Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Change: New England Patriots Must Reassign Jared Wilson For 2026

Starting point is 00:00:00 This O-line faces some significant questions this offseason, and we've got answers for three of them. Let's fix up front. 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 in? I am your host, Nick Cattels, born and raised in New England.

Starting point is 00:00:30 Been covering the past for the past 16 years. Also, the co-host of the Greg Bedard Patriots podcast, with Nick Cattels and a sports radio veteran. Welcome to Lockdown Patriots. It's part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. Now the number one sports podcast network, your team every day. On today's show, Morgan Moses was Captain Dependable in 2025, but it's time the paths start thinking forward at right tackle.

Starting point is 00:00:57 That's in the third segment. In the second segment, Mike Owen, whose contract opens the door for some possible movement at right guard. First, one move that has to happen for 2026 is a changing of the guard on the left side. Overall, the offensive line was much better in 2025 than it was in 2024. I mean, I don't want to even remember what that O line looked like in 2024. It was that bad. Against good defenses this year, the offensive line was fine.

Starting point is 00:01:30 The offensive line made you feel pretty confident. but against top tier defenses, it was a little bit different. In the postseason, we saw some holes that were apparent, whether it's growth and staying with Will Campbell at left tackle or making some changes and finding ways to upgrade in certain spots to address some of the issues that we saw during this postseason run. Again, against good defenses, O line was okay. It was fine. It was passable.

Starting point is 00:02:01 Some would say it was even good. We shared the analytics with you all year long against top tier defenses, not nearly the same level. So I'll start here. Thank you for your 2025 service to the football team. But Jared Wilson, you are going to compete at center in 26. Let's just be honest. Jared Wilson was not good enough this past season. He was up and down and mostly down.

Starting point is 00:02:27 His down games were pretty brutal at times. Pro football focus had the overall grade for Jared Wilson as a 49.9. That was 72nd out of 81 guards. 72nd out of 81. His past blocking grade was better. He was 43rd out of 81 guards. His run block grade 75th out of 81 offensive guards. Now, I know pro football focus, their grading system can be polarizing.

Starting point is 00:02:59 But what does the eye test tell? you. The eye test tells you that at times Jared Wilson was bullied at left guard. He was pushed around. He was confused. And he was absolutely unequivocally inconsistent in the run game. He just was not good enough. And I don't put all of it on Jared Wilson. This should not be surprising that Wilson struggled at left guard this year because he was always a center prospect. Playing guard was more of an experiment than stamping the approval and saying he's going to be the next guy for the next 10 to 15 years at that position. At least I did not think that. Every time I've had this conversation about Jared Wilson playing guard in 2025, it was always looking towards the future and saying, hey, and then eventually you can slide him back to his natural position at center. That's what he got drafted as.

Starting point is 00:03:54 He was a center at Georgia. He was a center going into the draft. He was drafted as a center. the Patriots put him at left guard. Why? We'll get to that in a couple of minutes. But first, let's just talk about Jared Wilson, the center prospect that was walking into last year's draft. Dane Brugler of the athletic, one of the best, one of the best draft pundits and analysts and experts in all of football.

Starting point is 00:04:20 Dane Bruegler pointed out in his beast last year that one of the critical weaknesses of Jared Wilson was that he did not have. a proven positional versatility. So when you look at just 93 career snaps at Guard at Georgia, he just did not have proven positional versatility. That was one of the weaknesses. But let's talk about the strengths. Let's talk about what Dame Bruegler wrote about Jared Wilson before the draft last year. And if you're wondering, Bruegler had Wilson ranked as his second best center in the class. And he had, Bruegler had Wilson's grade as, a second round grade. Here's what Brugler wrote. Overall, Wilson lacks premium size and is fundamentally rough around the edges, but he sports the body control, movement skills, and football IQ to lock down a

Starting point is 00:05:14 long-term starting center role. His game is reminiscent of Rodney Hudson's, and he should compete for immediate starting reps. That was the book on Wilson. He's not a very big guy. He's fundamentally raw, but he has great body control. He's an incredible athlete. He is super smart, and he would be almost a perfect fit as your long-term center. And he should be getting immediate starting reps at center. He led all offensive line at the combine in 40-yard dash 4.84 and miles per hour at 21.04, which is the fastest ever for a center. And as Dame Brugler wrote, Wilson locates moving targets as a puller in the run game.

