Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Locked On Patriots May 10, 2019 - Tape Friday: Jake Bailey/Ken Webster

Episode Date: May 10, 2019

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Hey there everybody, welcome on in to a Friday installment of the Locked On Patriots podcast. Mark Schofield back in the big chair for today, Friday, May 10th, 2019. What we're going to do today, we're going to close out our series on the Patriots draftees. Obviously, Monday, and depending on how long things go, maybe Monday and Tuesday, we'll look at the undrafted free agents. But today, we're going to close it out looking at the final two picks by the New England Patriots. We're going to talk Jake Bailey, a punter from Stanford. Yes, I dug up punter tape. You know what it was like to sit in the Twitter DMs and put out some messages. Hey, anybody have some Stanford special teams, all 22 I could take a look at?

Because there are not a lot of people out there doing cutups of punters. And yeah, I felt a little bit like somebody looking for a fix. It was a little awkward, but I did it for the love. So I did get a chance to see some Jake Bailey tapes. I'll be talking about that. I was going to talk about Ken Webster, the defensive back of the corner for Ole Miss. get a chance to see some Jake Bailey tapes. I'll be talking about that. I was going to talk about Ken Webster, the defensive back the corner from Ole Miss. Got a chance to watch some of his stuff. So we'll be talking about both of those guys today. But before we dive in, your usual reminders. Please follow me on the Twitter machine at Mark Schofield. You can check out the work at a variety of places. InsideThePylon.com, Pro Football Weekly, The Score, Matt Waldman's Rookie Scouting Portfolio,

Big Blue View, Bleeding Green Nation, and of course, Pat's Pulpit, that trio of SB Nation websites. And of course, at Bleeding Green Nation, I am the co-host of the one and only QB Scots show with the venerable dean of football Twitter himself, Michael J. Kissed. Let's talk punters. And when I signed on to do this show, I didn't really imagine a day when I'd be sitting down breaking down a punter. It's really not my thing. It's really not anybody's thing. There are some people that have done it.

The one and only Chuck Zotta. He's done it. He's done great work. For a long time, he was the go-to person when it came to scouting punters and kickers. But Chuck's off to greener pastures, doing bigger and better things now. So I didn't get a chance to coordinate with him on this.

But what I did was, like I said, I got myself some film. I got his game against Notre Dame 2017, during which he was named the Pac-12 Player of the Week. He had seven punts in that contest, averaging 50.4 yards per punt, five punts of 50 yards or more, a career long at that point of 65 yards. Now he did have an 84-yarder last year, which is now his career long. So I got a chance to watch some of those punts.

Now, let's break down a couple of them. First punt I want to talk about is a punt from his own 35-yard line. The ball is aligned in the middle of the field, and he hits it down to the 13-yard line. So you've basically got a punt that carries in excess of 50 yards in the air. Let's do the math here together. This is a punt that carries 52 yards in the air. Let's do the math here together. This is a punt that carries 52 yards in the air. It is fair caught, as I said, at the 13-yard line of Notre Dame, their own 13-yard line, at the left numbers. And this is something to keep in mind. When you're

talking about punters, there's a number of things you want to look at. You want to look at sort of the net punt in yards, air yards on the punt. You want to look at the hang time, which we'll get to in a second. But you also want to look at the direction. Because it's one thing to just boom a punt down the middle of the field. It's another thing to be able to put direction on it, to sort of pin the receiver towards the sideline. That's directional punting.

And here he goes middle of the field to the left numbers. And the hang time on it by my stopwatch, 4.76. Just so you know, I looked up sort of NFL hang time averages, and I found a Pro Football Weekly piece. It talks about how, and this is a piece from 2015, where you'll find NFL average, at least by that point, was 4.40. That's on coffin punts. And then 4.44, which is open field punts defined as any punt from your own 40 or deeper.

So any punt from your own 40 down to your own goal line. So this is an open field punt from his own 35, 4.76 on the hang time, air yards of 52 from line of scrimmage to where it's caught. And again, he puts it outside the numbers. Second punt I want to talk about in that game comes from his own 41 yard line. Again, the middle of the field goes down to the 13 yard line for Notre Notre Dame, again outside the numbers. This carries 46 yards in the air and a hang time of it on it of 4.90, well above that open field NFL hang time average of 4.44.

Punt three in this game. Line of scrimmage is the 39-yard line of Stanford, and he puts it to the seven-yard line of Notre Dame. This, again, comes from middle of the field, this time to the right numbers, outside the right numbers. Again, you see the directional punting. You see some distance on it. Carries 54 yards in the air. Hang time, 4.48. Again, above that sort of open field punting average in the NFL of 4.44 seconds. And finally, the big one, the 65-yarder, he puts this left hash mark, his own 15, to the left hash mark, the 20-yard line.

