Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - New England Patriots: Christian Gonzalez Top CB Already? O-Line Shuffling, Contract Extensions and More

Episode Date: June 24, 2023

As the New England Patriots continue to monitor the situation surrounding cornerback Jack Jones, coach Bill Belichick is focused on developing the crown jewel of his 2023 NFL Draft Class. Host Mike D���Abate provides his thoughts on Gonzalez as the top option at the position, before welcoming Thomas ‘Murph’ Murphy to discuss a the possibility of a surprise move at left tackle, the blocking competence of the tight ends and who may be in line for a contract extension.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!BirddogsGo to birddogs.com/lockedonnfl and they’ll throw in a free custom birddogs Yeti-style tumbler with every 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

Despite the Jack Jones legal drama, the New England Patriots appear to be very happy with Christian Gonzalez at the top of the heap at cornerback in 2023. 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, and thank you once again for making Lockdown Patriots a daily part of your New England Patriots coverage. We are a proud part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day, so subscribe or follow for free on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts.

Make sure that you get the latest episode as soon as it's available. I am 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 Twitter at M-D-A-B-A-T-E-N-F-L. And while you're out there showing some love to the Twitterverse, please be sure to follow the Lockdown Patriots account as well at L-O underscore Patriots. And that's today's episode brought to you by Bird Dogs.

Go to birddogs.com slash locked on NFL, and they'll throw in a free custom Bird Dogs Yeti-style tumbler with every order. Pats fans, thank you again for joining me here today on the pod and for making us your first listen today. As always, a special shout-out to all of you everydayers out there, all of you locked on loyalists. You make Locked On Patriots possible. And taking time out of your day to spend with us here on the pod really just elicits my

unending gratitude, my heartfelt appreciation. I'm humbled and honored by your support. And that's fans by popular demand. This weekend is the time that we can finally bring you the offerings from monday's locked on patriots mailbag my deepest apologies on the audio difficulties this week but we were able to recover the pod and that means our good friend thomas murphy the legendary counter murphy fisto himself will be popping in here in just a moment and we're both going to take your questions surrounding the Patriots offensive line, contract extensions, and so much more.

So be sure to stay locked into this weekend episode of Locked On Patriots. And as your New England Patriots continue to face some uncertainty regarding the legal future and the future on the field of Patriots cornerback Jack Jones. Bill Belichick is focused on developing what I like to call the crown jewel of the 2023 NFL draft class, and that is Christian Gonzalez. This kid is going to make this secondary instantly better the moment he steps on the field, and he's got a lot of hype around him. There's already a lot of buzz surrounding his athleticism, his abilities on the field, but's got a lot of hype around him there's already a lot of buzz surrounding his athleticism his abilities on the field but don't tell that to Bill Belichick because Belichick is very methodical in the way he develops players especially rookies he wants these kids to be able to stand before teaching them to fly and that's exactly what he's focused on in 2023 so far even

though Christian projects as the team's primary boundary cornerback, and I believe he will be. Belichick's not resting on his laurels, and he's not jumping to conclusions when it comes to Christian. As a matter of fact, in a recent interview that Bill did with the 33rd team covering a lot of topics, one of the topics that came up was Gonzalez's development, and Belichick stressed the importance of bringing rookies along slowly, allowing them to really come into their own as a professional football player and as a member of the franchise. Quoting Bill directly here, most importantly, you bring rookies in and you let them learn how to be a professional football player and a New England Patriot.

And that's important. We hear all the time about the Patriot way. And I know that way is being challenged a little bit right now with some of the legal uncertainty surrounding Jack Jones's future on the field here in New England. But Christian is someone that'll come in and get this from day one. And Belichick wants to make sure that he's doing his due diligence in giving him that opportunity to kind of grow into his own. Statistically, he's not going to have a problem. We know from his 2022 season at Oregon, this kid can play 35 tackles, four interceptions, four passes defense. He was one of college football's most durable players during

