Impressions from rookie camp | Greg Bedard Patriots Podcast - video Dailymotion

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In the latest episode of the Greg Bedard Patriots Podcast with Nick Cattles, Greg and Nick give their assessment of rookie camp, the decisions to draft some of these guys, more changes to the Patriots' front office, the impending schedule release, and much more!    00:33 - Impressions of Rookie Camp  04:40 - Gillette without Bill  08:03 - Drake Maye  12:15 - VanPelt’s role with Maye  13:49 - Ja'Lynn Polk  16:01 - PrizePicks  17:21 - Javon Baker  18:50 - Baker’s comments  21:40 - Decision to draft Milton  23:09 - Marcellas Dial  24:00 - Joe Milton  26:32 - Jaheim bell  28:08 - GameTime  29:58 - more front office changes  32:27 - Schedule release          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 ! #patriotspresspass #clns #patriots

Transcript

00:00 This is the Greg the Guard Patriots podcast with Nick Cavins.

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00:33 All right Greg let's talk about rookie minicamp and just your view.

00:37 Let's start here your view from 30,000 feet your general impressions what you saw on Saturday.

00:43 So well I'll start with numbers.

00:46 We talked last week and I think I said I predicted between 30 and 40 players on the field with

00:56 a lot of tryout guys because that's the way the Packers do things and that's exactly what

01:01 happened there were 39 players on the list.

01:05 I want to say there were 22 20.

01:07 So it was eight draft picks nine undrafted free agents 22 tryout players.

01:15 So 39 that's a that's a Packers thing.

01:19 They basically leave no stone unturned when it comes to looking for talent and you know

01:26 they'll they'll have tryout guys.

01:29 We talked about during the regular season probably Tuesday workouts are going to be

01:32 a big a bigger thing for this personnel department and you could see a lot of turning of the

01:39 bottom of the roster as the season goes on where a tryout guy comes in on a Tuesday and

01:44 he signed and somebody else is out plus with the practice squad all that stuff.

01:47 So there were a lot of players on the field.

01:51 That being said I don't know if they were I don't know if the players outnumbered the

01:56 number of Patriots staff on the field.

02:01 It's a lot.

02:02 I mean you know when they when they released the roster you know it was like a it was like

02:08 two inches of a paragraph of basically like coaches and all sorts of different assistant

02:14 coaches and this and that.

02:16 So that and plus you have the front office staff all of them all the scouts they're still

02:22 in town.

02:24 They'll probably be at a lot of stuff basically like they want to see how these guys look

02:27 on the field.

02:28 They want to make their own evaluations.

02:32 All that stuff.

02:33 So not only do you have all the coaches but you have all the scouts and front office staff

02:36 plus all the staffers like there were a lot of people on the practice field especially

02:42 for the Patriots where we all know that you know Bill kept a very small coaching staff

02:47 very small sort of front office.

02:50 You know I think there's the Patriots are going to start beefing up analytics and like

02:54 stuff like that a lot of areas where Bill decided to go more old school Elliot Wolfe

02:59 and Gerard Mayo are going to be more expansive more collaborative all that bullcrap.

03:05 So that was the first thing.

03:10 I will say that in terms of what they did it was about an hour long session wasn't overly

03:17 taxing a lot of positional stuff a lot of teaching a lot of fundamentals whether it

03:23 was the quarterbacks or like you know I was encouraged to see Tyler Hughes the new wide

03:28 receivers coach who's who was a college wide receiver but has never really coached wide

03:32 receivers.

03:34 He was doing a lot of technical work with the receivers which anybody who's listened

03:38 to this podcast over the last couple of years knows that I was very critical of the Patriots

03:44 coaching in that regard.

03:45 So I was encouraged by that.

03:47 I will say that in terms of the scheme that some of the scheme stuff they did and really

03:54 the only quote unquote competitive situation was a very light seven on seven period a lot

04:00 of zone coverage from the defense.