Starting point is 00:06:02 Lance Zerline of NFL.com. He wrote about Wilson. He wrote he's athletic, should continue improving with additional experience, additional experience at center, but will need help from bigger guards next to him. So when Lance Zerline looked at Jared Wilson as a college prospect,

Starting point is 00:06:21 he said, yeah, he's athletic. He should continue to improve, but he's going to need help from bigger guards that are next to him, which tells you he is not a guard. So why did he play guard in 2025? Great question. I've got three of my best educated guesses. Number one, the coaching staff thought that he had a higher upside than Ben Brown did at left guard. And so they said, we're going to put him at left guard. He's the best of the bunch that we have.

Starting point is 00:06:50 That's what we got to do. second educated guess. You get Wilson accustomed to the NFL size and speed, but they really wanted, the coaching staff really wanted a veteran at center with Drake May, young quarterback, first time in the scheme. So maybe they just wanted to lean in on a veteran center. And to give credit to Garrett Bradbury,

Starting point is 00:07:13 he played decently well this year. He exceeded expectations. And speaking of Bradbury, I do wonder if Mike Vrable, front office, when they signed Garrett Bradbury well before the NFL draft, you know, was that a situation where, hey, we're going to give you the first crack. We're going to give you the first crack at the starting sensor position. If you agree to sign with us, then we're going to give you that opportunity. You'll be our guy unless somebody knocks our socks off. because when you look at Garrett Bradbury, again, free agency, period,

Starting point is 00:07:50 you're talking about more than a month before the draft. Patriots front office had no idea that Jared Wilson would fall to them the way that he did. So I think you could look at all three of those possibilities. You might even combine them. Coaching staff thought that Jared Wilson had the highest upside at left guard out of the people that they had, the city soes of the world, the Ben Browns. Now you can agree or disagree with that, but that's how the coaching staff felt. maybe just trying to get Wilson out there and playing a full season on the offensive line

Starting point is 00:08:22 and wanting the veteran at center because the young quarterback in a new system, or maybe you just kind of promised Garrett Bradbury the starting center position. But none of that matters. It's in the back because what you need is you need somebody who is steady and good at left guard next to Will Campbell. And I said this going back months ago. you could check out the podcast episodes. And some people got upset, I think, at me at the time. But I had said, going back a few months ago,

Starting point is 00:08:53 if there was one nitpick, because it was a great offseason last year for the Patriots, if there was one nitpick that stood out to me the most, it was the fact that the Patriots decided to not trade for Joe Tooney. Joe Tooney went to Chicago for like a fourth round pick, I think it was, relatively easy deal to get done. You had the cap space to give him that contract extension. and I had said at the time, if you put Joe Tuny next to Will Campbell, that really changes the math.

Starting point is 00:09:19 I still feel that way. Joe Tuny's not available, unfortunately, this offseason. He's too busy winning the NFL Protector of the Year Award for his work with the Bears this past season. But you've got to find that good, steady left guard to put next to Will Campbell. If you go into 2026 with Will Campbell and Jared Wilson on the left side, I think you're hoping way too much. you did not see nearly enough to believe that those two guys should be starting every single week. I'm okay with Will Campbell at left tackle. We talked about it after the Super Bowl. I'll give him another shot, give him a full off season, yada, yada.

Starting point is 00:09:56 He played left tackle in the SEC. That was his position. Jared Wilson, you moved to left guard. I don't think it worked out consistently well enough for you. So move him back to center. Have him compete with Garrett Bradbury. If he beats out Garrett Bradbury, then you can cut Garrett Bratbury. then you can cut Garrett Bradbury and that would save you some money.

Starting point is 00:10:14 Or you just say I'm good with Ben Brown as my backup center wouldn't be against it. And you focus on starting Jared Wilson in 2026. You cut Garrett Bradbury before free agency. That saves you $5.7 million to fill other holes and needs on the football team. But I'm done. The left guard Jared Wilson experiment is over. Put him back where he belongs right at center. Whether you want him to compete,

Starting point is 00:10:40 with Bradbury or you cut Bradbury and use that money for other pieces, enroll with Wilson slash Ben Brown as your center combination, or maybe you draft another center in the later rounds as a developmental backup guy. Whatever you do, I don't want to see Jared Wilson back at left guard. I'm done with it. Speaking of guard, Michael Wenu arguably had his best season in 2025, but his contract could be a problem. Our plan at Wright Guard coming up next.

