Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Balestrierian Draft Insight: Patriots Draft Priorities - 4/14/2020

Episode Date: April 14, 2020

When a dose of level-headed insight is needed, host Mike D’Abate calls upon Steve Balestrieri of PatsFans.com to break down head coach Bill Belichick’s media conference from Monday, April 13 and if the Pats’ draft priorities have changed as a result. Mike also asks Steve to don his ‘Balestrierian’ GM apparel in selecting his ideal new Patriot for 2020. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Patriots fans, you are now locked in to the Locked On Patriots Podcast. I'm going to show you how to make a beautiful and beautiful flower. I'm going to use a small flower pot. I'm going to use a small pot Hello to all of you Foxborough faithful, and welcome to your Tuesday in the Draft Countdown episode of Locked on Patriots, your daily home for news, notes, and analysis, infused with the occasional opinion on your six-time Super Bowl champions, the New England Patriots. My name is Mike DeBate, your host of the Locked On Patriots podcast, which of course is a

proud part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. And because it's your team every day, that means that your questions, your comments, your feedback, always welcomed and appreciated. And you can share that feedback by reaching out to me and following me on twitter at mdabatefpc and while you're out there traveling through the twitterverse please be sure to follow the locked on patriots account as well at lo underscore patriots that's right patriots fans you have heard correctly in the countdown to the 2020 nfl draft we are now in the single digits in terms of days away from the draft. Nine days!

Thursday, April 23rd, the NFL will conduct its annual draft, and in a little bit of a different fashion this year, folks, it will be done virtually. And as it stands today, your New England Patriots, Tuesday, April 14th, 2020, sit with 12 picks in the upcoming draft. A lot of draft capital, and a lot of ways to use it. And here on Locked On Patriots, we have done a great deal of prognostication on trying to determine what the Patriots may do with those 12 picks. Who have they identified as their early round must-haves?

Who are some of the late round diamonds in the rough? And is there a surprise in store for Patriots Nation next weekend? Well, folks, good news if you're a draft fan, because even though we've talked a lot about that here on the Locked On Patriots podcast, we will continue our coverage of the Patriots draft. And believe it or not, folks, we've barely even made a dent in that coverage. So settle in. Please be sure to subscribe and download via your preferred podcast provider,

whether it be Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, following us on Spotify, or simply telling your smart device to play the latest episode of Locked On Patriots. Just make sure you're staying locked into Locked On Patriots so you don't miss a minute of our draft coverage. And of course, folks, don't forget, if you're a fan of national draft coverage, my colleagues Brian Peacock and Matt Williamson at Locked On NFL are hosting a plethora of draft experts all week long as each one of the Locked On NFL are hosting a plethora of draft experts all week long as each one of the Locked

On NFL hosts makes their selection for the 2020 Mock Draft NFL special on the Locked On Podcast Network. Yesterday, right here on Locked On Patriots, I was proud to share a portion of that series with you, and the analysis you'll find right here on Locked On is second to none. Local experts bringing you all the information you need, nothing you don't. And don't forget, folks, on Wednesday's episode of Locked On NFL, yours truly puts on his general manager hat and you will find out what I have in store for the Patriots with the 23rd pick. So again folks, like you do with Locked On Patriots, please be sure to subscribe and

download to Locked On NFL via your preferred podcast provider so that you do not miss an episode of the 2020 Locked On NFL Mock Draft Special. But of course, folks, here on Locked On Patriots, we keep things Patriots-centric. And in that vein, it is truly my honor to welcome back a man that I am proud to say is a part of the Locked On Patriots familia here on the podcast, and that is Steve Balistrieri of Patsfans.com. My Paisan joins me here on the hot seat today, and we'll take a little bit of a deeper dive into the Patriots draft strategy.

And much like I did for Locked On this week, we're going to ask Steve to put on his Belichickian crown and make it a Balistrarian crown. And we'll ask him who he would like to see in Patriot Blue this year. Not who Bill wants, not who the fans want, but who Steve the GM wants. And speaking of Bill, Belichick that is, we will be discussing yesterday's conference call that the coach himself had with the media. Coach Belichick actually addressed Tom Brady by name several times. That's right folks, he didn't just say, I'm not commenting on players that are not under contract. He did explain how this year's approach would be different

when it comes to forming the offense. But I caution you to be very wary of all of the hype out there that Belichick's comments were somehow a swipe taken at Tom Brady. I certainly don't believe they were. But what does Steve think? Well, we will be picking his brain on that, along with what Belichick did say, and that is providing some insight as to what the Patriots might be looking for in the upcoming 2020 NFL Draft. So sit tight, folks, and I sincerely hope that you enjoy what I have in store for you

