Patriots Draft Countdown: Final Draft Preview, Last-Minute Takes, Pats Predictions

Tune-in as Patriots writers and staff share their final draft takes in predictions on this live version of Patriots Draft Countdown. Who will drop and/or rise on the draft board, and which team do they expect to break the internet with picks/trades. Plus, who do they predict the Patriots will take fourth overall?

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
This is Patriots Draft Countdown presented by bud Like.

Speaker 2 (00:07):
Welcome to an NFL draft.

Speaker 1 (00:09):
Hosted by the writers of Patriots dot Com. From now
until you here the New England Patriots. The countdown is on.
Welcome to the Patriots Draft Countdown presented by bud Like.

Speaker 3 (00:23):
All right, welcome everybody. This is 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 guys,
the countdown is finally here. The day has arrived and
we're gonna be with you here for the next hour.
I think, just to pass the time, really, guys, I
mean that's what it is all day. We're waiting around
for this first round to start. It's been a long
couple months of build up and we're gonna have a

(00:45):
little fun today. Paul, you know, see where things have
landed after three months of draft prep, and it seems
I guess let's just start right off the top. It
seems like the rumors we've landed back at Will Campbell.
Is that where it seems like things stand this morning
for the Patriots.

Speaker 2 (00:58):
I mean, I think are all signs of point that way.
I guess that you always hold out sort of hope
for a trade of some sort, and this is the time.
And I think last week around this time, we talked
about sort of the Giants, you know, rekindling that interest
in you know, shed Or Sanders, and then people starting
to talk a lot about Ashton Genty. But I thought

(01:20):
specifically with the Giants talking about Sanders, and I had
mentioned I think this was sort of a kind of
an obvious attempt to let everybody, you know, sort of
in the vicinity know, hey, we're open for business. If
you want to move up, we're going to take them. No, no,
we mean it, We're gonna take them. I think it's
been kind of quiet, you know, as we've gotten here

(01:41):
to Thursday. But you know, we'll see there's no trade
so far, and that would be pretty much unprecedented. So
there's gonna be something's gonna happen tonight that we're not
envisioning right now.

Speaker 3 (01:50):
Isn't too much to say that this draft kind of
hinges a little bit on shod Or Sanders. If he
were to sneak into the upper reaches of this draft,
that that might change how things are projected to go
right now, because we flirted a lot with him potentially
being in that top few mix, and right now it
seems like probably not. That's where the TV's are pointing.
For whatever that means, it could be wrong at this point.

Speaker 4 (02:11):
Yeah, I don't see it with Shador being a top
three pick in this draft. And now a lot of
the reporting on the Giants is that they actually really
like Jackson Dart and he's kind of their guy at quarterbacks.
So I think with Shador, you're looking at the early
twenties kind of being where that conversation might start. Pittsburgh
at twenty one. Everybody's trying to get in front of
Pittsburgh at twenty one. It seems like to take that

(02:34):
second quarterback off the board. So to Paul's point, I
really feel like now the trades are about Ashton Genty
and whether or not some team like Chicago in particular,
is gonna come up and try to jump the line
for Ashton Genty. So you have those three blue chip
guys we've been talking about all off season, and it
seems like, even though he's a running back, that Genty

(02:54):
has put himself stamped right in the middle of that conversation.
So how if you're the Patriots. It's kind of one
of those things where you have to make a team
want to trade all the way up to four and
not five with Jacksonville. And I think a lot of
the issue right now for the Pats is that everybody
knows they want Will Campbell's so if they're not gonna
if they're gonna stick and pick at four, it's gonna

(03:15):
be Will Campbell. So we don't need to trade up
to four.

Speaker 2 (03:17):
So do you do it? You know, is Jacksonville gonna
take genty at five? And that's you know, and as
we're speaking, Daniel Jeremiah's mark comes right up on the TV,
you know, perfect timing, and there is genty five to Jacksonville.
So to Evan's point, guys, and I'd be curious because
we don't really get to hear your thoughts. I'm sick
of listening to Evan a micro know, it is very
bad everything they think about this draft. Is that a

(03:41):
spot that you would welcome for the Patriots? You know,
let's have four open for business. If Jacksonville's gonna take
genty Chicago or the Raiders or one of those teams
in the in the near Vicinity. Would you be willing
to sort of go from say let's go Chicago, go
from four to ten.

Speaker 5 (03:56):
Yeah, I mean I think it's definitely an option. I
think you have to keep all the open right now
for this pick, especially if you're looking at best player available.
I think you can have all the discussions about Will Campbell.
And I think it's important too. I mean, that's that's
your need. You need that left tackle. So I think
there's a lot of emphasis there. If you were me,
if you're gonna stick, I think you roll with what

(04:16):
your gut is telling you go with Will Campbell. But
if you are, I mean due was on early, so
you got to give him that credit.

Speaker 2 (04:23):
I don't mean letbody let somebody come up and take
genty at four because it looks like Jacksonville might be
interested in taking him at five. So if you want
him and you're behind Jacksonville, you got to get to four.
It's why the Patriots could be in an advantageous spot.

Speaker 6 (04:38):
I need I need next year's first for doing that.
Like the package needs to be read.

Speaker 2 (04:41):
Well, that's not going to be that you don't.

Speaker 6 (04:46):
Swap to swap. I need like a second. I need
a big package. For that.

Speaker 4 (04:49):
So yeah, you're going well, not necessarily if you're if
you're going from four to ten. If you're going from
the Patriots current pick to Chicago at ten and Chicago's
coming up to get they have Carolina's second round pick
from that Bryce Young trade. They're still reaping the benefits
of the Brice Young trade. So that yeah, the most
two they have two second round picks at thirty nine

(05:11):
and forty one. I believe it is I need that,
So you could probably get there first, you know, pick swap,
as Paul likes to say, at ten, then you get
one of those second round picks that they have, and
there also are some rumblings of them potentially then swapping
early day three picks as well as part of the
trade to get the Patriots that they have one forty

(05:32):
eight in the fifth round, so maybe you move up
again in another round, you know, with some of those
Day three picks is just part of the trade as well.
So a future first is probably off the table. But
if you're New England and you can draft at ten,
thirty eight and forty one all in the top fifty
and at ten, you still might be able to get
the guy you want.

Speaker 2 (05:51):
At four.

Speaker 4 (05:52):
Now, even if you don't, you still have armand Membu,
you still have Kelvin Banks, you still have Ted McMillan.
There's still the possibility maybe of either Warren if you
want to go in that direction. There's enough of a
cluster there. I would say at the tenth overall pick
that you could really talk yourself into. I just stopped
talking myself into the trade down because I didn't think
it was gonna happen. I just didn't.

Speaker 2 (06:11):
I still don't either, But I'm gonna be a partner
in the whole facilitation.

Speaker 4 (06:14):
No, I A all draft season, I've been saying there's
no trade down to be made. It would be great
if there was now all of a sudden, we're twenty
you know, less than twenty four hours out and there
might actually be a trade down.

Speaker 2 (06:26):
Yeah, I just with just that that little Jacksonville with
genty thing, you know, deuces deuces, Binkie and you know
in Chicago, Chicago would need to get there and Mike
to your point, like I know you've you've been probably
higher on genty than most in all seriousness, Like that's
the whole Ben Johnson thing. Now, Yeah, you know, we
just saw Detroit do that, you know, you know they
already had David Montgomery. They were aggressive with Jamir Gibbs

(06:49):
to get that one two punch. He had DeAndre Swift
with Jamal Williams I think, and another iteration. So clearly
he believes in that two back kind of system, and
you know, maybe that makes sense for Ben Johnson in Chicago.

Speaker 3 (07:00):
That kind of hitts on that question. I have, Paul,
which was sparked by you a couple of weeks ago.
I think I caught you maybe having an argument with
yourself internally that happens where you're you're talking about genty
and you were like, when can you draft a running back?
You know you have to wait till the line is good. Well,
if the line's good, you don't you could have any
running back, And that that's kind of.

