LIVE Patriots Daily: Mailbag w/ Carlos Talks Pats

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Taylor Kyles from CLNS Media teams up with Carlos A. Lopez aka "Carlos Talks Pats" to answer questions from Taylor's mailbag!  This episode of the Patriots Daily Podcast is brought to you by:  Prize Picks! 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! Go to https://PrizePicks.com/CLNS  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.  #Patriots #NFL #NewEnglandPatriots

Transcript

00:00What's going on everyone? Taylor Cowes here for CNS Media coming at you with another episode

00:26of Pat's Daily, second today. Make sure to check out the one earlier with Evan Lazar if you have

00:31not already, but I am here. Our sponsor is our great friends at Prize Picks and Game Time. So,

00:38so loyal. We love them very much, but today it's Monday. You know I'm coming at you with a mailbag,

00:44but today I've got a very special guest. First time on the show, we got Carlos A. Lopez, aka

00:51Los Pat, Carlos Pat, whichever you know him by. One of my go-to's on Twitter. Seriously,

00:57I will be checking my phone and see that Carlos has said something. I'm like, you know what?

01:01I should probably pay attention to that. One of the young up and coming people in this industry.

01:05I'm so proud of the work he's done and to finally have him on the show to answer your many fantastic

01:11questions. So before we get started, first of all, Carlos, Los, how are you doing brother?

01:17Welcome to the show. I'm doing great. Thank you for having me. It's pretty crazy that

01:23almost a year ago, or it's a little bit over a year ago, I started the account. I met you in

01:28person. It was about what, three weeks ago? And now it's all led to this. So thank you for having

01:34me. This is a great opportunity, great experience, but yeah, I'm doing great. I'm excited and I'm

01:38ready to answer everybody's questions. It's so impressive, man. You said a year ago,

01:43man, let me tell you, it takes a minute to make a dent in this industry, but the fact that you've

01:48done it so quickly, you are so diligent. You're thoughtful. I love the work you do. Seriously,

01:53man. So it's exciting to finally have you on the show. Before we get into the questions though,

01:57I need your overall synopsis of the Patriots draft. I know you got your thoughts and opinions.

02:02I feel like we had enough time to kind of go over, okay, this is how these guys fit. This is where

02:08this issue of, or a position of need was addressed. So before we get into the questions,

02:13let the people know, what did you think about the Patriots draft?

02:16Personally, I was a fan of it. I'll go with everyone else's same grade. If you want to go

02:22by grades, it was like a B, B plus. I think they nailed a lot of their needs. So it was everything

02:30but one was an offensive pick. So I really thought that they emphasized that. Elliott

02:35Wolf followed through with his words of, we're going to weaponize the offense. And something

02:41that people need to keep in mind is that this isn't the same regime that drafted the guys from

02:45just last year's draft. So you need to think about the fact that sure, they took an offensive guard

02:51before they took Javon Baker, but you have to also remember that they didn't pick the three

02:56other interior O-linemen that they took last year. So just viewing it from that perspective,

03:02I do think that it was a good draft. They got the guys that I guess they wanted, maybe not all of

03:07the ones, maybe they wanted Xavier Leguette. But other than that, yeah, it was a good draft.

03:12I liked it. You kind of touched on it. I'm putting you on the spot a little bit here,

03:16but in terms of the trades, right? We heard the rumors that the Patriots wanted to get back into

03:21the first round before they got Jalen Polk to get someone like an Xavier Leguette. You know,

03:25that was my guy. I was very excited. The idea, I'm not going to say that I was right when I said

03:30like a month and a half ago that they might be able to trade up into the first round to get him,

03:34but I digress. That's not the point. Also Keon Coleman, another guy. I feel like I'm just shooting

03:39my own home here. I'm not going to keep doing that, but two guys that I really liked as those

03:43ex-type receivers that we knew they needed. They ended up getting Jalen Polk, who I don't think

03:47he's a prototypical ex, but he is a guy who can went outside and gives you some reliability that

03:52they desperately needed and some downfield ability. Then to get Jalen Polk, they ended

03:56up trading back. It turns out being the pick that was Javon Baker, another one of my guys.