here today on the Locked On Patriots podcast. Steve always brings that level-headed logic that is so desperately needed when the hype train tries to barrel down the tracks, and when it comes to draft insight, there are few, if any, opinions that I trust more. But before I turn the microphone over to my paisan today, I just wanted to take a moment to advise you all of a service that might help some of you through what can best be described as very interesting times. That's right, folks. The times right now are uncertain for all of us all over the country and really all over the world. You're doing your best not only to stay healthy yourself, but also protect the ones around you, those you

love, and keep them as healthy and as safe as possible. And the best way to do that, folks, is to practice social distancing and stay home, especially when it comes to making trips to stores. If at all possible, let the items that you need come to you with Postmates. Right now, while we're all staying close to home, you're prioritizing meals. And if you're like me, you probably start thinking about what to eat for dinner while you're eating lunch. Me, I'm Italian. I love food. And that's why I love using Postmates. Postmates delivers food from every restaurant I can think of right to my door. But Postmates doesn't just deliver burgers, sushi, pizza, and whatever you may desire at the moment.

They actually can make your life easier with grocery delivery and whatever I can think of delivery too. Convenience stores, clothing stores, you name it, they can deliver it. So no more trips to the store. Stay home, stay safe, stay well, folks. And download the Postmates app on iOS or Android. Find your favorites and get anything you want delivered within the hour. For a limited time, Postmates is giving our listeners $100 of free delivery credit for your first seven days. To start your free deliveries, download the app and use code LOCKEDONNFL.

That's LOCKEDONNFL for $100 of free delivery credit with no minimum purchase for your first seven days when you download the Postmates app. Anything you need, anytime you need it, Postmate it. Patriots fans, we have been waiting to hear from the man in charge for a while now. And as promised, head coach Bill Belichick spoke to the media yesterday for the first time this offseason. And with the 2020 NFL draft just a little over a week away, he had plenty to say. Or did he? Well, to help me break it all down today, I bring in the logic branch of the Locked On Patriots family tree because he's one of the best and most knowledgeable columnists that you can find in Patriots media anywhere.

You know his great work from patsfans.com, as well as being the co-host of not one but two amazing podcasts, Patriots 4th and 2, and of course, One Patriots Place with our great mutual friend, Thomas Murphy. He is my paisan. Steve Balistrieri joins me today. Welcome back to Locked On Patriots, with our great mutual friend Thomas Murphy. He is my Paisan. Steve Balistrieri joins me today. Welcome back to Locked On Patriots, my friend. Hey, Mike. Always a pleasure, my friend.

And I always look forward to talking some football with you. And as we all know, with all this corona stuff going on, we can all use the distraction. We truly can. I mean, you know, right now the NFL is acting as some of the the distraction we truly can i mean you know right now the nfl is acting as some of the best distraction that you can find anywhere because we're really the only game in town that's providing real-time content albeit not on the field of play but in terms of the offseason free agency and the draft apparently hopefully going off without a hitch on thursday april 23rd that remains to be seen.

Of course, you know it's virtual, and anything and everything can happen with connectivity. But, Steve, the draft is one of our favorite times of the year, and it's one of those rare times in the NFL where the playing field is level. Each and every team has the same goal. They want to improve their team for a run at success. And the Patriots, they're no different.

They have needs, and you and I have discussed a lot of those needs here on Locked On Patriots. But yesterday, as I stated, Bill Belichick spoke with the media via virtual conference. And to me, the key takeaway from this call was what Bill had to say about the quarterback position, specifically in response to NBC Sports Boston's Phil Perry's question about this being a, quote, interesting quarterback class and the Pats' desire to make changes to the style of play that the Patriots employed under Tom Brady. Now, some, Steve, have tried to zero in on a key part of Bill's answer, and I'll paraphrase here, but basically Bill said that, quote, over the last two decades,

every decision they made was made with the idea of making things best for Tom Brady. And as I stated to begin today's show, I really didn't believe this to be a controversial statement. And that if you look at the track record, Bill is more right here than he is wrong, with some exceptions, obviously. But I wanted to get your take on this. How did you interpret this statement? And what does it tell you about the Patriots' plans with moving forward a quarterback? Yeah, I didn't think it was, you know, as big a thing as people were making it out to be,

because this is what they've always done. They tailored their, you know, they tailored their game plan. They tailor everything they do to what guys do well rather than what they don't. And, you know, as Bill said, you know, and to make it exactly, we've always geared everything to doing what was best for Tom to help our offense. So they take everything that Tom Brady does well, and they gear, you know, the offense toward that. And he made mention later on about Matt Castle.

