Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Locked On Patriots April 19, 2018 - Meat, QBs and WRs.

Episode Date: April 19, 2018

Mark Schofield ranks some more QBs, works through the WR board for the Patriots and talks about his friends at meatcrafters.com.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Good morning. Welcome into Lockdown Patriots for Thursday, April 19th, 2018. Mark Schofield back in the big chair as it will be five days a week. Reminder to follow me on Twitter at Mark Schofield. Follow the work over at InsideThePylon.com, ProfootballWeekly.com. Over at ITP, rolling out my top 20 quarterback rankings over the past couple of days and into next week. Quarterbacks 15 through 11 dropped. We'll touch on that briefly. Also, what we're going to do today, we're going to work through the board at wide receiver. Again, one of those tricky positions for the Patriots in this draft class.

Might be a need to address perhaps later in the draft but given the way this wide receiver board seems to be shaken out the Patriots could have the chance to grab one of the better wide receivers in this draft class with either picks 23 or 31 now will Bill Belichick do that probably not that's usually not his mo to draft a skill position player early but who knows maybe Belichick throws that? Probably not. That's usually not his MO to draft a skill position player early. But who knows? Maybe Belichick throws us yet one more curveball in what's been a rather topsy-turvy offseason. As I mentioned briefly, my quarterback's sort of 15 through 11.

But first, I want to give a shout out to the great people over at MeatCrafters. That's right, MeatCrafters. Because if you know me, if you're a family member, if you just know who I am, you follow me on Twitter, you probably know that I am a fan of the cured meat. That's right, charcuterie, salami, all that good stuff. I love it. I used to get all my stuff from Olympia Provisions. That was something that my wife got from me once.

Also, my good friend Chuck Zotto. He also got his hands on the Olympia provisions. They have great stuff, but that's out of Washington state. I found recently meat crafters. They're closer to me here in Maryland. They're out of Landover, meatcrafters.com at meat crafters on Twitter. They were kind enough to hook me up with some of their stuff. Their skinny salamis, which are fantastic. Definitely check them out, meatcrafters.com if you're into that kind of stuff. At Meatcrafters on Twitter. You can also find them at Skinny Salamis as well on Twitter.

If you're in the Maryland area, definitely check them out. They go to all sorts of farmer's markets, things like that. You can find their stuff at Balducci's. You can find their stuff if you're in the Maryland area. There's a great store that I love, Butcher's Alley. It's a little butcher shop in the Bethesda area. If you're more in Washington, D.C., there are all sorts of

organic markets. The one in Brooklyn, the one in Capitol Hill, Petworth. Maybe if you're listening in Virginia, there are Duci's there as well. Some other places including Chaney Bridge Cellars, Jefferson Vineyard. So definitely check them out. Give them a follow on Twitter, at me, Crafters. Huge shout-out to Mitch and the team over there for hooking me up with some great stuff.

Now, getting down to some quarterback stuff just for a few minutes. I want to touch on my rankings, quarterbacks 15 through 11. Alex Magoo, Florida International, comes in at 15. Nick Chiminok comes in at 14. Riley Ferguson at 13. Kirk Bankert at 12. Chase Litton at 11. There's a piece up on InsideThePylon.com right now

breaking those guys down a little bit more in depth. If you're interested, go ahead and check that out over at InsideThePylon.com. But briefly on those guys, these are some more sort of developmental guys. Litton is the highest of this group. I think he probably came out a year early. I would have loved to see him go back. He could have played himself. Again, I've already started getting into the mix of the 2019 class.

Litton could have played himself into the day one mix, I think. But he decides to come out. I think he'll probably get drafted. I've got sort of a fifth-round grade on him. I think he gets drafted. I think he'd be a nice fit in a vertical offense. Bankert, sort of an interesting guy to consider. Originally

started at East Carolina, then he comes to Virginia. Two-year starter there. Lades him to a bowl game this year. Did some nice things this season. His first half, or maybe first five-eighths of his game against Miami. Some of the best quarterback tape I've seen out of anybody in this class. But then he made the big mistake, the dreaded pick six against that opportunistic defense,

and things kind of snowballed from there. But an aggressive quarterback makes some nice downfield throws, maybe limited schematically, but again, a nice developmental option. Riley Ferguson, another interesting quarterback. Takes over from Paxton Lynch in that Memphis offense. Put up some big numbers. Might have some size and frame considerations. Does some nice things

from a processing standpoint in the RPO game. So he's an interesting guy. Shumanok, one-year starter. Taken over from Patrick Mahomes. Impressive deep ball at times. Can do some nice things from a velocity standpoint. He'll definitely need to get faster from a process and speed standpoint. There were times when he was really sort of slow to get through reads,

but a nice developmental option. And then we come to Alex Magoo, who I came to a little bit later in this process, but really sort of like him. Does some very nice things in the passing game. He's going to need to get faster. Of all of these quarterbacks, I was surprised at some of the decisions that he made because he was a four-year starter at FIU, led them finally to a bowl game this past season. But he does some very nice things from an arm strength standpoint.

