Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Interview: Patriots 2026 Draft Philosophy Examined With Evan Lazar!

Starting point is 00:00:00 Evan Lazar from Patriots.com joins us to tell us what he wants to see out of this 2026 NFL draft. This is Lockdown Patriots. You are Locked on Patriots. Your daily New England Patriots podcast, part of the Locked on Podcasts Network, your team every day. What's happening? I'm your host, Nick Cattles.

Starting point is 00:00:29 On today's episode, the Pats are being linked to a number of the top guards in this draft, which could signal a surprise on draft weekend. In the second segment, we discuss wideouts and whether or not it makes sense to wait on one of those guys. But first, we're going to talk talent. And speaking of talent, Evan Lazar, joining us right now. Pull up Evan, you all know who he is, Patriots.com. And before we get started here, I just want to have this disclaimer.

Starting point is 00:00:56 We are recording this on Monday morning because Evan is a very busy man. We're fortunate to get him. We both know Elliot Wolf is speaking to the meeting. media on Monday afternoon. Don't add us if we don't discuss anything Wolf said because we don't know what he's going to say as we record this. I will certainly address Elliot Wolf's comments on an upcoming episode. And I'm sure Evan will have plenty of coverage on that presser as well at Patriots.com,

Starting point is 00:01:21 Patriots Unfiltered Podcast. And of course, his catch 22 with Alex Barth. Evan again, thanks for the time. And I appreciate you. Let's jump right into this. How would you grade this year's draft talent? compared to last year's draft talent. Yeah, it's a good question.

Starting point is 00:01:39 I think sometimes we get caught up in the top of the draft, you know, and are there blue chippers? Is it a quarterback draft? So drafts that have one or a combination of those two things tend to get looked at as a great draft, whereas drafts like this one where I feel like there's a decent amount of depth, especially at certain positions, really throughout, I would say the third and fourth round of the draft, but it doesn't necessarily have that star power talent other than Mendoza maybe at the top of it. So it kind of gets labeled as a weaker draft because of that.

Starting point is 00:02:16 So I think there's still plenty of depth. There's still plenty of talent. Now, maybe that is starting caliber talent instead of like superstar caliber talent. And that's where some of the bad juju comes about this draft. But I honestly feel like I love these types of drafts, Nick, because this is about doing your homework, right? This is about understanding your scheme fits, understanding your archetypes or molds that your team prioritizes because my board as the Patriots is going to be significantly different than every other team's board in a draft like this one, because it's all going to be about what type of player are you looking for and what type of fit are you looking for. So if Elliot Wolf and Mike Rable and Ryan Cowden and Stretch and

Starting point is 00:03:03 those guys I'll do their due diligence, which I'm sure they will. I still think the Patriots can come out of this draft with three or four guys that are going to contribute. All right. Let's start at number 31. We're all looking at the same needs. We're all talking about the same players. You do a ton of work. You know more about this draft than I do.

Starting point is 00:03:22 That's going to be the case every single draft. I try not to present myself as some, you know, draft expert guy. I mean, I'm aware of many of the players. I look at many of the players. watch a lot of college football, but we all looking at tackle. We're all looking at wide receiver. We're all looking at Edge, Evan. So my question is, if there were similar levels of talent at tackle, receiver, and

Starting point is 00:03:46 edge at 31, what are you doing with that pick? Well, I think that it's always a conversation of what happens afterwards, right? And the spot that I've sort of warmed up to, because honestly, Nick, like at the beginning of this process, the idea of taking a tackle two years in a row and then having that tackle then probably sit behind Morgan Moses for a year, it just didn't smell right to me because they're just don't feel like they're really in that position yet to basically be taking a red shirt player or a luxury player at that spot. But with that being said, the talent at edge rusher and at wide receiver on day two of this draft is really, really good in my opinion.

