Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Locked On Patriots January 23, 2019 - Senior Bowl Day One Recap

Episode Date: January 23, 2019

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Hey there everybody, welcome on into a very special Tape Wednesday installment of the Lockdown Patriots podcast live from Mobile, Alabama. Mark Schofield here down in Mobile for the 70th installment of the Senior Bowl. What we're going to do today, we're going to talk a little bit about Tuesday's practices, my interactions with some of these quarterbacks. I will tell you that two quarterbacks in particular very much impressed me during both the media sessions, their play on the field, and as well their interactions with me off the field after practice. But before we do all of that, a reminder to follow me on Twitter, at Mark Schofield.

Check out the work at places like InsideThePylon.com, Pro Football Weekly, The Score, Matt Waldman's Rookie Scouting Portfolio, Big Blue View, part of the SB Nation family of websites, friends, as I've said. If there is an outlet that is covering the game of football, chances are, portfolio big blue view part of the SB nation family of websites friends as I've said if There is an outlet that is covering the game of football chances are I am doing some work for them Let's get into it right now Tuesday basically When people talk about the senior bowl and how to scout practices Particularly at the quarterback position position I always say that

Tuesday that first day is a baseline day you don't read too much into it you don't sort of lose your mind get sort of overjoyed or underwhelmed that much when a quarterback either does well or does poorly because they're thrown to new players for the first time they're thrown to new players for the first time they're running a new offense for the first time they're trying to like feel things out there's like I said a feeling out period so you don't truly lose your mind but there are always things you can look for to sort of set the tone for the week and try to begin to diagnose and figure out who these players are as quarterbacks. But I want to start off the field.

I want to start at the media day session because before practices even got underway, there was a media day session where you had the chance to listen to some of these players, talk to them, ask them some questions. And as you all know, the player I was very excited to see up close and personal was Washington State quarterback Gardner Minshew. He was a player that had the interesting background where he was going Troy, then a Division II school maybe, or maybe Alabama. Ends up at Washington State when Washington State needs a quarterback because of a very sad situation where Tyler

Haneke, their expected starter for this season, took his own life. And if you want to look into that more, Haneke's Hope, please check that out. They're doing great work about mental health when it comes to college athletes. So Gardner Minshew goes there, and as I told you sort of in yesterday's show, he was a quarterback that I did not have much exposure to. But once I watched him on tape, I came away very impressed

with some of the things that he does, both from a progression standpoint, from a footwork standpoint, from an accuracy standpoint, from a sort of competitive toughness standpoint. And when I rolled into media day, a little bit late because let's face it, I woke up at 3 in the morning to get down there. Things were running a little bit slow at the rental car counter, so it took me some while to get there. But he was the first podium I went to, and I was not disappointed at all. Let me say this.

If there is a player trying to take sort of the mantle of Baker Mayfield 2.0, it is Gardner Minshew. He talked about the chip on his shoulder. He talked about how nobody really gave him a chance, not that many offers coming out, not that many transfer offers, not a lot of interest in him trying to prove the people that doubted him wrong, trying to prove the people that believed in him right he is definitely trying to take on that sort of mantle Baker Mayfield 2.0 and the mannerisms the way he plays on the field it almost fits but what really got me excited about Gardner Minshew got the chance to ask him a question about Mike Leach, Mike Leach's

offense, and how sort of the Mike Leach air raid type of system set him up to do the kinds of things that NFL scouts and evaluators are looking for. And his answer blew me away. He basically looked me in the eye and said, look, you know, we're running an offense that makes you do full field progression reads, reading four, reading five different players from sideline to sideline on any given play. And this is the part that stuck with me, guys. He looked me dead in the eye and said, and a lot of those college pro style systems don't do that. And he literally put the air quotes around pro style. And that was the

moment where as somebody trying to be objective and somebody trying to be professional, had a little bit of a gaga goo goo eye situation because they see him say that you got the sense that he reads what people are saying. He reads all of the write-ups and the evaluations and people saying that look Mike Leach quarterbacks they can't run pro-style offenses. There are other guys running pro-style offenses that are going to be better and he's like no no no my friends what I do what I do is actually pro-style. So I absolutely loved that from Gardner Minshew. Another quarterback who impressed me with his demeanor with the media, and this was an after practice situation, Will Greer from West Virginia University. He was scheduled to be at Media Day, but he got tied up somewhere else,

so he couldn't quite make it for that. There's been some buzz about him blowing off Media Day or something like that. Don't read anything into that off media day or something like that. Don't read anything into that. Don't believe something like that. He got tied up with somewhere else. It's no big deal. He was open, honest, completely available with the media once his practice session got done. And I will say that, look, playing quarterback is all about confidence.

