Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Alert: Patriots’ Biggest Training Camp Concerns | Latest on Harold Landry

Starting point is 00:00:00 We are on the precipice of training camp, and we have our three biggest concerns heading into Saturday. This is Locked on Patriots. You are Locked on Patriots, your daily New England Patriots podcast, part of the Locked on podcast network, your team every day. What's happening? I am your host, Nick Cattels. On today's show, the questions surrounding the edge position are going nowhere. In the second segment, the Patriots made two significant tweaks to their starting offensive line, but I do have one specific concern.

Starting point is 00:00:41 But first, we all hate aging. Today's episode is brought to by Fandul. Join all the action at Fandul.com to play daily dingers and make your free pick on who's hitting a homer this MLB season. The lack of drafting success prior to 2025 by this franchise has forced it to lean in on free agency. And of course, when you're signing free agents and you're trying to replenish the talent pool via the draft, it's going to take time for that turnover. Now, I think the Patriots had a very good draft in 2025. I think the Patriots had a good draft in 2026, as long as the Gabe Accus situation

Starting point is 00:01:20 figures itself out. But when you lean in on free agency multiple years, that means you are leaning in on age because free agency means older. there are not a lot of free agents worth their salt walking into free agency at 25, 26 years old. A lot of NFL guys now, they go through their second contracts. You're looking at a lot of third contracts when you talk about unrestricted free agency. And so you're talking 27, 28 at best, more likely 2930, 31. So when you look at this Patriots roster, my top concern heading into camp is the age of some of the most critical

Starting point is 00:02:01 Patriots this upcoming season. Let's start with Harold Landry. Now, we'll talk more about Landry. We'll talk more about the edge position later in this episode. But Harold Landry is 30 years old. He's coming off knee surgery. He was just placed on the physically unable to perform list by the Patriots. Let's not forget that Harold Landry also tore his ACL costing him the 2022 season. Dremont Jones, meanwhile, is 29 years old. Again, we'll dive back. deeper into the edge question later on, but that's just touching the surface. Then we look at somebody like Carlton Davis. Carlton Davis is no spring chicken.

Starting point is 00:02:42 Carlton Davis is 29 years old. And if you look at Carlton Davis's NFL career, it has been littered with injury after injury after injury. Now, I understand. Last year, Carlton Davis, he was out there. he was out there on a weekly basis. Maybe some of that was good fortune. Some of that was certainly how the Patriots managed Carlton Davis throughout the year.

Starting point is 00:03:09 But most seasons, this is somebody who made it a habit of missing three or four games every year. And as we know, most teams in the NFL, we've discussed this, most teams in the NFL are not super confident when they get to their fourth or fifth cornerback. So Carlton Davis being 29 years old is something to keep in mind. Robert Spillane is 30 years old. He's coming off an ankle slash foot injury from last year. He did not look like the same guy at mandatory minicamp. Now, it's mandatory minicamp. He's probably working his way through that injury in the rehab process.

Starting point is 00:03:48 You would certainly hope that Robert Spillane eventually looks better as training camp goes on. but it's not like you can take plays off at linebacker. You are in the middle of the storm almost every single snap. 30 years old. You know, I talked about it earlier this week. Robert Spillane, I do think there are going to be some questions about him as we break camp. I think inevitably, if he stays healthy, he's going to be fine. But if he's not healthy, you got some problems.

Starting point is 00:04:19 Who's going to replace Robert Spillane? Is it KJ. Britt? Is it Namdi Obisor? Is it Khalil Jacob? Who's going to be the guy? Who is going to be that guy? Is it going to be Chad Muma? So Robert Spillane, 30 years old with the taxing style of football that he has played,

Starting point is 00:04:39 something else to remember. How about Kevin Byrd? Now, I love Kevin Byrd. I mean, the quintessential leader on and off the field, a Mike Vrable guy through and through, love the same. signing one-year deal makes a lot of sense. But why was it a one-year deal and why does a one-year deal make a lot of sense? Because Kevin Byard, he's 33 years old. In 33, in football age, I mean, it feels like, you know, you're 70 in real age for a lot of guys, right? That's how this

Starting point is 00:05:16 works. The turning 33 in August and having this be his age 33 season, even though he has unequivocally been incredibly durable throughout his career, at some point the wear and tear, at some point, how much football you've played, how many battles that you've been in starts to really matter. And so I do think it's reasonable and I think it's absolutely fair to question whether or not Kevin Byard's level of play is going to drop in 2026. because he is going to be 33 out there at safety. I do think it's worth it.

