Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - New England Patriots Stand Pat at Trade Deadline: Josh Uche, Kyle Dugger, Michael Onwenu and More
Episode Date: November 1, 2023The New England Patriots chose to remain inactive at the 2023 NFL trade deadline. As a result, Josh Uche, Kyle Dugger, Michael Onwenu, Ezekiel Elliott, Hunter Henry and more will remain members of the... Patriots at least through the end of the season. Joining host Mike D’Abate is Thomas ‘Murph’ Murphy as the duo discuss the Pats standing pat, the moves made by the Washington Commanders — their Week 9 opponent — and the ‘next man up’ on the receivers corps in the absence of the injured Kendrick Bourne. Find and follow Locked On Patriots on your favorite podcast platforms:Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/locked-on-patriots-daily-podcast-on-new-england-patriots/id1140512627?i=1000632782469 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1c5ZxFmwg3WbfxAU3tR5Ve?si=k196wH-yRqifUcQQz8SjIQStitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/show/locked-on-patriotsAnd follow host Mike D’Abate on Twitter, where he’ll be sharing the latest news about the New England Patriots and talking with fans.Twitter: @mdabateNFLSupport Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!DoorDashGet 50% off up to $10 value when you spend $15 or more on your FIRST order, when you download the DoorDash app and enter code LOCKED23. Subject to change. Terms apply.Jase MedicalGet $20 off these lifesaving antibiotics with Jase Medical by using code LOCKEDON at checkout on jasemedical.com.PrizePicksGo to PrizePicks.com/lockedonnfl and use code lockedonnfl for a first deposit match up to $100!GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase. Last minute tickets. Lowest Price. Guaranteed.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.FanDuelScore early this NFL season with FanDuel, America’s Number One Sportsbook! Right now, NEW customers get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS with any winning FIVE DOLLAR MONEYLINE BET! That’s A HUNDRED AND FIFTY BUCKS – if your team wins! 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) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Transcript
Discussion (0)
Another trade deadline come and gone for your New England Patriots,
and Bill Belichick channels his inner Howie Mandel and says, no deal.
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.
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And Patriots fans, happy Halloween and happy trade deadline day
or unhappy trade deadline day.
A lot of you out there are unhappy that the New England Patriots
once again stood pat on the trade deadline.
Josh Uche, Kyle Duggar, Michael Wainu, Ezekiel Elliott, Jalen Mills,
Hunter Henry, Mike Gusecki, all these players were talked about
being possibly moved,
all remain New England Patriots.
And we're breaking it all down for you here today on Locked On Patriots.
And of course, folks, I say we because I am joined by the legendary Green King of Sting
himself, Thomas Murphy of E2G Sports, who was chomping at the bit to get in here because
he predicted here yesterday on Locked On Patriots
that the Patriots would not make a single move on the day.
He was right.
So in order to give him his tribute, I welcome in the Don of Locked On Patriots, Thomas Murphy.
Thank you for coming to me in friendship today.
Don Murph.
Called it.
No.
He did.
Entire Twitterverse losing their mind that, you know, the Patriots have been talking to this person and this part of this team has been in contact.
No, no.
Called it.
There were there were there were phone calls made.
I mean, accepted.
There might have been a couple of phone calls made.
But I told you they're not going they weren't going to do anything.
They weren't going to do it.
Nobody was going to get brought in. Nobody was going to get brought in.
Nobody was going to get shipped off.
And that's exactly what happened.
Because you need bodies.
Okay?
You need bodies.
And right now, the Patriots are too banged up to ship people out.
And there was nobody being moved around for a price that you were going to add to this, you know, now two and
six team?
No, it wasn't, you know, it just wasn't, it wasn't going to happen.
The Patriots are two and six.
There is no denying that.
This team right now were within their rights to be sellers at the trading deadline.
I don't think too many people would have blamed them if they said, okay, we're punting on
this season.
We're looking fully toward 2024, maybe even 2025 and a full rebuild.
