Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Mike Vrabel, New England Patriots: Building a Winning Culture? NFL Draft Prospects, Drake Maye

Episode Date: February 7, 2025

Can the New England Patriots' new coaching staff under Mike Vrabel reshape their future? With a mix of seasoned veterans and promising newcomers, the Patriots are poised for a strategic overhaul. Key figures like Josh McDaniels and Terrell Williams are set to make a significant impact, while quarterback Drake Maye and his leadership and recruiting efforts are under the spotlight. Explore the potential draft prospects for the Patriots, including Travis Hunter and Abdul Carter, as Locked On Patriots Postcast host Cam Stuart joins the discussion. The conversation also touches on the Patriots' substantial salary cap space and the importance of a successful draft to rebuild the team. Don't miss this engaging analysis of the Patriots' evolving strategy and future prospects. #nfl #newenglandpatriots Find and follow Locked On Patriots on your favorite podcast platforms: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1c5ZxFm... Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/show/locked-... And follow host Mike D’Abate on X, where he’ll be sharing the latest ne ws about the New England Patriots and talking with fans — @mdabateNFL Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! BetterhelpDiscover your relationship “green flags” with BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com/lockedon today to get 10% off your first month. LinkedInLinkedIn Jobs helps you find the qualified candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/LOCKEDONNFL. Terms and conditions apply. PrizePicksDownload the app and use code lockedonnfl to win $50 instantly when you play $5. You don't even need to win to receive your $50 bonus, it's guaranteed! Prizepicks. Run Your Game.Click Here: https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/LOCKEDONNFL GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms Apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime. FanDuelSuper Bowl 59 is here, And there’s no better way to make every play more exciting than with FanDuel Sportsbook. New customers can bet just FIVE DOLLARS, and if you win, you’ll score TWO HUNDRED BUCKS in Bonus Bets. Download the app or head to FANDUEL.COM to get started. Bet with FanDuel—Official Partner of Super Bowl Fifty-Nine. FANDUEL 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)

Mike Vrabel's coaching staff is now assembled, but does this coaching staff have the right blend of experience and innovation to bring the New England Patriots back to respectability? Stick around, you're about to be locked in to 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. I'm your host, Mike DeBate.

I cover your New England Patriots for the Patriots country reach out to me let me know what's on your mind on X at MDABATENFL you can catch me where the skies are blue over on Blue Sky at MDABATENFL.BSKY.SOCIAL and of course if you're looking to show locked on Patriots some social media

love do so on our X account at LO underscore Patriots and Pats fans your New England Patriots season has long since been over, but we're still crossing the streams here today on Locked On Patriots. And Crossover Thursday is brought to you by our good friends over at Prize Picks. Download the app, use the code LOCKEDONNFL to win $50 instantly when you play $5. Pats fans, Mike Vrabel has assembled his coaching staff, 27 members strong,

and the New England Patriots now face the tall task of returning to respectability. Is this the proper guiding light to bring them there? Also, the New England Patriots will now pivot their attention to the personnel on the field, and a big part of that is the 2025 NFL draft. We're going to be breaking down some potential draft prospects today as well. And last but certainly not least, your quarterback, Drake May,

having quite the couple of weeks so far, doing a little bit of recruiting down at the Pro Bowl, also in the Super Bowl this week. Does this mean that this young man is ready to take the leadership reins here in New England? We're going to be discussing all of that on today's pod, and I say we because joining me today to break it all down is a familiar face, perhaps an even more familiar voice to all of you in Patriots Nation. He is already the revered host of the Locked On Baylor podcast right here on the Locked

On Podcast Network, and you know him as the host of the Locked On Patriots Postcast. My friend and colleague Cam Stewart joins me today. Cam, welcome back to Locked On Patriots. So glad to have you back here, bud. Oh, it's good to be back. And usually when I'm talking Patriots on the Locked On Network, I'm not as calm and collected as I am right now. So it's kind of a, it's a change of pace.

Certainly not the same as that week 18 postcast against Buffalo. That was, that was good numbers, but I was popping blood vessels in that one. I can imagine each week you drew the unenviable task, my friend, of having to bring your wisdom, your counsel, your insight of which you bring a tremendous amount. And you have to blend that with the raw emotion of really kind of breaking down what we all just saw. I have the luxury of taking at least a couple of breaths before I'm ready to sit down, put pen to paper, pen a recap, and then come out and let everyone in Patriots Nation know my thoughts on the game. But capturing the information in the moment is something that I think you did a masterful job of this year.

