Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Mac Jones: New England Patriots “Right Guy?” Bill O’Brien, “Right Coach?” Jakobi Meyers, Slade Bolden and More

Episode Date: March 1, 2023

Former New England Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels (and current Las Vegas Raiders head coach) knows a thing or two about leading the offense in Foxboro. Therefore, his opinion on the union between Mac Jones and Bill O’Brien is worth listening to. Mike D’Abate welcomes Clare ‘ClazzyClare’ Cooper of Pats Propaganda and FPC Patriots as the duo discuss McDaniels’ thoughts on Jones and O’Brien. The pair also discuss the latest contract rumors surrounding Jakobi Meyers and Mike offers his thoughts on the Pats working out Slade Bolden.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/id1140512627Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1c5ZxFmwg3WbfxAU3tR5Ve?si=k196wH-yRqifUcQQz8SjIQStitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/show/locked-on-patriotsAnd 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 “LOCKEDON15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.FanDuelMake Every Moment More. Place your first FIVE DOLLAR bet to get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in Free Bets – win or lose! Visit Fanduel.com/LockedOn today to get startedFANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG(CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat(CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Are the New England Patriots ready to put the Alabama band back together again? Stick around. You're about to be locked into the Locked 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. Thank you once again for making Locked On Patriots a daily part of your New England Patriots coverage and also your first listen every day.

Remember, Locked On Patriots is free and available on all platforms, including YouTube, so smash that subscribe button, download, subscribe to all Locked On Patriots wherever you get your podcasts. I'm your host, Mike DeBate. I cover your New England Patriots for Patriots Country of Sports Illustrated. So reach out to me. Let me know what's on your mind

on Twitter at M-D-A-B-A-T-E-N-F-L. And while you're out there showing some love to the Twitterverse, please be sure to follow the Locked On Patriots account as well at L-O underscore Patriots. Pats fans, after a brief bout with feeling under the weather yesterday,

Locked On Patriots is back, and I thank you for continuing to make us a daily part of your New England Patriots coverage. Today on the program, we continue to dive into the 2023 NFL Scouting Combine, underway in Indianapolis, Indiana at Lucas Oil Stadium. And though there may not be many Patriots nuggets of information to spot right now, there were two intriguing little Patriots items that we will discuss on today's show. Ex-Patriots offensive coordinator, current head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders, Josh McDaniels, weighed in on his opinion about Bill O'Brien taking over the reins of the Patriots offense. Josh completely sees this as a great move for not only the Patriots,

but also for Mac Jones, calling him a great coach for the youngster services. This is going to be very interesting, folks, to see how it all plays out. And Josh brings some interesting insight that we'll discuss here today. Also, reportedly, Jacoby Myers, wide receiver, extraordinaire, and probably the Patriots' top free agent option in-house, is scheduled to sit down with the Patriots next week to try to talk a contract. Reports are out there that he may be looking for a hefty number per year. Is that going to be enough to deter the Patriots from pursuing serious talks? Well, we'll talk about that today, too, in just a moment.

And I say we because it is still the midweek. And that means our midweek monarch is back. The Countess of Clas, Clasie Clare Cooper, joins me here today on the program. And like I said, we'll be talking about Mac Jones, Bill O'Brien, Josh McDaniels, Jacoby Myers, and a whole lot of Patriots offense. So stick around, folks. A great show on tap. But first, as the eyes of the Patriots fans continue to be fixed on the top wide receivers in the upcoming NFL Draft Scouting Combine, they might be looking toward a potential low-risk,

high-reward free agent that might be making his case to play for the Patriots in 2023. And get this, folks, he's got a lot of Alabama connections. That's right, former slot receiver and Patriots potential target in 2022, Slade Bolden is scheduled to work out for the Patriots this week, as reported on Tuesday morning by ESPN's Mike Reese. Now, this is interesting for a number of reasons, folks. Bolden was rumored to be on New England's radar during the 2022 draft process. A lot of people believe that he would fit well within the Patriots' offense.

Compact, slot receiver, 5'11", 189 pounds, good relationship with both Mac Jones and with Bill O'Brien, more on that in a moment, but this looked like a hand-in-glove fit. A lot of people thought this would be a great option for the Patriots last season. The Patriots ended up passing on Bolden in the draft, passed on him as a potential undrafted free agent. Instead, he goes to Baltimore, has himself a decent training camp, but suffered a sports hernia in August that landed him on injured reserve and Bolden was ultimately released by Baltimore in October. Now, in addition to my good friend Murph's mandate that you can never have enough Boldens on an NFL roster, especially the New England Patriots roster, Slade comes in with maybe a little spring in his step or maybe two springs in his step yeah he knows a guy um let's make that two guys we already talked about the fact that he was a former teammate at Alabama of Mac Jones these two have a very close connection they still keep in contact

