Patriots Draft Countdown: At the Combine with ESPN's Field Yates

Mike Dussault and Evan Lazar are joined by ESPN’s Field Yates to talk about possibilities for the New England Patriots in the upcoming 2024 NFL Draft at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis, Indiana. Lazar, Dussault and Yates delve into who the Patriots can take at third overall this year, including quarterbacks Drake Maye, Caleb Williams and Jalen Daniels.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome into another edition of Patriots Draft Countdown, presented by
bud Light, Easy to Drink, Easy to Enjoy, bud Light,
the official beer sponsor of the New England Patriots, and
we're here with a.

Speaker 2 (00:09):
Big day, Evan.

Speaker 1 (00:10):
We saw quarterbacks, we saw wide receivers, we saw the
running backs, and all three are big positions in needs
for the Patriots. What stood out to you most, Let's
start at the top of the big three, the top quarterbacks.

Speaker 3 (00:19):
Yeah, it was good to hear from all three of
those guys.

Speaker 4 (00:22):
Caleb Williams, Jaden Daniels, Drake May all talking here this
afternoon or this morning. I don't even know what time
it end is anymore. But I thought it was interesting
how they're just all different personalities. And I've said before
they play differently too. They're different playing styles, different personalities.
So this is truly, I believe, turning into a flavor

(00:44):
situation where some teams are probably gonna have one guy
as the number one quarterback, some teams are gonna have
another guy as the number one quarterback. I still think
the consensus should be Caleb Williams is the best in
the draft, but I think that the more you hear
around here is that there isn't quite that one hundred
percent consensus, and there's a lot of different types of
quarterbacks in this draft, and that's exactly how they presented

(01:06):
themselves at the podium.

Speaker 1 (01:07):
It's funny how it works because I feel like, you know,
I get into this draft process after the season ends,
and it just seems like, oh, it's already established.

Speaker 2 (01:13):
Caleb Williams first drink, May second. That's how it's going
to go.

Speaker 1 (01:15):
Maybe maybe Marvin Harrison sneaks in there, somebody trades up,
but that's how it is. And now here we are,
and it seems like Jaden Daniels has been really making
a push that these guys haven't even played football, but
all of a sudden, it's like jockeying for position, and
you know Caleb Williams, Oh, he's not going to get
his provided his medicals here and you know he might
fall now. And so like all these kind of different
things are happening, and I just like sit here wondering,

(01:35):
like how much of it is actually true? You know,
these just teams putting out, you know, late night, having
a few drinks out at Saint Almos, putting out that information.
You know, trying to get the draft board the way
you like it and trying to get your guy to
fall to you.

Speaker 4 (01:46):
Well, that's the ultimate thing about this is that there's
thirty two different teams. There's thirty two different gms or
de facto gms in our case, and then there's thirty
two scouting staffs. Right, So just because one guy has
it and another guy has it another way, everybody.

Speaker 3 (02:02):
Says, well, there's not a consensus. Now, It's like, well,
did you pull all the executives in the NFL? Or
did you pull two people?

Speaker 4 (02:09):
Right? So I think that that's a big part of
it is that everybody can have their own spin on things.
Everybody can have their own perspective. That's what makes the
draft fun for me, is that you can we can
watch the same tape and come away with drastically different
opinions about these guys.

Speaker 3 (02:24):
And that's that's the cool part about this whole process.

Speaker 2 (02:27):
So I was really just impressed by you know, Jadon Daniels,
Drake may both. I mean, I'm with you. I just
I listen to both of them. I'm like, yep, I
like these guys.

Speaker 1 (02:33):
I know that they each have, you know, some issues
that they're going to have to work through, which you know,
let's face it, ninety nine percent of the guys here
have something that they have to work through, whether it's size,
whether it's speed, you know, all those things, staying healthy,
getting healthy, all those different things. But I'm at that
point now where it's like, yeah, I can deal with
either one of these guys worts.

Speaker 2 (02:50):
They're both really appealing to me as far as their
athletic ability, and there's a lot to work with there,
and it makes you hope.

Speaker 1 (02:55):
You know, when we talk about the tackle position, where
do you want to throw a rookie quarterback back there?
And I know a big thing would Jaden Daniels amount
of hits he's been taking. He's trying not to take
more hits. But at least you know, it's these guys
aren't going to be statues back there. They both can
move a little bit. They both have some athleticism, so
it at least makes you believe that they can maybe
manage that get away from some of those hits, even
if the offensive line isn't great In twenty twenty four, Yeah,

(03:16):
I think.

Speaker 4 (03:16):
The biggest thing with both these guys is that they
extend plays a little bit differently. Jaden Daniels is more
of a scrambler. He's going to take off, he's going
to run the ball. Now, Drake May does scramble a
little bit, but I think he has a little bit
more of that second reaction throwing ability where when the
play breaks down, it's becomes playground football. He can go
off script and create I wouldn't say that that's as

(03:37):
prevalent on Jaden Daniels's tape, but as you talk to people,
I think the one thing about Jaden Daniels is is
that it's hard to find a lot of flaws with
his film from last year. I mean, he put up
fifty touchdowns, he won the Heisman Trophy. There's not a
whole lot to sit there and say, I don't really
you know, as not for me, So there's not a
whole lot of that. But I think the one thing

(03:57):
that you do definitely hear is that he's he's got
a slender frame, and when he was up there at
the podium, I couldn't help but think that as well,
that this kind of looks like more like a wide
receiver than a quarterback. And you mentioned the hits that
he's gonna take or has taken in the past. And
that's the main thing is if you are going to
be a guy that's gonna have to run it one

(04:17):
hundred plus times to be your most dynamic self, how
are you going to manage your body and manage those
body blows because durability is going to be the number
one concern. He's I don't believe he's doing on field
drills here this week. I think he's saving it for
the pro day. But he will weigh in and that'll
be tomorrow, and that's gonna be huge. Remember last year

(04:37):
was Bryce Young right that everybody was waiting to see
how tall he was and things like that. This year
it's gonna be can Jayden Daniels break two hundred pounds?
So maybe he goes to prime forty seven saying almost tonight,
eats like a huge steak and comes back in a water.

Speaker 3 (04:51):
Weight or whatever.

Speaker 4 (04:52):
Just pack on the LB's and get yourself over two
five Daniels, You'll be fine.

Speaker 1 (04:58):
So I do want to talk a little bit about
the you know, the secondary quarterbacks, I mean the big
three and you know all the scuttle button.

Speaker 2 (05:02):
You've seen various.

Speaker 1 (05:03):
Reports and you know generally they kind of seem to
point towards Patriots are surprised are interested in a quarterback.
I mean, of course they are, and maybe they're like us,
they just want to see who falls. But you know,
from Michael Pennox, who just you know, said he didn't
meet with the Patriots, I thought that was a little
bit interesting.

Speaker 2 (05:18):
Maybe you know, I'm su they're getting him.

Speaker 1 (05:19):
Think you said they met with him down at the
Senior Bowl, so you know they've gotten in sense of him.

Speaker 2 (05:23):
But one guy I want to bring up, and this
is kind of off the cuff, so I apologize, as
I know, the kid from Florida State, Jordan Organ Travis.

Speaker 1 (05:31):
Yeah, I was just kind of impressed with him at
the podium, and I know he's small and he's coming
off an injury, and it sounds like, you know, he's
he's going to be okay. But give me some thoughts
on him, because he's a guy that I just listening
to him, and this happens a lot to me at
the combine where it's like, all right, I haven't you know,
watched a lot of this guy yet, but there's just
something I had. I got a vibe from him of like,
you know, he just seems like he kind of has
something there. I don't know, it could be totally wrong,
but he's just there's a handful of guys. He's one

(05:53):
of them that I circled here today that I'm saying
I want to go back. I want to look at
him a little bit maybe as a developmental guy. I
know he had an standing season before the injury, so
you talk to me about him.

