Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Locked On Patriots February 20, 2018 - Timeline Takes

Episode Date: February 20, 2018

Mark Schofield revisits the Malcolm Butler saga, talks about some recent mock drafts and outlines the five most important places for the top quarterbacks at the Scouting Combine.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Maybe you're on your way to work, listening while on the train, or perhaps listening while you're driving using your Bluetooth device. Maybe you're already at work, you're in the office, you're using podcasts to get you through the day as you plug away at your chosen profession. Maybe you're at the gym, but wherever you're joining us from, welcome on into Locked On Patriots for Tuesday, February 20th, 2018. Mark Schofield here with you for another edition of Locked On Patriots. Reminder to follow me on Twitter at Mark Schofield. Check out the work over insidethepylon.com. We're actually going to talk a little bit

about a portion of one of my pieces over there at a recent Check With Me column. Also, you can follow the work over at DailyMockDraft.com. Doug Moore and I giving you a new Patriots Mock Draft every single day, so check those out as well today's gonna be a timeline takes edition of locked on Patriots gonna talk about Mike Tenere and his mock draft interesting choice for the New England Patriots at pick 31 we're gonna talk Peter King and is Kyle Loretta the next Jimmy Garoppolo we've talked about Kyle Loretta a lot and in chance I get to talk quarterbacks? Well, I'm going to take it. Also, we're going to talk about a portion of one of my recent columns,

that Check With Me piece I alluded to earlier. I talk about the five most important places at the scouting combine for the top quarterbacks in this draft class. But first, we're going to kick it off with some Palace intrigue. The Malcolm Butler story back in the news. Devin McCourty, Patriots safety at a Rutgers-based fundraiser for his charity, tackled sickle cell recently. Of course, he was asked about the decision to bench Malcolm Butler in Super Bowl 52. And according to McCourty.

We all knew he wasn't starting all week. That wasn't a secret to the guys on the team. That's a direct quote from McCourty. Who told that to New Jersey Advanced Media. That was related in a piece from Mike Reese on ESPN. McCourty continued, quote, I get why people are fishing. The guy played 98% of the plays in the regular season.

I just hate that for him, character-wise, going into free agency. It's just not true. As far as I know, I was there all week. Not one time did anything come up in addition the piece from Reese points out that the Patriots defense we know struggled in the Super Bowl particularly in their dime package they started with two corners and four safeties than dime their halftime adjustment was flipping that to three and three three corners

three safeties but Butler as we all know, did not see a snap. So according to Devin McCourty, Butler knew he was not going to start Super Bowl 52. But I don't think, and this is just me,

that this really sort of puts a bow on this story. This story just won't go away. The more and more we think about Devin McCourty and Malcolm Butler and this whole saga and why Butler didn't play. I'm reminded of an old Charlie Brown, an old Peanuts comic strip from decades ago. It shows Linus and Charlie Brown.

They're just sitting on a curb. The first three frames are just the three of them sitting there, nothing spoken. The fourth one is Charlie Brown just screaming to the heavens, why didn't McCovey hit the ball a few feet higher? Obviously an allusion to the San Francisco Giants in the World Series. McCovey hit the ball a few feet higher obviously an allusion to the San Francisco Giants in the World Series McCovey at a pivotal moment ropes one towards the outfield but it's

caught Charlie LeBron lamented what might have been and I think for Patriots fans that's kind of where we are with this whole thing we may never know the truth, but Cordy tells us that Butler knew, okay, we take that for what it's worth, but it sort of doesn't explain the Malcolm Butler, the emotional Malcolm Butler that we saw during the national anthem. If he had known the entire week that he wasn't starting,

why would he show that much emotion in that moment? I think we've all sort of read into that moment that that's the look of a man who just learned he wasn't playing in the biggest game of the season. Now maybe there's some semantics at play here. Maybe Butler knew that he wasn't going to start, but he assumed that he was going to play and he found out, look, Malcolm, you're not seen any time tonight. Our two defensive packages for this game are four corners and two safeties and three and three, and in either case, you're not one of them.

