Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Atrocious: Patriots Defense Dominated by Browns | Depth Concerns Linger
Episode Date: August 28, 2026New England Patriots’ preseason woes raise alarms as depth falters in blowout loss to Cleveland Browns. Christian Gonzalez’s absence would be disastrous, while Gabe Jacas—despite his second-roun...d buzz—struggles to make an impact. Can Mike Vrabel’s squad overcome pressing concerns at edge rusher, corner, and run defense before Week 1 against the Seahawks? Nick Cattles spotlights standouts like Kyle Williams and Hassan Haskins, questions Kindle Vildor’s roster spot, and unpacks the aftermath of the Kayshon Boutte trade. With TreVeyon Henderson’s role in flux and critical cutdown decisions looming, New England faces a pivotal week. Will new additions shore up glaring weaknesses, and who emerges as the answer in the backfield and secondary? Don’t miss this vital Patriots roster breakdown ahead of opening night. Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms 🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/podcasts/locked-on-patriots/ Locked On NFL League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft, & More 🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/leagues/nfl/ #patriots #newenglandpatriots Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! Gusto Try Gusto today at gusto.com/LOCKEDONNFL, and get three months free when you run your first payroll. FanDuel Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Join all the action at https://FANDUEL.COM to play Daily Dingers and make your free pick on who’s hitting a homer this MLB season. KALSHI For a limited time,Download the Kalshi app and use code [LOCKEDON] to get $10 when you trade $10. Square Get up to $200 off Square hardware when you sign up at https://square.com/go/lockedonnfl! #squarepod Gametime Today's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase. Indeed Listeners of this show get a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to help give your job the premium placement it deserves at http://Indeed.com/podcast. Odoo Great organizations win because operations matter. And that’s why you should get Odoo. Try for free today at https://Odoo.com/lockedon. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
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The Pats preseason ends ugly, leaving us with many more questions than answers about the depth of this roster.
This is Lockdown 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, with the preseason officially over, all focus turns to Sunday evening and cutdown day.
segment, we find the positives out of a brutal game on Thursday night. But first, the Pat's
defense was humiliated in Cleveland. Look, the starters were sitting. We all understand that. But it was
still an important night for the depth of this football team. Edge number three, edge number four,
cornerback number four, cornerback number five, the linebacker depth, the defensive tackle depth.
And the results from Thursday night, when you look at the depth of this football team,
especially on the defensive side.
The results were a disaster.
You can't put lipstick on this pig.
Dylan Gabriel looked like Steve Young on Thursday night.
Mike Vrable was asked at halftime,
you know, what do you want to see from your defense in the second half?
And Vrable's answer spoke volumes, quote,
a lot more inspiring effort than what we just saw.
The head coach told you, I don't care who's out there playing.
I know it's not the starters.
But what we just witnessed in this first half, inexcusable.
Greg Bedard posted the Browns offense with Dylan Gabriel against the Patriots defense,
their first five drives of the night.
Touchdown, touchdown, field goal, field goal, touchdown.
Atrocious.
No matter who's playing and who they're playing against, this was atrocious.
Mike Vrable has built the foundation of this football team based on effort and finish.
And you can argue that both things were lacking severely on Thursday night.
It was just an ugly, ugly watch, man.
And this is not the response that Vrable was looking for when he went out there publicly in front of the media and questioned the depth of this team.
He challenged these guys that played on Thursday night.
And they did not respond.
Instead of responding, instead of fighting back, they went out there and turtled.
That's what they did in the first half.
It was embarrassing.
It was humiliating.
It didn't get much better in the second half.
That was not the response that the head coach and this coaching staff wanted from the guys that were out there suited up to play.
So let's just break it all down.
The cornerbacks were horrific.
I feel like almost every single cornerback on that field on Thursday night was cooked.
Kindleville, I've been singing his praises, said that he has stepped up over the past couple of weeks.
He was a lock on my final 53-man roster heading into this pre-season.
in game. Vildor had a tough night. He was beat, gave up a defensive pass interference on a
double move on the first drive on a third and long, third and long. You got him exactly where you
want them and then Vildor with the DPI. Charles Woods was cooked for 29 yards. He also mixed in
a miss tackle. So he wasn't good. Karan Pronti gave up a touchdown. But fortunately for him,
the touchdown was reversed because it was a low throw from Gabriel. But he got beat.
for a TD. He got beat straight up. Marcellus Dial got beat for a TD on a slant route. And what you saw
against these corners on Thursday night, a bunch of in-breaking routes that they couldn't handle.
