LIVE Patriots Daily x Patriots Beat: Crossover Mailbag

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Patriots Daily's Taylor Kyles and Mike Kadlick team up with Patriots Beat's Alex Barth and Brian Hines for a crossover mailbag on New England's depth at wide receiver, running back, and defensive tackle!  ************************************************ Patriots Content Brought to you by....  Prize Picks - PrizePicks.com/CLNS Download the app today and use code CLNS for a first deposit match up to $100!  Gametime - https://gametime.co Take the guesswork out of buying NBA tickets with Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code CLNS for $20 off your first purchase. Download Gametime today. Last minute tickets. Lowest Price. Guaranteed. Terms apply.  Merch Store - https://shop.clnsmedia.com

Transcript

00:00:00What's going on everyone? Taylor Kyles, Mike Cadillac, Brian Hines, and Alex Barth here

00:00:22for CLNS Media coming at you with another episode of Pat's Daily, Ex Pat's Feet, brought

00:00:27to you by our good friends at Price Fix and Game Time. As you can see, another crossover

00:00:32episode, this time a mailbag. Usually we come together for draft stuff or spring practices,

00:00:39but now we are coming together to answer the good people's questions. This should be a

00:00:43good one. We've got a lot of good questions on deck, but first, guys, before we get into

00:00:47it, how are we doing? I know there's a lot of stuff going on in Boston sports, so let's

00:00:52start. Mike, you, Brian next, and then Alex last, and what's going on today, guys?

00:00:58Yeah, crazy Boston sports day, which we'll get to at the end with a classic Pat's Beat

00:01:03Boston Sports Minute. I've been moving all weekend, so if there's bags under my eyes,

00:01:07I apologize if you're just listening to the podcast and you don't get to see that, but

00:01:10I also have a new background. Besides that, trudging through the off season and getting

00:01:15ready for camp, and we're officially in camp month. It's now July 1st, so we have camp

00:01:19toward the end of the month, which is exciting. Yeah, busy day. Busy Boston day. Tons of Celtics

00:01:26brew and stuff. We'll talk about it, but counting down the days, what are we at? Three and a

00:01:31half weeks till training camp, something like that, so we're almost there. We are almost

00:01:35there, but busy stuff for the meantime. Yeah, a lot going on today. Honestly, I haven't

00:01:43thought a ton about the Patriots today because I went in planning to get some early training

00:01:46camp stuff done, and then obviously between the Bruins and the Celtics, it's been quite

00:01:51a day. Yeah, and we will get more into those later, but for now, obviously we're here for

00:01:56a Patriots mailbag, so let's get into some Patriots mailbag questions, starting with

00:02:01this one up top. Actually, we may be able to do this format. Oh yeah, there we go. We

00:02:06got the bottom. That looks like a nice. Am I the only one who doesn't see Alex? No, he's

00:02:13gone. We were just powering through it. Okay. Yeah, hang on. I'll try to fix it. That's

00:02:18fine. I wanted to make sure. Alex is a guy. It's okay, buddy. You got time. Mike, you're

00:02:22up first. Oh boy. Starting off with how much, if at all, should trading Brandon Iuge or

00:02:27CeeDee Lamb impact Drake May's timeline? For anyone who doesn't know, Ricky, who we all

00:02:34admire very greatly for his insights in the scoop game, the People's Insider reported

00:02:40today that CeeDee Lamb is going to request a trade if he doesn't get an ideal offer from

00:02:46the Cowboys. Absolute insanity that a 25-year-old receiver who is absolutely in the top five

00:02:51in his position in the NFL is just getting dragged right now for a contract. Same with

00:02:56Iuge, but even more for CeeDee. It seems pretty crazy. Mike, we'll start with you first. What

00:03:02do you think about the potential for a CeeDee Lamb trade? Would you be willing to give up

00:03:05all that good stuff, and how would you think it would affect Drake May's timeline if he

00:03:09does get really that bona fide number one receiver? Yeah, I feel like every, anywhere

00:03:14from like three weeks, every six weeks, I somehow work into like, whether it's a column

00:03:19or an article or a tweet that the Patriots need to go get a wide receiver. So I feel

00:03:22like I'm always kind of giving this rant, whether it's on this show or elsewhere. It

00:03:25was the basis of my Sunday column this week on clmsmedia.com because of the more of the

00:03:31Iuge stuff that came out last week, where he officially had his meeting with the 49ers

00:03:34and all that stuff. I think it should be high on the priority list. I really do. Especially

00:03:42with CeeDee Lamb. He's, in my opinion, I think almost everybody's opinion, probably a better

00:03:47player than Iuge. He's younger. He has more of a higher ceiling. And look, if he's available,

00:03:53the Patriots should pounce. Anytime there's a wide receiver on the trade market, the Patriots

00:03:57should be, at least in conversations, if they're not even at a minimum calling to see what

00:04:01it's worth.

00:04:02That just feels like malpractice to me. They've obviously drafted two young wide receivers

00:04:08in Javon Baker and Jalen Polk, who they hope to sort of grow into those wide receiver ones,

00:04:13but that's not what they are right now. So they should be involved. And as far as Drake

00:04:17May in the timeline, if you can get a number one guy here, that has sort of accelerated

00:04:24all of these other young quarterbacks timelines, I guess, kind of the way they play.

00:04:27You look at your Josh Allen, your Tua Tagovailoa. Joe Burrowhead is a little different because

00:04:32they drafted Jamar Chase, but you pair these guys up with that sort of true 1A wide receiver

00:04:37and it gives them a security blanket and a guy to throw to. So on both of those fronts,

00:04:42I think they should be in on any wide receiver that comes up. And I think ultimately it's

00:04:46going to obviously help Drake May in the long run.

00:04:50Yeah. Look, we'll see if he's actually available. I just don't understand where the Cowboys

00:04:56are at to move him right now. They've got to win. That team has to win. Mike McCarthy

00:05:02has to win. Frankly, Jerry Jones has to win. And if that means you play him out on the

00:05:05final year of his deal and then franchise him and trade him or something like that,

00:05:10they should be in no rush to move on from him. I'd love CeeDee Lamb in New England.

00:05:14I do think he's a better option than Brandon Ayoub, certainly. But I don't think I'll say

00:05:20the same thing I've said with Ayoub. Like it's not eventually they need to get one of

00:05:23these guys, but if you can't treat every name that becomes available, like he's the

00:05:28last train out of the station, you got to understand wide receivers.

00:05:32There's a ton of talent in the league right now at that position and guys becoming available

00:05:36left and right. You look at the guys who project to be available next year, Corn and DK Metcalf.

00:05:41So I'd like to see him get, I mean, CeeDee, CeeDee Lamb is probably the best wide receiver

00:05:46of any I just named. I think it's him and Metcalf at the top. I, I, I'm sorry. I know

00:05:51you guys love Ricky and he had another report out there that I wanted to be true so bad.

00:05:56You guys know which one I'm talking about, but, um, I, yeah, I just, I, I don't know.

00:06:02I don't think Lamb becomes available this off season. He, good chance. He becomes available

00:06:07at some point. Maybe we revisit him and we revisit him in his case in the future. I,

00:06:13it just doesn't add up to me right now. Yeah. I still think this is a next off season

00:06:18type of thing, right? Like you hope may looks good this year. Then you go get your big piece

00:06:22and you know, I don't see the Niners or Dallas making a move like these guys while their

00:06:26championship window is wide open. So I think that's kind of a next off season thing, especially

00:06:31with you have Jalen Polk, you have Jayvon Baker take this year, see what you have in

00:06:35those guys that maybe you don't even need one of those guys next year.

00:06:38So I think that's for next off season. And you know, if, if, if that's impacting May's

00:06:44timeline, like, I don't really see that. I think that's more like the offensive line

00:06:48if any position is impacting Drake's Mays, Drake Mays timeline. I think what they have

00:06:52right now is honestly like good enough to throw them out there and hope he can kind

00:06:56of elevate that group. But yeah, I still think, you know, if these guys are one of these,

00:07:00you know, DK Metcalf is someone bars talked about a lot, like that's a next off season

00:07:04move to go add that true alpha number one that we've been wanting and kind of slot everyone

00:07:08else else in behind them.

00:07:10I think everybody made great points. At the end of the day, one, like we said, if CD is

00:07:15even available, you got to do your due diligence of all the players that have been floated.

00:07:18Like CD is different. We love Brandon. I, you, I think on both these podcasts have been

00:07:22very vocal about it, but CD lamb also gives you size that doesn't bring. So I think that's

00:07:27kind of the little extra step where it's like, yeah, you know, if he's available, I wouldn't

00:07:33be mad if Patriots gave up, you know, significant draft capital and then spent money. But at

00:07:37the same time, you can also use that first round pick, like you guys mentioned on a wide

00:07:41receiver that you want to develop the cost controlled and be that alpha can contribute

00:07:45quickly.

