Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Mid-Week Mock Drafts: New England Patriots Eyeing Wide Receivers? — 4/21/2021

Episode Date: April 21, 2021

The New England Patriots still have several roster needs heading into the 2021 NFL Draft. While some consider quarterback to be of greatest importance, others have the Pats taking a different approach. Joining host Mike D’Abate is Hal Bent of Full Press Coverage. The duo discuss Hal’s most recent mock drafts, choosing wide receivers early on in the draft, and the desire for the Pats to strengthen the offensive line and the linebacker positions.Listen to The Ultimate Mock Draft 2021 presented by Audacy and the Locked On Podcast Network. April 19th-26th. Follow the feed today!Support 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.BetOnline AGThere is only 1 place that has you covered and 1 place we trust. Betonline.ag! Sign up today for a free account at betonline.ag and use that promocode: LOCKEDON for your 50% welcome bonus.Rock AutoAmazing selection. Reliably low prices. All the parts your car will ever need. Visit RockAuto.com and tell them Locked On sent you.ManscapedGet 20% Off and Free Shipping with the code LOCKEDONNFL at Manscaped.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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. You are now locked into the Lockdown Patriots podcast. It is Wednesday, April 21st, 2021, and it is time for a double dose of midweek mocks here on your daily home for news notes and analysis infused with the occasional opinion on your six-time Super Bowl champions, the New England Patriots. Happy Hump Day, Patriots Nation, and thank you for joining me here on this Wednesday

episode of the pod. My name is Mike DeBate, your host of the Locked On Patriots Podcast, a proud part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. And folks, because it's your team every day, that means your questions, comments, and feedback are always welcomed, very much appreciated. So share that feedback and send it to the internet by reaching out to me and following me on Twitter at MDABATEFPC. And while you're out there doing some Wednesday wandering through the Twitterverse,

please be sure to follow the Lockdown Patriots account as well at LO underscore Patriots. Patriots fans, twice the treat for you here today, as we are now just one week and one day away from the start of the 2021 NFL Draft. A lot of prognostications out there regarding what the Patriots will do. And on today's episode of the pod, we have a double dose of midweek mocks, courtesy of my friend and colleague Hal Bent of FullPressCoverage.com. And I'm truly honored to call Hal a colleague. He's one of the best in the business of breaking down offensive and defensive strategy,

and he's quite the aficionado when it comes to draft analysis, and he'll prove that today. When it comes to determining the Patriots' draft strategy, Hal takes us in a little bit of a different direction, but make no mistake about it. Hal knows the Patriots have needs at a lot of positions other than just the signal caller, and he addresses those needs by selecting a great number of players that we've yet to discuss here on Locked On Patriots. And I know you're all waiting patiently for Hal's wisdom and counsel. He will join us here on the hot seat in just a moment.

But you've heard me talking all week long about the ultimate mock draft 2021 presented to you by Odyssey Sports and by the Locked On Podcast Network. Folks, this has been a tremendous success thus far. Getting the opportunity to work collaboratively with all of the great hosts we have across the Locked On Podcast Network has been a blast. It was great last year. It's even better this year, folks. Draft picks and analysis from over 75 experts in the industry, including those from Odyssey

Sports and the insiders of the Locked On Podcast Network, your local experts, myself included. It really is the most comprehensive mock draft available. If you haven't done so yet, make sure to follow The Ultimate Mock Draft 2021 on Apple Podcasts so that you'll be sure to download all six episodes. But today, you may want to pay close attention because your New England Patriots are on the clock at number 15. And yours truly, with the number 15 pick selected, well, I'm not going to tell you just yet.

