Welcome to Pats Interference! In this episode, Andrew Callahan dives into the intriguing possibility of the Patriots trading for 49ers standout wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk. Join him as he explores the potential costs and benefits of acquiring a top-tier player like Aiyuk, delving into the financial implications and team dynamics at play.
Callahan presents a compelling trade scenario involving draft picks, stressing the importance of weighing the acquisition's impact on chemistry and performance. He also tackles listener questions on roster quality, positional adjustments, and strategic player development within the Patriots' lineup. Stay tuned for a comprehensive analysis of the team's outlook, roster composition, and the strategic decisions shaping their upcoming season.
0:00 - Intro
2:40 - Patriots acquiring Aiyuk
4:01 - Considerations beyond cost
6:27 - Effort and commitment
8:58 - Logic behind trade deal
10:52 - Impact on team dynamics
13:23 - Brandon Aiyuk's impact
15:08 - Solving roster holes
17:22 - Kyle Dugger's role
19:18 - Patriots' roster quality
20:29 - Improved team dynamics
21:57 - Patriots' AFC ranking
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ABOUT PATRIOTS COVERAGE ON CLNS:
Welcome to the CLNS Media Network’s YouTube channel for New England Patriots football. CLNS Media is the leading online provider of audio/video coverage for the 6X Super Bowl Champions. Get complete inside access to the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro and everywhere on the road. CLNS Patriots credentialed insiders Greg Bedard, Andrew Callahan, Tayler Kyles, John Zannis, Alex Barth and Mike Kadlick provide instantaneous news and analysis all in real time, as well as full access to complete videos from the players, coaches, ownership and everyone else inside Patriots Place.
If you enjoy CLNS’ Celtics All Access and are craving more Boston sports content, you head over to CLNS’ Patriots Press Pass at
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqX7G3pEDTseNxtoDU27PEg?sub_confirmations=1
Callahan presents a compelling trade scenario involving draft picks, stressing the importance of weighing the acquisition's impact on chemistry and performance. He also tackles listener questions on roster quality, positional adjustments, and strategic player development within the Patriots' lineup. Stay tuned for a comprehensive analysis of the team's outlook, roster composition, and the strategic decisions shaping their upcoming season.
0:00 - Intro
2:40 - Patriots acquiring Aiyuk
4:01 - Considerations beyond cost
6:27 - Effort and commitment
8:58 - Logic behind trade deal
10:52 - Impact on team dynamics
13:23 - Brandon Aiyuk's impact
15:08 - Solving roster holes
17:22 - Kyle Dugger's role
19:18 - Patriots' roster quality
20:29 - Improved team dynamics
21:57 - Patriots' AFC ranking
************************************************
Patriots Content Brought to you by....
Prize Picks - PrizePicks.com/CLNS
Download the app today and use code CLNS for a first deposit match up to $100!
Gametime - https://gametime.co
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.
Merch Store - https://shop.clnsmedia.com
Social Media!!!!
Patriots Twitter- https://twitter.com/patriotsclns
Patriots Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/patriotsclns/
Facebook- https://facebook.com/clnsmedia
LinkedIn- https://www.linkedin.com/company/clnsmedia/about/
Tik Tok - https://www.tiktok.com/@clnsmedia
*********************************************************
ABOUT PATRIOTS COVERAGE ON CLNS:
Welcome to the CLNS Media Network’s YouTube channel for New England Patriots football. CLNS Media is the leading online provider of audio/video coverage for the 6X Super Bowl Champions. Get complete inside access to the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro and everywhere on the road. CLNS Patriots credentialed insiders Greg Bedard, Andrew Callahan, Tayler Kyles, John Zannis, Alex Barth and Mike Kadlick provide instantaneous news and analysis all in real time, as well as full access to complete videos from the players, coaches, ownership and everyone else inside Patriots Place.
If you enjoy CLNS’ Celtics All Access and are craving more Boston sports content, you head over to CLNS’ Patriots Press Pass at
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqX7G3pEDTseNxtoDU27PEg?sub_confirmations=1
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Okay, so right off the top, I did not expect to be recording this podcast.
00:18It is Thursday evening, around 630.
00:20I'm sitting alone, sweaty in my office wearing a blazer because for the YouTube folks who
00:24are new, I have to give some sort of credibility and I'm doing a TV in a couple of hours.