Speaker 2 (07:19):
My philosophical bad for running backs to work. Like, I mean,
everybody says, wow, it's it's really a shame to see
what's happened to the value of that position because of
the shelf life and everything. But like, really, I've heard
a lot of people say, well, he's a really good player,
He's the third blue chip in this draft. But the
Patriots aren't ready for him. You can't take him. They

(07:39):
don't have the offensive line, they don't have the structure
around him to maximize him and just be a waste
like Christian McCaffrey and Saguon Barkley with the Panthers and
the Giants. Well, and I sort of argued the other side, like, well,
if I'm really good and I have the Eagles offensive line,
what do I need to pay the four? I could
just plug someone in and be great. What's still bad

(08:00):
for running backs?

Speaker 4 (08:01):
Yeah? I mean, obviously the biggest question is does it
move the needle enough? Like does a running back in
a vacuum move the needle enough? But I also think,
even though it might not be anybody's concern at this table,
the financial aspect of it is a factor too, where
if you draft a running back at four overall, he
is now a top five paid running back in the

(08:23):
league immediately, and by the end of his rookie contract,
he's going to be towards the higher end, you know,
in the Saquon Barkley territory of running back contracts, just
on his rookie contract. So when you look at it
from you know, a financial standpoint and just a contract value.
Now again, I don't think any of the five of
us give two hoots about the contract, right, but to

(08:44):
be honest with you, but that's just the way that
teams look at it in general as well. And when
you have this type of class at running back where
it is so deep and there are so many talented backs,
you know, is it really that big of a drop
off from Ash and Genty at the top at eight
million dollar as a rookie versus you know who you
can get on day two or day three of the draft.

Speaker 3 (09:05):
Like Judkins are one of those, yeah kind of guys.
It's just there's so many different options. And I looked
last year at the league where you had veteran running
backs sa Kwon, Barkley, Josh Jacobs being among the forefront
of veteran free agents who kind of followed the path
that we're used to around here, which is you let
the running back have their first contract, you'll and then
you'll let them go get paid elsewhere. The Patriots won

(09:26):
a different route. They retain Rmandros Stevenson didn't have a
great year last year, hoping that he bounces back this year.
But I think with this class kind of alluding to
what Evan said, kind of feels like the pendulum might
swing back to the other side of things now for
the running backs, where last year it said, hey, you
could go out there and just get one of these veterans.
They can come in and deliver. But this class I
think is going to probably change the dynamic, at least

(09:47):
in my estimation, that some of these guys that are
going to be picked in the second, third, fourth round
are going to come in and have similar kind of
impacts to what we've seen some of these guys.

Speaker 6 (09:55):
No, I agree. I mean, I forget his first name,
but Neil from Kansas. I like gid Ins as well.
Like there's so many good running backs. Josh McDaniels loves
to have the third down pass pass catching back. So
I think if gent D's there and like you love him,
take him. But I think there's other other options you
can you can.

Speaker 3 (10:14):
But that's a question though, Like what team do you
feel like is perfect for Ashtrian genty right now? Like
you're saying, are you sitting up somehow you're in the
top ten, you don't really have a big need along
the line. Maybe you don't really need a pass rusher
because this is a good year for pass rushers. You're
not really interested in any of the wide receivers. But
you know, for every point, Evan, you just made it.
I mean it's totally accurate. But at the same time,
someone's probably going to take this guy in the top ten.

(10:37):
And we heard similar things when the Lions took Gibbs, like, oh,
that's that's a little high. I'm surprised worked for them.
They obviously had a lot of talent already. But I
just that's that to me, is what team's going to
draft him and then what kind of questions are they
going to have to answer about drafting a stud running back?

Speaker 4 (10:52):
Too.

Speaker 6 (10:52):
Also, you got to see how good players because look
at Jean Robinson was like, oh the Falcons are taking
they didn't have the best line and he did his thing.
So I know it's all gonna play out and we'll see.
I'm excited to see makes that push for him.

Speaker 4 (11:03):
Yeah, I think it makes a ton of sense for Chicago.
Like they went out and they made a lot of
acquisitions on the offensive line and free agency. Go get
Joe Tooney. You know, Drew Dollman, the highest paid center
in the league. Now, I believe. You know, they went
out and really added offensive line already they are you know,
they could use a left tackle as kind of like
the finishing piece there, but that's really the one spot

(11:24):
where they kind of have a question mark on the line.
You just drafted Roma Dunza and Caleb Williams together last year,
so you have the outside playmaker. You have the quarterback
that he would complete their offense like he would put
their offense over the top potentially in Chicago. And I
can see with a fit you can see Ben Johnson,
you know how he likes to run the ball and

(11:45):
how they like to do it in Detroit. So I
understand all that. I just wonder this guy Ben Johnson
last month at the NFL league meetings was talking about
passing game EPA. So this is a guy that understands
the nerds like he understand and the analytics. He understands
what the math is telling you about what wins in
the NFL. And now he's going to give up assets

(12:06):
to trade up for a running back. Like it just
doesn't it doesn't jive. Like now, maybe they just love
Ash and GenZ so much it doesn't matter. Maybe Ryan
Poles is really the one that has the final say,
and he kind of goes above Ben Johnson on that.
But to listen to Ben Johnson's press conferences and listen
to him really buy into the analytics of football completely

(12:28):
and then say that he's going to give up a
haul to come up and draft a running back, which
is like the least analytical thing to possibly do. I
just have a tough time with that. And the same
with Jacksonville. You know, Gladstone is another giant nerd. You
love it, right, Glad We're all taken over and he
the speed and if it would go against every fiber

(12:52):
of Nerdom to then go ahead and draft a running
back in the top ten, like, it's just that's just
not how you do it.

Speaker 6 (12:58):
I just don't get it. Seemed like were locked in
on Mason Graham and just such a dramatic shift to
the other side of the ball. So I just don't
get what happened.

Speaker 5 (13:05):
My thing is with this running back class, it's it's
so flexible, so realistically, like you talk about Judkins, you
could throw him in the backfield, find a really stout
obfoensive line and he could give you just as much
production as Ashton gent would and in that sort of situation.
That being said Ashton Genty's stud I mean, he's a
freak running back, but really it all starts up front,

(13:26):
and that's coming from me. Uh but I mean, like
I said, it's.

Speaker 2 (13:34):
All I know.

Speaker 3 (13:36):
Put that ankle injury Chris may be talking about always
comes out an no one knows.

Speaker 2 (13:47):
Could have been.

Speaker 4 (13:48):
Small school guy, but really no.

Speaker 5 (13:50):
But I think there's a lot of production there with
a with a good old line with l Mario Hampton,
with Keishawn Judkins, any of those guys.

Speaker 3 (13:56):
Yeah, you know the gents stuff aside, give me a
running back, you know, or Day three late day two
at best, but a big Ollie Gordon fan by the way. Sure,
I mean there's just and again, like when we're in
this process, I feel like I don't know about you guys,
but whenever I watch I just I have a blind
spot for running backs. So maybe that says why I
picked Genty and my mock dropped. But like I just
I watch him, like, yeah, he looks pretty good. Yeah
he runs hard, at he's a little shifty. Like it's

(14:17):
hard to tell, like who's going to be good, especially
in college, Like everybody looks pretty good.

Speaker 6 (14:21):
So much spaces off that too. Then you get the
training camp and they're just running sixty yard runs because
nobody's allowed touch them.

Speaker 2 (14:27):
It looks greatge like the field is wider. Yeah, it
happens where that hashes, but like it just seems like
there's so much more space tackle. And yeah, I mean
probably the Jojia kid. You know, it's a Day three guy.
Maybe you know that's a guy who could catch the ball.
I know Mike Reese is pretty high on him as well.

Speaker 6 (14:49):
Well if the if the Jags take genty, get his
older brother.

Speaker 4 (14:54):
Yeah, I definitely, I definitely think that that's just going
to be the sweet spot. And I wonder when that
run begins at running back because there's gonna be you know,
the top tier guys, you know, Jen d Marin Hampton,
the to Ohio State guys, you know, maybe Mike Guy, Dalen,
Dylan Samson, you know Caleb Johnson from Iowa. Like those
guys are all gonna go by the end of the

(15:15):
second round easily. But then there will be another run
from the third round into the fourth round where the
other twenty draft double running backs are gonna go. And
it just isn't mad. It's not that the Patriots are
going to miss the run necessarily because there's so many
it's literally almost impossible to miss the run. It's just
what kind of running back do you want to target?

