Patriots Playbook 5/25: Mac Jones in Year Two, Changes to Coaching Staff, NFL Draft Aftermath

little too much chucklick in there. I think you know from my likeli goood. Sometimes you know, when you get in the mood and you're in a sort of a non pissy mood, you know, you have a tendency to squeak a little bit. And I guess that was me on that particular day, right, I don't know, Yeah, I don't know. Welcome into the Playbook, our monthly edition or off season edition for the month of what month is as may OTAs are actually here. There's actual football going on.

There's no pads, no popping, no anything. But I mean they're in shorts and in shirts or shells a little bit. And uh, and that's good. We're taking a step in the right direction today's program. We're we're shuffling the deck a little bit, and I'm very happy to all come into the show. Martin Nundero. Some of you who live locally remember Mark from Channel twelve in Providence. You listen to him perhaps on w EI in Providence and also does some weekend stuff up in Boston from time to

time as well. And Mark has also kind of gone to the dark side like I did a number of years ago. He's become an educator. So watch the hell out. That's part of it. Also, Evan Lazar from clon S Media, who covers the Patriots, will join us as um. Oh goodness, what the heck did I do with my schedule? Who else is joining us? Matt? Thank you, good lord? I forgot about big Head. Big Head's going to join us here again at the towards the tail into this hour.

He'll never let me forget that one of these listening now for sure. So we're gonna plug into some guys who I know have strong opinions, who are plugged into the beat and who aren't going to be wishy wash it all because quite frankly, Mark, first of all, thanks for taking the time for having me. John got to be here. Yeah, So listen, there's a couple of issues that are out there right now that seem to be standing up that I think that are worth getting into today.

We did a poll on this. If anybody's wondering and just kind of tuned in or been off social media or whatever, check the check my twitters feed it at JR Broadcaster, because I did a poll probably about an hour or two ago that will run through the show, so that way we can get at the end of the show, I'll give you the poll results because it's

going to close it four o'clock Eastern time. But quite frankly, I've been of the opinion gang, and I know this has been a topic for the Patriots unfiltered guys, and we've seen it in local media. We've heard it in a local media. I'm of the opinion that the fact that the Patriots don't have a named coordinator or named play caller at this stage of the game doesn't matter.

I just I'm just I don't think it matters. And Bill has said as much in his press conferences, you know, but it just it continues to be a topic of conversation amongst all the talk show bloviators that are out there in this area, especially outside of our area. I can't imagine anybody gives a rats you know what about that as well. But even if you're from the outside area, I'd be curious to know if you have openings on your team, how does your team do that? How's your

team handle it? Because it seems to be like, oh my god, we you know, there's no Josh McDaniels calling the plays. How the hell can we possibly what's gonna happen to poor Mac? He's got all these fotises coming after him and he's just not gonna have any idea what to do. And I'm just like, shut up. I mean, seriously, is it really that big of a deal. Don't you

think that getting here to begin with? On this level, the fact that he's a second year pro and already, you know, you see more improvement from rookie year to say, and you're emotionally employers than you do any of the year of your career. Aren't we of the opinion that, you know, he's got to be kind of thinking for himself as opposed to having that kind of guidance. So I appreciate your perspective because I agree with you for

the most I do the whole time. No, I do not think that it's a devastating development, the fact that I forget about the titles. I don't care about titles. I mean, people might care about titles, your assistant coaches, if they're trying to climb the ranks. Maybe they for the sake of their resume care about titles. I don't care about titles. I do not think it's a devastating thing that I don't know. I guess you could say that the offensive coordinator scenario is in flux or they're

trying to figure it out. I actually think it might be a good thing. Okay, there's a few reasons why number one Mac Jones. Okay, I happen to believe. I believe in mac Jones. That's the first thing. I think he's gonna be good. I love the ceiling. I think everything all the positives people have put out there, I agree with. I buy in mac Jones. But I also think of mac Jones, is gonna be the quarterback that we think he can be and that we think he

might be or is. It's not gonna I'm not gonna say it doesn't matter, but who is offensive coordinator is shouldn't be the biggest deal, if that makes anything. Now, I know Josh Allen up in Buffalo. You know, Brian Dave all was able to develop him and that really worked out well because because obviously Allen wasn't the quarterback he is now when he started, So that was good

on them. But Joe, I think if Jones is going to be the quarterback we think he can be, it shouldn't just be this sing you know, Josh McDaniels, that is the guy that has to get him there. Let's not forget Bill Belichick's still the head coach. So yeah, there might be some turnover as the offensive coordinator goes in and out or whatever, but he's still the head coach. He's obviously going to prioritize the quarterback. I mean, you'd like to think, I'd like to think this is his baby,

this is the guy he drafted. This is the big replacement for Tom Brady. I mean, Mac Jones, for better or worse, is going to be tied to Bill Belichick's legacy. I'm not I mean again not dismissing it, not saying offensive coordinators are useless. But I don't know. I feel like you're as good as your quarterback is. Now. Is

an offensive coordinator integral in helping that quarterback develop? Sure, But if the quarterback has a work ethic and has some know how, which I believe we believe Mac Jones does, I think he's gonna be okay. And I also don't mind the fact that Bill Belichick seems to be creating

a little internal competition. Well that's the big I think that's what everybody is sort of keying on the fact that this, you know, allegedly and first couple of sessions of OTA has shown this, this is allegedly almost a play calling competition between you know, Matt Patricia and Oh my lord, have mercy. Are we even talking about, you know,

Joe Judge. Yeah, I know. I'm just like, there are so many people that I know that are dumbfounded over Joe Judge's returned into England because they felt like he was so bad in New York. Now move that aside for just a second. You've got two guys now on your staff, who are you know, primary go to guys in right hand man, left hand man whatever of Bill Belichick, who are former head coaches in the NFL. Now, they clearly had something on the ball to be named a

head coach to begin with. That's number one. Whether or not their expertise was defense or special teams or whatever it might may have been at one time is not the point. The fact is is number one. They have had to reign heard over everybody. Now, maybe they on their staff, maybe they didn't have the greatest success. I think it's pretty documented that neither one of them had great success. I don't even know if either one of

those guys can get another head job. But I think that's part of the madness here because because they're Belichick guys and they're loyal to Bill Belichick, Bill Belichick wants them to come in do his bidding. Do his bidding. Now that means he gets no nay says, he gets no people going against him. He's got people who are willing to be a yes man to Bill. Right, he's had a problem. No, I don't think they could be a problem. I don't think it is, though, because Bill

has deserved that because of his track record here. I'm okay with it. However, do your duty here and hopefully if the team has success, you are, then, you know, my proxy, going to have your own success to build up your own esteem and your own resume and your own possibility of getting a chance to get another head coaching job. You're in other words, you're padding your resume here,

hopefully with something successful. And I think that was how Bill Belichick brought two x NFL coaches back into the fold. Number one, number two. These are guys he's worked with before. Number two that he's comfortable with. The number three, he knows that they won't challenge him, and so there's like, Okay, we're gonna do what Bill says. And I think that's

where Bill is at this stage of his career. He's got basically three years to go mark to pass Don Shula, and I really believe he's gonna hang in there until he can get by Shula, because I know he's a competitive cuss just like anybody else that's ever been in this game. He's gonna be here long enough. He is not going to do something that's going to hurt his chances of passing Shula before he's ready to go. Now, if it happens that this is a complete total flopping failure.

There is Bill O'Brien who's still out there. Bill O'Brien did not come to become the offensive coordinator this year because it's the second year of a contract that he had at Alabama, and because of the friendship there between you know, you know, Nick Saban and Bill Belichick. Bill isn't gonna he isn't gonna ruin that. He's not gonna do that. He's gonna step on his friend's toes and pull his OC away after only one year of a

two year contract. But with his contract being up, I don't think you'll see any renewals of contracts at Alabama for Bill O'Brien. I could certainly see Bill O'Brien brought into the fold, made OC and maybe even coaching waiting. I believe. And this is just my own personal thought here. I don't think anybody says this. Nobody said it officially, but my own personal thought is that Bill is looking at Matt Patricia as potentially his replace. Totally valid. I

don't know if that makes me feel good. I definitely don't feel good when you say I don't feel good when you say that these guys are brought in to just be yes men. That does not make me feel good. Well, but that's what's gonna happen. Okay, that's what Bill wants to work with at this stage of the game. The man is seventy years old. He does not want to have to butt heads like two rams going at each other.

Is that what's best for the team. I don't think, because that's what he always says, I do it's best for the team. Yeah, well, that's his way of running the team. He has earned the right to do whatever he wants. Okay, I don't know if this is gonna Look I just said, I don't think it's a devastating scenario. I'm not necessarily high on it. I don't love it, but I just think based on Bill Belichick's overall track record,

they can make it work. And if Mac Jones, like I said, is good and is formidable, he can be Okay, he can develop and go through the natural the natural progression to becoming the quarterback we think he can be. But if you tell me that, they're not gonna have any counter arguments to Bill Belichick, and you know, I

don't know. It's not like it's not like this is a team filled with weapons, and you know they're gonna need all the help they can get from an on field perspective, from a coaching perspective, and then when you factor in all the really good teams in the AFC, you know, it's dicey. It's dicey, and I got to see how it plays out. But you know, being a yes man doesn't really get me all that excited, since I don't really expect that it will. But I'm just I'm just thinking that this is sort of year two

of a two year bridge. Next year, salary kept money increases for everybody, but it will be particularly strong for the Patriots because they've got so many guys playing on the last year of a contract this year. Anyway, they're gonna be a ton of money out there for the Patriots to rebuild this team in a competitive sense. Next year is the year that Bill wants to build the team to leave his legacy. All right. He's gonna try to do it this way this year if he needs to.

He's gonna bring in reinforcements next year, but he thinks he can win this year at least be as good or as competitive as they were a year ago. I pers in the bigger picture. I'm okay with that. I think he's earned, like you said, the right to be able to do his bidding. I also believe, however, that because over the last forty games, he's only nineteen and twenty one as a head coach. Okay, nineteen and twenty one, kids,

that's not good. If this team struggles and goes lower than five hundred this year, you're going to hear those rumors of his exodus start to pick up. It wouldn't stun me to see the crowd family decide to reevaluate. I'm not saying they're gonna fire him. I don't really think that'll ever happen. I think they would come to a meeting of the minds and he would resign, or he would retire, so to speak. Firing will never happen. But look at the bottom line, nineteen and twenty one.

You don't think he's cognizant of that. I don't think he's gonna do something that's gonna further that, even if he's only got three years left before he passes Schuler or not. Especially if mac Jones doesn't develop the way that everybody kind of expects him to develop, it for some reason he takes a step back this year, or he doesn't look as good, or does he looks good but not great, or wow, there were some clunkers or whatever. If that happens, all the things you just said will

be ratcheted up. It will be the heat will be turned up. Now if Jones is a stud, that would continue to buy him more time. Look, I'm not concerned about whether or not he's gonna give it. I'm not. I'm like you, He's not gonna get fired. I think he's still a good enough head coach to continue doing this. And I just don't see it happening that way. I see him walking away ultimately. But you know this team. Here's the thing. Can I just give you my big

take on Bill Belichick real quick? This is what I think about Bill Belichick. He is he the greatest head coach of all time? Yes, he is. The problem isn't. What makes me uncomfortable is I think some of the things, or a lot of the things that made him the greatest head coach of all time are not applicable now. You know, for example, when the Patriots obviously the draft and Brady and developing, keeping Brady sticking with Brady all

of that. But when you had the success and you were able to manage the success, and you kept everybody focused on one game, one game, one game, and you manage distractions, and you cut this guy a year too early rather than a year too late, and you manage the salary cap and the roster through the free agency era. All those things that made him the greatest of all time. The game plans on the highest level, on the biggest stage in the super Bowl. You don't have that at

your disposal anymore because Brady's gone. So all that success that you had and all the things you did while having that success and sustaining that success, you can't do anymore because you're not having that success and you don't have that quarterback. So that's why I'm a little uncomfortable just saying, you know, I put my feet up in Bill.

We trust because the greatest head coach of all time, Bill Belichick, was able to do things with Brady with these people that he can't do anymore because he doesn't have those things at his disposal. So it's not the same coach. He's still the greatest of all time because if there was another coach in here, they weren't gonna win six super Bowls with Tom Brady, they would have found a way to mess it up. Bill didn't credit

to him. That's why he's the greatest. Three might one four, might have one, three, might have one two, who knows, but right, but now those things aren't the way they were. So some of the things that made him the greatest, some of his strengths, he can't apply anymore because the team doesn't allow for it, the roster doesn't allow for it. So that's why when you bring up the record, I'm thinking, well, that's this coach because that's what he's working with now.

