Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Locked On Patriots April 9, 2019 - First Round Mock 1.0

Episode Date: April 9, 2019

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

Hey there everybody, welcome on into a Mock Draft Tuesday here at the Locked On Patriots Podcast. Mark Schofield back in the big chair for today, Tuesday, April 9th, 2019. As I teased out, look, it is going to be a Mock Draft Tuesday. What I'm going to talk about, well, it's not often that I do a full-fledged one-round mock. It's not really the thing that I love to do. But when I get asked to do something, I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it to the best of my ability.

So later on today, at some point today, my mock draft 1.0, maybe my last and only, my final mock draft will drop over at Pro Football Weekly. So I'm going to walk you dear listeners through it, tell you my thoughts. It's going to be more of a predictive rather than a full-on what I would do mock, but we're going to walk through that together here on this show. I also want to talk for a second at the outset about a couple of different things. Got some Steelers drama to tease out, something else that's kind of near and dear to me and somebody that I know very well that I do want to mention. But

before we do any of that, a reminder to follow me on Twitter at Mark Schofield. You can check out the work at places like InsideThePylon.com, Pro Football Weekly, The Score, Matt Waldman's Rookie Scouting Portfolio, a trio of SB Nation websites including Pat's Pulpit, Big Blue View,

and Bleeding Green Nation, where I'm the co-host of the QB Scosho with the one and only Michael J. Kiss. Look, I do a lot of work. People have called me the hardest working man in football media, and I try to live up to the monitor. Now, a couple of things. I do want to start this on somewhat more of a serious note, and that is this. If any of you have spent time in and around football Twitter,

you might have seen the name Luke Inman, at Luke underscore Spinman, S-P-I-N-M-A-N. He is a draft guy. He is a Vikings guy, works for Zone Coverage in Minnesota. He's been on this show, I think, a couple of times. One of my, just genuinely a good guy. One of my favorite people in all of sports media. And Luke is going through a tough time right now.

His good friend and brother-in-law passed away recently. He took his own life. And, you know, Luke has started a GoFundMe, which I tweeted out, and I will tweet out again. He described his brother-in-law and his friend as a big man with an even bigger heart, who loved nothing more than grilling out on a sunny day with his family and children at various parks and beaches around the lakes of Minnesota, endlessly patient and selfless when it came to giving his full attention to his children from playing at the jungle gym to reading bedtime stories. A football fan when he could afford the heartache,

Rich loved his Minnesota Vikings and would be the first to talk ball when given the chance. He sounds like a wonderful man. Luke is a friend. He is an incredibly good guy. As I said, I tweeted out the GoFundMe. I'll tweet it out again when this episode drops. But if you could at least check it out.

If you can, give something fantastic. If nothing else, if you could drop Luke just a line. Let him know you think about him and his family. I know it would mean the world to him. I know it would mean the world to his family. And anything you could do would be tremendously, tremendously appreciated. Also, not to switch gears, tough segue here, but Antonio Brown, put down the phone, brother. Seriously. You're out there thinking you're crushing Juju when all you're doing is really

making it seem like Juju is completely the kind of guy you would want to root for. If you haven't seen this, you need to get caught up on it. Complete war of words on the timeline with Juju out there crushing him. I mean, excuse me, with Antonio Brown out there trying to crush Juju, basically saying, how has this guy voted our team MVP last year? He fumbled away our playoff chances, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. I mean, Juju basically comes out and says look man he quotes his own words back at him you know don't bring the emotions to the timeline and then talks

about look i've shown this guy nothing but love i was so happy for him when he got traded he got his big contract and this is how he repays me and then seemingly guess, trying to make his point, Antonio shares a screenshot, an Instagram DM. What's up, AB? I'm a receiver at the University of Southern California. I appreciate all your work. You're a great man on and off the field. Do you have any tips that can help me take my game to the next level? Thanks, man. Juju literally reaching out, man, trying to get some advice, trying to get some help. How does this make Juju look bad? I mean, it's like anybody else in any field. You reach out to somebody for advice.