04:01I'm not saying I know the Patriots new regime pretty darn well in terms of what they want.

04:06We're on the same path. When it came to some of those decisions with the trades,

04:11do you feel like the Patriots maybe should have been more aggressive? Obviously,

04:14they tried to get into the first round to get Xavier Leguette, but when it comes to tackle

04:19Caden Wallace, there's been a lot of dialogue that maybe they should have been more aggressive

04:22to get Patrick Paul or Kingsley Suomataia. Do you think that what they did kind of worked out

04:27in terms of playing the board? Because when it comes to the draft, sometimes you pick a guy

04:31earlier than he should go, but at the end of the day, it really comes down to understanding where

04:35guys are going, which positions are hot, and who's in front of you. What did you think about

04:39the decisions to trade and maybe the decisions to not trade? I do like the aggressiveness,

04:45just the reports that have come out that they were willing to trade up, especially

04:50until late into the first round. As Ken Wolf said, it seems like they had a deal set with the Bills

04:55and then the Bills backdoored them and talked to the Panthers instead because of their relationships.

05:01At the end of the second round, that is the one that kind of stings a little bit,

05:06especially with Kingsley Suomataia being there, Roger Rosengarten was there too.

05:11There were some targets that they could have traded up for, and they could have easily packaged

05:16some of the picks that they had. By then, they had already made the poke trade, so they had

05:21the two fourth rounders instead. The one thing I do want to emphasize, though, is that I do think

05:28people would have been upset if they didn't take J. Vaughn Baker at 103. Let's say that

05:32pick wasn't in the trade package to move up into the second round. The reason I'm saying that is

05:39because the fact that they took Leighton Robinson over him just tells me that they had him graded

05:43higher. I can just imagine that people would have been very upset if they took an offensive guard

05:49when J. Vaughn Baker was on the board. You can view it from both angles that they didn't trade

05:54up into the second again, but I do like the aggressiveness. I like the reports that have

05:59come out that they were willing to trade up. It doesn't always happen. It takes two people to

06:03agree to it. Just because they wanted to do it doesn't mean that the other teams wanted to.

06:06I do agree, man. Honestly, if they had missed out on J. Vaughn Baker and just gotten the guard,

06:12I'm not going to lie. If you saw my live response, I was not ecstatic exactly, but

06:17now in hindsight, it looks a little bit better. It felt like fate intervened a couple times for

06:22the Patriots in this draft. Going all the way back to last season, the fact that they are even

06:26in shooting distance to get Drake May considering how close they were to winning some games last

06:30year, it feels like the football gods were like, you know what? We cannot have the Patriots be in

06:34this bad long-term. We got to give them some kind of hope or a prayer. Worked out for Patriots,

06:39man. All right. We're going to get to some questions. First one I want to get to is

06:44actually a question from yours truly. Which members of the current coaching staff do you

06:49predict will no longer be in the building next season, e.g. promotion, college job, etc.? So

06:54more of a kind of look at what guys get promoted if things go well. So I'm going to share my screen

06:59real quick, give everybody an idea of what kind of guys we actually have in this category. So

07:04let's start with the offensive guys. Who do you think from this group will potentially not be on

07:09the roster next season? The one that stands out to me is TC McCartney, just because if

07:16Drake May were to have a good season, let's say he starts at some point and he just looks

07:21otherworldly. He has like a C.J. Stroud type season. I could totally see McCartney being

07:25promoted to like an offensive coordinator somewhere else. Someone like Ben McAdoo,

07:30who knows? I'm not saying he should get another head coaching opportunity, but what if he does

07:36some wonders with Drake May? Same thing with Jacoby Brissett too. What if he has the best season

07:42of his career in Alex Van Pelt's system? I think all these guys could really shoot themselves up

07:50boards as far as like coaching opportunities, just by what they do with this whole new roster.

07:57So no one knows what to expect. And that's also why the position itself on the coaching staff

08:04was kind of... I don't know if you remember, Taylor, that everyone was like,

08:07oh, who would want this position? Why would anyone want to work there?

08:12They're setting themselves up for failure. Why would a young... Even when they were looking for

08:16GMs, or they were quote unquote looking for GMs, why would anyone want to take that roster?

