Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Barth talks Brady, Sanu and Rookie QBs - 2/28/2020

Episode Date: February 28, 2020

After Thursday’s whirlwind of coverage Tom Brady’s free agency plans, host Mike D’Abate welcomes Alex Barth of 98.5 The Sports Hub.com to discuss the latest chapter in the Brady saga. Alex also provides his take on Mohamed Sanu’s ankle injury and his ideal 2020 NFL Draft fit as the next quarterback for the New England Patriots.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello to all of you Foxborough faithful. It's finally Friday and you are listening to the Locked On Patriots podcast, your daily home for news notes and analysis infused with the occasional opinion on your six-time Super Bowl champions, the New England Patriots. I'm Mike DeBate, your host of Locked On Patriots, 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 your questions, your comments, your feedback are always encouraged and greatly appreciated.

Please feel free to reach out to me and follow me on Twitter at MDABATEFPC. And while you're roaming out there in the Twitterverse, please feel free to follow the Locked On Patriots account as well at LO underscore Patriots. Patriots fans, another work week is about to be put in the books, but that doesn't mean that NFL action has waned. Absolutely not. The NFL Combine workouts are in full effect. Tonight, Friday night, offensive linemen and special teamers will be in full effect.

On Saturday, the defensive linemen and the linebackers take center stage. And finally, to wrap it all up on Sunday, the defensive backs, cornerbacks, and safeties will get their shot. It's been a great week for me here at Locked On Patriots. I have thoroughly enjoyed talking to my colleagues with boots on the ground in Indianapolis, including my good friend and predecessor Mark Schofield, who joined me right here on Locked On Patriots on Wednesday. I offer Mark a well-deserved shout-out to his coverage down at the Combine this week.

Also want to give a much-deserved shout-out to Evan Lazar of CLNS Media, who joined me one week ago today here on Locked On Patriots. He opened my eyes to some of the wide receivers, tight ends, and quarterbacks that we saw work out last night in the opening night of Combine workouts. Who caught my eye? Well, I'll get into that in just a moment. Because the Combine wasn't the only big story here in New England this week. And of course, folks, you know what I'm referring to.

Yesterday, Thursday, was a very big day in the Bradywatch saga. As of 10 a.m. yesterday morning, thanks both in part to Jeff Darlington's appearance on ESPN's Get Up, most Patriots fans and media alike assumed that Tom was as good as gone from Foxborough. However, as the days wore on, news started to slowly trickle out that maybe Tom's departure from Foxborough wasn't exactly a foregone conclusion. And by the end of the day on Thursday, folks, we were pretty much back to where we started from. It is true that representatives from the Patriots and Tom Brady's representatives had not met at the Combine as of yet. In fact, they may not meet at the Combine. The reason for that is that there's still a lot of uncertainty surrounding the collective bargaining agreement. That is a factor here,

folks. The fact that they haven't met yet doesn't mean that they won't meet. In fact, Ian Rappaport of the NFL Network concluded his day by saying that the Patriots still very much had Tom Brady in their plans for 2020. So once again, a lot of the hoopla surrounding the story ended up being a whole lot of nothing. And although my good friend Thomas Murphy and I yesterday here on Locked On Patriots gave you our best assessment of what was going on at the time, now that the story is wrapped up, I thought it might be good to welcome in another special guest. A guest that has an uncanny knack of being able to blend the professionalism of a journalist with the passion of being a fan. And that guest is Alex Barth of 98.5thesportshub.com.

Alex has been a guest here before a couple of times on the podcast when he was doing great work for CLNS Media. He continues to provide amazing content for 98.5 The Sports Hub. It's my honor to share the microphone with him today. And I will be asking him for his take on the Brady saga and all of the ensuing drama that unfolded yesterday. Alex's takes are always spot on and candid, and I expect nothing less when he joins me here in just a moment.