You cannot play this position scared. You can't play it timid. You can't play it afraid. You have to be supremely confident in your abilities as a quarterback, as a passer, as the only person on your team other than the center who should touch the football on every single play. And so when Will Greer stood up with the media and basically said, I don't understand some of the stuff I've been reading.

I'm the best quarterback in this class. I am the best passer in this class. I'm the best draft prospect in this class. People have concerns about my arm talent. Go ask the people at Florida. Go ask my receivers that I've played with. Go ask the people that I've played against. My arm talent is not an issue.

I was pretty impressed with that. And when he followed up that my arm talent is not an issue, I was pretty impressed with that. And when he followed up that my arm talent is not an issue statement, somebody asked him, so you're going to throw at the combine? He turned around dead in their eye and said, absolutely. I loved that from him. But media scrums and things like that, they're just a part of the senior bowl week. The play on the field, I will tell you four quarterbacks that sort of stood out to me. And if you want more on the guys that were throwing the ball, you can go out to Pro Football Weekly. I got a great recap up there, breaking the entire day down. But the four quarterbacks that stood out to me during Tuesday's

practices, again, remembering that it's just sort of a baseline day, are these four quarterbacks that stood out to me during Tuesday's practices, again remembering that it's just sort of a baseline day, are these four quarterbacks. First Gardner Minshew. If you listened to yesterday's show I told you that his footwork, his ability to work through progressions while keeping his head, his eyes, and his feet tied together and in sync were very impressive. You saw that in practice. This was one of the things that stood out to me last year about Baker Mayfield because with Baker Mayfield you saw him have that ability on tape to look off safeties, look off defenders, work through progressions and then understand sort of leverage in the

secondary and it was one thing to see it on tape in the Bay 12 when sometimes the receivers are pretty wide open. It's another thing to see it on the practice field whether he's thrown one-on-one routes or routes versus air or seven-on-seven or team drills. With Gardner Minchie it was the same way. You saw him whether it was one-on-ones, seven-on-sevens, team drills, moving his feet through his progression reads and then making the throw and the right decision. So I love seeing that from him. Another quarterback that stood out to me, Tyree Jackson from the University of Buffalo. And yes, there

is a big question mark with Tyree Jackson. He is a full-on developmental prospect, but when you step onto that practice field and you see all six foot five six foot seven inches of him he literally stands out he's a very big human being there's no other way to say that but you see the arm talent you see the potential explosiveness the ability to drive some throws into tight windows the ability to push the ball down the field that all stood out during Tuesday's practices and there are times when he has sort of that Josh Allen syndrome where the arm talent might be a double-edged sword where he might

wait a step or two longer than he should because he knows that look I've got the arm to drill this throw in so I can wait to make sure if this route is open but the velocity is there and the placement was better than we saw on tape from him so I was impressed with his day but it comes with a big caveat he still seems to me and to others in attendance at Ladd-Peebles that he's that developmental type prospect. And the NFL cemeteries and graveyards are filled with the tombstones that say this quarterback needed to develop. But in today's NFL, with the practice rules and the CBA structure, sometimes these quarterbacks don't get a chance to develop. And so the concern with Jackson is he needs that,

and if he gets it, he could be the absolute boom prospect, but he might not get it. Two quarterbacks on the other team that really impressed me, and one was Drew Locke. And people that listened to yesterday's show probably know that wasn't that high on Locke coming into this week so here is a player that for myself and I think for a lot of other people in attendance needed to have sort of that kind of week that sets him apart in one way

or another and I will say that Locke impressed me with his play on Tuesday. And part of it was the mechanics. With Locke, there was always a concern that the footwork wasn't there, release points weren't always consistent. Sometimes he would make some throws that, while may or may not have been impressive, he sort of turned them into back foot fadeaway type throws, whether pushing the ball down the field or elsewise. And there was another concern that I had with him, which was sometimes he didn't seem like a quarterback confident and attack in the middle of the field. All of those concerns, at least for one practice session,

and again, it's one practice session, so you take it with a grain of salt, were kind of put out the window. I saw some, of course, great placement down the field what you expect with him That's his ball game But you also saw some good stuff over the middle one of the better throws he made was at the end of their practice session during the team drills When he was running sort of a Yankee concept saw a lot of Yankee concept from some of these quarterbacks down there. It seems like, look, we write about it all the time.

