CLNS Media's Taylor Kyles and SI's Mike Kadlick go LIVE for another edition of Patriots Daily to discuss who the Patriots should re-sign heading into a pivotal free agency period.
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SportsTranscript
00:00I am joined by Robert Griffin III, James White, Field Yates, Mina Kimes.
00:09All right, so first play we're going to look at, second and two, one of the Patriots' first
00:13offensive plays.
00:17What is going on, everybody?
00:20It's Mike Kadlik here.
00:21It's Taylor Kiles there.
00:22And we are back with another episode of the Patriots Daily Podcast, powered by Price Picks.
00:27And today, Taylor, we're powered by a Patriots transaction, Jeremiah Farms Jr.
00:33The Patriots are retaining the defensive linemen, so we'll get into that in a second.
00:37But the way we're going to do it is because of this, it kind of trickled into, all right,
00:41well, let's talk about who else the Patriots could re-sign this offseason.
00:45They do have some pending free agents, exclusive rights-free agents like Farms', a bunch of
00:49UFAs as well, the Dakota Resets of the World, Teachers Wise, Jon Jones.
00:54We're going to get into all those guys and kind of rattle through those.
00:57Some of them will go more in depth, some of them will go rapid fire and take a quick
01:00audit at who is outgoing and who the Patriots should bring back.
01:03And then we'll finish up the mailbag questions from yesterday.
01:07So with that being said, Patriots did re-sign, retain Jeremiah Farms Jr.
01:13He was, like I said, an ERFA.
01:15It's a two-year deal.
01:16And I'm reading from Mike Reese, who had a bunch of the nitty gritty, which is expected
01:20to include a 100K signing bonus and 250K guaranteed.
01:26Another note, if Farms is in fact on the roster this season, he would avoid the restricted
01:30free agent process in 2026 because right now he's exclusive because he only has, I think,
01:36two years of playing time, so he's not technically a vested veteran yet.
01:40So that's where this comes into play.
01:42Essentially him, as well as Alex Austin, who we'll get to, if the Patriots tender them
01:46a league minimum deal, they're basically required to sign it.
01:50So they do retain Farms for the two years.
01:53So I want to get your thoughts on it.
01:54I know you've been a big Farms fan over the last couple seasons, played a lot more this
01:59year than you did the past season in his second year, and put some pretty good film on tape,
02:04all things considered.
02:05So your thoughts on this one before we get into the rest of the guys that they could
02:08potentially bring back.
02:09Yeah, I liked the re-signing.
02:11I thought it made a lot of sense for a guy like Terrell Williams, who he likes violence,
02:15he likes effort, and I think those are two words that describe Jeremiah Farms' game.
02:19I also think switching to more of the four down front, having a little bit more of an
02:22attacking mentality maybe, will work with Farms, because when he's at his best, he's
02:25just shooting into gaps.
02:27Sometimes he's laid off the ball, but when he's on, man, he's usually out of his stance
02:31and attacking linemen's hands before they seem to really know what's going on.
02:35I feel like he could maybe take over that Daniel Akwale role, we'll get to him later,
02:39where he is the kind of well-rounded sub at defensive tackle.
02:43Last year he was D-tackle three, behind Devon Doddshaw, and then Daniel Akwale.
02:48Jaqueline Roy also kind of was in the mix with him in that D-t-three, D-t-four role
02:52before he got hurt, but ideally I think Farms is more of like a four-string kind of guy.
02:57Now, again, he does bring some ability to stop the run.
03:00He brings some pass rush value.
03:01I think the pass rush value is where he stands out the most, because in their five down front,
03:06he was more of the defensive end type, like a Dietrich Wise or Christian Farmore.
03:10Their four man front, he was more of that three technique.
03:12Sometimes he'd be the nose tackle, but typically he was trying to get up field and really win
03:16one-on-one battles.
03:17And then even in pass rush situations, he took over Barmore's role, where he would be
03:21that single nose tackle in the middle when they had their three man rush fronts.
03:26That was Farms, and it kind of fit his skill set.
03:28So it's not like a crazy signing, and I think that really he's going to have to compete
03:33for his job.
03:34This isn't the kind of signing, of course, where he's guaranteed a spot, but considering
03:37how hard he's worked, great story Jeremiah Farms.
03:40He's 28 right now, but worked his butt off just to get to the NFL.
03:44I've been from the Friends School, went through different types of programs.
03:47Finally, last shown with the Patriots in 2022, has been on offense, he's been on defense,
03:51and finally was able to capitalize on a bigger role.
03:54Not quite as much as I wanted.
03:55I will say that against double teams, he can get blown out of his gaps.
03:58He wasn't as consistent as I wanted to see for him getting more snaps, but the flashes
04:03are there for sure.
04:04He had some really impressive quick wins on tape, again, both run and pass.
04:08So you're hoping he can continue to grow under Terrell Williams, who got a lot out of guys
04:12who weren't really household names last year with the Detroit Lions.
04:15Yeah, his story, I think he was in the UFL for a little while.
04:20You mentioned he comes undrafted out of Friends University, and someone who, talking about
04:25these exclusive rights-free agents, a lot of these guys are guys who were undrafted,
04:30have been to teams, been released, and so they've never really went through a contract,
04:33but they're like 22, 23 years old, where he's 28 sitting here.
04:37It's like a late bloomer in the league, but again, super cool story, an inspiring one
04:42as far as never giving up and keeping your head down and working, and now he ends up
04:45reaping the benefits of it.
04:47So we'll see if he can catch on.
04:49Go ahead.
04:50And I wanted to throw out these stats just to kind of put his impact into perspective.
04:54As really their third-string guy in a pretty heavy rotation last season, he led all of
04:58their, not a high bar, I will say that, he led all of their defensive tackles, and I
05:02believe it was pass-rush win rate, and either pass-rush win rate or pressure rate.
05:07Either way, he was at the top of the position group.
05:09He also only trailed Devon Gottschalk in tackles for loss or gain versus run or pass.
05:14So again, it was an interior defensive line group that was not very good last season,
05:19but as a guy who you'd hope is really more of a depth piece, he was one of the more productive
05:23players.
05:24For sure.
05:25All right, let's go through the rest of them, Taylor.
05:26Patriots have some outgoing free agents.
05:29Some guys have been here a long time.
05:30Some guys have not.
05:31Some are old.
05:32Some are young, and we'll start with 31-year-old former Super Bowl champion Jonathan Jones.
05:38Someone who has been here.
05:39He's been through it.
05:40He was undrafted.
05:41He came in.
05:42He's obviously made an impact, but now he enters unrestricted free agency.
05:47A guy who commands the room.
05:49He's the elder statesman there now with a bunch of young guys, frankly, and someone
05:52like Alex Austin, who could be back, Christian Gonzalez, obviously, Marcus Jones, those guys.
05:56So in your opinion, is this someone who the Patriots should hang onto, or do you see him
06:01more on the outside looking into this season?
06:04It's tough because you're talking about a new regime where guys like Dietrich Weiss,
06:08guys like Jonathan Jones, who are part of Super Bowl winning teams, who have been captains
06:12or at the very least leaders on this defense, you'd think, yeah, they're probably going
06:16to come very cheap.
06:17They probably wouldn't really want to play anywhere else or would prefer to stay in New
06:20England.
06:21Those two combined, you're thinking, hey, at least bring them in, see what they look
06:24like in the summer.
06:25If they've really lost a significant step, you get rid of them.
06:27If they still have a little something, maybe you keep them as depth pieces.
06:30But Mike Vrabel doesn't have any loyalty to Jonathan Jones, and he also typically likes
06:35more size, I think, on the outside.
06:37That's why Jonathan Jones and, frankly, Marcus Jones, I think their jobs are in trouble.
06:42Not only are they maybe not scheme fits for what Mike Vrabel is going to want to do in
06:46his more quarters-heavy scheme, we'll get into some of the more schematic stuff later
06:50this week and some changes to expect with forward to that.
06:52But even looking at the numbers, they were not pretty.