Of course, after you listen to Locked On Patriots today, be sure to follow the Ultimate Mock Draft 2021 on Apple Podcasts and check out what yours truly had in store for the New England Patriots at pick 15, along with insider analysis from my colleague Brian Peacock, host of the Locked On 49ers podcast, former NFL scout Matt Williamson, and Andy Gresh of WEI weigh in on my choice for the New England Patriots with the number 15 pick in the 2021 Ultimate Mock Draft brought to you by Odyssey Sports and the Locked On Podcast Network. But my insight and opinion is only one in a sea of mock drafts and analysis all over sports media right now. And again, here today on the pod, lending not one but two prognostications for the Patriots when it comes to next Thursday,

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Patriots fans, my guest today is someone I am so proud to call a colleague. He is one of the best you will find anywhere at analyzing offensive and defensive strategy. But he's also a pretty good draft strategist as well, and you'll see that today. He is a writer covering both the New England Patriots and the NFL for full press coverage Patriots and the BostonSportPage.com. He is my good friend, Hal Bent. Hal, thank you for joining me today. Welcome back to the Locked On Patriots podcast.

Mike, it's always an honor to be on with you and so excited to be talking about the draft here as it's coming up. It's just with the Patriots this high, it's a rare occurrence. So it's like this one's extra special. Absolutely, Bud. Honor and privilege, all mine. Hal, we are a week and a day away from the start of the 2021 NFL Draft, and our good mutual friend Steve Balistrieri joined me here yesterday on the pod, and we both agreed that the phrase,

just over a week away, it's kind of like saying so close but so far away. It's close enough where you can see it, but too far away where you're like, all right, I just needed to get here already. The anticipation just continues to grow. We continue to take a deep dive into our prognostications on the Patriots' potential plans here on Locked On Patriots, but Hal, you've been a mock draft machine over at Full Press Patriots, providing some amazing insight and interesting directions for the Pats to take. Folks, if you haven't had a chance to do it yet, please check out Hal's great mocks.

They're available at fullpresscoverage.com slash patriots. So, Bud, let's get right down to it. Your mock draft 1.0 has the Patriots making a pick at number 15. They're taking wide receiver Jamar Chase out of LSU. And again, Chase definitely has clear star potential. He's one of my favorite receivers in this class. I'm not so sure if I agree with him being there at 15, but I do like this pick an awful lot. You also have the Patriots double dipping, going back into the wide receiver pool, taking Amari Rodgers at 96. And the Clemson wideout has been the subject of much praise here on Locked On Patriots.

I've sung his praises. Guests like Thomas Murphy, Evan Lazar, to name a few, had a lot of great things to say about Amari Rodgers. Again, at 96, might be a little lofty thinking. I'm thinking he's coming off the board there. Before I get too far into analyzing this one, what made you do the double dip at wide out here, Hal? I mean, you know, double dipping at wide receiver in this draft. I mean, wide receiver and cornerback are just so overloaded. It's almost impossible not to hit at that position multiple times. I mean, I, for one, would love to see this

happen. And I think most Patriots fans would as well. If you tell me at the end of the draft that the Patriots came away not only notching Jamar Chase, but also Amari Rogers, I don't know of anybody that wouldn't consider that a win. But again, maybe lofty thinking, but that's why we do mock drafts here all over, not just on Locked On Patriots, but all over. Hal, you also dipped into the trade market a little bit. You had the Pats packaging the number 46 pick to the New Orleans Saints. In exchange, the Patriots received the 60th pick, as well as pick number 98 and 118.

You used that 60th pick to select USC defensive end Jay Tufelay. And I think this is a good pick as well. Someone that can really thrive in that 3-4 system at the defensive end position, the type of player that the Patriots like to employ. So, Hal, you filled some needs for the Patriots all over the board. You included a couple of offensive linemen before hitting that number 120 mark. You've got some defensive reinforcements at corner and at linebacker a little bit later. Hal, as you compiled your mock draft 1.0, were you looking more for the best available talent? Were you following a pre-draft agenda? And which of these picks do you believe has the chance to

be the best New England Patriot in 2021 and beyond? Well, I mean, as far as the strategy, you know, as I did at the beginning of all of the mock drafts, you know, we kind of just outlined what are the team needs. And we know after free agency, there were a lot that were filled, you know, getting done to Hightower back, Kyle Van Noy returning to the fold. You know, there's players coming back. There's, you know, players being signed. Nelson Aguilar, born at wide receiver as well. So even with some of that, you know, players coming in, there what the needs are go up and down. I mean, Julian Edelman, before he retired and maybe he was going to play, all of a sudden wide receiver, now that he is retired, is bumping up a little bit more as we get closer to the draft as, you know, this is something that really is a need. But I tried to, you know, as I said, you know, get my inner Belichick going