But before I welcome Alex in, I did want to take just a couple of brief moments to address the workouts that we saw at the Combine last night. And because, as I record this, only one night of workouts has occurred, folks, I'll be brief in my assessment of what I saw on Thursday night. Monday's podcast will be a much more comprehensive review of all four days of workouts, who my standouts were, who disappointed a little bit, and of course I'll have my thoughts on who might look good at the practice fields in Foxborough coming up for the 2020 season. But of course we start with the tight ends,

and I've been very vocal about the fact that the Patriots definitely need help at tight end, and I've mentioned that the draft is a place where they'll likely look for that help. However, based on what we saw last night, the tight end class is top heavy, but is not overwhelming as a whole. I went into last night's workouts expecting to see a little more explosiveness out of the position. And I have to say, folks, I was a little disappointed. Guys like Bryson Hopkins, Hunter Bryant, Harrison Bryant, I thought would make much better

showings than they did. To me, all three of them lack the explosiveness and the speed that I was really hoping to see at that position. Now keep in mind this is one workout and I'm certainly not disparaging any three of these players. They all have the potential to prove me wrong, but if we're going based on what we saw last night, if the Patriots are looking to upgrade the tight end position through the draft, the two guys that stood out to me most were Cole Komet of Notre Dame and Adam Troutman of Dayton, and I thought Evan Lazar and his on-site analysis put this very well. Komet performed in his combine test pretty much as we expected, but what makes him such an interesting fit for the Patriots is that he's at his best when working the seam and on crossing routes off a play action. That's perfect

for the Patriots, and it backs up that explosiveness that he showed in his scores last night. The Patriots would need to be aggressive in pursuing Komet. Obviously, they don't have a second-round pick, which means that they would likely have to use the number 23 first-rounder. I don't see Komet falling to the third round at this point. So, logistically, Komet would be the best fit in New England, but I think a more realistic option to me is Adam Troutman of Dayton. And even though Troutman didn't exactly have the fastest time in the 40, his 6.78 second three-cone time was the fastest by a tight end at the combine since 2003. That goes as far back as the NFL data goes.

If Troutman can be had in the third round, I think the Patriots take a shot at this. Don't forget, Bill Belichick loves the three-cone, and Troutman was also the best blocker of the group in the sled drill. So keep Troutman's name in mind, folks. Even though the tight end position is not very deep in this draft, Patriots might view Troutman as a diamond in the rough type player, and they may take a flyer on him in the middle eight rounds. As for the wide receiver position, two players in particular caught my eye. One for moving his way up the draft board, one for moving his way a little bit further down. Obviously, to me, the person who did the most to enhance his draft value last night was

wide receiver Justin Jefferson out of LSU. Jefferson is widely considered one of the best route runners in this draft. I've talked pretty glowingly about him on Locked On Patriots. Again, Evan Lazar last week here on the podcast could not say enough glowing things about Jefferson. If there was any type of a question mark on Jefferson's ability, it was with long speed and explosiveness. Jefferson did a whole lot to erase

that last night. Jefferson ran the 40-yard dash in 4.43 seconds. If the Patriots see that Jefferson is available and they're still holding on to the number 23 pick, they may be really hard-pressed to pass him up. If this workout is any indication, the questions about his speed and explosiveness have been answered.

We already know his acumen as a route runner. So even though the Pats might be reticent to use another first-round pick on a wide receiver, Jefferson is that type of generational talent that might be worth the risk. On the flip side, another wide receiver that raised my eyebrow a little bit was someone that I talked about here on Locked On Patriots on Monday. In fact, he was the subject of this week's Mock Draft Monday, and Joe Marino of TheDraftNetwork.com had him mocked to the Patriots at number 23. LaVisca Chennault of Colorado, someone that I thought could be a very good fit here in New England, especially because they were able to run those jet-sweet plays with a guy like

Cordero Patterson a couple of years ago so effectively. Chenault fits into that mold. However, he ran the 40-yard dash in 4.59 seconds, and for someone in his stock, that's a little bit on the slow side. Now, there could be factors there. In no way am I saying that Leviska's going to make a poor pro or that he's not worth a first-round pick. But for me, because the Patriots have so many other needs at so many other positions, if it came down to both Chenault and Jefferson on the board at number 23,

if I'm the Patriots, I take Jefferson and I don't hesitate at all. In fact, because of the other pressing needs that the team has, I'd probably stay away from taking a wide receiver in the first round unless his name is Justin Jefferson. And that may end up being very relevant here for the New England Patriots, folks, because with some breaking news here on this Friday afternoon, ESPN's Adam Schefter is currently reporting that wide receiver Mohamed Sanu will need to undergo surgery to help repair a high ankle sprain that caused Sanu a lot of pain and some injury problems in

2019. If he should miss any time, the Patriots may want to keep a much sharper eye out on the wide receiver position. And I know, folks, I haven't forgotten about quarterbacks either. I had my eye out on some quarterbacks last night as they worked out. And just as a coincidence, not really, folks, it's kind of the way I planned it, Alex Barth had a brilliant piece on 98.5 Sports Hub outlining five potential fits at quarterback for the New England Patriots.