08:22Because they could completely ruin their career if they take that job. But you could also do it

08:26from the other perspective of what if they're one of the best offenses in the league? And at that

08:32point, it's like every team is going to want these guys. Look at the Texans coaching staff.

08:37Everyone wanted their offensive coaches after what they did with CJ Stroud. So I do think

08:42that could happen. I'm not saying that will, but I do think that could happen with this coaching

08:46staff. I want to take the layups here. You make some good points. I think Taekwon Underwood and

08:52Robert Kugler are two guys we got to look out for. If for whatever reason, the receivers pop off,

08:58the offensive line exceeds expectation in a way that we don't really expect,

09:02it's always the assistant offensive coaches that usually get poached. And they don't have

09:06the actual position. Tyler Hughes is the wide receivers coach. Scott Peters is the offensive

09:12line coach. Maybe they stick around. Usually those positions you need to really have an outstanding

09:17level of experience and tenure to really get hired. And again, Underwood and Kugler, that could

09:22very much be the case. But if those positions are really effective, you're going to start seeing

09:27people go, oh, Taekwon Underwood. It seems like he was the guy who was working on a lot of the

09:31technique with those guys. Robert Kugler is the guy who, when he was hired, was pegged to someone

09:35like, oh, he's very highly respected and highly touted in coaching searches. He has the player

09:40background. And he seems like Scott Peters in terms of being the kind of guy who's really going

09:44to help with the technical aspect of the game. So fantastic points. And I really do think Ben

09:49McAdoo is probably at the top of the list of guys who might be looking for other jobs after this.

09:55With Van Pelt, I'll be honest, when it comes to the amount of success that he's had in the league

10:00and still been passed over for certain things, like how we saw with Cleveland, where he does a

10:05bang-up job with the offense, but even still, he doesn't really have that respect. I feel like the

10:10loyalty that the Patriots are going to give him, where it's like, if they have success with Drake

10:13May, like we saw with Bobby Slowick, where he knows, hey, I'm in a good position. I can continue

10:17to build my credibility. This is an offense that I feel confident in that I'm building. We might

10:22see him stay. Matthew do I feel like will be the odd man out, where it's like, oh, I had a hand in

10:27Drake May. I was responsible for this partially. I should be getting a bigger role. Maybe we see

10:32him get an offensive coordinator or a quarterback's coach job, where it's more kind of attuned to what

10:36he's good at and not giving him the whole head coach thing, which as we've seen, some people

10:41are position coaches. Some people are coordinators. Some people are head coaches. They're all very

10:46different jobs that require different things. TC McCartney, I think is probably going to take

10:50another year just because he doesn't have a lot of tenure in that quarterback's coach role,

10:55but at the same time, if in year two or three, Drake May's popping off, then who else are people

11:00are going to start recruiting, but TC McCartney, but you have some really excellent points.

11:05It's going to be interesting to see what happens with this group, man. It's a lot of unproven guys,

11:08guys with experience who maybe haven't gotten a lot of opportunities. Bob McNell is a guy that

11:13I think a lot of people are sleeping on. He's been a coach on both sides of the ball,

11:17experience at different types of positions, really underrated guy. I think he's pretty

11:21interesting. Is there anybody on defense or special teams that stands out for you as a guy

11:26who may end up getting poached after this season? There's one guy who I actually just realized

11:31is not on here, and I feel like he might get some interest elsewhere, but we have Brian McDonough.

11:38There's him, but I don't think he's a real candidate to get poached, but is there anybody

11:43who's on or off this list that you think could get poached from the Patriots' defense and special

11:48teams positions? The one that stands out to me, and it's funny that you bring this up, because

11:54I genuinely think the most likely candidate to move on from the team would be Demarcus Covington,

11:59just because he has received lots of interest around the league. I believe he interviewed for

12:03the Cardinals' defensive coordinator job, I think it was two off-seasons ago, and just the fact that

12:10people around the league respect him, who knows? What if he gets a head coaching job?

