Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - New England Patriots’ Keion White: Ready To Dominate in 2025

Episode Date: May 20, 2025

The New England Patriots added plenty of help to their D-line, including Harold Landry, Milton Williams, and Joshua Farmer. However, are we not paying enough attention to Keion White and what he may do for this defense?Also, Mike Vrabel added John Streicher to the New England Patriots franchise after he spent last season with Sean McVay and the Los Angeles Rams. Is Streicher much more important than some realize? We’ll dive into his influence.Finally, we have some notes about the Patriots Offensive Line assignments during voluntary workouts that might give us some clues as to what the Pats staff might be planning.Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms…🎧 https://link.chtbl.com/LOPatriots?sid=YouTubeLocked On NFL League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft & More🎧 https://linktr.ee/LockedOnNFL#patriots #newenglandpatriotsSupport Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!FanDuelRight now, new customers can get TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in BONUS BETS when your first FIVE DOLLAR BET WINS! Download the app or head to FANDUEL.COM to get started. Bet with FanDuel—Official Partner of the NBA.Skylight CalendarRight now, Skylight is offering our listeners $30 off their 15 inch Calendars by going to Skylightcal.com/NFL.LinkedInPost your job for free at LinkedIn.com/LOCKEDONNFL. Terms and conditions apply.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)

Do not sleep on Keon White. That's where we start in this episode of Locked On Patriots. You are Locked On Patriots, your daily New England Patriots podcast, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. What's up, Patriots fans? I'm your host, Nick Cattles, born and raised in New England, your New England Patriots expert, host of the Everything Pats podcast, co-host of the Greg Bedard Patriots podcast with Nick Cattles, and also a sports talk show host veteran.

On today's episode, we discuss the man who is vital to the Pats operation, but hardly ever gets talked about in some offensive line positional notes. But first, Keon White should not be the forgotten man on this defensive line. We appreciate you joining the show making us your first listen and for being an everydayer. The Lockdown Patriots podcast is a proud partner of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Keon White is ready for a huge 2025. I am a big believer in Keon White.

And I believe he's going to take that next step from what he did last year to this year. And we should not be sleeping on Keon White. I understand there's been a lot of emphasis on Harold Landry signing him. There's been a lot of emphasis on spending a ton of money on Milton Williams, both of those guys, critical additions for this Patriots defense.

I also understand that Christian Barmore in the story about his blood clots and will he be back this year and what will he look like? All of those are stories that are justifiably being talked about and have been talked about. But don't sleep on white. Do not sleep on Keon white.

And I do feel like he's been slightly overlooked during this off season. In the NFL, the year three leap is legit. We talk about it with quarterbacks. You go back to Josh Allen, his rookie year wasn't very good. His second year was better. His third year was much better. The third year leap is legit.

And Keon White is getting ready for his third season in the NFL. What does that mean? Why is there a leap in the third year for some players? The reason why is comfort. There's comfort with the routine. There's comfort with the routine. There's comfort with the practicing. There's comfort with just being a professional day in and day out. You are comfortable with what is expected from you as a professional football

player. You understand. You understand the level that you've got to be at. You want to stand yourself better than you have understood yourself throughout your entire football life. You're stepping into year three and you understand. First two years, gathered info. Hopefully you improved from year one to year two, which is what White did. But the third year, you are ready to be shot out of a cannon. And it's not just because you're comfortable with yourself. You're also comfortable with everybody else. KYP, know your personnel. Your level of knowing your personnel is so much higher than it was in your rookie season,

and it is going to be higher than it was in your second season. You not only know what makes you the best football player in year three, you know what makes the opposition their best. You also know what makes them their weakest. So it's this understanding of what's going on. It's the knowledge that you have attained through your first two years. You're writing that book through the first two years. And by year three, you should be ready to end that.

You should be ready to finish up the final chapter. Know your personnel, know yourself. Another thing that we can't overlook because it's pro sports, and we all know about pro sports and the scuttle contract leverage. When you're going into your third season, you want to solidify your second contract.

If you are a first round pick, of course, you've got your 50 year option. If you're playing well enough, the team is going to pick that up. But you still want to try to solidify yourself. You want to say to yourself, you know what? Yeah, I can get that 50 year option as a first round pick. That's fine. But I want to put the pressure on the team. I want the team to feel like they have to extend me after year three and give me a big

fat payday in long term security because I played so well. And when you're not a first round pick, that urgency is even higher. This is the year. If Keon White wants to make bank, whether it's in New England or elsewhere, he's going to show up this season and he's going to show out. Contract leverage is a real thing. Keon White had a really good 2024. I think there are some people that look back at his season, they say, oh, well, he wasn't as good towards the end of the year

as he was in certain spots. And, yeah, there were some ups and downs, but overall, White was pretty darn good, especially given the circumstances. Devon Godshaw, not a pass rusher from the interior defensive line. Christian Barmore's health issues, we've covered them from pillar to post. We know what was going on there.

