Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Locked On Patriots March 15, 2018 - Free Agency Officially Opens

Episode Date: March 14, 2018

Mark Schofield talks about the departures of Nate Solder, Dion Lewis and Malcolm Butler, urges caution, wonders about A.J. McCarron and dives into two quick takes from the timeline.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Ides of March are come, I Caesar, but not gone. Mark Schofield here with you for Locked On Patriots on this Thursday, March 15th, 2018. Yes, a reference to the Ides of March. Reminder to follow me on Twitter at Mark Schofield. Follow the work over at InsideThePylon.com. And the NFL free agency period has officially gotten underway, and we're going to dive into some of the news, some of the movement, and some of the things that haven't happened yet in New England. We're going to talk Nate Solder. We're going to talk Malcolm

Butler. We're going to talk Dion Lewis, Rex Burkhead. We're going to throw out AJ McCarron. And at the end of the show, we're going to have two takes from the timeline that I can't resist digging into. But first, I want to talk about a little story here. Again, story time with Uncle Mark. And what I want to do is throw you back to when I was in kindergarten. When I was in kindergarten, I was going to a Montessori school. And the Montessori school was in Newton, Massachusetts. And because of my parents' work schedules, what would happen each day was I would get dropped off at my grandparents' house.

And then since the school was so close to where my grandparents lived, what would actually happen since my grandmother didn't drive and my grandfather was working, he would already be at work that day, I would take a cab. A cab would come and it would take me to the Montessori school and then at the end of the day, I would come home back to my grandparents' house and then my mom would pick me up when her day of work was over. And when I would get home, my grandmother would,

because it wasn't a full day kindergarten usually, you know, she would make me lunch and I'd end up watching soap operas with her. And I still remember the phrase, like, sands through the hourglass. So were the days of our lives. And that happens. I know this was a little bit of a long-winded buildup. But that reminds me of every free agency period as a New England Patriots fan.

Because right now, the in-bill-we-trust mantra is under assault, as it is every single year, because the Patriots haven't made moves. They've let players walk, other big time players are being signed by other organizations, and people are wondering, and I've seen this on Twitter, you've probably heard it, whether it's on 98.5, whether it's on EI, that Belichick's lost it. The game's passed them by. But this happens every single year. And part of it, I think, is the change in the calendar in the sense that now we have this legal tampering period. We live in this Twitter-driven age where everything happens in an instant.

Everything gets broken down in an instant. We can see a move and overreact to it in real time before the moves actually officially happen. And so what I want to do at the outset here is to calm everybody down. To invite you to take a couple of steps back from the Tobin. Everything's okay. The sky, as much as it might seem like it, is really not falling. Because the NFL New Year has just officially started. And what usually happens, as we've seen before with the New England Patriots,

as we're seeing now, as we'll see again until Bell Belichick decides to walk away and go fishing for the rest of his years, they take their time in free agency because they're trying to identify players that fit what they do offensively, that fit what they do defensively, that will fit in a designed role, in a designed scheme. So we need to calm down a little bit. But because of the guys that have moved on, people are getting worried. And we can talk about that for a few minutes here. Malcolm Butler.

Obviously, Malcolm Butler was a big subject of discussion in the wake of Super Bowl 52. Doesn't see any defensive snaps. We expected he was on his way out the door. And he is. Malcolm Butler signs a five-year contract worth more than $61 million with more than $30 million guaranteed to go play for the Tennessee Titans. That's a lot of money. Malcolm Butler last year, $3.9 million.

That was his total cap figure. That's a massive amount of money. Stephon Gilmore's total cap figure, 6.5. A fully guaranteed salary last year of $4.5 million. A $3.6 million prorated sign-in bonus, a roster bonus for a total cap figure of $8.5 million. That was his 2017 contract. Stephon Gilmore for 2018. Not going to be making what Malcolm Butler's making.

Next season, Stephon Gilmore, $8.5 million base salary, which is fully guaranteed. Pro-rated bonus of $3.6 million. Half a million dollar roster bonus for a total cap number of $12.5 million. Still below what Malcolm Butler just earned on the open market. And so, look, Malcolm Butler was allowed to chase the money and he got a big deal.

