Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - New England Patriots Coaching Search: Robert Kraft Statement, Eliot Wolf Staying, Names to Watch

Starting point is 00:00:00 Robert Kraft has declared in one clear voice, this whole situation is on me. But the New England Patriots coaching search for their third coach in as many seasons is what will truly define this chapter of his legacy. Stick around, you're about to be locked in to the Locked On Patriots Podcast. You are Locked On Patriots, your daily New England Patriots podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello to all of you, Foxborough faithful. Thank you once again for making Locked On Patriots a daily part of your New England Patriots coverage and hopefully your first listen each and every day.

Starting point is 00:00:45 I'm your host, Mike DeBate. I cover your New England Patriots coverage and hopefully your first listen each and every day. I'm your host, Mike DeBate. I cover your New England Patriots for Patriots Country. Reach out to me. Let me know what's on your mind on X at M-D-A-B-A-T-E-N-F-L. You can also catch me with a skies of blue over on Blue Sky at M-D-A-B-A-T-E-N-F-L dot B-Sky dot social. And of course, if you're looking to show some social media love to Locked On Patriots, do so on our X account at LO underscore Patriots.

Starting point is 00:01:09 And Pats fans, today's episode brought to you by our good friends over at FanDuel. You can start the season with a big return on FanDuel. New customers can place a $5 bet and you'll get started with $200 in bonus bets. That's if you win or lose your first $5 bet. Visit FanDuel.com to get started. Pats fans, it has been less than 48 hours since your New England Patriots 2024 season came to, how shall we say, a cataclysmic end on Sunday evening. The Pats losing not only

Starting point is 00:01:43 the number one overall pick as a result of a 23-16 victory over the Buffalo Bills. Ultimately, they also lose their head coach, Gerard Mayo, in the process. So in that vein, folks, we have an action-packed show for you on tap today. We're going to start by examining team owner Robert Kraft's meeting with the media on Monday. Next, we're going to turn our attention to the Patriots coaching search. And Robert Kraft had some interesting tidbits about who's going to be remaining in the building

Starting point is 00:02:10 throughout that search. Yeah, that's right. Elliot Wolfe, the executive vice president of player personnel, will be remaining in the building. Is that the right call? What can we expect from that? And of course, lastly, we're going to discuss the time frame for this search and we're also going to drop in some names you should be watching and of course i'm saying we

Starting point is 00:02:30 because you know this man just absolutely chomping at the bit to weigh in on this subject he is my good friend the legend himself thomas murphy thank you for joining me today on this tumultuous Tuesday, Don Murr. Happy to be here. Hope to help the ball club. Not enough people in the Patriots front office and on the sidelines were able to do that this year. And that's why Gerard Mayo is unemployed. I think before we get into the real thrust of our conversation today, I think it's always important to remember that cheering or rooting for someone to lose their job should never be an avenue that anybody takes in this business, in any business. I understand that

Starting point is 00:03:14 fans are excited about change and they believe that change needs to happen. But when you turn the matter personal, this is a man with a family this is a man with pride and by all accounts this is a man i think that tried the best he could with what he had simply was not ready for the job and we'll get into that in just a moment but let's face it murph this was i believe a necessary move and the wingman patriots need help and they need help in every possible way that you can interpret that statement folks They just completed their second straight 4-13 finish. Offense, defense, coaching, scouting, you name it, it was all bad in New England this year. You can't sugarcoat it. It's just the way it was. To fix it, the New England Patriots need

Starting point is 00:03:57 to undergo what we call an organizational overhaul, and that's exactly what they're doing. They started that overhaul on sunday evening when team president robert kraft relieved gerard mayo of his duties after only one season gerard now becomes only the second coach in patriots history did not make it to year two of course the other rod rust in 1990 so murph as you can imagine it's been an interesting couple of days in Foxborough. Several Patriots players that we spoke to in the media on Monday while they were clearing out their lockers seemed surprised by this move.

Starting point is 00:04:33 Several of them stepped up and were all too eager to voice their support for Gerard Mayo. Guys like Dietrich Wise Jr., Christian Gonzalez, Devvin Godchow, singing the praises of a guy that they believe gave every effort to try to make this season something more special than what it was in Foxborough. But you and I both know this was the decision of ownership, and Robert Kraft, to his credit, knew he was the only one that could provide these answers. You can't give it to someone else.

