This is the Patriots Catch twenty two podcasts with Evan Lazar and Alex bart.
Lazarre.
Everybody nailed it. He joined as always by our bar. Here is Evan Lazar and Alex Bars. Why did he quit because he was getting Yes, because he's getting wrap beat out of him. He would have quit, Yes, he would have no matter what, quit because he would have quit rap beat out of him. He didn't want to play football anymore because he was getting the crap beat out of him. I disagree with that. I think Andrew Luck just didn't want to play anymore because he was
going out there every Sunday. I disagreed off. I think he just didn't want to play anymore. I'll tell you why he didn't want to play. He quit like ten years or he couldn't. He couldn't play.
He was so hurt. He was not Yeah, this is a bizarre take. Andrew Luck was not fine.
Do you think I could get through the show today without without pissing people off out? Without getting somebody through that right on Twitter, right on Twitter, right on Twitter, And and then they'll tell us that they don't listen to the show, right they don't listen to the show. But we're going to post things that you say on No.
I think I think the account that posts has been a very pretty pretty loyal listener of ours.
Let's not give any credit. I'm just saying I'm not gonna piss anything. I'm not gonna press anybody off.
No.
I love our listening, especially if they're gonna throw you under the bus like that.
I love our listeners. But I feel like once I would say once a month, maybe maybe it's a little bit more frequently than that. Morell maybe you can you can tell me if it's more frequently, But like once a month, I say something on here or on Unfiltered that pisces people off, and it can and it's either we get bombarded by emails about it or it's all over Twitter or whatever, and everybody is just like coming at me because I you know, maybe I don't know.
You took something that is settled fact and you had me debating it like it was a take. You heard me in that clip say this is a weird take. It was settled fact, and we're debating it like it was a take that was that was something for me.
Sometimes some job sometimes, like you said, sometimes you have to you have to exaggerate a little bit, and you have to say some things that are maybe a little bit controversial, and don't sausage just to get the people going. That's all all right? Anyways, Evan Lazar, Alex Bars Patriots Catch twenty two.
Uh.
Here for you today. We are going to talk about OTAs the first look at Patriots OTAs. Both Alex and I were out there on Monday to watch the Patriots practice. And I have a whole list of things I want to get to and we'll get to those in a second. But before we really get going here, 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 for the official vehicle of
the New England Patriots, Toyota. Let's go place this and easy to drink, easy to enjoy, bud Light, the official beer sponsor of the New England Patriots. All right, so here's where I want to start with Monday's practice. And on Tuesday, Alex, I gave you this take off the air and our show before the show, which is just our text back and forth about these things. And I told you that I wasn't thrilled about the reps and the efficiency of practice. I don't want to give that
take again. I think you know, we can move off that. It was one practice. Let's see what next week. Will you give it? Yeah? Yeah, yeah, I did on Unfiltered on Tuesday. Basically, all I felt like was the big thing for me on Monday and throughout this entire spring program is what does a Gerrod Mayo practice look like?
And I think in a lot of ways that is almost more important at this point of the year than what each individual player looks like, because we'll get to that like training camp, when the pads go on, is when we'll really get to start an analyzing individual player and position groups and all the stuff that we do
on here. We'll get to that point. Right now, it's just interesting to me, and maybe this is a little inside baseball, but it's just interesting to me to evaluate somebody else's practice like I have only watched and take joint practices out of it because those don't really count.
I've only watched a Bill Belichick ota at this point as a professional reporter, I've only ever watched a Bill Belichick ota and One of the things that I always thought was so fascinating about how Belichick ran a practice was how efficient practice was. There just wasn't a whole
lot of standing around. Everybody had a job to do, everybody had a responsibility, Every minute was allocated for somehow they never had guys just standing around doing nothing, And this practice, I felt like, was a little bit different in that regard. But I understand. I got, you know, some people push back on me on Tuesday at PU to not overreact to one practice. They're probably right, Let's see what it looks like over the next couple weeks.
But I think we both felt like this a little bit watching and I don't want to put words in your mouth, but just watching it and seeing Vederian Low get reps at left tackle over Caden Wallace and Bailey Zappy get reps at quarterback over Drake May and you can trickle that all the way down the entire lineup. I get that there's a rookies have to earn it.
There's a seniority about it. But I think one thing that you hear so much about nowadays, with the rules and with the CBA and all this kind of stuff, you only have a finite amount of practice time and on field work in the NFL calendar that you aren't
preparing for an opponent. Like once you get into the regular season and you have game weeks and you're practicing Wednesday through Friday and it's all game plan oriented, that's you're not going to be giving the third string tackle reps right when you're getting ready for the Cincinnati Bengals, Like, that's just not gonna happen. So this time of year is why a guy and I don't want to just harp on Drake May because I think that you know,
it furthers the point. A guy like Caiden Wallace who is switching positions from right tackle to left tackle, needs every single rep that he can get, every single rep
that he can get. And this time of year, especially at tackle and quarterback, when there's no contact and all you're doing is really going through the fundamentals of those reps, it's maybe even more important in my mind than when the bullets really start flying, because that if you're not ready for that by having a solid foundation in the spring, and then you get to the summer and the pads go on and now Matthew Judon's coming off the edge at you and you're Caden Wallace, It's gonna look ugly.
So I think that that's the big takeaway that I had first of all, and then we can get into the individual players, but I just felt like we need to see a little bit more of the guys that you're a draft and developed team, right. The rookies are the are the future, they're the core, develop them, develop them. Yeah, so I mean, I agree with you.
I do think it's important to put the caveat on there that this is one practice, yes, and they've had what one or two more since I think they're practicing today behind closed doors, like we don't get to see everything.
So maybe it was you know, day one.
All right, we're gonna put the veterans out there, let the rookie see how an NFL practice is run.
And maybe we go.
Out there next week and it's a ton of Drake Man, it's a ton of Kaden Wallace. So you know, I'll I'll kind of hold off on that one practice. I don't I hope that's not indicative of the full plan, but I will give them for now the out of kind of and and Girod may have talked about this that the way they split reps, they may do it one way one day, in another way another day, and we're not there all the day.
So it's tough to say, but I do hope Caden wall is changing positions Drake May.
You're trying to get him ready, you're trying to develop him, and if he's not going to start the season, which I'm okay with, I think it's it's really hard. You now have to do two things at once. You have to get Jacoby Brissett ready to start the season, and you have to get going on Drake May's development. So to also throw Bailey z Appy in there, who you know, some reports have indicated he's probably not a part of
the long term plans. What does that accomplish? And I've seen people say, well, you know, if Jacoby Versett gets hurt, you don't want to go to Drake May.
You gotta have the next guy up.
That that should be the third most important thing, right that that shouldn't be more important than mayed it because ideally that just means.
You want to get May ready even quicker. So it was one practice.
I do think that distribution was notable if it stays that way. The other thing, I'll say, I think you're the one who pointed this out to me, and we were out there. We've seen in the past under Belichick, and I don't think this is just a building like I think a lot of teams do this. Those practice fields out back. If you've ever been in training camp, you know it's two fields.
Yeah, they have two fields.
And right now you have ninety players on the roster, you have like a full you know, full two teams. Yeah, you could have multiple groups repping at once. And they only did that very briefly on Monday. Yeah, for the most part, it was one offensive unit, one defensive unit. And I'll say this credit to the rookie quarterbacks when when Bailey Zappi was out there running the offense, Drake May you could see him talking to Alex van Pelt,
talking to Jacobe Burssett about what was going on. And there were a couple of times where I saw Joe Milton, you know, he's standing behind Baby zapp Jacoby Brissette. Yeah, and he's like actually miming through you know, the snap to drop back all that what he would do. So Bill used to harp on that a lot, like, even if you're not in the play, the mental reps right, stay ready, be ready. So it's good to see those guys doing that. But you could have, and this is
what they did very late in practice. You could have Jacoby Brissett and Drake May on one field, in Bailey Zappie and Joe Milton on the other with the backups and that way, it's just there's more reps. It's more reps available. So again maybe it's the first practice. They just wanted to get their you know, their feed under them. Yeah, but that's something I would like to see them at.
If they're not going to change the order, at least multiple you know, get get multiple units out there and double the reps you have available.
That's that's a great point. And I just think that I don't want people to get bogged down by order. Like I'm not really all that worried about the order of things. What I'm more worried about is we talked to Bill O'Brien a little bit about this last year
when there was some indecisiveness about the quarterbacks. It's really hard to get more than two quarterbacks ready to play, right, And so if you're giving the Lion's share of the reps Jacoby Brisset because he's your starter for the beginning of the year, which is fair fine, then someone is losing reps If Bailey Zappi's in the mix here and right now it's Drake May and it shouldn't be Drake May. I don't care about Joe Millen. I know, I'm sorry.
I just don't you know how many reps he gets he gets, you know, and I hope that he develops into a player for him, Well, it's not I don't care about volume for Joe Milton.
Here's what I'll say about Joe Milton. I do think they should keep three quarterbacks. Yeah, and he's the most likely third. They're gonna keep three, right, I don't think Zappy's gonna be one of them. So are you keeping Joe Milton or do you have to go out and find this year's Nathan Rourke, Will Greer whoever. I'm not saying the first day of OTAs was going to decide that.
But I'm hoping that some chance, and maybe this is what the preseason games are for, but I'm hoping that it's some chance we get to see whether or not Joe Milton can be that.
Yeah, that's fair. I just look at it and say they have too many quarterbacks. Yeah, and Mayo said that they have too many quarterbacks. I think they're aware of it. You know, Albert reported it, and he had talked to Gerrod for the story, so you know it's probably coming from from some solid intel. They have too many quarterbacks. It's really hard to run practice with four quarterbacks and have everybody have if you're trying to get everybody equal opportunity,
which is sort of what it felt like. Yeah, besides Jacoby who kind of dominated the reps, but for the next three Zappi, Drake, made Joe, Milton, it felt like they were trying to get them equal opportunity. You're not really getting any of them true working at that.
Point, unless I'm not necessarily saying I believe this, but I'm just thinking out loud here. I mean, they've harped competition, competition, competition. Do you think there's a part of them that's that Zappi's actually competing with Persett for the starting job.
I thought of that, and I think there's a chance, because I do think if all things were equal, that if we were just going based off of results that Zappi could push Jacoby Brissett. Yeah, but Jacoby Brissett's value, his experience, his mentorship, Like that's such a big part of the equation right now for the Patriots. If you just told me in a vacuum, do I think that Jacoby Brissett and Bailey Zapi could be an a legit
quarterback competition, I would say yes. But at the same time, it's that's not the situation, you know, there's more context of the situation.
Well, and that's why I would hope that's not the case. But I wonder if they look at it and they say, Jacoby's here, he's going to be a resource one way or the other.
We're gonna let Zappi compete.
Yeah, And again that's I I would just just get your starter ready because if that's the case, find out early, find out early so you can even if Zappy does beat him out. Now it's Brisett or Zapi is one guy and Drake May is the other. Because those two guys the starter, which should be Jacoby Brissett, but the starter and Drake May need to be the two getting the majority, the majority, the majority of the reps.
Yeah, I agree with that, all right. The other thing that I wanted to hit on off the top, and then we can open up the phone lines and emails too. I think that there's and I'm saying this, I'm not singling anybody out, you know, he said at the top of the show. Everybody gets mad at me, right, I'm not singling anybody. I'm saying it for myself to I think that we have to be careful with Drake May's,
our assessment of Drake May. And I think what I'm hearing a lot of is, first of all, even for even somebody like me, that that is as nerdy about this kind of stuff as anybody. None of us are our quarterback experts in terms of mechanics and footwork, like none of us coach quarterbacks. Okay, So to get into the details of how his footwork looks and how his mechanics look and he's tapping the ball and his shoulders are shrugging and all like, all this kind of other
stuff I think is doing him a big disservice. He's a young player, he's raw. We knew that coming in,
and it's his first true NFL practice. Rickie Mediamp doesn't count, right, it's his first true NFL practice, So I just hope that we are careful with how we assess things with Drake may moving forward from mechanical perspective, because already based off of really two practices if you want to count rookie Minicamp, but Monday as well with OTAs, I'm hearing a lot of what's the word just criticism, nitpicking of you know, oh, he's got this this hitch in his throat,
and he's got this tick now at the tapping of the ball, and he's got you know, all these different things that we're throwing out there. It's totally fair to be critical, it's totally fair to tell you what your
eyes see. But on this show, what I think is most important at all this is I want to kind of break down the things into two categories of what I think are legitimate things that he needs to work on, not concerns, but things that he needs to work on mechanically, and things that I think that are either missing the point or kind of getting a little bit overblown. I
guess about his mechanics. So I have a couple of different things that I've heard and a couple of different things that I've seen as well that I want to put in those two buckets. You know what, what's a legitimate thing that I'm worried about, not worried, but a legitimate thing that he needs to work on. And what's the things that are getting a little bit out of control? And I think the just starting with the the out of control, because I think that's the easiest way to start.
