Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - New England Patriots: Jayden Daniels, Drake Maye or Trade Down for Michael Penix? Mock Draft Finale

Episode Date: April 23, 2024

With the NFL Draft nearly upon us, the New England Patriots have yet to yet to tip their hand as to which direction they will take with the No. 3 overall selection. Will the Pats select quarterbacks Drake Maye or Jayden Daniels with the pick? Or, will New England trade down to maximize their capital and select Washington’s Michael Penix, Jr. Steve Balestrieri of PatsFans.com joins host Mike D’Abate to discuss the Pats draft rumors and to grade mock drafts submitted by Locked On Patriots listeners. #NFL #NFLDraft #Patriots Find and follow Locked On Patriots on your favorite podcast platforms: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1c5ZxFm... Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/show/locked-... And follow host Mike D’Abate on X, where he’ll be sharing the latest news about the New England Patriots and talking with fans — @mdabateNFL Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! Home ChefNo more asking "what are we going to have for dinner" thanks to Home Chef and their chef designed recipes. For a limited time, Home Chef is giving Locked On listeners 18 free meal, free dessert for life, and free shipping on your first box. Head to homechef.com/LockedOn today. Monopoly GO!Get in the game and join your friends. Download MONOPOLY GO! now free on The App Store or Google Pay. The mobile hit twist on classic MONOPOLY. eBay MotorsFor parts that fit, head to eBay Motors and look for the green check. Stay in the game with eBay Guaranteed Fit at eBayMotos.com. Let’s ride. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply. LinkedInLinkedIn Jobs helps you find the qualified candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/LOCKEDONNFL. Terms and conditions apply. BetterHelpThis episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Make your brain your friend, with BetterHelp. Visit BetterHelp.com/LOCKEDON today to get 10% off your first month. GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase. FanDuelFanDuel, America’s Number One Sportsbook. Right now, NEW customers get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS with any winning GUARANTEED That’s A HUNDRED AND FIFTY BUCKS – win or lose! Visit FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON to get started. 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)

As the late great Roddy Roddy Piper once said, just when you think you know the answers, I change the questions. Is that what Elliot Wolfe and the New England Patriots are doing? It's draft week, folks. 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 Locked On Patriots a daily part of your New England Patriots coverage and also your first listen each and every day.

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draft week and everyone in Patriots Nation is excited. Your New England Patriots with their most valuable piece of draft capital since 1993 when they selected drew bledsoe number one overall patriots in the number three overall selection what are they going to do steve that is the name of the game and here today to break it all down with me and also evaluate a couple of drafts for mock draft monday is my good friend my patriots paisan columnist extraordinaire for Patsfans.com,

as well as being the co-host of another amazing podcast, one you will absolutely want to check out this week and beyond, Patriots 4th and 2 alongside the great Derek Havens. He is Steve Balistrieri. Steve, welcome back to Locked On, Patriots, and thank you for joining me today, buddy. Always a pleasure, my friend. And, hey, today is the last the last mock draft Monday, right?

It absolutely is. And folks, the big green man from Connecticut has a big green hard drive that is getting rebuilt like you can't imagine. But unfortunately, it has kept him off of the airwaves for the last couple of weeks here on Locked On Patriots. But you know what, Steve? When you have a home run bat in your arsenal, in your lineup, like we do with Murph each and every week, it always helps to have a home run swing on the bench that you can go to and call up and be able to still get the same production out of your lineup. And that's exactly what we've got here today. My good friend in Patriots Paisan is going to sit in the hot seat,

and we are going to evaluate not one but two amazing mock drafts sent in by you, the valued everydayers of Locked On Patriots. We appreciate your submissions, and we look forward to breaking these down today. And Steve, I think we've got a couple of really good mock drafts in store for our adoring public. However, it is draft season, and up until this point, it's almost like you're seeing tidbits come out from sources and you're not really sure what teams are going to do phil belichick himself said last week that the week of the draft is when the real information starts to come out so

some of the country's most prominent draft pundits didn't waste any time on monday morning they came out right away and started to give their opinions on what the patriots might do and we start with adam schefter of espn albert breer of sports illustrated they believe that if the patriots see either drake may or jayden daniels they're inclined to go with them at number three they're not really worried about trading down but we've been vocal several times that we believe may is the best fit for the patriots and actually has the highest upside, the highest ceiling among his peers. Now, some will tell you that Jaden Daniels is much more of a pro-level ready right now prospect. Some believe that J.J. McCarthy may have them all beat when it comes to leadership and football IQ or maybe football maturity.