04:02 So I don't think they were trying to be too taxing or anything like that but you could

04:06 tell the offensive line some of the drills that they were doing a lot of outside zone

04:11 inside zone quarterback sort of boot action a lot of stuff that's like old school West

04:19 Coast offense that we figured that they were going to do.

04:24 So in terms of just broad overview of what we saw on the field I think that about covers

04:31 it.

04:33 I don't want to get into the specific comparison with with Mayo and Belichick right now because

04:38 we'll talk Mayo in a couple of minutes but I did want to ask you of course we all know

04:44 Belichick is no longer here and we really were expecting it towards the end of last

04:49 season him to be gone.

04:51 But how was it without him being there.

04:53 What was it weird.

04:54 Was it a strange vibe.

04:56 What was the kind of general atmosphere without Bill.

05:01 I will say it was a lighter atmosphere.

05:05 Now it's been a while.

05:06 You know that being said it's been a while since we've been allowed into any sort of

05:10 rookie practice.

05:11 It's been a few years.

05:14 So it's it's hard to readily compare.

05:18 But I would say it was definitely lighter.

05:19 You know Gerard was making his jokes with the media before practice.

05:26 When he came up and walked up the stairs he sort of like mugged for the cameras and there

05:32 were some wire photos in that regard.

05:39 You know but I don't think that there was a huge difference.

05:42 I mean there was a lot of teaching going on.

05:44 That's no different with rookies under Belichick.

05:49 You know I'll just say the the biggest difference to me was and I watched Gerard Mayo a lot

05:55 during this practice because I wanted to see what he was doing what positions he was concentrating

06:01 on and he told us before practice that he was going to sort of float.

06:05 This is this is why he has a big coaching staff.

06:10 He he basically roamed the practice field didn't really interact with anybody very much.

06:18 The players there was at one point right before seven on seven where he called those players

06:21 and spoke to them briefly but he just sort of roamed and observed.

06:28 You know I don't think that there's anything wrong with that but just my impression from

06:31 watching him it was I don't think he really knew what he was supposed to be doing.

06:37 Now I don't know why he would know what he's supposed to be doing.

06:41 This is his first time in this sort of role.

06:44 He was a linebacker as a player.

06:46 He coached linebackers up until this year when he became head coach.

06:51 And so this is all sort of a work in progress for him.

06:56 He admitted he said he said where is the quote that he's he's learning just as much.

07:04 I am learning right alongside these guys and you know at least he's being honest and open

07:09 and but yeah he's definitely learning on the job for sure.

07:14 All right let's go through the picks here and we'll go player by player and let me just

07:23 set this premise to make sure that everybody is aware.

07:27 I don't think at least in my own personal opinion that we're going to draw any grand

07:31 conclusions from what we saw on Saturday what Greg saw on Saturday.

07:35 We have to make sure that we understand the circumstances and the context.

07:40 This is shorts and T-shirt not a whole hell of a lot to really learn from.

07:46 There are certain things you can watch and get but it's more about the process and how

07:51 it's going versus what these guys are doing on the field in this very moment.

07:55 So with that said we'll go pick by pick just kind of your your assessment of each player

08:01 and what you saw and how those coaches were handling these guys.

08:03 Greg let's start of course with the future of the franchise.

08:08 Drake May what you see.

08:10 So just basics I mean he looks the part I mean just like we thought I mean we're talking

08:18 about a big dude 6'4" strong young when he talked to us reporters after the practice

08:27 I was just sort of observing him and he just he he seems he seems young as far as on the

08:35 field stuff.

08:38 You know about as advertised it seemed to me that and this goes for both quarterbacks

08:43 so Joe Minton was on the field as well.

08:45 There was a lot of a lot of back to basics working on footwork getting away from center

08:54 you know all that stuff which we knew was going to be a part of both of these guys for

09:00 sure where you know I think to me it seemed like both quarterbacks especially Drake May

09:07 are basically like starting over starting a foundation.

