Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - New England Patriots New Year’s Resolutions: Drake Maye, Jerod Mayo, Eliot Wolf, 2025 NFL Draft

Starting point is 00:00:00 Should the New England Patriots week 17 performance against the Los Angeles Chargers be forgot and never brought to mind? 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. I'm your host, Mike DeBate.

Starting point is 00:00:35 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. Well, if you're out there showing some love to Locked On Patriots, please follow our X account as well at LO underscore Patriots. And as for me, you can find me over where the skies are blue on Blue Sky at MDABATENFL.BSKY.SOCIAL. Pats fans, as the Counting Crows once eloquently put,

Starting point is 00:01:02 it's been a long December and there's reason to believe that maybe this year will be better than the last well in foxborough 2024 has been a year to forget and the patriots have pretty much nowhere to go but up at this point it is tuesday december 31st 2024 new year's eve folks and we are here today to say a not so fun farewell to 2024 but fear not because we do have a great show for you on tap today we're going to be giving you what we believe the new england patriots new year's resolution should be for starters how about that debacle that we saw last saturday on the field against the los angeles chargers how about turning some of this man's monster keys i say this man because he joins me here today to lend his wisdom, his counsel, and some much-needed realism here in

Starting point is 00:01:51 Patriots Nation. He is my good friend, the legend himself, the kind of Murphy Fisto, Thomas Murphy. Thank you so much for joining me here today on this New Year's Eve episode, Don Murphy. Hey, man, no problem. I'm happy to be here. Yeah, slap back into reality. That's what I was on Saturday. Oh my God. I delusionally picked the Patriots to win this game. I got

Starting point is 00:02:16 all happy. I was thrilled with the performance that was given in Buffalo just the week before. And I expect a hell of a lot more. I don't know about the rest of you. Mike didn't think that the Pats were going to pull out a victory, but he didn't expect that, and I definitely didn't expect that.

Starting point is 00:02:37 And I know you guys didn't either. Right there at the top, we've got turn the unturned keys. What key was turned? Yeah. Not a single one. Exactly. Not one. I got a little happy before game time when I heard that Ramondre Stevenson

Starting point is 00:02:54 would not be starting and Antonio Gibson would be. I wanted a bigger dose of Antonio Gibson. And then Gerard Mayo decided to take that key and just toss it into the Charles River. Monster keys from last week that went unturned are almost uncountable. When you get into it, did not establish the run early. They were terrible on third down, just 2 of 10, 0 for three on third down, on fourth down, while the Chargers were 10 for 17 on third down and two for two going for it on fourth down. It was ugly, Michael. It was ugly from time of possession to passing yardage.

Starting point is 00:03:43 We all got happy at the end of the first half when Drake got a touchdown on a free play, and he did that. But other than that, absolutely nothing happened. He's going to need to turn a few more keys if he wants to get a victory, and I'm not sure that we want a victory. Thank you, Giants. Thank you, New York Giants. That's a very good point, and we're going to get to that, folks, today in just a little. And we're going to get to that, folks, today in just a little bit, because we're going to talk about the New England Patriots' commitment to that number one pick. Is that the only priority? Is that the only goal for this weekend's game is to make sure that when that final buzzer sounds at Gillette Stadium on Sunday, the Patriots are procuring that number one overall pick in the NFL draft. Murph, let's get back to the unturned keys.

Starting point is 00:04:27 You mentioned Drake May, and it surprised me when he came back out and was put back into the game as quickly as he was. Now, in no way, shape, or form am I insinuating that he wasn't put through proper protocol. Those protocols are taken very seriously. He passed it. He's back out there because he should be, no question. But it did surprise me that he came back out this quickly. And if you look back at this game, second, third, fourth viewing, maybe, you and I, I know, have had an opportunity to view this game

Starting point is 00:04:54 several times. You start to see Drake being a little extra cautious, doesn't want to absorb another hit. That could be a reason why Drake did have, I believe, his poorest outing as a starter this past weekend. You can't ignore the 48.4% pressure he was under. That's the highest he's faced all throughout the games that he's played this year. He was blitzed 10 times. That's about 32% of the time that he dropped back that he was blitzed. So as I said yesterday, you don't have the supporting cast to support you. No offensive line to protect you,

Starting point is 00:05:25 no skill position players that are capable of getting open quickly for you to shed the ball. It's almost like he really didn't have a choice at this point. So it's hard given the environment he was in for much of the day. Yeah, you could tell. Balls were coming out early. He was getting rid of the ball much too soon. Just anticipating what was about to happen to him.

