Talking Patriots QB Decision _ Roster Cuts _ Patriots Daily
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00:00I am joined by Robert Griffin, the third James White field. Yes, Mina Kimes. All right. So
00:13first play, we're going to look at second into one of the Patriots first offensive plays.
00:21What's going on everyone. Welcome back into another episode of the Patriots daily podcast
00:26here on the CLNS media network. I am my Catholic. He's Taylor Kyles. We were going to do in
00:32full disclosure with our sort of schedule and plans here and what we have coming down
00:36the pipe for Patriots daily. We planned on doing a mailbag today. But so we asked for
00:42your questions on Twitter. That mailbag will come. We will probably do it tomorrow at some
00:46point. It just won't be today. We want to kind of quickly set the table on what we heard
00:51and saw down in Foxborough today from Gerard Mayo. Some additional roster cuts following
00:57waiver claims. And then quickly just what we saw at Patriots practice. So again, a quick
01:02update here in and out what we saw in Foxborough and then we'll do our mailbag tomorrow. We'll
01:07probably also look out for some sort of reaction tomorrow. If and when the Patriots do name
01:12the starting quarterback, which we'll get to right now, Taylor. So at least in my mind,
01:18I went down to Gillette today thinking that today would be the day that Mayo would tell
01:23us what the deal is at QB one. It seemed like it made sense the how it would line up where
01:28last week he said that they would have a decision by Monday or Tuesday. We come in Wednesday.
01:32This is his opening press conference and this is the time to tell us it didn't go like that.
01:36I will say he seemed very somber in his approach today with us. He looked like he was a little
01:41down and I think that had to do with all the cuts they had to make over the last couple
01:45of days. They made a bunch of cuts. They get the 53 man roster, which we talked about
01:49yesterday here on the show. But then they claim four players on waivers and unfortunately
01:54had to let four more people go. So before we get to the claims and some of the cuts
01:59that have been made, your reaction to Mayo's lack of a starting quarterback announcement
02:04today, what it means and what you think we'll ultimately see tomorrow, you know, when that
02:09comes about.
02:10Yeah, I personally wasn't that bothered. I know I heard some comments saying you should
02:15announce it today because he gave us the reason for why he didn't is, you know, players are
02:19in and out. It's kind of hectic, which he's been a player and a coach. I think he understands
02:24the timing of this better than we do. Also, he didn't specifically mention the cutdowns
02:28as a part of the decision, but there's also the elements of, yeah, you know, some people
02:32are probably down because you make relationships with these players and Gerard Mayo, Ellie
02:37Wolf, everybody, you know, who we've talked to has made it very clear that relationships
02:41are very important for this regime, and they want all these guys to know they're cared
02:44for. Gerard Mayo even mentioned when he parted ways, I think it was with Juju, maybe, that
02:50he does still want these to be long-term relationships. It's not just, you know, you're out of here,
02:54see ya. He still cares about these guys. So I think that explains why he was somber. I
02:58think that, you know, also there is no real surprise in practice because unless something
03:04changed behind the scenes, we went there and we saw that it was business as usual.
03:08With the clear starters, Drake May with the clear backup. So I don't know if he needs to
03:13make a formal announcement to the team right now because they're at practice and they can
03:16see it. Although I do think it is important to make sure everybody's there and you can
03:20announce because it's not guard, it's not, you know, defensive tackle. You're talking
03:24about the guy who's leading the entire team just by the nature of the quarterback position.
03:29So I understood why he didn't announce it today because there were so many other things
03:33going on with all these roster transactions. There's still people coming in and out of
03:37the roster. We don't even know what the final, you know, outlook is going to be necessarily.
03:41So give it a day. Then tomorrow he said he will announce to the team. We'll find out after that.
03:46There's no media tomorrow. So we may not hear specifically from Gerard Mayo, but I'm sure
03:52it's either going to get leaked. You know, somebody is going to report it or maybe we
03:56find out on Friday when we do get to speak to. Yeah. So on the roster moves that need and needed
04:02to be made. It has just been reported by Doug Kyde. We have two more cuts. So the Patriots
04:07today after claiming their four players, I want to get to those guys. We'll give them their due
04:11in a second because I know you've been looking at them a little bit, but they claimed four and
04:14they had to release four. And the four that have been released are wide receiver, Jalen Rager,
04:19cornerback Isaiah Bolden, which we knew before practice. And then it was just reported today
04:23by Doug Kyde that Michael Jordan and Tristan Hill have both been released by the Patriots.
04:29Not surprising considering those are the two guys that were absent from practice today.