The receivers were consistently beating them. Kindle Vildor after the DPI, he got beat another
couple of times. And on one occasion, he got completely spun around on an in-breaking round.
Just not nearly good enough. And what do you think, Chris,
Christian Gonzalez was saying to himself last night, standing on that sideline and watching
these corners play. Can you just imagine for a minute that Christian Gonzalez decides to hold out?
Could you imagine, and I don't think it's going to happen, but could you imagine if Gonzalez
decided to not play week one in Seattle? Nationally televised game on that Wednesday night,
the rematch of the Super Bowl, your second best player, your best defense, your best.
defensive player, not playing because of a contract dispute. Meanwhile, your corner is going against
Seattle and Jackson Smith and Jigba. You got 29-year-old Carlton Davis who's still trying to
round into shape after he pulled his hammy early in camp. You got 5-8 Marcus Jones, who is talented
but limited because of his size. And you've got those guys that we just watched, getting beat
by twos and threes. If Gonzalez wanted to prove a point and decided to sit out, we
one, man, oh man. I mean, what would we witness on that Wednesday night? It could end up being
a bloodbath. It was that putrid against the Browns. Gabe Accus, let's talk about the second
round pick. You moved up to draft Gabe Accus. Obviously, he got a very late start in camp
because of his own contract dispute. And Accus on Thursday night was another no-show. And again,
I'm trying to give him grace, and I'm not telling you he's going to fail.
I'm not telling you he's not going to be a good football player.
I'm not telling you the Patriots swung and missed on the pick.
I'm not telling you he was a bust.
None of that over-dramatic garbage.
I'm just telling you the blow-by-blow, right?
What we see from Accus on a daily basis.
He wasn't good against Philly in the preseason game.
He wasn't very good during the joint practices that led into that preseason game.
He had a good practice apparently on Monday.
but then walks into Thursday night and was practically invisible.
No pass rush to speak of.
The thing that you remember about Accus from Thursday night is the fact that he had bad eyes against a read optioning
and just completely went too far deep inside allowing Dylan Gabriel the edge to pick up six yards on a third and two.
And unfortunately, that's what we remember about Accus.
We're remembering the mistakes more than the plays.
I mean, this was a game that given who you're going against,
it would have been ideal to see Accus make three or four plays.
He did pretty much nothing.
And so going into the season with Accus, again,
this is not a long-term prognosis about what Accus is going to be,
but going into week one with Accus as your third defensive end,
assuming that Harold Landry begins the season on Pup,
I mean, that is a brutal proposition.
Acus is not ready, man.
He's just not ready.
He might be ready in a month.
He might be ready in two months.
He might not be ready at all this season.
But I'm telling you right now, he's not ready for significant snaps in an NFL game.
He is certainly not ready to go on the road against the Super Bowl champions and get significant snaps.
Go back to what we talked about earlier in the week with Harold Landry in the latest with him.
And I said it would be roster malpractice if the patch.
don't add a veteran end before you get to Seattle.
And that was clear watching this football team on Thursday night.
If you're going into the season with Draymont Jones, Elijah Ponder,
and Gayback is as your top three ends, you've got issues.
I just can't see it.
The other frustrating part was just the same issues that we've seen from this defense,
all preseason, all camp, haunting them against the Browns.
Soft run defense.
How many times have we talked about it?
The inability to defend passes into the flat.
The first drive of the game.
First and goal from the New England seven.
Under center, play action, rollout in the flat.
Touchdown.
Easy peasy.
One, two, three.
The touchdown to make it 27.
10.
Third in goal from the New England eight.
Shotgun formation in the flat versus linebacker Riley Wilson.
Touchdown.
Cleveland 2710.
Ho hum, ho, home, ho.
You haven't been able to consistently stop the run.
You're getting torched in the flats.
And I understand.
You know, hopefully the starters play much better.
But this has not been good.
And all we can do is evaluate what we've seen.
We have no idea what the starting 11 is going to look like on September 9th and how
they're going to perform.
Talked about the joint practices.
The defense was better on day two.
You hope that's what we see against Seattle.
Moving pockets.
Another issue for this defense.
You know, testing assignments.
And I don't care.
I don't care that this was the third preseason game.
My job is to evaluate what I watched.
And what I watched against the Browns was terrible defense.
After the head coach called out the depth.
After the head coach had to call a timeout against the Eagles in that preseason game
to read the defense, the riot act.
Like these guys are not responding.
So when Mike Vrable goes out there and he talks about the depth of this team not being great,
we witnessed it.
You're watching it.
It ain't good.