(15:36):
You know, what type? Are you looking for the scat back?
Are you looking for the pass catching back? Are you
looking for the bruiser?

Speaker 2 (15:42):
Like?

Speaker 4 (15:42):
Which type of running back are you going after?

Speaker 3 (15:44):
And I do like.

Speaker 2 (15:45):
Your Devin Neil. Yeah no, and he's a good player too.
But the kid from Boston from Michigan mullings as a bruiser.

Speaker 4 (15:54):
He's a late round blue yeah bruiser.

Speaker 2 (15:55):
He's a load. Yeah yeah, he's got some some familiarity
here with you. Organization action was coached by Dan Kraft.

Speaker 3 (16:04):
Wow, well there you go.

Speaker 2 (16:06):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (16:06):
Well it said the setting the beast, you got all
through that, you got all the way through.

Speaker 2 (16:12):
I'm just I'm just going by the beast. He was
a back of the envelope. I only because I knew
he was from Boston, and then I happened to read
it and I didn't realize that Danny coach, I know
Jonathan had so I wonder if maybe there was a
mistake there. But all Right claims that life his first
pop Warner coaches was Dan Kraft.

Speaker 3 (16:27):
How many ever guys we got in this draft this year,
I think.

Speaker 2 (16:29):
There's only one.

Speaker 3 (16:30):
Just that's weird. Uh.

Speaker 2 (16:32):
Down down here, down here, Uh, Guys.

Speaker 3 (16:35):
I want to move on to get away from that
fourth overall pick and talk a little bit about the
potential for trading back up into the first round. And
I've been making a case that I think the edge
position is a good position to maybe target at the
end of that first round, maybe to come back up
one of those guys falls through. Whether you know one
of the A and M guys we've mentioned as a
Roku from BC. Uh, you know, there's a there's a

(16:57):
few different options, and I mean even really across the front,
there's but Derek Harmon from Oreon's another guy who just
you know, it's easy to see, Wow, you could make
use of this guy. I know the Patriots had a
heavy period, you know, on the defensive side of the
ball with free agency. But is there another position? Do
you guys agree with my take about that maybe being
a good spot for to take an edge. How do

(17:19):
you feel about wide receiver in that range? You know
what would tickle your fancy trade? First? Somebody's fallen through.
You know, some of the tackle has gone, maybe even
a couple of the running backs have gone. There's been
a little run and if you guys have gotten pushed down.
I mean I think it would probably be you know, edge,
defensive tackle to an extent, maybe even linebacker a little bit.

(17:40):
You know, a guy like Johi Campbell, not sure where
he's gonna fall. But what what would what would inspire
you guys to want to go back up into that
first round and make another move. Is it a position?
Do you feel like is there a certain player Luther Burden,
Luthor Burden like a receiver. I mean, I think it's
a reasonable argument.

Speaker 2 (17:56):
No.

Speaker 6 (17:56):
I just think this is what draft number five or
six for us. We've missed out on so many receivers.
If you get your your guy at number four, and
it's the offensive lineman, maybe an edge whatever, go go
get the receiver. Like I just you keep you're gonna
hit on one. Eventually, I think you feel the same.

Speaker 4 (18:13):
Yeah, I would say receiver. I mean obviously, if you
if you're going to tackle at four, if you're not
going tackle at four, you're trading up for a tackle.
But if you if you go tackle at four, with
Will Campbell, then Mecca Buca, Luther Burden, maybe even Matthew
Golden if he slides, you know in the draft a
little bit. I don't think Ted's gonna slide that far,
but you know, any of one of those guys, because

(18:33):
I do think there is a pretty steep drop off
once you get through that group to the Iowa State guys.
You know, Higgins and Nol and Kyle Williams and Jack
Betch and like, those players kind of graded out to
me more like third round picks and an usual draft.
So like, if you take one of those players at
thirty eight, you might be reaching a little bit at

(18:54):
the receiver position there. So if you want to kind
of get in the middle of the run, I would say,
you know, trading back into the twenties to grab one
of those receivers that fall. I think it was Chad Gravit.
The Athletics said they're looking for guys that operate more
outside the numbers, which makes sense given what they have
currently on the rosters that might actually be harder to find.

(19:17):
I would say in this draft, Yeah, you know, Jaden
Niggins is probably the best fit on Day two, but
you're not trading up for Jaden Niggins, you're letting him
fall to you.

Speaker 2 (19:26):
So I really am only interested in trading up into
the back up into the first round if they do
not take Will Campbell, if they don't get a tackle.
I think a tackle would be the target there. If
it was a wide receiver, I Burden is the one
I like, and Buka would be the other option. Buka
kind of screams Josh McDaniels to me, And you know
you have the obvious Ohio State connection with Rabel. You

(19:48):
know he's got some intel there with his very close
relationship with Ryan Day. I would just assume one of
the half dozen guys that Evan just rattled off that's
going to be available in Day two. I'd I don't
want to give up a pick to move up and
get one of those receivers when I don't think there's
a huge difference between those guys. Now, I do love Burdon,
but you know, I got not enough to give.

Speaker 6 (20:09):
Up to go off that.

Speaker 3 (20:10):
Though.

Speaker 6 (20:10):
Look at last year, like reportedly they were going to
maybe trade back up, and like there was worthy Keon Coleman,
like those ended up being pretty good rookies. So it
might be like I think in hindsight it would have
been worth trading up for those guys, so it might
be worth the risk.

Speaker 2 (20:23):
Instead they traded down, Yeah, I think, I mean obviously
just missed out, you know, because you're right they I
think they were interested in Xavier Lagat yeah again and
ended up not not pulling the trigger or not being
able to consummate that trade. They ended up moving down
and passing up Lad McConkie. So it just was unfortunately
it didn't work out.

Speaker 5 (20:41):
I just think Buka and Burton, like you guys have mentioned,
I think those are the two guys that if you
go wide receiver to trade up for. I love Luther Burdon,
I mean torched BC this past year, absolutely torched them.
But I think Buka is really appealing, really Jackson Smith
and Jagba type of body, kind of great route creator,
really sawd.

Speaker 4 (21:01):
I mean, we're.

Speaker 2 (21:03):
Gonna talk a lot about Buca because I want to
get your opinion on him. We'll probably talk about him
during the shows later on tonight too. I have a
little fear on him that, you know, like the Dalais
Thomas theory that I often have, you know, like Ravens
defense is stacked. They let a lot of guys come
and go, and they almost never pay for it because

(21:25):
they know the guys that make the defense run, you know,
And obviously at Dalas Thomas it was Ray Lewis. You know,
he was the guy that was special A DLAs Thomas
was good. You know, he wasn't a stiff, but he
was good. Is it Buka beneficial? You know, to all
those two really good running backs, unbelievably talented freshman wide.

Speaker 4 (21:44):
Receiver and Marvin Harrison junior last Marvin Harrison junior last year,
in the last couple of years before that. That's the
number one knock I would say on like Buka is
that he's never been a number one receiver, Like he's
never been the guy. He's never been doubled, he's never
been game planned against. Like I have a little concern
Jeremiah Smith is there Tate their other receiver is going
to be a high draft pick next year? Who is

(22:06):
their second receiver, third receiver? Depending on what you want
to know, how you want to order those guys last
year at Ohio State. So he's never been the guy.
And if you draft a guy like Aguca, I think
what you're doing is you're drafting like a really good
number two receiver and you kind of thought that's what
you were doing with Jalen Pole last year, Like you
thought you were going to get that sort of guy. Now,

(22:27):
with that being said, I think Buka is one of
the more well rounded receivers in this class. You know,
it's route running, his hands, his willingness to go into
tough areas, his willingness to catch the ball over the
middle of the field, his willingness to block. You know,
like he does pretty much everything at a NFL level already,
where like you feel pretty good about him being plug
and play and you look at the way that they

(22:47):
would use him in a McDaniel's style offense, you can
really talk yourself into the pick. But they're the two
big concerns. He's a slot receiver, like he's probably not
gonna have the speed to play on the outside right,
and he was ever been the guy. And he also
took him five years to get out of Ohio State.
You know, he wasn't one of these guys like Marvin
Harrison Junior who was a true junior declare and and

(23:10):
was out of the you know, into the league. So uh,
it's not. He's not the most he's not the highest
ceiling player that they could take at that spot. I
think Burden certainly is uh in that group, and maybe
Golden a little bit more so than the Buka. But
that's like I say these things that people are like,
oh he hates them, Like, I don't hate him.

