Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Locked On Patriots December 28, 2017 - Preparing for Life After TB12

Episode Date: December 28, 2017

Mark Schofield games out three potential options for the Patriots this offseason addressing the QB2 spot...and perhaps finding their future QB1.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Good morning and welcome into Lockdown Patriots for Thursday, December 28th. Mark Schofield here in the big chair and reminder to follow the work. Follow me on Twitter at Mark Schofield. You can follow the work over at Inside the Pylon, getting ready for the ITP draft guide. Also follow the work over at Inside the Pylon. Getting ready for the ITP draft guide. Also follow the work over at Bleacher Report. Year-end quarterback rankings there coming out next week. Get excited for that. Today's show sponsored in part by our friends over at mybookie.ag.

More on them in a minute. And we're going to deal with one topic today and one topic today only. And that's life after Brady. You know, I mentioned a little bit in yesterday's show how the start of Inside the Pylon grew out of Sons of Sam Horn, Red Sox-based message board. Well, spent some time over on Soch, yes, that's how I pronounce it. Soch. Yesterday. And topic came up in the forums over there. Life after Brady. How are the Patriots going to address the quarterback position this offseason?

And while we're not into the offseason yet, hopefully won't be for another couple of weeks here. I thought it was a good time to sort of take stock of the quarterback landscape around the league and into the draft class and sort of look at three potential options here at addressing the quarterback position this offseason. And now I want to preface it with this. We're not looking to replace Brady for 2018. The idea here is addressing the QB2 spot to have a guy in place behind Tom Brady and whether you can address that via the draft, via free agency, via trade, going in another direction, and the ways that you can either address it

for the short term or for the long term. And also, shout out to my friends over at SMU Socks. Gave me some love on the forum there. Appreciate that. Big listener of the show. Great to see that. And so the way I've sort of schemed this out here, and this was kind of the point of discussion in the thread,

so sort of taking it to the airwaves here. Three sort of paths I think the Patriots can go down, sort of addressing QB2 into the next season. And we can start with the first one, which I think is, shall we say, the unsexy option. And the unsexy option is this. You simply retain Brian Hoyer for next year, and you sort of

kick the entire decision down the road for another year. Maybe you don't like the free agency class. Maybe you don't like the draft class. Maybe you're not convinced that you can find sort of the next guy after

Brady in that, so you decide we've got a 32 year old backup quarterback that knows our offense that knows our system we've got them under contract here for a two-year deal actually a three-year deal three-year 4.4 million dollar contract include a 1.5 guaranteed so it's not a lot of money you've got invested in Brian Hoyer you know maybe you decide look we're just gonna kick the whole decision down the road for another year or two we've got a guy that can come in if we need him. Is Brian Hoyer the long-term

answer at quarterback for the New England Patriots? No. But you've got a pro scouting department that's telling you everything you need to know about the guys that are going to be available. You've got a college scouting department that's got their work done, basically,

other than meetings and things like that with the guys that are in the next draft class if you get everybody together and come up with the determination that looked brian holler is probably our best bet for at least 2018 at qb2 you know maybe you take a flyer on a guy late in the draft or a true flyer on a guy in free agency, but maybe that's sort of the quick and dirty answer. Just sort of sit pat.

Like I said, it's not the sexy decision by any means, but maybe that's the way that the Patriots go. It's an option. Personally, it's not one that I would entertain. It's not the path that I would go down. But as we talk about the other options, you can see why there might be somebody in the organization, maybe it'll be a lone wolf, single minority type who might say,

look, this is our best bet. Now, in terms of what Hoyer can bring to an offense, you're getting a guy that can run West Coast concepts that's best when he gets to operate versus zone coverage looks, doesn't have sort of overpower and arm strength and the ability to drill into tight windows against man coverage. There's certainly limitations to him as a passer. Inconsistency in terms of accuracy and ball placement when you get beyond, say, 20 to 25 yards certainly fits best with a West Coast pass and offense, which the Patriots, they run some West Coast type stuff. So I don't think

you're getting the full playbook with a Brian Hoyer that you would get with a Tom Brady or some of the other available quarterbacks that might be out there that might be up for consideration in this debate. But he's a relatively inexpensive option at QB2. Again, not the path that I would go down. That's why I addressed this one first. I think there are other sort of intriguing opportunities looking at guys in free agency, guys via trade, or then addressing that in the draft. We're going to get into those options right after I tell you about, again, our friends over at mybookie.ag. And now that the holidays are mostly in the rearview mirror,

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Make those holiday bills a little bit easier on your wallets. All right, so we wrapped up the first sort of segment of the show talking about Brian Hoyer, the unsexy option at QB2 next year for the New England Patriots. Option B would be to address the position, address QB2 via free agency or a trade. And the free agency quarterback class this year, well, obviously it looks a little different now with the expectation that Jimmy Garoppolo is going to work out some sort of long-term deal with the San Francisco 49ers.