00:07:46Of course, having a true number one wide receiver, you can throw the ball to in those one-on-one

00:07:50matchups and have confidence in every single play. That's going to make any quarterback

00:07:55more comfortable, but you know, it's still going to be a learning curve for Drake may,

00:07:59but I think Brian, you kind of hit it on the head. He has enough guys like with Baker,

00:08:03with poke, with pop. I think as he learns to grow with these guys, they may not all,

00:08:07you know, have huge roles, but I think that's a receiving core where you're comfortable

00:08:11with him growing with those guys, getting experience. If they had a bonafide number

00:08:14one, that's awesome. But I just think it's not as much of a need right now, especially

00:08:18considering where they're at in the team's development.

00:08:21All right, next up, how much better than Jacoby Bursette does Drake have to be to start week

00:08:26one, even if the offensive line is bad, which is something we've kind of mentioned, whether

00:08:30or not the offensive line is a significant factor in whether or not Drake make plays.

00:08:33Mike, what do you think?

00:08:35If he is just as good as Jacoby Bursette, you play him. I don't think he even has to

00:08:39be better. I think as soon as he shows that he's equivalent, he should end up being your

00:08:43guy because at that point there's really no point in playing Bursette. Like I understand

00:08:48that you want to sort of, you know, develop him behind the scenes and what have you. But

00:08:52if there ever comes a point where not only is may better, like put it this way, if may

00:08:58looks better in camp and looks better in practice and things like that, players are going to

00:09:01be pissed that they're not playing the best quarterback.

00:09:03So if they're neck and neck, just throw the kid out there again because of, and I shouldn't

00:09:08say just throw them out there as if it's like not, you know, not a calculated decision,

00:09:12but if they're, if they're one in the same, as far as quarterback play, just put the young

00:09:16guy out there because there, there's no point in having Jacoby anymore. Right now he's a

00:09:20stop gap. He's a bridge until may is ready. So if he's ready on the same level, I'm playing

00:09:25Drake man.

00:09:27I think we, we, the important thing to remember here, cause I, and I, I hate to be the wet

00:09:32blanket in this and that's where the show mrs. Evan is like usually like, yeah, it's,

00:09:38it's really exciting to think about Drake may coming in and being the starter, but the

00:09:42reality is once you make that move, whether it's in week one, whether it's in week five,

00:09:49whether it's in week 10, that's it. He's the starter. And if you put him out there week

00:09:56one and suddenly realize, and remember, it's so hard to evaluate offensive line play at

00:10:02any team.

00:10:03This isn't just a Patriots thing, any team. It's so hard to evaluate, like tangibly evaluate

00:10:08offensive line play in training camp and in the preseason because of the rules and limited

00:10:12opportunities. So I don't think we'll really know what the Patriots offensive line. I don't

00:10:18think they'll truly know what kind of shape their offensive line is in week one. I think

00:10:22it's going to be about a month of moving things around and figuring things out as it

00:10:26was last year. And as it has been for other teams, once you put Drake may out there, that's

00:10:31it. And if you put him out there week one, and you suddenly realize we're going to get

00:10:36this kid killed.

00:10:39Now you're between a rock and a hard place because yeah, you can pull them, but now you're

00:10:43benching your first round quarterback. And we just did that. And we all know what that

00:10:49looks like. And yes, us, the people who know what's going on, we'll sit here and say they

00:10:54benched him because the line, or they benched him because of that, or they pulled them because

00:10:57of this. And it's not, they don't believe in him, but you create a ton of unnecessary

00:11:02outside noise, which again, those teammates aren't going to like either. So will players

00:11:08maybe be annoyed if they think Drake may is the better option.

00:11:11He's not out there. I understand that. I think to put up with it for a month while you get

00:11:19the offensive line figured out is within reason it's if they're using the same starting

00:11:24five week in and week out, and we get to late October and early November, and the line's

00:11:29clearly as good as it's going to get. And Jacoby percent is still out there. That's

00:11:33where those frustrations come in. But week one, I just think it's it. There's too many

00:11:41unknowns in week one to add the unknown of Drake may. I would rather get all the unknowns

00:11:46figured out. And that doesn't mean the offensive line has to be great. I just want to know

00:11:51what it is. I just want to know exactly how bad it's going to be. And I don't think realistically

00:11:56you're going to know that week one. I just want to get that question answered before

00:11:59I put him out there. Yeah. I'm kind of with Alex there. And that's

00:12:03coming from someone who like is so high on Drake may. And I think he's going to, you

00:12:07should want Jacoby off the team. No, I don't know. I don't. I think again, like we're going

00:12:13to get out on the field during training camp and Drake may is going to be the best quarterback

00:12:17out there. Right. But I think they might even say it, you know, as Barth was just saying,

00:12:21like, let's just take a month here and kind of take a step back and we'll see how the

00:12:25offensive line looks, you know, looks after four or five weeks. Also, he's never played.

00:12:31None of these rookies have ever played a 17 game season, right? They play 12 games in

00:12:34college, 12, 13 games. You saw that with Mac, his rookie year, he had a really good start

00:12:39and then they had that by and then they fell off that last month. So that's something too.

00:12:43They might kind of take into account the big picture here. Do you want to end potentially

00:12:47as rookie year going downhill where maybe we give him 11, 12 games and now he's ending

00:12:51the rookie year on the high note. So I think he's going to be the best quarterback in camp,

00:12:56but I still think he'd have to be like steps and steps above Jacoby Brissett for them to

00:13:02and the line would have to look good too, for them to kind of make that move in week

00:13:07one there right out of the gate. I think when it comes to Drake versus Jacoby, it's

00:13:11ultimately going to come down to can Drake at least do the base level things the way

00:13:15Jacoby can, like, can he get the offense in the right situation? Can he make checks when

00:13:20he needs to? Can he get the plays out correctly? Because it's a West coast offense. We know

00:13:25it's very difficult for some young guys to get all that different Burbidge out. If he

00:13:29can do the procedural things on the same level as Jacoby and isn't making glaring mistakes.

00:13:34I don't understand why you wouldn't put him in there. Like obviously Jacoby said, but

00:13:37then of course the offensive line is a factor. Now I agree, Alex, actually Brandon Thorne

00:13:42episode going to drop tomorrow on the channel. I asked him point blank. How much can you

00:13:46glean from like an offensive line guru? How much can you learn from these spring practices?

00:13:50He said outside of lineups, nothing. There's really nothing you can learn because these

00:13:54guys aren't going in pads. There's, there's a lot of things that work against them. So

00:13:58we're really going to have a better idea. Like you said, Alex, not a great idea because

00:14:02there are limitations, but a better idea once we see the pads on. So if it's a disaster

00:14:07up front, then I do think that has to be in consideration because you don't want them

00:14:11to develop bad habits. But if we see this offensive line, like we saw where it's an

00:14:15interior of city, David Andrews, and then Mike and when who I'm more comfortable with

00:14:19that because bad tackle play is obviously not ideal, but Caden Wallace, again, in speaking

00:14:24with Brandon Thorne, that was a guy that he said with good coaching can probably be someone

00:14:28who contributes pretty early for you. And then if chooks is your, you know, weak link,

00:14:33not the best thing in the world, but a guy like Drake may can make that work. But if

00:14:36you're getting interior pressure really quickly, you're screwed. So if they do have the same

00:14:41lineup that we saw, or at least it's consistent, I would have more confidence in putting him

00:14:44out there. But again, it's going to be, can you do the procedural things and keep the

00:14:48offense on schedule similar to Jacoby percent, make some mistakes, but obviously the upside

00:14:52is going to be higher with Drake out there. And can the offensive line be good enough

00:14:56that he's not getting pressured so fast that he's not being able to really sit there and

00:15:00really grow on the field and start to develop that habits. More excellent questions coming

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00:16:19All right. So getting into the Patriots actual receiving court,

00:16:23do you think the Patriots will ever find a true wide receiver one? Will they have a wide receiver

00:16:27room, similar to green bays where there's no alpha, but anyone can go off any week. And I

00:16:32think it was CJ Stroud. Was it that had a comment where he was saying, like, if you don't have a

00:16:36true number one, it makes it harder on the defense, which conceptually I understand like any

00:16:41quarterback, like Brady, his receivers say he was so good at this as distributing the ball.

00:16:45Because sure. You know, if you have like a, you know, a prime step on dig someone like that,

00:16:50you want to feed that guy. But if you have other weapons where it's like, sure, you can double him,

00:16:53but then we have three other guys that are legitimate options. It makes it harder on

00:16:57the defense. So this time, Brian, we'll start with you. What do you think?

