Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Excitement: New England Patriots’ Three Biggest Training Camp Storylines

Starting point is 00:00:00 The three biggest training camp storylines, including a young star, a young hopeful, and a star veteran trying to hang on. This is Lockdown Patriots. You are Locked on Patriots, your daily New England Patriots podcast. Part of the Locked on podcast network, your team every day. What's happening? I am your host of Nick Cattels. On today's episode, we give you three surprised names that could land on the 53-man roster by the end of this camp. And the second segment, the camp expectations and vibes are through the freaking roof for this talented team.

Starting point is 00:00:42 But first, the three biggest stories in July. Camps on Saturday. The forecast is good. The place should be packed. And here are the three biggest storylines to me on day one of camp. We start with Christian Gonzalez. Now, we do have an update on Christian Gonzalez and his negotiations with the Patriots. Ian Rappaport had a what I would call.

Starting point is 00:01:05 positive report about Christian Gonzalez. First, they're still talking. The Patriots and Christian Gonzalez are still negotiating a contract. That's great news. There's no reporting of the talks breaking off. There is no reporting about one side or both side having issues, right? None of that. It seems like this is your typical negotiation.

Starting point is 00:01:31 Things continue to be discussed, which is actually good news. No breaking off the talks. That's good. Ian Rappaport also says that both sides want a deal done. That is good. If both sides are motivated to get something done, it makes it much more likely to get done. Now, what's happening? Well, Devin Witherspoon, and this is something we've talked about multiple podcasts prior to this one. You know, Devin Witherspoon and Christian Gonzalez, they share an agent. They're both looking for contract extensions. And according to Ian Rappaport, Devin Wetherspoon, is further along in his talks with Seattle. So what's happening here is Christian Gonzalez is waiting for Devin Witherspoon to say yes to a number.

Starting point is 00:02:16 Once that number is there, then Christian Gonzalez says, I want a little bit more than that. Ian Rappaport is optimistic that a deal is going to happen. He didn't guarantee it, but he sounds very optimistic that once this Devin-Witherspoon deal is done, Christian Gonzalez gets done. But until then, what happens? Until a contract is signed, sealed, and delivered, what happens with Christian Gonzalez? That is the number one question this camp. He is one of two or three of your best players on this roster. Does he hold out until a contract is signed? Does he hold in until a contract is signed? Does he participate in camp in the early days? If he does participate, how much does he participate?

Starting point is 00:03:06 And of course, the longer this goes, even though it's filled with optimism about him, you know, eventually getting a deal done, the longer this goes, the more concern there is, at least from my side, about an injury, especially a soft tissue injury. If he misses the first couple of weeks of camp, it's not like he can't jump in and play good football. It's just will he be conditioned and will his body hold up jumping into camp a couple of weeks late? I'm also interested to see if Christian Gonzalez is actually going to speak. I'm sure Mike Vrable will answer some questions about Christian Gonzalez in a very vague manner. Mike Vrable is scheduled to talk on Friday at some point. I'm sure he will be asked about the young corner.

Starting point is 00:03:55 But will Christian Gonzalez be there? And if he's there, will he speak to the media? If he does speak to the media, I have a lot of confidence that Christian Gonzalez will handle things professionally. Second biggest storyline as we get ready here in July for training camp, A.J. Brown. And it's not about A.J. Brown being a part of this team. We've covered that. What fascinates me the most in why I think A.J. Brown is the second biggest storyline heading into camp. it's because he has the opportunity, especially if Christian Gonzalez does sign that deal and is out there, you'll see A.J. Brown against top talent. A.J. Brown versus Christian Gonzalez is a prime time matchup, whether that's in practice, joint practice, preseason, regular season, playoff, doesn't matter to me.

Starting point is 00:04:46 When you have A.J. Brown lined up opposite of Christian Gonzalez, things are going to be fun. and that will test AJ Brown right out of the gates. But it's not just Christian Gonzalez. You got Carlton Davis. And Carlton Davis is that big physical press coverage type corner that will physically challenge AJ Brown. So AJ Brown versus Christian Gonzalez, AJ Brown versus Carlton Davis.