04:34When we did our attendance down there in Foxborough, we found out that,
04:39you know, we saw that those guys weren't out there. And the Patriots also just sent out a
04:42release as well. They have claimed those four guys and they have released Bolden, Rager,
04:47Tristan Hill, and Michael Jordan. So again, that's the kind of stuff that's tough where
04:53they make the 53-man roster. It's announced by the team. You think you're safe. And then
04:57all of a sudden these four guys, unfortunately, are sent packing. Now we'll see if they come back
05:00in the practice squad, if they get re-signed, you know, things like that. There's a bunch of
05:04different maneuverings and what have you. But I want to get your thoughts, Taylor, on the four
05:09guys they did claim. And it's linebacker Curtis Jacobs, offensive tackle Demontre Jacobs, offensive
05:14tackle Eric Johnson, and offensive tackle Zachary Thomas. I know you were just saying before the
05:19show that you liked Demontre Jacobs, the guy who's been in Denver the last couple of years. So
05:24again, it's been, what, four hours and you've gotten some time to look at some film and kind
05:29of look at the background on these guys. But a synopsis on what you've seen from the guys
05:34they've claimed so far. Yeah. One, let me correct myself for the media availability. We do have
05:39practice tomorrow. It's just no Gerard Mayo. And then there's no practice on Friday. I'm still
05:42getting all this stuff. It's all in my brain. But yeah, so the players, I'm just going to look at
05:47the list, how it was tweeted by Tom Pelissero. So first, linebacker Curtis Jacobs. He was mentioned
05:54by Gerard Mayo that he's probably going to be a special teamer. He was wearing a number in the
05:5920s for the Chiefs. So you can tell a little bit of an undersized guy. I read his scouting report
06:03coming out of college. He was deemed to be more of a coverage linebacker, not really someone you
06:07wanted on the field against the run, although that's where he made most of his impact in the
06:11preseason tape that I was able to watch. So he mentioned like he's somebody who's going to be
06:15flying down the field. So there's maybe a core special teamer for you. Demontre Jacobs, I do
06:20think is really interesting. He's a big guy. He's athletic, big, big hand, long arms, really fits
06:26with Scott Peters likes obviously hashtag strike system. It's when I tweeted, I think of Bill Perry
06:32tweeted out his whole athletic profile, because that is really what we've seen that Scott Peters
06:37likes. He wants these guys who can initiate contact. And he also wants athletes, obviously,
06:41because they run this outside zone, pinpull kind of scheme that does value athleticism.
06:46And when you look at his preseason tape, the outside zone stuff looks really good. He's moving
06:50in space, pulling on tosses and blocking guys at the second level. And even the third level,
06:55he's getting some movement and cutting guys off in some of those outside zone runs.
06:59And the way that he moves, I feel like if Scott Peters can really get those tools under control,
07:04he might be someone with some spot starter quality backup upside, maybe a low end starter. I don't
07:09know. It's just really the tools. I did some research also the Broncos, from all I've heard
07:14from their beat and everyone who follows them. Apparently, he's had a good summer,
07:18looked good in the preseason, didn't see a ton of really bad reps on his tape. Again,
07:22from what I got to see really quickly. So yeah, that's something I think Patriots fans a little
07:26excited about probably gives you a little bit more upside than what you would get with somebody
07:30like a Calvin Anderson, who one has struggled to stay healthy, which is super unfortunate,
07:35like last year, obviously battling malaria and couldn't really play all season after struggling
07:40early on with his health. And now this year, we still don't know what the injury was exactly,
07:44but then he ends up probably going to be on injured reserve because he didn't get claimed.
07:49So a little bit more upside at that depth tackle position. Zachary Thomas, actually,
07:55he played left tackle for one game in week three for the Rams last year. It was against the
08:00Bengals. He did not look good against Dre Hendrickson, but most people don't. It really
08:04put him in a tough spot, to be honest. This preseason, though, he was repping at both guard
08:08spots. I actually thought he looked good on double teams. He's got the athleticism to get
08:12some of the second level. And both of the guys that the Patriots brought in, actually, both the
08:16Monterey Jacobs and Zachary Thomas had over 80 pass block reads from PFF. So a little bit of pass
08:23protection help there, maybe something to work with. And then finally, Zachary Thomas, the one
08:27guy didn't get to watch a ton of what coming from that Colt. What the hell? You couldn't get to it
08:31in time. Jesus Christ. I can't say that. Come on, Taylor. You got to get to this.
