Join Taylor Kyles and Mike Kadlick as they discuss the latest updates on the Patriots' coaching staff hires and preview the top trench matchups at the Senior Bowl.
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SportsTranscript
00:00I'm joined by Robert Griffin, the third James White field. Yes, Mina Kimes. All right. So
00:11first play, we're going to look at second into one of the Patriots first offensive plays.
00:18What is going on, everybody? Mike Cadillac here in Massachusetts. Taylor Kyle is there
00:24all the way down in Mobile, Alabama, getting ready for the 2025 Senior Bowl. He made it
00:30down there. He is alive. He is well. He is in the hotel getting geared up for a fun week
00:36in Mobile. So we're going to talk about the Senior Bowl a little bit here on this show.
00:40We'll get to some of the trenches, offensive line, defensive line preview quickly coming
00:45up. I know Taylor, you and Alex did a great full length preview last week, but we're going
00:49to get into the nitty gritty of it at the end of the show.
00:52But first, we didn't know if we were going to do a show today. Big travel day. It's a
00:57Monday. We obviously talked last night on our postgame show, but the Patriots made a
01:01bunch of moves today that we had to get on the show and talk about. So three, three hires
01:08they made today. Officially, Doug Marone is joining the staff. His, his role is still
01:12to be determined. Thomas Brown is joining the staff, tight ends coach, as well as past
01:18game coordinator. And then Jason hoteling is joining the squad also to be determined
01:24right now, but he is a long, a long time offensive line coach in the NFL. Let's get to all three
01:30of them.
01:31And I think we should start with Doug Marone a, because it was the first one announced
01:35today, but B he has a ton of experience in this league. Taylor has been a head coach
01:40twice with the bills and with the Jaguars. He's coached offensive line across the board
01:44for a long time. Actually just recently, I, I, uh, I remembered this or I forgot about
01:49this and then was reminded by Mike Reese's tweet today that he was actually working with
01:52bill O'Brien at BC this season. I didn't even know that because on Wikipedia, it doesn't
01:57say that he was doing anything last year. Right? I know it looked like he had a gap
02:01year and that's what I had thought too. And then Reese put out his little report tweet
02:04of it. Uh, and I think on maybe it was games with names or, or something of that nature.
02:09Bill O'Brien had mentioned that Barone is there. Uh, and I think they had worked together
02:13in the past or kind of crossed over before, but, uh, Doug Morone is here. He's going to
02:16help out on this staff, another experienced, uh, higher for this Patriots offense. So what
02:22was your reaction to see the Morone, uh, the Morone acquisition becoming official today?
02:26Yeah. First of all, thank you for the love in the chat for the fresh cut. I really appreciate
02:30it. I don't want that to go unnoticed. You're making me feel like such a pretty boy. Um,
02:33but I was excited initially that would thank you, Courtney. That's our, our, uh, lovely
02:38top intern Courtney Harris, um, unpaid, unfortunately we're working on it, but, um, Doug Morone,
02:44I was excited at first because the guy played offensive line in the NFL, kind of continuing
02:48a trend of, you got a staff full of guys who have that coaching experience, who have been
02:52players and Mike Vrabel has acknowledged how his experience as a player allowed him to
02:56connect with players as a coach. And we know you want to teach and make connections or
03:01what was, what was the phrase that Vrabel used? Um, teach through connections.
03:05Yeah. You want to, you want to make a, like basically set a relationship and teach through
03:10that way or something along those lines. I forget the exact quote, but that was the gist
03:13of it. Exactly. And anytime you are a former player, there is that certain level of it
03:16where you can just relate to players on a different level because you've experienced
03:19it. And again, the guy has been coaching offensive line in college and in the NFL going all the
03:24way back to the nineties. So a lot of experience. So I was excited for the higher initially
03:29because I wanted somebody experienced Jill of Patriots have had six offensive line coaches
03:34in seven years.
03:37It makes a lot of sense. They had a ton of continuity with scar, but since then it's
03:40been very, very, you know, choppy. So there was scar, then it was Carmen. I was a car.
03:46No, it was, um, it was, um, Oh my God. I always get them mixed up.
03:50Popovich, Cole Popovich, but then the COVID thing, then it was Carmen Bracillo, then Adrian
03:56Glemm, then we get, or Matt Patricia, then Adrian Glemm. Then we had Scott Peters and
04:01now another offensive line coach. So I'm just hoping for some kind of stability, but
04:05I do have to acknowledge the fact that Nate Tice, one of the people I respect the most
04:09in this business, his father coached in the NFL, um, really, really knowledgeable and
04:14understands or how things are going, not just in our little Patriots bubble, obviously he
04:18covers the entire league.
04:20He mentioned that he liked the Maroon hire if he was helping out, but didn't love it.