12:14You never know. Look at Demiko Ryans. He came from being a defensive coordinator and then getting the

12:21job with the Texans, so I do think Demarcus Covington is the most likely. I'm not saying

12:26it will happen, but he is the one that stands out to me. Two guys that stand out for me personally

12:33that are not here for whatever reason, Mike Pellegrino, cornerback's coach, and Steve Belichick,

12:39safety's coach. I don't know why they're not on here. I'm sorry, Brian. Oh my god,

12:44that's real bad. Brian Belichick, safety's coach. Damn, all those Belichicks, still recent in my

12:50memory, but I don't know why they're not on this roster. I made sure that it wasn't just my spacing,

12:55they're not on here, but when it comes to Mike Pellegrino specifically, that dude has been a

13:00wizard. He's done a fantastic job with the cornerback position. You look at even going

13:04back to last year, how when Alex Sawson's interception against the Bills, everyone's like,

13:09that was such an amazing play. Personally, I saw it and thought that it was just a natural reflex

13:14because of how quickly it happened. Lo and behold, he was taught to do that.

13:18Who's teaching you that? Usually, it's your cornerback's coach, and even beyond that,

13:22he's done such a fantastic job with that position. It never feels like a weakness for the Patriots,

13:26even though a lot of the time, they don't put heavy resources into the spot. Now,

13:30obviously, you have Christian Gonzalez, who is the outlier, but beyond him, you got Jonathan

13:35Jones, you got Marcus Jones, Alex Sawson again, Isaiah Boulding. There's a lot of guys in that

13:40position, and we'll see more during camp how exactly that works out, but he's done a really

13:45good job with not the highest pedigree players. Then the one time you get my first-round pick with

13:49Christian Gonzalez, he balls out, and he's Defensive Rookie of the Month. I think Mike

13:53Pellegrino is a guy who should be on team's radars if he's not already. Then, obviously,

13:58Belichick. I'm just saying Belichick. I want to make sure I don't mess it up again.

14:02Really smart coach. Obviously, the last name is going to stick out, but he's also done a good

14:06job with the secondary. Now, when it comes to when he's going to get his opportunities,

14:10it'll be interesting. We've seen it's a group that has a lot of veterans, like Jerome Peppers,

14:15Kyle Duggar, and Marte Mapu struggled last year. It'll be interesting to see how teams view him,

14:19but especially this season, if Marte Mapu takes a big jump, I feel like he's a guy who's going to be

14:24on team's radars. All right, we got a lot more to cover. We literally only got to the

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15:38All right, so that was super into the coaching staff and all that kind of,

15:42you know, nitty gritty stuff, but let's get into some players.

15:45All right, so the first question we've got here is from BigDogAnt4. How long should the

15:51Patriots sit May until they're comfortable with him? Do you think training camp is long enough to

15:55start May in week one? What do you think, Lowe's? So personally, I think that he's only going to

16:01start four or five games at most this season. I don't think that he's going to start many if he

16:06does. The reason I say that is because of Elliott Wolfe's ties to the Packers. People always bring

16:11up the Packer way, and if we're going off that logic, I just don't see how they prefer to start

16:16May over Brissette, considering that in the past, there's obviously like the very famous example of

16:22Brett Favre to Aaron Rodgers to Jordan Love. But I do understand those were playoff teams,

16:27and even in like, if you thought about Patrick Mahomes' situation, that they were also

16:32a playoff team when Alex Smith started instead of him for a year. Just going off that logic,

16:38though, I don't want to take those outliers kind of, you know, they were a playoff team,

16:42that's why they didn't start the rookie. But I do think Elliott Wolfe's past experience with

16:49rookie quarterbacks and sitting them, I think that is a bigger deal than most people will

16:53give it credit for. And if the main thing, and this just happened today, too, what CBS's Jonathan

17:00Jones reported that they started the general manager search or the lead executive role search.