08:36But he's really more of a penetrating type of tackle in the vein of a Tristan Hill. So maybe
08:40the Patriots see him as an upgrade at that position, obviously, because the corresponding
08:44roster moves there. So, yeah, the offensive lineman, I dig it. Also, I think Zachary Thomas,
08:50maybe you slide in for Michael Jordan, a younger guy with maybe a little bit more upside who they
08:55think fits their system. Eric Johnson, probably going to be someone they use in pass rushing
09:00situations to try to get some disruption on the inside, mix in with Daniel Kuale, Jeremiah Farms,
09:05those guys. And then Curtis Jacobs. I don't know what's up with Isaiah Bolden, if they're trying
09:09to bring him back or what. I thought that he and Rager, given what their roles were and the way
09:14that they've been talked about, were virtual locks. Now, with Rager, I think it was a little
09:18more iffy because he and Keyshawn Booty seemed like they may have been competing for that
09:22sixth receiver spot. They kept seven. Obviously, now they move on. If they do truly move on from
09:28Rager, the thought would have been, oh, finally, Isaiah Bolden gets to return some kicks.
09:32But he's not on the roster. So I guess Antonio Gibson steps up, KJ Osborne, Jalen Polk. Those
09:39are some names that initially come to mind when you talk about return. They cut three
09:44kick returners in Jalen Rager, Isaiah Bolden, and Kevin Harris. So it'll be interesting to see.
09:50Again, Antonio Gibson is a guy who has been in that position before. He did a lot in Washington.
09:54You wonder where they're at with the new dynamic kickoff and what they want to do.
10:00Not every team is going to run a reverse every single time, but you can get creative and you
10:04wonder if you have two guys back, if you have one guy back, and how that's going to work.
10:07So it's interesting that they did end up releasing three of those guys.
10:12All right. We're going to get to what we saw at practice. But first, a quick word
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12:14All right. So continuing on with practice. So three guys were absent. CitySew, Michael Jordan,
12:20Tristan Hill. Obviously, two of those guys were released. So we know that that's why they weren't
12:25there. The other one is CitySew who, according to Jerrod Mayo, Mayo told us that he did avoid
12:34or he thinks he avoided something serious. Sew left the game in, where the heck did they play?
12:41Oh, Washington. Left the game in Washington in a walking boot. He was seen in some sort of brace,
12:47I believe Dakota Randall said today in the locker room. I didn't see it. But Dak reported that
12:53he's in some sort of brace. He wasn't at practice. But again, looks like they avoided trouble.
12:58They didn't place him on short-term IR. So that's good news. Other non-participants were Christian
13:03Ellis, Josh Uche, and Vardarian Lowe. Vardarian Lowe dealing with that back injury. Christian
13:08Ellis didn't have a helmet, was reported to have a head injury after the game. So
13:14maybe concussion. Don't want to speculate, but that's kind of what it's looking like there.
13:17And then Josh Uche continues to have an undisclosed injury, and he did not participate
13:23either. So that's sort of the housekeeping stuff. I will say too, and I'll kind of let you
13:28take it from here. We did get a nice view of Scott Peters and the offensive line drills
13:33today at practice. I did notice that Leighton Robinson. Leighton Robinson.
13:39I want to tee you up. That's why I'm doing it. I'm going to be quick. But Scott Peters was there
13:45right in front of us, right where reporters are. Most people, most normal reporters on one side,
13:50checking out Drake May and all the quarterbacks and everything else. But Taylor Kyles, no, no,
13:55he's sitting there watching Scott Peters go through his strike system with his offensive
14:00linemen. So were you able to take away anything from kind of being able to listen a little bit,
14:04watch that stuff? I know we can't report on exactly what coaches say, but what happened
14:07with the offensive linemen today at practice? Well, I guess my biggest takeaway one from Scott
14:12Peters, that part, is that this team is not going to be bad because they're, well, I mean,
14:17the penalties were bad and that's a sign of coaching, obviously. That needs to get cleared up.
14:21But in terms of the technique stuff and the striking and how they levered their blocks and
14:26all that stuff, like he is so detail oriented. It was really cool to hear him kind of talk a little
14:31bit about what the Bengals are, what they're expecting from the Bengals and how they're
14:34going to counter it. That was really fun. Can't tell y'all a word of it. Plus it wasn't anything
14:38crazy. It's literally the very beginning of practice. My biggest takeaway from the group,
14:42though, so you had Chuco Corp. We're still very much at left tackle, left guard. It was Nick
14:47Leverett. Yeah. Now, once again, the assumption is that city so we still have a week, so we don't
14:53know for certain what's going to happen with his health necessarily for week one or long term.