When you're in a position that the Patriots are in, you have to go for the highest ceiling, and I think that is Drake May. But if Daniels is the guy that slips to the Patriots, and the rumors coming out last week about him being less than enamored with the way the Washington Commanders have handled his courting, are you comfortable with the Patriots going with Daniels at this point? Or if May's not there, should they really entertain the possibility of trading down? Well, you know, that will depend on them.

But if it was me, I would take either guy. I've said that all along. I prefer May because I think he fits New England a little bit better. But I think Daniels is just electrifying when he has the ball in his hands he can make stuff happen i think he's going to have a very high ceiling himself so i wouldn't have any issue with taking either one of those yeah i think you're absolutely right on that drake may and jane daniels i think fill Patriots' need for a quarterback, maybe in different ways, but I think they fill it adequately each way. Drake is going to provide you with that guy that can make throws all over the field. You don't have to worry about him

reaching his targets. You don't have to worry about his build, his arm strength. He's coming out as a cookie-cutter type, body type for an NFL quarterback, so there's no worries there when it comes to him. With May, it's more about seasoning, learning the pro game, allowing his temperance to kind of equal his ability to kind of push the envelope each and every time. And of course, the pressure to sack rate always is a concern. Is that something the Patriots feel they can coach out of Drake May? If so, that ceiling is very high.

If they feel it's not something that can be coached and something that could be a problem in year one, year two, year three, and then it becomes too big of a problem to fix, well, then that's a decision they have to make. But if they do indeed go with Jaden Daniels, maybe a little bit more eager to use the quarterback run options. This is where he is at his best. And bottom line, he may be one of the best dual threat quarterback prospects that we've seen in quite some time, maybe the best since Lamar Jackson. So the Patriots will fill their need for a dynamic playmaker at the position one way or another with Drake May or with Jaden Daniels. But I'm always intrigued by reports

that come out early on in the draft process, kind of simmer a little bit, maybe marinate on the stove a little for a while, and then all of a sudden, the week of the draft, these reports start to resurface. One such report came out on Monday morning, in addition to what we heard from Schefter and from Breer. This comes from sports geek Tony Pauline, and he essentially advised that early on there were rumors that the Patriots were considering moving down from number three. If maybe either Daniels or May, the guy they really want isn't there, they feel that they can move down and then maybe even potentially move back up to take Michael Penix. Obviously right now, I think the team that's most eager to move up is

the Minnesota Vikings. They've got two first rounders right now ready to place in the box and send to the Patriots. I think it'll take a third in 2025, maybe even another first rounder in 2026 to maybe get this deal done. But Penix is starting to come around on a lot of draft boards. Tonya Rae Fox and I discussed this last Friday about Penix coming in and maybe feeling halfway decent about his being selected. If the Patriots can turn that into a couple of different picks that can help this team down the road. How much of stock do you put in the report about Penix right now? And is this something the Patriots fans should prepare themselves for on draft night? Is this a realistic possibility?

Yeah. In fact, I listened to your show from Friday, and Tanya's great. I mean, I always read her stuff, and she's spot on, never misses words, right? Absolutely. That's her style, and you've got to love that. But, you know, there there could very possibly be a lot of legs to what Tony Pauline is saying. And maybe they really like Pennix. But the issue is you run the risk now. If you make that deal, a lot of people talking about Minnesota, he might not be there at 11. And so that that's a huge risk at that point. You know, so I think, you know, and I mean,

I'm not throwing any cold water on Tony Pauline. I just, I don't see them trading back and taking the risk of losing a guy like Penix later on because, you know, it's completely unknown at that point. Somebody can jump in front of you. Somebody else might decide to change their strategy. So I don't think the Patriots are going to do that. I really don't. I mean, unless who's ever there are three they really don't like. And, you know, Elliot Wolfe came out and said they'd be comfortable with either one.

So I just don't see that happening. I mean, could they really like Penix and, you know, potentially want him on the Patriots? Absolutely. I think there's a lot to like there. But I just don't see them risking it by trading away the number three if you don't have a sure thing waiting in the wings. And it wouldn't be. Yeah, that's a very good point. I think the only way the patriots consider a deal like this

is if they do have assurances that they could trade back up into the top 10 and they would need to do it um they would need to acquire a pretty good haul from the minnesota vikings and then trade back up and also maintain i think an extra pick because steve right now you have the number three that i believe is the most valuable piece of draft capital that's out there right now. Obviously, Washington and Chicago are not going to entertain the idea of trades. I think we're past that point. The Patriots right now are the one that everyone's calling to find out if they're willing to move out of number three. And if you're going to do that, you need to be able to trade down and gain another piece of valuable draft capital. So I agree with you. I think it's a risky proposition.