And, you know, I'd be on the phone, man.
If I were the Patriots, I would be on the phone right now.
I'd be talking to Dayquan Jones.
I'd be talking about Shaq, I'd be talking with Shaq Thompson.
I would be talking with Hassan Reddick.
I would be on that phone making those calls with extreme urgency.
The latest on Trayvion Henderson.
We'll get to that a little bit later in this episode.
But coming up first, finding the few positives out of that dumpster fire.
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Not everything, though, was a waste versus Cleveland.
That's the good news.
And let's cover some of the stuff that was actually fun to watch.
And let's begin with Kyle Williams.
Kyle Williams, every single week during this preseason has made a big play.
And I think he's at a good camp.
He was at it again on Thursday night, a 45-yard touchdown catch from Tommy DeVito,
three preseason games, three touchdowns.
And I understand.
Nick, he beat the fifth corner.
Nick, he beat the sixth corner.
Nick, he beat the fourth corner.
My reaction to that is you can only play against the guys who are out there.
Williams cannot dictate who is going to be covering him during these preseason games.
He gets opportunities.
His job is to make the most of those opportunities.
And I feel like he has.
Now, of course, it hasn't been flawless.
He's made a couple of mistakes.
But I think overall, you would walk away from this camp and from these preseason games
feeling better about Williams than you did when you walked into this camp and walked into
these preseason games.
You play who's out there.
not only did he have the 45-yard touchdown catch.
He also converted a third down on a nice timing route.
And, you know, I know a lot of people look at Williams.
They say he's a one-trick pony.
He's got one weapon.
His releases off the line of scrimmage are not as good in these short intermediate routes
as they are with go routes.
I understand all of that.
But I actually think that we've seen improvements from Williams in those intermediate routes
during these preseason games.
He's been open.
He's been open multiple times.
and if he had better quarterback play,
I think his preseason and his camp would have been even louder.
So I do think he's getting better.
Incrementally, maybe in those intermediate routes,
but I do think he's getting better.
And if he's got one weapon that you can rely on early in this season,
at least that one weapon is devastating.
Second guy I want to talk about, Hassan Haskins.
You know, he had a very tough six-yard run during this game against the Browns.
He was hit at the line of scrimmage.
He just kept moving.
He kept moving those legs and churning out yards.
Guys were bouncing off him.
He was carrying a couple of dudes.
A very, very tough run.
And when Mike Vrable talks about effort and finish,
that's the type of effort and finish he wants to see.
And I've been impressed by Haskins,
given the limited opportunities that he has received since signing with the
Pats.
Not only did he have that nice six-yard run.
He had a very nice block down,
on Barron Morton's 14-yard scramble.
He made a tackle on special teams.
And I went into this game, as we talked about on Thursday's episode with the 53-man
roster projection, I went into this game saying, Land Larison has the edge at running
back three.
In my eyes, Larison no longer has that edge.
And I am putting Haskins on this team.
I am putting Haskins on this team over Larison.
Larison is more of a Travion-Henerson-type back.
He's more of a third down shotgun back.
He's got questions about the past protection.
So that's something you got to think about.
So Haskins is more of that early down guy, first and second down,
6-2-220 plus gives you something on special teams.
So right now I'm making that switch.
Haskins is now my number three back.
How about Kyle Dixon?
Now, Kyle Dixon is an interesting prospect, right?
He was brought in UDFA and he's been banged up a lot during this campaign.
but if his job was to make some plays on Thursday night,
if his job was to try to force this coaching staff
to make a decision to put him on the practice squad,
well, Kyle Dixon did everything he could
with every fiber of his being on Thursday night
to make that case.
Eight catches on eight targets, 71 yards.
And he's an interesting guy.
Again, if you look at it, 6-2-220, very athletic,
over a 40-inch vertical,
ran a 4-4-6-40.
interesting guy.
And I thought he made a very compelling case
to make the practice squad
with what he did against the Browns.
Braden Swinson, up and down,
up and down, up and down during camp,
during these preseason games.
I thought Swinton was good late against the Colts.
I thought he was bad against the Eagles.
And then I thought on Thursday,
against the Browns,
he made a couple of splash plays,
which might have,
which might have put him on this 53 man.
He did a really good job against the read option.
You know, we talked about Gabe Accus and how his eyes deceived him.
He got lost.
He went too far inside, gave up a scramble on third down.
Not what you're looking for.
Swinson, meanwhile, really good job against the read option on a third down,
which resulted in a four-yard loss.
Swinson then came back and had a run stop on third down.
So again, I'm not sitting here telling you that Brayden Swinson is going to start.