It's because you look up to them. It's because you respect them. And to have Juju basically do that, it just gives Crean some fact that he was just a young kid trying to get some advice from and showing some respect to one of the best in the game. I don't know how A.B. sharing that makes Juju look bad. I don't get it. But what it does do is it makes the Steelers look like they were doing the right thing when they decided to move on. So, speaking of moving on, let's do just that. Let's do just that and talk about a mock draft.

And as I just said, it's not really my cup of tea. I don't really do the mocks that often. But like I said, when I get given a task to do, I'm going to do it the best as my ability. And so as I said, this will be going up over Pro Football Weekly today. You can check it out. But I wanted to walk you through my predictive mock here. This is more predictive than what I would do. And it's evidenced by the first pick.

Arizona Cardinals, Kyler Murray, quarterback, Oklahoma. And I wouldn't do it. I would still build around Josh Rosen. That's what I would do. But I'm not making decisions for the Arizona Cardinals. It does seem like everything is trending into the direction that they will draft Kyler Murray, so that is the pick here. That means that the San Francisco 49ers are now in the catbird seat.

They can address a couple of different positions. They could go Quentin Williams. They could go Edinton Williams they could go Ed Oliver they could go a number of different ways but I think what they will do is

stay there and make the safe pick they could trade out of this which might make some sense for them if a team wants to get up and get a quarterback but I think they stay

I think they draft Nick Bosa yes they just acquired Dee Ford yes they drafted Solomon Thomas in the first round last year but you can never have enough pass rush

and think about it you add Bosa into the mix, and that gives you three guys that are getting after the passer. And one of the good things about Solomon Thomas, who they drafted last year, you can kick him inside. And if you get into third and long, you get Thomas kicked inside, you get Bosa, and you got Ford coming off the edge. That has shades of what the Chargers can do. I think that you can get after the quarterback. I think that makes a lot of sense. Now at three, I didn't make a ton of trades. I actually really just mentioned two trades in this month.

This is a spot to watch for a trade. The Jets need picks. They lack a second-round selection this year. So it could be a situation where, hey, maybe the Giants come up from six to three and the Jets are the team that moves back this year from 3-6. Flip side of what the Jets did last year, moving up from 6-3. But I have the Jets staying here. They need edge help.

Josh Allen from Kentucky, I think that makes some sense. Oakland Raiders, they could go a number of different directions now. But I think, look, John Gruden, Mike Mayock, they've said we need some defensive help up front. You get Quinton Williams to fall into your lap, I think you draft him. Yes, they probably need edge help more, but they could build sort of from the inside out,

and Quinton Williams is not a bad sort of consolation prize there. So the Raiders go Quinton Williams. That means Tampa Bay could go a number of different directions. A lot of people have basically said, look, Devin White, linebacker from LSU, just lock it in. I go in a different direction here. Ed Oliver from Houston. Kind of miscasted, I think, as a pure nose tackle

last year for Houston. I think you can move him around up front. Jared McCoy seems to be on the trading block. They need a running partner for Vita Vey. You could have Vita basically on the nose. Ed Oliver, sort of a three technique, put him on the guards, uses athleticism. I think that makes a ton of sense. So we go Ed Oliver at five to Tampa Bay. That brings us to the Giants. A lot of people expecting Dwayne Haskins here.

I seem to think I'm getting this sense that the Giants are going lot of people expecting Dwayne Haskins here. I seem to think I'm getting this sense that the Giants are going to wait on a quarterback. And so they go defense. Rashawn Gary. Really? Really? I think they like his athleticism. They can put him on the edge. They can kick him inside. They're going to build in the trenches. They need help on offensive defensive lines. They get that here. They also have a lot of spots on the defensive side of the field to fill, so they do some of that here. Jacksonville now at 7. Earlier in this draft cycle, you might have thought they'd go quarterback,

but now they can go in a different direction. They add the quarterback, Nick Foles, via free agency. Now they look to protect him. That player, Andre Dillard, offensive tackle from Washington State. He might not be the top tackle on this draft, but I'm looking at scheme fit here. You're bringing DeFilippo as your offensive coordinator. You expect a lot of outside zone, a lot of stretch zone, a lot of zone type stuff. Dillard might make more sense for them as a scheme fit, and so that's where we're going to go here.