Starting point is 00:05:01 You can't have anyone else give this. He needed to step up to the podium, and he did that. He didn't waste any time taking the blame for the situation. As I opened the show today, he said, quote, this is all on me. He says, I feel terrible for Gerard Mayo because I put him in an untenable situation. I know that he has all the tools as head coach to be successful in this league. He just needed more time before taking the job. He did conclude that statement, though, by saying he has an obligation to this fan base, and he said

Starting point is 00:05:30 in the end, I'm a fan of this team first. Now I have to go out and find a coach who can get us back to the playoffs and hopefully championships. We'll get back to who may be on the short list of the New England Patriots potential candidates, but what were your opinions on Robert's statement? How do you believe it came across the Patriots nation, and was it the right sentiment for the moment, in your opinion? Yeah, sure. Coming from Robert, I think it was the right sentiment. I'm sorry, Robert, but he came to the realization that he was bamboozled. Okay? Elliot Wolfe and Gerard Mayo lobbied for this all year long last year. When the Chargers put a beatdown on this team, that Robert made the decision right there.

Starting point is 00:06:23 He said that they'd been thinking about it for over the last month. The Chargers game was the tipping point. And seeing what had happened and the fact that Mayo had no answers whatsoever for the Chargers, it just pushed them over the edge. All season long, you can go back and point to an up game, even in losses. Well, you know, they look pretty good this week. You know, you go back to just recent history, what happened up in Buffalo. All right? And they put on a fantastic show.

Starting point is 00:06:55 They came back the next week and laid an egg. And this happened time after time after time. Now, Mike brought up the fact that there were players in the locker room that, you know, like get Devin Gottschall, who were sticking up for Gerard Mayo thought that there were other guys that were not. Okay, there are guys you go go read Mike Giardi at Boston Sports Journal today, he's got a piece coming out that that talks about players who thought that they were at a disadvantage every single week in the coaching department. Now, that's not just Gerard, but, you know, with other guys.

Starting point is 00:07:29 And I'm pointing right at you, Demarcus Covington. Okay, this team regressed from last year to this year. All right, in coaching, in play. The only guy in this situation that I don't have a problem with is Alex Van Pelt. I think he did a fantastic job with May. Everybody wanted to know why that this offense was so pedestrian. We saw that in the Chargers game. You couldn't get exotic with this team because the talent wasn't there. When you have the head coach crown on your head, it weighs really heavy. And you could see Gerard

Starting point is 00:08:03 Mayo age throughout this entire season. Very good point. And I think that has to be priority one for the New England Patriots in their search now for their 16th head coach in franchise history. You have to prioritize experience, someone that is not only capable of handling the job itself on the field, the X's and O's and strategic aspect of being a head coach, but you also need someone that can handle all of the intangibles around it, dealing with the media, dealing with the personalities of his players, making sure his players are protected from outside distractions.

Starting point is 00:08:36 These are things that we all took for granted in New England for so long, for almost 24 years under Bill Belichick. It's not an easy job. I do feel for Gerrard in a sense where I believe that he inherited a roster in tough shape. The job was too big for him. But again, you make the argument and I think you're spot on. He lobbied for this. He took the job knowing full well what the consequences were if he couldn't live up to it. These are the consequences. So now the Patriots have to reset. But one thing that I found interesting was when Robert Kraft was asked on Monday about when the tipping point started, when he started

Starting point is 00:09:10 to see the erosion of trust between the organization and the fan base, and he mentioned mid-season. And I'm wondering, and I'm not putting words in Robert's mouth in any way, shape, or form, folks, but I'm wondering if his tipping point was the same as mine, because ultimately, I agree with you, Murph. Losing 40-7 on your home turf, that's the final weight that's going to break the bridge. There's no question about it. I think that tipped the hand of Robert and Jonathan Kraft, but from my understanding, and from those that I've spoken to in the last 24 to 48 hours, a lot of the tide began to turn in the front office, in the media, even in the locker room

Starting point is 00:09:51 when the Patriots came out and lost 30 to 17 right out of the bye against the Arizona Cardinals. And I said this before the season began. I said, that's the game I'm circling. That's going to be the defining moment of Gerard Mayo's first year as head coach. I didn't think it would result in his dismissal. I'll be very honest on that, but it did. And it's hard to argue that it shouldn't, because if the Patriots came out of this game, especially after a very tough loss before the bye against the Indianapolis Colts, if