Starting point is 00:05:46 It was god-awful. The recipe to beat the Patriots is to blitz. That's it. There's nobody picking up a blitz out there. We talked about Gibson the week before doing a good job of that. No one did that on Sunday. Nobody was helping this poor kid out. I was shocked that not only that he had come back so quickly after being hit while he was out of bounds in the head by a player that was out of bounds, wasn't even in bounds when he hit him,

Starting point is 00:06:20 that he came back out so quickly. I was also really shocked that he wasn't pulled in the fourth quarter when it was a complete garbage time. I think that he was put in harm's way by some coaching decisions on Saturday because you look at some of the calls that Alex Van Pelt was making late in this game. That's another gripe that I have right now with this New England Patriots coaching staff and the work they're doing around Drake May to make him feel nurtured, to make him feel protected. I was really surprised to see Alex calling a few double moves, some exotic run packages, some of these schemes that are a little bit beyond what he's got in the bag. He doesn't have the personnel to be able to run some of these. And in my opinion,

Starting point is 00:07:02 that's just either an indifference to what this team is capable of doing or maybe he really doesn't know his offense's limitations at this point if the latter is true that's really disheartening because you're in week 17 that's something you should know at this point um to dial up some of these schemes that did not put drake in the best situation and clearly coming back to your points on the running game, didn't give these guys an opportunity to get the traction they needed to maybe get something going in the form of Ramondre Stevenson and of course, Antonio Gibson.

Starting point is 00:07:33 So yeah, I think there's a lot of blame pie right now that is still being served when it comes to, to this one, this really, this really bothered me, especially the more I watched this game. When you watch it in a second

Starting point is 00:07:48 and a third, this is what a lot of people in this town have been screaming for. Why is Alex Van Pelt so conservative? Why is he not doing these types of things? This is why. It was almost as if Alex Van Pelt was talked into

Starting point is 00:08:04 doing this. What Alex did on Sunday to this offense, as Mike said, you know, you just don't have that club. You don't reach for a club that you don't have. And that toss play that they did was completely mistimed. That's something that you should be practicing. If you're going to pull that out in a game, you should be practicing that for six, eight weeks. Oh, yeah. And then just say, you know, and this looked like it was, you know,

Starting point is 00:08:32 somebody drew it up in the dirt, and then let's go out and run it. All right? It didn't even use a tablet. It was just drawn up in the dirt. It's you and your buddies. It's true. Sitting there playing forehand touch. Well, it wasn't forehand touch being played on Sunday with anybody, and especially with Drake May.

Starting point is 00:08:52 And we were lucky that this kid walked out of there upright. Before we take our leave of the unturned keys, can't let the defense off the hook here. We've been on the offense an awful lot. I think they deserve it but this team continues to frustrate me especially with the lack of pressure they're able to put on quarterbacks now justin herbert is one of the best in the league no one is taking anything away from justin's ability to elude pressure but the patriots right now rank 30th in team pressure rate at 28.6 they have the fewest sacks generated by a four-man

Starting point is 00:09:27 pass rush at 14 they've also plummeted when it comes to unblocked pressure rate this was an area where they excelled under bill belichick last year the highest rate in the nfl last season at 9.8 percent this year that number has been cut to 5.8 that's now 24th in the NFL. Tip of the cap to our good friends over at Patriots Media Relations for pulling those in conjunction with next-gen stats. So thanks to the Pats media team for those polls. But that is something that has to concern this team heading into next season. For a team that right now has a non-existent pass rush, how disheartened were you at the Pats' inability, I don't want to say lack of ability, but inability to generate anything now has a non-existent pass rush. How disheartened were you at the pass inability? I don't want to say lack of ability,