00:17:01Well, ever. I hope they eventually at some point find a true wide receiver one, but

00:17:07this year. Yeah. I could see this kind of shaking out like

00:17:10green bay because they don't have that true alpha right now. Like,

00:17:14you know, maybe Jalen Paul kind of develops into that or Jayvon Baker we'll see,

00:17:18but they don't have that right now. So yeah, take this as like a game plan. Maybe one week,

00:17:22it's a Javon Baker week, one week, it's a pop Douglas week, one week, it's a Hunter Henry week,

00:17:26right? Like keep throwing different things at opponents and kind of use that depth,

00:17:31use that versatility, try to use that to your advantage without that, you know,

00:17:35true number one in your room right now. Mike, what do you think?

00:17:39I am going to kind of 180 from the number one wide receiver talk. I've been, you know,

00:17:44growing out there for the last three years, but I also don't hate looking at it this way

00:17:49because you look at that green bay room. Right. And it's, uh, Christian Watson and Jaden Reed.

00:17:54And, uh, I don't know why I can't think of, uh, wicks and like, I can't think of everybody else

00:17:58in that room right now. Romeo Dobbs, like they're all, they're all twos, but they're really high end

00:18:04twos and it worked for green bay last year. Like, and I'll take, you know, Mike Tannenbaum and what

00:18:09he says with a grain of salt on ESPN, but like he has continuously been like Jordan love is

00:18:15one of the best quarterbacks besides Patrick Holmes in the league right now.

00:18:17And I, you know, I have to agree with them at some, at some instances. And like,

00:18:22that's because he's had a solid wide receiver core around him the last year. And also kind

00:18:27of developed with those guys behind the scenes when Rogers was still there. And so look, if,

00:18:33if that continues to be successful in group A and the Patriots kind of built,

00:18:36like you look at DeMario Douglas and Jalen Polk and Jayvon Baker, even a guy like KJ Osborne,

00:18:41they brought in, if it works, it just works. And you might not even have to shell out all that

00:18:46money and you can pay all the guys, but you're paying them now and kind of rotate it through

00:18:49that way. So look, I'm not saying don't go get one. I've obviously touted going to get a true

00:18:54number one forever, but I mean, if it works and the offense runs smoothly, then you might not have

00:18:58to shell out all that money for one either. Yeah. I, I, I don't know. Wasn't the green

00:19:03bay offense better though, when they had Devante Adams, wasn't that a better?

00:19:07Yeah, of course. Even the games, even the games that Rogers was hurt, Adams was always effective.

00:19:14And what you're describing there, Taylor off the top and what, what CJ Stroud said,

00:19:19and I understand why he would say that, like from a quarterback point of view, it makes sense,

00:19:22especially for rookie. But what you're describing there is Ewing theory, which is essentially,

00:19:29it's an old basketball concept from the eighties that the Knicks and the eighties,

00:19:33when they had Patrick Ewing and he was like the only good player on the team.

00:19:37Like they had other good players. He was like the superstar. It was Patrick Ewing and everybody else.

00:19:40Right. And when Ewing would get hurt, the Knicks would go on these stretches where they'd be really

00:19:46good because nobody knew what they were going to do because they didn't have Patrick Ewing.

00:19:50And there was this element of unpredictability. The problem with that is there's a shelf life to

00:19:58because at a certain point, the spreading, the ball becomes predictable. And if you can just

00:20:03cover everybody, right, eventually you're going to run up against a team that can just cover

00:20:07everybody plain and simple. And I think you can get by for a little bit with that philosophy.

00:20:13And it may be even like for what the Patriots are now you can get by for this year with that

00:20:17philosophy, but the evidence shows us all of these quarterbacks are taken to another level.

00:20:23When they get this kind of receiver, even my homes was helped tremendously by Tyree killed.

00:20:29And the other thing I see people say, well, the Patriots, you know, even when they won in the

00:20:33latter portion of the dynasty in the modern era, they didn't have a true number one receiver.

00:20:37No, but they had Rob Gronkowski. So that, you know, if you, if you have the best tight end

00:20:42in football, I guess, yeah, you don't need a coverage dictating wide receiver. Hunter Henry

00:20:47is a good player. He's far from that. So I do think they need to get this guy. Eventually.

00:20:53I just don't think it's this massive undertaking that everybody makes it out to be. It's going to

00:20:58be expensive. It's going to cost like, yeah, it's going to be a wow moment. But I said it before

00:21:04there is. So I don't think there's any position in the league as oversaturated in talent as there

00:21:11is at wide receiver. And eventually these guys become available because there just isn't room

00:21:17for all of them to get paid by their current teams. I have, I have this theory. We can kind

00:21:22of go deeper in a football theory. And I brought this up before once like a year ago, and it's

00:21:26still kind of a take in progress. If this trend continues because the way these, you know, the

00:21:33youth pipeline right now, and kids doing seven on seven camps where, I mean, when we played pop

00:21:39Warner, you were just running the ball. That's all you did. Cause you know, kids couldn't throw

00:21:43because you couldn't block and all that. Now they play seven on seven. Kids are developing

00:21:49as route runners from the time they're in like fourth or fifth grade. It's a wide open game.

00:21:53They go to the college level where it's a wide open game that favors them. The rules make it

00:21:57easier for them. I wonder if this trend continues, we get to a point where the lead becomes so

00:22:03oversaturated with elite wide receivers that the wide receiver market kind of mirrors the running

00:22:09back market, what it is now. And I'm not saying that wide receivers will suddenly start making

00:22:14chump change and never getting resigned. But I mean, it's, I don't, I don't understand entirely

00:22:21how economies work. Like I think I got like a B minus an econ in college, but I understand how

00:22:27supply and demand works. And if there's more than 32 coverage dictating wide receivers,

00:22:34those guys really are not going to be as expensive as they are right now.

00:22:38So you, at a certain point you have to make the move and you're going to have to give up

00:22:42a solid traffic, top 50 traffic. At least you're going to have to give the guy a big contract.

00:22:48If you don't find them in the draft, even if you find them in the draft, you're still going to have

00:22:51to give them the contract. Like that's all going to have to happen at some point. But the question

00:22:55of will they ever get one? Do they need to get like getting one is going to be doable without

00:23:01disrupting the whole process. So in that case, you might as well do it. Even if you don't need

00:23:06one, you might as well. And there certainly will be opportunities to do so. I think plenty

00:23:10of opportunities. I think the real challenge in this, and I'm sorry to go on a rant here,

00:23:16but this is something I, I saw this question earlier. I thought it was a really good question.

00:23:20The real challenge in this is not getting the deal done or even finding an opportunity to do

00:23:26the deal. To me, the challenge is threading the needle of what is the right time and knowing,

00:23:33right? So, okay. Brandon, Iook, we think might be available. CD lamb might be available. DK Metcalf

00:23:38might be available next year. There's been rumors about Amari Cooper. There's been rumors about

00:23:43Devante Smith, right? All these different guys. How do you know which one is the right guy to

00:23:51spend those assets on? Cause you don't want to go too early and miss out on a better option.

00:23:58You don't want to pass on a guy thinking you might get somebody better. And then suddenly

00:24:02realize that one specific receiver is no longer available. Even if multiple receivers of the type

00:24:07are, that's the challenge here for me is threading the needle, but they, they can do it. And I

00:24:13absolutely think they should do it. It's just a matter of when and how. So speaking of the wide

00:24:18receiver theory, it is interesting. Yeah. I think it's different than the running back market.

00:24:22Cause one, a big reason the running back market is so depreciated is because of the injuries.

00:24:27It's not apples to apple. Of course. Of course. I'm just like, I'm literally just thinking it

00:24:31through kind of live, but also I feel like with receivers, I think the wide receiver two,

00:24:36three market could depreciate because there's so many good ones, but the elite guys,

00:24:40they're different. The consistency and being able to go in every single week and not even just

00:24:45dictate, but also produce like a true number. Like with Jayvon Baker, I think he has the

00:24:49skillset and the mentality to be a similar kind of guy in that, you know, kind of echelon maybe

00:24:54Lauren. Cause I don't think he has a dynamic talent on top of that kind of mentality where

00:24:59it's just like, yeah, this guy is just completely different, but I see what you're saying.

00:25:03Well, yeah. The elite of the elite will always be right for Tyree kill. You're going to have Derek

00:25:10Henry, right? Like that's always going to be a thing, but it's, it's more so like we we've

00:25:17started to see it. These teams would rather trade the proven commodity and not give the contract

00:25:25acquire draft assets, and then go to the draft and hope to replace them.

00:25:29Right. We saw results and that's kind of what this hinges on, right. You know,

00:25:35for, um, uh, I'm trying to think of an example, right. So, you know, moving on

00:25:40AJ Brown and Trey, Traylon Brown, you could argue that was a mistake on the Titans part. Like they

00:25:47would be doing that with the chiefs, with Tyree kill. They did that because Travis Kelsey is a

00:25:52number one receiver, not a wide receiver. And also a guy in Skymore never developed into anything

00:25:58when you trade those guys. Well, that's, that's what I think this is going to come down to that.