Starting point is 00:10:20 they came out playing hard, giving maximum effort on every play, doing everything they possibly could to win that game and try to play mistake-free football. If they did that, even if they lost it, I would have looked and I would have said, this team is buying into Mayo's message. They're trying for him. They're giving everything they can. They were prepared. They didn't, they didn't look well rested, which they should have after having a week

Starting point is 00:10:42 to recoup. They didn't look motivated, uh, coming out of a late season by they really should have been. a week to recoup they didn't look motivated uh coming out of a late season by they really should have been they knew their season was almost over you're playing for pride at that point play for some pride what we saw was them playing fundamentally unsound football right look listless again to me this was a clear sign that this team had serious on-field issues with motivation and execution. But to me, Murph, what became even more clear was that they didn't have experience coaching to pull them through it. And because of that, the change had to be made, folks.

Starting point is 00:11:13 Even with that burst of energy that we saw in Buffalo for the first half of the Patriots Week 16 matchup, this was a situation where it needed to be done right out of the gate and that game in arizona put out far too much doubt in my mind great point this was beyond uh the point of no return right i think that was really the tipping point at least it really was and and maybe maybe craft should have made this move right then and there and let him go right then and there uh to try to spark something he he was in over his head, and everybody knows it. We're going to talk about some coaching candidates in a minute or two, and we'll go over how they matriculated up through the ranks.

Starting point is 00:11:57 Okay? Gerard Mayo never did that. He was just Robert Kraft's friend. Okay? Robert Kraft, he talks a great game. He was a great player here in New England, but he didn't have the experience. He didn't have the knowledge. He didn't have the vision and he didn't have a focus. Okay. From the get go, we heard that this team was going to be

Starting point is 00:12:16 tough defensively and they were going to be a run heavy offense. That never happened. Right. Okay. It never happened throughout the gate. There was a little spark when Drake came out. You can't coach with your heart. And I think Gerard Mayo tried doing that, and he found out that it takes more than a couple of years as a linebackers coach and a couple of years sitting on different boards of directors to be able to run an NFL franchise. That's what he wanted to do.

Starting point is 00:12:55 That's the job that he was given. Robert bought into it and he sold. He smartly sold because another year of this, which a lot of people in this town are asking for, some very prominent people think that Mayo should have gotten another shot, that there wasn't enough talent on this team. There was enough talent on this team to win six, seven games, and they didn't.

Starting point is 00:13:23 They won three games. I'm not counting that Buffalo game. Everybody knows that this was a Buffalo did not want the Patriots to lose this game. They did not want New England to have the first pick in the draft. I'm sorry.

Starting point is 00:13:39 Why would you want your bitter rival to be able to restock that quickly? Of course, it makes perfect sense. You know, and they were handed this game. I was at the game. I know that you can't walk down and tell your head coach, go lose this game. All right. But everybody in that organization knew that the pathway to getting right was the first pick in this draft. I'm not saying that you would have gotten a haul like some other guys in the past, but you would have done much better being able to trade out of that first pick

Starting point is 00:14:13 for somebody that, you know, even to trade back to number two, okay, and then, you know, then trade number two back to number three or four. You could pick up top 100 picks there. I'm not saying somebody's going to give you three first rounders for the first pick in this draft, but to just step back incrementally in the way that I would, and you could have gotten a pretty nice haul out of this pick, and now you're really not going to be able to do that with the number four pick.

Starting point is 00:14:47 Now you're going to be back to best player available or best lineman available, and there isn't a lineman worth the fourth pick in this draft. And again, I think it comes back to experience. In order to pull the Patriots out of these doldrums, Murph, the Patriots are going to need experienced personnel. We're going to get into who may be on that short list, folks, in just a moment. But Robert Kraft also added something yesterday that we've kind of dabbled into, and I want to delve into that a little bit more in just a moment.

Starting point is 00:15:17 And that is while the new coach is being hired, any further coaching staff personnel decisions will be placed on hold. Also meaning that Executive Vice President of Player Personnel, Elliot Wolfe, will be remaining in place. Yeah, that clean sweep across the board that we thought was happening the moment Gerard Mayo lost his job on Sunday, apparently not happening, at least not yet, folks. A lot of you out there believe that Wolfe deserves as much blame for this situation as Gerard Mayle.