The biggest name out there is potentially Drew Brees. He's a one-year deal with the Saints. Can't imagine him leaving New Orleans. He'd probably have to take somewhat of a team-friendly deal to do it, to make the numbers work, I think. Obviously, guys like Miguel Benzon and Jason Fitzgerald could correct me if I'm wrong on that. You know, but I think the fact that the Saints are competitive now,

they've got Kamara, they've got weapons, you know, makes me think they're going to work out a way to get Breeze signed so he can finish his career in New Orleans. Kirk Cousins is probably the big name out there now. I think we can sort of cut to the chase. New England's not bringing in a guy who's going to expect to be the starting quarterback come week one of the NFL season. There are potential guys out there.

Case Keenum is intriguing in the sense that he was a third string quarterback basically coming into this season. But given the way he's played, he's probably going to want starter money and a starting job. He's not going to come to hold Tom Brady's clubs and even if he were willing to do that you know I'm not sort of now I'm somewhat hesitant on a case Keenum again I like what he's done this year but I think there are some decision-making issues there there are some arm strength concerns there like he okay, and he would probably be an upgrade at QB2, but at what cost?

So that's sort of the concern there. Other potential quarterbacks in this free agent class. Teddy Bridgewater, going to be a free agent. I know that there are some people out there that still like him. So how the dominoes sort of fall in Minnesota might be the next thing to keep in mind because Sam Bradford is also a free agent. They've got no quarterbacks under contract for next year. So maybe you can play sort of the football, the quarterback version of sign, trade, release, so to speak. Who are they going to keep?

Who are they going to trade? Who are they going to release? They've got decisions to make, and that might sort of start the dominoes in motion. Other guys out there in free agency, I mean, you've got Geno Smith, Chase Daniel, playing Gabbert. I mean, maybe potential upgrades over

Brian Hoyer at that QB2 spot. But it just seems to me that you know, there's are you really going to sort of make this move and bring in a guy like a Geno Smith or an Austin Davis or some of the other names out there like Brock Osweiler, EJ Manuel.

Like there's just the return on a move like that when you've got a Brian Hoyer, you're getting that much of an upgrade. So it just seems that addressing it via free agency might not be the way to go. Now, maybe you do take a flyer on a guy

like a Tom Savage. You take a real flyer on... I mean, I can't see them bringing in a Brock Osweiler. It just seems like the free agency market, it probably won't be the way to address it. Now, via trade, there might be some interesting guys to think about. And I'm going to focus really on one in particular. And it's a guy that's gotten a lot of criticism this year.

His coach has gotten a ton of criticism. There are certainly question marks about him and whether he can become an NFL quarterback or if he'll bust. And that's Deshaun Kaiser with the Cleveland Browns. And I know it sounds kind of crazy to think that the Cleveland Browns might trade away the guy that was their starter this year or most of the year. A guy that was a second round draft choice, but you've got a new GM in John Dorsey who's going to want to get his guys. He's going to want to go out and get what he

calls football guys, right? And it seems like the Deshaun Kizer experiment just isn't working in Cleveland. And it seems pretty clear that at some point, probably early in the draft, they've got two picks in the top five.

It looks like that's how it's going to shake out. They're going to address quarterback. They've got Kevin Hogan. They've got Cody Kessler. They've got Kaiser. They probably address quarterback. They might even add somebody in free agency. But it just seems like, you know,

given everything we've seen this year, the handwriting seems to be on the wall when it comes to Deshaun Kizer and his time in Cleveland. So if I'm Bill Belichick, I'm picking up the phone and I'm at least making an inquiry into what it would take to get to Sean Kizer. I know that might sound crazy given what we've seen on Emmett Tape. And believe me, nobody's crushed him from an on-the-field perspective more than I have. I mean, we're seeing mistakes here in Week 15, Week 16 that we saw back in Week 1. Staring down receivers. Staring down routes. Getting lazy with his eyes.

Making poor decisions. Bad situational awareness. All the things that drive people crazy when they watch quarterbacks play. All the things that drive Bill Belichick crazy watching quarterbacks play. He's making all of those mistakes. So why do I think this makes sense? Because he's going to be in a much different situation if he comes to New England than he's in right now in Cleveland.