00:26:02I don't think this is happening yet. It's something I think could happen because teams

00:26:05are poking around with it and they're trying it and all it's going to take. Let's say Ricky

00:26:09Pearsall turns out to be a dude, right. It's copycat league. Suddenly a bunch of teams are

00:26:15going to be trying to do that. So, um, look, ultimately the point that was kind of a separate

00:26:20thing that I just thought was relevant to the conversation that I thought you guys might find

00:26:23interesting. Ultimately it comes down to whether you want to talk about Brandon, Iuke, whether you

00:26:30want to talk about, uh, Amari Cooper, whether you want to talk about, uh, um, CD lamb, like

00:26:37every time we think this is the end of these great receivers becoming available,

00:26:41here's three or four more of them that are suddenly up for trade. So

00:26:45the, the Patriots need to hit that mark at some point. I think it's probably a little early right

00:26:50now, but they need to hit that mark at some point. And I would hate it if there were like,

00:26:55as good as the Packers wide receiver room is right now, it'd be that much better if they

00:26:58had Devante Adams and Jordan loves life would be that much easier if he had Devante Adams.

00:27:02And those guys are gettable in the Patriots are going to have the assets and the flexibility to

00:27:07add that kind of guy, not doing it out of some belief that we can create them in the aggregate.

00:27:12That math BS, that would suck. I still think they should go out and add that guy.

00:27:17Yeah. I'm not mad. This went off for a while. Cause this is a very interesting conversation.

00:27:21I guess for me specifically for the Patriots, I think it comes down to Drake made to be totally

00:27:24honest with you. Like great quarterbacks can elevate the talent around them. But even with

00:27:28Brady, if we want to go 2016, when he didn't have Gronk, he still had jewels who for their scheme

00:27:34was their wide receiver one. He did a lot of things for them. He did things after the catch,

00:27:38like he was just someone who's productive, but also whenever you would see those kind of like

00:27:422010s offense of Brady, where it kind of starts to look not so great. It was when they were

00:27:48missing multiple guys. Like if you had Jules Amendola and James White, but you didn't have

00:27:52Gronk, it was okay. You could still control the middle of the field. Cause you had three guys

00:27:57who all like, especially we hear now that, you know, that whole air is over about Brady

00:28:02and how much work they put in where they're coming in on Saturdays.

00:28:05And like the margin for error is greater for them because they are so fine tuned. So

00:28:09especially like with the Mac Jones era, I feel like last year I was too dependent on,

00:28:13they have a lot of twos, but like it Mac distributes the ball. It's fine. I now kind

00:28:18of in retrospect one, like that's just such an outlier for a situation. It's not great to compare

00:28:23it to. You can't compare anybody to Tom Brady. It's that it's kind of, because that was such

00:28:30two years of the Patriots. No matter what quarterback it is, they still benefit greatly

00:28:36from having that true number one guy where it's like the offense runs through them.

00:28:40But if you have those complimentary guys, that's where it's like, damn, we have a hard time stopping

00:28:43them because we double this guy, but now anybody else is on the table. So still a very good

00:28:48conversation. I think we'll get a wide receiver one at some point, whether someone emerges is

00:28:52that, or if they decide, you know, after this season, we really need to get that guy to bring

00:28:56this all together. It'll happen. I think we understand this regime is prioritizing

00:29:00Drake maze development. If they think he needs it. And especially if he shows something this year,

00:29:05they're going to be able to get it. Wide receivers want to play with good quarterbacks. And if he's

00:29:08very good, you still have to pay these guys, but I think it'll be easier. All right, let's take a

00:29:12breather quick word from our friends over at game time. Be right back. Nothing says summer quite like

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00:30:34last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. All right, could the Caden Wallace move that

00:30:42means him really playing right tackle? He was the backup in practices at left tackle before the last

00:30:47day of minicamp. We saw a rotation of Mikey when he wore a guard and then Caden Wallace beside him.

00:30:53Is that move more about faith in Chuco Cora for and Calvin Anderson and less of faith in Wallace?

00:30:59What do we think that's all? Basically, do we think it's because they're confident in Wallace

00:31:04ability to play? Or do we think it has more to do with the left tackles that they have on the

00:31:09roster for veterans? Mike, I'll go with you. I think they like what they have in a core form.

00:31:17And I didn't obviously didn't. I think I would have rather than more established left tackle

00:31:23on the market than a core for because he hasn't obviously played the position much if at all

00:31:28in the NFL. But I do think that they have faith in him kind of cementing himself as the left tackle.

00:31:33He never really moved off that spot throughout OTAs and minicamp and what have you. I don't

00:31:39think there's a lack of faith in Caden Wallace, but I think with Okorafor there probably for the year

00:31:45and the fact that there's some moving pieces and Cole Strange is out and they're kind of

00:31:49trying to figure out what the perfect best five will be. Okay, if Okorafor is the left tackle,

00:31:56let's use Caden Wallace to our advantage and not just cement him in as the backup left tackle.

00:32:02But hey, if he can serve as a right guard, if we can serve as a right tackle this year,

00:32:05so be it. And we'll kind of go from there. So I think it's a little bit of both, but I do think

00:32:09ultimately from what we've seen, they have faith that troops core four is going to be the left

00:32:13tackle for this season. Yeah. I mean, it's, it's hard to say whether, you know, it's about how

00:32:19they feel about Caden Wallace, the left tackle, good or bad. Cause I mean, we didn't see him play

00:32:23over there in practice and maybe he was there exclusively the days we weren't there, but that

00:32:28would be kind of weird. So I wonder if it's just about getting Okorafor for as many reps as

00:32:32possible and maybe lack of faith, you know, to, to take this a step further. I wonder if it's

00:32:39about a lack of faith in guys like Nick Leverett, Layton Robinson, Antonio Moffey, like whoever's

00:32:45going to like the second guard option after city. So essentially, and looking at it and saying,

00:32:51well, there's a real chance, like maybe it's not necessarily primarily about Caden Wallace at all.

00:32:56Maybe it's about, there's a real chance we're going to need to move Michael Wenu back inside.

00:33:01In that case, this, and Taylor, you had talked about this in that case, this rookie needs to

00:33:05be prepared to play right tackle because we may need him to go there. So that's honestly kind of

00:33:11how I read it as more about the guards than anything involving the tackles. Yeah. I thought

00:33:16it was just them getting their best five and then that's like, would you rather have Nick Leverett

00:33:20at right guard or Caden Wallace at right tackle. Right. And if again, it's spring. So we'll see

00:33:26how this kind of develops in the summer, but I think this was just them trying to work through

00:33:30some of these rotations, like, Hey, what could be our best five? And if that's, you know, big Mike

00:33:34back inside and Caden Wallace at right tackle, let's, let's get some run with that in the spring

00:33:39right here. So again, that's like such a big thing to watch, especially with the pads come on in the

00:33:44summer. But I think right now they're just trying to find combinations of five that could be their

00:33:49best unit. Yeah, I agree. I think that, I mean, we saw this with like Nate soldier, obviously it

00:33:55wasn't like apples to apples, but we saw he was a guy who was a left tackle for the Patriots,

00:33:59but his rookie season, he played a ton of right tackle. I think it was because fashion

00:34:03Vollmer got hurt. So I don't think it's the worst thing in the world. Again, we've talked about it.

00:34:07They're going to cross train these guys behind the scenes. Caden Wallace is getting reps at

00:34:10left tackle as well. Whether or not we see them. I think we've seen enough in practice to understand

00:34:15that they really do believe in the philosophy of training these guys to play both sides.

00:34:19And if they are confident in two, so core for, I mean, he's one of the guys that's been steady.

00:34:23If we're being fair, that left side of the offensive line has not been touched. It's

00:34:27really been obviously in Dave Andrews, but the right side is the one where it seems like there's

00:34:31a lot of tweaking going on. So again, there's only so much you can kind of glean from non padded

00:34:36practices in the spring. So I don't want to put too much stock into anything that we know about

00:34:39the offensive line, but the fact that they seem confident in chooks next to city. So I think it's

00:34:45really like you guys said, Caden Wallace is a guy who spent a third round pick on, he has a lot of

00:34:49experience too. This isn't like, you know, this is why I mentioned experience mattering so much

00:34:54with the recent draft classes, because clearly they like guys who have been playing a little

00:34:58bit longer, makes it easier to coach because you've seen a lot of football. You're just kind

00:35:03of adjusting to what your specific coaching staff wants to do. And we've seen that Caden

00:35:07Wallace, somebody who also took a huge step forward in his development in his final season.