last season, played all 12 games, started all 12 games that he played for Oregon, as well as each of the 18 that he suited up for when he was with the University of Colorado from 2020 to 2021. So even though there's a lot of prowess on the field, it's as much about his adaptability, his athleticism, that's really going to endear him to New England. And I think that blend of size, flexible movement is already making him a favorite, not only of Bill Belichick, but also his defensive coaching staff as well. They're going to continue to test him. They're going to make sure that he's ready. And Bill Belichick said this, and I'm quoting him

directly from his interview with the 33rd team. Bill said, quote, we'll work him at a number of positions like we do almost all players at this point in time in the spring then we'll narrow it down a little bit when we get to training camp ultimately he's most likely going to be a perimeter corner but i think there are other situations where he could play inside or he could play deeper in the part of the field depending on what the call is or how things present themselves from a game plan structure from time to time. That's interesting. Christian Gonzalez is assumed to be the Patriots perimeter corner of the future. And given what's going on with Jack Jones right now, I would say the perimeter corner or the top perimeter corner of the present,

but his versatility and his ability to be able to play in multiple alignments is something that I think Belichick is not only monitoring, but it's also something that Patriots fans and media alike will continue to view as we head into training camp. And that's where I think he's going to be at his best. You're going to see what Christian Gonzalez role is going to be on this team within the first couple of weeks of training camp. We know he's going to prove himself useful in a number of duties, but ultimately he's brought in to be that boundary presence, not just in the immediate future, but also in the long-term

future. He's got the size for it, 6'2", 200 pounds. He's got the height and the length to match up with a lot of opposing teams' top receivers on the outside. That's important because the Patriots are going to be facing a lot of top-level receivers in 2023. You've got to be able to shut these guys down. Christian can do it. And I think he's already shown the savvy and the athleticism enough to be able to do it for many years to come. So a ringing endorsement from Bill Belichick regarding Christian Gonzalez, he stopped short of giving him that ironclad vote of confidence, but the optimism that he showed and that you can hear in his voice if you do decide to watch the interview or listen to the interview, you'll hear it. There's a lot of excitement,

a lot of anticipation about what he can do. The team is so glad that he was there at number 17, and I believe that the New England Patriots brass definitely feels they found a good one in christian gonzalez and in that vein christian and the rest of his teammates are going to be taking the field next on july 26th that's when your new england patriots will hold their first training camp practice on the fields adjacent to gillette stadium open the public free to attend a lot more details are going to be made available in the coming days and weeks as we move toward late july so keep it right here on locked on patriots and always check out patriots.com for the very latest rules and regulations when it comes to with any training camp but christian is not the only player that's going to command the attention of several of us here in the media and all of you fans out there during training camp

offensive line tight ends a lot of different positions are going to be under the microscope folks there's a lot of possibilities we're going to continue to monitor all of those and in just a moment our good friend the kind of murphy fisto himself thomas murphy of e2g sports going to pop in here and we're going to talk about the o-line we're going to talk about tight end blocking, and we're even going to talk a little bit of contract extension speculation who is likely to hang around beyond 2023. All that and more when this episode of the Locked On Patriots podcast continues. But first, Locked On listeners, some say that the key to a happy life is love, and others will tell you it's financial security. I'll leave it to all of you to determine what really constitutes your own happiness.

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Do it today. Birddogs.com. Patriots fans, don't forget, despite the audio-visual difficulties from last week, this Monday is still Mailbag Monday right here on Locked on Patriots. So don't forget to send in your questions. Use the Twitter hashtag MailbagMonday on Twitter at M-D-A-B-A-T-E-N-F-L or underscore Patriots, or you can even tag the big green man himself at TeamMurf207, or tag your YouTube posting as Mailbag Monday. And Thomas Murphy and I will answer your questions right here on Mailbag Monday. Locked on Murph Monday.

That's right, folks. After all, right here at Locked on Patriots, we're your team. It was my honor, always my privilege when you join me here on the microphone. We are going to open up that mailbag in just a moment, and we've got some great questions for you today, so stick around. Stay locked in. You don't want to miss this. Our good friend Paul Peters is

always a great source of knowledge, always a great supporter of Locked On Patriots. He's always very frank in his opinions, and he was this week for his first question submitted this calendar year for the mailbag. And, of course, you can find Paul at PFPiers on Twitter. And his question is,

why not sign free agent guard Dalton Risner? Only one penalty. And move Cole Strange to left tackle. Murph, it's actually something that is out there in the ether. We'll get to that in just a moment. Paul thinks it's time to cut Trent Brown, restructure Hunter Henry, Devin Gottschalk, and sign Marcus Peters and DeAndre Hopkins. So what else are we playing for?