He's going to be simply electric.
What I'm saying is his job on Thursday night,
was to make some plays, was to get noticed.
And I thought he made a couple of plays.
And I thought he got noticed.
And, you know, he might be on this 53 man.
Some other notes.
Some other quick notes here.
Matt Hawk, your punter now, because Bryce Barringer got banged up during that Eagles
preseason game.
Matt Hawk had not one, not two, but three punts inside the 20.
Now, yes, the Eagles helped him.
Not the Eagles.
The Browns helped him.
I thought some of the Brown's decisions on those returns were not very good.
But Matt Hawk looked good enough that if you need him to punt against the Seahawks on opening night,
he looks like he's capable of doing that and not completely melting.
One of his punts was a 63-yarder.
So I thought Hawk, the fact, he was thrown into the deep end, went out there,
and he accounted himself pretty well.
Andy Boragallis, I think we can move on from, you know, the early,
struggles there, the preseason game struggles, because the last couple of weeks, he's been nails.
He was two for two against the Browns on field goals. I thought he had a very good week against the
Eagles. Feels like he has settled in and he is ready to roll this regular season. One more note
that really stood out to me was the fact that James Hudson, who I thought was pretty good early in
this game, had a couple of snaps later on that he probably wants back. But he moved back to tackle
during this week of practice.
He played left tackle, and he left the game for a couple of plays.
And when Hudson left, it really shined a light on the depth questions at tackle with Marcus
Bryant out with an injury because Demetrius Crownover moved over to left tackle.
And Jack Conley, an interior offensive lineman was pushed to right tackle.
So with Marcus Bryant out, Caleb Lomu had limited snaps because he's going to be your third
tackle now. You know, with Marcus Bryant out, all of a sudden, you know, that fourth and fifth
tackle spot, you got some questions. You got some questions. By the way, cool opportunity for
Ashton Grant, who called the offensive plays on Thursday night. Josh McDaniels was in the booth.
This is a case of, you know, just giving one of your assistant coaches an opportunity. And Mike
Frable, you reward the hard work. You try to get your guys ready and prepared for their next step.
the business and having Ashton Grant call plays on Thursday night was precisely that.
He was giving Grant an opportunity, call some plays with the live bullets flying to get him
prepared for what he inevitably wants to do next, which is be an offensive coordinator.
All right, the latest on Trayvion Henderson and what lies ahead this weekend coming up next.
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Christopher Price of the Boston Globe reported,
on Thursday that Trayvion Henderson should be good to go for week one in Seattle.
So the ankle injury that popped up earlier in the week does not seem serious.
Henderson should be a go against the Seahawks.
And, you know, Henderson's an interesting guy.
He's had a disappointing camp, I would say.
And, you know, you still have those questions about his vision on the inside, those inside carries.
you also question his ability to protect the quarterback on third down.
He has given up some pressure again on blitzes during this camp.
So, you know, if he could figure those things out,
he would be such a weapon for this offense,
much more of a weapon than he was last year.
I mean, yeah, he had a number of big plays.
But if they're blocked up and he's got space,
he can hit that hole and his speed, he can make a house call.
But it's about everything else.
Mike Vrable talked about it during the offseason and before camp, the consistency in the run game.
You can pop a 60-yard house call.
That's great.
But your other 10 or 11 touches, what are you doing with those touches?
And Henderson, can he pass protect on third down?
Because if he can, then you can trust him to play more on third down, which means his receiving ability,
which is one of the things that he is supposed to have in spades and would help this football team.
well, if he can be trusted on third down with his past protection,
he'll be out there on third down,
which means he can catch the football on third down.
If he can't trust him to protect the quarterback,
he's not going to play as much on third down.
He's not going to get as many opportunities,
targets in the passing game.
So kind of a mystery, Trayvion Henderson, with this camp.
And we'll see how he looks in the first month of the season.
Another note, Mike Vrable was asked about Kishon Booty
following the Brown's preseason game.
Mark Daniels of Mass Live posted.
Brable's answer about the booty trade, he said,
quote, that was one place we do have some depth.
For all parties involved, it was the best thing, unquote.
Daniels also noted that Vrable said booty likely would have been inactive this season
due to him not playing special teams.
And, you know, look, Twitter is Twitter.
Social media is social media.
I did see some reaction on this saying,
he would have been inactive. How do you make your third or fourth best receiver an active?
A lot of this stuff has to do with the things that we've already discussed.
We've been discussing this thing for months.
Kishan Booty, how he fits, why he would be traded.