17:06If Elliott Wolfe does get a long term contract, and he has job security, I don't see why he

17:12wouldn't say, Oh, let's just sit him for a year, like my job secure, if we do bad, he's still

17:19going to be the general manager next season. So I do think that plays a big role in it as if,

17:25other than him just going into it without job security, and just saying, like, you know, we

17:29need to at least win some games, we need to show off our number three pick. So it does throw a

17:35wrench into things. So depending on if Wolfe gets the job, which I think he will, I do think that

17:41that's going to play a major role in whether or not Drake may starts. So you brought up the news,

17:47I gotta ask you, they're starting the GM search, we knew this was going to happen,

17:51they have to satisfy the running rule. I think that's probably the biggest reason. And Mike

17:55Hadlick, our guy for the show, had did a great job kind of pointing that out. So it might be a

18:01little bit of a figurehead kind of thing, like we saw with the offensive line coach, and like

18:05the offensive coordinator last year, where it seemed like they knew who they wanted,

18:08but they kind of brought people in to see if they wanted any other roles, what have you?

18:12Do you think that Elliott Wolfe has done enough to earn the general manager position or whatever

18:18title they want to give him? Do you think he has done enough to prove that he deserves to be

18:22in charge of Patriots personnel?

18:25I do. I do think so. Just going off of like, his resignings, I think the resignings are the

18:30main thing. Obviously, people are going to point to, oh, he didn't bring in big name free agents.

18:35But other than Ridley, who else was the big name free agent? I mean, you could say Tyrone Smith,

18:40I don't think he was going to sign here. But just the resignings were the big thing that really

18:45stand out to me with what Wolfe has done so far. And then the draft, look at he, he followed through

18:51with his promise. We kept saying, oh, he said he's going to weaponize the offense. He didn't

18:56bring anybody in during free agency. It was like, be patient, wait until the draft and look what

19:01happened. So I do think that he has earned the job. I know a lot of people disagree, which is

19:07kind of surprising to me, but obviously people have different views, but I don't see what negative

19:11stuff he's done to not earn himself the job. But yeah, long story short, I do think he has earned

19:17it.

19:18You put it beautifully, man. Like when it comes to, so specifically I'll start with May.

19:23I think he could start sooner. A big part of that is the mental part of the game and how quickly he

19:29picks up on that. Evan did a great job pointing that out earlier in the show or in our show

19:34earlier today. That needs to be addressed. He has to actually be able to get on the field,

19:38execute the offense, get everybody in line, all that good stuff. At the same time, I feel like

19:43once the accuracy and the mental part of the game kind of settle down to the point where you think

19:48he can be consistent. I do think that when it comes to the crazy misses, you can't do that

19:53in the NFL. I think they're going to keep them on the sideline as long as that's not worked out.

19:57But if those things are up to par, I don't see why you leave them on the bench. If anything,

20:02my measure of success, I kind of tweeted this over the weekend, is going to be how they look

20:06to free agents next season. Like what we saw with CJ Stroud, free agents are like, yeah,

20:11or trade targets, Stephon Diggs, where you see guys like, you know, this is someone that can win

20:17pretty soon. He's really talented. This is a good roster, up and coming roster. I can put them over

20:21the edge. It's not just about Drake May for sure. It's about how everyone else does and whether

20:26people want to commit to that. But I think you also need some idea of how the young quarterback

20:31is going to play. That could happen in your projection as well, completely. I just feel

20:35like it has to be at least a goal to have Drake May ready by the bye. And the NFL was probably

20:43going to play into the Patriots' hands and be like, hey, give us a well-placed bye. And maybe

20:47you'll have the third overall pick playing in games versus us not feeling comfortable.

20:52You give us like a week 12 bye, and then we don't really know when we're going to play it.

20:55Plus I feel like the Caleb Williams game is going to happen in the second half of the season.

20:59That's speculation. But like, think about it. They want the matchups. They want the young

21:02quarterbacks. I feel like they're going to give the Patriots a good bye. And then the Chicago

21:07game kind of later in the season to get that matchup as well as they can. But even building

21:12onto that, whether Elliot Wolfe has earned the position, I do think if he signs long-term,

21:17you're a little more comfortable playing Drake May earlier. And it's like, I could see it going

21:22both ways. Because if you're comfortable and you know, you have your job, you're like, oh,

21:24I'm not going to move. My quarterback's good. I'm not going to put him out there.

21:28But I do feel like you want to have some showcase at some point in the season being like,

21:32this is the team that we could be putting out there. Like, this is what we look like right now

21:35with our young quarterback, our young receivers and all this stuff. Let's see where we can go.