He's still the greatest of all time based on what he did, but now he's working with different things. And that's why it's hard to just be like, well, he's the greatest, the greatest will get it done. Well, he got it done when he had all these other resources. Maybe he hasn't. Maybe Jones is gonna be the next stud. But I don't know. What did it take his first year here in two thousand, they were what five and eleven? Eleven? Yeah, okay, did take him a little while, and they were owing

two without breaking. And I think mostly everybody considers the pandemic here awash and they won seven and nine in the first year post Brady. Right, So last year was the first quote unquote normal year post Brady. They went ten and seven and got to the playoffs. Yeh okay, what kind of a step do they take here? Can they at least maintain where they were? Can they become competitive? I went on the record last month when we were

talking about the schedule. I think I picked nine and eight based on the schedule overall, and I don't think that that's necessarily a step down. So I'll go ahead and stand by that. I'll say nine and eight based on what I've seen thus far, without knowing much about the personnel on any team really just yet. But I think nine and a is gonna be right there in the mix for a playoff spot. It's gonna be in the mix. It depends largely on what Miami does. Buffalo

is gonna win the division, should win the division. If they don't, it's a huge upset. Now, can the pages be better than that? Yes? Because last year I said nine and eight and they went ten and seven. Oh. Actually, actually it was Rookster Damas that said that, right, rookster Damas was the one that said that got me. Now for your re read it, that's exactly right. He said that. I didn't. I want to make sure that I'm very clear of that. I want to make sure we're stat

on that. But I just you know, if you're making the playoffs, then you want to get into the playoffs and you want to win, you want to advance. Last year they didn't do that. I think the next step for this team to take to really if you want to make a leap back into contention, is you need to get into the postseason. You need to win a game. That's the step that I'm looking forward to hopefully seeing for this team this year is a doable. Sure, do

they have enough weapons around Mac Jones. I'm beginning to think they do. I'm beginning to think they do. But my big concern is on the defensive side of the ball, where they clearly have decided to you know, anti up with you know, edge rushers and you know, hopefully some speed linebacker and things on those along those lines. Because I don't know why they didn't, you know, franchise tag jac Jackson and if they didn't want to keep him, trade him I'm just trying to figure that one out.

I'm know that we'll ever have a real answer for that other than we're only doing what's best for the football team. Okay, that's fine. That's the only answer that we ever get, you know, when it comes to well, why did you do this? So I totally agreed with getting rid of JC Jack, or not getting rid of him, but letting him go. Like I love the player. They are gonna get what we think will be about a

third round compensatory pick. I just don't think at this stage of the game where the Patriots are currently, you need a top corner. I don't think you. Now you could, of course, you could always use the top corner, but I feel like that's more of a cherry on top when you're on the press. I like the Chargers what they did. They feel like that piece could put them over the top. You know, twenty fourteen, when Reeves came in here, the Patriots had a really good team all around.

The one thing we were missing was that centerpiece in the secondary, and they got that with Reeves. That put them over the top. Arguably, this team is not there, So why you would pay him all that money to come up short in other areas didn't make sense to me, so I agreed with him or let them letting him go. Look, I don't I don't necessarily have the same confidence in the offense as you do. Where are the weapons? What weapons?

Who are the weapons? Well, because I mean DeVante Parker to me is the go to guy, and and he's got to stay healthy. He hasn't really proven that in the last couple of years, but that's the guy that's got to stay healthy. I'm really anxious to see Taekwon Thornton. Yeah, my youngest nephew went to school with Taikwon at Baylor, all right, so he knew him a little bit. He said. Taekwon Thornton is a kind of kid where if you

turn sideways, he'd disappear. He's skinny, okay, but and he's got small hands, which you usually don't see with receivers that you don't have a good catching game. But for a guy that's small hands and slender, he has really good stick him. He just he gets the ball he's got. So he's got strong hands, even if they are smallish. I want to see what he can do. Yeah, I want to see how well his ability to stretch a defense, will pull the rest of the defense out and open

up the middle of the field. I think this could be a bonafide Banner year where the Patriots tight ends if the receivers do what they're allegedly supposed to do. That's just my thought. Thornton arguably is the biggest X factor. Here's the second round pick. All the speed, you know, I'm more concerned with what he has between the ears than the arms, the hand size, or if he's skinny, and obviously I guess you like, I mean, is he durable?

That'd be a question I have. Will see, but I you know, the biggest offseason need has yet to be filled in my estimation. Now again, we'll see Thornton, we'll see if Parker can stay healthy. But if you look at all the teams that were the final eight down the stretch last year in that tournament, you know, the playoffs, all of them had bona fide number one receivers number one. The Patriots do not. And I feel like that position especially. I think they hope Parker is going to be there.

I hope so too. You think he could be I mean, I just don't see him being on the level of the guys that were there at the end of the year last year. Okay, well that may very well be. It depends on how hell I think the guy states. All Right, we've opened up a couple of topics here, so I want to make sure that you can jump in on either one or both of the above, or anything that we haven't talked about yet. Eight five five

Pats five hundred is the toll free number. Eight five five Pats five hundred, web radio at Patriots dot com. If you want to email us, you can hit me up on Twitter at jur Broadcaster, or you can hit my Facebook page at John dot rook and post your question there under the show graphic that's on there. If you want to vote on the poll, which is the first thing that we talked about, the poll question is is an assigned play caller or coordinator a must have

or be no big deal? You want to vote, go to jur Broadcaster find the poll and you can do that, or just call it in and we'll talk about it here. Because that's the first thing I want to talk about. We do want to talk about personal issues as well, because I think the second major question is in the aftermath of last month's draft. We've seen all these quote unquote pundits, media, NFL experts. I'm just like, oh my god, really,

I'm up to here with it. But it's because I've been friends with a couple of them for a very long time in this business. And most people who listen to the show know that I've been close with Mel Kuiper for a number of years. Haven't been so much in the last few years. But at the same time, we worked together at ESPN for eleven years and oh gosh, the story goes, I almost hired Mel to move off to Denver when I was working Possibility as a go

as a program director at a Denver radio station. This has been o where twenty five years ago now, so we go way back, wow, way back. And Mel originally gave the Patriots an F grade for the draft, and you know it might have been a little bit much. He came off for that, moved him to a D and I think his last grade, he moved him to a C minus, which is still one of the worst grades that I've seen out there from anybody. Okay, we tried to get Mel on the show, and Mel's unavailable unfortunately,

but I am still going to work on it. I'm still gonna try to get him, whether it's next month of the month after, I'm gonna get my boy back on the show to explain that and let's see, let's we'll talk about that process. So my question really is, okay, I really kind of dislike letter grades because I don't think you can sufficiently grade a draft class at all unless you give it two or three years of play. I'm just not into that. But we're such a you know,

a we need the answer now society. You know, how do they do? Do you get today? On the draft? Okay, No, it's very obvious. It's very obvious when people see their favorite teams select someone who's being mentioned in the media, then they feel like they did a good job because they're relying upon the few people mel being one of

them who rate these people. They rate these people based on their overall ability, not necessarily per fit on the team, which is why these guys that the Patriots selected last month look a bit awkward, because you know, I think it's obvious they wouldn't have taken them if the Patriots didn't feel like they it. But the one thing that just killed the Patriots in public perception. Here is Sean

mcveigh's reaction. You saw that on social media right where he laughed out loud when they took you know, Cole Strange in the first round at twenty nine. They traded down eight spots from the Raiders spot to take Cole Strange, and I'm like, whoa. And of course he had to pick up the phone and he called Belichick. He called Cole and he had to say, that's not what we meant.

It was a surprise, and you know, it was an internal thing, and I know that the impression that we left was a bad thing, and you know, I apologize. What's that It's strange, Yeah, strange is right. So that just kind of put in a tired damper to me on the perception of the Patriots draft. And then people thought Taekwon Thornton was a reach. They thought that both of the Joneses that they took were both reaches because

they're small guys. They're little guys, and you don't see guys of that stature physically really getting taken in the draft. They're more like udfas. And you have the Patriots second, themb of the third and the fourth rounds. So I'm just wondering based on what now has transpired over the course of the last month, and what you may have done, what you may have seen, what you may have heard about, and what you've seen about reacting was okay, how do

you feel about who the Patriots took? Does this help your impression? Does it hurt your impression or the chance of this team? You know? I mean they took speed, There's no question about it. Yeah, the Patriots wanted to get faster. They got faster based on you know, the forty times alone. But does a forty time equate to football ability? Absolutely not. Now, I'm not saying that guy can't play, but it doesn't. Just because you're fast doesn't mean you can play football. Look, before the draft, I

said this, I said, whatever they do, they have to hit. Okay, they have to hit no matter where they go. What they picked. Now, did I expect them in the first round to take a guard? No, I didn't. I expected it a guard. I expected him. Okay, So i'm the reason is the reasons and then I'll let you finish. But the reason is because they want someone that can plug and play. That's my term for it. Plug and play and Cole Strange. Even though the pick was strange, Okay,

Tennessee Chattanooga kind of off the radar. As Sean McVay pointed out, we've been our top hundred, you know. Okay, that's fine and all good, but it's a guy that the Patriots feel like fits the spot. He has versatility. He can play center, he could play tackleliv he's I personally expect him, like a few others around here talking to Greg Badard about this yesterday, in fact, we've expect him to move over to center eventually because he's got

the size to build, the footwork to speed. We think that he'll probably come in and end up, you know, moving that direction as his career progresses, you know, provided you know, he stays healthy and all that kind of stuff. But he's plug and play. He's immediately in the spot. He is a starter, and that's what the Patriots wanted to do with the first round pick. Was a starter. Now my personal choice, I love that linebacker, the kid from Utah and you know who had size, speed, God,

he had all the tools. The Patriots didn't even draft a linebacker. No reason. They didn't draft a linebackers because they feel like with what they have were kind of red shirts last year, it's enough, and they're gonna give these guys like mcgron and Ucha and others a chance to play. I hope so, and I hope they come through because this is where I really feel like this Patriots personnel department, you know, under Matt grow Now, they're rolling the dice on this one, which is why they

didn't go out and get a linebacker. And I feel like that's the biggest gamble of all through the draft thus far. All right, Oh so no, I was just gonna say, I agree. I think I think Strange is gonna be a hit. I think he's gonna be a plug and play. I think he's going to be a guy that contributes. He's gonna be good at what he does all that. But you're never a guard away, you know what I mean. So there's that, and I just

here's the problem last year. You know what, I think the Patriots are trying to be last year the two thousand and nine New York Jets. I think that's what they wanted to be. I think they wanted to be ground in pound. I think they wanted to be tough defense and have our quarterback make plays. You know, have the running game really drive the bus, and then our quarterback makes plays when he can off a play action or whatever. That's what I think they wanted to be.

I just don't think in today's NFL you can win that way. And the other thing that sort of I don't want to say, depresses me. But you talk about the defense and they need him, you know, playmakers, and we'll see who can step up and the if camra I mean, that's a lot it's a big ask to put a lot of faith in cam a groan that he's going to be this game changing talent on the defense.

But last year, okay, for almost I don't know what, seventy five percent of the season, they had the best, arguably the best pass rusher in football, and then for most of the year the best corner in football. That's a problem because guess what happened down the stretch. Your defense went a wall. But I mean, what am I supposed to do? See here in root for these home run hitters to come play in New England? You had the best arguably the best pass rusher and the best

corner and it led you nowhere. The defense was a joke at the end of the season not even closed as because they failed in the middle. That's linebacker, which is a spot that they did not improve in the draft. Right, So, I don't know how I'm supposed to see here say, oh, Camera Groan's gonna be back, He's essentially another draft pick and feel great. I just don't. Okay, so I the draft, we'll see. Thornton is a big X factor. I like

Jack Jones. I think that you know, based on the Joneses, they can contribute special teams, punt returns they're facing, you know, I like it on paper, it feels okay, but we have no idea whether or not these guys are going to be able to come in, get on the field and be impact players, which is what this team needs. What Mac Jones needs, you you need you need a team that can get off the field and provide the

football to Mac Jones is what you need. Correct And right now, I'm not sure what we have there, and that's my biggest question mark going in all right again, eight five five past five hundred Web radio at Pagris dot com, at JR Broadcaster Twitter, John dot rog on Facebook. The poll is up for another hour plus here very simply is an assigned play caller or coordinator a must have or be no big deal. Register your vote. If you haven't done that, we'll give you the poll results

at the end of the show. And if you have your thoughts on the draft thus far, because at least on this program, I know the p you guys do it, you know, weekly, but we do once a month here until the regular season starts. So I'd love to get your perspective on what you think about that. Please pick up the phone or let's call. Let's talk about that a bit. So let's get to the phones, and uh, Eldrid the North Carolina is up first, Eldred. Hey, then

mister Legend, how you doing today? What's happening, buddy? I'm doing just getting off. You're off the road? Oh what did he do? Did he hang up? He hung up? I'm not Oh there you are? Okay? All right? Good good good yea oh oh oh, so you drive A I was gonna ask you that. I was really gonna ask you that. I was very interested to know what you drove over the year eighteen wheel you know, so what so it's a comment what year Camaro RF and I got a two thousand and two Formula fiber. Oh

two thousand and two vintage. Yeah, let's lie still run one hundred and fifty miles an hour. Two. When I was a kid, Eldrid, you'll appreciate this. When I was a kid, and I said, kid, teenager, my cousin had a sixty nine Shelby Cobra, you know, with a with a with a tea bar across the top, right. But it was, it was. It was the most unbelievable meat wagon I think I've ever been in in my entire life.