in fact Bolden has shared some interesting tidbits about Mac at times being his former college roommate, calling him a different guy, a good guy, even call him goofy at one point. And believe me, folks, that's tongue in cheek and done with affection rather than derision. But you get the impression. These guys definitely know and feel comfortable with each other. On the field, they are capable of turning some heads. Bolden caught his first collegiate touchdown pass from Mack during Alabama's 2021 College Football National Championship win over Ohio State. There is a lot to go through with these guys, and there is a lot to, you know, kind of unearth when it comes to the relationship between Mack Jones and Slade Bolden and whether or

not it could be a productive relationship in the NFL. We know Slade would love to do it. He said it during the draft process last season. He says playing with Mack would be great. He's a good friend of mine. We have a good connection. It would be an easy transition for sure. Whatever opportunity I get, I'll be thankful for, but last year just didn't fit the Patriots' wants and needs. You have to wonder if that changes this year because Bolden also played under Bill O'Brien when he was the offensive coordinator in Alabama. And the reason it is interesting, folks, is because the way Bill O'Brien used Wes Welker when he was the offensive coordinator up here in New England was the same way he tried to

use Bolden as a member of the Alabama Crimson Tide and Bolden was very forthcoming last year when he talked about this during the draft process he said if you need a good third down play a good third down catch or having that guy that's been able to run an option route or run the catch tuck turn type passes that's the kind of guy Wells Welker was gets the ball in the middle of the field with no traffic that's how i was used as well now that may be a little bit of a lofty comparison i don't think anybody is going to be ready to say slade bolden and west welker are the same type of player welker blossomed into a player that's worthy of hall of fame consideration at

least in my opinion not saying he should be there i'm just saying he Fame consideration, at least in my opinion. I'm not saying he should be there. I'm just saying he warrants communication, at least warrants consideration. But at the same time, folks, you also look at what Slade and Matt could do on the field together. They definitely know what they're doing. And you look at Slade's numbers during the time that he played under O'Brien, pretty good for a slot receiver. 42 receptions, 408 yards, three touchdowns. He also rushed once when lining up in the quarterback spot. So if you're looking for a little trickery, and we know O'Brien loves to take a page out of the McDaniels camp to do it, I think that's a possibility.

So look, this is a good sign for the Patriots that they're bringing him in for a workout. Whether or not he actually makes the roster, I think is irrelevant when it comes to the impact that a workout like this signals. What it says to me is that Bill O'Brien and Mac Jones have a large say in what this offense is going to look like this year, and they want to try to kick the tires and keep all options open, especially options that are going to result in O'Brien's comfort and most importantly, folks, in Mac Jones's comfort. This is where you're looking at the meld between coach and quarterback

that simply was not there in 2022. And that's why I think you can expect a much bigger season, a much better season out of Mac Jones, and maybe even a bigger, better season out of Bill O'Brien as well. So I, for one, would love to see Slade come in. I liked him last year as a prospect. I think he offers something to the table. He'd be a very good and a very entertaining camp body to watch. So I really hope it happens. But, you know, whether it does or not is really up to the Patriots brass.

And we'll continue to see what the Patriots brass has in store as they continue to scout anything and everything related to the 2023 NFL scouting combine. We're going to talk some of the nuggets that took place yesterday or extracted from yesterday's media availability with the Countess of Clas, Claire Clasie, Claire Cooper, in just a moment when this episode of the Locked On Patriots podcast continues. But first, folks, today's episode brought to you by our good friends at FanDuel. The midway point of the NBA season is here, and now is the perfect time to download FanDuel, America's number one sportsbook, because new customers get a no-sweat first bet up to $1,000. That's bonus bets back if your first bet doesn't win. Just download the FanDuel Sportsbook app. It's safe, it's secure, and it's super easy to use.

And then you can bet on everything from the money line to point scores and threes drained. Plus, FanDuel even lets you combine your bets for a chance at a bigger payout with the same game parlay. So don't miss the chance to get your no sweat first bet up to $1,000 in bonus bets when you go to FanDuel.com slash locked on. That's FanDuel.com slash locked on to learn more. Make every moment more with FanDuel, an official sportsbook betting partner of the NBA. Patriots fans, once again, all eyes are on Indianapolis, Indiana, Lucas Oil Stadium, and the 2023 NFL Scouting Combine. If you haven't already, please be sure to check out the great guys over at Locked on NFL Draft.