The tapping of the football is a non issue. It's a non issue now if he's as an old football, if he's burping the baby, that's different. Right. What he's doing is he's he's he's tapping the football because it's
a mechanical cueue, right, it's a rhythm thing. And what he's trying to do is you want your your hips to fire first, So you want to keep your upper body closed to the target and you want your hips to fire for first because then it creates like a coil, right where you're like working on the axis of your body to kind of snap and create that that torque to to drive the football. Like when we see Dak Prescott warming up and he's doing the hip thing and
everybody's making fun of him for it. That's what he's trying. That's the motion that he's trying to warm up or get loose, trying to do. So, when you tap the ball like a lot of quarterbacks do, and I'll get to that in a second, when you tap the ball, what you're doing is you're giving yourself a rhythmic queue of fire the hips right, start, start the motion right. While what it also does is it keeps your front,
you know, your your top of your body closed. So when I say you know close, you want your shoulders like this, and your shoulders are going to fly open like that, you want them to stay closed until your hips fire. If you're if you're opening before your hips fire, then the whole mechanical chain is broken and you're not getting any lower bod right. And now all you're throwing with is your arm, which is what you want to avoid.
So the tapping of the football is something that old quarterback cliche, like old quarterback teachings from thirty years ago would tell you that that's that's a bad habit. The main reason why is because it might slow down your release by like a tick of a second, and it gives the defense a queue that you're about to throw the ball right, that was what people used to say. Then as time progressed, somebody named Tom Brady started tapping the ball. And I don't think anybody's jumping tom Brady's
throws because he's tapping the football. Right didn't really seem to be an issue for him. So tom Brady started tapping the ball. Aaron Rodgers taps the ball. Patrick Mahomes taps the ball. Matthew Stafford taps the ball. These are just some guys recent that I can off the top of my head that I know do this. And I actually think that it could be a good thing for Drake May because we are, you know, the Patriots are trying to tie his mechanical chain together and keep him sound.
And if it takes that little queue to make him do it, to help him do it, then I actually think it's a good thing. Now, it has to be efficient, it has to be quick, and it has to be part of the overall motion. You don't want him going out of his way to bring the football to his offhand and tap the ball. The other guy, you know, just really quickly. I thought it was funny that was tapping the ball is Caleb. Yeah, So Caleb was tapping
the ball and Bears practice. I didn't hear anybody being like, he's burping the baby.
The other thing is you mentioned this being efficient too sometimes. I know, like with Brady, if it's a play where you really have to get the ball out, yeah, he just wouldn't do it.
Like there were certain things. It's like a quick game or screen you know, receiver, perimeter screen. Yeah, of course.
The other thing is there's a difference I think what people are maybe mistaking it. And you touched on this a little bit. What's called burping the baby right, yeah. So there's tapping the ball, which is tap and throw right yeah. And then if you can if you're just listening, I'm doing this with the water bottle you here, like shaking around. Burping the baby is different. That's where you're in the pocket right and you're waiting to throw and
you're tapping the ball. So that's that's bad. You don't want to do that. And the big reason I think there's a couple of reasons, but like the big reason is if you don't have two hands on the football, you know you're you're tap it and a pass rusher comes around and boom knocks it out.
It's ball security, right, But to me, that is holding. The problem with Drew is that he used to hold the ball forever like It's not no, it's not even that. It's because this was something with Rogers out of college. Actually, I remember this when he first came in the draft. The two things were he held the ball high and he would pat it, and it just it makes it a very easy target for pass rushers to get their hands on in the pocket. You don't want to be
tapping the ball in the pocket. You want two hands on the football.
But if it's one quick before you throw, you know, if pass rusher gets there in that tenth of a second, all power to him. That's different than just sitting there and repeatingly tap and repeatedly tapping the ball.
Yeah. I just I think that some of these things, And hopefully we'll get a chance to talk to Drake Man Alex van Pelt soon about this because I'm curious, and even TC McCartney too, I'm curious if this is something that they're telling him to do versus I mean doing it on his own, or will he do it a little bit in college, Not that I saw as much as what they what he tried to do on Monday. If they're telling him to do this, then there's a rhyme, there's a method to the madness. If he's just all
of a sudden ticking, then that's a different story. But I don't think that's what's going on. I think what's going on is that he is trying to que himself up or have a rhythm to his motion so that he's more mechanically sound through the motion. And that's exactly why Brady used to do it. It was a rhythmic cue for Brady, and Brady did it. And I know this is not a great example because I know you're gonna
tell me he sucks. But I always remember there was a segment, I think it was one like a Monday night football broadcast or something like that, where they talked to Jimmy g about tapping the ball and he said that he always was told as a kid that was
a bad habit, don't do it. And then he got to New England and Brady started tapping the ball and he was like, well, I feel more comfortable, more natural doing it, And this guy's tapping the ball and he's winning super Bowls ever the other year, so I now think that this is probably overrated in terms of it being a bad thing.
Yeah, again, it's are you if you're using it correctly, it's fine. If it's just that one tap and go, then there's actually a reason to it. It's when you get in the pocket and you're doing it without purpose that it becomes an issue.
Yeah. Yeah, So that that thing I put in the bucket of non issue. I actually think that it's purposeful that they're trying to do it with him. The one thing, the two things that I put in that I think really are things that I think need to be worked on for him. The number one thing is the load up to his throat, Like his release time and his load up is it needs to be more efficient.
Well, he's never here's the one thing I will tell people. He's never going to have the quickest release time because he has.
Really long arms.
Yeah, and those quarterbacks like it's just your arm's got to move, it's got to cover more distance. Yeah, So he's always gonna have a little bit longer of a release, but there are still ways he can cut it down.
So he's got a little bit of a hitch with his shoulders. There's no doubt about that like when he comes and he starts to separate his hands and he comes out, his whole shoulders kind of just like go up, like his whole body goes up. And it's not a very it's not an efficient or like smooth motion. So that's going to have to be fixed because that those split seconds in the NFL do matter, right. That's that's the difference between a pass breakup and a completion in
a lot of cases. Now, some big arm quarterbacks like Drake may get away with it because the ball is they have such velocity on the throw that they can make up for it with velocity. But I think that those types of things ideally he would not be doing. You know, the load up or the hitch that he has when he goes into his throw is noticeable.
Uh.
Just to go back real quick to the tapping the ball, because you just reminded me of this, because I think this is the way some people see it when you talk about, you know, speeding up the release and cutting down on it. Yeah, the tap is not extending the release. No, Like you said, you're not throwing during that portion of the release anyway, because you got to get your hips going first, right, These are things that you're talking about now where.
Talking about is actual.
He's adding steps to the throw and it's making the throw take longer. So I think that's why some people are concerned about the tapping the ball. Honestly, to bring it all together is because they think it's an extra step he's adding. You're not doing anything with the ball in that point and release anyway, so it doesn't matter whereas this stuff with the shoulders, you could just be throwing the ball at that point.
Yeah, I wonder if so. Another thing, and I know I keep on bringing up Brady is not to compare the two of them like the career wise or anything like that, but Brady's the best mechanical thrower I've ever seen, so everything that he did had a purpose to it. With his mechanics, he at some point in his career changed having his front arm tucked in so he would bring the ball back and it would be very efficient. Right, Whereas with Drake May, when I see him bring the
ball back, I see his front hand go up. It's like a baseball throw. Yeah, and that's why the motion is like extended and the shoulders go up like this.
Right.
So if you're able to maybe tuck in the hand the front arm a little bit like Brady used to do, and he used to put like a tennis ball or something like that to keep his front shoulder. He actually his left hand would usually end up like on his right shoulder. Yeah. Yeah, so that's what I see with
the shoulder hitch. I think that is legitimate that that needs to be more efficient and cleaned up and be a little bit quicker, because you're right, he is going to have a little bit of a more of a looping, longer release naturally. I mean, Josh, yeah, so too. If you're just really efficient with your upper body though, and everything is kind of level and there's no hitch to it,
then you he'll speed it up. That will speed it up, and then he has the velocity that it's not going to matter that he might be a little bit slower to the point, you know, to the release point than some other people.
Uh.
The other thing that I would say, and we talked about this a little bit during practice, uh that I noticed that I don't It depends on who you listen to, you know. Some quarterback coaches don't think it's a big deal.
Some quarterback coaches think it's a big deal. I what I see with Drake May a lot of the time is that he'll tilt his shoulder backwards, so his front shoulder is going to be up, like you know, backwards, and his his lower shoulder, his back shoulder is going to be lower, and you're you're tilting like on an axis backwards, right. And when what happens with that when you do that shoulder tilt is that it puts an
upward trajectory on the football. So the ball is just naturally going to have more air under it because of the way that you're throwing. Now, Paul brought up on Tuesday's PU and I was talking about this that Drew Brees used to do this. Yeah, but Drew Brees used to do it because he was six feet tall.
But like, so you said, you don't remember Brady doing it. I remember Brady. It was on the deep balls. But I remember Brady doing this from time to time.
If he was loading up, like to throw like a sixty five seventy yard bomb to Randy Moss. I'm sure he did it. But when what you really are don't want to see him do is do it on throws that you don't need him to do that because you want him to just drive the ball parallel. So I feel like that will come.
Eliminating the shoulders will come with like you said, flying that front arm out, Yeah, because if you're flying your front arm out, the motion is kind of carrying you that way. If you keep the left arm tucked in, there isn't a ton of reason to lean back.
Yeah. I just feel like he has such a good arm that I don't think he needs the tilt right, So, like he should be able to keep his shoulders even and just drive the ball because if.
You're flying your left arm out, it's naturally gonna push you back a little bit, right.
Yeah, So maybe, like I'm saying, could the two be related. It could be. I just noticed it on Monday, in particular, when he would try to throw the ball down the field a little bit more on some of the deeper throws, that he was tilting back a lot, And I just I don't think the biggest thing is is I don't think he needs to do it, because I think he's got enough arm strength to just do it without it. And he's not gonna He's tall, so he's not gonna have to worry about bat passes to the line of
scrimmage and things like that. The reason why Drew Brees used to do it was to get it over the line of scrimmage. Yeah, that's why he would do it. Drake May is not going to have that problem. Shouldn't At six foot four and a half, like he's gonna be able to just throw the ball. So I would put those two things in the category of needs to
be worked on. And I think the biggest thing that I came away from this just to wrap this whole thing up and put a bow on it, is that I come away from these two exposures to Drake May, you know, rookie Mini Camp and Monday, I'm less concerned now about the footwork and more kind of concerned about the his throwing footwork. Looks like they've made like significant Yeah,
the footwork looks a lot better. I think maybe in the draft evaluation, I because I wasn't watching it up close and I was just watching it on film, I don't know if I necessarily noticed how much the motion itself needs to be in I'll say this too.
This might be a minor thing, but I noticed it about both rookie quarterbacks strong cadence. Those guys come to line, they get it out. Yeah, and that may sound like yeah, no, dull, like they're playing quarterback. You'd be surprised how many young quarterbacks, especially with all these college teams now where they go silent count and I guess they'll get rid of this now. But like the plays on the cards, everybody kind of knows what's going on, and you've got the clap, the clap,
cadence and all that. Yeah, you know, I've heard of examples where they have to really drill any kids when they get into the league, like what goes into calling out of cadence. Both these guys May Milton, they're they're they're barking it out. They're out there, they're giving a strong cadence. H you know, every you can hear it all the way on the other end of the field. It's with purpose, it's with confidence. Don't sleep on that. That's a good sign this early.
Yeah, and a lot of West Coast coaches are really big on cadence. Yeah. Also having you know, Dak Prescott's okay, here we go, right, everybody makes fun of it, but there's a lot of you know, West Coast coaches, which is what Mike McCarthy is and comes from this tree with Van Pelton everybody. They're really big on cadence. And my guess is that a lot of the quarterbacks behind the scenes, like Jacoby Brissett Drake may are probably trying to have similar cues and cadences so that it's all
the same no matter who's under center. So that's a very very big thing I think for a lot of West Coast coaches.
Well, I would just throw into the McCarthy angle. Who worked with Rogers. We know Rogers uses the cadence as a weapon. Yeah, in terms of getting guys to jump off side, because you know with Dak, it was the it's the okay, here we go. Aaron Rodgers, I don't remember what it is, but he has his own one, and so like defensive players used to tee off on it, like okay, with Snap's coming, so he used to write you dummy snacks.
Well, so so Dak has said this, Okay, here we go.
When he says that, basically, what that means is because there's other people the lines communicating, the receivers might be talking okay, here we go. When Dak says that it's everybody else on the field from here.