Starting point is 00:15:46 In fact, in Murph's case, he believes it might be even more. But he's not going anywhere. At least we think he's not going anywhere for the time being. Is that the right call? Well, there are arguments to both sides, and Murph and I are going to discuss those when this episode of the Locked On Patriots podcast

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Starting point is 00:17:33 all of the ins and outs, the ups and downs of what has been a tumultuous 48 hours in Foxborough. Gerard Mayo is out. The search for the Patriots' 16th head coach in franchise history is about to begin. And joining me here to break it all down today is my good friend Thomas Murphy. And Murph, yesterday, Robert Kraft did his duty as team owner.

Starting point is 00:17:54 Stepped to the podium, took the questions from the media. Some will tell you that he was very honest, very forthcoming. I believe he was both. At the same time, people will also tell you that he was vague and didn't really reveal much. I could see the argument there. But at the same time, there were tidbits that could be extracted from this that are interesting, to say the least. We're going to talk about one of them right now, and that was Kraft revealing that Elliot Wolfe and his staff, which includes Alonzo Highsmith and some of the top level advisors in this organization right now, are going to be remaining in place for this upcoming coaching search.

Starting point is 00:18:31 Now, I know that surprised an awful lot of people out there in Patriots Nation. To be honest, it didn't really surprise me all that much. It sits a bit oddly with me, and I'll admit that, because the GM is usually tied very closely to the coach. Kraft's comments made it seem like it's going to be he, Jonathan, Robin Glazer that are going to be doing much of the vetting for this new coach. He didn't really mention that Elliott is going to be involved. He just said he'll be there. So in that vein, Murph, when you look at Elliott Wolfe's potential role in all of this, in your estimation estimation is this the right call what's the

Starting point is 00:19:05 argument for keeping elliot wolf in the building right now i guess is my best way to put it um i don't have an argument for keeping elliot wolf in the building i i know why he is uh i i don't um i tweeted this out the other day that you know uh the reason that he's still here is he's under contract okay and um they'll find something for him to do. You'll still see Elliott Wolfe wandering around in the hallways like you have other executives in the past. And every single franchise in the NFL draft. This man will not be out there trying to sign free agents to bring them in here. That's going to come through the next regime. And now whether the coach gets hired,

Starting point is 00:20:06 it's probably the coach is probably going to get hired first, which would make the other search even more difficult. But there's a couple of names out there that I'd like to see as directors of player personnel. He'll have a new title, but he'll still be in the building. I think you made an excellent point. Essentially, there really isn't a foolproof, really steadfast argument for keeping Elliott Wolfe in the building right now. Now, I'm going to attempt to do so. I'm going to attempt to play devil's advocate for just a moment. Keep in mind, folks, I'm not saying these are my opinions, but there are opinions out there that keeping someone who has been doing internal scouting, recon, so to speak, in the building, at least through the draft,

Starting point is 00:20:45 may end up being somewhat of an asset to a new regime coming in. Elliot Wolfe is very familiar with what these guys can do on the field. Obviously, he is the general manager, de facto general manager. We know that throughout the course of the last few years in the NFL, these two positions are tied very closely together. Coach and general manager have to have a degree of synergy that maybe didn't have to exist five, 10 years ago, but it needs to happen now. And I agree with you, whoever comes in here is going to want to deal with his people, especially if it's an opinionated coach, someone with a little bit more of a presence or experience or an aura.

Starting point is 00:21:27 Yeah, I think we all know who we're talking about here, folks. We'll get into those names in a moment. But keeping it on Wolf for a moment, if I were to argue that case to you, Don Murph, if I'm Winston LaGuardia Gambini and I'm coming up to you and saying, keep the guy in the building through the draft because there is some recon, some possible insight that he can provide to the new coach on players that maybe he didn't have coming in. Does the defense's case hold water? No, the defense's case does not hold water.

Starting point is 00:21:54 Thank you. I appreciate that. You can only make those marks with positive traction, and Elliott Wolfe does not have positive traction. The people that are under him that have been scouting, make those marks with positive traction and Elliot Wolfe does not have positive traction. Okay. He, the people that are under him that have been in, been scouting and handling all that for the,

Starting point is 00:22:12 yes, keep them around. I would not keep Elliot Wolfe around. I do not want his opinions. I do not want his input. I don't see a positive aspect of keeping him in the building whatsoever. But like I said, he will be, he will be he will be

Starting point is 00:22:26 well i guess my follow-up question to you and i think that's how we're going to wrap this discussion on elliot wolf is can you envision a scenario of a coach potentially coming in and saying not elliot's the guy that i want to work with i think he's got a good grading system in place or something to that nature i think that would eliminate right now what everyone believes on social media to be the front runner but at the same time could this be an indication that the patriots really are trying to keep every option on the table uh is there a scenario where he keeps this job with the new coach coming in um honestly i i don't see. I don't see how he earned it, how he earned it in the year that he was sitting behind that desk. I really don't. If you go back and you listen to the quotes, the downright arrogance that came out of Elliot Wolfe every time he was put in front of a microphone. It was misguided.