Speaker 4 (06:03):
Well, he definitely has that leadership intangible quality, even after
he got injured this past season, coming out and talking
about how Florida State got shafted frankly and in the
College Football Playoff and not making the College Football Playoff,
you could see that leadership. You can see that competitiveness
and that fire that he certainly has. You mentioned his size.
That's going to be a huge knock for him. It's

(06:24):
not just you know, Jayden Danie's six ' three, so
he's just slender. Travis is shorter and smaller. So you
do hear on the high end. You know, Russell Wilson,
Kyler Murray. Maybe he's a really good runner. He's a
dynamic player with the ball in his hands, and he's
not a terrible passer. But I wouldn't say that he's
as refined that he's going to sit there in the

(06:45):
pocket and just pick you apart. He was more of
a guy that was running around in college and making
plays and just kind of making things happen, or throwing
jump balls to Keon Coleman, which is never a bad thing.
So I think that that's sort of where it's at
with him. The injury is obviously going to be major.
He has said in the past, though, that he has
a chance of playing next year potentially even though he

(07:05):
broke his leg, and I believe November of this past
college football season, so maybe that's possible. I don't know,
But as someone that is a late round flyer, I
look at him and I look at my Guybazuka Joe
Joe Milton from Tennessee as if they're thinking double dip,
if they're thinking, you know, something along those lines. I
probably wouldn't say if they're thinking no quarterback early because

(07:27):
that would not make much sense. But maybe a double
dip situation if you wanted to get a guy that
has a little bit more of a higher ceiling than
your typical late round quarterback. I think both those guys
had some physical tools to work with.

Speaker 1 (07:37):
Yeah, I'm glad you brought him up because Jill Milton
is like, I just I mean, he's like kind of
not quite Cam Newton, but it's like, you know, it's
like it's like Lil Cam Newton, like if Cam Newton
had a slightly smaller little brother, like that is.

Speaker 2 (07:47):
What he like, but just has the measurements.

Speaker 4 (07:49):
Yeah, I think he's discounting Anthony Richardson, Like I don't
like comparing people to Cam Newton because I think Cam
Newton was great. I know that's maybe he's a freak,
maybe that's an I don't know, but didn't be the
League Heisman Trophy winner. So I look at it Anthony
Richardson and Joe Milton, and I say, you know, probably
not quite as athletic, not quite as alien like as

(08:10):
as an athlete, but has similar qualities. Big arm, huge arm,
like a guy can throw it like eighty yards in
the air, athletic mobile, big, big frame, you know, all
those types of things. And now that they're looking at
quarterbacks at three, I don't necessarily feel this way as strongly.
But let's say that that's a smoke screen and that

(08:31):
doesn't actually come to fruition, and we're talking about JJ McCartney,
bow Nicks, Michael Pennix. If you want to double dip,
then later in the draft and just throw a dart
at a guy that has a huge ceiling in Joe Milton,
but probably has a very good chance of maybe not
even being in the league in a couple of years
as well.

Speaker 3 (08:48):
That's the way I would go.

Speaker 4 (08:49):
If you're gonna go with like a bo Nicks, who's
more of that Alex Smith like conservative type of quarterback,
here's a guy that you could kind of pair with him.
That's someone that will be aggressive and push the ball
down the field.

Speaker 2 (08:59):
Now, tomorrow we're going to.

Speaker 1 (09:00):
Get to see these guys work out on field, and
you know, I know, Ofvan, you'll be glued to that
and we'll do some write ups about their performance, their measurements,
all that that kind of stuff. Just generally with the
quarterback class, what are you kind of looking for tomorrow,
And especially with a guy like JJ McCarthy, Right, he
talked a lot about people saying he's going to be
a combine riser, and listen to him today. You know,
obviously is his well established what he did is in

(09:21):
his career at Michigan. But what are you looking for tomorrow,
any particular testing or numbers that you think can really
help one or two of these guys.

Speaker 4 (09:27):
Well, I would say just in terms of the throwing
on the field. With JJ McCarthy, he needs to prove
to me that he has more clubs in his bag
because he didn't really get to flex that at Michigan.
So can you throw different types of throws, different types
of routes. He's got a big enough arm. I'm not
necessarily concerned with arm talent with him, but it's more
about the touch and the accuracy and the short and intermediate.

(09:49):
He is somebody that I thought on film really struggled
with taking a little bit off the football and then
really affected his ball placement and his accuracy in the
first two levels of the defense. So he's throwing it
one hundred miles an hour when he doesn't have to,
and now guys are just saying, guys, it's going off
guys hands because they're five yards away from him and
they're trying to catch a bazooka.

Speaker 3 (10:07):
It's like, let's slow down, right. So I think that's
a big thing.

Speaker 4 (10:11):
I think we talk about arm talent a lot, and
arm talent, to me, is not arm strength. Arm strength
and arm talent are two different things. Arm talent is
the ability to hit it with a little bit of touch,
to hit it with the driver when you need to
to change arm angles, and be able to generate velocity
when you have to to not throw with a solid
base because there's muddy pockets and things like that. I

(10:33):
think that JJ McCarthy has decent enough arm strength. I'm
not sure he has arm talent, so we'll see what
he looks like in the field.

Speaker 1 (10:40):
So good stuff on the QBS. We actually had a
chance also to talk to Field Yates of ESPN get
his opinion on the quarterback class. And obviously Field is
you know, he's got a grand preview over there at ESPN.
So take a listen to what Field had to say
about this quarterback class. All right, we're excited now to
be joined by Field Yates from ESPN and Field, thanks
for coming out here to the combine. I'm sure you're
going crazy right now, so appreciate the time that you're taking.

Speaker 5 (10:59):
Great to be here. I'm fired off talk Patriots talk
the draft. I'm bump.

Speaker 6 (11:02):
I'm actually missing the Patriots draft event. This year for
the first time in probably seven or eight years.

Speaker 2 (11:09):
Well, guess they called out to replace you. A couple
of idiots on the other side of.

Speaker 6 (11:14):
My lesson learned was don't move on the what well,
I guess the event I think is late March, but
early April I'm moving. So it's just kind of a
perfect storm of circumstances that.

Speaker 5 (11:24):
Made it a little bit more difficult this year.

Speaker 6 (11:25):
In the past seven or eight that I've been doing it,
I hate to miss it because it is one of
my favorite events of the year.

Speaker 3 (11:30):
Well, I will have to fill your big shoes. Oh,
come on, give me some pointers.

Speaker 5 (11:35):
I'm trying to think.

Speaker 2 (11:36):
It's just off crowds, fans.

Speaker 5 (11:38):
They have high especial high hopes right now. Yeah, but
this is different. You know, I would like to tell
you what this draft event will be like.

Speaker 6 (11:44):
But this is the first time they picked in the
top ten since the head coach was coming out of
the draft. So what two thousand and eight is sixteen
years ago. That's a very unfamiliar territory here, obviously, So
in prior years it's been sort of projecting like who
might be available. It's you know, twenty ninety two fourteen,
now pick three, and like it makes things quite straightforward.
We have to just play out three scenarios and we're good, right, Yeah, well.

Speaker 2 (12:06):
That's what we've been doing. I mean, we're already like
all right, is it this? And we traded down, we
be training out. But just you know, we had the.