00:29Tom Kerr and Tom Giles are going to be a great time at NBC, whether you're watching from
00:3210 to 11 or just using us as background during stuff that folks do between 10 and 11 at night.
00:39On our rundown for tonight is a segment naturally dedicated to Brandon Ayuk, who a couple of
00:44days ago requested a trade from the 49ers.
00:47We get the question that we've all been asking for the last three, four, not years, but feels
00:52like decades.
00:54Should the Patriots trade for a number one wide receiver?
00:57This time, a number one wide receiver means Brandon Ayuk.
01:00For those who are unfamiliar with the 49ers wide receiver, Brandon Ayuk, 26, just turned
01:04in March.
01:05He's had back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons.
01:07He is a former first-round pick at Arizona State, had 15 combined touchdowns over the
01:11last two years when he was, quote-unquote, second-team all-pro, which is something that
01:15we say, but it's really not a thing because there's only one team that's all-pro and that
01:18would be the first team.
01:19But if you get enough votes, we call you second team.
01:21Anyway, he led the league with 17.9 yards per catch and had basically career numbers
01:26across the board when the Niners, again, lost in the Super Bowl to the Chiefs.
01:30And Brandon Ayuk has requested a trade because he's not getting paid enough.
01:32And the Patriots, as we all know, have a ton of cap and a lot of cash.
01:35So I'm getting ready for the rundown saying, oh, should they do it, should they not?
01:40And number one when it comes to trade segments that everyone has to keep in mind, the question
01:45is not, are the Patriots better with player X?
01:49Of course they are.
01:50That's why you want to trade for them.
01:51The question is price, cost, right?
01:53If you're not buying milk at the supermarket, if it's $100, you'll go somewhere else and
01:58get maybe lesser milk, even if it's the best in the world, because you know what?
02:03Milk is milk at the end of the day.
02:04Brandon Ayuk, to not compare him to dairy, I will just say, is someone that is worth
02:09trading a lot for.
02:10And what the 49ers want is a first round pick.
02:12If you're the Patriots, obviously, or maybe not, that's off the table, right?
02:17You are projected to have a top five pick according to Vegas, then maybe not Aaron Schatz,
02:20who in our last episode explained why he thinks that we'll go seven and ten.
02:24Listen if you have not.
02:25That is the founder of Football Outsiders.
02:28I've called the godfather of football analytics, not a title he gave himself.
02:31Thank you, Christian Poirier, Andy Harp for that.
02:34And someone who created DVOA, a very respected voice in the industry.
02:38So the issue is, how can the Patriots get a number one wide receiver like Brandon Ayuk?
02:42And is, in this particular case, the cost worth what it would be?
02:46Because you're not giving a top five pick, you'd have to aggregate picks.
02:49Something that would instead be worth a first round pick.
02:52And instead of just doing the normal thing of they shouldn't give up a top five pick,
02:56stay patient, this isn't the time, there are issues with him, I found what I believe to
03:01be the perfect Brandon Ayuk trade.
03:04And instead of waiting to share with all the good folks who will hopefully be watching
03:0710 at 11 tonight, I said I need to record now.
03:10I will give this trade to you.
03:12It might be up on Friday, but at the very least, it's here on Pat's Interference where
03:15you tune in and watch and listen, and thank you for doing so, for stuff like this.
03:19At the end of this, we also have a couple of mailbag questions, like I said and tweeted
03:23out today, in the middle of the day where hopefully everyone was at the beach and not
03:26just sweating in their own apartment, like yours truly, and driving his wife to the train
03:30station.
03:31Thank you for leaving on my only open weekend, last open weekend of the offseason, no hurt
03:36feelings.
03:37I have all your questions answered.
03:40But first, Brandon Ayuk.
03:41I already mentioned the part about this is a matter of cost, not how good the player
03:44is.
03:45Obviously, the Patriot player.
03:46But there's one more thing that whenever I talk trades with people within the team or
03:51a couple more around the league that I've gotten to know, that they always stress to
03:54me that the public at large forgets about when we have these debates or TV shows or
04:00podcasts.
04:01And it comes to should you add this player, who, like in Brandon Ayuk's case, is not just
04:06going to be the cost of a first round pick or a number of picks in aggregate value that
04:11matches a first, say, a second and a third, two seconds, whatever it might be, is he worth
04:16that draft capital plus the contract?
04:20This is a guy who wants to earn what the elite wide receivers in the league make.