He made a throw against UCF when he had Shaquem Griffin basically in his face, but he made one of those hash-marked opposite sideline throws with a defender in his face, pure arm, but delivered it on time with velocity. So he's another interesting prospect as well. All these players, guys, to keep in mind if the Patriots sort of address quarterback later in the draft. But let's move ahead to the task at hand today, and that's the wide receiver position. And this is just a really interesting group of wide receivers because when you look at it sort of from top to bottom there's no sort of

surefire clear-cut you know top dog wide receiver in this group there are a lot of nice players who could perhaps develop into you know wide receiver twos in the National Football League, and there's certainly a role for that on every single NFL offense. But there's no sort of Julio Jones-type player that's in the mix for a top five pick. When you look at this draft board and you look at some of these wide receivers, it might be a while until you see a wide receiver come off the board. So it's an interesting group. Let's go through this Patriots draft. And at the outset, I'm going to focus primarily on slot guys, because I think that's sort of the area where

the Patriots might address wide receiver in this draft. That's what I've been anticipating throughout this draft season. With those round one picks, I'm going to go a little bit more positional diversity, because there's a player that might sort of fall to New England that's an interesting consideration. But the rest of the guys, I'm going to sort of focus my attention on slot guys. But with those two picks in the first round, there's a chance that Calvin Ridley might be there. Wide receiver from Alabama, junior coming out, a little bit older, currently 23 right now. Working off of the report we have on him from the Inside the pylon draft guide which

if you've been listening to the show and you want to get a copy of it itp draft guide.com use promo code lonfl when you get a copy of it get five dollars off joseph ferriola who's been on this show before to talk wide receivers with us he talked about some of the guys we're going to get to in a few minutes he studied calvin ridley Forrest, our lead scout on him, a technically sound receiver who may not possess the size and athletic ability of a prototypical number one, but whose speed and advanced handle of the nuances of the position may eventually lead him to be a team's top weapon.

And in breaking him down, Joe noticed that he has an excellent combination of acceleration, quickness, speed, and change of direction, rare route running ability, rare ability to stop and cut back against his momentum. He basically graded him out as the top route runner in this class. Now, there are some questions about athleticism. You know, his relative athletic score, as determined by Kent Lee Platt at MathBomb on Twitter, 4.86. Really not good. So there's a question about his athleticism. 1.55, 10-yard split, 4.43 in the 40, which is okay for a wide receiver. And we were talking 4-4 speed.

You know, 3-cone of 6.88, which isn't great. Short shuttle, 4.41. You know, a 31-inch vertical, 110 inches on the broad jump. But he's falling down draft boards right now. And there's a chance that you might see him fall into the second round. And what's interesting is Vegas knows what they're doing, and they kind of have the over-under on his draft spot at 19.5 with Dallas Pickett at 19, which is an interesting consideration given the fact

they just got rid of Des Bryant. But if he doesn't go, I mean, he could slide and he could be there at 23. He could be there at 31. And it's an interesting guy to consider. I mean, you sort of wonder about the athleticism, the questions there. Didn't have a ton of production, but part of that was due to the fact that Jalen Hurts was struggling to get him the football. He's an incredible route runner. I think he could play a role for any offense as a rookie. He could play both in the slot. He could play outside.

You might have to have him in the slot more because he has struggled at times against press coverage, but he's somebody to consider if he's there on the board with that first round pick. Up ahead, we're going to move into the realm of slot receivers, focus more of our attention there as we work our way through the rest of this wide receiver class on the Patriots draft board here. That's ahead with me, Mark Schofield, and Locked On Patriots. Mark Schofield back with you now. We're going to be working our way through the wide receiver class,

turning our attention more now to slot-type receivers. We just talked a little bit about Calvin Ridley, the potential that he could be there, say, at 23, at 31. Definitely somebody to consider. But let's now look to Anthony Miller, redshirt senior out of the University of Memphis, a teammate of the aforementioned Riley Ferguson. James McClintock was

our lead scout on Anthony Miller at the ITP draft guide. Described him as a player who has the vertical speed to threaten deep and his smarts, route running, and his ability after the catch make him a short and intermediate weapon from the slot or outside. So again, he's probably a slot guy

in the National Football League, but you can use him outside. So again, he's probably a slot guy in the National Football League, but you can use him outside. He has some positional versatility, a guy that has great athletic ability, good agility, good speed, good change of direction, good quickness. He's good in contested catch situations, a legitimate deep threat, but he has the footwork and change of direction ability to stop on a dime on quick hitches, curls, and comebacks. That sounds to me like a Brandon Cooks-type clone. If you want to sort of try to replicate what you're losing in production from a Brandon Cooks in that trade, maybe Anthony Miller makes some sense.

