Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - LATEST New England Patriots Power Ranking | The Safety Depth Chart

Starting point is 00:00:00 ESPN releases their post-draft power rankings. That's where we start on this episode of Locked On Patriots. You are Locked On Patriots, your daily New England Patriots podcast, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. What's up, Patriots fans? I am your host, Nick Cattles, born and raised in New England, your New England Patriots expert host of the Everything Pats podcast, co host of the Greg Bedard Patriots

Starting point is 00:00:33 podcast with Nick Cattles, and also a sports talk show host veteran on today's episode, the safety room has become mighty congested. And we dive into the prospect that a local writer says brought the best value out of the 2025 draft. But first ESPN has dropped their latest power rankings. We appreciate you joining the show, making us your first listen and for being an everydayer, the Lockdown Patriots podcast is a proud partner of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. And by the way, if you're interested in my thoughts about Julian Edelman being elected to

Starting point is 00:01:06 the Patriots Hall of Fame, you can check out the latest episode of everything Pats on YouTube. Power rankings, let's get one thing straight. When we discuss power rankings, we have to understand, especially when it's May, we have to understand, appreciate, acknowledge that power rankings are nothing more, nothing less than an on paper evaluation of each NFL roster. It's all it is. It's an on paper evaluation.

Starting point is 00:01:36 And so you wonder after free agency, what's the power ranking? You wonder after the draft, what's the power ranking? Well, ESPN just released their latest NFL power rankings. The Patriots, their post free agency ranking was 24th in the NFL. Now you look at it, they actually have moved up in the world. They've moved up one spot to 23rd. The Patriots are 23rd in the ESPN power rankings, moving up one spot from post free agency to post draft. And the most improved position is defensive tackle.

Starting point is 00:02:20 The Patriots have the potential for a powerful one, two punch at DT signing Milton Williams was a decisive step in the right direction and Christian Barmore has been a full participant in the voluntary offseason program. The Patriots' interior lineman ranked 21st in pass rush win rate in 2024. This is all from Mike Reese at ESPN. He also writes Florida State defensive tackle Joshua Farmer was a player the Patriots coveted in the draft and they traded up to pick him in the fourth round. So from 24th post free agency to 23rd post draft, I'll get to that in a minute. But the biggest news to me that jumps out and we've seen pictures. We've seen pictures. I think we might have seen some video.

Starting point is 00:03:05 But the most important detail in this ESPN power ranking is not the ranking. It's not the most improved position. It's not Farmer. It's not Milton Williams. The most important detail to me that we get from Mike Reese is that Christian Barmore has been a full participant in the voluntary offseason program. So that answers any questions. We've seen the photos of him working out. Again, I'm not sure if video was released, but there might have been some video released of him working out, but that comes out in drips and drabs. And we're not really sure how much of the program he's being involved in. Well, now here's Mike Reese telling us that Christian Barmore has been a full participant in the voluntary off-season program. It's no guarantee that Barmore is going to play football in 2025.

Starting point is 00:04:01 It's not a guarantee that Barmore is going to look like he looked in 2023. It's not even to tell us in any kind of way that he's going to be able to get out there on the field and provide 75% of what he was in 2023. But the fact that he is going through this voluntary program and he has been a full participant and he's working out, he's going through everything that you have to go through at this stage of the off season. That is a fantastic sign. And I just can't help but think about this defensive line with Christian Barmore, even at 75, 80 percent, if that's what he's going to be.

Starting point is 00:04:36 But I can't stop thinking about this defensive line of Barmore, Milton Williams, Keon White, Joshua Farmer. You look at that athleticism, you look at that raw talent, and you think about Terrell Williams being your defensive coordinator, a guy that's been a defensive line coach for years at the NFL level. You just think about that mixture of talent, athleticism to go along with this coaching staff. I have very high expectations for this defensive line in 2025, especially if Balmore is back,

Starting point is 00:05:15 especially if he's back at say 75% of what he was in 2023. Fingers crossed, we wish him well. Now let's get to the ranking. A ranking is not a win-loss prediction. Some people get this all twisted up. They see these power rankings and they say, how could you possibly, how could you possibly rank the Patriots as the 23rd best team in the NFL? Some might think that's too high. Some might think it's too low. Some might think it's perfect. But we all have to understand this is not a prediction win-loss. It's not what it is. It is just simply looking at the roster, what the Patriots have done since the end of last

Starting point is 00:05:59 season, how that roster has improved. Maybe they feel like it hasn't, but it's clear that they do believe that the Patriots roster has improved because they're like it hasn't but it's clear that they do believe that the Patriots roster has improved because they're in the low 20s now in ranking and It's just to give you a general idea as to where this team is again quote unquote on paper as we get ready For mandatory minicamp, which is happening in about a month The reason why a power ranking is not a win-loss prediction is because strength of schedule matters. Who do you play?

