those guys are the It's still not easy for them because you still got to move the sides. Yeah, but there's certain things you do as a blind side protector on either side that you don't do on the strong side. Certain things are gonna have to deal with that, just you know, at least you have that kind of experience. Yeah.

So when I watched Wallace, and I should mention too that down at the Shrine Bowl, he did take some passets on the left side. They flip, They flip them all, like that's what they do. You know, Senior Bowl, same thing guy in Uh. You know, those guys all played some snaps on the left.

Show at right tackle at the combine, lucky for the Chargers.

Yeah. So I think Wallace when you watch him, he's a twitchy mover. He's very twitchy out of his stance, he can really get out and into his landmark initially. The issues that I think present themselves, especially against speed, is more on like kicks two, three, four right, it's not right out of his stance and right out of

Yeah, it goes back to I just this seems to be their plan. It's been there playing the last few years that they're not They haven't added a real consistent left tackle, Like I think Trent is a good player. Trent Brown's a good player, but he was kind of a wild card in his own right. And then on top of that, you've brought in Calvin Anderson, who who was incredibly inexperienced and was mostly a right tackle in

I it's my biggest second guess of the draft because your shows are big on this. You know, Feulger is big on this. Did they misread the board?

So that's the one where I'm fine with them letting Polk follow to them at thirty seven. That one makes sense to me. I can understand that. Yeah, they once Patrick Paul went fifty fifth, Yeah, that needed to be. That needed to set the alarm bells off, and all right, we need it. This is about to because most people thought Paul is a third round pick. Once that guy goes there, you need to recognize, Oh, everybody's gonna panic here. Tackle. We need to tackle more than most of these teams.

Rated prospect, not that the consensus really matters all that much, but he's a higher rated process.

Well, so the point being, like, I can see why they maybe wouldn't have been interested in Kingsley. Yeah, I'm not saying it's right. I think they were looking for older, more experienced prospects, guys without the injury history. But Blake Fisher checked all the boxes of the guys they took, but at least he had some left tackle experience.

Yeah, yeah, it definitely seems you know. Another positive for Cadden Wallace forty career starts at Penn State is a lot.

So I like Kden Wallace's I mocked him to the Patriots, like, I like his makeup as a prospect, Yeah in a bubble, I don't like him as your potential future left tackle. Yeah, I hear. I think that's a step too far.

So the the one thing I will say, though, this isn't to carry the water and defend them, but I think the one thing I will say is that based off of their actions, I do feel like they have so much confidence. And maybe it's not right to have this much confidence, but I think they have so much confidence in AVP scheming around tackle issues, and Scott Peter is coaching up tackles.

They this a lot of this draft is they put on the coaching self. Yeah, it's a lot of.

And I think that their thought process specifically with AVP is that they are going to be so play action, bootleg, move the pocket. Now they have this athletic quarterback, and Jacoby can do the same thing. Like if it's Jacoby Brissett,

Kind of hinges on what happens at left guard, which brings us to Laydon Robinson.

Yeah, so Leyden Robinson to me was the classic case of they got jumped for Troy Franklin by Denver and we're just gonna turn in the car with our best available player and they had the highest grade on a guy like Leyden Robinson, And as much as I hated it, and I hated it, when they made the pick, I was just like, not another guard. You've got to be kidding, especially there right, like, because it's just another guard in the fourth round, just like they drafted sixteen of them

I also wonder some people thought coming into the draft that Leyden Robinson could play tackle just because of his length. So I wonder if they were going to see them try him attack.

Oh god, I think that his feet and his range is in a phone booth.

I'm not saying it's gonna work.

But yeah, I don't think he's got tackle feed at all.

They're trying. They try everybody to tackle. It's kind of what they do now.

Oh god. I think with Leyden Robinson it's one of those old adages and it's similar to what we're gonna talk about with Joe Milton when we get to the quarterback. You don't go broke taking offensive lineman.

Yeah, you just don't.

If you have beefing up the trenches if all else fails, if you don't have a great grade on a skill player, you don't have a great grade on a dB or something like that, you could you will never go wrong with taking linemen on either side of the ball if you have a If you really are convicted by a guy and you feel like Leyden Robinson has a starter grade for us and we're gonna this is gonna work out long term. You never go broke taking trenches.

You just don't. See. That's just what killed it's like. But I look at it in SO sixty eight and one oh three, right, Ken Wallace and Lane Robinson? Yeah, could those have become a pick in the fifties?

Right?

And it's a fair point right, you wonder the potential left tackle.

Yeah, you wonder if Again, I think Troy Franklin was their guy in the top of the fourth round, and so they were holding out hope they were gonna get Troy Franklin there. If you had told them in hindsight, hey, Troy Franklin's not going to be there for you at one o three, right, then they probably do package the pick and try.

Realistically, you should not have expected Troy Franklin be there at one o three.