This was a team that could not get pass rush consistently. This was a team that had issues in its secondary, in communication issues, in the red zone with the secondary. The defense frankly fell apart last year. And I think Keon White did as good of a job as he probably could have done given those circumstances. The coaching staff, the Marcus Covington becoming the defensive coordinator. At the time, I thought it was a great move, promote the guy.

He had worked on the defensive line. A lot of players had improved during his time here with the Patriots. Everybody was writing for the past couple of years that he was ready for that position. And obviously he was not, he failed in spectacular fashion. But Keon White still had an impact for this defense. And I was thinking about talking about 2024 and Keon White, and I was thinking about talking about 2024 and in

Keon White and I was I was thinking of the season he had and I found this article that just came out from pro football focus and it was about the most underrated player for all 32 teams. Jonathan Macri wrote it. Macri last name. And Macri actually chose whites as the most underrated player for the Patriots. Here's what he wrote, White experienced a year two breakout playing a crucial role along the defensive line, leading the team in pass rush snaps, pro football focus, pass rush

grade and pressures to go along with sacks. So we led the Patriots and pass rush grade, pressures, sacks, pass rush, snaps. It was a good season for Keon White, but I think he could be even better. I think we can see some dominant stretches from White in 2025. He has an improved cast around him. Barmore seemingly coming back. We talked about it last week. Sounds like Christian is on his way back. Sounds like he's healthy. It now just has to knock off some of that rust that was created due to those health issues. So Barmore seemingly back at the beginning of this season. Milton Williams. Big time impact middle of the defensive line.

He's going to help everybody. Harold Landry added Chase on added Swinson added farmer added. An improved cast of talent. Should open the door for Keon white to make even more impact plays. Then he had last year. Barmore, Williams, we also have to think about the snap totals.

Some people might be concerned that Keon White's not going to be on the field enough. Barmore coming back from blood clots, I would imagine he will be managed at least early in the season. Williams is somebody who played

less than 50% of the snaps for the Eagles last year He's going to play more and he's going to play a lot more than that but there is going to be opportunity for white and White could be sent out to the edge with this defense Mike Vrabel Tarell Williams might look at Keon white and say no no, you're going to play edge for us more than the interior defensive line. That's what we want to do with you. They might have a different plan.

I don't know. I do know that I trust Vrabel and I trust Williams. They've worked with a slew of defensive linemen who have produced at a high level. And we always talk about Vrabel and Williams wanting a defense that is physical. When you think about a physical presence, you think about White. He is one of the most physically intimidating and might be the most physically intimidating player on this football team. So you talk about physical, you talk about violence, that's Keon White.

physical, you talk about violence. That's Keon White. One more note from Pro Football Focus, White stepped in in 2024 and stepped up with the team trusting him in a larger role, ranking 22nd at the position in PFF pass rush grade while lining up in multiple spots and even dropping into coverage on occasion. That's one last note. Williams-Rabel, they love defensive linemen that have versatility. And White can play outside, he can play inside, he can drop in coverage. I have high expectations for Keon White. I think he can dominate stretches of this season. I think he's going to be better this year than he was last year. Bullish on Keon White. Don't sleep on him. The secret sauce to the Pats operation named stretch. We do a deep dive next as we continue with today's episode of Lockdown Patriots, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day.

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and same game parlays. Fans have more ways than ever to play smart. And don't forget this, win big. Which players are showing up in the biggest moments? Is it SGA? Is it somebody else? How could tracking their trends help you build your next bet? You have to be thinking about that. If you've got to read on who's heating up as we get ready for the conference finals, why not back it up with the same game parlay? New to FanDuel, it's the perfect time to sign up. Head to FanDuel.com and place your first $5 bet. If it wins, you'll get $200 in bonus bets. 200 bucks in bonus bets. Make every moment more with FanDuel, official sports betting partner of the NBA. You could argue that the most overlooked part of this offseason has been John Stretch Stryker.