But when you're not getting that value in return and all you're hearing is late round picks in return for guys like Kyle Duggar, Michael Wainu, Josh Uche, it's not worth it to pull that trigger. And I think in a lot of ways, the Patriots showed temperance, and I think they showed smart restraint when it came to their activity at the deadline on
Tuesday afternoon, bud. They did. They really did. I mean, for what was being offered,
they would probably end up getting more back in compensation picks next year, depending on who they brought in within free agency and how that all works
out.
It was ridiculous.
Like I said, they're just not deep enough.
There are not enough bricks in this wall to go and sell off these kind of players.
And quite frankly, we talked about it last week.
If you're not looking at some of these players as impact players, you're looking at them as depth.
And they're going to be bringing in more people next year with the amount of cap space that they have with the draft picks that they have,
especially with where they're going to be picking in the draft, the way things are looking right now.
They're going to be impact players available then. And these guys will slide in as depth.
Bill will do what Bill does.
He'll tell these guys, go ahead out and see what you can find on the open market and then come back and we'll talk.
All right.
If extensions were going to happen, they would have happened back in August or September at the very latest. And right now, it's like Bill's going to let these guys hit free agency,
and then he's going to assign them to what he thinks is a fair value to play here.
Yeah, and you look at guys especially like Duggar, like Awenu,
who I believe the Patriots see as cornerstones.
It would not shock me to see both of these guys extended.
It wouldn't shock me to see both of these guys extended it would shock me to see uh on where you get uh franchised yeah and that is definitely a distinct possibility and
folks we're going to talk about all the ins and outs and the contract details of what this means
a little later this week when our good friend Miguel Benzon the Pats cap himself joins us here
going to talk potential contract extensions what they look like for all three of those
players that we just described.
So you definitely want to stay locked into locked on Patriots for that.
But I think the Patriots look at Duggar and Ueno as cornerstones.
These guys that they want to build around, I think they're going to try to bring them
back and do whatever they can reasonably to bring them back in a Patriots uniform.
Boucher is interesting to me because prior to today's deadline,
one of the biggest questions that I got in my Twitter DMs
from people that reach out to me for insight on the team
wanted to know why the Patriots would either think about trading Josh Uche
or mostly it was why would they think about even holding on to him?
A lot of people believe
that the Patriots are not going to have the cash or not willing to spend the cash to re-sign him
greener pastures probably will be available elsewhere outside of New England for Josh Uche
to come in and be a cornerstone linebacker for a lot of needy franchises out there but
a couple of people that I spoke to close to the team earlier this week
murph had something very very interesting to say about ushe they went a little above and beyond
to praise him you don't do that if someone's on their way out and that's right i always believed
that ushe was likely remaining here in new england for at least the remainder of the season
they praised his speed they praised his athleticism they use
the term system savvy and i think this is something that is interesting when it comes to josh uj
that to me is why i think he's become a significant factor in this pass rush and someone that may be a
little difficult for the patriots to part with for merely a fifth or sixth or seventh round pick
i understand that draft capital can be valuable folks but you
know what you've gotten josh ucce you never know what you're going to get in unknown draft capital
and he can succeed here as an edge rusher he can succeed as an off the ball linebacker um because
they've given him greater freedom in his playing style the last couple of years especially last
year alongside matthew judon that allows him to play on the line when the Patriots want to play the 5-1.
They can play the 4-2.
He can play the 4-3.
And also when they move back and they run that more traditional 3-4, Boucher is adaptable.
So guys that can fit into that type of scheme, no matter what it is, are really, I think,
ultimately valuable.
And I think the Patriots realized that when they saw Chase Young go for a third rounder
earlier today, and folks, we are going to talk about Washington's booze in just a minute,
but I think they looked at that and decided that the return on investment was simply not
that great.
They want to take additional looks at this kid because if they like what they see, don't
be a bit surprised to see the Patriots make an effort
to keep Josh Uche around. I know there are a lot of guys in Foxborough that still think very highly
of him. Oh, sure. And you could see it in the last couple of drafts. Guess what position they
didn't take in the last two drafts? Linebacker. Very good point. There was no linebackers. The
last time that the Patriots took a linebacker, I think it was McGrone in the fifth round.
And we all know how well that worked out.
And that's the pick that the Patriots were being offered.
They were being offered fourth, fifth round picks.