Next up, Montez Sweat at eight to the Detroit Lions. Yes, the heart condition might scare some teams away, but you've got production, you've got raw athleticism, 4.4140, fastest ever from a defensive lineman. Lions need to address the defensive front. They'll trust their doctors. They'll make Montez Sweat the pick there, the edge for Mississippi State. Now the Buffalo Bills. They could go offensive line, they could go offensive line

they could go defensive line but with some of the defensive line guys Oliver and Gary coming off the board they go to offensive line maybe they get the top offensive tackle in this class Juwan Taylor he has tremendous blend of size and athleticism he's got a good track record of improvement

seems to be trending up from that developmental standpoint you can basically look at him as kind of plug and play. And if you want to protect Josh Allen, it makes sense to go get that kind of guy. So there we go. Jawan Taylor at nine to the Broncos, to the Bills. Excuse me. Now the Broncos at 10. They go quarterback.

They go Drew Locke. And again, with a predictive mock here, reading between the tea leaves, Elway has shown a ton of interest in Locke. He's scouted him in person a number of times. You can bet he's intrigued by the arm talent. You can bet he's intrigued by the upside. Locke himself has shown some growth over the past few seasons. Under Derek Dooley, he seemed more comfortable attacking between the hash marks. And this is a situation where he can sit and learn. A quarterback that might need some time to season, he can sort of sit and wait behind Flacco. So there's your top 10.

Up next, we're going to do the next 10 picks. And finally, in the show's final segment, we're going to do the last 12, including, yes, the New England Patriots. What do they do at 32? All ahead on this Mock Draft Tuesday here at Locked On Patriots. Mark Stofiel back with you now doing my Mock Draft 1.0. It's just going to be going up over at Pro Football Weekly. And for a recap of the last 10 picks, listen to the first part of the show, I guess.

It'd be a little strange if you were coming in halfway through. But hey, maybe you're like me. Maybe you listen to pods at night when you're going to sleep and you kind of drift in and out. Although lately, again, I've been working my way through binge mode, all the recaps of Game of Thrones, and it's led to some pretty creepy dreams, I've got to say. When you've got that recaps of Game of Thrones in your ear, watchers of the show will know what I'm talking about.

Before I dive into the next 10, though, I do want to mention quickly here at the outset, it is baseball season. Some of you listening might be baseball fans. Some of you listening might be baseball fans. Some of you listening might be Red Sox fans. And if so, you know that A, Sox are off to a rough start. And B, they have their home opener today, raising the banner and all that good stuff. So you probably want to listen to Locked On Red Sox.

Jake Devereaux doing a fantastic job over there. So you totally want to check out that show. Your team, Boston Red Sox, every single day. Let's get back into the mark now. At 11, Cincinnati Bengals could go a number of different directions. A lot of people expecting linebacker Devin Bush, perhaps, but I'm going in a different direction. Maybe the first shock pick of this draft, Dwayne Haskins, quarterback Ohio State here at the 11th spot to the Bengals. Why? Let's think about it for a second. We all sort of expect the model in today's National Football League is you get the young quarterback and then you get him the young offensive-minded head coach, right?

Well, maybe they're going in a different order. They get Zach Taylor, formerly from Sean McVay's staff. This is the McVay model, after all. They're doing it in different order. They get the young coach and now they get him a chance to draft and mold his quarterback. And then you get Dwayne Haskins, who played down the road, obviously at Columbus, for the Buckeyes. He has the mental approach,

the prototypical pocket pass and skills teams used to covet. Needs to improve on mechanics and execution, but I think this can make some sense. What does that mean? Green Bay, a team that needs a tight end, sitting in the 12th spot, they get T.J. Hawkinson from Iowa. I know a lot of Patriots fans are hoping one of these Iowa guys falls to them.