04:25And that would mean about $30 million per year, perhaps more.
04:30And what these people in the league stress to me, and I have come to agree with because
04:34this is something only those on the inside would know, certainly know better than any
04:37of us self-included, is what it means when you trade for someone, give up all of those
04:43assets and then hand them that contract that not just makes them one of the highest paid
04:48players at their position, it makes them the highest paid player on the team.
04:52Because from day one, that player walks in and has more power than any of his new teammates.
04:58Not only just power within the offense, you've got to throw me the ball now, but I'm going
05:01to do things my way and no one can tell me no.
05:04Because everyone knows the numbers, right?
05:06Let's say Brandon gets four years, $30 million a pop.
05:09So it's four years, $120 million, whatever the guarantees you pick, that's just the framework.
05:15They can't cut him.
05:16They're not going to trade him.
05:17They just gave up all this stuff to trade for him.
05:19And so his buy-in level, and we're using Brandon because the vessel is an example here, obviously
05:24that's why we're talking about it.
05:25But it could be anybody that you're talking about trading.
05:26If he's not bought into the program, which Rod Mayo and it's very fragile, kind of infancy
05:32stage of his head coaching career, that's devastating for the rest of the team.
05:37It's a risk.
05:38Let's put it that way.
05:39Because if he's not getting enough catches or targets by week four or five, and he is
05:42inclined to complain, that is going to have a trickle-down effect.
05:46Not just on how everyone feels within the offense, but younger receivers like Pop Douglas
05:51and Jayvon Baker and Jalen Polk, because they're looking at him as the example, not just the
05:55highest paid guy in the team, but someone who got paid, which is what all of these guys
05:59want to do.
06:00They will follow his lead, his example, and that example matters.
06:03If you think back to the dynasty days, the reason Belichick's program works so well,
06:07obviously because he's a genius, the greatest coach of all time, the number one player who
06:11had the most buy-in at all times was always, almost always, the highest paid player in
06:16that roster and their best player, Tom Brady.
06:20He was a walking example of what Belichick wanted every single day.
06:24So no one else could question or give lesser effort.
06:28And if you did, you were out the door.
06:29And that goes for Richard Seymour or Logan Matkins, who might have even given good effort,
06:33but Belichick didn't need him because he still had buy-in in that locker room, and it worked.
06:37So those are the things I say, not because Brandon Ayoub is going to complain in week
06:41four or five, but that the team, the Patriots, and any other team looking to acquire him
06:46are going to try to project, how will this guy fit?
06:50This is what it comes down to.
06:51Not just your fit within the offense, Brandon Ayoub can play outside, he can play inside.
06:55What does it look like when we give him all of this money and empower him to be here for
06:59a long time, to be valued not only within this organization, but without all football?
07:04And the easiest analogy is just to think if your company sent out a press release next
07:09week that this dude who you don't particularly like, but is good at his job, we'll say he's
07:13a salesman.
07:14Sorry to all the salesmen out there.
07:17First name Jack, last name S. And they say, we've signed Jack to a four-year, call it
07:22a $2 million contract, whatever fits.
07:25And you think now, I didn't like this guy before, but this announcement, not just to
07:29our company, but the whole industry is going to indulge all of his worst tendencies because
07:34that guy knew he was good before.
07:36And now the head of the company had just made sure that everyone else in the world knows.
07:39So they get to do what they want in the office, emails, Zooms, whatever it might be.
07:43That's what it is here in a competitive environment with a lot of macho alpha egos.
07:49And you just said, he's the silverback.
07:51He's our best player.
07:53This is how we value him.
07:54And everyone pays attention, which is why guys like Matt Judah and Devon Gottschall,
07:57partly right now, want their money, not just for the sake of carrying more cash, but to
08:02have what it represents, the power, the respect, the standing within the organization.
08:07As soon as you trade for Brandon Naik, if you do, if you're the Patriots, you have to
08:10take that into account because again, you're rebuilding here.
08:13You cannot afford to hire someone who's going to undercut some of the foundation you're
08:17trying to lay.
08:18I'm not saying Brandon Naik would do that, though there were concerns about maturity
08:22that seemed like they'd be in ironed out in San Francisco.
08:24Maybe, maybe not.
08:25I don't know.
08:26I flatly don't.
08:27But you have to wonder and worry about this stuff as teams do because they've told me,
08:32okay, are you ready for the trade?
