Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Locked On Patriots April 25, 2019 - Draft Day Special with John Limberakis

Episode Date: April 25, 2019

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The I'm going to use the big button. Welcome to The Draft, everybody. Mark Schofield here. It is Thursday. It is April 25th. It is Draft Day. We have made it. And I am beyond excited, not just for the the draft but for the show we have today. I've said before that this is your show.

Lockdown Patriots is your show. I am just sort of the gatekeeper as it were and I have been mentioned in the Lockdown Patriots Slack channel for a long time now and I thought what better way to kick off the draft itself and draft week and then to have on a good dear friend, a supporter of the show, one of the great people in the Lockdown Patriots Slack channel. We're going to talk about a draft board that he has put together that is in the Lockdown Patriots Slack channel. I am happy to be joined in a moment by the one and only John Limorakis. Before I welcome John in, just the usual reminder, follow me on Twitter at Mark Schofield.

Check out the work at the usual host of places, insidethepylon.com, Pro Football Weekly, The Score, Matt Waldman's Rookie Scouting Portfolio, Big Blue View, SB Nation sites such as Big Blue View, such as Bleeding Green Nation with the QB Scope Show, such as Pat's Pulpit. But enough from me. It's time to welcome in the one and only John Limorakis. You can follow him on Twitter at J-O-H-N-A-L-I-M-B-E-R-A-K-I-S. John, my friend, welcome to The Draft and welcome to Locked on Patriots.

It is a pleasure and honor to be here. Happy Draftmas, everyone. John, I am so excited to have you here. You've been doing such great work over the Locked On Patriots Slack Channel. And I sort of want to start, you put together basically a top 160-ish or so big board for the New England Patriots, basically looking at position by position rankings, sort of draft rough round grades on these players. Before we dive into some of the positions, tell me how you went about putting that together. Yeah, sure. This was a locked on Patriot Slack channel project. I want to thank everyone there that helped. You guys were tremendous. Could not have done this without you. So what we did was we

looked at each position and we took the top 150 players from the draft network and the top 150 players from the huddle. And we took the average of their rankings to come up with a top 150, 160. Once we did that, we took a look at each position. We tried to figure out, based on their past behavior, what the athletic prototypes for each position are. Now, Phil Perry and Evan Lazar do some really great work on this, and you can look at some of their pieces online, or you can use Kentley Platt, Mathbomb, his RAF database. You can download it and find their athletic requirements for positions yourself,

and that's what I did. I downloaded it, put it together in Excel, and looked at what their fits are for each position. And then the last thing is we have three types of fits. You have a best fit, a clear fit, and an on-the-radar. So this is a horizontal draft board, and it's stacked with those three fits. Well, John, it is tremendous work. You and everybody else with the Locked On Patriots did such a tremendous job putting this together. What I want to dive into is a couple of the positions first on the offensive side of the ball.

And we all know the tight end is a position of need for the New England Patriots. We have the Gronkowski retirement. You know, we've got some question marks at that position to begin with. Who are some of the guys you think are best fits and clear fits? How would you like to see the patriots address this position as well you know i think a lot of listeners and a lot of patriots fans you're going to expect a first round or early second on a tight end and this is a tricky year because i think the best fit is t.j hawkinson and back in january January and February, used to be able to mock him to the Patriots at 32. Well, not so much anymore. Now we're hearing that his floor is around 12. So there aren't a lot of

top end guys. Once you get into the clear fits, you have five. Jay Sternberger, Dawson Knox, jay sternberger dawson knox dax raymond noah sant and i think i'm pronouncing this right uh kahale warring yeah uh so of those guys when you look at them jay sternberger the biggest knock on him is that he does not meet the athletic requirements for the position if you look at the patriots what they want out of a primary tight end and a good receiving tight end who can also block, they're looking at RES scores of eight and above. In other words, they're looking for elite athletes, top 20% of the position. So after Hawkinson, Sternberger doesn't meet that. But Sternberger could be an upgrade for your tight end, too. And he profiles as a pretty good receiving tight end, too.