Starting point is 00:04:31 Whereas the talent on day two at tackle is basically non-existent. So if you don't take that tackle at 31 and you wait until day two or day three of the draft, I think you're really not talking about taking a tackle probably till 95 at the earliest. And now you're really starting to get into the territory of do we even project this player has starting caliber talent. You know, it's just a guy that we're drafting more to be a top swing tackle or a third tackle versus being somebody that we can really see being the right tackle of the future. So if all the talent was equal and normally in a draft like this around 31,

Starting point is 00:05:10 it probably will be pretty similar at that spot. I still think tackle just because of the lined up of need and where the gaps are in this draft is a better bet because you're going to be able to find guys at edge rusher and potentially at receiver that are going to be able to contribute with your second and third round picks. you know for those who follow me on Twitter at nick C radio and by the way you can follow Evan as well at easy Lazar you know if you're looking if you're looking at this draft

Starting point is 00:05:39 I know the moment it was like three weeks ago Evan I started doing the mock draft pro football focus and my first mock draft I did for lockdown Patriots you know Blake Miller happened to fall to 31 and I selected Miller with the pick and then the rest of the draft fell the way it fell I actually moved up in the second round of draft Malachi Lawrence, blah, blah. And then the next couple of mock drafts, I said, I'm not going to draft the tackle. So in mock draft, who I went with Denzel Boston, and then the one, the mock draft, the latest episode, the mock draft that I did, I actually started with an edge. And that's when you start to have the epiphany of what you're talking about. When you get to round two and you go, oof, the tackle class, I might as well just wait until day three at this point.

Starting point is 00:06:26 Let me ask you this, though. There's a lot of talk about Maxi Hanachor, a lot of talk about the aforementioned Blake Miller. I don't know if you're a Caleb Lomu guy. How would you rank the tackles? I'm not going to put Caden Proctor in there because I think he's going to be gone by then. How would you rank the remaining guys at that position at 31, the way you see it in who you like the most? I definitely like Blake Miller the most. I think Blake Miller's experience, you know, 50 plus starts at Clemson, his,

Starting point is 00:06:56 length, his athleticism, his past protection is basically pro-ready at this point. I think the one thing that you look at with him is power and ability to anchor, but also convert power in the run game and move people in the run game. I wouldn't say that's necessarily a strength of his. He's not a big-time people mover or road grader. But at the same time, I think his past protection skill, his hand-fighting, his footwork out of his pass sets, his range to protect the high side. or the outside edge. All those things are at this point, I think, probably the most polished or most ready out of that entire group.

Starting point is 00:07:34 And I still think he has a pretty high ceiling because of the athletic profile and because of the measurables, you know, still only 22 years old. So it's not like we're talking about a big difference in age like we are with some of these other prospects at the top of the draft. So I still really like Blake Miller. To me, I would be really surprised if he makes it all the way to 31

Starting point is 00:07:54 because he is so polished and ready to stay. step in right away. But that is easily the fairway pick, right? Like if you just want to split the fairway with one of these guys, that would be Blake Miller. When you get into Lomu and you get into Ionachor, now you're talking about two guys, in my opinion, that you're projecting a little bit more, maybe for different reasons. But with Lomu, the biggest thing that I came away from watching him is that that offense is just kind of gimmicky. Like there's a lot of misdirection. There's a lot of read option. There's a lot of RPO elements to that offense, a lot of backfield actions. So you're not really watching him do a whole lot of NFL stuff. Like he's not coming off the ball

Starting point is 00:08:37 and trying to move people in the run game. He's not pass setting, you know, with traditional or true pass sets in the NFL sense. So you're projecting a lot with him, in my opinion, in terms of how his measurable, his athleticism, his movement skill is going to translate into the next level. With the honor chore, I see him doing a lot of more NFL type stuff, but he's just raw in terms of his technique. So Romu is kind of like an unknown to me of how is this all going to translate. It's a nice ball of clay, but how is it all going to translate? And then the janitor is, I see him setting against Texas techs edge rushers and moving his feet and being able to do a lot different cool things, but it's inconsistent.

