Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - New England Patriots: Bailey Zappe, Pats Offensive Line, 2024 NFL Draft and More from the Mailbag

Starting point is 00:00:00 You are Locked On Patriots, your daily New England Patriots podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello to all of you, Foxborough faithful, and thank you once again for making Lockdown Patriots a daily part of your New England Patriots coverage. Also, hopefully your first listen each and every day. Remember, Lockdown Patriots is a proud part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. So download, subscribe, or follow wherever you get your podcasts

Starting point is 00:00:42 to ensure that you get the latest episode as soon as it's available. I'm your host, Mike DeBate. 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 the Bird app, on X, whatever you want to call it, at MDABATENFL. While you're out there

Starting point is 00:01:00 showing some social media love to Lockdown Patriots, please follow our account there as well at LO underscore Patriots. And folks, today's episode brought to you by GameTime. Download the GameTime app, create an account, and use the code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase. Last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. And Pats fans, thank you for hanging in there with us,

Starting point is 00:01:24 especially all of you everydayers. Some technological snafus prevented us from being able to bring you the mailbag on Monday, but it's Tuesday and we're bringing it to you as soon as we possibly could. And of course, who else would help me open up the Monday mailbag

Starting point is 00:01:40 here on Locked On Patriots on a Tuesday morning than our good friend, the legendary Thomas Murphy of E2G Sports. Thank you for coming to me in friendship, and thank you for your loyalty in the face of adversity, Don Murphy. You're welcome, Mikey. You're welcome. I'm stoked, man. Let's get into it. Absolutely. We had an amazing mailbag this week, folks.

Starting point is 00:02:00 All of you everydayers truly overwhelm us each and every day with all of your interactions, your feedback, and especially when you get the opportunity to showcase your wisdom, counsel, and insight. It's always a lot of fun. Murph and I had a real tough time weeding through some of the great questions that you all have for us here on Locked On Patriots. Murph, let's start right off the bat with the subject that I think everybody is talking about. The New England Patriots, unfortunately, are now officially eliminated from postseason play. The Cincinnati Bengals win on Sunday made that official. So now the Patriots are in a unique situation, a position they haven't been in in quite some time. They're eliminated from playoff

Starting point is 00:02:43 contention with four games still to play on this schedule. Now, there are two arguments here, Murph. You either continue to play for pride or you punt, you look at next season and you say, you know what, each and every loss brings us closer to that draft day gem that all of the fan base seems to want. That's the question on everybody's mind here. And it is the first question we're going to tackle. And I take this from a guy that comes from a great hometown, by the way, folks, an amazing hometown. You'll never find a hometown like this anywhere in the United States.

Starting point is 00:03:15 That's because it's my hometown folks. Our good friend, Bill from Johnston, Rhode Island, a big shout out at the tip of the cap to Johnston, Rhode Island. But Bill asked a great question, Murph. And he said, he says, now that the Patriots are officially eliminated from playoff contention, will they continue to compete or is Tankathon 2023 about to begin? What do you say, Don Murph, on this? What should the Patriots be playing for?

Starting point is 00:03:40 Well, first of all, I'd like to say bang, bang on question. Great question. Fantastic. At least six people entered this question, but it's, it's surprising that the guy from Johnston, Rhode Island gets, gets his name on TV. Yeah. It might've been a little stuff. A little bit. I'll tell you, these guys are growing out there and they're playing for pride. They're playing for the guy that's lining up next to them. They're playing for the guy that's sharing a locker room with. They're playing for their next contract.

Starting point is 00:04:15 Okay? That's what they're doing. There's no way in hell that you can tell professional athletes to go out there and do it at half speed. You can't do it. The only people that have been able to do it and do it on a regular basis are the guys down there in Indianapolis. I don't know how they get away with it and getting these people.