00:35:12So the fact that, again, we've mentioned this already in the past, but he can be on the right

00:35:17side where he's already comfortable, acclimate to the NFL game that way. Then he has that under

00:35:21his belt and he can be the left tackle of the future. I think athletically he's more than

00:35:25capable of doing it. Again, he's already been trained that way in college, so it's not a huge

00:35:29deal, but I really do think Brian, you nailed it. I think it's more about getting your best five guys

00:35:34on the field more than it is not being confident in other guys. And Calvin Anderson also, I don't

00:35:38know if you guys saw the video that Boorish put in our thread for the questions. It was honestly

00:35:43really interesting. It was talking about how Calvin Anderson basically is just very smart

00:35:48and reacts to stimuli very quickly and is able to adjust on the fly. And he was talking about how

00:35:53going against Vaughn Miller when he was at the Broncos, there'd be times where he would do kind

00:35:57of weird stuff with his body and they would be in film like, why did you do that? He's just like,

00:36:01my body kind of adjusted because I needed to just figure out how to block them. That was

00:36:05super interesting. A guy I think we're all rooting for after what he went through last year.

00:36:09He's also really good at the Rubik's Cube, so he definitely has something going on upstairs.

00:36:13We have to get him to do that this year. We never got him to do that last year because

00:36:16obviously he was going through a lot of stuff, but we'll bring a Rubik's Cube to training camp.

00:36:23All right, let's go over to the defensive side of the ball, but very offensive.

00:36:26Do you think that Demarcus Covington and Gerard Mayo want to be more aggressive

00:36:30and there will be less two gapping, or do you think they part ways with Godshaw?

00:36:35Alex, I'll go with you first. They're going to be more aggressive. I mean,

00:36:39they've talked about it, right? Demarcus Covington talked about it and how they want to be more

00:36:43aggressive coming off the edge. Now, maybe they think Devon Godshaw can be a part of that and

00:36:49maybe they want him to play more aggressively. Obviously, Bill Belichick spoke very highly of

00:36:54him and his ability to be more than just a run stopper or just that kind of block eater.

00:36:59I guess I shouldn't say run stopper, but be just that block eater. I guess that'll be tested.

00:37:05That's part of the reason I'm hesitant with his contract. Like as much as I think it's important

00:37:08he's here this year, I would just give him a raise. I wouldn't necessarily give him extra

00:37:12years because he's, it's almost, even though there's more carryover from last year's coaching

00:37:19set, it's almost harder to project what the defense is going to look like schematically

00:37:24than the offense. Cause we know what Alex van Pelt does and you figure he's going to come in

00:37:27and just do what he does defensively. We don't know like how much are they going to carry over

00:37:32from bill? How much is going to be new philosophy. And from what they've said, we, I mean,

00:37:37generally it'll probably be the same cause they didn't shake the personnel up too much,

00:37:39but like they've talked about this wanting to get more aggressive and play more off field and

00:37:43things like that. And there's been some hints about them maybe doing less to gapping.

00:37:47God shot is one of the hardest players to project in this defense. So I think we'll know early on

00:37:51kind of what the deal is for him. And frankly, depending on what happens with his contract,

00:37:54we kind of may be signaled to us earlier than the start of the season, what they have in store for

00:38:01him. Brian, we'll go with you next. Yeah. I mean, Alex hit most of it there. They've told us they

00:38:08want to be more aggressive. Like I think Jude on was the first one to mention that back at like the

00:38:13combine or maybe before the combine, he was on not 95 and then he was with Felger and he's like,

00:38:18they want to get more aggressive. So we'll see what that means. How that impacts maybe a guy

00:38:24like God shot. I would still be surprised if they part ways with God shot, you know,

00:38:28Mayo made it seem like they want him around. He said kind of what Bill said. He's one of their

00:38:32better players. And I think they do want to win this year. They don't want to be like completely

00:38:36bottom out and bad. And, you know, keeping guys like God shot, keeping guys like Jude on some of

00:38:41those veterans on the defense are going to help you win games. But what is his role? Maybe that

00:38:45evolves that that'll be interesting to see because I do think they will be if they keep the promise

00:38:50to us that they will be more aggressive going forward. Yeah, I'll be, I'll be quick. They

00:38:56again, they, they've mentioned the aggressiveness and they haven't been,

00:38:59I guess, as careful with the media as Belichick might've wanted to. So kind of everybody let it

00:39:03slip and we asked them again and they kind of said, well, we don't know what we're going to do,

00:39:05but I mean, the cat's out of the bag. They're going to, they're going to pin their ears back a

00:39:08bit. And I do wonder how that affects God job because we know he's a, you know, he's a run

00:39:12stuffer. He's not great in the rush. But Taylor, we've talked about it on here too,

00:39:17a couple of times now with our defensive line projection. And then we did a whole episode on

00:39:21gotcha. You kind of have to stop somewhere with paying everybody. Like they've rewarded the good

00:39:27guys and you know, the guys who played well and God has done just that. But you know, he's,

00:39:31I think he's 29 going on 30. He's going to want another pay bump where he goes, or I guess the

00:39:36amount of money we'll end up making compared to the other defensive linemen in the NFL and where

00:39:40this team is. And yeah, Brian, you mentioned they want to win, but it's not, I still think that's

00:39:46not priority. Number one. And it kind of sounds kind of doesn't sound right, but this is a team

00:39:51for 2025. They don't, I don't know how much they really care about wins and losses in 2024, as long

00:39:56as they look better on the field. So as God Sean, your plans for 2025 and beyond, if he's not,

00:40:02you might consider parting ways them one way or another, whether it's a trade, whether you just

00:40:05don't sign them and he holds out what have you right now, I think he's going to make the roster,

00:40:09but it also isn't going to shock me one bit if they decide not to pay them and they try and

00:40:13figure out something else for them. You know, when it comes to the aggressiveness, it's

00:40:17interesting because they were one of the like highest blitzing teams in the league last year.

00:40:20It wasn't like they were necessarily conservative when it comes to the two gapping. I don't think

00:40:24they're going to want to get rid of that. Like that's still fits what Bentley does. It fits

00:40:27with Jelani to buy does and God shop is unique. I think if anything, you may be guarantee a salary

00:40:34and then the future, you kind of leave up in the air because he definitely is an outlier on this

00:40:38defense where it's more people who give you pass rush and run defense. And we saw them move on

00:40:42for more sky because he was purely run stopper and Yvonne got y'all similar, but he also is very

00:40:48unique and he's the only guy who is his size and can eat space the way he does. So I think it makes

00:40:54sense to keep him around at least this year, maybe replace him with someone younger, but I think it

00:40:58would be a mistake to just lean on like Jeremiah farms and Daniel like quality. Although I do like

00:41:02those guys a lot. Um, so I, I see them finding some way to make it work with God job this year

00:41:08in terms of aggressiveness. Again, they were pretty aggressive. Part of it was because they

00:41:13didn't have Jude on and they needed to manufacture a pass rush. Some of it was in the run defense

00:41:17where you saw like Anthony Jennings and Jabril peppers. A ton of their production was on a

00:41:21specific play where Jennings would kind of knife inside what your bro pepper is coming around the

00:41:25edge and they would just meet in the backfield and blow stuff up. So, um, maybe more four down

00:41:30fronts. I'm actually studying that right now, how they're, you know, front mechanics actually worked

00:41:34and what they were doing for me in front absolutely works with who they have. It's a lot of like

00:41:39three, three, but like a four down front where you have a defensive end, like a teacher twice

00:41:43or a key on white as the defensive end, but they can kick inside when Jelani to buy goes down.

00:41:48So we'll see how that works out, but, uh, definitely more aggressive. They've already

00:41:51said it. We're just going to have to see what that looks like. Um, and gotcha. I think they

00:41:55do figure it out and keep them around this season. What's your ideal cornerback room so far? I feel

00:42:01like we can just kind of blanket Christian Gonzalez, Jonathan Jones, Marcus Jones is in

00:42:06there for sure, but then behind those guys looks a little bit rockier. So, uh, Brian, I'll start

00:42:11with you. What do you think Alex Austin and Isaiah Bolden probably round out that top five tons of

00:42:19versatility there, right? Like if they want Jonathan Jones on the boundary, you can have

00:42:23Marcus Jones inside. We saw a little Isaiah Bolden in the slot as well, or, you know, you can move

00:42:30Jonathan Jones back inside where he's kind of been at his best. And, uh, but that's if Alex

00:42:35Austin kind of takes that second boundary cornerback spot or Isaiah Bolden outside,

00:42:40or they haven't been well, Bill, maybe they kind of shift, but Bill was never shy of putting Marcus

00:42:45Jones on the boundary either. So, uh, they have a lot of talent there. Some of it's young. We'll

00:42:50still have to kind of wait and see, uh, how it looks throughout camp there, but they have talent

00:42:55versatility and there's still space maybe for like a Stefan Gilmore addition, if they really

00:43:00want to get kind of all in here. I know that's his ideal room right there. So, uh, but it's