21:40Do you want to be a part of it? Do you want to be a part of us, you know, getting back to

21:43prominence? So again, long story short on my end, I kind of went too far, but I think Elliot has

21:49done a fantastic job. He's retained everybody he needed to. He extended Christian Barmore,

21:53which I think was huge. I feel like that was one of the kind of things you needed to see where it's

21:58like, okay, re-signing guys and, you know, extending the free agents is one thing, but can

22:02you be ahead of the eight ball? And the fact that Barmore signed a contract that's not even in the

22:06top 10, considering I thought he played at an all-pro level was huge. So Elliot Wolfe, you

22:11earned the job. Also, I think May could start like after the bye. So I could see him starting like

22:17eight plus games. I wouldn't be surprised to see it go the other way until you're like, you know

22:22what? We really don't need to play this kid. We will if we have to. Man, you'd be fired up. You

22:27make a lot of good points, man. I just ramble. I can't even help it. I do think the London game

22:32is going to be a big indicator too, if they play in London. I mean, most of the time, if they have

22:38an international game, they have the bye week afterward. So that is a little bit of like a

22:44odd thing to figure out, but I wouldn't be surprised if the NFL was kind of like, hey,

22:49we'll put the London game if they have a London game. Once again, we'll put the London game later

22:53into the season. So, you know, maybe Drake May could be ready. He'll be on the international

22:57stage, you know? That is a possibility, but once again, that's a big if, if they do play in London.

23:04The scheduling is going to be, make all of this a lot more interesting. Usually not something we

23:07have to really take into account because it's not like, when is this wide receiver going to start?

23:12It's kind of pretty straightforward, but here it's going to be interesting. All right. We got

23:15more mailbag questions. I promise we're going to get some more than two in the show. Pinky promise.

23:20That's not what that is. But first quick word for our friends at game time. Be right back.

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24:35lowest price guaranteed. All right, so moving on to a different position on offense. Let's go with

24:42receivers. Given where they line up and their role in the offense, who has an easier path to a

24:47starting job, Jalen Polk or Javon Baker? What do you think, brother? So it is kind of tough to tell

24:54what the role in the offense is going to be at this very point, but I do think Jalen Polk's draft

25:00position, or the value of where he was picked, does give him the upper hand as far as getting

25:05the starting job. Obviously, they've been emphasizing competition over and over again,

25:10that maybe Baker does outplay him in training camp, or even in OTAs, they see something

25:16different. But I do think that Polk is going to get the easier path to the starting job.

25:22And I have this weird philosophy that stems from fantasy football. So it's not a good

25:29indicator of success, but I have always relied on taking players in the fantasy drafts that are

25:37young receivers that play close to the short to intermediate part of the field,

25:41if they have a veteran quarterback. That's always been my philosophy. So in this case,

25:46that would be Jacoby Brissett. If Polk plays more to that short to intermediate part of the field,

25:52I do think that Brissett is going to like throwing to him. I do think that he will stand out more,

25:58just being maybe his favorite target. Like I said, this stems from fantasy football.

26:02There's no data behind it. There's no real analysis that I have or proof, but that's just

26:08my belief. It's really hard to go against Jalen Polk, because I do think just his skill set

26:16naturally and with Kendrick Bourne coming off an injury, you don't really know what you're going

26:20to get from him. And I feel like Polk's probably going to get more reps than like a KJ Osborne,

26:24if they have to go there. My only thing is, I feel like Javon Baker is just the only real

26:30ex they have. I think Polk is going to play some of that role, but in terms of that one guy where

26:35you put him, like, we talked to Ellie Wolfe and he mentioned, do we have a guy who on the backside

26:40of a three by one, we can like have him beat one-on-one coverage on an island? That's a lot

26:45of football jargon. Basically what it means is, can this guy beat one-on-one coverage consistently?