It's not crazy.
It's actually 100% reasonable for Vrable to say that booty would have been inactive on Sundays,
at least some Sundays, because he is redundant.
How many times have I said that?
Booty's skill set is redundant.
A.J. Brown, Romeo Dobbs, Mac Hollins,
those three guys, their skill sets are redundant with Kishan Booty's skill set,
and they do it at a higher level more consistently.
So that's number one.
Number two, if you want to sit there and say,
well, he'd play ahead of Kyle Williams,
Booty does not have the speed element,
which is something else that we have talked about.
And he doesn't play special teams.
So the fact that his skill set is so redundant,
he doesn't bring speed to the field,
and he doesn't play special teams.
He's a niche player.
With this specific team,
with this specific depth chart,
he's a niche guy.
And you don't have the luxury.
As I said when we discussed the trade earlier in the week,
you don't have the luxury to bring seven receivers into a regular season game with all the questions
that we've been having about this defense and the depth of this team. It just, it doesn't make sense.
So would he have been inactive? Yes. He would have been inactive a lot. And how do you think he
and his agent would handle that? You would hope professionally, but you also understand the guy that
this is his final year on his contract. All right. All eyes now on Sunday, 6 p.m. Eastern time.
is the official deadline for cut down day.
You go from 90 players to 53.
And I've got a number of questions heading into Sunday night.
First of all, any upgrades, will any upgrades get cut around the league?
Seeing what we saw on Thursday night, you'd have to imagine that there will be at least a few guys who are cut from other teams that would be seen as an upgrade by this Patriot staff.
So who gets cut at what positions?
because that's a way that you can bring depth in without trading assets.
You just look around the league.
You scour the waiver wire.
Who gets cut?
You have a shot at that guy.
And you go out and you be aggressive.
And maybe you can find one or two,
three guys that would actually be upgrades on your second,
third team, defense especially.
Another question I have,
who makes it at cornerback after what we just saw in Cleveland?
I don't think any of us will feel super confident.
in whoever is, you know,
slotted behind the top three corners.
But who makes it?
Before the game, Kendall Vildor felt like an obvious selection.
But with how bad he was on Thursday night,
I don't know anymore.
Charles Woods.
I don't know anymore.
Does Koran Prunty make it?
I mean, it feels like you can throw these names in a hat
and you just pick two and you roll with it.
So who makes it at cornerback?
I wonder if Brayden Swinson actually not only solidify,
his spot on the 53, if you don't go out and get more help.
But I actually wonder if Swinson played well enough to maybe steal some snaps
early this season from Gabe Accus.
And you kind of let Accus slowly integrate himself into this 2026 season.
So did Swinson not only make the roster due to what he did on Thursday night?
Did he steal some snaps early in the regular season from your second round pick?
Now I talked about running back.
I'm going to go with Hassan Haskins after Thursday night,
but I do wonder what type of running back are the Patriots looking for in that RB3 spot?
What type of back?
Do they want the bigger early downback like Haskins?
Or do they want the guy like Larison who can catch the football?
He's really good with the gun runs.
But just like we discussed with Henderson a few minutes ago,
the one question about Larison,
He does seem to fit perfectly as like that, you know, third down shotgun back.
The one question, though, is that he has not been good protecting the quarterback,
which just kind of harkens back to the conversation regarding Henderson.
So what type of back are they looking for?
Does Del Pettus and John Saunders make it with Jalen Reed now on the roster?
Jalen Reed did not dress on Thursday night.
He's a lock.
You just dealt for him.
He's on this football team.
Now, John Saunders took a terrible angle on one play.
toward the sideline, which turned a chunk play into a huge play.
So do you dock him for that?
Do the Patriots look at Pettus more as a special teams guy and not necessarily a safety?
So, you know, who makes it out of that whole safety mix?
If Khalil Jacobs has banged up, did Namdi Obi-Izor, leapfrog, Chad Muma?
I would think so.
Chad Muma got jukeed out of his jockstrap during Thursday night's game.
So NOMD-O-B-I-Zor might actually make this team.
And do we see any trades from now until the middle of like next week?
I mean, you have to get the guys in for week one.
So if you're going to make any deals, the next, you know, five or six days is when you make those deals.
I would expect a pretty busy next few days from Mike Vrable, Elliot Wolf, and this Patriots front office with the depth questions on this team and what we witnessed on Thursday night.
I think we're going to have a pretty busy few days.
That wraps up this edition of Lockdown Patriots.
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Everybody have a great weekend.
We'll see who gets cut and who makes it.
Catch up with you next time.