So a major tip of the cap on behalf of all of the everydayers out here on Locked On Patriots. Thank you for doing a great job, and we can't wait for 2025. But bottom line, my friend, it is going to be a new dawn, a new day. And the New England Patriots have, in in fact finalized their coaching staff for the 2025 season last time you were on these airwaves Gerard Mayo was the head coach Patriots continued to struggle through that season for better or for worse the Pats made a change and Mike Vrabel is now the new man in charge the full group of coaches around him has also been assembled as of yesterday

February 5th the patriots have officially set their coaching staff 27 coaches strong pretty good mix of veterans holdovers from the previous year and a few young up-and-comers on this staff that i think could be those to watch so a lot of these coaches he's had previous experience with as a matter of, 14 of the 26 coaches that he hired here in New England have all crossed paths with him before in some way, shape, or form, whether it be as a player on the field or whether it be working with him in Tennessee as the head coach or the past year that he spent with the Cleveland Browns. So when you look at this coaching staff now, you know what the Patriots were last year. You know what fans want them to become this

year is this the group that you believe can lead the Patriots back to respectability we'll start with respectability but is this the group start yeah yeah uh as much as I want to break down like the Tony Dews strategy and and really get into the weeds of that um I'm more gonna look at the coordinator's position on top of Mike Vrabel, who's obviously the biggest part of the staff. And I think you were kind of getting to the right point of respectability. And instantly, Mike Vrabel brings some of that, right? Like, you know, I personally think

Gerard Mayo just didn't have a shot, like really didn't have a chance. And it's much easier to say that in retrospect. But like when Vrabel comes in, I think the vibe around the team and those talking about the team is there's an adult in the room here and someone who's done this before, not going to be afraid to say what he needs to say. And that's obviously what all the former Patriots teammates

and former Titans players were saying as well. So it doesn't mean you're a winning team right away, but there's at least some more respectability to have Vrabel in there. And honestly, looking at the two coordinator positions, I know, I know you talked a bunch about this, especially on the offensive side, that seemed to be where all the buzz was. I I'm, I'm a big fan of the Josh McDaniels hire, like not just the, Oh, the Patriot way. And he was under Belichick. Like, no, I think he's actually a really good fit for this job and for this quarterback. And I heard all the people talking about, well, oh, what was his record as a head coach?

Well, you're hiring him to be the offensive coordinator. Absolutely. What did he do without Brady? I don't know. Some pretty good work. He put Matt Jones in the Pro Bowl, right? Like he had Matt Castle winning 11 games. You know what I mean?

And so like there is evidence out there that he can be, A, a pretty good offensive coordinator, a couple Super Bowl rings, three Super Bowl rings doing that for this franchise. Right. And we've seen him do it without Brady. So I love McDaniels. And the other thing, too, which people for some reason don is, is how malleable Josh McDaniels can be. Like we, we literally, we saw them go, you know, obviously 07 is the one everyone remembers where they become a completely

different kind of offense and Brady totally reinvents himself as this, you know, run and gun kind of team. And then in 2018, you remember they lost three straight games and it's in December and they basically completely changed the way they operate offensively. And he said, you know, McDaniels is in the room and says, what do we do best? We can run in between the tackles and they just become that team in, in mid December and win the Superbowl changes it again for Cam Newton changes it a little bit more for Mac Jones. So I think he is absolutely the guy you want in charge of that offense when it comes to year two under Drake May,

because I think Mac Jones could be having a much different career right now if maybe there was some continuity there. I don't know that he was going to have the upside that Drake May has right now, but certainly it would have helped him become a starting quarterback, a sustainable starting quarterback in this league. If Josh McDaniels was there flipping it to the other side though, I'm not, I'm still not wild on the Terrell Williams hire. Um, and I I'll admit I'll hand up, you know, I didn't think about the defensive coordinator hire very much. So I didn't have, I was going through on my Boston show about like, you know, all these offensive coordinator, um, potential guys and not really on the defensive side. But the, the thing

that stuck out to me with the Marcus Covington, um, and some, some broadcasters brought it up during the year was he had only had one year where he wasn't coaching the defensive line. And I mean, you know, this, you know this, you don't typically see a jump from defensive line coach to defensive coordinator. It's usually linebackers coach, but also sometimes secondary coaches too. Because there's that fear that the guys who coach the defensive line don't understand pass coverages. And the Patriots were not very good in pass coverage this year.

Don't know if you noticed that. And I don't know if that's all on DeMarcus Covington, but it certainly doesn't look good. And now you bring in a guy in Terrell Williams who has even less years coaching non-defensive line positions than DeMarcus Covington has. 25 years of coaching, he's only coached the defensive line. And everyone praises him. And obviously the Lions have had a good run the last two years. And,

and there's at least more experience just breadth wise, you know, of, of, of years wise than DeMarcus Covington had. Um, but I think you're going to see some of the same issues, uh, that said as bad as the past coverage was the past rush was even worse. It was probably the worst in football maybe uh there there's some there's some help coming there they weren't very good against the run either so there's some help up front that this team needs and hopefully Terrell Williams brings that but I'm just afraid that you're going to run into to similar problems there and it's something that you need to keep an eye on really like the back half of the season if they haven't improved in pass coverage, you've got to be asking the same questions.

