Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - New England Patriots: 2023 Draft Class Report Card — Christian Gonzalez, Keion White and More

Episode Date: May 2, 2023

The New England Patriots are set to welcome their largest Draft class in more than a decade in 2023. Did they make the grade with their selections? Host Mike D’Abate welcomes Thomas ‘Murph’ Murphy of E2G Sports to evaluate and grade the Patriots pick from Draft weekend; from Oregon cornerback Christian Gonzalez to Jackson State return specialist Isaiah 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.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. Don’t miss the chance to get your No Sweat First Bet up to ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS in Bonus Bets when you go FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON. 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) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

some of you loved it, some of you hated it, but today you're going to get to Murph and debate it. Grading the 2023 New England Patriots Draft Class. Stay tuned. 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 Lockdown Patriots a daily part of your New England Patriots coverage. Welcome to Report Card Day here on our draft coverage of the 2023 NFL Draft. Of course, Lockdown Patriots is a proud part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. So subscribe, follow for free on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts to get the latest episode as soon as it's available. I'm your host, Mike DeBate, and I cover your New England Patriots for Patriots Country of Sports Illustrated.

So reach out to me and let me know what's on your mind on Twitter at MDABATENFL. While you're out there showing some love to the Twitterverse, please be sure to follow the Locked On Patriots account as well. And, of course, if you're showing love to anything when it comes to New England Patriots coverage, how could you not throw a little the way of my good friend

and my co-host today here, my cohort in crime, my partner in crime really throughout all of draft season, the legendary Thomas Murphy of e2g sports is here today thank you for coming to me in friendship and thank you for having my back for the past few months don murph always buddy always in every ways murph and debate it i like that you like that i did i like that and um i i feel i feel used michael i woke up and I felt used on Sunday morning. And I told my priest that at 8 a.m. Mass. And I don't want to call myself unhappy.

I don't want to call myself pissed off. I just feel used because, quite frankly, my draft was better than Bill's. Folks, you can be better than Bill's. Folks, you can be the judge of that. And I don't think you're going to find a whole lot of people that are going to argue with you, Murph. There is no question about it that this week here on Lockdown Patriots is going to be a lot of what ifs. Who made the right decision?

What's going on with the Patriots picks? But it is report card day. The grade sheet is in and murph and i are ready to evaluate your new england patriots performance in the 2023 nfl draft and murph before we get into grading each individual pick or grading the rounds i should say the days really because that's how we're going to work it yeah day one day two day three and then an overall grade at the end folks to wrap it all up and put a nice bow on it. For the first time since 2010, the New England Patriots made 12 picks in this draft.

How surprised were you on that? Because I did not see them making 12 in this. I figured eight, nine, ten max. Yeah, I was shocked. I was completely shocked. I thought a lot of these picks, Mike Giardi had tweeted out that the Patriots were looking to move up in day two, move up in day three, and it didn't happen. There was a smidge of movement here and there. We'll go up and get a kicker, or we'll trade was quite the surprise to say the least to see this team take 12 picks. Uh, it didn't leave a lot of room for, uh, for undrafted free agent signings. I'm not sure if we're going to get into that today or if you've got a, uh, another show to do later on during the week on that one.

But, uh, it, it, yeah, I, I was shocked that I had to spend that much time on NFL Network yeah undrafted rookie free agents definitely a staple of the New England Patriots roster really under Bill Belichick since he's been in here Murph and I are going to break those down a little bit later this week we'll stick to the draft class for today but ultimately I agree with you I think it was very surprising that the New England Patriots entering day three, four fourth rounders, four sixth rounders, you feel something's got to give. They turned one of those fourth rounders into a fifth rounder, and we're going to get into that in just a moment, folks, because that's got some people a little hot under the collar. But bottom line, the New England Patriots making it clear that if they're going to go with this young talent that they have in this draft, they were looking to get these guys drafted in here.

And they did not want to take any chances of any one of these guys hitting unrestricted free agency and being courted by all 32 NFL teams, including themselves. So Patriots had a lot to answer for with the fan base on a lot of this, but Murph, again, I think we start with the consensus number one pick and the consensus feeling, I should say, on the number one pick. Tell us again why this opening round is an A-plus with Christian Gonzalez at number 17. Yeah, Gonzalez slipping all the way to 17. The Patriots being able to trade back from 14, two spots, pick up a fourth round pick and

screw over the Jets, really put it over the top, man. It went from an A plus to an A plus plus. And I'm just thrilled. This kid is the lockdown corner that I didn't expect to be there, that I thought the Patriots would end up taking an offensive tackle, their biggest need. And we'll get into that in a little bit too. But it was just a phenomenal occurrence. I'm not sure why he slipped down the way he is.