Yeah, it was a little bit of a dice roll and it didn't work out. So that's a second guest for sure. I agree with you. You could have packed of Joe's pick. I think that they probably would have preferred to just dump the pick altogether, yeah, and move back. Uh, after Troy Franklin went off the board, and they didn't really it's just a guess. They didn't have any suitors, so they just took the best player.

I'd be surprised by that. But or maybe they just wanted too much for the pick.

Yeah, but I do think that, you know, they didn't make any extra picks, and I do think they wanted more picks. I believe Elliot Wolf when he said that he would have preferred to add more picks. I just don't think that they necessarily had the trade to make it happen, and I do. I actually really did like the pick swap with the Chargers. Yeah, because of the way the draft dropped off after the top like one hundred and twenty five players.

Or so, right, they didn't need one. Every time I was doing a mock draft, one thirty seven was just an annoying pick. It was just in the middle of nowhere, right, So I have no problem with them given that up. But again, could they've given that up to maybe move up from thirty four? Yeah, I just ate, Well, I guess they couldn't.

They probably tried to move up from thirty four with it. Yeah, But I really like that pick swap trade. Yeah. It was because they moved up twenty seven spots into a spot where now you're you're getting a top one hundred player in Javon Baker with that pick. If you look back at it's gonna be Jalen Polk and Javon Baker, Yeah, versus Lad McConkey and some dude i'd never heard of that the trial was drafted.

Yeah, the kid from Maryland. Yeah, he's a corner.

Yeah, so I like the Patriots side of that trade. I do. Yeah, me too, So those are your alignment. I guess really quickly with Laden Robinson before we move on, what does this say about the guards that are already in the building?

Nothing good?

Nothing good?

And in Cole Strange, we saw the pictures last week. Did he's still in the street clothes, so you wonder what his status is? And yeah, between him, you know what, I think City SO is probably safe because I think they you know, if Mike Winner is going to play tackle, but we could have a wide open competition at left guard come training camp.

I would love that, you know me, I have no reason whatsoever to give that job to Cole Strange, Like there's no reason to have him sharpened into that spot, none whatsoever. I think that he is one hundred and ten percent competing for that job.

Yeah, and it should be.

I would actually think that City So is more entrenched at right guard at this point. Cole Straan, you know, hasn't been able to stay healthy, has been up and down when he has been out there, right I think he's competing for that spot. And if Laden Robinson's better than he is, then Laden Robinson should play. I think Mafi you saw a lot of the movement and range be a real concern last year. Is he a fine you know fourth lineman that you know is going to

I think that this is exactly you ready to spin the dial on defense seven?

Well done. I think that this is exactly what we thought they might do in terms of targeting a day three corner. You target a day three corner with some traits, some speed, you know, mid four to four guy, some length, some good ball skills. Got his hands on a lot of passes, yeah, thirty one pass deflections I think it was, or pass breakups. This is a developmental outside corner that has might have some free safety flex to him as well if he fails at outside corner, and we can

The big thing for me with him, very clean player, wasn't penalized a lot in college, and that's huge for them. That's huge. So you take out with that size, who has clean hands, who's not too grabby, and you coach him up from there. Maybe he does play some safety too. I think he's an ideal special teams fit, another high character guy. I think that was obviously a focus, so I was a little surprised, though I nothing against dial like,

Me too, and I Gabe Davis, Gabe Murphy went undrafted, Yeah, which is crazy. I mean, I know he's undersize, but that was crazy to me. I thought that somebody liked that, you know, chest piece up front. Rush in line, rush outside. Maybe take josh U Jay's position in a year from now. But I think one of the things that Gerardmeo said after the draft was that some of these second and third year players, they want to give those guys opportunities. And so I look up front a guy like Keon White.

Yeah.

I think that they were maybe a little cognizanto that that they didn't necessarily want to bury some of these guys from last year's draft or two drafts ago, or like a guy like you know, Alex Austin, you know, on the outside, right, Yeah, I think that they wanted some opportunities to let just go into camp and see what those guys have. But I'm with you, I thought

He dials the exact kind of corner that they've done a great job developing for years and years and years and turning into a player. So yeah, I'm not I'm not telling you he's automatically gonna be a hit, but I'm not running him off either. Yeah.

Before we get to your favorite pick of the draft.

Oh, we got another guy to go, and then he gets my favorite.

Now we're about to get to your favorite suns out funds out, So get ready for warmer weather. The latest in stock and ready to ship outdoor styles from Bob's Discount Furniture Shop. Everything from weather is this at Wicker seating and barbecue ready, bar and dining sets to on trend indoor outdoor rugs, umbrellas and decre Stop and shop now to embrace springtime at Bob's Discount Furniture, the official furniture store of the New England Patriots. Alex, your favorite

I thought you're screwing with me. When he texted me, don't lie to me.

I jumped out of my seat upstairs in the admin level, stared Admin Neil Perry in the eyes and said, you are effing kidding me?

Right, yeah? Literally?

When he said out loud, Joe Milton the third, I couldn't believe it. There was two picks that maybe got me out of my seat. Javon Baker was pumped about that pick, especially after the guard, like, God, shoot me right, and then they make the Javon Baker pick it. That's not against Leyden Robinson, by the way, it's just the pos position. Yeah, and then they make the Javon Baker pick. I got probably a little bit too excited about that.