Starting point is 00:06:32 Where do you play them? What time of year do you play that team? That matters. This is not looking at strength of schedule. Coaching matters. Now, you might be able to extend yourself and say as part of the power ranking they're talking about the coaching staff, but really you're looking at the roster. You're looking at the level of talent on the roster or lack thereof. So just like strength of schedule matters, coaching matters. Who's on the coaching staff? Who is your head coach? What is that person's history? What does his resume say? That matters.

Starting point is 00:07:12 And really the most important thing as far as the ranking number goes is just to see whether or not you have improved. You have improved one spot from post free agency to post draft. But when you go back to last year, how did ESPN rank the Patriots under Gerard Mayo? What was their ranking last year after the draft? The Patriots were ranked 30th in this power ranking a year ago. So they've moved from 30th to 23rd from last year in May to this May. And I don't know if I would argue about that. I don't know if I could sit there

Starting point is 00:07:50 and jump up on the table and say to myself, they belong to be in the top 20. I do think that there is legitimate potential for this roster, for this team, to end up being in the top half of the NFL. There's 32 teams in the league. I don't think it's outrageous to believe that the Patriots could end up hovering somewhere around 16, 17, when all is said and done with 2025.

Starting point is 00:08:17 And I'm not talking about win-loss predictions. I'm talking about the roster and the state of the roster. The reason why I don't think it's crazy to believe they can make a jump is Because of the young talent on this team if Drake may takes the right steps in Year two we see that progression in his sophomore season if we see that from Drake may That is going to up the level of this roster the quarterback will be better the people around him will be better because of that.

Starting point is 00:08:49 And there will be a natural rise within this roster on the offensive side. If your young quarterback can take those steps and I'm confident he will take those steps. Stefan Diggs. Now you look at Stefan Diggs and you say in May, don't know what he's going to do, don't know how he's going to look. Maybe he's not the same guy. But if Diggs can give you what he was giving Houston last year, that helps. The coaching staff helps. From McDaniels to Williams, of course, to the guy up top with Mike Vrabel. This is a very deep coaching staff, a very experienced coaching staff, and I think a darn good coaching staff.

Starting point is 00:09:33 That will help your roster because with good coaches, play improves. And then I think you get a little bit of a bump. I don't think it's crazy to think that a couple of guys from last year's draft not named May could end up being better for you in 2025. After being in the league for a year, after getting better coaching, after having some hot competitions during camp, there's going to be a lot of motivation in this locker room. So I don't think it's nuts to believe you can get a little bit of a bump from those year two guys, at least one or two of them. And you can look at this rookie class, which is pretty much universally beloved and believe that the rookie class by the end of

Starting point is 00:10:17 the year will give this roster a bump. Speaking of the roster, the safety room is congested, especially after the addition of Craig Woodson. That's coming up next as we continue with today's episode of Lockdown Patriots, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. The NBA playoffs are here and FanDuel is giving new customers an incredible way to get in on the action as you watch these games. Right now when you join Fandual and place your first $5 bet, you'll get $250 in bonus bets

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Starting point is 00:12:01 Maybe you forgot one or two of them because there's a number of them. And I'm not looking at the very bottom of the safety room. You know some some camp invites and stuff we're not going to focus on those guys for all with all due respect. I want to look at the guys who could arguably make this roster and you think most of these guys will make the roster. Kyle Dugger we know all about him signed the contract extension last off season, got paid some big money. I thought it was a slight overpay. The way he played last year, it was a big overpay.

Starting point is 00:12:31 You hope that it was more about the injury than it was about him showing some kind of sharp decline, but you've got Dugger on this roster. You have Drabil Peppers on this roster. Peppers was seen as a leader. We know what happened last year off the field. We'll get to that in a little bit, but you've got Duggar. You've got Peppers. Then the Patriots decided, I was surprised by this.

