Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Locked On Patriots - August 14, 2019: Substance and Satire

Episode Date: August 14, 2019

Patriots beat writer and columnist Dave Brown, of the Concord Monitor, joins host Mike D’Abate to discuss the blend of providing information entertainment in today’s media, Tom Brady’s future in New England and the challenge of providing roster predictions in the preseason.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

and hello to all you Foxborough faithful and welcome to another edition of Lockdown Patriots your home for news notes analysis and the occasional opinion on your six-time Super Bowl champion the New England Patriots Lockdown Patriots as always is a part of the Lockdown Podcast Network I am your host Mike DeBate and I cover the Patriots for fullpresscoverage.com which is where you can always find my written work and you can also feel free I am your host, Mike DeBate, and I cover the Patriots for FullPressCoverage.com, which is where you can always find my written work, and you can also feel free to reach out to me on Twitter at M-D-A-B-A-T-E-F-B-C, and be sure to follow Locked On Patriots on Twitter as well at L-O underscore Patriots.

Once again, today we have a great show on tap for you. Dave Brown of the Concord Monitor joins me to talk all things Patriots and all things media as well. And anyone familiar with Dave's work and writing style knows this is not a show to be missed. So we thank Dave for joining us today and we look forward to welcoming him in in just a moment. However, before I do that, we want to start with the Patriots news of the day, and that news is that the Patriots arrived safely in Tennessee yesterday, and they are

on the practice fields today for joint practice with Mike Grable, who is, by the way, celebrating his 44th birthday today. Happy birthday, Mike, and the Tennessee Titans. The Pats and the Titans are set to match up on Saturday night at Nissan Field in Nashville, and we will be examining that matchup all week here on Locked On Patriots, including a bit with Dave today. But in the meantime, a lot

of eyes are on Pats rookie wideout Nikhil Harry and his health. Following some leg issues from the previous week, he had a little bit of a hamstring injury. He looked to aggravate that during Thursday's game in Detroit a little bit. There's been some reports about turf toe and a lot of things that he might be dealing with. But he was on the field this morning, and per Jeff Howell of The Athletic in joint practices, it didn't appear that Harry was doing much.

I guess he was in a rookie huddle during the team stretch, did walk across the field and walked back while the others were jogging, but he's slowly pacing the sideline. Looks like he's going through some positional drills with the team, but very gingerly. Being there at least is a sign that he shouldn't be far away. So anyone concerned about Harry's health, definitely keep a sharp eye on his progress and whether that could possibly translate him into seeing any game action on Saturday. On the flip side, undrafted free agent cornerback D'Angelo Ross was put on waivers yesterday with an injury designation, meaning that any team that wanted to could put in a claim on him. Ross cleared and went unclaimed after being waived and injured on Monday,

so what this means is that D'Angelo Ross now reverts to the Patriots injured reserve. He can play next year in 2020. Look for him during training camp. He did pop during the time that he was out there, so definitely a name to keep on the radar for 2020, but his 2019 season has officially come to an end now that he reverts to injured reserve with the Patriots. And lastly, I briefly discussed yesterday that the Patriots had traded for a new tight end,

and that new tight end was Eric Sauber from the Atlanta Falcons. Patriots gave up a seventh rounder coming back. It was Sauber to be able to fill out the tight end roster a little bit, and the depth chart, which right now is a little on the thin side, considering Matt LaCrosse is nursing an injury, and Lance Kedricks has been nursing an injury. Benjamin Watson will be out for the first four games of the season, serving a suspension. So with Eric, he was at practice yesterday. He was there again today. He's making catches. He really looks to be fitting in. This could end up being a pretty good acquisition for the Patriots, so

we'll see what that means down the line. But in order to clear that roster spot, the Patriots did have to bid adieu to quarterback turn wide receiver Danny Etling. Etling was drafted by New England in the seventh round, the 219th overall out of Louisiana State in the 2018 NFL Draft. He had spent last season on the New England practice squad. I think Ettling is probably best known for his 80-yard touchdown run in the preseason game against the New York Giants last year. But Ettling was a long shot to make the team a quarterback. With Brian Hoyer still aboard and the team drafting Jared Stidham, Ettling had to try to make the team a quarterback. With Brian Hoyer still aboard and the team drafting Jared Stidham, Ettling had to try to make the transition to wide receiver in camp, and he made his best

effort to do that. But it just appears right now that his time in New England has most likely come to a close, barring signing the Patriots practice squad. And definitely, I know the team wishes Ettling well. He had a great work ethic, was really well-liked by his team, so hopefully he'll either be able to catch on somewhere else or the Patriots may have a hidden gem somewhere on their practice squad again for 2019. And as we wrap the news of the day, I wanted to take a moment to remind you just about