And I like to think that the what else are we playing for is Paul's actual question, but he brings up an awful lot here, Murph. First of all, let's talk about Marcus Peters. What makes Marcus a potential good fit here in New England if, in fact, Jack Jones has played his final down for the Patriots? Marcus Peters is a consummate professional. He's a man who knows his place in the world, and it's been at the center of defensive back talk over the years. He's somebody that could come in here and plug right in. He's smart enough to ingest this Patriot system and get out on the field and not look like

somebody who's lost in a wasteland. Absolutely. So well said. And coming into New England is sometimes an unforgiving spot, whether it be for young players or whether it be for veterans. It's not an easy system to learn on either side at all. We've seen pro bowlers and all pros just say, nope, not for me. Yeah, that's true.

And take thanks. Thanks for the signing bonus. I'll be checking out now. Absolutely. And you need players that can come I'll be checking out now. Absolutely. And you need players that can come in and not only handle the workload on the field, but also handle the type of tutelage they're going to get in the classroom. Marcus Peters at the top of the list. Yeah, it would be nice to see him in a Patriots uniform.

So, Paul, already we're liking what you have to say and we're liking your suggestions. Murph, I know one of your favorite topics of conversation, one of my favorite topics of conversation is offensive linemen. And we talked a little bit last week about Trent Brown. And we know that there are some who believe that the more time that he misses on the field, the worse it's going to be for his 2023 output. Dante Skarniecki talked to the Greg Hill show last week of WEBI and said, it's imperative they get this guy on board. Adrian Klum needs to sit him

down, give him exactly what's expected of him. And if they do that, Trent Brown is going to round into that type of offensive line and where you don't have to worry about his side of the ball. You can focus all of your energy on the opposite side. Paul's question is interesting because he feels it's time to cut Trent Brown here. Did a little investigative financial reporting over the weekend with our good friend Miguel Benzon. We're going to talk Miguel in just a moment. If the Patriots were to cut Trent, post-June 1st now,

they create $4.25 million in dead money, and they'll get $8 million worth of cap space. If they trade in, which I don't know about the value right now, I think that might be a little bit too lofty to consider, but if they do, it's only $1.25 million in dead money with $11 million in cap space. Or if you're always pragmatic, what Trent Brown gives you on the left side or on the right side, depending on where they want to plug him in, is very valuable. But $8 million and $11 million under the cap is also pretty valuable. Do you believe it's time to cut bait here with Trent Brown? No, I don't.

I think it's time to make Trent Brown happy. Okay. What do you need to be happy to come in here? Is it a year, an extra year on this contract? Is it kicking it out? Is it more cash and more incentives for this year? I want Trent Brown on this line and I want him happy. What Brown really gives you is familiarity with the system, a willingness and a reverence with which he plays under Bill Belichick. And once he's bought into your system, can be a Pro Bowl caliber tackle. And I still think he has that ability in him.

Maybe he's not the same player that the Patriots had in 2018. No, I'm not saying to pay him that way. He doesn't have to be. I need somebody on the left-hand side of this line that is going to protect our franchise quarterback. And he is a franchise quarterback, whether you out there want to admit it or not, he's, he's the man. So that makes him a franchise quarterback. And, and I believe a lot of this has to do with the way Trent Brown came back here, believing that he was going to be a right tackle and then getting

switched over to the left side and not being paid like a left tackle. Sorry. That's, that's the way I think I'm a lineman. I know, I know my role. You're going to ask me to do something else. You're going to have to pay me to do something else. And this is the direction the Patriots need to go because bringing somebody else in here now to learn this system, we just talked about it on the defensive side. Learning this system on the offensive side for an offensive lineman is a task and a half. And it's not something that I want to leave to bringing in anybody else off the street right now when I can just get Trent Brown happy. Good point. I'm glad that you mentioned that. And I'm glad you mentioned the learning curve and knowing exactly what these players are expected of. Yeah, there is something,

I think, to him switching positions and maybe feeling like he's not paid accordingly, or maybe that the expectations were not properly set last year for him coming in thinking he's going to be the guy on the right side. And then I said, when does it quite work out? And they go, Trent, we're going to move you back over to left. Left and right are different games, folks. They are different positions for a reason. And it's different skill sets. And you have to pull upon different abilities to be able to do it well.