Maybe he learned that. Maybe that's the difference. Butler was told he wasn't going to start but assumed he'd play, and then in the moments before the Super Bowl, he found out, no, told he wasn't going to start, but assumed he'd play, and then in the moments before the Super Bowl, he found out, no, you're not even going to play, man. I don't know, but it's not going away. It's one of those things

that come June will all be as Patriots fans, Charlie Brown and that comic strip, looking up to the heavens. Why didn't Butler even play? Up next, we're going to talk Mike Tenier and his pick for the Patriots at 31 in his first mock draft

of the season. We're going to talk some Kyle Oletta, but first, the five most important places, the five most pivotal places at the Scouting Combine for the top quarterbacks in this draft. That's ahead with me, Mark Schofield and Locked On Patriots. Mark Schofield back with you for a Timeline Takes edition of Locked On Patriots, and I'm

going to dive into some of my own takes. As I mentioned, new Check With Me piece up over at InsideThePylon.com. That's basically a just brain dump of quarterback-related thoughts. I try to put these out every so often. And I put together sort of a pre-combined column of stuff that I'm thinking about, stuff that I'm going to be watching. I list three quarterbacks that will rise

or might continue to rise in some cases. One sort of upper-tier quarterback that I've been underwhelmed by and might potentially fall during the combine, I wade back into the Josh Allen debate and the will versus should aspect to that, some of the stuff that I've been talking about here on the show. But I also highlight in my mind for the top five quarterbacks, the big five, for each of them, the most important place in Indianapolis for them. And when it comes to quarterbacks at the combine,

it's a different sort of set of circumstances than it is for other positions. At other positions like wide out, like defensive back, edge, you can do some things in the drills, like in the three-crone. Byron Jones in the long jump. Broad jump. Excuse me. John Ross in his 40-time. That could transform you into a day-two type guy into a first-rounder.

Because of pure athleticism. People see your explosiveness, your speed, your lawn speed, and they think, we can make that work. For quarterbacks, it's a little different. You know, if you're a quarterback, if you throw up a great three-comb, people are like, okay, well, that's nice, but how does that translate to playing the position? And, you know, we can talk about the throwing drills for some of these guys, and some of it will matter as we'll get into. But for quarterbacks of the combine, a lot of the stuff that really, truly matters happens

away from the field. It might even happen behind closed doors, as we're going to get to. And these are in no particular order. I'm not sort of ranking these guys as I go through these. But let's start with Josh Rosen. And the most important spot for him, in my mind, in Indian Indianapolis is the interview podium because for me and for others I think Rosen is QB1 at least on the field he's mechanically sound he's accurate to all levels PFF has some incredible numbers for him sort of challenging the intermediate level where he really

stands out he's got good velocity velocity to all levels as well. He can make every throw. In my mind, he's the most scheme diverse guy in this group. So why isn't he QB1 for everybody? Because of anonymous scout season. Because of the injury history. We can start with the injuries, the two concussions, the shoulder

injury. So that's an issue that will have to get checked out by the medicals. I think that's going to be okay. but it's the other stuff, the sort of attitude that Rosen has where he has either interests away from the field where he's willing to sort of speak his mind about other issues. He's talked about players playing or not playing in bowl games. He's talked about how he wants to end up for a team, playing for a team where the scheme fit his best. People assumed that that was a shot at the Cleveland Browns

and how he doesn't want to play there. So the issues with Rosen are away from the field. The issues with Rosen are his willingness to speak his mind and whether that's going to comport with some of the old school mentality that owners and coaches sometimes have when it comes to quarterbacks, which is do your job,

keep your mouth shut, and make the throws when we need you to make them. That's what we need you to do. So for Rosen, he needs to make some strides and perhaps calm down some potential employers and show that, look, I'm willing to speak my mind, but I'm also willing to toe the company line. So for Rosen, it's the interview podium. Similarly, for Baker Mayfield, it's the interview suite. Because I've talked about Mayfield here and other places.

He's got that proverbial chip. He's always going to be a walk-on in his mind. He would take the smallest slight imaginable, whether real or perceived, and turn it into a motivational chip for himself. He's that guy that you want to go to war with. I know I hate the football slash war metaphors, but they slip out every once in a while.

He's the guy that you see people gravitate to on the field. You saw it down at Mobile for the Senior Bowl, but it spills over at times, and it's allowed for the sort of immaturity questions to rise. It's allowed for some of the Johnny Manziel comparisons to rise. He had the off-field, off-season arrest, which has raised some maturity questions. And so similar to Rosen,

Mayfield's going to have to sit down in those hotel suites. And if you want a glimpse of how these go, there's a great video the Eagles put out of their meeting with Carson Wentz, and it's fascinating. I'd advise you to look that up. These meetings matter. And Mayfield's going to have to sit down and look an owner, look a potential head coach in the eye and say, look, I know I've made some mistakes. I can be chippy at times. I can be, quote, immature at times. But I can be the face of your franchise. I can be the leader on the field.

You can make a first round investment in me. My play speaks for itself, but I'm here to tell you that all the stuff you've seen, all the gestures, whatever, that you might be worried about, I will be better at it. I will be better in the NFL. It's one thing to do it on a college sideline. I understand that I need to be better, and it's something I'm going to get better at. He needs to sort of put people at ease that that stuff's not going to happen on Sundays. So that's why the interview suite's going to be huge for him.

