Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Drake Maye Progresses | Wes Schweitzer Retires | Stefon Diggs Stonewalls

Episode Date: June 11, 2025

Drake Maye's minicamp progress should spark excitement for New England Patriots fans.Nick Cattles breaks down Maye's impressive development, highlighting his improved command of the playbook and reduced turnovers. The discussion covers the impact of Wes Schweitzer's retirement on the offensive line competition, with Cole Strange emerging as a potential starter. Stefon Diggs addresses the boat video controversy, asserting his status as a top receiver and aiming for Week 1 participation.Tune in for expert analysis on the Patriots' evolving offense and key players shaping the team's future.Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms…🎧 https://link.chtbl.com/LOPatriots?sid=YouTubeLocked On NFL League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft & More🎧 https://linktr.ee/LockedOnNFL#patriots #newenglandpatriotsSupport Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.Skylight CalendarRight now, Skylight is offering our listeners $30 off their 15 inch Calendars by going to Skylightcal.com/NFL.FanDuelRight now, new customers can get TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in BONUS BETS when your first FIVE DOLLAR BET WINS! Download the app or head to FANDUEL.COM to get started. Bet with FanDuel—Official Partner of the NBA.Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNFL at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)

Drake May's progression continues. That's where we start on this episode of Locked On 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 up, Patriots fans? I am your host, Nick Cattles, born and raised in New England, your New England Patriots expert host of the Everything Pats podcast, co host of the Greg Bedard

Patriots podcast with Nick Cattles and also a sports talk show host veteran on today's episode of Patriot retires and Stefan Diggs addresses the boat video. But first, what mandatory mini camp told us about Drake may and Josh McDaniel's offense We appreciate you joining the show making us your first listening for being an everydayer the lockdown Patriots podcast is a proud part of the locked On podcast network your team every day and a reminder We're going three days a week Monday Wednesday and Friday until we get back to five shows a week on Monday July 14th today's episode is brought to you by Fandool right now new customers can get $200 and bonus bets when your first five dollar bet wins

nothing Nothing about Drake May's performance during the two minicamp practices should be cause for concern. Evan Lazar posting about Drake May's day one. May was sharp for the second straight open practice, only charted a few incompletions in red zone work. May hit Trevion Henderson on an angle route, Kendrick Bourne on an out, and Pop Douglas on a juke for touchdowns.

Greg Bedard on day one at minicamp. Another good day for the Patriots offense, especially May and the quote unquote starters against the starting defense. The comfort for everyone in the offense, especially May, appears to be growing rapidly. Again, he was very relaxed and decisive. Now day two of Minicamp, not as pristine for May or the offense. Doug Kide posted, not Drake May's sharpest day. He was eight for 13 with an interception. But Greg Bedard's evaluation would tell you a little bit different as far as what he saw

from May and the offense. Here's Bedard. The offense definitely had more fall starts, but the defense jumped as well. Still though, the offense looked solid overall, and they continued to impress with the little things. For the most part, they knew what they were doing and May was in command.

Now regarding that interception May had, Bedard wrote, the May interception wasn't a bad ball or read. It was simply a sensational play slash catch by Christian Gonzalez. What we are seeing from Drake May, from the first OTA practice that was open to the media to the two mandatory mini camp practices that were open to the media this week, what we are seeing is a progression from Drake May regarding the basics. And when we talk about the basics, we talk about the fundamentals of running an offense,

what that means is that the quarterback is going to have to think less. He's not going to be worried about getting the foundation down. You have to start with the simple. You have to master the simple. You have to master the fundamentals. And you have to make sure that you know all of the basics like the back of your hand before you can take bigger steps towards being the kind of quarterback you want to be. And what we've seen from that first OTA practice and those four interceptions that everybody was talking about, we have seen an obvious progression from the quarterback. He is understanding the system better. He's understanding it at a higher level.

He is growing more comfortable with it. And he is truly handling the basics that he needs to handle before you get to camp in late July. And when we look at these practices from mini camp day number one to mini camp day number two, we have to appreciate the circumstances. Drake May was not as sharp day two. Some of that, I'm sure, has to do with May himself.