08:34I think you're ready for the trade.
08:35Here it is.
08:36The 49ers want a first round pick.
08:38They've got Patriots fans don't want to lose a first round pick.
08:41You've got it too.
08:42And you still get Brandon Naik.
08:45This is an NBA deal that's come to the NFL.
08:49The Niners trade their first round pick in 2025 and Brandon Naik for the Patriots first
08:54round pick in 2025.
08:56Now here's the logic behind this.
08:59When you follow modern trade value charts, not the Jimmy Johnson trade chart, which everyone
09:04followed for a while and turns out it was very out of date.
09:06Charts that look at all of the trades involved in the draft and assign point values based
09:10on those trades.
09:11This is how much teams actually believe a second round pick is worth because all of
09:15the trades involving second round picks have involved this amount of a third round pick
09:19or where it is in the draft order.
09:20When you look at those modern charts, the Patriots first round pick as we currently
09:25project right now, they have the third worst odds to make the Superbowl.
09:28So theoretically they should have the third overall pick that would be worth 514 points.
09:34The Niners, as we all know, pretty good.
09:37They're projected to have the second best odds of winning the Superbowl, meaning they
09:40would pick 31st.
09:42So when you look at the difference in value between those two picks, the third pick being
09:47worth 514 points and the 31st pick being worth 190, the difference is 324 points.
09:55That amounts to San Francisco in this pick swap deal, adding what's equivalent to the
10:0114th overall pick in the draft, a better than average first.
10:05And I would almost guarantee you right now, if San Francisco can guarantee itself the
10:1014th overall pick in exchange for Brandon Iuke, they're going to drive him to the airport,
10:14buy him a ticket, put them in first class.
10:17Here's an open tab on your cross country flight to wherever you're going to go.
10:20He's gone.
10:21Okay.
10:22Now, of course, there's a catch because if the Patriots do execute this trade and say,
10:26okay, here's our first round picks and this, I, you can send us your first, it's going
10:28to be, it's going to be worse, but the difference is going to be worth it.
10:32The Patriots just got better and the Niners by virtue of losing a dude who is not only
10:36just had back to back 1000 yard seasons, but also was rated the number one receiver in
10:40the entire league by ESPN, next gen stats that account for separation and how well you
10:44catch the ball and how well you gain yards after the catch, um, the Niners are going
10:48to be worse.
10:49Now they'll still be pretty good because they're the freaking San Francisco 49ers and let's
10:54account for this gap, right?
10:55The Patriots go from projected to be a third overall pick to let's say they're eighth or
11:00ninth.
11:01Eighth overall pick according to modern trade value charts is worth 406 points.
11:06If the Niners go from the 31st pick, I know this a lot of numbers, hang in, bear with
11:09me to loss in the divisional round.
11:14And they pick, let's say 27th or 28th.
11:16Those picks are worth about 200 points, okay, 216 to 200 points.
11:23So the difference then if the Patriots overperform or get better with Brandon and the Niners
11:28slide back just a little bit, but still make the playoffs as we all expect them to do.
11:32The difference between the number eight pick and the 27th or 28th is still about 190 to
11:36200 points and 190 or 200 points in the modern trade value charts is still worth the first
11:42round pick.
11:43So even if the Niners believe that they will slide back and they're okay with incurring
11:47some of that risk and they know the Patriots will get better, it still meets their demands
11:53of a first round pick by virtue of jumping up from what would be the 27th pick to number
11:58eight.
11:59Now, the other part of this is, let's say the Patriots have a season like Aaron Schatz
12:05expects seven and 10 or even six and 11.
12:08Then you and Brandon Iuke and you just go from six and 11 to seven and 10 to maybe a
12:14wildcard team and the Niners, even if they win the Superbowl, aren't moving up into the
12:18top three, are not moving up into the top 10.
12:21They might not be moving into the top 15, but you swap that as the Patriots who exceed
12:25all expectations despite the difficult schedule and it's going to be a bad offense, but you
12:28and Brandon Iuke and your defense carried you.
12:32You are going from somewhere around 15, 16 back to 32.
12:36Would you, in your mind, if you're the optimistic Patriots fan, do that trade, jumping back
12:4116 spots to add a number one wide receiver?
12:44Freaking, of course you would.
