Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Is Tet McMillan Too RISKY For The New England Patriots?

Starting point is 00:00:00 The risk of drafting Tett McMillan in the first round might be too significant for the Patriots to bear. 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'm your host, Nick Cattles, born and raised in New England. You're a 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 show, the draft's most explosive athlete takes a top 30 visit to Gillette and it looks like the Patriots continue to get good news on the Christian Barmore front.

Starting point is 00:00:50 But first the risk of picking Tet Macmillan might be higher than we thought. We appreciate you joining the show, making us your first listen and for being an everydayer. The Locked On Patriots podcast is a proud partner of the Locked On Podcast Podcast Network your team every day first round is pivotal this draft for the New England Patriots a

Starting point is 00:01:13 first round miss Would hurt this organization for years We know this roster they need all the talent that they can get and you have the fourth pick overall in this draft And I understand that this draft is not as sexy as other drafts. It's not as deep as other drafts. We've talked about two blue chip prospects, three blue chip prospects. I get it. But if you swing and miss in the first round with where the Patriots are as an

Starting point is 00:01:40 organization needing all the talent they can get. That would be a gigantic miss, and it would hurt this team for years to have somebody on that rookie contract not making as big of an impact as you hoped he would make. You just can't do it. Last year's draft wasn't good so far, right? Not totally giving up after one year, but last's draft aside from Drake May, the Joe Milton splash, we all had fun. Last year's draft was mostly a miss and if you follow that up with missing on your first round pick this season that gets a bit messy and let's not forget how the Patriots have done recently with wide receiver picks in the draft, whether it's first round, Nikhil Harry, whether it's second round, Jalen Polk, fourth round,

Starting point is 00:02:28 Jayvon Baker. I mean, we could sit here and go through all of the names, but you know them, which inevitably brings us to Tet Macmillan. Is Tet Macmillan too risky of a pick in the first round for the Patriots? Now, there was a video that surfaced of Tet saying, he doesn't like watching film by himself.

Starting point is 00:02:47 That's from his freshman year. I'm gonna tuck that to the back of the room, not worry about it too much. I wanna focus on more recent issues and ask the question whether or not the risks are too high to select Tet McMillan in that first round of scout. Spoke to Bob McGinn who does great work during the draft.

Starting point is 00:03:07 He talks to a bunch of execs and coaches and scouts. And here's what a scout said to Bob McGinn about Tet Macmillan, quote, there's stuff on film this year. That's just gross. The lack of competitiveness is just disturbing at times. Very undisciplined of route runner. He's a really immature kid. He's a poster child for this NIL bleep. They kiss his bleep to get him to stay and then they do what

Starting point is 00:03:32 they want. Now there is, there is at least a skosh of yelling at the clouds vibes with that comment, with that quote from the scout, right? All the NIL kids. Little bit yelling at the clouds, but let's look at the issues. And let's ask the question, Tet McMillan, you in or out in the first round? I'm out. I'm out on Tet McMillan in the first,

Starting point is 00:03:59 especially if it's top 10 to 15. Later in the first, I might have a conversation, but I would still lean out. Because we can sit here and we can talk about whether or not his stuff on film is gross, if that's some hyperbole. We can sit here and talk about if his lack of competitiveness was disturbing at times,

Starting point is 00:04:21 and we will get deeper into that in just a few moments. But let's start on the field, and let's start with who this player is. Now he's big, big guy, right? 6'4", whatever he is, 220, big, gifted physically type of wide receiver as far as the frame goes. But let's not overlook Tett McMillan on the field and the fact that he has had trouble against press coverage. When corners press him, he has issue. When corners get physical with him, he has an issue. The lack of physicality, the lack of fight through press coverage, the lack of gaining separation against that press coverage, those are all tangible issues that you

Starting point is 00:05:04 see on the film with Ted McMillan. And then you look at his 40 time. He didn't run at the combine. Teams were upset, went to his pro day, ran at his pro day. Now there were all sorts of rumors about what he ran. At one point, somebody tweeted that he ran a 4-4-8. But then we found out the vast majority of people on hand ran a 4-4-8. But then we found out the vast majority of people on hand actually clocked Ted in at the mid 4-5 to high 4-5 range. What does that mean? Well, Daniel Jeremiah of the NFL Network,

Starting point is 00:05:34 he posted this recently. Mike Evans was the last wide receiver that ran a 4-5 plus 40 to get picked in the top 15. He ran 4-5-3. In 2014, he was selected seventh overall. So a wide receiver as slow as Tet Macmillan at the 40 has not been drafted in the first round in the top 15 since 2014, 11 years ago when it was Mike Evans. Now, if you think Tet Macmillan is Mike Evans, we'll have a conversation.