Starting point is 00:05:15 I am into that. But let's skip ahead. A.J. Brown is going to have. a number of interesting matchups during these joint practices. Think about who the Patriots are going to practice against. They're going to practice against Indianapolis. The Indianapolis Colts have Traverius Ward and they have Sauce Gardner. Then you get through those two guys and you have to practice against Philly. And is there going to be a moment that has any more electricity on a practice field this camp, then the moment A.J. Brown is out there as a New England Patriot

Starting point is 00:05:56 practicing against his former team in the Philadelphia Eagles. Does it get any better than that as far as training camp practices go? And Philadelphia has a lot of talent at corner. Don't get it twisted. Quinnian Mitchell, a very good young corner. They brought in Rick Wullen from Seattle on a one-year deal. He's out to prove himself. He's another big. in very physical type of cornerback. So A.J. Brown throughout this camp at the very beginning against his own teammates, and as we get to joint practices, it's going to be very compelling to watch how his camp unfolds.

Starting point is 00:06:38 I think we'll have a very good idea as to where A.J. Brown is before kickoff in Seattle, week one. Third biggest storyline, Will Campbell. Will Campbell's performance. How is Will Campbell moving post-MCL surgery? Does his technique look improved? I talked about Will Campbell recently, the fact that he went to go train with Lane Johnson

Starting point is 00:07:02 and some of the other best offensive linemen in football. That's a good step. But is he actually going to implement what he learned during that training? And do we see the improved technique from the sophomore left tackle? How much do the questions surrounding the pass rush, by the way, impact how we evaluate Will Campbell. And what I mean by that is if Will Campbell is going against, you know, the Draymont Joneses of the world, Draymont Jones is good, I wouldn't say he's great.

Starting point is 00:07:35 If he's going against Gabe Accus, if Gabe Accus ever shows up, what do we truly learn from that with Accus missing so much time? If he goes against Brayden Swinson, what do we learn? Now, Elijah Ponder, I think you might learn a little bit more. Harold Landry usually lines up against the right tackle. So I don't think Will Campbell, if Harold Landry is out there, I don't think Will Campbell will be getting a ton of one-on-ones or matchups against Harold Landry. So what can we truly learn?

Starting point is 00:08:07 This might be another situation where you kind of wait until you get to the joint practices, you wait until you get to the preseason games to make a true evaluation of what Will Campbell is looking like. Now, if Will Campbell is struggling, struggling in camp, then you can kind of make that evaluation. But if Will Campbell is stonewalling Gabe Accus, is that more Campbell? Is that more Acus? We'll see. But Will Campbell is a huge storyline in this camp. And I'm going to give you an honorable mention because we have to mention him. And I just mentioned him a minute ago. Gabe Accus. Gabe Accus is another big story. you know, if he is signed, when you start camp, do you slow roll him?

Starting point is 00:08:55 How does he look physically? How involved is he in this team's top defensive plans out of the gates? I can't imagine that they're going to throw him into the deep end after he missed rookie minicamp and mandatory minicamp. So Gabe Acus, if he gets signed, okay, he gets signed. it's a big story to see how he develops throughout camp, given what's happened here. If he doesn't sign, it's an even bigger story because he's not out there. So those are the biggest storylines to me. I gave you the three biggest storylines, and I threw in an honorable mention for you.

Starting point is 00:09:33 The excitement surrounding this camp, it's palpable. And you know what? It's justified. It's coming up next. This is Lockdown Patriots, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. Now the number one sports podcast network, your team every day. Today's episode is sponsored by Square. If you've ever tapped to pay and thought, man, that was fast.

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Starting point is 00:12:19 might even be probable, throw that into the comment section and don't forget to give us that thumbs up. There is legitimate excitement surrounding this team and there are some high expectations. I think this is the most anticipated camp that we have had since the days of Tom Brady. And the talent tells us that. Now, it's no longer a surprise if the Patriots make noise this year. They went to the freaking Super Bowl last year. And that's why the expectations are so high. We're no longer talking about a team that we expect to win, you know, oh, maybe eight games, nine games, seven games.