I really think it's going to be about the way that Elliott Wolfe can play the board. Now, Penix is obviously someone that has shown a lot of physical capabilities to be an NFL quarterback. Most of the knocks on him really come from whether or not he's going to be able to be durable. We've seen him have season-ending ACL tears in Indiana that ended two of his seasons there. Two of his other seasons with the Hoosiers were ended by season-ending injuries as well. Goes to Washington, had a minor shoulder injury last year. Some people say that was the catalyst for some of the accuracy issues and some of the issues that he had with footwork simply because he couldn't drive the ball with his shoulder the way he wanted to. All indications are

that those issues are behind him. He was essentially checked out by two different medical teams during the NFL Combine. They gave him a clean bill of health. So if he's at his top, this is a guy with a cannon for an arm. He may have arguably the best arm in this draft, putting him right up there with Drake May. And his abilities to run an Alex Van Pelt offense may be even a more ready, out-of-the-box fit. This is a guy that can do it. He can run that type of offense that Alex loves to run. We use the run to facilitate play action and take those deep shots down the field? So this is intriguing to me, but I agree with you.

Unless you have assurances that you're going to be able to get him either at number 11 or move back up to the point where you're sure that Michael Penix is going to be on the board when you're selecting, it's too big of a risk to do that. And I don't think they use the third round draft capital to select him him because those accuracy issues, to me, are a little bit more red flag than the pressure issues with Drake May or the pocket presence issues with Jaden Daniels. Both of those guys, I think, have higher upside. I think you stay with status quo at that point. That's just my opinion.

You know, about Penix, too, there's another hidden factor in there. I mean, he's a southpaw, right? Mm-hmm. And so left tackle wouldn't be as glaring a need if they were to go with Penix. Not saying that they are or whatever. And, you know, Elliot Wolfe said if this season started today it would be um okorafor i never pronounce his name right but you know who i'm talking about absolutely yeah so i mean then the onus is on your right tackle which is michael when you michael wainer and so you know

i'm not saying they would stand pat by any means at left tackle, but it's not as glaring a need at that point because, you know, he wouldn't be protecting his blind side. So it's just something to think about. Also, in regards to Minnesota, Mike Reese had a really good, you know, scenario where he thought it would be the picks that we mentioned, plus a player like Darasaw, who's a left tackle. You know, so that's something else to keep in mind there. I mean, there's so many variables right now. And, you know, we could talk about this for three more days and we'd still be

in the same position we are now. We really don't know because we're not in the room with them. We don't know how they feel about it. But I think their like of Pennix, I think that that's real there's lots of like there oh yeah you know maybe in a different draft year he'd be going a lot higher yeah i think he would

be uh because i mean especially when you've got guys like caleb williams and drake may and jayden daniels ahead of you all of a sudden you're going to get lost in the shuffle but a lot of times a quarterback class can come along where that, and I don't want to say mid-level range because I believe Penix is much more talented than that, but sometimes that fourth or fifth option, guys like J.J. McCarthy, Bo Nix, Michael Penix, I think you put those all in the same bucket. Those guys are probably the next three when you take a look

at the top three quarterbacks. Sometimes those next three can have just as good NFL careers as the top three, and we've seen that several times. So we'll find out what Elliott Wolfe has up his sleeve soon enough, and I think at this point you'll find out on draft day exactly what their plan is and how they're going to move forward. But at this point, Steve, I think it's safe to say be ready for anything and everything when it comes to your New England Patriots.

I don't think we're going to nail this down until Roger Goodell walks to the podium and announces the Patriots plans at number three, whether it's to trade it or to select it. It's going to be a lot of fun to watch this NFL draft. And as Tanya and I talked about on Friday, Steve, how much better can we get than the evaluation of Bill Belichick doing a live podcast as the draft is happening? He's going to evaluate this pick. I can't wait to see that. That's going to be a lot of fun, folks. It's going to be a really fun draft for Patriots fans without question.