Starting point is 00:04:35 I don't know. It will pay a lot. I don't know. Don't quote me on that. But no, these guys are going out there to win every single Sunday. And if it's for no other reason than to go home and sit on your couch and smile the way I did on Thursday night after that game, that's enough. Just to be in a good mood around your family. How about that? You know, not to go home and just sit there because you coughed up another ball

Starting point is 00:05:06 or something else went off your fingertips. Um, no, just to feel good about yourself as a ball player. And as a human being there, there, there's no way there's no tank of Palooza happening with these ball players. Um, I'm telling you right now, the coaching staff feels the same way. They're not going, they for extra meetings time before the next game, which is what happens. You know, Bill, you know, you throw out a loss, and Bill's going to have you in there at 10 o'clock at night. You're not going to get out until 2 o'clock in the morning,

Starting point is 00:05:38 and then you're going to have to be back at 530. So, no, everybody's out there giving it a hundred percent and they're going to keep doing it until that last whistle blows. Absolutely folks. And I completely agree with Murph. Look, bottom line, bud, when you look at this team and you look at the way they're constituted and the amount of veterans that still remain on this club, there's a lot of pride in that locker room. Take a look at the embrace of david andrews and matthew slater after uh thursday night's victory we talked about this on friday that is a moment that two captains that have been with this team in the good times and in the bad yep definitely

Starting point is 00:06:16 value and they needed that win the two of them needed that win desperately not just for themselves and for their own psyche but to build for the future. You know, and again, we've mentioned this before. Not everyone is being cleared out of that locker room at the end of the year, folks. The Patriots aren't wiping the slate clean of the coaches, 53-man roster, starting completely over. A lot of young talent is going to be here next year, and they're going to be here beyond next year, and they need to learn the value of winning, especially when it comes to winning in the face of adversity, fighting to win, showing determination. That's what builds character. That's what eventually takes a team like Patriots right now, where you have budding talent, you have the ability to play with anyone, but you just don't have the horses at this point to bring it all together and to make it consistent that's

Starting point is 00:07:06 more important to the future of a franchise at least in my opinion than tanking to win draft night and that's exactly what you would be doing and look to me losing for the sake of an unknown commodity is a very risky proposition i know a lot of fans buy into it but that's what a draft pick is folks you can't deny that. It's an unknown commodity. There's no guarantee that Caleb Williams or Jaden Daniels or Marvin Harrison Jr., for those of you guys that want the big wide receiver, if you don't have a skilled quarterback throwing this guy a pass and you don't have an offensive line protecting, getting the quarterback that

Starting point is 00:07:42 time that he needs to build a synergy with the wide receiver, there comes the old Lamborghini in the scrap heap. It's not going to matter, folks. And unfortunately, I think so many of us fall in love with that first, second, third draft pick that we fail to see the forest from the trees. No, if we end up with a first, second, third round draft pick, I'm trading down. I'm getting the offensive linemen, guys. That's how you – if you know me and you know this show,

Starting point is 00:08:10 this is my Khrushchev moment, banging my shoe on the table. You build an offense from the inside out. Last year, Bill went out and got some nice young guards over the past couple of seasons. And I don't I don't care if you don't like Cole Strange or not. I think he's a he's a good young guard. They need the tackles. OK, trade back, get as many picks as you can in the top 60 and build the team that way. There are free agents that are going to be available, that are going to be able to come in here, that a young quarterback's going to have to understudy with.

Starting point is 00:08:51 I don't think there's anybody out there that you want to throw into this meat grinder next year without a line in front of them. Now, I could be wrong. Bill could go out and throw bags of money at young at uh um young free agent or old free agent uh tackles i'm not sure off the top of my head who's who's has a contract yet for next year who's going to be uh franchised or not but um i would franchise michael wayno and um if you can't get something long-term done uh but no this is how you you you can't just drop somebody into this meat grinder if you go out there and you select a quarterback in the first round next year you're going to end

Starting point is 00:09:30 up having the same conversation in december next season yeah very good point very very good point and i'm glad you mentioned bill and i'm glad you mentioned the fact that he's planning for the future because that does lead me nicely into a point that I think needs to be made here and that is are the Patriots playing for the fate of Bill Belichick now a lot of Patriots players in that locker room have come out in vocal support right very loud vocal support of Bill Belichick guys like Jelani Tabai Matthew Slater we had the opportunity to speak with on Monday afternoon via video conference Matthew was very matter- matter of fact in his support and his belief that Bill Belichick should be the coach here, that he is not someone that's ever going to forget the impact and the contributions that he's made to this organization. Former Patriots like Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski have done nothing but praise Bill Belichick and

Starting point is 00:10:22 the job that he's done here for a number of years. But there are a lot of reports out there that say that the crafts may have even already made up their mind. A report that came out from a guy that you and I trust implicitly, a good mutual friend of ours, Tommy Curran of NBC Sports Boston, saying that decision was made after the Patriots dropped the 10-6 game in Frankfurt, Germany. So there are a lot of different conflicting reports out there, Murph. If the Patriots play strong here, do you believe his job is saved at that point? I do. I would like to think it. As it was said much more eloquently by Matthew on that conference call yesterday, what Bill has done here has never been done before. You didn't hear this at the end with Shula.