15:00Again, did avoid something significant, but Nick Leverett seems like he's the top backup at guard.
15:04I think he's the top backup at every single interior line spot, especially now that there's
15:08no Michael Jordan and Leighton Robinson was at right guard, actually. And then you still have
15:13Mike and when he went right tackle. So it seems like they have more faith in Leighton than Caden
15:18to start immediately, which based on the preseason tape, I think makes a lot of sense.
15:22Caden was fantastic in the second half, but those were also against guys who may not be on an NFL
15:27roster, if we're being totally honest. So it was fun to watch because he was really playing with
15:31his food, Caden Wallace. Like he's just waiting for these guys to strike because he knows, yeah,
15:35I'm not going to go first. So you can go first and then I'm going to make you look stupid.
15:39Still, he is showing signs of progress, but the top of the line, once again,
15:43shoots on the left side at tackle. Then going down to the right, it is Nick Leverett,
15:48David Andrews with Leighton Robinson starting at right guard and Mike and when he went right tackle,
15:53not the combination I want necessarily, obviously one because city, so it's not in it.
15:57I just don't like Mike and when he went tackle, but at the same time, he is the best tackle they
16:02have. He has a bit of a shorter corner because he's 350 pounds, but he has super long arms,
16:07which is why he's so good in pass protection as a guard. They'll be able to get by. I think,
16:11I also think that the O-line issues outside of discipline and not getting flagged, I think they're
16:16overrated because if you look at the tape, David Andrews said it, Gerard Mayo said it,
16:21there's a lot of good things on tape. They have things they need to clear up, but they're
16:24correctable. It's not like last year where you have half the offensive line shooting both their
16:28hands, looking like they don't really know what they're doing out there and just getting smoked
16:32every other place. I feel a little bit better about the offensive line long-term, but obviously
16:37you want to see city so back in there, but right now it's just looking like he's going to be out
16:42at least a week, but hopefully maybe something changes and we see him out at practice before
16:46week one. One funny thing that caught my eye in that offensive line drill was Chooks Okorafor,
16:52who got called for three illegal formation penalties in Sunday night's game. Okorafor
16:59lines up and it was him and Leverett on the inside and he's looking and he sits there and
17:03then he looks inside, makes sure he's lined up right, and he does a big leapfrog forward.
17:08I am making sure that I am against this line of scrimmage so I don't get called for this again.
17:13I thought that was funny. I know it wasn't funny to us or Patriots fans or Patriots coaches on
17:19Sunday night when all that crap kept happening, but I think ultimately you're right, Taylor, where
17:24alarm bells are going to sound on this offensive line because of how bad
17:28we have reported that Tuesday practice was and then the game was okay, but then Sunday night
17:34was not good as well. A lot of it you mentioned was discipline, so if you want to take something
17:39away, at least in my opinion, it's like, okay, it's been slammed into Okorafor's head. I need
17:44to get on this GD line of scrimmage. I have a feeling it was one of those Belichick moments
17:52with Gerard where he probably blamed Shooks because even talking to us, he sounded like
17:57he was not happy with it. He didn't sound like he was taking any excuses. If he gets called for it
18:03again, I'm not fully kidding. I'm starting to think, okay, is he going to be on this roster
18:08by midseason? Because it was such an egregious mistake that kept happening, and I think after
18:14last night or after that game, it got to the point probably internally where they're saying,
18:18if you want to be an air repeater, we're not letting rookies do it. You can't do it either.
18:22I don't want to stir anything up. I don't think Shooks is getting cut or anything,
18:25but if you keep seeing, I think he's fine in games. I don't think it's great, but I think
18:30that if you had to start for a year, you could do worse, but at the same time, man, if Caden Wallace
18:35starts playing well, at some point, it feels like he's going to take one of those tackle spots
18:38anyway. If all goes to plan, might have to start making some moves. I hope that Shooks has learned
18:44and we never see him make that mistake again because I don't know how patient they're going
18:48to be if this keeps happening. Right. I mean, again, it's something where I think we were
18:52talking about it off there where they can be disciplined, but they weren't disciplined,
18:57but they can be, and it's like we were kind of going back and forth on it. It's pretty simple.
19:02You can't let that happen, and you're right as far as the... We'll talk about that in a second,
19:08but yes, they can be good if they're undisciplined. They weren't disciplined,
19:13and it's basically it's results-based where if it's going to keep happening,
19:17see you the app later. You can't be an ever-repeater, and it's really that simple,
19:20so I think you're right as far as... I don't know if he was flamed by Mayo, but it's in my head now.