00:43:11definitely an encouraging and deep room as it sits right now, Alex, I'll give you the floor to do

00:43:16your Gilmore rant. I'll just quickly say that Bolden slash Marco Wilson as kind of that fifth

00:43:21guy. If one of those guys can emerge, if one of the young guys can emerge, then you go and go get

00:43:25a veteran at Gilmore. Alex, the floor is yours. Yeah, no, I was going to say we're talking ideal

00:43:30room, John Jones, Marcus Jones, Christian Gonzalez, Alex Austin, Steph Gilmore. And then if I'm going

00:43:35to keep a six is probably Isaiah Bolden. Cause he gives you that flexibility, that inside outside

00:43:39flexibility, but in that room, you're moving Jonathan Jones back to the inside. Uh, so he's

00:43:44now you're starting slot corner. You have Gonzalez and Steph Gilmore is your top two with Alex Austin

00:43:50kind of in that Jason McCourty role on the boundary. And you have Marcus Jones is kind

00:43:54of a floater. He's in that, that miles Bryant hybrid nickel safety kind of role. Boy, you get

00:44:00excited. You get really excited about that room. Now, if Gilmore is not in the picture, a guy I

00:44:07look at is, you know, having maybe some elevated value and I'd still like Bolden, but a guy look

00:44:13like, look at it as having some elevated values. Marco Wilson outside of Jonathan Jones. That is a

00:44:18very, very, very young room. And Marco Wilson isn't exactly an old man, but he's, I think he'd

00:44:27be the second most experienced player of anybody in that group. Um, I believe he was drafted in

00:44:312021. So I think just that experience, that kind of experience in that room would be valuable.

00:44:38So even if he's maybe, you know, a tiny bit behind a guy like Mikey Victor or ZZ Hearn in terms of

00:44:47potential, I think having another veteran in there with Jonathan Jones would have some value.

00:44:52We're missing out on, we're, we're failing to mention Marcellus dial here. Is that an injury

00:44:57thing? Is that cause like, I'm looking at the comments too, and we can kind of tie this in.

00:45:01If you had to pick a player from the 2024 draft to get, to get caught, I feel like Mars, if you

00:45:06have to pick one, I think Marcellus dial leads the conversation right now. And that's nothing,

00:45:09it's him. You could kind of Foxborough flew the thing. I know he was dealing with something

00:45:13earlier in camp, but I just wanted to kind of give him, give him, put his name in the

00:45:17conversation too. I mean, he, he certainly has, you know, potential. I think it's,

00:45:24some people hate this phrase, but I'm going to use it because it's true.

00:45:26You can't make the club from the tub. And from a media point of view to add a site out of mind,

00:45:32you had corners up and down the roster. Seemingly every day there was a new corner making a push.

00:45:37And we, we have talked about those guys, Marcel style just kind of falls aside. So,

00:45:44you know, he's got inside out versatility. He might have some safety versatility,

00:45:48definitely a guy that could play on special teams. He'll make a push, but it, it's just

00:45:52such a crowded room. It's such a crowded room, especially if they add a veteran,

00:45:58it makes it tough to kind of see the, to do the math for him.

00:46:03Yeah. I think that he's kind of in a similar boat, Isaiah Bolden, where you expect them to

00:46:07be special teams guys early on. They have a ton of versatility, their physical Marcella style. I

00:46:13think not that it helped him, but he's more of a physical guy where what impresses you is his

00:46:17willingness to tackle, get involved in the run game and all that stuff, which I think will shine

00:46:22more in training camp. But there are definitely some technical issues where you don't want him

00:46:26to necessarily play right now. You want him on special teams. So I would agree. Joe Milton's

00:46:31the only other guy kind of in the conversation of who might get cut, but even him, I think he's got

00:46:35so much talent. You really don't want to risk putting him on waivers or anything like that,

00:46:39or practice squad, because he's probably going to get poked. So there's a lot of teams that just

00:46:43want at least a developmental guy. So yeah, Marcella style for sure. And I agree. Like we

00:46:48already mentioned the Joneses and Gonzalez, Alex Austin has been my guy for a while. I'm really

00:46:53excited to see what he can do. And then I'd say a Bolden one because of the special teams value,

00:46:58like we mentioned. But also I think he's just got a physical skill set that they don't really have

00:47:03outside of Christian Gonzalez, where he's big, he's fast, not super fluid, but that's something

00:47:07we kind of work on and develop in terms of skill to mitigate that. So I would love him to make the

00:47:12roster. Marco Wilson has made his plays. You know, we've seen stuff from Azizi Herr and Mikey Victor,

00:47:17but I feel like those are the guys that are making a really solid push for the roster.

00:47:22Let's get to one more question from the comments, rounded out with some special teams.

00:47:27Do we feel we have improved in special teams in any way? Does the new format benefit the type of

00:47:32players we have on special teams? Alex, I feel like we got to start with you, right?

00:47:37Um, they haven't gotten worse at it. We still don't know who the kicker is,

00:47:41so they haven't gotten better there. As for the kickoff return, kickoff coverage,

00:47:45like I hate to cop out. I think it's, it's too early to tell. I'll say this.

00:47:49I do like that. They brought back Jalen Rager. I do like that. You know, they brought in some guys

00:47:55like Mickey, Mikey Victor, like Marcella style that we think profile for this. Like, I know I'm

00:48:03somebody who's talked a lot about like, Oh, this player profiles well for the new kickoff rule.

00:48:08We think, cause we still haven't seen it in action and we don't really know what it's going to look

00:48:13like. Like, I, I think they're approaching it the right way. It's too early to say definitively

00:48:19whether or not it will benefit, but everything I've heard players talk about everything. Um,

00:48:24I've heard, uh, Jeremy Springer talk about, like, I, I feel like they're heading in the right

00:48:29direction. Um, but it's definitely too early to be like, yeah, no, they totally have this

00:48:34thing figured out. Cause they, how the hell would they have it figured out by now?

00:48:38I do feel like, you know, as the question kind of says, like type of players, I feel like they

00:48:43have really good, like personnel without having a bunch of guys just rostered, like pure specialists

00:48:48like they have in the past, like Marte Mapu, Isaiah Bolden, like those are really good,

00:48:53like special teams players who can, can also contribute on defense. Like Jalen Rager,

00:48:59as you said, even Antonio Gibson probably is really good fit for this type of return,

00:49:03like you probably want more of a running back back there now with that vision and he's got

00:49:08good bursts. So I think they do. Yeah. I think they do have good types of players for special

00:49:13teams, but we just got to see it. And like kicker, it can't get much worse than last year.

00:49:19We hope no matter who it is, if it's someone on the roster or not on the roster, like they were

00:49:2432nd or 33rd, maybe even in field goal percentage last year. So we hope it can't get worse than

00:49:31that. So hopefully they improve, but yeah, I do think the types of players they have and,

00:49:34and, you know, Brendan school are still there too. He's kind of the pure one pure specialist.

00:49:39I think they do have some good personnel there to handle that new kickoff rule.

00:49:43All I, just to answer this one too, real quick, how does new kickoff rule impact the kicker

00:49:47competition? This is another one where this is something we're going to have to watch because

00:49:53this is really, I don't think people understand just how new this all is. Like

00:49:57you're talking about types of kicks. It's like golf, right? You have different kinds of shots

00:50:01and you know, a good golfer to good golfers can be good at very different things. We don't know

00:50:09what types of balls are going to want these guys to kick. We don't know how good they are

00:50:13at these different types of kicks. So will it impact it? Yes. And bright, maybe they both suck

00:50:17in Bryce Berringer is just handling kickoffs. Like maybe they're going to have different guys

00:50:21handle the kickoff for different kicks. It'll probably impact it. It's way too early to know

00:50:27how I'll just add that. Like Alex, I know you're super excited for it, Brian. I think you are too,

00:50:33as the two sort of special teams, gurus in the, uh, on the podcast, but I'll just kind of add that

00:50:39like, I'm also wicked excited for it. And I kind of hate when people don't like change. Like I'm,

00:50:45I'm very liberal in that, like uniform changes. I'm obsessed with them. Like,

00:50:49I don't care which ones, the Broncos ones with the mile high stuff, everyone hates them.

00:50:53I don't, I like them. Like, let's just have fun. Who cares? Don't get mad at stupid stuff. Right?

00:50:57So like, I'm looking forward to seeing how teams adjust the lineup. Like that first kickoff,

00:51:02I'm going to be like chomping at the bit to be like, how are they going to do this? And the

00:51:06other thing I'll add too, is like, we didn't see Isaiah Bolden return a kickoff during, uh, during

00:51:12the, the off season program. He was one of the best kick returners in college football two years

00:51:16ago. Like I'm excited to see that. I want to see, I don't know if they're working them back still.