I'm talking. Now, you're done with your adjustments. It's on me.
Except there is I think, a dummy call before it where he can say okay, here we go and essentially fake the snap. Rogers has a similar thing too, and so wouldn't surprise me if they're coaching Drake may On like, because that's the thing. Some quarterbacks are lazy with the cadence. They go up and they're all right, yahy twenty two
and so and then they call Hyke. But it's like, you know, the hut or whatever it is, sounds different than everything else, whereas with a guy like Rogers, with a guy like Dak, it all.
Sounds the same.
It's all said with the same volume, with the same energy, and it makes it that much tougher for the defense line up. I know this sounds super super minor. This is as in the weeds as we get. But this stuff can matter, and you know, it's good to see young quarterbacks understanding that. I think with Milton Date, they use the cadence in certain ways of Tennessee. It's probably a little less of an adjustment for him. But again
for both these guys, come out strong, cadence. You hear some things where guys don't always come out of college understanding the importance of that part of the game. And it feels like with May and Milton they've drilled it in easy.
Yeah, it's all this fundamental stuff is why people This is why I harp on the reps, right, because all these fundament This is the time of year to be working on these fundamental things. This is the time of year to start tweaking a little. And you know, you know, I said that we have to be careful of how we assess Drake May, and I also say that the Patriots have to be careful with how much they try to tweak. You have to pick, and this is why I wanted to put things in buckets, you know, like
what's important what's not. And I'm just giving you my opinion. I'm sure that they have a laundry list of things that they feel like need to be fixed, and I'm you know, missing a bunch of them. But you have to pick, like a handful. You can't try to completely change everything that the kid does, right, you have to try it, because then he's going to become robotic and he's not going to be himself and he's going to
feel off and it's not gonna work. So you have to pick a few things to try to harp on on what he could really fix and what he you know, what we should really not be so concerned about. And I think that's important as well, so that strike may before we open up the phone lines and everything. I
do also want to talk about the offensive line here briefly. Obviously, we got the news from Drod Mayo before practice that Cole Strange is month to month, and I and Rapaport added to that that there's some doubt about cold Strange's availability to start the year the regular season in September.
So this is a big topic of both the whole cold Strange experience since a minute they drafted him and Sean McVay and let's need we're up there laughing at them drafting him on draft night in twenty twenty teens. Round yeah, today, where there's a conversation about just the pick itself, Cole Strange's future, but also you know, obviously what the team is going to look like without him
comes September. I think the biggest thing is and I understand that you can't hold this against Elliott Wolf necessarily because he wasn't the one making the final calls in all these situations. And it's not about holding it against anybody, but the Cold Strange pick has had such a giant domino effect on a lot of their decision making when it comes to the draft over the last couple of years.
And to be fair, most first round picks, one way or another do have a ton of domino effects.
Right.
It can be good, some can be bad. It's not necessarily that they that Blaydon Robinson is like a bad player or a bad prospect or a bad pick in the fourth round. But these assets, it's about the assets, right, It's who.
Could they have been taking if they weren't chasing their tail at card Yeah? Really, I mean, honestly, if you really want to go back, it goes back to trading Shack Mason.
Yeah, I mean, well, the domino effect of Joe Toney, Shack Mason, Ted Karris creating all of this void. But by not retaining those players or trading away one of those pla and Jack Mason's case opened the door to have to draft Cole Strange. We all knew at the time Cole Strange was a reach and was a risky pick at the time, and it's turned out that for once in a blue moon, sometimes the media is right.
The media was right about this one, and that's gonna be the one that people off the Yeah, and it's it's not about blaming Elliott Wolf or this regime for the Cole Strange pick in twenty twenty two, although they were here. But it's not about blaming them for it. It's just in revision is history, the domino effect of like we said that the asset allocation, they've been chasing their tail is a great way to put it. They've been chasing their tail at Guard ever since because he
didn't fix the problem. So with that all being said, what is Cole Strange's future on the Patriots, I think is a really interesting question because can't make the club from the tub, right, and even when he's been out there, he's had some ups and downs. He was I think he was starting to play a little bit better, yeah, towards the end of the year last year before he
got hurt. But in general, I think that one of the other things about Cold Strange that bugs me is people that try to act like Cold Strange is good when he's healthy. Cold Strange has been a inconsistent player even when healthy. You know, some good, some bad, streaky, I would say, you know, has some good film a couple games in a row, and then we'll have a stinker. You know that sort of thing. So I'm still not sold even on a healthy Cold Strange being in a starting guard in the league.
Well, here's what makes it so tough for me is we talked last year about how when he struggled early, how important the summer would have been for him and how important training camp would have been for him, and he lost that development window and it felt like he was chasing until you got halfway into the year and suddenly started playing a little better before he got hurt. He's gonna miss this summer too. She's now gonna miss
this summer, another development window. And now next year he's gonna be going into the final year contract at age twenty seven, essentially having missed two full spring training camps, which stunts a player's growth.
It does, It just does. That's what happens. He's undersized, so you worry about his durability from that point. It's just.
Missing missing two training Camps is so much bigger than I think people realize, especially for a player like that. And if you know, there's a real chance that I think we both think City Show.
Is a solid player.
Yeah, let's say Laden Robinson wins the other spot or at some point takes it over from Nick LeVert or Michael Jordan. I have to like double check myself every time I say it. What are the chances of city So in Lane Robinson proved? They're both starting caliber cards.
Both. Yeah, the odds are not in their favor. You don't think so that both of them are starting calib starting I'm not saying all pro but like you feel good about him, I think we just just by the sheer math of it, like they're all right.
Let me put it this way between City So, Leighton Robinson, Nick Leverett. Yeah, what are the chances that they have throw anybody else you want in there? At Tonio Maffi? What are the chances that they have two guys that we look at it, We get to like October and it's like, yeah, all right, they're they're good at guard.
Man.
I love I love is a strong word. I like City So. I think City So is gonna make it. I think he'll be good. I watched them a Leverett in Tampa when they signed him in a little bit. I actually watched a little bit more yesterday because of all this news that's going on with Cold Strange. His Tampa film is rough, Okay, I think the biggest thing that you see with his Tampa film is a lateral
movement skill, Like he's not. He's not very high level pass protector because of his lateral movement and he's got shorter arms, so he's got some trouble with guys getting into him quickly as well. He's good run blocker. I think I wouldn't call him a great run blocker, but he's he's solid as a run blocker. He definitely has
the play strength to be a decent run blocker. Tampa pulled him a lot like they they got him on the move a little bit in the run game, and he's got some of that ability certainly, But the pass Pro film was pretty rough. I think that he's a he's a third, you know, swing stuard, the backup type of player.
So then maybe Cole Strange comes back and his job's waiting for him. But yeah, if not, I hope Lane Robinson ends up a starter. They took him with one hundred third overall pick. That's high for guard. Like, there's a chance that they have two starting guards and they just don't need col Strange. If not, then they're gonna keep him around because he has been you know, serviceable when he plays, and maybe he actually gets into camp next year bulks up a little bit, gets that development.
But I just his his his development's still stunted right now from all the time he's missed. Yeah, and it's it's tough to come back from that.
So last week I told everybody that I wasn't that concerned about the offensive line. Yet this makes me more concerned because now you're talking about two spots. Basically you're talking about the whole left stone and really three what's the third one? The other guard? Well, I think City is gonna be okay there, all right, Well, I feel good about David Andrews City and On being starting caliber lineman for them, so whatever the configuration is, but I
feel good about those three. If I I on almost wonder, and I think they did this on Monday, right, I almost wonder if it's better to play City at left guard and put Leverett in between Andrews and on. So that's that's what they did. That's what they should do, right, because you're kind of spacing out. If your whole left side's a turnstile, then then that's a big, big problem. And here's what worries me.
So you're your whole take last week because you believe in Scott Peters and that's why you felt good about it.
And I'm not not and you know I'm a big believer. And if it's one spot, yeah, you can cover one spot. Yeah, But I look at it. You have.
At left tackle, you're either going to have a converted right tackle, whether it's it's gonna be Dukes or Wallace, it's gonna be or you're gonna have well, but just the guys they put out there right, you have you have ocor four and Wallace who are converted right tackles, or ve Darian Lowe who is a left tackle but is a project player in his own reguard. You are going to have a left guard who is moving from playing right guard last year and he played left guard
in college. But the point it's like new position to assignments your center's David Andrews you're fine there.
You're gonna have a.
Right guard that is probably a rookie or a second year player who didn't play a ton last year, like a project player there, or a career backup right. And then your right tackle who is a good player. This is his first offseason working exclusively at right tackles, so there's a different sort of training there. So if you look at it, there's development needed, like true hands on development needed at four of the five spots.
Or starting to play Jenga here.
That's they are asking a ton of Scott Peters in this offensive line coaching staff, and they actually have a bunch of offensive line coaches, which maybe is part of the reason their comfortable. Don't they have a third two I'm trying to pull it up here. No, they said Michael McCarthy, the guy they signed for Brown, who's like he's listed as an offensive assistant. He's been a line coach career, So they have they have a lot of guys there. But you're at we'll see and maybe they're I'm not
saying they're not up for it. I'm not even saying they're not good coaches, but they're asking that that offensive coaching specifically offensive line coaches to do a.
Lot that we're starting to get into the territory nowhere where my my I was at like a three last week. Now when you start to really break it down, and I don't think that even though it's it's super super early for him in this transition, I didn't. I didn't feel a whole lot of confidence coming from Choose the Corra for post practice on Monday either about him playing left tackle. He seemed like, Yep, this is gonna be it's gonna be a test, like this is gonna be
a He didn't sound super confident. No, So I feel like we're starting to teeter a little bit, even for me now, like I'm I'm up to probably like a six or a seven on the concern scale. Like this like doubled my level of concern. Not because of how high. I mean, I've been clear that I'm not as super high on col Strange as a player, But it's just like you said, we're moving pieces around now, you have younger players playing that don't have a ton of experience.
You're just starting to really shuffle the deck a lot, which is I think the bigger concern. I will continue to pound the table, continue to pound the table for Mike On when new playing guard. That doesn't help you, Yes, it does because it puts people in natural positions. And then who's your right tackle? Wallace? All right? Yeah, but now the line is a whole left to right, Chukes, City, Andrews On Wallace, everybody is playing their natural spots. City
was a left guard in college. I know he's got to learn at this level and played right guard last year, but he was a left guard in college. I think that's really where he feels more natural. Anyways, and I keep saying it. You developed that line and the next year, at the top of the draft, you draft Will Campbell or Kelvin Banks junior, and he's your left tackle. I just wish they drafted a left tackle. Yeah, I would
have obviously would have expedited things. But once you get into the third round at sixty eight, when you really start to think about it, if you have a much higher grade on Caden Wallace, then you should have taken Kaden Wallas. They should trade it up. They should have Patrick Paul goes fifty five. There's a run coming. That's fair, that's fair that it's a totally fair second guess of how they handled it. Yeah, I just think.
That, like, k don't get this, Kane Wallace was the best offensive lineman on the board at sixty eight.
I just don't love that they picked at sixty eight. Yeah. I just feel like at this point you have to almost cut your losses and just make the best out of the situation. I think the way to make the best out of the situation is to at least go into the season with everybody playing a position they feel comfortable with playing. And I also have been pretty surprised that Annu doesn't look slimmed down or lighter or any
sort of like preparation for him to play. He looks the same as he always does in terms of like being that you know, blocking guard build. I just feel like that's not only do I think that that probably has the highest ceiling in terms of the line this year, but I also think that that is the best line that you can have for the next three to five years. Yeah. And we start talking about Drake May and his window on the rookie contract and all that, Like, I feel
like that's the best thing. And if you have the quarterback on the rookie contract, you can afford to pay a guard eighteen nineteen million dollars a year like they're paying Mike on Wenu, Like you can afford that at this point in time, right, you have fifty million dollars in cap space still and on May twenty third, So money is not an issue about asset allocation and stuff like that. We'll see what they end up doing. It's right now, we're starting to get on mess territory with
the offensive line. We're starting to get there. I mean you can say we're starting to get there. Been there. I'm sorry to get it all right, Let's take some of these calls, and then we have a few more things I wanted to get to on OTA's But Patrick is in Pennsylvania. What's up? Patrick?
Hey?
Love gets twenty two keep up some great work. And before I said a question, I agree with you, and I think Goes chokes City Andrews on one who Wallace put everybody in the right position. But my actual question is, aside from maybe some of the offensive line and running back depth, looking at defense outside of outside corner, is there any other greater team needs than that? At this point, I see a bunch of slock corners on the roster not a lot of true outside guys or at least
proven guys. Do you realistically see us addressing that with a veteran, whether that be Gilmore or somebody else, or have you seen enough from practice to roll with Gonzo and Johnson Jones at the outside and then a mix of Marcus Jones, Dial Bolton, Austin, et cetera at the inside.