So with that being said, in just a moment, Alex Barth will join me here on the Locked On Patriots podcast. We'll talk Tom Brady's future, Mohamed Sanu's injury problems, and his evaluation of the quarterback position on the 2020 NFL Draft Combine. Patriots fans, it has been an interesting week in Pats Nation, to say the least. And to help it all together, you need the wisdom and counsel from someone with the passion of a fan, but the analytics of a journalistic veteran. And my guest today is among the best in the business at blending professionalism with a bit of hometown flavor mixed in. You

know him from his amazing audio, video, written work covering the New England Patriots and all of Boston sports, formerly of CLNS Media, but now doing amazing work covering all things Boston sports for 98.5thesportshub.com. It's my honor to be joined once again today by Alex Barth. Alex, welcome back to the Locked On Patriots podcast, my friend. Thanks for having me, Mike. Anytime. Anytime. Always my pleasure. And a great way to end the week, in my opinion.

And, you know, Alex, I wish we could have closed out a more eventful week here in Foxborough. There's just really nothing going on, such mundane topics over and over again. All kidding aside, buddy, we're all still feeling the effect from the Brady whirlwind that was Thursday. And around 10 a.m., Tom was as good as gone as of yesterday at 10 a.m. And as the afternoon wore on, details started to emerge about Brady and the Pats, mostly that they were waiting on further details regarding the season. Brady and the Pats are in each other's plans. That's the best-case scenario.

But each side is preparing for the worst, meaning that if Tom leaves New England, they're getting contingency plans together on both sides. Alex, what was your reaction to yesterday's news rollercoaster? And based on that, how do you assess the next steps in this ongoing saga? Nothing's changed for me. Nothing ever changed. I wasn't one of the people freaking out. You know, you can go back and look on Twitter. I kind of put it all there. That's not how the Patriots do business.

Well, Jeff Darlington was reporting yesterday that, oh, he's just gone and the Patriots are moving on. That's not how they operate. I used this example yesterday. This is a team that took a meeting with Trent Brown last year. There was no chance Trent Brown was coming back, never. They were not about to make him the highest paid tackle in football. But they took the meeting because they know he's a good player.

They had their price for him. It wasn't realistic, but they did their due diligence. That's what they do. So all of a sudden with Tom Brady, they're just not going to do their due diligence? I never believed that, what Darlington was saying. And then, of course, the context comes into it later, and we found out with the Devin McCourty report,

which was an hour after the Brady one, that the CBA was holding things up, and then you put two and two together and think, all right, that's why they're not meeting. I was a little concerned. I'll say this. Darlington and Schefter have been out of control this year. It's not good, frankly, the way they're going about their business, and ESPN as a whole has had a problem with insiders blending with analysts and not defining the line of what's a take and what's a report. And that's what yesterday came down to. Jeff Darlington gave, and he called it, if you go and watch the Get Up clip, an informed opinion. An informed opinion is not a report. It's an opinion. It's a take.

And everybody ran with his opinion as if it was fact. That was the problem. And then Schefter did it later in the day, sending out a tweet that looked like a new story but really wasn't, to try to do damage control. Schefter embarrassed himself yesterday, plain and simple. But to get back to the point that I was making, Karen Garigan, who I've worked with down in July, she does a fantastic job. She's not somebody who's going to chase clicks or chase storylines. She knows what she's doing. She did have the report that things didn't look good. So that still in the back of my mind concerns me a little bit.

That one does. But it's February 27th. There's no CBA. The two sides haven't met. I really find it hard to believe they're anywhere close to settled. I really do. So that's where I anywhere close to settled. I really do. So that's where I'm at with it. I was there before the reports from yesterday. I'm there now.

Yes, it didn't change anything for me, except I kind of lost some respect for those people down there in Bristol because that was just a cheap way to drive a narrative yesterday. It really was. Yeah, and I think you share the sentiments of a lot of Patriots fans. And look, bottom line, there is naturally a skepticism when it comes to Patriots Nation and it comes to ESPN.