Starting point is 00:06:05 Here's more from Daniel Jeremiah. This is from NFL Research. It's been 20 years, two decades since a wide receiver was picked in the top 15 after running 455 plus. And so again, at the pro day, many scouts on hand had set running a 455 plus. It's been two decades since we saw a wide receiver drafted in the top 15. After that wide receiver ran a four, five, five plus 40, 2005 USC Mike Williams ran a four, five, six, he was drafted 10th overall by the Lions. Do you remember how that ended? Now let's get back to that Mike Evans comparison.

Starting point is 00:06:52 I know one thing about Mike Evans, dude is a dog. He plays hard, he's highly competitive. He will play when he's banged up, go across the middle, take hits. He is a dog Dawg Mike Giardi of Boston Sports Journal He reported recently that there's concern over Tett Macmillan's quote-unquote love of football Now if you're questioning somebody's love of football, they certainly would not seem like a dog they would not come across like Mike Evans and

Starting point is 00:07:26 would not seem like a dog. They would not come across like Mike Evans. And you have to question whether or not Tetz lack of love for the game is why he doesn't fight through press coverage. It's why he doesn't necessarily enjoy physicality from corners. Does he give in when things get a little too tough on the football field. It's a question that has to be asked, and it's a question that has to be answered if you're the Patriots. If you are picking a wide receiver in the first round, you need conviction. I need to believe with every fiber of my being

Starting point is 00:07:58 that Tet Macmillan is the answer. If you're picking at four, even more so, I need to run to the mountaintops and scream from the mountaintop and say, Tet Macmillan is the man. If I'm going to draft him fourth overall, if I'm going to draft him in the top 10, I have to feel like he's the next Mike Evans. He might be, he's got the size, the catch radius, all of that stuff that we talk about, The catch radius, all of that stuff that we talk about. But does he have it in him? Does he love the game enough?

Starting point is 00:08:27 Is that gross film from last year? Is that just, let's wipe it away. It was at certain times during certain games and we just wipe that away and not worry about it. Or does that really tell us who Tet Macmillan is? Because I'll tell you what, Drake Bay's a dog. Stefan Diggs is a dog. You need somebody in that wide receiver room that's going to learn under Stefan Diggs and have the

Starting point is 00:08:53 heart, have the gall to go out there and do whatever he's got to do against NFL corners who are going to play him physical and are going to play man coverage against him. Too many questions from me. I'm out on Tet McMillan. You get later in the first round, maybe we talk about it, but I'm leaning out totally on Tet in the first round. I would certainly not pick him at four and I would not be comfortable picking him in the top 10. All right.

Starting point is 00:09:22 We've got two more top 30 visits to Gillette, with one certainly raising eyebrows. That's next as we continue on with today's episode of Locked On Patriots, part of the Locked On podcast network, Your Team Every Day. The NBA playoffs are almost here, and FanDuel is giving new customers an incredible way to get in on the action. Right now, when you join FanDuel is giving new customers an incredible way to get in on the action right now. When you join FanDuel, place your first $5 bet, you'll get $250 in bonus bets if your bet wins. I love FanDuel. I've been involved with FanDuel for a number of

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Starting point is 00:10:56 years. We want defensive athleticism. I can't tell you how many times I've discussed this with my friends, discussed this on other projects like Everything Pats. Defensive athleticism, especially on the second level, especially at safety, right? Defensive athleticism, another forever need. Wide receiver, wide receiver one, wide receiver two. Now you feel like Stephon Diggs

Starting point is 00:11:19 can at least be a wide receiver two if slash when he comes back healthy. But can he be the guy? Probably not. So you're still searching for wide receiver two, if slash when he comes back healthy. But can he be the guy? Probably not. So you're still searching for wide receiver one. In digs, he really has a one year deal. So the search for defensive athleticism and the search for top talent at wide receiver

Starting point is 00:11:39 doesn't end for the New England Patriots. And they had a wide receiver visit them in a top 30 visit Ari Pooley posted this after visiting the Bucs on Monday Iowa State wide receiver Jaylen Knoll had another top 30 visit yesterday with the Patriots per source now Jaylen Knoll is an interesting guy let's start here he's number 72 on the athletic Dame Bruegler's top 100 list of prospects. So you're talking about somebody who's right around late second, early third, as far as a projection. 72 overall on Bruegler's top 100.