But, you know, unlike probably Demarcus Covington, he had worked with Mayo, obviously, but hadn't had experience calling plays or anything like that. At least, you know, with Terrell Williams, he's been successful at a couple different stops. He has worked under Vrabel before. And when you trust the guy that they're bringing in as the head coach, in this case, Mike Vrabel, you also kind of have to trust the guys he brings in that he's worked with before, because that was obviously a big thing with Belichick for

years. He just recycled the same guys. And that's how you get Matt Patricia as the offensive coordinator. Um, and you know, there was more good than bad for sure. But, but it's, it's that same way with Vrabel. You know, you, you do, you do have to, at least he's been a couple of different places, but if you're going to trust that guy to be the head coach, you're, you're going to have to, to some extent, trust the guys that he has worked with before and trust to bring to new England. Yeah. That's a great point, Cam. I'm glad that you brought that up because if there is a knock on Terrell Williams and we've heard it here on these airwaves, my good friend Thomas Murphy, who joins me weekly, sometimes multiple times per week here on these airwaves, has been very vocal about the fact that another defensive lineman coming in to be the defensive coordinator could be problematic. And I understand that, and I definitely recognize that. If I'm going to play devil's advocate for a moment, one thing that makes me feel a little bit better this year

than last year with DeMarcus Covington and Gerard Mayo is that Mike Frabel has had the experience of being a head coach before. The other part of that is he's got an offensive coordinator that can pretty much run the roost himself. Josh McDaniels has seen it all. He's done it all when it comes to the offense. If Bill Belichick said, I don't have to worry about the offense. Josh has got that covered. I can let him go and do his thing. You think that same type of trust is going to exist between Mike

Grable and Josh McDaniels. So if that be the case, then that's going to free up Mike Grable to be a much more intricately involved coach on the defensive side of the ball, far more from what we saw in Gerard Mayo in 2024. I'm not knocking Gerard at all. This was a new experience for him. He had new positional coaches around him. So at this point, Gerard is trying to keep his head above water. And it really is remarkable that he was able to do so with everything that was going on around him and trying to keep it all together. Vrabel has the experience now in place, and he has experienced coaches in place that are going to help him to focus his efforts where they need to be focused.

And that could be in the middle part of the defense. That could be in play calling. That could be in directional type football, where Tyler Rowan, host of Lockdown Titans, said that Mike Vrabel is as involved in coaching the secondary as he is in coaching the linebackers. He'll get in there and run a pass pattern. He'll get in there and show guys what they need to do. We've seen him even do this in pregame warmups.

So you're going to have a much more hands-on approach there. And I think if there is any deficiency that Terrell Williams shows early on, I think Mike's going to step that Terrell Williams shows early on, I think Mike's going to step in and help him to grow into his role. The reason why he's here is the aggression. This team showed a vehement lack of aggression in getting after the quarterback and getting in position when it comes to defending the run. I think they needed a little nastiness back on this line. I think Terrell Williams is going to provide that for him. So I guess my final question for you today on this subject, before we get into the personnel on the field, when Vrabel comes out and makes a statement and says that our goal is to develop our players with creativity, with

consistency, attention to detail, they want to develop the relationships between the field and the meeting room, all the feedback that I got from players speaking to those that I spoke to after the season said that there was such a large disconnect between the coach's room and the player's room. How much of a difference do you think Mike Vrabel coming in, not just being a communicator, but also being a hard coacher, how do you think he's going to blend that balance that Patriots players right now are craving? Yeah.

See, this is where I think you do start to see kind of the old Patriot way, which did exist. It does not exist right now. But this is where I think you start to see that. Cause I think he says two things in, in, in saying that Mike Frabel,

I mean, one of them is what she said in the introductory press conference, like there's no more entitlement here. It's kind of shut up and let's get on in improving our football team week to week. That's the Belichick. Like that's the Belichick that you see in Mike Vrabel. And, yeah, you were obviously talking about this towards the end of the season, a little bit after the season, and there were certainly several reports of it.

Like players saying, you know, the game plan changed from, you know, Tuesday to Thursday or what we were talking about in the meeting room on Tuesday was different in the walkthrough on Friday and Saturday. And it's like, that's just not like we are. We're all looking for improvement, but that just that can't be how you prepare for an NFL game like that just can't be. And that's where I think, again, something as simple as having been a head coach before and a successful one. I mean, there's not many coaches that just are out there that are nine games over 500 that aren't retreads yet. Right. And it's a guy who's coached in the AFC championship game. That's where I think that, that it's those kinds of small things that we don't see as fans necessarily on the field on Sunday. Um, or even the casual fans can see that, you know, can make or break a coach. And Vrabel comes in

here and instantly you've got a guy who, you know, knows how to handle the clock, which Gerard Mayo struggled with as a rookie head coach. We see that all the time. Or, you know, having Josh McDaniels as the OC rather than Alex Van Pelt and a guy who can run the show on one side of the ball. And then it's the stuff we really don't see, which is the preparation day to day, week to week. Uh, Vrabel has had success of that with that at the NFL level as a head coach. And that is where I think he really benefits from the Belichick connection. And I loved what he said at his intro press conference of what was it? It was like interesting versus something else. Like it's interesting that I have the connection to Bill Belichick, but we need to make it worth something. Like I need to, it's interesting if I bring in the things that he used to succeed.

