Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - BREAKING: Stefon Diggs AXED by Patriots | Report: Pats Big Game HUNTING

Starting point is 00:00:00 Stefan Diggs is on his way out of New England, which likely means another big name is on their way in. 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 Cattle, has been covering the paths for the past 16 years, co-host of the Greg Bedard Patriots podcast. And I welcome you. It's a lockdown Patriots, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. Now the number one sports podcast network, your team every day. On today's show, five names on the offensive side that we'd like to see the Pats target and free agency.

Starting point is 00:00:49 In the second segment, a report came out on Wednesday morning, and it absolutely feels like it's tied to the Stefan Diggs news. But first, speaking of Diggs, he's headed out of New England. Adam Schaeffer reporting on Wednesday. The Pats informed Diggs he is going to be released next week. Tom Pelliserro of the NFL network posted. Diggs had an additional $6 million set to become fully guaranteed next week. Friday, the Patriots did not want to drag him along and informed him. They're moving on, giving him a jumpstart.

Starting point is 00:01:23 He'll be released next Wednesday. This was the March 13th guarantee that we had been talking about. and that we thought would create some urgency about the situation. As we had mentioned in prior podcasts, this $6 million guarantee by March 13th, if the Patriots could not rework a deal with Diggs, it would not be a surprise whatsoever if they waved goodbye to Steph Diggs. And that's what they did.

Starting point is 00:01:54 Loss Talk Pats, Carlos Lopez posted. If the Pats had kept Diggs, his cap hit would have gone from 10.5 million this past season to 26 and a half million in 2026. New England cut ties with Diggs solely to financial reasons, and that was from Mike Reese, and they will now save more than $16 million against the cap. Let's start here. Diggs was terrific in 2025. He exceeded all expectations. He exceeded my expectations, your expectations, and probably even his own expectations. I mean, this was a guy coming off ACL surgery in his 30s. You figure if he could catch 55, 60, 65 footballs, that would be a tremendous year.

Starting point is 00:02:40 He broke a thousand yards. He was way better than I ever thought he would be in 2025. He was productive, and he also was a surprise leader on the team and a surprise leader in that wide receiver room. How many big catches did digs have in 2025? Third down catches. Fourth down catches, the touchdown catch against the Houston Texans in the playoffs. He had so many big catches this past year for Drake May. But the fact is, he was never, he was never going to play on that contract.

Starting point is 00:03:18 It just was not going to happen. We had been talking about it for weeks. $20.6 million on the base too much for digs. 26 and a half million dollar cap hit. Too much for Diggs. As great as he was, as great as he was in 2025, he also has lots of baggage. The court case.

Starting point is 00:03:46 We have no idea what's going to happen to Diggs legally. No clue. Still hovering over him. He turns 33 years old in November. No spring chicken. friends. And he has faded, right? I mean, he faded in the playoffs. He faded towards the end of the season. He was not the same guy. Now, I don't think that was all on digs. I do think he was open from time to time in the playoffs. And Drake May just did not find him. But he was not the same guy

Starting point is 00:04:20 week in and week out. He'd have a big week. Then he'd have a couple of weeks where I wouldn't say he went missing, but he wasn't the same guy. He wasn't giving you the same level of production. He couldn't necessarily beat double teams. So when you look at where he's at now and you have to project what he's going to do in 2026, I don't know if he's going to be the same guy next year. I have no idea. You usually don't get better at professional sports as you get older. So the court case, the age, the fact that he faded towards the latter part of last season. I also saw some frustration from Stefan Diggs on the field as the year went on in the playoffs, multiple times kind of putting his hands up, wondering why he wasn't getting the football,

Starting point is 00:05:13 being a little bit more demonstrative than that from time to time. So it felt like the frustration was starting to build. And as we've seen with Diggs in the past, you know, that first year, first year and a half, everything is great. His relationship with the quarterback is awesome. He's saying all the right things. And then the frustration builds and builds and builds and builds. And you get to a certain point with Stefan Diggs where you got to say to yourself, is he actually doing more harm than good for us?

Starting point is 00:05:45 That's what happened in Minnesota. That's what happened in Buffalo. Not so much Houston. That was the injury situation. But as you saw Diggs start to fade somewhat towards the latter part of the year, and then you saw his frustration start to build. I don't think it's crazy for the Patriots to look at that and say, all right, are we dealing with a little bit too much here?