Final sort of away-from-the-cameras spot that's going to be big for one of these guys, Lamar Jackson on the whiteboard in those sort of meetings. I'm still standing here on my little soapbox telling you that Lamar Jackson is a quarterback prospect in the NFL. But people still question that. We're going to talk about Mike Tenier's mock draft in a second. He mocked Lamar Jackson as a quarterback to the Jacksonville Jaguars, and people are saying, why are they drafting a wide receiver? So he's going to face this sort of wide receiver tag as we go through this process. And once he gets to the NFL, if he starts to make some mistakes,

whether it's in camp, in a preseason game, those sort of whispers are going to come back. And part of the reason that people say he's a wide receiver, not a quarterback, is they point to the offensive end and they sort of assume that it was like one read and go, which at times two years ago, it was. But I'm here to tell you again, Bobby Petrino's offense is rooted in Ernst Perkins concepts. It's very similar structurally to what the Patriots have run. He's run an NFL offense. He's gone through full field progression reads.

He's asked to process a lot, making throws from the pocket, and he's made strides doing that over the past couple of years at Louisville. But he needs to prove that to the NFL. He doesn't need to prove it to me. I believe it, but he needs to prove it to the NFL, and he can do that in Indy on the whiteboard. Finally, two on-the-field spots that I'm watching. First, where Sam Darnold's feet meet the Lucas Oil turf.

Darnold has incredible raw talent, but the mechanics are a mess. And I've long been the guy that mechanics don't matter until they matter. Mechanics are not an issue until they're holding the quarterback back. Mechanics aren't an issue until they're impacting the play on the field. And we saw some of that this year with Sam Donald. We all know about the loopy throw in motion. I'm not as worried about that because that could be cleaned up a little bit. Some guys still make it work in the NFL with that.

Look at Russell Wilson. Look at Blake Bortles to a certain extent. Look at Carson Wentz who's tightened it up a bit, but it's still there. But it's the lower body. It's the left hip, the left leg where everything happens early. Everything happens moving away from the target. He's stepping in the bucket on throws. The whole lower body is working against him at times and that causes a dip in velocity it causes a dip in accuracy and he's working with Jordan Palmer on that he's working on his footwork so

I anticipate it getting better but I'm really curious to see out in Indy. You know, what that looks like. Finally, the fifth most important spot, not in terms of a ranking, but this is fifth on the list. Josh Allen's passing targets in Indianapolis. I've talked about

Allen a ton this year. Accuracy has been an issue. I want to see him be more accurate. I know it's just passing against air, but I've been waiting for over a year now for Allen to sort of show that development, touch, feel, placement, time, and all that stuff. Again, I know we're going to come out of Indianapolis with, you know, 68 miles per hour on the gun for Josh Allen, something absurd. Yes, he has an absolute howitzer. But we need to see the other stuff.

You know, 69 miles per hour, 68 miles per hour, that's fantastic. But if you're like Ricky Vaughn and nowhere near the target, nowhere near the plate, how good is that? I want to see if you can place these throws, even thrown against air, that will make me start to feel a little bit better. Up next, two big names in the NFL media world, Peter King, Mike Tenier, have some pieces out. I want to dive into those briefly. One, a mock draft from Mike Tenier where he gives the Patriots a defensive back in the first round. And then, Peter King.

Is Kyle Lolleta the next Jimmy Garoppolo? Quick thoughts on those ahead with me, Mark Schofield, and Locked On Patriots. Mark Schofield back with you here. Final segment on this portion, on this show, excuse me, of Locked On Patriots. And we're going to start with Mike Tenier. Great guy over at Bleacher Report.

Got to spend some time with him down in Mobile during the Senior Bowl. And he has a pre-combined mockout. This is mock draft season. We're going to be talking about him a ton. And he goes cornerback for the Patriots at pick 31. And he goes with Isaiah Oliver from Colorado. Oliver, an exceptional athlete. It's a Catholic son of another,

decathlete and an NFL cornerback, his dad. And the Patriots do, as we know, as we started the show, they face question marks at the defensive back position. And Oliver might be a good fit. And I pulled up the Inside the Pylon draft guide where we've got over 50 scouts working through stuff, getting you ready, getting ourselves ready to give you a fantastic product in the Inside the Pylon draft guide. And I pulled up the report that we've got going for Oliver and here are the things that sort of stand out Lawn and broad body type with well-defined build very good athletic ability with very good speed good quickness good change of direction at the snap

Shows a very good back pedal. Maintains cushions even versus fast wide receiver. Shows good hips when turning down field and man coverage. Has good speed to keep with streaking wide receivers. Has great short area bursts. Can click and close on curls and comebacks. Solid play strength to the line of scrimmage when jamming wide receivers. Has good hand placement on those.