Speaker 1 (12:11):
Quarterbacks, the wide receivers and the running backs today and
you know, kind of the scuttle butt around town is
that the Patriots are kind of locking in a quarterback.
Probably not that surprising, sure, but just generally, what are
your thoughts there on the top three guys that are
coming out this year?

Speaker 6 (12:22):
Yeah, I think that the fact that the Patriots pick
third is immensely, incredibly invaluable. And that may sound like
a difficult thing to reconcile, given the fact that getting
to pick the third pick is a it's a not
fun path to enjoy during a four and thirteen season.

Speaker 5 (12:38):
But because of the fact that there are three quarterbacks
who you could.

Speaker 6 (12:42):
Speak to anybody here Indianapolis, they would all agree very
much merit that top three pick consideration. That means that
the Patriots have this incredible amount of flexibility. And I
believe this and I'm sure others have differing views of
these three quarterbacks, but I don't think there is a
consolation prize amongst these three. I think if you dropped

(13:02):
Caleb Williams in a different draft, he might be in
the conversation for the number one pick every single year,
And same with Jiden Daniels and same with Drake May.
One of them is almost as surely going to go
number one overall and one may very well go third overall.
That does not mean that that player is, you know,
a couple deviations below the top quarterback.

Speaker 5 (13:22):
It is nip and tuck for all three of these players.

Speaker 3 (13:24):
Yeah, that's sort of where I've been at for a while.

Speaker 4 (13:26):
But listening to the two of them today at the podium,
Drake May and Jayden Daniels, we kind of feel the
same way me and Mike that whoever they end up with,
they end up with. But I'm just curious, you know,
there seems to be a lot of buzz about Jayden
Daniels being the QB two in this draft, and I
think after the college football season ended, it was probably
Drake May.

Speaker 3 (13:42):
And now it's flip flopped. What have you been hearing
on that?

Speaker 6 (13:45):
Well, I'd say what I've been seeing is a very
very very close race, I really think, and I'm not
trying to just like pander to a crowd that is
interested in all three quarterbacks. I if you will put
put me on the stand and make the case for
any of them as the best quarterback in the class,
be easy, not be difficult for me to do that
at all.

Speaker 5 (14:02):
But if it's a relative like a conversation between Drake.

Speaker 6 (14:05):
May and Jaden Daniels and how you might separate them,
I mean we're talking about the like, you know, smallest
of margins between the two players. Drake obviously has just
I call him. He arrived from quarterback factory, right, he's
six foot four.

Speaker 5 (14:18):
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (14:18):
Did he gets his other quarterback factory for sure? Yeah?

Speaker 5 (14:21):
What's what's did he get his official measure?

Speaker 6 (14:23):
Yeah, that'll be tomorrow morning. So I got to pay
attention to these things a little bit closer, apparently, But you.

Speaker 3 (14:28):
Changed it up on now they do a day of
It wasn't always like that.

Speaker 6 (14:31):
So it's according to the website in North Carolina, six
foot four, two hundred and twenty nine pounds. And if
you saw him this morning, I mean you see he's
he's the six to fourth part I can confirm with
my eyes. So two twenty nine, maybe he's two twenty six,
maybe he's two thirty five.

Speaker 5 (14:42):
Who knows. But he's certainly a well built has sort
of the idyllic frame for a quarterback.

Speaker 6 (14:47):
He's got an absolute hose of in arm, terrific between
the hashes, passer, very mobile as well. Two years ago,
actually let North Carolina in rushing. This past season, had
nine rushing touchdowns. So a very good athlete. But with Jaden,
I mean we're talking about, you know, one of the
best athletes, certainly the most explosive quarterback in this year's class.
Back to back seasons with up over a thousand rushing yards.

(15:08):
Crazy enough for Jaden Daniels. He actually led all FBS
players and yards per attempt. I use minimum of one
hundred carries. I'm sure you could filter it down even
lower and he would still be the best. But you know,
you've got a couple of guys who had like one
or two carries for one hundred and twenty yards on
two reverses or something. So Jaden's an incredibly explosive runner.
I thought that maybe the area that Jaden kind of

(15:28):
separated himself from any of the quarterbacks in this year's class.
Is clutch production gotta have its situations. I know it's LSU,
and people think to themselves, he's just playing with a
bunch of fellow five stars, including you know, two potential
first round pick wide receivers. That's true. There are plenty
of good players at LSU. They might have had the
worst LSU defense in school history. And I'm not saying
that as a matter of hyperbole. I'm saying that as

(15:50):
a matter of fact. They ended up firing basically the
entire defensive staff, I mean players left and right from
the past at LSU or making it very known how
much they were disappointed in this past years defense.

Speaker 5 (16:01):
They needed Jaden Daniels.

Speaker 6 (16:02):
To score or find a way to lead them to
you know, scores of forty or thirty five points per game.
So his I thought, just like meeting the moments, was
very impressive this past year. But if you told me,
like make the case for Drake may at number one overall,
I can you do an hour on that as well,
because I'm a huge fan of his game.

Speaker 1 (16:20):
Just if they go pay if they go quarterback first round,
and this is more of like a football philosophy question,
because you know here about like we got to build
from the trenches, and everybody wants to flashy object with
wide receiver. But we look at the tackle and the
wide receiver classes both very deep.

Speaker 2 (16:33):
But it seems like the.

Speaker 1 (16:33):
Tackles are gonna go quick. They will when you get
down to that early second round. How do you feel
about tackle versus wide receiver? Patriots need to rebuild their offense,
but just philosophically how important I mean they need two
tackles really, I mean at this point we'll get a
second sure, but philosophically, how do you feel about that decision?

Speaker 2 (16:49):
Right it's the second round?

Speaker 5 (16:50):
Yeah, I think it's gonna be like it's it's the
beauty for the Patriots.

Speaker 6 (16:53):
And I'm not saying this again to pander to a
Patriots audience, but you can no, I'm not, obviously, it
sincerely is the two deepest positions arguably in this year's draft,
our offensive tackling wide receiver wide receiver is definitely the deepest.
I think there's a feeling, and I feel this way
myself that like the offensive tackle depth eventually drops off,
whereas there's gonna be guys, you know.

Speaker 5 (17:14):
Middle even late day three that are pretty good wide.

Speaker 6 (17:17):
Receivers are gonna have a chance to make a roster
and make an impact early on in their career. So
if you're the Patriot, you kind of play this out
for three rounds, so to speak. If three thirty four
and sixty seven sixty eight, yeah, sixty eight, right, yep,
you could very very easily check off each of those
three boxes. And you would do so not because you're
forcing the issue with the need, but because it fits

(17:41):
with the value. Right, there's gonna be top of the
second round offensive tackles that I think can play. There's
gonna be top of the third round wide receivers that
I know can play. So the Patriots could go quarterback
at three, and I know that I reject the argument
that you shouldn't be taking a quarterback because the rest
of the roster is not ready. Part of it is
quarterbacks make everybody better when they're the real deal. The

(18:02):
other part is that it's the draft is not over
after pick three. There's a lot of money in free
agency that you guys have already referenced to potentially fill
some of those holes. And the last part this is
an opportunity costs who knows what twenty twenty four looks like,
But you don't plan on being picking. You don't plan
on picking once again a third overall next year. And
if you're picking, even if you make a semi leap

(18:22):
to twelve. Look at how the Vikings and the Broncos
and the Raiders are examining their quarterback oppings at the moment.
They're saying to themselves, are we gonna have to pay
the full boat to get up to six ' eight
nine to trade up and grab one of these quarterbacks?
Because if we wait around until twelve or thirteen, they're
not going to be available. So if I'm the Patriots,
to me, it's a very straightforward equation. Whichever these three

(18:46):
quarterbacks is sitting there waiting for us a pick three,
we have to do everything in our power to build
the offense around his skill set because each of these
three are very different, and also we need to surround
that player with as many resources as we possibly can.

