In the latest episode of the Greg Bedard Patriots Podcast, Greg and Nick discuss Christian Barmore's significant 4-year contract extension worth up to $92 million. They also evaluate New England's Day 3 draft picks, providing grades for each selection.
EPISODE TIMELINE:
0:00 Christian Barmore extended
6:38 WR Troy Franklin’s fall
8:20 OG Layden Robinson
18:05 WR Javon Baker
22:34 CB Marcellas Dial
22:50 QB Joe Milton
30:07 TE Jaheim Bell
30:50 Lightning Round Post-Draft Questions
38:15 Pecking order in Patriots WR room
Check Greg's Coverage out over at www.bostonsportsjournal.com, for $50 on BSJ's annual plan. Not only do you get top-notch analysis of all the Boston pro sports, but if you're a Patriots junkie — and if you're listening to this podcast, you are — then a membership at BSJ gives you access to a ton of video analysis Bedard does on the coaches film, and direct access to him in weekly chats.
This episode of the Greg Bedard Patriots Podcast w/ Nick Cattles is brought to you by:
PrizePicks! Get in on the excitement with PrizePicks, America’s No. 1 Fantasy Sports App, where you can turn your hoops knowledge into serious cash. Download the app today and use code CLNS for a first deposit match up to $100! Pick more. Pick less. It’s that Easy!
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EPISODE TIMELINE:
0:00 Christian Barmore extended
6:38 WR Troy Franklin’s fall
8:20 OG Layden Robinson
18:05 WR Javon Baker
22:34 CB Marcellas Dial
22:50 QB Joe Milton
30:07 TE Jaheim Bell
30:50 Lightning Round Post-Draft Questions
38:15 Pecking order in Patriots WR room
Check Greg's Coverage out over at www.bostonsportsjournal.com, for $50 on BSJ's annual plan. Not only do you get top-notch analysis of all the Boston pro sports, but if you're a Patriots junkie — and if you're listening to this podcast, you are — then a membership at BSJ gives you access to a ton of video analysis Bedard does on the coaches film, and direct access to him in weekly chats.
This episode of the Greg Bedard Patriots Podcast w/ Nick Cattles is brought to you by:
PrizePicks! Get in on the excitement with PrizePicks, America’s No. 1 Fantasy Sports App, where you can turn your hoops knowledge into serious cash. Download the app today and use code CLNS for a first deposit match up to $100! Pick more. Pick less. It’s that Easy!
Gametime! Take the guesswork out of buying NBA tickets with Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code CLNS for $20 off your first purchase. Download Gametime today. Last minute tickets. Lowest Price. Guaranteed. Terms apply. Go to https://gametime.co !
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SportsTranscript
00:00 This is the Greg the Patriots podcast with Nick Cavins.
00:08 He's Greg.
00:09 I'm Nick.
00:10 You know that.
00:11 You also know that this episode is brought to you by PrizePix, the largest daily fantasy
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00:16 Download the app today and use code CLNS for a first deposit match up to $100.
00:21 We are also brought to you by GameTime Tickets.
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00:39 Again, it's GameTime.co.
00:43 Before we get to the draft, Greg, let's talk about the big news that came out yesterday
00:46 morning.
00:47 Of course, I'm talking about Christian Barmore.
00:50 Four years maximum extension worth of the deal, $92 million.
00:55 The guaranteed money is $41.8 million.
00:58 This is a move you and I have talked about for months.
01:01 It's finally done.
01:02 Your thoughts on the deal?
01:05 A couple of things.
01:06 I think I'm just happy for the Patriots and their fans that they're starting to get proactive
01:15 about these contract extensions.
01:17 I don't know what the deal was with Belichick towards the end.
01:22 For a while, he used to do a good job of this, but he just stopped doing it, along with a
01:29 bunch of other things.
01:30 It helped lead to his downfall here.
01:32 I just think that it's just smart to take a player, a good young player, and reward
01:40 him, get him locked up early before you're paying through the nose.
01:45 We've seen it in recent years with whether it was Devin McCourty had to go to free agency
01:51 and almost sign someplace else to get his contract extension.
01:55 Dante Hightower, same sort of thing.
01:59 Chandler Jones was traded before he had to get paid.
02:04 It's no way to run a football organization and run a football team where guys are coming
02:13 up in your system and you have continuity.
02:15 Basically, Elliott Wolfe, who I'm going to guess is spearheading this, this is stuff
02:22 that the Packers used to do regularly.
02:24 You would draft and develop.
02:26 When you identified that, "All right, we can count on this guy," because you don't really
02:30 know until you get them in the building, but you should know your players better than anyone.
02:36 If they're doing the right thing and being professional, certainly you have to answer
02:40 the question about, "All right, how is money going to change them?"
02:45 I think that's a huge question anytime you do this.
02:49 If you can check the boxes, then get it done because then you don't have to be scrambling
02:54 every year and all that stuff.
02:58 I think it's great.
02:59 Related to Christian Barmore himself, you and I have talked about him a lot over the
03:06 years.
03:08 I haven't delved into Bilbo Twitter, but I'm sure people are out there saying, "Bedard
03:15 said this and that."
03:17 I don't know how many times we have to go over this, but the fact of the matter is Christian
03:21 Barmore fell in the draft.
03:24 There was a reason why he fell in the draft.
03:27 A hundred percent credit to Christian Barmore for proving the teams who took him off their
03:33 boards completely.
03:34 I know I talked to a couple of teams that did.
03:38 It wasn't anything egregious.
03:40 Again, I'm not going to completely spell out what they were telling me because it exposes
03:46 my sources.
