Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - LOCKED ON PATRIOTS- 2/21/17- Crossover Show With Robert Land of "Locked On Texans"

Episode Date: February 21, 2017

Chris Simoneau, Patriots Insider for Scout.com and host of Locked On Patriots, joins Robert Land of Locked On Texans to discuss Jimmy Garoppolo and the possibility of him being traded. #patriots #texans Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Learn more about our healthy benefits at fepblue.org slash get more. I'm your host, Robert Landon. Welcome to a Tuesday edition of Locked On Texans. And we've been talking about Tony Romo the last few days, but Jimmy Garoppolo, the other guy to look out for as far as veteran quarterbacks that might become available. And I've brought on our friend over at locked on Patriots, Chris Seminoe and Chris,

this is interesting because you heard some stuff in the last couple of weeks that maybe the Patriots aren't willing to give up on Garoppolo or might want to keep them. Is there anything to that? I think there is. I think what it comes down to is what type of? Is there anything to that? I think there is. I think what it comes down to is what type of offer are they going to get? You know, if they're not going to get a first round pick or even a top 15 pick, do they want to give up a guy that, you know,

what if Brady goes down? Brady's not getting any younger. At any moment, he could start to slip. At any moment, he could start to slip. And they know that. And I think even Brady realizes that, and I think even Garoppolo realizes that to a degree. So, you know, do you want to get rid of that in knowing that when he played this season, when he actually got an opportunity, he looked really good, and he's looked good during all practices, minicamps, everything that they've done, he's good. He's a good player. So, do you want to give up a player that you develop to be ready to go to step into an offense that you've been running for the last 15 16 years

i don't know that's tough but if somebody comes to you and says yeah we're going to give you and i'm a 12 pick and you know that's a different thing altogether because this team needs to they need help at linebacker they need help at defensive end they're gonna need help at tight end offensive line they're gonna need help all over the place because they got a lot of free agents they're not going to sign them all so the fact that they have Jacoby Brissett also gives them an opportunity to buy some time they can pick up a free agent possibly be Brady's backup if they do trade Garoppolo but I just think it's going to take absolutely going to take a top 15 pick in order to pry him away from the Patriots or a second round or maybe a second,

a third, and a player could possibly do it too. So it's not going to be easy, but there is a chance that they do make that trade. Would they do that through – would they re-sign him through either the franchise tag, do you think, or would they do that through, would they re-sign him through either the franchise tag, do you think? Or would they do that? Or would they try to sign him to a long-term deal if they decide to keep him? I think they'd try to re-sign him to a long-term deal. I think that's one of the reasons why they haven't really made any deals with anybody is because they want to see what the situation is with Garoppolo. They have to figure it out. If they franchise him, that makes sense

too, but they don't really have to do anything with him right now they can just trade him on the contract that he's on and the team that gets him is going to get a guy who's not making a lot of money they'll have to deal with it because he's going to be a free agent after the 2018 uh going into 2018 so he still has a year left on his deal so we'll see what happens there so i don't think the Patriots contractually will have to do anything. In fact, I think whatever team gets him, part of the contingent, I think there'll be one of those deals where it's like, listen, we'll give you a top ten pick for him, but we're not going to do anything unless we get to negotiate with him and sign him to a long-term deal before we do anything.

So I think other teams are going to get the right to negotiate with Garoppolo leading up to this possible trade if there is a trade though to happen what team do you think's the most likely to get him at this point from what you you've heard maybe what which team has the best package that they can put together for the patriots chicago i and i think there's many reasons why i don't i hope the chicago guys don't like don't don't hear this because they're getting mad at me and i think arthur's a great guy. They do a good job over there, but I think Chicago

does some foolish things sometimes. And I think they're the type of team that would offer a godfather-type trade to get Garoppolo. If they're offering a top-ten pick, it's impossible to turn that down with the way Brady's still playing. And you know the way

Brissette looked when he came in, I know he got hurt too, but he looked pretty good. And I know the Patriots like what they had there. You think about it, when they brought a player back from IR this season, you know, he doesn't need to bring back one player. They brought back Jacoby Brissette. Doesn't that seem a little strange that they bring back their third quarterback, their third-string quarterback?

I've never seen anything like that. That said to me, they like this kid. There's something about them. They like having him around. I think he's a good leader. And I just think that possibly they look at Brissette and say, you know what, we like this kid just as much as we like Garoppolo, so we know we have to make a move.