And I'm sorry, I don't mean to step on any toes or offend anyone by saying that, but this goes back to the Deflategate saga and how that was reported and how that was carried out. So I think there is a little bit of squeamishness. I agree with you. There was a lot of haphazard information that was thrown around yesterday, and it really did mushroom into something that wasn't necessarily the case.

So there is a level of carefulness that has to be brought out when these stories do hit. I'm glad that you mentioned that. Please go ahead. Sorry, real quick. Here's what it comes down to to me for all of that, and with all these reports regarding Brady and what people are saying. What's the story of the offseason? The one story that if you report it, you're getting a fat raise,

companies giving you extra vacation days, breaking. Tom Brady is signing with blank. That's the story. That's what everybody wants. So if Darlington has it, or if Schefter has it, or if anybody else has it, why would they sit on it? That's the story everybody wants to break. Nobody's going to sit on that when they have the information definitively.

So until you see that tweet breaking, Tom Brady is signing with blank, or even breaking, Tom Brady will not return to the New England Patriots or will return to the New England Patriots. Until you see that tweet, nobody knows anything. Because if they had the information, they'd put it out there. Nobody's going to sit on that report. Perfectly said. Absolutely perfectly said. And I'm so glad that you said that. And I agree with you 100% when it comes to that. The other thing that I wanted to touch on, I was glad that you brought up Karen's report yesterday regarding Devin McCourty because I received a lot of DMs and a lot

of ats on Twitter about well, why are they meeting with Devin and not with Tom? What does that mean? Well, it doesn't really mean all that much. My assessment of that and correct me if I'm wrong, is that meeting with Devin, even if those meetings did take place, and I do agree with you, Karen is not someone that goes

out to make clicks or chases stories or anything like that she's about as cut and dry as you can get when it comes to accurate reporting in this business is that even if they are meeting with Devin maybe ahead of Tom they're doing their due diligence because Devin let's face it Devin is a candidate for the franchise tag I'm not saying they're going to use it but there's reports out there that they're considering that why wouldn't they do their due diligence early on they can't use it on but there's reports out there that they're considering that. Why wouldn't they do their due diligence early on? They can't use it on Tom. That's in his contract. That was an agreement that they made when they signed the quote-unquote extension back at the

tail end of the summer last year. So the fact that McCourty being possibly spoken to by the Patriots didn't really correlate into one. That's how it all tied together for me. And I agree with you. Until we see anything definitive come out in terms of he's definitely not coming back or he's definitely coming back, I think it's a lot of much ado about nothing. And unfortunately, my friend, we sit at February 28th. It's March 16th is the deadline, and we're probably going to get a lot more of this up until the point of that date coming to fruition. So until then, we continue to live in hope here in New England. more of this up until the point of that date coming to fruition.

So until then, we continue to live in hope here in New England. But I do want to switch gears very, very briefly here, Alex, and talk about another chef to report today that he reported on Friday that Mohamed Sanu's ankle sprain, that injury failed to heal this offseason. He will need surgery to repair it. Now, it's clear that the injury plagued him throughout last season. That does help to explain why Muhammad's production tailed off last season. He was playing through a pretty good amount of pain. A timetable has yet to be established for his return to a normal workload.

I've seen reports anywhere from six to ten weeks, maybe even on the shallow end or the higher end of that as well. Again, I don't know Muhammad's medical history, so that's merely a guesstimate on my part. But the Patriots clearly have a need at the wide receiver position. If he's looking at any type of stay on injured reserve, could the Pats be looking a bit more closely at the wide receiver market for not just one, but maybe two additional pieces at the position, especially when I saw your tweet earlier that the Patriots, with a trade or release of Sanu, could likely clear over $6 million in cap space.

Yeah, so there's a lot of what-ifs here. It's tough to know. Again, nobody wants to play doctor. You don't know how long he's going to be out. But yeah, if he's going to miss time, like regular season time, or even if he's going to miss time, like regular season time, or even if he's going to miss training camp, because he needs to get on the same page. He got here halfway through last season. The Patriots need to look at that and say, is that $6.5 million better spent elsewhere?