I didn't think they do it because I thought if they after Joe Milton was going to have to be at one thirty seven.

Yeah.

I thought one of these, you know, next year quarterback teams, the Giants, the Raiders, the Saints, and the Saints did end up taking a quarterback. They took Spencer Rattler. I thought one of these teams was going to be like, yeah, we may need a quarterback anyway next year, so let this guy's got a ton of traits. Let's bring him in and see and maybe we save ourselves having going to the carousel next year. And I think part of the reason he fell is just quarterbacks as a whole.

That's what this draft was.

I think that's going to be the new NFL philosophy. The day two quarterback is kind of unnecessary.

There was a huge gap between bow.

Knicks' it was the biggest in NFL history and Spencer rattling right it was it's like one hundred and fifty something picks. It's the biggest in NFL history. And I think that's going to become the new norm. I think the guys that are day two fringe picks are just going to start going in the first round because teams don't have the stomach to wait on him. That's exactly

This is That is one of my pet peeves about the draft. And I've been trying to be better about this and not pick on on on our listeners who are awesome or whatever.

Right, but our listeners are smarter.

But one of the one of my biggest nitpicks are pet pees oft the draft is people that get upset over six and seve and round picks. Right, guys, these are these are the lottery tickets of lottery.

Unless it's a guy where like you object, you know, if if there's something you're like, oh, this guy will be bad for the team. Usually that's off the fields, right Joe Milton. Joe Milton is like the man, Yeah Joe Milton. Everybody you talked to, no, but but you listened.

Like my my favorite was the combin just because.

Throat he turns around, he's not even looking I know it's it's he's so cool. So and he all said he doesn't he doesn't like the Bazuka Joe nickname.

Too bad.

No, no, I respect another.

If he has another one, I'll call him.

I gotta find it. I think it was like mister Rocket or something.

Okay, well we should like get that because I I Patriots dot Com. I should not be writing Bazuka Joe if he doesn't like Bazuka Joe.

So, uh, we'll come up with We'll find it. Our friend Zach you know what I'm talking about. Yeah, Zach. I can't pronounce his last name, but he you know, he's started covering the Patriots this year. He he he interviewed Joe Milton Combine and first off came across great and all. He also said Bazuka Joe's not his favorite nickname because he I'll try to find it. But so, here's the thing with the pick. Is Joe Milton going to Kirk Cousins Drake May I don't think so.

Yeah, but he's acting way more tame inside you were you were way more excited than this. Yeah, admitt it.

I got more calls and texts after they picked you. You got drafted. It felt like I got you got drafted. It really was insane, Like I'm trying to write the thing and my phone wouldn't stop because I heard more people after they picked Joe Milton than I heard from on my birthday. I'm not kidding, I'm not It's not a joke. I'm serious.

So I remember to issue a happy birthday this year.

You did. Yeah, this here by the way I found it. So Joe Milton, Joe Milton. This is from Zach Ventola at any Patriots Ay on Twitter, interviewed Joe Milton at Sea Bowl. It's a terrible name. A Bazuka can only go so far. And he he likes miss to rocket mister Rockett.

Maybe I don't know, maybe Rocket.

Shoe, maybe Joe Rockett. Uh maybe so anyway, so here's the thing. Here's the thing with the pick back to the player, back to the player. But I want to make sure, all right, when we're talking about mister Rocket.

He I'm sorry that doesn't work for me.

Yeah right, okay, So, yeah, is he gonna Kirk Cousins strike? May probably not, But there's a couple of ways you can go here, Like he's gonna tear it up in the preseason yep, because he was good enough last year at Tennessee and when you get into the second half of these preseason games, it's basically the guys he was playing at Tennessee. Like it's called like football.

A better version of Elie Cunningham, and that's it.

It's good. There's gonna be a lot. He was a year too early because if he was in the Elie Cunningham role last year, yeah, oh boy, that would have gotten ye. But you know, he's gonna tear it up. I think there's a potential for him to be a package player. He's not gonna play tight end. He was very definitive about that. I don't think which he shouldn't.

So that's an interesting.

So can you develop Joe Milton enough he got trade value? You're not gonna get a second round pick for him, I don't think, because he's just older, Like he's too old for that. But if you draft Joe Milton in the sixth round in two years, you trade him for a fourth, it did pretty well. So there's a number. In worst case scenario, he doesn't make the team the way most six round picks don't, and we get a fun preseason. This will be the most exciting preseason in

That that picked up momentum like I wanted it to there at the end. At first, you were trying to like the lines. Yes, if if you need somebody to throw out five yards, he'll throw it eighty.

Everybody knows the lines. But yeah, I know, now he's here, I'm gonna give my football take on No.

I no, no, I didn't mean it like that. I just meant like, I know you're you at first were trying to be not excited about the pick, and then and then you picked up the.