He was my number one cornerback in this draft. He was a lot of people's number one cornerback in this draft. There are a lot of people talking about how well Seattle did with, with their cornerback. You got a nickel. Okay. The kid's a nickel. And, but other than that, this was a fantastic, this was great, a great talent, but I really think that this kid is the lockdown standout cornerback that we're going to be talking about from years to come, five, 10 years down the road when this draft is ancient history.

Without question. Someone who can contribute right away on the perimeter. There's no question about it. This kid as a pro level ready perimeter corner, and he's going to do that right out the gate. You can automatically see that he's very good in man coverage excellent in zone uh the ability to lock down his side of the field like you said so he'll continue in that vein of Patriots lockdown corners um I love the aggressiveness that you see when he plays in man and I love the patience that you see when he plays in zone never taking his eyes off the quarterback. There's nothing going on on that field that Christian Gonzalez does not know about. This was absolutely a phenomenal pick, and I want to give a little bit of love

to the trade here, too, that the Patriots made, waiting it out, looking at the board and playing the board as well as anyone. They very easily could have jumped the gun here. We saw several of our colleagues on draft night saying, Christian Gonzalez is slipping. He's slipping. You've got to got to trade up you got to get him now the Patriots showed a lot of patience some people may say that's a little bit foolish others may say oh if they wanted them they would trade up and get them like we talked about here on Friday right the Patriots played that board very well and then to move down give the Pittsburgh Steelers

an opportunity to move up take the player that the Jets wanted, and still know that sandwiched in between, Christian Gonzalez wasn't a threat to go anywhere. I think it was masterful. Bill Belichick played a phenomenal game of chess, really, that just would absolutely make even the most ardent chess player kind of tip their beret and nod that he had done a tremendous job there. Great job on the trade. Bill worked it out perfectly. He knew the Steelers were going to go offensive tackle because, you know, otherwise he wouldn't have made the pick. The Jets were not

going to go back-to-back years with cornerback picks because that's just going to screw you up four years down the line. And what are you going to do? You're picking up a fifth year option on a cornerback. You picked up a fifth year option on the cornerback the year before they went with Will McDonald, you know, who I do not believe was, you know, the end to take there and the commanders, everybody on the planet knew that the commanders were going to take Forbes. Okay. They did everything everything but send up fireworks, how much they loved Emmanuel Forbes, and I don't get it. I still don't get it. I don't understand the love for this ball.

He's a good ball player, don't get me wrong, but to take him over Gonzalez, no, no way. Yeah, I think the Patriots got the gem, the bell of the ball, so to speak, when it comes to cornerbacks in this draft, especially the type of system they want to run. I've been very open that I've went back and forth a lot between he and Witherspoon. But right before the draft, when Claire and I did our ideal Patriots picks, Gonzalez was mine on the defensive side of the ball.

I never thought the Patriots would have a chance to get him there. But I'm glad that you mentioned Washington again, because that definitely factored into the Patriots decision. Matt Groh himself shared that with us on Saturday when the draft was said and done. He said, you really kind of had a good idea what Washington was going to do. So really, it was about strategizing teams that would be willing to trade up, take something off the table and then be able to do it. So clearly screwing the Jets was a part of the Patriots' MO here. I'm kidding. I'm kidding.

And immediately afterwards, the conversation pivoted to, of course, the Patriots didn't get back enough. So-and-so got back this trading alley. It costs more money to do business in new england folks than it does anywhere else yeah that's just it and at the end of the day and at the end of the day they got the guy they wanted and i think patriots fans universally are going to be very happy with what they see from christian gonzalez patriots nation murph was united christian gonzalez did the near impossible i saw nearly no uh with the exception of just the contrarians that want to be contrarians,

and you know who I'm talking about, but mostly everyone in the fan base was pretty happy with Christian Gonzalez being the pick. Night two, not so much, folks. We're going to get into night two in just a moment. Patriots staying defensive and taking two defensive players that have a chance to be a serious part of this defense moving forward. But did they maybe reach for one or even both of them? Murph and I are going to tell you exactly what we think of the day two picks when this episode of the Locked On Patriots podcast continues.