Starting point is 00:12:58 Can they even compete? We went through that in prior seasons. Last year I said, hey, I think they'll win nine games. Their ceiling is 11 games. They obviously far exceeded my expectations in 2025. But now those expectations, they are high. And the vibes are real. You could even say the vibes are immaculate.

Starting point is 00:13:19 Fans have an opportunity to watch a really talented team this summer. Evan Lazar posted recently from Jeremy Fowler's NFL straw poll results. In 2025, Christian Gonzalez was their lone player ranked top 10 at his position for the Patriots. In 2026, they have four players in the top 10. They've got Christian Gonzalez, who is number three on the list, Drake May, number eight, William's number nine, A.J. Brown, number nine. They also had Hunter Henry, Trayvion Henderson, and Kevin Byard receiving votes. And it's not just, you know, the talent that's been established.

Starting point is 00:13:58 It's the young talent. And of course, that includes Drake May and Christian Gonzalez. But when you look at the young talent, Aaron Schatz of ESPN, he ranked the under 25 talent of each team in the NFL. And Aaron Schatz put the Patriots at number one. Aaron Schatz has the Patriots as the most talented team under the age of 25. The Patriots Hall of Young Talent Schatz rights isn't just about Drake May, but it certainly starts with him. Schatz's system identifies Drake May as the most valuable young commodity in the entire league.

Starting point is 00:14:36 But again, it doesn't just stop with Drake May. Of course you have, you know, Gonzo, but Aaron Schatz goes on to name Will Campbell. Jared Wilson, Caleb Lomu, Trayvion Henderson, Kayshan Bouti, Kyle Williams, Eli Rairdon, all of those guys are under 25 years old. And that's just on the offensive side of the football defensively. Aaron Schott's names Christian Gonzalez, Joshua Farmer, who's 23. And the aforementioned Gabe Accus, who, of course, is 22. This team has a lot of talent at a lot of different levels.

Starting point is 00:15:14 And what I love about it is, the, developmental layers. This is how you build a really good football team. This is how you build a team that can sustain its success. Building those layers, you have the talented, experienced veterans, like the Milton Williams is of the world and the AJ Browns of the world. And they are mentoring the younger guys. Milton Williams can mentor Joshua Farmer. A.J. Brown can mentor Kyle Williams. That's how you build success. That's how you build the foundation in the right way. You have your experienced, talented, established veterans in the younger crop coming on up. And obviously, as part of that younger crop is the second year class that we talked about earlier this week. The sophomores,

Starting point is 00:16:07 all of the talent from the 2025 draft class. The trenches have been upgraded significantly the last two years. The offensive line is at least average. I would argue they're above average. Warren Sharp recently posted his offensive line rankings for 2026. The Patriots were ranked 15th in the NFL. So for all intents and purposes, smack dab in the middle of the league. Now I know 16th would be exactly the middle of the 32 team league.

Starting point is 00:16:38 But Patriots right there at 15. If you're wondering, the Patriots are sandwiched in between the Detroit Lions. and the New Orleans Saints. If the Patriots' offensive line ends up being as good as the Saints, that is a good place to be slotted. Trust me what I tell you. So the offensive line, I think above average. Now, of course you have questions at both Edge and Linebacker.

Starting point is 00:17:04 We've gone through those questions this week in part. We've talked about linebacker and Robert Spillane. We've talked about Gabe Accus and Harold Landry and their situations and how that is going to impact the edge spot. But Warren Sharp, to go back to him, he's not as worried about the front seven. Warren Sharp, much like he ranked his offensive lines throughout the NFL. He also recently ranked the front sevens throughout the NFL.

