Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Mac is Back to Work With the Wideouts; New England Patriots Offensive Line Draft Targets — 3/8/22

Episode Date: April 9, 2022

With the New England Patriots’ offseason workout program set to begin on April 18, some members of the Pats’ offense look to be getting a head start on their preparations for the upcoming 2022 season. Host Mike D’Abate welcomes back Thomas ‘Murph’ Murphy of E2GSports.com to discuss Mac Jones’ throwing sessions with his wide receivers, as well as the Patriots 2022 NFL Draft targets along the offensive line. Find and follow Locked On Patriots on your favorite podcast platforms:Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/locked-on-patriots-daily-podcast-on-the-new-england/id1140512627 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1c5ZxFmwg3WbfxAU3tR5Ve?si=k196wH-yRqifUcQQz8SjIQ Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/show/locked-on-patriots And follow host Mike D’Abate on Twitter, where he’ll be sharing the latest news about the New England Patriots and talking with fans.On Twitter: @mdabateNFLSupport Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKED15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.BetOnlineBetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts!Rock AutoAmazing selection. Reliably low prices. All the parts your car will ever need. Visit RockAuto.com and tell them Locked On sent you.Athletic GreensTo make it easy, Athletic Greens is going to give you a FREE 1 yearsupply of immune-supporting Vitamin D AND 5 FREE travel packs with your first purchase. All you have to do is visit athleticgreens.com/NFLNETWORK. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Patriots fans, Mack Jones and the wide receivers getting in some work down in the Tampa Sun. It's a good thing for the offense, but it's a better thing for the Patriots offense to be prioritizing the offensive line in this upcoming NFL draft. We're going to talk about that today right here on the pod. I'm Mike DeBate, and you are about to be locked in to the Locked On Patriots podcast. You are Locked On Patriots, your daily New On Patriots podcast. You are Locked On Patriots, your daily New England Patriots podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello to all of you, Foxborough faithful,

and thank you for once again making Locked On Patriots your first listen every day. Remember, Locked On Patriots is free and available on all platforms, including YouTube, which you might be watching or listening to this podcast on right this very moment. I am your host, Mike DeBate. I also cover your New England Patriots or Patriots country of Sports Illustrated. You can reach out to me, interact with me. Let me know what's on your mind on the Burt app at M-D-A-B-A-T-E-N-F-L. And while you're out there showing some weekend love to that Twitterverse,

please be sure to follow the Locked On Patriots account as well, L-O underscore Patriots. Pats fans, as you can see, I am joined here today to close the week in style. Not only does the man help us to open up the week in style, he also helps us to bring it all full circle and bring it all together as only he can. I am extremely happy. Special treat on this Friday to welcome my good friend, the Green King of Sting, the monster master of disaster, the Count of Murphy Fisto himself, the only host past, present, or future with his very own branded hashtag. It's hashtag LockedOnMurphFriday here today.

The legendary Thomas Murphy of E2GSports.com. Thank you for coming to me in friendship. Thank you for joining me today, Don Murph. Always my pleasure, Michael. Always my pleasure. More Murph, more better. Absolutely. Absolutely.

Hashtag more Murph, more better. The more hashtags, the better, my friend, really. And I'm thrilled that you're joining me here on a Friday. There's no better way to close out the week and open the week than with a little murph wisdom and counsel and our listeners are definitely going to be in for a treat today my friend because we normally muse the draft murph uh and don't panic folks we're still musing the draft on this monday this does not preclude murph from joining us here on Monday to help break down some of the great user mock drafts that you guys are sending in. And Murph, we have a ton of great ones right now. It's draft season. Everything is amping up. Everybody's getting into it. But I digress. We'll talk about the news of the day here in

New England today. And it's been quiet over the course of the last couple of days in New England. Pre-agent signings starting to wane a little bit. Draft talk is starting to amp up a little bit, and we will get into the draft in just a moment. But the story of the week, Murph, seems to be the presence of Mack Jones and a quintet of pass catchers down in Tampa working out. There seems to be a lot of camaraderie. These guys look like they're having a lot of fun. Check out the Instagram, particularly Kendrick Bourne's Instagram. He looks like he's having more fun than anybody down there.