Starting point is 00:23:31 It was poor decisions. I don't think he's made a single good decision in his time here, with the exception of bringing in a running back that we never played. Other than that, it was terrible. I don't. I don't see how anybody comes in here and keeps him within their inner circle. I can't fathom it, Michael. I'm sorry. Look, I think a lot of people will join you in your sentiment that if you're going to make a clean sweep, Murph, you've got to make a clean sweep.

Starting point is 00:24:08 You know, you really, you have to just, you know, completely out with the old and in with the new. But start there. Yeah. I know it's the coaching side, and you've got to jump on whoever really quickly, and you have to go through the Rooney process. Don't forget, we still have to go through that. Um, and, and make sure that this night I've said it before, Robert is going to have to hit a home run with this next pick and he's going to need to, um, to, uh, bring in a lot of folks, but see, I think it's being done backwards. I think Wolf should be on the street or at least demoted and the new gm the new head of personnel should be brought in

Starting point is 00:24:46 first and let that person pick the coach okay so there is no you know i i've stumped for flow and a lot of people have stumped for rabel some folks have stumped for uh josh mcdaniels to come back and in some capacity you know for for people that that wanted to get away from from bill belichick there's certainly a lot of apples being picked up off the ground that fell off of bill belichick's tree around here over the past week that's a very good point to make and i think that's exactly how we'll wrap up today's discussion murph because now that we've talked about how this has happened and we've talked about what it means for the patriots front office now we're going to have a little bit of fun and we're going to throw some who's into the mix. And that means who might be on the Patriots shortlist. Well, many of you believe that Mike

Starting point is 00:25:32 Vrabel seems to be the front runner. That is certainly the case on social media right now, but I think it's important to remember, and Murph hit on this, the process has only just begun. The Patriots this time around obligated to conduct a comprehensive search. But what exactly does that mean? We'll break that all down in just a moment when this edition of the Lockdown Patriots podcast continues, a proud part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Listen up, Lockdown listeners. I love going to live events whether it's sports music theater

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Starting point is 00:26:51 apply, so again, create an account and redeem the code L-O-C-K-E-D-O-N-N-F-L for $20 off. Download GameTime today. What time is it? GameTime. Patriots fans, thank you once again for joining us here today on Locked on Patriots, making us a part of your daily Patriots coverage. Pats fans, if you've made us your first listen every day, a tip of the cap to all of you every dayers, and a special thank you, and I implore you now to make your second listen our good friends over at Locked on NFL.

Starting point is 00:27:24 Not just once, but twice a day, all of the major storylines across the NFL shield brought to you by the amazing analysts that we have right here on the Locked On Podcast Network. And of course, much like Locked On Patriots, Locked On NFL, free and available on all platforms and a proud part of the Locked On Podcast Network. And joining me here today to help break down a lot of the comings and goings that we've been experiencing in the last 48 hours in Foxborough is our good friend Thomas Murphy of DieHardBostonSportsFans.com. Murph, we've already established that the Patriots wasted no time at the end of their 2024 season to turn the page toward the future. Head coach Gerard Mayo hired less than an hour after leaving his post-game podium, which turned out to be the last time. And as Cobra Kai's John Kreese might say, my friend, the real story has only just begun.

Starting point is 00:28:19 After parting ways with Bill Belichick last January, Patriots quickly announced Gerard Mayo as his replacement. Now, we all know that they were able to do so because of a stipulation in the contract extension that Mayo had previously signed. He was contractually agreed upon to become New England's head coach, even without the presence of a proper or comprehensive search. That met the requirements of the Rooney Rule. And of course, folks, we all know the Rooney Rule requires you to interview four head coaching positions, at least two diversity candidates, meaning one minority, female, or a combination of both. That does not happen this time around, Murph. The New England Patriots must conduct a serious and comprehensive coaching

Starting point is 00:29:01 search. And that means interviewing several candidates. Robert Kraft said yesterday that this process is going to move quickly. So do you believe that the Patriots moving this quickly kind of tips their hand as to which way they're moving, or do you think they're just looking to get as much time as possible to be as comprehensive as they can? I think they're trying. I think they've actually learned from their mistake last year. I think they're trying to get as much time as they can to interview as many people as they can.