04:25If he was the actual offensive line coach, we're hoteling. I kind of wonder how that's
04:29going to work out. Although you would think that Maroon would be the one who actually
04:32gets the title. But when I asked Nate, exactly, what is it that you didn't really love about,
04:37um, Doug Marone, he mentioned that it's kind of antiquated players didn't get better under
04:42him and he never really adjusted. And then he pointed out the Alabama year is maybe the
04:47most embarrassed. And it's also kind of notable that he's been either let go or not retained
04:52by the teams he's been on most recently, maybe outside of BC.
04:54I don't know exactly how that relationship ended. So this may be the hiring that I'm
04:59the most skeptical about. Okay. There's somewhere, at least there's continuity with, oh my gosh,
05:04Nate literally just hit me up again. It was like, yeah, I was kind of disappointed by
05:07the hire. So yeah, that's what it is. And obviously you want to hold out hope. I would
05:11love for this to go well, but at the same time, given the recent track record for Doug
05:15Marone, it's hard to get as excited as I was initially knowing that he didn't have as much
05:19success in other places. Um, maybe, you know, having hoteling who did coach offensive line
05:25in Tennessee, maybe they can have some kind of melding of minds and bridge that gap a
05:28little bit. Obviously, Mike Vrabel is going to be very involved in the trenches as he
05:32was in Cleveland. I'm sure he's going to be all over, but I think the offensive line will
05:35be a focal point as well. And with like guys like Leighton Robinson, Cole, strange Caden
05:40Wallace development is huge. I would love, we've talked about this to see the offense
05:44actually get some veteran players in an offensive line room, like a Trey Smith, like a Patrick
05:48Bakari, whatever you got to do to serve on Drake may with guys who have been past protectors
05:53in front blockers in the NFL for several seasons and aren't really projections like late Robinson
05:58finished on a relatively high note relative to where he was coming from earlier in the
06:02season.
06:03Cole strange looked pretty good at center. Maybe he's the future, but we're still not
06:06sure yet. It wasn't a full season. Caden Wallace missed most of the year with injuries. So
06:11it's a big TBD right now. It's the first, again, it's the first one that I really kind
06:15of have some pause because there isn't a experience with Brable. There's no experience
06:19with big Daniels and there's no experience with another coach, like a, like with a Larkin
06:23where it's, Oh, he worked under chip Kelly. They just won a national championship. That's
06:26kind of encouraging. So I love the experience for Doug Maroon. I love the background. I
06:30love the fact that he has experience as an interim head coach, as an actual head coach
06:34for multiple seasons in college or was he a head? No, just in the, he was a head coach
06:39at Syracuse for two years.
06:41Okay. That's what I thought. I wasn't sure because yeah, I wasn't sure if I was mixing
06:45up him and Dino and when their times were exactly, I think Dino was right after him
06:48because that was when I got to the school. I think Dino was there my freshman year. So
06:52yeah, we'll see. We'll see. Unfortunately, I wanted to be psyched about this, but we're
06:56going to have to, we're going to have to see how this works out.
06:58Yeah. It's a decent point that, you know, you, you mentioned the, the lack of relationship
07:03with Rabel or Josh McDaniels, they've never really worked together. So, you know, on the
07:08one hand, it's good to bring in a guy, uh, with that head coaching experience, with that
07:11leadership experience, right? He's been so many places and has been, you know, so well
07:16respected as a coach. Again, you mentioned he's been working, uh, in the, or at least
07:20he's been working. I'm reading as his page. Now he's been working in the NFL since 2001
07:24and he's been coaching in general since 1992 before his playing or after his playing career.
07:29So like, yeah, he's weathered, he's experienced, but you mentioned the, you know, kind of antiquated
07:35and isn't, you know, hasn't turned over with the times. However, you hope that his, his,
07:39you know, his experience last year in college working football strategy with Bill O'Brien
07:45kind of mix that with the, the very much younger generation of coaches he's going to be working
07:49with on this Patriot staff, which we're going to get to right now can hopefully kind of
07:53turn things over in a positive light.
07:55But I like the thought of Jason hoteling who will talk about being, you know, maybe the
08:00primary offensive line coach with Doug Morone as that senior advisor type, um, type coach
08:07like the Ben McAdoo they had last year. I could see him kind of sitting in that role
08:11because he's been an OC in the, in the league as well. He's been an OC. Um, has he been
08:16an OC? Yeah, he was an OC with the saints at one point. And again, he's been a head
08:20coach and an offensive guy. So he has that sort of overarching experience. You give him
08:25a senior analyst title like he was at BC. And I think that that can help a lot just
08:29as his, you know, his experience grows. All right. This is probably tailing into this
08:33just because it kind of, it's just kind of a natural transition. Yeah. Let's do hoteling
08:36now. And then we'll talk about, you know, who I think is probably our favorite hire
08:40in this and Thomas Brown in a second, but let's do hoteling because he worked in Tennessee
08:43under Brable and it looks like he's going to work closely with Doug Morone, both being
08:48the, um, the offensive line of Jason coaches that are coming in. Uh, what do you make of
08:53this hire? Do you think this is a, do you like this one better than you like Doug?
