Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Delving Into the Defense: Patriots Defensive Depth in 2020 - 5/28/2020

Episode Date: May 28, 2020

Defense wins championships. While the expectations for the 2020 New England Patriots may have changed, their reliance on a stout defense remains constant. Joining host Mike D’Abate is Taylor Kyles of SB Nation’s Pats Pulpit to discuss the interior defensive line, the linebackers and the new rookies defending the ball in Foxboro. 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. Positional Depth Chart Week continues here on the Lockdown Patriots podcast. And today, we're going to get a little defensive. But fear not, folks.

Not too defensive, because Lockdown Patriots is still your daily home for news, notes, and analysis, kicked up a notch with the occasional opinion on your six-time Super Bowl champions, the New England Patriots. And Pats fans, today's episode is brought to you by Built Bar. Built Bar is a delicious protein bar that tastes just like a candy bar. Go to BuiltBar.com today and use the promo code LOCKEDON to get $10 off your first order. Patriots Nation, it is Thursday, May 28, 2020.

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 that's right, folks, because it's your team every day, that means your questions, comments, and feedback, always

welcomed, always appreciated. And you can always feel free to share that feedback by reaching out to me and following me on Twitter at MDABATEFPC. And while you're out there motivating around through that Twitterverse, please be sure to follow the Lockdown Patriots account as well at LO underscore Patriots. Pats fans, once again, here on the Locked On Patriots podcast, Positional Depth Chart Week rolls along. And for the past couple of days,

we've been taking an offensive look at the New England Patriots roster. Tuesday was for the tight ends. Wednesday was for the wideouts. But today here on the pod, we're going to flip the script. And that means Locked On Patriots is going to get a little defensive. Or maybe I should put the emphasis on the right syllable, defensive. And that means we're going to talk some defense, primarily the interior of the defensive line, the defensive ends, and the linebacking core. Because at the end of the day, folks, the defense is still the strength of this football team. I don't think it's a stretch of the imagination to say that the Patriots want

to build on what they utilized last year, a very strong defense and an efficient offense. But the Patriots have some new faces on the defense this year, both on that interior of the defensive line and in the linebacking core. And today I'll be taking a deep dive into all of those depth charts, and I have some practical assistance from one of the best in the business at breaking down defensive film. Taylor Kyles of Pat's Pulpit joins me today here on the Locked On Patriots podcast. And for those of you that follow Taylor on Twitter, you already know he's one of the best in the business of doing this. Folks, if you're not following him, I cannot recommend it highly enough.

His breakdown, both offensive and defensive players, is second to none. Taylor has a passion for breaking down film. He has an immeasurable talent for breaking down film. And I could not think of anyone better to share the microphone with today to talk a little Patriots defense right here on day three of Positional Depth Chart Week here on the Locked on Patriots podcast. So sit tight, folks. Action-packed episode on tap for you today. And I know you'll enjoy what we have in store for you today

when Taylor Kyles joins me here in just a moment. But first, if you had to identify three tenets of playing defense under Bill Belichick for the New England Patriots, it would probably be intelligence, discipline, and high energy. Let's face it, in order to complete whatever task you have on your plate, you need energy and finding that energy to complete these daily tasks lately is not exactly easy. But neither is finding a healthy, low-calorie treat that is just as delicious. Well, good news, folks. Your search for a protein bar that gives you everything you need and everything you want is over because Built Bar is that tasty treat that you've been looking for. So don't delay. Make it your go-to protein bar today.

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And get this, seven times fewer carbs, seven times fewer sugar grams, and more protein. So how can it be that good for you and taste that good? Well, folks, all I can tell you is Built Bar is just that good. Go to BuiltBar.com and use promo code LOCKEDON to get $10 off your first box at BuiltBar.com. And all this week, get an additional $5 off every box. That is an amazing deal. So again, visit BiltBar.com, B-U-I-L-T-B-A-R.com, enter promo code LOCKEDON for $10 off your first box. You too can eat healthy while indulging in a delicious treat. Don't delay, make Bilt Bar your go-to protein bar today. Patriots fans, the last time this man was my guest here on Locked On Patriots, I described

him as a true rising star in sports media. Well, he's not only eclipsed that, but he's well on his way toward being a sports media juggernaut. His ability to break down film and explain it in a clear and concise manner makes him a favorite of mine and so many others on social media. You know his great work from Pat's Pulpit of SB Nation. He is also one half of the hosting tandem of the Patriots Perspective podcast with Bobby Kravitzky, another friend of the program.