And speaking of doing some evaluating of drafts, Steve, I think we've arrived at that moment. We've talked about rumors long enough. Let's take a look at what some of our everydayers think the Patriots are going to do. And we're going to start with a gentleman that submitted a, what he's calling a post-surgery mock draft 3.0. He was one of our great mock draft submitters last season, and he's back with, I think, a pretty good haul. Steve and I are going to discuss his moves and what our thoughts are or what it means for the New England Patriots when this episode of the Locked On Patriots Podcast continues, a proud part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day.

Patriots fans, it may be the NFL offseason, but it's playoff time in the NBA and the NHL baseball's in full swing and FanDuel is your place to bet on every game so listen up because right now new customers get $150 in bonus bets guaranteed that's 150 bucks win or lose bet on everything from slap shots to home runs to slam dunks all on an app that is safe secure and easy to use so what are you waiting for put your boston sports fandom to the test with fan duel visit fanduel.com locked on and make your first bet an automatic win fan duel america's number one sportsbook. Patriots fans, as locked-on Patriots everydayers,

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Download Monopoly Go now free on the App Store or on Google Play. Pats fans, thank you once again for joining us here today on Hashtag Mock Draft Monday. My good buddy Steve Balistrieri stepping into the lineup today. I don't want to call it a cold bat, folks. He is definitely a home run swing, and we are thrilled to have him here. And Steve, it is the last Mock Draft Monday of the NFL draft cycle. The time for the talk is just about over. Thursday night, we'll know what the Patriots are going to do.

And in the previous segment, I think we talked a lot about the various rumors that are out there, whether it be May, whether it be Daniels, whether it be Pennix. McCarthy is still very much in the mix. I wouldn't count a trade down and maybe, who knows, Bo Nix ends up in a Patriots uniform. Nothing would surprise me at this point. But when we look at what the Patriots might do or what they might not do, we have had some amazing submissions this year here on at what the Patriots might do or what they might not do, we have had some amazing submissions this year here on Locked On Patriots from all of you everydayers

out there that continue to show that I think this is one of the most passionate fan bases and one of the most knowledgeable in the NFL universe. So, Steve, without further ado, I'd like to bring you a submission from Mike Biscardi. And Mike can be found on twitter at mike biscardi all one word or x however you prefer to refer to the bird app these days steve but mike has the patriots making some picks making some trades and i think it could be interesting here he has the patriots still in the top 10 but he has them moving down a little bit to select LSU's Jaden Daniels. Let's take a look at what Mike had to do here. Folks, for the benefit of those of you listening to this

podcast, he has the Patriots moving down from pick three to number seven, and he has the Patriots taking Jaden Daniels at number seven. Steve, before we get into the rest of this haul, how realistic do you think it might be that the Patriots could trade down and still find Jaden there at the seventh pick? I think it's going to take an awful lot of the board falling the right way for the Pats. And with quarterback-hungry teams like the Giants in front of them, I don't know if I see this happening. Yeah, that would be a tough one. But obviously, in the mock that he did, the board fell down that way. But for Daniels to fall to seven, I think is, I mean, would I love to see that? Because his haul is fantastic. I'm sitting there looking at it. And I'm like, I like all of these players. So Jaden Daniels, Tyler Guyton, Mitchell, Pearsall, Blake Fisher, Kamara at 180.

I love that pick. I just think it might be a little rich to expect Daniels to fall to seven, but you can't argue with the haul he made. I mean, I just think this is a really, really good draft. Yeah, I think this is a great draft as well. Look, I mean, I always say take a look at the top three picks that the Patriots make on these mock drafts. And you can start to evaluate how they position themselves to get these draft diamonds in the rough that the Patriots have had throughout the Bill Belichick era here in New England and I expect that to continue under Elliot Wolfe

and Gerard Mayo who are excellent evaluators of talent as well so I don't think that's going to wane I think that's only going to continue here in New England but Mike's picks right now Jaden Daniels at number seven agreed is the realism there that he's going to be there at seven probably not but you play the board as it lies And I think he's done a phenomenal job of trading down and still getting a potential franchise quarterback that can be your anchor here in New England for at least a decade with the way this kid projects and how he's going to assimilate into the pro game. Tyler Guyton at 34, I think, is an absolute steal i think tyler goes off the board a little before 34 but this is a massive tackle he's more than capable of manning the left side