Starting point is 00:11:13 You didn't hear, you heard from former players how great he was, but you didn't hear it at the end from current players. You didn't hear it when Tom Landry was escorted and shown the door. I've said time and again that in no other franchise have you seen the exodus of talent, not only on the field, but coaching and front office people that the Patriots have gone through and had to live through in the last five years. Be it retirement, be it trade, be it, um, uh, guys leaving through free agency to go get paid somewhere else.

Starting point is 00:11:52 Uh, you know, right down to Tom Brady, um, you know, walking out the door. Do you folks remember the mess that it was that year? Okay. Do you remember everything that was going on before the, the, the first snap was made? It was just time. It was time for these two to split up. And I'm telling you, if Tom had stayed here,

Starting point is 00:12:17 he wouldn't have gotten his seventh Superbowl ring the next season. He, he just would not have happened. Not with the talent that was here. And, but no, I, I still, I do not see a better head coach. You can, you can talk about, um, draft, uh, draft whiffs and, and this, and it's, it, it's aggravating. I don't know a man on the planet that knows more about coaching football than Bill Belichick.

Starting point is 00:12:46 And you can go back and ask every player that has ever suited up for him and they will answer in the same exact way. So well said. And that's the point I think everybody needs to keep in mind, folks. It's not an argument one way or another. It's just a valid point. And Murph, I think, articulated this perfectly. It's all well and good to say Bill Belichick's time in New England has come and gone. But who are you going to get to bring in that's going to be that guy that's going to be a better fit for this organization short term and long term?

Starting point is 00:13:20 If you're sure that Bill Belichick has got to go, you have got to be even more sure that the guy you're bringing in is the right guy. Because mark my words, Bill Belichick leaves this organization at the end of this year, folks. He's going to go elsewhere and he's going to succeed and he's going to look very good doing it. And you better be sure that the guy that's taking his spot here in New England is moving things forward. Because if there's a regression after that then the fan base is really going to start to look at the ownership group because then there's nowhere else to go you can't look at Tom Brady anymore you can't look at Bill Belichick anymore you have to say well the strings that are being pulled at the very top are no longer adequate then where do

Starting point is 00:13:58 you go folks so it's a very tough decision for the crafts to make and I think it really feeds into what Pat Mccafee had to say on saturday i don't necessarily agree with the way he did it but it is an unenviable decision because you don't want to make the wrong one for your franchise and then look foolish while doing it um again folks there's a lot of arguments to the positive to the negative i understand the frustration with bill right now i truly do i do I do. But I think you also, exactly. But I think you also need to weigh out both sides because this is not a clear cut decision as much as it's being pushed in the national and local narratives in a lot of sections of the media. This is not as easy of a decision as people are

Starting point is 00:14:42 making it out to be. No, it's really not. I mean, who is the next man up? All right. Now, if you want to come in here and tell me, Murph, I want you to, you know, be the de facto GM. What are you doing? I'm cleaning house on the offensive side of the ball with coaching. And again, folks, we'll see what happens in the offseason and how the patriots progress down the line but bill the tip of the cap my friend thank you so much for the excellent question a lot to play for folks and one of those

Starting point is 00:15:15 keys in terms of playing for the future murph or at least the present is the play of bailey's happy we've seen the patriots offense now come alive, maybe for the first time this season. But is it simply because Bailey is just Mr. Calm, cool, and collected? There's cool, and then there's Zappi cool. Is that exactly what we're doing here? Or is it a little bit more rudimentary than that in terms of the players around him making things a little bit more palatable? Murph and I are going to delve into that question from another valued everydayer here on Lockdown Patriots

Starting point is 00:15:47 when this episode of the Lockdown Patriots podcast continues. Proud part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Lockdown listeners, we've all been there. You want tickets to the big game or your favorite musical artist, and you just can't find an easy and affordable way to do it? Well, you shouldn't have to worry when you're buying tickets to your next big event.