and really look at not just 2021, but, you know, the needs for the team in 2022. Offensive tackle, you know, Trent Brown and Isaiah Wynn may not be here next year. Safety, how long is Devin McCourty going to continue to play? Cornerback, you've got two great ones right now with Stephon Gilmore and J.C. Jackson. But again, are either one of them going to be on the team next year? We don't even know at this point because those contract situations are so fluid right now. They're both expiring here at the end of the year. So it's kind of looking at the draft, looking at what they need on paper right now for this team this year. But with that Belichick, you know,

the advantage that he has of being there for 20 years and knowing how long he wants to be there and pretty much not having to worry too much about losing his job, he can take that, you know, that two, that three year longer view that, you know, a lot of the general managers just don't have that leash and they're playing for this year to win this year or else they're out the door. So that factors into it as well as far as the picks. And there's a big need. We're not going to, you know, they're obviously not going to hit every need in the draft. And there's only so many picks.

And, you know, as I went through these mocks, you know, trading up, trading down, accumulating picks, jumping around the board. I mean, that's a very Belichickian thing to do. You know, try to get as much ammunition as he can to, you know, jump up a few spots when he needs to, to get somebody that's really a fit. And that's part of it as well is, you know, not just looking at these players, but looking at these players as their fit for the types of players that Belichick has drafted over the last 20 years. He's kind of left a blueprint. And, you know, as we start hearing from, you know, whether it's a, you know,

former front office or a former head coach or Belichick disciples and looking at their drafts and their comments as well, you kind of see the shape of, you know, what type of players they've been bringing in and is that evolving this year. And, you know, a lot of it comes down to, you know, you've got to get the right players, not just for the present, but, you know, for next year and the year after. And that first mock draft 1.0, I'll tell you, I look at it now and it was just a couple of weeks ago. Chamachi, he's not going to be there at 15. Come on.

Amari Rogers at 96. I'd be lucky if he's there at 46 at this point right now. At this point, you're right. You know, I mean, he's flying up the boards on the mock drafts that I see. And that's what makes it so interesting as well, is that just the evolution of the drafts and where people are going. And this year especially with the quarterbacks, so much talent at quarterback in this draft. And whether they're worthy of a top five pick or not, you know, we're going to see very likely four quarterbacks in the top five,

maybe five in the top ten, which is just a bonanza. But, again, it shows what that position is and why that's a position of need. And for the Patriots as well, with no more Tom Brady, that's a position that you've got to look at. And all this rampant speculation, do they move up from 15? Is it feasible? Is Belichick going to pull the trigger and give up multiple first-round picks? Because San Francisco has kind of established what the cost is going to be if you're going to move up to get a quarterback here in this draft.

And it is definitely not cheap. Oh, absolutely. It is not cheap. And, folks, we will be discussing the quarterback position when it comes to Hal's drafts. Because it definitely garnered some attention throughout the past couple of weeks, buddy. And you know exactly what I'm referring to, but I'm not going to steal your thunder. I'm going to let you answer that question, but getting back to your mock draft 1.0, I thought you had some intriguing selections between the 110s and the 140s, and a couple of them stood out to me. Obviously, at 114, you had the Patriots going

with guard Deontay Brown. I think this is an interesting, intriguing pick. I know he struggled at the senior bowl. You mentioned that in your mock, but there is a lot of size there and the ability to get up into the athletic type of offensive lineman that the Patriots would need him to be. He's huge. He's a mauler, to use your words. And I think that he's a work in progress, but someone that the Patriots could indeed, you know, utilize to the best of their ability. And maybe a little bit of tutelage in that Patriots offensive line would be just what he needed. Another one that intrigued me was at number 139, Monty Rice, linebacker out of Georgia.

