Patriots Draft Countdown 3/13: Position-by-Position Needs, Mock Drafts, FA Impact on Draft Strategy

Join Mike Dussault, Paul Perillo, Evan Lazar and Matisse Baumann on the first day of the new league year as we discuss the Patriots biggest needs in the draft, how the Patriots free agency moves may impact their draft strategy, recent mock drafts and more.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
This is Patriots Draft Countdown presented by Bud Light.

Speaker 2 (00:08):
Welcome to the NFL Draft.

Speaker 3 (00:10):
Posted by the writers of Patriots dot Com.

Speaker 1 (00:13):
From now until you here, good New England Patriots like
the countdown is on. Welcome to the Patriots Draft Countdown,
presented by Bud Light. All right, we are forty three
days away from the NFL Draft. That's how we're gonna
open every one of these shows, Paul. We're gonna we're
gonna go with the actual countdown. What do we have
forty three days till.

Speaker 2 (00:32):
We're gonna be like Brady, We're gonna put the ticker
countdown tick tick.

Speaker 1 (00:35):
We should put it on the thing. So welcome everybody
to a new podcast. Here. We're launching Patriots Draft Countdown.
The Patriots have a big draft this year. They have
the third overall pick, and so you know, we we
want to keep the positional previews that we've done in
the past, Paul, that we you know, we break down
these position but what we want to do this year
is really rounded out. We're gonna, you know, talk to
some national media where you know, Evan's gonna do some
film breakdowns. We're just gonna really try to blow it

(00:57):
out and really cover the draft from all angles. And
it's going to start here today with a one hour
live show to kick it off. Going forward, though, these
shows will be kind of produced, so there won't be
live during Wednesdays. They will be released on Wednesdays. So
if you're looking for this show every Wednesday, just look,
it won't be live like this. But if you would
like to reach out to us, please email us at
at what is it? What is it? I can't even

(01:19):
remember Patriot web Radio, Patriots dot com. I had a
whole thing though.

Speaker 2 (01:22):
Web radio at Patrio. He's only been working here for
five right, I know, Well, I had such a role
going with introducing the new show that I am doing.

Speaker 1 (01:29):
Tied a little bit. So, but just make sure you
put draft or draft countdown in the subjects so we
can go back through when we do record each segment.
So next week we'll be back on Wednesday, but we'll
have an offensive line preview. Evan's going to do a
film breakdown. We're going to talk to Brandon Thorn, which
we're setting up as well, who's an offensive line expert
and Thorn. Settle down. Settle down, Brandon Thorne. I'm down,

(01:55):
but we got matist Bowmen who you might know from
the halftime show. He joined us last year on some
of the breakdown positional breakdowns. Of course you know Evan
and Paul and myself. Will also welcome a new face
Chris Cassidy, who works here and is a fun guy
off halftime host. Yeah, halftime host as well. You know
him from that.

Speaker 2 (02:11):
So takes about Mike Evans, Oh there you go and wings.
We love that takes, so.

Speaker 1 (02:16):
Bring him in. But this show will be about the draft.
So that's what we're going to focus on. So if
you're you know, sitting in waiting to hear about the
free agency signs, we will touch a little bit excuse me,
on that as a kind of a springboard. And that's
I guess where we can start off is with some
of the signings that you know have been made technically,
I guess still reportedly, but we'll be made official probably
here at four o'clock. And guys, I'd like to just

(02:39):
you know, start at the top with the most important position,
which is quarterback. We've had a couple of moves with
Mac Jones being reportedly traded to Jacksonville, Jacoby Brissette signed,
and how do you guys think, and I guess I'll
start with you, Paul. You know, just what's kind of
your impression right now? I know this is kind of
what we thought was going to happen, But how do
you feel like these moves will impact the Patriots draft

(02:59):
pans at the quarter position?

Speaker 3 (03:00):
Yeah, I think with the arrival of Brissett, you would
have to think that. I think we all kind of
felt number three was trending to quarterback anyway, but now
I think it's it's almost locked in. And you never
want to say, you know, with the one hundred percent certainty,
because you never know if you know, if things change.
But I have to think Brissett is here to sort

(03:21):
of help guide the rookie that they're going to take
with a third overall pick. And you know, there's been
a lot of different reports about Washington maybe is more
interested in Daniels than May and maybe that's why winds
up being Drake May here for New England. But I
think it's a sort of a package deal. The mac
Jones trade, you know, sort of paves the way for

(03:44):
that number three overall pick to be the quarterback.

Speaker 1 (03:46):
And also just to point out Evan with the with
that trade, they picked up an extra six round pick,
which I know, look at the sixth round pick, but
in a year where you only have one pick in
each round, that that that could help you a little bit.

Speaker 2 (03:57):
It's an extra sixth round pick that we've seen. Mike
Winn was a sixth round pick. Pop Douglas was a
sixth round pick. I could keep going to Tom Brady
with a sixth round pick. Really, I don't know if
that's kinna if we're gonna hit you know, lightning strike
twice that big. But there's always a room for more,
more draft capital. I think looking at this draft, and
we've done a couple of mock drafts already, Douce and

(04:18):
it teams. When you have four wins, you have a
lot of holes, and to fill all these holes with
just one pick in each round, it does get tough.
You do recognize, right, maybe we have to wait till
next year to get a tight end, you know, maybe
we need to wait until later on in the draft
to address this position, that position, whatever. So it does
get a little tricky. And I do think that getting

(04:40):
whatever you can for some of these depreciated assets is
not bad business by any means. For the Patriots, but
with three overall. Just to get back on that, I
think the biggest thing now is is who do you
fall in love with? Who do you really like? Are
there multiple guys that you really like or are you in
a position where if Washington takes Drake May, that's your guy.

(05:00):
Now you're trading out and you're kicking the can down
the road on the quarterback. Or do you like multiple
quarterbacks that you're comfortable taking May or Daniels at three overalls.
So those are the conversations we'll be having at nauseum,
I'm sure over the next six weeks or so here.
But it's it's exciting. I think if you're a Patriots
fan that you're getting a quarterback here, probably at three overall,

(05:23):
and it's gonna be a quarterback that has high end talent.
Like not to crap on mac Jones on his way out,
but it was the sell on mac Jones was never
about that he was oozing with physical talent. Whoever they
get at the third overall pick is gonna have a
lot of physical tools to work with.

Speaker 1 (05:38):
Latisz. I know you have some strong takes on the quarterback,
so why don't you just jump in and you don't
have to talk about Bonex. I know you don't want to.

Speaker 4 (05:45):
I'm out on Bowe and JJ.

Speaker 1 (05:46):
No.

Speaker 4 (05:46):
My thing is I gri Paul Burssett coming in, Mac
being gone. The cupboard's kind of open, so it's really
gonna be Jadeen or Drake May. And I think the
only interesting free agent piece that's left is Fields. I
don't think he's come here, but if he, if he
drops from they want a second, and you know you
can get him for a fifth or sixth. That kind
of switches things up with the quarterback and how you
approach the drafta are than that. We've been approaching the

(06:09):
draft for the past twenty years window shopping and now
you can get something.

Speaker 3 (06:12):
So yeah, and you know the quarterback thing in general.
And I'm glad that tease just brought up justin Fields.
And I'm not advocating this, but I want to throw
this out to the panel here, and this is what
these shows are going to be about, is sort of
trying to look at a lot of different avenues. Right,
you know, you're at the third overall pick. So let's
say for argument's sake that it's either Daniels or May

(06:35):
that the Patriots really like, and they don't have the
opportunity to pick him. You know, you know, maybe in
another week or so it becomes apparent that whichever one
the Patriots want is going to be selected by Washington.
So now do you trade up or do you trade

(06:55):
back and maybe sort of re examine the possibility of
a Justin Fields who right now, like, listen, yeah, the
league is screaming that there's not a lot of value there, right,
so it's not costing you a se I've heard people
say I wouldn't give up a second round pick, but
justin when you don't have to. It's pretty clear you
don't have to. You might be looking at a fifth

(07:18):
or a sixth like Mac Jones just got You know,
there's been really not a whole lot of difference in
the production between those those two guys. Now, I would
say the upside for Fields is much higher than mac
Jones because he's shown at least the ability to run at.