03:49 Especially, their information from certain sources could dry up because it's the only
03:55 place they could get the information.
03:58 It was nothing egregious.
03:59 It was just basically a lot of people had questions about, intelligence-wise, how good
04:06 Christian Barmore would be in the NFL, on his own, where they thought that at Alabama
04:13 they had it so dialed in and could get him to focus that that was really the only way
04:17 they could play, that he could play.
04:21 I give a hundred percent credit to Christian Barmore that he has proved all of those teams
04:27 wrong.
04:28 He almost did it from the jump.
04:31 Watching him on film, there are zero questions about his football intelligence on film.
04:36 He, people got him wrong.
04:39 That happens in the draft process.
04:43 I just give full credit to him.
04:45 I just hope he earned this.
04:48 He became a much better run player this year.
04:51 He should now be a full-time starter.
04:52 He did that last year, at least the second half of the season.
04:56 He has proved that.
04:57 We always knew he could rush the passer.
04:59 Now he can do run defense on an every-down basis.
05:03 He has become a complete player.
05:05 He has also become a true professional.
05:09 Not that he ever was, but all he's done since he got in the building with the Patriots is
05:13 keep his nose down and work hard.
05:15 He's had some injury problems.
05:16 That's been his only drawback.
05:18 Other than that, he has been dialed in.
05:21 They've been impressed with him in the building.
05:24 He checked all of those boxes and they rewarded him, which they should have done.
05:29 Any chance, because I don't think there's a chance, my own opinion, but any chance that
05:33 Duggar, Owenu, and Barmore would have all been done if Bill Belichick was still here?
05:43 I think only Duggar.
05:45 I think only Duggar.
05:46 I think Barmore, they probably would have put off further.
05:52 Bill would have been like, "Well, I'm still not 100% sold.
05:56 He's had injury issues there.
05:58 How's money going to change him?"
06:01 Because I do think Bill made good decisions in that regard.
06:04 For example, Chandler Jones, that was a guy they were never going to give a second contract
06:09 to because they didn't trust him, especially after the synthetic weed incidents at Foxborough
06:16 Police.
06:17 Also, Aqib Tlaib was a guy that they were not going to give a lot of guaranteed money
06:21 to.
06:22 Instead, they offered him a pay-as-you-go thing and he got something different from,
06:28 I think it was Denver.
06:30 So, yeah, no, I think Duggar is probably the only one that Bill would have done.
06:35 All right, let's get to the draft now.
06:38 Before we get to the first pick on the third day, Leighton Robinson, I have a question
06:43 for you.
06:44 I tweeted this on Saturday in real time.
06:47 The Patriots were set to draft at 103.
06:50 Denver trades into 102 and they end up drafting Troy Franklin, outside X wide receiver.
06:58 A lot of people thought he would be gone before the fourth round.
07:03 Possible that Denver jumped the Patriots to draft Franklin and Franklin was the Patriots
07:07 guy at 103?
07:09 So that was 103.
07:14 It's possible, but I doubt it, Nick.
07:17 Just from my vantage point, and again, I'm not a professional at this in evaluation,
07:23 to me he was too much like Tyquan Thornton.
07:27 I think they wanted, from the two guys they picked, they want bigger, stronger, tougher
07:36 guys.
07:38 I think Troy was too much like Tyquan for them.
07:42 I just think that Denver really wanted him.
07:45 Maybe they thought that the Patriots might have some interest, but no, I don't think
07:49 he would have been the Patriots guy.
07:51 All right, so let's look at the guy that they did pick at 103, Leighton Robinson.
07:56 Of course, interior offensive lineman.
07:59 Did you like it?
08:01 So I'm intrigued by his film.
08:04 I will say I liked his film more than I liked Caden Wallace's film initially, and I got
08:11 to dive more into this.
08:12 I will in the coming weeks at BSJ.
08:14 We'll have breakdowns on all the draft picks, some of the free agents that they've already
08:20 signed a core for, and just so we know we have a good basis going into the offseason,
08:26 the offseason practices, exactly what's going on, what do the Patriots have, and things
08:32 to watch, whether it's in OTA practices or mini camps and things like that.
08:37 But I like Robinson in that he has some versatility, 6'5", 313 pounds.
08:45 I know he was a guard.
08:47 We'll see, I think he has a chance to play tackle, but definitely versatile.
08:54 And I think that the Patriots are just, they're getting a bunch of guys that almost look not
09:00 totally identical, but they play a lot of the same way.
09:05 And again, I think even with their offensive line picks, and I wouldn't say Wallace is
09:12 all that physical right now or anything like that, but it does seem like the Patriots are
09:18 trying to get bigger, tougher, stronger, faster when they can.
09:24 And I think that goes for the offensive line.
09:26 But I like his mentality.
09:28 I think he's more powerful than Wallace.
09:30 I think he has a chance to be a pretty good run blocker.
09:33 And so, you know me, anytime you can spend more assets on the offensive line, I'm all
09:39 for it.
09:40 - To me, it does sound like, I think a lot of these things, Nick, you look at it and
09:44 you say, was this front office on board with what Belichick did in previous years, especially
09:51 with the interior, they took three interior guys last year.
09:55 And CitySew showed promise.
09:59 Moffee was a project.
10:01 Jake Andrews really didn't show me anything.
10:05 Maybe he's got a future at center, but to me, it looks like in a lot of different ways,
10:10 this Patriots front office were like, yeah, we need some do-overs and we're going to do
10:14 it right this time.
10:17 - This was my least favorite pick just because of the position, and that's unfair to Robinson.