Starting point is 00:09:22 The tape is pretty up and down. All right. So we went through the tackle scenario. Of course, we got to talk about what happens if those guys are not there at 31. And that brings up Denzel Boston. If Denzel Boston is sitting there at 31, does Evan run the card up? Find out next. This is Lockdown Patriots, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network.

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Starting point is 00:12:44 All right. Evan Lizar, we talked about the tackles. Let's say a hana chore. Let's say Miller, they're both gone. Caden Proctor's gone. You're not in love with Caleb Lomu because of the stuff that you brought up about the offense

Starting point is 00:13:00 on the college level that he plays in. And Evan Lizar is sitting there in Denzel Boston has fallen into your lap at number 31. Are you in or out? I'm in. I'm comfortable taking Denzel Boston at 31. one. I think, you know, his mold or his archetype again is somewhere in between like the Tet McMillan and Drake London's of the world. And obviously we have, you know, the big time bus like

Starting point is 00:13:28 Keon Coleman and Nikiel Harry that all scare us about this type of player. So it's a wide range of outcomes there, you know, obviously between those two things. But I, I really feel like he's closer to Tet and Drake London because of how good he was in college against Mancovers. I don't look at him as somebody that struggled to beat man coverage. He's got quick feet at the line of scrimmage. He does a lot of really good things in terms of winning early in the route, which allows him to, you know, set up and get body positioning on cornerbacks. And then obviously you can see what he does at the catch point,

Starting point is 00:14:03 some of the strongest and just best hands and body control of any receiver in the draft, where he's not quite, I would say, on that London McMillan, you know, archetype, you know, top of the ceiling is probably against zone. And then also I would say the build up speed as a yak guy, you know, he's not a big time mover after the catch. Like those guys, when you hit them in stride coming over the middle of the field can really pick up speed as they go through the catch and break away and hit big plays. I don't necessarily see that with Drake London, or excuse me, with Denzel Boston like I do with London and Ted. But I think that there's enough there, that's similar that I feel comfortable with taking him.

Starting point is 00:14:47 He's somebody that grew on me, and I kind of have gone back and forth because I'm not usually that type of guy. Like I usually like the Casey Concepcion, the Omar Cooper Juniors. You know, those are my types of receivers. But when you start to think about how he works with Drake May and the outside and the need for the bigger outside receiver

Starting point is 00:15:05 within this Patriots offense, I can start to see a vision of how he would be fit in really well here. Yeah, you go back three weeks, a month ago I was a little bit lukewarm on the Denzel Boston idea, a little hesitant, and some of it did have to do with the Nikiel Harry PTSD because that's just how our brains work. But then the more you dig into it, and you mentioned the man coverage stuff. And I read an entire article and talked about it here on the podcast from Pro Football Focus, where, you know, he was literally one of the best receivers against man coverage in college football.

Starting point is 00:15:36 So that started to kind of turn me. And then you start to see, again, how the board falls and you go through this pro football focus, mock draft stuff and people think we're nerds for doing it, Evan, but it really does educate you and it allows you to kind of look at things and say, all right, well, these are my most likely realistic options at 31. If you don't draft a wide receiver at 31, Evan, how long are you willing to wait at that position? And I know we all love two-part question, so I'm going to hit you with one. How does the AJ Brown stuff impact that decision? Yeah, well, to answer the second part, you know, this was the thing when I did my first mock draft that I struggled with the most

Starting point is 00:16:15 because I think with A.J. Brown and the plans, you almost don't need to draft a receiver at all. You know, you're going to have six or seven guys that are viable NFL talents. Obviously, AJ Brown and Romeo Dobbs are going to be at the top of that debt chart, but you still believe a little bit in Kyle Williams. You still have Kisham Booty on the roster and Pop Douglas from that draft class. Matt Collins is still going to be here. So you kind of don't need to worry about that position at all. If you're not going to trade for AJ Brown post June 1, and I think you still need to throw darts at the wide receiver position. I don't know if it needs to be in the first round, but someplace on day two, early day three, I think is a spot that you still need to consider,