Speaker 2 (07:32):
An elite level.

Speaker 3 (07:34):
So if you could give up a fifth round pick, now,
this is I guess the hypothetical. Let them as usual
taking a long time to get to. If you could
give up a fifth round pick for Justin Fields. Would
you then be willing to trade down or select something else?
Marvin Harrison, Joe Alt, you know, Olah Fashion.

Speaker 2 (07:56):
I wouldn't do that as plan A, but I think
there's this scenario that you laid out is exactly where
my head was going when Matis was talking that if
you if you're set that Drake may or Jaden Daniels,
one is your guy, but the other isn't right, and
so let's just say it's Jaden Daniels and Washington takes
Jaden Daniels. Is it a bad plan B to then

(08:18):
trade down, accumulate all these assets, make a pick still
at maybe eleven or something like that, and then trade
for Justin Field so that you at least have some
upside in the quarterback room, some youth in the quarterback room.
And I think as a as a fan, I would
hate it. I think it would be a very bad
consolation prize just in terms of what could have been

(08:40):
versus what you're actually getting. But at the same time,
that's that's a logical plan B if they have to
go that direction.

Speaker 1 (08:47):
I like how you said it because I'm not the
biggest pound the table for the Justin Fields kind of guy.
But I think when we talk about bo Nix or JJ,
you know, like, actually I kind of know if I
can lump JJ McCarthy in with this group and its knicks.
NICKX Rattler, Yeah, there's no retal question. You would probably
rather have Justin Fields than those guys.

Speaker 4 (09:05):
Right, He's pretty proven, and he's also been in a
pretty crappy situation in Chicago too, like Everflus was. I
think it was a Thursday night game if they lost that,
like he was out. He's had as much turnover also,
so I think there's still some upside to him.

Speaker 2 (09:18):
So there's definitely physical upside to him. And you know,
we do this all the time of if you put
this quarterback in this draft, and where would Justin Fields
be in this draft? And you can't necessarily look at
it of Justin Fields on the Bears. You have to
think about what you thought of him originally and can
you get that player out of him. So if there's
people in the building that we're high on Justin Fields

(09:40):
at the twenty twenty one draft and still think that
that player, that potential is in there, then you can
talk yourself into it. But to Paul's point, nobody has
yet like there's not a whole lot of people that
have talked themselves into it, so it's not looking good.

Speaker 1 (09:54):
I think we might feel little. I'm at least I'm
a little bit skewed having watched Justin Fields here dismantled
the Patriots.

Speaker 2 (09:59):
I feel like you're not care in this room.

Speaker 3 (10:02):
I'm probably the biggest Justin Fields backer there is, and
I am not really in on that either, because I
just think the lack of development in the passing game
is still glaring to me. To me, it would be
a plan they probably see, you know, before anything else,
and I think the timing is probably not gonna work
because before you sort of understand and realize that those

(10:26):
guys like again, the Patriots want Drake May, Washington's going
to take Drake May. They're not gonna trade. They're gonna
take Drake May. And you you're not gonna get aware
of that until closer to the end of next month, right.

Speaker 2 (10:40):
I just wonder if maybe it's a draft weekend trade
where the Patriots end up having to trade out because
their quarterback isn't there, and then they called Chicago and say, well,
now we'll give you a fourth or now we'll give
you a fifth round pick for Justin Fields and it
goes down on draft weekend. I just I'm a big
believer in just And Fields too, at least back in

(11:01):
the twenty one draft. I had him as the second
quarterback in that draft pretty clearly me too. But I
think the biggest thing that you see with him is
that these West Coast you know he was in that
Luke Getzi offense is similar to the Packers offense, which
is similar to a VP's offense. Like, that's just not
the offense for him. You know, He's not one of
those guys as to get the ball out quick, you know,
throw out timing routes, you know, yards after the catch

(11:21):
with accuracy, things like that. So how would a VP
build it around him? Because he can't just do the
same thing that they were trying to do in Chicago.
So it's a it's a tough one. Like if you
had to ask me, would I take Justin Fields or Pennix?
I probably lean Pennix in that situation. Justin Fields versus
bo Nicks I think is maybe a little bit more

(11:42):
in Justin Fields's category, But it's I think either way,
you're you're throwing a dark.

Speaker 1 (11:47):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (11:48):
My thing is quarterbacks the most important position of sports.
You need to love one of these two guys, if
you're gonna take him, if you if you have any
second guesses on him, like trade out, do something else.
I just like, this is a big investment.

Speaker 3 (11:59):
And that's where I land with the Justin Fields thing.
If you don't have any you know, real strong feelings
for may or Daniels, then maybe the Justin Fields thing
is sort of middling it. You know, I'm not giving
up a huge resource, and I can get this guy.
I get a whole year. He's just as cheap as

(12:20):
the rookie. I mean, it's not costing you that much.
And you don't you know, you're not going to pick
up that fifty year option to tie you tie you
into that, right, And then he could play and you
can see if there's something there. It's a long shot.
It's way you know. I just I just wanted to
bring that up when Tist mentioned him as a possibility.

Speaker 2 (12:40):
That's the other tricky thing though, that you just mentioned,
just to I know, we can move on after this,
But like then if he plays, and it's a good
problem to have, I guess if he plays well, but
then you're looking at giving him the Baker Mayfield contract
after next season. So now it's your your window of
a cheap quarterback is only one year instead of your
window being or five years.

Speaker 3 (13:00):
Yeah, now you could roll the dice and give them
the fifty year option and you get a two year
you know, twenty five two years, twenty five million.

Speaker 1 (13:08):
You know that's not you know, ridiculous, but Baker Mayfield money.

Speaker 3 (13:12):
Yeah, it's not Baker Mayfield money. But you know, to
me it would be you know, really unrealistic to expect
anyone to do that.

Speaker 1 (13:19):
Yeah, at this stage, Well, this is Patriots Draft Countdown,
brought to you by bud Light, Easy to drink, easy
to enjoy, bud Light, the official beer sponsor of the
New England Patriots. And guys, I want to move on
now to the wide receiver position. And as we sit
here at one forty three on Wednesday, we're kind of
waiting on Calvin Rerilly. My hopes are not high on
Calvin Rilly. I think Calvin Rerily is just waiting till
four o'clock. You guys ruined this for me.

Speaker 3 (13:41):
Sorry, Paul, you were very specially Evan, You're the one
that brought that.

Speaker 2 (13:45):
Because I told you the facts of the situation right
the whole deal, and I.

Speaker 3 (13:50):
Mean, Bill's just stringing us all along.

Speaker 1 (13:52):
Atlanta was thinking with that deal. But I think we're
all kind of assuming that that they're going to have
to go to Plan B. But let's talk a little
bit about the fact that they released DeVante Parker, who
went to Philly pretty quick, and I think the Patriots
still have to pay a chunk of his salary, which
is kind of annoying. But they also resigned Kendrick Bourne
to a three year deal. But Evan, we've talked a

(14:13):
lot about this being a really strong draft for wide receivers, So,
you know, how do you see things right now as
we sit here with you know, granted there could be
a splash move coming, even if it wasn't justin fields,
it good, you know. I know we've heard about Keenan
Allen those kind of things. I'm not really that high
on that, but there are some other names out there
that they could consider. It's a strong draft class as
we sit here right now with the roster, how do

(14:34):
you evaluate the wide receiver position and what they need
in the draft?

Speaker 2 (14:38):
Well, I would say, first of all, just from their
current roster. I think the plan in free agency was
obviously Calvin Ridley. They've made it pretty clear that they
were aggressively pursuing Calvin Ridley, and I think that Calvin
Ridley himself is probably a bridge wide receiver one who
eventually is going to be the wide receiver two, hopefully
if they draft the right guy and everything goes as planned.