Starting point is 00:12:18 And Noel is a great athlete. We talk about athletes, we talk about athleticism on the defensive side, we'll get to that in a few minutes. But Noel's athleticism needs to be noted. At the combine, he ran a four, three, nine, 40. He had a 41 and a half inch vertical, which is just absolutely out freaking rages. I bring up relative athletic score, right? It's a scoring metric, zero to 10, that tells you how athletic a player truly is. It all began in 1987. You go back to 1987, that's how long the scores have been run. And Jalen Knowles, RAS, relative athletic score,

Starting point is 00:13:00 was a 9.48 out of a possible 10. One of the better athletes you're going to see at wide receiver. relative athletic score was a 9.48 out of a possible 10. One of the better athletes you're going to see at wide receiver. Now, one of the questions I have about Noel is that he's a slot receiver. And do the Patriots really want to invest a second round, third round pick?

Starting point is 00:13:18 Do they want to invest that pick in a slot receiver? You think Pop Douglas can play the slots, Stefan Diggs has played the slot, he plays inside outside, right? pick in a slot receiver. You think pop Douglas can play the slots. The fond digs has played the slot. He plays inside outside, right? Kendrick born has played inside outside. You could play Jalen poke in the slot as well. If he ever can figure things out. So would you want to spend a pick a top 75 picker? Let's just say 77 pick 77 that Matthew Jude on trade with Atlanta. Do you really want to spend the 77th pick in the draft on a slot receiver?

Starting point is 00:13:51 Now of course, ultimately the answer is do you love the guy or not? Do you think he can make an impact? If you think he can make an impact, then you would at least entertain the idea of drafting him. But you have so many options at the slot, you truly really need that X receiver still that big bodied X receiver we talked about Tet Macmillan. In the last segment, Tet Macmillan is an X receiver, big body guy plays on the outside gets downfield contested catches all of those things.

Starting point is 00:14:20 Right now the Patriots you're looking at either digs at times at the X or Matt Collins, who is really a third or fourth receiver on an NFL team. So do you want to spend that kind of draft capital on a slot receiver when you have multiple guys that can play that position? Now of course, Jaylen Polk should not be guaranteed a spot on this team. Diggs will see how he is health wise. Kendrick Bourne, he's been off and on as a Patriot. His best season though in the NFL was 2021 with Josh McDaniels.

Starting point is 00:14:53 And Pop Douglas, I have high expectations for Pop Douglas, especially with McDaniels. So do you really spend a pick in the top 77 on Noel, even though he's a great athlete, even though he's a good football player, do you make that pick? You know, hit rates matter. Hit rates matter. And when you look at the recent history in round two and round three at the wide receiver position, the history is just terrible. Nick Urquilano posted this recently.

Starting point is 00:15:27 He listed the wide receivers drafted in rounds two and three from the years 2020 to 2022 because of course you don't write guys off after like a year. You could write some guys off after two years, but Urcalano is doing the respectful thing. He's giving all these receivers at least two full years in the league and then get that started third year until he evaluates a guy and says he's a complete miss. But from 2020 to 2022, there were 17 wide receivers drafted in the second to third round, right? The second, third rounds, you had 17 receivers drafted.

Starting point is 00:16:07 Four of those guys were hits, and the hits were to varying degrees. George Pickens, you could say George Pickens is a hit sometimes. You could say he's a miss sometimes. Nico Collins, absolutely a hit. T Higgins, absolutely a hit. Michael Pittman, eh, not a true number one. He's had his highs. He's had

Starting point is 00:16:26 some lows. He's had some injuries. So those are the hits to varying degrees, four of them. Then you add 13 other guys that had varying degrees of misses, complete whiffs or guys that just did not have nearly as much impact as teams had hoped they would have when they drafted them. Chase Claypool, miss. Lynn Bowden, miss. Anthony Schwartz, I think he played for the Browns. May the Schwartz be with you, miss. So when you look at the recent history, 2020 to 2022, the vast majority, 13 out of the 17 wide receivers drafted, were misses. And of course, all of us in New England, we already after one year have Jalen Polk PTSD. And are you afraid of drafting a guy in the second or third round because of what we saw from Polk last year?

