Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Locked On Patriots April 3, 2018 - Timeline Takes

Episode Date: April 3, 2018

Mark Schofield has his thoughts on Alan Pardew's April Fool's Day, Josh Rosen and avocado toast, Lamar Jackson's pre-draft proce ss, Charley Casserly's latest mock draft, and the Brady/Gronkowski rumors.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Good morning, welcome to Lockdown Patriots for Tuesday, April 3rd, 2018. Mark Schofield with you back in the big chair. Reminder to follow me on Twitter at Mark Schofield. You can follow the work over at InsideThePylon.com where I'm one of the lead writers, usually covering quarterbacks. On that note, you can follow the videos over at the Inside the Pylon YouTube page, the First Sound video series, the Interception series as well. Going to have a new Check With Me piece out coming probably later this week,

answering some reader questions that I've gotten over the past couple of days about the quarterbacks in this draft. Also, as I mentioned in yesterday's show, going to be doing some work over at Pro Football Weekly in the lead up to the draft, helping their coverage out. The first piece will be dropping shortly. Some slight technical delays on that side because look, sometimes I struggle making GIFs. What can I say? And that's right.

It's GIF, not JIF. What we're going to do today, we're going to talk Charlie Casserly. He's got a new mock draft out with a pick at 31, which we've talked about a little bit for the New England Patriots. We're also going to talk about Lamar Jackson's pre-draft process. We're going to talk a little about Alan Pardue here at the start, just for a brief moment. Because as you guys know, we just passed April Fool's Day. It was on Sunday. Juxtaposition of April Fool's Day and Easter Sunday. A little bit awkward.

And maybe you got pranked a little bit on Easter Sunday. Maybe somebody got one over on you on April Fool's Day. But it can't be worse than Alan Pardue. And for those of you who are wondering who Alan Pardue is, as a Newcastle United supporter, I longed for the days of what we call the passports with Pardue. That's when Alan Pardue was the manager of Newcastle United. Got them a spot in the Europa League.

It's kind of the lower tier to the Champions League. And I know non-soccer fans are wondering what I'm really talking about. But here's my point. Alan Perdue is currently the manager or was currently the manager of West Brom. And that team has been struggling. There were rumors that Perdue was going to be fired. And he came into work on April Fool's Day because he was told that,

oh, there were reports that his firing was a prank, that he was going to be fired, but oh, no, no, no, it was just an April Fool's prank. So he still went into work and it turns out it wasn't a prank. So if somebody got you on April Fool's Day, could have been worse. Let's dive into today's timeline takes here.

As I mentioned, we're going to talk Charlie Casserly a bit. We're going to talk about Lamar Jackson's pre-draft process. But I want to start with Avocado Toast. And again, people are wondering, where is he going with this? And if you know what I'm talking about here with reference to Avocado Toast, there was a story a couple months ago in the New York Times about how millennials are having trouble affording homes. And one of the things that this New York Times story referenced was millennials have somewhat expensive or eclectic taste, including what they mentioned, avocado toast.

Which is weird. It's a weird reference. But the reason I bring that up is this. Peter King, for his Monday morning quarterback piece spoke with Jim Mora the former head coach of UCLA he talked with him about Josh Rosen and here's what Mora said about his former quarterback Mora said Josh I think without a doubt is the number one quarterback in the draft he's a franchise changer he's got the ability to have an immediate impact his arm talent intelligence and his ability to see the game and diagnose the game is rare.

He'd come to the sidelines after a play and it was uncanny. He could right away say exactly why he made every decision. That's pretty good, right? Certainly a lot more of a positive diagnosis of his former quarterback than, say, Brian Kelly last year with Deshaun Kaiser. But Maury didn't stop there. He continued, he needs to be challenged intellectually so he doesn't get bored. He's a millennial. He wants to know why. Millennials, once they know why, they're good. Josh has a lot of interests in life. If you can hold his concentration level and focus only on football for a few years,

he will set the world on fire. He has so much ability and he's a really good kid. So there you can see why we're starting to talk about millennials here at the outset. It's an interesting thought process here from Jim Mora, which we'll get into in a second. And it allowed people to sort of dig up some other quotes about Mora.

