Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Keeping Up with the Joneses? - Julio trade rumors and Mac’s fit with the Patriots — 5/21/2021

Episode Date: May 21, 2021

The New England Patriots find themselves among a handful of teams rumored to interested in acquiring Atlanta Falcons’ wide receiver Julio Jones. How might he fit in Foxboro? Joining host Mike D’Abate is Mark Schofield of USA Today Sports. The duo discuss the latest rumors surrounding Julio Jones and how the team will alter its offense to suit future quarterback Mac Jones.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKED15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.BetOnline AGThere is only 1 place that has you covered and 1 place we trust. Betonline.ag! Sign up today for a free account at betonline.ag and use that promocode: LOCKEDON for your 50% welcome bonus.Rock AutoAmazing selection. Reliably low prices. All the parts your car will ever need. Visit RockAuto.com and tell them Locked On sent you.NugenixText now, and they’ll include a bottle of Nugenix Thermo, their most powerful fat incinerator ever with key ingredients to help you get back in shape, absolutely free! Text DRAFT to 2-3-1-2-3-1.WealthfrontTo get your first $5,000 managed for FREE, for life, go to wealthfront.com/LockedOnNFL Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You are Locked On Patriots, your daily New England Patriots podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello to all of you, Foxborough faithful. You are now locked into the Lockdown Patriots podcast. It is Friday, May 21st, 2021, and it is SCO time here on your daily home for news notes and analysis infused with the occasional opinion on your six-time Super Bowl champions, the New England Patriots. Locked on Patriots is presented today by rockauto.com. Amazing selection, reliably low prices, all the parts your car will ever need.

Visit rockauto.com today and tell them Locked On sent you. Patriots fans, thank football in Foxborough. It is Friday here on Locked On Patriots. And thank you for joining me here today to close out the week in style on the pod. My name is Mike DeBate, your host of the Locked On Patriots podcast, which of course is a proud part of the Locked On Podcast Network,

your team every day. And folks, because it's your team every day, that means your questions, comments, and feedback are always welcomed and very much appreciated. So share that feedback, send it to the internet by reaching out to me and following me on Twitter at MDABATEFPC. And while you're out there giving the weekend nod and saying, how you doing, to the Twitterverse, please be sure to follow the Locked On Patriots account as well at LO underscore Patriots.

Pats fans, it's nearly time to close the book on another work week here on the pod. And after a scheduled Thursday break in the action yesterday, we are back to close out the week in a big way. Joining me here today on the pod is a voice you know very well. In fact, I consider him to be the voice of Locked On Patriots today, tomorrow, and always. He is my good friend, my mentor, and my predecessor here on the pod, Mark Schofield of

USA Today Sports. And Mark joins us at the perfect time because your New England Patriots find themselves among a handful of teams that are circling around some trade rumors right now. Those rumors are circulating surrounding current Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Julio Jones.

And thanks to a report earlier this week from Jeff Schultz of The Athletic, Falcons might be looking to move on from Julio's services, even though he is still one of the most prolific wide receivers in the game today. Atlanta is up against it on the cap, and even though Julio is still one of the most talented players on their roster, moving him would solve a lot of their financial problems. As for the Patriots' interest, this one does make some sense, folks. The Patriots definitely have the capital to be able to move, they can maneuver their salary cap to fit Julio Jones in, and he would be coming to Foxborough to play with, unarguably,

the greatest coach in the game and a very good roster on both sides of the ball. As for whether it will actually happen, your guess is as good as mine. And because New England Patriots national news always seems to turn up every time Mark and I take the microphone together here on Locked On Patriots, we'll be discussing Julio Jones, including the logistics of what it might take to get him to New England, and if in fact this does come to fruition, what type of impact will Julio Jones have on the field? A player of

this caliber doesn't just add a number one wide receiver into the stable, folks. It really changes the complexity of the entire offense. And who better than one of the greatest offensive gurus anywhere in NFL media to break it all down for us? But you didn't really think I was going to invite Mark on to the show without talking a little quarterbacks. After all, I affectionately like to call my good friend the quarterback whisperer. And we will be talking quarterbacks. Recently, for USA Today's Touchdown Wire, Mark published a piece that I would call, without hesitation, a masterpiece. And it centers around Patriots rookie quarterback Mac Jones. There's a lot of enthusiasm out there about Mac being the quarterback of this team, possibly even this