(14:58):
So the idea is to go into the draft with
let's just say wide receiver two through four set on
the depth chart, and then you're still just looking for
the golden goose, right, You're still looking for the number
one guy. So in this draft, I think what concerns
me a little bit about where the Patriots are is
that I think you're gonna miss out in the initial
wave of wide receivers at thirty four, and you're probably

(15:21):
a little too early on the second wave of wide
receivers at that point. So now you're either trading up
from thirty four to go get an ad Ani Mitchell,
to go get you know, one of those Xavier Worthy,
one of those Texas kids or something like that, or
you're waiting till sixty eight and holding your breath and
hoping the guy that you want falls all the way
to sixty eight. I guess you could trade up from
sixty eight too, if you really want to puill all

(15:42):
the permutations out there. But that's my concern after the
combine is that Xavier Worthy, ad Ani Mitchell, those guys
tested so well that I think that they tested themselves
into the first round. And so now are you going
to be able to sit there at thirty four and
still have a ton of high end talent on the board.

(16:02):
Maybe not, So maybe we're more talking about this as
like a sixty four or sixty eight problem instead.

Speaker 4 (16:07):
I'm with Evan on this. I've loved Xavier Worthy before
he ran that absurd forty time, and like, if you're
the Chiefs, you just won the Super Bowl, you have
a receiver problem, and he's just sitting there at thirty two,
like you'd be crazy not to take him. So you
got to make that move at thirty four if you
want to get one of those elite guys.

Speaker 1 (16:22):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (16:23):
Yeah, And if you end up not getting Ridley, which
it certainly seems more by the by the hour that's
going to be the case. Is do you sort of
explore the trade market a little bit more. And I'm
not necessarily talking about I know people are going to
hear that, no, like you know, oh big move. You know,
I'm not necessarily going high end trade market like T

(16:44):
Higgins or you know, Brandon Ayuk or you know whoever.
But you know, you look at a deal that happened
sort of under the radar with Deontay Johnson, you know,
for Pittsburgh going to Carolina. You know, small return. I
think it was like swapping.

Speaker 1 (16:58):
Of some six in the seventh.

Speaker 3 (17:01):
Jackson with some late round picks, like modest kind of compensation.
Not something that's gonna well, you can't go for T.
Higgins because you can't give up your second round picks.
And I would kind of agree with that, like it
probably runs counter to or rebuild. But is there a
deal like that maybe that we're not really focusing on

(17:22):
right now that could help now. I don't think Deontay
Johnson was the kind of receiver the Patriots need. I
think they need more of, you know, more of the
Piggins kind of guy on the outside from Pittsburgh.

Speaker 2 (17:32):
But you know, but guy don't talk about it. He
just he can't. He's a head case.

Speaker 3 (17:38):
He can't let go.

Speaker 2 (17:40):
He want a dog. He's a head case.

Speaker 3 (17:46):
Exactly.

Speaker 2 (17:47):
The two guys that I would mention just in the
veterans one is Courtland Sutton, who I don't know if
he's going to get moved now that Jerry Judy got moved.
That that would be a total rebuild of their wide
receivers that I'm not sure is happening. But he's exactly
what Paul is talking about, that big outside receiver, a
jump ball guy. He's basically just a younger, better version

(18:08):
of Devonte Parker at this point. And so I guess
maybe that that's one. The other one I would have
trade for him. But if Mike Williams from the Chargers
becomes available as a free agent because they have to
release him to get cap compliant, then maybe that's somebody
that you take like a high risk, glow reward flyer
on for a year and see if he gets healthy

(18:29):
and can get back to where he was at the
beginning of his career. So those are two guys that
are pure outside guys, and when I look at the draft,
I think a lot of the guys that are intriguing
for the Patriots are more inside, off the line receivers.
You really look at a lot of those Day two
guys and I feel like that's that's where they fit.
You know, the Lad mcconkey's, the Ricky Piersoll's, the Xavier

(18:51):
Leggates like those guys I think are more of Z
slot receivers than true X receivers on the boundary. So
maybe they go out and they get one of these
veteran guys. That's why I wouldn't totally rule out t Higgins,
just because I think the Bengals are forcing themselves to
trade T Higgins. They keep on ignoring the fact that
he needs a contract extension, and I just that one

(19:13):
looks to me like he's eventually gonna get moved. So
I would stay. I would stay in the market for
T Higgins, but maybe some of those guys as consolation
prizes there.

Speaker 1 (19:24):
Those trades are like the ultimate wildcards. And you know,
we get so many questions of like, well, what do
you think of this guy in the free agency market,
And there's some obvious like T Higgins is a potential
trade candidate right now, but like who had Deontay Johnson
is being a trade candidate? Like these come out of nowhere.
There's nowhere to really predict which guys teams. I mean,
there was a little bit at the top, but there.

Speaker 3 (19:43):
The movie comes, the move comes out of nowhere. I
agree with you, Like I didn't see anybody saying, well,
you know, look for him to go to Carolina. But
I think Deontay Johnson was available. I think people and
I think Evan brings up Courtland Sutton. He's right about
Jerry Judy. Maybe he's no longer available, but there was
a time I'm both of them not too far, you know,
maybe a week ago that that was being talked about.

(20:05):
So that's their like, that's the job, like you have
to sort of find, forecast it and find it. I
don't necessarily, as I love Keenan Allen, I don't really
have any interest in bringing in the thirty something.

Speaker 4 (20:16):
Receive where with you know who's done the ACL before.

Speaker 2 (20:19):
You know, I always has nagging injuries to the Hampson things.

Speaker 3 (20:24):
So Mike Williams is a guy like like you have
said that got the money and now you don't have
to probably pay him that because the Chargers are going
to be you know, on the hook for some of that.

Speaker 2 (20:36):
I think the biggest way to tell, at least based
off of how it's gone is who is a free
agent next year? Right? So you look at the twenty
twenty five free agent class and that that pre agency group,
and those guys there's a lot of them. There's it's
it's none of them are going to hit the open market,
as we found out this year.

Speaker 1 (20:53):
Attack.

Speaker 2 (20:54):
But but there's the wide receiver class that are all
coming up on free agency next year. Year is loaded
like from like Jamar Chase on down, you know, Ceedee Lamb,
Jamar Chase. You know some of the guys we've already mentioned,
Brandon Aiyuk Obviously, Judy was in that category, Keenan Allen's
in that category. Deontay Johnson was in that category, so

(21:16):
he gets moved, right. So I think that those guys,
you look at the twenty twenty five free agency class
and are those players available? DeVante Smith a twenty twenty
five free agent, another guy that could be available that
I would at least make the call.

Speaker 1 (21:30):
I mean, they got Dellontay Parker. Now they don't really
have much use for wanting to do well.

Speaker 2 (21:33):
We'll make them say no, right, you know, make make
the cup made himself chucked.

Speaker 1 (21:37):
It's just a shame.

Speaker 4 (21:38):
Because we always talk about it's ceedee lamb all these
whenever we do these draft things, and now it's like
we're in a position like there's Marvin Harrison, he's right there,
and yeah.

Speaker 1 (21:45):
Of course the quarterback doesn't work out that you're.

Speaker 4 (21:47):
Like, you can't take him. You need a quarterback to
throw them the ball. But it's just so frustrated.

Speaker 1 (21:50):
I'm glad you brought up brought a Harrison. But but
let's move on. We don't have to talk too long
about the tight end class. But you know, the Patriots
had really, you know, nobody, no proven players on the
roster as of last week. They resigned Hunter Henry. They
have now brought in Austin Hooper, kind of similar guys
to me, you know, Austin Hooper maybe at the end
kind of insurance. But Evan, you tweeted something saying they

(22:10):
still kind of need a blocking tight end, and you
know they thought Farrell Brown he went to the Seahawks.
Not a great draft class for the tight ends. But
you know, do you think that this means they're not
really worried about targeting a tight end or do you
think that they're going to have to to try to
continue to rebuild that position group maybe with some young
talent that maybe could push Austin Hooper off of the rock.