Russ Tucker, at Russ Tucker NFL, dug up a quote from Jim Mora to SiriusXM recently. If Josh manages his life off the football field and commits to being a great football player, not just when he's at the facility,

but when he's away from the facility, he is going to be amazingly successful. So obviously those comments got a little bit of pushback. People wonder where exactly Jim Moore is going with this. Josh Rosen himself put out a tweet that just had a couple of words, why? Which probably spawned some think pieces in and of itself. But here's my thinking and where my head's at on this whole

Josh Rosen millennial needing to be challenged issue. Don't you want your quarterback challenging you? Don't you want your quarterback to understand or have the intellectual curiosity to wonder why a play design might work or might not work? The NFL, and this is not just an NFL thing, I think. This is a football thing. But football has long had that sort of, and I'm loathe to make the football to war type comparison, but it's long had that mentality that coaches are generals, coaches are leaders, coaches are admirals, and the players are the dutiful soldiers who are just following orders.

They're not to question why. You just go out there and you do your job. But when it comes to the quarterback position, and I think it should come to all positions generally, I think it should come to all football players, you should want to understand why. Why you want to throw this route against this coverage. Why you need to get out of this play you know it brings up a quote that josh mcdaniels had about tom brady and how brady similarly wanted to be challenged

similarly wanted to understand why you know i think great players want that they want that knowledge they want that deeper understanding of what it is that they're supposed to be doing. Because otherwise, if you have just this basic surface understanding, how effective can you be? As a quarterback, if you have this sort of surface understanding of what play designs are, how they're supposed to attack coverages, and you don't really get into it deeper than that, what's going to happen when you see something you haven't seen before but if you know the concept inside and out if you know why it's put together the way it's put together why it's put together to attack certain coverages if you see a new look if you see a new complex coverage scheme that you weren't ready for the odds are that much greater that you're

going to be able to still make a play in the moment it gets to the whole process and speed as a quarterback which is a trait that is so critical a play in the moment. It gets to the whole process and speed as a quarterback, which is a trait that is so critical to play in the position. If you've got just a surface-level understanding of these concepts, chances are when you see something for the first time, you're not going to make the right decision. You're not going to come through for your team. But if you have that deeper knowledge,

perhaps driven by the millennial intellectual curiosity, you'll be able to make the right reading decision. And I think that's where most coaches should at some level want their players headed. So this idea that Rosen's a millennial and he wants to know why and he needs to know why, it shouldn't be a bad thing. but the undercurrent to Maura's comments is that it is a bad thing in a way. Because football coaches tend to have that sort of my way or the highway type mentality. It was just a strange series of comments capping off,

well, not totally capping off off but coming close to capping off what's been a strange strange strange draft season and it's not over yet we still got like 20 some odd days until the draft it might get more bumpy bumpier

whatever you know what I'm saying up next we're going to go through Charlie Casterly's latest mock some things that stood out to me including who the Patriots are slotted to pick at pick 31 then we're gonna talk a little bit about Lamar Jackson's pre-draft process and some closing thoughts on the affair Gronkowski in Brady that's next with me mark Schofield and locked on Patriots marks go fill back with you now and we're gonna go through a mock draft here That's next with me, Mark Schofield, and Locked on Patriots. Mark Schofield back with you now, and we're going to go through a mock draft here.

It is mock draft season. Mock drafts are fun. They are the necessary evil of the football media world. They're a pain to put together. You make mistakes a lot of the times because you're, you know, maybe you mock a player to a team that doesn't need a player at that position. Maybe you mock two players in the same round. I've seen that happen. But people love them. People click on them. People read them. People talk about them on podcasts like I'm about to. And I want to talk Charlie

Casserly's latest mock draft. His mock draft 2.0. I'll go through it kind of quickly. Sam Donald to Cleveland at one, I think makes sense. Barkley, the running back to the Giants at two. Okay. I mean, I'm not sure you go running back at two, but I can understand why people would think the Giants would do that. I still think if you're the Giants, you go quarterback there. You're not going to be picking this high. You don't expect to be picking this high again anytime soon. That's a good chance to get your next guy. Always better to be a year ahead on that decision and on that move.