When Tom got hurt in 2008 and Matt Castle stepped in, they had to change the offense to gear toward what Matt does well, which is not necessarily what Tom did well. And, I mean, we've all known this and you know no matter who they they get in bill always does what we all what do we always say they play to their strengths i didn't think it was that big of a statement i was just curious to why everyone you know locked on that is like it was breaking news or something well i think there were a couple of reasons first of all it's the statement that most readily addresses tom brady because let's face it there were the opportunities for uh you know members of the media and whatnot to be able to tap into

what bill wanted to say about tom brady he i thought he was he handled that question very similarly to how I expected him to answer it, and basically saying that he issued the statement. I think he went a little bit further, knowing that simply the response that, oh, I made a statement on that, I'm not going to address people that are not under contract,

which is, I think, what a lot of people expected him to do, quite honestly, Steve. He went a little bit further in saying that, you know, if I'm going to mention Tom, you can't do it in just a couple of sentences I think my statement speaks for itself we're moving on and we're trying to make sure that we do everything we can to make our team competitive which is a very Belichickian response to the question that we expected to be asked with this it specifically forced him to I think identify what the Patriots were going to do in Tom's absence. I'm so glad that you mentioned the fact that he brought up Castle and even Garoppolo and Brissett

because he brought them up on the conference call yesterday as well. The essence of the whole system argument, which I know drives us both up a wall like you can't imagine, and I'll put that delicately. I could use some more colorful language, but there are families listening here, especially in times of social quarantine. We want to keep it clean here on Lockdown Patriots. But it really is a frustrating argument when you hear people, oh, Tom was nothing but a system quarterback. This right here shows you that they needed to adjust the offense to the skill set that

the players that they have under contract had. So this is not just a plug and play. This is the system. It's not paint by number here with quarterback when it comes to the New England Patriots. And I'm glad Bill addressed that. And I'm glad you picked up on that as well. So a lot of the reason why I think it locked onto that yesterday, though, is again, because it was an addressing of Tom Brady.

And I think a lot of people wanted to run with that. The other is the fact that anything that Bill says is going to be magnified. You're going to try to twist the meaning. He's not very forthcoming with giving you a whole lot of backstory on what he says. So you kind of have to dig between the surface. And I think people are trying to dig between a surface

that right now is pretty relevant and it's pretty transparent. I don't think there's a whole lot under the surface to dig here, but, you know, people are going to try to do what they do no matter what. No, I just totally agree with that. I mean, you know, because Bill's always done that. I mean, you know, after he said his comment about Tom, I had to pull it up.

You know, he says we'll try to make things smooth and efficient for whoever that player is and take advantage of his strength and skill. And that's what they've always done. It's not, I mean, it's not like he's given everybody something totally new and different here. This is what they've always done. Exactly. This is what they've always done. And you know what?

Bottom line, it's going to be continuously what they do. They're going to play to their team's strengths, and they're going to field a team on the field that gives them the best chance to win. And that leads me very nicely into my next question, my friend. And that is, the quarterback position is obviously going to be the most high-profile. It'll continue to be Steve but as we've stated many times throughout our conversations both here in private and on one Patriots place that's far from their only need in fact I might even make the argument that it's middle of the pack when it comes to their depth chart of need so to speak based on what Bill had to say yesterday does this change your outlook on the Patriots priorities

heading into next Thursday in terms of how they're approaching the NFL draft no it doesn't at all I mean he he said exactly what I expected him to say excuse me and uh I think I'm totally in agreement with you there I believe that quarterback, I think they're happy, maybe not ecstatic, but they're happy with what they have right now. I think quarterback is not going to be the 23rd pick. I think it's going to be a defensive player. I think they're going to roll with who they have. I'm not saying they're not going to take a quarterback, but I think it will be later rather than earlier.