So this goes 65 in the air at 4.81 on the hang time. You're getting the combination of directional punting, yardage in the air, and hang time. You're getting the combination of directional punting, yardage in the air, and hang time. All four of these punts were above that open field hang time average of 4.44 seconds in the National Football League. Now, again, that's from a couple of years ago, but I think it's a pretty decent reference point. Another game I watched, I wanted to see this one,

where he had a decent game. I actually found it on Facebook. This is the lengths I was going to, my friends. Arizona, 2016. The ability to pooch punt. First punt of this game, it's a pooch punt with a tip down from the other team's 45 down to the three. Out of bounds. No return.

Second punt of that game, it's an open field sort of situation, basically, because you're on your own 41, downed at the one, no catch. They let it roll, downs it at the one. So that one you get in 59 yards and sort of air time, even though it rolls a bit. And then this punt, which I loved, Middle of the field to the left numbers. You're on 31 down to the 10. So it's a 59-yard punt.

Hand time of 5.1, which is just up there. And the guy gets hit, fumbles, and Stanford recovers. And so these are some pretty impressive punts. Now what to make of it? Could he beat out Ryan Allen? Perhaps. Stanford recovers. And so these are some pretty impressive punts. Now what to make of it? Could he beat out Ryan Allen? Perhaps. The combination of directional punting, air yardage, and hang time seems to work in his favor. And so from my admittedly poorly trained eye here, fairly impressed with what he's able to do as a punter. Will it earn him a job?

Maybe. Do we have a punting competition in camp? I think we do. Am I going to bet money on it? Absolutely not. I mean, I could think of more enjoyable ways to waste money. Spending a lot of money on Game of Thrones memorabilia is probably near the top right now. But if nothing

else, it will give us something to talk about once training camp starts. The never ending charting of punting that will take place in training camp. So here's a look at your new punter. Next, we're going to talk about Ken Webster, the new defensive back for the New England Patriots drafted in the 7th round

out of Ole Miss. Now you might be wondering how in the world do teams like the Patriots drafted in the seventh round out of oldness. Now, you might be wondering, how in the world do teams like the Patriots find a punter? Or Ken Webster, who was a rotational defensive back, wasn't really a starter. He just started a couple of games.

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Mark Schofield back with you now and let's close out this show. Let's close out this week with a look at Ole Miss cornerback Ken Webster. When he was drafted, we talked about sort of the athleticism the explosiveness the testing that he did so when you get into the seventh round of a draft you're thinking about maybe special teams rotational guys at best and so banking on

athleticism isn't a bad thing to do but it's also interesting to keep in mind that throughout the past couple of years, the Patriots have done a pretty good job sort of getting themselves some late round or even undrafted talent at the defensive back position. You think about Jonathan Jones, who was undrafted. You think about JC Jackson, Malcolm Butler. They've added some guys either undrafted or late in the draft that have panned out for them. And perhaps, perhaps, perhaps Webster is the next guy on that list. Interestingly enough, more of a rotational guy at Ole Miss rather than a starter.

You know, you look at his page over at Ole Miss and their website, he appeared in 47 career games. You know, he had two tackles against Texas Tech, started against Southern Illinois, came off the bench against LSU, had two tackles, came off the bench against Louisiana Monroe, two tackles and a pass breakup, came off the bench against Arkansas, six total tackles, three stops and one pass breakup against Auburn, off the bench against South Carolina, two tackles and one pass breakup, off the bench against Texas A&M, three tackles and an interception. Now I watched that Auburn game, I watched the South Carolina, two tackles and one pass breakup off the bench against Texas A&M. Three tackles and an interception.

Now, I watched that Auburn game. I watched the South Carolina game. I watched the Texas A&M game. I'm going to talk mostly about South Carolina and Texas A&M. But then he started against Vanderbilt, had four total tackles. So, you know, there's a background here which is more of a depth type guy. Started five games as a junior. He got injured on the first defensive series in 2016, his true junior year.

Missed the remainder of the season, so he got sort of a redshirt year. Now, this is a guy that started as a freshman, played in every game, had one start as a freshman at corner. His sophomore season started every game as cornerback. He was third on the team and eighth in one SEC players with 12 passes defensed. Had 41 tackles, three tackles for a loss, 11 pass breakups, and an interception. So 2015, probably his best year. You know, 2016, he'd get hurt, and then he'd come back from the injury,

play in 10 games, start in five, and then used as a rotational guy last year for old miss now some of the things that i noticed from him on film they used him in press they use him on the boundary they use him as an off corner they used him in zone coverage they would use him in the slot mostly in red zone situations they would go three corners and he would be the third corner playing on the inside and obviously you mentioned three corners patriots fans have their ears perked up. Seems like a smart player. When he was on the field, it seemed like he was one of the veteran, experienced guys who would sort of take charge, point some things out, things like that.

You see him adjusting people. You see him pointing things out. You see him moving with defenders on motion situations. So it seems like he's a smart, veteran, experienced player. And you expect that. A guy that basically had five years of school. Now some technique stuff. He can jam you pretty good at pressing, pretty good at recovering.