It was unbelievable. I mean, that was it was. That was a privilege and an honor to cruise in that one, cruise the av in that one, because that's what everybody does in you know, Fall River, they cruise the av But only all they ever had was a fire bird in the Camaro. Even when I went in the military, love it. I try to get a Burt Reynolds look alike. Yeah, you know, the bandit. The guy wouldn't sell it to me because I was on the age and I was in the military of going to a ym hold on.

I couldn't mean I'm above agents to serve the country. But I couldn't buy the car, so you end up getting one later on. I like it, all right, So you got the sports car thing going on. Good for you, Good for you. Keep a little bit of that you involved. I liked that. Yeah, I liked it too good. Yes, but uh, your your pole question, and uh, I told you in the beginning. I get my F on the draft. Yeah, because a sense of need and the person you took because we were at twenty one, well, really you needed

a wire recet even in a corner. All right, But what makes it an F is it? Does it make it an F because you didn't know about the players that they chose? Or is it more about the positions they selected, the position they selected and the players. Well, but they need but eld, I'm just playing. Hey, I'm just playing Devil's advocate here, so I'm just gonna be okay, okay, But didn't they need speed? They need to speed? They got that at guard. They don't need speed at guard.

It's a guard. Okay, but you got a guard. You had corners six to one, but they still needed a guard. But they still needed a guard. Right to get a guard in the third and the fourth round, you can you have to go first round for a guard. Well, frankly, I think that may have been where Cold Strange should have been. I would agree with some of that assessment.

But at the same time, they when you like a player and he's gonna be gone by the time you get there, there's a tendency to go ahead and take the player, and I think that's what happened in Strange's case. You see what I'm saying happen. But but then again, like I said, again, you needed corners and you did number one. Well, I agree with the corner. The top

receiver was gone except for Watson. Watson was still there, Mitchie was there, but you had two corners, you had Booth, you had mcgrie or whatever, guy from Auburn, and you also Gordon. They were still there. They went in the second round, ye, and then he don't get a guard and then Thornton's okay. But I would have took Watson because that's when green Bay got him into what later the second round after we did after you know, we

could have got him that speed. But that guys is in one of a little bit better tournament, a better organization whatever, And I'm like, you know, better league but Thornton. I liked Thorton. I liked thought. You know, I saw some of his highlights and stuff, and I'm I'm from hoping he does be the home run threat, the one receiver, but he's a rookie. Gotta come in and and getting back to those corners, okay, even though you didn't get

the top ones. And then I said, they was in the second round where you got Booth and and the other guy. Okay, there was more corners there, but you got five eight five nine, And like I said, you might have some speed, but a five eight five nine guys ain't gonna dodd run against the six two sixty three receivers who got speed two because all they gotta do is throwed up because you sure ain't gonna get up there to get it. Okay, you got a ladder in the air. Okay, all right, that's fair. You ain't

gonna get that. What do you think? And what do you think? What do you think about the poll question? Overall? You know the whole uh gotta have a coordinator or no big deal. You gotta have a coordinator. Okay, I'll tell you why, tell you why. Jones is a second second year he's a rookie, you know, you just come out from the office rookie year. So he don't know what the ends out yet, you know. And Joe Judge and and for Matt Patricia do not inspire me one bit,

not one because they never did it. So if you get in a situation now, I don't know what played the call, just that to get him out. You know. That's why Josh McDaniels so successful, and that's why Charlie Wise was, That's why Davo was and why he's in the Giants now. And he did, like I said, Brain, Brain, what your call around the Buffalo quarterback? And I wish we would have got Dable, but David got the head coach job, you know, and Bill Billy O'Brien would be

there because you know what he's doing. He's been there. The guys ain't been there, only been his defensive special team coach. And you can have somebody in Matt here. I don't care now if that was Brady six years ago, they say this year Brady, Brady don't need him. You know the playbook, he know no ends out. You know, it's getting me an out of in and out of place. Would be successful. Matt don't know that yet and need to do petition judge because they never did it. Okay,

and that's definite my argument. Okay, you know, I think, I yeah, I think I understand it. I just I'm not sure. I mean, I'm just I'm i mean, well, obviously nobody sure yet, but I really believe there's there's something to them. I think there's something to the factor that Bill is. As he's progressed here in his tenure, he's got fewer and fewer people over the years that challenge him to the point now where nobody on that staff is challenging him. And I'm Mark said that earlier.

I mean, I'm not sure that that's necessarily a good thing. Mark. Yeah, okay, Okay, I don't think that's necessarily a good thing. But the fact of the matter is the man's been here for twenty one, twenty two years, and he's probably earned that right to sort of live and die. I'm not sword yeah he has, but again, it's better go ahead. I'm sorry, sir, I mean to cut your mister legend. Yeah, I wouldn't wint over this before. I'm gonna tell you again, twenty

years he had the greatest quarterback they ever played. He's been in that sintem with twenty one years. But knew it. Okay, all right, but so you're telling me you wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, hold on, hold on. So you're telling me you think Bill relies on Tom Brady's talent to take him where he wins. You know what, Like I said, I never seen nobody said they're gonna blank play play playing against Bill.

Bill Belichick always gets Tom Brady. We gotta stop Brady in what you com ain't nobody said we got to stop Bill Belichick. But they do give his off and off the late and I said, they both went together. But like I said, at the end of the day, it's the player the coaching coach. In any stout, he won't to and put to any plays or whatever scheme you put in. But if you ain't got the right person to do it, you're just a coach holding the clipboard. Example,

first year Brady left and last year in the beat. Okay, okay, all right, I see your point. I see your point. I'm not sure I agree with it, but I think that's why I like you, Eldred, because we don't have to agree. We don't, mister Leo, are you I was gonna say yes, since since yeah, I figured you probably

would be figured I probably would be. Hey, Eldred, I'm just gonna I'm gonna ask you a sort of a production question right here on the air, all right, for everybody to hear, because didn't we talk at one time about you doing like a truck driving tip of the week or something? What do we talk about? I was talking about people getting off lanes, Eldred, Yeah, yeah, Eldred, Eldred's driving tip of the week. All right, are you? Are you still up for that? Okay? All right, good, Okay,

that's what we're gonna do. So I'm gonna I'm gonna have a marine reach out to you, Okay, all right, I'm gonna have him reach out to you, and we're gonna come up with that idea. And I think that'll be a kind of a fun thing to do, because as anybody who listens to this show, even semi regularly, they know that you drive a truck for a living, you know, and that if you're you know, on the highway somewhere in uh North Carolina, you need to get

the hell out of your way. I think we all understand that, right exactly, cause I'll run you over, good good, all right, so right, so, and I think we can all use a little you know, a little freshen up and a little tip you know behind the wheel, you know, when we're all commuting and religion to our our favorite shows or our favorite pods or hopefully you know, Patriots playbook or something like that. Right, so I'll have marine reach out. I think we're gonna I think we're gonna

work on that. Yes, And we also got idiots as truck drivers. I admit that too. Nice. You know, we got a bunch of old good old oh man, why I did do moment, but they do perfect. But the biggest hip I can give everybody. Okay, if you're coming off a ramp and the trucks in the right lane, and if you're a little bit ahead of them, speed up please because we can't stop. We got forty three or forty four thousand pounds behind us, and we can't get over to the left because it's got people on

the left. When they see you coming down the ramp, they want to stay there. They don't want to move, they want to stay there. So we can't get over and we might slow down a little bit. Just speed up. If you got running, you out running, but don't get there and stop like one he tied the other day and almost eat it. But don't do that. I think that's the first tip of the day. Right there. We're gonna walk it up. We're gonna we're gonna rock it. I love it, I love it. Yes, you're the man.

All right. You have a good mister Lindon. Thanks buddy, good talking to you. Yeah you too, Thanks buddy, appreciate it. Uh, Elder in North Carolina. Let's get uh, let's get Todd in North Carolina also in here. Hey Todd, how you doing? Not bad? I talk to you a while, mister John. I'm glad that you picked up the phone to give us a buzz. What are your thoughts, buddy, uh about where the team is and all the coaching blah blah blah.

This is a wait and see. We can argue both sides of whatever you want, and it's gonna mean a hill of beans because if it works out, we'll all be like, yeah, we're too, says. Look, we told you not to worry. Vote. If it doesn't work out, we're gonna be all geniuses. Oh look, we told you it wasn't gonna work out. I got to wait and see. Yeah we do. That's all you can do. Yeah, I totally agree with that. I just that's why the whole the whole issue of oh we got to get a

grade out? How do the Patriots great in the draft and everything I'm I'm seeing all this. I mean, my own personal thought is, you know, if I, you know, held the loaded gun, you know, you know, up to my noggin, I would probably say, all right, see and the reason I maybe maybe we had to hold a low good gun tier nogginet you to talk. Come on, John, that's also true. But I would tell you I would probably I would tell you, you know, I really kind

of think that. Look, the whole thing is ridiculous because you just you don't know, like I said, until you've had a year, two years, even three years. You got to get these guys coming off the rookie contracts to where you have to make a decision is whether or not you want to extend them sign them to another deal. If you do, then obviously that that guy's gonna grade

in a is he not? If he's worth a second contractor you're gonna grade him in A yeah, especially considering they don't give out many of those haven't exactly, so that would be an A plus in mind regard, right, Or if you trade him away and you're able to get something in return for him of equal greater value, that's also gonna, to me, gonna be an A. So the process my point here, the process is not finished.

It's not over. It's just begun. So all of these grading that you see about the Draft, and I don't care who it is, I would have said this or the Patriots it graded in A plus. It's not over, and it's it's it's disingenuous to grade it now because there's no way. It's like, it's like judging an election with only ten out of a thousand precincts reporting. That's all it is, and that's ridiculous. Nobody judges an election

on that. Ulet's say, where's your NBC? But they like to do that all the time, you know, And of course ANBC doesn't hold exclusive on that one either, CBS, ABC, CNN, they all do it. They all do it, right, So digress go. So Andy kind of lost his podcast to the Cult of the Young and oh yeah, yeah, and I'm kind of noticing that more and more that all across it doesn't matter what you know, where are your backgrounds from them? You're ben is turning into the cult

of the young. And why do you think Don Daro's here? Why do you think Don Darro's here? Cult of the young? Sorry, I'm just hey, no, no, no, no, no, no no, no, no, no, no. You know. I think part of that is is because look, every so often, you just you go through a wave of change, and it happens in this business. Mark and I both know this because we've been a part of that change several times in our careers. And the people that survive and thrive and move on are able to

sort of, you know, reinvent themselves and repurpose themselves. And you know, like I just got through, you know, repurposing my own website and all that kind of stuff because I know it needed a big update. We all need updates. Programming needs updating too. And you need to be able to hear, I think also from different voices who sometimes carry different tenor different tone, different attitudes, different opinions. You need to hear from different voices in order to make

up your own mind. Yourself. I don't want somebody to tell me how to think. What I want is to hear a bunch of different opinions and then I think I like that when or I side more with that guy. That's what you need, and I think that's what the educated fan listener and even media people, this is what they need to do more of. It's one thing to just kind of spout opinion because you think this, well what do you think this based on what? And that's why the whole that's why, the whole thing on the

draft just drives me crazy. I mean, within like twenty minutes of a pick being taken, Oh that's an A plus grade for the Las Vegas Raider. Come on, what is that? You're just pandering, You're just The new podcast doesn't do analysis. It does sensationalism. It trash is Andy, It trashes parts of the team. Well, of course they do, because that's what they because that's what the younger That's what I think a lot of younger listeners want, is

they want the trashing stuff. No, I'm old, I'm yeah, that's exactly right from my own you know, I understand that I get that, but it's okay, that's what they're they're trying to appeal to a different demo. So if you're old ish, I'll say just ish Todd, because I'm I'm right there with you, Okay, then catching you because you know fifty five with the six year old? John, trust me, I'm John for every two months to go buy fifty five with a six year old. God bless you.

I don't know how you do that. I don't know either. Holy crap, I'm old enough with a six year old. Yeah, and six year olds they do add ten years to every month, don't they. I remember when I'm a lot going on there with Yeah, there's a lot going on with a six year old. Like I hadn't been that long ago since I had a six year old. Yea, well it's been twenty one years since I had a

six year old. Um, the rookie is twenty seven, and you know, and he and he was nuts too when he was six too, But he was all about baseball back there. That's all he had, baseball, you know, That's all he had here. All right. So here's the thing.

Find the programs that you like. If you like more of the information based, that's great, go to that and look, we try to do a little bit of that here, and and and and we try to mix in a little bit of fun with it, and we want to bring in a little extra pinion with it and and that kind of thing, because we know that you're not

going to be everything to everybody. You can't be. And I think that's where a lot of podcasts and a lot of radio programs these days lose sight when they failed to connect with their listening audience and fail to recognize who their true listening audience really is. And I know, at least I've been told by people like Hu Todd that our listening audience here does still want meat and potatoes.