All the news that you need from this draft season coming up. Two amazing co-hosts my new colleagues and definitely proud to call these guys colleagues keith sanchez damian parson of the draft network break all of it down subscribe follow download wherever you get your podcasts and of course today here on locked on patriots we're keeping you apprised of all the latest patriots nuggets and unfortunately folks not a whole lot coming from Patriots camp in day one. The Patriots media contingent has yet to speak with the media. And a lot of the draft prospects that the Patriots will be interested in didn't hit

the podium until Wednesday. But there are two serious developments that we will discuss here today. And to help me break them all down is, of course, one of our favorites, the midweek monarch here on Locked On Patriots, the illustrious Countess of Clairvoyance. today and to help me break them all down is of course one of our favorites the midweek monarch here on locked on patriots the illustrious countess of clairvoyance herself oh she's the countess of class folks and she brings the class and pizzazz every time she hits the microphone columnist extraordinaire for pat's propaganda and of course the co-host of her very own amazing podcast the clear perspective of patriots podcast courtesy of Full Press Coverage Patriots.

Download, subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Claire Clossey, Claire Cooper joins me today. Welcome back to the show, Candice. Thank you very much. You need to remove the co from the co-host. It's just host of The Claire Perspective. I co-host One Patriot's Place, but

The Claire Perspective, I am the host. She is absolutely correct. You know what? The co-host should probably apply here. You can tell he needs coffee in all fairness. Yes, absolutely. He'd only make that slip if he needed coffee. I have to.

Absolutely. I have to. It needs to be done. By all means, folks. No, definitely. She definitely, and I do apologize, Countess, but deeply, and I will make up for that, folks. Don't worry about that. But no, in all fairness, and in all kidding aside, she is an amazing host of that podcast. If you haven't checked it out yet, folks, what are you waiting for? Please don't delay. Do it today.

You're going to love it. One of the best in the business, not just from a Patriots perspective, but from any football fan's perspective, Claire runs a great one and you will not be disappointed. So in that vein, Countess, the Patriots contingent, as I said, has yet to speak with the media this week in Indianapolis. But if you can't get the Patriots media contingent, what do you do? You go to the next best thing, former Patriots that are speaking to the media and perhaps none other that has a higher profile right now than current las vegas raiders coach josh mcdaniels now of course josh spent a number of years here 13 of which were spent as the offensive coordinator in new england and

in case you hadn't heard claire patriots actually have a new offensive coordinator this year i know nobody's talking about. Nobody's talking about it. Nobody's talking about it. It's very under the radar. It's kind of bottoming out right there. No one has talked about it. We haven't talked about it at all here on Locked On Patriots. Folks, you can hear the sarcasm dripping from my voice.

I won't bother you with my lame sense of humor anymore. Let's get right into it. Josh had some interesting things to say about bill o'brien and as the old saying goes it takes one to know one you and i mean that a good way um josh has been the offensive coordinator before under bill belichick as has bill i mean bill is not you know a novice to this but josh has spent an awful lot of time here especially with this current iteration of Patriots. Josh has a little bit more of a leg up in terms of knowledge because he's worked with Mac as a member of the Patriots under Bill Belichick.

A lot of the guys that are in that locker room are the same guys that Bill O'Brien is going to be coaching this year. So when Josh speaks, we listen from a Patriots perspective when you hear some of the words that Josh had yesterday for Bill O'Brien praising him calling him a great coach but great a great coach for Mac Jones specifically what was your takeaway from Josh's uh comments is this something the Patriots fans should be able to hang their hat on once again and know they got the right guy in Bill O'Brien well I think the first thing to point out is it's not just Josh kind of like blowing smoke, as people say, because last season or last year, if you like, when it was kind of out there in regards to what the Patriots kind of coaching staff,

I suppose, weren't rather than were, you know, because they were sort of so lacking. There were rumblings, there were rumours, there was discussions, there was comments. It actually came out sort of the surprise and the confusion was sort of murmured around in regards to the Patriots staff so it's been a bit of a kind of a complete turnaround they've done a bit of a 180 really I think it needs to be said because they have now filled I mean obviously because you tend to need like an offensive line coach and you know a quarterback's coach and an actual offensive play call that these things aren't unusual these things aren't new you know it's not strange and unusual um but because of last season because of how

disjointed last year was you can sort of see that josh isn't exactly just blowing smoke now there's always the element of maybe he is blowing a bit of smoke because, you know, he wants to sort of remain favourable with Bill Belichick, that sort of thing. But when you kind of come down to it, it's not just him, it's the rumblings around that there is this positivity around the Patriots sort of coaching staff now. And as you said, I mean, Josh worked with Bill O''Brien you know you know their careers at New England have overlapped so it's not just a case of that he's looking from afar sort of saying oh yeah I can see that this guy has done well I can see that this guy is good

he is he's been in the building when he's been in the building and he's sort of been there when when he's been able to see it so that in itself sort of led leads some sort of weight to it what he's actually saying his comments in regards to bill o'brien but yeah you know as a patriots fan i'm a little bit torn because i'm a little bit like he's not a patriots sort of coach anymore he left whatever i'm one of those women scorn situations um but that's that's a conversation for the day really really, isn't it? It's the same with Tom Brady, same with Grongli, they left, that kind of thing.