19:25I'm going to stay on the line, and that won't happen, and we can move forward.
19:28Quickly on Lois's comment on Wendell Taylor, we'll talk about game time on my end. That will
19:33wrap up with a couple of Patriots practice, more Patriots practice notes, and then we will quickly
19:39hit on the quarterbacks before we get out of here. Do you want to hit-
19:41I can honestly say, yeah, that Wendell won real quick. I don't really care whether it was
19:45confusing them or not because looking at the film, it looks like Chooks is a tight end who's
19:49off the line. It doesn't even look like he was close. It'd be one thing if it's like a hair or
19:53something like that. They were all egregious. Even JT O'Sullivan, when he was doing his breakdown
19:58at Drake May, made it very clear. They're like, what are you doing? I can see from the all 22,
20:03from the sky cam, you can see that the guy isn't lined up right, so I don't think there's any good
20:08excuses. Maybe for Nwenu, maybe he gets a pass because he only did it once, but for Chooks,
20:12there's zero excuse because every single time, he was clearly not on the line of scrimmage or
20:16breaking the center. It's like, okay, the refs didn't make sense with the calls. That's the
20:23rule. You have to line up on the line of scrimmage. It's kind of black and white,
20:27and especially last year, I think we talked about it on the postgame show where John Taylor,
20:31the left tackle for the Chiefs, was lining up way back there. He was false starting on every play,
20:37and they were setting up a clean pocket for Patrick Mahomes, and they didn't call it for
20:41a long time. I think other coaches were complaining about it, and so they're making it
20:45known this year we're going to call this. They bring the refs in. They tell the team, I don't
20:50know what can be more confusing than you're an offensive lineman. You have to line up on the
20:54line of scrimmage, but anyway, hopefully Sunday night was an anomaly, and they can move forward
21:01and clean up the penalty. All right, let's talk about game time real quick, Taylor,
21:05because football season's back. It's not the preseason anymore. There were $9 tickets in
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22:16guaranteed. That's Game Time. Head over there. We'll do practice notes, a couple more that I had.
22:22We'll talk about the QBs one more time, but the Patriots did also officially sign seven players
22:28to their practice squad. That includes one, two, three, four, five, six. I have six written down,
22:35so I want to make sure I have it correctly. The Patriots practice squad, they can have up to 16
22:40players, but they have signed seven of them. That is Tackle Liam Fornadel, or Offensive Lineman
22:46Liam Fornadel, Running Back Kevin Harris, Running Back Terrell Jennings, Wide Receiver Matt Landers,
22:51Defensive End Jotham Russell, Defensive Back AJ Thomas, and Tight End Mitchell Wilcox.
22:56They were all in camp. None of them are from other teams, and they were all at practice today
23:01as well. That's kind of housekeeping news. I don't know. Do you have any additional thoughts
23:07on those guys coming back? I know you were pretty excited about Terrell Jennings. Everyone else,
23:11I think, is pretty much status quo that those guys will be back. One note too, Jotham Russell
23:16doesn't count towards the 16 players that they can have because of his International Pathway
23:21Program sort of thing. Yeah. Sorry, I'm literally sending out a tweet, and I thought I could not,
23:31but I'll say, okay, so most of these, I think, were expected. I thought AJ Thomas,
23:35Matt Landers is like the prototypical ex. He's going to be your scout team, that ISO receiver,
23:41whatever freak. They're probably going to be either Tee Higgins or Tamar Chase week one.
23:45Liam Fornadel was actually kind of funny in practice. He's literally just holding the pads.
23:49I noticed that. He was basically a coach. That was really funny. Kevin Harris and Terrell
23:54Jennings, that's awesome for the Patriots. Those are two guys I really like this summer.
23:57I think Kevin Harris showed real improvement, so good on them for bringing him back. AJ Thomas,
24:02I thought, was a sneaky guy who did do well this summer. He ends up returning. That was a surprise
24:06for me. The one surprise, I guess, is Mitchell Wilcox because he was not good this offseason,
24:14but Austin Hooper did mention he's got some versatility, whether that's him being a Jack
24:18of all trades, master of none, you can decide for yourself. They need tight end depth. They
24:22need it bad. They have no other veterans other than Henry and Hooper. If one of those guys goes
24:26down, then you have to rely on Jaheim Bell. I don't think that's a fair position to put him in.
24:31That one didn't really surprise me either. It just wasn't one that I necessarily had at the top of
24:36my list. Two more practice notes I have from today. Quickly, Hunter Henry returned to practice,
24:43which was huge. He had missed the last couple of days and maybe a little over a week with
24:47an undisclosed injury, but he returned, which is huge for the offense. He stepped right in
24:52with that first grouping. I wanted to make this a little bit more noteworthy.