Starting point is 00:17:33 And he actually has the Patriots front seven ahead of their offensive line. He had the Patriots offensive line at 15th in the league. he has the Patriots front seven at 11th. If you're wondering, they are sandwiched between the Baltimore Ravens at 10 and the Kansas City Chiefs at 12. Now let's think. If Elijah Ponder takes a leap in Robert Spillane slash Christian Ellis could hold their water on the second level,

Starting point is 00:18:04 this front seven is top 10. This front seven is top 10. And if you combine that front seven, and the talent level of that front seven with the defensive backs. We talked about the secondary this week, right? The secondary to me, you can argue, is the best secondary in football. So you've got at least, at least,

Starting point is 00:18:28 if people want to play devil's advocate, you can play devil's advocate and tell me that the Patriot secondary might be top five, whatever. But you're telling me that you have a top five, at worst, secondary, to go along with a top 10, if things with Ponder workout and Spillane and Ellis can give you good football, you combine that top five secondary with a top 10 front seven to go along with an offensive line that is at least, at least average, if not slightly above average, and that's not accounting for the young guys developing.

Starting point is 00:19:05 if Will Campbell takes a step and Jared Wilson takes a step, you might see an even better offensive line than slightly above average. We talked about the skill positions and how much better and deeper the Patriots are at the skill positions in 2026 compared to the last several years. We all know about Drake May and how fun he is to watch. And when you go beyond the talent, you think about just the level of competition in a camp because of the talent and because of what

Starting point is 00:19:42 the Patriots have done the prior to off seasons, the level of competition in this camp should be awesome. This group of wide receivers against this group of cornerbacks. Think about it. An above average offensive line going against a front seven that is just outside the top 10 and could end up being top 10 by the end of this year. The level of competition, Mike Rable, and what he does at camp and how entertaining and good he is,

Starting point is 00:20:16 I would anticipate very spirited practices over the next month before you even get to those joint practices against Indy and Philly in the middle of August. This camp, I mean, I can't wait for things to start on Saturday. I am PT Carrolled, pumped and jacked, working on my bubblegum. Three names that you might not know a lot about right now, but we'll know by the end of August. It's coming up. This is Lockdown Patriots, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. This episode is sponsored by Better Health.

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Starting point is 00:21:58 That's better. H-E-L-P.com slash lockdown. Thanks for checking out. Lockdown Podcast Network, now the number one, sports podcast network like comment subscribe help us out over at youtube every camp there is a surprise and i'm going to give you my best shot at three under the radar camp names okay say that again three under the radar camp names i'm going to give you my best shot let's start with a running back running back three is clearly a need in clearly a spot that needs to be filled now i know a lot of people

Starting point is 00:22:37 have talked about Jam Miller, and I know a lot of people have talked about Terrell Jennings. But the under the radar name that I'm looking at, and some might be saying, Land Larison, Land Laran. The under the radar name that I'm looking at is Miles Montgomery. Undrafted Free Agent from Central Florida, he was a team captain last year. His relative athletic score was an 8.91. If you're wondering, that is in the top 250 of running backs qualified for the RAS, since 1987, if you want to be technical, specific. Miles Montgomery, his RAS, 248 out of 2,268 qualified running backs. He's athletic. Evan Lizarre wrote about Miles Montgomery at Patriots.com months ago when he signed as a UDFA, and here's what Evan Lizar wrote. Montgomery

Starting point is 00:23:31 averaged nearly five yards per carry with 705 rushing yards for the night's last season. also chipped in with 17 catches for 182 yards as a reliable underneath outlet. On film, Montgomery has good play speed. So you're telling me somebody who can be a pretty good and reliable, dependable outlet as a receiver out of the backfield. You're telling me a guy who averaged nearly five yards of carry. You're telling me a guy who is this athletic with the 8.91 RAS. and has good play speed.

Starting point is 00:24:10 You're telling me he has a shot to make this roster? Yeah, I'm telling you he has a shot to make the roster. And when we talk about the third running back, we also have to talk about special teams, special teams value. Miles Montgomery ran a 4-4-440. And I think when you look at kick returners, he is somebody that might fit that bill. And by the way, he covered kicks at Central Florida.

Starting point is 00:24:37 So he has experience covering kicks to go along with that 44440 speed, which should lend itself to being a pretty good kick returner, as long as he can catch the football on the kickoff. A second name I want to talk about, much like running back three, linebacker three, is clearly going to be a competition between three or four guys. You got the Chad Moomis, you got the KJ Brits, you've got the NAMD-O-B-I-Zors.