Starting point is 00:10:07 but inability to generate anything on Justin Herbert on Saturday. Yeah, it was downright frustrating to watch this team try to get a Justin Herbert. I mentioned in my keys that never give up on a good thing, okay, because Herbert excels in extending plays and finding that open man when coverage breaks down in the backfield. Um, you know, Ladd McConkie, um, basically, you know, asked, uh, Elliot Wolfe, how you like me now? Okay. And, and just went off and had a day and a half. Um, you're, you're talking about the about the most well-constructed offensive line in the NFL.

Starting point is 00:10:48 There are first-round picks up and down this line, not just Joe Walt, but everybody that's on that line. I think there are three or four top 15 picks on that line. So, no, I didn't expect there to be a lot of a huge pass rush grade for the Patriots this week. But what really irked me was their inability to stop the run again. Yeah, and this team absolutely was gashed on the ground. You knew that Jim Harbaugh coming into this game wanted to exercise

Starting point is 00:11:22 that run game. I understand Gus Edwards was not active, but J.K. Dobbins returning, looked healthy, looked like he's ready for a prime playoff run. You need to be ready for that. And the Patriots did not look to be ready for that. They essentially generated no form of resistance up front. And that, I think, is really the most disheartening part of that. Whether you're talking pass rush or whether you're talking run defense, this team just simply does not have the personnel to do what they need to do and we've heard Gerard Mayo mention this before and saying well it's beyond just one person talking about the pass rush you're talking about run defense

Starting point is 00:11:53 it's a collective effort if it's a collective effort Gerard you need to manufacture the schemes that are going to be able to do that the Patriots don't have the personnel I'll give them that I fully understand that I realize that the lack of a't have the personnel I'll give them that I fully understand that I realize that the lack of a presence of someone like a Christian Barmore or a Juwan Bentley or a Jabril Peppers in the middle of that defense or even if you want to say a Matthew Judon who hasn't had the best season in Atlanta but this is a guy that was your premier pass rusher when he was here so you have those guys out of the lineup. I absolutely understand that, but you're not manufacturing the schemes it takes to win.

Starting point is 00:12:28 And that to me is on DeMarcus Covington and it's on Mayo as well. That's it. Can we run a stunt? Can we do something to get somebody free? Can we, we, we send a blitzer from, from outside or from the corner since they weren't really doing much anyway

Starting point is 00:12:43 to, to cover anyone, but no, the, the, from the corner since they weren't really doing much anyway to cover anyone. But no, the Chargers ran for 147 yards last week, a 4.0 clip. And it was just – it was disgusting. It was disgusting. And this is where I'm truly dumbfounded with how poor or the drop-off from last season to this season is their inability to stop the run. You can talk about a lack of bar more all you want,

Starting point is 00:13:15 but these guys missed time last year too. Yeah, they did. And the Patriots still were one of the top defenses in the NFL, and this year they are not. A lot of change has to happen. Murph, heading into this weekend, the New England Patriots now face a crossroads because you have a debacle on one hand that you're leaving behind. You're trying to bury the game ball of that game, forget it happened, move on, give yourself a great effort. Is it detrimental

Starting point is 00:13:41 to the New England Patriots to do that this week? Well, a lot of people, including myself, would tell you that yeah, it might be. Right now, securing that number one overall pick may be the best thing for this team moving forward. How fine is that line to be walked on Sunday, and what is priority one for the New England Patriots

Starting point is 00:13:59 heading into this matchup? Murph and I are going to discuss that very point when this episode of the Locked On Patriots podcast continues, a proud part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team, every day. Locked On listeners, did Rocket Money help you find any subscriptions you forgot about or that you were paying for twice?