He could be. He could be the most overlooked part of this offseason I talked about Keon white being overlooked as far as the defensive line goes on the field Let's talk off the field Stretch I think has been overlooked there has not been enough said about him I don't know if there's been enough written about him But I feel like John stretch striker is going to have a big impact on this team And I feel like he's already had a big impact on this team. Let me take you back to February March, okay?

Here's what Andrew Callahan and Doug Kide wrote at the Boston Herald regarding stretch Striker is involved and are expected to be involved in personnel, game strategy, game planning, and day-to-day football operations. Now at the time Callahan and Kyd wrote this, Stretch had already held individual meetings with agents at the combine and had intimate knowledge of the Patriots offseason plans. Callahan and Kyd continue to write, Vrabel is the most powerful person in the organization below the crafts and Stretch, being his closest advisor, has led some on the staff to view him as the number two in the Patriots' new evolving power structure.

Others believe he will be a general manager one day. I've even overlooked Stretch. You've gotten to all the conversations about Vrab know, Raible and Elliot Wolf and Ryan Cowden, who has the say in, Cam Williams gone, Pat Stewart gone, AJ Highsmith in, Alonzo Highsmith staying. All the different conversations we've had about this front office, about this power structure, about how the Patriots are set up organizationally.

And I've even made the mistake, we have not discussed Stretch enough. Now is he the number two guy. I don't know Callahan and Kai did not report that they wrote That some on the staff view him as the number two Mass live Karen garegen and company wrote this about stretch his roles will vary depending on the day and to use members of Patriots past striker will really be a hybrid between Ernie Adams, Nick Casario, and Burj Nijerian. He's a trusted advisor who will be involved in just about everything.

He'll be involved in just about everything. be involved in just about everything. Now I find it interesting, we talked about episode one of Forged in Foxborough on yesterday's show, I found it interesting that Stryker, he didn't have really any involvement that we saw. Whether it was on the field, off the field, in the draft room, during the combine, nothing stands out to me about stretch. It's not like there was a highlight of him. There was a lot about Wolf and Cowden and Vrabel and those guys talked an awful lot to the camera crew, but there was really no mention of stretch. And I have to wonder, was that by design? I mentioned this during the show yesterday that Forge and Foxboro while terrific we have to understand we're watching what the team wants us to see. It is their representation of what

is going on. It's not independent. It's not really objective. It's a great piece of work. Wanted to run through a wall after watching it. Thought there was a ton of great stuff in there, but we have to understand that this is a Patriots production. This isn't Hard Knocks. And so I have to wonder, was Stretch not involved in episode one by design? Ernie Adams was always kind of behind the curtain for most of his time. not involved in episode one by design. Ernie Adams was always kind of behind the curtain for most of his time. He did that long interview with Julian Edelman

on games with names, and people were shocked that he could talk so much and who he really was. We think about, what was it, like the pink stripes or whatever, the shirt? That's really, that's what he was was it like the pink stripes or whatever the shirt that's really that's what he was known for the pink stripes on the board well I forget the exact detail but you know what I'm talking about I should remember the exact detail but I got a lot going on in my head but Ernie Adams was kind of the wizard of Oz for a number of different reasons you know we didn't we saw glimpses of him. He was near Belichick and stuff, but I Think his emphasis over time and over a long period of time. We finally figured out

The the influence and the kind of emphasis that he had around the building, but he was a lot behind the curtain It's not like he was giving media interviews When the team was playing or before the season, after the season. He wasn't having a ton of media availability. And so I do wonder if part of the reason why we didn't see a lot of stretch in episode one is because that's by design. That's the kind of Ernie Adams like vibe that he's going to bring. Maybe I'm wrong. I don't know. I'm just going off episode one. Episode two, he might be all over it. Episode two might be the John Stretch Stryker show. I have no idea. But episode one, he was

pretty much non-existent. But I will tell you that this is somebody who was beloved by Sean McVeigh and McVeigh is one of the best coaches in the league, one of the brightest coaches in the league and we know all about McVeigh's coaching tree and how much that has really delivered fruit across the NFL in a short amount of time. And if Sean McVeigh loves stretch and says the things that he said about stretch when we found out striker was coming to the Patriots, that makes me feel good about him. Makes me feel good about his football intelligence. Makes me feel good about how he's going to help this team. I have more belief in striker because of what McVeigh said that striker is not a Mike Vrabel creation.