10:23 But looking at how much they invested on the interior offensive line over the past couple
10:28 of years, to use a pick at the top of the fourth round for another interior offensive
10:33 lineman, I was not a big fan of that.
10:37 However, I do wonder, and I tweeted this in real time, this isn't crazy hindsight.
10:45 I do wonder about Cole Strange.
10:47 And it kind of goes in line with what you're saying, Greg, but he hasn't been healthy.
10:53 He's not healthy right now.
10:55 The last we read is that he might not be ready for the beginning of the year.
10:59 And so if you're telling me that there is serious question about Cole Strange's future,
11:05 whether it's from a health standpoint or a scheme standpoint, then drafting Robinson
11:10 makes a hell of a lot more sense to me.
11:12 Because if you're not going to believe in that guy, in his ability to either transition
11:17 to what Van Pelt wants to do, or just the ability to stay on the field, or the injury
11:22 is worse than we know, then I get it.
11:25 Because as you said, Mafia is a project.
11:27 I don't think you can expect him to do much of anything this year.
11:31 You've got so Andrews is more of a center, as you said.
11:35 You've got Leverett, who they signed as a free agent.
11:38 But if Strange is not ready to go, or they don't believe in the guy, whichever one it
11:42 is, maybe it's both, then you're going to need somebody on the left side.
11:46 And if it's Leverett, now you have Robinson as that backup that you believe in.
11:50 Or maybe you start Robinson if he proves himself in camp, and you have Leverett behind him
11:55 as kind of the backup swing guard, so to speak.
11:57 And so you've got so on the right side and Robinson on the left side.
12:00 If that's what went behind the pick, then I have a lot less issue with it.
12:05 Yeah, I would agree with you.
12:08 I think that the future of Cole Strange is interesting and certainly a big question mark.
12:15 And I think they're certainly giving themselves options.
12:18 They have multiple options that tackle.
12:19 They have multiple options at guard.
12:22 I will be very interested to see with the new offensive line coaches, Peters and Kugler,
12:29 what exactly they do with Cole Strange.
12:31 And I think we've talked about this in previous years.
12:34 But when I evaluated Cole Strange coming out and once the Patriots drafted him, I saw a
12:41 center with his athletic ability.
12:45 And my wonder is when he does come back.
12:49 Now the whole question is, and I do think they put more, if I recall correctly, they
12:55 put more on the center in this scheme than they did in the old Patriots scheme.
13:00 So it's, you know, the quarterback was responsible for a lot in the old system.
13:06 The center now does a lot in terms of protection.
13:11 Can Cole Strange handle that mentally?
13:14 I don't know the answer.
13:15 I'm not saying he can't.
13:16 I'm telling you, I don't know the answer to that, probably because he hasn't had to do
13:20 it.
13:21 But if I have a question about him being, you know, ever being able to be strong enough
13:28 to play defensive tackle in the AFC East, especially where you go up against a lot of
13:33 really good defensive tackles, and he has a lot of trouble holding up to the bigger,
13:38 physical, stronger guys.
13:39 He just does.
13:41 That's been the staple of his career so far.
13:44 And I think he can handle it mentally.
13:47 I'm bringing him back slowly.
13:48 I'm training him as a center to be David Andrews successor, you know, in the year or two until
13:57 Andrews is done.
13:59 You brought up Peters and Kugler.
14:01 And when you look at the big picture of this offensive line, you've got a Wenu who's going
14:06 to be first time full time right tackle city.
14:10 So who's still young, still developing right guard.
14:14 Not many questions about David Andrews left guard as we're talking about it.
14:18 Cole Strange, number of questions there.
14:20 Robinson really only played on the right side, so he'll be swinging to the other side to
14:26 play left guard.
14:28 Then you've got Caden.
14:30 You got Chuck Sikora for who hasn't played more than like a handful of snaps on the left
14:34 side at tackle in the NFL, played it in college but hasn't done it since then on a regular
14:39 basis.
14:40 And then you also have Caden Wallace, who was strictly a right tackle at Penn State,
14:45 moving to the left side.
14:47 There's a lot on the plate, Greg.
14:49 Is it possible to even overstate how much of an impact Peters and Kugler have to have
14:55 to make sure this offense goes when they kick the football off in September?
14:59 Oh, yeah.
15:00 I mean, I completely agree.
15:02 And I in you know, when people talk about like how much is the offense going to improve
15:08 next year, what have they done to really improve it and blah, blah, blah.
15:14 One thing that they don't really take into consideration is that, you know, they basically
15:21 had five offensive line coaches in five years.
15:23 That's a freaking epic disaster.
15:25 Like nobody can play offensive line like that.
15:27 You wonder why the offensive line like kept other than like Michael Wenu and David Anders
15:32 just kept like going down.
15:36 And so to me, like these guys have to be big keys going forward.
15:42 And I think they will just stability.
15:44 And like, you know, I do have questions about Peters because, you know, he got passed over
15:49 in Cleveland, but he learned under Bill Callahan.
15:51 And that's like learning under Dante Skarniecki, basically the same thing.
15:56 And if we had a guy who had spent four years under Dante Skarniecki and he became offensive
16:02 line coach, we'd all be like, well, you know, he's he's all set.
16:05 And Kugler has an excellent reputation.
16:07 So they have two technicians, teachers now.
16:12 And so a lot of these guys and even, you know, quite this, you know, Cole Strange, Cole Strange
16:17 is finally going to get real coaching.
16:19 Who knows what the hell he's going to look like after that?
16:21 But there's no question that the offensive line coaches are a big key.
16:24 And it's one of the reasons I'm optimistic, more optimistic than others about the offense
16:31 being somewhat acceptable this year.