Starting point is 00:17:20 Another visit I want to talk about, A&M's Shamar Stewart. He is visiting the Patriots and I bring back that relative athletic score that RAS. Did you know that Shamar Stewart is number one all time from 1987 to 2025 number one all time in relative athletic score? He scored a perfect 10. Scored a perfect 10. It's nuts. Shamar Stewart is 6'5", 267 pounds. He has 34 inch arms. That arm length. Get it out there to the camera if you're watching on YouTube. 34 inch arms. But

Starting point is 00:18:03 light tech Macmillan There are some risks with Stewart. Let's talk about on the field first four and a half sacks his entire a and m career He had a second half his first year He had a second half his second year and he finished last year with guess what a sack and a half Not a math major, but that tells me he had four and a half sacks throughout his entire collegiate career. How does a guy? That has a perfect 10 RAS Who's 6'5", 267 with 34 inch arms? How does that guy finish his college career with four and a half sacks? Now here's the counter

Starting point is 00:18:40 Yes, he gave up. Yes. He had four and a half sacks rather, but here's the counter Shamar Stewart last year had 39 pressures. That's a bunch. 39 pressures. Now, some other questions though with Stewart, because it's not just about his lack of productivity when you talk about sacks during his time at Texas A&M. Tony Pauline of Sportskeeter wrote this recently, Stuart did not participate in position drills at his pro day after not doing position drills at the combine. Pauline wrote that's not sitting well with teams. So he didn't do drills at the combine. He did not do drills at his pro day. I don't think that's as big of a deal now as it used to be. I don't think that's as big of a deal now as it used to be. But there are questions. There are questions. The productivity.

Starting point is 00:19:34 Is he a guy who's just kind of floating and cruising on into the draft because he knows he might go top 10, top 15? Is he going to put the work in? But I will tell you this, if Shamar Stewart off the field checks out, I think he's a target if you trade down. I wouldn't take him at four, but if you trade down, I would take a swing on Shamar Stewart. All right, the Patriots continue to get good news about one of their best young players. We'll have the latest coming up as we continue on with today's episode of Locked On Patriots, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. You've probably heard of Chewy. They really do have everything you need to keep your pet happy and healthy. Whether you're

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Starting point is 00:21:30 hasn't even reached his prime yet. We're talking about somebody who's an interior defensive lineman who can get that pass rush from the inside, which as we all know is crucial. You remember Tom Brady taking pressure up the middle. He hated it. Flushing the quarterback out of the pocket Creating sacks for the edges the interior pass rush, right? There's just so much potential with Christian Barmore But the number one thing Is his health and that's the number one concern and that should be the number one concern for all of us

Starting point is 00:22:01 Is he a healthy human being, not for football purposes, for living purposes? Blood clots are no joke as we know, and he had to deal with them not once but twice last season. So is Barmore truly healthy? That's the most important part of the conversation that we have as we try to figure out what he might look like if he gets back on the field in 2025. Well, so far so good because there were pictures of Barmore during this voluntary workout program. There were pictures of Barmore being there. Now Mike Vrabel told us that he expected Barmore to be in the facility during this voluntary workout time. But we didn't know what that meant.

Starting point is 00:22:48 Was he gonna meet with doctors? Were doctors gonna tell him to slow down? Was he going to be able to get physically involved? Well, then we see pictures of him working out this week at the facility. And you have to take that as good news. Again, there are no guarantees here. As we learned, I mean, he got back and played football last year only to have that relapse and then have to leave the

Starting point is 00:23:10 field again. So there are no guarantees. We're talking baby steps, but we're talking about baby steps in the right direction for Christian Barmore. And that's big for this team because I don't think Barmore is working out unless he's been given a full go, right? Doctors are not going to have him lifting weights and putting a bunch of pressure on his body and testing his conditioning. He's not doing that unless the doctors feel like he's capable of doing that. Like he's 100% or at least close enough to 100% to be a full go at these voluntary workouts.