So that's where it goes back to, you know, kind of having the adult in the room. If it's, if it's not a great game plan, that's one thing, but it's not going to be changing day to day. And I'm sure you won't hear that from the players like you did this year. Yeah. The quote, I believe you're looking for is the banners behind me are pretty to look at, but they're not going to help us win games. And I believe that's exactly the type of mentality

that he's going to bring to the table. And hopefully that is going to move this new England Patriots team forward, get everyone on the same page, level the playing field, let everyone know that each and every quarter, each and every game, they're going to have to go out there and they're going to have to earn everything they get. It will move this team forward. So hopefully for the sake of our listeners, for the sake of Patriots nation, it'll be sooner than later, but I believe the Patriots are on the right path and that to me is going to be the return to respectability that we're all looking for Cam a big part of respectability is not just

filling the spots in the coach's room though it's going to be about filling the spots on the field and the New England Patriots had several deficiencies on the field on offense on defense. This guy has his sharp eye squarely focused on the collegiate gridiron and we're going to talk about some potential Patriots prospects including some that might be right in his own backyard when this episode of the Locked On Patriots podcast continues proud part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Locked On listeners, Super Bowl 59 is here.

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download the app or head to fanduel.com to get started bet just five dollars and if you win you'll score 200 bucks in bonus bets that's fanduel.com. Bet with Fanduel, official partner of Super Bowl 59. Patriots fans, thank you once again for joining us here today on Locked On Patriots, making us a daily part of your New England Patriots coverage. Hopefully your first listen each and every day. Joining me here today to talk about the New England Patriots coaching staff, the personnel on the field, and quarterback

Drake May as a new potential recruiter for this team is my good friend and colleague, the host of the Locked On Patriots Postcast, and of course, the illustrious and esteemed host of Locked On Baylor right here on the Locked On Podcast Network, Cam Stewart. Cam, in the previous segment, we talked a lot about Mike Vrabel and the new coaching staff and a new day here in Foxborough, a new era and a new attitude. But the one thing we do know is that the Patriots are going to need

new personnel on the field. It was a rough year for the Pats. Offensively, this team regressed to an overall number 30, 31, 32 ranked offense, depending on the category you're looking at. On defense, this team regressed from number nine in DVOA overall in defense in 2023 to bottom of the barrel in 2024. That's a major regression on both sides of the ball. So they need to start building this personnel up and they need to start doing it from the ground up obviously free agency and getting veterans in here is going to be a big part of that but the New England Patriots also must use their draft capital very wisely need

some young players in here that can start building around this young core and build back to that type of sustained excellence that the Patriots were used to for so many years. This could be a very pivotal draft, not just for Mike Rabel, but for Elliott Wolfe, for Ryan Cowden coming in now. Cam, in addition to being a great postcast host here on Locked On Patriots, you are the host of Locked On Baylor, and you're intricately involved in scouting collegiate players each and every week. A lot of players that are on the Patriots draft board right now are guys you watch play all season long. When you look at potential Patriots

that are being mentioned on a national level or even on a local level, who's catching your sharp eye and why? Yeah, and honestly, I'm not going to stray too far because I look at that number four pick most often. And obviously one of those guys I saw play a lot in the Big 12, and that's Travis Hunter. And that's someone I've been on that train for a long time. Obviously, for me, no hot takes here. Hunter or Abdul Carter, if you can get them, I'm 100% on either one of them.

Because to me, what's so fascinating about this, and what's so kind of unprecedented for people of my vintage as Patriots fans spent a long time is, to me, you look at that 53-man roster, 51 of those guys are expendable. Like, that's how bad the Patriots were. Drake May, Christian Gonzalez, keep them here forever. But the other guys, and there's every position group except quarterback needs an improvement. So there's a ton of different ways you can go with that. And obviously you're going to have to see kind of how they attack a free agency first to see kind of where they're going to go in the draft.