Starting point is 00:06:09 And is this going to turn ugly eventually in 2026? And if we bring somebody else in and Stefan Diggs is not getting as many targets as he did this past year, is that going to create even more frustration? So on top of the money, I do think there were legitimate questions about Diggs on the field and how much he was really going to be worth in 2026. Of course, now the Patriots have a serious need at wide receiver. Right now your wide receiver depth chart is Kishon Booty, Matt Collins, Kyle Williams, Pop Douglas, F. Nchisholm.

Starting point is 00:06:47 And I'm just going to guess here. There is no way. There is no way that Mike Vrable, Elliott Wolf, Ryan Cowden, there's no way that the Pats are going to walk into 2026 with Drake May as their quarterback, with those wide receivers currently on the roster, to go along with a draft pick or two.

Starting point is 00:07:12 I absolutely believe they have a plan. which leads me to the question of whether or not are they big game hunting. Reportedly, they are. Jordan Schultz posted per sources the Patriots have been in on the big names on the wide receiver free agent market and are believed to be prepared to spend big. Alec Pierce is among the names they have been eyeing. The trade market is also an option. More from Schultz.

Starting point is 00:07:40 The Patriots made several attempts last year to land a wide receiver and couldn't. including a big offer for Chris Godwin. They did add digs, of course, but you get the point. This year coming off a Super Bowl, and with everyone realizing what Drake May is, there's a belief they can have their pick on the wide receiver market. Players will want them. Now, there's a belief. If that's the Patriots belief, great.

Starting point is 00:08:06 Does it end up actually happening? I don't know. But it's obvious the Patriots believe that they can walk into free agency with the cap space that they have and the quarterback that just played great during this past season, runner-up MVP, they feel like they can walk into free agency, put money on the table, and a wide receiver will be much more, much more excited and open to the idea of joining the Patriots. And they will be more excited than they were this past season.

Starting point is 00:08:39 And you go back to last off season. One more thing I do wonder. did the Patriots just put pressure on Philadelphia? If Philadelphia is trying to hold off on an AJ Brown trade, and they're trying to get everything they can get from the Patriots, did the Patriots just put pressure on the Eagles because they just created 16 plus more million dollars in cap space, and Alec Pierce did not get tagged by the Colts.

Starting point is 00:09:11 And Alec Pierce, you know, he goes on to program, today. I think it was up in Adams and says that he owes it to himself to check out the free agency market, to go into free agency. And so now if you're the Eagles and you thought you had the Patriots over a barrel, that the Patriots just changed the math. And does this create more urgency from Philly to get that deal done? Because now you just opened up the cap space. You don't have the cap pit from Diggs with the, you know, and what's going on with him. So now you can put A.J. Brown in that dig spot and pay AJ Brown the money. Just food for thought.

Starting point is 00:09:49 I do wonder if this puts more pressure on Philly before free agency hits on Monday. Because the Patriots can now tell Howie Roseman, look, we can either get this deal done or we're going to go sign a big name free agent and we're out of this thing. No more conversations. We're cutting it off. Interesting. You know, my mind was already working on a Stefan Diggs replacement. on Wednesday morning after a certain report surfaced.

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Starting point is 00:11:24 Ethos.com slash lockdown NFL application times and rates may vary. Free agency is here and so are we. Get one month free of the Everydayer Club with Code Free Agency. No space is now through March 15th. Go add free and keep this conversation going on Discord.

Starting point is 00:11:42 You can join the club at lockdownpatriots. com. Check the link in the show notes. to learn even more. Don't forget watching us on YouTube to click that thumbs up. Give us a like. Helps us with the algorithm. Gets more eyeballs to the content. Don't forget to throw a comment in as well. Your thoughts on Stefan Diggs getting released and subscribe. The next goal is 10,000 subscribers. Before the Diggs release was mentioned by Adam Schaefter, and before that news was leaked out, there was an interesting report that came out about a

Starting point is 00:12:18 possible Patriots target. And I actually linked that report. You can check it out on Twitter at Nick C. Radio on Wednesday morning. I linked that report that we're going to talk about right now to a possible digs release. So what was the report? Jonathan Jones from CBS wrote on Wednesday. One Bears player, plenty around the league or keeping an eye on, is wide receiver

Starting point is 00:12:46 DJ Moore. The Patriots could be a landing spot for more if the Bears do a deal involving the receiver. And immediately, I said to myself, self, could this be the Patriots replacing Diggs? Because when you look at D.J. Moore in his game, it reminds you of Diggs. D.J. Moore is that Z-type receiver where you can move him around, you play him out of the slot. He's that type of guy. I mean, just look at the comps. Let's look at the size.