Can jam receivers off the line of scrimmage when jamming wide receivers. Has good hand placement on those. Can jam receivers off the line. Shows adequate mental processing and play speed when dropping into zone coverage. Has good ball skills to win 50-50 balls. Can test the throws. He can be successful as an outside cornerback. With the athleticism to play press man coverage. Best traits. athletic ability, launch speed, change of direction,

competitive toughness, play strength, and man coverage. And I think for a team that wants to play a lot of man coverage, Isaiah Oliver would be a great fit. Now, he's one of those guys that, given his athletic ability, sort of in contrast to what we were just talking about with the quarterbacks, a guy like him could really move himself up the board with a great sort of week out in Indy.

Like if we're seeing some good 40 numbers posted, if you show some explosiveness in the broad jump, puts up good three cone numbers, stuff like that, he might move himself up the board. But if not,

if he's there at 31, corner might be a good play for the Patriots. That's something we talked about with Luke Inman on yesterday's show. And so Isaiah Oliver, I think he fits. I think he could be a good Patriot. I think it's a good pick. So kudos to Mr. Trenare for that one.

Finally, let's close out the show with some thoughts on Peter Kane and Kyle Lolleta. It is Monday morning quarterback piece. Peter Kane spends a lot of time on what he calls the offseason of quarterback movement has some guesses on where guys might end up but he has a portion of the column dedicated to the next Garoppolo for New England

and as Kane highlights the Patriots have picks 31 41 or 42 depending on how that coin flip shakes out in 63. so at some point in there king poses and i agree new england will get its next sort of garoppolo the next sort of heir apparent. And King checks in with Todd McShay from ESPN. McShay says Luke Falk

or Kyle Lilleta are the two potential guys. McShay says and King quotes, highly driven, very intelligent, accurate passers who both lived in the pocket, very good at going through their progressions. Lilleta has a slightly bigger arm and he was impressive at how he carried himself at the Senior Bowl.

Kane then quotes Eric Edholm of Pro Football Weekly, who in a piece while at the Senior Bowl said of Loretta that he's been compared to Garoppolo a lot and thinks he'd fit with the Patriots because he processes information well. And if you've read my work, listen to me. You know that that's an area where I think Loleta stands out. Four different offensive coordinators knows those offenses inside and out.

I think Loleta is the guy from New England. I've basically talked myself into that at this point, which is probably the reason you know it's not going to happen. Because the last time I talked myself into a quarterback for the Patriots, it was for AJ McCarron. Again, if you're a smart internet sleuth,

you can dig up those takes from back before I was even doing this professionally. Back when it was just a mere hobby. But I had really talked myself into the idea of AJ McCarron in the fourth. And the Patriots went with Jimmy Garoppolo in the second. So maybe my thoughts on a potential next Tom Brady for the New England Patriots should be taken with a grain of salt, given some past failures. But I'm not a man to run from my losses. I take an L.

I'm not going to hide it. I won't delete the takes. I might make you look for them a little bit. I'm not going to always throw them out there. But I think Lolleta makes perfect sense for the Patriots. So do a lot of people. So

Logan Woodside in the sixth round might be the guy. Who knows? Belichick's been known to do some funny things before. I think it's Lauletta. I think the I don't know if the Garoppolo to Lauletta one-to-one comparison makes a ton of sense, but I think for what the Patriots are looking for in a quarterback, somebody that processes information well,

somebody that's accurate in the short to intermediate area where 95% of New England's throws will be, somebody that sort of shows that competitive toughness, which we saw in the letter and the way he the way he played down at mobile not that the senior bowl is the be-all and end-all of that evaluation process but still it matters some and he showed he can make the leap to a higher level of play and you know the football intelligence portion of it which we can gleam from the fact that again four different offensive coordinators in four years and he was he played himself into the mix as a day two quarterback doing that at the FCS level.

That speaks to Lollata as a football player. And so I think he fits the bill for New England. Other people do too. Maybe we're all right. Maybe we're all wrong. That's why we're going to pay attention over the next months. Next months? Come on, Mark, be better.

That's why we're going to Come on, Mark. Be better. That's why we're going to pay attention over the next few months. And that's why you'll hopefully keep coming back every day for a new episode of Locked On Patriots. Hope you enjoyed this Timeline Takes Tuesday. Next two shows, we're going to go back to the offseason positional previews, reviews. And we're going to start talking defense. Looking at some of the guys up front. Have some thoughts on that.

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