26:49That's kind of the point of those three-by-one formations. Most defenses will say, hey,

26:53we're going to put that guy in man coverage, flood coverage to the other side. And if he's

26:57a real threat, then we'll respect him. I don't think that Javon Baker is a burner. I don't think

27:03he's like a Troy Franklin who can take the top off and where a defense is like, we really need

27:08to make sure that we shade coverage to his side. I do think he's a good enough separator and the

27:14kind of separator they haven't had in a long time. Like obviously Jacoby Myers, but he's more of that

27:19Jalen Polk, where I feel like one-on-one, he will get open consistently and be that kind of binky

27:24for Drake May. Where Tez Walker was kind of that for him, where they would go in these formations

27:29and he's like, you know what? That's my guy. If he has a one-on-one matchup, I'm looking at him

27:34first. And then you look at Amari Cooper for the Browns offense with Alex Van Pelt, where it was

27:38kind of that one-on-one guy where like a ton of their offense went through that guy. I just,

27:44I have a really big Javon Baker crush. I think he's awesome. I've had so much fun watching him.

27:49So my bias is included here. He was picked after Jalen Polk. So what you're saying makes perfect

27:54sense. But just for my, you know, my bias right now in the process of watching these guys, I think

28:00Polk is awesome, but I have a feeling that Javon Baker is going to find himself on the field just

28:05because he gives them something they don't really have. And he's also really fun to watch. Maybe

28:09that's selfish of me. What do you think about him? I haven't gotten to ask you about his skillset.

28:13I've just been ranting about myself. No, I do agree that he is probably the

28:19best option at X at this very moment, just like on a paper. If you're looking at the restaurant

28:24paper, I do think Baker would be the most prototypical like size, build, play style

28:30to play the X role. He's a little crazy too, that helps. Exactly. He has like the little, you know,

28:35screws loose that good receivers need. So because of that, I completely agree. Like I said,

28:42mine stemmed just from a fantasy football perspective. Yours stemmed mostly because

28:46of like your crush on the player and his play style. So we have like those two different

28:54perspectives, but the thing I do agree with about Baker is that he can get open one-on-one. He can

28:59line up in all three, the X, Y, and the Z, you know what I mean? Like he can pretty much play

29:06any spot and get open from any spot and always be a reliable target because of his crazy catch

29:11radius and like his highlight catches and even his releases. Like, trust me, I post a lot about

29:17his workout videos. I've seen it. Like it gets me excited too. So I know what you mean.

29:23But also I'm a chronic overthinker. I feel like, please, if you're a betting man, woman,

29:27anything, go with Los. I'm just doing a little too much as usual, but he is a fun watch. Watch

29:33the highlights. All right, let's get to another one. What were your thoughts about the Tom Brady

29:38roast and do you think it provided some insight about the relationship between the big three?

29:42I'm guessing that's Kraft, Belichick, and Brady. Yeah, so I took it two different ways. So I

29:49thought of it as Kraft, Belichick, and Brady, but I also thought of it as like Tom and Julian

29:54Edelman and Robert Gronkowski. So my whole thing, well, the overall perspective of the whole roast

30:02was that it felt like very natural in a way, but it was fun just being able to, as like a Patriots

30:07fan to watch that, just seeing everybody all in one room together. And you could really just see

30:14that some people have like better relationships with certain people just because of like the

30:19jokes that they make about them. So if we were to talk about the big three in particular, I'll

30:24talk about both that I mentioned to begin with, with like Jules and Tom and Gronk. You just see

30:29like their bromance and their bro relationship that literally while watching it, I had like

30:34a weird self-reflection moment that I was like, imagine me with my two best friends like up there

30:40and just like, this is like the stuff that you say to each other in like a small circle or like

30:45just over text or something. And you're saying it like on a national stage. So I took it like that

30:50and it was pretty cool, like finally seeing their relationship like that, like how it might be behind

30:55closed doors. But as far as like Bill and Robert Kraft and Tom, it kind of felt like closure,

31:03just seeing them all together. It wasn't in the light of like the dynasty that it's like,

31:09everyone's thinking it's skewed against Bill. It was mostly like everyone got to have their

31:14own little words, their own little, you know, jabs at each other, got a little stuff off their chest.

31:20And they ended off by like taking a shot together. So I mean, I do think Bill looked a little

31:25uncomfortable or unhappy taking the shot, but I'm not gonna, you know, put anything out there.

31:30Yeah, it was, it was fun. It was definitely a good watch.