And impact guys at that position are not available in the fourth or fifth round. And yes, you can talk
about, you know, uh, stacking capital and being able to move up this, that, and the other bill,
bill doesn't move up an awful lot, folks. He doesn't it's, it's the rarity that he, he significantly
moves up. He's more, more likely using one of those, one of the top picks to move down and get
more second round picks than he is to move up from the
fifth round or the fourth round to find that impact guy that impact guy at linebacker he ain't there
just not there some of you out there listening feel strongly that the patriots needed draft
capital more than they needed to hold on to three guys with expiring contracts yeah i think you have
an argument but just wanted to let you see both sides of the picture
and determine whether or not return on investment really is the smart move here.
I think in time, you're going to see that the Patriots holding on to these three guys,
even if one of them walks, was still the right move for the team at this point in time.
Because when you start selling off these assets, it does send a message to this team as well.
And with a lot of young guys under contract next year, you don't want to start selling
off assets and saying, okay, we're hunting the season.
We have no faith in you.
Guys coming back are going to wonder, well, that says an awful lot about us.
You know, that's something that Bill Belichick takes very seriously.
And I can tell you that team morale and team spirit is something that this team builds. You hear all of the expatriates, Murph, talk about this constantly. And it really
does factor into the way these guys do business. It's not the way every team does business,
but it is the way that Patriots do it for better or for worse.
The Patriot way, it's not something that you can put into a bottle and say that this is the Patriot.
It's the Patriot way of going about drafting.
It's the Patriot way of going about team building.
It's the Patriot way of going about everything that comes into putting together a cohesive locker room and a cohesive team.
It's not just one certain thing. It's how they do things here in New England that differs
from everybody else in the way that they put their team together, in the way that they run their
teams. And quite frankly, this is it. It was not worth moving these assets for what they were being offered to uh offered back for them and um as mike
said uh when you were looking at at the fine print all right this is this was the the best thing for
the patriots going forward because nobody was knocking them out for the the assets that other
people wanted and ultimately folks will see if the the New England Patriots made the right move today.
It's going to be a few months before we really know for sure whether or not they did maintain these players
and whether or not the players that they held on to remain long-term solutions for the Patriots.
It's going to be March.
We'll find out in the coming months.
Yeah, exactly.
It's going to be March.
It's going to be April.
It's not even going to be in this season.
Before we take our leave of the Patriots activity or non-activity on trade deadline day, Murph, Ezekiel Elliott, Trent Brown, Jalen Mills, Mike Gusecki, Hunter Henry, all players on expiring contracts.
A lot of people thought maybe one of them could have been moved. There was conflicting reports early on Tuesday morning that Ezekiel Elliott teams were inquiring on Zeke services.
Those were kind of cold water coals in toward the afternoon. But your thoughts on those players,
are you surprised any one of those guys was not moved? No, I'm really not. I'm not saying it
would have shocked me, but the saying it would have shocked me,
but the return probably would have shocked me because somebody would have had to overpay to
get those guys. Again, folks, it comes back to the return that you're going to get on investment and
the likelihood that you're going to be able to keep some of these guys here long term. I'm almost
certain that the Patriots are going to try to extend Hunter Henry at some point. Trent Brown is someone that could end up being a negotiation in the offseason where he does what he did last year,
test the free agent waters, go look around, ends up back in New England because he feels it's the best fit for him.
Jalen Mills, Mike Gusecki, we'll see what happens to them next year.
The Patriots did try to move Mike Gusecki.
There were no takers for Mike Gusecki.
And I think that, you know, stands into line with the fact that he's on an expiring contract.
He's someone that does give you a lot of positional versatility. Maybe it's not the
fit that the Patriots expected when they first signed him back in March. The emergence of
Pharaoh Brown definitely makes these guys a little more expendable, but ultimately the Pats are going to be sticking with that three tight end set. So Claire is going to
be very happy for her tight ended, but we'll see what that means for Mac Jones, Hunter Henry,
Pharaoh Brown, and then Mike Zecchi down the line as well. I expect him to be maybe a little bit
more heavily involved in the offense, especially with a loss of Kendrick Bourne.