Miller is a player that got some attention as potentially a first-round-type wide receiver. So he's somebody definitely to consider some weaknesses that we identified over at itp height and size are a bit of a weakness that might you know sort of limit him positionally to the slot struggles against press man in the nfl you're going to see more of that adjusting to low throws that's an issue but something you don't see a ton of when you're playing with tom brady so if he's on the board, I like his sort of fit, that positional versatility, the ability to sort of give you some of what you're losing with the trade of Brandon Cook. So I sort of like him perhaps off the board at 43, that 11th pick in the second round.

Deshaun Hamilton, player to consider maybe late second round. We had Joe Ferriola on after the Senior Bowl. Joe loved him. I saw Deshaun Hamilton in person against Indiana. He had a huge game against them in that game. I think Deshaun Hamilton has the potential to be one of the better wide receivers to come out of this class. He was exclusively a slot receiver his senior year at Penn State. Sam Cohen, our lead scout at ITB, described him as this, a slot receiver with all the skills to win consistently versus man coverage and the hands and contested catch ability to be a reliable intermediate target on third down. And let's not sort of understate something here. If

you're looking towards the future and perhaps life after Tom Brady. You want a guy who can be a reliable target on third down. And Deshaun Hamilton might be the guy to sort of bring into the organization now and sort of grow with perhaps your heir to the Brady throne. You know, if the Patriots do provide, you know, do pick up that player in this draft. And so, you know, you look at that pick at 63, this might be when you start to consider, you know, maybe, you know, those first three picks, they don't consider a skill position player, particularly a wide receiver. But I think at this point, now you start, it starts to get more credence that the Patriots might look wide receiver now. Another thing I love about Hamilton,

very good blocker. You know, wide receivers, it's part of the job. You know,. He shows a willingness to block downfield in both the run game and the pass game for his teammates after the catch. Again, saw him against Indiana. Had a tremendous game against the Hoosiers. Loved what he did in that game. He's a red zone threat as well. You can do some stuff in the slot fade game. He had a touchdown reception on the slot fade against the Hoosiers.

So a very sort of versatile type player. I think Deshaun Hamilton would be a great fit. I love him at 63. And if he's there, I'd love the Patriots to consider him. Working into the third round now, that pick at 95. We're going to get to Richard James, another player we talked about with Joe Ferriola. Wide receiver out of Middle Tennessee State. Again, more of a slot guy, but that's, I think, the position, you know, the wide receiver types

that they'll be drafting if they address wide receiver in this group. Joe describes him in the draft guide. His frame and lack of play strength will limit him to the slot, but James has the suddenness, speed, and toughness to win there if he can avoid the injuries that plagued his 2017 campaign joe goes on to describe him as an explosive athlete who creates separation using quickness as well as head and shoulder fakes prior to his break high effort player has excellent change of direction and suddenness to quickly separate from coverage very smart player who can diagnose coverages and settle in the voids of zone as well as run away from man and that's's important in New England's offense. Let's not forget, I talk so much about scheme fit when it comes to quarterbacks. Scheme fit's important when it

comes to wide receivers too, because there are so many different route conversions and route adjustments that the Patriots use on offense. And it's an important aspect of the playbook. You've got to be able to make those decisions on the fly and read the coverage, and to make the right read, you have to be on the same page with Tom Brady. And so football intelligence is important when you're evaluating wide receivers, and that's a box that James checks. Some weaknesses with him, you know, his size, again,

but we're talking about slot guys, and so when you list size as a weakness, again, if we're talking about slot guys and so when you list size as a weakness again if we're talking about slot guys it's not that big of an issue play strength is an issue but again you know if he's in the slot primarily as a slot guy he's not going to face press too much you can move him around you can get him away from jams and things like that and so sure there are some limitations perhaps to a richie j, but if you're drafting him as a slot guy, I think he's a good fit, particularly as you get into the third round. Now we're going to move gears here in a second and look at those final picks, those round six and seven picks,