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Thomas Murphy of E2GSports.com joins me here today. It is report card day for the 2023 nfl draft for your new england patriots and so far the patriots are cooking along they are going strong an a plus from both me and murph for day one not only for the christian gonzalez pick which probably would have got an a plus anyway but the manner in which they did it and the trade down, absolutely getting reviews. Murph, we bring ourselves now to round two, pick 46, and a lot of different ways this could have gone.

You and I both believe that once the Patriots went defense in the first round, you got to go offensive line in the second round, right? It's got to be an offensive tackle. A lot of great guys out there on the board. Well, the Patriots went against the grain a guy that we've talked about here before had a little bit of a lower grade on him than the Patriots did but Keon White coming in a clear need at the edge without any question about it he fills this nicely I mean this guy right away is going to be a contributor against the run year one I think year year two, year three, he could be a five-tech defensive end

at every down player, or at least a three-down player. He's got tremendous athleticism, freakish athlete. Those are all the descriptive words that we hear when it comes to Keon White. But my question to you is, Merck, was this a reach at round 246? No, I don't think it was a reach. I just think that it was a mistake, okay? Looking at the big picture don't think it was a reach. I just think that it was a mistake. Okay. Looking at the big picture, I think it was a mistake. This kid is a fantastic talent. You can go over and check out all my grades at e2gsports.com. I just put them up this morning.

Thank you. And, and, but my grade has nothing to do with the player. It's going at this position when you could have gone at this position later in this draft. I understand that he had a first-round grade from a lot of people. And when somebody like that falls in your pocket, into your lap, you have to take it. I didn't think you had to take it. What Bill could have done with this pick would have completely changed this entire draft. Completely. If he had taken Cody Mosh, who went how many picks afterwards?

Just two picks afterwards to Tampa. Okay. afterwards. Just two picks afterwards to Tampa. He's taking care of a lot of the interior linemen issues that he felt that the team had. March is a guy that can play right away on the right side at tackle, can also back up on the interior. We all saw it during the senior bowl process that he could even play center. And I just think that was the pick there. This pick, I don't have a problem with the player, folks. Don't think that I'm coming out and rooting against him, please. This is a B, B-plus pick. It's just the fact that I really thought Bill should have addressed what he addressed later on in the draft with real proven talent that was going to excel at the pro level right away.

Good point. So this is more taking away from what he did in the fourth round as opposed to anything else. Yeah, and I think you make a valid point without any question. You look at the Patriots' needs, and we both came into this draft, Murph, several times, and I stand by it. That offensive tackle was their biggest need coming into this draft. The Patriots did not take a bona fide offensive tackle in this draft. It's a surprise.

And it's a little bit of a concern if I'm being honest, but the one reason why I may be a little bit more bullish on this pick and not by much folks, uh, because Murph and I are pretty well, uh, you know, you know, simpatico when it comes to how we're thinking in these lines, but I'll take a page from exactly how you described it. I think the fact that a talent of Keon White dropping to this level, dropping to them at number 46 in the second round, kind of made Bill Belichick take a look at it, Matt Grove take a look at it and say, that type of talent's there.

This guy really is a tremendous fit in the type of defense that we love to run here. I think they were rolling the dice and taking their chances that they would be able to find a trade partner or someone that could help them move up to maybe get that offensive tackle or that big tight end that they've been coveting here in this offense and i just don't think it came together i think they gambled on that white oh we will oh we will folks do not worry about it you think we're going to talk tight

ended here on Wednesday when the Countess of Clads joins me? Yeah, Murph and I are going to get into it a little bit here in just a moment. But I think that's where the Patriots came from. In that vein, I can't really blame them all that much. Because again, this really is a kid that I think can come in and be a tremendous contributor to this defensive front, not just this year, but years subsequently down the line. Josh Uche, Anthony Jennings, both headed for unrestricted free agency at the end of the year. You've got to think after the year that Uche had last year,

if he keeps up some of that this year, that he's going to be in line for a big payday, and the Patriots may have aligned themselves to the point where they may be able to get similar production. I'm not saying these two are like-for-like players, but I think what they're going to be looking for are players that can fill the roles that they need to have filled. And you can build around Keon White. Yeah, you can. And he's, I don't want to say a prototypical Patriot, because if you look at his size and length, he's not. But I can see him

kicking inside. This guy's going to play with his hand in the dirt a lot. Yeah, absolutely. He can. And he's very well suited at being able to do that. So, you know, Murph, I think is looking more at big picture and I appreciate, and I understand exactly where he's coming from. I was a little bit more immediate.