16:34 And it might have been a case of Andy Dickerson just being the better coach.
16:38 You know, I mean, we can't forget that the Patriots, they were looking at Dickerson as
16:44 their O-line coach.
16:46 He picked Cleveland and then that kind of set the chain reaction where Peters came in,
16:51 you know, to kind of play around here and possibly be a name.
16:56 And then they they also let's not forget, they bring in Kugler.
17:00 So you it certainly looks like, Greg, the Patriots had Dickerson at the top.
17:05 He decided to go to Cleveland.
17:07 Next guy was Peters, but they might have felt like Peters needed some help.
17:11 He might not been like the guy.
17:13 So let's bring in Kugler to kind of help him as well.
17:17 So it could have just been as easily Cleveland liking Dickerson more than Peters, just like
17:21 the Patriots liked Dickerson more than Peters and Cleveland gets Dickerson.
17:26 Pats get Peters.
17:27 The evaluations to Greg, we hit on this a little bit on Friday night, but they're huge.
17:31 You know, like Elliott Wolf said that the coaching staff told him they feel like Wallace
17:36 can play on the left side.
17:37 If they get that wrong, that Wallace pick, you can question it.
17:40 No doubt about that.
17:42 If he can't play the left side, do they try to swing a winnow to the left side?
17:45 Chuck's a core for is another guy.
17:48 Greg's a very busy man.
17:49 That phone's ringing inside sources.
17:52 Sorry, I want to talk to Greg right now.
17:54 But you've got a core for moving, you know, to the left side.
17:57 That's another evaluation from from this coaching staff that he can play on the left side.
18:02 They've got to get those right.
18:04 All right, let's go.
18:05 Let's move on to pick one, 10 wide receiver UCF Javon Baker.
18:11 Greg, love it.
18:14 You know, he I like how they got, you know, they're not hugely different guys.
18:19 Again, I think this is their they're following sort of the Packers blueprint for how they
18:24 go and get, you know, receivers.
18:26 I think this is this is, you know, he's I wouldn't say he's a flyer, but he's certainly
18:32 more explosive than Polk.
18:34 Polk is a I would say a tougher he's like a he's like a more athletic Jacoby Myers.
18:39 I would say Javon Baker has a chance to be sort of in and not as fast, but similar in
18:48 explosiveness to like a Greg Jennings from the Packers.
18:52 So I love how they double dipped at wide receiver.
18:56 I think that I have a lot of faith in these guys being able to identify wide receivers
19:02 that are going to be pros.
19:05 And again, I think this all goes back to what we talked about after the first two days,
19:10 Nick, where I think, you know, they took the big swing on Drake May.
19:17 They definitely went for upside.
19:18 They went for risk.
19:19 They put their push their chips to the table for a potential special quarterback if they
19:24 do this thing right.
19:26 And then from there on out, I think they just were like.
19:30 We need to get players, good football players, tough football players that have a high floor
19:37 that are going to play in this league for a long time.
19:39 And I think that like all of the guys that they drafted, I think look like they could
19:45 play in this league.
19:46 How good they'll be, we'll see.
19:47 But I think after what Bill Belichick did, they had, they just basically were like, we
19:53 need to get guys in here who could play and then we'll start to stack our talent as it
19:58 goes forward.
19:59 And that's sort of, you know, what Ron Wolfe did when he started rebuilding the Packers
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21:23 What I like is the fit between Polk and Baker.
21:28 I love how those guys' games fit together.
21:31 I think Polk is kind of your do it all.
21:34 You can move him around.
21:36 He's not afraid to get in the middle of the football field.
21:40 While Baker is that true X guy who can make big plays downfield.
21:46 I just like how they fit.
21:47 The pieces seem reasonable to me.
21:51 And when you think about the Packers, you see what they did with Jordan Love, right?
21:55 I mean, they took the big armed, somewhat rough mechanically, needed some work, quarterback
22:01 would upside.
22:03 Then they followed that up with Christian Watson in the second round.
22:06 I talked about this on my podcast today.
22:08 They followed up with Watson in the second round, eventually back in what, 22.
22:12 Then they had Dobbs in the fourth round.
22:15 You can look at Watson and say, he's your J Vaughn Baker.
22:18 You can look at Dobbs as your Jalen Polk.
22:22 It makes a lot of sense what they're trying to put together here.
22:25 So I thought the fits especially made just a lot of sense over the weekend.
22:33 All right.
22:34 Only defensive player drafted Greg was Marcellus Dial in the sixth round, played some corner,
22:40 played some slot in college.
22:42 Some people say he could end up playing some safety.
22:44 Could he be the possible developmental free safety we were looking for?
22:51 I think that's a stretch.
22:52 I think there's a lot of questions dial about his football IQ and how he's able to do with
22:59 that.
23:00 To me, I read this as sort of a possible Miles Bryant replacement, but again, bigger, stronger
23:10 and tougher and love Miles, but a lot of his issues came down to his lack of size.
23:17 And so dial, I think is just, he's another, I think high floor guy.
23:23 I think he certainly has the physical skills to play in this league.
23:27 And I think the Patriots will just get them in, see what he does well, and then go from
23:32 there.
23:33 It was, uh, I think a couple of weeks ago on this podcast, I said, just draft Drake
23:41 may just draft Joe Milton and let them throw bombs all camp.
23:46 And here we are.
23:48 Drake may third overall, Joe Milton in the sixth round, bazooka Joe coming to town.
23:54 These guys are gonna be throwing bombs all camp.
23:57 Did you like the Joe Milton pick?
24:00 Uh, don't let me down.