Okay. I picked three. Casserly has Rosen off the board to the New York Jets. He says of him him he will be the most scrutinized pick from this draft for years to come but he's the most pro ready quarterback in this class i would agree with him on that second part i don't know if he'll be the most scrutinized pick for years to come i think that guy's coming up in his mock for bradley chubb defensive end to the browns and that's a great haul for cleveland you go donald and chubb, defensive end to the Browns, and that's a great haul for Cleveland. You go Donald

and Chubb at one and four. I think you've done yourself some favors. Now, here's where I think you're going to get the most scrutinized quarterback in this class, and that's Josh Allen. Charlie Casterly has him coming off the board at five to the Buffalo Bills who move up the board again and find their quarterback. And Charlie Casley's reasoning in part, Allen is built to throw in the bad weather he'll encounter in Buffalo. Okay. Yes, he has the arm to do that. Is he worth the fifth overall pick in this draft?

Again, my thoughts on him have been well documented. It's a will versus should debate. Will he go in the top five? I believe he will. Should he? I'm not quite so sure about that. That's why I think he'll be the most scrutinized pick out of the quarterbacks in this group. Running through kind of quickly now, names that kind of jump off the board. Baker Mayfield at 11 to the Dolphins. We've seen lots of stories about how Miami and Adam Gates seem to be very intrigued by Baker Mayfield. Lots of meetings with them with Baker Mayfield. One of those where there's smoke, there's fire. It wouldn't surprise me at all to see Miami going with Baker Mayfield. They've had some issues with Tannehill, some injury concerns.

I think he'd fit what Adam Gates wants to do schematically. I mean, imagine that AFC East next year where you could have Tom Brady going up against Josh Rosen, Josh Allen, and Baker Mayfield. I mean, talk about old versus new guard. Going through it, Roquan Smith, linebacker from Georgia. He would go to Denver in this mock draft under this scenario where Denver trades back. That's a nice selection. I mean, if you're Denver and you've come back to 12, you get Smith. I think that's nice. Mike McGlinchey, offensive tackle from Notre Dame. He would be the first offensive tackle off the board. In this mock draft, he would go to the Baltimore Ravens at 16.

Will Hernandez, player I love. Offensive guard from UTEP. He goes to Cincinnati and Charlie Castle. He's mocked at 21. I love the Hernandez pick. I think he's one of those, you one of those nasty offensive guard types that you need protecting your quarterback, especially in this day and age when we see so many speed packages. We saw it in the Super Bowl. Brandon Graham kicked inside working on Shaq Mason,

knocks the ball out of Brady's hands. Super Bowl 52, for all intents and purposes, is over. You need guys on the inside that have that sort of chip to them that can protect the quarterback. Hernandez fits that bill for a Bengals offensive line that needs help. Justin Reed, safety from Stanford at pick 24. Here's somebody that's flying up the draft board. I mean, it was just a couple of weeks ago when Rebis thought, oh, here's the safety that Bill Belichick's going to draft earlier than everybody expects, maybe in the second round.

Now we see him coming off the board at 24. You know, that tells you where the league is starting to head on him. League seems to be really intrigued about Justin Reid. Doesn't seem like he's going to be on the board for the Patriots to consider at all. At least, according to Charlie Casterly's mock. Hayden Hurst,

tight end South Carolina, comes off the board. Believe it or not, as the first tight end selected. And some people, we've talked to Jeff Raison, and they love Hayden Hurst. A little bit older, has the pass-catching ability that teams want. Charlie Casley has him off the board at 27.

DJ Moore off the board at 29 to Jacksonville. Be a great fit for them. Then we get two offensive tackles back-to-back, at least according to Charlie Cassidy. First, we get Connor Williams' offensive tackle. In Texas, he comes off at 30 to Minnesota. And then at 31, your New England Patriots. Colton Miller offensive tackle, UCLA.