Where do you lie on Keon White folks? Let us know your grade on this pick. We would love to hear you heard from some of you over the weekend on keon and we continue to do that but the second round was not done yet murph because if the patriots didn't address offensive line in the second round at pick number you know 46 they were definitely going to do it they were definitely going to do it at pick 76 in the third round and not so much marty mapu comes in and he is here uh the ex hornet the big sky defensive player of the year a lot to love about this kid when you just watch his film when you watch his energy the way he plays the type of

things that he can do um so versatile in terms of lining up at safety, at linebacker. We've seen him line up at the nickel corner. Wherever the teams need him, he can do it. So there's no question that the player can play at a high level in the NFL, but some are questioning whether or not this might be the best pick for the Patriots, where they took him. Your thoughts on this one, Mark? It was redundancy that really got me with this pick. The Patriots have this guy on their roster already.

Okay? They really do. You know, they have Kyle Duggar. They have Adrian Phillips. They have Jabril Peppers. But, you know, they went with Mapu here, and they didn't go with Washington. They didn't go with an offensive tackle. They didn't go with the tight end.

Now, I've heard reports around the league that Washington's medicals weren't what everybody was expecting. I forget who said it on draft night, and I'm really sorry about this, but he had some, uh, swollen knees going at the combine and that might've scared some people off. We all know how Bill gets scared off these days by, you know, any knee issues coming out because, you know, it just comes back to bite him in the ass, whether it's, you know, defensive lineman from Florida state or, uh, running backs that he needs to move on from. So that might've been an issue.

This is a kid that I would have loved in any other year than this. He is a heat-sicking missile. He plays a physical game that I love, and I can't wait to see him on the field. It was just, once again, the guys that went after him at positions of need. Byron Young, who I had mocked to the Patriots here at this pick, went one, two picks afterwards. Tucker Kraft was out there. He went three picks. I think he's going to light things up in Green was out there. He went three picks out. I think he's going to light things up

in Green Bay out there. Josh Downs went right after him. There were definitely players to be had out there that were in a different vein of filling in Patriot needs and backing up positions that needed to be addressed before this one did. You know, as I just said, these players are on the roster. The depth is there. I understand that Duggar is coming into a contract year. Well, guess what? Sign him. Okay? coming into a contract year well guess what sign him okay because i'm tired of watching you draft

good people and then watching them walk out the door after their first contract is up good point and i think that was going to lead me into that question and i'm glad that you answered it because it is a concern i think of some within that locker room not locker room some within that front office that are looking at this and saying okay well you well, Kyle is playing at such a high level. He has truly gone above and beyond what anyone thought he was going to be. Take a look at some of the vitriol that was thrown at the New England Patriots when they dared take a kid from Lenoir Rhine with valuable draft capital. And really, a lot of people were looking at this and going, are you kidding me?

Lenore Ryan. Yeah, really? Didn't I take her to prom? Yeah, exactly. I mean, but Kyle Duggar came in here with an understanding of the playbook. And Murph, you and I talked about this. I remember the day after he was drafted, and you were among the first to say it.

This kid has a PhD in the Encyclopedia Biltanica already. And those are Murph's exact words, folks. Go ahead and take a look. It's how long we've been doing this, bud. But you know what? Feels like yesterday. But I digress. Very good point about Mapu.

Again, I love the player. There's so much to love about this kid and what he can do. But I think it is a valid point to question whether or not this necessarily was the best fit for the new England Patriots in terms of their needs, but not even that. Yeah. They have an electric player needs. Thank you. He is.

He's an electric player. You guys are going to love him. Go out and buy the Jersey. There's no way in God's green earth that he isn't going to be here and throwing his body around for the next four years. Like I said, any other year, I would have said to trade up and get this kid. And, and because he's just that good, I don't care what school he went to. He is a fantastic ball player. You know, fast is, is,

is fast can be and bingo. I love it. It's just, you know, when, when it comes around to the, to report, you know, grade time instead of an A he's, I can't, I can't, it's, it's a, it's a B pick, a B plus pick because of the kid's talent. Yeah. Without any question. I mean, in 13 games last year in a senior season, 76 tackles, six and a half tackles went for loss one sack two interceptions one forced fumble that's pro level good in elongated games doing that in a compact 13 games even though i know the competition like you said is not the same as what he's going to be facing in the nfl that's still big time folks so um murph overall day two when it comes to Keon White when it comes to