08:56Um, this is another one where it's TBD for me because he wasn't an assistant offensive
09:01line coach with the Titans for a couple of years and he was their offensive line coach
09:04in 2023. Um, then he was no longer on the team in 2024 when there was that mags Exodus,
09:09when Mike Rabel, uh, was fired. And then he became the assistant offensive line coach
09:12for the bears. So considering he's been the old line coach under variable before, it would
09:16make sense for this to be maybe like a Jeremy Springer, Tom Quinn situation where you give
09:20the younger guy, maybe Jeremy Springer had never been a coordinator before. So it's not
09:25apples to apples. Also hoteling was actually a head coach in college. He was the head coach.
09:29Yeah. Yeah. From 2015 to 2019, which is pretty cool. Um, also at Troy, like this guy with
09:34a pretty interesting background, but we'll have to see exactly how this one works out.
09:38But I feel that with Morone's recent track record, it makes way more sense for it to
09:44be hoteling. Who is the main offensive line coach with again, Doug Morone being an advisor
09:49in terms of scouting, like Ozzie Tropeo BC, he's been working with Doug Morone specifically
09:54to get ready for the off season and get ready for the pre-draft process.
09:57So that's something you kind of like where scar was that guy who had a certain eye for
10:01talent and was able to pick out the guys that he wanted and preferred for the team. Even
10:05when he was in retirement, both times he was retired, he was given the Patriots and tips
10:09and kind of serving as an advisor. So if he's an assistant who gives that just wide depth
10:15of experience, as well as someone who as a head coach can also bring some leadership
10:20and kind of know his role in this ecosystem, that would be great. I kind of just lumped
10:23this right back into Doug Morone, but that's really because again, hoteling, they're both
10:27unknowns in this particular situation.
10:30And neither was an offensive line coach last season. Morone hasn't been one since he was
10:34with the saints. So I wish this is a frustrating part of the season. I wish we had more time
10:39to mend their minds together. Two guys who, you know, we're kind of TBD about they come
10:44together and they make a great offensive line coaching room together. I think that's the
10:48hope here with the Patriots.
10:50You put the bow on.
10:52I just do want to correct now that I'm looking at it. He was the head coach at Troy high
10:58school. It wasn't the university.
10:59Oh, wow. Good call.
11:02But he was a college head coach at one point for Wagner. He was there from 2006 essentially
11:07until I believe he was fired in 2019, but he was their offensive coordinator. Oh no,
11:11I'm sorry. I'm reading this wrong too. He's worked at Cornell. He's worked at Williams
11:15and was at Wagner a bunch as well. So the OC experience to me is key. I think I like
11:20somebody who has called an offense before and isn't just specialized to, Hey, I just
11:26know what the water.
11:27Not that they only know that, but you know, Hey, I just do wide receivers. Hey, I just
11:30do offensive line. Like, no, this is my specialty here right now. Hotel is being offensive line,
11:35but I've called an entire offense before and I've coached an entire college program before.
11:39There's so many guys on this team. Now, Mike Brable, Josh McDaniels, uh, hoteling, Doug
11:45Morone have all been head coaches. And so has Thomas Brown, who we're going to get to
11:50was an interim head coach this year. Like that's something that I think shouldn't go
11:55on talked about where there's so much leadership experience here.
11:58Now. Yeah. Some of them weren't the best head coaches. Like, yeah. Morone went to that AFC
12:02championship game. He wasn't a great head coach at Buffalo or in Jacksonville for the
12:05majority, but he's still done it before. He's still seen the league through that lens,
12:09which is something that the Patriots didn't have at all last year. I think the only one
12:13with head coaching experience was Ben McAdoo. And he wasn't even really, you know, a coach.
12:17He was more in that advisory role. So, uh, I heard up the bills and told him that he
12:22was coming back. Remember when Doug Morone left the bills and there was that whole thing
12:26in the, like the video in the locker room and everybody was hyped that he was coming
12:29back and then it's like JK, I'm going to Syracuse.
12:32Yeah, yep. Exactly. So that was, uh, that was something, but again, uh, a ton of head
12:37coaches on this staff, uh, and we're going to talk about our favorite hire in just a
12:41second. But before we do talk about and dive into Thomas Brown, a quick word from our friends
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14:40picks, run your game. Now let's continue on with the Patriots, uh, coaching staff hires
14:46with I think the biggest one of the day. And that is Thomas Brown coming over from the
14:51Chicago bears. And Thomas Brown had quite the 2024 season. He was, uh, brought in after
14:57his staff was fired in Cal Carolina last year, uh, and ends up becoming the passing game
15:03coordinator for the Chicago bears. They then fire their offensive coordinator, Shane Waldron.