It's going to take some doing for these guys to get into a situation unless the Patriots really move up. I mean, if you want to get your tight end, you might have to get to 11. Let's put it that way. Now, Albert Breyer has a story out, a report out today, that two teams that are looking to aggressively trade down in this draft are the Detroit Lions at eight and the Seattle Seahawks at 21. We've talked to Phil Perry, who I'll be talking to a little bit later this week,

about, we talked to his draft Patriots going up to 21 to get a tight end, TJ Hawkinson. I don't know if Hawkinson or one of the tight ends gets past Green Bay at 12. And so if you're New England and you want to get your tight end, you might have to get to 8 where you might find a willing trading partner in the Detroit line. But in this mock, no trades are made, and Hawkinson is there for the Packers at 12. And that brings us to the Dolphins at 13. And they could go quarterback here.

Maybe they go with Daniel Jones here. But I think they're kicking that decision to 2020. So what do they do? They get some help in early for their next quarterback. Jonah Williams, the offensive tackle from Alabama. He's a guy that played multiple spots among the offensive line. Some people might say his arms aren't good enough to play tackle in the NFL. Dante Skarnecchia might disabuse you with that notion.

I think he could. But versatility is a huge calling card. Miami builds in the trenches. Now, Benji's the 14th. Atlanta, a lot of people say linebacker maybe for them, and they might need a linebacker, but I'm going to go defensive line for them. Christian Wilkins from Clemson. They have Grady Jarrett. They just gave him the franchise tag. They got Deidre Senat as well, but I think, look, you could use Jarrett primarily as that shaded nose, that one technique. And if you draft Wilkins, who's more of a pure three technique,

that gives you a nice one-two punch on the inside. Jarrett can penetrate really well. Wilkins, he has the agility, can string plays, can stretch plays out from that three technique spot. I really like that parent, so that's where we're going to go. Now that brings us to Washington at 15. Assumption here is this. The deal for Rosen gets done.

Josh Rosen finds his way to Washington, ideally for Washington's pick in the second round, I think. I think that would be, I would still go higher, but I think that gets done. Washington in such a strange position in the quarterback spot because, yes, they have Case Keenum. Yes, they have Alex Smith. Smith obviously has the injury.

Keenum, I don't think anybody's really banking on him. And so I think they still address quarterback. They get Rosen. Now they need him some help. DK Metcalf, wide receiver from Mississippi. First wide receiver off the board. When you look at how they've sort of constructed an offense, they're going to need more of a vertical threat.

They've got some piece-type guys, but they need the boundary-type burner. That's DK Metcalf. Carolina Panthers at 16. You can expect they're going to go offensive line or defensive line. Now, Farrow, the kid from Clemson, is often mocked to the Panthers with his pick, but they go in a different direction. Brian Burns, the edge from Florida State, he's creeping

up boards. A lot of people are saying there's a case for him to be edge one in this class. Testing at the combine was incredible. Maybe he doesn't have the production, let's say a Farrell has, but the athleticism here wins out, so the Panthers go with Brian Burns,

the edge from Florida State. Next pick, 17, the New York Giants. Daniel Jones on the board, and they pass on him here. Devin Bush, the linebacker from Michigan. And yes, Jones is the trendy pick for the Giants, but they added Devin Bush, who was trending down prior to the combine, but has added Devin Bush, who was trying to down

prior to the combine, but has tested as many rethinking his first-round status. He's got great athleticism. He's a three-down linebacker in the NFL. You can make him a will, put him next to Alec Ogletree, who's taking on more of a sand roll. There's your two linebackers. You've got the athletic will, Ogletree, the more Sam-type guy.

Now you've fixed that, and you paired them with a guy up front, an athletic guy in Rashard Gary. That defensive front looking a little bit better right now. That brings us to 18, the Minnesota Vikings. You can write down OL in pen, I think, for the Minnesota Vikings pick at 18. They need offensive line help. They'll get it in Cody Ford from Oklahoma.

He had some injury problems in college. Could find an immediate home started on this offensive line he was a right tackle for oklahoma but his mentality his demeanor his traits might be a better fit for the guard spot where the vikings have a definite need a great run blocking ability he's been described as a road grader type guy i think they could draft him i know offensive line twitter will push back on the idea that it's easy to kick down it's easy to kick down, it's easy to change positions, and there's truth to that. But I think from a trait-based perspective, Ford has shown that he can play guard. And so we're going to do Cody Ford at 18 to the Minnesota Vikings.