Starting point is 00:13:20 DJ Moore, 6 foot, 210 pounds. Diggs, 6 foot 191. 40-yard dash. Moore, rent a 4-4-2. Diggs, rent a 4-4-6. The 20-yard shuttle. Moore, rent a 407. Diggs, rent a 4-1-1.

Starting point is 00:13:35 The three cone drill. Moore, 6.95. Diggs, 7.03. vertical more much better than digs had a 39.5 39 and a half inch vert digs had a 35 inch vertical and you go back to lance zerlines 2018 scouting report at nfl.com i pulled it up in the nfl comp to dj more for dj more was digs here's what zirlein wrote more is bigger than former terrapin wide out digs but they're playing style and athletic ability while at Maryland are similar. Plus short area foot quickness.

Starting point is 00:14:17 Moore works back to his quarterback. Hands are not exceptional, but they are solid and strong. Has athletic talent to contort and snag throws way behind him. Dangerous catch and run option. Sound familiar? I mean, if you're trying to find somebody who is an NFL vet that could replace Diggs pretty much right away, it would be DJ Moore. Now, there was an athletic story by Kevin Fishbane and Dan Weider.

Starting point is 00:14:49 And they wrote, I don't think DJ Moore, this is what a league source said to them. I don't think DJ has lost a step or anything like that. All the physical ability is still there. And, you know, we talk about explosivity with Alec Pierce. And we'll get to Alec Pierce during the next segment. But we talk about explosivity, right? Well, you go back to that athletic story that was written a couple of days ago about DJ Moore's future in Chicago. And here's what the athletic wrote.

Starting point is 00:15:21 One GM labeled Moore, quote, a really good ball and hand guy, unquote, and quote, a big play spark, unquote. Another assistant coach praised Moore's talent with on the move routes, seeing a playmaker still very capable of performing at a high level. When you look at more his game similar to Diggs, he is more than three years younger than Diggs. So you have to keep that in mind. You get pretty much a Diggs clone who is three years younger than Diggs. Now many will question if more fits the culture. They'll all go back my good friend Greg Bedard on Twitter,

Starting point is 00:16:07 tweeted at me when I brought up the idea of whether or not the Patriots, were looking at more as a possible replacement for digs and mentioned the guy who quit and walked off the field and went to the bench. You know, the last route as a Chicago bear will be remembered, not so fondly by Bears fans, did more quit on the route. So there have been some instances on the field where you question whether or not more has put in full effort. But I want to go back to that story from the athletic. Here's what Fishpane and Weeder wrote. All the praise, Ryan Poles, the GM,

Starting point is 00:16:46 and head coach Ben Johnson poured on more at the combine, was not just fodder for a brochure intended to lure potential suitors. The Bears' coaches in front office value more's intelligence, versatility, and underrated durability. Sound like a variable guy? IQ, versatile, durable? will continue.

Starting point is 00:17:09 The Bears do not discount Moore's toughness, especially at a position like receiver. He is also well regarded inside the locker room. Sound like a Vrable guy to you? Sounds like a Vrable guy to me. And now that we know Diggs is gone, if you're going to be worried about the couple of instances from Moore on the field,

Starting point is 00:17:31 I would remind everybody that DJ Moore has considerable less baggage than Diggs has. That's not even a question. You look at the money. Makes some sense. Diggs's base was supposed to be $20.6 million. Moore's base is $23.485.