09:12 This is these are the drills you're going to work on probably goes to back to the Mike

09:16 McCarthy quarterback school sort of thing that Alex Van Pelt and Ben McAdoo both learned

09:21 under there's a script in terms of how you how you do this and and they started at basics.

09:29 Now as far as him throwing the ball I didn't think that he cut it loose.

09:34 There was not much down the field stuff at all.

09:37 It was a lot of like short routes type of thing.

09:40 It seemed to me like I don't know if it was on purpose but it seemed like Drake May was

09:45 dialing things down.

09:46 He was more working on his fundamentals the footwork the motion.

09:51 Let me just let me be better at that and worry about the velocity later which I like.

09:57 Now let's talk about the hitch because a lot of people have brought it up.

10:05 So what I mean if you're watching on YouTube okay and this is really I noticed it more

10:13 when he was throwing passes to receivers running backs what have you towards the second half

10:18 of practice and it was really on sort of straight drop back stuff not roll out stuff.

10:24 He's fine.

10:25 His hips are fine like that.

10:27 So you know so they're working on his footwork.

10:31 We know about the long motion where he kind of you know the ball goes back instead of

10:35 just up.

10:37 It seems like they're working on that but he has this hitch where right before he throws

10:41 just a normal ball like his his both of his shoulders go up and then he throws and as

10:49 the as the practice progressed it was annoying me more and more.

10:54 I've never really seen that before.

10:55 I don't know if they're working on something so that's what I mean by the hitch and do

10:59 I think it's some big huge thing that's going to be a problem for him.

11:04 No it's probably just a byproduct of what they're working on right now but just so everybody

11:10 knows including Felger that it's it's the it's the shoulders go up and then he throws

11:17 and so that was annoying me but you know as far as in general I thought it was all good.

11:24 He was mostly on target.

11:25 He was accurate through a good spiral didn't really air it out which is fine but I liked

11:32 what I saw makes all the sense in the world.

11:35 It seems like they're really stripping him down to the ground floor and going to slowly

11:40 build him back up and I saw G.R.D.'s report over the weekend at B.S.J. that they had the

11:47 you know they had the iPods or whatever the monopods behind.

11:51 Yeah behind the quarterbacks filming every single move and you know for a fact the coaching

11:55 staff is going back with Milton and May looking at that film.

11:59 All right.

12:00 This is what you need to fix.

12:01 This is what went wrong and that's really what's needed.

12:04 Right.

12:05 And that's why I think we have to continue to tell people to be patient with Drake May.

12:08 We all know who he is.

12:10 He is far from a polished product.

12:12 So give him some time with that said Greg Gerard Mayo also mentioned during his meeting

12:17 with the media that Alex Van Pelt will be the lead voice.

12:21 There was a lot of talk about how many cooks in the kitchen how many voices will be heard

12:26 by Drake May.

12:27 But it sounds like as for right now in camp season it's going to be Van Pelt.

12:32 Yeah and that's the way it looked on the field.

12:35 Now I will say there were a lot of people around the quarterback.

12:38 So you had you know Van Pelt who was really sort of directing things.

12:44 TC McCartney was the quarterbacks coach was definitely involved in the hands on coaching

12:49 of those guys.

12:50 I would say Van Pelt was more worried about Drake May.

12:53 McCartney was more worried about Joe Milton.

12:56 Ben McAdoo was always there more in an observation role off the side.

13:02 He did you know he would have a few words with Drake when it was like Joe Milton's turn

13:06 but but nothing excessive.

13:08 You also have Evan Rothstein who was the quarterbacks coach last year who was there and you know

13:15 and you also had all those cameras which I will point out that's not unusual.

13:20 That's every that's every team the old Patriots they used to do that.

13:26 So I didn't want people to think like oh well there this is unusual and you know it's maybe

13:32 some cause for concern.

13:34 Everybody does that at every single team every single practice.