Starting point is 00:12:54 The Patriots decided to bring back Jalen Hawkins. Now he didn't really stand out last year. And I wonder if this was just Elliott Wolf bringing one of his guys back, hoping that he can get more out of him than what he got out of him last year. But Jaylen Hawkins is on this roster. Then you go out, you get somebody like Marcus Epps and Epps obviously has been in the league for a number of years. He's had some injury situations pop up, but Epps is on this roster, a legitimate NFL veteran at safety.

Starting point is 00:13:27 Then you went out and you drafted Craig Woodson at 106 overall, which was higher than a lot of mocks had him. A lot of ranking systems had him, but you love the player enough that you drafted him. You took him at 106. You had all Friday night, all Saturday morning to think about it. And you still drafted them. So somebody, probably multiple people, maybe even a lot of people love Craig Woodson. He's on the roster. Then you've got Pettis from last year, what he was able to do as an undrafted free agent.

Starting point is 00:14:00 And of course you've got Marte Mappu. Now some of the question here with these safeties is, how are they going to be utilized? How are they going to be deployed? We talked about the deployment of the running back room on yesterday's episode. When you look at the safeties, what role does Mike Vrabel have in mind and Terrell Williams have in mind for some of these guys? We start with Woodson. Do the Patriots, does the coaching staff look at Woodson as more of the big nickel could slide into the slot and defend at that position? Is he going to be your big nickel?

Starting point is 00:14:38 Is he going to be your free safety? Is he going to be both? We know that Mike Vrabel in the past has loved that versatility at the safety position is Woodson going to be both big nickel and free safety and if that is the case, how are you going to split that up? Fitty Fitty 75 25 64. How is it going to be split? big question What do they see from Woodson? They've mentioned big nickel. They've mentioned safety. They've mentioned he can play multiple positions

Starting point is 00:15:08 But how do they want to break that down? Then we look at peppers and Duggar on The field I think both guys are better closer to the line of scrimmage I've been saying that for the past couple of years it frustrates me that neither guy has really been able to find that groove near the line of scrimmage over the past couple of years. And at times, especially Duggar, he's been thrown into coverage and it just has not worked. Is that going to change with Terrell Williams? Is Terrell Williams looking at Duggar and Peppers and saying, those guys

Starting point is 00:15:41 are going to be close to the line of scrimmage. We're going to change it up and we're going to make sure that those guys do what they do best, or are they going to look at versatility and say to themselves, no, we want those guys to be versatile pieces on the field in that secondary. Marte Mapu, linebacker or safety. Can he actually get on the field? Can he stay on the field? You tell me.

Starting point is 00:16:07 There could be the argument that he's a linebacker and that his size at linebacker actually fits better with what we have seen from Mike Vrabel and his teams of the past. You could argue that. You could argue you could use him at safety because he brings that versatility. What is the EPS projection? How do you feel about them? Health status. How do you want to use them?

Starting point is 00:16:34 So there's a lot of questions about role and how these guys are going to fit between free safety, strong safety. Of course, again, the big nickel position, which Mike Vrabel and Elliott Wolf have both highlighted during the off season, saying it's a critical position. So that's one thing you got to figure out. How are these guys going to be utilized? The other part is Peppers. What is Peppers standing with this team?

Starting point is 00:16:59 He's on the roster right now, but we know the off-the-field stuff. And I'm talking about the cocaine. The other allegations, the accusations, he was cleared of those, but he admitted he had coke. So where is this new regime, where are they when it comes to something like that? Is Pepper's going to be let go eventually once they figure out what they truly have at that position when they get on the field.

Starting point is 00:17:26 Because those cocaine charges and admitting that it was you, that could be a problem. That could be a problem for this coaching staff. Is Pepper seen as a Gerard Mayo Bill Belichick guy? I would guess not. Not through and through through like maybe Godshaw and some other guys that were released like Joanne Bentley, those guys were very close to Mayo. Is Pepper's very close to Mayo? I don't know. Was he very close to him? I have no idea. But the fact he's still on the roster would lead you to believe that he might not be as tight with the prior coaching staffs as the other guys that have been let go.