And we're going to talk about Kendrick in just a moment, folks,
because a lot of that's going to shift.
But the New England Patriots may not have been active on trade deadline day,
but their week nine opponents, the Washington Commanders, yeah, they were.
They sold off their top two pass rushers,
and it's looking like a full rebuild in Washington.
What impact could it have on this Sunday's game against the Pats at Gillette Stadium?
Murph and I are going to discuss that in just a moment when this trade deadline episode
of the Locked On Patriots podcast continues right here on the Locked On Podcast Network,
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Patriots fans, thank you once again
for taking time out of your Halloween Tuesday,
your trade deadline day
to spend with us here on Locked On Patriots.
Thomas Murphy of E2G Sports
joining us today to break down
all the ins and outs, the ups and downs
of a pretty uneventful trade deadline
for the New England Patriots.
And of course, the Pats not making any moves.
Kyle Duggar, Michael Wainu, Josh Uche, Mike Gusecki, Hunter Henry,
all of the players that we've talked about potentially being moved,
all still New England Patriots folks.
But the Washington Commanders are the next team up on the schedule, Murph.
This Sunday, 1 p.m., Gillette Stadium.
The commanders, all of a sudden,
are going to be a little bit lighter in their defense.
Montez Sweat, Chase Young,
now calling different places home.
They will not be traveling with the team to Foxborough on Sunday.
Montez Sweat going to the Chicago Bears, of course,
for a second-round draft pick.
And then, of course for a second round draft pick and then of
course you've got chase young going to the san francisco 49ers making an already formidable
defense downright scary for a third rounder but with washington now how many pass rushers you need
yeah i know somebody got kyle shanahan and john lynch on the phone they're definitely
going to tell you you can never have too many you can never have enough yeah that defense is
going to be formidable uh san francisco right now uh looking pretty good defensively and that's a
team that you know definitely can do their thing offensively as well so bottom line the new england
patriots now facing again if you're talking about a team
that's held on to all of its assets, that means that the Patriots are most likely going
to try to win as many games as they possibly can this year.
And I think Mac Jones' job of staying clean in the pocket just got a little bit easier.
But Murph, when you take a look at these moves, first of all, were you surprised by Washington's
moves?
And second of all, what type of impact do you surprised by Washington's moves and second of all
what type of impact do you think it's going to have on this game this weekend against the bats
oh it's going to have a huge impact um they they uh Washington you know we'll take the second part
for Washington just got uh much lighter in the pants on the defensive side of the ball these
guys uh brought the pressure and brought it on every single down. When they wanted to play, especially Young, when he wanted to play, he was basically unstoppable. You wait until you see what's going to happen out there on the West Coast. It's going to significantly change the outlook of the game and the smiles on the faces of many a Patriot offensive lineman on Sunday.
And then, of course, everybody is definitely, you know,
well aware of what Chase Young brings to the table.
I mean, this kid is one of the best and most fearsome pass rushers when he's healthy.
And he's been banged up an awful lot.
There's been a lot of health issues with Chase Young without any question.
But I also want to give a little bit of love to Montez Sweat as well.
This is a very good move for the Chicago Bears.
And to tell you the truth, Murph,
this was actually the guy I was a little more worried about
than Chase Young coming into this matchup
because with Trent Brown and Michael Wainu as the bookends,
you knew that the Patriots were going to do everything they could to try to seal the edges
and make sure that Mac Jones remained clean on his blind side and on the strong side.
So if that's the case, now taking sweat out of the equation, that to me I think makes the job a little bit easier. 68 regular season and playoff games for the other commanders, 36 and a half sacks, nine forced fumbles, one interception since arriving in Washington as the 26th overall pick in 2019. The fact that now Young and Sweat are going to be absent in this matchup, you have to think if the Patriots want to utilize Mac Jones to his full potential
and keeping him clean, keeping him upright and comfortable,
it's a good opportunity for the Pats to showcase what they can do offensively.
What does it do for Bill O'Brien now, who's going to be scheming to go against this defense?
Does it make them more likely to test the intermediate areas of this field,
knowing that there are going to be two major gaps there?
You took the words right out of my mouth.