13:38 But yeah a lot of.

13:42 There weren't a lot of voices.

13:44 I just I do worry about how many cooks are involved with the quarterbacks.

13:48 Let's move to the next guy Jalen Polk.

13:50 What do you think.

13:51 Yeah I I like Polk.

13:54 I think he's he came sort of as advertised you know strong player catches the ball well

14:05 pretty good fundamentals coming in and out of his break.

14:07 I really like that he was he's very consistent strong player.

14:12 You could tell that he and may already have sort of an early connection or more of a bond

14:20 type of thing and we saw them they were at the Bruins game the other night together.

14:23 I think that's that's growing.

14:25 I think that's on purpose.

14:26 But I I liked what I saw at a pool.

14:30 Let's group the offensive lineman together.

14:32 Of course we had third round pick Caden Wallace and then we had fourth round pick Leighton

14:36 Robinson both guys Greg on Saturday on the left side and I know I don't know which one

14:43 said I think it was Wallace but said you know they've been inseparable these two offensive

14:47 lineman since the draft.

14:49 Your take on those big guys up front.

14:51 Yeah they definitely were the left side and started so that leads you to believe that

14:56 they'll get an opportunity to compete at those spots.

15:01 I like I like Robinson a little bit more than Wallace.

15:06 I just think that he's you know maybe further along a little bit more powerful.

15:12 Of course he plays guard.

15:15 Wallace is the left tackle.

15:17 I didn't love some of his mechanics and some of the zone running stuff and this is just

15:25 stuff on air foot movement things like that.

15:30 I didn't love but this could be an entirely new thing for him and so you know like like

15:36 you pointed out before and like we pointed out last week nobody's making any judgments

15:43 off of this.

15:44 This is a this is like this was day two of them on the field learning a bunch of different

15:49 stuff but it was certainly interesting that they're they're keeping those two guys together

15:54 and it'll be interesting to see what they do with them as we go forward in you know

15:58 mini camps and and training camp.

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17:18 All right, we talked about Jalen Polk.

17:23 One receiver down.

17:24 One left to go.

17:25 Of course, I'm talking about J. Von Baker.

17:28 Yeah, again, a lot of these guys, the book on them, you saw sort of indications of it

17:36 on the field.

17:37 I think the Baker certainly displays some really nice traits and explosive traits that

17:46 are possibly there.

17:47 I will say he's kind of all over the place.

17:51 He's aggressively trying to catch the ball, maybe trying to make things happen.

17:56 A couple balls clanged off his hands.

18:01 I just think that where he was drafted, it's sort of like a future bet and you know that

18:08 you're going to have some warts with those guys.

18:10 I think that to me, he's just like he's got a lot of potential, but it's kind of all over

18:16 the place.

18:19 I think he's a guy that needs to be brought along slowly and methodically, but I liked

18:25 the traits that I saw.

18:26 I mean, if we thought going in that Polk was more of the consistent, professional, closer

18:34 to playing, contribute sort of Jordy Nelson, James Jones type Packers guy, then we thought

18:42 Baker was the higher upside guy with more big play potential, a little bit more flash.

18:47 I would say that that was consistent with what we saw in the field.

18:51 One thing I did want to address with Baker because Mayo addressed it.

18:54 He was asked about the Baker Instagram stories and what Baker has said early on.

19:00 And I thought there were a few things from Mayo's comment that stood out to me as quote.

19:05 The first thing was we will have rules.

19:07 He said we will have rules about what guys are pretty much allowed to talk about.

19:14 But I really like what he said about.

19:16 Look, yeah, he put it out there and now it's up to Javon to show it because, you know,

19:23 you can talk about it, but if you don't go out there and you're not about it, these guys

19:27 in the locker room, his teammates, they're going to know he's not the real deal.

19:31 And I thought that that was a fantastic way to say, hey, Javon, you flapped your gums.

19:37 Now realize you better show it on the field because this is now professional football.