Starting point is 00:11:11 This is Lockdown Patriots, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Hey, it's Matt Derry from the Lockdown Lions podcast. The people I love depend on me. If I'm gone, the financial responsibilities don't disappear. I didn't want my family figuring things out during the hardest moment of their lives. That's why I knew only one place to go. I chose life insurance through my friends at Ethos. ethos makes getting life insurance fast and easy 100% online you can get a quote in seconds

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Starting point is 00:12:22 Hey, if you love this pod, but hate the interruptions, try the everydayer club. Add free Discord access and more. Go to lockdownpatriots.spotac.com or check the link in the show notes to learn even more. And of course, if you're watching us as we inch closer to our goal of 9,000 subscribers, Don't forget to click that thumbs up if you're watching on YouTube. Don't forget to throw a comment in. Are you with me? Have you had enough of Jared Wilson at left guard?

Starting point is 00:12:47 Put him back where he belongs. Put him at center and find a left guard that is going to be good and steady for you in 2026. Throw a comment in. Like, comment, and subscribe. The Patriots have a sneaky Mike Owenu decision that they got to figure out here. Mike Owenu's contract has an out, which means the Patriots can watch. walk away. He has one year left and he has a $25 million cap hit on the books this upcoming season. So you wonder, does that mean that Michael Wenu could end up a cap casualty?

Starting point is 00:13:27 Could he end up as a guy where the Patriots look at and say, you know what? We've got the out in the contract. He's only going to be, by the way, worth $7.5 million of dead cap. So it's not a huge dead cap number and you just move on from him and you look at right guard and you say we're going to reshuffle the deck a little bit up front we're going to find a new left guard we're going to find a new right guard that's not what I would do I would not do that I would actually stand firmly against that idea I would work with a WENU to restructure his contract add on a year or two and you can give him some new guaranteed money with the signing bonus you can play around with the funny money stuff, but I am keeping Mike Owenu.

Starting point is 00:14:12 He was your best offensive lineman over the last two and a half months of the season. And I don't even think there's that much of a doubt. Now, you might be able to debate and fight about Morgan Moses, who we're going to talk about next segment. But Mike Owenu to me was this team's most steady, most consistent and best offensive lineman for the last two, two and a half months. Owenu was so good this year that he actually received. all pro votes, not pro bowl votes.

Starting point is 00:14:39 He actually received all pro votes. And when you look at the way he played over the final two, two and a half months, now, yes, he had a tougher time against Seattle, but so did the entire offensive line. That to me was an offensive line problem, an offense problem versus just a Michael Wenoo problem. He had a tough time during a couple of reps in Super Bowl 60. but when you look at it overall, I mean, I thought he was mostly excellent after the first month, month and a half.

Starting point is 00:15:12 I thought he found his groove. I thought he played his best football in a Patriots uniform over the past couple of months. And I would look at that contract. I would look at the contract out. I would look at the one year left with a $25 million cap hit with the $7.5 million of dead cap money. I would look at that and I would go to Big Mike as they call him.

Starting point is 00:15:32 and I would say, big Mike, how about a restructure, my man? How about we tack on a couple of years to this contract? We want to take care of you. We want to lower your cap number so we can do some other business so we can get back to the Super Bowl in 2026. You work with us. We will work with you. We want you at right guard.

Starting point is 00:15:53 And Michael Wenu has been a victim of the circumstances to me. And I know the weight. He's got the weight issue that's been brought up. I understand, but Owenu has been a victim of circumstances. They spent a couple of years just flipping and flopping him between right tackle and right guard. I said, just pick a position for the young man and keep him there. And he had a full camp at right guard. He had a full season at right guard and wouldn't you know it was his best season,

Starting point is 00:16:25 his best season. So use that contract. You've got some wiggle room to work something out. where you can keep him for a couple of years. Now, I don't want to handcuff myself to Michael Wenow until like 20, 29, 2030. Let's not get outrageous. But for the next couple of years, yeah, why would you create more questions on your offensive line? Will Campbell, I think he's going to be fine at left tackle, but it's obvious he needs improvement.

Starting point is 00:16:54 He needs to get healthy. He needs to get stronger. We talked about it. Even though I think he'll be fine, you still have to look. at it and say, to be determined. He hasn't locked it down after what we saw over the final stretch. Now, he has a full camp. He gets out there. He looks really good in the first month, month, month and a half, two months. Then, hey, set it and forget it at left tackle, which would be great. But you're still walking into this offseason saying, yeah, we'll keep Will Campbell at

Starting point is 00:17:19 left tackle. We're confident he can eventually get there, but there are still some questions about him. We talked about Jared Wilson at left guard. I'm moving him back to center. Garrett Bradbury had a better year than expected, as I mentioned in the first segment, but he is into his 30s now. He's not the biggest guy. He struggled in some matchups. So you have some questions at left guard. You have some questions at center.

