Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Locked On Patriots July 23, 2018 - Fedora, Sparano and the 2012 Draft Revisited

Episode Date: July 23, 2018

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Good morning, everybody. Welcome into Locked on Patriots for Monday, July 23rd, 2018. Mark Schofield back in the big chair. Hope you all had a fantastic, fantastic weekend. Reminder to follow me on Twitter at Mark Schofield. Check out the work over at InsideThePylon.com. Matt Waldwin's RSP, MattWaldwinRSP.com, contributing over there. Big Blue View over part of the SB Nation Network doing some Giants coverage.

Other stuff that I'm rolling out. Pro Football Weekly, I will be back over there. Very excited about that. Going to be rolling out some pieces as we get closer and closer to training camp. Speaking of which, training camp, just a couple of days away. Meaning, friends, your daily Patriots podcast, your favorite daily Patriots podcast, is that much closer to being, in fact, a daily Patriots podcast again. This is our last week of just four shows a week.

That's right. Started next Monday. Boom, we are of just four shows a week. That's right. Started next Monday. Boom. We are back to five days a week. I know you're all super excited about that. I'm super excited about that. My voice is not super excited about that, but that's why we have June and July to rest up the vocal cords to get ready.

I will be back to five days a week up until probably the draft, maybe a couple of four days a week type of shows, type of weeks, you know, in there depending on when the Patriots season ends. Hopefully it ends with a Super Bowl, but that remains to be seen. Loaded show for you today. We're going to talk a little Tom Brady. We're going to talk some happy trails, melancholy happy trails to Coach Larry Sperano. Obviously, we're going to get into the rest, our next draft class to look at, the 2012 Patriots draft. Some fun picks to talk about there. But first, I want to start on the college game, believe it or not, and I'm not going to talk quarterbacks.

I know it pains you. I know it pains you. But I'm not going to talk quarterbacks. Media days are upon us. Media days, one of the next events on the college football calendar, SEC media days, ACC media days. We're here Monday, July 23rd. Big 10 media days getting underway.

Somewhat bittersweet that I'm not there this year. I was there for Big 10 media days last year. It was a blast. Chicago, a fun town to visit as always. Larry Allen, Indiana's head coach, was awfully gracious, spending some time with me. Lovie Smith, Illinois' head coach, awfully impressive to talk to him for a while. Just a fantastic atmosphere. It was fun to be there. But I want to start with the ACC. I want to stay in the ACC because some comments that were made last week after I had recorded shows for the week, I felt like I had to stay in the ACC because some comments that were made last week after I recorded shows for the week,

I felt like I had to come back here and get you all depressed Monday morning. Because UNC coach Larry Fedora got a lot of heat for some comments that he made about the game of football, about CTE. And I do want to touch on those as we start. Fedora making the case that football and the game of football is under attack. And he says, and I quote, I think football going away or being changed would be the decline of our country. There's no doubt in my mind. I think the lessons that you learn in the game of football relate to everything that's going to happen in the rest of your life. And if we stop learning those lessons, we're going to struggle. I think in some ways we're struggling now more than we

ever have. Are we ever going to be a perfect country? No. But I think the game of football has had a major impact on who we are as a country. He went on, I'm not going to dwell too much on this aspect, but he went on to say, with respect to CTE, I don't think it's been proven that the game of football causes CTE, but that's been put out there. We don't really know yet. Are there chances for concussions in the game of football? Yeah. We all have common sense, right? When you have two people running into each other, there is a chance of a concussion, but the game is safer than it's ever been in the history of the game. And that's kind of where I want to focus. And I want to start my comments with a piece that currently sits in the draft column on our editorial board at Inside the Potluck.

It's a piece that I wrote, I think, over a year ago that is still sitting there because I haven't felt the courage, I guess, to sort of push the publish button. And it's a piece titled The Hardest Question I Face. And it's a very personal piece. Because it's a question that terrifies me. It's a question that scares me. And I felt that question come into the forefront last Friday night. We were out to dinner for my wife's birthday, which is today. Happy birthday, Rochelle. I know you are not listening, but happy birthday. I love you. We're out at dinner.