I mean, it's one thing to sit here and kind of joke amongst each other and you know, talk about what we're having for lunch and all that kind of stuff. And I and I kid the Peu guys because I love them, but they want to you know, I think most people, at least savvy fans, want a little bit more substance. And so that's why on this program, we try to bring in people that can provide that substance so we can talk about it. That's all. Nope, that's great.

Exactly what You've got knowledgeable listeners, and it's interesting. Your guests are amazing, and that's why I tune into you, and I keep telling them. At least you should be a couple of times a month, hopefully, and well, I appreciate that, and if I can work my schedule out one of these days, then we'll try to extend it out a little bit. But you know, unfortunately, with all the other stuff that I do, it gets to be a little bit difficult. But I'm happy to connect and

hopefully absence makes the heart grow fonder. Take care of John. Okay, okay, thanks Todd, appreciate you. Todding with Carolina. All right, can you hang around for a few minutes? Yeah, I get some time, all right. Good. So Martin Dundero from w

EI is here. I also want to bring into the program another gentleman from w EI who not only writes for Wei dot com, but appears many times, multiple times and platforms multiple programs on w EI Radio in Boston, the one and only uh jumble Heart Andy Hart himself, bighead. What's happening, Hi, guys? What's going on? How you doing? Andy? Beautiful day? How could I be doing anything other than great?

I know that's the only reason why I'm not happy to be in the studio because the weather's actually kind of turned right now. Well, you know, sure it's always sunny in here with Marine Madden here. You know, wow, I know, right, yeah, you knew he had to play that one, Okay, Andy, right off the top and you started.

You wrote a little bit about this on on the EI dot com as well, about Bill and the coaching staff and whether or not you know, he's got too much of a quote unquote controlling interest, and that's, you know, part of the reason why you know, I figured you'd have a good, strong opinion on this one, and that's

why we want it. The poll question, again for those that might be tuning into the live program a little bit later on, is very simple here, but largely is is an assigned play caller or coordinator a must have or be no big deal? So I'm going to ask you, Andy, you know which is it and why I think it's must have? And I think Bill Belichick has kind of admitted that at various points over the years, and I mean, hell, I think he kind of said it earlier this week.

He was pretty definitive in some of his answers, even if it wasn't his forthcoming as maybe some of us in the media or the fandom would have liked. But you know, when I asked him, you know, does a guy need to know when he's going to have that role at a certain point so he can prepare properly training camp for preseason And he said, yeah, sure, And then I asked him, well, do you have a date in mind when that's going to be And he said nope. So I mean he tells you right there that that guy,

you know, you can't just go willy nilly. I mean there are certain I think fundamental necessities. And as much as he mocked calling plays in mini camp, he has over the years talked about the art that is play called calling and you know, the feel and the experience of it and setting up plays and series and you know, I mean, I think it was last year when he went over the top praising Josh McDaniels, comparing him to Nick Saban among coaches, and some of the things he did.

So now I think he values that role. Now if he doesn't have the perfect person for the job, does he figure out another way to do it? Sure? And I think that's one of his great strengths is not, you know, forcing a square peg into a round hole. He'll try to find a couple of round pegs that maybe fit together in that hole. So no, I think it's a necessity. And I think even more so obviously

we've talked about this. It's Mac Jones year two, and you know he's in the prime time of his development years, and Robert Kraft has put a lot of importance on what this year is for Mac Jones. And you know the year two jump that Bill Belichick always talks about. So there's a lot of factors at play here. But yes, I think the short answer to conclude my long answer is you absolutely have to have a play caller. Okay, well, neither one of us really agrees with you on that one,

but you know it's because timing is everything. I can understand why he would want to not do that now because maybe he's trying guys out. Maybe you agree or disagree with that. I'm not sure that you need to have one guy as the as the chief play caller at this time. It's Look, it's convenient if you can have it, especially if you know you have somebody that

can do it. But if you've got to develop that position, if you realize that the guy that you really wanted is still under contract I e. Bill O'Brien somewhere else, Okay, then maybe you have to figure out how to develop that from within. Does that not make sense? No? I think it does. But I still say, somebody's calling the plays this year, and that person I'd rather have more preparation times than less because right in what you just said, John,

you're admitting the person's not ideal. You're not even sure they can do the job. So I think they need more prep time to get comfortable. And I would also say, well, is it possibly he is it possible to Andy that he thinks both guys can do the job, but he just wants to see who is a better fit, you know, for the round hole that's there. Anything's possible. I know,

I'm never closed minded. I think anything is possible. Um. I do generally believe in the old cliche in sports, if if you have two quarterbacks you have none, you have two shortstops you have none, Like generally, you know, all things are not equal. You have a guy who's better, better suited, better skills, better, whatever. Um So yeah, I don't. I find it hard to believe that Joe. If it is indeed Joe, Judge and Matt Patricia, let's say, because I'm I don't know for a fact that it is.

It could still be Bill Belichick that he's planning to do it himself for my guy, Nick Kayley could still be the dark horse candidates. See, that's wh why, that's why things gonna end up getting it just as a as a as an outlandist prediction here, I think they're actually using Judge. Here's here's the mystery of my madness here. I think they're using Judge in Patricia smokescreens to take the heat off of mckkaylick. So let me ask you this real quick, Andy, if it is in fact some

sort of competition, which I don't actually hate. If they're competing, I think for a time that could be productive. But if it is a competition, based on what you're thinking, when would they need to name a winner? Well, you know, when will the guy that's actually going to be calling the plays have to step in and start, you know, calling a place that's fair? I think by training camp.

I think when you return for training camps, so you know you get through these OTAs, you get through Mini camp, and then there's whatever that is a month long break where everybody kind of goes to Nantucket vacations. When you return from that. I think the person calling the plays should know. I think the person no longer calling the players should know. And I think Mac Jones should know and start to hear that voice on a play by

play daily basis inside his helmet. So yeah, I'm not saying it's it's the sky is falling that they don't They haven't announced a play caller right now, but I think you are running out of time. You're you're under two months here to figure out who's going to do that and how that's going to play out. And John In terms of Nick Hayley, I was all on the Nick Kayley bandwagon. I wrote a column I don't know, maybe a month ago now at Patricia is Cam Newton

like he's the distraction? Is Mac Jones? Yes, yep, And I still would love to see that. I still would if I were in this situation, I would give Nick Kayley a chance, even if it's in you know, the scenario you painted that maybe Bill O'Brien is the option next year. I like the young guy who's been in Josh McDaniel's meeting rooms every single day for five years and come up the traditional way through the off end. My only concern is the other day at OTA's, he

looked very much like just a tight ends coach. He was kind of off to the sideline with his position groups, just sort of running in rotating bodies, and did not appear to have any more significant voice than that. While we were watching Judge, Patricia and Belichick have a more significant voice. So I'll still hold out. How hope for it, John, that you and I get our watch, But well, I don't feel great. I would yeah, and I can understand

why that the first impression would be somewhat misleading. I still believe there's something to look Maybe he's trying to simply figure out who could best work with Nick and then who could worst best work with Mac on top of that, because I think they feel like that's got to be the future. Because I don't think either one of those guys really wants to be a quote unquote coordinator. I think both of those guys won't eventually be head

coaches again. Now, whether they get there or not is subject to conjecture, and most of it's probably negative at the stage of the game anyway, But they both have they both have a lot of work to do in terms of healing their own professional resumes. This is a chance for them to do that, and they know that they have to work and do that, and they can have some success under Bill Belichick, then quite frankly, they're going to get a shot somewhere else with somebody. Yeah.

I mean, if they succeed in any sort of significant role on offense, even if it's not play caller and coordinator, that is going to go a long way to rehab their image and buff up their resumes, because I mean, you're talking about some pretty unique opportunities. This doesn't come along all that often where special teams coach turned head coach turned major offensive assistant, QB's coach and you know,

longtime defensive coordinator is now an offensive line coach. So if they find success in whatever offensive roles they may have moving forward, I do think that will will help them get more opportunities moving forward in their career and seeking head coaching opportunities down the road. Maybe you guys had had a story on the website as well, earlier

today that I glanced at. It'll look at some of the numbers, but just to sort of paraphrase what it said, based on the numbers, a lot of the teams that haven't had definitive play callers have actually fared pretty well. Yeah, I think that is a possibility. Like there, I think new ideas can be good. I mean, there were a

lot of fans in New England. John, I'm sure you took a lot of emails and calls that had grown tired of Josh McDaniels, that would coonize him, no doubt on a weekly basis, didn't think he was good at his job. And are not lamenting a weekly bitch session. You know that he was on this show, on the other show. You know, you guys have been doing that for years. We all questioned Josh because he was the

play caller. But he withstood it, he took it, he developed from it, He did a better job than a bad job, and now he's a head coach in the NFL again. It worked out for him right, And I find it hard to believe that people could really strongly dislike Josh McDaniels. The year after he had a Pro Bowl rookie quarterback who led the team back to the postseason. I mean, however, you believe he managed that. I mean, given the talent and given the green nature of the position,

that was an impressive team accomplishment. That was an impressive Josh McDaniels accomplishment. But there's also this idea, and Robert Kraft promoted this, that there's room for some schematic changes in ways that they can take advantage of untapped talent on this offense. And you know, new ideas and change

aren't always bad. If a guy who's new play call or do offensive mind whether it's judge Patricia Kayley, the combination of the three, if they can get John U. Smith to look like a weapon, well that's a boon right there. And if maybe they get Mac Jones more comfortable in a RPO based scheme but he ran at Alabama,

well that might be a successful trend right there. So yeah, we're fixating on names and roles and bodies, but there's also I think a schematic opportunity here to grow the offense, change the offense, and maybe find a way to be as productive or more productive than it's been over the last couple of years. So there's a schematic opportunity, which I agree with, But I'm wondering just from obviously there's a lot of uncertainty right now a long you know,

with that position. Associated with that position, are you Andy more concerned as we go forward here into the darkness or whatever you want to call it, with the I don't know Mac Jones's ability to develop under this new guy or what you were just talking about the schematic aspect to being an offensive coordinator, which concerns you more that the new coordinator is not going to be able to get Jones to be at his best, or he's going to call a bad play on third and five,

third and seven in the first second week of the season. No, it's it's the development one hundred. I do think play calling is overrated. I know Bill said that the other day people talked about you know, he said, the execution of a play is more important than the calling of the play. I remember years ago Cam Cameron, the longtime coordinator for the Ravens, the Chargers, Dolphins, had a lot of success and he believed the most overrated thing in

all of football was the play call. And that's a guy that made a million dollars a year back then as a play caller, an offensive play caller. So I think it's about talent and execution, and it's about developing talent. And I think the way this offense is built there the development of Mac Jones and his ability to be timely in his read and utilize his strength of accuracy and smart. He doesn't have a go to grunk, you know, he doesn't have a last third and seven. I'm just

going to throw it to Gronk or Edelman. No, no no, no, He's going to have to go through his reads. Fine matchups really utilize what I think is a relatively deep group of complimentary talents, but no real A listers so to speak, or pro bowlers are all pros. So yeah,

I you know, Mike gi already tweeted something out. He talked to a defensive coach in the league, and that coach talked about, you know, the in game coaching of Mac Jones and that hip to hip Josh McDaniel's role on the bench in between series and plays, and I think that's going to be huge, and that relationship, the nuances of that relationship, the nuances of that coaching, That's

where I think the biggest questions come. And I mean, it looks like Joe Judge, regardless of how everything plays out, it looks like Joe Judge as the quarterbacks coach. He has studies the quarterbacks coach basically, So that role Joe Judge and Mac Jones. I think that's the most important role. And you're right, probably more important than who is actually voicing the play call on third and seven and at

the twenty seven yard line. Is it helpful for Mac at this stage a game to have so much criticism of Joe Judge. I mean, because I don't know if you listen to you know, you know, talk radio around these parts, as you well know, I don't think anybody thinks Joe Judge can tie his shoelaces. You're right. I actually think that the criticism of Judge and Patricia has reached unfair levels, not just locally but even nationally. Orlovsky

and his rants has said these are two failed coaches. No, they're failed head coaches, right, they were actually pretty damn well accomplished coaches as his original role, ye correct, development Right? So yeah, but your other question, Yeah, I think Mac Jones is in kind of a no lose situation. I think if he struggles in year two, all the fingers will point to Joe Judge, Bill Belichick, Matt Patricia and an inft coaching staff that lost Josh McDaniels. If he succeeds,

it'll be about, Wow, this kid's good. He didn't even really have offensive coaches and he took a big jump, right, no loose scenario, that's true, perfect right, perfect. It's taking the pressure off of mac Jones in year two, which is, by the way, chit ching. It is exactly the year year two that we supposedly see the most improvement. Correct. Ye, So it's sort of genius like he has an excuse, he has an out. But if they do find success and he grows and improves him last year, it's all

about how good Mac Jones is. Win win man. I think we just unlocked the key to BB. I think we just figured it out right here right now on this very program. That's Bill Belichick in a nutshell. So I think Mac Jones is if he's a stud, he's going to be a study. I don't want to minimize the offensive coordinator position, but if he's going to be a study, he's going to be a stud if he's not going to be a stud, or if he's going to be a bust, which we don't think he is.