and really i think helping to provide a hell of a bookend alongside michael wayne you want to talk about two massive guys on either side tyler's got him by a few inches in height but these two guys are solidly built if you're opposing defenses and you're going to try to get around those edges good luck getting around the wingspan of both of these guys Guyton I think has a tremendous upside I love this pick and at number 35 with the trade obviously that he made down going back to back here which I kind of like when teams go back to back in the draft I know some people don't like it but I think it's intriguing because you get to set up the two picks that you want A.D. Mitchell going at 35 here as a wide receiver out of Texas I think this kid has x receiver written all over him Steve 4.34 second time in the 40 yard dash

he's got that straight line speed to be a factor along the boundary. And last week when we talked to Elliott Wolfe, he said that he does believe that there are guys on this roster right now that can slot into the X, but you don't necessarily have that guy with the ability to take the attention away from two, maybe even three defenders and really win his battles three on one and still get the pass downfield. A.D. Mitchell, I think, is a guy that can do it. Yeah, like I said, I like all of these picks. I like Mitchell.

He's been mocked to the Patriots quite a bit. Some people have him going earlier in round one, as well as Guyton, but it all depends on how the individual boards play out. But I guarantee you, if those guys are there at 34 and 35, and they have those two picks, you wouldn't be wrong taking either one of those because he can, he can be that X guy that the Patriots really need. Um, he's got really good speed. And, you know, that's something that they could use more of, obviously.

So, you know, Guyton, yeah, you talk about wingspan, he's enormous. And, you know, really solid player. And, you know, then we move into the fourth round or to the third round, I should say. Ricky Pearsall, he's a guy I'm kind of on the fence with. But you're talking about a guy who's really productive. He's not the fastest guy, but, you know, he's got that contested catchability. So you kind to love that. Number 103, Blake Fisher, is an offensive tackle I think is an absolute steal. I actually mocked him last week here on Locked On Patriots to the Pats at number 68.

That's how much I think this kid is NFL ready. He's not NFL ready compared to his former battery mate, Joe Alt, on the other side of that Notre Dame offensive line that was one of the best in the country last season. But I think Blake possesses not only the size, but the upside to be a potential starter in this league and maybe even an effective potential starter for many years to come. At number 180, the Patriots taking the edge rusher out of Colorado State, Muhammad Kamara, seeing his name pop up on some Patriots mock drafts here as well.

At number 193, the pick that they received from the Mac Jones trade with Jacksonville, Tanner McLaughlin, a tight end out of Arizona. Hi, Claire. Mike gave us a little bit of tight endage for you right there. And then bringing up the caboose, Steve, as I like to say, at number 231, Kimani Vidal, a running back out of Troy. Steve, when you look at the rest of this haul, who stands out to you and why? Do the Patriots have a potential draft diamond in the rough among the last picks

that Mike Biscardi has made here on his mock draft? Well, again, I mean, I like Fisher. I think that, like you said, I think he's a steal at 103 there. The guy I really like, you know, it's funny, I didn't know much about him, is Kamara. Because on our podcast that Derek Havens and I do, Derek mentioned him to me several weeks ago. And at the time, I didn't know much about him.

And then I started looking into him and I think he could be a definite diamond in the rough. You know, they have a couple of really good edge guys right now, but both of those, you know, Judon and Uche come up for a new contract next year. And what better way for a young guy to come in to learn with those guys right right uh

then there's no rush pushing him into the lineup he can learn and probably you know get a little stronger in the nfl program but uh i i just i really like him and uh i think this was a great haul good job yeah i think this was a great haul. Good job. Yeah, I think this was a very good haul as well, folks, and I'm glad what you said about Kamara and someone that can come in that has that production in college, but not only that, but an ability to get into the pocket and penetrate some of the top offensive lines that the Patriots would be facing this season,

that's a very underrated need for the Pats because even though technically they are solid at the edge position, there's still a need there based on pre-agency. These guys aren't signed long-term. Matthew Judon, Josh Uche are not signed long-term here in New England. These guys are looking to maximize their capabilities as well. So if you lose them, all of a sudden you're looking at a big-time void in a defense that's so predicated on solid edge rushing in order to be effective.

So once again, Mike, I think you did a great job here. Steve, it's grading time. If you're grading Mike Biscardi here on his draft, what are you handing out from our professor here on Lockdown Patriots? I think he deserves an A- on that one. I love that draft. Yeah, I like this as well. I gave him an A. I didn't

even put the minus in just because I think it was a brilliant haul for him to be able to reel in Blake Fisher at number 103. To me, he's my draft diamond in the rough, and I think he's got the potential to be a very solid pick here in the NFL for whatever team gets him. I'd love to see him come into New England.