Starting point is 00:14:21 Well, that definitely happened to me. I had a few subscriptions that I didn't even realize I was still paying for, and Rocket Money made it so easy to track them all down. It's like having a personal assistant for your finances. Rocket Money is a personal finance app that helps find and cancel your unwanted subscriptions, monitors your spending, and helps lower your bills so you can grow your savings. It brings everything together in one place, whether it's subscriptions, your spending habits, or even the goals you want to hit this year. Rocket Money has over 5 million users,

Starting point is 00:14:59 and it's saved a total of $500 million in canceled subscriptions, saving members up to $740 a year when using all of the app's premium features. So don't delay. Do it today. Cancel your unwanted subscriptions and reach your financial goals faster with Rocket Money. Go to rocketmoney.com slash locked on today. That's rocketmoney.com slash locked on. rocketmoney.com slash locked on rocket money.com slash locked on. Patriots fans. Thank you once again for joining us here today on locked on Patriots and

Starting point is 00:15:33 joining me on this new year's Eve episode of locked on Patriots is my good friend, the counter Murphy Fisto himself, the legendary Thomas Murphy. Murph, we've talked about unturned monster keys to open up the show today, and there were essentially a page full of unturned monster keys. The whole ring. Yeah, absolutely. None of the keys on the ring this week were turned. And again, as I've said many times, you turn the keys, you go to the top.

Starting point is 00:15:58 You don't turn the keys. That's what happens on the field on Saturday. So we're ready to kind of leave that debacle behind because the Patriots still have one more game left on their schedule this season. Conventional wisdom would tell you that the best way to erase a bad memory is to go out and have a great effort. Not necessarily a barn burner, but just a solid effort. Something that proves that you are disgusted by what you put out on the field on Saturday and you want to move on

Starting point is 00:16:26 and show everyone from management to the fan base to the media to the very players themselves in that locker room what you can do when you're dialed in and you're capable of playing on the same page the Patriots do face a conundrum though in this situation Murph because the Buffalo Bills are coming in they have locked up the number two seed they have nowhere to go up nowhere to go down they're locked into that number two seed you want to keep josh allen and all of your starters healthy the bills may be how shall we say um disinclined to acquiesce to the request of the new england patriots to kind of just you know steamroll them and allow them to go into this offseason saying, we gave it our best effort, but we just ran into the best team in the league

Starting point is 00:17:10 and nothing we can do about it. We get the number one pick by default. The New England Patriots may actually be in a little bit of a tank-a-thon chess match with the Buffalo Bills on Sunday because they are not expected to play their starters deep into this game. They'll play, but they're not going to play deep into the game. If you're the New England Patriots brain trust right now, you're Gerard Mayo. You're hearing the fan base. You're hearing the media. You're hearing the noise about coaching for your job this week. You also realize that securing that number one overall pick is going to give you the option to either

Starting point is 00:17:45 take the player you covet the most or with more conventional wisdom trade down and get a pretty good draft haul and you know there are a couple of teams out there that'll be willing to give whatever the Patriots are looking for to get their quarterback of the future I leave it to you my friend how fine of a line are you walking here between putting out a solid effort on the field, giving it everything you've got to win this game, but knowing that the best thing for your team long-term may actually be taking the loss in this one? I've never rooted for the Patriots to lose in my life until Sunday. And I will be at the game on Sunday. The Patriots cannot win this game. They cannot.

Starting point is 00:18:28 If they lose out on the number one pick in the possible haul that they could get for this, and it's not going to be an all-time haul. They could end up with an extra second-round pick or an extra first-round pick. I don't think there's anybody in the draft this year with two number ones in this draft. And I'm not sure that you would want to trade down into the 20s or, you know, you might want to trade back up into the 20s. But no, I want every tackle available.