Starting point is 00:06:00 You hope Del Pettis or Mike Brown, in case Kevin Byrd's play does decline, can step up and give you some good football. But again, this is just a concern heading into camp, the age of these guys, and the fact that they're at pivotal positions, edge, cornerback, linebacker, safety. It's not like you're flush with depth

Starting point is 00:06:21 at those positions. You feel decent about cornerback, but Carlton Davis, if you look at Carlton Davis and Marcus Jones, and you compare them to a Charles Woods, then that drop is pretty significant because your top three guys are so good. And I don't even want to mention Christian Gonzalez

Starting point is 00:06:42 because obviously the drop from him to cornerback four or five is astronomical. Offensive line. Morgan Moses. 35 years old. And I do think we focus so much on Will Campbell and what happened at the end of last year, Jared Wilson and his move and signing Elijah Verit Tucker and Michael Wenu's contract situation and him walking into his final year, drafting Caleb Lomu. We have overlooked Morgan Moses and we've overlooked what he did in 2025. It wasn't as if he was great, but he was steady.

Starting point is 00:07:19 in the vast majority of weeks, he was pretty darn good for you. Do you trust James Hudson to be that guy as the veteran? He's been very up and down throughout his young career. Is Caleb Lomu going to be ready? Do you want to rush Caleb Lomu? I don't. So Morgan Moses, 35.

Starting point is 00:07:41 Then we get to maybe the most concerning, and that's Hunter Henry, who's 31. With Julian Hill going down, Hunter Henry's got to stay healthy. If Hunter Henry can't stay healthy this year, you're forcing Eli Raarden to be your number one tight end. And that's not what I want to see. I love Eli Raarden, but I do not want to see the Patriots relying on Eli Raarden to be that number one guy.

Starting point is 00:08:10 And then who knows who your two and three tight ends are. Who freaking knows? Hunter Henry is so critical to this season. He's 31. Shoot, A.J. Brown. A.J. Brown, who I love, I love the acquisition. I think he is going to be a true impact player, as we have discussed in prior podcasts. But one of the questions that we had about A.J. Brown when he was traded for was the age.

Starting point is 00:08:41 And how much of a decline we should anticipate from A.J. Brown. He's 29 years old with a chronic knee issue. And he is massively important to this offense and massively important to your franchise quarterback. So what's going to happen with A.J. Brown this year. I'm hopeful he'll stay healthy. I'm hopeful they will manage him. But again, it's only fair and reasonable to mention he's 29 years old. And here's a sneaky one.

Starting point is 00:09:13 Ramandre Stevenson. Do you know how old Ramandre Stevenson is? Remandre Stevenson is 28. At the running back position, 28 years old is getting up there. You don't have a lot of Derek Henry's in this world. So Ramandre Stevenson, who has had multiple injuries in his playing career,

Starting point is 00:09:34 including last year, 28. Then you're going to rely on Trayvion Henderson and you hope that he developed and improved throughout this offseason and camp season. Who's your running back three? Because now running back three becomes even more important if Ramandre Stevenson goes down. So that's my number one concern. The Patriots are in the middle of turning this roster over. They're certainly getting younger. But that doesn't mean that they're not old

Starting point is 00:10:05 or getting older in some critical positions. Landry and Davis and Spillane and Bayard and Moses and Henry and Brown and Stevenson, you need those guys to stay healthy this year. You need them to fight through it. It's a concern. The challenge of keeping up up front, the big guys, can they stay together in 2026? Not my best tease.

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Starting point is 00:11:52 Priority number one in any season is protecting your franchise quarterback. Making sure that Drake May can get through a game, can get through a month, can get through a season, can get through a postseason as healthy as possible.