The Pats brought him in for a top-30 visit, so clearly there's interest there, folks. We'll see if it happens. But, Mike, once again, a big-time tip of the cap, and thank you for all of your submissions. You said it was a post-surgery mock draft submission, so whatever you happen to be recovering from, bud, hope it's a quick, a speedy, a complete recovery. We wish you all the best here.

And thank you for being an everydayer and a very valued supporter of Locked On Patriots. But, folks, Steve Balistrieri and I are not done yet because what would an appearance by my good friend, my Patriots by Zon be without dipping into the mock draft well of the fantasy godfather himself. That's right. Bob Anderson is back submitting his mock draft. This is going to be an interesting one as well because he agrees with us at the quarterback position.

Does he agree with us at any other position? We're going to tell you in just a moment when this episode of the Locked On Patriots podcast wraps up right here on the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. That's fans. Thank you once again for joining us here today on Mock Draft Monday on Locked On Patriots, talking Patriots draft rumors, and in the previous segment, evaluating one of your great mock drafts.

And we've got another on tap for you, but you're not going to want to miss tomorrow's episode. Draft expert of the Draft Network, my good friend and colleague right here on Locked On, Damian Parsons is going to be joining me, and we're going to talk all things NFL draft, hear it from the expert himself. We'll talk Drake May.

We'll talk Jaden Daniels. We'll talk a lot of quarterbacks, and we'll talk all of your favorite positions as well. Stay locked in to Locked On, Patriots. You are not going to want to miss that. But today, we are honored and grateful to have the heavy-duty bat come off the bench of Steve Balistrieri of batsfans.com, stepping in to evaluate your great mock drafts,

and of course lending wisdom and counsel the way only he can when it comes to Patriots rumors. We needed that reason in the first segment, my friend, and we're going to pull upon your reason once again, because to wrap up Mock Draft Monday here on Locked On Patriots. We're going to bring up a submission from one of our very favorites here, one of our great characters, a gentleman that

shares our love of the Godfather here. And he is Bob Anderson, the Fantasy Godfather, he calls himself on Twitter, and you can find him at the Fantasy Godfather. I like him already. He's a great man. He's been a submitter here for a long, long Twitter, and you can find him at the Fantasy Godfather. I like him already. Folks, he's a great man.

He's been a submitter here for a long, long time, an everydayer of Lockdown Patriots and one of our Mock Draft Monday regulars. And Steve, like you and I, he believes the Patriots are best suited to go about this thing and draft a quarterback. But like Mike Biscardi's draft earlier, he has the patriots playing with the board a little bit and still getting the guy they want i tip my cap to him for doing this godfather you definitely got an offer in return steve that he could not refuse and folks as you can see on the screen for the benefit of those of you who are listening to the podcast bob has

the patriots swapping the number three pick with the New York Giants for number six. He then has them moving back into round one, and we'll get to that in just a moment. But with the number six overall pick, he has the Patriots drafting Drake May out of North Carolina. Steve, again, we're not going to get into the realism here because I don't think Drake May slips to six. At this point, the Patriots playing the ball as it lies. Obviously, this would be a hell of a move for the New England Patriots if they're able to pull this off and then get back into the first round. And with the number 22nd pick overall, taking Brian Thomas Jr., the wide receiver out of LSU, this would be a dream

combination for the Patriots. You've got to give Bob credit for getting this done. Just not sure how realistic it is in the real world, folks, but I would love to see these two in Patriot Blue next year, Steve. Oh, my. I'm sitting here looking at that, and you know I've been on the Drake May bandwagon since October,

so I love that. But to be able to grab Ryan Thomas from LSU with number 22. And oh, man, that is right there. That's a home run right there. Those two guys, you know, again, I don't know whether either one of them would be in that spot. But just for the sake of argument, if they fall there and the board plays out like that, that's a home run right there. I mean, that's going to accelerate your rebuild. I mean, because you have those guys.