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Locked On Fantasy Football is available on your favorite podcast provider. My guest today is among the most unique and accomplished writers in sports media today. He's one of the select few that delivers must-read content with each piece. He is the Patriots beat writer for the Concord Monitor and the new co-host of a brand new podcast called the Entitled Town Podcast, which he hosts with the talented Mike Irons. Definitely a must-listen, folks, in addition to Lockdown Patriots. Of course, want to add this one to your daily routine. Always, always a great time. He is the incomparable

Dave Brown. And Dave, thanks for joining me today and welcome to Lockdown Patriots. Thanks, Mike. Glad to be here. Oh, great. It's our pleasure to have you and I thank you for joining me today. Dave, you know what I like about this podcast? I like the part of this podcast where you just say a bunch of nice stuff about me. Well, it's always good and I assure you it's all true. You know, I know I have a tendency to really, tendency to really welcome and be so grateful to my guests, but I have a reason for that, and that is my guests are always stellar. They always bring great content, and they help make me look a little smarter

than I really am, so I always appreciate that. But no, all kidding aside, it really is an honor for us to have you here on Locked On Patriots today. All big fans of your work, as are all Patriots fans. And again, your work is always stellar, my friend. And you have a knack of blending substance and satire as well as anyone I've ever read. And I don't just mean in the Patriots beat or the NFL beat. I mean across the sports media landscape.

You really do an amazing job with this. You also have a great lead. This is my new favorite podcast. Go ahead with your question. This is right here. This is number one. Well, thank you. I appreciate that. Number one behind Entitled Town, I assure you. And great job with that, by the way. And we'll get into that in a little bit because I know that's a labor of love for you as well. But you also really have a great way of keeping the keyboard warriors, I like to call them on social media, at bay. And I don't think really many people on social media do it as well as you do. When it comes to blending the opportunity to entertain your readers and keep them informed,

you do that, like I said, you do that so well. What type of, and I don't want you to give away too much of your secrets here, but what really kind of goes into a lot of the thought process when you sit down to write an article that really is so well received by so many people? Is there a conscious effort to do it with a smile? Or is there a conscious effort to make sure that your readers are informed? Because you do both equally as well. Yeah, I think everything starts with this idea of how do I communicate something to the readers, and I found that that was really difficult when I just simply presented the

facts without any kind of window dressing, And, you know, if somebody comes along and gives a really juicy take and it's completely wrong, that juicy take has legs. It's just something people want to talk about. It's something people want to believe. And then you step up and you say, oh, but this fact and this fact and this fact contradict that take, and people are just not – they can't engage with that.

They just get bored with the sort of recitation of the fact. And so I, banging my head against the wall through a lot of things in the press that I didn't think were always accurate, I kind of changed my methods. I dabbled a little bit and presented things in this, you know, the way I do it is sort of through find a contradiction that is kind of ludicrous in the information that's being presented and the conclusions that people are making and, you know, focus in on that contradiction. And what I like to say is my headlines should always be self-defeating.

Like the first part of the headline should completely be erased by the second half of the headline because there's some contradiction at play here. And when you do that, it's a little bit fun, and it really draws people's attention to the underlying reality of the point I'm trying to make. Absolutely. And again, I think you do it really better than anybody, and you hit the nail right on the head. You want to do things in an entertaining way and do it in a hot take way that allows people to know that what they're about to read is going to entertain them and inform them. but it's factually accurate. And you can actually go through and see all of the steps that you take in order to make sure that that is the case. And it really leads me, I think, to your latest column, which I thought was phenomenal for the Concord Monitor,

speaking about a 42-year-old quarterback that a lot of people in our area know well, and that is Tom Brady. Dave's recent column in the Concord Monitor is 42-year-old Cliff adjacent, noodle-armed Tom Brady criminally underpaid. And lately, Brady's contract, his pension for real estate, I guess, is the best other great way to put it. And a lot of the speculation surrounding that, it really has been the subject of much speculation, opinion.

But you really take a level-headed approach to it this way, albeit in a comical way, but you really do portray a great picture of what Brady's new contract means for the Patriots, what it means for him, and how this may not necessarily be a reason to, like I like to say, perch on the end of the Tobin Bridge. In this response and Brady's contract, anything Tom Brady does naturally is going to be newsworthy, but do you think it's simply Brady's stature that makes this such a big target of hot takes, or do you think there's more to it than that in terms of an agenda? And I guess let our listeners know a little bit about what your take on this all is because I actually did my show

on Monday, a solo show on Brady's contract and went into a little bit of detail on the uncharted territory, but how he's been able to physically and mentally keep himself fit for the game even at age 42. So I guess a little bit about your approach to this column

and what you think of Brady's future. Yeah, so, I mean, as far as, you know, why he generates so many takes, I mean, obviously he's the most important athlete in Boston right now, I would say. And I think that's going to naturally lend a lot of attention on him. But, you know, a number of those factors you talked about, I think, are what drive the specific responses to Tom Brady news, and that being, you know, the need for attention.