Starting point is 00:16:10 GameTime is the fast and the easy way to buy tickets for all the sports, music, comedy and theater and events near you. And GameTime's all-in prices show your total up front, so you know you're getting a great deal without any hidden fees. They're actually obsessed with finding ways to help you save money on tickets and that includes zone deals where you pick the section and game time picks the seats for an average of 18 savings and the game time guarantee means you'll always get the best price if you find tickets in the same section or roll for less game time will credit you 110 of the difference take the guesswork out of buying tickets with game time download the game time app create an account and use the code locked onEDONNFL for $20 off.

Starting point is 00:17:09 Download Game Time today. Last-minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. Patriots fans, thank you once again for joining us here today on Locked On Patriots. Spending part of your Tuesday. It is Mailbag Tuesday. I know the placard says Mailbag Monday. There's a few technical snafus, as I said, to open the show today. I like it.

Starting point is 00:17:31 Telegram Tuesday. I like it. I'm going to put it in there. I'm going to make it work. It is Mailbag Monday. It is Telegram Tuesday. It is hashtag Locked on Murphpalooza here. And, of course, joining me on Mailbag Day is my good friend, the kind of Murphy Fisto himself,

Starting point is 00:17:46 the Don of Lockdown Patriots, Thomas Murphy. Murph, in the previous segment, we talked a lot about what the Patriots still have to play for, including the potential of playing for the future of their head coach. But one of the things that we've seen over the course of the last couple of weeks has been the improvement in the offense. The offense looks like it finally has a little bit of swagger to it well we weren't the only ones to notice this our good friend one of our truly valued everydayers here uh quickly becoming one of our favorite listeners uh leslie

Starting point is 00:18:17 the cape cod girly talks about bailey zappy's calm cool collected demeanor. Is it the game changer this week for the Kansas City Chiefs? And to be fair, in the way that she asked the question, folks, because we only have limited characters to display it, Leslie did mention the offensive line. She did mention a little bit of a facilitated game plan for Bailey Zappi. So do you believe, Murph, that it's Zappi's demeanor that has been the catalyst? Or do you believe it's because of improvements with the line and the skill positions that Bailey Zappi is able to feel calm, cool, and collected out there? It's amazing how you can feel calm, cool, and collected when you have more than 1.4 seconds to throw a ball. It's amazing that when you get that ball out of your hands that the

Starting point is 00:19:06 receivers are actually running the right routes. It's amazing how calm, cool, and collected you can be that when you throw those balls, the guys who you're hitting right in the hands actually grasp the football and bring it in and bring it down and how well that makes a quarterback look okay it's a collective day i as i've said before um bailey zappy does not lack for confidence in anything you could ask him to go out there and lace him up and and uh do a triple axle on a on a skating rink and bailey's going to think that he can do it.

Starting point is 00:19:50 Trust me, Bailey Zappi is not the answer here. It is a collective. It is coaching. It is skill positions. And most of all, it's been the offensive line. And this offensive line has blocked over the past two weeks better than it has all season. That's just a fact. You can go look up the numbers from somebody else and find them on PFF. And these guys have actually gotten the job done better

Starting point is 00:20:14 over the past two weeks than they have. One is opponents. You could see in the second half, you know, right out of the gate that, um, the Steelers went in and said, yeah, we're going to get a little bit more exotic. We're going to pick on the rookies and we're going to run some stunts and we're going to run some girls. And, and they were getting, getting to Bailey in the second half. And of course being up as, as much as they were, um, O'Brien went away from the keys that I cut for him that were turning in the front half and went to a very conservative last two quarters of football, or I think they would have even scored more points last week.

Starting point is 00:20:56 But they were looking at it in a way that we need this win. This team needs this win, so let's do this. But no, it's a collective. Leslie, that's a fantastic question. It really is. You reached up to the top shelf for this one, hon, and we appreciate it. But no, this is a collective. It is not just Bailey Zappi walking into that huddle like Seth from North Dallas 40 telling everybody,

Starting point is 00:21:22 nobody talks in this huddle except me. All right? It's a different thing. North Dallas 40 telling everybody, nobody talks in this huddle except me. It's a different thing. Bailey Zappi is a good young career backup quarterback. He's going to be the guy that's going to be able to come in here, but he's not the long-term answer. I don't care what happens over these last few games. I think it's important to make those points, that complementary football is what's going to propel you forward no matter what.