Starting point is 00:17:40 And again, we will get to Morgan Moses in the next segment, but Morgan Moses is in his mid-30s. So why would you, with some unknown at left tackle, hoping that there's improvement from Will Campbell and more consistency. but right now I would say you don't know who your left guard is going to be. You probably don't know who your center is going to be. You have options, but you don't know. And then you got Moses who's 35 or going to be 35.

Starting point is 00:18:09 Do you want to take the right guard out of the equation too? Do you just want to throw the entire offensive line up in the air? And again, we saw, you know, four out of the five starters this year, minus Michael Wenow. We're new to the offensive line. You want to do that again in 2026. have four new starters, not I. I think you got to keep a winnow.

Starting point is 00:18:33 He brings stability to the offensive line. He's a good run blocker, not the greatest at times, but he is a good run blocker. ESPN ranked him 20th in the NFL in past block win rate on the interior offensive line. So ESPN would tell you he was one of the best interior offensive linemen when it comes to protecting the quarterback last time I checked. That was pretty important. We saw play out against Seattle and Houston and L.A. So 20th and past block win rate.

Starting point is 00:19:10 Good run blocker. Got some all pro votes. He's still in his late 20s, 28, 29 years old. He is experienced in the Josh McDaniels offense. He knows what he's doing. He knows what's going to be asked of him. He has experienced in this new quote unquote, Josh McDaniel's offense, knows what was asked of him, knows what is expected, and you have chemistry

Starting point is 00:19:33 on that right side with Owenu and Moses. If you're going to change your left side by going out and getting a new left guard, do you really want to change your right side as well? It's just too much, right? It's too much juggling and shuffling for juggling and shuffling sake. Michael Weno was more than good enough to be your starting right guard in 2026. That's exactly where I would put him. He will remain my starting right guard, try to work on the contract, create some extra cap space so you can go out and find some other help. But I'm not moving him.

Starting point is 00:20:09 I'm not getting rid of him. I'm not trading him. I'm keeping him right where he is. All right. I don't want to, but we have to. The future at right tackle. That's coming up. This is Lockdown Patriots.

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Starting point is 00:22:35 Don't forget to like. Don't forget to comment. Don't forget to subscribe. We're over 8,900 subscriptions on YouTube. You can help us out trying to get to 9,000. Morgan Moses, he turns 35 years old in March. Preemptive happy birthday to Morgan Moses. Happy B-Day, big guy.

Starting point is 00:22:53 Moses has only guaranteed $4.5 million in 2026. That's not big money. I mean, it's big money to me. It's big money to you. It's big money to some NFL players. But, you know, overall, when you're looking at the salary cap and bigger decisions that you have to make, four and a half million is not going to make or break you. But I have, even though he's going to be 35 in March, and even though he'll cost you

Starting point is 00:23:19 $4.5 million guaranteed, I have zero, zero point zero issue. planning on Morgan Moses being my right tackle in 2026. If you told me that Will Campbell, Michael Wenu, and Morgan Moses were coming back at left tackle, right guard, right tackle, respectively. I would be okay with that. Because Moses, we talked about Campbell, just talked about Awenu, let's focus on Morgan. Morgan Moses, mostly really good this year. Pro football focus graded him as the 27th.

Starting point is 00:23:53 best tackle in football. Now, you might say 27th best tackle, Nick. Loop-de-do. Well, that's both right and left side. So you have 64 tackles. And Morgan Moses was graded as the 27th best out of those 64. That's not too shabby.

Starting point is 00:24:15 That's not too shabby. That is a solid, dependable, good right tackle. Let's go back to ESPN. run block win rate. Moses was seventh in run block win rate. And that's out of all tackles in the league. ESPN, that metric says that Morgan Moses was a top 10 run blocking tackle in football in 2025. You don't think that's important?

Starting point is 00:24:42 Don't we want balance? Don't we want to make sure that this offense is not one dimensional? Now, of course, Morgan Moses might not be the same guy in 2026. he might take a slight step back, but he started every single game this year. He played through some injuries, but he played every single game. With that said, you have to have a backup plan.

Starting point is 00:25:05 You have to have a backup plan because Moses is 35 years old. You have to look at it and say he might just run out of gas. He might have the best intentions, but he gets out there and he's just not the same guy. that is absolutely possible. Some might argue probable. There's also the possibility that Moses says to himself, I'm ready for another year, comes to camp and retires.