24:04 Certainly interesting.
24:05 It's it's cert it's certainly interesting.
24:08 And uh, I've already, um, ordered my Pat the Patriot helmet to wear at training camp to
24:13 make sure I don't take any strays, um, from the Hill at practice.
24:18 Um, you know, it's funny, like, cause everybody says, and I gotta, I gotta dive into his film.
24:23 I didn't, I, I w I'll say this.
24:25 I was surprised that they went with, um, a similar physical profile to direct may.
24:31 And I know that sounds strange because that does make sense because you know, why not?
24:37 Why not go with a guy who is, if he does end up being the backup in time, like, you know,
24:44 he's big, strong, good arm, like Drake may, you don't have to change much.
24:48 Um, good athlete can run all that stuff.
24:51 They're, they're similar.
24:52 So I get it.
24:53 Um, I thought they would go with somebody a little bit more, uh, with a higher floor,
25:00 like a Carter Bradley or the Pratt kid from Tulane.
25:05 I thought they would go with one of those guys.
25:07 I'm not surprised at all that they doubled up at quarterback.
25:13 We talked a lot about that coming in.
25:14 This is something that Packers have done repeatedly over the years.
25:19 I wrote a whole column off of it.
25:21 I mean, I, I even forgot about some of the people that the Packers had done it, uh, with,
25:28 and I just want to go over like just real quickly for people.
25:32 Um, so you know, right.
25:36 Despite trading a first round pick for Brett Favre and having Ty Detmer on the roster,
25:40 who was like a career backup type guy, the Packers drafted Mark Brunel in the fifth round
25:46 after Favre's first season where Favre didn't exactly light the world on fire.
25:50 Um, they ended up trading him for a third and a fifth and we all know Mark Brunel was
25:53 really good.
25:54 Um, they drafted 95, they drafted Jay Barker in the fifth round.
25:58 Okay.
25:59 He didn't work out in 98.
26:00 They drafted Matt Hasselbeck in the sixth round.
26:03 Uh, he was flipped as part of a first round trade up in the third round pick from Seattle.
26:07 I've totally forgot about Aaron Brooks, that he was one of the Packers quarterbacks that
26:11 they developed.
26:12 Um, Craig Nall was sort of a backup, you know, and then, you know, cause I heard this from
26:17 people that I heard from a few people who didn't like the Milton pick or a, any quarterback
26:23 pick from this perspective.
26:25 Well, that's no way to build up your rookie quarterback.
26:29 Like as soon as he does, the other guy does something well, then he's going to hear it.
26:33 Like I don't want to hear any of that bull crap.
26:35 Like if you're worried about that, Zach Wilson crap, that's Kenny Pickett crap where I don't
26:41 want to compete, you know, all that.
26:44 If, if your third overall pick can't handle competition and a guy behind them pushing
26:50 them, then I don't want to know about them.
26:52 I mean, Aaron Rogers, he finally gets the job far of retires, unretires, whatever.
26:58 After the Oh seven season, Rogers is given the job.
27:02 Guess what?
27:03 The first thing Ted Thompson did, he drafts Brian Rahm in the second round and Matt Flynn
27:08 in the seventh.
27:10 And you know, and you had all this stuff going on.
27:14 So Aaron Rogers, who's already dealing with enough pressure succeeding Brett Favre.
27:19 Now he's got to deal with a second round pick up his rear end.
27:21 You're like Joe Milton in the fifth round.
27:24 I'm fine with it.
27:25 And if Drake may can't handle it, I know that he can because he's a baller and he doesn't
27:29 care and he's got swag.
27:31 As you said the other night, um, you know, I'm, I'm fine with it.
27:35 I just, and one more point on this and I heard Michael Lombardi, he didn't like this because
27:42 he doesn't think you can develop two quarterbacks at the same time.
27:45 I disagree at least the way the Patriots have it set up.
27:50 If you're going to build up Drake may from the bottom up, why not try it with Joe Milton?
27:55 And then, you know, if it pays off, then you know, you trade one of them, probably Milton
28:01 at some point, just like the, the, the Packers did with Brunel Hasselbeck, Aaron Brooks,
28:07 all this stuff.
28:08 Um, I, at the end of the day, I really liked it.
28:11 I questioned the player a little bit, but the thought process, I like it.
28:16 Totally agree with you.
28:17 And especially in the sixth round, take the lotto ticket.
28:21 If you're able to develop this guy, as you said, Greg, you can trade them.
28:24 You know, quarterbacks are always wanted in the NFL.
28:27 So see what you can get from them.
28:29 And then we wrapped up the draft with a Jaheim Bell tight end, Florida state picked in the
28:34 seventh round, Greg.
28:37 So this is, um, this is an interesting cat.
28:41 Um, again, bigger, stronger, I would call him a tight end fullback sort of hybrid guy.
28:49 Um, you know, not the greatest athlete in the world.
28:53 Um, you know, but you know, cause sort of a straight line guy, not a lot of swivel in
28:58 his hips, but he can do a lot of different things.
29:00 I mean, I think he can run, he can line up at running back full, but he's, he's a very
29:05 poor man, sort of Debo Samuel.
29:07 He's not even close to that.
29:09 He's not ever going to be that, but he's, he's, he's got a little Debo in him.
29:15 He's got a little Kyle Uschak in him, you know, as we see with sort of this, um, in
29:20 some of the flavors of the Shanahan West coast offense thing, like, you know, he, he, he's
29:28 an intriguing athlete that again, you bring them in, see what you can do with them, but
29:34 he gives you options and it could give you some versatility if he ends up paying off.
29:39 Yeah.