Starting point is 00:23:50 I would also have to believe due to that relapse, doctors are monitoring Barmore even closer than they might have been monitoring him last year. Because once you have that slip up, once you have that relapse, once he has to, you know, after going back onto the field, leave the field again and get more treatment, I'm sure that they are monitoring this as closely with a fine tooth comb as they can. And they will continue to do that moving forward to make sure the young man is healthy and in the right spot to produce for the football team. Now let's get to the point where if he is healthy, if he continues to work out, he gets to camp, he gets through the football

Starting point is 00:24:39 activities, there is not a relapse. We know David Andrews had issues with blood clots years ago. He came back, ended up being fine for the long term. Let's say Barmore does come back. He gets through all of the off season workout stuff. He gets through the OTAs. He gets through training camp. He gets through joint practices. He gets through some preseason snaps if they play him in the preseason. Barmore and Milton Williams have devastating potential.

Starting point is 00:25:06 And I'm not speaking too highly when I say devastating. They have legitimate devastating potential. I talked about that interior pass rush and how much that impacts quarterbacks. Milton Williams is a beast when it comes to rushing the passer. If you put Milton Williams next to Christian Barmore, imagine those two strong, athletic, quick, interior defensive linemen

Starting point is 00:25:34 chewing up left guard, center, right guard for most, if not every single team in the NFL. That's what I dream of. That interior pass rush of Barmore and Williams just absolutely dominating certain offensive lines because you can't double both of them, right? And at times Williams is going to force a double. Barmore is going to force a double. And you're going to see this, right? That's why all the talk about, oh, well, Milton Williams had Jaylen Carter and these other guys. Yes. And I'm not saying that Barmore is as good as some of those interior defensive linemen of the Eagles but Barmore is really good when he's healthy he's really good and he's locked in right really really good and so it becomes this huge task for any

Starting point is 00:26:21 offensive line to deal with not not one, but two of those types of interior defensive linemen who can force a double at any time. In Milton Williams, there are some questions about how he defends the run. Can he consistently defend the run? Can he consistently defend a run when he's playing more than 45, 46% of the staffs? That's a legitimate question but Barmore he could play the run and you hope that Milton Williams he could play the run as well because if you've got these two guys who can rush the quarterback and at least hold their water against the run that's going to

Starting point is 00:26:59 make life very difficult for any opposing offense. And then you start to put the pieces together because with Christian Barmore, that puzzle of the defense, it's more complete because now you've got Barmore and Williams in the middle. You've got Keon White who can play on the edge. You can move them in. You've got Landry. You've got Chason. You've got Jennings.

Starting point is 00:27:24 I do think the Patriots will end up drafting another defensive lineman, if not two defensive linemen in this draft because the defensive line is so deep in this year's draft. But now you see that talent across the board on that defensive line. Barmore, Williams, White, those are three athletic freaks who can get to the quarterback. Landry picking up some of those cleanup sacks. Jennings, I want to see what Anthony Jennings looks like in a more aggressive defense. Does he have a little bit more pass rush pop than we've seen throughout his career? But you've got Jennings out there.

Starting point is 00:28:03 You've got Chason pin the airs back and let him go. And then at corner, Krushing and Zalas, locked down corner. Carlton Davis, really good corner, can lock down most receivers in the league, especially most twos because Davis is not going to be covering the number one. That's going to be Gonzo's job. And then you've got crazy man Robert Spillane running around in the middle of the field, crashing left to right like a lightning bolt. And we talk about defensive athleticism.

Starting point is 00:28:33 Williams, Barmore, White, Chaison, Landry, Spillane, Gonzalez, all of those guys are really good athletes. And that should get you excited about this defense. Balmore could be one of the final pieces to this puzzle that will make it complete and make it a top 10 defense in 2025. With Mike Vrabel and Terrell Williams, Acumen, the coaching staff they've put together, Mike Smith and his history with pass rush and outside linebacker. He has a long history of having guys that can produce and get sacks. And you start to think about that defense and you start getting excited.

Starting point is 00:29:20 All right, that wraps up this edition of Lockdown Patriots. Tomorrow on the show, we'll talk more about the draft. Let me know your thoughts on today's topics. Reach out to me on Twitter at Nick C. Radio again at Nick C. Radio. And don't forget to throw a comment in on the YouTube channel. Thank you for making Lockdown Patriots your first listen today. For your second listen, check out the Lockdown NFL Draft with Damian Parson and Keith Sanchez. Now that the season is over, get the latest draft rankings, rumors and news every single day. Find Lockdown NFL Draft on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Starting point is 00:29:54 Have a great day and I'll see you tomorrow.

Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Is Tet McMillan Too RISKY For The New England Patriots?

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