Starting point is 00:29:31 And they're going to try to actually do that this time around. I do think that Mike Vrabel is the, it's his job to lose, but I'm not saying that he can't lose it. And I hope he does. That's a good point. That's a very good point. I'm glad that you mentioned that because it seems to be the consensus that, yeah, Vrabel is just the guy, the Patriots are going through the motions.

Starting point is 00:29:56 I really don't believe that's the case this time around. I think that's Patriots are taking this seriously and are going to try to maximize the comprehensiveness of this coaching search as much as possible. So now you've mentioned that it's Rabel's job to lose potentially, but you did mention that he could lose it. If in fact that is the case, who do you believe has the resume and has the aura about him to come in and wow the cra crafts and this organization enough to unseat Mike Drable as the front runner it's Ben Johnson I think Ben Johnson has the resume the pedigree to come in here and blow the crafts away all right we definitely need an offensive minded coordinator uh an offensive minded head coach that's the way that the league has progressed. I think Ben Johnson will get the most out of Drake May in this offense.

Starting point is 00:30:51 I think he's bright. I think he's young. I think he has a fantastic game plan week to week, and I think he'll come in here and talk to the crafts and be as impressive to them as he has been to me in watching his career. This is a guy that started out right here at BC. He was a graduate assistant at BC. He was the tight ends coach at BC.

Starting point is 00:31:20 You know, he was an offensive assistant in Miami for six years, I think. All right. Assistant wide receiver, seven years. Thank you. Can always count on Mike to correct my math. And seven years as an offensive assistant, both quarterbacks coach, wide receivers coach. And then he moved over to Detroit. All right.

Starting point is 00:31:44 He was offensive quality control. I'm not even sure what that is. Okay. But he had his thumb in that pie. All right. The tight ends coach. And then he's been the offensive coordinator there for the last three years. Okay.

Starting point is 00:31:59 We can all talk about the head coach wanting to go for it on fourth down. It's the offensive coordinator that converts. So, you know, I think this is the next guy. I really do. And I hope that he comes in here, the crafts take him seriously, and listen to what he has to say. I've also got a soft spot in my heart for Brian Flores. I think Flores got a bum deal down there in Miami.

Starting point is 00:32:28 I would like to see if Josh McDaniels is interested in coming back here as an offensive coordinator and quarterback whisperer. He has done really, really well for every quarterback that he has ever been involved with as an OC. Okay? I'm going to put that caveat in there. As an offensive coordinator, you can go back, you know, resurgence of Brady in the second half of his career. Jimmy Garoppolo. Look at all the money he made for Jimmy Garoppolo.

Starting point is 00:33:03 You know, right on down the line. Right up to Mac Jones. People forget, Mac Jones went to the Pro Bowl. Mac Jones was number two in Rookie of the Year voting. What happened when Josh left for Oakland? Right off a cliff. There are candidates out there. I wouldn't, I don't want to see Josh as a head coach. I think he's come to the realization that he's an OC and that's it. But I do think Brian Flores would be a fantastic bring back. I don't know if Mike Vrabel is a

Starting point is 00:33:41 fantastic bring back or not, but I do believe in the end, that's what's going to happen. I would go with Ben Johnson. Yeah. Ben Johnson is an offensive-minded coach. That is the way the league is trending. So do you go with that trend and go with someone that has the youth, the vibrance, and also the coaching ability to make this happen, folks? This is not just about going in a different direction and trying to extract some youth. I understand that Ben is going to be another first-time head coach. There's a resume there. There's a pro-level resume that he can bring with him into the room and say, okay, I've spent time in Miami. I've spent time on these staffs, and this is how I've worked my way up.

Starting point is 00:34:19 I think the biggest selling point for Ben Johnson is taking a look at the last three years of what he's done in Detroit. Prior to these last three years, Murph, you did not talk about the Detroit Lions as an elite offense. I don't think anybody did, but you look at this, each of the three years that he's been at the helm, the Lions have placed in the top five in both yards and in points. That offense that he's helped to do a design alongside Dan Campbell, I'm not going to take any of the credit away from Dan as well. But you look at what he's done with Jared Goff and making him a quarterback once again. Unbelievable.