Starting point is 00:17:52 When you look at the cap hit, Diggs's cap hit was $26.5 million. Moore's cap hit is $28.5 million. So not a whole heck of a lot of difference financially. to what you would have owed Stefan Diggs, to what you will owe DJ Moore if you make that trade. And again,

Starting point is 00:18:13 you're getting three plus years younger with more. And I don't think more is going to cost you a ton. I think he would cost you much less than A.J. Brown, different receivers, but I think he would cost you less. Chicago has Roma Dunzei.

Starting point is 00:18:30 They've got Luther Burden. They've got Tidang Colston Loveland. they've got three guys they've got to get the football to. DJ Moore in 2026 is going to be option four or five if he stays in Chicago. The bears right now are also over the cap. They're about $7.5 million over the cap. They have needs at edge. They're reportedly involved with the Max Crosby trade talks.

Starting point is 00:18:58 If you want to trade for Crosby, you've got to find a way to, you know, get some money off those books. a more trade would accomplish that. Offensive tackle, Ozzie Tripillo. Looks like he's going to miss 2026. They need to figure that out. Drew Dalman, their pro bowl center just decided to retire.

Starting point is 00:19:18 They've got to figure that out. So the money crunch is real in Chicago. And it's a luxury to have DJ more on your roster at the numbers cap-wise when you have the Adunze's burdens and Loveland. In that athletic story, they spoke to somebody who believed it would take a fourth round pick to trade for more.

Starting point is 00:19:43 Don't forget the Patriots happen to have two fourth round picks. So now that Diggs is gone, you need a Z type. You have two fourth round picks. The money pretty much a wash between more and Diggs. You trade one of those fourth round picks for more. He comes in. He's your Z type. And then maybe you draft that big bodied X because as we talked about on the podcast yesterday,

Starting point is 00:20:09 that big bodied X, that's a position of depth in this draft. All right. Coming up, five names on offense. We'd like to see the Pat's Target and Free Agency. This is Lockdown Patriots, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. This episode is sponsored by Better Health. March is a time to celebrate women, especially around International Women's Day, and to recognize just how much they carry at work in relationships and families and in all the unseen roles they step into every single day.

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Starting point is 00:21:35 every single one of you. You know, I expect more activity in free agency for the Patriots on offense than defense. You feel more settled on defense than offense. And there are lots of names to choose from. So I'm going to give you five offensive targets. I'm going to start with the guy that we talked about in yesterday's episode. I want to talk about them more in this episode, especially now with all the reports about digs and the Patriots looking to spend big at receiver. Alec Pierce, 6'3, 211 pounds. He turns 26 years old in May. Tom Pelliserro had a note on Pierce.

Starting point is 00:22:14 He is number one in the NFL in 40-plus yard receptions the last two years. And we talk about explosivity. I mentioned it in the first segment. You want explosives, explosives, explosives. The Patriots offense was so dependent on the explosive plays in 2025. And there is nobody in the NFL that is better at creating explosive plays via the deep pass than Alec Pierce. Pro football focus graded Pierce as the 16th best receiver in football in 2025. He's not just a downfield guy. He's also a willing blocker. You know, he's got a big body

Starting point is 00:22:58 at 6-3-211. He's willing to block, which we know is an important part of the Josh McDaniels offense. And I think that also helps you with his versatility. You can slide him in to help block. You can play him outside, of course, where he has done most of his work in Indianapolis. But Alec Pierce, I think, has some untapped potential. And I think he could impact the game with more underneath routes as well. I don't think he's a one-trick pony. I think Indianapolis used him as a one-trick pony. I think he has more potential than that.

Starting point is 00:23:37 And he would be a tremendous fit. He's going to cost you a ton of money, but he would be a tremendous fit for the Patriots. It makes all the sense in the world. Now that the digs numbers are off the books and you have just created almost $17 million more in cap space, it makes all the sense in the world to go hard after Alec Pierce. He is young.

Starting point is 00:24:00 He fits Drake May perfectly. And he would be such an explosive element to your offense. And you wouldn't have to give up anything other than money. And it would allow you to go draft a Z type guy if you wanted to do that in the draft to replace digs. So I just think it makes sense. another target on the offensive side. I'm going to try to not butcher the name. Isaac Seymalo.

Starting point is 00:24:29 Isaac Seamalo at left guard. Pittsburgh Steelers. He's a big time vet. And Isaac Seamalo can block in the zone run game. He can block in the power run game. We know the Patriots did both this past season. And when you look at the analytics, they love Seamalo.