But another big part of it was the circumstances that he was dealing with. Here's what Greg Bedard wrote about day two. The defense stepped up their game with different pressure looks and pass rushes. So let's stop right there. May is seeing things that he hasn't seen, I would imagine, very often. He is seeing things that the media hasn't really seen. So it's obvious that after a great day one, when May was smoking the defense for the most

part, the defense came back, gave him different pressure looks and pass rushes. And he has to compile that information. He's got to compile the Intel, understand what he's watching so he can continue to progress because the next time he sees some of these pressure looks, the next time he sees some of these pass rushes, he will be more ready due to what he saw on day two of mini camp and he will, the hope would be adjust and continue to show that he just gets better and better. But Dard wrote that there was a lot of loud music. And Mike Vrabel before the practice began, he talked

about that the Patriots were going to be working on cadence, they were going to be working on the silent count. So obviously, the circumstances day two versus day one were much different, much more challenging for the offense. And it wasn't as if Drake may fell apart. It's not as if the offense fell apart. They were sloppier. But I would imagine the coaching staff was expecting the second practice to be more sloppy because of the changes from one to two. But Dart has an example. In an early team portion, the offense was backed up, the music was blaring and they were running no huddle. So this is like you're on the road. there's like a minute and a half left, you're backed

up close to your own end zone, and now you got to deal with it. Situational scenarios, trying to handcuff the offense to see how they can get through these challenging situations and circumstances. The other thing when we talk about Drake May and what we've seen from OTA practice number one to this week's mandatory mini camps is he's taking care of the football. And I did a podcast weeks ago talking about baby steps. Well, this is beyond baby steps, because the fact is May, through one single solitary interception from OTA practice number two to minicamp practice number two, he had four picks on that first day of OTAs open

to the media. Then he had OTA number two practice, no picks. OTA practice number three with no picks. Minicamp practice number one with no picks. And then he had minicamp practice number one with no picks. And then he had mini camp practice number two with one pick. So four picks, first practice open to the media, one pick over the final four practices that the media has been able to witness. Limiting turnovers because he's understanding things better.

He's trusting his teammates. The chemistry is growing. One pick since OTA practice number one in front of the media, and of course, when you're not turning the football over, how does that translate to real football, so to speak? Extra possessions. You're not giving it up.

You're not giving the opposition a better chance to score. It allows you to take advantage of bad football, as Mike Vrabel loves to say. Set it again today to the media. So extra possessions. Extra possessions again today to the media. So extra possessions, extra possessions should lead to more points. More points, better offense. And Drake May, the biggest issue for him last year with the turnover worthy plays. And if you could imagine, if you could envision a May without those turnovers or without as many turnovers and you just

think about his talent along with this offense with Josh McDaniels, that's when you can truly get excited. The big picture here, let's keep the big picture in mind from 30,000 feet is that the operation on the offensive side is much sharper now than it was several weeks ago. And that's the way it should be working. Not only that, the offensive operation is much, much sharper in early June than it was arguably at any point in 2024. Back to Bedard.

He writes, I've been impressed how well they get lined up. You don't see a ton of mental errors, especially when it comes to where people are supposed to be. This has not been the case in more than a few years. Evan Lazar, there also haven't appeared to be many mental errors for the offense, such as pre-snap penalties are lining up incorrectly, which is another good sign. How many pre-snap penalties did we see in the 2024 season that absolutely ruined drives? How many pre-snap penalties hurt your heart last football season?

Just from the offensive line, it felt like a billion. The operation is cleaner. The operation is being run much sharper. The quarterback is looking better. Frable's on the details. I am optimistic for camp. I am very optimistic. The way this is tracking, the way this is tracking for May, the way it's tracking for the offense, I am optimistic about what this offense will look like by the end of camp. Mostly good news this week from mini camp for the offense and even some good news for the defense. Let's get to some not so good news.

The Pats left guard competition just got much more interesting. We'll tell you why next as we continue with today's episode of Locked On Patriots, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Game three of the NBA Finals is tonight. Every night can deliver highlight worthy performances, major momentum shifts. Just look at game one to game two and can't miss moments,

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What is going to happen at that position? Do the Patriots have an answer? And I'll tell you right now, this week things got much more interesting because we just found out after the second mini camp practice, Wes Schweitzer is retiring. He's done. He's been put on the reserve retired list. So no more Wes Schweitzer. And Schweitzer, even though he played one snap last year during the NFL season, he was getting the top reps along with Colestrange. It was Strange and Schweitzer

working on that top group. So you just lost a guy that you are absolutely depending on. There's no way Schweitzer is getting reps with the first team. There's no way he's splitting reps with Coles Strange if he's not a part of the plan. I'm not telling you he would have started and maybe eventually as you get through camp he would have fallen down the depth chart but it's rather obvious that this coaching staff and Doug Marrone, Jason Hotehling, Robert Kugler on the offensive line, they were no doubt planning on Schweitzer being a part of this puzzle, a piece of this puzzle in 2025.