Can they get anything for him in a trade, even a day three pick? Can they recoup a pick for him? Are they better off cutting bait? Is that $6.5 million better off going to another receiver for agency or somewhere else to improve the roster? They're better off giving that $6.5 million to Tom Brady. We don't know. We don't know what the

deal is with him. I do think a lot of his issues last year stemmed from the ankle, but not all of them. The dropped passes don't necessarily stem from the ankle issue. Running short of the sticks on third down constantly. Whether you have a sprained ankle or not,

you need to be aware of where you are on the field. So he's somebody the Patriots need to take a long, hard look at and be on top of the medicals. I don't know for sure that he's in their future plans. I don't think they've written him out, but I don't think they're locked into having him be a part of the 2020 Patriots either. So that's an interesting situation to monitor, and you hope they can get it resolved by the draft,

because whether or not he's here does a lot in terms of how they approach that draft and how they approach free agency, but they have until June 1st. After June 1st, that $6.5 million is locked in. So they need to know before camp. But ideally, you'd like them to know by the draft. You see what happens there. But it's going to be interesting to see what happens with him. You don't like to think that they're offseason hinges

on how well Mohamed Sanu handles ankle surgery, but that's going to be a part of it. I think if Brady leaves and they go into a rebuild, he's gone. There's no need to keep him around at that point for the $6.5 million. If Brady comes back, how does Brady view him as a weapon? Because Brady wants some control over personnel, and that

becomes a personnel decision. Does Brady say, I want to give another shot with him, or does Brady say, go get me somebody healthy who will run to the first down markers on third down? He becomes a total wild card now with this information. It's very interesting. That's great insight.

And again, I agree with you on a lot of points that you made. First of all, the drop passes. You can't put that all on the difficulties that he's had with the ankle. Look, I think that definitely contributed, and it's probably a big part in the reason why he wasn't able to maybe get off of a step or get to the first down markers or be able to run routes correctly. That does hinder you, and I'm definitely not lessening the impact of that injury, but it also is timing.

It's about synergy. And again, if Tom Brady, and that's the other point that I really wanted to hammer home that I think you made so well, is that if he's going to try to get on the same page as Tom and be that effective weapon, that veteran weapon that Tom Brady is looking for, then missing time, especially in training camp, is going to hinder that process. It's going to hinder that progression. So it could make things very interesting in terms of whether or not he's back in New England next year or whether or not they look to cut bait with him, whether Tom is back or not,

because I think there are a lot of question marks right now, as you said, and I agree with that assessment wholeheartedly. And some of it could come down to the CBA, too. You know, we talk about teams not wanting to sign contracts, not knowing the CBA. They may not want to end them either, because $6 million in the current CBA salary cap, that could be the equivalent of $2 million. It could be the equivalent of $20 million in the next one. We don't know what the financial situation is going to look like. So like they can't sign contracts, they could, but they won't.

Like they won't sign contracts until the new CBA is signed. I don't think they get rid of any either. Yeah, and I think you're definitely on when it comes to the CBA. And again, folks, that's a wild card in all of this. We don't know what it's going to look like. So hopefully, things will progress along and we'll get a clearer picture of what that's going to look like, whether the CBA is not going to be ratified, whether it's going to be signed, or whether we're going to be going into 2020 with the status quo. That is a big wild card in all of this. But with the wide receiver position,

and that leads me quite nicely into my last question for you today, Alex, and that is the combine, the NFL draft combine. And wide receivers got a chance to work out a little bit last night, and especially now if we're looking at Sanu possibly being a wild card, this is a very deep class at wide receiver, and I think the Patriots might be wise to take a look into that. I mentioned some guys earlier when I opened the show in Justin Jefferson, K.J. Hamler.

These are guys that would probably need that number 23 pick, that early on pick to be able to snag. But you had, I believe, one of the more brilliant pieces of the week when it came to outlining five potential quarterbacks that the Patriots may have their eyes on, some of the guys that could be had in that third, fourth round type option that might make a good fit here in New England. And the names that you mentioned were Jake Fromm out of Georgia, Jordan Love out of Utah State, Jake Luton out of Oregon State, James Morgan of FIU,

and, of course, Malcolm Perry of Navy. We all know Bill Belichick loves his Navy guys, but taking that out of the equation, of the guys that worked out last night, are there any of those guys that really caught your eye as even more of potential Patriots fit now, and do you think that there's a realistic chance that any one of those five wears Patriot blue in 2020? So I do kind of like Morgan. A lot of it depends if Brady stays or goes, right?