This is how the Patriots conduct business. They give the guys a chance to see what their value is on the open market. If they like what they see, they go. You could say the same thing about Deion Lewis. Deion Lewis, he signs a big deal, again, with the Tennessee Titans. Four years, $23 million. $11.5 million in guarantees.

You know, and when you look at what Dion Lewis was being paid last year, there's nowhere close to that. $1.2 million, $200,000 prorated bonus, roster bonus of $87,000. I mean, Deion Lewis just got paid. Deion Lewis just got his back. And this is something that we talked about when the season ended, looking at the running back position,

looking at what Deion Lewis is probably going to command on the open market, the expectation was the Patriots would make a run at him. But when you're talking about paying a running back in the neighborhood of $5 million per, or more than that perhaps, that's not typically what the Patriots do. And so Deion Lewis is now in the AFC South. We talked about potential plan B would be Rex Burkhead, getting him back in the fold, and that's what the Patriots have decided to do.

Word came out Wednesday afternoon, Burkhead re-signed to a three-year deal. As of right now, money hasn't been disclosed, but according to Ian Rappaport at Rappsheet on Twitter, it's heavy on guaranteed money. So now when you look at the running back position, obviously they've been Brandon Bolden back.

You've got Burkhead back now in the mix. You still have Mike Gillisley. I think the Patriots then, Naeem Hines or somebody like that, later in the draft, fifth, sixth round somewhere. I'd look for a move like that. And finally, Nate round somewhere. I'd look for a move like that. And finally, Nate Solder. He signs with the Giants four years, $62 million. With $35 million in guarantees,

making Nate Solder the highest paid left tackle in the National Football League. And his total cap number was 11.1 million last year with the Patriots now four years 62 million that's a big payday making him the highest paid tackle left tackle excuse me in the National Football League 15.5 per. 35 million in guarantees. You can't blame

guys for doing that. Yes, it's a blow. He was a steady left tackle, protecting Tom Brady's blindside for years. So that's the job that they're going to have to fill you wonder about Antonio Garcia you wonder about a draft choice

and I forget who it was on Twitter I think it might have been Louis Riddick but I'm not positive who basically said that the difference between good organizations and bad ones are the bad ones tend to have to overpay in free agency. Players that move on from good organizations who look at it and say,

look, we'd rather just draft somebody, spend a little bit less money, and develop him in our system. And that might be what we see again with a Colton Miller. Or maybe they get Antonio Garcia back and he becomes the guy that they hoped he was going to be when they drafted him in the third round last year. You know, so,

a lot of guys going out, not much coming in yet. Sense of unease and almost, I'd say, panic in New England. But it's still extremely, extremely, extremely early. A lot of moves will still happen. The Patriots tend to be slower

during free agency. You know, the Stephon Gilmore move last year, it didn't really come out until after free agency had been undergoing and nobody had heard about it, nobody had read a thing about it. So we can all sort of calm down. It's going to be okay, everybody. This is still a very solid football team, and they're adding pieces, as we'll see, as we've talked about.

You know, Brendan Burkhead back will be great. You know, Brendan Ebner back, I think, is critical to special teams. There's a lot of movement left to happen. And the other thing to remember is, you know, they're going to get some compensatory picks out of these moves. You know, probably get a third, maybe.atory picks out of these moves. You know, probably get a third, maybe looking at Miguel at Pat's cap on Twitter.

He's speculating a third for Lewis, maybe a sixth for him and dole, maybe a third for Butler, maybe even something a little bit higher for, for Nate's older, you know, so they'll have those in next year's draft. So again, it's early.

There will be more movement. It's going to be okay. Speaking of movement, up next, we're going to talk a little A.J. McCarron, some speculation there. And later in the show, two takes that I've got to deal with. That's ahead with me, Mark Schofield, in Locked on Patriots. Mark Schofield back with you now. Going to talk a little A.J. McCarron action, if you can believe it,

because it was late Tuesday afternoon, maybe even Tuesday evening, when my friend Benjamin Albright, by the way, hanging with Ben down at Mobile was a blast. I'll just throw that out there. And yes, he went to the bar with the fuchsia blazer on. Massive props to him for doing that. But at 9.20 or so Eastern, Ben puts out the tweet, keep an eye on the Patriots for AJ McCarron if the price is right.