29:40 Remember the draft of what Dalton Keene and he was supposed to be the H back of the future
29:45 and that did not work out.
29:48 And you used what was it a third round pick on Keene?
29:50 I think, well, they traded up big time.
29:53 Well, at least in that round third or fourth, but Aussie Aussie and Keene, they both traded
29:57 up for, and the Keene trade was completely the Patriots lost big time on the draft charts.
30:05 Nice.
30:06 Well done.
30:07 Well, now, now you've got, you've got Jaheim bell as a seventh round pick and he could
30:11 play a little bit of that for you if you want him back there.
30:14 And you know, he's, he's good at catching the football on the flat and making a play.
30:18 He's, he's going to be good.
30:19 I think, you know, down the seam in certain situations, he brings yak potential.
30:24 So look, is he, is he going to be your starting tight end?
30:28 No, I think you obviously go in with Henry and Hooper, but I liked the idea of an athletic
30:33 developmental tight end that you can move around a little bit and looks like a pretty
30:37 good fit and AVPs offense.
30:39 So in the seventh round, I thought it was tremendous value.
30:41 I don't know if he's going to be great by any extent, but I thought it was tremendous
30:46 value at that point.
30:48 All right, let's, let's run through some, uh, some lightning round post-draft questions.
30:52 I've got a bunch of them for you.
30:55 Did you hear anything, Greg, because it's been reported in other places, our guy, Mike
30:59 Reese, who's, who does fantastic work.
31:01 Did you hear anything about the Patriots trying to move back up into the first round?
31:05 Yeah, they definitely tried to get back up in first round.
31:09 The bills were one of the teams that they talked to.
31:11 I think they talked to more teams.
31:13 I think they were, uh, targeting as Mike reported, I think they were targeting one of the wide
31:18 receivers.
31:19 You look at the way things fell.
31:20 I think it was either Legette and or Coleman.
31:23 Um, I tend to think it was Legette just because even though I mocked Keon Coleman to the Patriots,
31:29 I think that Legette was just a little bit, uh, he's got more explosiveness.
31:34 Um, Coleman, you know, would have been a good option for them to, um, you know, I just think
31:40 it, it probably would have been Legette.
31:42 I was surprised that Legette was still available there.
31:46 That might've been the Patriots reaction to when I mocked Coleman, Legette was way gone
31:51 when I did it.
31:52 And so, um, yeah, I think they definitely tried to get back up.
31:56 And now I will say, Nick, you know, while we're on this, um, you know, my big criticism
32:03 of the Packers Packers, the Patriots in this draft, it wasn't, you know, not being able
32:10 to trade up because I do like Polk and I think that he's going to end up being really good
32:14 for them.
32:15 And I do think they got into a situation where they had a bunch of guys rated the same way.
32:20 My issue came with them not trading up for a better tackle than Caden Wallace.
32:25 I think that they, I think that they got, they got surprised by the tsunami of second
32:31 level tackles that all of a sudden went off the board.
32:35 I would have liked to, and I thought going into the draft, I thought they'd be more strategic
32:40 about having a tackle with more left tackle upside and say, all right, we're going to
32:47 go and get them no matter what.
32:48 We don't really care what the cost is.
32:50 We're going to go get them.
32:51 Yeah.
32:52 I was going to ask you if you thought they were aggressive enough.
32:53 So it answers that question.
32:54 What you just said, I would, I would also remind people that it's not only, Hey, we
33:01 got to move up to get this guy.
33:02 We're going to move up because left tackle upside, like Greg said, I also think it's
33:07 more difficult for the Patriots to make a move like that because of where they're starting
33:12 from on the offensive side of the ball.
33:14 Like if you're making that move, you're giving up something, you're giving up maybe multiple
33:18 picks and that's tougher for the Patriots to do than other teams.
33:22 If you're the, if you're the chiefs and you want to move up for Suma Matsui, well, you're
33:27 the chiefs like that.
33:29 You're not worried about future draft picks, future compensation picks later on in this
33:33 draft because you have your, you just won the super bowl.
33:36 So you're more willing to part with, with some of these picks in the future because
33:42 you're already there at the top of the mountain and you think that Suma Matsui is going to
33:46 be a guy that can maybe perfectly slot in at left tackle a right tackle within the next
33:52 year or so for the Patriots.
33:54 They have a lot of holes to address.
33:56 So it's not just Wallace versus Suma Matsui or anybody else that was drafted there, Rosengarten,
34:04 any of the other names that you could bring up, it is, it is Wallace plus what you got
34:09 versus that guy.
34:11 So Wallace plus maybe Robinson, maybe Baker, would you be willing for Patriots fans that
34:18 are frustrated?
34:19 And I get it.
34:20 I was disappointed when I was doing my podcast live on Friday night.
34:23 Trust me, I understand the disappointment when they didn't get up to, to, to find one
34:27 of those guys in that group, but from 30,000 feet, the way this draft fell and we didn't
34:32 know that in the moment, would you rather have Wallace and Javon Baker, or would you
34:37 rather have Suma Matsui?
34:39 That's really the question that Elliot Wolf is answering.
34:42 And as, as much as I would have loved the upside left tackle, I'm telling you, I would
34:47 rather have Wallace and hope the coaching staff is right and can get him to the left
34:50 side if it ended up with me getting Baker.
34:53 Cause I'd rather have Baker and a tackle than just that left tackle.
34:56 Yeah, I think that's fair.
34:58 Yeah.
34:59 I have no, I have no issues with that.
35:01 All right.
35:02 Let's go to the trades.
35:03 Uh, Reese's pieces again.