12:46Now, if you're pessimistic, again, the net deal of the number three pick for the 31st
12:51round pick as based on current projections, the Superbowl odds is a lot to give up and
12:55maybe San Francisco doesn't even want to do this.
12:57So if you're on the side of San Francisco would never do this, uh, throwing a fourth
13:02throwing Bailey's at me a little bit of sweetener and not a fourth in 2025, but in 2026, when
13:08at that point it's year two for Drake May, Jalen Polk, year three for DeMario Douglas.
13:12Brandon, I has been here for a while.
13:14You expect to be good in 2025 and beyond.
13:17So this will be a 2026 fourth round pick or a third, something to sweeten it because
13:21the difference Brandon Iuke is going to make again is ESPN's number one wide receiver.
13:27And the three most important things when it comes to playing wide receiver, catching the
13:30ball, getting extra yards, okay.
13:33And separating he's the best according to them.
13:36Not to mention the raw numbers of over 1300 yards, eight touchdowns last year, 17.9 yards
13:41per catch.
13:42So by adding him, this number one wide receiver, finally, if you're the Patriots, you have
13:47solved theoretically quarterback with Drake May a number one receiver in Brandon Iuke
13:52leaving only left tackle.
13:55And so you go into next year's draft, forgetting even free agency in 2025, eyeing that left
14:00tackle spot.
14:01And even if you with him free agency, like they did this year, okay, we brought Michael
14:04money back.
14:05We don't really want Jonah Williams, Tyron Smith.
14:07We're going to make a call, but hang up pretty quickly thereafter.
14:10We're still picking in the back end of the first round here in this theoretical scenario,
14:14we've moved back from wherever you are going to pick to whatever pick San Francisco has.
14:19The Cowboys drafted Tyler Guyton 25th overall this year.
14:22Okay.
14:23Out of Oklahoma.
14:24That dude is someone the Patriots should have considered.
14:26And I think would have considered had they been in that range and he could have started
14:30week one.
14:31They couldn't do that though, because after taking Drake May, they were picking at the
14:35early part of the second round and Guyton was never going to fall just like quarterbacks
14:39who are worthwhile starters.
14:40Week one, just like receivers who are worthy starters.
14:43Week one, don't really fall into the early second round.
14:46Sometimes even in drafts like we just had where it's so deep at all three of those positions,
14:50but they just go.
14:51That's how valuable they are.
14:53You go into that draft, able to draft an offensive tackle in the late twenties or package that
14:58first round pick with your second or a third to move up and still get one.
15:02And with less than a year's time, you have solved the three biggest holes in your roster
15:05with Drake May, Brandon, Iuke, and this rookie offensive tackle.
15:09And you are ready to take off in 2025 year two of the Drake May era with all this cash
15:14and all this cap to a number one wide receiver, a left tackle that can grow with this quarterback.
15:18And you can fill in all the other holes in free agency because these three positions
15:22do not get to free agency anymore.
15:24Okay.
15:25Quarterback receiver in the draft.
15:27And those are your only three avenues for roster building.
15:29So if you're the Patriots, you want to add a player like Brandon Iuke, you're not signing
15:33him.
15:34If you're drafting him, you're crossing your fingers and his name is Malik neighbors and
15:37he plays in the New York giants.
15:38He might be great.
15:39Okay.
15:40But you don't know right now, you know, Brandon, Iuke is great.
15:43You know, he's going to be expensive, but he's on the market, baby.
15:46And there's a deal that this can work swap first round picks bet on yourself and then
15:52throw in a little sweetener.
15:54If need be breaking news, we've got a young, exciting underdog team in Boston that's making
15:59a run for the playoffs.
16:00No, it's not the Patriots.
16:02Well, not the Patriots yet.
16:04It's the Red Sox.
16:05And if you've been following this season, you know that the Red Sox have been a hotter
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17:16There it is.
17:17Okay.
17:18Mailbag and we'll get out of here.
17:19Just three questions.
17:20Pat sees a ticket holder since 1969, quote, I don't like Duggar playing modern fast tight
17:26ends on third down like Dalton Kincaid, assuming playing against him.
17:30Does his system knowledge make up for the lack of speed to play free safety?
17:33So Kyle Duggar is a box safety.
17:36We know this.
17:37We've seen him.
17:38He's been in the second level.
17:39He levels dudes in a way that you don't see many safeties do.
17:41In fact, you see like linebackers, which makes him a box safety, a hybrid safety slash linebacker.