My guest today is Taylor Kiles, and he joins me today on Locked on Patriots. Taylor, welcome back to the podcast, my friend, and thank you for joining me today. Thank you, brother. Every time I come on, you make me blush, always with the fantastic compliments. I'm not sure about Juggernaut. You're always so nice with the words, but I appreciate it, man. Just love watching some film. Those words are chosen very carefully, my friend, I assure you.

Look, bottom line, they're well-deserved. I'm always impressed by the work that you put out. You and Bobby do a great job with the podcast. I'm always in awe of the work that you put in with Film Breakdown. It's not easy to do what you do, my friend. You make it look easy, and that's part of your brilliance. And we joked offline before we started recording today, it's been a while since you've been on Locked On, Patriots, and I think a little too long.

We need to fix that. But you know what? You're here right now. I'm psyched that you're here. So without further ado, my friend, let's talk a little Patriots defense. Because Taylor, as you may or may not know, this week on Locked on Patriots, I've been taking a deep dive into the positional depth charts, and so far, the week has had a focus on offense. But today, we're going to flip the script, and you've been doing some amazing defensive

film analysis lately, so I'd like to start there. The Patriots' defense was truly their strength in 2019. I believe that's going to continue in 2020, albeit with a different look. So starting with the defensive front, the Patriots bid farewell to Danny Shelton. It's likely that his spot is going to be taken by Bo Allen, but their returning Lawrence Guy, I think one of the most underrated defenders in the league, he's coming back off of a great year, and they did retain a familiar and, in my opinion, valuable face on that D-line, and that belongs to Adam Butler.

Butler was a force last year in the Patriots' defensive line. A fact that I had actually forgotten, and thanks to your thread it reminded me, is that he actually led the team in sacks last year with eight, and using your own words, which you put absolutely eloquently, by the way, he did so by utilizing tenacity, athleticism, low pad level, violent hands, and executing well-placed strikes in succession. You also mentioned that he had great chemistry with Dante Hightower, and we'll get to that in a moment as well, but I think Butler is in line for a big year, perhaps even more so last year. I think he's going to be called upon to be a stabilizing force on the interior. Taylor, you've recently provided a great breakdown of Butler's strengths.

And again, folks, I encourage you, check it out on Twitter. Taylor's threat on Adam Butler is phenomenal, one of the best you'll find anywhere in NFL media. In your opinion, my friend, in your analysis of Adam, what leads you to believe that he can be that potential riser when it comes to defenders in the NFL? Well, one of the biggest things, I'm not a huge numbers guy, but when there's a stat that really pops out to you, you got to take note. And Adam Butler, albeit with only about 100 run defense snaps, usually most players log around 400 or in the mid to high 300s when they play consistently.

But in his limited number of snaps, he had 14 stops, I believe, which was the highest run stop percentage in the NFL for players who played a full 16 games. And when I was putting together the thread, you know, watching all these clips of him, I was thinking, the plays where I'm looking at him stop somebody at the line of scrimmage or, you know, cut off a run from a backside and just kind of dominate, hold up against double teams.

I started to notice these are happening a lot. Like these little, you know, compilations I'm making are getting longer and longer. And I looked and while some of the clips I had usually are about like 40 seconds when I, you know, when I post my threads, I try to keep them about under a minute so I can keep people's attention. But his were going to 130, almost two minutes. And I was like, okay, there's, I think there's something here, even though he's mostly known as a pass rusher,

particularly someone who frees up his teammates, which like I said, is what makes the fact that he led the team in sacks so impressive, but the fact that he's so dominant against the run, which is actually an area where he wasn't very good earlier in his career. That was a place where it was obviously a big area of strength that he needed to build on. And it made me think that he could have possibly been a bubble guy early on in his career but he's really developed that way it's because like you said his pad level is consistent his hand technique is