That's what makes the left tackle position so vital. And some of the greats that have played left tackle here throughout the years, keep going back to Matt Light, who I think is probably the finest left tackle this team has had in the last 25, 30 years. He did the job tremendously and really set the bar. I want to give a little credit to Nate Solder, too. I don't think he gets enough credit for playing it as well as he did. I know he lost a little bit of gas at the end of that,

but the time where he was playing in his prime, he did a very, job and Trent is capable of doing it but he has to know this off the bat and that gets back to Skarniecki's point last week about setting the expectations and Adrian Clem coming in and saying look this is what we need you where you're playing left or you're playing right you either have to buy in or you have to move on and right there's a risk in that because Trent may look at it and say well look that's not what I want to do anymore. And if there is a situation where all of a sudden you do have conflict between coach and player, then it could be time to move on. I still don't believe that will happen, but theoretically it's possible. And Paul's question actually does address that a little bit.

Paul is a fan of dalton risner the uh offensive lineman out of kansas state come on in the 2019 draft dalton was someone that i was looking at the patriots potentially drafting that year they had very late draft pick um and a lot of people were wondering if they were going to go with dalton in this case and i heavily scouted him as a potential Patriot. Loved what he brought to the table. Denver ended up getting him as an interior guard. Did suffer an elbow injury late in the 2022 season.

That led him to finish the season on injured reserve, which may be one of the reasons why he's still out there on the open market. But he's been consistent as a pass blocker in all four years with the Denver Broncos, finishing with a pass blocking grade of 69.6 to 72.6 in each of those seasons. And as Paul eloquently pointed out, only one penalty charged to him, according to Pro Football Focus, who tracks those. So when you look at the position that he plays, though, he's a left guard. That would mean a positional switch.

And Paul is making the suggestion here to potentially move Cole Strange out on the wing. It's out there in the ether. I don't want to say like Paul's just picking this out of thin air. I've seen national analysts, local analysts, both suggest the same thing. So Paul is definitely logical in his approach here cole is on the smaller side for a tackle six four 301 pounds but he's got the composite athletic ability to be able to make up for it he's got an elite first step can change direction got great agility but ultimately i think the patriots have invested in him as a guard that's

the position he played most often in college murph how do you feel about a potential kickout for cole strange is this something possible because without it i don't think they're bringing risner in here nope nope nope he's too small not enough sand in the pants thank Thank you very much. He already needs to gain weight. He's nowhere near the size that he would need to be to play on the outside here. He's got 33-inch arms. 33-inch arms. You know, there are guys that fell down draft boards this year that would have been much better left tackles than Cole Strange or right tackles than Cole Strange. No, I'm not doing it. I'm not weakening two points by bringing somebody else in here

that doesn't know this system or might not know this system and putting them at left guard and kicking our left guard out to left tackle. Sorry, bud. It's a nice suggestion. I understand where a lot of people are coming from, but I'm not coming from that direction. Yeah, I think that Paul shows sound logic here. And look, it's not like Cole has ever played the position before. You go back and take a look at Chattanooga.

And I spoke with Rusty, his coach, shortly after Cole was drafted. And he told me, he says, look, he says that guy is going to play wherever you want him to play. And he'll play 110% every step of the way. And he has taken several snaps at the legit level at the tackle position, but he primarily was a starter at guard. And I think that's where the Patriots looked at him. It would really be detrimental to his growth as alignment to switch up now. In terms of bringing in someone like Rizner, as much as I love his ability, Rizner is a

true guard. And unless you're not going to make a move at the guard position, or you didn't make the move that they made this year in the draft, I don't know if I'd see them maybe bringing him in. But Paul, I think there are tackles out there that if it comes down to it, they could sign. Yeah, it's true. And there are and there will continue to be right through training camp. One thing about offensive linemen is you do have the ability to go in and to sign guys.