Vrabel helped kind of find them and really give him a place in the league at at a somewhat top position. But for striker to go to L.A. and McVeigh say, this dude is legit and if you look at the Rams their in-game strategy got better last year than it had been in prior years with McVeigh as good as he's been. There were some issues and it seemed like striker helped figure out many of those issues. And McVeigh vouching for him and how smart Vrabel is and how detailed Vrabel is. I don't know if you can get two better references to speak on behalf of Stryker, maybe Belichick before the last couple of years of his tenure here. Maybe Andy Reid, maybe Mike Tomlin, but Vrabel and McVeigh that's a pretty powerful combination for both guys to love

Stryker. That means a lot and the more brains the better. Give me all the all the smart football people give them all to me here in New England. If you can help come on in. In the roles that Stryker the roles that he is going to fill, they're crucial. I mean, look at the Burge role here with the Patriots. A lot of people overlooked it, but Burge, he helped Belichick stay on message. He helped Belichick focus on what was the most important thing to focus on in the moment. Burge helped Belichick, and we can see that with the Jordan Hudson UNC debacle right now. So the Burge role is important to be the confidant of the head coach.

Nick Casario not only worked a major position within personnel for a number of years, but he also would be out there practice, right? Working with the players, helping the coaching staff. And then you had Adams, who was the situational football guy on Sundays And striker I think that's what you're going to see as mass live mentioned He's gonna work with variable regarding messaging make sure the PR stuff is tight He's gonna work with personnel. I would not be shocked if he's out there during practice I know he was out there during the rookie minicamp

Sure, he's gonna get involved with. And on Sundays when it's game day, we talk situational football, we talk details, we talk clock usage and manipulation, timeout usage, questioning rules. That's going to be stretched. We should not, we should not ignore striker. I think he's a big impact guy here. Some interesting notes about the O line that have gone under the radar. It's coming up next week. ignore striker I think he's a big impact guy here some interesting notes about the O line that have gone under the radar it's coming up next as we continue with today's episode of lockdown Patriots part of the lockdown podcast

network your team every day without good offensive line play in the NFL, you have a steep, steep, steep hill to climb. You could argue without a good offensive line at any level of football, that hill is steeper and steeper the more issues that you have. And I'm not just talking about your best five. We always say, oh, just get your best five on the offensive line. I agree with that. Get your best five out there.

Your best five should be the ones that are playing and protecting your quarterback. But we're also discussing depth. The conversation is not just what is your one deep chart up front. It's who is behind those guys. Do you feel comfortable with your depth? A major part of the issue last year was that not only were there questions in the in the starting five, but there were questions beyond the starting five. I'll take you back to last year training camp. There were 11 practices, I believe, consecutively, where the Patriots had the same five offensive linemen. believe consecutively where the Patriots had the same five offensive linemen. It was Vidarian Lowe at left tackle. It was City So at left guard.

It was David Andrews in the middle. It was Michael Wenu at right guard. And it was Chuksokor for at right tackle. And they had about 11 practices straight with that five. That was going to be their starting offensive line. And then we know what happened. Vidarian L Low got banged up. City So got hurt. David Andrews sees an ending injury. Chuksa Korfor left the team after the first week, literally. Kaden Wallace, who was there to help protect against some of these possible issues popping up.

protect against some of these possible issues popping up. He got severely injured and missed what like two months. And so you started to see the cracks. Jake Andrews who was supposed to be there in case of David Andrews getting hurt. He got hurt before camp. He was done for the year. Patriots had to try to figure out what they were gonna do at backup center.

They tried a Tony O'Mahfee, that was a disaster. They then went to Nick Leverett. That wasn't the plan. So we're not just talking about your best five. We're talking about the depth behind that top five. And Taylor Kyle's, he posted this just about two weeks ago. It was week two of the phase two practices. This was May 8th. Some Patriots offensive line pairings due to the photos that the team released. Left tackle, Kaden Wallace. Left guard, Wes Schweitzer. Right tackle, Trey Jacobs.

Right guard, Michael Wenu, right tackle City So, right guard Tyrese Robinson. Now what's interesting here is that later today there's gonna be an OTA that is open to the media and we'll see what kinds of games the team is playing with the offensive line. We'll see what the starting line is. Is that really going to be the starting line?