But you might not see any of these guys get drafted until the second or third round, just given their lack of production and no clear number one fit after Hawk. When you're looking at the tight end position, John, and I think you've kind of assumed that Hawkinson's going to be an undraftable player from where the Patriots are at 32, unless something crazy happens. Do you see them double dipping? And if so, what kind of combination do you see them

potentially putting together? Maybe a Sternberger in the third and a Dax Raymond maybe in the fourth well how do you see them piecing together two potential tight ends if they do double dip yeah I think if they do double dip they're going to double dip with someone who has the athletic profile of their te1 but who might be a little bit raw and underutilized in college so there's some projection and guesswork. A guy like Dawson Knox, for example, Gahail Warring, I think those could be the double dip,

with Jay Sternberger as the solid blocker tight end, too. I do think Dax Raymond is a guy who he retested in his pro day. He has the requisite long speed that they look for a more of a receiving type so i do think you could see a sternberger or a knox and a raymond or a warring i think those four guys you might see a double dip there and they would all work together pretty well john another position of need on the offensive side of the ball is wide receiver we have the lingering josh gordon issue we do have demarius thomas recently signed but there's the achilles issue he's coming back from who are some wide receivers you think would be good fits for new england a couple of different

spots say maybe at the x type guy or maybe a flanker type guy who are some wide receivers you think are good fits on your board yeah so there are two guys right away who scream prototypical Patriots to me, and that's Terry McLaurin and Myles Boykin. And that's for the X, a split end, and also potentially flanker. They have the long speed, they have the size. Terry McLaurin also has special teams availability and i think they'd be great fits in their offense but once you get into say a flanker or a slot you get some different options you have some people who can play or potentially play all three positions like a debo samuel or an aj brown perhaps a hakeem butler um so those are your options for versatile guys and slightly bigger slots.

For slot and flanker, Stanley Morgan Jr. is, as Matt Waldman would say, is just a dog. I mean, in a good way. This guy loves football, eats free, sleeps football, and has the requisite athletic testing that they like. And one other sleeper, I think, is Nick Easley out of Iowa. This guy has the change of direction skills they really like in the slot. He's a little bit bigger at 205, and he has really good acceleration.

Not the top-end long speed, but that doesn't matter to them for the slot position yeah i was going to ask you about easily because you know that's an interesting name that you brought up because when you look at how the patriots use their wide receivers especially in their scheme with some scheme shots downfield but the bulk of the stuff is done on option routes easily in his change of direction that might be a big sort of inkling as to where they might go with him and potentially look at him in that sort of day three range, right? Yeah, I think that's a really good day three fit. Another guy, maybe a Hunter Renfro. I think everyone is mocking him to us.

But, you know, he might have to go rounds four or five or as easily you could probably get six seven or maybe even udfa you know john obviously you can't get out of here without asking the quarterback question i'll do that in a second but i did want to bring up offensive line you've got two guys you think are best fits for new england one an interior guy that i've mocked new england at 32 one an offensive tackle that i've mocked a couple of times but but he might be sneaking up boards. Tell me about your two clear-fit guys at the offensive line spots. Yeah, so with the offensive line, I will ask, as Michael Kist would say, the gentle listeners for some help with this one. Offensive line is not my specialty. But with Lindstrom, I love, first of all, his athletic testing and profile is fantastic. Second of all, he has a lot of polish.

He's so technically just refined. Another thing, versatility. Lindstrom can play guard. He might be able to kick out to swing tackle. He could fit all over the line. And even if you think he's just a guard, he's a really good guard. Now, as for Yadnik Adjoust, so this one's a little trickier because tackle is one of those positions in this year's draft

where there's a lot of divisiveness in terms of the prospects, but also in terms of pure tackles, they start to drop off pretty quickly after the early second. And Yadlin's the only guy I thought that they might have to reach a little bit for, but he's a pure left tackle. And although he didn't get the test, looks really athletic you know the Patriots tend in the first couple rounds when they draft a tackle they do tend to take an athletic type that doesn't mean that they have to have 34 plus inch arms but generally athletic and Yodney fits that bill all right John we'll get to the quarterback question and then we'll set the

board for the defensive side of the ball in a moment there is a quarterback here you have identified as a clear fit and it is not brett rippon john you wound me a bit but you like ryan finley to do england and i do like ryan finley as well what are your thoughts on ryan finley as well as you mentioned will grayer and jared stidham as well well yeah uh for brett ripon um if i were projecting what i would do as a patriot i would want him at least on the team as a guy that's going to be able to run the offense if something uh bad happens i really like who he is above the shoulders and that was a hard cut and i thought about you and i when i when he didn't make it. I'm sorry about that. But Finley, though, timing and anticipation, that's sort of where I see his fit. I'm not crazy about Finley. I'm not.