Martin Mapu what is your overall grade for the Patriots on Friday in between the draft on talent alone it's a b plus on the fact of of needs and ignoring needs and trying to piece stuff together later it's a b gentlemen you do not have enough talent to win on talent alone sorry folks whenever i heard talent alone it just miracle kicks right in and you have to do that uh but no all kidding aside i am the great on talent alone because i think it's a little bit early to determine whether or not the patriots filled needs or filled not i'm gonna go with a b plus here on these two picks uh because i just love the electricity and the athleticism patriots need to get younger and maybe a little bit more athletic in all areas their defense had a good amount of it in 2022 but they are definitely

stocked with it in 2023 but murph the patriots were not done yet because as much fun as we had on day one and day two stock in the the Patriots had some offensive work to do. And they did it. And they started off in a big way. But did they do it in the right way? Well, stick around. Because Murph and I are going to discuss that point and more when we grade day three and our overall grades

when this episode of the Lockdown Patriots podcast continues. That's fans, the legendary Thomasomas murphy of e2g sports the counter murphy fisto the monster master of disaster the green king of sting joins me here today it has been a blast breaking down the draft for you and normally we're here on mock draft monday this is definitely report card monday the day after uh the draft all the draft dust settles i should say that um this has been a blast murph and we're continuing to have a blast here and we have got some serious grades and out here on day three because the patriots again making nine picks on this day unbelievable i never thought that they would absolutely have this many picks,

but they did. Three offensive linemen. They went with a pair of wide receivers. They went with a pair of cornerbacks and a pair of specialists, Murph. I'm not going to step on your toes any longer. Where did the Patriots, let's start off, where did the Patriots get these picks right what were your favorite picks of the day when it came to uh Saturday's Hall um Saturday's Hall my favorite pick of the day it wasn't Chad Ryland I'll tell you that much um it probably gonna have to be you know wow we're probably gonna have to go down to the fourth round here, folks. And I mean, the fifth round here. Yeah, we talked about him a bunch and I'm going to say my favorite pick of the day was Antonio Malfi.

Yeah, a lot of people are very impressed by what he brings to the table. Look, definitely weighted. There's no question about it. 329 pounds. I know the Patriots would love to take a little bit of that off, but he has a surprising amount of athleticism for a guy his size. Take a look. He moves around a lot better than people give him credit for. Solid balance. That's going to help him at the pro level. This kid's going to stand up to whatever defenders are throwing at him. I mentioned here over the weekend in our bonus episode that I was a little bit concerned by some of the hand placement because we saw Antonio's name pop up a lot on mock drafts that were sent to us, Murph, and a lot of what we were doing. Because of that, it gave me a little bit more, I don't know, maybe motivation,

maybe a little bit more cause to take a deeper look into him. And you notice that when his hand placement was a little bit of an issue, it threw him off balance a little bit. I think with solid coaching, I think with Billy Yates, Adrian Clem working with this kid, he can be a good addition to this offensive line. Um, and I think in a lot of ways, City saw was about the same type of situation, not the same type of player, but the same type of situation,

a lot of upside with the proper coaching. This kid could be harnessed. You heard a lot of people saying over the weekend that they were surprised that City was not graded higher on a lot of draft boards than he was. This is one that really came away from me saying, I think this could be an intriguing pick, especially with, again, folks, Michael Wayne, there's a lot of people that believe

that he is going to get blown away by an offer if the Patriots do not sign him to an extension. And I think it might be tough. I think linemen love to test the open market. Look at the contracts that were handed out this year. Patriots have to think for the future. And I think that's why they were thinking for the interior, at least in the future of this offensive line.

Yeah, I gave this pick a C just because of redundancy. Again, he's an interesting grab at 117. The offensive tackle was still the need and he played a little left tackle his freshman year, but sophomore year, he got kicked inside to left guard and it, and then he played center. I, it's, I understand what Bill's doing and, and what I had just said is you know i don't know if he would have made this pick if he knew mafia was going to be there um murph before we get to i think what has the opportunity to be the most controversial pick that the patriots made this weekend um i wanted to talk a little bit about the specialists because there is no question about it that there was need at

both areas you and i both thought the need at punter was greater than the need at kicker. I like what they did with Bryce Bender, even though I was very adamant that Michael Turk was a guy that I would love to see here. Bryce is phenomenal, folks. You're going to love this kid. Ice water in the veins. Someone that can boot for power, can boot for accuracy. I love the area that they took him in in the draft.