Now Schweitzer is out. How does that impact this offensive line? How does it impact the left guard position specifically? Well, let's start with Colt Strange. Because Colt Strange right now, here in early June, he is the favorite to be your starting left guard. Through too many camp practices, before we get to camp in late July, Strange is the guy right now at left guard. It's his job to lose right now.

And the biggest question with strange is whether or not he can get back to the 2023 form that we had seen in that season, because in 2023 strange was playing his best football. And you look at the 2022 season is rookie year, it wasn't very good, dramatic ups and downs. But in 2023, he had some ups and downs, but towards the tail end right before, right before he tore that patellar tendon, he was playing some of his best football. And if you don't believe me, if you go back to before last season, pro football focus ranked their top 32 guards in the league.

Thomas Valentine wrote that column and he had Strange ranked 32nd in the league. Now before you think, well, that means he's the 32nd best guard in football and there's only 32 teams in football, so that's not that good. Well, there's two guards for each team. So there are 64 guards we're talking about, and Strange was 32nd. Does that mean he was really good? Of course it doesn't, but what it does mean is that he was smack dab in the middle of

the pack, according to Pro Football Focus. And here's what Thomas Valentine wrote at Pro Football Focus before last season. Despite being a surprise pick for the Patriots in 2022, Strange has emerged as a force and improved his pro football focus overall grade in his rookie season, 54.6 to 64.6 in 10 games during the 2023 season. So when you look at strange, his rookie grade, according to pro football focus overall was 54.6. But from that

54.6 in 2022, he jumped to a 64.6 in 2023. Again, it doesn't mean that he was really good. It doesn't mean that we're talking pro bowl. It doesn't mean that we're going to throw an all pro parade for Cole strange. But what it does mean is that he was showing significant improvement from his first year to a second year. And that trajectory was obviously, if, if you're trying to be optimistic, that trajectory would have led him to being even better in 2024.

being even better in 2024. So can Colestrange get back to that end of 2023 form before he had that injury, before he had that surgery, before he had to, as he told Mike Reese recently, he had to learn how to walk again. At this time last year, he was trying to figure out how to walk again. At this time last year, he was trying to figure out how to walk consistently. So we have no idea if he's going to be able to get back to that form. But he turns 27 years old next month. So it's not like he's an old guy. You would argue he's walking into his prime years.

So if he can get back to that form and he can start to show that improvement again, then you might have a pretty decent left guard starting for you. As much as many of us, including myself, didn't like the pick back in 2022, and as irritating and frustrating as he was early on in his career, if he can get back to who he was right before that injury, that is a guy who's good enough to play left guard for you. But it's a huge question because it is a very challenging injury to come back from, especially for an offensive lineman. But let's go with the premise that Strange is going to be your starting left guard.

Who's going to be your backup? What have we heard about these other guards and camp so far before we get to the legitimate training camp in late July? Well, we've heard that Leighton Robinson has been pretty much a mess and it looks like he's buried in the depth chart. Tyrese Robinson showed flashes a couple of weeks ago. He has been out ever since with some unknown injury or whatever is going on. Jared Wilson, who you drafted at 95 in this past draft, is somebody who we all felt good about when the Patriots selected him. We hoped that he would be a part of this offensive line mix sooner rather than later, but we

also know he has not had a single practice in front of the media. So he's dealing with something. Now, City So is another name. City So has been playing some right guard because Michael Wenu has been recently limited, but So seems like he's a part of the mix, so we can certainly put his name on the board. Right now with Schweitzer out it feels like Colestrange is left guard one and then if something happens City So would be left guard two. Right now today not telling you what this will be looking like in August but right now today that's what it looks like. Kaden, because there's been so many injuries and questions,