I think the quality of someone like Risner and what he brings to the table is appealing for Paul. And I got news for you, Paul. It's appealing to me as well. We'll see what the Patriots have to do. I'm not discounting anything of what you put on the table. We just give our honest opinion. And you also go back and take a look at what the market might be as training camp starts to heat up. Mike Lewis of Nine News in Denver said that several teams have shown serious interest in Dalton as we approach training camp. We'll see if that continues. Bottom line, folks, keep a sharp eye.

We're always going to keep a sharp eye out. Paul, we thank you for the great question, but Murph, we're not done yet because there are other questions surrounding this team's ability to block that don't include the offensive line. All right, maybe they do. This is a little bit more on the tight-ended situation.

Sorry, Claire, but when Joel speaks, Murph and I have to listen, and we're going to listen. Our good friend Joel from Hull brings our next question when this episode of the Locked On Patriots podcast continues. Fats fans, thank you once again for joining us here on Locked On Patriots. We are your team every day, a proud part of the Locked On Podcast Network, and we always love being your first listen, especially all of you everydayers out there.

Today, the Count of Murphy Fisto is still with us. And Murph, we're still wading through all of the letters, the sea of letters that we get here on Lockdown Patriots. And in the previous segment, Paul really knocked it out of the park with several good questions. Very thought-provoking. We gave our honest opinion. Folks, let us know what you think in the comments section below. But one of our very favorites

submitted his first question of the cycle here on Locked On Patriots over the weekend, and that is our good friend, Joel from Hull. And Joel wanted to know, hey, Mike and Murph, I love how he addresses us. This is always good. Thanks a lot, Joel. We appreciate it.

It's seeming like the offensive line needs help. Well, we talked about that a little bit in the previous segment. Do you think that some of that help will be offloaded to the tight ends? Do you think the tight ends can handle the workload needed if asked? As always, thanks. Well, Joel, as always, we thank you for all of your support. But Murph, I think Joel's question is a good one. always thanks well joel as always we thank you for all of your support but matter of fact joel's question is a good one we talked a lot about the depth on this offensive line but when you look at the patriots tight ends right now not a whole lot of blocking prowess in the resume of any of these

guys on the roster right now hunter henry mike gasecki, Anthony Ferkser, Scotty Washington, Matt Sokol, all talented players, all of these guys can block, including Gusecki, folks. I know he doesn't like to. I know it's not his wheelhouse. It's not going to be what he does often. But if he needs to throw a block, he's a pro football player. He's capable of doing it. But none of these guys are known primarily as a blocking tight end. What does this mean for the potential of the New England Patriots using this position?

Does it mean they go jumbo on the offensive line, or does it mean they just load the line? You're the offensive line guru, Murph. I'm going to let you go ahead and take this one. How do they work this to make this something that can really be a formidable strength for the Pats this year. Jumbo packages is one way to go. I really like that tip. Anything to get another offensive lineman out there, it's good for me. Find one that can catch a pass every once in a while. It's even better.

But no, Matt Sokol is an average to very decent blocker. It's something that he did quite a bit of while he was with the Spartans. They had a run-first offense. He was able to use his gamma, for lack of a better word. He's a big man. He's a big man. He can get out there and he can block. So he's got a huge frame frame and he can definitely get out there and and stretch

the the field when when you talk about those outside zone um packages that the Patriots are going to be sprinkling in here and there so yeah I think that they will be able to I mean last year we saw Hunter Henry's um uh numbers went down last year because he was asked to block so much. He wasn't out there in the pattern. It was one of the reasons that I was happy this season with O'Brien coming back and seeing him out in the pattern more often. But he showed last year that he can do it. So, yeah, no, I think that they can pick up the slack if there's still slack there once we get out of camp. Yeah, without question.