That brings us to 19, Tennessee. They could go in a number of different directions. But I think this is prove-it year for Marcus Mariota time, right? He's facing a contract season. what are they going to do with him and so what do they do they get him some help Noah Fant the tight end from Iowa Delaney Walker's band up

Jonu Smith might not have lived up to some of the pre-draft hype now you get the guy that can be your tight end move type tight end but he can still do some stuff in line. And they've got some pieces. They add Adam Humphreys, so I think they're okay at the wide receiver spot. Taewon Taylor, Corey Davis. Now they add in Adam Humphreys.

This is a pretty good offense with a chance to be great. Tajay Sharp in there as well. You get the two-headed running back tandem of Derrick Henry, Deion Lewis, the Thunder, and the Lightning kind of situation. You just need to make sure you get the tight end spot solidified. With Delaney Walker being a question mark, you add in Noah Fant, suddenly you're cooking with some gas there, so I like that. And then the Pittsburgh Steelers, obviously a team we talked about a little bit.

Consensus is building. They're going defense, whether it's linebacker or corner. I think they go corner. I think it's Greedy Williams, the corner out of LSU. Long, athletic, sticky man coverage type guy. Faced some questions about his long speed when he struggled on film against Alabama and some of those speed guys. But the 4.37 at the combine might sort of ease those concerns. So there we go.

We are now into the 20s. Up next, we're going to close this out, talking about the final 12 picks, including what the Patriots do at 32, at least in this mock, which is sure to be proven completely wrong by the time the draft rolls around. That's ahead on this Mock Draft Tuesday installment

of the Locked on Patriots podcast. Mark Schofield back with you now. I'm going to close out this mock draft Tuesday here at the lockdown Patriots podcast, working my way through my mock draft for 1.0 and let's get back into it. Now, Seattle Seahawks, they are on the clock here at 21.

And as I mentioned, this might be a spot for the Patriots to perhaps trade up. Although in this mock with the two Iowa tight ends off the board, I doubt they will do that. Now Seattle may still explore trade down to acquire some more picks, in this mock with the two Iowa tight ends off the board. I doubt they will do that. Now, Seattle may still explore a trade down to acquire some more picks, but here I have them staying. Cyr Adderley, safety from Delaware.

Now, he's a bit of a polarizing name in some draft circles. Some people might look at him as a top safety. Our friend Michael Kiss does that. Others might think he's more of a raw developmental type guy. I'm a fan of his game. I think he has the athleticism and the range to be a free safety in the league, but has the kind of mentality where you can still put them down near the box. And if you think about how the Seahawks and the Legion of Boom came to be, right? You had Cam Chancellor and Earl Thomas. Thomas, the range and free safety type. Chancellor more the down near the box, lower the boom type guy,

but they could play both roles. That was the great thing about that defense was you would go motioning them to try to get the look you wanted in the secondary. Thomas could come down near the box. Chancellor could play free safety. Adderley can do that. And so I think they're going to bank on his versatility, upside, and potential. So that brings us to Baltimore at 22. Now, I don't think they're going to draft another

tight end. They've got a bunch on the roster, but they do need some offensive help. Hakeem Butler, wide receiver from Iowa State. Another polarizing type player. Some people think he's wide receiver one. Some people think he's a day two guy. I think his ability at the catch point, his length, his wind span, that's going to be a big selling point for an offense, especially one with Lamar Jackson, who sometimes struggles with accuracy. Now, his route tree might be limited to the boundary and in the vertical game, but that's what the Ravens would need him for. They've got the tight ends to work the middle of the field.

They've got the backs to work the middle of the field. And so I think Akeem Butler makes a ton of sense for Baltimore at that 22 spot. Another pick that will make some sense, the Houston Texans at 23, they need to protect Deshaun Watson, period, full stop. Dalton Risner, offensive lineman for Kansas State, can do that. Angry guy, for lack of a better phrase. I've used this for Dax Raymond before. He plays the game pissed off.

Need that in a lineman. I think Risner makes some sense. They need to get offensive line help. And he might be more of a day two guy in some lines, but when you get into the later part of the first round, you might be taking a day two guy here and filling a position of need. That's what the Texans do. Oakland Raiders at 24, yeah.