Starting point is 00:12:10 And Drake May gets dinged up. Man, oh man, you're in trouble. And the Patriots, they know that. And there's no denying, there's no debating, there's no arguing that they upgraded their offensive line during the offseason. But I do have a concern. My number two concern heading into Saturday's start of training camp is the health of this offensive line. We just talked about free agency and having to dive into free agency. And a lot of times you are signing somebody with a wart or multiple warts. Elijah Verit Tucker is a very good football

Starting point is 00:12:45 player. Elijah Vera Tucker is the best pure talent on this Patriots offensive line. Elijah Vera Tucker was available in free agency because he has not been capable of staying healthy. Talked about it when he signed. He has tore his triceps, not once, but dose. He tore his Achilles in 23. And when you look at his five-year NFL career, the starts look like this. 16 in his rookie season, then seven, then five, then 15, then 15, then zero. So career starts season to season 16, 7, 5, 15, 0. And it certainly feels like the Patriots right now as currently constituted. It is Ben Brown or bust as far as backups go on the interior offensive line.

Starting point is 00:13:50 You hope that somebody shows up. Maybe Caleb Lomu can play some guard, fingers crossed. But Elijah Verit Tucker, you're putting a lot. You're putting a lot of eggs in the Elijah Verit Tucker basket, especially if Jared Wilson comes up, you know, a little bit gimpy, or Michael Wenu comes up a little bit gimpy. Elijah Verit Tucker, his health is paramount to make sure this offensive line can be the best that it can be.

Starting point is 00:14:20 Now let's talk about some of the young guys because it's not only the older players or the experienced players that have an injury history. The young guys on this offensive line have an injury history. Will Campbell just tore his MCL last year. year number one. He missed four games. Can Will Campbell stay healthy? We saw the difference between a healthy Will Campbell and a not healthy Will Campbell. It was night and day. Not to say he was terrific or flawless when he was healthy, but he was much, much better. With the MCL, uh-oh, saw a lot of trouble,

Starting point is 00:14:58 didn't we? So even though Will Campbell's 22 years old, we've got to talk about health with him. Because he tore that that MCL. He's coming back from that torn MCL. We'll see how he responds and how the rehab process went. He's got to put the pads on. We'll see during the joint practices. But Will Campbell, has got to stay healthy. It's got to stay healthy. Jared Wilson. Will Campbell wasn't the only rookie last year on that O line to miss four games. Jared Wilson missed four games. Now, the high ankle sprain, it happens, right? I'm not going to lose my mind. I'm not going to panic about a high ankle sprain. The concussion, however, that is more troublesome. That is something to keep an eye on. Just think about the center position. Think about the amount of contact

Starting point is 00:15:52 that that position has to take on every single offensive play. You don't want to center with some concussion questions. You don't want that to be happening. So Jared Wilson, Listen, it's got to stay out there. It's got to stay healthy. More thoughts in a minute. But before I get to those more thoughts, don't forget, if you're watching us on YouTube, click that thumbs up, give us a like, throw a comment in as well. I want your top three concerns heading into this camp.

Starting point is 00:16:24 So don't forget to like, comment, and don't forget to subscribe. We have surpassed 10,000 subscribers on YouTube. The next goal is 11,000 trying to get there by week one. It is a tall task. I think we can do it. Let's continue to build the community right here on YouTube. Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe. All right.

Starting point is 00:16:42 So here's some good news about the offensive line and health. Michael Wenu, one of the things that has not been discussed enough to me is Michael Wenu's durability. A lot of times when people talk about Michael Wenu, they fall into the idea of, and the idea exists because it's the truth, but they fall into the idea of, you know, he never shows up healthy, never shows up in shape. Well, the latter is true. The former isn't. Michael Wenu, again, the durability. He has made 17 starts in three of the last four years. He's been out there every single week. So people could talk about his weight and how he shows up in camp. My buddy

Starting point is 00:17:30 Greg Bedard makes it a note pretty much every single year. But the fact is, This guy goes out there and he plays. And last year, two best months of his Patriots career were the final two months of the 2025 season. So you've got questions on this offensive line and their health. But Michael Wenow, he posts. He posts. 17 starts, three of the last four years. We just talked about Morgan Moses last segment, 35 years old.