year. I'm as guilty of this as anyone. Since the quarterback of this team, possibly even this year. I'm as guilty of this as anyone. Since the Patriots drafted Mac, I've been talking about his potential fit in a Patriots uniform, how this really is one of the best environments for him to maximize his talent in the NFL. I still believe that, and so does Mark. But as I've said several times here on the Airwaves, Mark has a tendency to see things that us mere mortals simply don't. And the Patriots will have to adjust their offense in order to suit Mac Jones's style. Doesn't mean that he's a bad fit here. It just means there is a little bit more than just simply plug and play. Mac takes off an Alabama uniform, puts on a Patriots uniform, immediately has that type of success. Doesn't work that way. And today, the quarterback whisperer will give us

the reasons why, including breaking down Mack's talents at being able to run play action, his ability to be a drop back passer, and also his ability to run the RPO. Something he doesn't get a whole lot of credit for, but Mack has done a pretty deep dive into Mack's prowess in this area. Last but certainly not least, we'll put Mark on the semi-hot seat and ask him in an ideal world what the Patriots quarterback room will look like in 2021. Folks, a ton of action to help close out the week in style here on Locked On Patriots. It's always exciting when Mark comes back to check on the total poster, which is still there folks. That's never leaving. That's right next to Murph's embroidered chair. And today, it is my honor and my privilege to close the week in style by blessing the

rains here on Locked On Patriots by welcoming my good friend Mark Schofield to the hot seat when this Friday episode of the Locked On Patriots podcast continues. Locked On listeners, when it comes to repairing or maintaining your vehicle, why would you spend 30%, 50%, even 100% more for the exact same auto parts at a chain store or a new car dealership? It's still possible to take pride in your ride and even save a little in the process. Visit my good friends at rockauto.com. Rockauto.com is a family business serving auto parts customers online for 20 years.

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truly set the standard on this microphone here on this podcast wholeheartedly sincere when I say that this man is the best there is the best there was and the best there ever will be the excellence of execution the host emeritus here at Locked On Patriots. That's right, folks. Today we are blessing the reins and welcoming back my predecessor, my mentor, my good friend, Mark Schofield. Mark, thank you so much for joining me today. Welcome back home. Hi, it's a pleasure to be back with you.

I always appreciate Fridays with Mike here at Locked On Patriots. Your cod words mean the world to me. But as I've always said, man, you have done such greater things with this show than I ever did. I'm so happy to see the success you're having. I'm excited to be here, excited to talk about the topics we've got queued up in. Even though you had to pull me away from a little Rick Astley, a little way to music, whole music, never going to give you up, I'm still excited to dive in. Well, you know what?

It actually is a perfect way to segue into that because here on Locked On Patriots, we're never going to give you up, Mark. We're always going to allege you as the host emeritus here. I always will. I thank you for the kind words on your end as well. But the table that you set for me, Bud, and being able to come in here and, you know, put my own spin on this show, but also be able to utilize the great table that you set for me is one of my greatest honors in this business. And it always

will be. So thank you for that. And it's one of the great reasons why I love having you back here. But most of all, two friends being able to talk ball to close out the week, there's really no better way to do it. And I love it it and so let's dive right into it but um you know the patriots always seem to sneak their way into a national story every single time we share the mic it really it's without fail and today is no exception um jeff schultz of the athletic obviously reporting throughout the past 24 to 48 hours that the Atlanta Falcons might be looking to trade wide receiver Julio Jones. The Patriots are among the teams that might be linked to him, according to Jeff's report. So this is always a lot of fun in Patriots Nation. The minute a player,

especially of Julio's magnitude, becomes available. We start seeing the GIF file of Bill Belichick walking through the tunnel at Ford field. And, you know, all of that kind of becomes fodder for the fan base, for the media. It's a lot of fun to speculate. And look,

there's no question about it. Who would not love to have Julio Jones here in new England, patrolling the sidelines and being a member of this wide receiver core. This would be an upgrade in every sense of the word for the Patriots at wide receiver. Julio would come into Foxborough, the unquestioned number one wide out. But Mark, you and I both know that trades like this can be complicated. They're not as easy as some in the fan base would have you believe. So in your evaluation of the situation, what do you think would be the key factors in the patriots choosing to trade for julio jones and how likely is it that they'd make this move

i mean i think obviously anytime you think about a move like this a trade like this compensation is going to be a massive sticking point and what you know the atl Atlanta Falcons might want in terms of compensation for Julio Jones, you know, that's a huge question mark. Because while he is still an extremely talented player, one of the best wide receivers in the game, tremendously talented and versatile type of player, somebody that can be a factor both in the downfield game, somebody that can also be a factor underneath. All levels of the field, really. He's sort of the versatile, universal scheme type of player. He is sort of on the older side.