But if he was going to be one, he was going to be one. And I don't think the offensive coordinator really mattered. Andy. Do you think that if Jones can play, he's going to find a way to elevate his game. I mean, y're two, regardless of who the offensive coordinator is. No, because I'm a big believer that someone like Brian Dable played a key role in the

development of Josh Allen. And Josh Allen is probably one of the five most talented, physically gifted quarterbacks that come into the NFL in the last five or ten years, and I think he needed a guy like Brian Dable with immense experience calling plays, developing quarterbacks offenses all over the league. I think he needed Dable by his side to help him become an MVP candidate and a guy that could lead his team to a Super Bowl. So I'm with you in a sense that I'm a big believer.

I've always said special is special. They'll find you. You'll do it. You're special if you're But I don't know that next tier like that just really good tier. No. I think that needs some coaching and some development and some help and some coaxing. And I think that's where Mac Jones will be at a crossroads this year next year is does he take the next step or he just kind of live in that middling world of the

NFL with Jimmy Garoppolo and comb. This is why, if that's the case, I don't know what Bill Belichick's doing, okay, because if he obviously knows how important a good coordinator

is the development, especially of a young, promising quarterback. And if he's bringing in these two guys that you said earlier are yes men and can come in because he's comfortable and those are the type of people he wants to be around, and he's not prioritizing the development of this young up and hot prospect or whatever you want to call him, I have no doubt. I have no answers for you. I have no explanation as to why

you would do that, if it's that important. Well, I think the answer to that would be Belichick prioritizes system culture and sort of the fraternity more than most and not bringing in my buddy Brian Barrett, our Buddy on WI one, Joe Brady. Joe Brady is you know the LSU. Joe Brady developed Burrow and then flamed out in in Carolina. Now he's in Buffalo as I think the quarterbacks coach. But Bill's not going to bring in a guy he doesn't know trust. Have similar philosophies with system. We've seen

that over the years. He's a promote from within. You developed your guys, your sort of world um. Similar to Parcels. I think Parcels had a lot of that into like if you're a parcels guy, you're a parcels guy, and you kind of need to be a parcels guy to work for parcels. I think there's some of that with Belichick,

and I think that's the answer. He's never going to go outside of his circle of trust, and so therefore, whoever's in the circle of trust, he has to figure out how to get one of those guys to fit. And Bill O'Brien didn't. So next in line was whatever's going on now? But here's Bill though, well, that's true, that's true. You have that factor, but you can't get Bill O'Brian from the year. He's already decided he's not going to get him an the year. He didn't want

to step on Nick Saban's toes. So short of getting your guy, which I think if he had been able to get him, he would have, and then you would have had your orderback Whisper and Bill O'Brien, you would have had your equivalent of Josh Allen and Brian Dable as you just talked about. You can't have that. So let's develop from within and let's play this no loose scenarios we just talked about. Yeah, and he thinks they're

good coaches. We need to start with that. He believes that Matt Patricia and Joe Judge are very good coaches. We don't know, and I honestly think he doesn't know because he can't know if they're good offensive coaches, if they're good play callers, because that is yet to be proven,

like that needs to play itself out. But I think he trusts their teaching, coaching, philosophical abilities more than he would just some you know, hot shot mcveig tree offensive mind who some outsiders would say, yeah, that's a that's a better offensive mind or coach. Bill doesn't look at it that way. He wants his guys. Okay, that's fair, And I'd like to think that he has a lot of faith in Mac Jones to be able to handle whoever his coaches, and he knows that the guy's gonna

be good. And that's my point as well. I think Mac is the one voice that he heeds to listen to. He needs to listen to himself more so than anybody else at this stage of his career. Yeah, the one concern I have there is that I don't know if you guys heard Mac the other day when he said, Joe and I are going to teach each other. Yeah, Like,

is that fair to a second year or quarterback? I mean, we know how, but maybe sure, But maybe he's got that kind of confidence and maybe they know things that we don't, which is pretty obvious because we're not in the meeting rooms. So maybe they feel like Mac can handle this. You know, they've already said, they've already they already sad that this guy special, this guy can deliver, this guy's gonna be a player, this guy's come in

and looks great, and YadA YadA, he's improved. Whatever. That's great. They clearly are showing confidence in this guy to lead the parade. So that's why I can fully understand why he would say something like, you think we're gonna teach each other. Yeah, I think they do, and they probably believe it's gonna work, and he believes it's gonna work. Now, I think he was doing a little PR sales job to talk, of course, how everybody's on the same page

and this is working great and blah blah blah. And I'm like, you just finished your first thing that's even close to the resembling a practice. I don't know how you can be so sure everything's working so great one day in two hours in um. But I would also say, even if they trust him and think he's great and smart, it would still be better if he had a proven, talented coach with him, because that that could maximize the leap,

that could accelerate the leap. So you know, he could get better because he's good and he can teach Joe Judge. But you're still gonna wonder, huh, what would you two have looked like if Bill O'Brien was here or Josh McDaniels had stayed right right, all right, very quickly then, Andy, I mean, we're a month removed from the draft. How did the Patriots do? Who knows? I mean, we all know. It's a thank you, thank you. It's a lot of ebbs and flows. My concern um a little bit was

I don't know how many of these guys. Now I get to tell you one day of practice. John, you know, I'm very reactionary, good or bad. Yeah, that's why we love you, by the way, that's why we love it. So I've changed a little bit of my view of the draft after watching Jack Jones, the cornerback out of asdu At the ustate kid can play. That kid, I will be watching him very closely in training camp. I now, in my mind have him very much in the mix for significant cornerback reps as a rookie. And that's a

guy I wasn't too sure about. So right there, you get a mid round pick who I now think is in the mix with the likes of Mills and Butler for significant play. You have Cole Strange looking like he's the starter at the left guard spot. So if you get those two guys right out the gates, you get Marcus Jones to return some punts and have an impact there and maybe be an extra corner himself. You know, you get a couple of impact rookie contributors and then

you fill in depth later. I call that a good draft, especially when you marry it up with what I think was a pretty good draft last year. If you can combine a couple of those year after year, that's how you build a nice foundation of how I really believe that. You know, they took to heart, you know some of the let's just say inadequacies of recent drafts, and they

started rebuilding last year. But I know going in this year, especially with the onus being on, you know, a new shall we say evaluator in Matt grow Run on the show, that there was a tremendous amount of pressure to go out and get guys that we know, we like, that we can as the phrase I use his plug and play, that we can coach up that fit to our system, our style. That's what we're looking for and where they're ranked by you know, the prognosticators be damned, and they

did that and they got panned for it widely. So they're definitely on the hook on this one without any doubt. But I think what I admire the most, whether it's right or wrong is their ability to stick with their beliefs and their philosophies. Bill Belichick has stuck with his beliefs for twenty years. And sometimes that was trade out

and infuriate people, and sometimes that was trade up. And sometimes that would take a defensive back in the second round that nobody wanted and guess what he did that so many times. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't. Cavan Wilson didn't work, Kyle Dugger did work. So he has such a track record that you can poke holes, pick nits as you like to say, John, and find examples of almost everything. But yeah, the truth will be in

the execution. But the guy I'm intrigued by and I think could kind of swing the draft in one director or another in terms of perception is Taekwon Thornton. You know, they talked so much about wanting to get faster, they drafted the fastest guy they could find. And we've seen in recent years, the last two three years, rookie receivers not just first round picks, second round picks. They come

in and they can be instant impact playmakers. If he can be a positive for this team, for this offense, I think Cole Strange will be playing and he's a guard, So unless he's getting absolutely embarrassed, you'll feel okay about that pick. The other, you know, Joneses, I think both those. If you get Thornton contributing as a receiver, even if it's just complementary certain packages, as a deep threat and a speed burner, I think he's a guy that could

kind of create a positive perception about this draft. Yeah. I agree with That's it. That's the X factor. It's thorn. Can he play in that position? Now? Is everybody here knows? Is so important? If he can play, that could change not just the dynamic and the complexion of the draft, but of the team. Yeah, no question. And that's even including I'll say another guy. I thought it looked good,

Davante Parker. I thought looked good the other day. And that's a good sign if you add him to the mix of contributors and if he gets back to gotta stay healthy twelve. Yeah, And that's the one thing. It's easy to look good in May and short ye will he looked good in October and November when he's been hit for a month or two of football, But he

looked athletic. I thought he looked explosive. And if he can add something to the mix, and you get a little something out of Thornton and you still get Myers and Borne takes the next step. You know, I'm not sure these receivers are quite as bad as some people want to paint them to be. Andy, really appreciate your time slumming. Was slumming with us guys down here at

the at the old Ballyard, so to speak. John. You know, I love to talk Patriots football almost any time anywhere, Internet, radio, TV. Write about it. You know, it beats working for a living anytime, doesn't it. I really agree with that one. I totally agree with that one. We'll keep reading you, my man. Thanks for spending a little time with us today. All right, thanks John Mark. You got it at jumbo

Heart on Twitter, Andy Hartwei dot com. He's got a piece up there today as we talked about, I'm talking about the you know, Bill Belichick controlling interest of the coaching staff thus far, and made some really good points which I thought. The timing of having him on the show is extraordinarily important here only because look, that's what everybody's talking about right now. I mean, the fact of

the matter is. It would be all Patriots all the time throughout New England if the Celtics weren't having the success that they're having right now in the NBA, you know, Eastern Conference Final. Yeah, even the Socks winning streak of light after being so miserable earlier this year, they'd be getting a lot more run right now if it weren't for the Celtics and or the Patriots. But the Patriots clearly, I mean, when you can dominate the local talk shows

here like they have and continue to do. And I haven't listened to a day of programming on either of the primary sports talk stations in the Boston area. Haven't listened to a day of program without them spending significant time on Patriots coaching and OTAs. I mean, come on, we're how many months away from playing football? Four months? Yeah, and it's too long I know for most people. But I had somebody hit me up on social media just history.

It's like, Wow, does the NFL ever have an off season? No, we don't, and that's exactly what the NFL wants. We don't have an NFL offseason anymore. It's just downtime really more than anything else. Well, especially while Tom Brady is still in the league, while Bill Belichick is still coaching, and while they have, like I said, this hot up and coming potential star, next big thing in the NFL

in terms of a quarterback on their roster. That's exciting, that's intriguing, and people want to see where it goes. That's why I mean Andy was talking about it. That's why the whole coordinator thing is so interesting because it comes down to, hey, we want Matt Jones to be, you know, put in the best possible position to succeed. And it's not just about third and seven in October this year. It's about can you get him to that point?

And if they have a guy That's why it's so interesting to me that Bill Belichick decided to go with this dynamic because if they have a guy that's not good as an offensive coordinator, I agree. They've been quality coaches. They're good coaches. And just a quick point on those coaches,

you talked about them getting another head coaching job. It's interesting when you think of Joe Judge and you think of Matt Patricia, I think of sort of how they failed as I don't know, creating a culture for their team. You know, big words at the press conferences, but ultimately they were viewed as sort of buffoons at the podium. I don't know so much about their abilities XS and o's and the intricacies of calling plays and stuff like that, but they were just like leadership wise, I don't know

if they were viewed as good. So if I was a team, that's what I would be worried about if I no matter how they if they called some good plays. But the Patriots as OC or whatever, I don't know how they lead the team. That's it's felt like that's where they failed. Maybe they get another chance, maybe they don't. I don't really care about that. Now, Can you be a good offensive coordinator and offensive minding? Jones development? That's all we care about, absolutely all we care about. Make

it Seawan of Vancouver here really quick. Hey Sean, you're in the playbook. Hey hey, good to speak. How are you doing? Actually? Everything's good here? How are you? My man? Terrific about the draft? Though you know he said three years, I say it's five years, okay, that I fully evaluate the draft like I'm looking at twenty eighteen now. I don't have a definitive opinion yet about Whin or Jawan Bentley. I want to wait another year and see what happened

with those guys. So no, the first year's draft, it wasn't what I expected. It's not what I was thinking may do. But I don't know. If they got the speed they got some players, maybe a're gonna make a difference five years. We are influenced by what the media says, right wrong. We are totally influenced by what the media says. So when the Patriots select guys that are like, oh my god, he's a third round draft pick, what the

hell are they doing? Then you know, naturally, the the the impetus is gonna think, oh, they screwed up, they screwed up. And again, the point here is that you draft not because a guy rates highly, because he rates highly within your scheme and you feel like he's a fit for what you want to do at the particular position that you take him. So a guy that's gonna rate as a top fifteen, twenty thirty first round draft

pick for one team could slide off the board. This is how guys slide in the draft anyway, And this is how guys go from draft picks to u DFA's because it don't fit the scheme or the playing style of the team that's up on the board next them. This is how guys fall. So it really is overrated, and it really he helps drive a narrative that is just flat out wrong. Five years, I would argue Sean is a little much, because I think you've got to make a decision on the guys whether or not he's resignable.