06:55When you look at Jonathan Jones's stats, he allowed the highest passer rating in the NFL
07:00last season.
07:01I didn't look for specific positions or anything like that, no real crazy qualifiers.
07:05If you were targeted 30 times, you did not have a higher passer rating allowed than Jonathan
07:09Jones.
07:10Third highest on that list, unfortunately, was Kyle Duggar.
07:13Both of these guys are veterans that are nearing their 30s or in their 30s.
07:17You understand, especially with Kyle Duggar, the ankle injury that he had for most of last
07:21season, kind of like Jonathan Jones, he showed incredible toughness.
07:25They both did.
07:26And I want to take my hats off to them.
07:28But at cornerback, where you can get exposed so easily, as we saw against the Rams with
07:32Jon Jones.
07:33Like, yes, he was putting some tough spots with their motion, their play action.
07:37But also there were times you're just thinking, you know, fundamentally, it didn't really
07:40look like him.
07:41Saw it again against Ladd McConkie, where, you know, the guy who just barely run is right
07:45under a 4-4, really exposed the fact that Jonathan Jones just doesn't have the speed
07:50that he used to have.
07:51So for all those reasons, even though his toughness last season was incredible, he's
07:55a great leader in that room.
07:56And one of the few holdovers they have from those Super Bowl winning teams, I just don't
08:00know that Jonathan Jones is going to be a fit in this new regime.
08:03I think they're probably going to try to go a different direction, whether that's going
08:06with the younger guys on the roster that have more size, like Isaiah Bolden, maybe bringing
08:10back Alex Austin, whether that's free agency, Carlton Davis, who played with Terrell Williams
08:15in Detroit last season, what have you.
08:17Even Elijah Molden, a guy who was a safety last year for the Chargers, was a slot defender
08:21for the Titans when Mike Vrabel was there.
08:24Maybe you bring one of those guys in you have more familiarity with.
08:27Jon Jones, I just think the fact that he isn't physically where he used to be and doesn't
08:30really have a lot of supporters with no more, you know, Mayo, Covington, Pellegrino, all
08:35those guys, even though he did show some safety versatility, he wasn't enough of a playmaker
08:39for me to say, hey, he can be a Devin McCourty type.
08:42I didn't really see that kind of impact.
08:43So it's probably going to be an out for me on Jon Jones.
08:46Yeah.
08:47I mean, look, he's a guy who the leadership qualities are one thing and they obviously
08:53matter, right?
08:54He's a guy who's been around here and, you know, understands the culture.
08:57But you also mentioned the, you know, the culture on the other end, like it's a different
09:00culture now.
09:01Those guys are gone.
09:02Mayo is gone.
09:03Like this is a another brand new regime.
09:06And, you know, Jon Jones mentioned earlier this week, I'm reading from NBC Sports Boston,
09:10Phil Peru was out at the Super Bowl and he said, a goal of mine is to be in one place
09:14my entire career, but more importantly, getting back to winning football.
09:17And I think Braves can bring that culture back to New England.
09:20So, you know, saying all the right things, but on the Patriots end, are they going to,
09:25you know, pay up for him and not that he's going to garner a ton of money, but, you know,
09:29they shouldn't overextend themselves for a guy like this either.
09:31Let's just call it what it is.
09:32And so, you know, if he wants to come back and stay with the Patriots and, you know,
09:36values being in one place and they can come to a middle ground, then sure.
09:40But again, overextending for somebody like that, I just, I don't see it happening.
09:44I think not that you don't need to go younger at the position, but his value isn't like
09:49it was here before.
09:50And frankly, if they're going to low ball him, he should go out and get his, he's been
09:53around.
09:54He's, he should go try and win, right.
09:56He should, if, you know, if he could latch on to, I don't want to say Kansas city, cause
10:00they lost, you know, a Philly or something, they need a backend corner or something like
10:03he should go do that instead.
10:04So I'm, I'm with you.
10:05I do lean out unless there's some sort of, you know, middle ground that they can find.
10:11Let's go to quarterback, Jacoby Brissette.
10:13I think this one's easy, but no, with Mike Vrabel coming in with, you know, some Cleveland
10:18and Brown ties there.
10:19I know Josh McDaniels has coached Brissette in the past as well.
10:22So I do wonder if they do bring him back in some sort of capacity as you know, someone
10:29to back up Drake may, but you also have Joe Milton in the building.
10:31So I want to get your thoughts on Brissette's fit here and if you think they could bring
10:36him back.
10:37Yeah.
10:38So it does make sense because you have Josh McDaniels, you have Ashton Grant, two guys
10:41who worked with Jacoby Brissette.
10:43So he it's going to be a system that he's somewhat familiar with or is familiar with
10:46in multiple ways.
10:48That said, when you look at the numbers from last season, I'm not trying to pick on Jacoby,
10:52but when you go back to those first five weeks, it really just was not good.
10:55He had one of the slowest releases in the NFL.
10:58He wasn't pushing the ball downfield and trying to make big plays because he was trying so
11:01hard to protect the ball.
11:03But then in this last couple of starts, the ball security kind of waned and that just
11:06exacerbated the fact that production wise, he just wasn't giving you enough to justify
11:10being the starter.
11:11Obviously, Drake may takes over in week six.
11:13Now Brissette did take over in that Jets game, lead them to a win.
11:17That was pretty huge.
11:18And he did show the ability to come in when they needed him and, you know, give you a
11:21little something, something.
11:22But you also saw Joe Milton, his ability to create outside of structure, and it's going
11:26to be really hard to justify bringing Jacoby back and making him QB two when Joe Milton
11:31obviously not playing the same caliber of opponent like yes, he was playing with a similar
11:36type of supporting gas with not very good blocking, not great receivers, not much of
11:41a run game.
11:42But Joe Milton was playing backups in, you know, Jacoby Brissette's going against the
11:45Jets, the Niners, the Seahawks, the Bengals, like not exactly easy defenses go up against.
11:50So it's not the same.
11:52But I think you'd rather have Joe Milton out there and see what he's got than Jacoby Brissette,
11:57knowing how much he's going to limit your team.
11:59Now they make some improvements to the roster.
12:02Maybe he's not as much of a, for lack of a better term, kind of dead weight as he was
12:07with the Patriots last season and no help.
12:09But at the same time, I also think Jacoby is going to want to try to get out there and
12:12see if he can start and at least be a top backup and not a QB three.
12:15So for those reasons, I'm not sure how much sense it makes to bring Jacoby back.
12:19He built his role.
12:20He helped Drake May in the first season of his career.
12:22Now Drake's got Josh.
12:24Maybe you get another veteran like a Joe Flacco.
12:26He's not a Josh McDaniels guy, but he was in that Cleveland system.
12:30So Ashton Grant may have some familiarity there or maybe somebody else that Josh has
12:33some familiarity with on the market.
12:35But yeah, I just don't see Jacoby coming back.
12:37How about a dual threat Brian Hoyer doing the quick snap and then being a backup here
12:41too.
12:42He joked about it on the pod.
12:43I don't see that happening.
12:44I think he's, he's he's out, but no, I mean, I'm with you and I hate putting qualifiers
12:51on all of these, but I mean, for the right price, I'd take anyone back.
12:55Like again, if Jacoby wants to stick around for, you know, for cheap money and just be
13:00a backup and work with Josh and work with Drake like he did last year, then, then yeah,
13:04come back.
13:05Right.
13:06I mean, it's, it's easier to have him in the room to, you know, we helped with the van
13:08Pelt system and now we can help with Josh's system.
13:10But I mean, this is a guy who sounded like he was on his way out at the back end of last
13:14year.
13:15You mentioned he already did his job with Drake.
13:17It'd be one thing if it was another rookie and he would have a chance to start for a
13:20little while and be that bridge.
13:21But what's done is done.
13:23Yes.
13:24He was a great help.
13:25I think Drake even said during a pro bowl or a super bowl interview or super bowl interview
13:28last week, he was asked who his favorite teammate was and he said Jacoby Oversett.