And so what's the right balance in terms of compensation? What's that going to be? The other thing to sort of keep in mind is there are financial situations here. He's got a base salary of $15.3 million this year, $11.5 million next year. You're going to have to get him under the cap. At $15.3 million, according to OverTheCap.com,

Patriots have $15.9 million in terms of cap space right now. Yeah, you might be able to make some things move. If you're moving players in that kind of deal, you might be able to free up some space, but who would you be willing to part with maybe a piece of the secondary? You know,

what are you willing to give up in terms of future first round picks? The other thing to sort of keep in mind is this, what do we expect this offense to look like next year? You know, what do we expect them to do sort of schematically with the acquisitions of the two tight ends and the receivers that they made, it would lend credence to the idea that this is going to be a heavy 12-personnel team, which really gives you space for two wide receivers. Now, yes, Julio Jones would instantly be the most talented receiver on this room,

but how many opportunities are there going to be for the boundary receivers in this passing game? And even with a Julio Jones acquisition, he might get the lion's share of those. But what is that worth to you as an organization in terms of a cost? What are you willing to pay? Are you willing to pay the premium that it might take to acquire Julio Jones? You know, a couple of future picks, maybe second round, third round. I don't know if you're getting a first, but maybe. And a bonafide blue chip type player or two.

Are you willing to pay that for a receiver who's going to come in while he will be the most talented receiver? He might also be just a compliment type of player, given the offense you expect to run. And so that's going to be the sort of cost-benefit analysis that every organization is going to have to run through, as well as the New England Patriots. But the other thing to sort of keep in mind, Atlanta's in a very tough place financially. Obviously, the way the numbers work, a post-June 1st trade is when something like that will happen, because that's when it's the most

advantageous situation for Atlanta, from their perspective, to make a deal. That will be the most cost savings for them. If they move them now, they basically blow up their cap. So they have to wait. So it's going to be some time before we see any sort of resolution on that. It's going to be a couple of weeks. So ultimately, look, what are you willing to pay for a receiver on the back nine of his career,

but who is still extremely talented and who would, yes, be the most talented guy in your room, but might only get a fraction of the touches where, as opposed to a team like the Chicago Bears, we expect them to be a much heavier 11 personnel team. Obviously, yes, they have Allen Robinson, but he might see more touches there. Where would he want to go? So there are a lot of moving parts to this.

Anytime a player of this caliber becomes available or potentially available, the New England Patriots are the first team to come to mind. You mentioned the Ford Field and the video of Belichick coming out of the tunnel. And I expect New England to certainly look into this. I know Mike Lombardi said they will certainly look into it. But

as we have seen, the Patriots are not this free agency cycle aside, they are not the team that's going to say, look, let's blow up the bank to go get a guy. That's not really what they do. And they probably stick to their MO in this situation. Yeah, I completely agree with you. And in terms of fitting his salary in, I know you mentioned financials and you and I are both good friends of Miguel Benzon, aka the Pat's cap, the financial guru of the New England Patriots and their cap situation. A lot of people are questioning whether or not Julio's salary could be fit into the Patriots

salary cap. And like you said, 15.3 as opposed to 15.9, that's a razor thin margin, and that would be a very difficult thing to do. But Miguel made an interesting point for everyone that's saying, oh, yeah, it can be done. This is what Miguel was referring to when he said that Jones's salary of 15.3 million minus 850,000 of the salary for the player that he would displace from the top 51 list would essentially equal 14.5 so that would be a 14.45 excuse me million dollar decrease in the Patriots salary cap space number so in that possibility it is theoretical that the Patriots could make it work and they could allow Leo Jones

to join the team even with the razor thin cap space that would be available the problem is cap space for the rest of the season the Patriots could alleviate that issue by converting all but the minimum of his 2021 salary into a signing bonus. Miguel outlined that and really goes into much more detail than I'm capable of going into simply because of the knowledge that the man has. But there are ways to make this work. But I think you make a very interesting point in terms of compensation, not just being financials. It's what do you give up in terms of draft picks? What do you give up in terms of compensation, not just being financials. It's what do you give up in terms of draft picks? What do you give up in terms of NFL-ready talent? Is Atlanta going to want a player like a Stephon Gilmore or J.C. Jackson in return?