Speaker 4 (18:57):
Yeah, I want to take you to free agency for
a second though, because you know we've been talking a
lot about obviously those three spots. You know, quarterback, receiver
tackle drod may have made it easy for us. He
just told us that those are the most biggest.

Speaker 3 (19:08):
Needs on the team.

Speaker 4 (19:09):
Yeah, but free agency to me is I don't see
is particularly strong at those three spots. So what do
you see the Patriots doing in free agency and how
do you see them kind of spending all this cap space?

Speaker 6 (19:19):
Well, I think you always start with the guys that
are your own, right, And I know that Elliot Wolf
talked about both Michael Waynu and also Kyle Duggar is
two of the guys that they really want to keep around.

Speaker 5 (19:28):
And it would be good for you know, the obvious reasons.
They're both good players.

Speaker 6 (19:31):
It would be good for draft retention, which is an
important tenant of good sustained success or getting back on
the track for sustained success. And the best money is
usually the money that you know where it's going towards.
And you know both of those players have a pretty
obvious skill set. You also know that if there are
like areas of concern, you know them right. Whereas if
you're paying a guy that you haven't had some exposure
to in the past, I don't know that you have

(19:52):
nearly the same amount of comfort with the potential warts
that that player might have. So I always start with,
you know, the guys you know that are are in
and there's certainly other you know, notable Hunter Henry amongst them,
and just guys that have made Zee Elliott who have
made meaningful contributions.

Speaker 5 (20:06):
But those two feel like the top of the list
for me. And then you know, I think that you're right,
it's a it's not.

Speaker 6 (20:12):
Going to blow anybody away in terms of offensive tackle
or wide receiver class, espentially, especially once we finish up
with this franchise tag window, which will probably end up
leading to either a couple of guys being tagged at
that position or like just getting a long term deal done.
So my feeling will be that, well, they have a
lot of money to spend. You're always surprised by how
fast resources dry up and free agency between the drafts

(20:34):
and take care of your own and some of those
extensions and having you know, sort of a kiddy available
to once once we get to the season. So I
would think selectively aggressive would be my mindset if I'm
the Patriots and free agency, Yeah, it seems.

Speaker 1 (20:46):
Like defensive side of the ball, So it feels like,
you know, there's needs an edge. I mean with judeah On,
you don't really have any depth behind him. He's getting
a little bit older. It seems like Brian Burns guys
like that, they have some guys out there, Josh Allen
even they could maybe reinforce that defense and then you
can focus really on the offense in the draft.

Speaker 6 (21:01):
Yeah, interesting kind of edge class, interesting defensive tackle class.

Speaker 5 (21:04):
You know, there's some players on that side of the wall.

Speaker 6 (21:05):
And now, of course many or some will be tagged,
so that free agent class always thins out a little bit.

Speaker 5 (21:10):
But you know, we're what ten ten days away, yeah,
ten days away from free agency, and it's going to
be a wild, wild few days.

Speaker 3 (21:18):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (21:18):
So the salary cap not to get two into the
math here, but it was a little bit higher than
what was projective, about ten million extra, I think for
every team. And it seems to me like that has
made teams maybe less reluctant to use the franchise tag
this time around because they might have a little bit
of extra cash. And for a team like the Patriots,
almost worked against them because guys like you know, Michael

(21:39):
Pittman junior, for example, might have been available in a
regular free agency is now in some way shape or form,
as Chris Ballard said the other day, is going to
be in Indianapolis. So did you see that as kind
of a way that this thing went, you know, with
the tag this year?

Speaker 6 (21:53):
I would say that generally speaking, it was hard to
find many losers from the capspike. It was mostly winners
because I suppose the way that you framed it is
both accurate and wise as it pertains to the Patriots,
Like maybe there are a few guys that aren't going
to be available because the tag is now a little
more affordable for their team. But I will say this,
it's like ten or twelve or thirteen million bucks more

(22:15):
to spend that, Like that's going to go towards somebody eventually,
and you know, the hope is that sooner rather than later.
You're already planning for what the next wave of in
house free agents are going to cost.

Speaker 5 (22:28):
Extension candidates. Right, So beyond some of the guys that.

Speaker 6 (22:31):
We've talked about, like maybe part of the puzzles of
Christian Barmore extension, right, we've been on the table that
we obviously as emerged as one of their best defensive players,
one of the best players period, right, And it's not
you know, there's no rule that says you have to
extend a player, but doing the dance.

Speaker 5 (22:45):
The potential free agency just makes things more complicated.

Speaker 6 (22:47):
It certainly opens the door for those guys to go
test the market, if they'd so choose.

Speaker 5 (22:53):
But yeah, so for the Patriots like it in as
we do. You don't have to use all the cap space.
But yeah, they are. I am no Miguel Benson at all.

Speaker 2 (23:04):
Right.

Speaker 5 (23:04):
I love Miguel. He's the best. But I think his number,
I think I saw I don't know. I have to
check more reache, like eighty seven million.

Speaker 2 (23:10):
Yeah, it's a lot.

Speaker 5 (23:13):
Yeah, it's nice. It's uh.

Speaker 6 (23:15):
I feel like what I think. That's like what my
wife's mindset is when she goes to the mall. I'm
equipped with all the resources, not actually, but.

Speaker 1 (23:22):
You know, just putting those Amazon dot Com orders in
every day pack at the door all the time.

Speaker 2 (23:28):
Again, Yes, what we'll field. We'll let you get to
your responsibilities here for ESPN, but.

Speaker 5 (23:34):
My responsibility to hang out here. I love the backdrop.
I love that we leaned into the pat Patriots.

Speaker 3 (23:39):
People are making fun of it back home. They said
it looked like a bed sheet.

Speaker 6 (23:42):
I think it looks nicer than I think it looks
nice at that, but it was the most comfortable bed
sheet of all time.

Speaker 5 (23:47):
How's that you?

Speaker 2 (23:48):
That's right Fields, Thanks for joining us.

Speaker 6 (23:49):
Sorry to miss you guys for those that are going
to be at the draft events. But I won't move again.

Speaker 5 (23:53):
I told my wife this is the last time we're moving,
so future years, I'm back.

Speaker 2 (23:58):
Thanks Peel, thank you.

Speaker 1 (24:00):
All right, So Evan, let's turn out to the wide receivers.
Everybody who's waiting to see Marvin Harrison. Of course I
was excited just to see him Marrison, just to kind
of see you know what his size looks like, you
know what kind of build he has. Unfortunately, he did
not speak this morning. We're still waiting to hear. Perhaps
he will speak later, perhaps he won't speak at all.
Does he really even need to speak?

Speaker 4 (24:17):
I love that Marvin Harrison Junior has just decided to
stand on the film and be like, I don't need
to do any of this. I'm not going to work out,
I'm not going to talk to the media. I am
set my tape here it.

Speaker 2 (24:31):
Is, That's what I do. This is Marvin Harrison. That's
all you need to know.