But it's all good with the New England Patriots right now. Mack is throwing to his receivers. Jacoby Meyer's down there. You've got Kendrick, obviously, is going to be down there as well. J.J. Taylor is down there, you know, catching passes. Devontaeer is there this is the opportunity murph for the new england patriots to come together and i think show a little bit of camaraderie obviously show a little bit of cohesion uh you're trying to get all these guys on the same

page because let's face it the wide receiver group was much maligned last year yeah you can make the argument of whether or not that was adequate or deserved or whatever, but they know they've got a lot to prove this year. Before we get into what this means for Mac Jones as a quarterback, what does this mean for the receivers to be able to come together as a unit? How important is it to work out as a wide receiver group? It's so important that I can't really put it into words. Getting these guys on the same page early. We saw what happened last year with some guys that were, that missed OTAs that were a little bit injured during the,

during the early portions of camp. Getting, getting on the same page, just learning from one another your mannerisms, what a receiver is going to do, letting him know early that yet you're breaking that route off a little fricking shallow, or, or it's, it's not as crisp as I would like, as I'd like to see. Uh, it, it, you, you can't stress, uh, how important this is. I think it's fantastic that Mac is doing it. And all the guys stepped up and said sure hell yeah i'm there that's that's it shows that that that uh mac wants to work hard and these

guys have his back absolutely and you know it's good to see all of these guys getting into the swing of things early and really being serious about wanting to get on the same page i don't think these guys were afforded that opportunity last year. Cam Newton being re-signed, it was still felt a little disjuncted. The guys loved Cam, and I'm definitely not saying that there's a situation where he was a bad teammate. By all accounts, Cam was one of the better teammates in that locker room. All those guys loved him as they should. And I think he did a great job in terms of bringing guys together and being that teammate that everybody loves to play with. But this year is a little bit different. They know Mac is the guy right off the bat. There's

no quarterback controversy this year in New England, folks. Mac is your quarterback. So for your receivers, your star receivers, and I've seen a couple of DMs that I've gotten over the course of the last couple of days. Oh, why isn't Jonu down there? Why isn't Hunter Henry down there? Well, first of all, Mac and Hunter Henry have a pretty good, solid relationship there. I don't think you have to worry about that. Mac and John who by all accounts get along very well, but this is more about the receivers. This is more about timing. This is more about getting on the same page, accurate throws, learning where the guys need

to be in order to put Mac in the best position to be able to complete his throws. And this is a great chance to do it. I'm glad to see Jacoby down there. He'll continue to, uh, to, uh, to gain, uh, you know, traction with Mack. Looks like he's put on a little bit of muscle, uh, according to, uh, I guess, according to Kendrick himself, he's up to about 225 now, uh, which is up from his original playing weight of 200. putting on a little bit of bulk and the chance to hit those uh shots a little bit better uh his stock will continue to rise kendrick had a phenomenal year in 2021 i think he only increases his productivity glad to see nelson agalor down there he looked like he was really you know doing a great job of getting on the same page with mac uh it was a nice little completion there that made it into the highlight reel

on Kendrick's Instagram. And then, of course, J.J. Taylor being down there, too. That's interesting. I'd love to see a little J.J. down there. Could be maybe third down back, maybe helping to take some of the pressure off of James White. Who knows? Maybe this will

develop into that relationship. I know there's a guy down there that you wish was down there as well we all do we're gonna miss our brandon bolden up here in new england this year uh the new guy obviously davante parker as well and to me the essence of having a quarterback that not only or i should say a wide receiver that wants to play with your quarterback right off the bat shows up right away to be able to do it says a lot about the leadership skills of that quarterback because some people have some things to say about that Murph and I are going to discuss that in just a

moment here on Locked On Patriots but first Murph it is one of the most wonderful days of the year it's opening day in Major League Baseball Rafii's going yard. All stuff is good here in New England as our beloved Fenway Faithful take the field. But it's not just baseball that's starting up there, folks. There's a lot of sports going on, even though the NFL is right now in its quote-unquote offseason. MLB, NHL playoffs coming up, NBA playoffs coming up. You want to help to monetize that a little bit, Murph. Maybe put a little extra money in your pocket with some of these things going on.