Caden Wallace got some reps this week at guard. Does he play a role? Now if you do have Strange as you're starting left guard, you inevitably lose some versatility. Don't forget Mike Vrabel recently told the media that Cole Strange's versatility was quote-unquote critical, critical for this team. Well, if he's starting at left guard,

of course he still has that versatility, but you would want him to stay at left guard and you lose the ability to go to Cole Strange in case somebody else gets hurt, whether it's Brad Berry or Ben Brown or a Wenu or so you lose that versatility and that could end up falling on Jared Wilson. Jared Wilson with Schweitzer retiring Wilson just got much more important. Now I think he was going to be important by the end of the season anyway but he just got much more important. Is he going to be able to get enough snaps to win the starting

job at center? Right now it would seem unlikely. Let's see what be able to get enough snaps to win the starting job at center? Right now it would seem unlikely. Let's see what happens when we get to July. If he's not your starting center, if he doesn't leapfrog Bradbury, then Jared Wilson could actually be your interior offensive line super sub because we know he can play center, played it at a high level at Georgia, the only year that he started at the position, played it at a relatively high level. We know that the Patriots believe that he can play the guard spot. He was a guard before he switched to center a couple years ago for Georgia. So he certainly fits as that interior offensive line option that could play left could play middle could play right and this is this is huge because your quarterback play is

going to be impacted by your interior offensive line and their ability or inability to make sure they could hold their water and not allow a pass rush so we'll see the trickle-down. We'll see how this impacts the rest of the offensive line. But right now, Cole Strange is your starting left guard. At least that's what it feels like. Stefan Diggs speaks to the media for the first time since the boat video. Find out what he had to say next as we continue with today's episode of Locked On Patriots, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network,

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Right now Skylight is offering our listeners $30 off their 15 inch calendars by going to skylightcal.com slash NFL. Go to skylightcal.com slash NFL. Go to skylightcal.com slash NFL for 30 bucks off your 15 inch calendar that is S-K-Y-L-I-G-H-T-C-A-L.com slash NFL. The Fond Diggs has spoken. He spoke with the media at Minicamp after the second practice in front of said media and there was one obvious goal that Diggs had when speaking with everybody in front of him and that goal was shut the video talk down. Shut it down. Make it a memory. Move on from it. Back burner, rear view mirror, whichever analogy that you want to use.

And it was obvious that Diggs wanted nothing to do with questions regarding the video. And it was obvious he was not going to give anybody in the media any more fodder. Here's Mike Reese with the transcription on Diggs, what he had to say about the boat video and his standing with Mike Vrabel. Quote, I want to be as candid with you as possible, but I kind of have a thing where I don't talk about my personal life with people I don't know personally. I had a conversation with Vrabel, obviously, and I'll echo everything he said, hoping everybody is making good decisions.

And I had a conversation with people in the building as well. So everything else is everything else. The particulars are all internal. Who are the people in the building? Who's he talking about? Said he spoke with Vrabel. We know Terrell Williams is not in the building and he's on the defensive side. So we wouldn't be talking to him.

Is it Josh McDaniels? It feels kind of weird if he's talking about a coach when he says people in the building But maybe he is maybe he's talking about other coaches Maybe he's talking about Elliott wolf or somebody in the front office or multiple people in the front office Maybe he's talking about ownership Did Robert Kraft get involved did Jonathan Kraft get involved? So who are the people in the building aside from Vrabel who Diggs spoke with? My guess is at least at least It would be Robert Kraft

Because of the nature of the video and the question stemming from the video But Vrabel was not the only person that Diggs spoke to about this. I'm not sure Elliot Wolf or somebody else in the front office would have gotten involved. It's more of a coach thing. I could see ownership getting involved because of the PR and the quote unquote optics of it. So what was in the bag?

Again, Diggs wasn't giving anything to anyone. Here's what he said, quote, obviously it's a conversation that's happening internally, which I can't have too much of a conversation about it. I've been in this league 10 years. You can format your question many different ways. I'm obviously going to answer it the same way. So Diggs's reaction was, for all intents and purposes, none-ya.

What was up with that video? None-ya business. What was in the bag? None-ya business. Moving on from it. Now I do think there's a way where Diggs could be accountable and responsible for having that video out there, putting himself in that situation.