Starting point is 00:18:08 And you could make the argument that Peppers really fits what Vrabel and Williams want on that side of the ball. They talk about violence. They talk about making impact plays. We know when Peppers is healthy, when he's right, he does both of those things. He plays with violence and he can make impact plays. So maybe he's just a fit. Contractually, the Patriots do have an out after the 2025 season. So it's not like they're hamstrung by his contract. I believe he brings

Starting point is 00:18:39 up like 7 million in dead cap if you release them. So it's not a huge contractual issue. million in dead cap if you release them. So it's not a huge contractual issue. Right now, this is how I feel. This is how I would draw it up. Guessing. We haven't seen these guys out there practicing, so there's still a lot of time here. I just don't see Marte Mapu being on this team. Could be wrong. He has not been able to stay healthy at any point. He was not healthy coming out of college at Sacramento State. He has not been able to stay healthy at any point. He was not healthy coming out of college at Sacramento State. He has not been healthy since he was drafted. I think he's done. I would imagine that Hawkins and Pettis will be fighting for mostly special teams reps.

Starting point is 00:19:15 I don't know how much they factor into starting or playing a big role on this defense in the secondary. So I think Hawkins and Pettis, you're more looking at special teams. Dugger and Peppers, I would love to have them. If Pepper stays on this team, I would love to have those guys again, closer to the line of scrimmage, filling the role that they should be filling. And that would leave Woodson versus Epps for free safety. And you could always just kind of rotate guys in every once in a while in that spot, but mainly keep it the woods and Eps. You can slide Woodson into the big nickel position and Eps could pick up the free safety, but that's kind of how I see this unfolding. Mapoo out, Hawkins Pettis fighting for a special team slot, maybe two. Dugger Peppers close to the line of

Starting point is 00:20:01 scrimmage for most of their snaps. And then you've got Woodson and Epps battling it out to be on that back end. But we'll see, I could be totally wrong. Maybe they're just perfectly fine with Kyle Duggar running around in coverage. Let's discuss the prospect that a local writer believes brought the best value to the 2025 Patriots draft. That's coming up next as we continue with today's episode of Lockdown Patriots,

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Starting point is 00:21:59 You could argue, reasonably argue that that dude was the best value when it comes to the pick. You could have that argument. And Chad Graf of the athletic, he partook in this exercise at the athletic of every team, picking the best value pick for all 32 teams. And graph obviously picked the Patriots best value pick in this draft. And he went with Joshua farmer defensive tackle Florida state who was picked in the fourth round pick number one 37 and graph writes that Dame Bruegler had farmer as his 77th ranked prospect and the Pats landed him with the 137th pick. seventh ranked prospect and the Pats landed him with the 137th pick. He fills an important role, adding size, run stopping ability to the defensive line. So Chad Graf says that Joshua Farmer is the best value pick of the 2025 draft for the

Starting point is 00:22:57 Patriots. I don't know if you agree with that, disagree with that. I might roll with Swinton in the fifth round because some thought he could be possibly a late second round pick. But let's focus on Farmer. I want to focus on Farmer. We haven't talked about him yet on this podcast. I watched him in real time at Florida State. Now I didn't watch a ton of Florida State football, but I have seen him play a couple of times. And from what I have seen with my eyes, I am a fan of Joshua Farmer. Now there are strengths and there are weaknesses. We're going to cover both.

Starting point is 00:23:34 I want to give you the entire picture of the player, but I am a fan watching him. I am a fan. I believe he's got plenty of talent. I believe he could carve out a full-time role in the NFL if He addresses some of those weaknesses that we will get to but let's start with the strengths First of all pretty good athlete Not an elite athlete, but a pretty good athlete for his size When you look at the RAS the relative athletic score, I love that.

Starting point is 00:24:06 Many of you know that by now. I love the RAS. Farmer scored a 7.89 RAS out of a possible 10. Now, that might sound low. 7.89 out of 10? That's not great. It's not elite. But you could say that it's very good to great given the position. And Kentley Platt, who actually came up with the RAS, he wrote that Farmer's RAS of 7.89 ranked 430th out of 2,033 defensive tackles from 1987 to 2025. So there have been a total of 2,033 defensive tackles that have been ranked via the RAS. Farmer finished at 430. So not elite, but not bad. Plenty of athleticism for the position.

Starting point is 00:24:57 Taylor Kyles of CLNS, he posted almost immediately. Farmer is a disruptive interior defensive lineman and Daniel Rotman, who was the scout DNFL on Twitter, he does a ton of work on these draft picks and he labeled farmer as big physical. And here's that word again, violent, a big physical, violent defensive lineman. And we talk about Terrell Williams, as I mentioned with Jabril Peppers last segment, Williams has talked about violence. He loves violence.