This was, I think, a real home run. Chad Ryland, I think, can be an excellent kicker in this league. I think he will be an excellent kicker in this league. My only concern here is, did the Patriots jump the gun a little bit at 112 in round four? Yeah, they did. They saw Moody come off the board, and they weren't going to miss on the second guy. They weren't. This is how they felt about the kicking game this year and i'm not going to get on chad rylan but i just don't think that it was it was money well spent you can make the argument i i don't think again 82 success rate here for chad rylan during his up during his uh tenure with eastern michigan. You look at what he's able to do and he's able to make kicks in clutch situations. He loves kicking in the cold weather. We had a chance to talk to

Chad on Saturday afternoon, the bit manic in between picks and whatnot going around. But Chad was one of the guys that I was glad to be on the conference with when he was introduced to the Boston media. And he did say that he loves kicking all types of weather. He's ready to do it. I think that's something that also maybe tipped the scales in his favor here as well. It really did. Where he came from, what he was able to do in that kind of weather, it just shows that Bill is thinking about where they play, unlike other teams in the AFC East that put together the greatest shows on turf

and then wonder why they falter in the first round or the second round of the playoffs. Sorry, Buffalo, not sorry. But no, he even traded up to get this kid. That's how much he liked him. So, you know, I'm not giving it a pass by any, in any way, shape or form, you know, there, there were, again, there were, there were other guys on the, uh, on the board, Roshan Johnson, a running back. I, I, I could have seen them going there.

Uh, you know, Carter Warren. Okay, here we go. Here we go. Now I'm going to get upset. All right. Carter Warren was still on it. Carter Warren is not a number one talent. He is, he isn't a, what I mean to say, he's not a first round talent, but he's a guy that could be coached up by somebody like Adrian Clem to eliminate the issues that he has. And that would have been my pick here. That really would have been my pick here that really would have been my pick here after foregoing it i really think you could have got this kid later you really didn't need to trade up for him yeah i think if there's any knock on this pick and the knock that we're hearing a

lot from the fan base and again i understand it i think it's valid is that the patriots jumped the gun here and that they didn't need to take him in round four, probably would have been there at five, maybe even been there at six. Mike, he already lost his shit. Yeah, he did. Yes, he did, folks. Definitely take a look back there, and you can take a listen to that and look at his Twitter, and you can see that without any question. I didn't call Mike on day three.

That's for damn sure. Yeah, you probably didn't want to. I think a lot of people tried didn't call mike on on day three that's for damn sure yeah you probably didn't want to i think a lot of people tried to stay from at that point rightfully so um last question on the specialist before we let us go um i think it's inevitable at this point that nick falk has kicked his last game here in england a hell of a run uh we'll do our tribute to nick eventually when you know things do uh shake up because it's not official yet folks but uh any scenario here where you can see these guys competing i think you you trade up in round four at 112 to get a kicker he's gonna be your guy from day one yeah without a doubt um you know hats off to everything the man did while he was here

he's 38 years old 38 man there's there's a you know the the longer kicks did not happen for him last year and i think you know outside of of 50 yards um ryland was was nailing 60 of his his uh his kicks so you, and I think he missed two extra points in his entire college career. So, you know, he was there. Bill got him. Hopefully he'll be the kicker here for the next 10 years going in the vein of, you know, kickers past that have just been, you know, fantastic and clutch. And those guys that you didn't worry about

when Bill sent them out there for a 40-yarder when you're down two. Absolutely. Well, folks, we have one more pick to kind of sift through at this point. I know we're going to miss a couple here, and I don't mean to disrespect anybody at this point, but we wouldn't be doing our job unless we broke down Patriots sixth rounder at number 187, Keyshawn Boutte. We've talked about him on the pod in weeks past, Murph.

No question about it. We saw him mock to the Patriots several occasions on some of the great mock drafts sent to us. We both agreed that the off-field issues were probably a little bit too much for the Patriots to sift through. But obviously, New England felt differently. And they needed to connect with a player that has the potential to be a tremendous contributor in this offense if he's dialed in. The big question is if he's dialed in big question is if he's dialed in uh kayshawn was already in foxborough on sunday tweeted out on his instagram page but you can't really tweet on your instagram page see folks you cover bill belichick long enough you lose all sense of reality when it comes to social media but in any case um really real low risk here with six at 187, but a potentially very high reward.