And I have to tell everybody, some of you may know the story, some of you may know the takes. 2013, 2014, Mark Schofield is overjoyed at reading that. And for those of you that aren't aware, back in the Helicon days of the Sons of Sam Horn message board, back before Mark Schofield

was just another lawyer on the streets of Washington, D.C. and not wannabe sports writer slash podcast host slash quarterback. Guy that has quarterback takes. Let's put it that way. People try to tag me with a QB guru, QB savant. I'm just a dude with takes, okay? But back then,

before I was doing this and getting paid for it, I was telling anybody who would listen over at Soch, over in the streets of D.C. when I was walking to or from the subway, AJ McCarron's the guy.

AJ McCarron's the guy to draft. He's going to be the guy to replace Tom Brady. You watch what he did at Alabama. You watch how Saban sort of developed him, put more and more and more on AJ McCarron's shoulders as he became more and more experienced to the point where his final Iron Bowl, this was the kick six game. A Nick Saban offense put it all on McCarron's

shoulders to go out there and throw to win that game in the end. And McCarron, he had them in position to win that game. He had thrown the big shot to Amari Cooper, the 99 yarder, that gave them the lead. And it just ended up that they won that game, the way that game ended with the kick six. But I was telling everybody that would listen, look, I like Adrian McCarron. I think he's great.

I think he'll be there in the fourth or fifth round. I think that the take that I was making back then, look, I'm going to be honest here, was the fourth round. I loved it. And when the Patriots decided to go the Garoppolo route, I'll admit at the outset, I hadn't studied Garoppolo a ton,

but my whole argument was you could have addressed other positions. You could have addressed other positions in the second round and gotten McCarron in the fourth, but it didn't work out that way. And you're hearing more and more, you know, after his combine, his interviews and everything else might have been awful. Heard that from more and more people. How sort of cocky and arrogant McCarron was. And he goes to Cincinnati.

But now there's the potential that McCarron is back in New England. It's just a rumor. Albright just kind of threw it out there. All I'm going to say is this. If it ends up being the route that they take, it will tell you a couple of things. It will tell you that they're not as big in the quarterback class as we are. That they'd rather get in a guy that was stuck behind Ian Dalton. They'd rather take a shot on him and get him into the system rather than taking a shot on a Loretta or a Mike White or a Luke Falk or a Mason Rudolph.

That's one thing it will tell me. The other thing it'll tell me. The other thing it'll tell me is that 2013-2014 Mark Schofield was on the right path. Okay? Maybe I didn't nail it, but I was at least on the right path. Now, it'll probably turn out that Jimmy Garoppolo is the better quarterback. And, okay, like I said, I'm not perfect. I'm just a dude with takes.

But I feel a little bit better because I was getting bodied for that over the years. It's like, yeah, but you still liked Adrian McCarron. Okay, you take your L's. At least I feel a little bit better about that. Things I don't feel great about, the two takes we're going to talk about next. I'm just going to touch on them briefly, but my goodness, they were fun. That's ahead with me, Mark Schofield,

and Locked on Patriots. Mark Schofield back with you now. Going to close this out with some quick timeline takes, just addressing two takes that popped up on Wednesday. And the first, regards Oklahoma's Pro Day. Baker Mayfield had his pro day on Wednesday. And as he was warming up, as he was getting ready, you saw the videos on Twitter. You saw the tweets. You saw the takes.

Baker wearing a white headband. And people immediately were making some Karate Kid jokes, some Cobra Kai references. And it was all in good fun because, you know, Baker's dude. He's a dude. He's Baker. Baker's gonna Baker. What can I say? But then Pete Prisco from CBS

drops the take. Wear a headband to your next job interview and see how that goes. And I love Pete. Okay, I think he's great on Twitter. I think the battles that he fights with Mike Freeman are incredible over Russell Wilson. Freeman calling him short stack. It's a bit of a love-hate relationship, a little friendly feud that they've got on Twitter.

So I love Prisco. I think he's great. But we're talking about a pro day. He's not walking in for an interview to be an eye banker. He's not sitting down for his character and fitness interview after passing the bar exam. He's working out. He's throwing a football.