It's Friday night. Family, my daughter, my son, my wife, and Owen, who's in camp right now, was telling us about his day. I mean, you know, Owen, you know, just turned seven, very happy, entering second grade. And he was telling us about his day at camp. And he was telling us about playing flag football. And he was telling us about how he scored a touchdown. It was his first touchdown in any sort of football endeavor, whether it's just recess, whatever. And he was so incredibly proud. And I felt myself getting proud because let's face it, I played football for 13 years of my life. Now he seems excited about it. But the one terrifying question that I know I'm going to

face, that I might face, I don't know it for sure, but I might, is when he asks, can he play organized football? Now, the game of football has meant so much to me. It has done so much for me. And I might echo some of what Fedora said right now. I started playing football when I was nine. Football taught me a lot of things along the way. Taught me discipline. It taught me the will to compete. It taught me the benefits of doing the extra work, going the extra mile.

Whether it's, I still talk about with my high school buddies. I was talking about it with a high school buddy, my buddy Jason Burke, just the other day about getting to the weight room at 6 in the morning. You know, while the rest of the school or the rest of the kids in our class were still asleep, getting to the weight room at 6 in the morning to get on an extra morning lift before school. You know, doing the little things like that. Those are lessons that football helped instill in me that I brought to the practice of law, that I brought to law school, that I brought to college, that I bring now. Whether it's getting up early in the morning to fit in an extra hour or so of film work or something, or spending some time each summer rather than just lounging on the beach all summer long, reading playbooks and building up my knowledge base for the season ahead, things like that.

So football's done a ton for me in that respect. Football's opened so many doors for me. I mean, let's face it. I got into a college I probably didn't really belong at because I could throw a football. My acceptance letter for Wesleyan University, yes, Bill Belichick and I went to the same school, but my acceptance letter had a football sticker on it. Of all the kids in my high school class that applied, I was the only one to get accepted, even though everybody else had better academic credentials. Football opened that door. It put me on a path to law school, a law school I probably wouldn't have gotten into without that first school. Again, a school that helped, a school that opened its doors to me because of football. In law school, I met my wife. When I lie awake at night for whatever reason,

I'm in a house surrounded by people I love, a wife, a son, a daughter, and football put me on a path towards that. And later in life when I had this sort of desire to get out of the practice of law, where did I come back to? I came back to the game of football because I love it so much. And all of the things that happened, all of the 13 years and the knowledge that all formed the foundation for what I'm now doing now as an attorney. I mean, not an attorney, a sports writer. And so I love this game. I love it. But there's a part of me that feels like I played it. I lived it. So my son doesn't

have to. And I know that sounds a little bit weird. Guys like Ed Reed and stuff have said things like that. I play the game so my sons don't have to so they can go do something else. It's similar for me in a sense. Not that I had a Hall of Fame career, not that I made millions and millions and millions of dollars playing in the National Football League, but playing football opened doors to me,

gave me opportunities, set me up for the life that I'm living right now. My son can do something else. And there's an extra layer to it, maybe getting a that I'm living right now. My son can do something else. And there's an extra layer to it, maybe getting a little bit too personal right now, but my son was born with only one kidney and he's completely fine. He's completely healthy.

But when that was diagnosed, I remember talking to his doctors, what are going to be some of his limitations? And they mentioned contact sports. They said he could probably still play football. He would need extra protection. But things like skiing, things like horseback riding, it would probably out for him.

So that's going to be a difficult conversation someday down the road, if not sooner. So that piece that's in the draft column in our editorial board over at ITP about that terrifying question is me sort of grappling with the idea that at some point he might come to me and ask, Daddy, can I play football? And what do I say at that moment? What do I tell him?

I've just spent five minutes or so talking about all the good that football has done for me. How do I then turn to him and say, look, but you can't do that. How do I, football writer, turn to my son and say, look, I love this game so much, but I don't want you to play it. He walks downstairs into his playroom.

What does he see in the little daddy, it's not even a man cave, it's a man corner with the Xbox and a video game chair and some photos of me that are framed playing the game. It's a difficult question and it's one that I wrestle with all the time. And Fedora's comments brought a lot of heat on himself, particularly about the CTE stuff,

because it seemed like he was perhaps dismissive of it. And I do want to give him the benefit of the doubt here because as he said, we don't really know the links between football and CTE. Are there seemingly more and more and more cases of athletes, of football players after they pass away being diagnosed with a CTE? Yes. Look at the Washington State quarterback, Tyler Helensky, who tragically committed suicide just last holiday season. 21-year-old college football player, and they found CTE. That's, in some sense, extremely terrifying. And I don't, I'm not even talking about for myself I'm talking about for all the other hundreds and hundreds

and thousands of athletes who played this game who might be walking around with that fear or worse I admit there are times when I walk into a room and I don't know why I'm there and I don't know if that's just a function of me becoming a man