Thanks guys, Yeah, thanks for the call of Patrick. I'm not maybe this is mebe be naive like I was with left tackle last week. I'm not necessarily concerned that with outside corner or corner.
I say, it's the other way around. I think they have more boundary corners and slot corners. You got Christian Sauce, you got Alex Austin, You've got uh Marco Wilson right can play on the boundary. I like this guy, Mikey Victor of the UDFA they picked up. Jonathan Jones can play on the boundary. Marcel's dials a boundary corner like you got guys there. It's the slot. I did not say Isaiah Bolden, but Denk I'd put him in that
group too. It's the slot that worries me more. You know, maybe Jonathan Jones goes back in the slot and and I guess that's my Mike on WNU at right guard where it's like it's a slightly less impactful position. But I just think the puzzle fits better if you do that. But if it's not him, you know, I think Marcus Jones can be a good slot corner, but he's a small guy. Durability he's gonna be a question. And then
after that it really drops off in the slot. You know, I Sean Wade has shown some some progress, but is he a guy you're really comfortable with being potentially your second slot corner. I think Caleb Ford dement to U DFA can play in the slot a little bit. But it really thins out that to me is now they could add a guy on the boundary, move John Jones back into the slot full time. You know, he had Steph Gilmore and and and now you're in good shape.
So that's right, add the veteran the slots where they're where they're actually thinner, I think.
So I guess maybe I just it's semantics, but like I don't really get caught up too much and inside outside right now, when it comes to corners because so many of these receivers travel in an hour. So like when you play Miami, Like, does it really make a difference if you have inside or outside guys like Jalen Wattle and Tyree kill are gonna line up.
I think it's more at this point using those to describe the prototype of the player, the skill set, rather than the uh, you know, alignment.
I hear you there. I just think that what I the way I look at it, and I think that, again, this is probably pretty semantics. But Gonzo's gonna take the top X receiver. Yes, right, so he's gonna take the top X receiver. Jonathan Jones is gonna take the top Z receiver. And in today's NFL, not that this is probably true always, It's just I only know today's NFL. Uh. The zero receiver travels like right, Like he's he's an off the line player for a reason. He's gonna be
moving around. He's gonna play inside, he's gonna play outside. He's gonna play out of stacks, bunch of alignments. Uh, he's gonna come in motion like That's why he's playing off the line of scrimmage so that he can be a chess piece that they can move around. So in my mind, I actually think Jonathan Jones is excellent for that role. Now, if they play a team with a great Z receiver, you know, somebody that plays that role that is excellent at it. Maybe Gonzo takes that player
that week. And then you start to get into the issues of Okay, well, now who plays the boundary, you know, permanently and all that. I get that, maybe you could get into that minutia. But to me, it's simple as Gonzo's gonna play the boundary. Jonathan Jones is gonna be the the shadow, right, He's going to run around with
whoever's off the line of scrimmage. And then, like you said, the true slot is really the next trickle down, and I think that the ideally it's Marcus Jones, right, Ideally he steps out and I think he can do it, but he's got to be healthy.
And then who do you have behind him, because right now it's Sean Wade And now you're starting to get into, you know, being a little thing.
Yeah, I think the one spot that I look at too is early downs, you know, first, second down. I think there's a really good chance that their three safety Nickel a lot, and you have like a slot defender instead of a corner and it's Gabriel Peppers or it's Kyle Duggar, you know, something like that. Yeah, but I hope it's sick because we've seen them do that in the past, over do that and they end up putting
just guys that are too slow on burners. Yeah, if it ends up being you know, if you're playing a team that ends up just countering with eleven person out, then you have to match it with Trim Nickel. But I think that a lot of these teams that they play against that are going to be a little run heavy on early downs or play action run heavy, like that's going to be the sequel in their offense, or maybe the game plan that week is to play just a bunch of zone because they just feel like that's
how they match up best against an opponent. I feel like that that three safety Nickel comes into play a lot, So I think that maybe that adds a little bit of depth to corner or slot corner, I should say, just because the the safety is factoring just a little bit into how that's gonna work out. If you ask me, the spot on the defense that I feel is maybe the most vulnerable. I guess the way to put it is edge rusher. You only feel that way because they
had nobody out there practice here. Maybe I just feel like it's the same as last year though, where if Judon gets hurt, like.
Who, well, I mean, yeah, if you lose your best player, the defense is we're talking.
About depth and that's how depth works, like you, and it's also not just about him getting hurt. If they have any plans of winning some games this year, yeah, then the Judon trade to me is off the table, Like you can't if you trade Judon, I don't know where you're getting the pass rush from, and I like supposed to. Yeah, but he's a situational guy. Like I'm talking about three downs and I know they have bar Moore in the middle, but I'm talking about from the outside,
Like where does the pass rush come from? And this kind of goes to the Keon White point that I had written down as something I wanted to talk to as well. Uh, I just don't know where the pass rush on first down comes from outside of obviously the interior with bar Moore. If Judon's not on this football team, Like where it's not going to come from Jennings is not going to be on the field because he's not
his situation. And I say, really change what they do from a front mechanic standpoint, which I don't think they're gonna do. And in terms of pure pass rush, I'm still not one hundred percent sold. That's Keon White's MO like he was pretty good at that last year before you got that concussion. I feel like, I feel like he's a disruptor, right, And there's a difference between being a disruptor and what Judon is. Judn's a sack artist. Yeah,
but they've they've gotten by for years with disruptors. I guess I don't know.
I feel like I don't think you need I don't think you need two fifteen sack guys necessarily to be No.
It's more just you know, kind of thinking about it without Judon, Like if Judni is traded or Judai gets hurt again, or whatever the case may be, I think you're back into a world, which is where I think they were last year, where the pressures has to be schemed. It has to be you know, simulated pressures, creepers, blitz is whatever. Well, the other thing I wish to and this goes back to my thing about the deep safety.
Remember is his rookie year. They used to use Kyle Duggar's pass rusher. He's like pretty good at it.
They could try to do that again.
I would look, but then the problem is, all right, so now you've got to put Jabrill Pepper's on the back end where he's not as impactful as when he's playing near the line of scrimmage.
I hate they don't have real free safety all right? Z is in Springfield? What's up?
Z Hi? How you guys doing.
Do you think they should trade a first and a fourth for T Higgins?
Okay, thanks for the call. Uh No, I would not trade a first round pick for T. Higgins. And it's not because I don't think that T Higgins could net a first round pick. The Patriots first round pick is going to be a top ten pick next year. Yeah. I don't think T Higgins is worth the eighth overall pick in the draft. I just don't. Now there's a line, right, Like there's there's certain players that I do think are
worth Obviously I don't. This is I'm not saying it's happening by any means, But like Justin Jefferson is worth the eighth overall pick in the draft, I don't think T Higgins is there. I don't think Brandon Ayuk is there either. I think the starting point for the Patriots on a T. Higgins trade is their twenty twenty five second round pick and maybe the fourth round pick that he mentioned or something like that. But I can't part with a top ten pick in the draft for T. Higgins.
Yeah, I know, I'm not giving up a first round pick because of where that pick could be, second or fourth. Absolutely I'd go out and get T Higgins because this whole thing looks so much more complete if you do that, But I'm not giving up a first round pack.
For my other take on on the T Higgins Brandon Ayuk all that we all would love to have those guys on the Patriots team. Like you said, the whole thing looks a whole lot better. I do wonder if they're maybe a year away from that move, because I think in some respects we don't know when Drake May is gonna play. And as much as T Higgins will help Drake May in two years anyways, it's just a matter of when you know like that that sort of thing happens. That's fair, you know.
I don't know that you need to be in the biggest rush to do it, especially when you look at the guys that are up next to especially.
Because they have no intentions whatsoever of re signing him in Cincinnati, So like why pay? But he's not gonna hit the market. He's gonna get traded before he gets maybe, I mean he's he's gonna have to sign the tag and then he's gonna have to get traded on the tag. Like I it's a complicated that becomes complicated. These guys just don't hit free agency. I guess I'll believe it when I I don't necessarily think he's gonna hit with free agency either. I just I just think it's a
little bit more of a complex situation than that. I just I look at it this year. I don't know if Drake May is gonna be ready to play right away. T Higgins with Jacobe Brissett, really like all that does for you is maybe give you one or two more wins, which puts your draft pick in a worse spot. And I also think that you got to see at receiver what Jalen Polk and Javon Baker have and that's true. And I'd also throw Pop Douglas in there too. You know,
I always go back to the Green Bay comparison. If in a year from now, it Jalen Polk, Javon Baker and Pop Douglas look like Christian Watson, Romeo Dobbs and Jayden Reid, then a player like T Higgins or Brandon night Yuka is like the cherry on top that maybe makes you like ridiculously good on offense.
Right the trade the idea of like a second and a fourth for one of these top receivers, which seems to be about what it costs that should be on the table if it's not T Higgins right now, Like I'm okay with that, but you look at the list of guys that are gonna be up nexture. I think Tara McLaurin got an extension right.
He did recently. I don't know if it was this past Dk Metcalf.
Dk Metcalf is a big one for me, Like DK Metcalf with Drake may would be I mean, talk about yeah, fit Terry Mclaurin's if I'm thinking the extension is gonna be up DJ Moore if they move on from him, because they got a bunch of good receivers, there's gonna be up. I don't think they're getting Garrett Wilson, but
like j jaylen Wade because they're in the division. But like there's a lot of good receivers that are going to be that like pending free agent trade candidate guy next year, so that that trade should be on the table if it's not T Higgins right now. To your point, I understand that, you know, maybe they want to see what they have this year, and if Drake May is not like this anyway, you don't have to rush into it.
But when we get to the spring, when we get to the spring of twenty twenty five, I think that that becomes you know, guys like DK Metca, that should become a real conversation.
Absolutely, one hundred percent agree. I just look at it, and I look at this year, the twenty twenty four season as year zero. This is not I don't even look at this, no, no, it's it is. It is year Zero's the year that you're so bad you get the draft pick. I know, to me, this is year zero.
Yeah, it's year one. It's your it's the quarterbacks first year, it's year one. That's because he might not even play. You time it up to the rookie contract. That's just how year zero to me. No, okay, this is a full on developmental season.
It can be year zero to you. I'm telling you. You know, having talked to people, the way that this thing goes, it's considered year one. Okay, well, I disagree with that. Here's here's the if you drafted a quarterback that was ready to play right out of the gate, you know, if it was Mac Jones two point zero, or if it was you know, Jayden Daniels, who I think we'll be probably ready to play right away for Washington,
then I would agree that this is year one. But since you're probably going to plan on sitting Drake May for at least six to eight weeks like I, but you have to time it to his rookie contract. It's not I'm not necessarily the contract. I'm not necessarily talking about that. I'm just talking about the developmental cycle of the entire team. And I look at right now that I would like to see what the young receivers have. Sure I start playing that twenty five million dollars a year.
What I'm telling you is they went to the double box in the video. That's how you know it's getting good.
What I'm telling you is the way it's it's it's generally looked at Yeah, year zero is the year you're bad?
Well, right, But why do I care how it's generally looked at it?
Or because I'm educating the audience, because this is what the timeline should be for drafting quarterback?
This is out should work. Year one is the quarterback a guy you're moving forwards with? Yes or no? Is I don't know if we're going to have that answer because he might not play well, then they'll be behind schedule. But you I don't think they'll be behind that. You can find that out behind the Chiefs. Behind schedule, like, I don't think that means he's there nobody, but they clearly knew.
We didn't see it because he wasn't playing in games. They moved on from Alex. They were comfortable they knew, okay,
that Mahomes is the guy. So just because he doesn't play in games doesn't mean you don't know what you have in him at some point though at some point he has played the game at some point he does, and he's got to have like not saying that the Chiefs got lucky by any means, but like that technically could have gone either way still until he got into an NFL gave Now sure he played that last regular
season he played. So and you're saying, Drake May might play six to eight, Drake May is playing this year. I don't think they're gonna go seventeen years. So year one is, let me put it this way, If Drake May is is, if let's say worst case scenario, like he gets out of there and like this guy's not close, then you're not trading for DK Metcalf next year.
Because you don't know. Because then if if you trade for dass trade, which happened what in between year two and three.
For exactly, if if you're not confident in Drake Man you trade for DK Metcalf, you blew that asset when you might have to be picking another quarterback again in a year or two and now DK Metcalf's old and he's out of his problem and whatever.
So that's kind of my point. Year one is is your quarterback the guy? Yes or no?
Have you checked the first box in the rebuilt category. Year two, can you just be competitive? Can you may be surprised in a couple of games. Are you flirting with the playoff spot?