I mean, we're in this click-based industry, and that you need to have something that's going to drive clicks. So I think framing the news in a way that might be the most terrifying to a Patriots fan works in your favor. Whether you're doing it consciously or not, I can't say, or whether a particular writer is doing it consciously or not, or whether the radio guys are doing it consciously, I can't say. or whether a particular writer is doing it consciously or not, or whether the radio guys are doing it consciously, I can't say. But I'm sure some are, and maybe some aren't.

But framing the news in the most sky-is-falling kind of way works in your favor. So, you know, in doing this column, I mean, there are two approaches here. One is to sort of draw attention to the conflicting narratives, which are during last season all we heard was Brady's in decline, Brady's in decline, Brady's in decline. Now all we hear is, oh, my God, this guy's worth so much more money. And it's like, okay, wait a minute. Is he the guy who's in decline or is he the guy who's underpaid? And those things don't necessarily add up.

And the other thing is, you know, there's just been a lot of, once the news came out that Brady could become a free agent, that the franchise tag was gone, and the Patriots kind of had given that up, people took that as something to be worried about. I don't know. I wanted to convey this idea that it actually, while Brady didn't get what he wanted,

which was multiple years, the Patriots sort of framed this. And my other job is I'm an attorney. And I do a lot of contract negotiations. So I kind of have, I'm kind of able to look at this from the perspective of the negotiating leverage on each side. And I see that the Patriots gave up a good deal of leverage here.

They can't put the franchise tag on Brady. So that means that, one, he could conceivably become a free agent. And two, and I think most importantly, it takes away their ability to play a trump card, a very important trump card in contract negotiation, that would make it impossible for Brady to get a multi-year deal. And so this is a good fake way for the Patriots to say, okay, we're going to take that out of play and allow for negotiation to happen that could conceivably get to multiple years, which is presumably what Brady wants. They also

structured the contract in a way where $13 million in dead money would hit next year. That $13 million is something the Patriots don't want. The most that I could find going back to 2011, the most dead money they've carried in any season was Aaron Hernandez in 2014. It was

$7.5 million. That was not planned. They didn't foresee a circumstance where they would all of a sudden be taking $7.5 million in dead money on Aaron Hernandez. So the times that they've planned it out, it's like around $4 to $5 million for a guy like Darrell Revis. So Brady up around $13, that's not a number they would like. So it's just they took – the Patriots took two huge steps.

Even though they didn't give Brady exactly what he wanted, they put these two huge terms out there, taking away the franchise tag and the $13 million in dead money for 2020. And that really gives Brady a lot of bargaining power in this negotiation. On the other hand, it also gives the Patriots some ability to walk away if they feel like Brady doesn't play well in 2019. So they got something, Brady got something, and they have – and then we'll look at this after the season.

The big incentive here is to sign Brady to a restructured deal before March 18th because that's when the dead money hits and that's when Brady can become a free agent is March 18th. Absolutely. And again, like I said, I think giving that approach and the approach that you have as an attorney and being able to not only break down what this means sports-wise, but what it means from a contract standpoint, just basically pad to paper, is as a springboard to make something happen, not necessarily a confirmation of the divorce of this 19-year marriage that has essentially been the case between the New England Patriots organization,

Bill Belichick, and Tom Brady. So, again, I think you did a masterful job in doing that, and I appreciate your take on Brady as well, and taking that to the next level in terms of what this means from an X's and O's standpoint directly on the contract. The Pats do have a game on Saturday and as they prepare to take on the Tennessee Titans, I'm going to put you on the football hot seat because not only are you entertaining and knowledgeable when it comes to contracts, but you're also one of the more knowledgeable guys when it comes to X's and O's football.

Judging by your experiences looking at these guys in training camp, seeing who has emerged, who do you have your eyes on right now as guys that could potentially make this roster that people weren't so sure might make it when camp began, and what can we expect to see in the next couple of weeks leading up to the home opener when the Patriots take on the Steelers in early September? Right. I mean, generally I don't like to play that prediction game because you just don't know what's happening in those rooms and behind closed doors. Right.