19:43 And if you don't show out, you're going to get killed for what you had to say.

19:47 So lesson learned, hopefully for the young guy.

19:49 What'd you think of what Mayo had to say about Baker?

19:51 Yeah, I thought it was great, too.

19:55 You know, one of Mayo's more impressive moments as a head coach where, you know, I think he's

20:02 he's very much setting the tone, especially for some of these draft picks or rookies that,

20:08 you know, they.

20:12 They need to back up their words like this.

20:14 The National Football League is not about, you know, Instagram stories and speaking out

20:19 and flapping your gums unless you're like, you know, really good, like, you know, Steve

20:23 Smith or somebody like that, like in the NFL now.

20:28 Only talk when you can back it up and he needs to he needs to continue to do that.

20:35 I also thought that I don't know if you agree with this.

20:39 I know Mike Reese wrote about it on Sunday, but I thought Baker not speaking to the media.

20:45 That felt to me like a message sent by the coach.

20:48 And I don't know if it was, but, you know, there are only two guys that didn't speak

20:54 with the media, Greg, on Saturday out of the rookies that were drafted.

20:58 The two guys you had Joe Milton.

21:00 I got a thought on that in a second.

21:02 And Javon Baker, and it just felt to me that it was you said what you needed to say.

21:08 You said all you needed to say on that IG story.

21:12 We're not going to put you in front of the cameras.

21:14 We're not going to put you in front of the media right now because it's time to be a

21:17 little bit quiet.

21:19 Go out there and do the work.

21:20 Did you take that from from Baker not speaking to you guys?

21:24 Yeah, I mean, I wasn't taking any grand conclusions from it, but yeah, I would say that's an

21:30 indication of all right, you already you already spoke enough.

21:35 You know, let's let's let's worry about our on field production first.

21:39 I have a theory about the Joe Milton thing.

21:41 There's a lot of talk about May Milton, right?

21:46 Some people were saying that, you know, they thought it was a mistake to draft Milton because

21:52 it sets up this competition between the rookie quarterbacks.

21:56 And as soon as some fans see Joe Milton throw the football, there's going to be, you know,

22:01 a lot to do about nothing, really.

22:04 I did wonder, Greg, if that's why Milton didn't speak to the media, that they put Drake May

22:10 up front face the franchise.

22:12 He answers the questions because he's the quarterback of the future.

22:17 Let's keep Milton kind of in the background and not create this back and forth that could

22:24 be created by the media between Milton and May, because if Milton's asked about his future

22:30 at quarterback competing against Drake May, he could slip up.

22:35 He could say something.

22:36 And all of a sudden, as we know here in Boston, Greg, that's a full day of content on the

22:41 radio and some on TV.

22:42 So is my theory correct?

22:44 Do you think that they kind of protected Drake May in a sense by not having Milton go out

22:48 there and speak to the media?

22:50 Yeah, I would agree with that.

22:52 I mean, I don't think the Patriots or even Drake May are afraid of anything, but I do

22:56 think that they just wanted to establish the pecking order.

23:00 And Drake May is the future of the franchise.

23:02 We'll see with Joe Milton and, you know, let Drake May have his day.

23:08 All right, let's look at some of the later round guys.

23:12 Marcella style.

23:13 Anything stand out to you?

23:15 Yeah.

23:16 For some reason, I thought he was a little bit thicker than what he showed.

23:21 But you know, he's definitely on the thinner side, but a well put together player.

23:28 Looks good physically, looks strong.

23:30 I think he's an older guy, if I remember correctly.

23:34 But he was at, when I, I was spending a lot of time watching the offense and Mayo.

23:38 I didn't watch a ton of the defense.

23:41 But when I was watching, Dial was definitely a cornerback.

23:44 That was my impression.

23:46 So I thought that was interesting.

23:49 And we'll see how it goes with him.

23:51 But I liked, I like the traits that it looked like they were playing a lot of zone to me.