We talk so much about the Patriots looking for that gem linebacker in the draft. And I know Monty Rice is an inside linebacker. You expect him to compete with guys like Juwan Bentley, Anthony Jennings, even Raekwon McMillan, who you mentioned in your piece along the inside. This is a kid that does have a lot of versatility, and the Georgia players are noted for that. They do have a great deal of leadership on and off the field. I like Rice because he can play special teams. He can blitz.

Maybe not the most refined linebacker when it comes to coverage. But again, if he's studying under some of these guys like a Dante Hightower, there's plenty on the tape in order for him to be able to stand out a little bit. So overall, I thought you did a great job. And I liked this draft. Was there a particular pick here that stood out to you above the rest when you look at your mock draft 1.0? You know, it's I you kind of stole my thunder with Monty Rice because, you know, because I really like Monty Rice and I'd look at him as a guy that, you know, I'm not sure that Bill Belichick really is going to like a Monty Rice. And I'm thinking that, you know, where they talk about, you know, the Patriots evolving their

draft strategy after, you know, not really having great success the last few years, although last year is looking pretty strong right now, and those players could take a big step forward, and that draft could really grow. But that lighter linebacker, you always see Belichick looking for those big linebackers, and that goes back to the 1970s when he was with the Colts. You know, he wants those 260-pound linebackers out there that are going to stop the run first.

And if you get somebody that's athletic enough to drop, like we've seen, you know, Rob Ninkovich with that state, uh, sneaky athleticism, uh, Mike Vrabel, you know, I mean, look at, um, Teddy Bruschi, you know, a third down pass rusher who evolved into a middle linebacker and made so many plays in coverage over the years as well. Um, so, you know, that, that big, big linebacker, you know, there's a need for that, but there's got to be some adaptation as well. And I think Monty Rice could be part of that. He's, he's much lighter than the usual Patriot linebacker, but, you know, being able to have

that speed and athleticism, which the defense lacks sometimes, especially in the front seven, you know, just getting more of that speed on the field. You see, you know, the teams that stress with the speed and Kansas City is a great example of that on offense where, you know, when you're respecting that speed, it's just a whole nother dimension to that offense and being able to defend that and having speed on defense. That's where the Patriots really need to get some extra energy there on both sides of the ball. So I was a little bit reaching on that one outside of the Belichick box, but I thought he was a good fit there. And right before him as well, I had Ambry Thomas, cornerback out of Michigan. Again, not a big cornerback. He's no Joe Juan Williams. He's no Stephon Gilmore. He doesn't have that ideal size that Belichick looks for at that position, which is needed in today's game. But he's really a smaller cornerback, can play inside, nickel cornerback. And that can be a need coming up as well because Jonathan Jones is nearing the end of his

contract as well, and he can be a free agent soon as well. So after this year, cornerback is a position that the Patriots really need to start stockpiling some players now and getting them coached up and ready to go for 2022. Absolutely. And Pats fans, Hal is dropping the knowledge today for sure. Bringing awareness to some players that we haven't mentioned too much here on the pod. We're not done yet, folks, because Hal has done it again. A second mock draft for full-press Patriots, and Hal has added again with a trade machine, filling needs on the roster and just doing all kinds of great things

for their favorite team in Foxborough. Where did Hal take us in the sequel? Find out when the Locked On Patriots podcast continues. Locked On listeners, football on the field might be over, but the NBA and the NHL are in full swing. It's the perfect time to put your prognostication skills to the test, and if you do, there is only one place that has you covered and one place we trust, betonline.ag.

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Bet online, your online sportsbook experts. LockedOn listeners, April 19th through the 26th, listen to the ultimate Mock Draft 2021, featuring analysis from NFL experts Michael Irvin, Jason LaConfora, and Brian Baldinger. And of course, our local experts for every team, making trades and picking the next stars of their team. Subscribe to the Ultimate Mock Draft 2021, presented by Locked On and Odyssey, on the new Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts.

Odyssey is your audio home for all the sports, podcasts, music, and news that matter to you. That's A-U-D-A-C-Y. Patriots fans, Hal Benn of Full Press Coverage and BostonSportPage.com joins us today, lending a little midweek mock draft wisdom and counsel. And Hal, in the previous segment, we broke down your mock draft 1.0. You made some trades, addressing some needs, and of course the crown jewel of that mock being wide out Jamar Chase. Well, folks, Hal isn't a one-and-done guy.