But yes, I know that he's someone who's experienced in the Patriot system to be able to sort of say and want to listen to sort of what he's got to say, what he thinks of what is going on over there, sort of at Gillette, that kind of thing. I mean, it feels like there's now a guy in the system for Matt Jones. We know of Bill O'Brien's sort of experience. We know of, you know, what he succeeded in. We know of all his accolades, that kind of thing.

So if there was anybody to bring in as an OC for Matt Jones, it really seems like he's the most likely candidate now. Whether or not he works out to be the best, this is just something else that we're going to have to contend with when the season comes. But on paper, when you look at it, he's definitely the one that ticks all the boxes when it comes to putting something solid around Matt Jones

to sort of ascertain his ceiling, you know, where this kid's going to go, bring him back out, you know, into his sort of third year, what some people call his pseudo second year, that sort of thing. The other thing to mention in regards to that is, excuse me, is the Bill O'Brien signing isn't the only sort of positivity rumblings that have been mentioned in regards to coaching because I know that Covington has had there's been a lot of discussions about him he's gone for

plenty of interviews that kind of thing and there's been mention of you know he's a defensive coordinator next year probably not at the Patriots but I know that there's sort of a lot of good things being said when it comes to the Patriots coaching that aren't just isolated with Bill O'Brien and I think as a Patriots fan that's got to sort of give you something pause for thought in a good way um part of you want to just say well yeah they've got coaches now it felt like they didn't have any last season and now they've got some so it's like how much can you rave about it it's like it's it's the o-line coach thing for me it's like they've got an o-line coach and i've heard good and bad things in regards to him but it's

like part of me doesn't care if there's bad things because part of me is like he's an experienced offensive line coach that's it for me at the at the moment because we were so deprived last season it just feels like that's all you need to have on your resume that you're an offensive line coach with experience it's true we just needed one um so for Bill O'Brien he just needed to be an OC that was good with quarterbacks but yeah Bill O'Brien's experience as as I think um Josh really alluded to he's got experience he's a great football coach extremely hard worker he's worked with many quarterbacks and he knows the position and I think that little thing that little quote there is a big key to being positive about Matt Jones and the future of Matt Jones in the Patriots now I'm one of the fans that feels like it needs

to be this year we need to sort of see what they've got because then you you come up with if they're going to pick up his fifth year option and then all the financial stuff that you know bemooses and begazles me kind of comes into play but from a fan perspective of we saw there was plenty of growth in the first year the second year feels like a little bit of a write-off this this third year under Bill O'Brien feels like the year that we need to see if we've got Matt Jones the future of the New England Patriots and I think that as I mentioned Bill O'Brien seems to be the most likely and the most qualified candidate to really be able to do that so yeah it's just kind of keeping your fingers crossed but feeling really quite positive um about about all this when it comes to the the. Good point. Very good point. And, you know, you hear Josh say about,

and I'm glad that you mentioned that these two actually did interact with each other and inter, you know, interlap with each other when they were in New England, they had, they were colleagues here from 2007 to 2009. So when you get these two guys in, when you get these two guys in the room together, they know of which they speak because they've worked together. And Josh continuously saying that you could give Bill O'Brien,

meaning a whole lot of responsibility, he could handle it. That's why he's not surprised at everything that he's accomplished from his days at Penn State to going to Houston. I know it was an acrimonious end in Houston, but there were a lot of positives that came out of his coaching stint in Houston and also the job that he did in Alabama. So Bill O'Brien coming in here to New England coming in with a lot of pedigree and a lot of preparation and there's no question about it he is going to be the voice that the Patriots so richly missed last year and I think something that they're going to need this year and that

brings me to my point on the voice here because one of the narratives that's out there right now is that Mac Jones may have been I don't want to say coddled because I think that's the wrong word but there was a kid gloves approach within the coaching staff last year when it came to Mac Jones these reports are coming from an extremely reliable you know reporter and Henry McKenna of Fox Sports someone who I absolutely have all the faith and trust in and hold in the highest regard. So my comments here in no way reflect on Henry as a reporter or anything to that effect. I really want to state that right off the bat. But I wonder about the nature of the way these comments are made and how they were meant to be portrayed and how they were interpreted because Henry actually did a follow-up to this making it very clear that the