Speaker 4 (24:34):
Hey, yeah, good name too, right, So there's really just
no reason for him to do any of this, and
I love that that's being normalized to an extent. I
know some people are gonna rub him the wrong way
that these guys are opting out, but what's the point.
And I think Kayleb Williams said it when someone asked
him about why he's not throwing here, and he said
that I have thirty three starts in college football. If

(24:57):
me throwing in shorts and a T shirt is going
to change your mind about who I am as a
prospect when you can watch thirty plus games of me
at college football, then that's ridiculous. And I think that's
how Marvin Harrison Junior feels about it too, So I'm
not It does absolutely nothing to stalk to me that
he kind of blew off the combine.

Speaker 3 (25:16):
I honestly could care less.

Speaker 1 (25:18):
No, And I mean, just just look at the film, right,
That's all you have to do. But let's stick with
these top rank receivers. And I don't know about you,
but I've kind of like made peace that these guys
are probably just not going to fall in the right
period or you know, timeframe of the first round for
the Patriots to be able to have a selection at them.
But this is another draft class, Evan, that absolutely is loaded.
And I mean it's just it seems like every single
year you see the wide receiver position gets you know,

(25:40):
there's just always good guys. I mean we were talking
before we were taping, and I mean, you made it
a great point about last year's class.

Speaker 2 (25:45):
I mean, I'll let you make it again. But compare
last year's class to this year's class.

Speaker 4 (25:49):
Yeah, I've thought about this a lot of where I
would put last year's class into this year's class. And
the main reason why is that the run last year
started in the twenties in the first round, which tells
me that the run this year. How many wide receivers
are going to go in the first round if that
is what happened last year. So you look at Jordan Addison,
Za Flowers, Jackson Smith, and Jigba Quintin Johnson. Those are

(26:10):
the big four that went in the first round a
year ago. I think you're starting at maybe wide receiver
five or wide receiver six for the top of that board,
which means that you have to think a guy like
Adie Mitchell is now potentially going in the first round.
Certainly Brian Thomas Junior is going in the first round,
is Keyon Coleman also going in the first round, Troy Franklin,
Xavier Worthy.

Speaker 3 (26:29):
You go right on down the line.

Speaker 4 (26:30):
I think it kind of stops at maybe eight or
nine guys that have a potential of going in the
first round out of this class. So if you're the
Patriots and you're going quarterback early and you're looking at
thirty four, you're looking at sixty eight, at what point
do you just have to jump on the carousel and
say we have to at least get one of these
guys before, as we like to say, the parade passes
this spy, Do.

Speaker 1 (26:49):
We get twenty picks that are nothing but offensive lineman
and wide receivers in this first round? Like it seems
like you're gonna at least have a run where there's
like twenty picks that are all those that position.

Speaker 4 (26:56):
I've been doing this for a while now because I'm old,
and I will tell you I have never seen a
top of the draft board this heavy on one side
of the ball. The first nine guys on every single
consensus board that I see are all offensive players one
through nine, and then at ten. Usually you get Dallas
Turner at that point. So you're looking at a board
that is heavily skewed towards the offense. It's not that

(27:18):
the defense doesn't have any good position groups. It's just
not a ton of top end talent. It's more like depth,
like an edge corner, things like that. But this draft
loaded on the offense side.

Speaker 5 (27:29):
Of the ball. At the top.

Speaker 2 (27:30):
You mentioned Brian Thomas a d Mitchell.

Speaker 1 (27:31):
I mean, those two guys to me seem like ide
and I didn't even mention Malik Nighbors. I feel like
I just have to break up with him because I'm like,
you're too good, and I really don't look forward to
watching him torch our defense or anyone else's defense for
that matter. But I'm sure it's gonna happen. But going
back to Mitchell and Thomas, like those seem like the
kind of guys that can develop into that number one

(27:52):
outside receiver that everybody you know, everyone talk about Marvin Harrison,
But I think these guys have that kind of potential
where maybe you trade back into the first round, maybe
you get lucky they followed the second round.

Speaker 2 (28:00):
But those guys seem like if you could get a
quarterback first.

Speaker 1 (28:02):
Overall, you get a developmental X receiver could be the
guy that seems like a home run to me, no
offense to the offensive line.

Speaker 4 (28:09):
Yeah, it's a little different with both guys. Another flavors thing.
Brian Thomas Junior more of that explosive linear athlete. The
comp that I was working with with him a little
bit was like a slender DK metcalf He's not as
like rocked up as DK metcalf as, but he's definitely
that explosive guy that has some concerns about is he
really going to be a technician at the top of
the route. Probably not, But if you want a vertical

(28:31):
receiver that's going to go down the field, then he's
someone that has definitely checks that box. Whereas Adie Mitchell.
He's sixty three sixty four a similar size honestly all
around the board for Adie Mitchell as Brian Thomas, but
he's the more of that technician. He's someone that can
really break down and as quick feed gets sick as
hips and get in and out of the break.

Speaker 3 (28:51):
But he's just not as explosive.

Speaker 4 (28:52):
I wouldn't expect him to run as fast as a
guy like Brian Thomas Junior. But one thing that is
really appealing, and I don't know if they'll have the
opportunity to do it, because Thomas Junior is probably a
teens pick. I would say Adie Mitchell maybe late twenties,
early thirties more likely more realistic. But they if they
do get Jaden Daniels at three, pairing him with one
of his LSU teammates, it's not going to be neighbors.

(29:15):
But like, that's everybody wants to do that. That's the
appealing thing about all these guys. He's been trying to
do that. I've kind of the Bengals cooled off on
Tesz Walker, who's at Drake May's number one receiver. But
if that's a third round, fourth round guy that you
take just because of the familiarity with Drake May, I
don't hate that either. But if Brian Thomas Junior, I
don't know, maybe he gets lost into into a shuffle

(29:37):
of like six seven guys at that receiver position, who knows,
I mean, maybe they trade up. I don't know, But
it just is someone that I think is extremely intriguing.

Speaker 1 (29:45):
A couple more names I'm just gonna kind of run
through a few guys that you know interested me before
and continue to malk I Corley really wanted to hear
from him, talked about him kind of being a debo
comp is how fast is he going to be?

Speaker 2 (29:56):
That's my big question. You know, a guy like that
who can do a lot, but you want to make
sure he's got an ex glosive element, you know.

Speaker 1 (30:01):
Troy Franklin, I know we kind of were taking like
the Taekwon jokes a little bit by him, but explosive,
explosive player, and it's you know, weaponizing the offense if
that's what you need to do those that guy has
some speed, you know.

Speaker 2 (30:10):
There's just there's all kinds of different varieties.

Speaker 1 (30:12):
It's like, yeah, and right now with the way that
the Patriots offense is, I feel like you really just
look inside the slot and then we've got a slot
receiver and otherwise everything else is kind of on the table.

Speaker 4 (30:21):
To me, Yeah, I actually really like Troy Franklin. I
know that Patriots fans are going to take one look
at him and be like, Nope, I'm out because of
his size and similarity and body type to Taekwon Thornton.
But I look at him as someone that is a
lot more advanced and a lot more nuanced with his
route running than Taekwon was coming out releases top of
the route. You know, he's someone that a lot of

(30:43):
people that are really high on him, higher than me,
have said runs routes more like a Devonte Smith than
he does like a Taekwon Thoron. So someone that truly
does have a lot of he's got cool tape, Like
he's got some really cool, you know, little nuances like
he'll just like foot fire and come out and like
guys are just like whoa and what are we doing here?
And then he just blows past you. So there's a

(31:05):
lot of I love watching him run routes, and I
think he can do it for multiple alignments. So I
like Troy Franklin, I would assume that this group, this
Patriots brass is probably gonna say let's not make the
Taekwon Thorton mistake and draft one like let's not do
this again and go somewhere in a different direction. But
I think he's someone that Patriots fans are like, oh
no way. But I think he's better than people expect.