Can they make it work on their end with cap space? So a lot of considerations, folks, to consider when it comes to the logistics behind Julio Jones. And that's why a move like this is so complicated and not just, you know, indicative of bill Belichick giving up, you know, giving a call over to Atlanta and saying,

look, we want to make this happen. What needs to happen? Yeah, that's how you start it. But there's a lot of background that needs to go into it. Mark, I don't like usually like to deal in hypotheticals, but we'll deal in one just for

the sake of our argument here today on Lockdown Patriots. The planets align. All the situation falls into place. Everything lines up perfectly for Julio Jones to end up here in New England. With the way this team is constituted right now, with the upgrades that the Pats have made at tight end, the prowess that they have at the running back position, new wide receivers like Nelson Aguilar, like Kendrick Bourne, and of course the wild card about who's going to be playing quarterback, whether it be Cam Newton, whether it be Jared Stidham, whether it be Matt Jones. When you look at the fit of Julio Jones logistically on the field when it comes to the New England Patriots how does a player of his caliber change the complexity of an offense from an NFL standpoint

well he's that sort of he's another matchup nightmare a offense that would be slowly put together nothing but matchup nightmares I mean you start thinking about a potential 11 personnel package or even a – let's put it this way, a 12 personnel package because we just sort of mentioned that, right? You start thinking about the idea of John O'Smith, Hunter Henry as your two tight ends in that look. And then you've got, let's say, Nelson Aguilar and Julio Jones as the other guys, the two outside receivers, boundary receivers.

Then you think potentially James White in the backfield. That's a matchup nightmare from a defensive perspective. And this is something I always love to do. Put yourself in the mind of Brian Flores week one. You've got that 12 personnel package to deal with. Who do you double? How do you handle that? Do you treat the two tight ends?

And this is what they were going to do anyway. But do you treat the two tight ends as guys you put corners and safeties on, or are you comfortable putting a linebacker on Jono Smith, a linebacker on Hunter Henry? And if you're comfortable doing that, then yeah, you might have some corners and the ability to sort of double Julio Jones or get dedicated safety help over the top,

but then you create a one-on-one matchup for Aguilar, and you've got one-on-one matchups for those two tight ends on potentially linebackers and safeties. That's a tough situation to deal with. And so what the addition of Jones would do, it would take this offense that we expect to be dedicated solely to created mismatches in the passing game and just raise that threat exponentially. And anytime you force a defensive coordinator to make tough decisions in

terms of who he's going to double, who he's going to rotate coverage towards and who he's going to leave in one-on-one situations, you're doing a great job as an offense in terms of a roster construction standpoint and a conceptual X's and O's and schematic standpoint. Because look, if you take Julio Jones out of it, you run that same 12 personnel package out. And now that Jacoby Myers is the second receiver along with Aguilar,

you might feel a bit more comfortable, you know, leaving that in single coverage situations. Maybe you're comfortable with your corners on those two boundary receivers. You can keep the safety sort of over the top of those two tight ends. You could potentially play whether it's 4-3-5, I mean 4-3 or 3-4, or even you want to go a little bit 4-2-5, but you can still feel comfortable having those safeties over the top of the tight ends, leaving the one-on-one matchups on the outside.

But Julio Jones, that changes. You probably don't want to play one-on-one with him. You want to rotate some safety help. And so you can see the machinations start to take place where you create favorable matchups for somebody, whether it's Aguilar or even James White out of the backfield, all those tight ends, because of the addition of Julio Jones. That's what he offers. He offers the ability to take this matchup-based offense

and kick it up into a high gear because you really put that defensive coordinator and that defense on the other side of the ball in a bond. Yeah, without any question. And it really does change that complexity. And thank you for the intricate details on exactly how that happens, whether it be the 12-man personnel, like you said, or creating mismatches for the saf you for the intricate details on exactly how that happens whether it be the 12 man personnel like you said or creating mismatches for the safeties for the corners uh and even making it a nightmare for the front seven to be able to defend that type of talent does have an