Starting point is 00:16:56 because until you hit on that, you know, elusive number one wide receiver, until they get that dude in here, then you still just need to throw darts and take lottery tickets and take chances on those types of players. Now, I do like some of the day two receivers in this draft. You know, I'm a big fan of, you know, Elijah Sarad, Jeremy Bernard, Ted Hurst, for them in those spots, you know, maybe if you wait a little bit longer, Bryce Lance, you know, Dejohn stripling from Ole Miss, like those are players that I feel pretty comfortable with them taking a chance on in that mold. You know, I've definitely gravitated more towards the size speed guys on the outside.

Starting point is 00:17:40 I just think it fits Drake May the best and they kind of already have Romeo Dobbs to do the dirty work and move the chains and do that sort of thing. So whether it's, you know, my guy Brazel or Ted Hurst or one of those types of players, I think that's kind of where I'm at with receiver. All right. Let's talk about Edge. We've talked about it. You've talked about it.

Starting point is 00:18:01 I've talked about it. the depth of the position at edge. I do think there's a little bit of a soft spot. Once you get past the first, I don't know, seven, eight guys, then you start to wonder about, all right, does this guy really fit? Can this guy do it? You get the gave acuses of the world who has some questions. People love them.

Starting point is 00:18:19 Some people don't love them. You know, I think Malachi Lawrence is becoming a very popular name now over the past few weeks. I fell in love with him at the combine and did some more work after seeing him at the combine where he was outstanding. I'm a fan of Malachi Lawrence, but what's your approach at edge? And would you rather wait until at least round two, Evan, because of the depth at that position? Yeah, I'm definitely gravitating towards waiting simply because I don't know how much of a drop-off there is to some of the guys that are going to be available at 31 to some of the guys that are going to be available at 63. I don't really see a huge difference in Malachi Lawrence, R. Mason Thomas, like those types of players.

Starting point is 00:19:02 you know, maybe Cassius Howell makes it there because of the measurables and the body type. You know, maybe he's available at 31. I think Akeem Mesidor is probably going to be off the board at that point, even though he's a little bit older. So, you know, you have all these guys that I do think are kind of stacked together to some extent. You said, Akis, you know, Derek Moore, you know, those types of players that I feel pretty good about at 63. The one thing I would say about this edge class, and it's a good class, don't get me wrong. but there aren't a whole lot of well-rounded guys outside the top, you know,

Starting point is 00:19:35 a couple of dudes like David Bailey and Rubin Bain. Once you get into this group that we're talking about, everybody kind of has a specialty and, you know, they're really good at either rushing the passer or they're really stout against the run and physical and convert speed to power and win with a bull rush. But not everybody has it all, you know, and obviously if they had it all, they'd probably be a much higher draft pick.

Starting point is 00:19:58 But the point is, is that, I've kind of gravitated towards maybe double dipping at edge because you might only get, you might have to piece together a skill set here, right? Like you might be able to get a really good pass rusher like a Cassius Howell, but is Cassius Howell going to be able to play on first down and set the edge of the defense and do what you've got to do against the run? So, you know, are they Cassius Howe early and then a guy like DDS or something like that a little bit later that can set the edge?

Starting point is 00:20:25 You know, that sort of thing I think is enticing to me. I'm a big Romero height guy, but Ramel Heights 240 pounds. Like he's going to rush the passer off the edge. That's what he's going to do. He's probably going to be a third down player early on in his rookie contract and not necessarily, you know, ready for all situations just yet. So, you know, those are the types of things you have to ask yourself, you know, is there a well-rounded option for them at 31?