So that's why I go that's that's that's why I go with sure. But that's why I go with three years, because by that time you're trying to decide whether or not to keep the guy or punt. Yeah, and that's not my decision to make. Yeah, of course I have

to do that. But the other thing about the poll question, though, is I don't know if you listen to pasts in the past this past week and they were talking Ernie Adams and at one point when he was with Cleveland, Mark Mdell says, I'll pay any one ten thousand bucks if they can tell me what Ernie Adams does. So you know, he's been instrumental to the Patriots success in six Super Bowls, and nobody couldn't really outside of the organization put a definitive qualifif fire on what his role

was with the team. But he did a lot of important things and I'm sure he knew what he's doing. I'm sure Bill Belichick was doing. But us as fans and even maybe the owner doesn't need to know. Robert cup doesn't necessarily need to know what Ernie Adams is doing as long as it's working. And I'm sure the Patriots are going to have an offensive coordinator. It's just maybe the fans, maybe the media, maybe even the owner doesn't know. But you know, when Mac Jones is out there,

he'll know who's calling the place. He'll understand it because the Patriots mantraper with over twenty years, has been doing your job. So everyone on the coaching step, every player has a specific job, they're going to know what it is. I have complete confidence that that's going to be the case. Just we don't know yet, No, we don't, And I think that's well said, Sean. Anything else, Bud, anything with us, don't. I don't know. If there's anything else. I'll call back

another time when next month, when when you're there. But you got it, Thanks you bet, thank you for taking the time. Sean of Vancouver so again, just to kind of recap here, M paul is up if you hit Twitter on at JR broadcaster question to answers, is an assigned play calleror coordinator a must have or be no big deal? Got thirty seven minutes left to the poll and right now no big deals in the lead, which frankly is a little surprising considering a lot of the

you know noise that we hear from the media. Mark, you know, I'll be honest. The in build we trust cry, I don't know, I mean, is it the build? I mean, look, I think it's again. I don't want to make it sound like it's nothing. I just think there are more important things that the than the offensive coordinator. For example, if they had a number one top tier wide out, I'd feel better than if they just had a number one top tier offensive coordinator. All right. Evan Lazar covers

the Patriots for c LNS Media. He joined us here on the program as the Patriots beat reporter. Hey Evan, thanks for taking the time to visit with us. John Rook here along with Mark Dundera. No problem, guys, thanks for having me on. Appreciate you taking the times. How do you stand on this whole gotta have a coordinator, need to have a coach, or is it no big deal?

Which one do you kind of lean toward? Yeah, I think you know, for the most part, I believe that Matt Patricia, Joe Judge, and Bill Belichick will be able to put together game plans and have a good opening script and do some of the things during the week that you need to do to get your team ready

to play on Sunday. The biggest concerns that I have in terms of the offense in the direction without really having that coordinator like Josh McDaniels in place is one offensive innovation, and what I mean by that is team innovation. Like this offense to me over the last two or three years, especially last season, is a little bit archaic in style. Right There's still an eye formation team. There's still a team that runs a lot of under center.

They don't do a lot of the things that some of these college systems that spread the field and have a lot of more of these option elements integrated like RPOs, readoption, that kind of thing. They don't use a lot of that. They don't use a lot of the Shanahan tree either, the outside zone and bootlegs things like that either. So offensive innovation I think is a question mark to me what this team moving forward. And I would also say in game adjustments is the other really big one for

the Patriots. I think that was a really underrated thing that Josh McDaniels was able to do, where Okay, they come out, they feel out what the game plan is for the defense, and then they have answers to X, Y and Z that they can go to in their back pockets to respond to what the defense is doing them. So in game adjustments I think was a huge part of what made the Patriots successful and now is a

big part of what makes Josh McDaniels successful. So now, do they have the foresight do they have the ability to adjust on the fly when things maybe don't go as well early on in the game, Like you don't have Josh McDaniels calling the place in twenty eight to three ever happen, right, you know, those type of instances I think are something that maybe the Patriots will miss. Josh mc daniel is more than let's say, the actual play calling, in the actual act of calling plays. You know,

since you've been covering this team, I'm curious. Do your thoughts this bill work better with guys behind him, underneath him, coaching for him, whatever the kid, whatever phrase you want to use. Does it work better with guys who cross him or agree with him? That's a good question. I think in the past that I would lean forwards that

he works better with guys that challenge him. I wouldn't necessarily say that it's crossing him, but it's more making him think about things from a different perspective or offering different perspective that maybe is actually better than the way that he was originally thinking. Once he kind of puts

himself in those shoes. And I don't necessarily know if it's coaching or personnel execs that have done that in the past, but you've heard a lot about players do that in the past, where you know Belichick has been coaching it one way, he thinks it should be done one way, and then Randy Moss comes up to him in the practice field and he says, well, instead of running of a post, if I run a deep crossers and I can run away from the safety instead of running into the safety, And all of a sudden, the

Patriots run deep over routs instead of post routes right, or He's talked about in the past, even with kickings with Nick Folk, that Nick Folk has taught him a lot about kicking as a veteran kicker, and they think about things maybe a little bit differently than they did before in terms of kicking the football. So there's little things like that that I've seen over the years on you know, Football Life and some of the different documentaries that they did, where players have said, to build, why

don't we do it this way. It's easier for me if we do it that way, said it this way, and then he goes ahead and makes those adjustments. So I think he likes to be challenged. I don't think he likes to surround himself with people that can't talk the game at the same level that he can talk it at. Okay, fair enough, So let me ask you

this real quick, Evan. Obviously, you know, with the lack of experience for both Joe Judge and Mat Patricia on the offensive side of the ball, one would think that, hey, maybe Bill Belichick needs to get a little bit more involved offensively, either helping them or helping Mac Jones. Should I be concerned about that given the fact that there are a lot of areas that need his attention on this team, on this roster, and he's seventy years old.

It's a fair question, right, and I think that there is some concern there, some skepticism that's just natural to think about, you know, him being stretched too thin and having to wear too many hats. But the thing I'll say is Dean Piece is a former defensive coordinator for the Patriots about ten years ago. He was on a podcast not too long ago and he mentioned that Bill Belichick actually didn't end a ton of time with the defense during the week. He actually spent the most of

his time with Tom Brady and the quarterback. So I think a big part of Bill Belichick defensive mastermind for the Patriots is that he'll actually go to the quarterback and Cam Newton post pub about this as well. He'll say, this is what they're going to do to you, right, They're going to come out, this is going to be the defensive game plan. This is how I would defend you. So I'm as sure this is how they're going to

defend you. And they're going to try to take away X, Y and Z, and we're going to do you know, a b and C and I think the dad back and forth, and Brady has talked about the Tuesday meetings with Belichick, game plan meetings and the different things that he's been learned from Belichick over the years. I think that's a really big part of what Belichick has always done for the Patriots and the quarterbacks in particular stuff.

I think in a cool way, his defensive ability and his mastermind on that side of the football actually helps them reverse engineer for the quarterback how exactly they're going to see a game plan and take out from the opposing defense and put those guys in a really good position to succeed. All right, Bevan Lazar from this media

Patriots beat reporter, joining us here in the playbook. The other issue that we've been kind of kicking around today, Evan, has to do with the draft, and you know, and I don't want to answer, I don't want to ask you a little about, you know, the first OTAs that were out there this week, so I know you were out of practice. But at the same time, now that we're a month removed from the NFL Draft, you know, is it fair to even try to make an evaluation

any of these guys? Do you agree disagree with the panning of the Patriots draft by most of the mainstream media, both local and national. What are your stands on grading draft picks. It's definitely not fair to grade the draft picks based off of what we think these players will become, because none of us quite frankly, have any idea what these guys are going to be in two to three years now based off of the information that we have at hand going into the draft. I do think that

there is some freedoms to some of these grades. Now, the thing about the Patriots draft to me is the positions that they drafted offensive line, wide receiver, corner. We all went into the draft thinking that they were going to draft those positions, but they drafted players that were different than the players that we would have drafted in that spot. Like if the Patriots that came away from this draft and all these Zion Johnson's from Boston College

went ahead of their pick. But let's say they come away from the draft and they drafted Zion Johnson and John Metschi in the first two rounds, we all would have been thrilled, as from everybody, we all would have

been off the walls. Instead, you exchange Zion's name for Cole Strange, and you exchange Meschi's name for Taekwon thor and now all of a sudden, they get an at right because they're not the names that we've been talking about, that we've been hyping up, that we've done our homework on, and that certainly can drive the narrative a little bit with these picks. Now, the draft to me is a fifty fifty coin flip. It's a craft shoot. It's your

evaluation versus my evaluation. And the Patriots certainly have a much better feel for their program, their team and what exactly fits in best with that, and they definitely have more information about these players than we do in the media to get to interview them, to get some that their medicals, so on and so forth. But we'll see, you know, we'll see what ends up being right in

three years. If Cole Strange ends up being a pro bowler and Zion Johnson's just an okay guard, or if John Metchi ends up being out of the league because his knee doesn't hold up, and Tykwon Thornton is a great player for the Patriots, then they'll be right. If they're not, then the consensus will be right, and we'll have to wait and see on that. But this is

definitely one of those drafts. And I think in a lot of ways it was similar to twenty twenty for me, where I wasn't surprised at all that the Patriots drafted a safety with their first pick when they took Kyle Dugger, but I was expecting it to be Antoine Winfield or Jeremy Chain or Davier McKinley from Alabama. And then said, they took Kyle Tugger, So their boards different than our board, and they have to trust their board, and I'm going to trust my board and we'll see who's right in

three years. Yeah, that's true. And again you kind of directly led into the next question is what's a sufficient amount of time in which to be able to judge whether or not you did a good enough job in

a draft. So I think there's a way that we can evaluate it in the short term, and that look, if you make a good pick in the first round, you know it when you get out there at practice during training camp, like for example, I would say, like with Cole Strange, if he's a good pick, I would venture to say that I could see that he has NFL talent at the top of the first round or at the top of the draft, I should say, within

the first one or two weeks in training camp. When I was out there in twenty nineteen and nikkil Harry was in his rookie camp, it was, you know, left a lot to be desired, right, Like you were like, uh, you know, this guy just doesn't have the explosiveness. He doesn't have the speed of the NFL game, Like this is not exactly the Holy Moley. The Patriots got a

stud wide receiver in the draft type of pick. I think that there is some credence the fact that that can happen and you can see it with your eyes quickly, like I you know, I've read and obviously this is a much draft picks and somebody like Tae Kwon Thoran, but you read about things like about Jamar Chase or like Peedee Lamb or Justin Jefferson or some of these other wide receivers that have come through in the draft in recent years, and all the beat reporters down in

those respective locations, they're like, holy smokes, like this guy is legendary stuff, right, Like this guy's going to be a big time difference maker for this team. So I do think you can tell right away whether or not they have that sort of next level of talent. But in terms of what their overall projection is, yeah, I would say it takes two to three years to really

know for sure, And especially here in New England. You look at a guy like Damien Harris, for example, who sat out his entire rookie year and then he comes in his second year, third year, he's a great player for the path. I don't think anybody's looking back at the Damien Harris pick now and saying that was a bad pick. But maybe after his rookie season the opinions on himler a little bit money just because of the fact that he didn't play. So it is an walk.

But I think with certain positions, I would say, in particular with receivers skill players, you can see whether or not their speed and their explosiveness and they're just kind of threat to the defense, is there or not? Pretty much right away, Evan, we couldn't plan this out any better because you lead directly into my next question for you here was you were out there. We've had one chance for the media to see these guys out on the field thus far. Another one coming up again? When

is it tomorrow? I think? Or is it today? No, it's tomorrow. And the next one for the media is next week. Next week. Players will be out there again this week, right, Okay, so they're out there again this week. So we've had basically one chance to see these guys. You've got your first glimpse of these guys, you know, along the lines of what you were just talking about.

Somebody who's gonna stand out, Guys that you're looking at that you want to concertru Guys that are going to get all of the folks come training camp time, which are the younger guys and the guys we don't know about. Who stood out? Did anybody? Could anybody make that kind of an impression? Who just one OTA session? Yeah, it's

hard to do it in OTAs without pats. And I would also say that a lot of the OTA drills, even team drill seven on seven, eleven on eleven, are not too live competitive situations where they're going full till. But I still saw some glimpses from Cole Strange and look, I'll be the first one to admit when they drafted Cole Stringe on draft night in the first round. I was also aproplectic, like I hated to pick right. I had no idea where they were going with it. What

are you doing? Yeah, I get it, I get it. Yeah yeah. But then when I looked at Cole Strange, I've practiced on Monday. You know, you don't want to get too caught up with the offensive lineman because there's no pads, there's no contact. But the way the guy moves is impressive, Like he can definitely move, he can get out of the stance. You see that athleticism right away.