And I think Chicago's a team that would definitely offer them what they want to get it done, possibly a player and a high draft pick. So I think Chicago has the best opportunity because I just think that they'd give up the most to get it done because they're so desperate. Have you even heard Houston at all, their name come up at all in any of the stuff that you've heard about? Yes, and they've come up a lot up here, up in the New England area. People have actually talked about a Garoppolo for J.J. Watt swap. I've heard that a couple times too up in this area, and I'm surprised by that because I've also heard people talk about trading Gronkowski for Watt, which doesn't make a lot.

Well, trade your back injury for your back injury. How does that sound? It's like, what are people talking about? But for Garoppolo, for Watt, it actually does make a little bit of sense. Say they're throwing in a third-round pick or a second-round pick because they're not 100% sure. You and I talked about this. We don't know what Watt's going to be like when he comes back

because it's a back, at any moment those things flare up and you're not right again and that could be it you start with Gronkowski this season too it's something he dealt with in college and came back to bite him this year so I have definitely heard the Texans as one of those teams I just don't think the Patriots would be willing to give away a player that they know I think they know he's going to be good to the Texans because the Texans have a lot of talent. And the one thing they don't have, they don't have a quarterback. And I think you realize that. The guy that you sign to a big-time contract is not the answer.

He may be short-term, just a guy to plug in for the time being. But Garoppolo is a much better player than him. So I just don't think the Patriots would be willing to give up a player to a team that they're going to be competing with for Super Bowls, I think, for the next few years. Unless, again, it was a top 15 pick. Yeah, we've definitely heard the J.J. Watt for Garoppolo conversations. I also heard the Gronkowski stuff, and to me, sounded more a little bit more straight a little stranger and and and not quite as interesting but the the Garoppolo for Watt and I I actually you know we actually heard maybe something more than Garoppolo coming back the other way but you

know this we're talking about you know the Texans still consider the guy you know obviously three time defensive MVP so pretty well thought of and I'm of the I'm of the opinion that as far as JJ Watt is concerned, he's probably not going to be, he's almost certainly not going to be the guy that he was before. But even if you're, you get 80% of JJ Watt or 90% of JJ Watt, you know, you still have, you know, you still got a hell of a talent. Let me ask you about Garoppolo, the player. You've had a chance to see him. Tell me about his pluses and maybe any minuses that you've seen from him. I think he's got good accuracy. He's got good feet.

He does a good job getting outside of the pocket, avoiding rushers, doing all that good stuff. I think he gambles a little bit too much. He's got a little Tony Romo in him, to be honest with you. He reminds me, it's funny because he went to the same school as him, he reminds me of Romo a lot when you watch him play. He's got a stronger arm, I think, and that's saying a lot because Romo's got a pretty strong arm too. But he definitely does a great job outside of the pocket.

He's not afraid to take chances. He can put it in there. There was a couple throws he made against Miami. They were just laser beams. But, you know, we also saw him play for two and a half games, and he got knocked out with an injury. And the injury was an injury that a lot of players, a lot of quarterbacks come back from sooner than Garoppolo was available

to come back from too. So there may be a little bit of a question about his, I won't say toughness, but I think that a quarterback and football players in general, a talent is staying available and staying healthy. So, you know, the jury's kind of out there too. He's had one chance and he got injured. And he got injured because it was taking a gamble on a throw when he got crushed on the play.

But again, a lot of quarterbacks will come back from that a little sooner than he did. So who knows? I think health could be a thing, and I think he definitely takes too many chances, but that's going to get coached out of him. You can see it from his rookie year in preseason. He was taking chances a lot compared to now where he doesn't take quite as many, but he definitely trusts his arm a little bit too much. But great feet, fast, good decision-maker,

and he definitely can put some bullets in there. So he'd be fun to watch. I think Texans fans would love him. I really do. He'd be a good player for that team. And considering the offense that you guys have, the weapons that you guys have, I think he would fit well into that offense. It wouldn't take much for him to figure it out plus you know he grew up in the the office the offense that your coach runs is the offensive patriots run it's not a big

difference so he'd probably fit right in and seamlessly and be able to run it unlike mr osweiler there yeah you're saying he reads the field much better than a lot of the guys that you've seen because you've gone through a litany of backup quarterbacks that the Texans are very familiar with, the Brian Hoyers and the Ryan Mallets. And, of course, even Matt Castle, you had the run really good year from Matt Castle, and people start to wonder, well, how much of this is Belichick