Starting point is 00:20:52 You know, even guys like Falk and Zion Young are really run defenders, I think, at this point. So you have to really wonder about how they what do they like, what do they want. You know, some of the things we've heard from Elliot Wolf and Mike Rable seems like pass rush, first step explosiveness. That seems to be item number one. Like you kind of have to have that as a guy that they want to target. And then the other stuff is kind of a, you know, a bonus, if you will, if they bring anything else to the table. So I still gravitate towards Howell, Lawrence, R. Mason Thomas.

Starting point is 00:21:27 you know, for those types of reasons. Surprising the football world with picking a guard earlier than expected. We'll talk about that next. This is Lockdown Patriots, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. It's tax time, but for a lot of us, the old way of doing taxes as well, a lot. Trying to book an appointment that's not the most convenient. Sitting in a waiting room with a stack of papers, emailing back and forth and wondering if they really get your situation.

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Starting point is 00:23:54 James Higgins made his debut over the weekend, got a point. He's on the board. Bruins in the playoffs, Celtics in the playoffs, Patriots make the Super Bowl, all three teams exceeding expectations. Pretty cool time the last six or seven months to be in a New England fan. All right. Don't forget to like comments up. He's Evan Lazare from Patriots.com.

Starting point is 00:24:13 I am, of course, Nick Cattels here, host of lockdown Patriots. Let's wrap it up, Evan. A couple more questions. A lot of the top guards in this draft are being linked to the Patriots. Kind of weird. Over the last week, you know, we've heard about Manuel Pregnan, visiting the Patriots. We've heard about Chase Pisantis,

Starting point is 00:24:32 also being one of those guys that have been talking to the Patriots. Peter Schrager had the Patriots going with Keelan Rutledge from Georgia Tech at 31 in his mock draft. Is it possible, Evan, that the Patriots are going to draft a guard much earlier than we anticipated

Starting point is 00:24:48 like three weeks to a month ago? It's always possible. But I look at the way that they've moved, especially since, Elliot Wolf has taken over a larger role. And I just don't necessarily see them doing this because what's the path for that player to play early in his rookie contract? Now, if you're saying that they're going to then turn around and trade Mike on Wenu,

Starting point is 00:25:15 I feel like if they were going to do that, they would have already done it. You know, kind of like how the Patriots did in 2022, where they traded, you know, Shaq Mason and they let, you know, Ted Caris walk. and, you know, obviously that was not a good decision in the long run, but they got out in front of all of those decisions and they got their capital in and all that kind of stuff for this year's draft. So I'm just a little skeptical that they're going to draft. Now, we talked about tackle.

Starting point is 00:25:43 Like, tackle to me is different. That's a premium position. Yeah. That's a big deal at that spot. To draft Mike on Wenu's replacement and then have Mike on when his replacement sit on the bench for an entire season when you have. have needs at edge rusher, you have needs at playmaker, you have needs at tackle long term at these premium positions. It just doesn't really add up to me. Now, at the same time, that doesn't

Starting point is 00:26:07 mean ignore guard. You know, I still think that taking a guard somewhere in the fourth or fifth round makes a lot of sense. You know, they met with Jeremiah Wright, too, is one of my guys out of Auburn. Yeah, who's just a big road grading, you know, people moving guards similar to Mike on Wenow. You can have Jeremiah Wright in the fourth or fifth round. So I had much rather go that direction where they draft one of those guys in the middle rounds, maybe early on day three. And look at Mike on one, who's a six-round pick, right? Like, maybe you hit on that guy. If not, he's a backup, you know, and you have another backup, another depth piece to work with on the offensive line. You know, I really do like Bessantis a lot. I think Bessantes, you'd have to

Starting point is 00:26:48 take at 31. I think he's going to not last very long. You know, he reminds me a lot of Gray's able from last year just a hell of a pass blocker yeah hell of a mover really good athlete twitched up type of athlete uh you know pregnon is more of like in that on wennu mold you know not quite as big as mike on whenu but a people mover but not necessarily a finisher i would say he's more just like strong and sturdy and that type of player i don't necessarily see the nasty that i see with a guy like cailan rutledge so rutledge wants to put people in the ground you know he wants to finish blocks he wants to get up on the second level and block dudes 10 yards down the field. Like that's his type of game.