Moment I'm excited, and then I just what do you want me? I can't do a backflot. If I could do a backflip and I do it right, but I can't.

So so here are my thoughts on the pick. First of all, I watched the tape that I watched of his I watched too. I watched Alabama and I watched Vanderbilt, which was his best game vander I know Vanderbilt stings, but he lit it up. He threw like four touchdowns, like three hundred plus yards in that game. So I just watched it to see what what it looked like at its peak. But against Alabama, he threw a touchdown pass against Alabama, Oh that was about like forty five

Yeah, and well, did you watch the Kentucky game? No, not yet? Watch more. Okay, I only watched a couple before the Kentucky game. Is the quint essential Joe Milton, Like I've been down it's it's just so it's funny the when when they drafted him and I saw somebody put out like a highlight reel of Joe Milton. The first play is an incompletion, but he throws the ball seventy six yards off his back foot on a dot. Yeah, and it's an incompletion, but it doesn't matter. And that's

I think what stood out about the throw against Alabama, which I'm sure you remember. Yeah, the biggest thing I think that stood out about one the touchdown of the pylon right yeah, yeah, like down the left sideline and the receiver had to like reach.

Out for it a little. I think that's score a white.

I think that the biggest thing that stood out to me was that this thing was on a line, Like it's not like this thing is like it's is he he can throw the tear drop right, but he's not.

Yeah. No, people needn't understand that. It's not just oh he throws the ball far, No, he hes the ball through the door. Do you remember the old Peyton Manning sprint commercially? Yeah, you know, if you're like six ft five, two hundred and thirty pound quarterbacks, laser rocket arm, Yeah, Joe Milton.

Yeah, he can throw the ball on a line fifty yards in the air.

Right.

It is an absolute rocket launcher. And I think the one thing that I was even mostly impressed with is that usually when you have these six foot five hundred and thirty eight pound quarterbacks with rocket arms, it's this long wind up thing right, Like he gets it out quick. No, that's he's got a snappy release. Man.

I can't stress this enough. The thing that's so much fun about Joe Milton, that's so exciting about Joe Milton. It doesn't make sense. Yeah, like most of what he does, he's the only quarterback on the planet that can do it. Yeah, you're not really supposed to be able to off your front foot half release on a clothesline fifty five yards. Now, Again, you gotta be able to control it. And that's why he was a SI round picking on a first round pick because he can't always control it. But some of

Yeah, So, I it's a rocket launcher. It's not this that we're not talking about, like teardrop bombs. We're talking about there's smoke on the ball, right, it's a rocket launcher. I was really I don't know if you sorry to cut you off again.

I don't know if you know this story. His receivers at Tennessee would wear two pairs of gloves because they were worried, I would their fingers being broken.

I would not want to catch that ball.

Yeah.

I was really impressed with his actual mechanics in terms of his throwing. Yeah, in terms of like rotating on the axis and in getting the ball out quickly in that compact release. The way that he throws the ball mechanically is actually not all that far off from Jaden Daniels. He just has a And I say that because Jade Daniels I think had probably the clean his mechanics in the draft is Himmer McCarthy. Yeah, so really really clean.

Right, it's odd. But even when that happens, sometimes it doesn't matter because he doesn't put his feet into the throw and he still throws.

Yeah, but where it does matter is with his accuracy, right, you know, and that's he's gonna spray the ball over the place and his decision making can he can lose the radar can shut off.

Well, now, what you make of him saying that his favorite quarterback to watch is Brock Party.

Oh God, I could not see a more polar opposite quarterback.

I like that because he said he goes Brock Purty is really good footwork. Yeah, and that's why he watches Brock Party because he wants to improve his footwork. Yeah, that's that's real self awareness. Like, good for him.

I've said multiple times with Joe Milton, he's Day three, Anthony. Anthony richards said, well, no, he's Day three.

Drake May.

I I don't think so, No, No, I think Drake May is more naturally like instinctually a football player. I think Joe Milton is toolsy and he can run too. We should you know four six speak Yeah, Yeah, good runner, especially scrambling.

Yeah. Like you can't let him out of the pocket because he will kill you.

Yeah. Day three Anthony Richardson. You know, and and at this point in the draft, Howie Roseman was doing a press conference and I thought that he gave one of the best answers I've heard about what Day three of the draft is all about. And it was exactly what you said just a minute ago. At Day three, you're drafting a trait. Yeah, and it better be special if you think that that guy's going to pan out in the league.

Right.

You're the guys that have sixteen different positives on their scouting reporter gone. So you're looking for one thing that separates this player from that player. And with Joe Milton, there's no doubt about it. The arm talent is different than anybody else, and so you're taking a chance on the arm talent, and maybe AVP and Ben mcaduw behind

I do like how he's handling it.

I like how he's handling it. But we talked about this all the time with Mac Jones. It's a little bit of mind games out of the gate because let's face it, in shorts and a T shirt come into May early June when we go out there for mini camp, Joe Milton is gonna look just as impressive and shorts and a T shirt as Drake May, if not more. And my concern is not us, not the people here,

So here's what I'll say to that. I and how do I don't disagree?