35:05 He, uh, he, he, he tweeted out, he wrote that Minnesota offered number 11, number 23 and
35:11 the 2025 first round pick in return.
35:15 They wanted three from the Patriots and a couple of mid round picks.
35:18 Is that a joke?
35:19 Cause it feels like a joke to me.
35:21 Yeah.
35:22 I mean, if the, if that was their best offer, that's no offer at all.
35:26 I mean, I needed it.
35:28 It had to be, and we talked about this going in.
35:30 It had to be at the minimum to even start the conversation.
35:34 It had to be the two first round picks a future first, and then some, and then something else
35:39 in the future or a player.
35:42 That's the only way I would have considered it.
35:43 I would have hung up the phone mid, like dial tone, New York offered a number six and a
35:50 2025 first reportedly not nearly enough.
35:53 No, that's a joke.
35:55 No, like they, they want to swap the pick and give you a first round or next year.
35:59 What are we doing?
36:00 Did this strike you with all of the talk about Jonathan craft and Robin Glazer behind the
36:05 curtain playing wizard of Oz?
36:08 Did this draft Greg strike you as an Elliot Wolf production through and through a hundred
36:14 percent.
36:15 This was, um, this was basically like a typical Packers draft.
36:21 And so, um, to me, any argument about, you know, the crafts influencing anything, I think
36:28 it's just somebody looking for something to talk to.
36:31 It's not based in real life.
36:33 To me, these were, when I think of Packers drafts, I think of scout drafts.
36:38 Like these guys are like, they're, they're diving into these people.
36:41 They're finding these people.
36:43 And you know, some people might, you know, they may be like, all right, well, you know,
36:48 there was a flashier guy or a bigger name and stuff like that.
36:52 You know, that's never what the Packers are about.
36:54 I mean, again, I talked about it the other night, but like, you know, this, this pick,
37:00 especially a Polk, like just reminds me so much of like Jordy Nelson.
37:04 And the thing is, is like, you gotta be patient and I'll be interested to see how this goes
37:10 overall in new England, but you know, you go back and look at, go back and look at Jordy
37:15 Nelson's stats and they brought him in as like sort of a third, fourth guy.
37:20 His first three years were like, not great, but he was a good player.
37:25 He was just biding his time.
37:27 And then his, his big break happened in that Superbowl where I think he caught like 12
37:32 passes.
37:33 And then he sort of took off from there.
37:34 I think he's third all time on Packers, a receiver receiving charts.
37:40 And so, you know, even if it's slow progress, like the Packers would re reward these guys.
37:47 And I think they signed Jordy Nelson to a contract extension before he had really done
37:51 anything in the league.
37:52 Rogers was the same way.
37:55 They signed him like midway through his first year and he was, they went six and 10 that
37:58 year and he got a big contract extension.
38:00 So to me, when I look at the players that the Patriots selected in this draft, it reminded
38:07 me a lot of the Packers in that these are sort of scouts picks.
38:10 These are, these are guys that they're beating the bushes for.
38:12 All right, back.
38:15 Let's look at the wide receiver room.
38:16 Greg, how's it shake out?
38:17 You've added Jalen poke.
38:19 You've added J Vaughn Baker.
38:21 You have KJ Osborne.
38:24 You have Kendrick Bourne.
38:25 You have pop Douglas.
38:26 You have Juju Smith Schuster and a host of others right now.
38:31 And a lot can happen as we know, but right now, how do you see the pecking order in that
38:35 room?
38:36 Well, I'll just say from this perspective, I think that I think that Keisha on booty's
38:43 gone somewhat soon.
38:46 Again, I'm not reporting this.
38:48 I'm just telling you what, you know, my impression, they bring in two receivers.
38:53 I think that Juju's gone at some point, even though Juju was seen right before I got there
39:01 at a, there's a driving range in Medway and a Juju was there the other day.
39:06 Just interesting.
39:07 Fun fact.
39:08 I think I missed him by like five minutes.
39:10 I think Juju's gone at some point.
39:12 Maybe they can get something for him.
39:14 Maybe a seventh round pick.
39:15 I don't know.
39:16 And I think that Taekwon Thornton's on the spot.
39:19 He's got a, he's got to show something, stay in the field very soon when OTA start mini
39:25 camps.
39:26 And then we'll see from there.
39:28 But I think if they had to line up right now, I'm starting receivers.
39:34 KJ Osborne is definitely one DeMario Douglas.
39:38 And I would say Polk is sort of the third wide receiver right now with Kendrick Bourne.
39:43 We got to see how he is health wise is the thought of a trade for a wide receiver.
39:47 One vet dead.
39:51 I don't think so.
39:53 I think the odds have lessened.
39:55 I think, I think the Patriots are more inclined now to see where these guys are in camp.
40:04 Certainly through mandatory mini camp, but they'll still be trying and see what shakes
40:09 loose.
40:10 I would just say the percentages went down a little bit, but I still think the odds are,
40:16 are good.
40:17 At least 50 50 that they do that.
40:20 On a meter from zero to 10, what is your concern at left tackle right now?
40:34 I would say about, I would say about a, I want to say about a six and I'll from this
40:43 perspective.
40:44 And it's interesting because I was thinking about this earlier while driving around and
40:47 doing errands.
40:48 And by the way, I had a dream last night and Bill, I was at a table with Bill Belichick
40:52 and Tom Brady.
40:53 Like I need help.
40:54 Like I need, I need a vacation or something.
40:56 Like I don't know what's going on with my life.
40:58 A couple of weeks off my guy.
41:01 Seriously.
41:02 Um, I'll say from this perspective, um, I have full confidence that they will get good
41:12 to representative play at right tackle, right guard center and left guard.