Speaker 2 (23:29):
I just hear I don't. I don't hate him either.
I just I feel like he's kind of like the
universally accepted Oh that's the guy the Patriots. This guy,
I'm just like.

Speaker 4 (23:41):
Because he's just a solid all around player. He's a
good dude from everything you hear given.

Speaker 6 (23:46):
To the Patriot on the one bad receiver.

Speaker 2 (23:48):
From And you know, I don't think that he'll be
a whiff. I think that he'll be as as Evan,
like a service of the number two receiver, and I
want more than that.

Speaker 6 (23:57):
I think if you're training back in Burden over at BUKA, Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 4 (24:02):
The Burden stuff is all about off the field. Like
you know, when they talk to him, do they feel
comfortable about about the person? Yeah, it's not. The football
player is a top twenty talent in the class. Like
if you're just grading it off the film, he's a
first round pick all day long.

Speaker 3 (24:16):
Well, here's my next big question, guys, is do the
Patriots have to come out of this draft with a
left tackle? And if they don't get Will Campbell at
fourth overall, you know, let's say they draft Jalen Walker
at fourth overall. How do you get a left tackle
if you don't take Will Campbell? I mean, let's I mean,
let's call it what it is. I mean, really, you
trade it down a little bit, it's probably Will Campbell
or Membo. But otherwise do they have I mean, they

(24:39):
have to get a left tackle in this draft, right,
and it's got to happen within the first thirty picks.

Speaker 2 (24:44):
I think, I yeah, I mean, if you don't get it, So,
if you don't get it with the first pick, you're
you're really really rolling the dice that you're going to
be able to get into position after that to get
a Simmons or O Connorley or one of those guys,
and then obviously less of a sure thing down you go.
But do they have to get a left tackle in
this draft? I don't think you have to have every

(25:06):
whole of your rebuild addressed immediately. Now, obviously it's going
to be tough to go through another whole year without
a left tackle. Do you get on the phone with
Vegas and say, you know you want Ashton gent Do
you want to switch from four to six and give
us Colton Miller, which we just got an email about.

(25:27):
Did you see that email? Yeah, we just literally just
someone sent sent that in before we came in to
do the show. I drop from four to six and
get Colton Miller.

Speaker 4 (25:36):
Who is this someone?

Speaker 2 (25:36):
Because now it was a random email like it was
like a listener, a fan, like a.

Speaker 4 (25:42):
Q and a thing.

Speaker 2 (25:43):
Yes, yes, I just want to they as they say
on my show, is that it's not it's not on
my phone, it's not it's not informed.

Speaker 4 (25:54):
I just know that we'll get clip.

Speaker 2 (25:59):
Was not reporting any such thing. And to my knowledge,
to be honest, to my knowledge, Colton Mill is not
even available. Colton Miller didn't go to voluntary OTAs and
is reportedly interested in getting a new contract. That's all
I know about Colton Miller. There's a big, big stretch,
but that there's a leak between that and he's on
the market. Do you know what I mean, like that

(26:21):
he's available? Yeah, I don't know. I have no idea
that he's I think.

Speaker 6 (26:26):
I agree with dru. The question is, like you say,
if we don't get Campbell, I guess the question is
what do the Giants do If the Giants shock the
world and take Jackson Dart and Carter's there, Like, do
you take Carter?

Speaker 3 (26:36):
Like I still am not, I still would take him.

Speaker 6 (26:38):
I thing you take Carter Campbell? Yeah, I think like
I think you can't pass it.

Speaker 2 (26:42):
I think he works that the Patriots would take Campbell
even if Carter were available. I think you're wrong.

Speaker 6 (26:48):
I'd be very I'd be pretty upset if Carter's there
and you don't take him. I think that's like just
a mistake, Like that's one of those three blue chip
prospects sliding and he's there, you hit the lottery. He's there.

Speaker 4 (26:59):
Yeah, I would say, you know, it doesn't have to
be at four. But if they come out of tonight
without a left tackle on the roster, I would be disappointed.
They have to find a way to come out of
Night one with one of those six guys, and I
probably would take Josh Simmons off the list. I don't
think they're gonna take the injury risk on Simmons just
listening to some of the things that Rabel has said
about doing that in the past. But one of those six,

(27:22):
you know, Membu, Campbell, Banks, Ursery, connorly Simmons has to
be a Patriot, Like it just it's not negotiable. Like,
I just don't know how you can go into another
season with left tackle by committee at best, and like
Vederian Lowe like as like really the Pencilton starter right now,
I just you can't do it. And that's it. After that,

(27:43):
the whole thing drops off. Like now we're talking about
you know flyers on, Charles Grant or you know Anthony
Belton or one of those guys on day three, you
know Travis or Logan Brown, Like that's not an answer,
that's not ideal and solve the problem.

Speaker 3 (27:57):
We know what will Campbell's questions are, but throwing like
you said, throwing Josh Simmons out of it. He's got
a long recovery process coming off a torn Pateeller ten
in What would the issues be for the other four
guys if the Patriots were to draft Membo, Connory, Ursery
and what was the last one one? Other Membo? Right?

Speaker 4 (28:16):
Yeah, Bank, Banks? All right, so what's like they're they're eventually.

Speaker 3 (28:22):
We know Will Campbell's got some link issues, but one.

Speaker 4 (28:24):
Of those so members obviously a right tackle. So we're
gone from right to left, which has been done, but
it's it's a small samples faster than he certainly has
all the tools to do it. Sure, but you know
you're basically counting on him being like a Tyron Smith
Tristan Wharf's level outlier that he can just make that
switch and have it be seamless. Kelvin Banks, there's a

(28:46):
lot of people that view him in the league as
a guard and he's actually in the Beast with Dan
Brugler as a guard, not as a tackle. The more
space that he plays in his body control gets a
little bit crazy and he falls off blocks a lot
when he gets out on islands and things like that.
So people are a little bit concerned about his movement
and his body controlling his balance. Uh once he gets
out into space out at the tackle position. You look

(29:08):
at Ursery. I think the biggest thing with him is
he's just huge, and so he's got a little bit
you know, slower feet for readers, he's kind of goes,
you know, his pads get high and he's kind of
one of those guys as afforward Lean. It just kind
of comes over guys like this and like sometimes that's
you know, gets you a little bit grabby, you know,
narrows your base a little bit, which makes it harder
to change directions and slide with guys. Uh Connery, while

(29:31):
we saw that at the Senior Bowl, he gets run over.
Like his play strength is a concern, you know that
that's something that that teams are a little bit worried
about his body mass and his play strength. And the
one thing that you would say with him is he's
twenty one years old, so you would think that that
will improve, you know, once he gets in the program,
right Paul, and you get him lifting the weights and.

Speaker 2 (29:51):
The nutrition nutrition at the NFL level.

Speaker 4 (29:53):
Yes, Yeah, I don't think there's a ton of concern
about it because of that. Like I think teams genuinely
think that they'll get him stouter and get him stronger.
But that's a big thing. And obviously Simmons has the
medical us which we'd all know about, but all of
these guys will have a little bit of flaws, but
I think all of them are certainly upgrades over Vendarian Lowe,

(30:16):
and they're definitely worth putting in the pipeline as developmental
pieces that can get there over time. I think Urser
is pretty solid in terms of being a rookie starter.
He's just going to He's going to have some limitations
at his size that you have to work around. Plus right, yeah,
you know, I mean, we're not quite trend Brown territory.

Speaker 2 (30:34):
He's a big dude.

Speaker 4 (30:35):
There are some concerns about his motor and about his
endurance and games because of it. But at the same time,
he bocked Abdul Carter for four straight quarters last year
at Minnesota.