impact and ultimately it's going to have an impact on the quarterback position as well you know the guy that's throwing him the ball is going to have one more weapon, one more opportunity for him to make plays, whether it be Julio drawing defenders away or whether it be him being the primary target. It is understandable why so many teams will probably be interested in him if he is, in fact, on the trade market. And it's always a blast when you come back home. But, you know, who thought we would have been talking Julio Jones today for the better part of the show? But that's just how the cookie crumbles here in New England. And you provide that wisdom, that counsel, that perfect level-headed insight

that we need here among the Patriots fan base. But, folks, no visit from Mark would be complete without talking quarterbacks. We've danced around it a little bit, but we're going to start to get into that subject in just a little bit. Mark recently published a piece that I would call a masterpiece outlining how Mac Jones might fit into the Patriots system at quarterback, and his insight taught me a ton, folks. In just a minute, Mark Schofield and I will discuss this and at least one more total reference when the Locked On Patriots podcast continues. Locked On listeners, get all the latest news, odds, and info for all of your sporting needs,

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protein bar right now. Go to BiltBar.com and use the promo code LOCKED15 to get 15% off your next order. That's promo code LOCKED15 for 15% off your next order at BiltBar.com Patriots fans, once again I am joined here by my friend and predecessor, Mark Schofield,

blessing the reins and closing out the week here in style on Locked on Patriots. And Mark, the fan base has been, I want to say, largely excited over the pick of Mac Jones at number 15 in the first round of the 2021 NFL draft. Some were not happy about it. Some remain unhappy about it. But fans, for the most part, I think are starting to warm to the idea that the Patriots may have got this right, at least if not in the short term, then in the long term.

And I like to think that Bill saw my prediction here on the ultimate mock draft on the Locked On Network and said, yep, that's it. Mike said it. We got to do it. I can dream. I can dream. I can live in fantasy land. I digress, bud. Look, Mack is a quarterback that can succeed here in New England. I think most people would agree with that. I've been saying right along,

the best way to fit into a Patriots offense is to win the pre-snap reads, make anticipatory throws, and demonstrate the ability to get the ball out on time and deliver it accurately. Mac Jones has a reputation of doing this. I think he can do it. And I think that the team that the Patriots are going to surround him with, whether it be in the short term or the long term, will allow him to do that. But you know as well as anyone, Mark, that the road to getting there, the road to being

able to do that, is not going to be there on day one. And the cookie cutter fit that I think a lot of people believed Mac Jones was when they drafted him to the point that we are now has been maybe a little bit romanticized with a little hindsight and maybe a little bit pie in the sky vision for the future. Your piece recently for the touchdowndown Wire was absolutely spot-on, and I can't praise it enough because you really outlined so well, taking from some of the insight that was provided by another colleague of mine,

Benjamin Salik, here on the Lockdown Podcast Network, and really outlining what the Patriots need to do to their offense to really maximize Mac Jones's talent, whether it be incorporating the RPOs, whether it be incorporating play action, or really incorporating the drop back passer abilities that he's going to need. He's going to need to develop all three of these skills. Mark, in your opinion, why is Mac Jones a good fit in the New England system? And what might be problematic about his fit that may need to be fixed a little bit down the line?

I think it's important, Mike, to make a distinction when we start talking about scheme fit between two different concepts. Conceptual fit and X is an O schematic fit. And what I mean by that is sort of this. There's an old sort of scout and adage sort of phrase that's thrown out with, you know, whether it's recruiting in colleges, recruiting at pro level, player evaluation and draft evaluation at the pro level. Scout the traits, not the scheme.

What that means is don't look at the offense, for example, a quarterback, don't look at the offense and for example, a quarterback, don't look at the offense so much as that he was running, but the actual physical and mental traits, accuracy, athleticism, competitive toughness, and see if that fits with what you want at that given position. Because I think conceptually Mac Jones is that sort of ideal scheme. It with what the Patriots traditionally want out of the quarterback position pocket management skills pocket toughness mental toughness decision making

accuracy in the short areas of the field that leads to yardage after the catch he checks a lot of the boxes of the Patriots value at the quarterback position which is why I feel they were completely comfortable drafting with 15 who knows if they would have traded up for him or not, but they didn't have to, which is fantastic. And then give up future assets and got a guy that is a conceptual fit for what they do. Then there's the X's and O's schematic standpoint. And this is what Ben was getting to in his piece.