really good he usually gets it inside blockers which allows him to gain control and really stack and shed easily to get off blocks so I'm not sure how much his role is going to change in the run game, mostly because he was pretty much the third guy in the rotation when they went with their odd fronts, which is really when you have the three big guys inside over the center and the guards, sometimes over the tackles instead of the guards. But he was usually the guy who was there with Shelton, with Lawrence Guy, and he rotated with John Simon and Dietrich Wise, even though Butler was the one who led the charge. Now, I did like what I saw from him at nose tackle. I think, honestly, that he holds up better against double teams than Bo Allen, who didn't really impress me

from the limited snaps I saw from him when he was with the Buccaneers, but you also have to consider, even though Adam Butler is one of the younger interior guys on the roster, how much do they really want to have him play during the game? Do they want to put him in nose tackle where he's having to deal with even more double teams than he already does as a pass rusher, because that is his primary role. So it's hard to tell. Usually he's at that right defensive tackle spot where he's either over the

right guard or the right tackle. So I'm sorry, over the left guard and left tackle. Sorry. I got a little confused in my head there, but no worries. It's hard to really say if he's going to be that nose tackle of the future especially considering bo allen is seems like he's being brought in to fill that role um and again like i said you don't want to have butler take too much damage because he's so important in the pass rush but it was really exciting to see for a third year player who wasn't a very good run defender coming into the league dominating anytime he's really asked to fill that role both when the run is coming his way and when he's on the back side exactly the insight that i was looking for on butler my friend well

done as always i'm glad you mentioned his ability to defend the run something that i don't think he gets enough credit for maybe he'll get a little more as a result of today's podcast and your great thread on twitter but ultimately butler was really the guy that helped to mask a lot of the problems that the Patriots had defending the run last year. If there was a little bit of a weak spot of his defense last year, it was defending the run. I think that run defense would have been a little bit more porous last year had Adam Butler not had the season he had. So much like your suggestion, I agree. I believe he'll fall into that role once again. The other part of Butler's game that I'm glad that you mentioned was his ability to be a

force in the passing game, and I agree with you. I think that'll keep him out of that Danny Shelton role, which is really more of a traditional nose tackle. I think Butler's better off as that number three interior defensive lineman, where he can actually get on the edge a little bit as well, and maybe even bat down passes. Again, another statistic that your thread reminded me of is that he led the team and batted down passes last year. This is a guy that's always in the right place at the right time. And I use this phrase a lot, but it's not happenstance, folks. It's by design. These guys know their role. They do their job well, and they fit into a specific part of the defensive scheme. And that's exactly where they are at their best. And that's actually a pretty good segue into my second question for you today, my friend,

and that is the Patriots utilized the 3-4 set very well in 2019. Now, a lot of that was due to the athleticism of Kyle Van Noy and Jamie Collins, linebackers that are very good at rushing the passer and drawing a beat on the football. Well, Collins and Van Noy are now both gone. So in 2020, the Patriots might utilize the defensive ends a little bit more. And that means maybe a heavier dose of guys like Dietrich Wise, who I think is primed for a very good sophomore season this year, and a guy that you mentioned, another underrated defender, and that's John Simon. Taylor, based on the personnel the Pats currently employ,

do you believe they will continue to operate in the 3-4, or might we see a little bit more 4-3 this year, especially with a guy like Winovich poised to take a big step forward? So what they really try to do, it's not so much, in my opinion, that they really want, I think they want to be a 3-4 team primarily, or an odd front team where you really get those three big interior guys and free up the linebackers but they really go more based on what the game plan kind of entails so when you see them really with more four down linemen that's usually if they want to get more of a pass rush it's not so much about you know two gapping all those big offensive linemen and trying to read

it's more about kind of getting into the backfield. But when they play teams that really like to use wide zone, those horizontal concepts, sometimes they'll try to get away from those odd looks unless it's one of their tight fronts where they basically just try to cave in the middle of the line and they have the linebackers basically try to scrape and beat everybody outside. So really it's more of a game plan kind of situation where they're going to sometimes go with more of a three, four against certain teams, teams especially ones that run power so they can get more guys on the