I mean, like I said, all of these guys that we mentioned, and I didn't mean to say Johnny Lumpkin as well. No, no, Mr. Lumpkin. All of these guys can come in and be professional football players, meaning that they have the capability of playing the tight end position. Nobody's asking Tyquan Thornton. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. playing the tight end position and nobody's asking type one Thornton to yeah exactly exactly and you know I mean when you get to this level you have to know how to play the position completely and I think the Patriots will have that but as far as really taking on primary duties in that area

no I don't think the Patriots are going to use these guys as primaries jumbo packages is one way to do it. We saw Michael Wayne who do it a couple of years ago. Now that was in situational football. We're not sure if that's going to continue, but he's done it before. We know he knows how to do it. Antonio Mafi did it a little bit at the University of California, Los Angeles. So we're going to look for that and we're going to look to see what the Patriots have the ability to do there. And really

I think a lot of options on that offensive line and in that tight end. Just coming full circle, we mentioned in the last segment that there are still guys out there on the offensive line that are tackles. I'd love to kick the tires on Eric Fisher and see how healthy he is. We saw George Fant with his brand new body a couple of weeks ago. And Jason Peters, you know, the ageless wonder, Jason Peters is still out there. You don't know what's going to happen between now and September 1 when the final cuts come down. And guys are going to be looking for jobs.

And I know that I might be contradicting myself, but we're talking about seasoned professionals that could come in here and ingest this playbook on a limited basis and build their way through the season into becoming valuable pieces. Yeah, absolutely. Doesn't necessarily mean that because a player is out there, because a player is a free agent, that he automatically needs a learning curve. Some do come in and they get it right away. You have to know how to select the right ones as opposed to maybe even some of the bigger names that are out there. So very good point. But always, always a pleasure. And Joel, always a pleasure to answer your questions.

I think that that was an excellent question. And I think one of his daughters asked that question to me. Joel will be the first to admit it. I think, yeah. Dad, would you ask Murph and Mike? I love it. I absolutely love it. And, of course, we always appreciate all of Joel's questions,

and we appreciate all of Joel's support. You can find him on Twitter, at JoelShapiro20, and one of our all-time favorites here on Locked On Patriots for a lot of reasons. But Murph, what would it be without a Mailbag Monday question submission from the Celery Cap Top Gun himself? A man

without a plaque for the alternates because it doesn't exist. A man who has no equal when it comes to Foxborough Finance. Our good friend Miguel Benzon who takes time out of his busy schedule to write into Lockdown Patriots each and every week. And if you write in, Miguel, we're going to find a way to incorporate that into the show.

Even if it's just to say hi. Absolutely. And in that vein, he gives a pretty good one. He's asking us to play the percentages, Murph. I don't know about you. I feel like Chevy Chase doing Gerald Ford. And I was understanding that there would be no math. There would be no math.

But Miguel is going to make us do math today. And that's a good thing. That's a very good thing. Because, you know, we could always use an extra tutorial when it comes to arithmetic. Miguel, you're the person that we go to for math. You and Pat Lane, you're the ones that we go to for math. Here you go. The only thing we know about math is how many slices should come in a large pizza.

That is true. That is, and we can figure that out without any help from anyone else. But Miguel wants us to play the percentages. And when he says percentages, we're talking signings and contract extensions. Yeah, folks, you didn't think we were going to get through a whole episode without mentioning deandre hopkins name miguel wants to know what are your percentages for one the patriots signing deandre hopkins yeah two extending michael lewainu before the start of the regular season three same question for kyle duggar four same question for josh b. Wow. What a four-pack of percentages to close out the show today in style. Murph, I always extend my hospitality to you because you are my guest.

In terms of percentages, one, two, three, and four, how do these stack up with you when it comes to Miguel's question here? All right. It's a great question. And I feel a little more, I'm backing off a tad bit on cleared up so he could possibly come in here and do something. But I'm going to I'm going to put it put the DeAndre Hopkins signing at a 60 40. No. 60 40. No.