Starting point is 00:19:02 I've said in the past that there are better athletes on this team. This team needs to retool its entire offensive line. And the way to do that is to trade down. And the only way you're going to do that is with the top pick. The number two pick, people are going to fight for both these quarterbacks, but they're going to fight a hell of a lot harder for Sanders and that number one pick. You can get more teams bidding against one another

Starting point is 00:19:33 and end up with more if you have that number one pick. I understand, folks. I'm going to be there. I'm not going to have a bag on my head. Yes, this season has been worse than last, but the only way that it could be even worse than it has been is if the patriots come out with a victory on sunday afternoon yeah and i think a lot of patriots fans feel exactly that and look no one loves bringing up the word tank any competitor any person that's ever competed on an athletic field has never gone

Starting point is 00:20:04 out there hoping that you're going to lose you always that competitive spirit even if you know that it's the best thing for your team to lose that competitive spirit burns brightly and you're going to get on the field and your instinct is going to be to play as hard as you possibly can tanking tanking is a season-long thing it is not you know a one game thing this is just you know the future is now right all right that's it the future is now the future is sunday and and the patriots future is going to be determined by what they do on sunday afternoon now now personally i think they should just go out and play as absolutely hard as they can and let gerard mayo do his thing and end up you know losing

Starting point is 00:20:42 by by four points again. That'd be great. Well, that's my point because it's been argued by me, the defense, Vince Liguati-Agambe, that this New England Patriots team, even giving their solid best effort, is not good enough to be able to beat the Buffalo Bills backups, which I think they'll be facing for probably about three-quarters of this game. So if that is indeed the case, you kind of do have the best of both worlds because the patriots can go out and say we gave it everything we've got we played our young guys they played their hearts out alan's gonna start this game to keep his starting streak going i'm not sure what it's at now but i i know that's

Starting point is 00:21:17 really important to him i think he's gonna come off in mystery but mitch trubisky is is um is good enough to to get it done on Sunday for the Bills. Yeah, Mitchie the kid. We're going to see the return of him. No, he's had some success in this league, folks. Don't let recency bias fool you. This is a capable quarterback, and that's why I say the New England Patriots right now may not have to worry about putting out a lesser effort because I do think

Starting point is 00:21:45 that their effort that they're going to put out on Sunday is simply not good enough to be able to beat this Buffalo Bills team even at three-quarter or maybe even half strength by the end of this game. Bottom line, I think I share your sentiment and I think all of Patriots Nation shares these sentiments that that commitment to the number one overall pick is so vital to the success of this franchise. And it may have a lot to say about what the New England Patriots are going to do long term. I know a lot of fans out there continue to clamor for another head coach. They continue to clamor for some different coordinators. Some of you out there are pining for a whole new ownership group.

Starting point is 00:22:24 I don't think that's going to happen, but the previous two are on the table. Whose team is it anyway? Murph and I are going to discuss that very point when this New Year's Resolutions episode of the Locked On Patriots podcast continues, a proud part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team, every day. Patriots fans, thank you once again for joining us here today on Locked On Patriots, spending part of your final hours of 2024. We are looking to bring you into 2025 with a little optimism when it comes to your New England Patriots.

Starting point is 00:23:02 And of course, I say we because I am joined by my good friend, the legend himself, the Count of Murphy Fisto, Thomas Murphy of diehardbostonsportsfans.com. Murph, in the previous segment, we've talked about New England Patriots New Year's resolutions. The first should be to turn monster keys on the field. Make Murph's keys a part of your game planning every week, folks. He sets out an impeccable blueprint. It's foolproof. You turn the keys, you go to the top. You don't turn the keys, you get blown out at home 40 to 7. Simple as that.

Starting point is 00:23:33 In the immediate and long-term future for this team, New Year's resolution has to be securing that number one overall pick. You control your own fate, but Murph, I think the biggest New Year's resolution that a lot of Patriots fans are uncertain about is what is this team going to do when it comes to their coaching bench yeah the New England Patriots are 3 and 13 they could end up finishing the season 3 and 14 one loss worse than last year that costs arguably the greatest coach to ever sit on a sideline his job here in New England you all

Starting point is 00:24:05 scream for it the New England Patriots coming into this season vowed that this team would be more rejuvenated yep um Gerard Mayo went on record and says well we'll win more than four games yeah um they're not going to win more than four games they may win four or they may win less than four because of that a lot of Patriots fans believe that maybe ownership should have focused more on getting the right coach in place than the appointed successor. If that is indeed the case, there are names out there that are being bandied about like Mike Vrabel, Ben Johnson, coaches that Patriots fans would love to see here in New England. They each come with their positives, but they each come with their drawbacks as well. If you're heading into 2025, Murph, as owner of the New England Patriots, you're Robert Kraft, you're sitting in that booth. Jonathan is in your ear telling you this is what you should do, this is what you shouldn't do, but ultimately the buck