15:07So he becomes the interim offensive coordinator for Chicago, begins to call plays for Kayla
15:12Williams. And then just a few weeks later, uh, Matt Eberfluss gets canned as well.
15:16So in a matter of like, I want to say it was 17 days. He became passing game coordinator
15:21to OC all the way up to interim head coach. And, uh, I wrote a funny story about this
15:25for, for si.com a couple of months ago when he kind of did his introductory interim press
15:30conference and he mentioned he had lost like 25 pounds over that span because all he was
15:35doing was working. He was like, I was working so much. I had to take in so much information.
15:40Like I, I didn't even, and he was like, I didn't do it on purpose. I just wasn't hungry
15:44because I had so much shit to do. Uh, so he's a hard worker that's for sure. But, uh, hopefully
15:49he can get some meat on his bones now that he has, uh, you know, a true job here again,
15:53but he was hired as the tight ends coach as well as the past game coordinator for the
15:58Patriots. Uh, something to kind of throw in here is the Tony Dews hire that was already
16:02been made, which was also TBD feels like he's going to be running backs coach Thomas Brown
16:08will be in the tight ends coach. So, uh, your thoughts on the Thomas Brown hire, another
16:11one I think, uh, we both agree that this is probably the best one that they've made at
16:14least today.
16:15Yeah. I was a little surprised that Thomas Brown was the tight ends coach a little bit
16:19because Tony Dews was the running running back coach in Tennessee. So it did make sense,
16:24but he also had more experience. I believe coaching tight ends Thomas Brown only had
16:27the one season. And that was really as a challenge for Sean McVay to allow him to learn the entire
16:32offense and go beyond just the run game, but also learn about the past game and how things
16:36kind of connect together. And that's what makes it so exciting is that that Ram system
16:41also had Patriots influences from Nick Haley. A lot of the, um, Aaron Hart Perkins kind
16:45of terminology where instead of having these long names for things, you kind of shorten
16:49it down to just two words that tell you what the entire concept is and allow guys to move
16:53around in certain places.
16:54I haven't studied the Ram super close, so I don't know how deep in the weeds it got,
16:58but that was what I was. Um, that's what I read when I was kind of looking more into
17:01him is that, or Nick Haley, at least was that he integrated a lot of things he learned in
17:05new England and then adapted those for Los Angeles. So that kind of gives Thomas Brown
17:09a very unique perspective where he does understand some of the Josh McDaniel stuff already, but
17:14he can also bring his own influences from that Rams offense, which we know the Patriots
17:18have been kind of knocking on that Rams door for quite some time now. They clearly have
17:22been, I mean, going back to Matt Patricia, it wasn't specifically Sean McVay. He wanted
17:26that Shannon Haney and type of scheme. And then what's Rod Mayo and all these other hires
17:31had kind of been trying to get into that same West coast kind of well from that tight pants
17:35circle.
17:36So with Thomas Brown being able to bring that, and also it's really unfortunate that he's
17:40just had some rotten luck with this tops that he went to after Los Angeles, like you
17:44go to be the offensive coordinator for the Panthers does not go well because they're run
17:49poorly, um, from the top town, as we know. And also Bryce young struggles as a rookie.
17:55Like it just was not a very talented team either.
17:57Well, the, the owner was a mess. The quarterback stunk in his first year and Frank Reich was
18:01only given 11 games to try and succeed. And you know, not, I'm not sitting here standing
18:05up for Reich necessarily. I mean, something was clearly wrong, but all of that happened.
18:10Exactly. That all has an effect on Thomas Brown and kind of where his career arc starts to go.
18:14Exactly. So it's a bad situation there. Then obviously in Chicago,
18:18that offense is a complete disaster. Coordinator gets fired. Then he, again,
18:22he has to take over because their leadership is pretty much gone.
18:25And there wasn't a lot of success, but I don't really think you can tie that to him necessarily.