13:31So he clearly, you know, he did his job, he did his role, but I'm with you.
13:36I think your role with Joe Milton and you know, another veteran backup.
13:40Even like, I can't think of a name, but someone in that realm where it could just be a camp
13:45arm who has been in the system before he works with them over training camp for the first
13:48couple of months, roster cuts happen and you work forward with Drake made from there.
13:53The, the veteran backup is not nearly as important as it was a year ago with Drake May.
13:59So I'm with you for those reasons.
14:01I am also out on Jacoby Oversett.
14:03All right.
14:04Flipping it to the defensive side of the football.
14:07Actually real quick.
14:08Even at the market scene, he was a free agent.
14:10Jared Stidham.
14:11There you go.
14:12Perfect.
14:13Backup.
14:14Oh yeah.
14:15He went with Josh to LA to Vegas.
14:18Yeah.
14:19Yeah.
14:20That makes a lot of sense.
14:21If that's someone who would, and he's really good friends with David Andrews, David Andrews.
14:26And is he friends with Brian Hoyer?
14:28He must be.
14:29I think he was here.
14:30Yeah.
14:31Yeah.
14:32All those guys are here.
14:33And the fact that I'm in Denver, they already have Zach Wilson as a backup, younger, I don't
14:37know how they feel about him, but obviously he gives you a little bit more juice than
14:40does Stidham.
14:41So Stidham would make a lot of sense as a backup.
14:43Good find.
14:44That's a very good find.
14:45I need to keep that in the back of the head.
14:46And I kind of wish I had.
14:47Or Jameis.
14:48Jameis was saying he wouldn't mind being the backup either.
14:49Hey, if Jameis wants to come here, Jameis can come here.
14:52That'd be, I mean, he's worked with Grant before, not McDaniels, but that would be, again,
14:56I think Jameis is a more realistic option than Jacoby at this point.
14:59I think Jacoby is pretty much out the door.
15:01So no, good find with Jared Stidham.
15:04That would make a ton of sense.
15:05All right.
15:07Patriots captain for a long time here.
15:09He is, I believe he's now on the other side of 30.
15:12He's, you know, he's getting up there in age.
15:15Is this someone who you can see them bringing back or is this sort of the Jonathan Jones
15:18where, you know, they're on the back end of their Patriots career, different, different
15:23path of the Patriots.
15:24And you're just going in a different direction.
15:26I think you go in a different direction here.
15:28And I was kind of back and forth on this because I think Dietrich Wise would actually benefit
15:32from them using more four down fronts.
15:34I think a lot of his career he's been miscast as the defensive end kind of for technique,
15:40really just inside the tackles where he's got to handle double teams and go head up
15:44against offensive tackles.
15:45And I never thought that was his game, even though he, I think he got up to like 285,
15:49290 pounds.
15:50So he could handle that kind of force.
15:52It was never really his game.
15:53He's always been more of a pure four down defensive end type, which is the scheme they're
15:57going to.
15:58And when you look at his bad plays compared to his positive plays, there's way more positive
16:02plays for Dietrich Wise when he's in that role outside the tackles than when he's on
16:06the inside or whether our negative plays when he's outside.
16:10Now that said, there were some serious issues.
16:13Now one, when you look at the numbers, you'll see he's been in decline for the past couple
16:18of seasons.
16:19Now 2022 is when his snap count kind of skyrocketed.
16:22That was when he had one of, if not the best season of his career, or at least really in
16:26the latter part of his career.
16:28Then you see that it's gone down one.
16:30He hasn't played as much in the past two seasons.
16:32His pass rush win rate actually did go up from where it was last season, but it's still
16:37the lowest it's been in a few seasons.
16:39And his pressure rate is the lowest it's been.
16:40A lot of that is the fact that he's just not very quick and the older he gets, I feel like
16:44just he's not moving the same way.
16:46So it's just another added half or a quarter of a second or tick that it takes him to get
16:51to the quarterback.
16:52And that makes it tougher.
16:53Also contain was a pretty big issue for him last season.
16:56I feel like there was like once every other week or in any game that we discussed contain
17:00as an issue, Dietrich had at least one lapse.
17:03He also had some really weird penalties, like a couple of horse collars.
17:06I think at least one, I think it was two, just some really weird mental mistakes that
17:10you wouldn't expect from a captain.
17:13Somebody who's won super bowls.
17:14Who's been on this team for a long time.
17:15So while he does still give you that seniority, the super bowl experience and all that, I
17:21think it makes more sense if Terrell Williams goes out and gets one of his guys who was
17:24in Detroit, who's got a little less tread on the tire, maybe fits the scheme even better
17:28and has some familiarity than it does to bring Dietrich wise back again, he would be super
17:33inexpensive.
17:34Pretty much everybody on this list is going to be inexpensive.
17:36They're Patriots free agents.
17:39So you know, it's not like you're breaking the bank for Dietrich, but I just think like
17:43Jonathan Jones for a guy who's going to be 30 years old this season, it's just time to
17:46move on.
17:47Bring in some guys that you're more familiar with and who just aren't quite as long in
17:52the tooth.
17:53I'll say.
17:55I don't know how much this really matters in the grand scheme of things.
17:57Money's money and decisions, you know, go past this and not that it's the same situation
18:02as Duran Mayo coming back, but like it's, you know, shit happens and then you reset
18:06and you have a job to do.
18:08But for what it's worth, he didn't seem thrilled about the way Duran Mayo was, you know, that's
18:12another part of it.
18:13Yeah.
18:14I wish I could.
18:15I saw him actually outside of the convention center when I was at the media week, but I
18:20was literally dripping sweat and like thought I was going to pass out.
18:24I was wearing a hoodie like an idiot and it was like the hottest day was sunny was 75
18:28and I was talking to him for two seconds and I was like, I feel so rude, but I need to
18:32get the hell out of here because I probably look insane right now and I just need a C
18:36so badly.
18:37I, I would have asked him a little bit more, but I was dying, but yeah, we knew in the
18:42locker room that he clearly was not happy about the move.
18:45So I wonder how open he would even be to coming back under this new regime, but it also does
18:48feel like most people have gotten over it, but again, not everyone had the same reaction
18:52that he did.
18:53So that definitely plays a factor.
18:54Yeah.
18:55Yeah, exactly.
18:56I mean, again, I wouldn't put too much, like I wouldn't put too much value on that, but
18:59at the same time, you know, it happened, he was upset by it again.
19:02It's been, you know, a month now and if you don't have anywhere else to go and the Patriots,
19:06the only team calling, then you're still going to, you know, take in a paycheck.
19:09So we'll see what happens there, but I'm with you probably, probably a no, I think they
19:12move in a different direction.
19:14I liked the, the idea of you, uh, you mentioning to Rev Williams and someone he's more familiar
19:18with as a veteran option as well.
19:20But speaking of other veteran options along the defensive line, Daniel, a quality is a
19:25you F uh, an unrestricted free agent.
19:28Uh, would you bring him back or would you let him go as well?
19:31Another one.
19:32He's just getting up there in age.
19:33Now I got to give the guy credit.
19:34He played way more than anybody could have possibly expected him to.
19:39You can see it like took a toll on his body.
19:42He was always like rubbing when I think it's like icy hot or something on him in the locker
19:45room.
19:46He was banged up and there were times where people would call out the times where he would
19:50kind of get blown out of his gap or it looked like he wasn't giving a ton of effort.
19:53And honestly, I think the guy was just gassed at times where they're getting run on.
19:57He's playing all these snaps and we've known a quality is more of a pass rusher who was
20:01decent against the run.
20:02I've been saying for years that he was better against the run than he got credit for this
20:05year that got pushed to its limit where I think he played so much and was bent, was
20:09also injured in 2023 is getting older.
20:12I think he might've just lost a step because when you look at his pass rush effectiveness,
20:16it just was not there.
20:18He actually had the lowest pressure rate among interior defensive linemen who had at least
20:23300 pass rushes and it wasn't really close.
20:25He was the only person who was under 4% 2.5% pressure rate.