Speaker 2 (22:30):
Yeah, I think I look at Austin Hooper in that
signing as this class is not good enough for where
we might be in the conversation of picking a tight end.
So we need to make sure we at least have
some depth at tight end on the roster through veterans.
They're not going to take brock Bauers. They're probably not
going to take Gentavian Sanders, who's going to have to

(22:51):
be at thirty four. If you're going to get him
from Texas. Maybe he falls a little bit because of
his combine, but I think he's still an early day
to guy. And then after that, you're really starting to
talk about dark throws. You know, guys that are either
athletic upside projects or low you know, guys that aren't
the best athletes but had college production. And you know,
you go all right on down the line of like

(23:12):
the Theo Johnson's, the Ben Sinnets, the cade Stovers, like
those guys are are all probably not going to be
you know, like Sam Laporta rookies, right, Like, I don't
think any of those guys are stepping in and having
a Pro Bowl season as a rookie tight end, but
might have some developmental upside because of their skill sets
and their athleticism. Like a guy like Theo Johnson's one

(23:33):
of the best athletes at the position in the history
of the Combine. But you look at him at Penn State.
He did nothing at Penn State. So that's this class.
You know, this class has two guys really, one guy
in brock Bauers, and then a whole lot of lottery
tickets after that.

Speaker 1 (23:50):
I don't know, Paul, how do you feel about the
tight end position generally?

Speaker 3 (23:53):
I think that the free agent moves here were pretty
obvious because of what Evan talked about, and you know,
Tisu alluded to it as well. Like you, sometimes you
just get in the spot where there are players there,
but you just can't. You said it about Marvin Harrison.
They can't afford to take a tight end in this draft.
They have to figure out quarterback, wide, receiver, tackle, and

(24:18):
then I think you might want to look into sort
of augmenting some spots on defense. You know, at some
point I'm not sure that by the time that you
could afford to take a tight end. You're going to
get a tight end that's capable of stepping in and playing,
as Evan just sort of explained, with the guys that
are going to be available when you want to take them.
So you know, it would have been great to be

(24:38):
able to, you know, be in a position of luxury.
But getting Henry back was important, and I think adding
Austin Hooper is important too.

Speaker 4 (24:46):
I'm pretty upset about Farrol Brown leaving. Actually that is
just a good asset. Like, you know, you're the one
big play, but you know, as Evan said, you need
a blocking tight end. But luckily, I feel like you
just picked one of those guys up off the street,
Like it'll be August and be like, oh, this random
dude just signed and I'm sure it'll be great.

Speaker 2 (25:00):
Yeah. And maybe this coaching staff who worked with Hooper
in Cleveland thinks that Hooper is a better blocker than
I do, which is totally possible. He's definitely a better
blocker than Harrison Bryant, who is the other Cleveland guy
that maybe could have come here. He's got, you know,
twenty pounds on Harrison Bryant, so definitely a different player
than that. Different player from Gasiki. You know, he's certainly
a hand in the dirt, inline guy that can do
those types of things, So maybe they don't feel it

(25:21):
blocking tight end is the best way to put it.
Maybe just some youth in some upside at the tight
end position is a better way. And if you throw
a flyer at one of these day three guys that
I you know, just listed or somebody else, you know,
Tip Raymond, I love.

Speaker 1 (25:37):
Hoker.

Speaker 2 (25:37):
Yeah, yeah, he can play and go frogs. Wiley can
play a little bit from TCU.

Speaker 1 (25:42):
That's a blocker.

Speaker 4 (25:43):
He got shot the hockey player Benson.

Speaker 2 (25:45):
I always it.

Speaker 1 (25:46):
Yeah, we haven't been talking about him. We saw him
at the Combine and always loved those.

Speaker 2 (25:51):
Sate. I think, yeah, he's so he's like a flex
you know, he's like a tight end slash h back,
you know type of player. But he tested way better
than I thought he would, and he saw some really
good skills at the Senior Bowl. So he's probably like
a late third early fourth round pick at this point
and is a good player.

Speaker 1 (26:09):
The unfortunate part about Hooper is just all the stupid
Jaws jokes that we're now going to get to make
about Hooper. Why is that unfortunately, oh for everyone listening,
not for us.

Speaker 3 (26:17):
We love it, but that is that people that here
comes another Thankfully for the listeners, they will probably not
have Hardy around, which would really right, like such an
age demographic.

Speaker 1 (26:27):
Do you go for a drive? I crush it like Quinn.
All right, let's let's let's stay on the offensive side
of the ball. We're gonna get a little little less sexy.
I think for some of us though, and go to
the offensive line.

Speaker 2 (26:38):
Speak for yourself.

Speaker 1 (26:39):
Yeah, all right, Evan, you you you love the offensive line.
But you know they they signed Chuck's a Coorra four.
I'm working on that one. I'm going to get it down.
Don't worry, folks, I'll I'll get that off the tip
of my tongue. I still need to look at my notes.
They resigned Michael and when you though, and I think
this is an interesting area because we know what and
when you did. I think most of us, or at
least I'll speak for myself, I think, Michael and when
you should play guard, I think that's where he's at

(26:59):
the best. I think that that you know, he can
play tackle when they need him to. But ideally I
want him to be a guard. I don't know what
their plans are for him, but between Chucks and on
when you how do you guys feel like the needs
And also to mention the three interior alignment that they
drafted last year, you know in so Mafi and Andrews,
three guys kind of waiting the wings. We saw a
little bit of Andrews at the end of the season,

(27:21):
so played a bunch at right guard. Looked pretty good.
We don't know what's going on with with cold Strange
and his rehab and is he going to be ready
to go? So how do you guys see that? I mean,
it's it's to me, it's go back up in the set.
In the early first round to get one of these guys.
We talked about what a big class it is. It's
such a priority. None of these guys that tackle really
truly moved the needle, even if you believe a Corps

(27:42):
four can actually play.

Speaker 4 (27:43):
I just want to highlight the mic on one new
thing is that this is finally a guy we drafted,
developed and we kept him. And that's what I'm happy about. Like,
you know, we let Myers leave, so I'm just happy
that's kind of the president. We're setting that being said,
we do need to get a tackle, and I think
that thirty four pick, if it's not a receiver, you
might need to get a big guy on the outside.

Speaker 2 (27:58):
So yeah, you look at at just what port bill,
what I think that they're they're trying to do offensively
from a run game perspective, and a couple of things
that that they highlighted, you know, mobility or just you know,
whatever you want to call it, range at the tackle position,
and length at the tackle position and on when who

(28:18):
does have longer arms than you would expect, he actually
does check the threshold for a tackle from that standpoint,
But obviously his movement skills are I would not describe
him as an athletic tackle. So if they are going
to be a heavy wide zone team, which is what
they were in Cleveland, then he does not a great
fit as a tackle in that system. Now, they could

(28:39):
adjust it like they did towards the end of the
year last year in Cleveland and be more downhill and
make it work. But I just look at the offensive
line in general and the guys that they've drafted in
the last couple of years on the interior, those guys,
to me need to iron needs to sharpen iron there.
And it shouldn't just be a given that Cole Strange
has a starting job or a given that Cityso has

(28:59):
a starting job next year. Those guys should be competing
with each other for starting jobs to make this whole
thing better. You can't just go into next year with
the line basically the same and then think that it's
gonna get much better than it was last year just
because you plugged in a rookie at left tackle who
is the thirty fourth pick in the draft. Like, that's
not good enough. So I look at those positions and
I would like on when Or to stick at guard,

(29:20):
so that left guard now becomes a competition between two guys.
And then you obviously add the rookie in a tackle
with a CORPS four and hopefully Tyron Smith here in
like an hour or something like that. And now and
now we're cooking with gas, right.

Speaker 3 (29:33):
Yeah, because I think if you look at it, you know,
I think they want a Whenu to play right guard
because a CORPS four doesn't make a ton of sense otherwise. Now,
they didn't break the bank for him. It's a one
year deal. It's it's it's you know, It's not like
they're like like a when you with fifty seven million dollars.