31:34You don't got to put it out there. I was watching it. I was like, Bill does not want to be up here

31:38doing this. Like I, I don't buy into the whole like Kraft is, you know, trying to bulldoze Bill's

31:45reputation. I'm not that far, but I will say it is not what good. And it just kind of, I'm not

31:51gonna lie, it feels a little performative from Robert Kraft. I'll say it like, I'll be very

31:55honest. It felt a little awkward when they were on stage together. It was like, Bill's like, yeah,

31:59man, you've been talking some shit since, uh, since we, uh, split ways. Are you good? Or like

32:05what's going on here? But that was just my take. I didn't think it was cool in terms of the big

32:10three of like Gronk and Jules. I will say Gronk was exactly what I expected. I was like, if he

32:16sticks to the cards, I will be stunned. And of course, like when you're on stage for that long,

32:22even, you know, sipping for a little while. And it felt like Gronk was like fully activated.

32:27Although I was talking to Evan about this earlier, I felt like it was unfair. He gets so much crap

32:31for his intelligence and we all know he's not a dumb guy, but that's kind of just like the

32:35layup for Gronk. So I felt like he kind of let loose. Jules is wild. I didn't think that he was

32:41going to be, when he opened with a joke about Kraft dying, which is pretty insane. Uh, but then

32:48to kind of not let up and like really keep his like foot on everyone's throat. I thought that

32:51was really funny, but, uh, it was a fun roast. I, that was, it started a little rough and I

32:57wasn't sure, but really, especially Nikki Glaser freaking killed it. She kind of set the tone.

33:02I felt like, but all right, enough of that, buddy. I've had you for a long time. This has

33:07been a great time. We're going to make sure we have you on again, but please, before I let you

33:12go, let the people know where they can find you and what exciting stuff you've got coming down

33:16the pipeline that we should be looking out for. Yeah, definitely. So, um, you could find me at

33:20Lowe's Talks Pats on X. Um, I pretty much post daily, anything and everything Patriots, anything

33:26that I can find, whether it's podcasts of the players or coach interviews, anything, any news,

33:32any breaking news, um, you can find all that on my page. Um, as far as what I have coming up,

33:38I do have something in the works as far as a podcast coming up. So that's my first time saying

33:43something about it, but that is going on behind the scenes. I am trying to figure it out. So,

33:47um, other than that, that's all I have planned. We're going to head into the off season. So it's

33:52going to be a little bit of a dry period, but that doesn't mean that I'm going to stop posting.

33:55That doesn't mean that I'm going to stop, you know, trying to find different things that I can

33:59talk about, maybe coming on podcasts and talking to people about the Patriots. So, um, that's what

34:05I have coming up. Um, I do want to say, Taylor, thank you so much for having me. This is a great

34:11experience. It's a great opportunity. I never did. I think that this would happen. Like we

34:15talked about it at the beginning of the show. It's been a little over a year since I started

34:19the page. I, when I started it, I did not think something like this would happen. So

34:23big thanks to you. You, you really mean a lot to me. I really appreciate you.

34:28Well, I'll tell you, man, I understand kind of coming from your perspective. Like I didn't think

34:32I was really going to be doing this. I just love the team. And that was why I decided, you know,

34:37let me just keep at this and see what comes of it. You are one of the people. I think anybody

34:42watching this who wants to get in the field should be looking towards you work tirelessly

34:46and you've made yourself an asset to someone who somehow found himself on the beat. Like me,

34:52we're really, man, I got your notifications on. I make sure that I know what's good in the entire

34:58space and with this team, because of all the work you put in. So keep crushing it, brother. I'm

35:02excited to listen to that podcast. I don't have any inside dirt or anything. I wish I did, but

35:07I'm going to leave it a surprise for myself. Everybody make sure you follow Carlos. Seriously.

35:12He is so invaluable. His insights, the diligence alone is just something that anybody who wants to

35:18get again into the space, you have to make sure you're staying on top of this guy. He's a great

35:23example. And of course, everyone, thank you all for watching as always. Thank you, Lowe's. Now

35:30take care of yourselves, take care of each other. We will see you next time. Peace y'all.

35:51Oh, I hit the button.

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