Starting point is 00:24:52 He was number three in the NFL. I just put two fingers up when I said three. It's been a long day. Number three in the NFL at Guard at Interior Offensive Line in past Rush win rate. The only two interior offensive linemen that were better in past Rush win rate were Creed Humphrey, all world center for the Kansas City Chiefs, and Joe Tooney. We all know about Joe Tooney. that's how good Seymaldo was at left guard in pass protection in 2025, third best in the league.

Starting point is 00:25:27 But that's not it. Seamalo was also fourth in the NFL in run block win rate. So he was top five in past protection and run blocking according to the ESPN metric. He is good against power rushers, something that we saw Jared Wilson struggle with. You're not going to be able to bowl. bulldoze Isaac Seymalo as much as you were able to bulldoze Jared Wilson. And I just, I love the idea of putting the 10-year NFL veteran next to Will Campbell. Steady, solid, not going to get trucked in pass pro.

Starting point is 00:26:08 And I think you could look at a two-year deal. Maybe it'll take three years. But Isaac Seamalo is my number one target at left guard. Alec Pierce, my number one target at wide receiver. My number one, I'll say that again, my number one target at tight end, another need for the Patriots, is Cade Otten, 27 years old in April. So he turns 27 next month. Now, the thing that I really like about Kate Otten is that he can play in line, right?

Starting point is 00:26:37 So you can play him as a blocking tight end. He's not an exceptional blocking tight end, but he's had moments where he's looked really good. And I think that, you know, he is capable, more than capable of playing in line and blocking for you at times. He also showed while he was at Tampa that he could play in the slot. You know, you've got like the power slot, quote unquote, the power slot receiver. Otten can play that. So he can play the role of Mack Hollins from time to time from 2025. And I just think there's untapped potential there with production from a receiver.

Starting point is 00:27:15 standpoint because there have been so many options in Tampa Bay that he's kind of been, you know, smothered. He's kind of somebody that gets, you know, smothered by the depth of Tampa. I mean, when you're in Tampa and you're dealing with, you know, Mike Evans and Chris Godwin and Emeka Abuka, there are so many players that they throw the football to. And Kadaun is towards the end of that list, not because he's not good, but because those other guys are just really good. And so I think all of a sudden, if Kdaaten is your second or third, I would say third, hopefully fourth. But if he's your third option or fourth option, I do think he's capable of bringing in more production. And the fact that he's going to be 27 in April, you have to get younger at that

Starting point is 00:28:04 position. So he can do some blocking. I think he's got untapped potential as a receiver. He's younger. Kate Otten, my number one target at tight end in free agency. I'll give you two other names. One name we discussed early on this offseason, and that's Joel Betonio. If you don't want to spend the money on Isaac Seymalo, if you don't want to go to three years, maybe four years with Seamalo, then you look at Joel Betonio. He might be the perfect plug-in-play one-year veteran guy at Left Guard who can get the job done.

Starting point is 00:28:43 And then I'll give you one more tight end name. Chigazim Akonkwo. He's not much of a blocker. But if you're going to draft a Y tight end, which is the inline tight end, the blocking tight end, if you end up drafting that inline blocking tight end,

Starting point is 00:29:03 then you can go out and you can spend the money on somebody like Akonkwo who can go along with Hunter Henry. Now you have, you know, a Conquo who is a better athlete and can do some more things. He's younger. He's, you know, 26 years old or so. So you're getting younger again. So five names.

Starting point is 00:29:21 Those are five names. Pierce, Seamalo, Aten, Betonio, and Akonkwo. Five names, I'd like to see the Patriots target and free agency on the offensive side of the ball. That wraps up this edition of Lockdown Patriots. Thank you for making us your first listen and for being an everydayer. Reach out to me on Twitter at N. Nick C. Radio. And don't forget to throw a comment in on the YouTube channel, hit that like button and subscribe. And don't forget, get one month free of the everydayer club with code free agency.

Starting point is 00:29:50 No spaces now through March 15th. Join the club at lockdownpatriots.com. Have a great day and we will see you tomorrow.

Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - BREAKING: Stefon Diggs AXED by Patriots | Report: Pats Big Game HUNTING

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