It's because teams are running it. And you see a lot of these quarterbacks on particularly, you know, that north practice, that north roster, running Yankee concept. And during team drills, there was a play where he was a little bit pressured, was forced to make an off-platform throw with his feet not set, but he drilled it in there on sort of that underneath over route coming from left to right. And that was one of those notes where you take the pen,

you write it into your notes with a couple of exclamation points. So I was impressed with Locke's performance on the field, but you also take it with the fact that he was somebody that was going into this week as perhaps the QB1 mantle when Monday press conferences took place. It was executive director of the senior bowl, Jim Nagy, and it was Drew Locke. So you get the sense that, look, people are building him up. He had the kind of performance that you might want to see from the supposed quarterback one down here at the Senior Bowl.

But on that North practice, on that North roster, there was one more quarterback that really sort of stood out to me, and I might be a little bit of an outlier on this one because in talking around Bud's people, talking around Ladd people talking around lad peoples and getting some of the buzz from people this was a quarterback that not many people were high on coming in myself included but North Carolina State quarterback Ryan Finley impressed me and part of the reason was when you were studying him on film velocity might not have been his

calling card might have been his calling card. It might have been an issue where you're thinking, he might be more of a touch passer, a timing and rhythm passer, and that's what I felt about him. That's part of the reason why I said on this show that the New England Patriots might be interested in him. But he showed more velocity today, or Tuesday, than I expected to see from him and it wasn't just on West Coast concepts slant routes hitch routes quick curl routes no it was down the field he

ripped a throw during seven on seven on a band-aid post route with velocity timing placement everything was perfect and that was one of those moments where like I wasn't expecting to see that and one of the fascinating things about senior bowl week every single year we come down here is that there is a player or two that makes you want to go back and watch their film again to see if you've missed something and some of the throws Ryan Finley made during practice on Tuesday made me want to go back and re-watch his films. I was very impressed with him and I got a chance to catch up with him after his practice. And while he stressed that consistency is the focus of his week, he wants to be consistent with his ball placement, with his performance, and with his

decisions. What I love to see more than anything else was I got a chance to ask him about one of their passing concepts. North Carolina State ran this trips receiver concept where the outside receiver runs a post, the middle receiver runs sort of an out and up, and then that third receiver, that inside receiver, runs an out route. And the second, I didn't even get through asking the question when you literally saw Ryan Finley's eyes light up,

a smile, calm, and calm across his face. And he was like, yeah, yeah, yeah. We ran that a lot. That's a great play. That just kind of gets one of our best players on a Mike linebacker on our safety coming down. So that's a matchup that we love every time. And while he didn't have that sort of, I don't want to say cocky, but supreme confidence like we heard from a Minshew or a Greer,

I loved hearing that sort of nerdy football talk from a quarterback about a concept that just gets your number three receiver lined up on a Mike linebacker, taking advantage of a mismatch from the defense and exploiting it. Does that sound to you locked on Patriots listeners as something that the Patriots like to do? I said this coming into this week. I stand by it more now than ever. Patriots fans want to do some work on Ryan Finley. I will just say that right now. I'm going to close out the show with a couple of things about sort of the buzz around Ladd People Stadium. Senior Bowl week is great to sort of

catch up with a lot of other football minds, a lot of other media members, and to get a chance to sort of pick their brains about things. And obviously people come up to me and they always want to talk about the quarterbacks, and there are a lot of quarterback-related discussions. And one quarterback in particular that was discussed a ton down at Ladd-Peebles was a quarterback not even there. And that, of course, is Kyler Murray, quarterback from the University of Oklahoma Heisman Trophy winner. And I am not alone in struggling with how to view his professional prospects.