line of scrimmage and then more four down front if they really want to ramp up the pass rush a little more or sometimes to defend those horizontal runs and kind of have the linebackers actually come down to the line of scrimmage and play like a pseudo nose tackle kind of role but when you think about guys like Kyle Vannoy heoit, he was really exclusively an edge defender. He only played less than 60 snaps actually off the line of scrimmage in 2019. So that edge rower on early downs, he's just stopping the run, sometimes crashing down to kind of get penetration on the front side of runs, while a linebacker behind him replaces and takes that edge. I think that's where Anthony Jennings could possibly suit in.

I think he's one of the guys in the rookie class who could start from day one because he's so smart against the run. He's a big guy, 255 pounds. He's long. He's strong. He can hold up well at the point of attack. If you put a tight end on him, he's going to win that pretty much every single time unless you get a really good experience blocking tight end.

He can also hold up against offensive tackles. And he's a good pass rusher, so he gives you a little more against the play action gamer teams, you know, kind of want to establish that they want to pass on the early downs instead of running the rock. And he's someone who also has the versatility like we saw with Van Noy in 2018, where he had a pretty even split inside linebacker and then on the edge. And Freddie Jennings isn't quite the athlete he is in space, but he's competent more in the Dante Hightower role where it's more instincts and kind of reading the quarterback and letting him take you instead of, you know, seeing him manned up a ton of times. So Anthony Jennings is someone who has more versatility than I think he gets credit for,

and I think that he could serve some of those Van Nooye roles. When you think of the athleticism and that kind of part of Van Nooye's game where you think of the pass rusher, the guy they want to use on stunts the guy who they do have cover you know when they want to uh put him in the middle of the defense on passing downs that's more josh ucce where he gives you the flexibility one off the edge he's a great speed rusher and he's got a lot of bend he's actually more explosive than van noy was so i think he's going to fill that role beautifully he's a smart player and really did a lot of those things at Michigan already, but he's also got great range and coverage. There's one play that everyone talks about now against Penn State where he actually

tracked one of the fastest players in college football up the seam and was able to break up a pass playing the deep middle of the field. He actually pretty much played deep middle field safety a few times in Michigan's scheme. So that kind of gives you an idea of what a great athlete he is. And I think that's going to kind of bleed into Jamie Collins's role as well, where he was that freak athlete on the field where you could put him on the line of scrimmage back in the coverage and really just let him, you know, use his range, use that athleticism. I think that's another thing that Josh Uche gives you, but I think he gives you more discipline.

Although it is important to note that he didn't play a ton at Michigan as much as you would expect from someone who flashes as much as he did. So it still has yet to be seen whether that was more of a coaching thing, whether, you know, what the decision was there. But, you know, like Belichick says, it doesn't matter what happened before you got here, it's what happens when you do get here. So if he proves that he earns and deserves playing time early, you know, on a relatively crowded depth chart,

when you got guys like Hightower and Bentley already starting on holding it down as guys who've been in the system for a while. So those two young guys, I think can definitely replace a lot of the production that you got from Van Noy, from Collins, although it has yet to be seen what kind of role they'll have, you know, as you see how they integrate into the system, how quickly they can pick things up, and how much they can compete against professionals now that they're moving up to the next level. Once again, exactly the insight that I was looking for.

You're making a habit of this, my friend, but no, that's a good thing. I assure you that is a very, very good thing. But look, I think you're right on the money. I think the Patriots would like to remain a 3-4 team. I think they will remain a 3-4 team. But I'm glad you mentioned the additions of Jennings and Uche. I absolutely love these two selections. Look, I think Uche is one of the most underrated pass rushers in the 2020 NFL Draft. And the thing about Uche, you hit on this as well, he's not that prototypical Patriot when it comes to his physical makeup, but he does have those

long arms. He's got the balanced skill set to make an immediate impact rushing the passer, and he's got that great combination of initial quickness and athleticism that, in my opinion anyway, is really going to endear him to that Patriots defense. Jennings, again, I've said here on Locked on Patriots, I think he may have a shot to be the Patriots' sleeper pick in the NFL draft this year. You touched on this yourself in your thread. Jennings may actually be the most pro-ready player that the Patriots picked up in this year's draft.