18:29So that's why it is so exciting. He's got a little bit of the old, he can also maybe
18:32integrate a little bit of the new he's got experience in these leadership roles. Cause
18:36he was the assistant head coach because he was the interim. Now I don't know how much
18:41I'm sure he learned a lot, but I'm not sure how valuable long-term that experience was just
18:45because he was drinking through a fire hose. Like, dude, if I'm watching like film for too long,
18:51I'm like, Oh man, damn. Is it like been four hours? I totally forgot to eat lunch. I cannot
18:54imagine if I was learning on the fly, how to be a head coach, how to run the offense. Like that's
18:59entirely too much responsibility for one man to handle, but he does have, he's very well respected
19:04in league circles, especially the ascent he made to get the titles he got when he left Los Angeles
19:08were clearly indicative of that. And the Patriots have also shown that they have some respect for
19:12what he could offer as well. Probably won't be around for too long because if the Patriots have
19:16success, he probably leaves and becomes an offensive coordinator, but even still being
19:20able to teach Josh McDaniel, some of what Sean McVay does with his system. And then again,
19:24Riley Larkin, some of the Ohio state stuff, which is really, it's going to be an interesting melting
19:29pot. And I think Josh McDaniels is the coordinator that you want to be able to handle all those
19:34different things because he's been so adaptable because that's what the system is. It's just kind
19:38of how to consistently grow and evolve. So that's why it is so, so exciting. And the quarterback
19:45coach Ashton Grant is someone we just don't really know a ton about, but at least Thomas
19:48Brown has the kind of resume that you look at and say, okay, this is clearly a positive higher on
19:53the offensive side. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. It's I like the melting pot idea to where, you know,
19:58you kind of bring in all of these ideas together. And then Josh McDaniels makes, you know,
20:03makes his offensive gumbo out of all these things and just kind of throws that on Drake May. But,
20:09uh, and even with the, with the Josh McDaniels hiring, we were like, all right, if you're going
20:12to hire Josh, you want to see that he's evolved. And obviously he did that on his own, but it's
20:17like, okay, maybe he gets a, like, literally we said, maybe it's a passing game coordinator,
20:20a quarterback's coach, like people from other systems that can bring in their influence and
20:25then teach him these things. So he can kind of get up to speed. So the plan is working so far
20:30in terms of just them getting the pieces, but now we have to see if this gumbo tastes any good.
20:35And it feels, yeah, right. And I mean, that's where it like, it's all going to come down to
20:38the players they bring in, right. Where, you know, the coaching staff is in place and it's all great,
20:42but you know, I was joking around earlier saying like, okay, Doug Barone doesn't all of a sudden
20:47make the Darien Lowe, uh, you know, a pro bowl starting caliber left tackle, right? Like you
20:50still need players to be able to mend and mold, um, that way. But again, a good hire here with
20:55Thomas Brown. I think, I think it's the first time that they've ever actually had a passing
20:59game coordinator, uh, in Foxborough. Obviously Bill was never really too big on titles and then
21:04they haven't done it since he left, obviously just the one year with Gerard Mayo. Um, so again,
21:09I think a good hire. And then as far as the, um, the hierarchy where Brown might not be here very
21:14long, especially cause he can't really go much higher than where he is positioned coach to
21:19OC is the next step. And Josh is, you know, the thought is he's going to be here, but
21:23you know, you mentioned Ashton Grant, you mentioned Riley Larkin, those guys,
21:26you know, then they grabbed the past game coordinator title and those guys start to
21:29learn a little bit more and then they develop within, and then that's kind of how the pipeline
21:33goes. So it's exciting stuff on the, off of the side of the football, uh, for sure. However,
21:38as the defense starts to take place, we do have two guys, unfortunately not returning. That is
21:43Dante Hightower inside linebackers coach, as well as outside linebackers coach, drill drill Wilkins,
21:49uh, will not be back either. Uh, so I want to get your thoughts on those guys. But again,
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22:57on the game time app. So if you are, uh, willing and able to go to super bowl,
23:02uh, this would roll 59. Is it 59? Yeah. 59. It's it's 59. The abbreviation is something funny.
23:10It's it's licks. It's LA super bowl licks. The one, I think the one with the giants was
23:15super bowls licks. That's how I always remember it. Oh yeah, exactly. Yeah. But, uh, if you can
23:21go, if you're, if you're, if you're up for it, uh, and you can get $20 off your first purchase
23:25with the game time app, use that code C L N S. All right, let's round out the coaching staff
23:30for the Patriots here before we get in to some quick senior bull talk at the end of this thing,
23:35the Patriots, like I said, moving on from Donta high tower. Uh, another super bowl legend around
23:40here is unfortunately gone in Donta high tower. And then drew Wilkins, uh, who is considered to
23:45be one of, you know, the more up and coming outside linebackers coaches, and also overlapped
23:50with Ryan Cowden in New York. So this one kind of surprised me a little bit, but they also,
23:55uh, brought in, I believe his name is Milton Patterson from Florida and am shout out Joe,
24:03Joe, uh, Joseph pastor is by the way, he's been on top of it. He's been killing it. He's grown
24:09his following a lot there, uh, over on his social. So if you haven't checked it out,
24:12but he's been on top of all the hires and Milton Patterson is joining the staff.
24:16Uh, so it sounds like he has worked. He was a DC at Florida A and M and also the linebackers coach.