But if they don't have Carter or Travis Hunter, they're available at four that went against Buffalo in the last game of the season is going to be the worst win in the history of the franchise because it is a it's it's a weak draft class it's just not great and I still see mock drafts having Will Campbell at number four and look I like Will Campbell I think he's going to be a good player in this league but there's still no guarantee he's a tackle in in the NFL and there was no guarantee he was going to play tackle in college. I mean, it was just because he, just because it's because he's a great player, a great blocker, but he doesn't typically have the size of a tackle. And if you use a top five pick on him and he becomes

a guard, even a really good one, that that's a, that's a miss like that. You don't draft guards in the top five. Heck, I mean, they were crucifying Belichick a few years ago for drafting a guard in the 20s in Colt Strange. And so it's just one of those where it's like, if you don't have Carter or Hunter right there, like move back. Or if you don't think you're going to have them, move back. And there's a couple of different ways to look at this from the tackle position,

because the Patriots need both tackle positions. Right, they do. You look at it as it's not a great tackle class. It's solid, but it's not great. There's no clear cut guy. Obviously Campbell and Banks are the two that are being looked at in the top 10 or in the first round. So you can look at that as, you know what, you have to get the best one there because it's not a draft class. You've got to get the best one. The way I'm looking at it is if it's not a great draft class for tackle, that means the difference between the number one tackle

and the number five tackle is not that much different. And if I'm the Patriots and I've got a board, a position group that needs an upgrade across the board, then I'm just picking the best guy. I'm just picking the best guy at four. And if it's not one of those two guys that I mentioned, then I'm thinking about moving back. The pass rusher from Michigan, he's got good tape.

Ted McMillan is a guy I watched a lot in the Big 12 as well. Great player in college and obviously great measurables and all that. But I don't know how you can be a Patriots fan of any vintage and feel comfortable with them picking a wide receiver in the top two rounds of the draft. I mean, you just can't. That's just a position you cannot evaluate talent at out of the collegiate level,

unless they're playing quarterback in the MAAC. So it's just one of those where if it's a long way of saying, if it's not Carter or Hunter, I have a tough time even thinking who I'm going to take with that pick at four. And I'm okay taking a tackle in round two or round three. The problem with last year's draft class was just that they only drafted one impactful player. Now it was the big one, Drake May. Um, it was one that, you know, more, I don't want to say fell into their lap because they earned that number three pick, but there was no doubt who they were going to pick at number three, once the other two quarterbacks were gone. And the problem was that they didn't develop anyone else that could, that

could play and have any kind of impact on what was until the last quarter of the season, the worst team in the NFL. So, um, I'm, I'm very intrigued by this and obviously, yeah, it will still remain to be seen how they attack free agency, how they attack the wide receiver position, whether they do go out and get Ronnie Stanley on the wrong side of 30. I personally don't mind that move, uh, just because you have so much need across the board. But yeah, Hunter or Carter. I like Carter too. And I saw a lot of Hunter, like people will bash on Hunter,

but he like bash on him and being like, oh, he's a mid wide receiver. We see that a lot in the college football discourse. He's a very good wide receiver. He's not going to play every down wide receiver in the pros, but this is as close as we've seen to a guy that you can use as more than just a bit part on offense, the way you used Marcus Jones in the past, and can be an every down player on defense. I think we're going to hear from Travis Hunter for a long time in the NFL.

I think you can knock out one and a half positions of need with him. I really do. I think he can play a one and a half positions of need with him. I really do. I think he can play a little bit of receiver at this level. Yeah. I mean, when you talk about dynamic talent and not just dynamic talent, but generational talent, Travis Hunter definitely comes to mind. I mean, it's been a long time in the NFL since we've seen a dedicated two-way player. They just don't happen anymore. You'll see situations where guys will fill in, or they'll play two ways for a certain amount of time. Maybe even due to an injury, they'll try to help, and they'll try to give you a little bit of a different look each and every down, but not

someone who's dedicated each and every week that you know you're going to see and going to have to game plan for both on offense and on defense. Travis Hunter provides that for you. So I agree with you. If he's there at number four, you stick, you bring this kid in. And I love the potential that this kid can bring you, not just in the wide receiver situation, but pair him alongside Christian Gonzalez. That is a lethal backfield. You count your blessings with that, man.

Absolutely. You look up to the sky and thank him. Yeah, absolutely. And you love seeing it. And this is exactly what Patriots fans have been hoping for. Abdul Carter is another type of dynamic talent that you cannot ignore. You cannot push aside. This kid can really change the complexity of your defense.