comments about the coaching staff needing to be careful about how they coached Mack what they said to him how they criticized him was a little bit more to prevent him from being so hard on himself and for being so dedicated to try to fix the wrongs that he had instead of moving on and being able to fix them on the field he would fixate on the wrongs and he wouldn't be able to get past them this is a common problem for a rookie it's a common problem for a young athlete anyone who's ever played the game knows that you can fixate on these things and they can really fester and become problems um some athletes have the ability to shake them off and move right on. Tom Brady was one of the best in the business that I've ever seen be able to do it. Other sports,

you look at guys like Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, who let these things roll off them, utilized that motivation to make themselves better, but they didn't let it eat away at them to a point where it became detrimental to their development with mac i don't think it's a situation where they had to watch the criticism or had to watch the yelling or anything like that this is what some in the media aggregators especially are trying to portray but that's not i think the point the initial point of henry's report you look at someone like a nick saban he's not averse to coaching you hard. If Mac Jones is someone that's a little squeamish when it comes to being yelled at,

Bill O'Brien is not the right choice here. Bill O'Brien is going to come in. He's going to give you his opinion and he's going to be extremely vocal and extremely in your face about it. And Julian Edelman talked about this a couple of weeks ago when they asked him about Bill O'Brien saying, you know, if Bill is not yelling at you, it means he doesn't care about you. It means he doesn't love you. And I think that's where he says, if he's not yelling at you, that's when you have to worry about it. And that's when you have to really be careful. I think Bill is going to spend a lot of time in Mac's face. And I think Mac is going to enjoy that and that he's going to feed off it. And I think it's going to motivate him. So when you look at the right type of coach for Mac Jones do you think that is what Josh was really kind of getting at the perfect coach or the right coach for Mac Jones and being the type of motivation he needs as opposed to the type of

motivation maybe that could harm him or stunt his development I think it's kind of a bit of twofold because really where Mac was last year he didn't have a proper coach behind him he didn't really have from what we understand from if you read the great work that went out by Karen Gerigian and Andrew Callaghan at the Boston Herald about some of the insider things that went on that kind of thing so yeah you know the problems troubles we should we say with Joe Judge that kind of thing i think really it's you're looking at just a bit of a reset when it comes to coaching and as we've already mentioned these guys have crossed paths before these guys know they're each other's personalities and by

these guys i mean mac jones and i mean bill o'brien they're not going to be new to each other which is going to be and i think it's just these are all just more little boxes that tick as to why they've brought bill o'brien in for mac jones to sort of it's as if they are tailor making it to help him succeed and i suppose that works for them in a good way as in if he doesn't work out in 2023 it's like well we put everything in place we could to enable this guy to succeed we we put everything there when it came to coaching i know that you've got to look separately at the coaching situation and the and the other player situation because you've got to get that balance and i fully appreciate that but looking at the coaching situation in a vacuum it will be we put everything there that we could we gave you the guy that we thought that you would be the most successful in.

When you look at a list of OCs, other than really Josh McDaniels, and that's only because they had that year together, you know, his good rookie year together. You're putting in place the one name at the top of the list that would be, if you were to name OCs for Matt Jones, Bill O'Brien kind of was the name which I think is why so many Patriots fans were really it's a given that it's going to be him you know that he's out of his contract now so Saban can let him go that sort of thing

it was like why wouldn't he come to New England now it made so much sense to do we couldn't really envision it not happening unfortunately it did happen so yeah and it's like yeah as i said they're just trying to put in place the guy now if if if matt needs the guy to as you said to shout at him to really sort of motivate him to not baby him not let him have his tantrums or whatever we're not going to take that insert insert swear word from you that kind of thing the kind of guy that will be able to manage when mac has an explosion because he said he's a passionate footballer and we don't blame i don't blame him at all so when he has one of those one of those mini explosions one of those passionate episodes they're putting there a coach who they

feel who we sort of think who we've seen is really best equipped to be able to do with it like you said and and sort of shout back and and that's kind of what it seems like he needs so as i said it just it's just as if they're putting in place the name that they thought would be of the most success when it when it comes to coaching for matt jones yeah perfectly said and you know coaches can provide all of the opinions that they want to and with all due respect Josh is probably an opinion that most Patriots fan would respect more than others because of the time he spent here and the knowledge that he has of Bill O'Brien of Matt Jones most notably of Bill Belichick the

players in the locker room can offer a lot as well. And we heard Devin McCourty earlier this week give a stamp of approval and a re-endorsement for Mac Jones saying he's the future of New England. This guy spent time in the locker room the last two years, one under Josh McDaniels and the other under the Patricia Judge regime. He saw the type of leadership there. So you can definitely look at the dichotomy between the two. And if anybody knows that, it's going to be one of the team capt captains and Devin also dropped an interesting hint saying that if Mac is going to be the guy Patriots need to get him maybe a little bit more help but he'd like to see one of his guys

back in the fold and that guy is Jacoby Myers wide receiver Jacoby Myers a little bit in the news yesterday during some of the combine hullabaloo. Patriots and Jacoby might be sitting down to negotiate a new contract. But what will that contract look like? And is the Patriots or are the Patriots going to be out of Jacoby's range? The Countess and I will discuss that in just a moment when this episode of the Locked On Patriots Podcast continues. Patriots fans, the illustrious Countess of Clairvoyance, Countess of Clas, Midweek Monarch,

Queen of TE, Baroness of Blockers. It's been a long time since we've done the rundown, folks. That's what I got right now. The illustrious solo host of A Claire Perspective of Patriots podcast.