And, you know, my piece to sort of bridge that gap, because if you think that the offense he was running at Alabama is the Patriots offense from, you know, five years ago, six years ago, whatever you're thinking it is, it's not. It's not. You look at last year, I think Mac Jones was like 10th in passive attempts off of RPO designs in all of college football. Cam Newton had 18, which was an increase from the eight Tom Brady had a season before. The Patriots aren't really an RPO team. Mac Jones ran a heavy RPO offense.

And so that's something that's going to have to be thought about. We all know that Mac Jones loved to throw out play action. I think he had the most play action pass and attempts out of anybody in all of college football last year as charted by Sports Info Solutions. And he was incredible at it, extremely efficient. But a lot of his play-action throws were deep downfield shots. Steve Sarkisiu would call play-action and give Jones an ability and an opportunity to push the ball downfield.

And he does throw downfield with great anticipation, with great touch, with good placement. Patriots, we know their play- action designs are typically back to the defense play action, turn around, throw that cross or route, whether it's from the tight end, whether it's from a flanker, whether it's from another receiver, where their play action stuff is usually short areas of the field. And so, again, there's that sort of scheme fit question.

And so the question becomes for Joshua Daniels, how do you bridge the gap from an X's and O's standpoint from what he was asked to do by Steve Sarkeesian, RPOs, downfield shot plays, and what the Patriots currently do? Now, it's probably going to be fairly easy to do that because you look through the Patriots playbook, and they have these designs. They have this stuff. One of the concepts that he ran a ton of that I mentioned in the dropback portion was mesh. Patriots run mesh. Every NFL offense has a version or two of mesh in their playbook.

Now, the Patriots might not call it as much as other teams do, but they've got it. And so the question is going to be incumbent on Josh McDaniels is running some more RPOs in the play-action passing game, don't call the – or you can still call some of the play-action crossers, but also mix in some play-action short plays. Give Mac Jones the opportunity to push the ball downfield, which he's extremely comfortable doing.

Run things like mesh that he's extremely familiar with, that he ran at a very high level under Sark. Call that play more because you've got it in the playbook. And so I think it's easily done, but I do think that it's not the X's and O's one-to-one scheme fit that we'd like. Conceptually, yes, he's a fit. The strength

that he showed, the reasons why people thought he was a first-round pick, I've defended the Patriots value at the position. The X's and O's, that's going to need to be tweaked a bit, but here's the other thing. For all the people that were just destroying me on Twitter after I wrote this piece, here's the other thing. If they drafted Trevor Lawrence, they'd have to tweak the offense to what he liked. If they drafted Trey Lance, they would have had to tweak the offense.

If they drafted Zach Wilson, they would have had to tweak the offense. If they drafted Justin Fields, who I loved, a lot of people said, oh, the guy that loved Justin Fields and despised Mack, which is not true. I said Mack was a good prospect. They would have had to have tweaked the offense. Because here's the reason. The three-year developmental window is gone. It is dead. It doesn't exist anymore.

If you draft a young quarterback, you've got to get him on the field because the economic and competitive advantage of a cost-controlled quarterback on a rookie deal is enormous. So there's no window of here's the clipboard, here's the playbook, we'll see you in three years, Jonathan Moxon. We're going to get them on the field now. And how do you do that? Here's how you do that, and I will give you a quote.

If I'm an offensive coordinator in the NFL with a young QB, I am making a visit to his college head coach to learn their playbook and the schemes that I can then use in the NFL to have the quarterback ready as a rookie. That's not for me. That's something that Matt Bowen from ESPN told me for a piece I wrote about how you get young quarterbacks ready. And Matt played seven years in the NFL, coaches high school football, knows the game better than I do. So don't take it from me. Take it from a guy like Matt. This is what they have to do.

McDaniels has to be reading that Alabama playbook right now, seeing what Sark asked him to do, watching that Sark video clinic that you can find on YouTube. It's 45 minutes. You can break down all the Sark concepts that they were running with Matt Jones and Sark was running at Atlanta when he was there. You can see how this offense can be tailored to Mac Jones, which is what all of these teams that drafted a rookie quarterback, Jacksonville,

Chicago, San Francisco, they got to go to their college coaches to find what these guys ran, let them run those concepts. Because if you have a comfortable quarterback, he's going to be a confident quarterback and a confident quarterback is a good quarterback. So that's what has to happen in my mind. Absolutely. Spot on. And again, like I said, folks, this is an absolutely must-read for any Patriots fan, anybody that's a fan of quarterback play and really curious as to how this quarterback room is going to shake out.