In terms of crushing people, I've been crushing Hugh Jackson too for the way he's handled Kaiser. He's yanked him in and out of the lineup. He hasn't done enough, I think, from a schematic point to put him in position to succeed. I think they failed to do things from a schematic point that enable that offense to succeed. They haven't done things with motion and things like that to give him the things that Josh McDaniels gives Tom Brady, the stuff that we talk about all the time. Like we're giving Tom Brady, the greatest quarterback of all time,

help in the pre-snap phase. Why wouldn't you do it for your second-round rookie quarterback? So, you know, does that happen? I'd give it maybe a 2% chance of happening. But I would at least inquire. Because it looks to me like a situation where he's a talented kid. He just needs to be handled and developed the right way. And I said this, you know, on a recent show, talking about Josh Allen,

you're betting on NFL sort of development if you make the move with a Josh Allen type. There are places where it can't happen. There are places where it can, and New England, I think, is one of those organizations. So I think the atmosphere would be better for DeSean Kizer in New England than it would be in Cleveland. Again, I give it a 2% chance of happening, but if the Patriots are going to address sort of QB2 slash potentially life after Brady via either free agency or trade, Deshaun Kaiser is a name that I think should be at least on the list of inquiries. I still don't give it a lot of chance of happening, but just something I think about.

Of course, there's always the draft, and we're going to dive into that next here with me, Mark Schofield, and Locked on Patriots. Okay, now let's sort of deal with the third option here, which is addressing QB2 and potentially your next QB1 via the draft. And I think you can even divide this option into two different paths. Do you do it early in the draft and just make sure you're going to go get your guy. Or do you sort of wait. Maybe address some other positions in the draft. And then do it say day two. Maybe even early day three or mid day three. And just see how things sort of shake out. Because you don't want to go up and just get.

You know. Go up early, get a guy, you know, pull the trigger on an early draft pick. And so, you know, right now, Patriots have a pick in the first, two in the second, one of which is the 49ers pick, a third, a fourth, a sixth, and a seventh. And as we talked about recently, sort of talking about the Jimmy Garoppolo trade, you can probably get up early in the first. So that's still technically an option. Now, is there a quarterback, at least in my mind, worth going up and getting?

I think there's one. I think it's Josh Rosen. I think looking at the landscape of guys as they are right now, I'm not including, first of all, Sam Darnold in that mix. I think he goes back. But I think looking at the current landscape, the one that I feel the most comfortable with is Rosen because I think he's the best in terms of scheme diversity. I think he's the cleanest mechanically.

I feel most comfortable with him if I'm going to go up and get a guy or if I'm going to pick a guy early in the first round. Now, there are other guys that I do like. Baker Mayfield, Lamar Jackson. I think they might slide a bit. I think with Jackson, he would definitely slide. I know for a fact that I'm much higher on him than the NFL is. And there are some factors of the NFL that look at Lamar Jackson and see wide receiver. And we've talked about that. We've beaten that one to death already. I don't want to go too far down that road.

But a Jackson, he might be there early second. He might be there late in the second. He might be there at 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, whenever the Patriots, their own pick in the second round comes on the clock. He might still go back to school. We don't know yet. I'm working on the assumption that he comes out because I don't think he has anything left to prove at the college level. But given how the NFL still feels about Lamar Jackson, he might say, look, I'm going to go back and show you for one more year yet again how I can play the quarterback position.

But assuming he comes out, he might be there in a second. So it could be a situation where you wait until day two and get Lamar Jackson. You know, but A, will the Patriots, would the Patriots go up and get Josh Rosen? I don't know if they're getting all the way to one or three, shall we say, to get Rosen. I think that might be just a bridge too far. And what they would have to give up to go get that guy, you can address a lot of other needs with what it would cost to go up and get him.

Especially when you know that there are going to be guys that might slide to you or that you won't have to go up as far to get. We've talked a lot about Josh Allen on this podcast, and while I'm not all in on him like others are, I can see the allure, and if he's there late in the first round and you want to trade up a couple of spots to get him, okay, will he slide that far? You know, if all the other general managers think like I do, he would slide.

But given the fact that there are so many quarterback-needy teams in the top of this draft, it's hard to imagine Josh Allen sliding that far. Because obviously you've got Cleveland at 1-4. They need to address quarterback. You've got the Giants at 2. I think they address quarterback. You've got Indianapolis at 3, which is a wild card, I think.

Who knows with Andrew Luck? Maybe they're okay rolling with Luck and Jacoby Brissett. Denver at 6 needs to. Jets at 7, they need to. Cincinnati at 10. There's another sort of team that might address quarterback. Arizona at 14. Chargers at 16.

Again, this is the current draft order. Buffalo at 17. Those are teams that are in the top 20 right now that I think address quarterback, or at least could. And that next tier, maybe Baltimore does. They look for life after Flacco. Maybe the Saints do.