That's when you need to visit our good friends at BetOnline.net. They are your number one source for all of your sports betting needs and information. You can find all of the latest sports developments, including this week's Masters Championship, the odds, the podcast, the reviews, all for the different leagues this season. BetOnline is your continued source for all that. All of your sports wagering information, including live betting, esports, and scores. So head

to the website today or use your mobile device to learn about the trends and the action. BetOnline, where the game starts. Pats fans, once again, we are closing the week in style here on Locked On Patriots. It's hashtag Locked On Murph

Friday. And Bud, once again, it's been a little bit since we've just had you on just to talk some ball. Usually we do musing the draft. Usually we're providing our grades. We're acting as, you know, professor and adjunct professor here on Locked On Patriots. But we're just kind of talking ball to close the week out, folks.

And early on, we talked a little bit about Mac Jones and the throwing sessions that's going on. You mentioned how important this is for the wide receivers. But one of the things that really stands out to me about this is Mac Jones doing this in year two. Yep. We've heard a lot about Mac and the leadership skills. And is he going to take a step back without Josh McDaniels this year? Is he going to be able to progress to that quarterback that Patriots fans want to see? That number one top option at the position, franchise quarterback.

Mac is showing a lot of those details. We all saw the great know, the great stuff that he's doing in the community and, you know, the Brockton, you know, boys and girls club really showing, taking an active interest in his community. These are, these are important things, folks, when you look at what a quarterback does and the relationship he wants to develop with the city, the town and the region that he plays in. But something like this on the field really shows me two things. One, as we alluded to in the previous segment, it shows that these guys are willing to go to bat for Mac Jones.

They're going to go down there. They want to work with him. And to me, it also shows that for Mac to organize these and to be the alpha in the room with some pretty impressive talent, including new guy Devontae Parker, says a lot about his leadership skills. I think this shows that mac is ready for a big jump in year two what do you say i agree i agree wholeheartedly man too much is being made about who mac is going to be dan orlowski shut up just just shut up

all right you've got no business talking about anything um it's, and, and that's coming from a Yukon person, people. I actually get to Yukon. Uh, what Mac is able to do in bringing, you know, especially Parker, you know, it's, it shows that, that this man is ready to take the next step. Maybe last year we talked about it earlier with Cam there. It was the perfect example of if you have two quarterbacks, you don't have one. This year, all these guys know who the man is. They know who they're going to be working with. They know who is going to be raising their capital, for lack of a better word. This is the man that they're going to depend on to feed their family over the next five or six years.

This is the next contract. And if they don't get on the same page with this young kid and figure out how to do it and do it well, then it's going to affect their own bottom line. But also, just the fact that Mac is able to make these phone calls and has been proactive in it just shows me a ton of leadership ability. There's nobody in this locker room that dislikes Mac Jones. They've all said he's a fantastic leader.

There's nobody else that they would rather go into battle with. And I like the fact that he's doing this right on the front lawn of Tom Brady. Absolutely. He really is. And there is something to be said about that. I mean, he's not afraid to step into that shadow, to step into those shoes and say, you know what? Maybe I'm not going to be 12, but you know what?