And of course, the Pat's Propaganda columnist extraordinaire Claire Clossey. Claire Cooper joins me here today. We're having some fun on day two of the combine in Indianapolis going on right now. And we're extracting Patriots nuggets. It's not easy,

Claire, extracting some of the Patriots information when your contingent hasn't spoken yet. It's a little difficult, but the business is going to pick up, folks. But there were two definitely noteworthy nuggets that came out of Tuesday, essentially day one, you might as well say, of the combine.

We talked a little bit about Josh McDaniel's comments about Bill O'Brien and Mac Jones, but really one of the combine we talked a little bit about josh mcdaniel's comments about bill o'brien and mac jones but really one of the more tangible logistical pieces of news that came out of yesterday was the fact that wide receiver jacoby myers and the patriots soon to be free wide receiver jacoby myers going to sit down in the top contract supposedly next week when things die down after the combine now the league year starts on march 15th claire today is march 1st we're looking through a looking glass right now in terms of days that the patriots and jacobi have to iron out a deal when you look at this and you look at this from a patriots perspective and a jacobi perspective we're hearing that the patriots

would like to bring him back, would like the deal to be quote unquote team friendly. We're also hearing from, again, very reliable sources. Mike Reese in his weekend column always knocks it out of the park. He said that the market for Jacoby is likely to be in the 15 to $20 million a year range because of the nature of the market and just the way Jacoby is played. range because of the nature of the market and just the way jacobi is played does this new contract projection make it more likely or less likely that the patriots work something out prior to the start

of the league year see this is difficult because there's such conflicting information because you've got the case of they're trying to set up Matt Jones for you know for the best possibility we know that he's got a good connection with Jacoby Myers we know that they're a successful pair however there's also the market as you said it's I use the term weak very loosely but there's a kind of weak free agency market when it comes to wide receivers and to compound that from what I understand because I've only done a little dipped my teeny tiny toe in the whole draft combine situation at the moment is the wide receiver room isn't exactly or the wide receiver depth at the draft isn't exactly

sort of the most explosive it's a little bit on the weaker side this season so you're going into sort of an off season or you're in an off season where the wide receivers that are available and the wide receivers in free agency available and the wide receivers in the draft available, aren't really kind of up there with sort of the top, the cream of the crop or whatever you want to say. Now this is nothing against any guy that is out there right now. Who's a wide receiver granted.

And I think the situation is if you were looking at jacobie myers being available another year maybe he wouldn't be warranting as much money as he possibly could get this year now this isn't me trying to be disrespectful to him i'm not a load of people are saying he's not a wide receiver one i'm full of praise for jacobie myers if you read my game recaps all of last year, guys, Jacoby Myers, love him, want him to stay. But he isn't really the name that when someone says, who's an elite wide receiver? Jacoby Myers isn't necessarily a name that gets thrown out there

for quite a while. So is the market going to bump up his price? And it really looks like that's the situation this season. Now, Jacobian may be aware of this and kind of wants to get his money, wants to cash in and nobody can blame him because that's what, you know, that's what players do. He may look at a team friendly deal and sort of look at the money and realise that they can only do so much if he wants to stay in New England.

A lot of it is about what his priorities are. I know that sort of in the league, I've heard it mentioned that there's two different types of guys. There's the guys that play for Muni and there's the guys that play for their team. And I've got respect for both sides. It's a job at the end of the day and I fully appreciate what they put their bodies through. So I've got no disrespect for, you disrespect for whichever camp that they sit in,

but it's going to be very key as to kind of which camp Jacoby is in for the Patriots because I can imagine they do want to bring him back as a weapon for Matt Jones, but he isn't that sort of wide receiver one that they feel that a lot of the Patriots fans, fan nation feel is what's needed now in New England. And there was a couple of things that I wanted to throw out in regard to this. That's an offshoot of this sort of the whole Jacoby situation is you've got

the Patriots have never really had, or for a while, should I say that wide receiver one, that top elite guy. And they, the thing is they never really had that guy when they had the top elite quarterback so it paled into significance because they had a quarterback that could sort of gloss over those cracks however they did have quite a number one i want to say

target rather than sort of receiver in Rob Gronkowski. I know we're going back a few years, but they didn't necessarily have a wide receiver one because Tom could target Gronk. So you had that top pass catcher. You had that number one weapon. You had that guy that other defences had to scheme against. And that's kind of what the Patriots seem to be missing at the moment. Is Jacoby Myers really that guy?

