Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Locked On Patriots August 8, 2018 - Some Crazy and Wild Speculation, Preseason Game 1 Expectations

Episode Date: August 8, 2018

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Hello and welcome into Lockdown Patriots for Wednesday, August 8th, 2018. Mark Schofield back in the big chair. You might have thought after yesterday's installment where I was laboring through it that I'd need another day off. You'd be right, but I'm back in the big chair. Reminder to follow me on Twitter, at Mark Schofield. Check out the work over at InsideThePylon.com where I'm one of the head writers. The score, check out the work over there.

First piece just dropped yesterday on Alex Smith, Jay Gruden, boot action concepts. It's as fun as it sounds. Also, Matt Waldman's RSP, Rookie Scouting Portfolio, MattWaldmanrsp.com. Pro Football Weekly, Steelers Depot, Big Blue View, part of the SB Nation Network, and a piece on Kyle Lalletto that should be up shortly. Basically, look, if they're writing about it, football, chances are I write there.

I've been called the busiest man in football media. Is that true? I don't know. I'm not saying it isn't. I football media. Is that true? I don't know. I'm not saying it isn't. I'm not saying it is, but I'm not saying it isn't. Loaded show for you today. We're going to talk preseason game one. That kicks off tomorrow night. I'm going to have what I'm looking for. Remember that? Remember back to last season when I would have those shows, the things that I'm going to be watching for? We're back. I'm going to do offense, defense, and yes, special teams.

But first, as teased yesterday, let's just put it on the table. We are going to engage in some wild, butt-ass naked speculation. It's not something we do a lot of here, and you're probably going to learn why in a few minutes here. There are two players from the 2014 draft class, fierce, fearsome defensive players. Perhaps the best in the league at their positions. And they have yet to report to camp.

Khalil Mack of the Oakland Raiders. Aaron Donald of the Los Angeles Rams. Mack, defensive end. Fierce off the edge. Donald, a dominant force on the interior of the Rams' defensive line. Both players were exercised, their teams exercised their fifth-year options before last season. They're playing on their fifth year, the final year of their rookie contract,

and both guys want to get paid. I mean, we're seeing like with Donald, for example, 21, 22, 23 million per kind of the numbers being thrown around for them. Similarly, you're seeing, you know, same types of numbers being thrown out potentially for Mac. You know, Mac wants a big-time, long-term deal. And so let's engage in some wild, fun speculation. Since both guys have not reported, and when you look at, at least with respect to Mac, ESPN had a piece up in the past couple of days that, yeah, okay, he's the 2016 NFL Defensive Player of the Year. Yeah, he's a guy that's first-team all-pro type. A guy that was named first-team all-pro at two different positions,

defensive and an outside linebacker. But his holdout goes on. And here's the thing. If they can't get anything for him, and he just holds out the season and walks, that's not good for Oakland, so he might as well try to get something for him. And so, Paul Gurdjieff is an ESPN,

listed him as a potential trade. A potential trade candidate. Another guy, look, is Aaron Donaldald and i know that sounds crazy too but he has yet to report and there was a piece over at patriots wire speculating that maybe the patriots should try to get in on the Aaron Donald train. And look at things from Donald's perspective, at least out in LA.

They gave $14 million in the offseason to the Dominican Sioux. They took on Aqib Tlaib's $11 million salary for 2018. They ponied up over $80 million in guaranteed money to both Todd Gurley and Brandon Cooks. And you're Aaron Donald, perhaps the best player at your position in the league right now, and you're still twisting in the wind a bit. So let's deal at the outset with how this would work on the field.

From an X's and O's standpoint, pretty well, I'd say, put Aaron Donald next to Danny Shelton on the inside of that Patriots defense when you go four-man front type situations. I rest my case. You're not running against that. You know, you're trying to, you're're gonna have to bounce things out to the edges and then you've got you know Claiborne

you've got rivers you've got flowers hopefully you're a little bit more athletic on the second level you're certainly gonna have guys up front in those two guys that will occupy blockers so so you're going to be unblocked at the second level. And so would Aaron Donald sort of fit? Yeah, he would fit. Khalil Mack, would he fit with this Patriots defense? Yeah, I think he'd fit. You know, you look at a potential situation

where you've got Claiborne at one edge, Mack at the other, kicking flowers down on third and long situations with either Malcolm Brown or Danny Shelton left on the field to occupy on the interior. That's going to work for you. You put Mack across from Trey Flowers, Mack's going to see the bulk of double teams.