(29:56):
But a core of four is basically a right tackle.
I've seen some people say, well, now when you starts
at right tackle and now you have a corpours your
swing tackle. He's never really played left tackle. So there's
a requirement for a swing tackle, and it's the ability
to play both sides. That's the swinging right. So I
think that they probably in their mind hope a core

(30:19):
four is good enough to be the right tackle, which
gives them the luxury of having a When you at
right guard, now you get Evans iron sharpening iron. You
have like three or four guys for one spot. Let
the let the better man prevail. Cole Strange City, So
Antonio Mafi, even Jake Andrews, he could probably play guard

(30:39):
or center right, let let the best man emerge. And
then if you're plugging in a guy at left tackle. Yeah,
that's not the greatest indoctrination for a rookie at you know,
but there's some guys that you guys are going to
talk about them all, you know, that should be good
enough to plug and play that you can get in

(31:02):
the first round beginning a second. Now, if there's a
run on them, I've heard people talk about six or
seven guys possibly in the top twenty. If there's a run,
you got to get aggressive and move up and get one.

Speaker 2 (31:12):
Yeah, I just you mentioned, you know, Core four. I
feel like he's destined for the having the same exact
season he had last year in Pittsburgh where they drafted
Broderick Jones in the first round and he started the
year at right tackle, played the first seven or eight games,
and then they handed the keys to the rookie halfway
through the year. I could see the same thing happening here,
which is why I feel like adding a established starter

(31:34):
in free agency at that spot is important. And there's
two guys in Tyron Smith and Jonah Williams that fit
the bill, So go pay one of those guys. Then
you know, you draft a right tackle or a left tackle,
whichever way you want to put that free agent and
Chucks the Corps for is maybe the starter for the
time being, and then eventually it's the rookies job. Like
That's how I feel like it is the best path
forward for them. But that means I have to fork

(31:57):
over the cash for one of the free agents, and
then you know, get aggressive with the tackle because the
Corris four is not a long term answer as a starter.
He's really a swing tackle, as Paul, he's really a
third tackle. And yeah, there's a.

Speaker 3 (32:09):
Difference between a third tackle and a swing tackle. I agree,
that's it. Yeah, yeah, just saying yeah, so they they
still have some work to do.

Speaker 2 (32:16):
It. Like, let's not lose sight of the fact that
they were the basically the worst offensive line in football
last year. I mean, they were thirty first in pass
block win rate last year, they were middle of the
pack and run a block win rate. So when you
put it together, they were maybe the thirtieth ranked offensive
line in all of the NFL. And all they've really
done is brought back on winning so far. I like
a Corps four, but really in terms of a day

(32:38):
one impact starters, all they've really done so far is
bring back and winning.

Speaker 3 (32:41):
Before we move on to defense. And I know you're
dying to do that. I'm going to bring this up
and then duck and let you guys fight it over.
So here's what you've done so far in the quote
unquote legal tampering period. It's a return of Hunter Henry
Kenrick Bourne, Michael Winn, Jalen Riger, Joshua Anthony Jennings, Trent Brown.

Speaker 1 (33:08):
He's still out there.

Speaker 3 (33:09):
I'll see myself out.

Speaker 1 (33:10):
I'm surprised you're duking on yourself. I mean, it is,
it is interesting. I'm curious what's going to happen with him.
I mean, I think I think the reports earlier in
the office.

Speaker 2 (33:18):
He said, yeah, he said on the radio and himself
that we're going to be looking elsewhere both sides.

Speaker 1 (33:24):
But still interested to see where he ends up, though,
I mean, because he's you always look at him, and
he's a giant guy who can come up.

Speaker 2 (33:30):
I'm not I'm not that interested. Oh thanks for your sir.

Speaker 3 (33:33):
I think you guys know how I feel. Oh yeah, No,
but I am not.

Speaker 1 (33:36):
But I like that you asked the question, Paul.

Speaker 3 (33:38):
But but but to Evan's point about you had the
number thirty whatever ranking last year. Is the guy that
you're replacing Trent Brown with going to be better or
worse than Trent Brown?

Speaker 1 (33:49):
Well, according to Trent Brown would definitely be worse.

Speaker 3 (33:51):
Okay, now listen, I will be the first guy to
tell you I don't care if he's physically as gifted
or if he's ready to play today as well as
Trent Brown did. You're better off without try You're better
off without Trent Brown. You will be better overall without
that headache. That's how I feel about it. But from
a strict talent standpoint, you're probably not going to be

(34:12):
as good at that spot as you were a.

Speaker 2 (34:13):
Last Yeah, it's fair.

Speaker 4 (34:14):
It looks like the Calvin Ridley money might go to
Tyrone Smith or John Williams.

Speaker 2 (34:18):
Why not both.

Speaker 1 (34:20):
Shoot for the moon here. So I'm not going to
move on to defense just yet. Paul, Sorry, sorry to myself,
but I do want to I miss a position briefly
on the running back position.

Speaker 2 (34:28):
A little bit of not Patriots news, but could be
Patriots news. The Chargers did release Mike Williams, so he
is now going to be a free agent, similar to
like Russell Wilson. You don't have to actually pay him, right,
like DeVante Parker. You don't have to actually pay.

Speaker 4 (34:46):
And is he good?

Speaker 1 (34:46):
That's the first thing.

Speaker 4 (34:47):
I think.

Speaker 1 (34:48):
Had injuries too, so real quick though, just to touch
on the running back position, because they did you know
ad Antonio Gibson, who I guess at this point I
would call the most significant external addition to the team
right now, somebody who you can probably expect to play.
I know we talked a little bit about him on
Patriot's Unfiltered Good pass catching back. Was that when he
came out of college, he was on the big board.

(35:09):
By the way, Paul so another we'll chuck one up.

Speaker 3 (35:11):
For that because he was a wide receiver like running back.

Speaker 2 (35:15):
I love the word hybrid.

Speaker 1 (35:16):
Come to me, hybrid. But so, I mean that move
makes sense. I know, I believe I saw another report
Ezekiel Elliott. They're kind of moving on from him. It
was kind of a really interesting running back market, Tiese.
But what do you see the need like going into
the draft? We you know, we've seen a lot of
these guys. There's not a lot of high end. But
do you think that this is the kind of draft
where did they did they? Did they double dip? Did they?

(35:37):
Did they just try to take a shot on somebody
big and big like Stevenson and one of those more
every down kind of backs.

Speaker 4 (35:43):
I think, just a receiving back. I know Gibson's kind
of that. But as Evante of the dart throw is, like,
this is the perfect draft to do it. I mean, look,
how the free agent market changed with running backs last year.
I mean, we got Zeke for the cheap, and now
we have all these big name running backs going different places.
So the only only two guys that stand out to
me are really Jonathan Brooks and Blake Are than that.
I just need a guy who can catch it out
of the backfield James White style, and if you don't

(36:04):
need to use one of your picks, I think a
lot of these guys are gonna be Udfa's.

Speaker 2 (36:08):
So yeah, I think that the reason why you're seeing
so much movement in the veteran market is because the
draft class at running back is not particularly strong. So
if you're a team that's running back needy, you have
to get the running back and free agency this year
where is the draft? I think that they're Every single
guy in the draft has a skill, but there's not
really guys that are super well rounded like Blake koram Is,

(36:28):
the guy you mentioned is probably the closest thing to
like a complete back in this draft. But even he
is only like five foot seven and has, like you know,
is not the biggest of guys, and you know, has
some things in that respect to worry about. So there's
a lot of running backs. And you know, we talked
about this on Catch twenty two last week. When is
the running back run gonna start? Because once it starts,

(36:51):
you have to jump on the train because there's gonna
be probably a dozen of these guys I would say
most likely late day three into Day two into day
three that are all going to come off the board
in like the fifty pickspan, you know, and you have
to be able to jump on that train when it
starts moving. But when it starts, I don't know one

(37:11):
hundred percent. It could be a late third round. Somebody
jumps somebody and says, let's just grab him now and
not wait until the start of Day three. But that's
really where you're talking about. There's no top seventy five
running backs, I don't think in this class this year,
which it's been a little bit since it's been a
class where there's really no Christian McCaffrey. There's no player

(37:32):
even close to that in this draft.