17:48What I would say is I agree with you.
17:50He's not particularly strong in made to make coverage against tight ends.
17:53That could be an issue for the Patriots moving forward because his game overlaps so much
17:57with your Bill Peppers and theoretically Marte Mampu, who is a big question mark in this
18:01defense that I think right now is being under discussed, but moving on, he can play free
18:05safety in a way that, you know, you can get away with, um, let's say a utility guy playing
18:13second or third base when he might be a little out of position for the last three innings
18:16with a baseball game, because most of the game's already there, right?
18:19Like he's good enough to do it in a rotation.
18:21And what I think the Patriots are planning on doing as they did a year ago is to rotate
18:25Peppers, Duggar, and perhaps Mopu Jalen Hawkins.
18:28Don't forget about him in a way that they'll all take 20 to 30% of the snaps at that position
18:35and spin back in single high, but none of them will do it often enough to get exposed.
18:40Now it's not, it's never going to be a strength, but they do have the system knowledge you
18:44talk about.
18:45They have good instincts, which is why Belichick always drafted players like, um, you know,
18:49not even Duggar, but I would say Juwan Bentley, slower linebackers that were a step ahead
18:52because they knew where the play was going.
18:54That will be in play enough.
18:56It's just that they're not going to be there long enough to get picked on consistently.
19:00And if you don't know as an offense, who's going to be back there, that's also another
19:04issue.
19:05So again, I think they're patching it together.
19:08I don't love it.
19:09I would feel better if they did a full free time safety, but specific to your question.
19:12Yes.
19:13Instincts experience do come into this.
19:14And I think the play last year worked well enough that that's why they're, they're running
19:18it back.
19:19Ed quote, where would you rank the quality of the pass roster right now, as opposed to
19:23the rest of its AFC opponents?
19:24And is today's roster better than last season's at this point?
19:27Um, so it's a really interesting framing by you, because if you had asked me a year ago,
19:35how good is this Patriots team?
19:36I was telling you better than expectations that in the over, over, over, over, over it
19:41was seven and a half, eight and a half in certain places is a nine and eight, 10, 17.
19:44And I was wrong.
19:45I was loud wrong, right?
19:47A lot of us were, but specific to me and my podcast, I was loud wrong.
19:51And we didn't know it yet.
19:53We could see.
19:54And I remember writing at the time in August, Bill O'Brien is calling this game in green
19:57Bay or no, excuse me.
19:58It wasn't against green Bay.
19:59It was their first preseason game against Houston, ton of RPOs, lots of screens.
20:03They have injuries along the offensive line.
20:05And what all that said to me was this has disaster potential because he's already managing
20:09the game.
20:10Like he expects this to be an offense where he can't rely on his offensive line.
20:13Obviously he was right.
20:14Offensive line went down the, you know what, and Mack Jones followed the whole offense
20:18followed with it.
20:19So I don't think that was an accurate assessment last year at this point, because we were just
20:23wrong and we all saw it.
20:25I would say this is a better team because I think the pieces fit a little bit more.
20:32The weaknesses are more identifiable, or we've realized the risks that the Patriots, uh,
20:37you know, have with a bad offensive line, Jacoby preset is going to smooth things over
20:41as much as he can.
20:42He's not a ceiling razor, but he is a floor razor.
20:44And for that reason, in addition to, I think they know their team a little bit better than
20:48the Patriots did a year ago, certainly better than I did.
20:51You can work around the pitfalls as opposed to finding where they are in August and then
20:56playing catch up for the rest of the season as your quarterback breaks and the offense
20:59goes down.
21:00If your quarterback breaks, meaning Jacoby percent, now you at least have a top three
21:03pick going in there might make a ton of mistakes, but the ceiling on Drake Bay, it's obviously
21:08higher than I think we ever saw from Mac Jones.
21:10It doesn't mean there won't be growing pains, but I do think this roster is just slightly
21:14ahead of last year, even acknowledging that we were very, very wrong the last year.
21:18And where did the patch rank in the rest of the AFC?
21:21They stink.
21:22There's like, I, it's them in the Broncos.
21:26And I think when you look at some of the higher end talent, Patrick's for Chan, uh, the second
21:30coming to mind, like that dude is better than anyone else in this roster.
21:34And it's not just about the high end talent, but in games head to head.
21:37And even though the Patriots won on the road in Denver last year, it's, they're still better.