Flowers is going to be able to do some things. If he doesn't, you've got Adrian Claiborne, you add it. Dietrich Reis, Derek Rivers still in the mix that's a pass rushing group for all the years in New England we've worried about the pass rush it's been such a constant

focus of discussion the lack of a pass rush Khalil Mack probably fixes your pass rushing problems boom done it works from an X's and O's standpoint. Let's not forget, too, as we sit here right now, the Patriots have,

although it's not definitive, six picks in the first three rounds. They've got their first round. They've got a second rounder of their own, a second rounder from Chicago, a third rounder from Detroit, as well as two potential compensatory picks in the third round, they've got a second rounder of their own, a second rounder from Chicago, a third rounder from Detroit, as well as two potential compensatory picks in the third round, which you can trade.

So you can envision a package of a first and a second, and Chicago's second might be a good one. So that might be two picks in the first 40 for one of these guys. Or a first, a second, and a third. I mean, you could put together some stuff that would

make it a nice little deal. So it works from that standpoint as well. But now it's time for me to throw some cold water on this fire I just created and be realistic for a minute. There are two reasons why it could make sense, schematically from an X's and O's standpoint and from a draft picks perspective.

The Patriots do have a lot. But there are four big reasons why it's not going to make sense. First, cap space. Patriots, judged by our boy Pat's cap, his current handle on Twitter, which is the easiest, if you're ever wondering, oh, I wonder how much cap space the Patriots have right now. Easiest way to do it is go to at Pat's cap on Twitter,

and his handle is always updated, cap right now seven million eight hundred and forty three thousand dollars probably not enough to get it done for this year and then when you go beyond that, yeah, they free up a little bit, but there are teams with, say, more cap space. Like I've read about the Green Bay Packers perhaps get in the mix, and they're a team that has two first-round picks. They've got $35 million in cap space

lined up this year, I mean for next year, excuse me, where the Pats only have 24. So there are going to be teams that have more cap space. So that's issue number one, and it's a big one. Issue number two, also a big one. Both of these teams will be insane to trade these guys. It's shocking to me that both of these guys continue to be holding out. If I were Gruden, if I were McVay, if I were Reggie McKenzie, if I were Gruden if I were McVay if I were you know Reggie McKenzie if I were some of the decision makers

with these organizations I'd have these guys I'd have it done you don't want to be in a situation where you let these guys walk they're game changing type players guys that don't come around every so often

number three organizational philosophy from New England's perspective. More likely than not, it's the Patriots that are in the shoes of the Rams and the Raiders facing a decision and just making a trade. We saw it with Collins. We saw it with Chandler Jones. That's sort of their MO. If they don't want to give the guy the huge payday that he's asking for,

we'll get what we can and move on. Next man up. All that fun, fun stuff. And finally, and this is one sort of glaring con, if you're looking at pros and cons when it comes to this, from my perspective, and you know where I'm going with this, we expected the Patriots to be in on a quarterback last year's draft.

Unless Danny Etlin shocks the world, they might still need to be in on a quarterback in next year's draft. And that's why having those, the first rounder, the two second rounders including one from Chicago, the three potential third rounders, having potentially six picks in the first three rounds that might enable you to go get a quarterback if somebody stands out Jarrett Stidham from Auburn Ryan Finley from NC State there are guys in this class that could surprise then

we might want to go get in next year's draft. And so while acquiring one of these guys certainly extends or improves the roster in the short term here in the Brady window, the Brady window will come to an end as much as we all want to deny it. And we're going to need a guy eventually, likely coming through the draft. So if you're giving up, if you're talking giving up a first and a second or a first and two seconds or something like that,

you might miss out on them. So, some wild butt-ass naked speculation and then we throw in a bucket of cold water on all your heads. It's not going to happen. Could it work on the field? Of course.

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Up next, we're going to talk offense and defense for this game tomorrow night between Washington and New England. What I'm going to be watching. That's ahead with me, Mark Schofield, and Locked On Patriots. Mark Schofield back with you now on this Wednesday installment of Locked On Patriots. And we got a game to talk about. Believe it or not, we have an actual, actual, actual game to talk about. Patriots kicking off their preseason tomorrow night, August 9th.

At Gillette, you can be there. Vivid seats. Use that promo code LOCKEDON when you get tickets. Here's the stuff that I'm looking for. We're going to talk offense and defense here in this segment. We'll save special teams in the third segment of the show. You know me. I don't shortchange.

It's a three-phase game, friends. Belichick stresses special teams. We stress special teams here at Locked On Patriots. But let's talk offense first. And with the exception of probably breaking down to a nerdy, nerdy extent every single throw that Danny Etlin makes, I'm not really that concerned otherwise with sort of the execution side of things. Particularly when it comes to the offense.