I'm 40 I'm 41 I'm a man I'm 41 or if it's a function of playing becoming a man? I'm 40. I'm 41. I'm a man. I'm 41. Or if it's a function of playing the game for 13 years. I've always fallen back on the, look, I played quarterback. I didn't get hit all the time. I'm not like an offensive or a defensive lineman who on every single play, every single snap was getting whacked on the head. But when you see a 21-year-old quarterback, you do start to wonder. But then, of course, there are the other cases. A case recently where somebody was diagnosed with CTE without ever playing any sort of contact sport,

let alone football. So I do think Fedora is correct in the sense that we're still figuring it all out. But it brings us back to the underlying premise, the underlying question that I might face in a year or two years or three years about my own son. And I honestly don't know. Sitting here today, my thought is no tackle, contact, collision type football until you're in high school.

And I'd like to believe that I will stick to that. Because he's my son. And it's not just perhaps the CTE stuff that worries me, although it does. But I'm walking around with two shoulders that need surgery. I'm walking around with two knees that need to be scoped. I'm walking around with a spine that's got issues and probably needs to be repaired. It's all the other stuff too.

So it's a question that I struggle with and you can sense that I struggle with it just in this conversation right now. You can sense that I struggle with it and that there's a piece that has yet to be published that I'm still sitting on and I'm still grappling with because it's just that hard. It's a very, very difficult thing because this game has meant so much to me. This game at its core, I love it so much. But I just don't know. I know that was a super uplifting day, a way to start your Monday. I do apologize for that. But, well, I can't even promise that it's going to be more uplifting in the next segment.

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as well as some thoughts on Tom Brady, some recent social media stuff that's going to be fun to talk about, and then the 2012 Patriots draft. That's all ahead with me, Mark Schofield, and Locked On Patriots. Mark Schofield, back with you now. And, you know, mentioned at the outset just a second ago,

perhaps a little bit of a melancholy Happy Trails here, and that's Tony Sperano, a longtime coach in the National Football League, most recently offensive line coach, excuse me, with the Minnesota Vikings. And he passed away at the age of 56 over the weekend. And there's so much sadness about this story because it seems like as this is coming out, as people are coming to grips with this, the outpouring of support has been amazing to see.

Just the people that he touched. For example, Derek Carr put out a tweet on Sunday. Sparato family, I am so sorry for your loss. Coach believed in me, trusted me, and stuck with me as a rookie. He would chuckle my family. Every head coach and quarterback meeting we would have. He was a great man. I love you, coach. That's just one of countless examples that came out.

So there's that aspect to it. There's the aspect to it. I've mentioned this before. When I left the practice of law, I was doing medical malpractice defense work. Reading some of the details that are coming out, Sperano complained about chest pains this weekend, went to the hospital Thursday. Doctors did some tests and released him on Friday. And we now know how that went out. We now know how that panned out. They were trying to leave for church,

Tony Sperano and his wife Jeanette, when she found him unconscious in their kitchen. She tried CPR, but he could not be revived. That's heartbreaking. You know, doctors do make mistakes. And I'm sure that will be looked into. But it seems from, like I said, reading the outpouring of support, just in the past couple of, you know, Jake Long, for example,

I'm at such a loss for words and beyond saddened to hear about the passing of Coach Sperano. He meant so much to me. I respected the way he coached, the way he loved football, and how he approached the game. Most of all, I respected the way he loved his family so much and how good of a father he was. He was the first to believe in me, the first to give me my shot, and the only one who always stood by me through thick and thin throughout my career, and the last one to believe in me my last year in the league. He taught me so much, and I'm so grateful for him. I'm humbled and honored to have known and played for him. I love you, coach. Rest in peace. So many examples like that.

And so we do wish the best for him. And our thoughts and prayers are with the Sperano family. Also, a quick note here. Tom Brady getting ready to come back. Looks like he's going to be reporting to training camp early. And it does look like he's going to be reporting to training camp early, and it does look like he's in shape. Posted a couple of Instagram videos over the weekend, including one of him hitting a deep shot to a golf cart,

walking off, arm raised, not even looking back. It looks like Brady's ready to go. So that is some good news. I know this has been a little bit of a tough start to the week, tough start to the show, some perhaps darker segments. But look, Brady's ready to go, and that should give Patriots fans a whole bunch of hope. Up next, the 2012 Patriots draft class.