Speaker 3 (30:45):
I mean, not to oversimplify it, but I mean, just
to simplify what you just said. I mean, I feel
like the Patriots got to come out of tonight with
one of those guys, and all those guys have some
kind of questions. There's no slam dunk at their biggest
position to need, so there's going to be some element
of a leap of faith, even whether it's Will Campbell,
you know at four overall, or it's Ursery. Like say

(31:07):
you get down a thirty thirty one to thirty somewhere
in there.

Speaker 5 (31:09):
If you if you choose to go a different direction
with the fourth overall pick. I mean, I think Connorley
is very appealing. Obviously, like you said, play strength is
important and you know you want to be safe with that.

Speaker 4 (31:19):
But he's young, he could grow.

Speaker 5 (31:21):
You just put some meat on the bones a little
bit and you know, let him develop and he doesn't
have to come out and be amazing. But he's a
starting left tackle. He can be a starting left tackle
in the league if he grows a little bit more.
So you know, I kind of see an appeal there.
I think he could be available in that kind of
late twenties range as well, So I kind of like
Connorley there.

Speaker 4 (31:39):
Yeah, he'd probably be viewed at in that second group
of Simmons Ersery. I would say Simmons probably has the
highest ceiling, but he's obviously got the injury. I Connorly is,
you know, out of the healthy ones. Like, he's probably
got the highest ceiling for sure, out of all these
players because he's the best pass blocker and he's the
lightest on his feet. Ursery is probably more pro ready.
If like you wanted to say, all right, who could

(32:01):
start in September for the New England Patriots. I probably
say that Urser has a better chance of doing that
than Connerly, but I think all three of those guys
have a chance if healthy, you know, to be able
to start Week one.

Speaker 3 (32:12):
Is it too simple Paul to say if Abdul Carter
was available, he's good enough to make it worth potentially
having to punt on the left tackle need at this juncture.

Speaker 2 (32:22):
Yeah, I mean I feel that way, but I understand
why people and you know, you guys obviously all feel
the same way about the left tackle, and believe me,
I see the gaping hole. I just don't feel the
urgency that in twenty twenty five I have to have
no holes like I need to fill, you know, all
seventeen holes that I had heading in everybody, I have

(32:44):
to have the the guy of the future at that.
I mean, I think they've done some nice work and
free agency to improve the overall talent level. I feel
like they will do some good work in the draft.
I have more confidence heading into this process right now
than I did a year ago. With time. If they
decide that Will Campbell isn't the answer at tackle, which

(33:05):
that's obviously where that's the only question that really you
need to ask if everybody was in agreement that he's
going to be a left tackle. There's no decision. He's
the best tackle on the board and you're going to
have an opportunity at four to take him. So if
you think he's worthy of that, then take him. But
if you don't, I'm not gonna sit there and say
we can't play this year because now we don't have

(33:26):
a left tackle. No, they've improved the offensive line some,
just not enough. But it can be a two step process.
It's not ideal. I agree, you guys are all right.
Just I just I'm not going to get lost if
it doesn't happen all at once.

Speaker 5 (33:40):
Just as ask a quick question, Paul, do you think
Kane Wallace could be potential guy to play left tackle?
Say the Patriots forego any tackle draft pick.

Speaker 3 (33:47):
Do you think that?

Speaker 5 (33:48):
Do you have faith in Kane Wallace to try to
maybe step up, Yeah, step in front of Darian Low
this year.

Speaker 2 (33:52):
I really don't. But that is another thing that's your
right to bring up. Chris because they, you know, Rabel
him else talked about that possibility with you with Mike
when you were there at the Orange meetings. You know,
I think he said, yeah, we're gonna we're gonna work
on that. We're gonna give that a chance. And as
Evan said, it's not unprecedented. It's a hard to transition

(34:13):
to move from left to right, right to left and
all that, but guys have done it. I just think
that he looks to me just the way his body
type like, he looks to me like a right tackle.
I'm not sure that he has the feet for it.
But you know, he was also banged up, and really
we never really got a chance to see what he
really was last year. He suffered a pretty significant injury,

(34:36):
I want to say, in San Francisco, like the third
of the fourth maybe the fourth game of the year,
so we really didn't get a good look at him.
And I would expect him and the other offensive rookie
offense from last year, Laden Robinson on the inside to
be better. They should be better in year two.

Speaker 4 (34:50):
I just worry about this tackle class being really thin,
and there's really only five or six guys that you
can talk yourself into even having a chance to be
start period. Like down the road. I think a lot
of people are really high on Charles Grant from William
and Mary, but he's a project, Like, you're you're betting
on athletic traits with him, and you're hoping that he's

(35:11):
going to develop in two to three years into a
starting caliber tackle. I don't know if he will. You know,
Anthony Belton is kind of in the same boat. Ozzie
Trapilo is a really solid player, but he's a right tackle,
and you're doing the right tackle left tackle thing again.
So it's just like, if you don't do it in
the first round tonight and you don't grab one of
those six guys, you are basically punting on the position.

(35:32):
Because I'm not gonna sit here and say that Charles
Grant is like an answer like that, Oh, they drafted
Charles Grant, and I would totally agree with that, And
and now we're all of our problems have solved. I
think we've all learned enough from the Yadney co Justice
of the world that that's the draft is a crapshoot
once you get to that point of whether or not
these guys are going to pan out. So I would
just be really concerned about the fact that there would

(35:53):
really be no path at that point to adding a
starting caliber tackle if you don't do it tonight. So
we'll see what happens.

Speaker 3 (36:00):
Yeah to I mean, this is, you know, boiling it
all down for you guys.

Speaker 2 (36:03):
There.

Speaker 3 (36:03):
We spent so many months and we get to this
point here where the draft finally starts today and you
feel like you have some perspective. Next point I want
to touch on those guys, was just dark horse positions,
you know, positions we haven't really talked about. We spent
so much time talking about tackles, and we've even dabbled
a little bit on running backs because it's a good
class name with the edge, which again I just I
feel like edge and running back or two positions not

(36:24):
super like you have a glaring hole like you do
at left tackle right now, but you have long term
needs at those positions, and it's a rich year at
both those spots. So I think it makes good value
sense to try to target both those positions. But I'll
just start on your entise. You know, what's another position
that that maybe we're not talking about, that we haven't
given enough time too, that really might be up for considerations.

Speaker 6 (36:44):
I think the secondary safety and cornerback. I think there
are a couple of good prospects there. I know we
talked about Winston Starts probably can be a first rounder,
so not there, but just the secondary. Dougger is a
little older. Now, we got Carlton Davis, but like you know,
is he's up there too, had some injury concerned. So
if there's a good player, there could be an interesting
spot to get somebody.

Speaker 3 (37:04):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (37:04):
Yeah, slot corner I think is an interesting one.

Speaker 3 (37:07):
You know.

Speaker 4 (37:07):
I think we all like Marcus Jones, maybe for varying reasons,
but we all like the player. But if they went
in and got a slot corner, you know, maybe early
on Day three with one of those fourth or fifth
round picks, that they have to just add a maybe
a little bit of a bigger body, you know, someone
that's a little sturdier in there, and and just some competition,
I know, you know, Mac McWilliams from UCF's name has

(37:29):
been floated around and some reporting over the last twenty
four hours. I see him probably at his best playing
in the slot as a man coverage slot corner. So
you put him in the secondary with Carlon Davis and
with Christian Gonzales and that kind of rounds out your
cornerback room to have, you know, two outside guys and
a guy that can play the nickel that can play inside.

(37:49):
So maybe it's someone like that. Maybe it's Jacob Parrisho's
one of my guys in this draft, but maybe you
know a little bit earlier than Mac McWilliams. But that
spot in particular, you know, what where does Brabele want
to go with it? Like, what's his vision in terms
of the scheme of the type of player that he
wants to play inside? Does he want a bigger player,
does he want somebody that's a little stouter against the run?

(38:12):
And also just you know how much faith did they
have in Marcus Jones to play that spot and to
stay healthy?

Speaker 3 (38:18):
Yeah, what about the slot? I mean what about interior
line positions? I mean, David Andrews retired, you have some
options there guard positions. You've drafted a few young guys
that you have that you're still trying to maybe get
a look at. I don't know if either of those
are day one, day two priorities, Paul, but it feels
like they might take a flyer, compete, bring somebody in.