Year three? You should be.
This is when you should have that receiver in place. You should go and get that. All these quarterbacks go into year three, right.
You gotta I think you gotta speed it up a little bit.
Year three is when you should really be like you should be in the playoffs. You should be contending for your division. Years four and year five, that's your super Bowl window. That's your true super Bowl window. That is what the path should be for developing a young quarterback. With Mac Jones, they were ahead of schedule, they made the playoffs. Year one peaked well exactly, they got a head of schedule. Well, I think they got a head of schedule and got a little too comfortable.
They peaked.
So let's just figure out this year. If they come away from this year and it can happen behind the scenes, Evan, we may not know it. If they can come away from this year that yes, we're gonna invest in Drake May, We're gonna build this thing around Drake May. Then this year is a success. Then you go out and get DK Metcalf. Then you go out and get your left tackle in the draft, and now you're starting on that upward trajectory of Okay, we know we have the guy.
Now we've put the pieces around, and let's see what that looks like. Year three you finish rounding out the roster, and then year four and year five you're going for it.
If they don't make the playoffs by year three, I don't know if maybe if you don't year three you should be in the playoffs. I don't know.
If I was clear about that, I would say you should be contending for your division, but you should be in the playoffs.
But if I just think that history tells us, and maybe the craft will be more patient, but history tells us that it's really a two year window that you have to get the team.
You're not If no, and I'm with you on that, and this timeline exists in that context, Yeah, if you're not in the playoffs in year three, you are behind schedule.
Yeah. I think that you start talking about people's jobs at that point. I think the other thing that year two you should be like a borderline playoff team, Like maybe you sneak in said what the Patriots were Mac Jones rookie year is really what you want to be in year two. So we have two different models to kind of look at here. I think number one is what's going on right now with the Houston Texans. So the Houston Texans are their way ahead of schedule because
of Stroud. But what they did was what I'm advocating for the Patriots to do this year, is they allowed Stroud to play with Nico Collins and Tank Dell. They realized that Nico Collins and Tank Dell are dudes, and then they made this to find trade to be the icing. I'm with you on that, and look the other model.
The other model is the Buffalo Bills, who I believe it was between going into Josh Allen's third season if they traded for Diggs because they recognized that he needed some development and he wasn't ready yet for that type of move. Whether he needs development or not, he should be trying to get him one of tho wide receivers.
I think it matters. I think once you got into year two with Josh Allen, he showed some significant improvement wait and he started to play well, and then they recognized to your point of is he the guy or not? I don't think the Bills truly knew that Josh Allen was the guy or not until the end of his second season, right, So that's my point of why I like Josh Allen's rookie year. If they had made a snap like your point of can this guy hand can
this guy be your quarterback? If they had made a judgment in a vacuum based off of Josh Allen's rookie season, the answer would have been now.
So I'm not saying you have to decide is he the guy? Yes or no after the first year. I'm saying, are you confident enough after the first year? Like you want to be confident enough after the first year. So they made the Digs trade going in a year three, right, because I think they were behind at one point Josh Allen was behind schedule. The Bills are behind schedule. I think you'd agree with me on that they didn't know after the first year. I don't think they were behind schedule.
I think that they knew that they drafted like this raw developmental quarterback. Sure, okay, but here's my point. Can you see enough from Drake May where you're confident to make that trade going into year two instead of going into year three.
That's basically my point. That's what happened with Stroud, Right, Well, so they well, but again because Josh Allen didn't check that first box until after year two, where you're kind of hoping to check it after year one, where it's just the reason why Josh Allen didn't check it though, and this is what I'm trying to get at, is because they knew going in that he had longer way to go than c J. Stroud did, so, right, so they that's the guy that Patriots drafted, So they drafted
a guy that is Josh Allen, they didn't draft CJ. So you think there's a chance that we're not confident after this year that Drake May is the future. I think that there's a chance after this year that it's incomplete, that we just don't know yet. Okay, So yeah, that's what I'm saying. Yeah, but I don't But it's not like you're saying it to me, like you're saying it with a negative connotation. I don't necessarily think that that
means it's a negative thing. I just think that when you look at developmental tracks like it's gonna take Drake May potentially longer to hit his ceiling then I took C. J. Stroud And but he doesn't need to hit his ceiling in order for you know what about I mean, like he hit his potential that you can feel good about.
Does he show you enough? Here's what I'm saying, can he show you enough this year where you say, yeah, we're okay trading a second round pick for DK Metcalf because Drake May is going to be here being the guy throwing to him right, which means that he would have to have a season not not maybe not not necessarily as good because Stroud just no, one doesn't have to match straight, but.
But's got to be in the ballpark. I felt after Mac Jones rookie year that yeah, this is a guy I'd go get help. I'm okay kind of blowing some future assets.
Matt Jones solid rookie year. Though I think Drake May could do that. I don't disagree. I don't if he's given the opportunity. I don't think they're gonna give him the opportunity necessarily.
But well, and then it goes back to can he show them enough? Behind the scenes where they're watching him in practice, saying, and if we go get him a DK man, and I keep using DK Metcalf just because the contracts. Yeah, man, if we go get him a DK Metcalf, T Higgins right whoever, Like he's really gonna be able to do something.
Yeah, I hear you. And I also think there's a conversation that we can unpack it another day when we decide whether or not they're ready for this trade of the best stylistic fit for this type of offense and Drake May and all that kind of stuff. I hear what you're saying with DK. The downfield ability is definitely there. I do wonder if, like a more versatile player just for the system that they're gonna be running well. But isn't the hope that Jalen Polk is that guy? Yeah, I could.
I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about with Metcalf. It's not just fitting the system, it's fitting the players they have in place. Because Polk is your Z Pop is your slot. So can you go get that true outside guy.
I just wonder if this system, if there's if there really is a true outside guy, like if that's really how it's built like I look at Silly you want like another z well, I just it's not even just
about like the position names. I'd just think that like you look at the receivers in San Francisco, the receivers in Los Angeles with the rams, like those guys are you know a U Cooper cup Like they're these versatile guys that can play different spots, that can be inside, that can be outside, that can block in the run game. I know nobody cares about that here, but that's just the bottom line.
You know.
They're bigger, thicker receivers as well. I look at DK. I love DK, so I would put him out of it in a different category. I think he's a leade elite and that means that he's one of those guys that you just make it work, you know, that type of player. I look at t Higgins though, and I have a little minor little bit ahead. He's more that true, he's less versatile, yeah, but he's a fade jump ball, big body receiver like that's who That's what.
He is, by the way, instead of just continuing to guess, because we have the power of the Internet, Terry McLaurin, because McLaurin would be that kind of guy, that kind of multiples, right. Yeah, So he's signed through twenty twenty five with a void year and twenty six, but he has no guaranteed money on his contract next year. So he's a guy I would think unless he gets a new like, he's gonna need a new contract one way or the other. Whether Washington gives it to or not
is the question. But he's probably gonna be looking for a new contract next offseason. So that in theory, I mean, I think Terry is a great player.
You love, you love Terry McClay. You're a big I'm a big Terry McLaurin guy. He should have been for all we want to second guess about, But why are the Commanders giving Like Jayden Daniels is in the same spot that Drake may is in. Why would the Commanders be giving up receiver talent with a young quarterback.
Because I'm like kind of with you, But also I wonder mclaurin's gonna be thirty. Do they see it as we're gonna draft the guys so these two can develop together and maybe the Patriots they've drafted the guys.
It's what John dottson there it's Terry McLaurin. I think there's a third guy. No, it was Curtis Samuel, who I think is gone now right, I'm pulling it up.
But they may look at it and say, we want to draft the guy for Jane Daniels to develop with, where the Patriots look at it and say, we got two guys for him to develop with, but we need a veteran in that room as well. I'm just thinking it's they got Demmy Brown, Drake May's former team.
I think Drake Mace Warmer maybe for like a year. Yeah, No, he wasn't. He was out in twenty twenty.
Oh they have to mere Bird, Okay, one of the mooset underrated players in the league, Jamison Crowd or Jahan dottson. They drafted Luke McCaffrey, Terry McLaurin.
Yeah, that's a scary room if you kind of that's a scary room if you take Terry McLaurin out, Like John Dotson is still an unknown to me, like I think he's probably gonna be well, but Evan, this is next year.
So it's if you know you're getting a top forty pick, yeah, and then it's we're gonna draft.
A guy, and I don't know if I'm them. Jayden Daniels is ready like he's twenty. Maybe maybe I'm talking myself into it, but he's a good player. I wouldn't worry about it, all right. I know where you're gonna be a Memorial Day weekend, Alex. I think at the beach. Yeah. Memorial Day Weekend means that summer is upon us and you can dress your home to the nines with Summer
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that's nice, that's nice. Yeah, Well have you ever given them like we gave uh my parents, like the towels, like the nice like towels, and they got like their initials stitched into them and stuff like that. Now, is it like the stupid things like what do your parents need for like their their birthdays or anivisories like they they're they got, they got plenty, So it's like what do you give them? You give them stupid stuff for
their second homes were spoiled. Anyways, let's let's take some more of these calls and emails and then we'll get to the last couple of things on my list. So if you want to call it, it's eight five to five PATS five hundred is the phone number, and our web radio Patriots dot Com is the email address, and Eldred's called in. I'm sure to talk about our receiver conversation.
What's up?
Aldred?
Heyell, let's holl y'all doing, hey good, look good like you insight heaven a lot of things, But uh, I don't know. The comparison between what Strout did Strout did last year and May is like Apple's oranges, because Strout was a better passer and you know, championship wise whatever. But I do agree with you though, they need to give him more rep, you know, a lot more rep than baby Zappy, you know, if him and the other quarterback is split. It's been fine to be fine, but
DK metcalf. I want him in twenty nineteen, but we got Harry, you know. So but next year I'll shoot for him. I'm like Alex Over, I'll shoot for him, you know, next year, not the third year, the second year. If Drake May's the man, So mother question is why
your body is. I ain't nobody trying to put Milton into the picture or anything, because he got the same thing to work on to like Drake May, the short, short, accurate medium, you know, just the throws all that, you know, but they put one down but praise the other one, you know, like he can make all the throws, but both of them can, but they just ain't doing it equal enough or dedicated enough, you know what I mean?
Right on point wise, Yeah, yeah, I look, I think it's a fair point, aldre Than thanks for the call as always of what's the difference I guess between Drake May and Joe Milton. Why did one go in the first round one go in the sixth round?
Why?
You know Deldrid's point. I actually think that a lot of people aren't writing off Joe Milton. I wish more people were writing off Joe Milton, But I think the biggest thing that you look at with those two guys is how they read the field. I think that Joe Milton in college, and we talked about this a little bit alex Is in the past, he's one of those guys.
And I don't mean to be mean, but like, you know, when you're playing Madden and the controller comes unplugged and like he's just kind of frozen there in the pocket and you're just like waiting and you're just like, oh, you know, trying to plug it back in and hit the button. Like that's what happens to Joe Milton a lot. He kind of becomes like a statue of he just
kind of freezes up in the pocket. And I don't think his timing or his rhythm in the passing game is anywhere near as good as Drake May's was at North Carolina. And so really, when you talk about Joe Milton, you're really just talking about the raw arm talent with him, whereas I think Drake May has a lot of raw tools and intangible, you know, physical tools. But I also think that he's a little bit more of a natural quarterback.
If that makes sense, like a more natural playmaker at the position, Whereas right now, I think Joe Milton's truly just a ball of clay. He's a big dude that's athletic, that throws the ball a mile like. I think that that's what he is, Whereas I think Drake May has true quarterback instincts and ability to read the field and timing and all that kind of.
Yeah, I think Joe Milton has those things, he just doesn't display them as as, uh, what's what I'm looking for consistently.
Yeah, I don't know.
I just forgot that he's that word all the time. I think that's the difference. The other difference is where you look. You try to look at which way the players are trending. And Joe Milton was in college for six years and is kind of still the same player he was when he was a freshman at Michigan.
And he's older now.
He's gonna be twenty five, right, so there's less runway there, whereas Drake May's twenty one, he's got more room to grow. So I think that's really the difference is one guy has a lot more time to improve the other one doesn't. And that's really what it comes down to.
Yeah. Uh, you know some people I talked to. I wrote both of these guys' profiles, So yeah, a lot of the guys that I talked to for Drake May said what you just said, which is that if you are on top of the fact that he lost his senior year of high school because of COVID, he really hasn't played a whole lot of football. He's only twenty one years old, twenty two years old, and he's only started I think it's four seasons between high school and college.