Starting point is 00:25:32 We've seen that happen a lot in the NFL. Guys, again, have all the best intentions. They show up to camp. They feel like they've got at least one more year left in them. And then after a couple of weeks, sometimes a couple of days, Wes Schweitzer, remember that guy? He signed with the Patriots last off season. and he was going to be competing for the center left guard job.

Starting point is 00:25:52 He retired after like the first day or second day of camp. It happens. So you have to make sure you have security at right tackle. Not only because Moses can run out of gas, not only because he might end up retiring, but also he has had a number of injuries. He's played through all of them. But eventually if you're the Patriots and you want to cover yourself,

Starting point is 00:26:14 CYA style, you've got to look at it and say, well, that next injury could be more significant, and that might cost him a long period of time. So I'm okay with Moses coming back in 2026 and planning for him to be the starting right tackle as long as you have a backup plan. Now, Greg Bedard, my buddy, said on our podcast last week that from what he has heard from the coaching staff,

Starting point is 00:26:38 Marcus Bryant, who you drafted last year out of Missouri, he was Missouri's left tackle. Armand Membue was their right tackle in 2024. Marcus Bryant, according to Greg Bedouard's sources, he's still developing. So he might not be ready to be that guy. He might not even be ready to be the backup right tackle next year. Now, technically, he was the backup right tackle this year, but I think the idea is you want to upgrade on that. Maybe you look at Marcus Bryant as a swing tackle possibly, but he's still developing.

Starting point is 00:27:09 Vedarian Lowe, you know, he has somebody, again, free agent coming up. He's a left tackle by trade. and he hasn't really shown any aptitude to play on the right side. You would say Caden Wallace going back to the 2024 draft, but the Patriots made a decision to move Cade and Wallace to guard, which should tell you after further evaluation, they don't believe he's a tackle at the NFL level. Now, maybe they go back, but are you confident?

Starting point is 00:27:36 Like right now, I'm not confident. If everything worked out perfectly, maybe Marcus Bryan is the guy for the future. Maybe you could slide Caden Wallace back to tackle, and he's your backup right tackle. But right now, from what we know, I don't think you can go into 2026 with Moses as your plan as starting right tackle with what you have right now on your roster being the top guys behind him.

Starting point is 00:27:58 I just, I would not do that. The ideal approach to me is you draft a young tackle. And I'm not talking about waiting until the middle rounds. You draft a tackle with one of your top three picks. You'll be picking, by the way, 31st. So the first three picks for the Patriots in this year's draft, number 31, number 63, number 95. I need a tackle out of one of those three picks. And as a matter of fact, if I have to trade up from one of those spots to draft a tackle, that's what I'm doing.

Starting point is 00:28:29 You draft a young tackle. You say that's our right tackle of the future. And you put that young tackle under the learning tree of Morgan Moses. And we know, Moses, man, you want to talk about a leader. That's why even if that draft pick ends up beating out Moses at right tackle, I don't think Moses would have a huge issue with that. If he gets beat out, I think he is a leader. I think he is a culture setter.

Starting point is 00:28:56 And I think Morgan Moses would say, okay, fine. The young man beat me out, but I still want to play. Maybe you put him, you know, maybe put Moses at right tackle too if the young gun outguns the veteran. But that's what I would do. I'd go in. So my overall offensive line play, a plan rather. I'm putting Jared Wilson back at center. Let him compete with Garrett Bradbury, cut Garrett Bradbury, whatever you want to do.

Starting point is 00:29:20 But I am putting Jared Wilson back at his rightful position at center. I want to go out and find a good, steady, dependable left guard to put next to Will Campbell. I'm keeping Michael Wenow at right guard because I thought he was mostly tremendous for a vast majority of the season of 2025. I'm not messing around. I'm not creating more holes on that O line. I'm keeping a Weno where he is. I'm going into next year with the idea that Moses is my right tackle, but I am absolutely using one of my top two or three picks to draft a right tackle of the future.

Starting point is 00:29:53 And that guy can compete with Moses. And if he beats out Moses, Moses is my insurance policy on the bench to play tackle. That's what I would do. That's what I'm looking at when I'm trying to break down this offensive line. Going to be a busy off season, my friends. All right, 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 Nick C Radio.

Starting point is 00:30:17 And don't forget to throw a comment in on the YouTube channel. Hit that like button and subscribe. And if you're looking for a gift for someone, make it easy. Check out the Everydayer Club. Add free episodes of this show, exclusive Discord server access and more. Just five bucks a month, 50 bucks to the year. Subs can be gifted through lockdownpatriots. dot supercast.com. Have a great day and we will see you tomorrow.

Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Change: New England Patriots Must Reassign Jared Wilson For 2026

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