24:21So he could be involved in that room. Uh, but thoughts on high tower and Wilkins leaving,
24:25I think two guys who, you know, high tower, not really given the best chance, but also it was
24:30his first year as a coach at any level. Um, and then drew Wilkins who looked to be pretty promising.
24:36Yeah. Well, this was kind of written on the wall. Cause you have like Clinton
24:38Macmillan was hired. He was, he's been a defensive or assistant defensive line coach
24:42for the Titans. Also the pass rush specialist. It was like, yeah, that's Joe Kim's area,
24:46but also kind of seems like it might be stepping on Drew Wilkins territory a little bit.
24:50That was Jerry Montgomery's job. And obviously he left for the Bengals,
24:53but then drew Wilkins started to seem like he might be the odd man out. And I know he did
24:57work with Cowden of course, but I don't know. It just still just, he felt like an odd fit.
25:01Like he wasn't a guy that had a ton of success in his first season. So even though he is
25:05an up and comer, it's like, ah, you understand if Rabel wants to bring in his guys, which you've
25:09kind of seen more on the defensive side of the ball. So that was the first one. And then
25:13obviously with the hiring of Milton Patterson as linebackers, sorry, not enough room. Um, Wilkins,
25:20anytime we talked to him, he was really, really helpful. He was able to give us some pretty
25:25great insights, especially in the key on white, um, early on kind of when he don't dovetail a
25:29little bit, I didn't get to get in the room with him as much. Um, but he was pretty insightful and
25:33is respected around league. So hopefully he lands on his seat and, uh, Dante high tower.
25:39So I know he brought like energy to the practices and it's still, it's high tower. Like he comes with
25:44a certain level of respect immediately, but he also acknowledged that he felt that he wasn't
25:49necessarily putting players in the best position because he was struggling as a first year coach.
25:53And I respected the hell out of him for admitting it. A lot of the times you wouldn't hear that at
25:57all. And maybe he shouldn't have said it. I don't know, but it's at least nice because it explained
26:02a little bit why the linebacker room was so, so bad. Obviously he didn't have Bentley and a lot
26:06of guys were forced to step up in tough circumstances, but so often it felt like guys
26:11were standing still or running the wrong way. Very rarely did it feel like guys had a beat on
26:15what was coming, got into the hole and immediately shut things down. And then of course encouraging
26:19all those things. So it makes sense. I was hoping to be high tower could stay on as some kind of
26:24defensive assistant, kind of wild that two of the greatest linebackers in Patriots history were one
26:28and done as coaches kind of makes me sad a little bit. But it made a lot of sense just considering
26:33the hires that Bray will didn't make. And also again, really cool that they're going to have
26:37somebody else on the defensive staff. Who's got experience in more of a leadership role because
26:41of course Patterson was defense coordinator at A&M. So right moves. I don't think any of us would
26:48have anticipated. I think even in our preview Wilkins and high tower, probably an orange,
26:52because we're like, yeah, like nobody, but necessarily, but like, why would they stay?
26:57Doesn't make a ton of sense. So, yeah, it's not necessarily surprising, but you know, coaches
27:01that showed up, I don't want, no, I don't want to give it to you. I don't want to get the only,
27:05the only coach that is hard. And I don't know, like, yeah, the only coach that's a holdover
27:11at this point is, is on special teams, right? Jeremy and Tom Quinn. And there was some rumor
27:16that Mike Pellegrino wasn't coming back. I have not seen anything to substantiate that
27:21that came from, but I wouldn't go as far as to say that, because if you're looking at people
27:25on the staff who should be retained, it's Jeremy Springer and Tom Quinn, but probably even higher
27:29is Mike Pellegrino. And probably also Brian Belichick. You can say, all right, the veterans
27:33took a step back, but also like Kyle Duggar struggled early on, then got hurt to bro.
27:37Pepper's miss most of the season. So I dealt has actually played pretty well. So I don't think
27:41that's a fair indication of what Steve did, but Mike Pellegrino, he knows that room so well,
27:45he has a relationship with those guys and he has coached them very well.
27:48Corner has not been a significant weak spot for the Patriots in a very long time. And that is a
27:54lot in a lot of that has to do with Pellegrino's contributions. A hundred percent. There was also
27:59the hire of Kevin Richardson, who I don't know if it was reported, I believe by mass lab, Mark
28:05Daniels, who is a defensive backs coach. So we'll see where he fits in safeties, corners, Pellegrino,
28:11Belichick. That's sort of the TBD part, but everything else has pretty much been filled
28:15out on this Patriot staff. And so far a lot more experience, a lot more tangible evidence
28:20of solid coaching in their past compared to last season. So we'll be on top of that
28:25as things continue. But before we get out of here, we quickly have to touch on the senior
28:30bowl because again, Taylor is not in his normal Funko pop written studio at home.