The number 10 that I wear is something that's pretty damn good. And I feel that I can make my own stamp on this team, make it my own and be able to exercise some of the demons that so many quarterbacks can fall victim to. And I mean, quarterbacks that follow absolute legends, it's impossible to follow Tom Brady. It really is. I mean, you know, you talk about, you know, quarterbacks that have tried to step into the shoes of Dan Marino or Peyton Manning or Joe Montana when they moved on and they decided to retire or left their franchise. Those are big shoes to fill. Some have handled it well. Obviously, Steve Young was groomed for that.

Aaron Rodgers was able to do it in Green Bay for Brett Favre. But for every one of those, then you have the lean years in the Broncos after Elway went. And you have the lean years in Miami after Marino moved on. Mac Jones looks like he's ready to take that next step, and that's something that's so important for a quarterback. In talking to a lot of people that were close to the Alabama Crimson Tide last year, I make sure to do some homework and speak to people that were close to that organization that covered that college and that university. And hearing a lot about what mac used

to do the type of skill set that he would show but not only that but the leadership that he would show as well shows that this is a guy that people like to play with and they like to play for and they and they believe in um i remember one story about him in practice he got a pretty good shot that was really an accident and he got a good shot and it bloodied his nose and mac just got right back up didn't even wipe himself off and just was clapping and going yep come on let's go let's do it come on you know let's get back let's play ball we're not done yet i didn't hear a whistle and this is the type of player that i think these receivers are seeing and especially for someone like davante parker who's coming in who by the way folks wanted to

play gear really told miami's brass this was his preferred destination for all the nobody wants to play for Bill and the Patriots anymore. Kind of a bad week for that look, isn't it? Kind of a bad week. Yeah, exactly. So, you know, it is what it is, Murph, but I agree with you, and I think the Patriots are on the right track.

So, bravo, Mac. Bravo to the receivers down in Tampa, and it's going to be fun to watch these guys in organized activities and especially in mini camp and then training camp coming up at the end of July. Murph, as good as this is for the offense, there are still some question marks along the offense. And we've talked several times that the skill positions may get the headlines, but championships are one in the trenches. We're going to talk one of Murph's favorite subjects coming up, folks, the offensive line.

Should it be more of a priority than a lot of people are giving it when it comes to mock drafts or when it comes to analyst predictions as to what the Patriots are going to do in the upcoming draft at the end of the month? Murph and I will tackle that subject in just a moment, but first, team Butchie's favorite part of the show Murph we're going to talk a little bit about the sweet delicious treat that you should be indulging in this weekend and that is the product put out by our good friends at Built Bar. Built Bar is always my go-to sweet treat but not just because it tastes amazing because it does folks it's definitely replaced my cravings for any type of candy bar that you can imagine, but also because it's good for you. They actually focus on the taste first, but then they make a phenomenal product that's not only tasting good, but very good for you. Twice the protein, half the calories, all of the

taste and more. Some of the great flavors that you can sample. Peanut butter brownie, I know I always say it. It's my favorite, but there's so many great products out there, including the new Built Puffs line. You've got to check those out. Those are amazing. Definitely do yourself a favor and visit built.com today and enter the promo code LOCK15 for 15% off your next order.

Folks, again, I tell you, don't delay. Do it today. For the sweet treat that's not only delicious but also healthy and good for you, visit Bilt.com. Enter the promo code LOCK15 for 15% off your next order. That's Bilt.com. Find a good hiding space. Absolutely. Hide them from the family members.

Definitely. I can definitely speak for, you know, for personal experience. These things have a tendency to go and you don't know where they go. No. And you know, it's like, well, we know where. Wasn't me. We know where they go. We do.

I didn't need the last four built bars. Yep. Yeah. We know where they go. They fell off the truck, Murph. Yeah. But in any case, folks, we are so excited to have my good friend, the Count of Murphy, Fisto, Thomas Murphy of E2GSports.com, joining us here to close the week in style.