Right. If Brady goes, you're not drafting any of those guys unless you trade up to take Jordan. Jake Fromm is a very middling option. If Brady goes, you want to rebuild. You don't want Jake Fromm to be your quarterback for the next 10 years. You just don't want that. Right. Morgan's an interesting, he reminds me, watching him,

a little bit of Jimmy Garofalo. Now, he's not quite at that level. He's got a long way to go, but there's something there. But, again, he's a guy that in two, three years might be ready. He's a guy you draft in the sixth, seventh round stash on the practice squad. The guy I like for him, actually, in this draft, especially if they have a chance with a developmental guy, is Cole McDonald out of Hawaii.

He's been my guy for a couple years now. I don't want to say he's a poor man's Patrick Bollins. He is a homeless man's Patrick Bollins. He is quite a ways away. He is a project. There is no guarantee he turns into an NFL quarterback. That being said, he can move around. He can read a defense, not quite at the level you want,

but he's able to get to a second and third read. He has a great ability to throw from multiple arm slots, and he has all the intangibles. He's a winner. He's determined. He loves football. He has a high football IQ, all of that. I don't think he's going to turn into Patrick Mullins,

but that's the mold. That's the prototype. That's the schematic he fits into. And if they're just going to go out and pay Marcus Mariota, give me Cole McDonald at that point. He ran the fastest 40 of any of the quarterbacks at the Combine. I thought, you know, just in talking to the media, I got the vibe of a guy who's ready to be an NFL quarterback.

There are some questions about that, but I think he's ready. That's my guy if I'm them. Day three, bring me Cole McDonald. I'm all in on that. As for the guys who they talk to, look, if Brady leaves, Fromm probably gives you the best chance to win right now because you have all the pieces around him, and that's what Jake Fromm needs. Jake Fromm's not going to lose you any football games. He's not going to win you any football. Jake Fromm's not going to lose you any football games. He's not going to win you any football games,

but he's not going to lose you any football games. Chase Daniel, Matt Schaub, he'll be in the NFL for 15 years, but he might start 20, 25 games. That's the kind of guy he is. So Brady leaves, and you can keep the rest of the core together. You bring back Hollins or Van Nooy, you bring back McCourty, you get a stud-wide receiver in here. Then Fromm makes sense.

Outside of that, I don't see it unless he falls to day three. Jordan Love's going to be out of their reach. I don't get Lutton at all. I actually don't get why he's an NFL prospect. He's got a bad back. He can't throw the ball very far. He doesn't seem to be a fit for today's NFL. And Malcolm Perry, I mean, I could see it,

kind of like I saw Keenan Reynolds, but he's not a quarterback in the NFL. He's just not. That's the reality of it. So, you know, it's going to be interesting. But again, this all hinges on what happens with Tom Brady. There's no need for them to draft Jake Fromm if Tom Brady comes back. At that point, you have Jared Stidham. Stidham and Fromm are redundant. The only one that, Morgan's kind of interesting to me, again, of the guys they talk to, but I would love to see them on day three. Let Josh McDaniels get his hands on Cole McDonald and see what he can do with that play.

I would love to see that. I don't know that it happens, but I'd love to see it. Well, you know, you're the second guest that I've had on Lockdown Patriots this week that has sung the praises of Cole McDonald, and you're in great company. Did you have Mark Schofield on? Absolutely. Skull was my guest. Yeah, I knew it.

And the only other thing that he gushed about more than Cole McDonald on Wednesday was the cocktail sauce over at St. Elmo's in Indianapolis. So he's in very high company, and I'm glad that you mentioned that because he kind of whet my appetite when it came to him. I did look at some film on Cole, and I'll tell you, I was very impressed as well. Arm strength, mobility, that combination. Yeah, absolutely.

Go ahead. Here's the thing about Cole, and this is what I told everybody last year when I was trying to get people on board with him. He wasn't the best quarterback in college football, but he was the most exciting quarterback in college football, bar none. And some of that is just naturally the offense that Hawaii runs, right? You know, it's called Brennan. You're going to throw for 500 yards and five touchdowns,

whether it's one pick or five picks, it depends on the day. It depends on the way the wind's blowing. But there is an electricity there. It needs to be bottled up. But there is an electricity and just an innate ability. You can't describe it. You see it on tape, but it's not something you can qualify on tape. There are certain guys,

Patrick Mahomes, right, that just when a play needs to be made, they go out and they make the play. And they'll do things that are indescribable to make the play happen. That's Cole McDonald to me. It's a very raw ability. And, again, he shouldn't start in the NFL for two to three years. He's going to need that time to get ready.