As great as he is, I'm not really sure. We haven't seen it yet. It depends on, people argue it depends on what's around him and things like that and fully appreciate that. But warranting big money, it feels like the Patriots could do with that sort of number one pass catcher that threat that target that that guy that defenses are sort of scared of and have to really sort of double team and and that kind of thing to make an impact and and as great as jacoby is and as great

as he fits in new england i'm not really sure that that that's what he is if they can afford to get him and get this number one wide receiver or get this weapon then you're talking of a different story so a lot of it is going to fall as i said as to really what jacoby wants what he wants to do with his life with his career how he wants to move forward the other thing to know is recently some of the news that came out is that yes i think it was yesterday so tuesday the patriots were working out the undrafted signed but released by the ravens alabama weapon as it was put slade bolden now there's big there was big praise um from him for bill o'brien because i know that they worked

together obviously alabama so that's a good connection now potentially that guy probably isn't going to cost them a lot of money anyway. So even if they do bring him in, it probably doesn't deter away from what they would get if it comes to sort of wide receiver one weapons, that kind of thing. But if they're bringing in a guy like that, a slot kind of guy, is this something else that indicates that they are prepared for the fact that Jacoby's going to want too much money and they need to fit somebody in for that Jacoby Myers role if you like for for one of a better phrase so as great as it is that they're bringing in somebody from Alabama that Bill knows that as in Bill O'Brien knows that that Matt knows he was an undrafted kid nothing against him but he's obviously not going to cost that much money but it just hints towards the would he be doing that Jacoby Myers role? The other thing to consider, though, when you look at money

and what they're going to put up for a top wide receiver, Tyquan Thornton was drafted in the position of speed, in that position of what would be branded as wide receiver one, that inline speed guy. Now, he was injured plenty last season. He was underwhelming last season. So do the Patriots see in him what we haven't had chance to see and that he could be made into?

He could become a wide receiver one. Do they already have in place that guy that you would normally think would need to drop a lot of money on a veteran for a wide receiver one in taekwondo i'm not saying yes or no i'm not championing either way enough just so people know because i don't know i haven't seen and i haven't seen enough but do they know as in they patriots kind of coaching staff do they see something there that they feel that they could push him into the wide receiver one role and if that's the case and if they can afford jacoby myers he kind of sits although he's not a top wide receiver one he sits in that safety blanket situation for mac again it's looking at as we mentioned earlier with regards to bella bryan

putting pieces in place to give mac jones the most success giving him individuals that he's very comfortable with players that he has got a good bond with because we know that he's bonding quite well with Hunter Henry so if you've got a guy now you've got your quarterback if you've kept Jacoby Myers you've got one of his favorite receivers you've got a tight end that he that he's really connected well with you've given him a coach who he really knows well. Have you brought in a guy from Alabama as like a backup, as an extra that, you know, to make him comfortable? All these really show that they're building around this quarterback. It's just more and more tick boxes to say we're in on Matt Jones. Now, they might only be in on Matt Jones for 2023, folks. And,

you know, it's all well and good and that's fairness. But I think a lot of these things that they're doing, it doesn't really give us a full indication of going back to the Jeremy Myers thing, sorry. It doesn't really give us a full indication of where it's really going. I think as Patriots fans, the one thing that we know is Belichick, Bill Belichick, doesn't like paying a lot of money for guys in general. And I don't think Jacoby Myers is going to warrant a large payday in New England.

As unfortunate as I think it is, because he's a lovely guy and he's, you know, he's a great player. He does deserve to be paid. I don't think that that's going to be manageable in New England, considering the amount of other things that they need to do. Offensive tackles that they need to look at in free agency. All the other holes that they need to do, offensive tackles that they need to look at in free agency, all the other holes that they need to fill to make this team a success. Putting a lot of money down on Jacoby Myers, it's not great business sense when it comes to the game of football.