He's a stout run defender. He sets the edge. A pretty good tackler. As a matter of fact, if we're being honest, the pass rush is probably the area of his game that he needs to improve most upon in order to be an effective pro. Look, the wild card on Jennings is the knee injury. It's probably why he dropped as late as he did into round three in the NFL draft. Patriots are going to need to monitor that closely, but if he's healthy and if they see the same type of Anthony Jennings that you see in his film when he was at Alabama,

then I think they've got a great pick here and a good young core to build on in these positions, not only with Uche and Jennings this year, but also Winovich from last year. And I threw Dietrich Wise in there as well. I still think there's more than meets the eye with this kid. This is going to be a prove-it-or-lose-it year for him, but I think he comes through. Taylor, amazing stuff as always, but we really haven't delved deeply into the depth of the linebacker position on this roster just yet. In a moment, folks, Taylor will offer his insight on the good old reliable faces in the linebacking core, and we might even touch upon using the safeties in that role as well.

All this and more with Taylor Kyles of Pat's Pulpit when the Locked On Patriots podcast continues. Pat's fans, again, I am joined today by Taylor Kyles of Pat's Pulpit. And Taylor, we discussed in the last segment that the Patriots made some draft waves on day two with their picks in the NFL draft. We talked about two of them a little bit, Joshua Uche and Anfernee Jennings. Kyle Duggar, obviously the crown jewel of this draft, and I will get to Kyle in just a moment.

But the Patriots just don't have new faces at the linebacker position this year. They have a couple of savvy veterans, one of whom is a good old reliable, and that's obviously Dante Hightower. But I'm also talking about Juwan Bentley. And I'm a big fan of Bentley's, but there is some chatter out there that he may be on a prove-it year himself. A lot of people think he hasn't quite lived up to the expectations that the Patriots had for him when they put the green dot on the back of his helmet

when Dante Hightower was injured. I think the young guns are going to be exciting to watch, but I really believe they need guys like Hightower and Bentley to step up, and step up big time, especially with the loss of guys like Van Nooyen Collins. When you look at the middle part of this Patriots defense, do you look for Hightower and specifically Bentley to have big years in 2020, and do you believe that the additions of guys like Uche and Jennings could possibly change the way the Patriots utilize the position moving forward? I don't really think Hightower or Bentley are going to see much of a

change in their roles. I think Bentley really is that thumper, although he gives you more in coverage than you get from a traditional thumper because he's very instinctive. He robots very well, which is basically when the offense goes play action, those linebackers get sucked up. What happens is if you're playing the middle of the field, you just turn around and look for a crossing route immediately because that's where teams usually try to attack off of those routes. But Bentley, I think it's more of an opportunity thing. I don't think that he's really been a disappointment.

I think he's actually played about as well as they could have expected. One of the biggest areas for improvement that I've seen is that he tends to get really aggressive and kind of miss his fits where he'll let some of the biggest areas for improvement that I've seen is that he tends to get really aggressive and kind of miss his fits, where he'll let some of the smarter backs in the league, like Frank Gore and Nick Chubb, get it a few times. Or they'll use their vision and kind of make him think they're going to hit one hole, he'll overcommit, and then they'll basically take a hole that he was just standing in. But the bright part of that is he actually has corrected those mistakes in game. I actually did a thread on him, I believe, last month, where you can see the same play twice where he made a mistake earlier in the game and corrected it the second time around, which is what you love to see. Like Belichick always preaches, you know, if you make a mistake,

you can't make it twice. That's what being a smart player is. And you like to see that, especially from a younger guy who doesn't get a ton of snaps. So I think Bentley is going to continue to be really that more early down guy. I think they're going to want to put their safeties or Josh Uche in on passing downs. And Jennings, I think, is actually a bit better in coverage. Jennings also has some pretty impressive ball skills that he flashed during his time at Alabama, better than what Hightower has actually shown at the