Speaker 2 (38:37):
But first of all, we know that what's assuming they're
going to take Will Campbell, But when you move, they're
going to take more than one offensive lineman, you can
guarantee it. And the ones that go in Day three
you're probably going to be interior type guys. They need
to create probably some more competition in that regard. And

(39:00):
you know, I've heard, you know, people talk about, you know,
even doubling up right at the top, you know, going
tackle tackle. So if it's Will Campbell in Simmons, you know,
and Simmons isn't going to be ready for football activities
reportedly until like August, so let's just say the middle
of the year he's ready to go, and then you know,

(39:20):
maybe Campbell is kind of struggling and you know, the
arms are an issue, and you want to move him inside.
Did you just get a left tackle and left guard,
you know, and picks one and two. Now, I wouldn't
necessarily want to do that. As as Evan likes to say,
I have enough socks and underwear, you know, for Christmas,
I understand that we have the glaring need and we
have to take one of those. But they are going

(39:41):
to be more offensive lineman. I'll give you a position,
Mike that I don't think that has really gotten much attention,
but tight end. And I'm not interested necessarily I love
Tyler Warren as you know, but I get the Will
Campbell part there. But if you got to like day
two and Day three and you know, like a Mason Taylor,
you know some of these guys. I think the tight
end class is decent. I don't think it's it's it's

(40:04):
not as deep and talented as running back and edge.
But I think there's some good tight ends here.

Speaker 3 (40:09):
That's always.

Speaker 2 (40:09):
You can get a good tight end date. Then they
have two thirty something year old tight ends that's in
need too.

Speaker 6 (40:14):
We're big on gunner Helm.

Speaker 4 (40:15):
Ye, gunner Helm. Yeah, those two guys there are good names.
I think Gunner Heelm. You might get lucky and he's
there at one oh six.

Speaker 2 (40:24):
Because the Day three guy with the Iowa guy, it
looks like a pretty good all around latch.

Speaker 6 (40:30):
We talked about it like that's tight end University, Like yeah.

Speaker 2 (40:34):
I mean it's it was like, oh, we got another Kittle.

Speaker 6 (40:37):
No he's not, but like that's a it's like BC
with the o lineman though. It's just a good program.

Speaker 4 (40:43):
My guy, Thomas Fedoni from Nebraska, a really athletic player.
Uh is uh has some injuries early on in his
career at Nebraska. That kind of hurt him throughout his
college career. But he's healthy now, He's got a lot
of talent. But yeah, I think that interior offensive line,
this is an awesome interior offensive line class, like probably

(41:04):
one of the strains of the.

Speaker 3 (41:05):
Draft because all the tackles are all interior.

Speaker 4 (41:07):
Right, It's because all of the tackles are going to
be guards. He's so right. And I'm not talking about
Will Camp, but Donovan Jackson, Wyatt Milam Gray Zabel, like,
all those guys are going to play inside. So Marcus
Mabo potentially as well, uh Jonah Sevilla from Arizona. So, like,

(41:29):
you take all the guys that played tackle in college
and you add all of those to the guard class,
and then you even have guys like Tyler Booker and
you know the pure guards as well, Tate Ratlete, you know,
all three of those Georgia guys. You know it's a center,
but all three of them are going to be NFL players.
So you start to look at the guard slash center
position in this draft. I've been like, it's a great

(41:51):
class if you want to add talent there. And I
actually genuinely feel like their guards in this class that
are better than Leiden Robin and City So and col Strange.
So as much as it might not feel like it's
a desperate need because they have three recent draft picks
that compete at left guard. Like, if you draft one
of those guys on day two, I think they're better

(42:11):
players than those three. So you're looking at you know,
day one starter potential. You know, I would just throw
it out there. You know, thirty eight Tyler Booker, Donovan
Jackson from Ohio State. You know those two guys, I
think is potentially if you really want to four to
fry the trenches and you want to set it and
forget it on that left side. Tyler Booker is not

(42:34):
your typical first round pick. He's not very athletic. He's
a downhill so you think he'll see guard.

Speaker 2 (42:39):
You think he'll slip to round two if history.

Speaker 4 (42:43):
Tells us anything. Yes, I think it's possible. I like
it because of the poor athletic testing in the scheme
fits like if you're an outside zone team, you can't
draft Tyler Booker. So the teams that need guards, you know, Rams,
Dolphins like cross it off like he's not their guy.
You know, it's not going to be them, so du
if you want to if you want to run downhill

(43:05):
and you want to get on a double team, some
freaking body. Tyler Booker is an absolute animal, would.

Speaker 3 (43:16):
Say at the combine, he said, I like to take
the love of the game away from people.

Speaker 4 (43:19):
He him and as your two guards would move mountains,
like you're talking about having to legitimate problem. And you know,
with Garrett Bradbury at center, you just having two big
dudes next to him to hold the middle of the pocket.
I mean, it's it's a great.

Speaker 5 (43:38):
You can talk about the centers a little bit too,
And I mean, I love Drew Kendall out of out
of b C. I think you spend the most appealing center,
at least for my eyes, for Patriots to take either
like a second or third round pick or more third
round pick for Kendall.

Speaker 4 (43:50):
But I think there's a lot of peel there.

Speaker 5 (43:52):
I think Garrett Bradbury, I mean, right now it's slatted
as a starting center, but you know, wouldn't be wouldn't
be a bad thing to kind of give him that
sort of idea of competition or hey, like you know
someone else is in the room with you, Like you
know you got cold Strange who can also play the position.
I mean, you've seen him play a little bit, so
you know, I think there's a lot of interest there
at center.

Speaker 4 (44:10):
Yeah, Drew Kendall is a good player, and I do
think that there's a chance that you know, he could
maybe even compete at guard as a backup guard as well,
So maybe you have some positional flexibility there with his athleticism.
You know, Jackson Slater from sax State's another one that
played Garden College that a lot of people project to
play center. Joshua Gray as well. But if you want
to you draft a guy like that, you know, one

(44:31):
of those two players. Now, maybe they can play a
little guard, they can play a little center, and you
kind of find where their best, you know, at a
long term once you get him here, which is maybe
what they would be looking for. I got to put it.
Throw Willie Lampkin out there too, all right. I know
he's only two hundred and seventy pounds. I know he
didn't get invited to the Combine, but he has some
of the best interior offensive line tape of anybody in

(44:53):
this class. And he played with Drakesvan.

Speaker 6 (44:54):
Who's the other guy we mentioned ar mak was it McLoughlin.

Speaker 4 (44:58):
Yeah, from Ohio State. Yeah, he's so he's hurt. You know,
he's coming off an injury, just like Josh Simmons. He
tore his achilles in practice at Ohio State last year,
which is it was a real bummer, right because he
was going to be a top one hundred pick at
center if he didn't. So if you can get him
in the fourth or fifth round because of the injury,
he's not gonna be ready to go right away. But

(45:18):
you have Brad Burry. You build the bridge and then
they get to seth McLaughlin.

Speaker 3 (45:22):
So, guys, as we're getting ready here the last fifteen minutes,
and of course we're just gonna take a little break
for about six hours and then PU will be live
to take a seven thirty, leading you right into the draft.

Speaker 2 (45:32):
I'm gonna eat.

Speaker 3 (45:33):
We gotta eat, we gotta fuel up. We got a
fuel full night. We'll be covering the full first round
of the draft. We'll have some guests. We'll have I'm
not sure who, but people from the Patriots front office
calling in after the picks, all kinds of coverage. Of course,
you guys know how we do it here. But I
want to ask you guys off the Patriots beaten path, though,
is there something tonight just generally with the league, with
another team generally speaking, that you're interested to see, Like

(45:55):
like for me, it's it's really about Sanders and where's
he gonna go and how to teams really feel about
the quarterback position and when a guy comes in with
this confidence, can teams pass on it, can teams talk
about I don't know, if he's good, we got to
take them. You know that you feel that pressure tease,
It feels real.