20:30Now he was pretty solid against the run and that's where you really got to give him credit.
20:33The guy held on, he's got shorter arms, which I mentioned before, and you can really see
20:37in his run defense and makes it hard for him to get off of tackles and make tackles.
20:41He actually only had one miss in run defense, which I thought was kind of shocking because
20:44it feels like he falls off tackles a lot, but it's more because he doesn't get off blocks
20:48very consistently.
20:50It really stinks that potentially the last year of his career in new England went the
20:54way it did, where he had to play a lot of snaps.
20:56It was on a bad defense where he was over utilized, but again, you can do better in
21:00terms of depth.
21:01I think Jeremiah farms can maybe take that mantle.
21:03I hope that you sign a free agent.
21:05Also bring at least one guy in through the draft and really try to stack the interior.
21:08So you're not put in the position like you were last year where you have no pass rush
21:12on the inside and some run defense, but it's not great.
21:15So yeah, as much as I appreciate what Daniel equality has done for the Patriots in his
21:18career, I think it's time to move on.
21:20Yeah, I'm with you.
21:23It's different, but it's also along the same lines as wise where like, you know, you got
21:26what you cut out of them, but it's basically time new scheme, which we'll talk about tomorrow.
21:30New defensive coordinator.
21:32And a lot of these guys, frankly, like you mentioned them being, you know, Patriots free
21:36agents.
21:38First rosters in football.
21:39I call it what it is.
21:40And equality, you know, good dude did, did his job type of thing.
21:43But like, you know, there's no one that you need to overextend yourself for.
21:46So I'm with you there.
21:48All right.
21:49Apparently we're getting in trouble for nitpicking when the entire point of this exercise is
21:52to explain why some free agents may or may not be resigned.
21:55I'm sorry.
21:56These are conversations that need to be had.
21:58Yes.
21:59The defense was bad.
22:00There are some players like Jeremiah farms where they made some positive contributions
22:02and you may want to see what they've got left.
22:04And there were other guys who didn't make as much of a positive impact and are getting
22:07older and you've got to acknowledge that and talk about whether or not they should
22:10move on.
22:11So I'm sorry if this sounds mean, I think we're being as fair as we possibly can be.
22:15Exactly.
22:16Don't don't listen.
22:17But I know we, this again, you know, no, that, no, you're right.
22:21That's, but that is the exercise and that like, no, no, you're right.
22:24You got, cause you look at the comments and it's like, you know, what are you guys doing?
22:26But no, we got it.
22:27It's a daily podcast.
22:28We got to go, you know, we're going to try something out here and it's also, it's about
22:32the machine algorithm.
22:36Feed the machine, feed the algorithm, but also, you know, it's, it's a fun exercise
22:40for us.
22:41And some people look at to kind of go in person by person and see how they're going to ultimately
22:45rebuild this team.
22:46And speaking of a bunch of 30 year olds, one 30 year old, the first one, I believe that
22:51we're actually going to say yes to is tight end Austin Hooper.
22:55Someone who came in last year, a one year contract worked with Alex van Pelt, worked
23:00with TC in some capacity, I believe when he was the tight ends coach and comes in here
23:05last year and, and plays really well behind, not really behind, but as another tight end
23:11with Hunter Henry, a veteran presence who Drake may seem to really build a solid chemistry
23:16with.
23:17So I think I know the answer, but would you bring back Austin Hooper under Mike variable
23:21adjustment?
23:22Yeah.
23:23I'm hoping this isn't going to be like the Pharaoh Brown situation where it's like, Oh
23:28my God, this depth height end was awesome.
23:29Obviously it's going to come back cause he's not going to ask for much.
23:32And then they actually don't bring it back.
23:34Now Hooper, I think is different one because he's played, um, on, on my variable coaching.
23:39I believe he did.
23:40Let me just triple check because I don't, I think that was the year that he was in Cleveland.
23:44I'm pretty sure is when he was in Tennessee, um, but he's played for every, yeah.
23:47So he spent 2020 to 2021 with the Browns.
23:52Then he was with the Titans in 2022, uh, the Joshua Daniels Raiders in 2023, and then the
23:56Patriots in 2024 connection too.
23:59That's right.
24:00Okay.
24:01Exactly.
24:02So I think Brent was on the Browns at that time.
24:04Yeah.
24:05He was, um, he had a bill Walsh diversity coaching fellowship, so they probably don't
24:08have a relationship or anything, but there's a ton of people who are already familiar with
24:12Austin Hooper to some degree.
24:14So it makes all the sense of the world.
24:15He's not going to break the bank.
24:16He was actually K Sean booty was the only player on the offense who had more deep catches
24:21than Austin Hooper did.
24:22I think that a booty had six Cooper had three and then Hunter Henry had two.
24:26Those were the only people who had multiple deep catches really sad, but still, Hey, go
24:30Hunter Henry.
24:31He was super reliable, ripped off some huge gains on tight end screens.
24:34And then when you actually look at the numbers, he was really good as a blocker as well.
24:38He was a top 10 blocker in the NFL, caught pretty much everything that came his way.
24:43Also he and Drake had pretty good chemistry, which really showed downfield where he would
24:46just kind of put it in Hooper's area.
24:48Hooper would go get it.
24:49I'm not sure if this is a hundred percent true.
24:50I feel like Hooper had at least one drop, but according to BFF, he had no drops obviously
24:56tied for the fewest among tight ends was also just very efficient.
24:59Anytime he was targeted, he usually made the most of it.
25:01On top of again, being a very good blocker was used as their inline tight end or their
25:05wide tight end.
25:06So Hunter Henry could kind of be moved around, play fullback, you know, be off the ball.
25:11So we could be used in motion, different things like that.
25:13So Austin Hooper is one of the most no-brainer re-signings.
25:16I think once he can't be resigned right now, but once that window opens, I would expect
25:21him to be maybe not a day one guy.
25:23I don't think he's going to be a priority necessarily, but I think that one is like
25:26signed, sealed, delivered, unless he gets attention from someone else, which it sounded
25:29like last off season, he didn't maybe this season kind of gets them back on people's
25:33radars a little bit, but if he's like less than $5 million, I don't know why the Patriots
25:37would try to bring it back.
25:38But it would also be one thing too, if a guy like Alex Van Pelt had latched onto somewhere
25:43already.
25:44Right.
25:45Or even, you know, Bob McNell, who we worked with last year, like those guys are out of
25:47the league right now.
25:48And therefore, I don't know if there's like another there, I don't, there's definitely
25:52not a more perfect fit for Austin Hooper in the league right now, but even a team that
25:55might go kind of try and poach him, you know, maybe the Browns call him back or something
25:59like that.
26:00But it seems like the right fit for him, you know, to return to New England.
26:05And again, a second security blanket really for Drake May last year, outside of just Hunter
26:10Henry.
26:11I mean, the two of them were great.
26:12He really likes his tight ends.
26:13So keep it going.
26:14I'm glad you mentioned the Josh connection to he, you know, he has, he has connections
26:18pretty much ever on the staff.
26:20So it would make a lot of sense for him to return.
26:23All right, back to the defensive side of the ball.
26:25Safety Jalen Hawkins, are you in or out on Jalen Hawkins?
26:29I'm out.
26:30He just didn't do much for me last season.
26:32I feel like the team liked him a lot and I tried to understand it.
26:36He, you know, made a play here and there, but I can't really remember a Jalen.
26:40Can you remember a Jalen Hawkins play?
26:42Not like one.
26:43No, not that one that stands out in my head.
26:46Not really.
26:47That wasn't the case with Adrian Phillips.
26:48It wasn't the case when like Jabril Peppers was a third safety.
26:51So I'm kind of at the point where I'm like, Hey man, this is a new team.
26:55Again, Elijah Molden.
26:56Maybe they bring him in as a third safety.