41:17 Okay.
41:18 And I think I heard Brian Hoyer talk about this on NBC sports Boston during the draft
41:23 where he was telling these guys, and I made this point to Felger, I made this point to
41:27 other people that like, if you have one weaker tackle, it doesn't really matter if it's the
41:33 left tackle or right tackle.
41:35 Obviously you'd rather have the franchise left tackle, but if you have a freaking ass
41:40 kicker right tackle who never gets beaten, like you can help the left tackle.
41:45 Like as long as you know what the deal is, you have good coaching and you have a good
41:49 offensive coordinator to figure it out and not just leave guys on an Island like Matt
41:54 Patricia and do dumb crap.
41:57 You can figure it out.
41:58 So as long I'm more, I will say, I'm, I'm less worried about left tackle than I am just
42:07 filling out the line with good players.
42:09 That's my priority is getting four good offensive linemen and I'll figure out left tackle when
42:14 it comes to it.
42:15 Got a few more for Greg, but first I remind you that we are brought to you by prize picks
42:19 or friends at prize picks that code is CLNS and also game time, game time.co for game
42:25 time tickets.
42:26 You want to check those guys out as well.
42:29 And while I'm plugging everything under the sun, I'll plug BSJ 50 bucks for the year.
42:34 Giardi of course, one Greg Bedard and others doing work there.
42:38 So 50 bucks the year at BSJ is really Greg.
42:42 You know, I look at this between the wide receiver room and the offensive line room.
42:47 It just feels like this coaching staff in this front office saying, all right, fellas,
42:52 we got a bunch of you thrown in there.
42:54 The best of the best day.
42:56 So fight for your jobs.
42:57 It feels like this is going to be a highly competitive camp.
43:02 That and you know, as I wrote my column on after the draft, like I think the, I think
43:07 the scouting staff has, and this is again, a Packers tradition.
43:11 The scouting staff puts a lot of pressure on the coaches.
43:14 They're basically like, you know, all right, we're not giving you, we're giving you sort
43:19 of two middling wide receivers.
43:21 We get a guy who might have a chance to play left tackle, like go deal with it.
43:29 And so, yeah, I think, I think the competition's great on this roster.
43:34 I think that they, I think they've upped the compete level, which I would say it's fair
43:40 to say every year.
43:42 But I think that there's an incredible amount of pressure on the coaches, especially the
43:48 offensive coaches with all the changes, all the additions, you got to put in a new scheme.
43:54 You're dealing with two rookie quarterbacks.
43:57 You know, you're having to Rod Mayo basically having to trust.
44:01 And I asked him this question during the draft about him basically having to trust guys that
44:06 he has no clue about.
44:07 He has no relationship with, has no basis, has never seen this offense up close before.
44:14 Like there's a lot of pressure on the coaching staff from Mayo to the offensive coaches.
44:19 Completely agree.
44:21 Does Joe Milton have a chance to make this roster as its third quarterback?
44:26 Yeah, yeah, for sure.
44:29 You know, it's what's funny is like everybody talks about, and it's true to an extent that
44:33 like he's not sure where it's going.
44:36 I don't know when they show those highlight packages and even him like at the combine
44:40 throwing the ball like 70 yards, it makes a pretty damn good throws.
44:45 I mean, yeah, it's very inconsistent, but it's not.
44:48 Some people talk about him like, like he has no idea where it's going.
44:54 I mean, he's yeah, he's got a chance.
44:56 And like I'm intrigued because like I said, I have a, I have a lot of people that I trust
45:01 in the league, believe a lot in Alex van Pelt and Ben McAdoo when it comes to developing
45:07 quarterbacks.
45:08 And so I'm intrigued to see what they can do.
45:09 All right, last one.
45:11 We'll end with this.
45:12 We got to end with a Drake May question because he's the new man in town.
45:17 What would your plan be?
45:18 What would your plan be, Greg, for Drake May?
45:21 How are you handling him this off season?
45:23 People are saying, oh, sit him for a year.
45:24 You have to sit him for this long.
45:25 You have to sit him for this long.
45:27 How do you handle the young man?
45:31 I first of all, I leave everything open.
45:35 We will see because, you know, like we talked about, Drake May knows he has heard a lot
45:40 of the criticisms, knows the criticisms, has a throwing coach, comes from the family.
45:45 He does.
45:46 I'm sure he's been working on a lot of, you know, his footwork stuff and things like that
45:49 with different people.
45:50 And so it's not like he's hasn't done anything since like the end of the season.
45:56 You know, could, could he be ready by week one?
45:59 Yeah, I don't rule that out.
46:01 My preferred process for Drake May would be he does not play at the earliest until the
46:13 second half of the season.
46:14 Ideally, if they're out of it, the last three or four games just to get some experience
46:20 because the one thing that you don't want to do and you just don't want to rush a guy
46:28 who's going through a lot of changes.
46:30 And like we said, it's not only footwork, it's also his motion.
46:33 His motion, his throwing motion is way too long and that's got to be tightened up.
46:39 The problem is, and you saw this with Blake Bortles, is that over time, like if you rush
46:43 a guy, his fundamentals, he reverts back under pressure and that's the, you don't want to
46:50 kill all that progress.
46:52 So, you know, I want him to have a really long runway with development and don't rush
46:58 things.
46:59 He's Greg, I'm Nick.
47:01 That is your full wrap of the draft and Christian Bowen Moore's contract extension.
47:06 Hope you all enjoyed it.
47:07 We'll be back later in the week with the pod.
47:10 Until then, be well.
47:11 [Music]