And now we've talked about Colton Miller on this show. We talked about him yesterday. I took you through how we scouted him over at Inside the Pylon. And our basic conclusion on him was his athleticism is elite. It puts him on a similar footing, if not a better footing, than some other really good offensive tackles, guys that went in the first round lane. Johnson, Nate Solder. But he's raw. He needs work and development.

His athleticism might be enough to carry him through for the first couple of seasons, but you're going to need to develop him. Maybe Dante Skarniecki is the guy to develop him. Maybe that would be an ideal landing spot for Colton Miller. But I think the player in the vacuum, first-round talent, it might be a bit of a stretch. But I think if you look at the upside, and it's almost similar, I'd say, to Josh Allen. You have the raw talent. You have elite or almost elite athleticism but you need the right

developmental path to pull out the player inside and while we might not get that opportunity to see that develop with Josh Allen because of where he's projected to go maybe Colton Miller at 31 at the end of the first round to Dante Skarnacki is the right spot. And what's interesting about this pick, look, it's just one guy's mock. But Miller comes off the board at 31 to New England when, for example, Isaiah Wynn is still on the board. And that's a player I love.

Left tackle in the SEC. They kicked him inside for Senior Bowl week. The projection is that he's going to play guard in the nfl but i think somebody that played left tackle in the sec can still be used as a tackle you watch him on tape i still think he can play tackle in the nfl so he has some positional versatility i might value that and sort of the floor that an isaiah win brings rather than potential upside and ceiling of a Colton Miller. That's just one name that's still there.

Some linebackers are still on the board. Malik Jefferson, Leighton Vander Esch, guys that have been connected to the Patriots throughout this process. They're still on the board. And two quarterbacks are still out there. Mason Rudolph and Lamar Jackson are still there. Now, the offensive tackle depth does sort of slide off earlier than those other positions.

So I can understand the Patriots going offensive tackle, going with Colton Miller. I can kind of get it, given the developmental path that might be in place for him. But just interesting to see some of the other names that would be on the board in this situation. But again, Charlie's plugged in. Probably has an idea

or an inkling of where the Patriots are leaning. But it's always interesting to go through these mocks. Up next, what's also been interesting, Lamar Jackson's pre-draft process. There's a great piece out in MMQB from Jonathan Jones talking about his pre-draft process. Talking about

his mom, Felicia Jones, who is very private. Doesn't give a lot of interviews. That's next with me, Mark Schofield and Locked On Patriots. Mark Schofield back with you now on this Tuesday edition of Locked On Patriots. Reminder to follow me on Twitter at Mark Schofield. Follow the work over at InsideThePylon.com

We're doing some timeline takes here. Briefly going to talk about a piece in Monday Morning Quarterback from Jonathan Jones. Talking about Lamar Jackson's pre-draft process. And Jonathan does a great job setting up this piece. Talking about how Lamar Jackson's mother has been a very strong and driving force in his life. Stories back in high school when they wanted to use him as a receiver on Hail Mary type plays. And she was basically like, no, he's a quarterback.

When he was a freshman at Louisville and they wanted to see, look, we got to get him on the field somehow. Let's use him as a punt returner. And the call came in, no, he's a quarterback. And in some sense, I understand where she's coming from. He's a very talented quarterback, but because of his athleticism, coaches tend to want to just get him on the field and use him in any way possible and we've seen that sort of mentality place play itself out throughout this pre-draft process where guys

like bill pollian and mel kuiper and others are saying look he's a great athlete let's consider a position switch but lamar jackson his camp, no, he's a quarterback. And as Jonathan Jones points out in the piece, Jackson's decision to not run the 40, and I'm quoting here, either his combine or his pro day drew the most scrutiny. Curiously, more than the reports of NFL teams being unable to reach him. Jones continues, It's obvious Jackson is the fastest quarterback in this draft and likely the fastest since Michael Vick.