They ran a lot of outside runs in practice the other day, and his ability to get outside the tackle to then get up and work to the second level. There's some real explosiveness and some real speed in the way that he moves at the guard position. I think that's gonna really pop off the tape pretty much instantly for a guy like Cole Strange. We'll see about play strains like I love me a good pulling guard. I

love me a good pulling guard. Yeah, whether he's pulling or it's his own scheme and he's just getting out of his stance of getting up the field or to the sideline. This guy can definitely move, and you saw that right away. Jack Jones, the cornerback from that they drafted in the fourth round, he was already rotating in with some of the other starters at the cornerback position, which I think is a really good sign this early on in camp, this early on in the spring off

season program. To have a fourth round pick already out there with some of the other starting secondary players tells you that maybe he's ahead of schedule or on schedule, depending on how they look at it, to be an impact player. In year one, we didn't get to see a lot of Taekwon Thornton. He was down on the lower field and wasn't really a part of team rolls all that much. The same with Pierre Strong and Marcus Jones right now, he's really really small guys right So defensively,

we'll see what happens. I still think he has a chance to develop into a slot corner, but I think right away you're looking as a primary returner, potentially as an impact as a rookie, but maybe not at corner. But I was really intrigued by what I saw from Strange and Jack Jones. Yeah, Andy Hart we had on early. He mentioned Jack Jones too, and he was really surprised that you showed some athleticism and the ability to mix it up already getting rotations in with some of the

guys who've been around for a while. Yeah, he's got really smooth feet, He's really fluid. I think he can kind of travel with the receivers from both sides of the formation, whether it's in the slot outside and cover some of these guys. These the receiver types that play inside and outside in any given situation. I think Jack Jones has that ability to shadow those types of guys in man coverage. I compared him to Malcolm Butler ironically when they drafted him, and you know, I still think

that that's a pretty apt comparison. Somebody that's just really scrappies. He can stay glued to guys, beget be in your hip pocket, and give guys some fits, but the fact that they just can't get rid of them at the top of the route. I think Jash Jones is going to be a player that maybe has the Year one impact like Malcolm did, or like basically Backson did. Sure, all right, so you know we've had one practiced to work with um. These are OTAs or I used to

call them, you know, basically glorified picnics. Organized team activities is what OTA stands for. Not everybody is there, Not everybody is required to be there. All of the guys who were not what surprised you? Who surprised you by their absence? That may be like, Ooh, I don't know why is this guy not here? Isaiah Win? I have no idea. I don't want to. Like you said, these

are voluntary sessions. You have no idea what's going on with Isaiah Win behind the scenes, Whether it's a family matter that he's you know, taken care of, or physical injury something like that that he's taken care of, or whatever. But this is a player that is in the final year of his contract by all attensive purposes, had a down year last year. He came into training camp after not being at the off season program a year ago, out of shape last summer. The team wasn't happy about it.

He started slow in the twenty twenty one seasons after being out of shape when he arrived in camp in late July early August. And now he's doing it the same thing again. And I look at Isaiah Winn, and I see Trent Brown and his ability to potentially flip over to the left side. I think the team is really high on Justin Bran, who had time good run last year when they were allowed him to play, especially

at left tackle. And I say, if I'm Win, I'm making ten point four million dollars this year, I'm a little bit I have a little bit more urgency, right, Like, I'm a little bit more worried about my long term future on the team. He seems a very complacent guy to me off of that first round draft status and just kind of going off of his contract and the fact that he is a big time player in terms of that money. It feels like he's a little bit

complacent with his role. And I wouldn't be if I was Isaiah Win because do you know how it works here, Justin Horn all of a sudden pops off in training camp and as an ascending player, Bill Belichick will cut time as Isaiah Win, right, Like, we've all been down this road before. So I'm really shocked that Isaiah Winn

wasn't out there. Matthew Judon, Adrian Phillips, Lawrence guy Like, for me, I'll we'll see you guys in Mini caamp, right, Like, I don't really care have those types of veterans don't want to come to these voluntary workout sessions. But Isaiah Winn is one guy that I think that should be

here unless he has a good reason not to be. Yeah, we should add here, of course, that the mandatory mini camp is in a couple of weeks, correct, Yeah, June seventh through June ninth is minatory mini camp, Right, So that's when if the guys aren't here, then there's got to be a significant reason for it and something that

we can reevaluate at that time. All right. Then a final one I kind of have for you here, Evan, really is it's an unfair question, but you know, as a beat guy, I'm going to kind of put you on the spot anyway, you know, because that's what we do. We put people well in the spot here, Right. What do you kind of feel like is the strong suit? What is what? What are these patriots going to be known for? What do they want to be known for? And where do you feel like this team really has

an achilles heel at this stage of the game. Yeah, I think my answer is actually gonna surprise some people. It surprised me a little bit, But after I watched them out out there on Monday and kind of was able to put what we see on paper actually on the field and look at it. I think this offense is actually in really good shape right now. I know the coaching is a little bit of an uncertainty and we'll see how that stakes out. But they have their roles,

They have their quarterbacks, like they have their receivers. They have everybody in place for this offense to be good. And I think not just one part of the offense, Like I think it's going to be a really well rounded offense too. I think they're gonna be able to run the football, answer the football pretty effectively. I was out there at training camp nineteen twenty even last year in twenty one, and he look at the wide receivers that they were roll out there in these training camps.

We as beat reporters or an OTAs in minicamp and no offense of these players, but we're hyping up to be or Birds and Maurice Harris and like all these guys in the spring. Now we get to at least see DeVante Parker and Nelson agil Or and Kenter Bourn and buyers like. These guys have NFL resumes. These guys have gone out there and made Pro Bowls and had a thousand yards season stuff. This is a different receiving group. This is a different skill group than what we've seen

over the last three or four years. There's some legitimate NFL talent on that offense now, and I think it's the Patriots are going to have a pretty solid offense. When you look at Achilles deals, it's definitely the cornerback room. Look, they have darts to throw at corner right. They have Malcolm Butler, Terrence Mitchell, Jalen Mills, I mentioned Jack Jones. They have numbers there. But I don't know if any one of those guys is actually a solid option against

Sefon Gigs or Tyree Hill or whoever. The going up against Savante Adams when they have to play Vegas later in the year, Jamar Chase when they have to play the Bengals. You know, this is a really talented and loaded AFC in terms of passing attacks around them. And I look at the cornerback room and I still look at it and say, wow, you know, you might not just be missing the number one guy. You might be

missing the number one and the number two guy. Like ideally, a guy like Jalen Mills is your third corner, and right now the Patriots have him as probably their number one corner. So they really need somebody like Jack Jones to pop and be able to take this league by storm. If they can get that out of one of the

rookie corners, then I'll feel more optimistic. But I'm still very concerned about Yeah, maybe they can widen't or shrink that gap with Buffalo offensively where they can maybe keep up a little bit with Josh Allen in the back and forth shootout, But I don't know if his defense is going to have any chance the way it's constructed in the secondary right now to slow down Josh Allen anymore than it did last year. OU better hope that there's a big pass rush. That's all I can tell

you right now. All Right, So I lied one more question. Based on the talent that they have that you think that they might have on the offensive side, can this team still have the kind of success that you think they that can have without a coordinator calling the place. Yeah, I think it can and I think one of the lines that Bill Belichick said that as much as it I think it was maybe taken as put a lipstick

on a big a little bit of the situation. I think it is true that the execution of the plays is more important than the plays themselves, right, And at the end of the day, you can call the same passing play like the Patriots and the Super Bowl against the Rams, super Bowl fifty three, they called hasty juke three times in a row to go down the field, right, and they kept on calling the same play and it

worked every single time. Like it wasn't like, you know, they needed to reinvent the wheel to get the ball down the field. So if you have those types of players, and granted they don't have a Brady and a Gronk and a needlement, but they players that can cocute and can go out there and make plays, then I think sometimes we get lost in the weeds a little bit what the actual play calls themselves and the minutia of all of that, when at the end of the day,

our guys against your guys. So if the Patriots, it always comes together the way that I think it can, if everybody stays healthy and everybody kind of that comes along together. I think it's a really big thing that they have broughten back all the past catchers that were on the team in twenty twenty one for another year here twenty twenty two, and all they've done is supplemented, right,

They've added. They haven't subtracted any of that group. So those guys all played together last year, they all play with Max Jones last year. So I think there's some optimism that the offense can really hit the ground running here. Good stuff, really good stuff. Evan, thanks for spending the time with this day. It's greatly appreciated and I'll look forward to doing it again at some point down the line. No problem, Thanks to anytime. You got it. Evan Lazar

CLNS Media. He's the beat order for the Patriots, reporter for the Patriots. You can follow him on Twitter at Ez Lazar laz a r is how he spells his last name. Clnsmedia dot com is where you can find a lot of his work. You can know, so if you follow him on Twitter, he puts links up to all of the pieces that he does and all of the reporting that he does with the patriotsy he's really good. Here's some good answers there. You know, clearly he's got

some strong opinions on that one. In fact, I think overall today the opinions have been great between Evan and you know, Bighead and Martin Dundarrel. The opinions are good. And I knew that we could have that today with these three individuals, so have because nobody's afraid to give us their thoughts, and that's kind of what we want here.

We want to push the envelope a little bit and hopefully get you thinking differently, not incorrectly, but just differently and consider other points of view because frankly, there are a lot of points of view about this, the things that we've talked to today. And then you know, for those of you that are outside the area, you know, you're not in New England and you're not you know, able to get to Boston area media or whatever, especially

listening to Boston Talk radio. Look, Derek pluses and minuses about that, and I'm sure you probably listen to them from time to time, you know, on the streams, which is fine and you should because it helps you kind of get connected to your teams, your home if you're from here. That kind of thing. But sometimes we get so damned close to the forest we can't see the trees. You know what I'm saying. We're extraordinarily myopic in our

point of view. Myopics the word of the day, by the way, you know, And I will do that in Eric's honor. M yop I see, I'm gonna talk about Eric in just second, exactly, thank you. But here's the thing we you know, I don't think they're wrong, but you got to remember that talk radio, sports talk radio,

especially in Boston, they're here. They serve the purpose of tweaking the noses of the listeners to get them to react and maybe pick up the phone and call, or maybe send them a tweet or maybe you know, hit them up on social media in some of the former fashion. That's what they're supposed to do. They're supposed to be, you know, they say energetic. I say, you know, they're they're panting you, is what they're doing. That's all they're doing.

They're pantsing you. Okay, So all we want to do here, Look, every once in a while, I'll pants you. Sure, what the hell, We're all gonna have fun. It's kind of like, you know, yeah, what the hell, I'll pants myself. Just don't look he I you know, I want to swirly. I'll give you one too. Whatever. Here's the thing I try to balance it. I'm not saying that anybody in sports a treaty is wrong. I'm not saying that, you know,

people that I know, like mil kiper are wrong. Everybody has an opinions are like belly buttons, as we all know, everybody's got one. But consider their opinions and then consider what fact is and then put the two together. And if they don't meet, then which way do you go? And so, like I said a little bit earlier on the program, and I think it's kind of appropriate here to sort of, you know, begin to wrap up here today,

I think it's appropriate to consider. Look, the jury is still out, and so all I'm trying to do is provide a perspective here, not only on the coaching situation, which I agree, on the surface, it's kind of like, well, who the hell's running the show here? It's like a circus, you know, and the ringmaster doesn't have any idea whether the elements or the drafts are coming out next. Yeah, but it's not really that way honestly, where are the in Bill we trust fans? Where are the in Bill

we trust people. I'm not saying that's right either, I'm just asking where you are because it seems like it's been heavily one sided towards Oh, we gotta have a coordinator. Oh we gotta know who's gonna be talking to Max here. It's so important for his development and year two bull Bull. I don't think it's near as important. I really don't.