You talk to, you know, whether it's Shane Alexander of InsideThePylon.com or Danny Kelly from The Rinner or Seth Golina from SB Nation or anybody else, Ted Wynn from the Athletic. From a talent-based perspective, Kyler Murray could be number two or number one in this quarterback class. The talent is there. But there are some sort of, and I don't want to call them red flags because that would do a disservice to what we're going to talk about here because I don't think they're truly red flags, but there are some external factors with Kyler Murray that

might make it difficult for an NFL GM in the first round to sort of turn in that card for him. First of all, you're drafting the ultimate outlier. Shane Alexander posed a fantastic question. He said, look, if he comes in at 511 and 205, it's a much different discussion. Why? Because then you can truly make the, this is Russell Wilson, it's not that much of an outlier now kind of comparison. But that will not be the situation with Kyler Murray. With Kyler Murray, you're talking about a quarterback who is sub 5'10", who weighs 188 pounds. And yes, while he looked a little bit yoked up throwing to, you know, Antonio Brown in that little practice session, drafting a quarterback of that size and stature

might get you fired if it doesn't pan out. Here's the other thing. Say you draft him at the late part of the first round. You want to get maybe that fifth-year option on him. But he's got a baseball career to potentially fall back on. And if he sits on the bench for a year doesn't play who's to stop him from saying look I want to go at least play something so I'm going to go play baseball now and he walks away and I'm not saying that could happen I'm not saying we've heard anything to

give that idea some credence but it's a potential thing to worry about. And so while the talent might be there, how the NFL views him might sort of lag behind the talent factor. But, of course, it only takes one team. It only takes one team to buy into what he can do. But Kyler Marley definitely getting a lot of buzz down here at Latin Peels. Another couple of players getting some buzz. First, I want to mention Andy Isabella, undersized, shifty-type slot receiver

from the University of Massachusetts, measured in just under 5'9", 186 pounds. So you have some questions about whether he can translate to a boundary-type receiver or not. But as I said last year with Braxton Berrios, you know, every time Braxton Berrios made a catch, everybody who knows I host the Locked on Patriots podcast turned to me and nodded. And so with Andy Isabella, told everybody within airshot if you're gonna do a mock draft this year in the fifth round Andy Isabella to the New England Patriots just just put it down chances are you're gonna be right he showed shiftiness off the line of scrimmage the ability to beat the press and that guy is insanely quick with his feet,

with his cuts, and with his breaks. So if you're a Patriots fan listening to the show, get yourself on some UMass tape, watch Andy Isabella. Another wide receiver I think caught a lot of buzz, and I think you want to do some work on him if you're just a draft Nick itself Terry McLaren from Ohio State down the field long boundary routes in the quick game he was very impressive on one of Daniel Jones's best throws of the day it was a nice out route with timing and velocity from the left hash mark to the right sideline McLaren capped it off with a one-handed catch in traffic. And that was one of those moments you hear a lot of ooh and ah moments from the crowd at Ladd-Peebles Stadium during the Senior Bowl. That was one of them. So that sort of recaps the Tuesday practice sessions down at Ladd-Peebles. I have a bit of disappointing news. A Wednesday recap show might not be in the

mix because last night, Tuesday night, we were told that because of some impending bad weather, thunderstorms, they were moving practice sort of into the indoor bubble at South Alabama. The problem with that is it's a very small facility. They barely have enough room for NFL, you know, scouting departments and NFL personnel. So media is shut out from that, which meant, of course, that all the people down here covering the event now have nothing to do today, which means that they had nothing to worry about last night. So last night was a little bit of fun. But we're back at it today with this show. As far as, you know, a show from tomorrow.

Might have to make something up on the fly because we're not going to have any sort of practice tape to sort of work off from. But I wanted to get this show out there. I was impressed with some of these guys. Again, Andy Isabella. Do some homework on him. When we do a Thursday recap show, I'm going to talk some more about some of the tight ends. I think there are a couple of tight ends that Patriots fans might want to think about as well, some safeties and interior defensive linemen. Quick snapshot, offensive line was dominated

today, dominated on Tuesday by the defensive line. Defensive line guys sort of had their way on Tuesday. We'll see how that pans out on Thursday. But that will do it for today. Wanted to get sort of a quick recap out there. I will be back at some point for a Wednesday show, recapping what we saw on Wednesday, whether it's Wednesday night or Thursday morning. Hopefully we can get some access to practice tape or something

to give you a little bit of something, but I'll be back later. Until next time, keep it locked right here to me, Mark Schofield, live from home.