And that's that's that's better. That's a hell of a lot better than i was a week ago guys yeah i was that i was at like a 90 10 no unless you know and it's always been there's always been that if they're in the building don't let them get out of the buildings you know hide their cell phone uh take their car keys you know give them a flat tire anything the jet breaks down well it's better better down here than up there you know, give them a flat tire, anything that the jet breaks down. Well, it's better, better down here than up there. You know, that's, that's the way you got to do it. And, um, you know, it, cause it just feels better and better the more I talk about it.

And the more it, it, it gets me, this is, this is a signing, especially with what's happened over the past weekend, which would blow that off the back page of the Boston Herald and put this on top. So yeah, 60-40, no, he's not going to be here. But I was glad that the visit was really good. And that's it. So what percentage do you want to put that at? 40% yes. Well, if you saw the grin on my face when you said 60-40, That's it. So what percentage do you want? Do you want to put that at 40 percent? Yes.

Well, if you saw the grin on my face when you said 60-40, I tried to hide it a little bit because we are so unminded. But when you said 60-40, no, and you saw the surprise come across my face, you probably know which way I'm headed. I'm going 60-40 in favor of DeAndre signing here. Look, Thursday afternoon, when you saw the picture of DeAndre Hopkins posing in front of the lockers with Matthew Judon, I think every Patriots fan was at at least an 85%. I want to know who that plate was for. Okay. Did he go make that plate for DeAndre? Did DeAndre get to eat the food that was there?

Because then I'll go up to 50-50. All right. But if Judon was taking that back to his locker to eat, then no, I'm going to stick with 60-40 no. Friday, as it turns out, continued to go on and on. And then we started to hear news trickling in that both sides were very satisfied with the way the meeting went, but that there was no hurry. There was no imminent reason to sign. And from DeAndre's perspective, folks, there is no imminent reason to sign. Like Murph said, he's going to look to see which teams are moving money around, which team may still want to bring him in for a visit.

You never, ever relinquish your leverage. And that would have been relinquishing leverage. And DeAndre's not going to do that. He's been in the league too long, knows too much about the business side football to ever allow that and his agents wouldn't allow that anyway but one of the good things that came out over the weekend was the fact that that one of the haggle points was was actually what we've talked about a lot and that's practice time all right as you get up in age and as he as you know you're trying to to to work through things that how many practices is this guy still going to make?

I was glad to hear that it wasn't money. Yeah, absolutely. And if that is indeed the case, that to me is what gives me a little bit of optimism here, that DeAndre is very much open to playing here in New England. Any of the bad blood between he and Bill O'Brien. I told you. It wasn't, no, that was all blown up.

There were issues there, but those issues were upstairs. So no, I don't think it was as much about his issues with Bill O'Brien as a lot of other people have stated. Yeah, absolutely. And you know what, bottom line, you know, the only two entities that really know how close DeAndre is to either signing or not signing with New England are DeAndre himself and the Patriots.

So we're going to defer to them in terms of percentages, but Murph and I are at the same percentage, just going in different directions. He's 60- i'm 60 40 yes let us know folks the andre watch continues and we will continue to bring you the very latest here on locked on patriots but murph miguel's question was not done yet contract extensions are definitely a possibility and actually probably a necessity when you look at the cap space that Patriots have and trying to rework some of these guys that are on contracts that are going to be up Michael Wainu Kyle Duggar Josh Uche everyone's wondering their futures when you look at these three um who

is most likely to get an extension this season from the New England Patriots? The one guy that I need to lock up, that I have to lock up, is Josh Uche. That's the man that I'm focusing in on, is Josh Uche. I know everybody's saying Kyle Duggar. Kyle Duggar is not signing a contract unless he gets blown away with an offer before the end of the season and he he gets, he gets out there to free agency. That's just the way it is. He is one of the most highly regarded men at his multiple positions, uh, in this league. He, there are, there are GMs wringing their hands together, hoping to get him on their roster. Now, do I expect the Patriots to, to make an offer? I, I really don't know because I don't,

and I don't know if they should. Often, you know, more often than not, with a player of Duggar's stature and status in the league, Bill has allowed them to go out, test the waters, then, you know, please come back and we'll see if we can work something out that can make you happy. So no, I don't think that's going to happen. That's a 0% chance of happening. And it goes the same with Anwe Yu. He's going to be at the top of anybody's wish list who is going to need a guard. I would love to see him extended.