How does Drake May handle that?

Right?

We were very hypocritical, and I think Drake, if Drake May can't handle it, he's not gonna be able to handle this league.

That's fair.

So there's that side of it. This is this is the packaway. They're gonna draft a quarterback every year, every other year. This is what they're gonna need to do. He's got to get used to it. So in that sense, I don't think it's pushing buttons too much. If they start fooling around with the depth chart and they start being unclear about who's playing and things like that, then yes,

But if Tom Brady can get insecure Let's face it, that's what he was insecure about Jimmy Garoppolo.

But what did he do with it? That was that was the goat.

But that's so that he was already well established into his career.

Let's see if Drake may can use it to fuel him. I'm not I'm not. You're right, we shouldn't be hypocritical. And we said they pushed the buttons too much with Bailey's Appy and mac Jones, and that's a fair point. But at the same time, they're gonna draft quarterbacks.

I don't love it for that reason.

If if this is it what.

I like Joe Milton, Yeah, I don't love the pick.

If what Joe Milden in the sixth round is enough to ruin Drake Man, he was probably not gonna make it to me. And I think he's mentally tougher in that.

But we always say this, why why like why even why even put that out?

Because their philosophy they always draft. They are in draft quarterback next year or the year after. This is what they do.

And it's also the Packer way too right, That's.

What I'm saying. So just he's got to get used to it. If he can't handle just this. That's more of a red flag about Drake May than is about to front.

Ye, I hear you. But we always said with Mac that you're testing him just to test them.

Well, that was to another level drafting Bay. I when they drafted Bailey's Appy, I liked it. I did. I said, this is good. They need a long term backup. Brian Hoyer is on the older side Bailey. Remember my comport Bailey's Appy the whole time was Chase Daniel. This guy's gonna be in the league for fifteen years and he'll maybe throw a total of one hundred passes. Yeah, like that's who I thought, And you need that guy. You

But we both know, I we both know that it happened with Maleik Cunningham. Yes, we both know that there's gonna be a section of people that are going to sit there and always say they should try out Joe Milton, they should.

Try it, and it's absolutely gonna happen.

And thus Drake May is justin Herbert right out of the gate is just awesome. But Evan, that's always gonna be they.

Didn't draft Joe Milton, there were gonna be people saying that about Bailey's appy. Oh no, come on, yeah, there's some people saying it. As soon as they draft.

As soon as people here see Drake May throw football, they're gonna forget all about Bailey's appy, right, And Joe Milton. I don't know about that because Joe Milton's gonna throw the football just as pretty.

Look I'm being I'm you're right, we should be intellectually consistent. I'm saying I was fine when they drafted Bailey Zappy a year after, and it's a little different at the same draft, but drafting Bailey Zappy after Mac Jones at the time made a ton of sense because they needed a backup quarterback. Jacoby Rissett's not here beyond this year they needed a backup quarterback. Joe Milton stylistically is similar

The outside of this is gonna screw where I went. It's that, and I agree with you, and I feel like people are gonna geah, oh he should be tough. Yeah, he should be mentally tougher than that. There's no doubt about it that he should be mentally tougher than that. But he was the He was the guy for like twelve hours. I already have people in my mentions talking about Joe Milton like being like, oh, you mean Joe Milton, right, Like, no.

No, just Drake May is the guy. Wait till they get out and Drake May starts throwing the football, I hope.

So I'm just telling you that I would have preferred if they had drafted Joe Milton next year like they drafted Bailey's a Happy next year. I would have been all fine with it. So let me ask I would have felt we could could we just have Drake May with a clean slate and just give him the quarterback room behind Jacoby Brissett, who we all know why Jacoby Brissett is here. Jacoby Brissett knows why he's here, and it's just a clean transition we don't need.

Okay, first off, we don't even know Joe Mills. Second well, how would you felt if they drafted like Michael Pratt less as worried?

Because my concern is is that it is really easy to get caught up in Joe Milton's physical trade. The right, the arm, and the and the mobility are.

Legit, but so they are for Drake May too. I know.

But I'm just telling you that, like I keep saying, when we get out there for OTAs and we get out there for mini camp and it's shorts and a T shirt and it's and it's glorified seven on seven and that kind of stuff. And on top of all of that, Joe Milton was in the college football for six years.

He's much older. You might you might think higher of Joe Milton than I do.

It's not about how high I think of Joe Milton. I'm just telling you that there's a world where Joe Milton and Drake May in Spring Mini Camp, Yeah, look about the same, Just like there was a world where Mac Jones and Bailey Zappy at different points it looked about the same. And just like with them, we said this is unnecessary. Now I'm with you, they took it to a whole other level and hopefully this regime doesn't.

Right but I think so far, so far, it's I just know this usual. If they take it further than yes, it's an issue like it was with Mac and j.

And I'm not trying to put anybody down in front some people, but I just know that there are gonna be some casual observers out there that aren't going to know the difference.