26:57Another thing that's very big with this new regime is Mike Vrabel didn't use, and I'll
27:02get deeper into this, but he didn't use three safety nickel as much as the Patriots did
27:06where that was really more of their base defense or instead of like a three, four or four,
27:10three or whatever, they'd use that sometimes, but really against base packages, they would
27:14have three safeties instead of basically as a substitute for a linebacker rather than
27:19using three defensive backs like the bills.
27:21They don't really care what you're in.
27:22They're going to send out to Ron Johnson as that third cornerback, no matter what.
27:26So I think the value of the third safety is going to go down.
27:27And when you have Marte Mapu and Del Pettis already on the roster under contract for a
27:31few more seasons, I think if you're going to add somebody, you'd maybe want it to be
27:35a younger guy who you think can develop and compete more or just someone that you have
27:39familiarity with.
27:40So I'm just going to show this.
27:42I'm not trying to pick on Jalen Hawkins, but I just want to put into perspective the fact
27:46that when you look at the conversion rate allowed in coverage among safeties, it wasn't
27:49targeted a ton.
27:50This was with a minimum of 15 targets.
27:52I think he was targeted like 17 times, but he had one of the highest conversion rates
27:55allowed in the NFL or at least at the safety position.
27:58I'm not trying to pick on him, but he wasn't making a ton of plays in the run game.
28:03Wasn't doing a whole lot in coverage either.
28:05So I know he participated in special teams, but didn't make a ton of plays in that phase
28:09either.
28:10So yeah, I think it makes sense for them to try to make an upgrade there.
28:12Yeah.
28:13I'm with you.
28:14I won't.
28:15I won't harp on the guy either.
28:16I think, you know what?
28:17I don't even want to say he did his job because you said that, you know, there wasn't really
28:20much that stood out, but a guy that came in, did his best like that.
28:24It's hard to, you know, vouch and justify for a lot of these guys that were on this
28:27team last year.
28:28So it wouldn't, you know, it wouldn't hurt me if they move on from Jalen Hawkins.
28:31Great guy though.
28:32Great guy.
28:33He's always very excited to answer questions.
28:36Awesome guy in the locker room.
28:37And that's what sucks about this exercise, you know, that's just the business.
28:40You like guys, they go, they go on to different teams.
28:43It's the business and that's what you get when you're when you're covering a four and
28:4513 team.
28:46All right, let's get into a couple of guys that we are in on.
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30:03All right, back to it here.
30:05A couple re signings that we are in on and we will start Taylor with actually, I don't
30:11know if I agree with this one, but go with it.
30:13Joey Sly kicker.
30:14What do you think?
30:15In or out?
30:17I think he's in, but that's more a function of there not being a lot of great kickers
30:22out there right now.
30:23Like Nick Folk's probably the only guy that I'd bring in over him.
30:26And I don't think Nick Folk is coming back even though he did play for, yeah, he did
30:30play for Rable two seasons ago.
30:32Yeah, he played for Rable.
30:33But again, I think that he wanted to be close to his family doesn't really make a lot of
30:36sense to bring him back.
30:37I think if anything, you bring in Joey Sly with the intention of bringing in a drafting
30:41a kicker in one of the later rounds and hopefully going that direction by the end of camp.
30:45But the reason against Joey Sly, he had the sixth lowest field goal conversion rate in
30:48the NFL among guys who I believe attempted at least 25 kicks throughout 23 of them.
30:54He was one of six kickers to miss from less than 30 yards out also.
30:57He only missed once, but when you compound that with the fact that he was bottom 10 in
31:01every other range, like 30 to 39, 40 to 49, 50 plus, it's hard to really defend him.
31:08But when you look at other free agent kickers, he made the most, I think he and Nick Folk
31:12tie both didn't miss one, which is crazy.
31:15He was, I think, six for six.
31:16I think that Sly was six for seven, but he made those two made more 50 plus yard field
31:21goal attempts than any of the other free agents.
31:24Although I know whoever the commander's kicker is, I'm forgetting his name for some reason,
31:29three or something like that.
31:31Here's kicker Zingonzola's no, that's old.
31:36What the hell?
31:37That's not it.
31:39Austin Siebert.
31:40Austin Siebert is like automatic, but he's not good for 50 plus.
31:43So if they want to go with just, Hey, somebody who we know can nail the easy stuff, then
31:48sure I could see Joey Sly being out, but just because I don't think the market's all that
31:51good.
31:52And again, Nick Folk doesn't seem like somebody that would come back to new England.
31:54I think they do bring back Joey Sly as more of competition in camp competition.
31:59And again, they're bringing back, they're running it back with the special teams group
32:02with obviously Behringer and Cardona, but also the coaches in Springer and Tom Quinn.
32:08So there's some ease there as far as there's no, again, I don't want to say it's just kicking,
32:13but it's not like you can't bring in a guy and get them going, but they have familiarity
32:17there.
32:18So I agree, I guess, on the fact that it's more of a camp guy camp conversation and see
32:24what happens there.
32:25So I don't hate it, but here's one who I agree with Alex Austin Taylor, are you in or out
32:30on the Patriots retaining Alex Austin, who is again, an exclusive rights free agent as
32:35he still does not have two vested years in the league.
32:38So to bring them back, they only need to offer a qualifying offer, but do you think they'll
32:42do it?
32:43And do you think they should do it?
32:44So I want to start with like, I need to see more of Alex Austin.
32:47Like I need him to have a really strong summer.
32:49If he comes back strong spring as well, I need him to be available and I need him in
32:53the lineup early and often because he's had strong ends to the past two seasons with the
32:58Patriots.
32:59But he missed almost all of last season.
33:00One of his last plays was the Alan Lazard screen where he dragged the guy's shirt and
33:05still couldn't bring him down.
33:07So those are the things I want to see one more availability.
33:10And I also want to see him more consistent as a tackler.
33:12I don't think he lacks effort, but I think consistency and angles, he could definitely
33:16be better.
33:17Also, when it comes to man covered situations in tight, like bunches or stacks and things
33:21like that, I'd like to see him be more consistent in his communication and working around those
33:25things.
33:27Like I said, like I mentioned, Alex Austin has had very impressive ends to the past two
33:30seasons this year.
33:32He was like one of the best deep defenders at his position and in the NFL.
33:36So he was targeted deep or downfield.
33:38I'm sorry.
33:39So 10 or more air yards, 10 times he allowed one catch.
33:42The only catch was against the bills and it was during an end of half situation where
33:45he kept the clock running.
33:47So it was actually, it's like, yes, you gave up yards, but it was actually a heads up play
33:50by him.
33:51He also is forcing incompletion on half of those downfield targets, hasn't allowed a
33:57touchdown.
33:58He's the only player to be targeted downfield at least 10 times and allow that completion
34:02rate and have half of his, um, of those targets actually forced incomplete.
34:07So, Oh, sorry.
34:08I just wanted to hide for a second, felt a little shy, but, um, strong end of the season.
34:12Also, I think in this zone scheme where you've seen a lot of Alex Austin success is in off
34:17coverage.
34:18Like last year he had, he had one interception on Josh Allen where he kind of baited him.
34:22He almost had the pick when he was in, uh, against the Steelers against an out route
34:26looked a lot like Jack Jones.
34:27There was another play you had this season where he was in quarters coverage, I think
34:30against Alec Pierce was able to run stride for stride with him downfield and break up
34:34a post that was pretty accurate from Anthony Richardson.
34:37So I really like Alex Austin.
34:39I think he's got the skills to compliment, be a complimentary kind of field sort of corner
34:44in this quarters and more zone coverage, heavy scheme.
34:47Although the Titans do play a lot of man coverage on like third downs, not these past situations,
34:51but for those reasons and the fact that he is an exclusive rights free agent, it's very
34:57unlikely that someone's actually going to try to steal him from you.
35:01So it makes all the sense in the world for me to bring Alex Austin back.
35:04I don't love the idea of him being like pen did or even penciled in as a starter necessarily,
35:09but I do like the idea of, okay, here's a guy who's really played some good ball for
35:12us at times.
35:13Let's also bring in some competition and see where he fits in.