and you know who I'm going to be talking about with that first pick in the seventh round. But three more wide receivers to get to. That's ahead with me, Mark Schofield, and Locked on Patriots. Mark Schofield, back with you now, working our way through the wide receiver position group here with an eye towards the New England Patriots picks throughout the 2018 NFL Draft. We're now into that sixth round, those two sixth-round picks, the first at pick 24 in the sixth round, 198 overall,

as well as pick 36 in the sixth round, pick 210. And we're going to talk about Trey Quinn from SMU, as well as Justin Watson. Justin Watson, the player out of Pennsylvania. Now, first let's talk about Trey Quinn. Obviously, Quinn is, like I said, a player out of SMU. And when I was studying some of the other players in this draft class, I got a chance to watch him a little bit. Nicholas Macaron was our lead scout on him over at ITP. He described him as a tough, smart receiver with perhaps the best hands in this draft class.

I don't know if I'd go that far, but still very good, reliable hands. He can carve out a role as a slot possession receiver if he can improve his play strength to release at the line of scrimmage again the notation there is you can do stuff schematically particularly with slots particularly moving wide receivers around to get them some free releases we see that all the time from the patriots offense and from joshDaniels. Some other stuff Nicholas noted. Uses his quickness to snap his routes off to create separation. Consistently finds green grass in the seam. He has rare, Valkyrie-like hands where he plucks the ball out of the air,

catching everything within his grasp. There are some struggles, though. He struggled at times to get defenders out of his hip pocket on all three levels of the field. Fails to press the defensive back vertically, struggles to maintain his play speed, which allows defenders to squat on his intermediate routes from off and press. Does not break many tackles after the catch.

And Nicholas sort of looked at him as a backup slot receiver that will make his living on special teams, who can flash into the slot on two pass and downs or in four receiver sets. And if you're looking at the New England Patriots roster right now, that's probably what you want out of this draft class, out of a receiver from this group. And so I think Quinn's a perfect fit. You look at him in that sixth round area, which I think is where he probably comes off the board. I think it's sort of ideal because you're not going to need a guy to play right away. Certainly the luxury of one

of the other guys we've talked about would be great, but you can address other positions and get to a guy like Trey Quinn a little bit later in the draft. Finally, like I said, we're going to talk about Justin Watson next, wide receiver out of Penn, a player that's really sort of worked his way up draft boards a little bit, get a little bit more attention as we get closer to the draft. Somebody that we sort of liked at ITP, an Ivy League standout. This is Dante Ferengoli who broke him down for us. An Ivy League standout whose alignment, versatility, route running, and understanding of leverage and zones will give him a long shelf life in the league.

A player that's alignment versatile can play in the slot or on the boundary. Penn even used him out of the backfield at times. He had elite college production despite bracket coverage and plenty of defensive attention. Very willing blocker as well. Not afraid to crack down inside, not afraid to crack on safeties. He's not going to win you routes vertically, but still he has adequate yardage after the catch.

He's physical enough to fall forward on contact. He won't have breakaway speed, but he's a very enough to fall forward on contact he won't have breakaway speed but he's a very possession type receiver he's going to face a bit of a you know developmental and acclimation struggle you know because he's going from playing ivy league corners to nfl corners but he's positionally versatile i think he'd give you some depth along all wide receiver positions and he had a very good pro day you You know, his athletic testing, his RAS score from Math Bomb, 9.55. That puts him into the elite category. So Justin Watson, somebody to consider in the sixth round for the New England Patriots.

And finally, my boy Braxton Berrios. And I've talked about him a ton. I'm not going to beat him to death here, but let's just remember that he wasn't able to run the combine, or he got hurt, excuse me, at the combine. All he did was run the 40, or he got hurt at the combine. All he did was run the 40, but didn't post a great 40 time there, but had a better 40 time at his pro day, watching him down in Mobile at the season bowl.

I think he's sort of an ideal late-round pick if you want to address wide receiver. I think it makes a ton of sense for the New England Patriots. He's a smart kid as well. Again, I've talked about him a ton. I won't beat him to death here. But if they don't address wide receiver at any of the draft spots when they're up on the clock, you know, to start that seventh round, I'm going to be wondering if I'm going to be all thrown up to you because I think Braxton Berrios,

I just can't get past the idea of him coming to New England. That will do it here for this wide receiver group. And that will do it for the offensive side of the ball. We've worked our way through all the offensive positions at this point. It's coming up on Friday's show. We're going to move to the defensive side of the ball. We're going to start off with an edge class, a position that Patriots certainly want to address.

That's ahead of me, Mark Schofield, and Locked on Patriots.