That's our job to educate them. That's just like we tried to do with Mac Jones and Bailey's Appy.

All right, seventh round and then we'll open it up to end the show to the couple calls and emails and things like that.

Seventh round.

Jahem Bell, don't sleep on Jahem Bell.

No pound for pound, like in terms of where they drafted him. All of that, I think jahem Bell's there bo. I mean Drake May's Drake May, right, but yeah, after Drake may chaheen Bell, all things considered, might be their best pick. He's one of them. Yeah, good pick. I had him. I had him as like a top one twenty guy. Yeah, and they got him at two thirty one.

Yeah, great value where they got him a clear role in an Alex Van Pelt offense and then in a you know, zone misdirection heavy offense, a clear role there.

Yeah, and I I see, you know, I did leak. He's that motion tight end. Yeah. You know.

He's a guy that can come underneath the formation and hit the flat and hit it with speed and then run after the catch with the ball in his hands. If he's got you know, a runway there in some open space, he can run the scene. He can run crossing routes. He's just not quicker, agile at the top of the route. Like if you're asking him to break down at the top of the route and beat Travis

Yeah, and his again you're drafting on trade like his ability to to to make a play with the ball in his hands, that's what you're taking. I think part of the reason he fell, honestly, his teams didn't know what position he played. Yeah, he's such a tweeterer.

That well, because he's because of his size, his size, he's and.

He didn't he very has to combine either.

He ran like a four to six one, which is good for a tight end.

And the way the tight ends ran this year, he was like you had you had Tip Raymond running a four or five. Yeah. By the way, Tip Raymond top one hundred pick smash mouth football not dead. Don't let anybody tell you otherwise.

That was one of the bigger reaches.

That was awesome. The tip Raymond going one hundred picks before Troy Franklin loved like fifty picks before. Troy Franklin loved that. But you loved that.

This is not a reach. This is the opposite.

No, this is the opposite of reach. I think part of the reason he fell is is you're not gonna draft Jaheim Bell and plug him into a role that already exists in your offense, because outside of maybe Atlanta, I don't think any teams have that role in their offense. Like people want to compare Jaime Bell to Kyle Hughescheck, he's not Kyle Ucheck, that's not who he is. Yeah,

I think in this type of scheme, you know.

I'm trying to how much did the Browns us a fallback last year? Uh?

They used it like an eligible offensive lineman is out they did. It was like he was like a center slash full back, is what they had them listed as. I think in this so he's six two two forty one, which for a tight end is extremely undersized. But his testing numbers are good. Uh he ran a uh he ran a four to six one, which is eighty eight percent dile for the forty yard dash. Uh, thirty five inch vertical seventy two percent.

Maybe something into the seats. Did he not have a good senior Bowl? He had something that.

I don't know, but I mean I can look up his his RAS scorer. He's an athletic guy. There's no doubt about that.

Well, I was gonna say, I think he tested. I think he's a better athlete than he tested.

Maybe. I mean that's pretty good testing numbers.

Like, oh yeah, it is all right, well even better even better.

Look I eight point four y five ris because of his size, obviously, that's gonna elite speed in great explosiveness, great like good find and he can you know, there's absolutely a role for him because he's not super. He doesn't overlap with Hunter Henry or Austin Hooper. There's different things he can do. He can make plays with the ball in his hands. I thought that was a tremendous pick.

I was great. I couldn't believe he was still on the board at that point. A double check.

Yeah. So when they when they signed John new Smith in twenty twenty one.

Yeah, oh so this is another one. Sorry. Remember how I said, like, all right, you know Devonte Parker or Jayvon Baker kind of replaces Devonte Parker, Jalen Pole kind of replaces Jujus Smith, Schuster obviously not Lee not Apples to Apples player tight, but Leighton Robinson, Cole Strange, Drake May, mac Jones. Yeah, this is another one. Jahem Bell, John new Smith.

Yeah, so John new Smith in twenty twenty one. He's just not a fit for like a Josh McDaniel's type offense. No, he couldn't figure out the scheme touchgoyns.

Yeah.

Now in this type of offense where you're hitting the defense with so much eye candy and misdirection, Yeah, where it's you know, look, we're gonna everybody's gonna move to the left, but then we're gonna bootleg and we're gonna actually hit the point of attack to the right. Things like that you create this this horizontal stretch to the field. That's the whole idea, right, is to stretch out the

Again, it's that it's that old belichickism, right, It's not about collecting talent, it's about building a team.

All right, there's the draft.

We did it.

With time to spare. Let's answer some emails and some calls, and then you can give me your favorite UDFA. All right, Right, Todd is in North Carolina.

What's up?

Todd?

Hey, guys, just a quick thing that I'm a little concerned about with and just didn't seem all that comfortable or effective last year. He was on skates and more than a few times. And I know a young quarterbile even though veteran quarterback does not like to get pressure up the middle. Are you guys concerned it all with him a center? And do we have anybody to back him up at all?