Yeah, I agree. I think that this is probably an than earlier. Yeah, I agree. I think that this is probably an opportunity for them to seek out help at the quarterback position in the middle to maybe even late rounds. I know Jake Fromm has gone to a lot of chatter lately. Our good friend Thomas Murphy joined us here on Locked On Patriots last week. You all know the high regard that he holds Jake Fromm, so we talked a lot about him. But we also talked about James Morgan out of FIU. last week you all know the high regard that he holds jay crumb so we talked a lot about him but

you know we also talked about james morgan out of fiu we talked about jaylen hertz as a possibility there are a lot of different uh avenues that the patriots could take talent at quarterback unless the return on investment is so good that bill belichick simply can't pass it up i think they're confident enough in what jared brings to the table to give him some serious competition but not bring in someone that's going to automatically eclipse him, because I think that would send the message of the quarterback depth chart, I don't think Bill Belichick would shy away from it either. I think this guy has shown over the course of the last 20 years that he's willing to do whatever it takes to help this team succeed. And if that means bringing in a quarterback that he believes is going to be the best fit for his team long term, even if he likes what he has in Jared Stidham, I think he'll do that going forward. So once again,

you've led me into another great question. If it's not the quarterback position at the top of the depth chart, when you look at the needs on this football team, whether it be at the defensive side of the ball, either on the pass rush or at the linebacker position, or even in the backfield in the secondary, or on the offense, the offensive skill positions, wide receiver, tight end, or the offensive line, what's the position of need that you believe the Patriots will look to address early on in the draft to really solidify it? Well, I'm looking for somebody that can play on the front seven. I mean, and again, it all depends on how the board plays out for them.

As you mentioned just a minute ago, if somebody falls that's like a really high-talented guy, and we've seen that year after year, somebody invariably starts to fall down the draft boards for no apparent reason, then they might change their outlook on that. But I'm looking for a guy in the front seven, either a pass rusher, a defensive end, or maybe a linebacker. I think that is, especially they lost three of their

really good linebackers, Jamie Collins, Kyle Van Nooy, Landon Roberts this year. They could really use some help there. I think they need an edge rusher. You know, if one of these guys starts to fall down the draft boards, I can see them jumping on this really, really quickly. Yeah, I think they can as well. And I'm glad that you mentioned the front seven

because I don't think it's the position of choice that a lot of people address when it comes to their needs. I think a lot of, I know a lot of fans and a lot of, you know, people in the media that cover the team as well sort of fall in love and are enamored with offensive skill position players or maybe even defensive backfield players where I think the Patriots are pretty well stacked at that position or even linebackers, players that have that marquee value that can come right out of the gate. To me, the battles are won on the lines. And the offensive line, I think, is an area that they could look to address.

But the defensive front, I think, is going to be something that is an area of concern as well, especially getting a little bit of help at the pass rush position. Last year, I think they were reliant a lot on the linebackers. I think they'd like to try to cut down on that this year. I think you'll see Chase Winovich emerge in that role, and maybe someone on the other side to flank him and to maybe give some camp competition to Dietrich Wise, who I think has been pretty good for this team, but he hasn't really lit it up the way I think a lot of fans and media and the Patriots organization, most of all, has done. I still think there's something there in the tank to really kind of bring it out of them, but we'll see. And maybe

some competition on the front seven might be just what the doctor ordered. Steve, we have talked about quarterbacks. We've talked about the Patriots draft position. We've talked about what Bill Belichick might do. But in just a moment, my friend, I am going to put you on the hot seat and ask you to put on your Bella check in GM coat and make it a balustrarian GM coat when the lockdown Patriots podcast continues in just one moment. That's fans. Once again, I am speaking with my good friend and columnist extraordinaire Steve Steve Balistrieri. And Steve, to close it out here today on Locked On Patriots, I like to close out these draft previews with a bit of a trip to,

as Rodney Dangerfield so eloquently put it in Back to School, fantasy land. But not the fantasy football land. I mean the GM of an NFL team fantasy football land. Because this is Lock locked on Patriots. And Steve, I'm going to ask you to put on that Bella check-in crown, like I just said,

and make it the balustrarian crown. Now, assuming you are the GM, who is the guy that you, Steve, the GM want the Patriots to put in Patriot blue this season, not necessarily who you think should be the pick, not necessarily who you think should be the pick, not necessarily who you think Bill will pick. What would you do if you were GM of the New England Patriots? This player wouldn't be there at 23, but if Chase Young was somehow magically to appear in Foxborough from Ohio State as your next edge rusher,

Steve would be doing the happy Snoopy dance that evening. I think he's going to be a tremendous player in this league. I don't think he's going to be a tremendous player in this league. I don't think he's going to be around for them, but if you're asking who the guy I would love to see on this team, that would be the guy. I think he's going to be a disruptor. I think he's going to be a tremendous – I think he's a complete football player already.