I love the picks. I'm going down the roster here. We'll go through them each. But, man, I love the picks. I'm going down the roster here. We'll go through them each. But, man, I love this one. Yeah, this is a tremendous draft from start to finish, folks. And we will read you each of the picks as they happen. But the top two, at least in Bob's world here, Steve, is realistic because it should be noted that the Patriots swapped number three

with the Giants for number six. They did move back into round one. You didn't give us the opportunity of seeing how they did move back into round one here, but the Giants were very eager to move up, not to take a quarterback. They took Marvin Harrison Jr. at number three. So if this does indeed happen and the Giants are looking for that top-level wideout, and Harrison is by far the best of the best when it comes to wide out prospects his talent is off the charts but at the same time if the Giants are digging

in and saying you know what we feel comfortable with Danny Dimes uh that could end up being the case and if they do pull off a trade like this it would be amazing to see both Drake May and Brian Thomas but you start to see what else Bob did here and the brilliance of this draft at number 68 in round three the Patriots getting Kingsley Sumataya the offensive tackle out of BYU again you want to talk about guys that are plug and play right out of the box I think this could be a left tackle that is your anchor your your solid building block for a number of years. Once again, I think the chances of getting him at 68 are probably slim to none, but Sumataya is someone that I wouldn't hesitate to take a look at at number 34.

This kid out of BYU is, I think, one of the more underrated prospects in this draft class this year, Steve. Oh, yeah. You know, because you've just taken care of your three biggest needs right there by 68. And I think, again, Suma Matai, I always butcher his name as well. But I agree with you 100%. I think he's kind of underrated because there's so many really good tackles in the draft. People aren't talking about him as much. But again, I mean, these first three picks, awesome.

I love this. Bob, you get the godfather wave of approval on those three. Yeah, he's definitely sending Luca Brasi out to see somebody. That's got to be the explanation here because this draft is hitting on all cylinders there's no question about it at the number 103 pick in the fourth round he's got elijah jones the local boy from boston college a cornerback coming here to new england at number 137 in the fifth round roger rosengarten offensive tackle out of washington another i think very severely severely underrated prospect when it comes to the tackle position.

You put Sua Mataia and Rosengarten in this offensive line, you're putting two NFL-ready prospects in that line. Could mean for the Patriots, it could pay dividends for the Patriots in trying to build that broken o line at number 180 Steve in round six Tykee Smith the safety out of Georgia this one raised my eyebrow a little bit uh when I saw this one uh number 193 in the sixth round a tight end out of Washington yep I Claire Devin Culp coming in here to shore up that positional grouping. And then, of course, another local boy at number 231 in the seventh round, Eric Watts, the defensive lineman slash edge rusher out of UConn, kind of an all-purpose D lineman. This was an amazing haul, Steve, without any question about it.

When you look at some of the prospects that we just mentioned, taking the top three out of the equation. Who stands out to you and why? I go to the corner from Boston College. I mean, he has some issues in his game, which is why he's falling down to that spot. But he checks all the blocks, what the Patriots like. They like long corners. You know, he's got the length. He's got that speed.

He can keep up with things. And, you know, there's something to be said for having a big cornerback that can come up and, you know, influence the running game as well. I mean, I love that pick simply because he fits the way the Patriots like to play defense. I know a lot of people are saying after the draft they're going to sign Stephon Gilmore, and that's okay. They can still do that, too, because then this kid, you know, he has a year to learn under Gilmore because I don't think Gilmore will sign more than a year or two anyway so and you can never have enough good corners I just love this this draft and I think Bob sent Luca Brasi like you said yeah absolutely that's a true story Steve you like the lasagna yeah I think

there was a lot of that going on in Bob's draft world. But look, again, Rosengarten is someone that I really like for this team, and I think he could be a solid, definitely a solid swing option right off the bat. But I think the ability to maybe even round into a starter, offensive linemen are always at a premium no matter where you select them. If they have the ability to come in and learn your system quickly, they're going to earn a roster spot because they are that valuable. But I really like Tykee Smith out of Georgia. I think this was a great pick for the Patriots.

And it fills a niche that they need to fill on this team, in my opinion. Because Tykee Smith, to me, is someone that could step in and play the type of role that Adrian Phillips played up here for a couple of years. That hybrid star linebacker slash safety that plays close to the line of scrimmage, a guy that can be physical, he can take on runners in the backfield, he can take on the tight ends. Yeah, he's a little small frame to do that. I understand folks under six feet, depending on who you see him listing, he's at a 5'9 or 5'10 so he's going to have difficulty taking on tight ends at the pro level but he's someone that plays a lot bigger

than his frame he's someone that's not afraid to get up there be physical and mix it up i think he'll project right out of the box as someone that could thrive in a sub package role especially when he plays the pass catchers underneath that's where where he's at his strongest. I like him and his ability to help dispel Kyle Duggar and Jabril Peppers at the safety position. Again, my good friend Harrison Reno and my colleague, we talked about Tykee over the weekend. He's a Georgia guy. He knows a lot about Georgia Bulldogs. He was very complimentary of him. And the fact that he ran a 4.46 at the combine, I think, speaks well for his speed. Something that I think people were concerned about that may see him slip a little bit, maybe into the mid rounds for the Patriots.