28:35He is instead in a hotel room in Mobile, Alabama, because the senior bowl is this week and Taylor is
28:41headed to practice tomorrow and he's going to have his eye on many things. But one of the things
28:46specifically is those trenches, offensive line, defensive line, two of the biggest needs
28:51for the Patriots heading in to 2025. So Taylor, before we get out of here, the floor is yours.
28:58What are you looking for? Offensive line, defensive line in Mobile. What are you watching tomorrow?
29:04Yeah. So I'm not going to get too in-depth here because if you want to know what I think about
29:07defensive linemen, the offensive linemen, check out the video that I did with Alex Barth. We've
29:12also been putting those into smaller videos if you kind of want to see them specifically.
29:16But looking at the national team and American team, we have the rosters. I literally have it
29:20right in front of me, so I know who's playing who. And now I kind of have my eyes on, all right,
29:24who are some matchups that I really want to see for each team? Now with the national team, I'm
29:28going with Josh Connerly Jr. versus Mike Green. I think Josh Connerly is probably the best pure
29:34tackle in this draft. I know Brandon Thornton's been high on him for a while. That's what kind
29:37of got piqued my interest. I think that Donovan Smith might end up making it close. Who knows?
29:42I think the combine is going to have a big role in that. But Connerly looks like a tackle. He's
29:47got the arm length. He's got the athleticism. He's got the foot speed. So I think he's going
29:51to end up doing really well. I want to see him versus Mike Green, a guy who weighed in at 250.
29:56We weren't sure how he was going to weigh in. That was going to be a big part in his evaluation. But
30:00guy is out of Marshall, but he does not play like he's a guy out of Marshall. He's a very
30:05talented player. Could end up being a first round pick. We'll see what exactly happens,
30:09but I'm really interested to see that matchup because Mike Green could end up being one of
30:12the best pass rushers to come out of this draft. Then Anthony Belton. I'm sorry on Pat's beat. I
30:17called him Benton. I don't know. I just, I've not heard Belton his last name a lot. I've heard
30:20Benton though. I will correct myself. I am so sorry, Anthony, but Anthony Belton, absolute freaking
30:26mountain of a man. Really fun to watch. Reminds me of Trent Brown. He doesn't have the foot
30:31quickness because Trent Brown for whatever Patriots fans. I'm sorry. Trigger warning.
30:38But like Trent Brown do play like a basketball player and like 370 pounds. Like he had a very
30:43rare footwork, but in the way that Arma or in the way that Belton kind of plays in a way where he's
30:48just waiting for you to make the move. Cause he knows there's only a certain number of things you
30:51can do. You're not going through them. It's really tough to get around him. The best way to beat him
30:55is inside. And that's what we saw a lot of time with Trent Brown. Now the downside is the consistency,
31:01the footwork, a lot of the technique stuff is very raw for him, but I do like his fit as a
31:05potential right tackle for the Patriots. Maybe even left who knows what they want to go with,
31:09but because Belton was such a mountain of a man, I want to see him go against Landon Jackson from
31:13Arkansas. Another man who absolutely wants the GD smoke. This dude is a menace. He's violent.
31:20He's physical. He's probably more in like a Dietrich wise kind of mold, but I think he's a
31:24slightly better athlete. He's not quite as slow, but he's not super explosive either. But in that
31:29Titans defense, he had guys like Danico Autry, who not the most athletic guy, but he's a bad
31:34mother effort. And he is playing with his hair on fire consistently, a very strong physical guy.
31:39I see that in Landon Jackson, curious where he's going to go, but I feel like that's going to be
31:43a clash of the Titans between those two guys on the national team, moving over to the American team.
31:48I'm going to be looking at Arman Membo versus Kyle Kennard. Now Membo is somebody who I know,
31:53some people think he can play tackle. He can play guard. Kyle Kennard is someone who I actually
31:58watched go up against. Will Campbell, another guy who was, is he a tackle? Is he a guard? What
32:02is he? It was a pretty good back and forth battle, but Kyle Kennard beat Will Campbell
32:07clean on a few reps. It mostly, I think it was on counters to the inside. So I want to see how
32:12Membo can really deal with that and whether or not he can show, Hey, I can be a tackle in the NFL.