Let's put it this way, okay? If your organization needs a quarterback and the deciding factor in not drafting Baker Mayfield is the fact that he wore a headband at his pro day, find another team. You know, put out a tweet, make a poll, do something, but find another team to root for because I cannot imagine

that somebody's going to look at that and say, oh, that's going to be the guy. That's the dude. I guess he should have done the Johnny Manziel and thrown on the helmet and shoulder pads because that worked out. So, you know, this idea that sort of Baker hurt himself because he was wearing a headband. Okay. I'm not sure I'd go down that road. Another road I won't go down

clay travis over from i'll kick the coverage fox sports said on radio today that the browns should draft a quarterback at one which i agree with get your guy at one don't let another team decide who your guy is but then clay goes on to say they should also grab a quarterback at four. And that they should also grab a quarterback at 33. Now, I understand the general

premise. The general premise being, look, if you're the Cleveland Browns, you've got to get quarterback fixed. You've got to get quarterback fixed. You've got to get quarterback right. You've got to make sure you come out of this draft with a quarterback of the future. So I get the general idea, but 1, 4, and 33

is really, really, really a bridge too far. Okay? You just traded for Tyrod Taylor. You draft your guy at one. If you want to go, say, on day two, day three even, draft another quarterback, say you come out of this draft process with, we'll just say for sake of argument, Sam Darnold at one. You've just traded for Tyrod Taylor.

So there's two quarterbacks. I mean, look at Cleveland. Theyold at one. You've just traded for Tyrod Taylor. So there's two quarterbacks. I mean, look at Cleveland. They've got one. They've got four. They've got to pick 33, 35, 64. Again, that's five in the first two rounds. Then they get to pick at 110, to pick at 144. I mean,

you know, right now the Browns don't have a third round pick, okay? But with three in the second, they can move back. Maybe they draft, you know, let's say sake of argument, they go Sam Donald at one, Kyle Lauletta at 64. Sam Donald at one, Kyle Lauletta at 64. Sam Donald at one, Mike White at 110. Sam Donald at one, Luke Falk at 141. Then you're coming in with three decent quarterbacks. And if you can't get quarterback right out of that group, then something's wrong. Especially with the other additions you have.

Especially with the fact that you've still got Tyrod Taylor, who could be your quarterback for the next year. But the idea that they've got to go Donald at one, Mayfield at four, and then maybe Mason Rudolph at 33, that's a lot of draft capital, of cap space. I mean, paying two first-round quarterbacks? That just seems misguided. I get Clay's overall point that you've got to get it right,

but you can do it without hemorrhaging the rest of the draft capital you've amassed. That's just me. Again, I'm just a dude with some takes. That's all I can say. Sometimes I get them right. Sometimes I get them right. Sometimes I get them wrong. But that's why you guys call me out. You guys called me out on screaming to start the show the other day.

Some of you weren't happy about that. So I resisted the urge to scream to start this show. Much as I wanted to. So that will do it for today. That will do it for the week unless something big happens. The Patriots make a move. They sign Ndamukong Su. They sign AJ McCarron.

I'll hop back on the mic, drop some quick takes. I don't want to leave you guys lurching for an entire week and wondering what my thoughts are. You can always see my thoughts on Twitter, at Mark Schofield. Again, follow the work over insidethepylon.com. ITP draft guide. We are, I got to tell you guys,

I'm not just saying this because it's something that ITP is putting together. We've got about 80 pages of it locked and loaded. It looks great. It really looks great. Dave Archibald, at Dave Archie on Twitter, is doing the production stuff on the back end.

And he is crushing it. Please follow Dave. Also, this just pumped up to my head. Remember, the Patriots traded for Danny Shelton. Seems like we've already forgotten that. Back to the ITP Draft Guide, though. Use that promo code TOTO at ITPDraftGuide.com. Get yourself some money off of it.

You can get last year's copy if you want to see how we put this together. It's going to be a really nice product. We're going to be proud of it. I hope you enjoy it. That will do it for today's show. Like I said, Patriots make a move. I'll hop back on the mic. Otherwise, I will talk to everybody.

Monday, have a fantastic weekend. Hope you enjoy it, whatever you're doing. Until next time, keep it locked right here to me, Mark Schofield, and Locked on Patriots.