But I think if they're going to take someone on day two and you look at what they like. Actually, in terms of the Parcells rules, doesn't Finley fit that? He checks all seven boxes. I mean, both he and Rippon do. So that makes me think, look, I mean, we're hearing that Finley might move up boards. We're hearing some late first round buzz on him all of a sudden. He might be in the mix for them on day two, believe it or not. Yeah, I actually like these three guys. i like will greer the most and i

have uh for a while but you're you're the qb guy and i i just cross my fingers and hope if they take someone that they're going to be able to get into that jimmy garoppolo situation again yeah i think that's what we're all hoping for mark scoffield john limberacus we're gonna hit the pause button for a second on the other side of this quick little break. We're going to talk John's defensive board, and a little bit later we're going to do some off-the-script stuff as well as John's thoughts about

pick 32, what he would do, what he thinks Bill Belichick would do. That's all ahead on this draft day edition of Locked On Patriots. No one to blame. We're leaving ground. Leaving ground. Will things ever be the same again? It's the final time. Mark Schofield back with you now. I've got John Limorakis with me.

John is one of the great, great contributors we have in the Locked On Patriot Slack channel. And this is the stuff that we do all day long on the Locked On Patriots Slack channel. We'll break it down prospects. If you'd like to be a part of that, hit me up on Twitter for an invite at Mark Schofield. Or you can shoot me an email, markdartschofield at insidethepylon.com. John, we'll turn to the defensive part of your board now. Let's start defensive tackle. Maybe a position of need for the Patriots.

A lot of people thought maybe they address it at 32 or 56. Who are some guys that are best fits for you in New England? Who are some other guys you think are maybe your clear fits for the Patriots at the defensive tackle spot? So, unfortunately for defensive tackle, it really drops off. I mean, it's top heavy. And I don't know if they're – I don't think they're going to be able to get Wilkins. Hillary is a maybe. But even so, they might have to trade up if they want him but Wilkins and Hillary are my best fit a caveat here I don't know how they feel about Dexter Lawrence he might be that unicorn of a huge tackle that can rush the passer well. I'm a little bit more skeptical of him.

I still really like him, and I think he's a clear fit. But also, he could be gone by 22 anyway, so it doesn't matter. After that, in terms of upside, Colin Saunders is my favorite. He really is. And he's a huge guy. He's above 320 pounds. But he also is highly athletic. And yes, he's a little bit raw. There's some level of competition there. But if you're talking about, you know, his ceiling in the third round, yeah, he has the athletic profile to be an interior disruptor and and a three-down player. John, let's sort of move to the edge spot. It might be sort of a position of need. The Patriots are losing Trey Flowers.

You've got Montez Sweat as your best fit. Obviously had some great athletic tests and stuff that he did at the Combine. Are you concerned at all about the heart condition, or do you sort of strip that away when you're putting together this board? I am concerned about it because Michael lombardi was concerned about it and he sometimes can be a little bit like a proxy or a drunk uncle bill belichick as i like to think of him as and he was concerned about it so maybe they are too but i think in terms of prototypes if they're okay with with the heart he would be a guy that i think that they would take he's he's very powerful he doesn't have to win this

speed rusher uh i love his length but there are alternatives uh to montez sweat in here that i really like for example i think anthony, by the way, is the perfect prototypical patriot at edge. Now, he's a guy that if you look at his mock draftables, one of his first comps is to Chandler Jones. Another guy who's a comp is to Chandler Jones is Charles Amenihu. I really like these guys because they're long, they're big. You can probably boot them inside on a passing down if you wanted to. They have versatility. And I also like their hand

usage, especially a mini-hue. Right. Yeah, that's a great point about him. What about another player you identify as a clear-fit New England? Sort of the D-line spot. Obviously the local kid, Zach Allen. We've seen a lot of people mock him to New England.

I think Mel Kuyper, Tom McShea have him going to New England, some other people as well. What are your thoughts on the BC kid? Oh, you know, I really like him. I think I put guys like Anthony Nelson and Amenohu and Zach Allen, LJ Collier kind of together because I think they're that type that they can play on the edge and they can play on the inside. I think Zach Allen is a little bit more interior defensive line,

so I do have some questions about his scheme fit. I think he might be a little bit too big and a little not as athletic as they necessarily want, but I still think he could be a fit. You know, John, I've struggled with the Patriots in the linebacker position because some people think it's a big need, some people don't. I always end up taking sort of a late day three type linebacker. But if they surprise anybody, if they surprise people like myself and go early on linebacker, who are some guys you think they might spot

maybe early in the second round, maybe at some point in the third round, who would be some good fits at the linebacker who are some guys you think they might spot maybe early in the second round maybe some point in the third round who would be some good fits at the linebacker spot for new england yeah sure uh mac wilson is the is a clear fit and he would be a second rounder i don't think the value is there i don't think the investment makes sense but drew tranquil this guy this guy really screams patriot i mean leadership and same with Jermaine Pratt. There's two guys that could go in the third or fourth that I think are potential prototypical Patriots. They are great downhill.