What are your thoughts on this? I think Boutte is, you know, just a year ago, he was being talked about as a top 10 pick, as definitely a first round pick. He got injured. You know, he had some issues down there at LSU that not everybody knows about. I wrote that, you know, as a coach, you run into players that just don't get along with you, that just don't see things the way you do. And that tends to hurt their game, you know. But I think if Bill can, you know, unlock whatever this kid has locked up in him and he's healthy, this could be the steel of the draft.

Yeah, it really could be. I mean, when you look at what this kid can do on the field and just the ability, the toughness with which he plays, this kid, talk about change of direction. If I'm fumbling a little bit here with my words, folks, bear with me, because when you watch and take a deeper dive into what Keishon Budik can do on the field, and shame on me for not giving this kid a second, third, and fourth look throughout this draft cycle, and really kind of buying into some of the hype, like you said, about the injuries and the off-field concerns,

I didn't think it was something the Patriots would want to dip into but when you look at what he does on the field when he's dialed in it really is otherworldly and I think an opportunity for the Pats here to really uh bolster their offensive um skill positions and really give you want a weapon this kid can be a weapon when it comes to it was an all-american as a freshman yeah he was a freshman all yeah I switched that up sorry about the dyslex. He was a freshman All-American. I switched that up. Sorry about the dyslexia. He was a freshman All-American. And then, you know, people just started wondering what was going on. And I'm not sure what was going on. I hope Bill can figure it out because, yeah, go look at the film.

Just go. Absolutely. And Dr. Kyle Trimble will be joining us here later this week. We're going to talk a little bit about Kayshawn's injury and what it means for him on the field in terms of full recovery, what that means that we might see this year, next year, beyond. If any of you have any medical concerns, stay tuned because we're going to be talking about that here on Locked On Patriots. But at the same time, there's no question that the talent is there. 308 yards in one game set a new sec record as a freshman for lsu

that's something uh that any receiver would take and i think a huge reason why the new england patriots wanted to take a dip into this talent pool murph i lied we're not gonna we're not gonna keep we're not gonna cap it with uh kate sean Boudet just yet because the Patriots have another Bolden in the mix. If I didn't do this, my good friend would be upset, and I don't want to upset him. He is the true Don of Locked On Patriots. So give us your take on Isaiah Bolden. I love this pick. I think this is great.

Yeah, I really do, and it's got nothing to do with the fact that I'm wearing a Bolden jersey right now. That just, you know, happened to, but this, this, this could definitely turn out to be a fantastic pick. I like this a lot more than things that, that he did earlier, you know, just for being a Bolden, you get a B from me, but he, Bolden was the first player from a historically black college or university to be taken this year's draft. And, you know, that makes me root for him. You know, six foot two, 220 pounds. This kid left Florida State to go learn from Deion Sanders. OK, that shows me a lot all right he left a big time program when he saw a coach that could turn him into something else and that's uh you know really just the deepest respect man

he had 44 tackles 30 of them were solo this year he broke up seven passes and averaged 26 yards per kickoff return. Okay. That's that, you know, so he has, um, team versatility, position versatility. He's locked down and he's learned from the man that, that arguably is the best cornerback to ever play the game. So there you go, man. I love this pick. Love the name. Can't wait to see him on the field. He will not be a practice squatter, believe me. No, he won't. No, he won't.

And this kid's got kick returner written all over him. Murph mentioned his senior season and what he was able to do in his junior year, his first year at Jackson State after transferring. Absolute dominance in kickoff return. 36.9 yards per return, two kickoff return for touchdowns. Yeah, this kid's got speed. He's got the blaze, and he's got the swagger,

and I love this pick for the New England Patriots. Murph, we've arrived at that moment. We're going to take your day three pick, your day three grade, I should say, followed by your overall grade for the New England Patriots on this draft. My day three grade is a C plus. All right. I'm sorry, folks. That's just, I call it like I see it.

It's a C plus. My grade for the entire draft was a B. You can't really go wrong when you get Gonzalez at the top of this draft. Bill got serious talent in the second and third rounds that I thought, so I'm not really holding that against him. But what they did with stockpiling the interior offensive line when they could have taken care of that with one pick, maybe two earlier in this draft, or one pick in the second round, one pick again in the fourth. It really gave me pause. It did.