They start planning for life after Breeze. You know, so there are a lot of teams that could address quarterback here in the first round. You know, and a team like Pittsburgh is looming too. So it's hard to really envision guys sliding. But I remember saying similar things last year and

people were saying, oh no, guys are going to slide, but teams traded up to get guys. But, you know, Kaiser was the only one that really slid. But, you know, so Josh Allen, I wouldn't do it if somehow he gets down into that mid-20 range of Patriots. Sure, then you can go get a guy like him because it would be the ideal situation or close to ideal for him. I don't think they're going to be in a position to get Rosen. I don't think they're going to be in a position to get Mayfield because they'd have to get up into that top 10 to do it. And I'm just,

from what we've seen from the New England Patriots, I'm not sure they do. So then it becomes, where do you go after that you know and i think it's a situation where you might see a guy like lamar jackson slide but barring that you're then looking at sort of the next tier of guys and there are some intriguing options there as well we've talked a little bit about Mike White from Western Kentucky. He's a guy that's going to be down in Mobile. Kyle Loretta, a kid from Richmond, another guy that's going to be down in Mobile.

Brandon Silvers, a kid from Troy, another quarterback who's going to be down in Mobile. Those are three sort of mid-tier guys that I think if the Patriots decide, it's just too much to go up and get a guy early in this draft. And the guys that slide don't either get to us or we're not in on those guys. Maybe they're off on Lamar Jackson. Okay. There are some intriguing guys sort of in that mid-range brandon silvers like i mentioned the kid from richmond loretta who i'm loretta who i mentioned mike white mason rudolph who another quarterback i came away

sort of underwhelmed with but if he's there in the second or the third that could make sense and now that we've laid out sort of all the options I think sort of a mix of option A and option C subpart 2 makes the most sense I think the Patriots retain Hoyer

as sort of their like drastic in case of emergency break open glass type quarterback if something happens to Tom Brady early next season and I think they address quarterback in this draft but like I've been assuming all along I think they do it late day two early day three, in that range. But that's just me sitting here on December 28th. Obviously, there's a lot that could change between now and then.

But I just think that looking at how they address the quarterback position going forward, that sort of combination, that sort of choice, that menu, I think, makes the most sense. I mean, they've got to figure it out. They've got to have a plan in place for life after Tom Brady. And I've said before that Belichick has always said it's better to be a year ahead of schedule than a year behind schedule because then you've potentially lost a season or even two depending on how much development the next guy needs. So they address it in some way. I think sitting here right now that it's they retain Hoyer,

they add more of a day two, day three type guy, one of these mid-tier guys. And they've addressed it while still retaining some sort of flexibility to address it again next year. If things don't work out with the new guy, if Hoyer just doesn't work out, whatever. You've still got some flexibility. Because if you expend a lot of capital to go up and get a guy, you've got to A, be sure that he's right, and B, be sure that you haven't sold the farm, so to speak,

because you've got other needs to address. You've got pass rush to address. You've got safety that you probably want to address because Harmon, Chun, McCourty, they're going to need to be replaced at some point. You might have, you have, in Jordan Richards, you might have a Chun replacement type, but what do you have beyond that?

You might need to make additions along the offensive line. I know they had Garcia who they brought in. Maybe he's eventually your soldier replacement. But you might need to add some depth there. Tight end behind Rob Gronkowski has sort of been another swirling little question mark. They got the Hollister kid. But so what I'm saying is there are other needs that you need to address as we head towards the offseason, whenever that begins. And hopefully it doesn't begin for a while. So it just seems to me that given some of the other needs on this roster,

if you're going to go make that move, if you're going to make that leap, you've got to be right. You've got to be sure that you're right. And when it comes to evaluating quarterbacks, it's hard to be right. Bill Walsh said that playing quarterback was hard. Evaluating quarterbacks might have even been harder. I say this as somebody that does it for a living.

It's hard. And teams get it wrong all the time. And so it seems to me that given all of that, putting that all together, I think they retain Hoyer, they address a guy sort of in the mid-round range, and that's why this draft season is going to be a ton of fun, starting with the senior bowl. But that's been sort of my long-winded spiel about the options in front of the New England Patriots as they think about life after Brady and start to prepare for that.

You're not replacing him yet, but you always want to be a year ahead of schedule. Those are my thoughts. You can let me know yours on Twitter, at Mark Schofield. I will be back tomorrow for your game day edition of Locked On Patriots, getting you ready for the regular season finale. And then I will be back sometime on New Year's Eve with your recap show, hopefully another glorious victory edition of Locked On Patriots.

Maybe you can listen to that as you're getting ready to go out on the town for a wonderful last night of 2017. Maybe not. Either way, whatever you're doing on New Year's Eve, I hope you're going to have fun. Until then, everybody, keep it locked right here. Me, Mark Schofield mark school and locked on Patriots