There are several Pink Floyd references throughout this article. I'm telling you, it's absolutely amazing, and you just have to check it out. And Mark's insight that he's provided today is so great, and he continues to break this down even further. So I highly, highly recommend it. And thank you for your insight on that, because like I said, I learned a ton on this one as well. I'm not going to paint you into a corner to take us all home today,

but there's a lot of questions surrounding the quarterback position, probably the most questioned position in the Patriots depth charts and in their roster right now without question because of the fact that there is so much uncertainty as to what is going to happen. Is Cam going to be the guy? Is Matt going to get his chance this year? As you look at the roster right now, as you look at this situation, what's best-case scenario for the Patriots quarterback-wise this year? And do you think it is theoretically possible that we see Mack on the field taking injury out of the equation because that's the ultimate equalizer? Is there a chance we might see him on the field?

Because like you said, that three-year quarterback window is no longer there. Are the Patriots forced to make this move sooner rather than later to maximize that value you know i think they might want to and then that is going to be the interesting dichotomy and the interesting thought process and decision process and flow chart or whatever you want to call it that they face this year because we don't have to look far for an example of a team struggling with that. Miami Dolphins last year, right? They draft Tua early, and there are a lot of questions about when he's going to be ready to go because of the hip injury.

And it seems like they had a plan, which they stuck to, which was we're going to go into our bye, we're going to have Ryan Fitzpatrick get us there, and then we're turning the keys over to this kid if he's healthy. Because they were winning games. And it looked like, man, Fitzpatrick has this team in a good position. They could make a run to the playoffs. But they said, nope. Now we're turning to it.

It sort of shocked everybody at the time. And I questioned it at the time in that immediate 40 seconds that we live in. That's what a world we thrive in. I said, this is stupid. But then I take a step back, and I realize they've got a plan, and they're going to stick to it. And ultimately, that might be the best thing for Tua, because they're not going to deviate and get caught up in the heat of the

moment and make emotional decisions. They're going to make logical decisions. They had a plan, and they stuck to it. I wonder if that is going to be something they second guess because they could have made the playoff, but they struggled at times at Tua. They had to bench him at times. That's the sort of thing that the Patriots are going to have to balance. Because if you talk to people in that building and they will tell you,

they feel like they could make the playoffs with Cam Newton. They feel like they have put together personnel around the quarterback position where they're not going to get 2015 Cam. We all understand that. You're hoping for, even if you don't get 2017 Cam, you're hoping that last year was an aberration. He signed late, COVID, no training camp, no real training camp, no preseason games, no real opportunity to get that offense to Joe.

You're hoping that you're getting a better cam than you got last year. And that's entirely possible. I wouldn't rule that out. Which means then what? Do you, if you're winning games, and let's be honest, this schedule doesn't really look scary sitting here in the middle of May. Obviously that could change. Teams have changed.

But you look at it, it doesn't look like a schedule like we had last year from this Patriots organization where you looked at that schedule last year. You're like, I don't know how this team is going to win eight games because it was a tough schedule. It's different this year. So this scenario could certainly unfold where they don't have to play Mac. They're winning games. They feel like they could win games with Cam.

And so potentially the best-case scenario is Mac doesn't see the field because the team's winning games. But they're going to have to get him ready because if that scenario does play out, Cam Newton's probably not back here next year. He's got a one-year deal. And if he has a successful year this year, Patriots are probably going to say, thanks, man, go get them. We're not going to break the bank and bring you back on a bigger contract because we drafted match for the future.

They realized that in that 15, they had an opportunity to be competitive with the free agent additions they made, but they also had an opportunity to fix the quarterback position long-term with Matt Jones. And so the final part of the analysis is this. How do you put Matt Jones in that position? And that might mean, look, even though the team's winning and you're playing well, you might want to give them a couple of drives or two in a game. They're lucky enough to have a situation where

the sort of quote-unquote Mahomes model where you don't have to play and you don't need to win, say, week 18, which sounds so weird to say. You let Mac Jones go play. You give him a start. You give him maybe two starts if you're lucky enough to be in that kind of situation. And who knows?

They could be. So I do think you want to get him some reps. Nothing can replicate, you know, I used to be a big believer in, yeah, watch from the sidelines. You'll learn. The more and more I study this game. There's no, there's no duplicate for getting under center and making those reads and throws. Like there's no duplicate for that. You can't replicate that.