And Bill could have had Deuce Vaughn there in six, and he passed on him and went two picks later to Dallas to stick with his dad. Absolutely. He picked went two picks later to Dallas, you know, to stick with his dad. You know, dad picked him two picks later. And, and, and. Let's talk about a great moment, folks. You know, we really, we talk a lot about rivalries and Murph and I have our fun at the expense of the Jets and the Cowboys.

We've taken shots at as well. But when you see the emotion on Chris Vaughn's face, when he was able to call his son and say, you're going to come join me here in Dallas. Truly a great moment. So, uh, you know, that's a really heartwarming, but that being said, we both wanted him here in New England. I would have loved to see Deuce Vaughn running around in New England. You know, it, it, it really would build, bill hit, um, the couple of guys who could come

in here at wide receiver and do some damage because they have some speed and they have, uh, the ability but um to have seen deuce vaughn added to this patriots backfield a guy that i feel can line up anywhere on the field and o'brien would have had a freaking field day with uh is just phenomenal and i'm going to watch this kid's career he's another guy that that will not be making it to a practice squad anywhere he will crack the line up there in dallas and they're going to love him yeah i think kid's career. He's another guy that will not be making it to a practice squad anywhere. He will crack the line up there in Dallas and they're going to love him. Yeah, I think Mike McCarthy is going to really love what he has to offer. And, you know, bottom line, I think Bill O'Brien

is going to like some of the weapons he acquired and some of the offensive line help that he acquired. I think the defensive coaches are going to be ecstatic with some of these players. On day three, I'm going to go with a B minus simply because I just, I think that Ryland has an opportunity to be a very good kicker. And at the end of the day, if he does produce the way we think he can, I think it's going to erase some of those concerns about maybe jumping the gun there. So I'm going to give the benefit of the doubt. That's an optimistic B minus, but I see where you're coming from overall i think this was a b plus draft for the new england patriots i think start to push uh they uh were able to have a glass half full glass half full i am mr positivity when it comes to that i try to do a fault sometimes uh but i think there's a lot to like about these

guys and i think this might be a better draft once the dust settles once you start to see what these guys can do on the field get back to me during training camp and in the preseason when we start to see some of these guys pop then we'll know if the patriots may be reached or maybe didn't but ultimately their true fate is not going to be known until one or two years down the line it's just how it goes and we try to do the best we can at prognosticating, but it's not always an exact science. What was your favorite pick, folks? What did you like about this draft? Give us your overall grades.

Drop them in the comments section on YouTube, or drop us a line either at TeamERF207, at MDABATENFL, or at the Lockdown Patriots main page at LO underscore Patriots. Buddy, what can I say? It's been my privilege. It's been my honor to share the microphone with you all these draft seasons. We're already looking forward to 2024, and we're going to do it again here, folks.

As long as you want us, we'll keep coming back. But we'd be remiss if we did not thank each and every one of you for sticking with us throughout an incredible draft cycle. Folks, the mock drafts that you sent in were truly amazing. We're going to miss that, but please do not think that Locked On Patriots is no longer an interactive podcast. We want to hear from you.

We want to hear your topics, your thoughts, things that you think should be shared with us. We're going to be doing a lot more mailbag episodes, things of that nature. So please keep your thoughts, your support, and just anything that's on your mind coming into Locked On Patriots. But what can I say before I let you go? Any parting words of wisdom or let us know what we can expect in the coming days and weeks from the great Penn, the great

voice of Thomas Murphy. Well, of course, you know, Red Sox coverage over there at etgsports.com. I'll be deep diving into that. Camps will be, mini camps will be opening up. I'm going to jump in on that. It's a never-ending soap opera over there of sports. Just come on over and check it out. And Bill, do not kick on Weyou outside. Don't do it.

Don't do it. Good point. Good point. I'll be honest with you. I toyed around with the idea a little bit. I had this. I thought some things a little bit, a little bit, but I chose not to. And I think they'll choose not to either.

I don't think it makes much sense. I think they're happy with what they got, according to what Matt grow said. So we'll see what it looks like on the field folks. But once again, thank you for all of the support you lend to locked on Patriots. Don't forget to check us out here tomorrow. Tyler wham of stadium rant's going to join me he's been all over draft coverage from start to finish tyler going to give his thoughts on what the patriots

did and what it means for them moving forward so definitely check that out here on locked on patriots stay locked in download subscribe to follow wherever you get your podcasts. On behalf of the legend himself, the legendary Thomas Murphy of E2GSports.com, 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, and we'll see you tomorrow here on Locked on Patriots.