professional level. And we haven't really seen a ton of that from Bentley either. I think he's also decent. Bentley is covering running backs out of the backfield. I do think he could be exploited if a team really decided to test that matchup. But he's done a good enough job on flare outs and things like that. But yeah, I think Bentley, again, more a matter of him being on a loaded depth chart last year than really him not playing as well as they would have hoped, although he did make some mental mistakes, as I did allude to. Hightower is going to continue to be a monster. Early downs off the ball, crushing the run, holding up in coverage better than I think a lot of people expected he would be able to early in his career. And then

on the line of scrimmage and passing downs, just working in tandem, like we said earlier, with Adam Butler, they've got really good chemistry, just tearing it up against the passing game as a rusher. So I think the new guys, I don't know how much they're going to impact the roles of the veteran, necessarily. I think Uche gives you more of a coverage role, which I think could possibly cut into Bentley's time that he could have gotten,

because we did see him play on passing downs his rookie year. And then Anthony Jennings, I think, could possibly spell him a bit at inside linebacker next to Hightower as well. So, you know, they got to prove it on the field, obviously. We're going to see how Belichick is probably going to have to move around a lot considering what personal players they both were in college. But, yeah, I don't see Bentley or Hightower's role, you know, just to wrap it all up.

I don't see those changing very much. I think we're going to see maybe a bit more Bentley, just considering they don't have as many bodies as they did last year. But the young guys are smart. They come from really high pedigree colleges. So I think they could possibly rumble and get on the field sooner rather than later. That leads me quite nicely into my final question for you today, my friend. And that is the Patriots have always loved physical safeties. And while the defensive backs unit as a whole is a conversation for another day here on Locked On Patriots, I'd be remiss if I didn't seek your wisdom and counsel on how the Patriots use the safety position as an extension of the linebackers at times. Now, we've seen Pat Chung do this over and over again.

He's been great at it. But Kyle Duggar is physical and he's smart. And I think he could be a factor here as well. Do you believe that this was part of the appeal for drafting Duggar? And if so, how do you see him fitting into this defense this year as that hybrid type linebacker from the safety position that we know the Patriots love to employ? Yeah, my buddy Evan Lazaro over at CLNS has pointed out how the Patriots have nine safeties on the roster currently. And I think the reason for that is what we saw with Belichick back with the Giants, how we know how much Belichick loves linebackers. Why does he

love them so much? Because Lawrence Taylor was a player who could bump down and play defensive end or outside linebacker, but he could also play inside linebacker. You know, back in the day, the invoke position of versatility was linebacker. Well, in the modern NFL, you need more speed. And while linebackers, obviously, you got guys like Deion Jones and Tremaine Edwards or Johnson. I honestly, I get them confused all the time. But the point is, you get these athletic linebackers, but they're harder to find.

It's easier to get that at safety, where the position naturally is probably the most athletic position after cornerback. Actually, no, I would actually say safety is even harder because of all the run defense you have to do as well. I agree. It's a long-winded explanation of saying that safeties are the modern, in vogue, versatile piece for defenses. And I think Belichick understands that.

And Duggar's a fantastic example. You see it in that Pat Chung mole where he can play a bit of deep safety, although Duggar's a much better deep safety than I think Patrick Chung was capable of being just from a range perspective. Patriots like to use those big bodies on the inside to free up their linebackers. That also helps when you've got safeties in there who aren't big enough to consistently deconstruct blocks if they're touched at the second level. So what the Patriots really try to do is force the ball outside. They either use their three bodies in what they call a tight front, where you get some 300-pounders, one over the center, and then two usually over the tackles. And then the center, the nose tackle, basically two gaps and takes both A gaps. And then those big guys on the outside crash into the B gaps.