I do think he could have been accountable. He could have been responsible without giving the details. He didn't have to give the details. He could have said, I was in a situation and that's on me. And I put it on the team as a distraction and coach Vrabel had to answer questions about it. And certain teammates are being asked about my leadership skills and who I am and how I work and and I'll take that. I'm not going to tell you what you all want to know. I'm not going to sit here and tell you exactly what was in the bag and what was going on, the boat and all that.

I'm not going to get into the details, but I am a grown man. I am expected to be a leader of this team, a leader in the position room, and it's on me. I take accountability and responsibility for being in a situation that I should not have been in. He could have said that, but he didn't. The details part of it is frankly useless. Details do nothing.

Details, if you sit there and you answer every single solitary question in detail with specificity, that's gonna be great for the media, but I don't think it's gonna be great for Diggs. I don't think it's gonna be great for Diggs's teammates. I don't think it's gonna be great for Mike Grable, because if he says something wrong, if the truth is in fact what was in that bag, it just brings on more problems. The story continues, the distraction continues, and you want to nip

that in the butt. So I don't have a problem with Diggs not wanting to get into specifics. I get it because you don't want to be more of a distraction. You've already been a distraction to a point. And it's obviously something that was a distraction because Mike Vrabel had the talk with him and your head coach is not having the talk unless it's a distraction and you've got to handle it. You've got to make sure your player is on the same page as you before you move forward. So I don't have a huge issue with not getting into the details, but I do think overall, Diggs could have said a simple statement at the beginning when he met the media, said, I'm not going to get into any details. I put myself in a situation.

I became a distraction. I'm accountable for that. I'm responsible for that. That's on me. We're going to move forward. It ain't happening again. I've spoken with Mike Vrabel. I've spoken with people in the building. He could have handled it that way, but he was pretty much just hands off. Again, the NUNYA approach. Now, maybe he was the NUNYA approach because Vrabel told them to handle it that

way. I don't know. And we'll probably never know. But the variable talk happened. That's obvious. We felt like it was obvious when he showed up to the last OTA practice in front of the media. Diggs confirmed that the talk happened. What was that talk like? I'm sure we'll never know. I don't think variable is going to share those details.

Diggs is obviously not going to share those details. If he was going to, it would have happened when he was speaking to the media and it didn't. Were lines drawn? Is there a strike system? Is this strike one? Is it strike two? How many strikes does he have? We don't know. Internally, I'd imagine that Diggs took accountability. I'd imagine Diggs had a lot more detail for Vrab variable and whoever else he spoke with that's attached to the program. And I'd imagine that he did show some of that accountability and took responsibility and apologize.

I would imagine that's what he did because if he didn't do that, I don't think he would still be on this team. I don't think variable would still have them out there. And all that matters is the future. If digs is never a distraction again for this team, for the coaching staff, then none of this will matter. It's all water under the bridge. But he's got to make sure that's the case. Now Diggs also said that he believes this according to Mark Daniels, he believes he's still a number one wide receiver. And

he said his goal is to play in week one. The week one goal is more realistic now than I thought it would be when he signed. Uh, there have been no setbacks reported. Diggs was out there. Many can't practice. Number two, he's running routes. He's doing what he's been doing the past couple of times when the media has seen him. So seemingly no setbacks. And I don't think he's going to need this huge ramp up period as far as the mental goes because he's been around for a while. He understands this offense goes back to Brian Dabel's offense. So it's familiar

to him. So I don't think it's going to take him a lot of time to figure things out. He probably already has the offense mostly figured out. It's just from a physical standpoint. And once he passes the threshold and he's ready to go, he's going to be ready to go. So I would not be surprised if he's out there week one. He's heavily motivated. And as you know, as far as being a number one wide receiver, that's the confidence of an NFL wide receiver.

I do not consider him a number one. Maybe he will prove me wrong. That wraps up this edition of Lockdown Patriots. Let me know your thoughts on today's topics. On Friday's show, Pop Douglas is showing out. Reach out to me on Twitter at Nick C radio. Don't forget to throw a comment in on the YouTube channel. Don't forget to hit that like button and subscribe. Thank you for making Lockdown Patriots your first listen today. For your second listen, check out Lockdown NFL Scouting. Crabs and Marino will make you the most informed NFL fan this off season.

Find Lockdown NFL Scouting on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts. Have a great day, and we will see you on Friday.