Starting point is 00:21:50 And Leslie, your question nailed that right on the head from the moment you asked it. Really did. And I think Murph and I want to be careful. We're not taking anything away from Bailey Zappi. He's made improvements in making his reads, folks. You can see it on the field. His decision-making has been a lot more sharp for a lot of the reasons that uh murph had outlined but you can set the table as well as anybody but right it takes the person to be able to sit down and utilize the

Starting point is 00:22:15 tools that are set in order to make that table what it is so hats off and a tip of the cap to bailey zappy for doing so and for helping this team move forward. But once again, when he was faced with a little bit more pressure, when Pittsburgh turned up the heat a little bit on Thursday night, then you started to see Zappi sputter a little bit. There were a handful of head-scratching throws. We can talk about floaters and things like that all you want to. These were not the best throws by Bailey. He missed a few open targets, really, I think, throughout the game, even in the first half, as good as he was in the first half. In the second half, it was more pronounced because they brought more pressure.

Starting point is 00:22:54 And then, of course, we're talking about the interception, Michael Walker taking the Landon Roberts tip. Very lucky Landon Roberts tipped that ball because it was still PI. If not, it would have been PI. It really would have been. That's a good point. Juju was getting hung all over there. Folks, Bailey Zappi is a guy that was cut this year. Cut. And nobody came to pick him up. He came back. He came to the practice squad. He came to his rooms, kept his head up, did his

Starting point is 00:23:25 job and waited until he got his turn. All right. A lot of people have been saying that the Patriots waited too long to make this switch. They really didn't. They're trying to give, they were trying to give their first round pick time to get his feet under him, to figure out what had gone wrong and why things that happened in practice weren't translating. Because believe me, Bailey Zappi is a game day kind of guy. He's not showing out in, in practice or in the, um, in the preseason and moving up that chart.

Starting point is 00:23:57 There was no, there was no thought, you know, until things got really came off the wheels for, uh, Mac to make this switch. Yeah, absolutely. And Bill Belichick talked about that on Monday morning saying they made the switch exactly when they feel it was right for them to make it. And of course, you know, you've got Zappy right now that's doing a great job of compartmentalizing his mistakes and he's moving on from them in a timely fashion. And hopefully that will lead to big things on the field,

Starting point is 00:24:25 especially with the Kansas City Chiefs coming to town this week. And that is a part of Leslie's question here. Do you believe that's the game changer for this week 15 matchup against the Chiefs? Is that going to matter? Are the Patriots going to come in here with a little more swagger and maybe kind of take it to a team that's reeling right now, that looked at a little bit of disarray, uh, dare we say on Sunday. Um, yeah, I get the argument folks. It might've woken the sleeping giant, but when your quarterback is pulling a temper tantrum on the sideline, it's not the

Starting point is 00:24:55 greatest look in the world. Um, the good teams rebound from that. We'll see if the chiefs can do it. They have the talent to do it, but we'll see if that attitude translates on Sunday. Yeah, I was hoping for a much better showing out of the Chiefs this past weekend. I was hoping to lull them into a false sense of security coming in here to face a 3-10 New England Patriots team, but the keys will be cut, and we'll see if they get followed. Part of those keys being cut, stay on the correct side. that's going to be one of them i'm sure well maybe it won't be i don't know i don't want to speak from murphy but it would be one of my keys that's that's for sure because we don't want a repeat of what we saw on sunday no question about it i wouldn't mind it you want to be able to look at my homes right now and go

Starting point is 00:25:39 you can act like a man. What's wrong with you? Is this how you turn out? A quarterback who cries with the referees? You don't see. But no, all kidding aside, folks. And look, we have our fun. And no one respects Patrick Mahomes more than myself and Murph. What this kid has done on a football field is tremendous. He is a surefire Hall of Famer.

Starting point is 00:26:01 It's just amazing what happens when things don't go swimmingly. When you're looking at possibly a wild card weekend, never mind the fact that you're going to be playing away games this year. It's amazing. I'm sorry, folks. There's only one Tom Brady. You're starting to understand that. It is. It's a tough job. Repeating and going back to back in the NFL is so difficult. Look, the Chiefs have a ton of talent. That is a tremendous football team. They're well

Starting point is 00:26:35 coached. They've got great superstars. They're led by the most electrifying and the best player in the league. You're seeing right now how difficult it can be. The frustration gets to everybody at times. As much fun as we want to have this is going to be a tough game for the patriots coming up and maybe zappy's cool can help keep the minute so leslie thank you a tip of the cap and a nod to the gods for another phenomenal question thank you for being a valued every day and for all of your contributions as well but, you know, we're not quite done yet because there is still one more question to be drawn from the mailbag. And I know Patriots fans are looking forward

Starting point is 00:27:11 to this one, folks. It involves the draft and the Patriots plans once they get there. Murph and I are going to reveal our thoughts on another phenomenal question when this episode of the Locked On Patriots podcast wraps up right here on the Locked On Patriots podcast wraps up right here on the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day.