Maybe the running back position doesn't matter as much. Maybe the passing game is the way to go in today's NFL. Maybe a round one running back doesn't make a ton of sense for a lot of teams, but I think it might make some sense for Oakland, especially when you look at how Gruden likes to use his running backs in the past game so josh jacobs the running back from alabama that's one of his strengths as a running back he can combine the belt between the tackle elements of a bell cow back with the traits to be more of a third down back in the nfl he can be a security blanket for car some arrow routes some angle routes and things like that josh jacobs at 24 to the Oakland Raiders, which brings us to the Eagles at 25, who might have drafted Josh Jacobs if he's there on the

board. But with him out, I think they look at another need safety, Chauncey Gardner-Johnson, the safety from Florida. Again, might be a day two guy on some boards. But as I talked about earlier, positional flexibility, a safety that can fill both roles. Look at his film. 2017, he was a deep safety. Last year, he was down near the box most of the time, down near the line of scrimmage. He could do both. That value and that versatility makes some sense for Philadelphia.

Now Indianapolis at 26, Jerry Tillery, defensive lineman from Notre Dame. Tillery makes some sense for them. They could put Tillery on the outside shoulders of the guards in a three technique. Pair him with Marcus Hunt on the inside as more of a true nose guard. I've talked about pairing some defensive tackles already in this draft. I think this makes sense for Indians. So they draft a defensive lineman that many Patriots fans are eyeing.

Raiders at 27. They go back to the defensive side of the ball. Byron Murphy, corner from Washington. This guy pairs wisdom with footwork. They go back to the defensive side of the ball. Byron Murphy, corner from Washington. Very merry. This guy pairs wisdom with footwork. He's got great footwork for the cornerback position, but he also has an acute mind for playing in the secondary, good at diagnosing and breaking on the ball.

His launch speed's not the best in this class, but his mental approach will help nary and eliminate any sort of cushion that he gives to defenders. Any potential gaps between him and his coverage assignments can be narrowed by him using his mind, and so I think he makes a lot of sense for the Raiders. You compare him with Garyon Conley, gives you a pair of first-round prospects at the cornerback positions. Not a bad thing to do. The Chargers, a 28. They've got some edge rushers. Now they need a little bit of an upgrade on the interior. Dexter Lawrence from Clemson, a prototypical nose tackle who does have the ability to play more of a shade technique

in a four-man front. He can set and reset the line of scrimmage against the run. And he would help the Chargers as they look to maintain, which was a pretty solid run defense last year. But they could use some help in the interior. I think they could do some things with him. I think he makes some sense. In Kansas City, they need edge help.

Farrow the edge from Clemson. He's fallen here. So, they need edge help. Farrow, the edge from Clemson, he's fallen here. So now they can draft him. And a lot of people might say, look, he's a prototypical 4-3 edge. Chiefs are more of a 3-4 team, right? Well, A, 3-4, 4-3 distinction. That might be a bit outdated in today's NFL. But B, with Steve Spagnuolo, their new defensive coordinator,

they might be more of a 4-3 base team. So I think he makes a lot of sense for them he's also a pretty good run defender and so they take advantage of his slide farrell goes to the chiefs at 29 now 30 green bay i think they we've talked a lot maybe the overarching theme and again this might be sort of binge mode in my mind right now since i've been listening to this so much but at the start of every episode they stick it with a pointy end. They give you the big theme, the main theme of each episode that they break down. And the main theme of this mock might be pairing players.

We've talked about it at the defensive line spots. We've talked about it a bit at the safety spot. And when you look at the Packers' safety right now, they had Adrian Amos in free agency. Now, he is a guy who can play down near the line of scrimmage and run support, so he's your down near the box safety. You need a ball hawk in safety behind him, that more free safety type. Juan Thornhill from Virginia, converted cornerback. He's got the ball hawk and ability to thrive as a deep safety,

but he can still play in the coverage game, so he can be a versatile guy in the back of the defense if you want to go some cover zero type stuff. If you get a situation where he's got to play coverage and Amos has to try to fill the deep safety mold on a single play, he can do that. And so when you're talking about pairing defenders together, Amos and Thornhill, I think, makes a lot of sense.