Speaker 4 (37:34):
And then I mean, just going into the season with
who we have, I'm pretty content with that. I mean, Remandre,
there are way whars backs out there. Antonio Gibson, he's
shown flashes, so we're pretty locked for all the holes
we have. I feel pretty comfortable.

Speaker 1 (37:45):
That's what I was going to ask, Is this a position?
Is running back become a position that you just don't
really worry about because you can I mean, not that
I thought Ezekiel Elliott was outstanding last year, but I
think that he was fine and you got him in
the middle of training camp, and it seems like that's
kind of the that it's going, that there's always a
running back out there that you can probably bring off
the street and hand the ball off to. In Agase.

Speaker 4 (38:05):
I would look at the Dolphins and the forty nine
ers before Christian McCaffrey when they had all those injuries
and they threw Debo back there, like you can make
it work. And the Dolphins had Mos Dirt who was
thirty one thirty two and picked him up and he
had a great season, So you can make it work.

Speaker 3 (38:17):
Yeah, And I agree, I wouldn't expect there to be panic.
I mean, I think Evan might be right that you know,
once someone does go, you might see a few running backs,
but there shouldn't be panic because of that. And there's
been so many examples of these teams just trading them
like they're like trading socks.

Speaker 2 (38:33):
Yeah, you know, like, oh did you trade so you.

Speaker 3 (38:35):
Took Daron Jones. Oh, I'll take Josh Jacobs. Oh you
took Devin Singletary, I'll take you know, Austin Eckler. They're
good players. They're all good players, and they're all going
to help their team. But it's just to me, not
something that you have to worry about because they're all available.

Speaker 2 (38:52):
This running back class is such a dime a dozen,
and it really is about the skill set that you're
looking for. You know, if you're looking for like a
power back like Brandon Allen from Wisconsin, but if you're
looking for more of a scat back than like Bucky
Irving from Oregon. Is that so the type of guy
that you do like him? I do like him too,
But he bombed the combine. I don't know if he
had a stomach flu or a bad day or whatever. Geez. Yeah,

(39:16):
that that's a player that maybe he's available a little
later now because he's small and he doesn't run well,
which is not a good combination if you're running back.

Speaker 1 (39:24):
I have one of those, So we don't need to
Calvin Ridley there.

Speaker 3 (39:27):
Make that happen.

Speaker 1 (39:28):
There you go, and I'm I'm.

Speaker 3 (39:30):
Gonna will it exist?

Speaker 2 (39:31):
Why why not both, Paul? Why can't we have both?

Speaker 1 (39:33):
Have all? We don't need to be labor defense, but
I do. We do have to talk about it, guys.
And of course the Patriots recently last over the last
twenty four hours, have made two reported moves of Josh
Uch coming back on a one year deal and Anthony
Jennings is a three year deal. And I know you guys
would make fun of me, and it's fine, but that's
kind of my favorite signing of all of them. Just
is I really liked what Jennings did last year.

Speaker 2 (39:53):
The heart watch. With the heart watch, it does of you.

Speaker 1 (39:57):
He's just a stout, run stopping edge player, and if
he can continue to develop over these three years, I
think there's always a role for a guy like that.
But I just look at We'd spend so much time
talking about offense, and rightly so, the tackle position, the
quarterback position, the wide receiver position just seemed to dominate everything.
But when I look at this edge group, I see
it as a need, and.

Speaker 2 (40:16):
Especially long term.

Speaker 1 (40:17):
We've talked about Judon's status with you know, he had
to get a contract adjustment last summer where I believe
they took some money and moved it up, So now
he needs more money. Probably, I think that's going to
be another thing to keep an eye on. I like
Uce and Jennings. I think if you could combine them
and morph them into one player, they'd be great. But
you're still kind of dealing with specialization on that other side.

(40:38):
So I guess my question for you guys is is
edge kind of a sneaky need in the draft and
if the right guy was kind of there, maybe early
day day two doesn't make sense.

Speaker 2 (40:49):
You always need pass rushers, and I think that what
you're seeing with the market is that pass rushers are
now becoming more valuable than corners. And it kind of
flip flops. It depends on the trends. But you look
at interior pass rusher that market has just skyrocket and
it's crazy, Like guys like Christian Wilkins is getting over
one hundred million.

Speaker 4 (41:07):
Dollars, is gonna get paid?

Speaker 2 (41:09):
Yeah, those guys are getting crazy. And then you all,
do you see these teams that they want to they
want to throw waves of edge rushing at you. It's
not just having one or two guys anymore that play
all the snaps. It's having like four or five guys
that can all rotate in there. So I never rule
out a team taking a pass rusher if it's a
guy that they really have highly ranked, because you can

(41:30):
never have too many of these guys. And at the
end of the day, if you're going to play Josh
Allen and Patrick Mahomes, these types of quarterbacks, if you
can't get pressure on the quarterback against one of those guys,
you're screwed.

Speaker 3 (41:40):
Yeah, I mean, I think it is. You know, it's
a need. I don't think there's any doubt about it.
I think corners a need too. You know, I don't
think they have enough corners. And that kind of is
the same as Evan just said, only just replaced edge
rushers and pass rushers with cover guys. You never have enough.
So I do think that while the needs are clearly

(42:03):
on offense, this like just bringing back the same cast
of characters on defense isn't going to make you defense better.
And I would argue losing the most important element of
that defense, Bill Belichick, in my opinion, is that's going
to be something the.

Speaker 2 (42:19):
Near We've said something nice about Bill yeah.

Speaker 3 (42:21):
I mean it's like I was, you know, I was.
I was snarked earlier when we were talking about like
retaining you know, draft drafting development like Shack Mason, and
I like, you know, when Bill did it, it was
like just falls in love with this guy, you know.
And now it's evidently the packerway, which to me involves
having the best quarterback in football for thirty five years
and you can be pretty successful, but you know, what

(42:42):
are you gonna do?

Speaker 1 (42:42):
No.

Speaker 2 (42:42):
I think it was a lot like the Packaway and
the Patriotay are kind of just the same way.

Speaker 3 (42:46):
Yeah, have a great have a great quarterback, and you know,
try not to screw it up. Yeah yeah, but you'll
be relevant every year. But I think it's a.

Speaker 1 (42:53):
Good point Paul, and you know, not that this is
too much off topic, but I just think it's worth
bringing up because you know, we we kind of had
this conversation and Paul does what he does, like, you know,
we asked you a question that he already nick knows
what he wants you to say, and then you say
it and then he's like no, you know, and they're like, yeah,
you're right, it is what.

Speaker 2 (43:08):
I think I'm going to say.

Speaker 1 (43:10):
But say what you will about Bill and you know
every but if there was one thing that you could
say with one hundred percent confidence in my book, was
that he's going to come out with a good defensive
game plan against an opponent. He's going to look at
the team and say, this is what we're going to
need to do. And his teams couldn't always execute that,
but I always think that in his head he knew
what it was going to take to win. So, you know,
I think it is a really good question to kind

(43:32):
of just debate for a second. Is you know, as
much as there is continuity on the defense, how much
does it matter? And I mean, I'll even throw Steve
Belichick in that in that mix that he's not there.
You know, he's somebody that was in this defense for
a long time and you know, was calling the plays.
And so you're also looking at DeMarcus Covington coming in.
It might have a little bit of a learning curve
on what, you know, how he's going to call the defense,

(43:54):
how aggressive he's going to be, is he going to
be you know more? I mean, I don't know more
than Matt Patricia. Kind of let's sip back a little bit.
Is he gonna be overly aggressive like Bflow was? You know,
I think it's a really good question as to how
they're going to deploy these guys because it looks like
it's gonna be a largely veteran defense.

Speaker 2 (44:10):
Yeah, it's a great question. And I think the main
point that you brought up about game planning is going
to be really we'll see, because fundamentally they're gonna coach
the same things. They're gonna coach the same system. The
fundamentals are all gonna be the same. Heck, the drills
are probably all gonna be the same as to what
they were doing with Bill. So in that level, I'm
not too concerned about this transition. But there is still

(44:33):
nobody better even at the end than Bill Belichick of
saying we're playing Josh Allen this week, and these are
the three things that we're gonna try to do to
stop the Bills, or these are the three things that
we're gonna try to do to stop Mahomes or the Dolphins.
Maybe not with as much success, but you know, those
teams like that, that's that's something that you can't just replicate.
I don't think is that crystal ball that he had

(44:53):
to game plan, and that will be a big, big
difference I think in terms of how they call. I
do think they're gonna be aggressive in calling plays. I
don't imagine that a defensive line coach is gonna get
promoted to play caller and all of a sudden it's
going to back off. Like I just don't really see
that coming, especially when the head coach is a linebacker.