23:55 Not a whole lot of man to man, but I think they're just sort of crawling before they

23:59 walk.

24:00 All right.

24:01 How about don't call me bazooka Joe Milton?

24:05 You know, Drake May dialed it down the RPMs.

24:10 Joe Milton did not.

24:13 His arm came as advertised.

24:14 It's impressive.

24:15 He's impressive looking.

24:18 And then you get into situations where he's, you know, throwing, you know, seven yard crossers,

24:25 like 80 miles an hour and off of guys hands.

24:29 In his seven on seven period after, I'm just looking for my stats.

24:36 After, after Drake May was pretty, I think he only missed one throw and it wasn't that

24:41 bad.

24:42 Then Joe Milton came in and it was like, you know, I think he finally hit his last throw.

24:47 His four throws were completely off.

24:49 One clanged off somebody's hands.

24:51 One was way wide.

24:53 He's all over the place, but the way he throws the ball, the way the ball comes off his hands

25:00 was certainly impressive.

25:03 And you know, you don't see many guys that throw the ball the way he can now, can it

25:10 be corralled and be, he'd be successful.

25:12 We have no idea.

25:13 Alex Barth, 98 five.

25:16 I hope I get this right, but he's talked about, he's talked about Milton.

25:22 He says, if you want an 80, 80 yard pass from Joe Milton, he can get you an 80 yard pass.

25:27 If you want a five yard pass from Joe Milton, he can get you an 80 yard pass.

25:31 He just, he rips it no matter what he did.

25:35 There's this, you know, lots of gas.

25:37 He's he's, he's 105 miles an hour all the time.

25:41 He's not trying to paint the black at 92.

25:43 He's, I will say Nick, just looking back at my notes now that I found it, um, you know,

25:48 he had one rep where, and I think this was a route on air, but he, he faked the handoff

25:55 and rolled, uh, he rolled left and flipped his hips and then just flicked the ball.

26:01 And it must've been like 30 yards down the field.

26:05 And it was a perfect dime.

26:06 And you're just like, like, Holy crap.

26:08 But then in seven on seven Milton threw a laser through David Wallace through David

26:13 Wallace was way wide to, uh, Bo Corrales missed the back out of the backfield.

26:19 And then finally, then finally hit the running back on his final rep.

26:23 Like that's what you get.

26:24 You'll be like, Holy cow, look at that.

26:26 And then like four or five throws in a row.

26:28 You're just like, that wasn't even close.

26:32 Jaheim Bell thoughts.

26:35 Um, you know, uh, good looking athlete.

26:40 Um, you know, he, he was being coached very hard and repeatedly.

26:45 I think that's sort of the book on him.

26:47 I think he has, uh, some potential.

26:50 We really saw him at tight end.

26:52 We didn't see much, you know, a little bit of H back stuff, no fullback stuff that I

26:57 noticed and not that that's surprising.

26:59 Um, but you know, a good looking athlete, athlete, uh, off the hoof and, um, you know,

27:06 certainly getting coached hard.

27:09 Interesting comment from bell that he made when he talked to you guys, he's talking about

27:14 his visit and he said during his visit, he didn't realize that Gerard Mayo was the head

27:18 coach until he was told he was the head coach.

27:21 And he, he, he pretty much made the point that Mayo came across as just another player.

27:27 Like he, you know, a guy in the locker room.

27:29 And I just want to kind of put a spotlight on that.

27:32 I'm not saying that it's bad because many would say Dan Campbell has, you know, that

27:36 kind of quality too about him, but we have to make sure to keep an eye on that because

27:41 Greg, I don't know if you agree, I would think you do, but there's a balance and Mayo has

27:47 to make sure that he's drawing that line of distinction between friend, buddy, teammate

27:52 and head coach.

27:53 And that's why I really liked what he had to say about Jayvon Baker, because I thought

27:56 he did draw that line, but it's just something, you know, friendly coach, players, coaches

28:02 fine, but he's got to make sure he keeps the line in mind.