What will a 40-time tell NFL teams other than reaffirming the beliefs of those who think he's more athlete than quarterback? From Jackson's perspective, how does that help him get drafted as a QB? And that's, I think, the crux of this entire situation. And it's something I've talked about here and other places, we know he's fast. We know he's athletic. But he's still a quarterback. And he's made great developmental strides over the past year.

Jones talks in this piece. He talks to the coaches at Louisville. He talks to Petrino. And basically, they wanted to expand the offense going into this past season. They had felt that he had reached a point in his development where he didn't need to rely on his legs as much. He was more of a passer. They spent most of spring ball working on him solely under center.

They started working on his base, which we all know it's a narrow throwing base. His coaches gave him the freedom to make checks at the line of scrimmage, which is a pivotal part to a quarterback's development. You look at Carson Wentz. His freedom at the line of scrimmage is one of the things that made him an attractive

option at the start of the first round. So we should be talking about that stuff more. We should be talking about the developmental strides that jackson made as a quarterback as a junior getting more freedom at the line of scrimmage these are the things you want to see quarterbacks take on if the narrative on josh allen was that oh they were given more stuff on his shoulders they were giving him more responsibilities to the line of scrimmage. How would that be playing out? That's hypothetical to consider.

What would the conversation about Josh Allen look like if he was given free reign at the line of scrimmage to make checks, to make audibles, to make protection calls? That's just something to consider. But Jackson's pre-draft process has been fascinating because they've been so seclusive. And you almost start to wonder, and Ty Schalter, who is a great follower on Twitter,

at Ty Schalter, writes for FiveThirtyEight, The Athletic Detroit, LionsWire. He basically put out a tweet in response to this article saying, I think Jackson's whole plan is not to get drafted by teams that want to see him run a 40. In other words, and he goes on to basically say in a different tweet that Jackson's NFL future and development is going to be dependent on going to the right team and coaches. So maybe Jackson's whole strategy here

is to try to get himself to the best fit. If you're a team that views Jackson as an athlete and you want to meet with him and you want him to run the 40 and all that stuff, maybe he's going to slow roll the process there. But if you want to work him out and throw him the ball, he's a quarterback. I keep coming back to that notion of his mom, Felicia Jones, telling coaches, no, he's not returning punts.

He's a quarterback. No, he's not going out for a Hail Mary pass. He's a quarterback. And I think that's what we're seeing play out here. Finally, before we go, Tom Curran over at NBC Sports Boston has a piece up, which I would recommend. The piece is titled, Gronk Brady Chatter Won't Die Until Someone Kills It.

It's a very well-done piece. I would recommend it. He references a piece from ESPN's Jeff Darlington. That came out over the past weekend. On Gronkowski. Coming back. Will he come back? All that stuff.

And there's. While the piece is focused on Gronk. There's a quote in there from a source close to Gronkowski that says, the tight end is pretty certain he'll return if Tom Brady does. And Curran seizes on that qualifier, if Tom Brady does. And starts to make the point that, wait a second, there's illusions a step in the way, not just from Gronk now, but from Brady. And he references a public statement made by Gautam Chopra, the director of Tom vs. Time,

basically talking about how the next few weeks and months are a really critical time for Brady, how he's ditched the sort of 45 or bust mantra. And Curran basically looks at it and says, you know, private conversations he's had with sources, there's no 100% guarantee

either or both players will be back. And Curran's point is basically, this speculation will go on until we get definitive answers and statements from both players that they're coming back. But all this feeds into is the era of uncertainty, the age of unease that we're currently in as Patriots fans, and that there are a lot of question marks in the air. The Brady era might be coming to a close

earlier than we thought. Maybe earlier than we'd all like to believe. So it just restresses yet again. It's time to find a quarterback, people. Tight end is not a luxury selection in this draft.

Tight end might be a need. That's something I've been saying for a while, too. And so as we get closer to the draft, continue to keep an eye on those positions because it seems like the Patriots are really going to need somebody there. But that will do it for today's episode of Locked on Patriots, a Timeline Takes Edition. Reminder to follow me on Twitter, at Mark Schofield. I will be back tomorrow.

Until then, keep it locked right here to me, Mark Schofield, and Locked on Patriots.