Speaker 1 (31:27):
You talk about guys who are fun to watch, and
I mean you were down at Senior Bowl Lab McConkey,
I mean, it's a clinic. Was about running with that
guy he spoke today, you know, hey, what do you
think you're good at? I mean it's like, hello, have
you watched this guy play? Why you're asking this question?
Like we all know what he's good at. I just
had to bring him up because I think that, you know,
he kind of gets pigeonholed said today, he's like, I
actually played more on the outside than the slot. You know,
people look at him and assume he's a slot receiver,

(31:47):
but he's another one that, you know, day two kind
of a guy.

Speaker 2 (31:50):
You can get a really good.

Speaker 1 (31:51):
Player who can come in here and has instantly got
some polish to his game and the ability to hopefully,
you know, get open, quick move the chains. I think
that's what the Patriots need most more than you know,
that big extra receiver. Yes, of course you're always looking
for that, but to me, it's that other receiver, you know,
that every down kind of Z receiver that you can
move around, that you can have some fun with.

Speaker 2 (32:08):
McConkie seems like he could be that kind of guy. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (32:11):
The biggest thing with mcconkey's sample size. He just wasn't
healthy for the entire year last year. But and when
you watch him when he was healthy, he's electric. He's
somebody that has vertical acceleration for days, and he's got
a great feel for decelerating. I think this is one
of the most underrated traits about wide receivers that people overlook.

(32:31):
And it sounds so simple, but can you stop on
a dime? Can you open it up? Get guys opened
up on the other side of the ball, accelerate up
the field, and then efficiently stop down and slow yourself
down and then make a cut.

Speaker 3 (32:44):
He's one of the most efficient top of the route
guys in this draft, no doubt about that.

Speaker 1 (32:48):
It's funny you don't think like great breaks is like
a like like a scouting term with great breaks.

Speaker 2 (32:52):
He's got great breaks? What what does that mean?

Speaker 3 (32:53):
Yeah, but he really does. And he's able to.

Speaker 4 (32:56):
He has enough vertical burst that he's able to push
vert and make it look like he's gonna run by you,
and then at the last second he just stops on
a diamond and it creates that separation. So if you
watch him against like Terry On Arnold from Alabama, who
might be CB one in this draft. Probably the most
consistent guy that got open against Arnold last year on
film against Florida.

Speaker 3 (33:16):
Forget about it. He had like a ridiculous game against Florida.
You just wish that it was more.

Speaker 4 (33:22):
You know, you only had like four hundred yards of
production last year because he didn't play a ton.

Speaker 2 (33:26):
So one more guy, I'm gonna mention it. I don't
expect you to comment on him, but my own holy
Cross Jalen Coker, was here.

Speaker 3 (33:31):
I mean, holy Jalen Coker.

Speaker 4 (33:33):
It's not like this is not like last year where
he had some of those fake ones. Dude, Like, no,
this is a real this is a real pros.

Speaker 2 (33:39):
I've watched him for a while. He's got great size.
I mean, he's the c J.

Speaker 1 (33:42):
Hansen's a guard who will see tomorrow to holy Cross
because these are the fourth These are the third and
fourth guys ever from holy Cross local program to go
here to the combine. So excited just to see how
Coker runs tomorrow. I think he's a contested catch guy.
He's an outside guy and he said it himself today,
But I'm excited to see my lacrosse guy get out
there and perform tomorrow.

Speaker 4 (34:02):
As long as he doesn't bomb the combine, that's a
Day two that's a Day three pick. Yeah, that's a
Day three guy, Like you have a real Day three guy.

Speaker 1 (34:07):
Bringing to Fox Brough all of them. I tried not
to harass him too much as they get away from me,
all right. I think we covered most of the wide receivers.
You know, we weren't really going depth anybody else that
we didn't really touch.

Speaker 4 (34:16):
Touch On Wilson, who's another one of my guys right now.
He said he's going to run in the four threes.
If he does that, then I forget about sixty eight.
That's not happening. He's going top fifty. I think that
there's so many different guys that are going to get
lost into the weeds of the second round, third round
picks in this draft that all could come out of
the other side as players.

Speaker 5 (34:36):
You know.

Speaker 4 (34:36):
Brandon Rice from USC is another one like those guys
that I think all have really good, uh you know,
foundational elements about their games. I love Roman Wilson, though,
I just think that that's somebody that at the next level.
He didn't necessarily similar to j jimccarthy because of the volume.
He didn't necessarily put up the numbers that some of
these other guys did because they didn't throw as much

(34:56):
as at Michigan. If he was in like Washington's offense
last year, He's a thousand yard receiver easily.

Speaker 2 (35:03):
So let's move on to the running backs. And I
feel like this is slowly becoming like the forgotten position.

Speaker 1 (35:07):
Like you know, it's like you talk about needing to
get it's more explosive this on offense. But you know
these granted that these guys aren't I guess like long
term building blocks. You know, you wouldn't like really, look,
I think we all kind of look at running backs
as while you're draft wing, you run him into the
ground for four years, you let.

Speaker 2 (35:22):
Him go, you draft another running back.

Speaker 1 (35:23):
But in between, you've got those four years where you
can really find some productive guys. And I know, look,
we got free agency, it's just around the corner.

Speaker 2 (35:30):
It's coming up.

Speaker 1 (35:30):
We think that's a position, got some great guys, and
you know, like usually not something the Patriots would address,
but it's a huge need. Blake Orm's the top of
the list though, coming off national championship. Heard from him,
but otherwise there's just so many guys that are gonna
bleed from Day two to Day three that have talent,
that have that explosiveness that you can round out your roster.
I just think it's such an underrated position and they're

(35:50):
gonna draft at least one of these guys, maybe two,
and you're gonna be like, oh man, I didn't even
realize they're gonna draft running back, but.

Speaker 2 (35:55):
I absolutely are.

Speaker 4 (35:56):
So this is not There's no Saquon Barkley, there's no
Christian mc caffrey. There's no lock top ten pick in
this draft at running back. But like you just said,
there's great mid round depth in this draft. So I
don't even know if there's gonna be a running back
that goes in the top fifty because I think teams
are just gonna wait for the run to start, and
whenever it starts, that's when everybody will jump in and

(36:18):
get their guy. So I look at it as like
a third or fourth round sweet spot, and I think
the Patriots are in the market there.

Speaker 5 (36:26):
Maybe not.

Speaker 4 (36:27):
I I'm not sure I really love a top seventy
pick on a running back given their needs, but the
fourth round is definitely in play for them at running back,
and I think that there's a bunch of guys that
will be in that range of the fourth round. We
don't know exactly when they'll pick in the fourth round
yet because we don't have the compis, but somewhere in
the beginning of.

Speaker 3 (36:43):
The fourth round obviously, so I think that they'll be
right there to take. You know, some of the guys
that we like to talk.

Speaker 2 (36:48):
About, Bucky, Bucky's our guy.

Speaker 3 (36:50):
We like Bucky's our guys, explosive, Captain America.

Speaker 1 (36:53):
You know, I think that Bucky we're talking about Bucky
Irving from the other Bucky's.

Speaker 3 (37:00):
Yeah, Bucky Erving from Oregon.