00:51:20I don't know if they're hiding them. I don't know if they don't want to put them out there,

00:51:23but that can add to that last cornerback discussion where if he can add, you know,

00:51:27kick return value, does he still, is he still good at kick returns in this new format? That's

00:51:32all stuff we're going to have to wait and see. So, uh, the, the only point I wanted to add was

00:51:36just kind of that I'm excited to see it all play out because change is good. Change is fun. I don't

00:51:40care if it's football, like football doesn't always have to be the same. They changed the,

00:51:44they changed the extra point. Everyone was BS about it. It turned out fine. It had a little

00:51:48element. Let's have some fun. Let's remember they changed. I mean, these things are changing all

00:51:52the time. Remember the goalposts used to be in the end zone. It was before any of us.

00:51:56They still have that. I kind of don't like that. I totally understand why they changed it. It's

00:52:00dangerous. But if you watch in Canada where they play, the goalposts are still in front, like

00:52:06there are certain route combinations that only exist in the end zone that involve using the

00:52:12goalposts as a screen. Right? Like imagine getting to scheme the imagining Andy Reed

00:52:17scheme up using the goalposts for screens. Yeah. How cool. Like a basketball screen. Right. So like

00:52:25there's, that's the thing. It's like, it's a new thing you dig in and what works and what doesn't

00:52:30you get to see really how well you understand the nuances of the game. It's a challenge because

00:52:35the thing about this kickoff, and I've said this a lot, but it really resembles a scrimmage play.

00:52:43It, it there's, it almost kind of sets up like the old wildcat plays. Yeah. And it'll be interesting

00:52:49to see how that translates. Yeah. It's a play again. And it's nice that the Patriots have,

00:52:53it feels like multiple people who could at least excel in that kind of role. I really have nothing

00:52:58else to add. So I will move on the Boston sports minute fellas busy day. Let's talk about it. Who

00:53:05wants to start? I guess I'll start. We might as well start with the Celtics, right? Cause they

00:53:10had the most jarring. It was, I think it's first time in over 20 years that a Boston sports seems

00:53:14going to be up for sale. Although we don't know exactly what that's going to look like because

00:53:20so the Celtics, the Celtics are owned a group called Boston basketball LLC, which is basically

00:53:26wick gross, Beck, Irv gross, Beck, Steve Pagliuca, a couple other rich people.

00:53:29They all like own it together. So that group is the majority majority owner. But within that group,

00:53:35wick gross, Beck is the controlling you know, he runs that, but Steve Pagliuca is a managing

00:53:40partner. So wick says he's going to sell the team. Now we find out like an hour ago that Steve

00:53:45Pagliuca is going to bid on the team. So maybe after all this hoopla, nothing changes, but you

00:53:52look at the extensions, the Celtics have signed Derek white got a hundred, I think 20 million

00:53:56today, Jason Tatum got 315 million. He's going to be the highest paid player in NBA history,

00:54:01or at least is right now probably won't be by the time that contract kicks in.

00:54:05But like they've just been handing out future dollar after future dollar. And I mean, look,

00:54:10wick probably has more money in his change drawer than I'll ever see in my life. But

00:54:14in terms of sports owners, like you kind of have to be a billionaire to own a team in the

00:54:19NBA and NFL at this point in wicks, just not there. So I was wondering, as they were handing

00:54:24all these extensions out, like where's this extra money going to come from? Are they going to,

00:54:28you know, maybe sell a stake of the team? We're seeing the Buffalo bills do that right now where

00:54:33I'm blanking on the owner's name, but they're still, the pergolas are still going to be the

00:54:36majority owner, but they're diluting their share. Um, but now it looks like wick selling

00:54:41Spagliuca have the money. Maybe he's a co-chairman of Bain capital. I have to

00:54:45imagine that pays pretty well. Um, but you know, you also start thinking about

00:54:50who else could get involved. A lot of people went right to casino magnates,

00:54:53which would make a lot of sense for a number of reasons in Boston,

00:54:56John Henry's name came up, which is freaking terrifying.

00:55:02I'll throw this in the right now because I saw, I think it was Ravel, one of those guys. It was

00:55:07either hammer pop Liana or whatever, but like, do you think there's already a backdoor plan in

00:55:11place for the next ownership? Because they're okay. Cause they're handing out all these contracts.

00:55:15They're already giving Tatum and Brown 300 plus they're given Derek white one 25. Now

00:55:20through holidays on the hook for a lot for Zingas was like 60 million over two years. So like

00:55:25you can't just, you know, give away all this debt and put yourself in all this debt and then think

00:55:30you're going to sell the team. Like that's not, that doesn't make the team, you know,

00:55:34more value. It doesn't help the value of the team. On top of that, they put in the release,

00:55:38like the exit plan for four years is laid out. Yeah. It's right. The sale is going to be major,

00:55:45mostly completed by late 2024, early 2025. Wick will remain on as governor till, which basically

00:55:50means league representative until 28. So, but the other thing it tells you is that this, whoever's

00:55:56buying in has deep pockets. I don't think this is going to be a case like we saw with the Minnesota

00:56:01timberwolves, or we thought we might see with the Washington commanders where you get like a couple

00:56:05of celebrities get together. They pool their money with one or two investors. Like I had the thought

00:56:10earlier today of like, all right, you know, just Tom Brady, go get Michael Rubin and his resources

00:56:16and try to put a group together. Um, but Henry fits the bill, man, Henry fits the bill. That

00:56:22one's scary. And then I know there's other Saudis. So that's the other, that's what I was going to

00:56:26say. They are playing over there next year. They're playing a couple of preseason games.

00:56:31That thing is always lingering. Now there are currently rules against the Saudis owning an NBA

00:56:38team, but the general consensus has always sort of been, you know, that, that there's a timer on

00:56:44that. And eventually the money was just going to become right. So extreme that, you know,

00:56:49do the Saudis get involved? So then you find out today, Pat Luke is going to try to buy his way

00:56:55back in. It's fat. I I'm fascinated with this. I think it's incredibly interesting. Anybody,

00:57:00but John Henry. And I know we talked about some other people that are questionable,

00:57:04but the reality is, is somebody to me to say, whoever buys the Celtics probably is going to

00:57:10have some skeletons in their closet. Like that's just, you don't get that much money without doing

00:57:14that. Um, so if, if, if it's going to be somebody like that, can they at least care about the team?

00:57:21There was a tweet today, not care enough about the money that's involved.

00:57:24It was Jason Tatum in a Lakers uniform. And it said the second John Henry buys the Celtics,

00:57:29that this is going to happen. So I will say the one, I got this question once today,

00:57:34cause he does have the pockets for it. At least from the outside looking in, we think he does

00:57:39as reported as crap. Um, I think he's Patriots fan through and through. I think he's, he's kind

00:57:45of busy with them. And, um, since it is, you know, Patriots beat Patriots say they'll bring that up.

00:57:49I'd be very surprised if we hear about crap, Henry may just because of the way he operates,

00:57:55Henry makes a lot more sense. Crap is similar to wick and that like, he's a fan that on the team.

00:58:00Well, and to Henry's already gotten himself into the hockey game. He said he wanted to buy an NBA

00:58:05team at some point there was rumors of like a Vegas team or something he would get involved in.

00:58:10There are rules. I forget if it's the NBA or the NHL, but one of the leagues has a rule about

00:58:16if you are going to own multiple teams, they can't be in competing markets. So the Celtics

00:58:22are unique opportunity for John Henry, where he owns the baseball team. So that's not a conflict

00:58:28of interest in, there is no basketball team in Pittsburgh. So that's not a conflict of interest.

00:58:33So Vegas, what about LeBron? So that there's another element to that, right? Cause LeBron

00:58:40can't own the Celtics as long as LeBron is playing Fenway sports group. Can't buy

00:58:46the Celtics, but there are ways, there are ways around that one LeBron temporarily cashes out.

00:58:52We saw Jay-Z do this when he was known or the nets, when he wanted to start his agency, right?

00:58:57Rock nation. The other thing is it's laid out in that statement that the sale is going to happen

00:59:05in phases. And what if John Henry, not Fenway sports group, John Henry buys,

00:59:12makes the initial purchase for the first year, then LeBron James retires.

00:59:19And now wouldn't you look at that Fenway sports group creates a transaction. Like there's a

00:59:22million ways around that, but yeah, John Henry and LeBron James owning the Celtics.

00:59:28Don't like that. Do we have to trade for Brawny then if LeBron owns the Celtics?

00:59:33I'm down, right? All right. We'll give the floor to Brian Hines for the Bruins stuff

00:59:39because he's our Bruins representative. They made some moves today too.

00:59:43Oh man. Kind of disappointing, honestly. I think the Bruins just exists now to disappoint me.

00:59:52What did you want? Or is it too much money for them?

00:59:57Top six. So they got Elias Lindholm and Nikita Zadorov long deals. The term,

01:00:02which that's free agency nowadays. Same as any sport. You have to overpay these guys.