Starting point is 00:27:29 Whereas Pregnon, I think, is just kind of like a firm, sturdy type of player that will translate really well. But maybe, you know, a guy like Pregnon or Rutledge lasts till 63 and they can take him there, which I guess isn't totally out of the realm of possibility. But I just would be stunned with the way that they've drafted the last couple of years that now suddenly they're going to, let's face it, Nick, take a Belichick pick. and go completely off the beat in path and take a guard. Now defensive tackle, we want to talk about that.

Starting point is 00:27:59 That's a little bit different. I think maybe I could see that a little bit more. All right. Let's ask you about the remaining positions in one way here. So tight end linebacker safety. You mentioned defensive tackle. Christian Barmore, his last of the guaranteed money hit in March. So after this year, he could be let go rather easily.

Starting point is 00:28:21 How much urgency? How are you feeling about the other? their needs and how early do you want to address some of those? Yeah, I think the urgency with all these positions is similar in that I feel like they need pipeline players. Like they need guys that are developing behind the scenes to maybe take over for the players that are starting. You still have Roberts Blaine on this roster.

Starting point is 00:28:43 You still have Hunter Henry on this roster. You still have two safeties in Woodson and Byrd, who are your starters on this roster. So you're not looking at it as we need. immediate plug-in-play players right those spots you're really looking at it as developmental type of thing so linebacker for instance i know that's a hot one right now is is a linebacker because of the moves you know letting jack gibbons walk gelani tovai marty mappu uh to me though that's still like a mid-round need like they have two fourth round picks i like a lot of these linebackers in that range, you know, Aidan Fisher, you know, Rolder from Michigan, betcher from Oregon.

Starting point is 00:29:24 Like I think all those guys are nice developmental ads, you know, players that I think can be third linebackers and maybe even compete as starters down the line. Tight end is one that I would be a little willing to be a little bit higher on. You know, do you go for a Delp or a Claire or Stowers a little bit earlier in the second round potentially to try to get that guy in here, not only to develop behind Hunter Henry, but maybe he plays as a rookie and is able to move the needle for you as a pass catcher early on in his rookie contract. But safety, linebacker, defensive tackle, like those spots to me feel like we just need

Starting point is 00:30:03 bodies. You know, we need depth. We need guys that have some upside, but we don't necessarily need players that are going to contribute to the 2026 Patriots. He is Evan Lazare. You can check them out. Social media on Twitter at Easy Lazar. You can read him, Patriots.com.

Starting point is 00:30:18 You can watch slash listen to him. Patriots unfiltered. Catch 22 with Alex Barth. Alex, another grinder, guy liking the business an awful lot. Good stuff from both of you guys. I watch you guys. I try to watch you as much as possible during the season. It's a little bit more difficult now with the grind.

Starting point is 00:30:34 But you do great work, Evan. I can't speak highly enough of you, man. And thanks for joining me. I appreciate your time. Anytime. Anytime, Nick. Thanks. All right, brother. So we're going to say goodbye to Evan so he can get on moving.

Starting point is 00:30:46 And I'm going to tell you this 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. And don't forget to throw a comment in on the YouTube channel. Hit that like button and subscribe. And if you never miss an episode, the Everydayer Club is built for you. Get Lockdown Patriots, ad free, plus members-only Discord access and more. Head to Lockdownpatriots.

Starting point is 00:31:09 Supercast.com or check the link in the show. notes to learn more. Have a great day and we will see you next time.

Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Interview: Patriots 2026 Draft Philosophy Examined With Evan Lazar!

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