21:41Um, the wildly enough, their Superbowl odds are worse and that's probably because they
21:44play in the AFC, uh, West.
21:46So granted the AFC is no, is no cakewalk either, but it's congrats if you're the second worst
21:50team in the AFC, nothing to celebrate.
21:53So they're, they're near the bottom.
21:54Last one from Dave would slash should the Patriots consider moving a Tony Maffi back
21:59to nose tackle.
22:01So this is going back to a Tony Maffi start at UCLA when he was a nose tackle to try to
22:06replace gotcha.
22:07It doesn't seem like he has a future as his own blocking guard.
22:10So Dave referring to the new offense, which as we know, it was going to be an outside
22:13zone scheme.
22:14Sutra, Monday, Stevenson, you heard James light and Tim McCordy a couple of weeks or
22:17a couple of months ago.
22:18Do I, that's going to be a great fit.
22:20It's what Stevenson did in college.
22:21He's very good at it.
22:23This is a long-term solution for a short-term problem.
22:26The Tony Maffi, even if you flipped him back to defensive tackle for the first time in
22:30four or five years is not going to be good enough right away.
22:33This feels more like to me what they did with Bill Murray, who made that same switch midway
22:38through his career.
22:39Granted, he was an undrafted free agent came from William and Mary in 2020, first couple
22:43of years, defensive tackle, didn't make the team, flipped him to guard.
22:46Hey, he's hanging around.
22:47Oh, and then he plays way too much for anyone should have expected in 2022.
22:52I just think you need to keep him there.
22:54You want to see if he can make the year to leave.
22:56Bill Murray did not.
22:57Tony Maffi is a better player than Bill Murray ever was and hope he holds on and he'll have
23:01an opportunity.
23:02We'll know fast, but they're also trying him at center, which to me does not say, oh, he's
23:08not good enough to play guard.
23:09It's that they think he's smart enough and capable enough to play multiple positions
23:12here.
23:14But I appreciate the question because that is a deep dive into a fifth round pick and
23:17offensive lineman who was not good last year, but I think deserves a little bit more time
23:21because as your question really references, he's not spent a whole lot of time at offensive
23:26tackle.
23:27So even though he's an older prospect, there's a little bit more development to be had.
23:30Patriots trying to get that out of him and zone blocking lineman can be a little bit
23:34bigger.
23:35He's going to have to match that with the foot speed and certain angles and the reach
23:38blocks and he might be able to do that.
23:40He might not, but we'll find out and it'll be on the offensive side of the line scrimmage
23:44as opposed to defense.
23:45Okay.
23:46Thank you for listening.
23:47Let me know what you thought of the trade Twitter email always available.
23:51We will get back to our regularly scheduled mailbag segments with the mail fan donate
23:55to Boston Children's Hospital.
23:56You can come on for eight to 10 minutes.
23:58We can talk about your brand and I use trades.
24:00We can just talk about what I did with touch on Hardy this morning about being in the rat
24:03czar of Boston where they're trying to exterminate all of the rats and there's this dude who
24:07came in with a big plan and he wants a czar in place and he's a consultant because he's
24:11got a PhD in urban road knowledge.
24:13This is a real thing that happened on the radio and it's happening in the city.
24:16Point being, you can talk about whatever you want.
24:19If you donate, show me proof of receipt and respond with a mailbag question.
24:23Next week, it's going to be back to one episode and we'll go back two times per week in August.
24:28This is going to be a giant, massive, humongous, enormous training camp preview.
24:34Training camp will start with the first practice on Wednesday.
24:37There will be practices Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, none of them padded.
24:40There will be full team drills.
24:41We'll learn a little bit.
24:42Then there's a break on Saturday.
24:43So what we're going to do instead is podcast Tuesday, record after dried mayo and a couple
24:48of future captains speak takeaways there.
24:51Preview of training camp.
24:52All of that will still be good even if you don't listen to it until Thursday or Friday
24:55when they're practicing.
24:56Then you will not hear from me until the following week because at that point, the Patriots will
25:00be in pads.
25:01We'll have five to six days of information to work with trends that will develop winners,
25:06losers, all that stuff.
25:08So stay tuned for a giant training camp preview next week.
25:11More training analysis the week after and some new segments and guests as I promised
25:15weeks ago.
25:16All right.
25:17Enjoy the weekend.
25:18Be good.