So, yeah, you definitely go with that. I share your squeamishness when it comes to the tackle position because I'm not sure if there is a sure bona fide tackle either on the right or the left that's going to be a game changer enough for you to use that number four pick. I'm very intrigued by what the measurements are going to show for Will Campbell when combine time comes around because that to me may help to either quell or increase some of the questions surrounding him Kelvin Banks I think is maybe the more pro level ready at the tackle position at

this point so maybe the Patriots decide to go there but then you look at some of the other options because you know that the Patriots are going to be actively looking for tackles and a couple of guys had themselves some pretty good weeks last week, especially at the Senior Bowl. We've talked about them a couple of times here already on Locked On Patriots. I'm a big fan of Ursari out of Minnesota. I think he had a great season. I think this kid is a very, very strong candidate to be a starting tackle in this league. Connerly had a little bit of a rough week, i still think that's a pro level talent ready to go anthony belton out of nc state had himself a great week that's a guy stock up right now i think he

profiles more on the right than on the left but this kid's got prototypical size 65 345 he's played left tackle before so that versatility could help to bump his draft stock a little bit as well on the defensive side of the ball maybe you look at at someone like a Shamar James out of Florida, who I think had a pretty good week last week as well. One of the better athletes at the position. This team needs more athleticism at linebacker. I think he could be a logical target. So those are some of the guys that I'm looking at as well. But I agree with you. I think Hunter and Carter are really the two guys that are the can't miss prospects that the Patriots could see at number four I mean absolutely and I didn't talk

a lot about Carter but you won't talk about a game wrecker I mean absolutely I mean there's that Michael Parsons comparison they're a little bit different but where it matters is they can both get to the passer and they can both stay and run support and Carter's athletic enough to run guys down uh in in the big 10 so that's athletic enough to run guys down in the Big Ten. So that's big. And you're right. In terms of the rest of the draft, you've got to hit on some more. You've got to hit on those day two and day three picks.

I mean, you just can't afford to go two years in a row with drafting one to two guys who are impactful on the field. You have to. You have to have a breadth of this draft absolutely very well said and um again to kind of finish out and some great insight provided by my good friend cam stewart i'm going to make this an official crossover my friend we love to cross the streams here on locked on patriots the games may be in the books but we're still crossing the streams one more crossover thursday here on the Lockdown NFL channel. You are the network's foremost expert on Baylor. Who among your brethren down in Waco, Texas, my friend, might the Patriots be interested in in this upcoming draft?

Probably none of them, Mike. I don't know if Baylor's going to have a player drafted this year. Next year is a different story. It's funny I they did not have a single Baylor player for like years maybe decades never when I was growing up um and then once that I got to Baylor they've had I want to say four at least on the practice squad since then obviously Taequann Thornton who could have some new bling in a week which is crazy to think about um and yet Jalen Hurd on the practice squad. You had Josh Gordon playing for the team. That's a Baylor bear. And William Bradley King on the team last year as well. It hasn't exactly gone very well. As much as I want to be wrong, I don't think that

there are much in way of the NFL draft prospects for my Baylor bears this year. In fact, I could throw on the helmet right here and have just as good a draft case as a lot of the guys that have declared wearing the Baylor uniform this year. Next year, we're going to check back in, though. Next year, I'm going to hold you to that, and we're going to have some guys to talk about. Absolutely. Definitely. You know what, Cam, for the NFL draft this year, Cam Stewart is going to be drafted by the Patriots.

Write it down. Get the helmet on. At the very least, you know what? You'd make a really, really nice-looking undrafted rookie free agent, my friend. Who knows? You know the Patriots love to incorporate these guys in. So anything is possible. But bottom line, I appreciate your candor and your honesty

when it comes to that. And we are going to hold you to that next year because we do want to talk about some Baylor Bears that might get a chance to play in the NFL hopefully for your New England Patriots but bottom line Cam a lot of what the Patriots do both in the coach's room and on the field success is going to hinge on one guy and one guy only and that is the man under center or wherever he's taking snaps at any given time our quarterback drake may had himself a very good rookie season a pro bowl selection i'm not going to talk about the performance in the pro bowl that much but he was there and you know what i don't care what

anybody says when you earn that distinction you earn that distinction he is also doing some active recruiting for the patriots while he's interacting with some of his fellow brethren throughout the NFL. Something that the Patriots have apparently been lacking for quite some time, a presence of quarterback that will elevate those around him and help to convince other players New England is the place to be. Is that leadership enough to help move the Patriots forward sooner rather than later? Kim Stewart and I are going to discuss that topic in just a moment when this episode of the Locked On Patriots podcast wraps up

right here on the Locked On Podcast Network, your team, every day. This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. Locked On listeners, what do you want your 2025 story to be? Every January brings a new chapter, 365 blank pages waiting for you to fill. If there's a part of your life you want to rewrite or a plot twist you've been craving, why wait? Life isn't about fleeting resolutions. It's about taking control