He started two years in high school, then sophomore in junior year, COVID wipes out his senior year, and then he goes on to the North Carolina where he sits behind Sam Howell for a season, and then starts at North Carolina as a sophomore in a junior So he's only started four actual seasons of football. He hasn't played
a ton and is already at this level. So that tells you that he's got a very very high ceiling, right as we Joe Milton, I think the one pushback that people had about it was is that there was a lot of just added circumstance that led to him having trouble sticking right in a program Michigan. In twenty twenty, the COVID shortened season. They played six games. He started five of them, and he didn't He wasn't great, and
they decided to go in a different direction. But when you look at his skill set and the way he plays and what he's good at, like, is Joe Milton really a Jim Harbaugh quarterback? Like is he really one of those guys that, like, you know, Jim Harbaugh is like JJ McCarthy, right.
Right, No, No, Jim Harbaugh's offense doesn't require throwing the ball more than ten yards out of the field, right, That's all Joe Milton wants to do.
Yeah, it just it didn't seem like a great stylistic fit to begin with with Joe Milton. Who wants to you know, with Joe Milton, you play like an offense like Tennessee. It's Tennessee, it's tempo, it's down the field throws like that's what you want to do with Joe Milton. Michigan's under center, smash mouth football, old school offense was not a great stylistic fit. So I never really understood that to begin with. And so then he goes to Michigan. It sits behind some guys for what like a year
or two there, or goes to Tennessee. No, I go to Michigan'm going Oh okay, start there, wins the job in twenty twenty, starts for five games in twenty twenty, and then transfers, right because it just it wasn't working out. Yeah, and so he transfers to Tennessee, wins the starting job at Tennessee, gets hurt Hennon Hooker takes the job from him and doesn't look back that, you know, doesn't let go of the Rams until Tennon Hooker goes to the NFL.
So that lost another two years of development for Joe Miller. Right, So his final year six years later, you know, he's throwing passes to guys that have been in the NFL for like four years already in twenty twenty or whatever. And now he's you know, just getting strong balls at Juwan Jennings, right, yeah, getting a shot in twenty twenty four or twenty twenty three, excuse me, at Tennessee like that.
So it wasn't necessarily Yes, you could make the argument that he wasn't good enough to like really take the reins of the position and take the bowl by the horns and keep it and maintain it. But I think that he was an odd stylistic fit at Michigan. He gets hurt, tweaks his ankle, and then Hennon Hooker comes in and has like the best season ever for a Tennessee quarterback. It's like, what are you supposed to do?
So I think that there's a lot of those types of textual things that people push back on with Milton and said, just keep in mind that even though he was in college for six years and it seems like he's tapped out, he hasn't played a time, right, so you know, maybe there is some potential there with Joe Milton. So I just I just talked up Joe Millton for you. There you go.
I don't think anybody like there's very few people are being realistic about Joe Milton, and it's it's hard to in both directions.
Yeah, in both directions. There's people saying he doesn't belong in the league.
He does.
He belongs in the NFL, absolutely belongs in the NFL. That arm belongs in the NFL. Yeah, but there's if the rest of it comes along.
But there's also people who see, you know, a couple of clips from OTA's in wonder if he's pushing Drake May And I don't think that's the case either. College football. So this is where the college football thing comes in. There's a whole thing among college football fans the last couple years about the Joe Milton experience. Yeah, and most college football fans kind of figured out by the end
with the dealers with Joe Milton. Watching Patriots fans experience the Joe Milton experience in real time is going to be very interesting.
It's crazy. We see it practice like against air. Yeah, we've seen it. Throw to throw like he made an absolutely beautiful they're just throwing against air, routes against air. And beginning of practice on Monday, and he threw a beautiful deep ball, not the one that he threw the coach,
I'm like to an actual receiver. Then you know, they changed sides, so he goes from throwing down the right sideline to throw down the left sideline to throw down the left sideline was like ten yards out of bounce, like you just like threw like over through the receiver by a mile and I'm like, well that's Joe, Like one is an absolute die. I'm like, couldn't throw it any more perfect? And then the next throw is just nowhere close, you know, And that's sort of what you
mean by the Joe Milton's experience. David from San Jose asks would you extend Matthew Judon or Remandre Stevenson first? Like, which guy would you prioritize? Judon? Because he's not I don't think he's gonna play on his current deal. I'm with you, I would extend Judon as well. I also, you know me, you know where I'm going with this running back second contract. Running backs is not for me. I you know, I'm not against bringing Remondery if it's reasonable, and I'm never against it, I'm not.
I want to see Antonio Gibson. I think Antonio Gibson could be like sneaky, sneaky, really good. And if Gibson's a player, you know you don't. So I wouldn't extend Stevenson before the season.
I just wouldn't.
It doesn't mean I'm again springing him back, but I don't think he's a guy that needs an extension right now.
Jude On like needs an extension right now. Yeah, So I read a stat the other day that I didn't realize, and it is a little bit of a of a nerd stat for you. Antonio Gibson last year, Yeah, led the league all running backs in mistackles force per rush. So his elusiveness, right, I'll take that stat. That's a tangible stat. Elusiveness. Was there like a minimum carries on that? I think?
So?
I don't know.
Somebody just tweeted it out randomly. Elusiveness, speed, versatility. He's big too. I'm talking myself into it a little bit, being a you know, a sneaky good signing for them. I wonder if he only had sixty five carries last year, is.
There is there a world though where he is closer? Actually, if was it was it per carrier, per touch, per carry? I think okay, because he only had sixty eight carries, but he caught forty eight passes.
Is there a world where he's closer to what was it two years ago that he had the big year in Washington twenty one? Yeah, twenty one.
He ran in sixteen games, ran for one thousand and thirty seven yards, seven touchdowns, caught forty two passes.
For another three hundred yards and three scores. I'm not sure he's gonna have the opportunity. He's not gonna get that kind of But is there a chance that he's in terms of efficiency and all that kind of stuff, is like more on par with that player than the one that got buried last year. Absolutely.
And look one change I'm hoping from, you know, with this new offensive coaching staff, and it's something that they did well in Cleveland the last two years. Evan, we come in here and it's like, you know, early October and I have to get my takeoff about too much m Andre Stevenson and you're going to run him into the ground.
One it was making fun of me for caring about the running back depth. No, it's not even the depth. They had the depth, they just wouldn't give the ball to anybody else.
Yeah, well, remember that game against the Detroit two years ago where they're like up thirty with a minute ago and Kevin Harris is right there and they're still making Rimondre Stevenson run between the tackles like the Belichick thing. Right,
So I'm hoping that this year. It's not that I don't think Rimondre is a good player, but I think realistically, if you scale back his workload a little bit, he'll be right more productive in the opportunities he has, and a guy like Antonio Gibson should give you an opportunity to do that without losing too much. So I two hundred and sixty five carries is a lot. I don't think he's getting that. You know, he's three hundred touches.
I think he should be at one fifty. I'd say somewhere between one fifty and two hundred is a good number for him, just especially be based off of how much I think they're gonna want to run the ball in general. You know, look, Stevenson was Stevenson was I think eighth last year in touches because they're leading receiver too. I forgot hurt, or maybe when he got hurt, he was eighth in touches. I look at those two guys,
and I don't know. I don't have the numbers right in front of me, So I don't know what Kareem Hunts volume was in Cleveland. But I think that their roles in terms of how they're used stylistically, are going to be very similar to Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt. You know, Kareem Hunt was more of like the sub package pass game back, and Nick Chubb was their work coorse. You know, he was their first and second down guy. I think that, you know, there's a chance that Gibson
has a little bit more volume. If remembering off the top of my head, I don't think Kareem Hunt touched the ball a ton in Cleveland, But in terms of how they're used schematically, I think it's going to be similar and Hareem Hunt had I'll tell you there might have been one year where they ran the crap out of the ball. I mean he had two hundred and thirty touches in twenty twenty. Yeah, had one hundred and fifty last two years.
That's yeah, Yeah, That's where I think in Gibson is you want to so I was trying to find something. You want to hear something crazy. No qualifiers.
Do you know who led the NFL in yards after contact per rush last year? Derrick Henry No, Christian McCaffrey.
No qualifiers. It's Patriot Oh, no qualifiers. No qualifiers as a running back, well he's not a running back, but on rushes, Kendrick Nope, it was Taekwon Thornton. Oh, my god, Thornton because of that one run against Uh was it the Chargers on he had on the end? Yeah, he had three carries for fifty one yards. Last year he averaged sixteen yards after contact for care doesn't count, all right, I mean I'm looking at it right here.
Yeah, because remember it was the Chargers, right, yeah, game, he had that one and he should have scored, but Devonte Parker stopped blocking his guy for some reason. Gary emails in Brandon Bolden was top twenty, particularly in the first practice of staff needed to figure out who and what to prioritize and the rest of OTAs. That determination is the first of many important influences on the decision of which three qbs to keep. Okay, you read that
really quick. That part's not the important. Okay, you're clearly counting out Bailey Zappi, but the staff is not. Remember they saw him real NFL games with last year's lazzy offense. Gary, I am here to tell you I'm counting out Bailey Zappi. I'm counting him out. It's not because of anything that Bailly's Appy has done. Is not because I think he's a bad guy or a bad locker room influence. I
think all that stuff is a little bit overblown. But I'm counting Bailey Zappi out because he does not have a role on this team. He is not a mentor to Drake May. He's not an experienced veteran. That's Jacoby Brissett and he's not Drake May. So he has no role. I'm counting him out. I'm sorry, Like, there's just no purpose for him here, Like, what is the the ideal path? What is the ceiling for Bailey Zappi here that he beats out Jacoby Brissett.
Yeah, and starts taking games before Drake May. I Look to be fair, I won't entirely count him out in that regard, just seeing the way they're doings of practice. Uh, Bailey Zappi at the longest has one more full season in New England.
That's it.
I just feel like unless he's not gonna unless he turns a new leaf as a as a teammate from what we've seen, and he becomes a guy that will embrace being the bridge quarterback slash mentor to Drake manash backup, slash backup eventually, because that's what he is and I'm not even talking about like him being here long term.
I'm just talking about him being here next season unless he four, If he completely changes his that's what he's gonna He's gonna be Jacoby wessaid, right, he's gonna keep the seat worm, and he's going to be a mentor to Drake May. And maybe by keeping the seat worm, he plays some good football and then in twenty five he goes someplace else and gets a chance to compete. If that's what he's gonna do, then okay. I have
not seen that side of Bailey Zappy yet. The side of Bailey Zappi that we have seen has been the one that thinks he should start over mac Jones and has competed like such, which there's nothing wrong with that is nothing wrong with that. I'm not blaming him for wanting to compete in wanting to play. I'm just telling you that that's not where the Patriots are at. The Patriots have married Drake May, they have married.
Him, So yeah, he would essentially have to do what brock Purdy did to Tree Lance, which I just don't.
Think is happening.
Brock Purdy was able to do that because of all talent he had around. So again, I won't rule out Bailey's Appy somehow sticking on the roster this year and maybe starting a game or two, just because seeing how they're doing things at practice.
But there's no there is no long term for Bailey's Appy New England. There just isn't. Yeah, and the fact that he seems to be.
You know.
That he he seems to do how do I want to put this?
He's got to be okay that Drake Mays was drafted to be the face of the franchise. Yeah, and if he's not, it's really tough to justify keeping him here.
Yeah, I agree with that. All right, Lawrence is in Indiana if I can get the mouse to work. What's up, Lawrence?
What's going on? Guys? First time call, a long time listener, Love it, Thank you. My question pretty much is is just like at least that my thought process is kind of understanding. Is that offensive tackle you want to protect the blind side of your QB first? Is there any reason why we are trying to force one new at right rather than putting him at left, considering we have such problems with the left tackle right about now.
Thanks for the call, guys, Yeah, thanks for the call, Lawrence. I think the biggest thing that you talk, you know, blind side protect there, all that kind of stuff in order to be a left tackle. To most people, you really want that left tackle to be a high end pass protector, right so on when who is a bulldozer, great run blocker, probably a high end pass protector at guard, but right now, based off the film, he's not a high end pass protector at tackle. You also usually get you.
Know, coming off that the defense's right side. To that blind side, you get the more athletic rushers, so you want your more athletic tackle over there.
And yeah, the reality he would have the same issues. I think that chukes. The core for Arkadan Wallace is he's played on the right side of her career. Like you play right guard and then go to right tackle. That's one that's it. That's an easier move. Yeah, going from right guard to to left tackle is a big, big, big change. It's just it's not worth putting all that on. Yeah, I think that the you know, that's the biggest thing
is you know you do. I think that there were starting to get into a world in football where it's a little bit more even right tackle. Left tackle got blocked the same guys right and a lot of the time. Now there are guys in in that are specifically guys that like rushing over the right tackle. TJ. Watt is one of them. He's one of those guys that prefers, for whatever reason, probably you know which hand is down, which foot is forward, you know, all that kind of stuff.