Starting point is 00:27:32 Locked On listeners, the only thing more important than cheering on your favorite team on game day is making sure that your game day table is well stocked. Why root for your team on an empty stomach? Order on DoorDash and save on all of your football watch party favorites. All of your favorite restaurants and stores from retail to grocery are on the app so you can shop everything you need to get game day ready. Pats fans, nothing says game day like some wings, right? Well, now you can enjoy the hickory smoked wings in any of their 14 sauce flavors from bites at patriot place that's right it's just like a piece of gillette stadium delivered right to your door just in time for kickoff with door dash so act now and you can get 50 off up to a

Starting point is 00:28:19 10 value when you spend 15 or more on your first order. That's when you download the DoorDash app and enter the promo code LOCKED23. So don't delay, do it today. And don't forget to use the code LOCKED23, L-O-C-K-E-D-2-3 for 50% off up to a $10 value on your first order when you download the DoorDash app and spend $15 or more. Subject to change, terms apply. Lockdown listeners, thank you so much for joining us here today on Lockdown Patriots. Spending time with us here on Mailbag Monday slash Tuesday because of some technical snafus,

Starting point is 00:28:58 folks. We were one day late with the mailbag, but we hope that we've been able to deliver a good one for you. And thanks mostly in part to the Insight, the the wisdom, the counsel of Don here on Locked On Patriots. My good friend, Thomas Murphy of E2G Sports, lending the wisdom and counsel the way only he can. Don Murph, we've been having some fun.

Starting point is 00:29:17 The question I think on every Patriots fan's mind right now is what are the Patriots going to do with the draft? Now, even with the win last week, the Patriots still currently hold the number two pick in the NFL draft. We've come into a lot of questions about whether the Patriots should go quarterback, whether they should go wide receiver. Murph, you've been very vocal that you believe that tackle is the pick and you've already selected that gentleman and the guy that you'd love to see in Patriot Blue. I, for one, happen to agree with you. I think that's the building block. You want to build a foundation, folks. You need solid corners, solid edges, and that's about as solid as you can get, a six-foot-eight Joe Alt out of Notre Dame. But there are also arguments to be made about the

Starting point is 00:30:00 Patriots using that valuable draft capital and turning it into multiple picks. I know that's going to make a lot of our listeners moan and groan right now, but our good friends over at Patriots Daily want to know the same thing. And I love the name, folks. Gronk is the best tight end ever. Yeah, he absolutely is. It's not even close in my opinion. And yeah, I say that. I know who's coming here this weekend.

Starting point is 00:30:21 That's why I said it. The question at hand is, do the Patriots have to draft a quarterback or get one late and trade our top pick for a boatload of picks i love the way they ask this question we're very lone stars baseball's vibes yeah we're not just doing this for picks we're doing it for a boatload of picks i I love it. I really do. I like it an awful lot. If the board starts to be read in a certain way, do you have to consider making that move if you're the New England Patriots or do you have to lock on a top five pick for a franchise quarterback at all costs? Yeah. If you listen to most of the talking heads out there, yes, he does. If you're going to listen to me, no, they do not. If they end up with a top two pick and hopefully Arizona can win a few more ball games and they're looking for a

Starting point is 00:31:14 quarterback, you know, maybe you trade down with them. You do a flip at the top of the draft, end up with the fifth pick and take my man Alt like you should do. I would be happy with him at two. Um, but if you can, if you can pry away some or all of those, uh, the plethora of second round picks that they also have, you know, end up with three, um, you know, your own, maybe two of their three second round picks and end up with, you know, possibly four or even five top 60 picks in this draft, you're going to help yourself a lot. You know, you can rebuild this offensive line. You can grab a quarterback, maybe even use those picks to trade back up into the first round and get that quarterback that everybody so desperately wants. The only problem is right now the fury over all of these guys