If he's there, I think New England would be very smart to give this guy a second and third look, especially with no Adrian Phillips on the roster this year. That's an important role. Obviously, I'm still holding out hope that the patriots are going to call adrian and say come on back back on a reduced rate i'm still holding out hope but all right bud it's grading time when you look at what bob had to give uh knowing full well that he does hold that fantasy godfather title how would you grade the Fantasy Godfather? Yeah, you know, maybe I was a little picky on the first one, but I give Bob an A.

I really like, I mean, I thought those first three picks, again, home run time. I like what he did, you know, picking up that extra corner and, you know, putting in another safety, which they could really need a free safety. But, you know, you can never have enough good guys that you could plug and play in there. So I just love this draft. I just thought both of them excellent and speaks well to your readers and your listeners out there that they always bring the thunder, man. A tip of the cap definitely to the Godfather for submitting, in my opinion, an A-plus draft here, folks.

I'm going to go the full gamut. You think I'm going to give the Godfather anything but an A-plus? You kidding me? No question about it. All kidding aside, I think this was an A-plus draft. And bottom line, Steve, I think it does speak very well to all the everydayers that we've had on here, whether it be our man LJ, the show, the Trader Show, folks. Who knows?

We might sneak LJ in one more time before the draft opens up on Thursday. But bottom line, this was a great mock draft Monday. And, Steve, I thank you for stepping in to help us here on Locked On on patriots and murph's absence i think you knocked it out of the park and i think he'd be the first to admit it as well bottom line folks it's going to be fun to watch the nfl draft coming up on thursday still don't know what's going to happen but the time for the talk is just about over and we'll find out soon enough. But in the meantime, Steve, thank you for joining me here today and stepping in on Mock Draft Monday. Before I let you go, my friend, please let everyone know

where they can reach out to you, interact with you, and watch you got cooking in the Balistrieri kitchen between now and the start of the NFL Draft on Thursday evening. Well, funny you mentioned in the kitchen, because I have sauce going in in the house so the house smells really good so hey bob you're in the neighborhood you come you come by you're welcome absolutely you fry it make sure it doesn't stick yeah there you go now you're throwing all your sausage and your meatballs a little bit of wine Yeah and

You know to the big green man I think he's just been Wally Pipp I'm not going to say anything You can find me on pastfans.com This July Will be 13 years So Derek Havens and I Are going to do our first round mark draft tomorrow.

So for any of your fans that, you know, cross pollinate, so to speak, we'll be doing that tomorrow about noonish. And you can find me on Twitter at Steve V seven SFG. I always appreciate, you know, the invitation here, my friend. And I, you know, I always look forward to anything you're putting up. Well, thank you. I appreciate that, my friend. And it's always my honor, always my privilege to share the microphone with you. Folks, fear not. Murph definitely has an embroidered chair here anytime he wants it.

And that will remain his. And it always will, as long as I share the microphone with this great man, Steve Balistrieri, here on Locked On Patriots. But like I said, it's always good to know that you've got a home run bat on the bench, and Steve stepped in this week and knocked it out of the park. He is Locked On Patriots familia. And you know what, Steve? I am going to take you up on that offer.

I'll be over very shortly. Have that sauce ready. Have the pasta ready, the sausage, the meatballs, all that. And make sure you add a little bit of sugar because I know that's your trick. But bottom line, folks, thank you so much for joining us here on Locked On Patriots and making this another phenomenal mock draft season. From LJ to Andrew Carraway to all of the great submitters that we've had, to Mike and to Bob here today, we thank you.

I thank you and give you a salute of a tip of the cap because all of you make locked on Patriots, what it is. And all of you every day is continue to honor and humble me with your support each and every day. I take the microphone here on locked on Patriots in the meantime, folks draft coverage is just kicking off. So stay locked in because you're going to want to hear from Damian

Parson of the draft network is who's joining me here tomorrow. But bottom line, stay locked into Locked On Patriots all week long for up-to-the-minute draft coverage that you'll find only here on the Locked On Podcast Network. And in the meantime, I'm Mike DeBate, and I remind you all to stay safe and to stay well and to be the change you wish to see in the world on behalf of my good friend and patriots bison steve balistrieri have a great day everyone and we'll see you back here again tomorrow on locked on patriots