32:17Finally, I'm sorry if I mispronounced the name Jonah Savai. Oh my gosh. I looked it up before
32:23the show too. I'm so sorry. You listened to it, didn't you? Savai, Jonah Savai. Oh my gosh. I'm
32:29sorry. I'm not going to butcher it again. We'll take it. Yes. He actually weighed in. I believe
32:33his arm length was like 33, 33 and a half or something like that. And he was another prospect
32:38that people thought, is he a tackle? Is he a guard? Another guy who showed that he could probably play
32:42both, especially when he has that arm length. I want to see him against Princely. Oh my,
32:47I picked the hardest name. Why did I do that to myself? Princely Uman Mielen. I think I did much
32:52better with that one. But I actually got to watch Princely on the flight over here. At first, I
32:57wasn't super impressed, right? Because he doesn't have a, like his hands aren't great. Sometimes he
33:01was just running up field. He's competitive. Like he reminds me a little bit of Josh Uche,
33:06but he plays, he handles contact better. But when I say Uche, I mean, because of the speed and the
33:11explosiveness, this dude was sawing quarterbacks in half against Georgia. Like he was beating them
33:17with speed around the corner. He was beating them with spin moves and just sawing guys in half
33:21beating both of Georgia's offensive tackles. At one point, I think the right guard actually flipped
33:25over to left guard for a while or vice versa, but he was really impressive. So with his arm length,
33:31with his explosiveness, I'd like to see what he can do in a matchup against, again, somebody who
33:35some people aren't sure whether or not he can stick a tackle in the NFL. So there's going to be
33:38a lot of good matchups. I wish this was more of a year where the Patriots eat at corner because,
33:43you know, I'm just like any other fan. I would love to watch wide receiver. That's what I want
33:48to see. But at the same time, at the senior bowl, I remember last year watching on TV. I'm like,
33:52yeah, these wide receiver one-on-ones are very fun, but the trenches, man, the trenchers are
33:56where it's at. So that's where I'm going to be unless there's some like crazy swing and like
34:00Jaden Higgins pops off and I got to make sure I see him, but really I'm going to be locked into
34:04the trenches for the most part. So those are the matchups that when I see them, I will be,
34:08my ears weren't perked up and I will be letting you guys know what happens as a result of those.
34:13Love it. I should have just said that. Is that a nickname that he has? I'm going to adopt that.
34:18I feel like a jerk. Jonas Sav, measured in attack. Yeah, Jonas Sav. We'll take it. Jonas Sav. But
34:25yeah, that's how I was going to kind of end this. So I was going to end this thing off was that you
34:29are down there. You are in Mobile. You look tired. By the way, you just kind of did that whole.
34:36Everybody else in the chat is so nice. You're like, dude, I'm not going to lie.
34:41Yeah. Everyone's like, nice. Down there. Great job. And I'm like, you look freaking exhausted,
34:46dude. But no, the other thing I said, you look tired because you put your head,
34:50your hand on your head like that. But Taylor's going to be down there in Mobile. He just gave
34:55us the ones and twos on those trenches. And like he said, he's going to give the update. Do you
35:00have a moving camera down there as well? No, because it's in front of my feet. I'm at a desk
35:05and it's in front of me and I move a lot and I keep kicking the damn thing. Also, was there an
35:09earthquake in Boston today? Yes, there was. I didn't feel it, but there was in the, yeah,
35:14all up and down the sort of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire area.
35:18Damn. We just missed it out. Let's go. I'm sorry, but I'm not a fan of earthquakes.
35:23Well, it's funny. I hope I don't think anybody got hurt or anything. I don't think it was very
35:29safe. It was just some quaking. And I said to Kate earlier, I was like, I kind of wish I felt
35:34it. Everybody's talking, oh, that was crazy. And I'm like, I had no idea what was going on.
35:39Want to hear a crazy story? Of course.
35:41When I was in New York, I think I was in like, I think it was like 12 or something like that. And
35:45I was home alone and we had an earthquake. It never had experienced an earthquake before.
35:50I'm like, earthquakes don't happen in New York. My first thought was, is this the rapture? Am I
35:57going to hell? I'm not kidding. I wish I was, but in my head at the time, I was like, it's way more
36:02likely that I'm being dropped into the bowels of hell than it is that there was an earthquake in
36:06New York, but it was just an earthquake and everybody survived. But I was literally, dude,
36:10I was, I was crippled with fear, not even of the earthquake of eternal damnation, but.
36:15I have done. Yeah. This life is over. Courtney says, mute Taylor after this one.
36:20That's a good story.
36:21It was a good story. It was a funny story. Yeah. But at this point, I do think this has to be the
36:28end of the show for everyone tuned in. We do appreciate it. Taylor is in Mobile. I am still
36:35in Massachusetts, but whether it's me, whether it's Taylor, whether it's guests, whether it's
36:39one-on-one interviews, we're going to be jam-packed on the channel all week long with
36:43senior bowl content. So make sure you keep it here, rate, review, and subscribe to the channel.
36:47Like I said, Taylor is there. So follow him on Twitter at T Kyle's 39. He will have all
36:52the updates from practice before, during, and after. So keep it here with the Patriots press
36:58pass fam and the C L N S fam. And until next time, thank you so much for watching.
37:04Take care of yourselves. Be careful of earthquakes. Take care of each other.
37:08And we, I started the outro too early. Take care of yourselves.
37:13Take care of each other and we'll see you next time. Peace out.