28:05 Correct.

28:06 Yeah, for sure.

28:08 I agree.

28:09 The Celtics have vanquished the heat and are now onto the Eastern Conference semifinals

28:13 where they will have home court advantage again, who wouldn't want to be a TD garden

28:17 to soak in the great atmosphere there?

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28:40 I love the seat view component, Nick.

28:43 I don't know how you feel about it.

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28:52 I don't know, maybe, maybe I have a little Fenway fatigue, but on the app, it says right

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29:01 I love that component of it.

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29:24 All right.

29:25 So we talked about the coaches.

29:27 We talked about Mayo.

29:29 Anything you want to add on to the coaches and Mayo at mini camp that you saw, Greg?

29:36 I'm trying to think.

29:40 I don't think so.

29:41 I mean, it's just I'm going to be very interested watching Mayo going forward.

29:47 You know, like I said, my initial impression was I don't really think he knows what he's

29:52 doing.

29:53 Not that that's a surprise, but we'll see how it develops from there.

29:58 One other tidbit of news that came out yesterday, Steve Cargill, director of pro scouting, no

30:04 longer with the organization.

30:07 He is out.

30:08 So interesting, interesting note.

30:12 We expected some turnover, Greg.

30:14 We've talked about, you know, guys on quote unquote lame, lame duck contracts.

30:18 And you're looking at a lot of people in the league that are losing jobs.

30:22 Somebody with the Texans, I forget who it was, but one of the top tier guys in Houston

30:28 is also gone.

30:29 So Steve Cargill is out just first your, your thoughts about Cargill not being a part of

30:35 this front office anymore.

30:36 He's been with the Patriots since 2011.

30:38 So I would deem him a bill Belichick guy.

30:41 Yeah, I'm, I'm surprised.

30:43 I've always been impressed with Steve.

30:47 He has a very good reputation.

30:49 I'll be interested to see if he gets an opportunity someplace else.

30:55 One thing I did want to note as far as the personnel department sort of watching the

31:00 inner workings there.

31:02 And a lot of people have questions about Matt Groh and if he's, how long is he going to

31:07 be here?

31:08 He was definitely on the field.

31:09 I definitely saw him and Elliot Wolf having a lot of discussions together.

31:14 So my initial impression just from Saturday's practice was that I don't think macro is going

31:21 anywhere, but that obviously could change.

31:24 Yeah.

31:26 And I would expect Elliot to get a couple of his people in.

31:29 That's how this works.

31:31 He's now, you know, the EVP of player personnel.

31:34 So I'd imagine he's going to get some of his guys in there and it'll be interesting to

31:37 see who, what they do with car gals position again, director of pro scouting.

31:42 I mentioned this on the last podcast.

31:45 It's weird that Mac grows title is now very similar to Elliot Wolf's title.

31:50 Elliot is EVP of player personnel.

31:53 Matt grow as director of player personnel.

31:55 Do they get rid of that?

31:56 Matt grow title and make him the director of pro scouting.

32:00 Cam Williams is another guy that's, that's people seemingly really like, and he's young,

32:06 but you know, he's climbing up in positions over the last couple of years.

32:10 So does Cam Williams get a shot at being the director of pro scouting Alonzo Highsmith?

32:16 You know, does he get that title?

32:18 So it'll be interesting to see who actually slides into what Steve Cargile was doing,

32:23 whether it's from the outside of the organization or from within the guys they have right now.

32:27 All right.

32:28 So the schedule will be released tomorrow morning.

32:31 We're recording this on a Tuesday afternoon.

32:33 The schedule will come out at 9:00 AM on Wednesday.

32:38 Just you know, looking at it, home games, Buffalo, Miami, New York, obviously you got

32:42 your divisional rivals there.

32:44 Then you've got Houston at home.

32:46 You've got Indy at home.