35:15Or maybe even if he can fit into the slot where we saw him at times last season, I think
35:19if he could be a slot defender for them, that'd be huge.
35:22Yeah.
35:23The, the exclusive rights is, is the key here.
35:24I wouldn't go in, you know, on a bidding war for Alex Austin, if he was truly on the market,
35:29but the fact that you can bring them back as easy as you can with those ERFs, I think
35:33it makes all the sense in the world.
35:35And finally, well not finally, cause we're going to do a rapid fire one, a bunch of the
35:38rest of these guys, but Christian Ellis is the big one really a core special teamer up
35:43until last season across both his spots or stops rather in Philly and New England but
35:49comes in here and plays pretty well for, for all things considered last season on the defensive
35:54side of the football.
35:55So would you resign Christian Ellis?
35:59I would, again, this is a, he is a restricted free agent, still similarly easy to retain
36:06almost like similar to Jeremiah farms.
36:08Now I will say Christian Ellis was like not a perfect soldier necessarily.
36:11It was his first season as a full time or really heavily involved on the defense side
36:16of the ball.
36:17He still was with the Eagles, but not to this extent.
36:19And you can see it, right?
36:20His recognition wasn't great.
36:22There were so many times where he was either going the wrong way or was a step behind and
36:25seemed like he didn't know what he was doing.
36:27That's also because his coaching wasn't great.
36:29He had a rookie coach in Dante Hightower who admitted himself that he was kind of overwhelmed
36:32at times.
36:33That said, Christian Ellis initially showed up as a blitzer.
36:37I think in San Francisco was the first time they used him as the dime linebacker and he
36:40showed up.
36:41He's formidable against running backs.
36:43He can loop around cause he's a good athlete.
36:45He can use them online games and things like that to create pressure.
36:47That was where he stood out initially.
36:49He struggled in coverage a bit early on, but then later on in the season he was targeted
36:53deep, didn't let up like anything.
36:55I think all three of the past breakups he had on those downfield targets were plays
37:00where he was like trailing and managed to get his hands up late in the season.
37:04So there's some things there where you can see the instincts, you see the playmaking
37:07ability and also against the run.
37:09He's more physical than I expected and at like 230 ish pounds, he's a better fit at
37:14linebacker and Brable system than a Juwan Bentley who's like two 50 or Jelani to buy
37:18who's like two 45 or like closer to two 50 range.
37:21And both those guys are approaching 30 and neither one of them is connected to this coaching
37:26staff.
37:27Mike Brable could very easily say, Hey, thank you for what you've done.
37:30We're moving on.
37:31You're just not fits in our system.
37:32You trade them, whatever.
37:33So I think Christian Ellis makes a lot of sense in this system.
37:36At the very least, he's one of the best special teamers in the league.
37:38He was on bill Belichick's like all special teams unit around like mid end of the season
37:44for the coaches podcast.
37:45So keep them at the very least as a special teamer and then see if you can continue to
37:48develop him with better coaching as either a coverage linebacker or maybe even as an
37:53every down linebacker.
37:54I think he's replacement level starter at best, but I do think that as a rotational
37:58piece, he could give you some pretty good football.
38:00All right.
38:01Uh, I agree.
38:02I like it.
38:03And uh, with that, let's go rapid fire on the rest of them before we wrap this up with
38:07a couple more questions that trickled in from yesterday, a couple ERF is a couple unrestricted
38:12guys here, uh, and a restricted one in Lester cotton, but let's start with Trey Jacobs Taylor
38:18in a row.
38:19You're bringing them back.
38:20Yeah.
38:21Trey Jacobs.
38:22I want to bring him back.
38:23I tried to justify it, but when you look at the numbers, it's really not good.
38:25He was one of the worst tackles in football.
38:27Um, and I just think this regime he is, he does bring value as a swing tackle, but Darian
38:32low really is only a left tackle.
38:34But I think if you're going to have a swing tackle on this roster, maybe they bring Trey
38:37Jacobs this competition, but I think they're probably going to want to do better, whether
38:40that's through free agency or that's through the draft, hopefully it's through both.
38:43Uh, so yeah, I just don't think they bring back Trey Jacobs even though it would be easy,
38:47easy and inclusive rights for agents.
38:48So I'm very on the fence about this one, but I, I just, with the new regime, I'm thinking
38:52probably no.
38:53Yeah, I think so too.
38:54But one restrict, uh, one ERFA, excuse me, who I think could come back is Ben Brown.
38:59What say you, especially with David Andrews, kind of not questionable and not that he's
39:03going to be your, your starting center Cole strangers in the mix too.
39:06But Bren Ben Brown is an exclusive rights free agent.
39:08Would you bring him back?
39:09I would because Jake Andrews missed all of last season.
39:13Wasn't really in the mix the year before that.
39:15So he's a complete unknown, pretty much.
39:17Cole strange.
39:18I think you're hoping is the future of that position, but with David Andrews, the status
39:20up in the mix and the fact that Ben Brown has familiarity with Mac, with Matt Jones,
39:25with Drake may, um, and also played some pretty good ball last season and exclusive rights
39:30for agent.
39:31He's an older guy.
39:32I don't know how many other people are really going to be looking for his services.
39:34So I think he makes sense as a retention.
39:37What about Michael hasty veteran running from Jacksonville now here, would you bring
39:41him back?
39:42I wouldn't.
39:43I would like to see them just do better at running back in return or period.
39:46I think Michael has to get some flashes, but it wasn't nearly enough for me to think that
39:49this new regime is going to, you know, work too hard to bring him back.
39:53Easy enough.
39:54All right.
39:55Someone who last year was cut by the giants, I believe.
39:57And then the Patriots brought him in on waiver.
39:59So I have that right.
40:00Oh, Shane.
40:01Oh, I think they signed him as a free agent.
40:02I, he told me he didn't really have any other offers in free agency.
40:04Okay.
40:05Sounds good.
40:06So he's got an unrestricted for agent.
40:07Now he tore his ACL last season, got off to a decent start, came in during training camp.
40:13And would you bring him back or would you let him walk?
40:16I say yes, that he comes back only because he worked on his body to be better as a defensive
40:21end or an edge presence.
40:23Ryan Cowden is familiar with him from the giants, his giants tenure.
40:26And also they just have no edge depth.
40:28Now this could very easily go to a player.
40:29Again, the Trojans is more familiar with, honestly, I'm going to switch this one.
40:32I'm actually probably going to say out.
40:34I think maybe the Rams want him because of drew Wilkins as a depth piece or something
40:38like that.
40:39But yeah, I think it would make sense to bring him back, but I also think it makes a ton
40:43of sense not to.
40:44And given the fact that he didn't actually do anything in the regular season, I'm not
40:47sure this regime is going to see him as valuable enough to, you know, really try to retain.
40:52Yeah.
40:53If they retained drew Wilkins, that would have made more sense.
40:55He went from the giants with him or was there with together on the giants together here.
40:59Now he goes to LA.
41:01So I agree that he's probably out.
41:03All right.
41:04Last two.
41:05We'll group them together.
41:06Cause frankly, I don't think a lot of people in the chat knew who they are, but interior
41:08offensive lineman, Lester Cotton and wide receiver Jaquay Jackson.
41:12Would you bring either of those guys back?
41:14No, just because I think you can do better at both ends of the spectrum.
41:17Wide receiver.
41:18I hope you bring in free with both positions.
41:20I think you need to draft someone and you need to bring in free agents.
41:23So maybe as camp bodies, but by, you know, a water gun to my head, I'm saying they're
41:28probably out.
41:29Yeah, I am.
41:30I am with you have two guys who, uh, Jackson got hurt in the, in the preseason last year.
41:34Is that right?
41:35Yeah.
41:36Yeah.
41:37It looked terrible.
41:38I don't think it was as bad as it looked.
41:39I remember I put in the group chat.
41:40I thought the poor guy broke his leg.
41:42It looked horrible, but I, it's, it didn't seem as bad as he was walking around.
41:46Right.
41:47Tough stuff.
41:48All right.
41:49Let's finish it off with a mailbag.