But just a couple of notes from Taylor Kyle's post there. Let me begin with Schweitzer. Schweitzer, if he is your starting left guard, that's a bad sign. I don't think the Patriots want him to be their starting left guard. And I don't want to imply that the names I just mentioned were on the starting offensive line. We're just looking at offensive line combinations and the positions that some guys are playing,

notably three guys. But we start with Schweitzer. And I think it would be a bad sign if he ends up being your starting left guard. The Patriots, I'm sure of it. They want either City So or Leydon Robinson starting at left guard. That is the best possible scenario. I do not think they want Schweitzer. Now if Jared Wilson comes surging through, then maybe they say, all right, Wilson proved

himself, knocked our shorts off during camp. He's our starting left guard. But I think their idea is we're going to have Wilson compete with Garrett Bradbury at center. He played one year at Georgia as a starting center, bring them in. He's still young, he's 21 years old. Have that competition between Bradbury and Wilson. Best man wins. I feel like that's what they're hoping for. Left guard,

I feel like they're hoping for either so or Robinson to beat out the competition. In a perfect world, Schweitzer is your depth guy at a number of different positions on the interior. He's played pretty much everywhere on the interior offensive line. So his best role is we got a little bit of an emergency here. We can throw him in at left guard center, right guard, and we can survive through the rest of the game. Maybe we can survive for a week or two. If Schweitzer is your starting left guard to me, that's a problem. And so in Robinson failed during camp because Schweitzer, you know, we don't know if he's going to be the Michael Jordan of

this group who played pretty well for a stretch last year before he fell off the rails, or is he going to be Nick Leverett? And I don't want to be mean to Nick Leverett, but he just wasn't good enough. A major part of that was they shoved them in at center, but he just wasn't good enough. So Schweitzer, we'll see. But if he is starting on this offensive line, I've got concerns. I'd rather have one of the young guys starting at left guard. Meanwhile, it's noteworthy that Kaden Wallace was playing some left tackle.

This was May 8th, you know, we're about a week and a half ago. And these are notes that kind of got under the radar, snuck under the radar, but Hayden Wallace playing some left tackle after the draft. This was after the draft. I think shines a light as far as what they're hoping with Wallace. And I believe they want him to be their swing tackle. If Wallace could be their swing tackle, they'd be in great shape. Will Campbell left tackle, Morgan Moses right tackle, and then you've got Wallace as your swing tackle. The Wallace-Vedarian low competition should be about swing tackle, but mostly you think, Vedarian low is more a left tackle by trade. So he might not be best moving left tackle, right tackle, left tackle, right tackle.

Wallace might not be good either. Don't forget, he played his entire career at Penn State at right tackle. But when they drafted him last year, Elliott Wolf came out and said they believe that he could play some left tackle. So Wallace being at left tackle after the draft, they're not going to put him over there over Will Campbell, obviously, we all know who's the starting left tackle on paper right now. But it's it's obvious if they're playing Wallace at left tackle, they're trying to see if he can play that swing position, which is a critical position,

a critical position. And if something happens with Campbell injury or God forbid he fails quickly maybe that's the you know break glass in case of an emergency type deal. It's a huge season for Wallace. Last year was a missed opportunity a lost opportunity due to the injury. I don't think we have any idea who Wallace is as a football player. You can't miss a couple of months and expect that guy to come right back, especially on the offensive line. Offensive line takes a while to learn. I don't know. I don't think we have any idea as to who he could be in the NFL, whether good or bad. Meanwhile, City-Sew playing right tackle is interesting. Is this a competition for the third right tackle spot?

And it's between So and Trey Jacobs. Could be. If you're wondering, City So's arm length is 33 and 5 1 8 inches. So longer arms than Will Campbell, if you care about that. And I didn't realize this, but City So is crazy athletic. I looked this up and Kentley Platt, who came up with the relative athletic score, he posted this on April 20th of 2023. So scored a 9.72 RAS out of a possible 10. That ranked him at the time 41st out of 1,421

offensive guards from 1987 to 2023. City So was one of the most athletic guards that we have seen come out in the draft since 1987. And you look around, Will Campbell, athleticism. Jared Wilson, athleticism. City So, athleticism. Morgan Moses, for his size, can still move pretty well. It seems like athletic offensive lineman is what Doug Marrone and company are looking for. So maybe City So ends up being a sneaky piece. Maybe he starts at left guard. Maybe he ends up playing some tackle. I want to keep an eye on him. I thought he had a pretty good camp last year before he got injured. That wraps up this edition of Lockdown Patriots on tomorrow's show. I mentioned this a little while ago, the Pats open up OTAs to the media. Reach out to me on Twitter at Nick C. Radial. Don't

forget to throw a comment in on the YouTube channel. Thank you for making Lockdown Patriots your first listen today for your second listen. Check out Lockdown NFL scouting. Of course, the draft is over, but the roster moves, the news never stops. Kyle Krabs, Joe Marino make you the most informed NFL fan. This offseason find Locked On NFL Scouting on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts. Have a great day and we will see you tomorrow.