and how much is the quarterback? And that's what they don't know about Jimmy Garoppolo in some ways but you think this guy's totally different than all these other guys that you've seen come through New England oh absolutely I'll go down the list for if you want to Rohan Davey Kevin McConnell Kevin O'Connell Ryan Mallett and Hoyer there's been so many guys in the castle and I like castle I was I've been a usc fan since i was a young young kid and i've always you know it's funny i went castle and liner were battling for that job i always thought castle was going to win it out and he didn't but in the long run castle actually turned into the better turned into a better nfl quarterback but none of them are even close to

to what garoppolo is garoppolo is is a legitimate NFL quarterback from what I can see. The rest of those guys were just not good. They just were bust. Kevin O'Connell was a third-round pick. They thought he was going to be good, and he was stiff. He was terrible. I hate to say about him, but it's just the truth. He was just not good.

I remember the Jets picked him up thinking they were going to get something good out of it, and he didn't last long there either. But yeah, Garoppolo's legitimate. He's not like any of the other not-so-good players that they've drafted in the past. Mallet's actually, he's in Baltimore now. Out of all of them, I think he's the one that could end up being okay as a backup, but I think as a starter, I think Garoppolo's going to be by far the best one that they've drafted since, obviously, Tom Brady. Leadership-wise, you hear just great stuff about him from that. Yes, actually, that's one of the top things that you hear about him is that he's always engaged.

He's always into it. The players love him. I mean, you could see him during the Super Bowl. He's all fired up. He's going nuts on the sidelines. Guys like that, you've got to have, you know, having backup quarterbacks that, you know, know that they're good enough to play, but they're not, and they stand on the sidelines and sulk. That pulls down the morale of any team.

At any level, it's just the way it is. When you've got a guy who's engaged and he's ready to go and, you know, something happens, he's good to go. He's into it. He knows exactly what the situation is. I think that his teammates love him for that and he's done he's got nothing but compliments from everybody i've ever heard from so yeah he's he's definitely a team guy he'll be loved if he whatever team he goes to that they're definitely going to follow his lead if he's going to be dealt is he going to be dealt before free agency before the draft when do you think it's going to happen it's going to happen before the draft.

I think it will happen during free agency, right after it starts. I think the Patriots will let it play out a little bit because teams are going to pick up the few free agents that are available. I think Tyrod Taylor, if you can refresh my memory on some of the other good ones, I say good with my quote-unquote good available quarterbacks. There's not much. And then I think probably midway through, the teams get an idea of what's going to be available and what they can't get.

Then they'll make a deal. That's what they did with Castle when they traded him to the Chiefs, along with Rabel, actually. That trade happened, I want to say, mid-March. So it was probably 10 days in the free agency they made that trade happened i want to say mid-march so it's probably probably 10 days in the free agency they made that trade i hate to admit this but i stole jimmy garoppolo's game one worn jersey after the super bowl and nobody's talked about that yet and i'm really disappointed that hasn't become a big big news story any any news on the brady jersey has of our texas rangers

run it down yet have they found it i think that thing's gone i really do i think it's gone i nothing it was in the news it was going crazy people were talking about non-stop and it was making me laugh because i'm like this is a joke i'm like somebody stole that thing they're afraid now because it's all over the place they're never gonna let it out it's in about 40 years from now that thing's gonna reappear and it'll be some story from a guy who passes away or something like that uh but no no nothing in the last i would say the last four or five days the stories have kind of cooled down about the jersey and i just have a feeling that thing's gone let me ask you the best super bowl story that you heard from the patriots down here in houston just maybe pre-Super Bowl stuff, something that happened

after the game. What was your favorite anecdote from that whole week? Just the way Gronkowski, just him in general. I have a friend of mine who, she produces reality TV shows, and she was with the Gronkowski family last summer, and they were going to put together a show. It didn't work out, but she was just telling me all about him, and she was with him during some of the pre-Super Bowl stuff and the post-Super Bowl stuff. And for a guy who he's not healthy, he can't play, and you know how angry some of these guys get.

You know, J.J. Watt, I'm sure he's not happy that he wasn't able to play. He's working on a team's field, going crazy like a maniac maniac gronkowski's just partying like it's nothing he's whatever i got my second ring i'm happy as can be so just some of the some of the antics some of the stuff i can't ever repeat on on on a podcast because i don't want to get him in trouble but uh he um that kid gets after it let's put it that it that way. He likes to go out to the parties and he likes to mix it up with a lot of different celebrities and things of that nature. And he just – I just get a kick out of how he was so positive about the whole thing. And, again, most guys, they get so frustrated because they can't play in the game. But, you know, it is what it is.