I think it's overblown. I think, as we discussed earlier on this program, there's a method to the madness here that if you need an offensive coach, the offensive coach that was going to come in is still a year away. I'm yeah, I'm talking about Bill O'Brien because I think Bill O'Brien ultimately does want to get back. I frankly, have always believed that, you know, with Josh McDaniels left for Vegas, the first guy I thought of about replacing

Bill Belichick was Bill O'Brien. That's the first guy I thought of. Now, you may not agree, we said earlier on the show as well, that you know right now, I think that you know, Matt Patricia is being sort of groomed for that role. Okay, today that may be the case. That may change if Bill O'Brien comes into the fold, but he's under contract. Bill's not going to pants his friend Nick Saban and pull him away with a year left on his deal. He's not gonna do

that to him. So he's not available. This is making chicken salad of chicken, is what it is. That's all they're doing here. The guy they want is unavailable. So here's how we're gonna handle it. And at the same time, we're going to try to improve your stock. And we're talking about Joe Judge, We're talking about you know, Matt Patricia, and potentially Nick Kayley if for some reason Bill O'Brien

doesn't happen. But I think Nick Kayley is the young guy that's sort of lying back in waiting that they want to bring up through the system because that's the

system that Bill Belichick believes in. I do think Kayley is going to be a part of this mix somehow, and the other two guys, being experienced X head coaches, are gonna ba basically, you know, provide the duck and cover and take the brunt of whatever criticism might come out of the Patriots screw up so they can continue to grow Kayley without undergoing the microscopic criticism that undoubtedly he would go if he would name the coordinator. Okay,

that's that's that issue. And then, of course, then the other issue that has been all hot and bothered over, you know, Patriot Nation here has to do with the draft, and it's like, why do they draft these guys where they drafted them? You know, all the Patriots draft stunk. They gotta do you, they gotta They're gonna enough, you know. And I've heard all that, and I'm you know, and I'm like, look, those are all knee jerk reactions emphasis

on jerk. You gotta be smarter than that. And the one thing I've always tried to do here on this show. If you're just changing, you know, checking us out for the first time, one thing I've always tried to do in this show is I tried to be smarter. I try to be smarter, that's all. I want to be smart. I'll go back. What was that that was the line in uh in um um oh godfather too, I'm smart? Right? Oh oh gosh, yeah right, you broke my heart. Oh goodness,

that's all. That's all we're trying to do here. I want you to be aware. I want you to be I want you to equip yourself with different opinions, and then you decide which one you believe in based on the different opinions that you're don't go one way and you haven't heard the other side of the story. Always have room for another side to the story. That's what storytelling in this business really is all about. Have room to consider, have space into your head space, into your heart, space,

in your gut, wherever you want it put it. But I have some room in there to consider someone else's opinion, that's all. And then you decide what you think is right or what you believe in, and then when the proof of the pudding comes out, then you'll know. But you can't say you weren't educated. You can't say that you weren't informed. And that's all we're doing here, trying to bring different points of view. Sometimes you're not going to agree with them. You don't. I don't want everybody

to agree with me. I like hearing different opinions. I like having reporters you know, and guys that I know in this business, like the three that we had on the show today. I like having those guys in here having different opinions. It just so happened that, you know, and I did not know this was coming today because you know, Marine, when we set this thing up, you know, and you told me who was coming on the show.

This is good because I think these guys all different opinions, and I was surprised that I actually agreed with a lot of what they said. Doesn't make it right, but I found it interesting their take and it was demonstrative they were strong with it, and so that's good. So that means they have the courage of their convictions and believing what they've you know, seemed thus far that might change,

and I think we all know that might change. All I wanted to take just a couple of minutes here before we wrap up, and I give you the poll results here on Twitter. First that I want to take care of is um you know, the issue that happened yesterday in Uvaldi, Texas. I could admit I big pit in my stomach yesterday when I saw the news breaking

over the absolute unmitigated tragedy that happened in Uvaldi. I have a friend of mine went to school with who was the high school band director in Uvaldi for decades, who retired just a year or two ago. One of the one of the things that we had most when

I was in college as well. You know, it was kind of a cliquish thing to do, but all of the members of my section in the Long Horned Band, we wore hats that said Uvaldi Bank, you know, just because of you know, our sectional leader being from Uvaldi as well, and so I have a little familiarity with the town. You know, fifteen thousand people. It's about eighty eighty five miles south southwest of San Antonio, so I know the area of the of the country fairly well.

To say that it's a close knit community, which has been the way it's been described over the last you know, twenty four hours or so, is an understatement. I think most towns that size are close knit because there are a lot of people that do know a lot of people. But to have you know, just an unspeakable thing happened, like what occurred with you know, nineteen children losing their lives and to teachers losing their lives because you know, you know, some guy goes nuts on us speaks to

a bigger problem that we have here. Now. You know, you guys know, Okay, you guys know if you've listened to this program at any point in time over the previous twenty one years, and we're getting ready to go into year twenty two with Patriots playbook this next season. I'm privileged and honored to have been here that long. I really like doing it. I like connecting with you guys.

I like talking football, Like Bighead told us a little while ago, I'll talk football at any time and every time you know, you want to talk football, which is cool. But I think we're at a stage now. I'm I'm conservative by nature, I'm moderate socially, I would say, but we've reached a time or we got to do something. We just we gotta do something. I saw were Senator Chuck Schumer in New York saying today that you know, a gun bill is not gonna make it to the

floor in the Senate truck. Shumer being you know, a decided Democrat. Okay, if we're going to politicize this thing, and he's saying, well, Bill, it's not important enough where it's not going to get to the floor. What the hell are we doing here? People? Somebody needs to step up and say, let's debate this now, let's do something now. We need to do something now. And if that means, as a stopgap measure we put police officers in every school, then by well damn do it. I don't think that's

the ultimate answer, but we need to do something. You can't just sit here and twitter our thumbs for the next tragedy that comes along. You know what, It might be your school, it might be your kids. Nobody wants to think that, nobody wants to think the unimaginable. But you know, nineteen families have their lives, have had their lives destroyed, and it's just it's not right. We're better than that. We're the only country on the planet where

this happens. Why ask yourself why? And we're really as good as we say we are. Why can't we do something about it? And those that stall that are in a position making position, a decision making position. If they don't do something about it, they're the ones you need to vote their asses right out of office. You get that. That goes Democrat, Republican, Independent or Martian. I don't care who the hell you are. Do something about it now. The other thing I want to talk about today is

my good friend Eric Scallavino. I'm gonna read an email here very quickly was sent to web radio, but this one comes from Burt on Burton Island. It says, am I the only person who thought that the farewell to Eric last week was a little odd. You'd think that amidst all of the mostly deserved well wishing that went on, there just might have been the teeniest information about why the dude is leaving and what he is going to do. Of course, the guy has the right to private is

he like all of us. I just think it's classic Eric, the fact that it would appear this topic was off limits. I'm guessing you all got a good long lecture ahead of time about that subject being for voting. In any case, Eric was the consummate foil. You'll be strangely missed. Humph. Okay, No nobody got a lecture about it being for voting. It wasn't for voting. But it just like we weren't told. Nobody was told you you can't talk about this. Nobody

was told Eric was relatively vague. Therefore we've been relatively vague about it because Eric doesn't yet really know what he's going to do. He just knew that he needed to do something different. We all have these moments. I think that's part of the problem why this country And I'm not blaming Eric, Okay, let me let me stress this. It's part of the reason why this country is in some of the shape that it's in because we had

so many people quit their jobs during the pandemic. Now I'm not saying Eric is doing that here, but people just reevaluate themselves when times get tough. People reevaluate themselves after a certain amount of time because they get in a rut and they wanted to something different with their lives. I've been there, You've been there, We've all been there. Eric is there now, and he's had a blast here. He's very good at what he did. I enjoyed the back and forth and the digression that we've had on

this show over there. You know, he's been part of this show for the ten years. He's been here, he's been a regular part of the playbook for ten years. And you know, I'm gonna miss the banter with him because Eric was, as Bert says, the consummate foil. He was also a good bleep stir right. He really was. He liked to stir it. That's okay, because that's what makes good conversation. That's make that, what's what what makes

good radio, what makes good listening. It's entertaining. There's an entertainment value here that we know must be delivered otherwise you're not going to listen. I get that, we all get that. And if anybody doesn't get them in this business, they don't last very long. That's why he see podcasts sometimes come and go and where did that podcast go? I like Lesender too. It's gone because they don't want to stick with it. Guys, we've been here for now

going on twenty two years. We're sticking with this one, okay, And that's why, you know, we hope that you'll stick with us as well. There is a certain thing to loyalty. Eric is also loyal. Eric is gonna land very well, and he's going to find something that you know, really pops for him coming up, and I you know, I'm sure we'll be in touch. Our friendship isn't over just because he's moving on to something else. He just wants a new challenge, a new door to open in his life.

And you can't open up a new door, generally speaking, unless you close the one behind you, and that's that's kind of what Eric's doing. I fully expect Eric to spend more time with you know, Nutmeg Animal Welfare, which is the you know, nonprofit charity that he started a few years ago that I support, and if you're you know, interested in animal welfare, I think it would be worth your time and your reference to spend as well. Eric

will probably do more writing. My guess is he might do some traveling because we know that Eric loves to travel, and hopefully with the pandemic, you know, at least becoming manageable. I'm not going to tell you that it's easing, because it's still out there and I think we understand that, and that's the sad part about all of this, but we're learning to live with it. I just had my second booster this week, not me for a loop. For a day, I had the worst headache, but you know,

I'm better today. It's fine. It's a small price to pay for a little added extra protection. And that's just me. Okay, it's not for everybody. I get that, but I think that's part of the reason why we're in the shape that we're in. And you know that I've opined about that on this show. And I don't do this to opine about, you know, medical things and what you should or shouldn't do, or to shame anybody. Everybody's got their

own reason. But I'm telling you that's why we're in the shape that we're in, because we don't have people that are you know, considerate of others. Just don't. And we do have people that are very selfish. Eric is not one of those people. I'm gonna miss my interaction with him. I'm gonna miss whipping him with word of the day every week too. I think I batted. I think I went like last week last year. I think I went like where did I go? Last year? Like I swear I was gonna do this, and I completed

this is you're gonna go for the show? Were what my record was? All right? For every game week that we did that show? All Right? So we go back for the seventeen weeks of the regular season, right, Okay, I'm gonna wager I was probably I was better than the Patriots. I'm gonna say I was twelve and five. That's my prediction. I think I was twelve and five.

I might have been better. I might have been I don't think I was a little worse because I think I think I smoked it pretty much last year in terms of the spelling of the word of the day. I think I got it. I think I got it. Anyway, that's my prediction. See how close I get twelve and five. We will find out in the June Show. All right, June Show. Speaking of June Show, We're gonna do our June program on June twenty second. This year won't be

the very last Wednesday. It'll be the next last wednes because I'm gonna try to sneak in a vacation week before my summer camps at school start this summer. So June twenty second will be the date you want to mark on your calendar for Patriot's Playbook. And we're going to do something that we did during the during the bye week of the regular season. Okay, I'm gonna invite regulars. I'm gonna invite you know listeners. I'm gonna invite you guys to co host the show with me on June

twenty second. So, yes, we hope that we'll be able to get Claire in the UK and we hope that we'll get you know, uh, Miguel Pat's cap and you know Christian with you know, Chris with a T, I A N. And you know all of the regulars, Eldred and there are many more that you guys know and those of you who call the show regular you know who you are. What I'm going to ask you to do is if you'd like to be a part of

this discussion and be a part of it. I want you to reach out to Marine so you can send him a DM on Twitter, okay, or just send him an email to web radio at Patriots dot com say god, I'd like to be a part of that, and we're gonna have fun. I'm looking for six, seven, eight of you that we're going to rotate in on the on the two hour bases that we're here, and we're just we're gonna talk about mini camp. We're gonna talk about

the draft. We're gonna talk about our projections and predictions you know for you know, the early part of next season. We're gonna talk about NFL wide issues as well. We might even pull you know, the guru, you know, Russell Baxter into the equation as well, since I kind of consider him a regular on the program too, I gave him a break this month since you know, it is kind of becoming summer here, but we might pull the Guru into this thing as well, Russell Baxter for next

month as well. So if you'd like to be a part of it, I'd love to have you. And if you have never been a part of it before and you want to be a part of it, and you want to be a part of our little you know, clubhouse here, then you know, by all means, reach out to Marine and we're gonna get you on the list and we're gonna rotate it around and we'll let you guys kind of be the star of the show months because you know, next month is we will have just

started the dead period. OTAs are over, Mini camp is over, and vacations beginning for a full thirty days before we get to training camp. Training camp is gonna start the last week of July. I'm gonna start the last week of July. It's gonna be here before you know it. So we're literally two months away from football getting started for real. We're kind of like sputtering here, but we're gonna get on get it on in about two months, so that's kind of where we are for next month.

So I hope you'll want to be a part of that because it was a lot of fun to do during the bye week last year. We'll probably do it again for the bye week this year, just because we'll have actual football to talk about. But I think it's fun because you guys that are regulars, and even regular listeners. I want regular listeners to also, you know, take a couple of minutes to call in or volunteer to be

a part of the show. You don't have to have any special talent other than you know, answering a couple of questions and voicing an opinion. Everybody's going an opinion. Like I said earlier, you know, opinions are like belly buttons. Everybody's got one, okay, so I know you got one. I'd love to hear from you, whether you're a newcomer or an old coomer or whatever it may be. Next

months of a month. Want you to reach out and we're going to talk about whatever's on your mind and will react to what's been going on on and off the field around the New England Patriots. Our thanks to Martin Dundero from EI, and Andy Hart from EI, Evan Lazarre from CLNS Media, and of course the Marine Matt Morrell himself. And thank you for taking the time, Thank you for listening, Thank you for allowing me to opine. Oh, I gotta get the toll. Shoot it closed. I gotta

do this before we stop here. Hold on, wait a second, I almost forgot Okay, Poul is closed. The answer as is an assigned play color or coordinator must have or no big deal. Fifty five percent of our respondents say no big deal. I'm a little surprised by that, but then again, I think you people are smart. I'm not dumb, Mikey, I'm smart, so are you. For your father? Your father, talk to you next month. Thank you for downloading this podcast.

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