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fresh perspectives can make all the difference in how you navigate life's ups and downs. Write your story with BetterHelp. Visit betterHelp.com slash LockedOn today to get 10% off your first month. That's BetterHelp. H-E-L-P dot com slash LockedOn. Fats fans, thank you once again for joining us here today on LockedOn Patriots, talking all things your New England Patriots moving forward as they are now on to 2025. Joining me here today to discuss Mike Vrabel and his coaching staff, potential Patriots draft targets, and now we're going to dabble into a little Drake May talk,

my good friend and colleague Cam Stewart, the host of the Locked On Patriots postcast, and of course, the host of Locked On Baylor right here on the Locked On Podcast Network. Cam, obviously it's only been one year for Drake May, but in his first season, he makes the Pro Bowl. We're not going to really break down his performance in this game. He was there

though, folks. He was in the Pro Bowl. And I say that with every bit of reverence for Drake because you know what? It's a time, it's an opportunity for him to interact with a lot of the league's top players. And he's earned that right to be there. He's also using that opportunity to kind of sell the New England Patriots a little bit. Yeah, he put his time down in Orlando to pretty good use. Earlier this week, he was a guest on Kay Adams' Up and Adams podcast.

And Kay asked him a question about whether or not he was a guest on k adams up and adams podcast and k asked him a question about whether or not he would he was using this opportunity to kind of recruit potential future patriots to new england and kind of showcase what he can do and say okay well you know what why don't you come up here to foxborough why don't you put on a patriots uniform we can make some things happen drake was very candid in his response and a lot of Patriots fans got excited by this. I quote Drake directly here. Yeah, I think definitely a little bit when he said when he was asked about speaking to some of his colleagues in the NFL. I definitely got to know some of the guys, tell them a little bit about Boston, about Foxborough, about Gillette, about the fan base. It's definitely time to get to know some guys and let them know

that the Patriots have some things to make some moves this offseason. In the previous segment, Cam, we talked about the Patriots draft capital. Tomorrow here on Locked On Patriots, my good friend Miguel Benzon is going to join me and we're going to talk about that $120 million

in cap space that is burning a hole in Mike Vrabel's pocket right now. I should say Robert Kraft's pocket, but Mike Vrabel's pocket right now. I should say Robert Kraft's pocket, but Mike Vrabel is going to put that to good use in due time. But one of the things that I was very encouraged by when I heard this is a willingness of your franchise quarterback, potentially a team captain. If not this year, he definitely will be in 2026. You're looking at a guy that's definitely taking leadership reigns here in New England. When you see a young quarterback act in this fashion and try to recruit players and try to be an active conduit between your team and potential free agents that want to come

here, you see him do it this early. How much of an indication is it that the patriots are well suited when it comes to the leadership department yeah i love it i love it i know there will be some radio hosts who will tell you oh he was too busy getting engaged to be at mike vrabel's press conference but i i think that that there is real leadership being being shown there uh in drake bay and it's one of those things where you see it obviously with quarterbacks the most and it and it has mixed results right like um you know to go to patriots quarterbacks you know mac jones was kind of criticized for not being that guy it was almost like he was too big a fan right he was so excited

to come to the patriots and play for bill belichick almost the point where it was like i'm just gonna do all the patriots stuff like they're gonna get all the players i'm was like, I'm just going to do all the Patriots stuff. Like they're going to get all the players. I'm not going to talk. I'm not going to say anything. I'll let them do that. Um, and here's Drake may year one, trying to recruit guys because honestly, the franchise really needs it. I think they need him to recruit guys. Um, you know, I, I know, uh, Bert Breer of sports illustrated has, has beaten this dead horse right back to life with how much he's been saying this, but it's like, it's not a free agent destination. And it really hasn't ever been outside of the Brady years and therefore the Belichick years as well. And here you have a guy, and the one thing that has brought people in this off season really is Drake May. Mike Vrabel has basically said as much through

the media of, you know, that's a huge reason. That's why it was probably the most attractive job that in Chicago for the, for the head coaching vacancies this year, because you do have the quarterback he's cheap and you're going to have him for a long time. And the cap space is, is gravy. That's awesome to add on to. And the Patriots are in a position this year where they're, where they are going to overpay um in free agency but that's okay i thought it worked for them pretty well in 2021 uh in that off season which they did overpay

but i think it i think it worked for them um you need that because it's look we love foxborough you know we love the absolutely the uh the little you know south coast of massachusetts a little bit but i don't think a lot of people do that are coming from other places. It's cold. It's outside. It's a small town. It's not as attractive, but here's kind of your golden ticket is Drake May. And obviously guys are going to want to come and play for Drake May or with Drake May, I should say. And there's another comparison you can use of a guy who didn't really actively recruit, but a guy who keeps drawing comparisons with Drake May, and that's Josh Allen. Like he wasn't a big time recruiter or anything. He wasn't very vocal about it.