Starting point is 00:34:52 These guys find new, creative, innovative ways to use their playmakers, even their offensive linemen. So if you're looking for someone to come in and totally revamp what this team can do on offense. When that trade happened with the Rams, nobody thought that Jared Goff was going to be the Detroit Lions quarterback two years down the road. Right. Never mind now. All right? They thought it was, well, you know, we're taking all this money

Starting point is 00:35:21 and we're getting all these draft picks and everything, and, you know, we'll figure out what to do with his contract later. Right. You know, they didn't think that it was going to last. And look what Jared Goff has done under this kid. Absolutely. And especially if you look at the social media whispers now, the indications are is that, oh, Ben's not going to accept an interview

Starting point is 00:35:39 or he's not going to entertain taking a job unless he's serious about wanting to take it. Right. If he's not serious, he's going to entertain taking a job unless he's serious about wanting to take it right if he's not serious he's going to decline the interview tom palacero of the nfl network gave patriots nation a little treat yesterday when he said that yeah ben will will accept this offer he ben will accept this invite he wants to interview for this position he's very intrigued by what drake may bring to the table so if you're a ben johnson fan folks and you're hoping this is the direction this is a good move for the new england patriots to try to bring him in it's not a surprise that he becomes the first person that the patriots now have requested permission to try to interview

Starting point is 00:36:15 uh this is one that i think deserves a very very serious consideration you mentioned brian flores absolutely i would definitely love to see him get a chance to come back. You and I hold him in high regard, Murph. Special place in our hearts. Had a chance to cover him up here in New England. Phenomenal guy. You look at what he did for the Minnesota Vikings. 28th in points allowed in 2022.

Starting point is 00:36:37 That Minnesota Vikings team improved to 13th in total defense in his first year. In his second year this year in 2024 that minnesota vikings defense is fourth so that could show you how quickly that can turn around the new england patriots ninth in dvoa on defense in 2023 bottom of the barrel in 2024 that's an area that bottoms some cultivation and again mike rabel a defensive head coach, if you're thinking of going in that direction, he definitely brings a solid resume there too. So I still believe he is the front runner at this point, but I think if you're the New England Patriots, you owe it to yourself. You need to give a serious look to both Ben Johnson and Brian Flores. They both bring a lot to the table. I think this should be a very tight three-man race for this head coaching position.

Starting point is 00:37:26 But we'll see. We'll see what the football gods have in store for the New England Patriots, bud. Right. One thing that we know for certain is there's never a dull moment in Foxborough. And I am always honored and grateful to have the wisdom and the counsel of great guests such as my good friend today. Coming in with knowledge that only you can provide and only the way you can provide it. Before I let you go, please let everyone know where they can reach out to you,

Starting point is 00:37:49 interact with you, and what you've got marinating in Murph's kitchen this week. Yeah, you can check me out on Zitter at TeamMurph207. Also on Blue Sky. I've got to spend more time over there. It's just like sitting out on your back porch with a lemonade over there at Blue Sky. It's nice people.

Starting point is 00:38:03 It really is. And, of course you can read me over at diehardbostonsportsfans.com um the season is over now we're almost done with uh with the bowl games um it's i i am diving deep into uh into this next draft and i'm going to find some talent that the patriots and whoever's running the show is going to be able to bring in. What can I say? You always bring it Murph every single week, whether it's pen to paper, voice to microphone, appointment reading, appointment listening folks, you'll be entertained and well-informed. You can't ask for more than that. And that's why

Starting point is 00:38:39 we love having them back here each and every week. Bottom line folks, we give a special tip of the cap and much appreciation to all of you who continue to make Locked On Patriots a daily part of your New England Patriots coverage. The games may be in the books, folks, but we are just starting and scratching the surface on what proves to be the most interesting and maybe the most important offseason for the New England Patriots in quite some time. I'm honored to be taking this journey with you here on Locked on Patriots,

Starting point is 00:39:07 so keep it locked in. You are not going to want to miss a single second of the action. In the meantime, on behalf of my good friend Thomas Murphy, I'm Mike DeBate reminding all of you to stay safe, to stay well, to be the change you wish to see in the world. Have a great day, everyone, and we'll see you back here again tomorrow on Locked on Patriots.

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