25:00Jalen Polk looks like a starting wide receiver on this team. We talked about it last week,
25:05but again today, though they haven't named a starting quarterback,
25:10Jacoby Brissett looks like the starter. That's what we're going to close out on is the quarterback
25:14position. It was the first grouping, and it was Tyquan Thornton, the quote, starting X.
25:20It was Hunter Henry, the starting tight end. It was LeMondre Stevenson, the starting running back.
25:25It was Pop Douglas, the Patriots' best wide receiver. Then the Z was Jalen Polk,
25:29and that's noteworthy. This kid is coming in, his 37th overall pick,
25:33and he did enough over the summer to earn himself a starting spot. I think that is something.
25:39We're doom and gloom with the offensive line right now. I know you're not, but Patriots Nation is.
25:44It's exciting to have not only a Drake May, who's going to come in here and be
25:48one of the quarterback of the future, but a guy in Jalen Polk. It looks like it's early,
25:53but they might have hit on a wide receiver. I think that's huge. On that note, the second
25:58grouping with May there, it was Booty and Baker and Jaheim Bell, and it was K.J. Osborne in that
26:03second grouping. Again, they're going to rotate through. They're going to use multiple guys.
26:07It's not starters and just backups who have to come in in case of injury, but definitely noteworthy
26:12that Jalen Polk looks like the starting receiver to start the year.
26:16In the game, it was K.J. Osborne, even though we had seen Jalen Polk as a starter a lot in
26:20practices, so it was kind of confusing. We'll see what actually ends up happening week one,
26:25but Jalen Polk has been one of their best receivers. I'd say along with K.J. Osborne,
26:28I think they've been neck and neck as outside of pop, the most consistent producers.
26:34Really good for Jalen. You're actually getting one of those young guys in the mix.
26:37Also, not to be slept on, Javon Baker now looks like he's probably the second string X receiver
26:42now that there's no Jalen Rager, so expect him to get a lot of opportunities in some of their
26:46three-by-one formations, getting him one-on-one. I still think that Taekwon is going to be the guy
26:50they lean on, but I think it's probably going to be some competition necessarily, but I do think
26:55that they'll swap, and at some point, you want to see who ends up producing because Taekwon Thornton
26:59didn't do much this summer on the field. He had his flashes, but it wasn't the same, and then
27:04Javon Baker fell off the face of the earth in terms of production later in the summer, but yeah,
27:09the way that receiver depth chart is shaking up, it looks like a lot of the young guys are going
27:12to be thrusting the prominent roles, and that's exciting. Yep. All right. We opened with the
27:17quarterbacks with a decision looming. Let's close with the quarterbacks here, Taylor.
27:24We don't have a starting quarterback decision, at least on paper from dry mail yet. It's looking
27:29like it's going to be Chico Reset. First and foremost, do you think there's a chance that it's
27:35Drake May tomorrow, and that they're yanking our chain, and it's going to end up being
27:41Drake May? In your opinion, should it be Drake May? Should they just throw the kid into the mix,
27:47throw him into the fire now, get those reps under his belt early, or should they use Chico Reset,
27:51the veteran, and ease him into this process? Well, dry mail has been pretty honest with us.
27:56I think he's put his foot in his mouth a few times. Maybe he spoke it too soon. Maybe not
28:00phrased things the right way, but he said a decision has been made, and then went on to
28:03warn us that the things they do for the team right now may not be the best thing for the team long
28:09term in terms of, and it didn't sound like they were putting Drake May in. It sounded like, no,
28:13we're going to do something right now that people may not like, but it's for the betterment of what
28:17we want down the road. One, that has to do with the team, because you're still thrusting Drake
28:22May and saying that you are the leader of the, not just the offense, but to a degree,
28:26the entire team. He still has to come along. There's plenty of veteran leaders. It's not like
28:30he's going to be leading any speeches, but there was a responsibility that comes with it. So I
28:34think there's that. The fact that JTL Sullivan did a great job breaking it down on the QB school,
28:39go to YouTube, watch all his videos as much as you can. He's an incredible resource. But he
28:44pointed out some things about the offense that I was a little bit hesitant to really tweet about
28:49before I listened to what he thought. And one issue with Drake May that has been popping up,
28:53we've seen some of the throws weren't pretty, like the weird jump throw to pop, the one to KJ Osborne
28:59deep, which a little both ways, because he had the pocket closing in on him, looked like he was
29:03trying to move the safety, whatever. But one consistent issue was kind of moving up too far
29:08into the pocket. There were times where like Nick Levret or Lake Robinson were getting pushed back,
29:12but Drake was exacerbating that at times by stepping into the pocket rather than standing
29:17still. And he was really setting a base and throwing because there were some good pockets
29:21to operate from. And there's also some times where like with Jalen Polk, when he throws the hospital
29:26ball and then the guy ends up getting sandwiched and it's like, well, did you not see the safety?