And we've talked in the past, you know, we've dipped our toes into the Miguel Benzon wading pool. You know, we didn't jump right into his big pool, but you know, the little one that's out in front of your pool that you clean your feet off of before you get into the pool and make the filter work harder. Yeah. We we've said before that this would be a great year to be able to do that with the way that how many contracts are coming off the books next year and how they can structure it. I think they could get all of them in here. I just don't think it's going to happen before the season starts. Yeah, I agree with you. I think if there is one that they could get done before the season starts, I would err on your side. I think it's going to be Uche. And I give Uche a

50-50 shot on that. I don't necessarily think that might be a little bit too generous on my part. It was a good sign. It was a good sign that they chose Uche to go over to Germany to represent the team. They're sending some envoys out there from around the league, and Uche got the call to go to Germany. Yeah, very, very important. I mean, when you're looking for guys that they respect and they like.

Absolutely. When you're looking for ambassadors, folks, for this franchise, especially in a foreign market like Germany, where the Patriots are hoping to capitalize on that popularity, Josh Uday does say a lot about how they feel about him in this organization but I agree with you on Uwainu I agree with you on Duggar I have very slim percentages there I have Duggar at a five percent chance that they extend him 95 percent no and with Uw no uh i go uh ten percent there's a chance and uh you know 90 percent it's because of who they are exactly you know you guys want to test the open market or at least try to snip the open market before they get an opportunity to go out there and sign uh does

that mean that i don't think either of them or both will be back absolutely not i just don't think it happens through the system so which is too bad because i would like that off of my back absolutely absolutely and you know there's a chance of it always happening before the season starts but yeah i don't see that happening i think that owainu and duggar understand the amount of money that's waiting for them on the opposite side even in the event of injury and i think at that point you just roll the dice you take your chances and what what they have to do with what we've talked about earlier in the show and bringing in Hopkins and maybe having to bring in a defensive back, that might push those percentages up a little bit.

Don't get me wrong, because you can restructure things in their contract to open up more money into a one or two year deal with Peters or with Hopkins. Absolutely. And you can definitely do that. And folks, we are always, always blown away by the insight, by the questions and by the level of detail that's put into your submissions here on Mailbag Monday. A huge thanks to Joel, Miguel and Paul

for amazing questions, in-depth insight. You guys are truly amazing. All of you everydayers out there, continue to warm my heart with all of your support, and Murph's as well. So thank you for everything that you do for Locked On Patriots. And, Bud, what can I say? Thank you for always being there for the handoff.

Whenever I need you, you're always there, and you always provide wisdom and counsel that only you can provide. Before I let you go today, my friend, please let everyone know where they can reach out to you on social media and what you've got cooking from the great pen and the great voice of Thomas Murph. Well, there you go. And you can read it right down there at TeamMurph207 on the Bird app. Tip of the cap over to Mark Schofield for coining that phrase for us.

E2GSports.com. I've always got my Red Sox content out there. You can check that out. This morning, I put a nice little piece out there about sweeping the Yankees. It doesn't matter what place you're in, people. If you sweep the Yankees, it was a good weekend. It was a happy Father's Day yesterday. It was a happy Father's Day.

Absolutely, folks. And as the Red Sox continue to climb back in, don't forget to check out the brand new host of Locked On Red Sox, Gabby Herbert, one of our new colleagues here, a mainstay in Boston sports media, one of the great people that you'll ever meet. Gabby is truly a professional and very passionate about what she does. I've had the great privilege of being on her podcast, Boston Balling, and I'm looking forward to seeing what she's going to do with lock on red socks. I am a subscriber and a fan and you all should be too.

And don't forget to always hit that subscribe button, download, subscribe to follow locked on Patriots, wherever you get your podcasts to ensure that you get the latest episode. As soon as it's available. Once again, I thank my good friend, the Count of Murphy Fisto himself, for all of his wisdom and counsel today on Mailbag Monday.

Folks, I am Mike DeBate. Continue to stay safe and stay well and be the change that you wish to see in the world. Have a great day, everyone, and we'll see you back on Locked on Patriots.