He gave us a sequel, and this time he followed a little bit of a familiar pattern. He did go to the wide receiver well once again, this time selecting Alabama wide out Devontae Smith, who, believe it or not, is actually making the rounds on Twitter today as a potential Patriot. Your timing, Hal, could not be more impeccable. Great job on that, bud. But I think you also got some great second-round value

in one of Devontae's teammates, offensive tackle Alex Leatherwood, another Bama guy. And, again, I think him being there at number 46 actually might be a bit wishful thinking. I know he's not overly projected, but Leatherwood to me is one of those players that just screams football guys get it. Maybe not so much as the draft experts get it,

but hand in the dirt football guys get it. And I think he's going to be off the board by this point. But if he's there at 46 i would love this value uh i like leatherwood more each time i watch him good strength as a run blocker has the length for pass protection he can project as a tackle or a guard so versatility maybe again you put so eloquently in this draft that maybe a little bit of training under camp scar with Conor Brasile and Cole Popovich doing his work might be just what Alex Weatherwood needs in the pros to really vault him into that next level. Again, I really like him the more I see him. I'm surprised he hasn't got the

love that he's, I think he deserves in this draft, but he also had two repeat appearances from your first mock draft. Ambry Thomas, who you mentioned in the previous segment, cornerback out of Michigan, and Stone Forsythe, offensive lineman out of Florida. You mentioned him as a potential camp scar candidate as well. So Hal, if I'm being honest, I broke with movie tradition. I like the sequel better than the original. I thought 2.0 was solid in so many ways. But walk us through the process of your second approach and which were your favorite picks in this draft?

I mean, again, same kind of approach here as with 1.0, but trying to learn from some of my, I don't know if I'd call them mistakes or criticisms I've received as well. But again, this was a quick quarterbacks off the board. When I ran the mock, one, two, three, four, boom, boom, boom. No surprises there. My only question was, am I going to trade up to try to get Mac Jones? And I'm not really a Mac Jones believer. I think he's a solid second round quarterback. I don't, I'm not sure I put them in that top tier with the,

you know, the first four. I mean, Lawrence, head and shoulders, and then, you know, Wilson and Lance and Fields, who's my favorite. I mean, I think Fields, if he gets past the Jets at number two, could be somebody that we're looking at in three or four years, you know, kind of like Mahomes or, you know, Watson and saying, how did they not draft him that high? Who kept passing on this guy? So, and again, I'm just going to put my disclaimer up here as well. You know, I was all aboard the Sam Darnold train a few years ago. So we've seen how that works out. So take my comments with a little grain of salt once I get on quarterbacks. Devonta Smith, I would love to see him dropping to 15. I still don't think he's going to drop to the Patriots at 15.

That may require a trade-up to get there to him. More likely than not, he's not going to be there at 15, just like Jamar Chase in the previous mock draft. And certainly many times that I've run these mock drafts you know this one I just use the the PFN mock draft because I feel that's a little more accurate than the PFF mock draft as well and there's many many more out there but I think those two are the are the top ones to run. And as I say in the introduction, I can't make the picks for all 32 teams. I'm trying to wrap my head around Belichick's draft strategy.

I can't do 31 other general managers. I don't know how these writers do it sometimes. It just amazes me. But, yeah, so some trade downs. I mean, one of my favorite players in the draft in 2.0 I grabbed at number 120 was Tutu Atwell, another wide receiver out of Louisville. I mean, this is a gadget guy with incredible speed. He's small. He's only 5'8".

He's only 155 pounds. And I think that's going to have a lot of teams are just going to have him off their board because of that size. But the speed, the 4'3", 5", he ran in the 40. The three-cone drill that probably had Bill Belichick sit up at attention. Both came up excellent. And, you know, that athleticism, that speed, you know, running jet suite, screen passes, all of these things that we see that the Patriots offense needs, you know, pressuring that second level of the defense. It's just so vital for this team and to be able to get somebody in round four with that kind of talent.