There's an old adage which I firmly believe in, having played the game my entire life on the offensive side of the ball. Offense comes along slower than defense. The execution on the offensive side of the ball is always going to be a few steps behind the defensive side of the ball. I've always seen it in my life, in my experience. You read about it every sort of training camp season, teams talking about all the defenses ahead of where the offense is. There are arguably more moving parts on the offensive side of the ball. A little bit easier, just a little bit, to sort things out on the defensive side of the ball.

Plus, at the end of the day, you're reading and reacting, whereas offense, you're trying to execute. Defensive guys, don't get mad at me. Defensive guys and girls out there, don't get mad at me, okay? I still am a quarterback at heart, but don't harp on that one too much. So that being said, while I'm not harping on the execution too much, I will probably analyze and overanalyze every single throw that Danny Antlin makes, but that's because I'm a quarterback nerd, and that's part of my sickness.

But what I am watching, what I will be watching very curiously, is the rotations at a couple of my sickness. But what I am watching, what I will be watching, very curiously, is the rotations at a couple of offensive spots. The playing time at a couple of offensive spots. Now, I don't know, we haven't heard definitively how much the ones are going to play too much. But I'm very curious, for example,

the wide receiver group. Maybe we see Edelman and Hogan for a series. Maybe we see Edelman and Hogan for a series. Maybe we see Edelman, Hogan, and Patterson for a series. Who are the next guys that come in? Is it like we expect? You know, Dorsett, Britt, Decker? And after that, who are the fours and the fives? That's what I want to see.

I want to see the guys that are getting the run early in the second quarter. Guys that are getting the play in the first half. Same thing with the offensive line. I want to see the guys that are going to be in the mix for that, say, swing tackle spot. Is it like we expect? Adrian Waddell?

Or has somebody sort of made a move? Do we see Isaiah Wynn in a tackle? Or is he solely a guard? Do we see Trent Brown at the left tackle spot only? Or do we see him on the right side at all? I want to see usage when it comes to the offensive line. I want to see this battle for tight end too. We're hearing a lot of things about Jacob Hollister.

Bill Belichick has been talking about Jacob Hollister a lot. Seems to like what he's doing. And we've talked about it on this show. Doug Kayed talked about it over at Nessun.com. Dwayne Allen is a potential cut. If the Patriots decide to keep just two tight ends, they might go with Gronkowski and Hollister. So I want to see how early is Hollister in the mix.

Does he get some action early? Earlier than we expect? Does he maybe get a little bit run with not just the twos but the ones? So I'm looking at rotation. I'm very curious, of course, with the running backs too, how those guys are used. So that's what I'm looking for. I'm looking for usage and rotations

and where these guys are utilized, who's playing in the first half versus who's playing in the second half. And it's similar when we look at the defensive side of the ball. Up front, I want to see how quickly Dietrich Wise and Derek Rivers get onto the field. If we see Derek Rivers in the first quarter, if we see him early in the first quarter, I'm going to be excited. Because that tells me that he's coming along. And when it comes to Rivers, what's been interesting is that similar to Hollister,

we're seeing some of that praise from Belichick. Now, I haven't seen a ton of reports where he's flashed or guys observing practices, but when Belichick is taking notice, that usually means something. So I want to see how quickly he gets on the field. When it gets to that second level of the defense, the big glaring question mark is the athleticism. Has it been addressed? Is this team, is this second unit, is this second level of defense going to be athletic enough to compete against today's NFL schemes? The RPOs, the misdirection stuff, the stuff that the Eagles just gashed this defense with last year in the Super Bowl. Is it going to be athletic enough?

Yes, they get Hightower back. We know what that can do. I want to see Marquise Flowers being athletic back there. I'm very curious to see Christian Sam, Juwan Bentley, those two guys. How are they going to fit in with this defense? The rookie linebackers that they drafted in this past draft class. They're bubble-type guys. linebackers that they drafted in this past draft class. You know, they're bubble-type guys. You know, how

will they sort of get onto the field? Will it have to be only on special teams? Will they be able to get out there? You know, I really think that Sam could be that athletic guy. They're projecting him as more of a weak side linebacker.

That's usually your athletic type linebacker anyway. An interesting sort of roster battle might be Roberts versus Bentley. You know, two downhill thumper types. So I'm interested to see how quickly those guys get on the field. And in the secondary, you know, the CB3, CB4-type spots, or even CB2. I've been reading recently, Jason McCourty has been mentioned as a surprise potential cut

if he doesn't sort of lock down that CB2 spot across from Stephon Gilmore. So I want to see, obviously, who gets the early play. Then I want to see later on as we get into this game, who are the third and fourth outside boundary corners out there. How quickly do they get some of the rookies in, whether it's Duke Dawson or Keon Crossan. So I'm not worried about execution in week one of the preseason

I'm more curious to see usage rotations and personnel groupings you know that's the attention that I'm really going to pay that's where I think you should have your eyes too but we're all going to be watching different things that's why we love the game and it's just good to have games back

up next we're going to close it out with a couple of quick thoughts on special teams. Two areas that I'm going to be watching as we get into the Patriots' first preseason game against the Washington Redskins, which you can be at and is at Gillette tomorrow night. Go to vividseats.com. Use promo code LOCKEDON when you purchase your tickets. Get 10% off.