(45:16):
So now I have two guys that are probably like, oh,
I like the blitz. I like the blitz. That's all blitz,
you know. Yeah, So I think that they're gonna bring
pressure for sure.

Speaker 1 (45:23):
Yeah. All right, So moving off of some of the positions,
and we're going to take some emails here. You know,
got fifteen minutes left to go. We're trying to keep
this just to an hour. We're trying to keep it
tight here in the live show. But I want to
this is something that just popped into my head, and
just picking this high in the draft kind of ruined
mocked drafts. Like we're all kind of just like, you know,
it's fun to like kind of Paul doesn't like I
know Paul is generally, but that's why I like this is.

Speaker 3 (45:44):
Like my favorite draft and since right, oh one.

Speaker 1 (45:47):
Like, because what are you gonna do? It's like Mayor Daniels, like,
everyone you read is kind of the same thing, and
nobody goes past the first round, so it's like, you know,
we're picking fifteen. It was all kinds of different ways
and permutations that it could fall, and now it's just
like they got Mary Daniels.

Speaker 2 (46:01):
I know what your point, You know what I mean.
It's all in the iri the beholder.

Speaker 3 (46:04):
Like if you're if you're really into like all the
different things and you want to see all the different opinions,
then yeah, this is not good for you if you're
like me and you ignore all those mock drafts. Because
I think it's the silliest exercise that's ever been created. Agree,
it's the most clickbait thing that we've ever done.

Speaker 2 (46:21):
Okay, but don't hate on the clickbait part of it,
because my mock draft did numbers, all right.

Speaker 3 (46:27):
I'm just telling you you could do one right now
and put it up and it will probably do more numbers.
I think clickbait of mock draft is through the roof,
and that's why so many people do so many different ones.
That's why everybody does roster projections. Yeah, I do, and
I do it every year just like everybody else.

Speaker 4 (46:43):
I think the mock draft things kind of ruine because
we need a quarterback. You know, when Joe Burrow got hurt,
it was like, oh, like they could get Jamar Chase,
like he's up there. So it's kind of like if
we still had if this was Mac's second year and
we're like, we're gonna give m some more time, like,
it would be pretty interesting. You don't know what they're
gonna do, but I think you're pre locked one of those.

Speaker 2 (47:00):
Du when when Deuce and I do the mock draft.
We were just talking about this the other day off
the air, how many like we're just doing a scenario
just to do the scenario at this point of them
not taking a quarterback, like just had one with Marvin
Harrison junior Justin Fields. Yeah, yeah, okay, this one. I said, Oh,
maybe I'll just do a trade down scenario just to

(47:21):
play it out because what am I going to take
Drake May for the seventh time or are we going
to do something different?

Speaker 3 (47:26):
Right?

Speaker 2 (47:26):
So I yeah, look, it's are they dead for us
this year? Maybe a little bit, But at the same time,
it's like kind of easy to be right, So I'm like,
okay with that aspect of it. They nailed it.

Speaker 1 (47:37):
Crazy.

Speaker 2 (47:37):
Oh you know, when when I get the mock draft
pick right for their first pick, I'm going to take
a victory lap. I told you it was like one.
I told you of the Sparklers. I told you they
were I did it.

Speaker 1 (47:50):
I knew. Uh So, let's let's grab some some emails here,
and you know, please shoot us an email if you'd
like before here in the last ten minutes or so,
just a couple to share that have already come in.
But Zach and Chumford writes in love this new show,
listen to all the past the draft preview pods in
previous years. If the Bats do strike out on Ridley,

(48:11):
I'm really feeling the first four round should be QB
wide receiver ot OT in that order. What are your thoughts.

Speaker 2 (48:19):
I would rather go wide receiver wide receiver than take
two tackles early, I think because in this draft, like
you could get two really good wide receivers in like
the second and the fourth round or the third and
the fourth round. I look at that Packers draft from
a few years ago, because we're all thinking packers around here,
and he wasn't. Elliot Wolf wasn't there for this draft.

(48:39):
But when they picked Christian Watson and Romeo Dobbs, that
that draft that worked out beautifully for them, right like
they they had these two receivers, now, two big, fast,
you know, explosive guys on the outside that are growing
together with Jordan Love and with Jayden Red and now
all of a sudden they have this loaded offense out
of nowhere that if you're the Patriots, that's what you

(49:01):
I think would be the best course of acner. What
you would hope would happen is you take two guys,
you know, one one early day two, one early day three,
and you hope that together those guys are are your
one and year two going forward.

Speaker 3 (49:13):
Yeah, I don't mind the two double up. I don't
know how you feel, Teas, I like it. I don't
mind the double up on receiver. I think the tackle
needs to be the second rounder though, Yeah, me too,
unless you do Evans thing and we're getting Tyrone Smith
because God forbid, no, I'm for that. I'm assuming tackles
a need in the draft, and if it is, I

(49:34):
can't wait till.

Speaker 2 (49:35):
And that's their fourth round, right. That's why I feel like,
if you take the tackle at thirty four and you
double dip in the third and fourth rounds at receiver,
if one of those receivers hits, you're in decent shape.
If both of them hate, you're in great shape. And
that that's should be the goal.

Speaker 4 (49:48):
This is the draft of shiny toys. If you get
Drake May, also go get his boy, Devonte Walker or
Davon Tees Walker. So the.

Speaker 2 (49:58):
Walker I go.

Speaker 4 (50:02):
They we've striped out on Mac with the receivers, you know,
like Thornton, it didn't work out. Let's just like, look
look at look at Stroud and Tank and Tank Delt like,
just come on, let's let's let's get a partnership going.

Speaker 1 (50:13):
Ted.

Speaker 2 (50:14):
Walker is an interesting player for them because he is
kind of a one trick pony. He's just a down
in the field vertical receiver. But if it is Drake May,
he loves to throw the deep ball, so he might
as well go get him somebody that can go deep.

Speaker 1 (50:25):
You know.

Speaker 2 (50:25):
He's four to three speed, uh, more of like a
linear athlete, but definitely explosive and can play on the outside.
One thing I didn't really love about his film though,
is there's very few press coverage reps. It's like all
like just him running into quarters coverages and things like
that because they they play that air raid system and
so it's wide open and he just running by people.
And it's hard to translate that to the league.

Speaker 1 (50:48):
Scott from Virginia Sticking with the receiver topic, as you
guys say, there are plenty of wideouts this year, but
is there one type of receiver that might be tougher
to get if you wait till later rounds good ones?

Speaker 2 (50:58):
Maybe?

Speaker 1 (50:58):
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (51:00):
I do think that it's tougher to get the true X,
which is when you know, Mike Williams. This news just
broke while we were recording this. I would go after
Mike Williams because it's hard to find those true X receivers.
They don't grow on trees. It's a, you know, a
unique skill set to have the size, the speed, the
athleticism to be able to get off press coverage in

(51:21):
this league. It's not for everybody. If you go ahead
and draft Lad McConkie, he's not playing X in the NFL.
He's going to get beat up. So I think on
Day two there's a lot more Z slot types. You know,
the mconkey's, the Ricky Piersol's, the Xavier Lagets. You know,
I go down the list again. Uh, you know the
guys from Washington Polk, you know McMillan. Those guys are

(51:42):
definitely players that I think are better off playing either
in the slot or off the line of scrimmage. And
if you have a guy like Mike Williams on the outside,
now you are able to play that player there, assuming
Mike Williams is healthy.

Speaker 1 (51:54):
Yeah, Malachai Corley another one.