So basically every single interior gap is being clogged, and you're trying to force the ball outside into your speed. Now that's where a lot of the advantages come in when you have these safeties who don't have the size to hold up against blockers, but they've got the speed and tackling ability and strength to take down ball carriers when they chase them to the outside. And that's where I think Duggar could really have a nice role. It's what I think Adrian Phillips could be doing as well. But Duggar's got a lot of versatility, and because they've already got a lot of guys who could play that linebacker role, I think it's going to be interesting to also see

Duggar's competition with Cody Davis, who is primarily a middle-of-the-field safety and passing situations for the Jacksonville Jaguars. He's a guy with good range, good route recognition, and we know that the Patriots love to use Devin McCourty's flexibility and use him at cornerback, use him in the slot, use him in the box as well. He actually played a ton of snaps in the box, I believe more than he actually played deep last season. So you're going to need another free safety to replace De' Ron Harmon with all the three safety packages they love to use. Well, Cody Davis is a veteran, but Kyle Duggar gives you a lot of experience from college

and a lot of athleticism at that spot. So that's going to be an interesting competition. I think that not a lot of people are talking about Kyle Duggar as the third safety deep for them if he can prove that, you know, that's a spot where he can stay disciplined and not give up big plays. Absolutely. I do believe he's going to fit into that role well. And I'm glad you mentioned Adrian Phillips and Cody Davis, which is a name that we haven't

mentioned a whole lot here on the Locked On Patriots podcast. And I think a lot of people are looking at the type of third safety role, that role that Deron Harmon had for so long here in New England, that would most likely be filled by a guy like Duggar because of the draft capital the Patriots surrendered to get him, and also someone like Phillips, who I covered when I covered the Los Angeles Chargers. And I can tell you, this guy can't handle the load. Everybody drools over his special team prowess.

He's excellent on special teams, folks, and I don't mean to diminish it, but I think he can be a factor in this defense as well, as can Davis. The more research that I do on Cody Davis and what he did in Jacksonville, the more I like him and the more I like the fit here, as well as Duggar, and there's no question about it. You mentioned it. He's a good tackler. He's capable of making stops in key situations.

To me, I think he has the tools to match up with tight ends in coverage. That could make him that valuable third safety that the Patriots seem to covet and seem to love so much. So once again, my friend, you have provided such amazing insight when it comes to anything and everything evaluating NFL talent, not just defensively, offensively. In my opinion, he's second to none at what he does. And it has been my honor to share the microphone with you today my friend before i let you go please let all of our listeners here at lockdown patriots know where they can find you and your great work because again folks i can't recommend

it highly enough floor is yours buddy thank you for the kind words as always my friend and everybody you can find me on twitter at t kyle's 39 that's t k y l e s 39 thank you very much buddy nice to talk to you again you're very welcome we can't wait to have you back on here on lockdown patriots again soon hopefully we'll be talking a little live action the next time you come on here whether it be through training camp or mini camp we live in hope we live in optimism but i am glad to hear that you're safe, you're well, and you and yours as well. Please stay that way, my friend, and thanks again for coming

on today. Had a blast as always. Likewise. Thank you, Matt. And with that, Patriots fans, there is one day to go until the weekend. But the positional depth chart breakdowns continue here on the Locked On Patriots podcast. And to close out the week, we will be discussing, arguably arguably the most scrutinized

positional depth chart on the Patriots roster. Think you figured out what it is, folks? That's right. Locked On Patriots takes you into the weekend by discussing the quarterback position. And tomorrow here on the pod, we will be discussing Brian Hoyer, Jamar Smith, Brian Lewerke, and the likely starter Jarrett Stidham. I know, folks, it still feels weird to talk about the quarterback depth chart and not mention number 12.

But that was then, and this is now. And to help me break it all down tomorrow, I will be joined by a special guest. Who might that guest be? I'll tell you what, I'm going to ask you to tune into tomorrow's episode to find out. So if you just have to know who my guest is going to be tomorrow, please ensure that you do not miss tomorrow's episode or any episode of the Locked On Patriots podcast by subscribing to us on Apple Podcasts,

following us on Spotify, and don't forget, you can always listen to Locked On Patriots right on your very own smart device. How do you do so? Very simple. Just ask it to play the latest episode of Locked On Patriots. And if you've enjoyed today's episode, now tell your smart device to play the most recent episode

of Locked On NFL Draft. Once again, I'm Mike DeBate. I thank Taylor Kyles for his time, his insight, and his appearance today. But most of all, I thank you so much for listening and for staying locked into Locked On Patriots. Stay safe, stay well, and have a great day, everyone.