Special teams talk. That's ahead with me, Mark Schofield, and Locked On Patriots. Mark Schofield back here to close out Schofield and Locked On Patriots. Mark Schofield back here to close out this Wednesday installment of Locked On Patriots. We're going to talk quickly about special teams on Thursday night. The kicking spot, unless Steven Gascalski

gets injured, that is his. You don't need to spend too much time on that. There are two interesting battles sort of shaping up elsewhere in special teams. First, the punter spot. Ryan Allen, veteran punter, left-footed punter for the New England Patriots out of Louisiana Tech.

Obviously, he's your return punter. He's done a great job for the Patriots since taking over the gig for New England. But he's getting pushed a little bit from behind by another left-footed punter, rookie Corey Borquez from New Mexico. And I'm interested to see the rookie punt.

You know, you do the roster projections. Other people do roster projections. And punter in New England, as it is with other spots, it's one of those situations where if you could get a rookie punting for cheap, it's a nice sort of way to save some money for the team. And when you look at the Patriots sort of from a roster salary cap perspective, it's not that Ryan Allen is making a ton of money for the team, you know, but when you look at it, you know, Ryan Allen as a punter is making, once I can put my fingertip on it here, and it's taking a little bit, okay, so $2 million is his cap number for this year. And now you look at the rookie punter, Borquez,

$480,000. It's a league minimum type contract. And that's $1.5 million for a team that's got some cap things to worry about. If you can get the same kind of production for $1.5 million cheaper, it's certainly worth exploring. So that's going to be an interesting battle to play out.

And finally, you knew it wasn't going to be an episode of Locked On Patriots talking about preseason stuff without a Braxton Berrios mention. Braxton Berrios, is he the punt returner with Julian Edelman on suspension? They've got other guys in the mix that can do it. They've been trying out some guys.

Eric Decker, who's maybe returned three punts in his career he was fielded some punts at practice on tuesday patrick chun's done it before but barrios is very experienced in that department one of the things he did at miami one of the things he did down at the senior bowl down at mobile so i'm curious to see if we see early in this game maybe even even first quarter, Braxton Barrios out there returning punts. If we do, that's going to tell you a couple of things. It's going to tell you that they trust this kid. It's going to tell you that look at that wide receiver room. You know, if Barrios sneaks onto this roster,

it might be because he contributed as a punt returner early, particularly with the Edelman suspension. And that might make it a little bit of a tougher numbers game for some of the other fringe wide receivers, like a Kenny Britt, like an Eric Decker, who maybe can't give you that. And so when it gets down to the numbers nitty-gritty, the ability to contribute in all three phases

might be something that gives, you know, Jan Braxton Berrios a shot at the roster. And so those are the things that I'm going to be watching. Again, from a win perspective, I don't care if they win or lose. I want everyone to get through this game healthy.

Obviously, that's a huge thing. Execution, don't care about that so much. I want to see the rotations. I want to see the usage. I want to see how these guys have moved in and out. I want to see who's playing early.

That's going to give you at least our first true indicator of how these guys are being looked at, perceived, and valued by this coaching staff. Of course, I'll ridiculously, and to a ridiculously nerdy extent, break down the game for you on Friday's show. I still haven't decided if I'm going to call it a glorious

victory edition or anything like that because it is just a preseason. I might have to save those for the regular season when the games really start to count. But I'll break it all down Friday. Tomorrow. We might have to save those for the regular season when the games really start to count. But I'll break it all down Friday. Tomorrow, I'll have some final thoughts before the game. Also, we're going to talk to Taylor Kyles of Pat's Pulpit for getting his thoughts, what he's looking for, on the opening night of the 2018 preseason.

That's the rest of the week ahead. Until then, thanks for listening. As always, check out vividseats.com, nordictrack.com, slash locked on. Give our sponsors a click. Also, subscribe to the show if you can. Share it out on social media. You know, follow me on Twitter,

at Mark Scofield, so you can share out the shows. The more the people listen, the happier I'll be, the happier everybody at Locked On will be, the more I'll get to do these shows, which is always fun. So, help me help you.

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