Speaker 6 (46:11):
No, I was gonna bring that bring up a topic.
But that being said, if I want to see if
Dart goes before Sanders, because I don't get that we
were talking about Sanders as a top four and now
he's slid into potentially twenty, so like that it's a
pretty big drop, so crazy to see. But the thing
I want to talk about, which I'm sure you guys
will talk about later, if there are any big trades.
I know Pickings has been on the market, apparently on

(46:32):
the Patriots side. There've been reports about Booty, so like,
I just want to know if there's gonna be a
crazy Draft day trade like AJ Brown and trailing Burkes
a couple of years ago. Something like that. I think
would be interesting to see.

Speaker 3 (46:42):
Usually that's happened right about now, don't Yeah.

Speaker 4 (46:44):
It's like five hours before the draft starts, so like
those quarterbacks will be fascinating, you know, Dart Sanders, mil Row. Yeah,
those guys. I think everybody is going to be falling
over themselves trying to get back up into the first round.
When I say everybody, Cleveland, the Giants, and all the
quarterback teams. It seems like the Browns and the Giants
want their cake and to eat it too, So they're

(47:05):
going to take the best player available at the top
and then try to trade back in and get the quarterback.
And it's a great plan. Like if you can get
it done, if you're Cleveland and you can come out
of this draft of Travis Hunter and Shdoor Sanders like that,
that's a pretty good haul on night, make a movie
about that, Yeah, Like, I mean, that would be a
legitimate plan for Cleveland that I've never seen the Browns

(47:26):
have before.

Speaker 2 (47:27):
Is the most intriguing individual, uh player that you know
in recent memory. You know, not because of his talent,
just because of the wide range of thought surrounding him.
They still can't seem to get everybody to just say
he's not going three to the Giants. Yeah, No one
will just definitively say because I I don't know.

Speaker 4 (47:52):
Yeah. I think that there's uh, there's divide inside the
Giants right now, and I don't know the one guy
I can't figure out. I don't know where Joe Shane
is on all of this, but I think I know
where Brian Dable is, and I think he's a Jackson
dark guy, and he's looking at top of the second
round trade back in the late first round to draft
a guy like Jackson Tart. I think ownership is saying,

(48:14):
if you guys pass on the quarterback law, you better
not be wrong. And then I think Joe Shane is.
I have no idea, He's the mystery man in all
of this, but it sounds to me like ownership is like, well,
Pennix and bow Knicks, they look pretty good, and you
guys told us last year that we had to pass
it wasn't worth it at that spot, and so if
we do that again with Shador and he goes on

(48:37):
to Pittsburgh and has a great rookie year, see it
like you're out right.

Speaker 3 (48:41):
Well the way you're laying it out too, And could
this play into the Patriots hands a little bit or
I don't even know, maybe it might be a bad thing.
But we just talked about the Patriots potentially training back
into the first Might they have competition for teams trying
to go back up to get quarterbacks, which wouldn't be
what the Patriots are trying to do. I don't really
know off the top of my head how that might
affect them, but there probably might be a lot of

(49:02):
action tonight.

Speaker 2 (49:02):
But let's just say Cleveland and the Giants do that. Yeah,
they both do it. Yeah, Yeah, that's good for the
Patriots because that that's too much down correct, Yeah, guy, Yeah,
so you said.

Speaker 4 (49:14):
Right, So you know, Pittsburgh's at twenty one. Everybody's trying
to get ahead of Pittsburgh because everyone thinks that they're
going to take whichever quarterback falls into their lab. So
the run at you know, maybe eighteen is where it
starts and someone tries to trade up, you know, draft Dart,
draft Shaedoor there. I really feel like there's a path
for Jalen Milroe to to be a starting quarterback in

(49:34):
the league. Man yeah, I mean his his uh, you know,
his running ability is Lamar Jackson good like he and
he's a little bit different in the way he runs.
You know, he's more of like a straight line explosive runner.
But his his breakaway home run speed is off the
charts for a quarterback. So if you build it right,
if you build a Baltimore Philly style offense around a

(49:55):
quarterback like Milroe, then you might have a Jalen Hurt
two point zero type of situation.

Speaker 5 (50:02):
The thing with Millroe that I love is again his speed.
But yeah, I mean his accuracy might not always be there,
but he can throw the ball.

Speaker 4 (50:10):
Oh yeah, yeah, he rips it.

Speaker 5 (50:11):
He can launch. So like the fact, I mean, he
has slowly been climbing up in the rankings so far
in this draft. But I just feel like there's been
a lot of disrespect on Jaylen Milroe in this draft process.

Speaker 4 (50:22):
I think he's a really solid quarterback prospect.

Speaker 2 (50:25):
I'd be guilty of that. I don't think he can play.
I think it's an exceptional runner. I don't think he's
anywhere near his gifted a passers like Lamar was at
a similar stage.

Speaker 4 (50:35):
Lamar was definitely more accurate I agree. I think they
was there for them, and I think Lamar.

Speaker 2 (50:39):
Was a project as a passer for the NFL. I
think I don't think. I don't think those two were
even close as passers in college.

Speaker 5 (50:46):
I just think accuracy can be worked on. Like I
think that there's a technique that can go with throwing
the ball more accurately.

Speaker 2 (50:53):
I think Evans thing is the only thing that I
would sort of relent on. If you wanted to sort
of just completely turn your offense over something totally geared
to him, maybe it could work. And I know a
lot of people have said, you know, Alabama, Jalen's like,
like Evan said, hurts the way Philadelphia runs it. Can
you better get aj Brown and DeVante Smith and Dallas

(51:16):
because he's gonna need some guys to make some places
for him. Yeah, he haside receiver.

Speaker 4 (51:22):
I saw, Yeah, he had the best zip on the
ball out of all the quarterbacks at the Senior Bowl.
I thought, you know, just watching them live in practice,
I thought he had the best zip on the ball.
He doesn't know where it's going. Uh, you know, maybe
that can be.

Speaker 2 (51:36):
Seems like he sees it very well.

Speaker 4 (51:37):
Yeah, I mean I think he's going to have to
be in like a structured r PO play action style
offense where it's a lot of simple reads and uh,
you know easily you know, accurate throws that are over
the middle of the field that make it easier to
be accurate. But I think that there's enough just raw
talent there that if you're a team like Cleveland or
the Giants or Pittsburgh and you miss out on on

(51:58):
maybe one of the other two guys, that that's a
worthy dart throw.

Speaker 5 (52:01):
I would say that's fun, but dart dart throw.

Speaker 4 (52:05):
Sure, I'm surprised.

Speaker 2 (52:07):
I'd rather do that if I were those teams didn't
take Sanders at three, and I think that.

Speaker 5 (52:13):
Is the smartest option for the Giants at all.

Speaker 2 (52:15):
I would rather have Dart or mill Row than Sanders
because I don't think there's much difference between those players.

Speaker 4 (52:20):
And believe it or not, and if it happens like
kudos to them. It sounds like everybody is being smart
about this and and actually evaluating the quarterbacks correctly for once,
like most of the time everyone reaches on them, but
this year it does feel like everyone's aware that these
guys are not work the second and third overall pick
in the draft, and even two teams that are desperate
for quarterbacks are actually going to pass on them, which

(52:42):
is crazy.

Speaker 2 (52:42):
Like every five years or so, it happens, like the
Kenny Pickett Draft, the EJ Manual Draft, Like every once
in a while, it's just not that good. We're not
going to take them.

Speaker 3 (52:50):
I know, I think you're right out, but there's still
a part of me that just thinks, once the draft starts.

Speaker 2 (52:54):
You're still giving lunch.

Speaker 6 (52:56):
Stupid.

Speaker 2 (52:57):
I don't care. You're still paying me the lunch you're
going to owe me tonight.

Speaker 3 (53:01):
I will be happy to I'm telling you, I still
think that he.

Speaker 2 (53:04):
Ain't going anywhere, But you know it's not going before
twenty one. We'll say the only chance, and I'm not
sure that the Steelers are going to take him. Everybody
seems to have him targeted for the Steelers at twenty one.
I'm not even sure they're taking them. And he's the
only advance that the Giants take. There's no chance to
me that the Browns take him at two. I think
Travis Hunter has been a Brown for like six months,
and we're just going to find that out. And for

(53:25):
your purposes, you better hope that Cleveland does take Travis
Hunter and not ab Dual Carter, because if they don't
take the only glimmer is that the Giants feel like,
you already have two pass rushers, we don't need a
third one, even though the Giants have done that many
times with a lot of success. If it's Carter, maybe
there's a one percent chance they say, well, we don't

(53:46):
need a third pass rusher. We'll just take the quarterback
and then you'll win. You know, you'll make me look
you have you smile.