And what better way to close the week, Murph, than to indulge one of your favorite subjects. We're going to talk a little pats all line here but because of all of the positions that are out there for the new england patriots right now uh cornerback linebacker wide receiver we've heard them all uh these seem to be the hot topic the sexy picks when it comes to how the patriots are going to approach this upcoming draft what are they going to do to shore up these positions? We've seen several linebackers or D linemen, you know, come in past rushers that Patriots fans would love to see with that 21st pick. We've seen wide receivers. We've talked

about them here several times. Very popular pick with our mock drafts that are sent in. And then, of course, you've got the cornerback position, JC Jackson leaving. Everybody wants that new top flight corner. But one of the positions that has been getting a little more love lately, but some people are not so happy about it, is the offensive line. Look, I've said this before, and I said it leading into this segment. The position players, the skill positions, they're always going to get the headlines. People love their wide outs. They love to see the cornerbacks. They love to see the wide receivers. But if you're going to win a championship and you're going to contend, you need to do it on

the line. To me, it's just, it's one of the most important places on the Patriots roster right now. And especially when you're protecting a young quarterback like Mac Jones. The Pats obviously have a big hole at left guard right now. They don't have a starting level player on the roster right now that's capable of aligning there. I say they don't because I believe Michael Wayne, who is basically earmarked for the right guard position. Yep.

As the Patriots approach this draft, Murph, I know we have a draft crush named N'Kobe Dean, whose name you might hear a lot here on Locked On Patriots and on Locked On Network in general. That might be a little tease, but you know what? Stay tuned, folks. I will flush out what I mean by that in a moment. But at the same time, if the Patriots are to indulge their need for an offensive lineman, can you see them doing that in round one? Picking where the Patriots are right now, I don't see somebody falling to them that I would use a first-round pick on.

There are guys there in the third round, in the fourth round, which may need a little bit more coaching, but that position can be filled there. Right now, this team needs speed more than anything, and I'm going to keep banging this drum. They need speed on defense right now, and I don't see that in those third and fourth rounds, fifth rounds where the Patriots are going to be picking,

where I can see an interior offensive lineman or a tackle that is going to be able to not be a plug-and-play guy. That's not what I'm saying, folks, but a guy that's going to be part of the rotation. You can get that swing tackle there. You can get that guard there. And allow him to just be a part of the rotation, learn before there's a hole open. Good.

Good point. I think that's absolutely important to remember because we're hearing a lot of groundswell when it comes to the offensive line. And especially with the players that the Patriots invited in this week for top 30 visits or that players scheduled top 30 visits with the Patriots right people are hearing the names Kenyon Green they're hearing the name right you know Trevor Penning uh Zion Johnson obviously for a lot of reasons right Tyler Lindelof connection yeah. And, you know, Zion Johnson, you know, everybody's, you know, favorite BC guy this year.

But there are guys later in the draft that you're going to be able to grab. Chris Paul out of Tulsa I really like, you know. He's technically just one of the best interior guys that is in this draft. You know, Sean Ryan out of UCLA. He's just a mammoth freaking individual at 6'5", 325, and I think that he could probably play at 345. So, yeah, these guys are there. There's the Memphis kid, Parham.

Somebody else that is going to be able to come in here, be part of this rotation. You know, size is a bit of an issue there at 6'3 and only 311 pounds. But we can pack some pounds on the guy. We could do that. It's just coming back. I don't want to seem like I'm one of those guys that is being swooped up into this massive weapons-type thing. That is the narrative that's going on here.

But this year, where the Patriots are drafting, they're going to be able to take care of both a defensive and an offensive weapon high in this draft that I don't think that they're going to be able to find later in the draft as opposed to on the offensive line. And don't think that they're going to be able to find later in the draft as opposed to on the offensive line. And don't get me, folks, look at me. I'm a center, okay? I know how important we are. But no, these opportunities don't come along all that often. And unless you are getting, you know, unless, you know, Kenyon Green falls, you know, guys like we've talked about at Nauseam, Dr. Strange, Cole Strange, he's somebody