Starting point is 00:24:58 stops at your desk. You're the owner of the team. You have to make the decision to move your team forward. I'm asking you, Don Murph, whose team is it anyway? How do the Patriots go about solving this coaching conundrum they find themselves in right now? Well, first of all, Robert has to stop thinking with his heart and understand that just because you like a player doesn't mean that that he's going to end up being a fine NFL head coach. I told you we've talked about it in nauseam. I said it when they made the hirings. The only thing that the Crafts did at the end of last season was remove the two smartest men in the room. They need to clean house, and it needs to start with a new GM,

Starting point is 00:25:51 and then allow that new GM to bring in his people, do the interviews that he needs to do, and start fresh. They need an entirely fresh start. I've said before that I am not in the Mike Vrabel camp. If he ends up getting the job, I'll, of course, support him, but I'm not in the Mike Vrabel camp. If he ends up getting the job, I'll, you know, of course support him, but I'm not in a Mike Vrabel camp. I don't think that, uh, that he did anything in Tennessee with a much greater talent than the Patriots have on this squad right now. Um, uh, flow would have been my choice last year. Uh, flow might be my choice last year. Flo might be my choice this year, but that's another defensive coach. But I'm starting at the GM.

Starting point is 00:26:29 And the GM that I want is in Baltimore right now, and that's George Kokinas. All right? Kokinas has been in this league for decades. He was the GM for a very short time in Cleveland. And then he's been over there in Baltimore for years, learning under some of the best minds in the NFL. This is a man that knows this sport, has been around for a long time. And then let him sift through the coaching candidates that we've all been talking about.

Starting point is 00:27:04 You know, Ben Johnson, the offensive coordinator over there in Detroit. Somebody that I really would love to see here is Tampa Bay's offensive coordinator, Liam Cohen. You know, Cohen has the Buccaneers ranked as, in the two years that he's been there, O.C., fifth and third in scoring and total yards. This is the highest marks that those teams have had since Brady won the Super Bowl there. Mayfield has done a fantastic job under him and down there in Tampa Bay. He's thrown a career-high 34 touchdowns. He transformed the Bucs' ground game.

Starting point is 00:27:48 They're number seven in rushing offense this year. That's somebody that I would really love to see here in New England. But, no, I would start with the GM. Elliott Wolfe has shown me absolutely nothing. All right? We talked about it ad nauseum, you know, and I just said it earlier that they eliminated the two smarts. Elliott Wolfe was in the room when all these draft picks that you say that

Starting point is 00:28:13 Bill missed on were missed on. Bill pointed at him and Groh and said, are you okay with this? No, it's time for a fresh start. All right? And none of the guys that are in that room right now are fresh they've all been here they've all been angling for these jobs they all kept saying we can do it better all right i tweeted out the other day that what we got this season is what happens when you bring in the pop warner parents who are sitting up in the stands complaining about their

Starting point is 00:28:44 coach saying oh we can do it better. Well, they can't, and they didn't. You got your one year, and you did no better. You did worse. This team has regressed. And that goes from top on down. Like Mike said, we can't fire the owners. Got to move on.

Starting point is 00:29:01 And right now, I think keeping this group together and giving them a second year is just going to be wasting another year of Drake May. That's the biggest key right there, because you have your quarterback of the future. You have your franchise guy, and you don't want to waste any of the time that he has. If the Patriots are to do that, I agree with you. This ownership group needs to act, and they need to act quickly. They need to make a decision as to whether or not they have the right guy at the top, which starts with the GM.