Speaker 2 (51:56):
Yeah, Malachai Corley is an interesting player because I always
get I'm always intrigued by the guys that pick up
all the yards after the catch too. But then it
for every Deepo Samuel, there's a Namari Rodgers. So it's like,
which one is this guy? Yeah? Probably a better confer
Corre with his body typing. Yeah, so.

Speaker 1 (52:17):
It's tough.

Speaker 3 (52:18):
I took the cheese.

Speaker 2 (52:19):
It's tough to predict those guys. Which ones are going
to be the Deebo Samuels and which ones are going
to be the Leviska Chnaults. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (52:26):
Another one here, a good one. You know. This is
from Donovan and he lays out. You know where we
stand right now? Of course the caveat you know, it's
we haven't even actually started the league year yet. But
considering the free agency moves, is there any way they
can feel all the needs at quarterback, wide, receiver, offensive
That was offensive offensive line to North Carolina without trading
back from number three, even if that doesn't guarantee a

(52:47):
playoff team. I kind of wonder that myself, you know,
is it it like? I mean, that's the argument of
if you did the exercise of trading back, is I mean,
if you could have, like, it's amazing if you ever
just mess around with the mock aften you know, the PFF.

Speaker 2 (53:01):
I never did that.

Speaker 1 (53:03):
But when you trade back a little bit and you
get like three picks from like you know, like let's
say twelve.

Speaker 3 (53:08):
And thirty times a day, you think he does?

Speaker 1 (53:10):
I mean, he wakes up, he does how money do
you think he does?

Speaker 3 (53:12):
Brushing his teeth that he doesn't share on social media?

Speaker 2 (53:16):
I don't know so many I pictured more of Barth
being like.

Speaker 1 (53:18):
I'm gonna get crety episode. So if I did this one,
I just click.

Speaker 2 (53:21):
I don't even know Barth who we sho we should
be on one of this show. What are you doing?

Speaker 3 (53:26):
You want to come over and do a PFF Come on,
come on, just come on. I got a couple of beers,
all right.

Speaker 2 (53:35):
He definitely, I will say this. I think he does
more of them than I do because he loves the trades.
Like all of a sudden, he'll send me one with
with six trades. I'm like, okay, Elliott Wolf, like, you know,
calm down.

Speaker 4 (53:46):
The Texans tradeed irreversible damage to the mock draft community
last night.

Speaker 3 (53:53):
My favorite, my favorite mock drafts are the ones you
know in the seven round marks that where people who
don't follow the draft that closely, such as myself, I
know all seven guys the Patriots took, Like somehow you
found a way in the sixth round to take a
guy that even I am familiar with.

Speaker 1 (54:13):
Do you know impossible that you know what, Paul, It's
funny you say that because I brought this up to
Evan when we were at the combine, and you know, everybody,
I think a lot of people use the PFF mock
draft genre, that's a pretty popular one. But the way
that they rank guys and the way that guys come up,
they have they have power over what the conversation is
because the way they do need it to you, it's
your thing. It's the same every single time. You're like,

(54:36):
here I am again with this fifth round pick, and
wouldn't you know it, it's the same, like six guys
I'm picking from. It's just funny how much they kind
of influence the conversation.

Speaker 2 (54:44):
Well, I also think it influences not to like get
into a whole big picture conversation about mock drafts, but
then the immediate reaction from fans is immediately influenced by
what we did in our mock drafts. So right, so
why didn't or why didn't you take this guy instead
of that guy? And the teams get rap don for
taking a guy that everybody else, well, he was mocked
in the second round. They had col Strange in the

(55:05):
fourth round, like idiots. We're like looking at it from
that one, Maybe wasn't the best example from.

Speaker 4 (55:09):
A pat's point of view, too, because there's definitely some
Giants reporter who was like, I just traded with the
Pats and the mock draft. I'm taking Drake may We
gave him all this these picks, and then we're taking neighbors, right,
it's the whole thing.

Speaker 3 (55:19):
It's like, I mean I think, you know, you get
really good value if you got like Molik Neighbors in
the fourth round. Like I mean, like this is all
coming together.

Speaker 1 (55:27):
Yeah, that's the.

Speaker 3 (55:28):
Kind of mock drafts that I'm just.

Speaker 4 (55:29):
Like, yeah, what it's not gonna happen.

Speaker 3 (55:31):
Yeah, no, you don't think you can get Molik neighbors
in the fourth round.

Speaker 2 (55:35):
Well, I just wonder like when people do those ones?
Do they do they turn the difficulty to like rookie
you know, like like what because like I see these
mock draws and like fix the Patriots, and it's like
in the fourth round they they are taking you know,
like like Jayden Daniels Like I'm just like that's.

Speaker 1 (55:53):
That's Bart's playground where he's like I'm gonna make this
one so random, you know, like between like what is
it like random does not random.

Speaker 2 (56:00):
As ones that are like you know, based on the leads,
college mascots and you know, like you know if I
only picked guys from the big tank, what would the
first round?

Speaker 3 (56:12):
I tell you, guys are really selling me. I should
I should stop looking into doing some of these.

Speaker 1 (56:16):
Well, it's it's it's.

Speaker 2 (56:17):
Funny you say it, because I would love a Paul
Perlo mock draft.

Speaker 3 (56:20):
Oh I've done mock drafts, not not on those, not one.

Speaker 1 (56:24):
Anyway, time time expired, I forgot I was doing. I
didn't care.

Speaker 3 (56:29):
Time wouldn't expire. I would have the opposite problem.

Speaker 1 (56:33):
Any other any other.

Speaker 2 (56:35):
Gators you ever? You ever used?

Speaker 4 (56:36):
There was one I used?

Speaker 2 (56:37):
Yeah, there was the one that the first one I
feel like that was before PF.

Speaker 1 (56:41):
Two thousand ads popping up every which direction.

Speaker 2 (56:44):
I don't remember which what it.

Speaker 1 (56:46):
Was subscribe for four hundred dollars and you'll get no ads.

Speaker 2 (56:49):
Here on our Yeah, there was definitely one I remember
before PFF that everybody used that was like the one
to use, and then PFF came out with theirs.

Speaker 1 (56:58):
And along those lines, we talked about what's going on
with Jayden Daniels in the PFF mock draft jenneror because
all of a SUDD they don't know he's like ranked
way low.

Speaker 2 (57:06):
Yeah, you know, they don't like him, which is funny
because usually it's it's based off of their grades of
the player of the year before a little bit, but
his grade the obviously won the Heisman Trophy, so his
Greade was pretty good, So I'm really not sure why
they have him, Like I think he's their twentieth ranked
prospect in the entire draft or something like that.

Speaker 1 (57:24):
And that's affecting everybody's And then they do it and
they get a grade and they get an F and they're.

Speaker 2 (57:27):
Like, ah, what is this now?

Speaker 1 (57:29):
All right, guys, well I'm gonna start driving the bus
into the garage. I guess here. But great first show,
and you know, again, these shows are gonna be produced.
So this show and we will do another live hour
show the day before the draft, which will be similar
to this. We'll kind of talk about everything we did today,
just laying out the whole offseason, but otherwise we're kind
of gonna go by. Each show will contain kind of

(57:50):
a quick update of where we are with the draft,
you know, maybe latest news and how it might affect
the Patriots. Evan's got some film breakdowns. We've got a
bunch of guests lined up as well, but they will
be kind of segmented and only in only a half
an hour. But again, please, you know, feel free to
send us an email there to I Radio at Patriots
dot com anytime. Just make sure you put draft in
the headline and be sure to uh, you know, ask

(58:12):
us draft questions there. We we asked some questions today,
not necessarily about the draft. So what we're really trying
to do here is focus in on the draft. So
stay tuned. Next Wednesday, we'll have I Guess our Offensive
Line show, so we'll have a bunch of interviews and
we'll be talking about the different prospects a little bit
more on depth. We tried to give you a big
over overseeing of the draft, so I want to thank

(58:33):
you for joining us Patriots Draft Countown brought to you
by bud Light. We'll see you next week.

Speaker 4 (58:39):
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Speaker 2 (58:45):
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Speaker 1 (58:47):
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