But after about two years, guys wanted to start come play for Buffalo. You know what I mean? And on both sides of the ball, you know, and then you saw, you know, the Stefan Diggs of the world, now Amari Cooper recently, they want to come and play for a guy like Josh Allen because they know they can get him the ball. And if you have the quarterback, you can win. And so, yeah, I do think, you know, again, mixed results, Aaron Rogers recruits too. And look what that, look what that did to the Jets this year. You know what I mean? It's not like, Hey, you're going to win because the

quarterback's doing well, but, um, or, or talking a good game, but they certainly need the help. Um, they need the help all that they can get. And Drake May is going to be a meal ticket for a lot of people on the field, in the front office, and in the coaching room in that franchise. And that's not a bad thing. No, it definitely isn't a bad thing. And I'm glad that you mentioned recruiting as only a piece of the puzzle because, again, you need to see the growth in a quarterback from year to year when it comes to what he's putting out there on the field it's tough to measure how much growth you're

going to see out of drake may from one year to the next it's a lot easier to do it in year three when you see how he handles that sophomore jump a lot of people say it's either the sophomore slump or really a sophomore spike we're hoping it's much more of a spike and i do believe that under josh mcdaniel's tutelage the sky's the limit for drake may he has all the tools all the intangibles to be not only a viable quarterback in this league but maybe even a top level superstar quarterback uh in years uh future because of the mechanics and because of the raw talent that this kid has if he can hone in some of the rookie mistakes we saw from him this year again I really think you're going to see this kid go off

to big things and the one thing also that I really enjoyed watching especially when he was down in the Pro Bowl and hearing from those that are close to the team those that followed Drake pretty closely over the course of the last couple of weeks and over the course of the last week at the Pro Bowl in Orlando and even now in Super Bowl week in New Orleans, he's not just using this as an opportunity to hang out with his buddies and to just go down there and, you know, kick back and take in sights. He's glued to guys like Peyton Manning. He's glued to guys like Russell Wilson, like Baker Mayfield, Jared Goff. These are the players he's talking to. These are the ones that he's trying to learn from,

to pick their brains, to really understand what it takes to be a quarterback who goes from being a prospect to a respected veteran in a short amount of time. If Drake is seeking the wisdom and counsel, so to speak, of these gentlemen that I just talked about, including, by the way, the greatest of all time, who also is someone that I know Drake has had contact with when it comes to Tom Brady.

That, to me, shows an awful lot of growth. It shows an awful lot of maturity, and it shows a desire to be better each and every time out. You want to try to surround yourself with the best talent you can to learn as much as you can. To me, that also spoke very well of him this week. Absolutely. And we've heard that, you know, from the day he got drafted, you know, him trying to get connected with some of these, you know, stars of the profession, guys who have been there and done that.

Cam, what can I say? We always appreciate you stopping by the pod. We miss your wisdom, your counsel, your insight, and the passion that you brought to the table each and every week during your Patriots coverage here. Couldn't ask for a better battery mate, my friend, when it comes to Patriots coverage each and every game day. We look forward to 2025, but we're not completely done with the offseason yet.

We're going to have you back here from time to time throughout the draft cycle and free agency. But in the meantime, please let all of our listeners know where they can reach out to you, interact with you, and what you've got coming down the pike on Locked on Baylor and all of the other ventures that you do so well in Patriots media. Yes, sir. If you're watching on YouTube, you can see it's at RealCamStewart on Twitter. That's where you can find me throwing out all kinds of takes and stuff.

Locked on Baylor is twice a day, every day, Monday through Thursday. And then it's special show on Friday where we do kind of keep up. Like at this point in the year too, we'll be talking some NFL draft stuff and guys around the big 12. So certainly that's something for Patriots fans to look into. If you're looking forward to that draft. I also do a daily show every weekday called the cam show. It's live at noon Eastern time on YouTube at the cam show. It's through rogue media sports network.

And we do Boston sports for an hour every day. So you can catch, you can catch me there a lot more often talking about Boston stuff than, than on locked on Baylor. So yep. There every day and, and always appreciate coming on here. I can't wait.

This is a fascinating off season. So I'm more than happy to, to hop on whenever and talk about how this team moves forward. Definitely. And we can't wait to have you back. And again, folks, definitely check Cam out, especially on the Cam Show. The stuff that he does, Boston Sports, is great. I'm a fan.

I'm a subscriber. You will be too in short order if you're not already. And bottom line, folks, we appreciate all of you. Each and every one of you every day is out there in Patriots Nation that continue to make Locked On Patriots a daily part of your New England Patriots coverage. Don't forget to tune in tomorrow here on Friday. The Pats salary cap guru himself, my good friend, Miguel Benzon, the Pats cap, makes his first 2025 podcast appearance.

You know we're going to have a lot of questions for him. Miguel's going to come with answers, with spreadsheets, visual aids. He is the most prepared guy in the business, and we can't wait to talk to him tomorrow. In the meantime, I want to give another tip of the cap and a big thanks to my good friend Cam Stewart for joining me here today. I am Mike DeBate, and I remind all of you to stay safe, to stay well, to be the change you wish to see in the world.

Have a great day, everyone, and we'll see you back here again tomorrow on Locked on Patriots.