Speaker 4 (37:01):
We've talked about wanting to pair Ramandra Stevenson with a
little bit light under and length exactly, Lindell White and
Reggie Bush. You know, let's let's get two guys in
there that are complimentary. And I think that that's one thing.
I thought Zeke was great last year for what it was,
but they were redundant. They were the same back. So yeah,

(37:23):
it's cool that you can kind of go, you know,
drive or drive when they were both healthy or whatever.
But I really feel like that's the spot that Patriots
could get a little bit more explosive, and especially in
this Alex Van Pelt offense, are going to run that
wide zone. They're gonna want to bounce it up through
the middle. Let's have a little bit more of a
home run hitter that can hit those runs.

Speaker 2 (37:42):
Just a couple other guys to kind of mention Mon Bailey,
one guy liked it.

Speaker 1 (37:45):
Dylan Lobby from U n H who you know, we
talked about a little bit on the quick debrief, but
local kid.

Speaker 2 (37:50):
You know, it seems like it might be a natural fit.

Speaker 1 (37:52):
Maybe another one, but it's just it's I think you
can look at pretty much any back back in style.

Speaker 2 (37:57):
And of course these guys a little bit more.

Speaker 1 (37:58):
Maybe I don't want to call them third because I
feel like that kind of pigeonholes them. Maybe they are,
but I think overall they've got, you know, all around
skills that could contribute. The Patriots just have huge needs,
so it's hard to rule anybody out.

Speaker 3 (38:09):
YEA Dylan Lobby is I think a sub package back
is the best way to go.

Speaker 5 (38:12):
There we go.

Speaker 4 (38:13):
I don't think he's a true third down back where
he's only gonna play in the passing game. But one
thing that's appealing to him, and he did this down
in Mobile is he can line up in different spots.
He can play flex out and play a little bit
of receiver as well. So he's got a ton of
versatility to play in the passing game and in the
run game. As a runner, more of that one cut
and go, good acceleration can get through the line of scrimmage.

(38:35):
And if you're gonna get let's say, let's put it
all together. If you're gonna draft Jayden Daniels at three overall,
and you are going to be a very heavy shotgun team,
and then you have a back like Dylan Lobby who's
a little bit more of that spread undersized, but it's
explosive running back. And that's somebody you get read option
going with those two guys, and if you get the corner,
then he's gonna be off to the races.

Speaker 3 (38:56):
So I think that's what you have to look for
at all these backs.

Speaker 1 (38:58):
One more guy, I'm gonna throw at you on the spot.
I mean, I don't know how much much you've done
too dove into the running backs. But Jonathan Brooks from
Texas and know he's coming off an ACL injury, heard
from him today.

Speaker 2 (39:07):
He expects to be ready.

Speaker 1 (39:08):
Another one that kind of appeals to me, like I
always you know, always coming off an ACL. We don't
need it, Like could we stash him maybe, But he
said he thinks he'll be ready July first.

Speaker 2 (39:15):
If you watched him at all.

Speaker 4 (39:16):
Well, I've watched the Texas offense a ton obviously for
the other guys, And I think the biggest thing with
him is that he fits in really what I was
just talking about in the Jayden and Daniels situation, because
that Sark system is that's what they are, you know,
their motion, they're spread their rpo.

Speaker 3 (39:32):
So I think that's a lot.

Speaker 4 (39:34):
But he does have a really good power to him too,
even despite being more of that like you know, lighter
type of back.

Speaker 3 (39:40):
So I think that he's someone that probably falls because
of his knee.

Speaker 4 (39:45):
But maybe that is the right way to go for
this Patriots and is certainly what I would do, Like
I'm not taking a running back in the.

Speaker 3 (39:51):
First three rounds.

Speaker 4 (39:52):
So if you're looking at it as like we need
a running back at some point, but it's probably too
early with all of our other needs, then yeah, maybe
you can get him in the fifth or sixth round
and ends up being a seal.

Speaker 3 (40:02):
I'll give you one more. I'm just from the Senior Bowl.

Speaker 4 (40:04):
MARSHN Lloyd from USC who is someone that really impressed
me as a route runner getting up the field. This
is a vertical back like not necessarily the James White
third and four. We're going to move the chains, but
somebody that real route rail route you know, seem even
out of the backfield, he can get up the field
and if you get him on the linebacker into some
space and a foot race, he can get up the

(40:26):
field and get by the guy.

Speaker 3 (40:27):
So I was really impressed with him at the Senior Bowl.

Speaker 6 (40:30):
Him.

Speaker 4 (40:30):
Dwan Edwards too from Georgia's another one of those Day
three backs that I think can do the same type
of thing. So all those guys are a little thicker,
you know, they're not necessarily the Bucky Irving like we're
talking about earlier, but still have a little bit of
a juice in the passing game.

Speaker 2 (40:44):
All right.

Speaker 1 (40:44):
So we got through the quarterbacks, wide receivers, the running backs,
all very important positions for the Patriots, and this will
be the last wrap up we do from here. So
we want to just take a minute now to just
you know, overall thoughts from the combine. We've been here
all week. We will talk to the offensive lineman tomorrow. Again,
that's a huge need for the Patriots, so we'll be
sure next week we'll be talking talking about it. During
Patriots Unfiltered, we'll be plenty more videos mock drafts. You
guys know how we do it all spring. It can

(41:05):
be videos coming out you left them right, draft and
free agency, but just overall, Evan like, what are your
biggest takeaways here from India in twenty twenty four.

Speaker 4 (41:12):
Well, I think either the Patriots are putting on the
world's best smoke screen or everybody knows what they're doing.
I don't know which one it is, and maybe that's
what they want. They're like feeding information on both sides
of their mouth. But at the end of the day,
when the dust settles, it just feels like quarterback is
where they're going third overall, and it's for two the
easiest way you know, it's a straight line, right, like,

(41:33):
it's the easiest way through. And I think that it's
a no brainer with these two quarterbacks sitting there. If
it was one of those years that was a little
bit worse of a class and you weren't totally sold
on it and things like that.

Speaker 3 (41:45):
That would be different. But this year, I don't feel
it is like that.

Speaker 4 (41:49):
You know, a couple of years ago and it's like
Kenny Pickett Malik Willis like, obviously they're not going to
draft a quarterback, but this year they have two quarterbacks.
They had third overall pick, and there's three quarterbacks that
are worth a top three pick. So someone's going to
be there on the board and you're telling me that
Drake may Jaden Daniel, someone is going to be sitting
and the Patriots are going to be on the clock,
and Elliot Wolf is going to be like, I'm good,

(42:11):
Like I just I don't really see that happening. So
I think that that's really where the wind is blowing.
But we should mention that it is smokescreen season, so anally,
all these things could just be everywhere fugazi, right. And secondly,
it's March first, and it is two months basically to
go until the draft, so it's a long way to go.

Speaker 1 (42:29):
Still, of course, free agency. I mean it's we're less
than two weeks away from free agency. Patriots have a
bunch of money, draw Mayo walk back, cash to burn,
you know, I mean, I think he was saying that
kind of in ingest and everybody ran with it.

Speaker 2 (42:40):
But they just they have the money to do things.

Speaker 1 (42:42):
You know, the reports they have offers out on Kyle Tuger,
you know they've been negotiating with Michael and Whnu. They
express their support for those guys, that they would like
those guys back. We've talked about Christian Barmore being a priority.
Extend him early, don't let him get to free agency
next year. But I think my biggest takeaway just from
the draft is that for a team that needs to
remake their offense, it's it's kind of a good year.

(43:03):
And I feel bad that we're kind of pushing the tackles,
you know, down to day tomorrow, day six really and
we haven't seen them. And you know, maybe once we
do see you know, Joe Alter, were like, oh my god,
he's enormous. We need you know, that's a huge need.

Speaker 3 (43:15):
I will definitely it'll be loved first sight.

Speaker 2 (43:18):
I know we'll have to keep you back from him.