Yeah, David Andrews, you're talking about right, Yeah, yeah, Yeah, it's a fair question, Todd, thanks for the call. Appreciated as always. David Andrews in pass protection took a step back last year. There's no doubt about that. Now, the question is was he making up for so much what was going on at guard on to his left and his right that he was just you know, there's just too much to cover up. That's definitely possible. You know, your the offensive line is a five man unit. It's

Yeah, I'm with you on that.

With that being said, it's on my radar of is it start run blocking wise? He was still really good pass pro wise, he took a step back. Is he's starting to slip a little bit? It's potentially there. We mentioned him earlier in the show. They clearly drafted Jake Andrews as a long term center replacement for David Andrews. So do they have somebody in the building on paper? Yes, I don't know if Jake Andrews can play. We saw him play for like one and a half games or

See here.

Okay, that one's a detailed one. So there's one question here about something that I wrote about here. It is about if this draft, if Drake May hits, This is what I wrote in my recap of the draft. If Drake May hits, the draft is a success. Yes, and Paul here just wanted to push back a little bit on that and say and says, as a draft and developed team, if you only hit on one of eight picks,

Yeah, it's not their last draft. I mean, does it slow down the process, absolutely, But if you have a we just saw what the kind of pretzel you have to go into when you need a quarterback. So not needing that freeze up a lot more down the road.

Yeah, A question about dial out free safety. We talked about that. I think that's a possibility. I think he starts at corner, but I think there is a possibility that he could play free safety down the road. Let's see what else we got here. There was one other good question. See now I'm like losing all these these places. Oh okay, this was a question about Leyden Robinson, and

I I mean, I wouldn't feel great about it if I'm cool strange.

Yeah, that's that's fair. Okay, this is a good question from Mauricio, he asks, And I will fully admit that I do not think either one of us are prepared to stack these players right now in the twenty twenty five draft. But here, here we go, where the draft ended three days ago, and people are already asking us about the twenty twenty five draft. And I'm here for it. I'm ready. I'm ready for it.

Oh, so you're actually gonna get into the college football of it all this year.

We'll see how the Patriots are doing.

We might have to get you the video games. You can really learn something.

So like, you know, people, you know, people say that. We had somebody that replied to one of my tweets today and I was going to referm to you. He said, you know, it would be nice to know which games I should watch during the college football season to keep an.

Eye on prospects. We'll get that.

I gotta admit to you, like I have so much to do when it comes to the Patriots when during the season and I'm traveling and things like that.

I leave that to you. The traveling what kills you because you need saturdays obviously.

Yeah, that that that, I leave that to you to tell me what I should be watching when it comes to college football. But this question, uh from Rizio Mesigo. The two tackles that everybody's going to talk about the top of the draft are Kelvin Banks junior from Texas and Will Campbell from LSU. Those two guys are considered to be very, very high end tackle prospects.

Alabama's got a guy to Tyler Booker, but he's kind of like that. Next he's the old.

And then the other guy is your guy who you've been telling me for ten years is going to be good.

Literally two years because he was a true sophomore last year and went off. Luther Burden from Missouri, Luthor Burden receiver. I'll give you one more too, yeah, just in case. Uh, And people will probably familiar with him. Michigan is a corner Will Johnson who dominated during their run life. He might have been the best player on that team last year. Yeah, and he was a true sophomore. So obviously he wasn't

I gotta be honest with you, I have no desire.

For Travis Hunter. Yeah, he was your favorite player last year.

I'm not because of the player. I have no desire to bring Dion anywhere near this thing.

All right, Well, I mean I take him as a corner.

I think he's gonna I don't. I don't need the bar ball like up in all all of the Patriots business, I don't need it.

Look, I Will Johnson is depending on what Travis Hunter does ends up doing this year and ends up declaring ass because he's not gonna play tow ways in the NFL. He can't. It's just too physically taxing. He maybe he'll be like Marcus Jones. But Will Johnson is probably the best corner in this draft. And look if if everything behind Gonzo kind of falls out and Jonathan Jones a

Yeah. So Kelvin Banks and Will Campbell. I haven't studied them specifically, but obviously I watched a lot of those offenses for the draft this year, with Aden Daniels and with the Texas guys and things like that. I think the thing that stands out about both of those guys is both guys have really good size for the position. Yeah, I wouldn't say that either one of them is like, you know, super. I think Banks is maybe a little bit more athletic, just in terms of like getting out

It's irrelevant because we're gonna get so much more information. Yeah, ranking them is irrelevant. I also think that they're just at this point, it's just here are guys to watch, and then you watch them next year. Yeah, so that we can rank them and when the time comes. Yeah.

I also think that it will be good for everybody with these two tackles and with other players on these two teams to not have such loaded supporting talent, like when you have a quarterback like Jayden Daniels. Right, it just makes everything better when you have receivers like Texas did last year. You know, it makes Quinn Yours and

Luthor Burt because he is a pretty good quarterback. Brady Cook. Yeah, does that apply or sure? It shouldn't know? He's got I'm saying he's good on his own. He doesn't need Brady Cook. As much as I like part of me. If they did the wait for a quarterback thing, I wanted them to take Brady Cook because how fun would it be for the Patriots to have a quarterback named Brady Cook?