I just couldn't say no to him. He was just, just too exciting to pass up there at that point. So, yeah. And, and, and, you know, like I said, there's a lot, a lot of value in this draft and part of the, the fun with the value is, you know, it's very deep skill positions, cornerback and wide receiver, especially there going to be here and who's going to be there. We really don't have any real idea, more so than a usual year, because of the craziness of last season with the pandemic. And, you know, we had, you know, schools that weren't playing, schools that played one game, you know, abbreviated seasons, players opting out. So some of these guys, you know, we're looking at them and saying, well, we don't have a lot of tape on them or, you know, they only played 13 games in their college career and we're projecting them see a lot of teams moving up and moving down and reacting to the board more so than usual just because there's so much uncertainty. I think you're going to see one of those drafts where 32 teams walk out of it

and every one of them says, oh my God, I can't believe player X was available for us there in the third round. Because I think there's just going to be so much variance in where everyone has everyone ranked. And, you know, you're going to find, you know, a lot of good players who were underdrafted coming out of these, out of the draft this year more so than usual, just because the lack of tape, the lack of the combine,

it just makes something that's chaotic and hit and miss to begin with, even an extra dose of chaos in there. Yeah, without question. And Bill Belichick alluded to that last week when he spoke to the media, Ben Bolin of the Boston Globe, asking the question about truncated seasons. There not being a whole lot of film on guys. And Bill acknowledged that the 2019 film really is going to be more of a measuring stick than it would have been in previous years. Because in a lot of cases, that's all we have to go on with these guys.

So excellent analysis, Hal, and definitely spot on when it comes to that. I definitely liked Mock mock draft 2.0 a little bit better. It sounds like you might be agreeing with me, Bud, but last but certainly not least, I wouldn't be doing my job unless I pointed out a plot twist here, folks. You've alluded to this a little bit in your response, especially in this segment, but I'm going to give you a little bit of a chance to expound upon that a little bit you pointed out quarterback as being a pretty big need of position for the pats in neither installment and so far folks i'm not saying that you know how's done because i have a feeling how is not done yet i'm going to let him tell you about that in a minute too but neither of your

mocks have the pats addressing the quarterback position, not just trading up to get their quarterback of the future, but not addressing it at all. Was this a matter of the player you wanting just not being available, or has this come down to the player's potential value of those that were available just either not being worth the trade-up capital or the value at the picks the Patriots currently have? Yeah, it was a little bit of both. I mean, I don't think the Patriots are going to, you know, trade up to the number four pick and be able to get a quarterback. I just don't see it in

Bill Belichick's DNA to, you know, to hamstring two future drafts, because let's face it, it's going to take, you know, the price is set by San Francisco. It's three number ones, basically, to get up to the top five of this draft for a quarterback. So I just can't see Belichick doing that. You know, one of the weaknesses of, you know, the automated mock draft is I didn't think the trades were putting that quarterback tax when I did trade up in previous mock drafts that I just ran and didn't publish. And I just said, that's not realistic. I can't do that and say, hey, you know, two first round picks or a first and a second got me up to a quarterback. That's just not realistic. So I said, I'm just going to take that right off the table for these mock drafts that go out on full press coverage here, because I, you know, I didn't want it to come off as

unbelievable where I didn't believe that those results could actually happen in any way, shape, or form. So that was a big part of it. And part of it is the value as well. I was looking at it as saying, if I can accumulate more picks in the 50 to 150 range, whether it's trading down and then jumping back up later, that's where a lot of the focus is, because I think that's the smart play in this draft is to take as many swings as you can in that range just because of the talent there. It's deep and it's a little hit or miss. There's going to be some swings and misses there. So the more shots that you have, the more bites of the apple, the better chance you're going to have for success. But specific to the quarterback, so the first four were off the board in both mock drafts. No chance for the Patriots to get that

tier one quarterback. I don't consider Mac Jones a tier one quarterback. I wasn't going to move up with any draft capital to grab him. 2.0, the Bears jumped ahead and grabbed Mac Jones. 1.0, he was off in the top 10. So it was like, good luck to you there with that. And then that second tier, you know, that's an interesting group of quarterbacks. You know, like I said, there was a chance in 1.0 that I had one of the quarterbacks had fallen down, and there was an option to take him. And it wasn't really, you know, out of that second tier, I don't look at it as a second tier. I'm big on Kellen Mond. He's got the tape. He's played.