There are a couple of plays where he would jam, get beat, but recover well. Off coverage, can sit down on some deep out routes. I didn't see a ton of him challenged working towards the middle of the field. Maybe it was just a function of the offenses I watched him against, but it was literally mostly goes and routes breaking to the outside. And some slant routes, which we'll talk about.

He had a couple of reps against Debo Samuel in that game against South Carolina. I do want to talk about that, a couple of those. One was a red zone slant route on a slant fade concept where he's covering Debo, who's the outside receiver. The guy inside runs a slant. They try to create some traffic, but he's there with Debo every single step of the way.

He does run a cover three situation against Debo running a post route. This is the only time I saw him face a post route. He lets Debo get inside leverage on him. Now, maybe he's expecting the help, but he needs to stay on it a little bit, a little bit longer at least. But he lets Debo get inside. Quarterback doesn't see it.

If he did, it's probably a big gain. And another slant against Debo. He misses on the jam, on the press. But a good recovery never really lets him get any sort of separation. A slot defensive back in the red zone, like we mentioned, takes away another slant route, and then perhaps my favorite play of his, and this was, now South Carolina ends up winning this game, but right now it's 44-34. Ole Miss has the lead. It's late, mid to late fourth quarter, and he's on the field against Debo,

who runs a nine route. He presses him. He jams him. He pins him to the sideline. There's no window to hit this, and the throw ends up going out of bounds. Absolutely perfect coverage against a guy who went much earlier in the draft, against a guy that was very good down at the senior bowl and who many expected probably would get drafted, if not day two,

maybe even late day one. And he's with him step for step on a nine route, absolutely flawless technique. Just one rep, yeah. But nevertheless, pretty impressive. His one interception against Texas A&M, I want to talk about that. This makes me wonder something. Now, he's basically a cover three corner type situation.

So he's not really in a safety alignment. But they drop him deep, cover three outside situation, and the offense basically runs. Now, he starts at the top of the numbers on the left side of the defense, and he retreats basically between the hash mark and the numbers. You could almost make this akin to a cover two safety situation. And it almost looks like that. Part of me does wonder. It's a weird coverage look. The corner on the other side kind of splits it between dropping deep and squatting.

So there are only really two deep players, and he's one of them. So you can make the case, and I'm going to do that, that he's more akin to a cover two safety here than a cover three corner. And he's got a vertical route, a seam route to the inside of him and a wheel route coming to the outside of him that the underneath defender, the flat defender is running with. And he's reading the quarterback's eyes. He sees the quarterback come off the seam and throw the wheel. And he stops, he plants, he squats and breaks on it and picks it off. And this looks like a safety. It doesn't look like a corner. And yes, similar to the Debo play we were just describing, it's one play.

But for a guy that didn't play a ton, I saw that and I wondered, could they be thinking safety? Could they be thinking similar to Jason McCourty, similar at times to some of the other guys, get him some reps at safety? Maybe see if he could produce there. And what's interesting when you sort of look at him from a size profile, he's listed 5'11", 201. Maybe that's sort of a safety size to him. When you look at some of the write-ups on him, I think people obviously assume that he's going to

need to contribute on special teams if he's going to stick. You know, Lance Erlein, for example, looks at him and his sort of profile of him, lacks juice as a man-covered corner and is too inconsistent from press. His best opportunity might be to rebrand as a run-support nickel cornerback or dime linebacker on the next level. I wonder about safety. You know, I see a play like that and I think maybe there's an opportunity for him to play as a safety. Another thing Zerline notes, flashes downhill burst when plays in front of him. Again, that screams to me, safety. Adequate aggressiveness as a wrap-up tackler, that screams to me, safety. Weaknesses gives away too much space underneath in cover three.

You know, maybe that's one thing you want to think about as a corner, but safety, not an issue. Maybe not as big of an issue. And so maybe it's a wild, wild guess here. But I can't help but wonder if the Patriots see some plays like this and think, maybe we could do some safety stuff with him. And so he'll obviously need to contribute on special teams if he's going to make this work. I think he's like a rotational guy at best right now. It might be long odds for him to stick on the roster.

But once we get into training camp, if we start hearing rumblings that he's taking some reps at safety, just remember, come back and remember the show. That's all I'm going to say. So that would do it for today. That would do it for this week. I will be back Monday talking some undrafted free agents. We'll see how many we get through. It might be a Monday, Tuesday type situation.

I know we're drawing it on and on about the draft, but let's face it, it's May. What else are you going to talk about other than Game of Thrones and what looks to be the Battle of King's Landing? And is there a fourth dragon? Yeah. Don't. The timeline is dark

and full of spoilers. You probably saw that last Sunday. I'm just saying there are legit articles out there. Is there a fourth dragon? I'm just throwing that out there.

Just saying. Maybe I should have spoiler tagged this, but it's my show. It's the end of the week. I'm tired. It's been a long one. Until next time,

have a wonderful weekend, everybody. We'll be back Monday and keep it I'm tired. It's been a long one. Until next time, have a wonderful weekend, everybody. We'll be back Monday, and keep it locked right here to me, Mark Schofield, and Locked on Patriots.