Starting point is 00:18:05 and he has had so many injuries throughout his career. I mean, there are so many injuries that Morgan Moses has had that we don't know about, let alone the ones that we do know about. Now credit to him, Morgan Moses, he's been able to fight through a lot of these injuries, and he has played a lot of football games this past decade. So shout out to him. He grins and he bears it. But now at 35, is he going to be able to do that as consistently?

Starting point is 00:18:35 I mean, you have to expect some type of battle of attrition up front. If any NFL team, you're getting ready for the season. You have to understand it's very physical upfront, and you're likely going to have to deal with injuries from time to time. And you just accept that as a reality. But given the history of these guys up front for the Patriots on that O line, and the fact that I can guarantee you they want to run the football in 2026, And when you run the football, you're getting even more physical.

Starting point is 00:19:10 That is a grind. So the more you run, the more you ask of those five in front of Drake May. So offensive line houses, it's a concern for every team, especially in 2026 because there's just not a lot of depth on the offensive line throughout the NFL. But four guys, four of your five guys, have a history. including Will Campbell and Jared Wilson after playing only one season. Four of your five guys have an injury history that you can go from slightly concerned to very concern about.

Starting point is 00:19:51 So staying healthy up front is my second biggest camp concern. All right, if you've been freaked out about the edge position this off season, well, your anxiety might not get better after the next segment. This is Lockdown Patriots, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Support for today's episode comes from Ultra Pouches. If you've ever found yourself reaching for a nicotine pouch, another cup of coffee, or an energy drink just to stay focused throughout the day, well, you're not alone. Ultra Pouches offer a different approach, though. They're completely nicotine-free and caffeine-free.

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Starting point is 00:21:59 during this hot streak, man, oh man. So are you ready to play your game today? Join all the action at Fandul.com. That's Fandul.com to play daily dangers and make your free pick on who's hitting a homer. Play ball and swing for the fences on Fandul, an official partner of the MLB. Thanks for checking out the lockdown podcast network. Now the number one sports podcast network. Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe. If you're checking us out on YouTube, we appreciate you. So news came out. News came out on Tuesday, late Tuesday, that Harold Landry and C.J. Dupree were placed on the physically unable to perform list by the Patriots. Now, what this means is those guys can come off this PUP list at any time during training camp.

Starting point is 00:22:49 So it's not as if it has to happen right now or they're done for the season. And it's not as if they're put on the PUP list. And that means they're going to be on that list throughout training camp, throughout early season activity. That's not the case. They can come off this list at. any time. But with Harold Landry being placed on the PUP, Edge is my third biggest concern. You might say, Nick, that should be your first concern or your second concern. Well, the reason why it is my third biggest concern is because if you have to, you can manufacture pass rush.

Starting point is 00:23:27 We saw that last year with this Patriots team and what they did in the postseason, what they did throughout the playoffs by sending extra pass rushers. Now, you don't want to do that. you would love to be able to get a four-man pass rush. That would be ideal. But if you do have to do games up front, you know, send zero blitzes, creepers and all that kind of stuff, right? Simulated pressure. There's all sorts of things you can do to try to manufacture that pass rush. So that's why I would put this at number three on my list.

Starting point is 00:24:01 Now, Harold Landry, we know he wasn't the same guy after the knee injury. in 2025. He just wasn't the same dude. But what was the injury? Like specifically, what was the injury? Arnav Sharma wrote about Harold Landry's injury at Yahoo Sports last week. And here's what he wrote. Nothing is really known about the injury, the surgery,

Starting point is 00:24:27 or any prognostic indication on Harold Landry's status. It seems most likely that Landry suffered a moderate grade two, LCL PLC sprain, partial tear, with an included lateral menisical tear. Look at me, Dr. Guy. We feel this is most likely since Landry was able to play for much of the season on this injury, though it clearly bothered him. While research has shown that in isolated, i.e. no other ligaments, severe grade 3 LCLTiers, players are able to return during the season without surgery.