Speaker 3 (43:19):
That that's gonna be easy.

Speaker 4 (43:21):
But I think that you know, this tackle class, there's
not a ton of depth, and so the question is
is that as much as we all love the receivers
thirty four, quarterback at three, tackle at thirty four. Just
the way that the board falls, that seems to be
the best way to go about things, just because of
the depth is really at receiver, you know, that's where

(43:42):
you have a depth, and then you know, tackle is
the spot where I think there is a precipitous drop
off once you get through the first eight nine names
or so at the tackle spot.

Speaker 3 (43:50):
So I'm excited to see the tackles. I think there's a.

Speaker 4 (43:53):
Couple guys that we've talked about yet before, but looking
at that thirty fourth spot, you know Kingsley Suu and
my tie, you know, Patrick Paul, Like those types of
guys are probably more in the conversation instead of like
Olo Fashana and Joe Alt, who are going to be
up at the top of the draft and measurables as
out of anything at the combine that matters arm Lands

(44:13):
for tackles might actually matter the most.

Speaker 3 (44:17):
You gotta get to thirty three. That's that's the minimum,
that's the threshold.

Speaker 4 (44:21):
And a guy like you know, Jordan Morgan for example,
from Arizona, he measured in with thirty two and seven
eighths inch arms.

Speaker 3 (44:29):
So he's been stretching. I've been told, you know, I'm
just kidding, but I bet you he has.

Speaker 4 (44:34):
And you know, if he can get to thirty one
and one eighth, you know, and I know it's ridiculous
to think like, oh, that could really make that big
of a difference, but that's how NFL teams operate, and
that those thresholds are important for tackles, and that's going
to be important for them on Sunday, I believe, is
when they measure in way in.

Speaker 1 (44:51):
My feeling is like in the first round, in the
late first round, mid first round, it's going to kind
of be interesting to see how the wide receivers and
tackles come off the board. I mean jokingly said maybe
twenty picks, but what's the run on first? You know,
does it kind of go wide receiver tackle, you know?
Or is it a big, you know, straight run on
those guys. It's just that second pick for the Patriots
is so interesting, and that's you know, if they do

(45:11):
google quarterback, then really that that next pick becomes just fascinating.
What direction do you go? And there's it's almost it
almost goes to a core football debate. Do you make
sure you got them protected and even at that point
it might be a little tenuous, or do you make
sure you get them a high ranking explosive receiver, Because
even if you get to the third pick, I could
we could probably get somebody in the third round of
wide receiver.

Speaker 2 (45:30):
They'd be like, Okay, I think that'll work.

Speaker 4 (45:32):
That that's my concern. My concern is that at tackle,
they need an immediate starter at tackle. And I'm a
big proponent of you build from the inside out and
the quarterbacks on the inside, so that counts right, but
quarterback you go inside out from there, and the receiver
is really the icing on you know, the cherry on top,
Like that's the last thing that you do. And I
know a lot of people don't necessarily look at it

(45:53):
that way anymore, but I still think that, you know,
the way the Bills did it by dropping Stefon digs
in like, or the way the Eagles did it with
Aj Brown, you know, those types of things.

Speaker 5 (46:03):
I feel like is the way that you go about.

Speaker 4 (46:05):
Building a roster for sustainability when you start to get
into you know, just the shiny new toys, a four
win team, drafting a wide receiver up high. It just
doesn't make much sense to me. It just I think
it's you're putting the cart before the horse. So I
think that that's what I would go. And I'm looking
forward to seeing these guys. You tackles are one of
those spots that you just want to see it, Like,

(46:25):
you want to what does this guy look like? You know,
what's his body copse? There is, Yeah, exactly how guy
can take out the tape measures, start measuring the arms
for him, so that those are types of things are important.

Speaker 2 (46:36):
All right.

Speaker 1 (46:36):
So that's gonna do it for the video portion at
least of Dus and Lazaar in Indy twenty twenty four.
We will come back in next week with plenty of
content wrapping up the tackles. You know, stay tuned of course,
Patriots Unfiltered Tuesdays and Thursdays, and launching March thirteenth, that'll
be our next episode of Patriots Draft Countdown, presented by
bud Light.

Speaker 2 (46:52):
We're gonna do a live show right on the.

Speaker 1 (46:54):
First day of official free agency, even though at that
point we'll probably have a pretty good sense of who
The Patriots will have a lot of reports, so they're
gonna sign this guy and that guy. It'll all kind
of become official on Wednesday. It'll give us a chance
to really re evaluate the draft board and see how
they're approaching these free agent needs. And coming up next
week as well, will have a full free agency preview video.
Evan and I'll be highlighting some of the players that

(47:15):
we think could possibly fit the Patriots.

Speaker 2 (47:16):
There's a lot of good players out there, guys.

Speaker 1 (47:18):
There's defensive ends, there's tackles or sorry the tackles, no,
not so much meant to say edge players, running backs,
even guys like Austin Ecklerman. There's always running back names
on the free agency market. But real quick, just any
initial thoughts on free agency.

Speaker 4 (47:31):
Well, I think you just kind of nailed it with
the players on the defensive side of the ball that
might become available. Unfortunately for the Patriots, I guess that
extra little bit of cap space at every team, god
that they weren't expecting about ten million dollars that made
it easier for contenders to tag their receivers. So t
Higgins is going back to Cincinnati or is going to

(47:54):
you know, it's gonna be a massive haul to get
him as a trade.

Speaker 3 (47:58):
Michael Pittman Junior here this week.

Speaker 4 (48:00):
Chris Ballard, their general manager for in Indianapolis, said, one
way or another, Michael Pittman Junior is going to be
a cult. Whether it's on the franchise tagger as an extension,
we're going to go right up against the deadline. But
one way or another, he's going to be a cult.
So now you take him off the board. I can't
imagine that Mike Evans is going to play anywhere else
except Tampa Bay, so you can take him off the board.
So once you start to really narrow it down, I

(48:20):
like Calvin Ridley. I think he's a solid player, but
he's really the number one receiver. And so now you're
competing in the market with teams that aren't for win football,
teams that have a more contender status.

Speaker 5 (48:31):
So that makes it harder.

Speaker 3 (48:32):
So I don't necessarily look at this receiver group and
free agency and get.

Speaker 4 (48:36):
All Google gaga about it. And I know that that's unfortunate.
Same with the quarterbacks because I don't think Baker Mayfield's
going to be available.

Speaker 3 (48:42):
So I look at the defense side of the ball.

Speaker 4 (48:44):
I think edge, you know, really the entire defensive line,
whether you want to call him edge rushers or defensive line.
I think they're interior guys. I think there's guys that
are rush the passer out on the edge that are intriguing.
And that's where I would spend the money. If they're
going to spend the money and go out and make
a splash, I would probably a Christian Wilkins, pay O'Brian Burns,
pay somebody that's really of that ilk at the top.

(49:05):
Not necessarily go out and pay Gabe Davis just because
you need a receiver.

Speaker 2 (49:08):
All right, Well that's gonna do it for Dus and
Lazarre and Indie. You put a rap on this one.

Speaker 1 (49:12):
But folks, we're just getting started here in the off season.
Free agency is just about to start. We got the
draft around the corner, big boards, mock drafts, you know
it all.

Speaker 2 (49:19):
We love it.

Speaker 1 (49:19):
We're here to win it. We're gotta get the team.
We've got to get this team back in the playoffs.
We need some talent. So it's an exciting spring. We're
excited to see all the moves the Patriots are gonna make,
and we'll be here with you every step of the way.