Speaker 4 (53:52):
I don't smile when ownership gets involved at the end
of the process and the Maras come in the room
and they say, wait, we're not taking the quarterback again,
you know, And everybody looks around and says, well, the board,
the board, the board, and the owner says, the board,
the check like I'm cutting the checks, Like take the quarterback,
you know, that's the only way. But I don't. I
don't think it's gonna happen. I really do think they're

(54:12):
going to be smart about it.

Speaker 3 (54:14):
Still slightly a little bit of intrigue at the top,
not like last year didn't feel like there was a
lot of intrigue. It was just Washington's gonna take Daniels. Yes, Okay,
May is our guy. Great this year, there's a little
bit more, not a lot more. I would say, It's
not like we're you're, you know, down five, six seventy eight,
where all of a sudden things will get crazy.

Speaker 4 (54:30):
Yeah, but I still feel.

Speaker 3 (54:31):
Like there's a little bit of intrigue here at these
first few picks. To watch these.

Speaker 6 (54:34):
Unfold one hundred pc. I think we're due for some
shock at some point. I just wonder where it's going
to be.

Speaker 2 (54:39):
Honestly, a trade, Yeah, the only thing that could shock
me is a trade because those first three picks I
think are already made. I think the first four picks
have already made.

Speaker 4 (54:47):
Yeah, I think the top is pretty set. But I
do think once you get past that, we've been talking
about it all draft season, you know, four to like
even all the way down into Day two, it's all
kind of the same. Like the talent really levels off
after that. So I do think you're going to see
widely different boards team to team, you know, based off
of a scheme fit, based off of interviews and pre
draft process stuff. You know, who really cares about the combine,

(55:10):
who doesn't really care about the combine like all these
different elements that kind of are deal breakers or you know,
tip the scales to one.

Speaker 6 (55:17):
Project Sean McVay cam today, if you take Sanders out
of it, who do you think is the top prospect
that slides the most. It's a good question, Mason Graham.

Speaker 4 (55:29):
I could see a good pick. Yeah, that's a good Yeah,
it might be like early teen slide, but yeah, I
could see that. Like that's the perfect example of what
I'm saying, Like he's not an athlete.

Speaker 6 (55:40):
Locked for everybody seemed locked in and Jacksonville they are
like videos of him waying Jaguars gear, but now like
they love.

Speaker 3 (55:46):
Jack Well, I'll ask you have the other end of
that question, though, Who's a player you think could go
way higher than any of us really expect to go
and might kind of screw up, not screw up, but
only change the draft board at like five six seven.
I'm thinking of you know, Jayla Walker, probably not stretch.
Mikel Williams. I would say I've seen some things of

(56:07):
him going high. That to Georgia guys going higher than
anyone's really projecting anybody else that stands out to you.

Speaker 4 (56:12):
Maybe, Yeah, So two guys want to like high, and
then one like maybe just higher than expected. Matthew Golden,
you run a four two nine, like the league just
is gonna swoon over that. Like whether it's actually shows
up on tape or not is usually irrelevant when it
comes to these kinds of things, Like I watched you know,
Darius Hayward Bay and Henry Ruggs, and you know, all

(56:33):
these other receivers get drafted extremely high because of how
fast they run and they're forty times. So I look
at Matthew Golden as a guy. You know, if Jacksonville
doesn't go genty, they're going offensive skill player. I think,
you know, it might be Ted McMillan, it might not
be genty. Like if you're Carolina and you're there at
eight and your top receiver right now is like a
thirty three year old Adam Feeling and you just have

(56:56):
really no other offensive firepower whatsoever on that side of
the all, like a guy like Matthew Golden that that
can take the top off like that and has that
kind of because you're.

Speaker 2 (57:05):
Too young receivers too, because tease is right, they drafted
look get and yeah, you know, maybe he makes a
year two jump, you get a younger guy with that
kind of explosiveness. Yeah, I'm not saying I'm just saying
maybe Bryce Young wasn't the bust that everybody rolled them off.

Speaker 4 (57:17):
Yeah, so I think Matthew Golden just based off of history,
Uh you know, just go right down the line of
all the fast receivers that got that got drafted higher.

Speaker 3 (57:26):
I was just laughing. I was like, is Raccoon part
of the NFL nutrition program? Because that's what Xavier looking at.

Speaker 4 (57:33):
Raccoon and just really quickly the other one, Trevon Henderson,
uh from Ohio State, I think is going to go tonight.
And again it's just it's Jamier Gibbs two point zero.
Like everyone's gonna look at him and say, well, it
kind of looks like Jamier Gibbs, like you know, so
like they're just gonna swoon over the speed, swooning over
the explosiveness and the big playabilities. So I would be
shocked if if Trevan Henderson doesn't go tonight.

Speaker 6 (57:55):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (57:55):
That's that's something I don't really realize until you get
to the draft, Like, oh, right, all the teams that
the Patriots are trying to beat are also going to
get better tonight. And they're going to get players that
we love and I think, I mean, remember talking about
the guy who went to the Jets many moons ago,
Paul your linebacker you love, where it's like, oh man,
they're gonna get it. I mean, sometimes it works out.
He's an actual bust. But like you know, some of

(58:17):
these guys, like the Georgia guys that I love, like
the times we miss seeing them go to the Jets
or something like that. That's kind of the rub.

Speaker 6 (58:22):
Of draft big on Devin Lloyd a couple of years ago.

Speaker 3 (58:25):
Right now, and it doesn't quite work out. You don't
you know, you don't know what, you don't know at
that point. But you're excited for the guys that your
team is going to add, but you also don't quite
realize like some players that you really like and think
are good are going to end up on teams that
you know you have to beat and try to, you know,
to get into the playoffs and.

Speaker 4 (58:38):
Not the Jets will mess it up again.

Speaker 3 (58:40):
They always Well, I think that's gonna wrap it up
for us, guys. Thank you everybody for tuning in all
simply all spring long for the Patriots Draft countdown, final pick.
But you got.

Speaker 6 (58:51):
Campbell, It's gonna be Campbell and less. Carter's on the board.

Speaker 2 (58:55):
Jalen Walker.

Speaker 3 (58:58):
Like trade down, trade down, trade down, trade down.

Speaker 2 (59:02):
To be excited, I think. I mean it's hard to
not see all the signs. I mean there's nobody that's
taking anybody other than Campbell.

Speaker 3 (59:09):
Yeah, well that is what it is here.

Speaker 4 (59:11):
We are cool.

Speaker 3 (59:12):
We'll see tonight and be sure to tune in tonight
seven thirty will be live with our Patriots on filtered
Draft Show. We're going to bring it right. We got
to always bring it. I got yelled at my first
year for not bringing it. You got to bring it
for the Draft show.

Speaker 2 (59:22):
It's your energy wanes. Yeah, on Draft weekend, you gotta
have it from start to finish. I'll have the five
hour energies.

Speaker 4 (59:29):
Paul, what's the tonight?

Speaker 3 (59:30):
This is it?

Speaker 4 (59:32):
It's very handsome. Who do you think I have?

Speaker 2 (59:34):
Like a wardrobe?

Speaker 4 (59:35):
I have a wardrobe change, dude, I do no tuxes.

Speaker 2 (59:39):
That no tuxes this year.

Speaker 4 (59:40):
I have a wardrobe.

Speaker 3 (59:42):
We'll look nice wardrobe change.

Speaker 4 (59:44):
Well, thanks everybody for tuning in.

Speaker 3 (59:45):
We'll see you tonight for round one.

Speaker 2 (59:49):
Hey, this is Brett.

Speaker 3 (59:50):
Thanks for tuning into the show.

Speaker 7 (59:52):
If you really want to help us, make sure that
you like us wherever you get your podcasts like Apple Podcasts, is,
Spotify and all. So make sure you follow us on
the New England Patriots YouTube page to see this show
in everything else that we do here What the Patriots.

Speaker 3 (01:00:08):
Thanks a lot,