He's got a big arm. He's certainly not a first-round prospect, but he's developmental, has the tools to fit. And I think if there was anybody I was going to take from that group, it would be Mond. And it wasn't him that was available, wasn't able to trade up. So for me, those first two mock drafts, unfortunately, as much as I wanted a quarterback and as much as it was the need, it just didn't work out that way. Now, will it in mock draft 3.0 coming soon? You'll have to come down with a full press coverage to read that and find out, though. Folks, I love it.

That's what's called a teaser, and he did exactly what I wanted him to do. No, all kidding aside, Hal, your insight when it comes to these mock drafts is phenomenal, folks. You're just scratching the surface when it comes to Hal's insight. Again, check out his great work at fullpresscoverage.com slash Patriots. But before I let you go, Bud, in your estimation, please let everyone know, all of our followers

here on Locked On Patriots, where they can catch more of your work and what you have coming on the horizon in the coming days and really hours now leading up to the draft. Can't say weeks anymore, bud. We've got to go by hours now. That's right.

And what we can expect from your great pattern, my friend. All right. So, yeah, so fullpresscoverage.com, Patriots. Definitely that's where my mock drafts are going to be. A spillover always in the bostonsportpage.com. I'm on Twitter at halbent01. Direct all your angry comments to me there. Keep them coming.

I've been loving them. I appreciate you reading. And even the not-so-nice comments, I'm just happy you're reading. So thank you, and thank you, as always, for the feedback. Extremely diplomatic. I'm just happy you're reading. So thank you. And thank you as always for the feedback. Extremely diplomatic. I love it. And, you know, for all of the people that don't like trade downs, you might want to cover your eyes and just scroll through the beginning of mock draft 3.0 is all I'm going to say because my inner Belichick was raging on this one and uh i'm hoping it's you know i feel like you know 2.0 is the empire strikes back you know i i you know the the sequel may

have surpassed the original there but i'm really hoping this one isn't going to be the return of the jedi so you know i'm hoping that there's no Ewoks in this draft, please. Anytime you can end on a Star Wars reference, I'm sure our listeners love it. I love it on a personal level. And folks, again, you can check out Hal's great work. Don't miss Mock Draft 3.0 coming soon. In the meantime, my friends, stay safe, stay well.

We look forward to having you back here post-draft on Locked On Patriots. We'll break it all down, what the Patriots did, and whether we agree with the picks at the top, at the bottom, in between, any trades. That's all part of the fun of it. And we're just scratching the surface when it comes to draft coverage here on Locked On Patriots. But Hal, thanks again for joining me today. And again, we look forward to talking ball with you here really soon on Locked On Patriots. Appreciate it. Thank you so much, Mike, for the opportunity.

My pleasure. Pleasure is all mine, my friend. Patriots fans, just like that, we are more than halfway through your work week. But fear not, because we've only scratched the surface when it comes to the great Patriots coverage we still have in store for you here on the pod. Tomorrow, I'll share my thoughts on what I had in store for the Patriots of Pick 15 in the Ultimate Mock Draft 2021. We'll also be talking a great deal of Julian Edelman,

who was on the part of my Take podcast and had a lot of interesting things to say. We'll be breaking Edelman down with one of his biggest fans and a very special guest tomorrow. So to ensure that you do not miss a single second of the action, follow the Locked On Patriots podcast on platforms such as the Odyssey app, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcasts, just make sure that you are staying locked in to Locked On Patriots.

Once again, my name is Mike DeBate. I thank Hal Bent for his time, his insight, and his appearance on today's pod. But most of all, I thank you so much for listening and for continuing to make Locked On Patriots a daily part of your New England Patriots coverage. Until tomorrow, Foxborough faithful, stay safe, stay well, always be the change you wish to see in the world. Have a great day, everyone.