Starting point is 00:25:01 However, LCL tears rarely occur on their own with a moderate. sprain of multiple components being more probable. Landry may, may have undergone an arthroscopic lateral meniscus repair, which has a four to six month rehab window. This would be consistent with the timeline and injury presentation we know thus far. So we don't know exactly what happened with Harold Landry. We don't know if it was the ACL, MCL, LCL, PCL. We have no idea. We have no idea. We have no idea. But if you use kind of deductive reasoning and you look at the film and you look at what happened there, you could as Arnav Sharma pretty much suggests this was a moderate grade to LCL, PLC, sprain, whatever, right? Which means that it would take four to six months for

Starting point is 00:25:59 Harold Landry to be fully back. Now, if we backdate this, And understand that Landry's surgery likely happened very soon after the Super Bowl. That is February. We are now heading into late July. So we're talking about five to five and a half months of time between the surgery and training camp starting on Saturday. Now, if this was the injury and if that was the surgery, then that should mean Harold Landry is close to returning. If it's a four to six month window, at the very latest, we would expect Harold Landry to be back in the next couple of weeks. So that's what we know or what we think we know. But we don't know what he's going to

Starting point is 00:26:52 look like when he returns. Whenever Harold Landry decides to return to football activities and he's out there, we don't know if we're going to see that Harold Landry from the first month or so of 2025 or Harold Landry, who looked like really a shell of himself, the remainder of the season. And here's another question I have. Will we have a good gauge of his play in camp? Because how much is he going to be out there? How much is he going to be managed? The reality is we might not know which version of Harold Landry we are going to be out there.

Starting point is 00:27:30 to get in 2026 until week one of 2026 in Seattle. That might be hovering over this camp for its entirety. We also have no word on the Gabe Accus situation as I record this on Wednesday afternoon. Maybe he's back. If he comes back, I'm sure I'll do a breaking news podcast on that if he shows up. But there's no word on Gabe Accus's situation. rookies reported on Tuesday. There was no reporting of Gabe Accus showing up to the facility on Tuesday.

Starting point is 00:28:09 Albert Breer went on NBC Sports Boston talking about a possible red shirt season for Gabe Accus. So we don't know what's going to happen with Gabe Accus, which means if you combine the Harold Landry situation with the Gabe Accus situation, two of your top four defensive ends have done nothing so far. And we don't know if two of your top four defensive ends are going to do anything this camp. We don't know if when each guy will be back, if both will be out there. We have no clue. In the four-man pass rush in 2025 was an issue.

Starting point is 00:28:51 Mike Giardy, you know, I mentioned this on a podcast earlier this week. I mentioned it a little bit earlier in this segment about it's not ideal if you don't have a four-man rush. Well, I've got some numbers. Mike Giardy, Boston Sports Journal wrote the Patriots finished the year 13th in blitz rate. But if you were to pick it up over the final month of the regular season, the percentages soar. So their blitz rate for the year was 28%. But the final month of the regular season and into the postseason, it went from 28% to 40%. The Patriots finished last season with just 35 sacks, which was 22nd in the league,

Starting point is 00:29:30 and had a 35% pass rush win rate, which was 19th best. They were mediocre to bad getting at the quarterback with a four-man rush last season. Now you got Landry, you got Akis. Draymont Jones is 29 years old. And I think Draymont Jones, I've said this before, is a better overall player than Kalevon Chase-on, but he does not have the juice pass-rush-wise of Kalevon. on chase on. Now let me end on an optimistic note. Both Gabacus and Harold Landry could be out there next week.

Starting point is 00:30:05 And we might see them get through Camp Fine. And we might feel better about this as we are looking at week one against the Seahawks. But as of right now, late July, it is a big concern. That wraps up this edition of lockdown. Patriots, reach out to me on Twitter at Nick C. Radio. Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe on YouTube. And thank you for making Lockdown Patriots your first listen. For your second listen, check out Lockdown NFL scouting. Kyle Crabs and Joe Marino will make you the most informed NFL fan this offseason. Find Lockdown NFL scouting on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcast. Have a great day. Talk to you next time.

Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Alert: Patriots’ Biggest Training Camp Concerns | Latest on Harold Landry

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