41:50We asked for questions yesterday, but we got way too into it.
41:53So we couldn't get to all of them, but we'll answer a couple more quickly here before we
41:57get out of here.
41:58If anyone has anything pressing in the chat and wants to ask, we'll try and get to those
42:01as well, but we will start off here.
42:04Um, and I don't really agree with the premise here, but we'll use it as a, uh, a vessel
42:10to talk about Ted McMillan.
42:11Why hasn't anyone in Boston sports media talked about Ted McMillan?
42:14He seemingly fills a major need for the Patriots and his consensus top five.
42:18What are your thoughts on Ted?
42:19Should they, uh, should they be thinking about him at the fourth pick?
42:22Um, I think four is tough, man.
42:26If they really can't trade out, maybe consider it depending on how the off season goes.
42:30But really I feel comfortable with Ted.
42:32If you, if they get Josh sweat, if they get Milton Williams, if they get a tackle and
42:36a left guard that they're comfortable with, like if you can go into the draft, not needing
42:40desperately, uh, trench additions, I'm fine with Ted.
42:43Cause I don't think that T Higgins is going to be on the board.
42:45And I think Ted is the best receiver in this class and there's pretty significant drop
42:48off.
42:49I think the reason Ted isn't mentioned enough is because one, I think people are kind of
42:53wising up to how important the trenches are after the super bowl and really realize this
42:57is where their attention needs to be focused.
42:59There's also the Travis Hunter element where if you like, if you want a receiver, you probably
43:03like Travis Hunter more because it gives you more big playability.
43:06He has the versatility to play both sides of the ball, yada, yada, yada, and all those
43:09things.
43:10And then you look at like Mason Graham, Will Campbell, which just, if you want trench guys,
43:14you can make a very good case for either one of them at this pick and wide receiver is
43:19still a huge need, but I'm, I'm trench first.
43:23So I understand the mentality of maybe wanting to get a receiver later in the draft, but
43:27I will say, I think Ted is very misunderstood.
43:30I think because he's not Brian Thomas jr or Marvin Harrison jr or, um, or Roma dunes,
43:35a people think that he's really just like an Akil Harry type or something like that
43:39because he's big.
43:42This guy moves with crazy fluidity for a guy who's his size.
43:46Like he moves like T Higgins, but he's bigger than T Higgins and T Higgins already looks
43:50crazy.
43:51His ability to shift and drop his weight on a dime, change directions really quickly without
43:56really needing to take a ton of steps.
43:59There are yards after catchability where as soon as they get that ball, they're looking
44:02up field.
44:03They're fighting through contact.
44:04They're trying to make a play.
44:06I see a lot of similarities between him and T Higgins, but where T Higgins has more vertical
44:11ability.
44:12I think Ted McMillan, like once he gets striding, it's tough to catch up to him and he's got
44:17a much bigger catch radius than T Higgins who's already known for having a big catch
44:20radius.
44:21Right now.
44:22One thing I would really like to see more from Ted McMillan is him using his physicality
44:26to win in routes.
44:27Like I did a breakdown of him versus, um, of him versus Travis Hunter in 2023.
44:34Um, and I was really disappointed because Travis Hunter was all over him, but I'm thinking,
44:39dude, you need to initiate contact.
44:41Like what tight ends do like we see with Hunter Henry all the time.
44:44He would Gronk you stood all the time.
44:46He runs at guys because he wants you to try to lock him up because once you grab onto
44:51him, he's allowed to chop you off and he can't push off and he can chop off.
44:55And a guy that's six, five, 215 pounds, not a lot of corners are going to be able to do
45:01a whole lot against that.
45:02So I'd love to see him be more physical because that's what I think he's going to be a load
45:06to deal with.
45:07Um, and I also would like to see him be a little more diverse in his release packages.
45:10But again, with his size and physicality and being pretty fleet of foot for a guy who's
45:15six foot five, I think he's going to be a legit number one receiver in the NFL and everything
45:20that Rable mentioned he wanted.
45:22He wants a separator.
45:23He wants to catch.
45:24He wants yak ability.
45:25Ted gives you all of those things, even if he's not an elite burner or anything like
45:28that.
45:29So I think that's why people don't talk about it much.
45:30They misunderstand him.
45:32People want trenches.
45:33And if they want a receiver, they're probably going to want Travis Hunter more.
45:36I would much rather take Ted McMillan after a trade down.
45:39But if the Patriots said he's our guy at four, and again, the trenches were pretty solidified,
45:44I wouldn't be mad at it.
45:45And that's, and that's the part where I hate all the, I hate giving the cop-out answer,
45:49but you know, it's kind of where we're at in the process right now, because it is only
45:52February 11th and we don't know what they're going to tackle in free agency.
45:56So, you know, if they go get T Higgins or if they go get Darius Slater, if they go attack
46:00the wide receiver position, then no, I wouldn't take him at number four.
46:04But if, if they don't do anything that, and they do figure out the trenches or, you know,
46:10there's you know, Will Campbell meshes in with 55 inch arms and he goes number two,
46:15like something like that, right.
46:17Where he just moves up the board and he's still sitting there taking it before you need
46:20a wide receiver.
46:22He is a solid player.
46:23I like that you mentioned the Mike Vrabel's idea of, you know, a number one wide receiver.
46:28He fits that mold perfectly.
46:31So does AJ Brown.
46:32That's not going to happen.
46:33That was, it sounded like he was talking exactly about AJ Brown when he mentioned that.
46:38But yeah, I would, I would consider him at number four, depending on what they, you know,
46:43what needs they have when that time ultimately comes.
46:47You mentioned the trenches.
46:48So let's go to this.
46:49What Patriots line do you think is worse off right now?
46:52Is it offense?
46:53Is it defense?
46:54And would, because of that, where would you lean at, you know, at the top of the draft?
46:59I would say the offensive line is in a worse spot because at least on the defense, assuming
47:04Christian Barmore is healthy.
47:05You can at least pencil in a starting four, Keon White, Devon Godshaw, Christian Barmore,
47:09Anthony Jennings.
47:10There's guys where Keon White needs to mature, but you know, he's a good pass rusher.
47:13He can give you some good run defense, but he's inconsistent.
47:16Godshaw great run defender, Jennings great run defender, Barmore pretty much good at
47:20everything.
47:21So you've got a solid mix of versatility and guys who can stop the run.
47:25But then the issue arises in pass rush situations where Keon kicks in and then, oh no, we have
47:29no edge rushers.
47:30That's a huge issue.
47:31And at the same time on the offensive side of the ball, you don't have any really starters
47:36you can depend on other than Mike and when you, David Ames, we have no idea what's going
47:40to happen with him.
47:41Cole strange played some really good ball at center, but he's inexperienced and still
47:44hasn't played a ton of NFL football late in Robinson.
47:47We talked about it, had nauseam, you know, he played better at the end, but still wasn't
47:51good enough for you to say left guard is fixed.
47:53And both of your tackle spots are question marks.
47:55Even though I think the Caden Wallace can fill in either at right tackle, let tackle
47:59guard.
48:00I don't know if he's going to have a role in this offensive line when he's healthy and
48:02if he takes the coaching.
48:04So I think it's the offensive line once again, because you're talking about three to four
48:08spots that you're not feeling comfortable with, whereas the defensive line, it's more
48:11like two and then you'd like depth.
48:14If so, if it's the offensive line, I would lean more towards Campbell or Mason Graham.
48:18If it's four and I had to make a pick, I would rather Mason Graham.
48:22I think that he is more of a game changer and someone whose limitations aren't as jarring
48:30as someone like Will Campbell, just because with Mason Graham, he'll stall out as a pass
48:35rusher against really big guys who can move, but like, you're not going to really move
48:39him on double teams very often, which is the biggest thing with a smaller guy.
48:43And he's so nuanced as a pass rusher.
48:45He's got such great body control.
48:47He's got so many tools that I don't really worry about his lack of size as much as a
48:51Will Campbell, where I think he's got the footwork and intelligence to make up for the
48:54lack of length.