Starting point is 00:32:08 has them going in the top 10 again. And believe me, there's going to be three mistakes made in the top 10 this year. Joe Wall is not one of those mistakes. None of the top three offensive tackles that are in this draft will be one of those mistakes. None of the top three offensive tackles that are in this draft will be one of those mistakes. Those are guys that are going to be cornerstones for five to 10 years. Joe Walt is just that much better than everybody else. He is just that massive of an individual. Yes, he's out there and he looks like he's a grown-ass man playing against Pop Warner kids because of his

Starting point is 00:32:44 size and strength. But everything that Joe Alt does translates to the pro game, quicker and better than everybody else in this draft at the position. And that's where I want to go. You can grab a wide receiver in two. You can grab a wide receiver in this draft in three. Now, I'm not going to pretend that I sit there every Saturday afternoon and watch every single college football. The only college football game that I've watched from kickoff to final whistle this year has been the

Starting point is 00:33:15 Army-Navy game, and we know who we're watching out there. The guys that are going to defend our country, not play at an all-pro level. Those guys are few and far between. Hi, Joe Cardona. How you doing? But other than that, you know, there are so many ways that you can go with this. I'm looking to get as many draft picks within the top 50 as I possibly can with that pick. And I will, you know, there are guys that are going to be on the market that can be a placeholder or even more this offseason in free agency. And I'm not saying these guys are going to come in here and be that guy for the next five years.

Starting point is 00:33:55 But I feel a lot better about some of them than I do, you know, the kid out of USC or the rail thin kid out of USC or, or the, the, the rail thin kid out of LSU. I, you just don't know. You don't know how the kid from North Carolina is going to handle a college. I mean, a pro playbook. It's just, there are just too many questions. There's just too many questions. Yeah, there really are folks. I mean, it really depends on who is valued and how they're valued in the Patriots draft room. And I think we can all agree on that. If the Patriots believe that Caleb Williams or Drake May or Jaden Daniels or a quarterback that's in this draft right now that they need to spend extremely high draft capital to bring in, then they're going to do whatever they need to do to do that. Now, the question is, will they be in position to do that?

Starting point is 00:34:44 Right. And Murph, bring it all full circle. It depends on who's in the draft room making these decisions. Is it Bill Belichick and Matt Groh still directing this? Is it Murph? Probably should be, folks. Who else could it be? I mean, there are a number of different people that could be making these decisions that

Starting point is 00:35:02 either are or aren't the current regime that's in New England right now. So a lot of it is going to come down to what the Patriots feel is in their best interest for the present and the future of their football team. Patriots Daily, an excellent question. Great question. It really is going to depend a lot on a lot of different factors. But one thing I think we can all agree on is that if they haven't identified their quarterback of the future in this draft, then yeah, you have to maximize your capital any way you can do it. And if that's getting a boatload of picks, then I don't think the Patriots can take that off the table. It's a possibility and it could definitely happen. So again, thank you for an amazing question, guys.

Starting point is 00:35:43 Thank you for all of your support to Locked On Patriots. We truly appreciate it. And Murph, another stellar Locked On Patriots mailbag. And thank you so much for coming along for the ride today with us all. Really always appreciate all of your wisdom, all of your counsel. Before I let you go today, Bud, please let everyone know where they can find you, interact with you, and where we can expect some of the great work coming down the pipe from you, my friend. Well, I got a new piece up over there at E2GSports.com on the Shohei Itani contract, if you want to call it that.

Starting point is 00:36:14 Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. It's $700 million, but he's only taken two. What the hell? What the hell? There's going to be ramifications in the next collective bargaining agreement over all of this. And, of course, you can find me on Zitter at TeamRef207. Hopefully, I'll be over there today doing a few things. And, of course, the monster keys will be cut.

Starting point is 00:36:39 And you can read them on Friday at E2G Sports. We always say, turn the keys. You go to the top. You don't turn the keys, you're never heard from again. I think we're going to be turning those keys later on this week here on Locked On Patriots. So stay tuned, download, subscribe to follow so you don't miss a second of the action. In the meantime, my friend, I thank you for all of the wisdom and counsel that you lend each and every day here on Locked On Patriots.

Starting point is 00:37:03 A special tip of the cap today to Bill, to Leslie, and to Patriots Daily for your amazing questions. On behalf of my good friend, the Count of Murphy, Fisto himself, I am Mike DeBate, thanking you all for joining us today and reminding you to stay safe and to stay well and 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.

Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - New England Patriots: Bailey Zappe, Pats Offensive Line, 2024 NFL Draft and More from the Mailbag

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.