Starting point is 00:29:33 If they don't believe Elliot Wolfe is going to be this guy, I do believe he needs to be ousted. And then in that case, you mentioned someone like a Kakinas. I think that could be a good option. We hear the names Thomas Dimitrov and Scott Pioli thrown around. Guys that can build franchises, program builders. Bottom line, whether this organization is committed to Gerard Mayo or whether they're committed to cleaning house, I think we're both in agreement here, Murph, that they need

Starting point is 00:29:58 to act and they need to act quickly. Because the longer you wait, the more time passes, the more your window closes to get the guy that you need in here. If, in fact, you believe it's not Gerard Mayo. So it's only fair to Gerard. It's only fair to the players on that team. And it's fair to the organization. That's exactly what needs to happen. Murph, what can I say?

Starting point is 00:30:18 It's never a dull moment being a Patriots fan. For about two decades up here, it was very easy to be a New England Patriots fan. It's not that anymore. But bottom line, the one thing that I think we all can agree on, whether you find yourself on one side or another when it comes to the Patriots coaching debate, when it comes to the New England Patriots season in 2024, we all want what's best for the team. We all want to see this team succeed. What's going to be the best path moving forward? Well, we're going to find that out in 2025. But my good friend here on the opposite side of the screen has done his very best each and every time he takes the microphone to give us the clear path to success for New

Starting point is 00:30:54 England. And before I let you go, my friend, as you bring our listeners into 2025, any more parting words of wisdom before we head into this next calendar year don murph yeah um burn some cash you promised last year that you would do that um do that this year there are three agents out there uh coming up we need to talk about that before we get into the draft um and see what uh whoever is in the catbird seat here in new england can do um there are wide receiver there's wide receiver help out there. There's offensive line help out there.

Starting point is 00:31:28 And then back that up coming up into the draft. But, I mean, as I said at the onset of this show, the future's now. And don't screw this up with a victory on Sunday. The Giants handed you a huge gift last week, man. Take it. Unwrap it. Absolutely. Maximize your draft capital the best way you can. And the best way to do that is to try to get a haul in return, both with draft picks. And I wouldn't mind seeing maybe an NFL talent mixed into that package coming back. I think that would look pretty nice over on the shelves in Foxborough.

Starting point is 00:32:02 But bottom line, folks, the New England Patriots now have to focus their energy on the Buffalo Bills and their 2024 season finale, which will technically take place in 2025. We now turn our attention to those bills. And next up here on the docket, one of our very favorites, my good friend Joe Marino will join me here on the airwaves to cross the streams for a crossover episode between locked on bills and locked on Patriots. Joe is always one episode between Locked On Bills and Locked On Patriots. Joe is always one of the best in the business, and you will not want to miss this. But before the final seconds tick off the clock here in 2024, allow me to just give

Starting point is 00:32:34 one final tip of the cap to all of you everydayers out there, all of you Locked On Patriots loyalists that have continued all throughout the year to make Locked On Patriots a daily part of your New England Patriots coverage. You guys have been truly diehard. You really, really have. And whether you're tuning in to hear the golden melodious tones of my good friend Thomas Murphy, the level-headed reason of Steve Balistrieri, or the numerous guests that have joined me throughout the year here on Locked On Patriots, if I've had something small to do with that, I do appreciate it as well. Thank you for all of the support that you provide to Locked On Patriots. If I've had something small to do with that, I do appreciate it as well.

Starting point is 00:33:05 Thank you for all of the support that you provide to Locked On Patriots. And one thing I can tell you, heading into 2025, you ain't seen nothing yet. A lot of upgrades coming here to the show. I'm so proud to be a part of it and a part of this network. So continue to stay locked into Locked On Patriots. But folks, as you get ready to celebrate the turn of 2024 into 2025, please do so responsibly. Please do so safely.

Starting point is 00:33:28 On behalf of my good friend, Thomas Murphy, I'm Mike DeBate, wishing you all a healthy, prosperous 2025. Stay safe. Stay well. Be the change you wish to see in the world. Happy New Year, folks. And we'll see you back here again next time on Locked on Patriots.

Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - New England Patriots New Year’s Resolutions: Drake Maye, Jerod Mayo, Eliot Wolf, 2025 NFL Draft

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