01:00:08They're good players at positions of need. They're going to make them harder, tougher to play

01:00:12against. But the Zadorov contract, they needed top six winners. They needed scoring. And to put

01:00:20$5 million on the back end where I thought there were cheaper left shot defensemen out there,

01:00:27guys who got bought out the past few days, other veteran free agents. I thought you could have got

01:00:31a guy who fit just as well as Zadorov, who again, I like. I think if you pair him with McAvoy,

01:00:36that could really elevate his game. But I think get Lindholm, that's fine, but they needed another

01:00:43top six forward. And it's just blank right now. They're going to try to go in the season with

01:00:47Fabian Lysel or Merkulov. And if the kids hit great, that raises your ceiling. But if not,

01:00:53we're going to be back where we always were and scoring two goals a game. And we'll talk to you

01:00:57at the trade deadline. And we have to trade a first round pick for probably an overrated right

01:01:03winner there. The allocation of resources there, and maybe it works. Maybe one of the kids is great

01:01:11or Sweeney was talking today that they think adding on the back end is going to open

01:01:17things up. Let Charlie McAvoy play more offensively. Laurie and Lindholm, we can take

01:01:22more of an offensive centered focus. Hampus Lindholm, that is. And I mean, Elias Lindholm,

01:01:27you hope he gets back to kind of his two years ago playing with pasta. Maybe he gets back to 60,

01:01:3370, 80 points and that helps your offense. But I think they would have been better off using that

01:01:38five million on another top six forward and kind of because the defense was fine and Laura, I think,

01:01:45could play a top four role. I think they would have just been better moving,

01:01:49shelling out those resources in a different way. See, I like Zadar off. I like that site. Now,

01:01:53my big problem is I think the term is too long. I think the term is too long, sir.

01:01:58You know this, right? And Lindholm seven, seven, and they're both 30. This is where I go back to

01:02:03the trade they made last week. And do they really have to eat up $3 million of corpus hollow?

01:02:09Cause that's the 3 million Brian for the winger you're talking about. Also, if they get, if they

01:02:14have to eat the money, if they end up with chicken instead of corpus hollow, who by the way,

01:02:19they got Ottawa, I got fleeced in the Yakup chicken trade today. Like where was that a week

01:02:24ago? They could have made the two moves they made today. Still had chicken talk about a great

01:02:30defense. And then maybe you add the wing or not, but they got, they've gotten bullied out of the

01:02:36playoffs the last two years. They've got just, just bully, just the physicality of the postseason.

01:02:41And it's more than last two years. They have not been able to rise to the physicality of the

01:02:45postseason. That has been a problem for a long time. And they Zadar off bully, dude,

01:02:51even the kid they drafted, you know, Linholm can, can hit a little bit.

01:02:55They added to me when they drafted the kid and goes, they dropped the Jill Milton. Cause he's

01:02:59six, seven. He's got all the tools. He's got big in a project, but yeah, no, but the point being

01:03:06like they, I didn't want to see them just add a bunch of dinky skill guys that were going to get

01:03:11punched in the mouth all playoffs. I'm glad I that's what they do. And it's annoying. I'm glad

01:03:16they added some size. Do they need a wing? Yes. I know you kind of rolled your eyes at the deadline,

01:03:20but that's not look, if they didn't do that, we'd be sitting here saying, well, now they need to add

01:03:26an enforcer at the deadline. Now they need to go get, try to do Patrick Maroon again. How did that

01:03:30go? So maybe it's not a first, maybe out a little bit of a lesser pick. I like giving the kids a

01:03:35chance, you know, it's better than burying them forever, which this team did for a long time.

01:03:39Um, you know, I don't hate what they did today, given, you know, what their resources were again,

01:03:45the terms little long, it all comes back. You could argue today was the over-correction of

01:03:49mistakes, mistakes in the draft, mistakes in trades. And it certainly was, but I think for

01:03:53the spot they put themselves in, um, they did rel they, they did fine. They did relatively. Okay.

01:04:00I liked that. They added bullies. I liked that they added physicality and it's just,

01:04:05you know, they got to figure out that wing and we'll see what they do. I'm fine. They didn't

01:04:08overpay to brusk. Right. And maybe they go right up against the cap. Maybe one of these kids hit,

01:04:12maybe they make a trade. Taylor, any thoughts on any of this? I just agree so wholeheartedly

01:04:16with everything everyone has said. I just, I can't, I can't pick any thoughts. I mean,

01:04:22you got into the Celtics there during the playoffs, Derek white extension, he's here for four years.

01:04:26Tatum's here for five, that starting lineups back together. It costs $939 million. It's basically

01:04:33the GDP of a small country, but not already made that joke. I don't know who's going to pay it,

01:04:38but that's not my problem. Exactly. So I'm happy. I'm good with it. All right. Anything

01:04:43else before we wrap up? I think that's it, right? I don't know. My only thoughts was Matt

01:04:50Potter skated today and he put on nine pounds of muscles. So he's our savior. He's the Bruins

01:04:55savior. I'll say it's about the red socks. Why do we buy in on them? We knew this is what they do.

01:05:01They're perpetually 500 socks. This is what John Henry can not buy the Celtics. I cannot take two

01:05:07of my teams being like this. I can't do it. I don't think it's going to happen. I think it's

01:05:13going to be, I don't know what it's going to be, but I don't think John Henry ends up doing it.

01:05:16I think there's already a plan in place, whatever it may be. So I think that's it. What else we got?

01:05:21Nothing on Henry. No more Boston sports. No repeat all of those takes. It's just going to turn into

01:05:28me yelling about John Henry somewhere. Did anybody watch the rocket mortgage classic this weekend?

01:05:33No, I just saw the miss pod on 18. I bet Akshay Bhatia before the week before Sunday. And he

01:05:38freaking his first three part of the entire weekend was on 18 and he lost was terrible.

01:05:43It was up by one new Homer derby rules. And by new, I mean, they're starting to go back to the

01:05:47old rules, which were better, which is good. Bring back outs. That's all we want outs.

01:05:52Bring back outs. Well, they went back to get rid of the stupid freaking bracket,

01:05:56which was annoying. Yeah. Yes. Now we got to get them to go back to outs. They're still on the

01:06:00timer. There's nothing like 45 minutes of Bobby and Bray. You just pop and falls in the right

01:06:06field at Yankee state. I'm sorry. It's a Monday night in July. No, I don't have anywhere better

01:06:10to be. I'm sitting on the couch. I'm having a beer. I'm watching guys hit dingers. I'm perfectly

01:06:15happy. If it runs over 20 minutes, 30 minutes, so be it. You're not losing my business. I'm with you.

01:06:22True. Hell yeah, brother. All right. We're going to wrap this up. Everybody. We're going to go

01:06:29left to right. Please let the people know what great stuff y'all got coming down the pipeline.

01:06:35And I might look different for everybody. So Mike, we're starting with you. Patriots depth

01:06:39projection is in full force on the CLS media.com website, going through every position group,

01:06:44leading up to training camp safeties were today. Running backs are Wednesday. Me and Taylor are

01:06:48going to, uh, figure out a way to get that up on the, uh, on the YouTube set as well. We'll,

01:06:52we'll go through those position groups. So find it all on Twitter at my Cadillac in the work at

01:06:56CLS media.com. 98, five, the sports hub.com. I honestly, it's mostly Celtic stuff up today for

01:07:02me, but, um, I am starting to work on some of my training camp stuff. That'll mostly be up next

01:07:07couple of weeks. We'll start getting there. I'm working on a one storyline to watch for each

01:07:11position, not including position battles, because then I'm doing the biggest position battles and

01:07:15also surprise players that can make a roster push. So that'll be on the way. Also new catch

01:07:2022 coming tomorrow with Evan at 10. Yep. Uh, Pat's pulpit.com. Obviously it's slow, but we'll

01:07:26start to have some of the training camp preview stuff, uh, coming up at I am Brian Heinz on

01:07:31Twitter. And I believe Barth will probably be on Wednesday for if I can pass beat before, uh,

01:07:37the holiday weekend. So make sure everyone tunes into that. And, uh, at Pat's daily,

01:07:44we have a video come out tomorrow. I interviewed Brandon Thorne, offensive line guru, my go-to for

01:07:49anything offensive line related. Uh, we broke down his rankings for the Patriots offensive line. They

01:07:54weren't great, but we broke down why that is also really talked about every player that's projected

01:07:59to make this roster. Um, reasons to be excited reasons to be, you know, a little skeptical,

01:08:04really great conversation. Brandon Thorne is always a great interview. Uh, thank y'all as

01:08:09always. This was a fun mailbag, uh, crossover Hillways is, and thank you all as always for

01:08:14watching. Now take care of yourselves, take care of each other. We'll see you next time. Peace y'all.

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