And so they're going to need to get them some reps. That's the balance though. Are they going to be able to effectively balance being competitive in 2021 and set a Max Jones up to be competitive for 2022 and beyond. That's the sort of push and pull. We'll see if they're able to do it better than I am. Again, Bud, spot on analysis. I can't add anything to that. And you know what?

I wouldn't even think of trying. Folks, he is Mark Schofield, an amazing writer and analyst for platforms such as Inside the Pylon, Big Blue View, Bleeding Green Nation, Pat's Pulpit of SB Nation, and of course, USA Today's Touchdown Wire. And that's just naming a few publications that have the honor of publishing this man's work. His podcast, The Scosho, appointment listening for Patriots fans. He is, always will be the reason that that Toto poster on the wall here at the Lockdown Patriots Studios will never be taken down.

Mark, what can I say, buddy? Thank you so much for joining me. Before leaving us for the weekend, bud, please let our listeners know where they can find you, what we can look forward to from the great voice and the great pen of Mark Schofield in that NFL lull period that's soon to come. Well, that's exactly right. We are headed into the lull period, which allows me to do things like what I'm doing right now over at Touchdown Wire.

Yes, you'll get some early looks at some of the next draft quarterbacks. I'm working on something on Mississippi's Matt Corral right now. I'm going to have some stuff on Spencer Rattler and Oklahoma and all that stuff. But I'm also putting together a summer study series on flex bone option offenses over at USA Today. I've already got two pieces up. First one was on orbit and orbit return motion in those offenses.

Then I looked at how different teams are tweaking the option game. It's not always the under center flex bone that we're seeing. We're seeing teams like Navy and obviously last year, Coastal Carolina, pistol triple option, shotgun triple option, the tweaks these teams are making. So that went up today here on Friday. So I'm going to be doing a whole bunch of stuff on flexible and optional offenses because that's my roots. That's my roots as a quarterback. That's what I was recruited to run in college. And so in summertime, Law gives me a chance to sort of go nerdy on stuff that maybe nobody wants to read but me but

it's the stuff i love to do and you don't get a chance to do it in season so i get a chance to do it during the summertime months which i love so you can check that stuff out over at touchdown wire.usa today.com now i can assure you that it is not just you that will be reading those i will be summer school conducted by dr scofield folks They can't get any better than that. And I'm looking forward to these pieces, which folks are already, some are already available. And Mark will continue to work on these throughout the offseason. You know, we're going to love to have you back here on Locked On Patriots, maybe just before training camp or during that mini camp period to talk about what the Patriots are doing, how their roster is shaking out.

Is Julio Jones a member of the Patriots? Have they let that June 2nd deadline go by and pulled the trigger on a trade? All of these types of questions are always welcomed, and we always welcome your insights. So we look forward to talking, Paul, with you again here on the pod, bud. But in the meantime, continue to stay safe, continue to stay well, and thanks again for joining me here to close out the week in style on Lockdown Patriots. Of course, buddy.

Always a blast. Just like that, Patriots fans, we put a bow on the week that was here on the Lockdown Patriots podcast. And I would love to thank my guest this week, Thomas Murphy, Steve Balistrieri, my colleague John Williams, host of the Lockdown Sooners podcast, and of course, Mark Schofield for helping me close out the week in style here on the pod. And even though Locked On Patriots has you covered for all the news, notes, and analysis you need from Foxborough,

get all the sports news you need in under 20 minutes with the Locked On Today podcast. Host Peter Bukowski updates you on the latest news in every major sport with the help of our local experts. Follow the Locked on Today podcast on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. And fear not, because your New England Patriots coverage will continue long and strong here on the Locked on Patriots podcast. So to ensure that you do not miss a single second of the action. Follow Locked On Patriots on platforms such as the Odyssey app,

Spotify, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcasts. Just make sure that you are staying locked in to Locked On Patriots. Once again, my name is Mike DeBate. I thank my good friend and predecessor, Mark Schofield, for his time, his insight, and his appearance on today's pod. But most of all, I thank you so much for listening and for continuing to make Locked On Patriots a daily part of your New England Patriots coverage.

Until Monday, Foxborough faithful, stay safe, stay well, be the change you wish to see in the world. Have a great weekend, everyone.