29:30Even though you saw him running with the tight end, what was the decision there? Drake still
29:35has things he has to improve. He's not a finished product. That's true of any rookie quarterback
29:40starting. But I also don't think this offense, which we know wants him to see other looks,
29:44to have answers to problems that Jacoby Brissett actually has. Even though he did outplay Jacoby,
29:50I still think that there is some level of, we need to make sure that he's not just getting
29:54thrown into the lion's den and doesn't have the best opportunity to succeed.
29:59Now, if Jacoby is starting for a month and still plays poorly, that's when I think you start
30:03talking about maybe starting Drake, because you do have the answers on tape and things for Drake
30:08to study and improve from what have you. But based on Mayo saying what he said about doing what's
30:13best for the team long-term. And again, as we saw in practice, Jacoby Brissett was QB1 with Drake
30:18Mays, the QB2 with the backups. I think it's pretty obvious where they're going. And I'm
30:22not mad at them, quite frankly, because I don't think that a year or two down the road, we're
30:27going to care that maybe they didn't look so great for a month in September in the first year of
30:31a rebuild. I know everyone says, oh, it's been a rebuild, whatever.
30:34It hasn't been. I'll fight that tooth and nail that this is year one of a new rebuild. It's
30:40a new regime that's non-fill stuff. You're going to get me mad and we got to wrap this thing up
30:44soon, Taylor. But I agree with you. I think Brissett starts week one. The only thing that the
30:50regret that you were kind of just talking about where why didn't you start May sooner is if
30:55Brissett is not great and then May comes in and they win like eight games in a row.
31:00And he looks like CJ Stroud times three last year. And it's like, well, if we just started May early,
31:05we could have made the playoffs. We could have done XYZ. We could have went for a guy at the
31:09trade deadline. But I mean, realistically, this team is so young that something like that is
31:14probably not going to happen. They still have work to do at tackle at, you know, on different places
31:19on along the offense. And this is going to be a slower, slower turning rebuild like we've talked
31:24about. And at the end of the day, that's OK. So I think you're right. I think he's starting.
31:28So, like, you know, it's not the worst thing in the world. The young guys are making progress.
31:32Just, you know, you want to bring your quarterback along a little bit more gently,
31:36which makes perfect sense. And trying to read those tea leaves from Mayo today and
31:42what he said and what they went through, I think if if Drake May was going to be the quarterback,
31:48I think we would already know that. I think because it's Brissett, they don't feel like
31:53they have to really tell anyone. Like, for example, if May was the quarterback,
31:57they didn't tell anyone. And we went out there today and in those videos I was able to post
32:02and we were able to record, you saw Drake May with Taekwon Thorin and Hunter Henry and
32:07Ramonder Stevenson. Then that starts a bleep show where, well, May's the quarterback. He
32:12didn't tell the team. He didn't tell everyone where's the practice reps going, things like
32:15that, where it was Jacoby. It is Jacoby. It's going to be Jacoby. We're going to slow play
32:21this thing. And that's just kind of where this thing's going. And I think that ultimately,
32:25that is the best course of action for this team right now. I got a little
32:29maybe impatience, the wrong word. But after that Washington game was like,
32:34Drake May can play right now. Let's just do this thing, rip the Band-Aid off. But
32:38at the end of the day, let's give it some time. Let's see what happens. You mentioned the JTO
32:42Sullivan, the insight and things like that. So I agree that it seems like the right decision
32:47for this team right now. And it seems like that's ultimately where they're going to go.
32:52And I know that people have pushed back against, oh, well, you said it was a competition,
32:56but now you're saying there's a plan and all that. And I understand the frustration. I think
33:01it's, again, one of those things where Gerard sometimes says things. He's just learning though.
33:05Like that's just what this is. He's a very self-aware person, but it's just like Drake May.