Oh my god?

He wears, not that he would hear, but he wears number twelve.

So the biggest thing is, h yeah, he is not gonna wear that here?

You sure, Brady Cook?

Well, first off, I hope they don't draft You're not gonna wear number twelve.

You don't think, Brady Cook? You just say Brady Cook. Uh.

I would say. The biggest thing though, is that if you had to ask me right now, right today, and maybe we might disagree with it on this, maybe because you love Luther Burden so much, but if you have to ask me right now, right today, left tackle one one need for the Patriots next year, and I don't think it's particularly close. As much as I love receivers, and I think they can use that number one. That's

I don't disagree, like I wanted them to take a left tackle second in this out, and I think we're looking at Will Cambon, Kevin Kelvin Banks. But they seem to be okay doing left tackle by committee, and it wouldn't surprise me if they I would I would go left tackle. I'm with you, yeah, But it also really wouldn't surprise me if if they went receiver and just continue to kind of rotate left tackles through because that's what they've been doing for years now.

Yeah. So Chad in Atlanta emails in and says that the quote that Wolfe had the system that I come from, we don't talk about x zys slot. We just tried to get out of really good receivers and it would end up working out for us. He said that worried him that they don't. I think that he was lying to our faces when he was just hyping up his player.

Yeah.

I think when when you look at the way that they constructed their picks. We talked about it for a long time at the top of the show, I Javon Baker and Jalen Polk are completely complimentary players that are ones and X ones a Z. Like, I think he's full of it when he said.

That he's just hyping up the guy. He just took that's it's that's just playing the game.

Yeah, I don't think that he ignored that at all. Actually, I think he did the opposite. I think that they they were very mindful of making sure that it all fits together. The other line question here from Andrew is about right tackle. It said, you know, last year, right tackles are evolving door YadA, YadA, YadA. H how worried are we about bold tackle spots? They are gonna play mic on wh right tackle. We'll see how it goes, but that's the playoff.

You know what, even if it doesn't work. I think Cayden Wallace is a good right tackle. Yeah, he kicked Mia w who back inside, and like, I'm not worried about that. Maybe it takes him a couple weeks to figure it out, but that's kind of what this team is at this point. Yeah, Like I'm good with that. I just wish they had a real left tackle.

Another question about twenty twenty five drafts. So I'll just reiterate, Will Carambull, Kelvin Banks Junior, Luther and Burnon. Those are Luther, sorry stumbled out in that one, Luther Burden, Kelvin Banks Junior, Will Campbell. Those are the three guys you guys want to watch. Those are the three guys that were gonna go.

Yeah, when we get closer, I will have you, guys know, I'll have that. So when we get to like August, I'll start talking about here are the players for Patriots fans to watch. So we'll get you, get a little bit of sleep, We'll get you.

I want to end it on this note, though, Christian Barmore signs a four year Oh yeah, okay, fine is what we do. We do the one UDFA.

So well, okay, so my favor my favorite is Mikey Victor. But there's just so many corners. I don't know how it makes the team. Big corner from Alabama State, yea, Deshaun Fenwick. They're running back from Oregon State. Yeah, they can have a run. That real chance to make team. Six foot two, twenty three bowling ball back. He'll compete with Kevin Harris for that third running back spot, and then Jacob Warren, the tight end from Tennessee. He could have a chance to because they don't really have a

Running back UDFA. Running backs always have a chance to make football teams.

Yeah, and look if they so. I think part of the reason Fenwick went undrafted is he he was in college for six years. He only had more than hundred carries in a season once. He just never really play. If they run this preseason, like Bill used to, we're gonna see a lot of Deshaun Fenwick. Yeah, so he'll give him a real good chance to see what he can do.

Yeah, really quickly before we wrap Christian Barmore four year extension. Obviously, this is not what the show today was about, but you know, we wanted to get our quick thoughts on this. Personally, I just love it for the main reason that this is a twenty four year old player who's ascending who you're keeping in the in house. And I don't want to come off like everything is anti Bill it's just different. It doesn't mean that Bill's way of doing things was

Yeah, And what you want is you want you know, the core tenants of a defense are having you know, a playmaker, not just a good player, but a playmaker at each level. You have Barmore at the first level.

Yep.

You locked up Dugger on the third level. Yeah, I don't know if you count jud On as a second level player, but he's even on a contract year, so we'll see what they do there.

But like van On the outide, right, if you want to.

Continue to be an elite defense, this is the kind of guy you need to have, and they kept him around.

Yep, no doubt about it. All right. Whether you're in the game or betting on the game, you'll need a game plan. DraftKings Sportsbook, the official sportsbook partner of the Newland Patriots, provides you with everything you need to build your personal get betting game plans so you can get in on all the action while practicing save bets. Visit DraftKings dot com slash Responsible dash Gaming to learn more about all the safe betting tools draftings has to offer.

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