that could probably be gotten at the top of the third round, I'm thinking. These holes can be filled later. That's the bottom line. And they can't be really, they can't make the impact that some of these weapons, for lack of a better word, on both sides of the ball are going to be there in the third round, in the fourth round, in the fifth round. You know, fifth round, that's where you draft kickers, right? Absolutely. Thaters right absolutely that's right yeah they did a couple of years ago that didn't work out so well but you know that for every you know for every uh justin roerwasser there's a stephen kostowski that has come in here and done a great job but you know what big kick nick's doing a pretty good job i don't think people want to hear uh i don't think people want to hear kickers uh

this time around uh maybe a punter who knows i knows i mean i love jake bailey but uh you know bill is not afraid to pull the trigger on something that he feels is going to help this football team bottom line i agree with you i think that in so many ways you look at the holes right now and i think guard is definitely their biggest hole their biggest deficit right now on the team but there are players that can come in and be able to shore up that line that don't necessarily have to have the first round draft capital. And I think you're absolutely right on that. And don't, don't forget people, there are going to be cuts coming up. There are some well-paid interior offensive linemen that are just going to be, you know, cap casualties

when it comes down to it, or, you know, you know, this young guy that I would rather pay, you know, one of the guys that we were just talking about that was drafted by somebody else. And that team feels like, well, why am I paying this guard $11 million when this kid's on a rookie deal, we're going to cut them and we're going to save that money. And those are the times that, that bill can swoop in and say, Hey, why don't you come on over? Yeah, absolutely. It's not just the draft. This is the, the draft may be the next thing up on, on, on the calendar folks, but it's the, the, the year doesn't, it's just starting. It's not stopping. Yeah. That's such an important part of draft strategy that I think so many people get lost in. A lot of times you look at holes, you look at cookie cutter players and you say, okay, well, they have

a, they have a hole at guard. So you know what? We need someone, we need Kenyon, you know, to come in and to be able to do what he does. And he's so versatile and he's got the opportunity to be able to play all around. He's an NFL ready talent. All of that's true. There's no denying any of that, but is he going to be there at 21? I'd be very surprised if he did. I mean, if he falls for some reason, yeah.

Right. And what's the talent level of the guy that's there at 21? Phil A. Perry brought up a great pick there, Bernard Ryman out of central michigan yeah i you know if he's there at 21 you know i i might give a little bit of thought i i really would um but there's a guy there at at 63 that that i think could come in here and do just a good as good a job or bringing somebody in off the street yeah and in a lot of ways i think you can see that that is that's something that um you know the patriots have always done a great job

of being able to find these players that really fit their system well and that really fit how they like to do things well there are offensive linemen in the middle part of the rounds that can come in and be nfl ready talent and can contribute right away what you want to do if you're bill Belichick and the Patriots Brain Trust is focus on where you need immediate help and which NFL ready talent is the top of your board that can come in and help the position that you need at the most. There's dynamic talent that can be had in the first round in this draft that can't necessarily be replicated in subsequent rounds. You've made a good argument.

Just because there's great talent at offensive tackle or interior offensive line in the first round doesn't mean you can't find capable players of being able to come in and play the Patriots system well in round two, round three, even round four, and beyond. The Patriots have increased their draft stock a little bit now. They've got a few more picks, so they can afford to maybe take a chance on a couple of these guys.

It's the guys in the early rounds that you want to get, but you can't get in subsequent rounds. Exactly. Right. And we come back down to it, but I, you know, you,

you've converted me to the cult of that side to side, that sideline to sideline linebacker with the speed who, uh, apparently, uh, you know, his family loves the new England Patriots. Great. And if you mentioned Phil this week, great interview, um, you know, really just knocked it out of the park on both cases. Uh, Phil's one of the top guys in this industry and he shows why it made me hungry. Yeah. And I thought, I thought, I thought Nic guys in this industry and he shows why. That interview made me hungry. Yeah.