33:09He doesn't know what he doesn't know. I do think it's a competition because if May had shown that
33:14he wasn't ready, that does affect your plans. Because you're saying that he's not even going
33:18to play for the first half of the season, maybe the entire year, as it was reported,
33:22there was some consideration to sitting in for the entire year, but he has made it closer to the
33:27point where Gerard Mayo said he's outplayed Jacoby. Right. It doesn't mean you got to throw
33:30him out there, but it means that no, now we are seriously considering Drake playing. Maybe now
33:35it speeds things up and you're in the process of preparing him a little faster. And also the fact
33:41that the entire offense needed to have some kind of stability with quarterback. And I do think it
33:45would have been tougher in offense with so many new pieces, learning a brand new scheme to have
33:50two quarterbacks mixing in at the same time. It was already hard enough when they were mixing
33:54groups where like, it's like, you're going to be the starting receiver today, but you're going to
33:57mix in with the twos. Like I'm sure that was difficult enough. So I'm willing to wait on this
34:01QB plan and see what happens because I do not understand while I did think that Drake could
34:06start week one. And I was adamant about that. I'm also, especially now the closer we are to it,
34:11I'm okay with taking your time. It's not even because I'm concerned about the offensive line.
34:15Even that was an issue after the game. But now I'm like, you know what? As long as the
34:19discipline's fine, I don't really care about that. It's truly making sure that Drake just
34:23does the little things that he needs to, to make sure that he can be more consistent.
34:27And also is in a spot where you're not afraid of him developing bad habits because he hasn't
34:31reached a certain threshold. So that's where we're at, Taylor. No quarterback decision just yet.
34:36Looks like we'll have one or there's a decision. We haven't been told about it yet. Looking like
34:40it's going to be Jacoey Brissett. Gerard Mayo plans to tell the team tomorrow. Four waiver
34:46claims processed. Four cuts, unfortunately made. The cost of doing business in the NFL.
34:52And that's a podcast. We're going to be back tomorrow.
34:55Oh, actually one quick thing. This is from the mailbag, but I also understand why it'd
34:59be relevant right now. Someone was asking about the difference between PUP and short-term injured
35:03reserve, which I think is a pretty important thing that we can maybe clear up real quick.
35:07So injured reserve, both are short-term. With PUP, they're out a month and then they can come back.
35:13I believe it's the same for injured reserve. It's a month and then they have the option to come back.
35:17Right. With PUP, the difference is you had to start training camp on PUP, and then that would
35:22allow you to have the option and not start the season. With injured reserve, you could have done
35:26it at any time, or it could have been at the end of, I'm sorry, at the end of training camp and
35:30preseason after roster cuts, but you only had two spots to do it. They could have put as many
35:35players as they want on PUP. You only had very limited short-term IR spots before roster cuts.
35:41Now, maybe we see like Christian, I don't want to, I'm just pure speculation, just as an example,
35:45because they signed Curtis Jacobs, maybe we see like Christian Ellis on short-term injured reserve,
35:50but that was a move where you have to keep some guys on the team to make sure that if you do end
35:54up cutting them, you have the option to bring them back and you don't have to expose them waivers or
35:57anything like that. So just wanted to get that out there. No, it's a lot, there's a lot of semantics
36:02and red tape that you have to go through with these roster stuff. And it makes sense again,
36:06where you have these short-term spots. The thing that was tough, which like Marte Mappu,
36:12right? He was, he practiced, so he couldn't be placed on PUP. So then when he got injured in
36:19training camp, you have to use the short-term IR spot on him because he had already participated.
36:24Where if he was on PUP before, you could have just flowed him right into the season. He wouldn't take
36:28up a roster spot. He wouldn't take up one of your two short-term IR spots and he could just go on
36:33PUP. So if that's, if that helps you, you know, that's okay. It could have even confused people
36:41a little bit more, but it's tough. And if you have any more questions, honestly, on roster stuff
36:45and stuff that doesn't make sense to you, shoot me a DM and I can either try and answer the best I
36:49can, or I can text Alex Barth for him to explain it to me. And then I can relay the information.
36:54Or just flood Barth's DM.
36:56Yeah, right. Exactly. So that's going to do it for us today here on Patriot's Daily. We'll be back
37:01tomorrow with both a quarterback reaction, as well as a nail bag to answer those questions from you
37:06guys on Twitter. So make sure you stay tuned, like this video on YouTube, rate, review, subscribe to
37:11Patriot's Press Pass, and check out all of our written work on clmsmedia.com. I just posted a
37:16Patriot's practice report up there today. I'm going to have one of those up there every time
37:20we have practice to put in writing, attendance, some news and notes, and different things like
37:24that. So make sure you check us out over there as well. Until tomorrow. Thanks for tuning in.
37:28Thanks for watching. Take care of yourselves. Take care of each other. And we'll see you next time.
37:32Peace out, y'all.