I really look for that. I think Tranquil can play special teams. He profiles well there. They're both more athletic than you would think. There's one guy I really like, and that's Jelani Tavai. And he's a clear fit. But I see, when you look at him, he can do a lot of different things. He can blitz.

He's great around the line of scrimmage. He's probably more of a Mike, too. He can do that. I get some Kyle Deannoy from him, and I know some others have as well. I think he's gone under the radar because he hasn't been able to test, but I really like him, and I think they will too. One other guy, I think you like

him too, is Tevin Coney. Just another downhill type that fits. Yeah, I really like Tevin. I'm a big fan of his. I loved his game against Army where they were going up against that wishbone. They put him on the edge.

They did a lot of different things with him. They added him to four-point stance at times. So I really like him. John, let's sort of close out the defensive side of the ball with the safety position. This is a position we've talked a lot about on this show and elsewhere. You've got some guys that are best fits for New England, including the guy that i've seen now pre-ff has him sneaking into the first well darnell savage from maryland but who are some safeties you like for the patriots once again you're good because last year there were three or four i like to this year it's even more i mean i think mike edwards and they brought

him in for a visit and and that actually means something. He's a fourth-rounder, versatile, but probably more of a box guy like him. My favorite is Chauncey Gardner-Johnson. I think he is versatile, can play every position, and brings an elite athleticism and physicality to it. Darnell Savage is another guy. I love this guy. He's so feisty. He's athletic. He's going to lay people out downhill, even though he's not as big. And he's fearless. I mean, just he's great. And they've gone to Maryland before with J.C. Jackson. So

they have some familiarity there. The last guy that I really like is Imani Hooker. I think for him, he has some versatility and, again, athleticism. You have these four guys, and they all have versatility, and they're all highly athletic, and you can go from round one to round four to get one. So I think if you're going to go for safety you don't have to take one early but if you do the ceilings are really high i did want to ask you one more safety question before we hit the pause button again jonathan abram the kid from

mississippi state seems some first round buzz on him are you sort of in the first round realm with him or do you think he's more of a day two guy yeah i think he's day two um he he kind of reminds me a little bit of um big bang clock brandon merryweather just a little bit i can see and yeah and i i don't know i don't know how dynamic he's going to be because of some of his, especially lateral mobility. So I think that takes him out. But I do think there are other things to like from him. But yeah, I would be very unhappy if we drafted him at 32. Mark Schofield, John Limberakis.

We've now sort of worked our way through John's Patriots board. Again, if you want to see this, if you want to be a part of this discussion, again, hit me up for an invitation to the Locked on Patriots Slack channel where John has put this together with the help of some of our other great contributors over there. On the other side of this quick little break, we're going to talk some other stuff, some sort of away from the football world for a minute, and then we'll bring it back with John's predictions for what Bill might do at 32 as well as what John would do.

That's all ahead to close out this draft day edition of Locked on Patriots. The final countdown Oh, it's the final countdown Mark Schofield, John Lemerock is back with you. Now it is draft day. We're going to close this thing out. We're hitting a couple of other topics that I know John wanted to get to. And first, John, I know you wanted to touch on something near to you, which is the barbecue game.

I know that's a big part of what you do in your spare time. I know back in the days of your over at Social, we had the grill and thread. I don't know if that's still going. I haven't poked my head in there in a while. But I know I wanted you, you wanted to chime in on that. So I'm going to turn the mic to you, my friend. Let you have your say about the barbecue game. All right.

Don't take this out of context. I've smoked over a thousand pounds of meat in my life. Well, there you go. It's not just meat. It's fish. It's vegetables. I make my own rubs. Guys, if you want to talk barbecue on Twitter, I'm your huckleberry.

I love smoking salmon on it. I love making brisket. I like doing pulled pork and then smoking the pineapples you can make and the onions too. And now I'm blanking on the name of that. Oh, Taco Zalpa store. You know, you can make, I just absolutely love it. I like using wood smoke. I like the wood pellet grills.

And, you know, one of these days when I actually have the time, I would love to go down to the Senior Bowl or the Combine where a bunch of draft Twitter is and maybe, who knows, some, you know, the Locked On Patriots Slack channel and just tailgate and grill out for you guys. I think my brisket is going to rock all

of your worlds. The man is talking about your job. What's the rig? What's the setup? Are you going with the big green egg? What's your setup like? I have a trigger and I usually use a combination of cherry, pecan, and depending on what I'm doing, either a little oak or a little apple. Very nice. Very nice.