He's a practice squad candidate. He's a guy that's a ways away. But if somebody can bottle it, and Josh McDaniels is supposedly great with quarterbacks, and he's wanted to work with a guy like this for a long time, right, a mobile quarterback. That's why they're supposedly interested in Mariota. That's why they were interested in Blake Portals.

This is the guy, then, Josh. This is the guy for him. He should go out and tell Bill, when you leave, I want Cole McDonald to be my quarterback. If he really thinks that he can take a mobile mold of clay and turn it into a superstar quarterback, Cole McDonald is the guy within the reason of where they can draft. If they can get Jordan Love, Jordan Love's that guy in

this year's draft. But not every team's going to have a shot at Jordan Love. Every team's going to have multiple shots of Cole McDonald. I'd love to see the Patriots end up with him. I really would. It would be a lot of fun. I think it would be as well. And you know what? When the Patriots take a flyer on a quarterback that has multiple chances to be drafted, sometimes it works out pretty damn well. And, you know, there's a guy that's had the job for 20 years that, you know, not everybody wanted, including the Patriots passing him over a few times, but they pulled the trigger on the deal in the sixth round.

I think McDonald may have to go before the sixth, but I think he can be had. And I think that does pose a very interesting topic and a very interesting situation down the line. We know from personal experience covering the team, Josh loves his projects. This would be one, and I think it could be one with an upside. So I'm so glad that you mentioned him. I know Skull will be glad as well. He'll add some more cocktail sauce onto this shrimp cocktail tonight

if he listens to this show, I'm sure, and it definitely gives him something to think about and all of us something to think about. Alex, what can I say? I appreciate you taking time out this afternoon to join me here on the Lockdown Patriots podcast. As always, please be sure to follow the man on Twitter.

Follow everything that he's doing. Alex is doing amazing work, not just with the Patriots, but if you're a Boston sports fan, he's covering all the major sports, and he's doing. Alex is doing amazing work, not just with the Patriots, but if you're a Boston sports fan, he's covering all the major sports, and he's doing it with class, and he's doing it with a perspective that I admire, and quite frankly, my friend, I envy a little bit because you have the ability to have that insight from a fan's perspective, but still from an analytical perspective that is really so tough to blend.

You do it so well. You make it easy. You make it look easy. It's not easy, but you make it look easy because of your brilliance. I did worry. I snapped the other day. I wrote that piece on the Patriots and Red Sox investigations from the leagues, and I felt I leaned a little too far one way,

but those are getting awfully annoying. So I'm ready to see those wrap up. But yeah, if you want to see me truly snap in a fan mode, that's up on 98.5 The Sports Hub and on my Twitter. Absolutely. And definitely follow Alex on Twitter. Follow him at 98.5 The Sports Hub. Before I let you go today, my friend,

just remind everyone of your Twitter handle and where they can always find your great work. Yep. At RealAlexBarth on Twitter, B-A-R-T-H, and 985thesportslub.com. Absolutely, and I tell you, you will not be disappointed either on the Twitter follow or on the written work. He does it, and he does it so well. Alex, thanks again for joining me today. Look forward to having you back here again.

Have a great weekend, my friend. Anytime. And so, Patriots fans, we wrap another week here on the Locked On Patriots podcast. I hope that you enjoyed the insight and the candor of my friend Alex Barth. Alex is among the most knowledgeable and the most entertaining guys in the business, and it's always my honor to share the microphone with him. As for me, I will be back here on Monday to bring you the latest selection from our friends at thedraftnetwork.com for Mock Draft Monday, and I'll also be providing my comprehensive

wrap-up of the 2020 NFL Draft Combine. As always, please be sure to join me each and every day here on the Locked On Patriots podcast. Subscribe and download via your preferred podcast provider. Once again, I'm Mike DeBate. I thank Alex Barth for his time, insight, and appearance today. But most of all, I thank you for listening and for staying locked in to Locked On Patriots.

Have a great weekend, everyone.