Starting point is 00:25:08 How about UDFA Khalil Jacobs? To be that, you know, off-ball linebacker, special teams type guy. Let's go back to Evan Lazar because he also wrote about Khalil Jacobs. With the body type of a souped-up safety, Jacobs looks comfortable matching tight ends up the seams or backs into the flats. He also has a feel for finding the football in the run game. will pursue the ball into the alleys

Starting point is 00:25:37 and can mirror quarterbacks as an add-on rusher in blitz packages. So let's think about everything we just heard from Evan Lazar. Sounds like a pretty versatile off-ball linebacker who can go sideline to sideline and that you can blitz with. And we know the Patriots love blitzing their linebackers

Starting point is 00:25:59 from time to time. So what are Khalil Jacobs' weaknesses? Lazar writes, Jacobs gets lost in space as a zone dropper where he needs better anticipation to break on the ball more quickly and will get stuck to blocks due to his undersized frame. Now, when you talk about being a zone dropper, a couple things there. It could just be bad awareness. It could be low football IQ. It also could be coaching. And the Patriots, I have a lot of trust and confidence in this staff.

Starting point is 00:26:33 if you could coach the zone dropping into Khalil Jacobs's bag, he's even more valuable. Now, of course, he's not getting any bigger. So he's going to get stuck to blocks because he is going to be undersized compared to some other guys. But it's not like he's tiny. I mean, Marte Mapu, who I think the staff was hopeful could fill a role last year. Unfortunately, every time Marte Mapu was thrown on the field,

Starting point is 00:27:03 messed up, or at least it felt that way. But Marte Mapu is, you know, 6.3-230. Khalil Jacobs is 6127. So from a weight standpoint, not too bad, a couple inches shorter. So Khalil Jacobs is an under the radar name. I think we should keep an eye on. And I'll wrap it up with a third name. We always talk about the edge.

Starting point is 00:27:25 And we've talked a lot about the edge. And one of the questions is, as long as, you know, the top four guys are there, who is the fifth defensive end on this team? Is it Braden Swinson? Is it Quintavius Hutchins? Mike Reese recently wrote about Xavier Holmes, which we talked about in a prior podcast. But what about Jesse Lucetta? Jesse Lucetta signed with the Patriots on March 5th before Free Agency even began.

Starting point is 00:27:51 So the Patriots obviously had interest and had enough interest in Jesse Lucetta to go out and sign him really early in the process. He's an experienced guy. He played three years for the Arizona Cardinals. He played in 31 games. He started three. Last year, he spent some time on the Los Angeles Rams practice squad. He is a perfect size fit for what the Patriots and Mike Vrable like at, you know,

Starting point is 00:28:17 defensive end at that edge position. He's 6.3-253. I'll say it again for those that might not have heard me say this before. The sweet spot feels like 250 to 255. So 6-3-253. fits perfectly within that. And the interesting thing is Jesse Lucetta moved to Edge from linebacker after his first three years at Penn State.

Starting point is 00:28:41 So he's still relatively new to Edge, which begs the question, can this coaching staff, can Mike Smith, Clint McMillan, Terrell Williams, can they get more out of Jesse Lucetta? Can they polish him? He's a power rusher. not overly athletic, but he does have special teams experience.

Starting point is 00:29:06 And of course, the numbers game matters. You know, when you're looking at the fifth edge, if you're bringing five, if you're bringing five defensive ends into the season, if Braden Swinson doesn't win you over, or Quintavius Hutchins or something happens with the top four guys, can easily slide in Jesse Lucetta as your fifth dude. That wraps up this edition of Lockdown Patriots. to reach out to me on Twitter at Nick C. Radio and don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe on YouTube. Thank you for making Lockdown Patriots your first listen. If your second listen,

Starting point is 00:29:40 check out Lockdown NFL scouting. Kyle Crabs and Joe Marino will make you the most informed NFL fan this offseason. Find Lockdown NFL scouting on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts. Have a great day. Talk to you next time.

Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Excitement: New England Patriots’ Three Biggest Training Camp Storylines

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