Now the Rams at 31, they need to steel themselves themselves to hedge themselves against an expected loss from Domican Sioux and they need to look to replace last year's starter at the center spot John Sullivan with some of the D tackles off the board I think they go and they grab the center Garrett Bradbury from NC State who's expected to be center one the Remington Trophy award winner last year's top center in college football if you were starting Ryan Finley at all this season, say, against Clemson, and a bunch of guys we saw come off the board in this mock, at least in the first round, you saw Garrett Bradbury doing some work. And so a team with not a ton of needs but two ones in the interior

of the offensive and defensive line, they addressed the interior of the offensive line with Garrett Bradbury. Which brings us to the New England Patriots. Your New England Patriots at 32. And we know where this is going. If this is the way the board falls, yes, you could consider Simmons, the kid from Mississippi State.

Maybe you consider Daniel Jones. Maybe you consider Irv Smith. A wide receiver here, maybe an A.J. Brown, a Kelvin Harmon. You could go in those directions. But again, something tells you that Bill Belichick is going to look at this and say the value just isn't here. Why are we going to force a guy at 32 that might be more of a second rounder when we've got two second round picks?

And hey, maybe if we trade back, we can get even an early second round pick. Now you're talking about getting a guy that you might like at say 36 more than 32 and that seems weird especially when they've got 12 picks to play with but we know how belichick works his board and if this is the way it falls i anticipate the patriots traded out of 32 and maybe this is me just sort of doing what sometimes you have to do in parenthood, which is set the expectations really low. And when your expectations are surpassed, it's like a huge W. Just so everybody knows, I'm going to be doing some travel, a little sprint break next week. I'm going to be on the road a lot. So the podcast schedule might be a

little different, still planning that out. But as I'm thinking about traveling with the kids next week, I'm setting the expectations pretty, pretty low. Like it's like one of those travel commercials where I think it's like hotels.com or something. I forget which one, but the family's walking through the hotel hallway and one of the kids like lost his shoe as they were in transit and that's what you got to set the expectations for when you're say traveling with little kids same thing for being a Patriots fan in the draft you set the expectations as low as you possibly can Bill Belichick is going to trade out of 32 and so you're going to watch the draft sit there for three hours and then that's it I guess we come back tomorrow and so maybe I'm just gaming expectations here,

setting that bar low. But I anticipate if this is the way the board falls, New England trades out of 32, who comes up? The New York Giants. They don't want to wait. There is a quarterback that has fallen that they have been linked to, Daniel Jones from Duke. They come up, they get him, they get that fifth-year option on him. New England gets that early second-round pick. And now they can just take the night, think about who they want to get

with three picks in the second round and then three more in the third round. And this might be the sweet spot of this draft. We've said it a couple of times. We said it last year before last year's draft. Maybe that sort of 40 to 90 range is the sweet spot in value. That's where you want to work your board and maximize your picks. Patriots will do that by trading out. Giants get Jones at 32. Now, I will give a bit of a hedge on this one. Many of you might have seen over the weekend people like Jim Nagy and Greg Gabriel, Matt Miller saying NFL media types seem to be down on Jones.

They could have added me. Just saying. You all know where I am. But they're saying the NFL media types, they're down on Jones. But everybody I've talked to says that Daniel Jones is one of the best QBs in this class and the Giants might need to trade up even from six to go get him. So maybe Jones wouldn't be there. Maybe Jones is that pick at three in that scenario we talked about

where the Jets trade him down and the Giants trade him up. But if this is the way the board falls and Daniel Jones is still there at 32, it would make a ton of sense for the Patriots to trade out, the Giants to come up and get him. Of course, the ultimate stunner would be the Patriots sit there and draft Daniel Jones at 32. But I'll cross that bridge if I have to when it comes time to. That will do it for today's show.

Thank you all for listening. I will be back tomorrow. What we'll talk about, who knows? I'm sure something will come up. I know, I do a great job of teasing some of these Wednesday shows. I'll do my best to stick it with a point in. What can I say?

Until next time, keep it locked right here to me, Mark Schofield, in Locked on Patreon.