32:47 You've got the Rams at home.

32:48 You've got Seattle and the chargers at home.

32:50 Greg, let's start with the home games.

32:52 Yeah.

32:53 Just what are you looking for out of those out of those home games that we see?

32:58 Well, I would just say in general, the thing that I look for when the schedule comes out,

33:06 first of all, I want to see how difficult the start is.

33:10 And because I do think this is going to be a work in progress, you know, for this team.

33:15 It's a new scheme.

33:16 I always say basically when you're putting in a new offensive scheme, and this is like

33:20 the third scheme in like four years for the Patriots, it usually takes until the second

33:24 half of the season for things to, you know, to sort of, you know, really hit.

33:28 So I want to see how how much the Patriots are going to be buried by that time.

33:33 Last year, we know that they had a very tough start to the schedule.

33:36 So that'd be interesting.

33:37 The other thing that I look for is, you know, how many what's sort of the breakdown on the

33:46 short weeks to longer prep time between the Patriots and their opponents each week?

33:52 The NFL tries to keep it pretty even, but that's not the way it often works out.

33:57 Obviously, where does the Thursday game fall?

33:59 Where does the bye week?

34:00 And the other thing that I think is interesting, Nick, is the so the Patriots have two West

34:06 Coast away games, Arizona and San Francisco.

34:10 Did the did the Patriots position petition the NFL to have both of those weeks back to

34:15 back so they can stay out there?

34:17 Team bonding, all that stuff?

34:19 Or are they going to have to, you know, go back and forth from the West Coast twice during

34:24 the same year, which is a little bit rough?

34:27 I believe they did.

34:28 I read it somewhere that they asked the league if they could play those West Coast games

34:32 together back to back.

34:33 So we'll see if the league help them with that.

34:37 One more thought or two here.

34:38 First, I'll let you know that the this episode is what he's trying to say is brought to you

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34:57 I don't know if I'm stroking out, but but Darden Giardi over at B.S.J.

35:00 Fifty bucks for the year.

35:01 Great content.

35:02 You know, the spiel.

35:04 What I would say here about the schedule, a couple of things by week could be the perfect

35:08 time whether or not they are planning on this, but maybe to throw Drake May into the fray,

35:15 so to speak.

35:16 So if it's a mid year by or a late in the year by that could play a role in Drake May's

35:22 first year and when he might be deployed, so to speak.

35:26 The second thing is if you're a Patriots fan and you're not excited for this season because

35:32 you're worried they're going to stink, they're going to win six games or less, whatever the

35:36 case may be.

35:38 My message to you is if you love watching really good quarterback play, well, you're

35:42 in for it, baby, because 2024, holy crap, Josh Allen twice, Rogers twice to it.

35:50 And that Miami offense twice.

35:53 Then you look at outside the division.

35:55 OK, CJ Stroud, Anthony Richardson wasn't great last year, but is dangerous and obviously

36:04 was young before he got hurt.

36:06 Richardson's no joke.

36:07 Stafford Herbert.

36:08 Kyler Murray and Trevor Lawrence and Brock Purdy.

36:14 But that Niners offense, Joe Burrow.

36:18 And then you've got Chicago's remade offense with Caleb Williams, the Andre Swift, Roma

36:23 Doonzay, DJ Moore, Keenan Allen, Cole commit.

36:27 If you like really good quarterbacks, explosive offenses.

36:31 Well, you've got a lot of them on this schedule for the Patriots, Greg.

36:36 Yeah, I I agree.

36:39 It's a it's a rough year to be rebuilding, but you got to start somewhere.

36:44 All right.

36:45 He's Greg.

36:46 Nick will react to the schedule when it comes out later on in the week.

36:50 Let you know how we feel about it.

36:52 But until next time, be well, be healthy, be good.

36:55 [MUSIC]

37:05 [MUSIC]

Impressions from rookie camp | Greg Bedard Patriots Podcast

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