So if he wants a lot of money, unfortunately, I don't think he's going to be a New England player. Now, like you said, if he can sit down with the staff and kind of make a deal where he gets paid, but in a way that manipulates cap space and things like this then you know great again it ticks that box of showing that they're looking at invested in matt jones but i think it's it's the information that we're getting right now is so conflicted it's really difficult to sort of make a decision as to what you sort of project you see for the future when it comes to jacoby myers very good point a lot of good points

first of all tip of the cap to the mention on slade bolden i actually opened today's show talking about slade working out for the patriots and why i believe that it does show that mac jones and bill o'brien are on the same page and have a leg up on the competition in terms of kind of giving this offense a little bit of a face look in the Alabama mode. Because don't forget, not just is this a Mac Jones security blanket. Bill O'Brien really loved working with this kid in Alabama. He used to call him Little Wes, really remind him a lot of Wes Welker, who was also an undrafted free agent that came in without a lot of fanfare,

not really well utilized by the team that he previously came into, got into the right situation, and Welker blossomed. I'm not saying that Welker and Brady can be compared to Mack and to Slade Bolin, but there is something to be said about familiarity, and there is something to be said about that camaraderie that exists there. That could be a relationship that the Patriots may want to forge. Ultimately, we'll have to see if the Patriots feel that Slade is worth a spot on their roster. They did work him out last year during the pre-draft process. Didn't end up working out. But at the same time, you know, Slade also has a little bit more pro experience under

his belt working with the Baltimore Ravens practice squad and working with them during training camp, I should say, not practice squad. And sports hernia, unfortunately derailed his ability to go forward very quickly. So that's a good point on Slade Bolden. I'm so glad that you mentioned that. I've always been an advocate right now with the Patriots, especially with Jacoby Myers saying that if it got to the point where they

were into the league year, that he was probably going to be priced out. And now seeing the $15 to $20 million market range for him, it makes sense. It really does. And I don't know if the Patriots are willing to go that eye for a player that had the abilities, you know, that he does. And he does.

I mean, there's no question about it. Look, the Raiders gave Hunter Renfro a two-year $32 million deal with $21 million guaranteed last year. You take a look at Hunter's stats through four seasons, 56 games, 244 catches, 2,629 yards, 17 touchdowns. All right, a lot of touchdowns. He's a good redstone weapon. No question about it. But Jacoby is right there with him in just about every other category.

60 games played, so four more. 235 catches, kind of minimal difference there 2758 yards more yards for Jacoby and then eight touchdowns so this is a situation where does Jacoby Myers look at Hunter's deal and say okay that's something that I'd like to do I don't think at this point because they've waited so long that he agrees to a deal like that before he hits the market. Agents right now are pushing that. They want to get these guys out on the market. We'll listen. We'll hear what you have to say.

But we want to make sure we're maximizing any leverage that we have in these contract negotiations. I do think if Jacoby makes it to the open market, it's going to be tough. But bottom line, what this means is that the patriots need to have a backup plan in place because jacoby is a huge part of this offense you can't take him out of that and expect it just to say okay taekwon's going to step up like you had mentioned davante parker's going to step up here kendrick bourne these guys all played a role in the offense this year they need someone else that's going to be able to come in and play that role. And then some, do they find it as a veteran free agent?

Do they find it as an undrafted diamond in the rough free agent like a Slade Bolden? Or do they go the draft route? And that's something, folks, that we're going to be discussing here on Locked On Patriots for the remainder of the week because workouts are starting. Players are hitting the podium. It's going to be all about the talent on the field at lucas oil stadium in indianapolis as the 2023 scouting combine continues countess what can i say you knocked it out of the park once again the wisdom and council meter broken off you absolutely crushed it as you always do and i thank you uh for all of that and i thank

you for correcting me as well how dare i insinuate that she co-hosts that podcast. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. Before I let you go today, please let everyone know where they can find you. And in loving us on some of the great work that's still to come from the illustrious hands of class. Well,

the show that I host a fair perspective. Yeah, that should be out again next week. There was one last week. I know, I know, I know know i do co-host one page it's place with thomas murphy over etg sports and we are here for you each and every week we had the fantastic evan lazaro on monday that was a load of fun so go and check that out because he's super knowledgeable that guy's got a brain so huge oh it's amazing um and yeah perhaps propaganda off season so it's a little bit low but i am looking at as soon as the combine has gone through and i've been able to asset

assess sorry all those guys running up and down on the 40s and things like this there will be some content over at pats propaganda so do not worry we had a little bit of a lull for an off season but content will be coming at you and we're looking at doing some extra things for the 2023 season so please keep an eye out over at patspropaganda.com but make sure you rate view and subscribe to a clear perspective and one patriots place absolutely folks and anytime claire puts voice the microphone pen to paper it is must read must see appointment listening and viewing and reading so please by all means check out everything that she does and again folks if today, if today you made Locked On Patriots your first listen, please make your second listen our good friends over at Locked On NFL.

My guys, Keith and Damian, are crushing it when it comes to draft coverage, and the season has only just begun. So make sure to download, subscribe to, and follow them wherever you get your podcasts. On behalf of the illustrious Claire Colazzi, Claire Cooper of Pat's Propaganda and FPC Patriots, I'm Mike DeBate. Continue to stay safe, stay well,

be the change you wish to see in the world. Have a great day, everyone.