Some interesting names to talk about there. That's ahead with me, Mark Schofield, and Locked 2012 Patriots draft class. Some interesting names to talk about there. That's ahead with me, Mark Schofield, and Locked On Patriots. Mark Schofield back with you now to close out the show. Looking briefly at the 2012 Patriots draft class. And this was one of those draft classes where the Patriots, similar to this year, had two first round selections.

They moved up to acquire pick 21 from the Cincinnati Bengals, and they moved up as well to acquire pick 25 from the Denver Broncos. Although this year, however, they went offense with both selections, that year, 2012, they went defense. Here's the draft class as a whole. Chandler Jones picked 21, andante hightower pick 25 obviously don't need to spend too much time on those picks they seem to have panned out second round pick was tayvon wilson safety from illinois pick 48 third round pick jake baguette defensive end from arkansas sixth round nate ebner safety from ohio state seventh roundphonso Denard, cornerback from Nebraska, and Jeremy Ebert, wide receiver from Northwestern. And as I said, look, Jones and Hightower seem to have panned out.

Ebner in the sixth round, still a mainstay on special teams. Those picks seem to have panned out. Now, some other questions about some of the other guys. Let's start with Tavon Wilson. And, you know, Wilson was a solid contributor for the New England Patriots for a number of seasons. Contributed as well as a rookie. Had an interception as a rookie in his

regular season debut in the season opener against the Tennessee Titans. He had a start in the place of Steve Gregory who had sustained a hip injury. He mainly served as sort of a backup 2013-2014.

Did some nice things in 2015. He was perhaps on the roster bubble in 2015, but Patriots kept five safeties, actually six safeties on the depth chart that year. And he was, for most of his time, he was the backup free safety behind Devin McCourty.

But Wilson, strong contributor to the Patriots for a couple of seasons there. Jake Baguette, however, well, not as great. Struggled with injuries. Didn't see extensive playing time while he was with the Patriots. He did earn a Super Bowl reign, although he spent the entire 2014 season on the practice squad. We talked about Ebner.

Alphonso Denard. I remember the Alphonso Denard love when he came out. As a Nebraska fan, I was a huge fan of this guy. He had a four-game suspension to sort of start the season, missed the bulk of training camp because of a hamstring injury, saw a number of action, a lot of games, a lot of action in his rookie season, finished his rookie season with 35 combined tackles,

eight pass deflections, three interceptions, and a touchdown in 10 games and seven starts. He started his first career playoff game and recorded three tackles and a forced fumble during a victory over the Texans. He also started in the AFC Championship game against the Baltimore Ravens. He was waived at the end of the 2014 season.

That was the year they brought in Darrell Rivas, they brought in Brandon Browner. He started the end of the 2014 season. That was the year they brought in Darrell Revis. They brought in Brandon Browner. He started the season open of that year, but he did get a shoulder injury and then a knee injury. His playing time sort of diminished over the course of the season. And then he was waived by the Patriots with sight of multiple off-field incidents and injuries as the main factors. But you're talking about a late round, a seventh round pick there.

So I'm not too worried about that. I think they got pretty good value for that. I do sort of want to talk about the pick of Jake Begette. Because you look at who was on the board when that pick was made. They drafted him in the third round of pick 90. Who comes off the board two picks after to the Indianapolis Colts? T.Y. Hilton. That's pretty good value right there.

I also want to talk about, look, we mentioned a couple of trades earlier. When they drafted Tavon Wilson at 48, guys that were still on the board include two linebackers, Zach Brown out of North Carolina who went to the Titans and Levante David out of Nebraska who went to the Bucs. I know they'd already drafted Jones and Hightower, but both of those guys were kind of nice. Other guys, Casey Hayward at 62,

drafted by the Green Bay Packers who's now gone on to, you know, a tremendous amount of success with the Chargers. And how did the Packers make that pick? They got that pick in a trade with the New England Patriots. That was a trade that the two teams had made where New England sent. New England dropped down

and got a third round pick 90 and a fifth round pick 163 in return. That pick 90 was Jake Maggette. They would go on to trade the other pick. So there you go. Perhaps that could have been done differently. But that will do it for today's show. I will be back tomorrow.

We'll start closing out our division by division over-unders. We'll continue some looks back at the various draft classes, the 2013 draft class. Until then, keep it locked right here to me, Mark Schofield, and Locked on Patriots. you