48:55And I know that's going to be talked about a ton, but you're talking about a top four
48:59pick.
49:00I think Mason Graham can go to Pro Bowls.
49:01I think Will Campbell, I don't know if he's a Pro Bowl left tackle a guard.
49:05Hell yeah.
49:06I think he's absolutely a Pro Bowl guard.
49:08I think it let's tackle though.
49:09He's going to be a guy who's really good, but is really never going to hit that Pro
49:13Bowl ceiling.
49:14So I would rather a trade down period.
49:17The only player I would take it for and be like, yes, sprint sign me up is Abdul Carter.
49:23Everybody else I would hope like Travis Hunter.
49:27If Travis Hunter is there, do you take him or do you trade back?
49:30Trade back.
49:31I trade back.
49:32Still?
49:33I've been watching his corner tape.
49:35He moves so well.
49:36I get it.
49:37I think he could be locked down.
49:39I'd rather have a defensive tackler, an edge rusher who can impact the game as a rusher
49:44and potentially also as a run defender versus Travis Hunter, where he's not going to give
49:48you much in run defense.
49:49And yes, he's going to make plays for you as a corner, but I just my preference personally
49:53is trenches over the back end or receivers.
49:56So it's just I can't.
49:58It's almost impossible for me to say Travis Hunter, even though I think he's going to
50:02be a really good player.
50:03I mean, you saw it in the Super Bowl, how important the trenches are.
50:06And I know that's the talking point this week, and it's it's it's the obvious one.
50:09But I mean, even with Kansas City, who has all things considered a pretty good offensive
50:14line, they were just in hell against four.
50:17They got pressure with four from that Philly defensive line.
50:19It's like and they got there because they're offensive line.
50:23Both offensive lines were solid.
50:24And then it was essentially who was the better between the KC offense and the in the Philly
50:29defense.
50:30And just I want to clear something up.
50:32Obviously I was joking about a 55 inch arm length.
50:34The point was that everyone thinks Will Campbell has short arms.
50:37If he comes in with a long arm length, then it changes the conversation.
50:43But anyway, one last question, Taylor, before we get out of here.
50:47It's a multiple question one.
50:48But I guess what's the blueprint for you for fixing the offense?
50:52We've talked about T Higgins every mailbag.
50:54So if you want to add it in, go for it.
50:56But essentially using this question with the back end of it, are they better off trading
51:02for an older vet like Debo Samuel, who was on the market?
51:04What's your thought on like the Debo Samuel Cooper Cup aspect of this veteran wide receiver
51:10market that is kind of coming into picture right now for the Patriots?
51:15I just don't think a team that has so many holes should be spending $30 million on one
51:20receiver who has soft tissue history of soft tissue injuries.
51:23I just I'm sorry.
51:25I can't get on.
51:26It makes sense.
51:27I I've gone back and forth on T and I know, you know, some people may think it's finicky
51:31or fickle or whatever, but like it does change.
51:34Like every day something happens, whether it's in the news or especially when you're
51:37watching ball.
51:38It's just like, man, I really want to Higgins and I want Drake to have that guy where when
51:42he throws the 5050 ball on the post, the guy who can actually go up and grab it who's done
51:46at the NFL level and we know is a really good player.
51:49But also I would love to see them get like three offensive linemen, a good receiver like
51:54a Darius Slayton, who's not going to kill another team necessarily in terms of production
51:58and whatnot.
51:59But he's still a good player.
52:00He's going to be great for the locker room and then also add to the defensive trenches.
52:03And I know they got like one hundred and twenty million dollars in effective cap space.
52:07I like to think of that as more of a hundred million because you've got to save some money
52:10for, you know, in-season acquisitions, draft picks and things like that.
52:14So I try to kind of keep it safe and you can mess with the cap a lot, but still, you're
52:18not going to sign like five players to twenty million dollar deals.
52:21That's just probably not going to happen.
52:22So I don't like allocating the money to T Higgins.
52:26And then when it comes to Debo, I just did not.
52:28I'm oh, I'm over Debo at this point.
52:30If you can get the guy for no money and like a seventh round pick or like a pick swap on
52:34day three, maybe.
52:35Yeah, sure.
52:37But I don't think he's even like a Cooper Cup where he comes in and can be like a coach
52:40in the wide receiver room and on the field who really elevates everyone because Debo's
52:44never been that guy.
52:45He's never been a technician.
52:46He's been a baller and he's he's one of the best at what he does ever in that like Cordero
52:51Patterson kind of role or Devin Hester, whoever you have a player.
52:55Yeah, exactly.
52:56Not Devin Hester necessarily.
52:57Do you know what I mean?
52:58Where he knows more of a better wide receiver than that, but he's more of like a football
53:02player, whereas like a Cooper Cup.
53:05That dude works to perfect his craft like no other and I think would really elevate
53:10a lot of young players around him.
53:11So I'm not in on Debo T Higgins.
53:14I'm not in on it.
53:15The price is probably going to come at my blueprint, get the best players you can on
53:19the offensive line.
53:20I think that on both sides of the ball, but often specifically, I think that means Trey
53:24Smith is he's probably the best offensive player who's going to hit the market tackle.
53:28I think you probably just go with like a Dan Moore, someone who's not super expensive.
53:32You're probably not going to give him a deal that you're locked into and you can sign somebody
53:36where age isn't as much of a concern and like injuries and things like that.
53:40Like Cam Robinson, you're going to pay him $17 million.
53:43I just don't think he's good enough to be paying $17 million to.
53:46I just don't.
53:47And I'd like to see that money maybe go somewhere where it makes more sense.
53:50It's kind of nitpicky there, but that's just what I feel like.
53:52So fix the trenches, get receivers and pass catchers who are reliable, who can maybe give
53:58you a downfield element.
53:59But more than anything, I want the guys you can rely on in tough situations who are experienced
54:03and who can pick up on Josh McDaniel's offense and the positive presences around Drake thing.
54:08And on that note, we got to go.
54:10But good stuff.
54:11And also will freeze.
54:13I got to say this is Pat says this every week that dude broke his tibia.
54:16I think it was his tibia will freeze tibia.
54:22What the hell?
54:23Will fires not will fires.
54:24Yeah.
54:25He had surgery on a serious tibia injury in October.
54:29I'm sorry.
54:30No, thank you.
54:31Yeah.
54:32When you're dealing with the Colton, he's able to prove himself or whatever.
54:34But like, I just I don't really love the idea of the Patriots investing in many players
54:38with significant injury histories or coming up big injuries.
54:40I'm with you.
54:41But no, you're right, though.
54:42That is the blueprint.
54:43Go with the offensive line.
54:44Maybe not.
54:45Will freeze as he has of the tibia injury.
54:47But I am leaning that way now with the wide receivers.
54:49I hate saying build it through the draft because they're cheaper, but especially because of
54:54their track record, their history there with, you know, obviously Jalen Polk last year.
54:58Jayvon Baker not coming in great.
55:00Nikhil Harry type one, all those guys, you name them.
55:02They haven't been good in the department, but you do also kind of got to keep throwing
55:05darts.
55:06Eventually they'll hit on one.
55:07But again, that's a conversation for another day.
55:10And we'll be back tomorrow here on Patriots Daily.
55:13We will be doing.
55:14Wait, don't tell me I'm mind blank.
55:18Oh, we're going to look at the scheme changes the Patriots could go through.
55:21Everything's kind of going into one right here.
55:23But new offensive coordinator, new defensive coordinator.
55:25So we're going to take a look at what those guys have done in the past and how the Patriots
55:29could take a little bit of everything from what they've done and molded into their own.
55:32So we'll be back at some point later tomorrow afternoon, I believe we'll, we'll hash that
55:36out and we'll get that out to you guys as soon as possible.
55:39So as always, thank you all so much for tuning in to Patriot Press Pass and Patriots Daily
55:44back tomorrow.
55:45Take care of yourselves, take care of each other, and we'll see you next time.
55:48Peace out, everyone.