I think he's geared for stardom in the NFL. Agreed. You look at a guy like Young, and I agree with you. There's no way he'll be there for the Patriots' needs at 23. If there were any chance that the Patriots would have, they would seriously have to move up in the draft. I think it would have to be to the number one or the number two position. I don't believe they have that capital to be able to pull that type of a trade off. But again, this is fantasy land, as Rodney said. And I think that you really, I think, hit the nail on the head when it comes to Chase Young. Look, he gives you everything you could

possibly need in a defensive player, the type of player that you can build a defense around, and whichever team does get him. And I've seen a lot of projections that even have him as the number one ranked player in the draft. Now, that's not to say that that's the direction that the Cincinnati Bengals are going to go in. I think everybody pretty much knows they're locked into Joe Burrow. Maybe you never really know for sure, especially this year. Anything and everything can happen.

But if that is indeed the case and he does end up going number two or at the very latest number three whichever team gets him is going to have a player that they can build their defense around for many years to come so I do think that's interesting and I'm glad that you took that in the spirit of how I intended it because ultimately it's about you having the power here and I think so often we try to put ourselves into Bill's shoes and really kind of take away from the point of using our expertise to determine what we believe and how we feel and what the best course of action for the Patriots would be if we had the reins of this. And we're doing a very similar exercise to that here on the Locked On podcast network across the NFL channel. All 32 NFL teams are participating in a very large,

very full-scale mock draft. And it's been a great experience hearing what some of these teams have in store when they put the GM hat on. I think our draft board is going to look drastically different than what the final product will be next Thursday. So I'll put you down for a Chase Young fantasy pick. And who knows, if there's any chance that this happens, I am definitely coming back to it and saying that Steve Balistrieri had it first

here on Locked On Patriots. My friend, what can I say? I always appreciate you coming on, lending your wisdom and counsel. You're always there when I need you for the handoff, and you always deliver such stellar and great information. Once again, folks, I will give the microphone to my friend here to let him know where, excuse me, for him to let you know where you can find him and follow his great work each and every day. Please, Steve, the floor is yours. Let all of our listeners know where they can find you.

Well, thanks again, Mike. I always appreciate the offer to come on and talk football with you. You can find me on Twitter at SteveV7SFG. I write for PatsFans.com. I do a podcast for them called Patriots Fourth and Two, as you mentioned earlier. And also later today, I'll be doing one with our friend Thomas Murphy, you know, One Patriot Place. And we'll be talking with Antoine Staley, our buddy over there. And you can also find me if you're interested in some military type subjects on softrep.com. I write a lot of military history

and current events that do with the special operations community there. Absolutely. And again, especially the stuff with soft rep folks, I highly recommend checking that out. If you find yourself during these difficult times with a little more time on your hands to do a little bit more reading, I highly recommend the stuff that Steve does for that site. It's so informative. I've learned a ton when it comes to that. And, of course, I don't mean to lessen the work that the man does with Patriots and, of course, with patsfans.com and Patriots 4th and 2 and 1 Patriots Place,

some of the best and most insightful commentary and insight that you will find in the business. Honored to call you a friend. Stay safe. Stay well, my friend. And we look Honor to call you a friend. Stay safe. Stay well, my friend. And we look forward to having you back on here post-draft so that way we can break it all down and discuss exactly how wrong we were in terms of what Bill was going to do versus what we wanted him to do, my friend.

And so Patriots fans, another day down and three to go for the week here on the Locked On Patriots podcast. I always enjoy sharing the microphone with my good friend Steve Balistrieri. He always provides honest and level-headed analysis, and his draft insight clearly shows that he has prioritized defense as the Patriots' most pressing area of need. That's interesting. Do I agree with him? Well, you're going to have to tune into Locked On NFL tomorrow, folks, on Wednesday, April

15th, because on that day, you will find out exactly to tune into Locked On NFL tomorrow, folks, on Wednesday, April 15th, because on that day, you will find out exactly what my top priority of need is for your New England Patriots. And while it may not be different from what Steve prioritized, it just might be. So again, subscribe to Locked On NFL via Apple Podcasts, follow on Spotify, don't miss an episode. And of course, as for Locked On On Patriots I will be back right here tomorrow to bring you the latest news notes and analysis from Foxborough as well as continuing your daily Patriots draft coverage

once again I am Mike DeBate I thank Steve Balistrieri for his time his insight and his appearance today but most of all and most importantly I thank you so much for listening and for staying locked in to Locked On Patriots. And if you've enjoyed today's podcast, now tell your smart device to play the latest

episode of Locked On Fantasy Football. Stay safe, stay well, and have a great day, everyone.