Yeah. And the other thing I did want to ask you about, Sean, we mentioned a moment ago Soch. I haven't been able to poke my head in there in a while, not since senior bowl time. How are our good friends over at Sons of Sam Horn doing this draft season? Well, you know, it's a lot of what the heck is Bill going to do at 32? Right. And there are as many

opinions as there are people in the room i mean it's there's not a lot of clarity at the top i think it's easier to kind of figure out which guys you'd be interested in taking in rounds two three and four versus who's the fit for one is Is there sort of a consensus emerging from Soch or maybe a couple of names emerging for the pick of 32? Yeah, there's defensive tackle. Jerry Tiller is a popular one. Wide receiver is a popular one. Now there, Paris Campbell's gotten some buzz AJ Brown

Hakeem Butler but really I think people want the defensive tackle or maybe a Noah fan yeah I think people would love to get the tight end there now before I get you on the clock at 32 I did want to also ask you about a person you lovingly refer to as the Oracle. Oh, yeah. I can't mention. So I'm Greek, right? And my aunt, Georgia Fitzaias, she is an amazing, wonderful person. And I think she's partly responsible for some of the Patriots' wins. Because when they're down, she prays for them. And she prays fervently for them to win. And when I'm, like, during the Super Bowl, when it was tied,

she went outside and started doing the Greek equivalent of Hail Marys. And guess what? They came back and won. So, you know, correlation, not causation. We're throwing it out the window. See you, Georgia. You are the Greek football oracle always and forever in my heart.

Give a huge shout out. And it's not the first shout out to the Greek oracle here because I remember, John, you sent me a message about the Super Bowl and I believe you gave her a Super Bowl shout out, but giving her a shout out again. Huge fans of the Oracle here at Locked On Patriots. Now, John, let's close out this show.

You have been absolutely fantastic. Again, people, please give John a follow on Twitter. You can follow him on Twitter, as I said, at John, J-O-H-N-A-L-I-M-B-E-R-A-K-I-S on the Twitter machine. Please do give John a follow. And if you'd like to see more from John and talk more with John, again, the LockedOnPatriots Slack channel is the place to do that. So like I said, John, let's get you on the clock.

First, what you would do at 32, and then next what you think Bill does with that final pick in the first round. I would trade back. I would trade back and probably with that first or second pick in the second round, I'd draft my top wide receiver or Yadni Kajus. That's what I would do. As for Bill, I think if Jerry Tillery starts creeping up there, he might trade up a few slots for him. If Tillery's not there, I think Bill trades back because typically the value doesn't meet the board for the greatest positions of need for him. John, let me ask you this before we go. Daniel Jones is there at 32 and the Patriots turn in the card and it has Daniel Jones's name on it.

What's your gut reaction to that kind of pick? If that's the pick at 32, I'm throwing my laptop and cell phone out the plane window that I will be flying in. I would be absolutely devastated if Daniel Jones is selected that high. That is something that worries me, though. Can I just tell you, I've written about Daniel Jones for both a Giants site and now a Patriots site, and each time the tweet goes out, it gets ratioed with both Giants

fans and Patriots fans just being like, good God, please no. It just seems like league wide, there's just this consensus, at least in sort of the football Twitter world, of we don't want this guy on our team. It doesn't matter what team it is. And so, it does seem like somebody on Thursday night is going to end up with Daniel Jones.

Maybe it's the Giants. Maybe it's the Patriots. Who knows? But, John, I do want to thank you, man. You came on. You crushed it. Fantastic stuff. Please remind everybody where they can find you. Check you out on Twitter and all that good stuff. Yeah, sure. It's at John, J-O-H-N-A, Limbaracus, L-I-M as in Mary, B as in boy, E as in Edward, R

as in Robert, A as in Apple, K as in Kiss, I as in A.C., I always misspell my own name. It happens to the best of my friends. Everybody, also, if you do want to check out John's work, again, Locked on Patriots Slack Channel. This was a project put together by John and some of the other listeners to the show. It's a fantastic resource. We're going to have a great time during the draft over the next couple of nights.

That will do it for today. The next time you hear from me, though, will be later tonight, because at some point the Patriots will make a pick. I will be on with Sigmund Blum and Matt Waldman, as I said, during the live show for most of the night. But when that is done, I will hop on the microphone, break down the first round, the Patriots pick, all that good stuff.

And then I will be with you all weekend long. That will do it for now. I will be back later. Until then, keep it locked right here to me, Mark Schofield and Locked on People.