But, I mean, listen, if you're looking for kind of surprise guys, I think Jacoby Myers just keeps impressing everyone. And he certainly was undrafted. He certainly wasn't a guy that was on anyone's radar prior to the minicamps. And then a guy like Jake Bailey, who

prior to the draft, I don't think a lot of Patriots fans were thinking about the possibility of replacing Ryan Allen, but then the Patriots move up a little bit in the draft to go get him, to go get Bailey. And he's certainly, you know, given, he's certainly given them good reason to consider replacing Allen as good as Allen has been for them.

And what it comes down to there is he can kick off, he can punt, you know, outstanding as a punter, which would be his primary job. And he can save him some money. So I think when you look at the money aspect, I don't even know that Bailey necessarily has to be better than Allen, probably just as good or close. And that might give him a shot. So, you know, there's a lot of different position battles,

and as far as making the roster goes, we still have three preseason games and a good three-plus week until cutdowns. So I don't – like, I'm one of those people you won't see a 53-man roster projection from me. I just – I don't necessarily like to get caught up in the prediction game, but those two guys certainly have interesting cases heading into cutdowns later on this month. Definitely, and I think that when it comes to 53- man it you're right it absolutely is it's not

an exact science it is difficult to know and you know game time readiness is always a good way to see how these guys gauge how they're going to be able to uh to play uh but ultimately it's what bill belichick and the patriots brain trust see in practice, see behind the scenes. They know these guys a lot better than anyone that's a third-party observer that's going through this. So it should be interesting. I know a lot of fans will have their eyes open for some of the running backs. We didn't see a whole lot of Damian Harris. So we didn't see any of Damian Harris, actually.

But we didn't see a whole lot of the running back action in preseason game one. I think they really focused heavily on the wide receivers. I think we're going to see a little more of the running game going forward as we head into Saturday. Dave, before I let you go today, I just wanted to give you an opportunity to talk a little bit about Entitled Town and about the new podcast venture that you guys are launching and what our listeners can expect to hear out of you guys going forward and a little bit about where they can follow you on social media and also where they can find your great work.

Okay. Well, as far as what to expect, I'm not entirely sure myself. I know that Mike Irons and I, he's a fan. He's a big Patriots fan and a big Boston sports fan. And he, you know, likes to look at these issues involving the media. And so I think it was a good opportunity for us to pair up. And what we're looking to do is, you know, interview people out there, find out a little bit more about them,

and primarily, though, just take a look at these narratives around Boston sports, evaluate them, and see how they hold up under the fact. And I think we're having a lot of fun doing it. We had our first episode with Matt Chatham, and he gave us, you know, if you haven't heard the Matt Chatham interview, go ahead and just fast-forward over the first 15 minutes of Entitled Town and go listen to Matt Chatham because he had a lot of interesting stories

about, you know, being in the media and playing for the Patriots and winning three Super Bowls and tackling a streaker at one of those Super Bowls and just, you know, he goes all the way back to the old Foxborough Stadium and all kinds of fun stuff. So, you know, if you're into the back to the old Foxborough Stadium and all kinds of fun stuff. So, you know, if you're into the Patriots, I think that's a good one for you to check out. You can follow us on Twitter, and you can follow our show's account.

It's at Entitled Town. And we're on, at this point, I think all of the major podcast platforms, except for the most major one, which is Apple, the iTunes store. We're not in there yet. They say that takes a couple weeks, but keep an eye out. Otherwise, you know, Stitcher, Spotify, Google, Google Podcasts. I think we're in there. We might not be yet, but that could happen any minute.

So, yeah, we're out there, we're in there. We might not be yet, but that could happen any minute. So, yeah, we're out there and around. And if you have, you know, some time and you've already listened to Mike here, then go ahead and dial us up. Well, thank you. I appreciate that lead in as well. But in all actuality, once again, Dave, thank you. Again, I can't recommend following Dave's work throughout the season. He does a tremendous job covering the team.

So definitely follow him if you're a Patriots fan and you're not already following him. I don't know why you're not, but you should be. And definitely highly recommended. Dave, thanks for joining me today on Locked On. We'd love to have you on again throughout the season to get your takes and hear about some of the ins and outs of the comings and goings over at Foxborough and Gillette Stadium.

So, again, thank you very much for coming on today. Have a great day. And as for me, I will be back tomorrow. And I will be back here tomorrow on Locked On taking a deeper look at one of the Patriots' most important leaders on and off the field, a beloved Patriot, wide receiver, and special teams captain, Matthew Slater. I'm going to share a little bit of a breakdown, some of the stories about him, and really just do a profile on who I believe to be one of the more important Patriots heading into this season.

And his leadership is always so key to the Patriots' success. Make sure to join us each and every day on the Locked on Patriots podcast and subscribe to Locked on Patriots via your favorite podcast provider. Thank you so much for listening today. Once again, I am Mike DeBate, and have a great day, everybody.