He prefers to rush all over the right tackle. So certain matchups, the right tackle is going to have the harder matchup. It's not like it used to be, you know, back in the day with like Lawrence Taylor and stuff like that. They always put him on the blind side and that was what it was. Right Now, guys are more preference based. I think Max Crosby is another one that likes to rush over the right tackle more than the left side. You know, those two guys are to
the best pass rushers in the NFL. Von Miller was notoriously a right tackle pass rush. Yeah, so we're talking about some of the best of the best over the last you know, decade in the league that have rushed over the right tackle. So it's not universal. So I understand what the question, you know is a good question. I just think that that's a very big undertaking for on Wenny, and I think his skill set fits more on the right side than the left side, which is
what I think that they are getting at all. Right, this is a question from Nathaniel. He's asking when it comes to position coaches, what kind of technique instruction are they doing versus the you know, the the trainers, the off the site trainers, you know, like the Quincy Avery's of the world, or the Jordan Palmers or like those
types of guys. It's an interesting question, and I think what you know, he's asking more about receivers, but even offensive line he mentioned Chukes a Corps four talking about Scott Peters being like a technician and things like that. I think what's really interesting more about this question than what they're actually doing. You know, the coaches, they're good coaches. They understand their technique of their positions. They're talking footwork,
they're talking hand placement for receivers. It's really looking down into three different categories release, top of the route, catch point, right, Like, those are the three different things that you're really drilling a ton. I think the interesting thing about quarterback though, and you hear about this a little bit happening. You got to make sure that whoever Drake may is working with outside the facility when he goes between training a mini camp and training camp, like in the month of June,
you know, and the beginning of July. I'm assuming he's gonna go work with Clyde Christensen down at North Carolina. Is who's been his guy. I don't know that for a fact, but I would assume that's who it would be. You definitely have to make sure that you're teaching the same things. If he's going to Jordan Palmer and Jordan Palmer is telling him to do one thing, but then Alex van pel is telling him to do another, then you have a problem.
Yeah.
That's why a lot of the time with Bill. That was the whole Alex Guerrero thing, right, was that Bill wanted Brady to follow his regiment. Alex Guerrero did things a little bit differently. Now, Guerrero was more physical training than he was like quarterback technique and things like that, but in general, like that was the whole argument that they were having was Brady wasn't lifting weights and he wasn't doing all that kind of stuff. He was doing
his own program. Uh. You got to make sure everybody's on the same program. And that's the biggest thing. But yeah, the coaches here, the position coaches this time of year, not necessarily in season. In season, your your game planning, you're scouting opponents. You're talking about you know, TJ. Watt
and what his go to pass rush move is. You're not talking about hands and feet and all that kind of stuff, But that's what you do this time of your pad level, hands, feet, shoulders, angles, you know, angles into blocks, you know what those types of things like all that's all what goes into offensive line and I think Scott Pierre is gonna do a good job with that. A few other things about OTAs here on my list, got pull up my list. What'd you think about juju? Uh?
And what do we think about juju? I think this is a topic. You know, people are talking about this a little bit. He had some things to say, you know, talked about now he's a hunter percent versus being sixty percent this time last year. He also said the vibes, the vibes in the locker room are are immaculate.
Yeah, we'll see. Uh, I just are you gonna you? You were you claim that you were quite the shooter. Are you gonna ask for for a shot on the basketball open there? I claim to be quite the shooter?
I am.
You said you could hit a three in an NBA game if I was wide open? How are you getting open? I'm gonna stand in the corner. Do you know how fast these guys are gonna stand in the corner. I'm gonna be long these guys. I couldn't hit some of the threes that Peyton, Pritchard and Sam Houser hit where there's nobody within ten there's nobody within ten three of them because Jason Tatum's got four guys converging on him
in the lane. And you don't think I alright, So at some point this year, when the whole team's in the locker room, I want you to call for the ball and get a shot up. All right?
You got?
I want to see that you got. Vibes are so good. The vibes, Uh, you're the two things I'll say about dude. You won. If he's gonna be because of the money, which is a possibility, like it's a ten million dollar, ten and a half million dollar dead cap hit, just walk away from him. I maybe he's could get traded.
I doubt it. I think you also have to factor in the fact that Kendrick Bourne might not be ready for the start of the season, so that opens up a spot for a short term spot for somebody like Juju. All things created equal, If Juju Smith Schuster is healthy and they're getting Kansas City Juju Smith Schuster, that's a good football player. Like I understand that we're all sour on Juju from last year. It was a disaster. It
was it was horrible, all true. But if he's if it was truly health related and his knee is truly better, then I don't know, Like it's not a bad thing to have another thing, it's not.
I just how does he make the team? Because you're gonna have you know, Pop and Borner locks, and I think Bourne will be ready. You have Pop and Borner locks. The two rookies are obviously locks. kJ Osbourne, we think more likely than is going to make the team because of his tracked his.
Contracts easier to walk away from than Juju's.
All right, so he's you basically have kJ Osborne, Juju Smith Schuster, Taekwon Thornton, Jalen Rager, for the last spot. Keep mind, Jalen, I don't think you're keeping six. If they keep then all right, then for two spots Jalen Rager can return kicks. Yeah, kJ Osbourne was chosen by this front office unlike the other three.
Yep.
I just think it's an uphill battle. I think the best case scenario is Juju looks healthier in camp and they trade him. I think that's the best case scenario.
I agree that it's an uphill battle.
I do.
I will say, though you know you're talking about earlier. The type of receivers, yeah, fit, he kind of fits. He kind of fits. He's a bigger, thicker guy than the boss that's physical. This goes back to the reps.
I want Jalen Polk on the field. I agree, And there there's overlap there. I want Jalen, want Jalen Pol playing.
The type of receivers that have succeeded in this offense. He's more of a fit for this offense than he was for the Bill O'Brien. I get that, But I play the kids and I'll say the same thing about Taekwon. But we're not doing Taekwon again.
I'm not doing He's got no guaranteed money on his contract. That's gonna be really tough.
But for him, somebody, they don't have burners other than him, unless you want to count Pop, who's like a different kind.
Of I actually think Rager would make the team over over to like the same speed, but he has their returnability and there's your burner.
Somebody has got to hold the post Taekwan. But Taekwon dos got to hold the post. Javon Baker. I think Jayvon Baker is gonna hold the post at four or five four. But he's that deep. You gotta be honest about him deep even without his speed. I who talked about this? Wh when he drafted? Are they gonna keep Thornton just to run win sprints? Maybe we talked about this when he was drafted. He was drafted for this system, like you, they thought they were gonna go this way
with Matt Patricia. If there's a system that Taekwon all right now just keeping six seven receivers, like, let me put this guy, let me put you this way. Yeah, if there was a system that Taekwon Thornton was gonna be a successful NFL player in it's this sounds like I'm not. I'm just telling you from I'm not telling you that he's gonna be able to do it, Okay, I'm just telling you from a stylistic perspective. Because all this offense is on first and second down is play
action bootleg and we're running. We're running across the field. That's it. They're not gonna ask him to break down to the top of the route. They're not gonna ask him to run an option with you know, a three way go and you have to decide and you have to make a move and you have to get open. They're gonna say, you have the deep over, you have the underneath cross, or you have the slide route, you know, the submarine route at the line of scrimmage.
Go.
That's all they're gonna tell them. And at four two eight, that's what that does. Right now, he's got to go out there and actually play well and catch the ball and catch the ball and not get hurt every time he falls to the ground. Right Like, that's that's on him. That's up. And I'm not doing it in that respect, like I gotta have to see it to believe it. There, But in terms of stylistic fit him and as you are not terrible fits for what they're gonna try to
do offensively. That's it. That's all. I'm saying. You gotta cut somebody.
And I don't know if if they move on from kJ Osborne, who's new, or they bury the rookies just to go back to Juju Smith Schuster just to go back to Taekwon Thornton and it doesn't work.
That's such a rough look. That's such a bad look. I'm with you.
I'm with you.
I'm just trying to give I'm making the case for Taekwon. That's out. I'm not saying that I want like I think it's gonna happen. I'm just make I think.
I think it's gonna end up being the rookies, pop Born, Osbourne and maybe Riger I think those are your receivers.
If they feel like Rager still translates on this new kickoff role, he should, He really should. Then he'll make the team. He key apps. This is is so perfect for him.
He really should, unless they feel like Marcus Jones is just gonna hand because they have other guys that can do it. Yeah, best thing, he's got to be better at it than Marcus Jones. He's gonna be better. I'd give Antonio Gibson a look. I think it's a good fit for his skill set. Uh, I wouldn't try pot. It's a good fit for pop skills set. But he gets hurt a lot.
He's a small guys. It's a good shout because it's a running back thing, but he's got speed like it's even maybe you know, you might be the one who does.
Talking to somebody who was talking to people at Florida State who were like really excited about Shaheen Bell, was that you in this in this format.
I don't know. You know he would have the ability to maybe like returning chunks. Yeah, I don't think he would have the breakaway speed to like hit an eight ninety five yard return.
There might be some teams, and we'll see if the Patriots are one of these, because everybody's gonna have a different approach to this, and just from some people I've talked to, right, I think there's gonna be teams to look at it and say we want a home run hitter back there. We can set up home run plays. But the thing about setting up the home run plays,
they don't always work. There may be some teams to look at it and say, we can scheme this up that we start with the ball the forty yard line every.
Time, right, twenty twenty five yard chunk.
Right.
And if that's what you're looking for, like Jahem Bell is that guy, you go to look at him at South Carolina as a running back, Yeah, and then you look at some of the scheme touches that they gave him at Florida State. If you're if you're one of those teams that is okay with the fact that he's gonna get coffrom behind, so you're not gonna have the house calls, but you might have those fifteen to twenty twenty five yard chunk. Las average is gonna be more
reflective of what he thinks. Right, you have two guys.
One guy has a five yard return and an eighty five yard return and he averages right forty yards per return, or you have a guy that averages thirty, but he's actually returning the ball thirty yards every time. Who would you rather have? It's gonna be really interesting to see how all the teams scheme this up.
Yeah, I believe it or not. That was actually one of my notes was that we didn't see any kickoffs. Yeah, and my guess is that they're still holding that back a little bit. They're working on that.
I'm so interested, man, I know, but like I'm so interested in what that's gonna look like.
That's it. That's all you get on there. You're not a little interested. I'm interested, but we haven't seen it yet. But okay, so I well let me ad minutes lefter. I don't want to spend twenty on on the kick.
Okay, but I don't think we've actually had this conversation before. You love de X's nose, and you've always talked about in a whiteboard and hear and actually draw on stuff up.
Yep.
If you were, you understand the rules, you see the rules, yep. What would your approach be to this? How would you scheme it up? I think there's two different approaches, okay, Okay. The first one that I would try is I would run it like power, where I'd have a double team at the point of attack and then pull somebody through the middle of it and have that be the lead
blocker that against them through the line of scrimmage. Because really what you're trying to do is get them through a line of scrimmage, right, that's what you're trying to accomplish. So by folding the defense and then having somebody pull through, now you have that ability to get that alley going, right. That's that would be my first approach. The second approach, which is going to take some cahone Yeah, is reverses.
So I was gonna say whatever I'm doing because there's two you can either have ten on the line and one back or nine on the line and two back. Yeah. I would be a nine and two team. Yeah, me too. I would always and I'm not going to run the reverse every time, but I would always have the threat of it. Have it, have it there, and you can get the looks, you can fake the reverses and they can hold the backside. Yeah. Yeah, that's that. I think to me, that is going to be the hardest if
you can execute it well enough. Yeah, that would be the hardest thing to defend.
And maybe maybe that's what you do where you have your home run guy is one of the guys back, and then you're you know, more consistent, you know, put Jalen Rager in one spot, Shaheen Bell and the other and now they have to be ready for both and if you really want the home run, you run the reverse with with Ray or around Bell, things like that. Coverage wise, I would almost play it like zone. I would actually drop like three different layers. I would layer it.
I would actually drop some guys back and maybe you can see a little bit of yardage, but I know I'm from watching the XFL.
I remember this.
There were teams that would just initiate contact at at the catch, and the problem is you have everybody moving forward and it's one guy, or you get clumped together or something right that one guy screws up and now it's the kicker. And that's one other thing I would do with this, and we've talked a little bit about this. I would figure out between the kicker and the punter, who's the better tackler, because that's gonna matter.
Now, Oh that's gotta be a bearinger Rolin's tiny. Well, we don't who the kicker is gonna be. That's fair. I would think bearer is a better tackler between those two. The layer is in it. I think an interesting theory. I would play it like instead of playing it like get like gap, Like all right, you're gonna fill this gap. You're gonna fill this gap. I would be you just occupy blocks, right, you occupy box in this area. You go in this area.