Starting point is 00:25:33 He wants this defense to be violent. And Joshua Farmer brings that. Some other strengths, so you know even more about the player. Dan Brugler wrote that he's broad,, thick build with big hands and long arms. So, when you talk about the quintessential defensive lineman and you talk about measurables, we talked about Mason Graham, we talked about obviously Will Campbell, we talked days and days and days and weeks and months about measurables and are their arms long enough?

Starting point is 00:26:06 Are their hands big enough? Are they built well enough? Check, check, check for farmer. He's big, broad, big hands, long arms. Checks a lot of the measurable boxes. Bruegler writes that farmer is an explosive mover to attack gaps like a bull and a china shop. Farmer can be an absolute headache to the interior of an offensive line.

Starting point is 00:26:31 Now, that might not happen every single snap. There might be some questions there which we'll get to. But when he's at his best, he's explosive and he's going to disrupt and bother that offensive line. Brugler writes that he's got promising pass rush tools, which is great to hear because you've got Terrell Williams to work with Mike Smith to work with on the coaching staff. You've got Christian Barmore, and that should lead to some improvement when it comes to his pass rush ability. He was second on Florida state with 26 pressures last year. Not too

Starting point is 00:27:06 bad for an interior defensive lineman. And he was a team captain in 2024. Bruegler points out that his alpha attitude started to show. He started to become the guy in the room, understood it, embraced it, oozed, oozed that confidence, oozed the alpha attitude. So those are the strengths. And I believe Farmer, he can develop into a full-time guy. He could develop into that. But it's almost an embarrassment to Riches here with the Patriots defensive line as we talked about earlier with the Barmore stuff.

Starting point is 00:27:44 I don't think Farmer's going to have to be a full-time guy, especially if bar or his back. He's going to be an early down rotational piece. He's going to be used against the run. He's going to have that rush potential. So he's not a complete zero with those pressures that he had at Florida state and that potential of the pass rush with this coaching staff. You got to figure that he'll be able to get things rolling a little bit with his pass rush.

Starting point is 00:28:08 But he's going to be a rotational guy early. We know that Milton Williams played less than 50% of the snaps last year in Philadelphia. He's going to have to up that and he wants to, he believes he can, but you're still going to need some pieces with Barmore, the blood clots coming back from that with the lack of snaps that we saw relatively speaking for Williams in Philadelphia, Keon White, is he out? Is he in as far as defensive line? Where's he going to play? So you need that rotational guy. And I think Farmer can fit that. I think he can fit it this year. But in fairness, let's go through some of the weaknesses, some of the things that he has to work on. Dane Bruegler, he writes that Farmer has a streaky anchor, mostly because of issues with pad level. Kind of a simple idea. If you allow guys to get underneath

Starting point is 00:28:55 your pads and drive, they've got leverage, that's not good. So you've got to keep your pad level lower. The pad level gets high, you're in trouble. Linear pass rush approach, kind of just a straight line guy doesn't really adjust. And so NFL offensive lineman, if you're going to try to go right through them like the bull in the China shop, as Bruegler mentioned, during the strengths part of this segment, then you have to understand offensive lineman in the NFL, they they can they can get the best of you if you're going head on, linear. They're going to be able to deal with that.

Starting point is 00:29:30 Needs to do a better job as a read player to feel screened. So undisciplined in chunks. And the college production doesn't grab the eye. The biggest issue for me with Farmer is that he went MIA for stretches. And at times just like, is he out there? And why isn't he making as big of an impact consistently as he should be with his tool set? And we've seen him have that impact before. So he's been inconsistent. Maybe being part of a rotation will motivate him. Maybe having 16, 17 tackles on the defensive side being drafted ahead of you,

Starting point is 00:30:05 which he mentioned after he was drafted, he mentioned that to the media. Maybe that will motivate him, chip on the shoulder with a good coaching staff. But I like his potential. And I think he could be a piece for you rotationally on this defensive line early in the season. That wraps up this edition of Lockdown Patriots

Starting point is 00:30:23 on tomorrow's show, a dart throw that could pay off. Let me know your thoughts on today's topics. Reach out to me on Twitter at Nick C. Radio. 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 Lockdown NFL Scouting. Of course, the draft is over, but the roster moves, the news, they keep on flying out. Justin Tucker released by the Ravens. How about that one hosts Kyle crabs and Joe Marino will make you the most informed NFL fan this offseason find locked on NFL scouting on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts. Have a

Starting point is 00:30:56 great day and I will see you tomorrow.

Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - LATEST New England Patriots Power Ranking | The Safety Depth Chart

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