He got his back injury. He's dealt with it. He makes a ton of money he's out running around with the you know doing his thing and just that's that's my that's my only takeaway from the Super Bowl my funniest takeaway is just the whole Gronkowski situation some of the stories I heard about him down there and you know back up here I don't know if you saw did you see any of the highlights from the parade with Gronkowski I feel like I saw something but it saw something, but it's kind of in the back of my mind. What were some of the stuff that he was doing there? I'm trying to remember.

Oh, he was shirtless, which it was snowing out, which that alone was ridiculous. He almost dropped two of the trophies. It was hilarious. He lost control of him for a second, and then he was able to regain his composure and get him reined in. But two of those things almost went down, and he was way up, too, on one of the duck boats. He was way up high.

So if those went down, they would have been having to get those replaced, needless to say. So it was pretty funny. He was a crazy man during the parade, too. They all were getting pretty wild. Chris Long was, was nuts. He was, he even admitted that he had a little bit too much to drink during the day.

He had to get some sleep that night. He said, he said, he's not going to be doing that anytime soon. It was funny. But yeah, the parade was a little wild, but again,

Gronkowski leading the charge in that too. But yeah, very close to breaking two Patriots Lombardi trophies. He would have a reality show if he wasn't in New England. I mean, he has a reality show, but he would have his own show for sure, I think, if Belichick wasn't around to tell him no. I was told that they're almost too ridiculous. That's one of the reasons why the idea never came to fruition last year.

The family's so ridiculous that they couldn't do it. I think that's – His brothers, he's coming to camp with you guys, right? Yeah, they signed him to – yeah, he got signed to a futures contract. He's going to be the – I'm not surprised. He's their new Ross Venturone. They'll re-sign him and sign him 35 times over the next year and a half. But, hey, he gets a contract.

He gets money, and it works out fine. He lives in his brother's house. He's got a good deal. Well, I tell you what, would love to see Garoppolo come here from everybody we've talked to. He's the best guy available. Forget the draft and Romo and everything. Garoppolo is the best one that's out there.

So we'd love to see that happen. I'm sure you're hearing the same thing. There's not a guy in the draft that people are higher on than Jimmy as far as quarterbacks that are available this offseason. No, he's definitely the number one guy. There's nobody in the draft that could be as impactful as he could be. I think Garoppolo is the type of guy that could join a team and lead them to the playoffs,

especially a team like the Texans that are good and have a ton of talent all over the place. You put a really good quarterback in that mix, and not only are they division champs, but they're division champs with an opportunity to go to the Super Bowl and maybe even get home field and maybe make the Patriots come through there for once. That's the type of player that I think he is, and he's going to keep getting better as his experience, you know, as he gets more experience. What pick do the Texans have in the first round? Just wondering. I haven't looked into that yet. I think it's 25th or something. I think that's right. It's got to be right. Yeah, it's got to be right around there. So, you know, like I said, I expect the Patriots to look for a top 15 pick, but if the Texans were to come at them with, say, the 25th pick

and maybe a fourth rounder, that might be something that entices them to move him too. So I wouldn't be surprised if they take a late first rounder and maybe a high third or fourth rounder. Well, maybe for next season, maybe a third rounder in 2018 or something like that. So I don't think the Texans are definitely out of the discussion. I know Belichick has a good relationship with Bill O'Brien, so that alone helps the Texans. But, again, the only thing I think would prevent it is just because New England

would be afraid that they're giving a potential very good Pro Bowl quarterback to a team that they're going to be contending with for the next decade or so. But that's the only thing that hold it back. The conversation's been quiet on him for the most part, really. And it's Romo looks like the bigger possibility. But, you know, everybody I talked to, Garoppolo would be the guy to go with. He's got the future. He's not a one-year piecemeal guy or two-year piecemeal guy that they've been dealing with the last few years so the fans here i'm sure want some long-term resolution to this and a guy that they can look forward to down the road but

obviously it's a even if he comes here i think everybody's going to be well let's see because i think there were there was real excitement over r Ryan Mallett when he came down that he might be able to really help. And that turned into a catastrophe in a real hurry. But hey, man, thanks for doing this. We always enjoy having you on the show. It's been fantastic. Hey, thank you.

I enjoyed it. And we'll have to do something again soon. I'm sure we'll have something coming up at the Patriots and Texans. They seem to always cross paths. Yeah, they're our big brother. Hey, let me give you a few seconds. I'm going to close this one out. I just want to remind everybody to check out my Houston Sports Talk podcast

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