I'm bringing a couple guys. Maybe you know you're gonna drop back five yards on the initial and you're gonna kind of play behind.
Use the linebackers for that. That's how i'd cover it.
I would not try playing gap because you blow one gap, that's where those home runs are gonna be. I would play it a little bit safer, maybe concede a little bit more return, but limit the ability for the big play.
And I know I said we're not gonna do fifteen minutes on this, but last thing on this, Yeah, I'm really fascinated about this is what we did. This is like, I'm real fascinated about the body types that they use because I think you got to vary it well. I'm more talking about body types at the point of attack because now I think you're in a world where, like is Devon Godshow going to be on kickoffs. I think you need to be more mobile than that. Anthony Jennings,
Isy Jennings so ke On White. White's the kind of guy Anthony Jennings.
I don't think you're gonna put a tackle out there because remember there's still ten yards apart.
I know, but if teams do what I think they're gonna do, which is and they start doubling at the point of attack, I just think there's a lot of that going on that's gonna go on. It's to me, it's a run play.
But he So if I see the Devon Gotcha out there, because remember it's spread out the length of the field, it's not narrow like a like a scrimmage making, I'm gonna single block Devon Gotscha and make him chase down the returner. Yeah, that that's fair. So I think I look at edge setters as edge setters. I don't know if they'll put Juwan Bentley out there just because the injury risk.
But maybe, like you know, I think linebackers like I think like Taki Taki Jennings Kean is a good call, like I think.
Those honestly, who's a fantastic for this, so he's gonna get special. I think it's it's edge defenders, maybe some of your more athletic defensive ends and box safeties. That's gonna be your coverage team, and then your return team is gonna be tight end like not the returners, like the up guys.
It's gonna be tight ends.
And I think you might see teams carry more tight ends now because they can block on the run. They're good at blocking in the run. It's gonna be tight ends and you're more athletic tackles. Yeah, I agree with that, and maybe if you have like an h back kind of guy.
A couple more things. It was great to see Christian Gonzalez back out there looking like Christian Gonzales. Yeah, Christian Gonzalez move like he moves. He's just a freaking awesome athlete to watch in practice. So he's ice skating, Yeah, he He had a couple of reps that they're doing positional drills and just he's doing like a mirror drill and just how side to side movement that he can just pull out and flip his hips and get up
the field so smoothly. Yeah, that that I could. You know, I gotta be careful and not get in a room by myself on Christian Zalez, you know like that that guy moves like a ballerina. I is it hyperbole to say that Christian Gonzales might be the best player on the Patriots right now. I mean, they're just sample sized,
just really isn't there when I watch their practices. And granted, the other guy I think that's in the running wasn't there in Judan And he's also just not gonna be this type, like he's not gonna be a ballerina on a practice field type of player. But when I watch their practices, there's one guy to me that consistently moves different from everybody else, and it's Gonzales. Like he's the He's the one guy that I look at and I'm like, that is a stud athlete, like that is a blue
chip NFL athlete. The other guys I think are all kind of clustered together, you know, as solid NFL athletes, good NFL athletes. I think Christian Gonzales moves the best out of anybody on the Patriots roster. He's just an excellent movement.
So I'm not willing to say he's the best player right now, because again that that sample sizes by the end of the year, there's a real chance by the end of the year we're saying he's the best.
But I I need a little see a little more before I say something like that. Yeah, that's fair.
All this is an interesting which just from the YouTube comments on the kick return thing. Jotham Russell, rugby player.
Yeah, I like, I feel like the pitch, the pitch is gonna be a thing, and like executing the pitches like a rugby player would. I know this is maybe more talking about like tackling and stuff like that maybe, but excellent executing a Rugby style pitch as a part of this whole thing, I think would really be advantageous. Like I think you could really do some damage with that because especially.
Well so there was one team that Ascent, they had the two returners back and essentially ran it like a read option.
Right, that's what they do in rugby. Like I'm not a I'm not a big rugby guy. Uh, college roommate played rugby in college. I want I way to go to a couple of their games and he you know, they obviously have it's like a it's like an option pitch, and you know they'll have somebody kind of running a little bit behind the guy with the ball on the outside.
If you can two on one somebody on the outside in this situation and then execute the pitch, then that guy's gone, like that's how they score in rugby.
I don't know how you can't be excited about it. Excited No, No, I know I know you are, But like people in try to like, oh, it's gonna be annoying. This is it's a real football play. This is a people are like, oh, it's gimmicky, like it lookskimmy. I understand that it looks gimmicky once you get past the initial aesthetic of it. This is a real football play that's going to be going on, and it's gonna be interesting to see how different teams try to skim.
To me, if there's anything that it's the most like, it reminds me the most of rugby. And if if you can execute that pitch and like I said, you can two on one somebody on the outside, like that's how like a ton of tries, as they called him are scored in rugby, is by getting out on the perimeter.
Then you two on one somebody and you pitch it to the guy or you keep it, you know, if he jumps the pitch and then you're off a couple of other things really quickly here as we wrap it up, we mentioned this earlier in the show, just slot corner, outside Corner, that kind of thing. Alex Austin and Marco Wilson. I love that. I love giving those guys the opportunity at outside Corner my ideal. And I know you touched on this too. Yeah, Gonzales obviously is going to be
one spot. Maybe Austin or someone you know emerges for the other spot, and then you can kick Jay Jones back inside.
I think you're looking at it, Austin, Marco Wilson, will see if Isaiah Bolden can pick up where he left off last year.
Yeah, maybe those I would throw a dial in there too, all right, Mikey Victor, we can keep going on, Mikey Victor dial. Did you even watch him or not? Not at time? All right? Maybe like one game, he's got the size that I'm like, all right, let's see what it looks like the other thing. Keon White still, I'm still wondering with Kean White. Love his attitude. I think
that there's a skill set there. I'm fascinated to see if they can He's a tweeter and I'm fascinated to see if they can get it out of him to be a consistent impact player. He's got tools, and he's got he's got that. He's definitely got the the intangible stuff right Like he's just he's ready to run through a you know who, his face, you know But I think the biggest thing with him is is he gonna stand up? Is he gonna have his hand in the dirt? If he does both, is he ever gonna be effective
enough to do him both at a high level? Like I still am concerned about where he fits, how he fits, and if they're gonna be able to figure him out. It's a it's a tough one to figure out because he's a little too light. If you ask me to be a three four end, Like playing three four end at two eighty five is gonna be tough unless they're truly allowing him to shoot gaps consistently. I've talked about
being more aggressive. That's gonna be tough too, Like you're gonna get double teamed and you're gonna get blown off the ball at two at eighty five in a two gapping scheme. Being up on his feet at two eighty five, Now you're talking about being too heavy to be up in space and up on your feet. I like him. I like his attitude. He's a fun player to think about. Conceptually, I just don't know where he fits in this defense, like in a three to four, in a true odd
front mechanic defense. I just don't know exactly where he fits in this whole out. The other thing I wrote down was Devon Godshaw's situation. I think that this bear is watching. I think we all know that Judan situation bears watching. Devon Godshaw's in the last year of his contract with the Patriots, and I think he's looking through for a new deal. So I I'm I think this
is guaranteed money this year. It's an opinion, Okay, don't don't aggregate me, all right, but I think that Devon Godshaw's situation is more than just like he's a veteran that doesn't feel like showing up totas Like I think they're a little bit something there. And when you start to play Jenga with the Patriots defense, you moved on from Lawrence Guy, which I think was an okay and sort of right thing to do. You pulled Van Gotcha
out of that. You pulled Jude on it like you're starting to pull some veteran staples, you know, guys that you can really count on, you know, reliable players on that defense. So I'm interested to see what ends up happening where to me, we.
Talked about nose tackle or at least defensive tackle being like a sneaky need for them this offseason.
They never really addressed it. So he's got to be here. Yeah, he's got to be here. He's not on the same level as Judon in this respect, but in a smaller sense if they wanted to have any chance of being competitive next year, I feel like they still have to hang on to some of these piece, these veteran guys. Judaan is a bigger piece obviously, but on a smaller scale, a guy like Godshaw I think is still important. He's only twenty nine, so it's you can give him a
couple of years too. Yeah, I think I think he wants wants the mula all right. Before we wrap it up, Connor from Florida is asking the real questions of us out okay, and that is of the Boston Celtics and what is going on at TV Guarden. You knew I had to hit on this, Yeah, I thought Jwash, Jake Bates, I did, I did hear and people are tagging me on Twitter, but uh, Connor is talking about the national
media and their reaction to Jason Tatum. I am not ready to pick on the national media yet because I've seen this movie before. You pick on the national media and everybody that doubted you after you win the title, like when we're all at the start talking. But when we're all at the parade in three weeks, that is when you can start picking on everybody, right, Like when in twenty eighteen with the Patriots when they rattled off the last Super Bowl. That's when we made the shirts
and got Nick Wright and Colin Coward and all these cacks. Right, Wait until you win the ring. Then you brag. Then you put everybody in their place. But that being said, you covered the game on Tuesday. I was at the game him as a fan on Tuesday. One of the best live basketball games I've probably been to in quite a while, probably since Like the Paul Pierce KG Celtics atmosphere was off the off the change.
I don't know what's going on with these crowd mics, Like it's not coming across on TV the way I mean that that building was electric.
It was electric. I we are obviously not old enough to see have seen Larry Bird play with our own eyes, unfortunately, but I've seen the highlight of Larry Bird stealing the ball underneath the basket and passing it to DJ a million times. And the Jalen Brown steal Pascal Siakam play was so remedy. I know he didn't score right off of it, but it was very reminiscent of that where the game was over for all intents and purposes and
they literally stole the game. UH from UH Detroit back then with Larry Bird and and from UH Indiana on on Tuesday night. Great atmosphere. I think that two biggest moments that were when they got the ball back, you know, late before the Jalen Brown shot. I got a little excited. I was like, all right, like you still got a chance. Isn't over yet. Then they hit the shot and I did a fist pump or something. You know, I was
pretty excited. When Jason Tatum hit the three in overtime to give them the four point lead, I went crazy, like that was when I lost my mind because that was when I was like, oh my god, they're actually gonna win this freaking game. So that was incredible. I think this series is going to be very similar to remember that Brooklyn series in twenty twenty two. They swept Brooklyn in the first round, but each game was pretty close competitive, so it wasn't it wasn't like a true
like butt kicking. It was honestly a very competitive sweep. If you can have one of those. I wonder if this series is gonna be like that, where like each game is gonna be a bar fight to quote KG. Yeah, but the Celtics are just the more veteran, savvy, better team and they're just gonna end up winning some of these those games that the Pacers just fumble the ball literally Tyres Halliburton. H. So I wonder if this is
gonna be that kind of series. Yeah, we'll see. I The big thing for me, like Miles Turner killed them in game one him and in Siakam they're they're pick and roll defense, and I was watching I watched the game last night with the Western Conference. You got a scout ahead for the finals, right, give me the all ten Evan. If they don't figure out their pick and roll defense and then they play Luca and Kyrie in the finals, they're gonna have issue.
Well, I think what makes it tough they're getting to taste their own medicine here because you have Miles Turner. I don't think he's a seven footer, but like six ten, six eleven, right long, dude, you can't like Dallas doesn't have Karl Anthony Towns. Would concern me more because Karl Anthony town is a big dudoo can shoot Miles Turner six eleven. You want to play drop coverage on the big guy, but he can just hit the shot if you play drop coverage on him. And that's what they've
done to teams with Porzingis all the year. And that's why I don't think this is a week they need Porzingis to counter guy like Turner. Turner is gonna win the Pacers a game at some point in the series. It'll probably be tonight. Just given the way these game twos have gone, I like them tonight. I think the Celtics we've been.
Game too. I think they wanted they're wearing different jerseys.
They know this is an issue, like they I know, I know, I know, but I think and they talked a lot about that after Game one. But yeah, I I just think if they had Porzingis, I'd feel much more confident. This is the first time that really because Jared Allen was out right that Cleveland series. I think this is the first time they're really being tested in terms of a big man, especially a big man that can stretch the floor without Porzingis, and you saw his
absence much more. Now they're getting Xavier Tillman back tonight, so maybe that helps because that's kind of Tillman's role. And he missed he had personal reasons he missed Game one. But I still think Turner can. I'm surprised Pacers went away from Turner as much as they did in the fourth quarter of that game. Turner can still be an X factor.
All right. That it for Patriots Catch twenty two. You can listen to Patriots Unfiltered. We'll start any minute now because we just had to talk about the Celtics for five minutes and we're up against it. But at one last shout out to bud Light, Easy to Drink, Easy to Enjoy, bud Light, the official beer sponsor of the New England Patriots. We'll see you guys next week and stay tuned for Unfiltered.
Bye.
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