And I thought, I thought, I thought Nicoby did a great job in that case. You're wondering folks, just in case you don't know who we're talking about, Murph and I are talking about linebacker, Nicoby Dean from the university of Georgia, maybe a future Patriot.

Apparently his family loves some Bill Belichick. All the stars are aligned. Do we get it? Well, we'll, we'll see. We'll see. We live in hope, buddy.

Just once, Bill. Just do what I ask once. We live in hope, buddy. We live in hope. But you know what else we live in? We live in gratitude. I am so thankful, Murph, for you taking time out of your Friday to come join me here to close the week in style as only you can.

And once again, folks, the green wisdom and counsel that he brings each and every time he joins us here in his embroidered chair that is his and his alone. You always do great work, my friend, and I can't thank you enough for that. Folks, you should be following this man on Twitter. If you're not, please do so. It's right there on the screen. Teamer of 207, all of the columns that this guy does for E2GSports.com, point-click learn enrichment enhancement material, in my opinion, in terms of your sports knowledge. Patriots columnist extraordinaire.

This guy always nails it every single time. But not just that, folks. Major League Baseball is now going to be in full swing, and for your Red Sox coverage coverage this is the guy you want to follow i don't believe it happened in mlb unless it comes from murph's pen or his voice so but honored and humbled as always by your presence before i let you go today leave our weekend listeners with a little taste of what we can expect coming up in the days and the weeks from the great pen and the great voice of thomas mur Well, thank you. We were just talking about Philly Perry.

You can check out at E2G Sports on YouTube. We had Phil on this week on One Patriot's Place. I just racked out, I want to say, about 4,000 words with my AL East, West, and Central breakdowns. You can find them at etgsports.com. Of course, this week we just got back into the studio, myself and my good friend Bud Knocker for baseball and Bloody Marys. We'll be back every Friday for that one,

which really sucks because it's Lent and I gave up booze for Lent. Why do I keep doing this, Michael? Why do I do it? One week. One more week. Yep. I got the, I got the ravioli sitting in the kitchen ready for, for tonight's Friday Lent dinner. That should keep everybody happy. But you know, other than that, just go to E2G sports, follow me on, on the, the bird app, as, as our good buddy likes to say at TeamRef207 and you'll find everything that I'm doing.

Thank you for asking me back this week. Like, you know, a double shot with you is always better than a double shot with anybody else. Absolutely. And speaking of those shots, that week is coming up pretty soon and we'll definitely indulge, but I always raise a glass to you and your honor. And what can I say? Every single time you join me here on lockeded On Patriots, it's not only just a blast, but I feel like I'm a smarter football analyst for having absorbed

your wisdom and counsel, and I truly mean that from the bottom of my heart. Murph, this was so much fun. What do you say we just do it again on Monday? I think it's a good idea. Let's do it. We're going to do it again on Monday, folks. And that leads me into what we're going to talk about here on Monday, and that is using the draft, because it is hashtag mock draft Monday across

the Lockdown Podcast Network. But here on Lockdown Patriots, we do things a little bit differently. Murph and I use the draft as a muse. And folks, we've got some great mock drafts to break down with you. There is still time to send in your mock draft. In case you haven't done so already, you can send it in to the Lockdown Patriots Twitter account at LO underscore Patriots. Take a screenshot of it.

Tweet it. We'd love to be able to discuss it here. Social media is not your thing. I understand that. You can email it to us at LockedOnPatriots at gmail.com. That's all one word, LockedOnPatriots at gmail.com. And of course, you can send it to Murph or myself in a Twitter DM as well. Any way that you send it in, we would love to hear what you have to say.

And we'd love to be able to feature your stuff on Mock Draft Monday. But it is the weekend, bud, and it's time to start the weekend. So, di saluto, Murph. I appreciate you. I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I also thank all of you for listening today and for continuing to make Locked On Patriots a daily part of your New England Patriots coverage.

Until Monday, folks, stay safe, stay well, be the change that you wish to see in the world. Have a great weekend, everyone.