It's going to give Mac that extra tick, extra tick and a half in the protection department
to allow guys to get down the field a little more.
You're going to see more of those intermediate passes. You're going to see more of those longer passes
that everybody keeps screaming about,
the 15, the 18, the 20-yard pass down the field,
along with the moving around of the personnel
on the Patriots' side of the ball at wide receiver.
These guys are going to have more time
to get downfield and get open, and you'll see Mack hopefully connect on some of those balls.
Yeah, absolutely. And a guy that we mentioned in the previous segment, Mike Gusecki, this benefits
big pass catchers, folks, whether it be in the red zone or whether it be in the short to
intermediate areas of the open field would not be a bit surprising for Patriots
fans to be glad for at least one week that Mike Kosecki is still in the Wingman Patriot. This
could be an opportunity for him to break out a little bit. Hunter Henry, definitely expect a
little bit more in him to be targeted and always keep your eye on Farrell Brown. Now the highest
graded tight end, according to pro football focus, Murph, you've been singing his praises. So have I
here on these airwaves. It's good to see Farrell Farrow get his just due but folks it's going to be a lot of fun and very
interesting to see how these matchups shake out and Murph and I are going to continue to talk
about that in just a moment because as we alluded to earlier now that we know that the top end of
this Patriots roster is staying put for the foreseeable future, now comes the unenviable
task of deciding who gets the extra snaps left behind by Hendrick Bourne.
Murph and I talked about it a little bit yesterday.
I'm going to go into greater detail today now that we know who's going to be around
when this episode of the Locked On Patriots podcast continues, a proud part of the Locked
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Cats fans, the trade deadline may have come and gone,
but Murph and I are eternal here on Locked On Patriots
and we continue to try to bring you the best possible coverage we can.
A tip of the cap to all of you everydayers out there
and all of you casual listeners and a few of you first timers out there as well for making locked on Patriots a daily part of your New England Patriots coverage today on trade deadline day.
And Murph, in the previous segments, we talked about the Patriots not making any moves on the trade deadline and how we feel that it actually is in the best interest of the Patriots to do what they did.
They just simply didn't get enough return on investment to make these moves worthwhile.
We talked about Washington's moves and any potential impact on Sunday's game, but now that the Patriots pretty much have the top end of their roster set for at least the remainder of the
season, now I think the biggest personnel question on this team becomes
who takes the reps that are left behind by kendrick bourne the usual suspects list is there demario douglas juju smith schuster devonte parker jalen rager taekwon thornton kashon butte
we know that douglas is probably going to be your number one option. I think that's pretty clear. But beyond that, you look at the remaining five guys on this roster,
and it really could be a case of whoever is able to step up
and show this Patriots offensive coaching staff
that they're capable of handling the load on the perimeter
and being that type of player that can make plays when needed
because Kendrick was so good at that.
Murph, I'm not going to ask you who replaces Kendrick Bourne because no one can replace Kendrick Bourne,
but who do you expect to see additional looks for right off the bat when the Patriots take the field as soon as the Sunday against the Commanders?
That's a great question, Michael, and it all depends on game planning.
Will it be Ty Montgomery? Will it be Jalen Ragoor? Um, you know, you know, it definitely, um, Taequann Thornton's time to
shine coming in here, being able to, um, to pull the top off of this and create some more room for
those other guys that are, uh, are going to be working the intermediate portion of the field.
That guy is definitely needed.
And so, yeah, I think that those gentlemen are going to be the top choices
coming out on Sunday afternoon.
And they're going to, you know, it's next man up time.
It's next man up time.
I do not see Bout uh making it on the field i don't i think that uh
he's just rubbed too many people the wrong way i think you know we brought it up uh last week
about his his little um oh which social media app is that? You know me, I don't do the social media apps where he put
out on, I forget which one it was, Free Me. I think it was Instagram. Was it Instagram, an Instagram
story or something where he was saying, Free Me? This is not the way to get on the field, people.
It's just not. And it's going to shock a lot of people. But it would shock me more if he was active on Sunday
than if he was a healthy scratch again.
Yeah, as much as I really enjoyed watching
Keyshawn Boutte all throughout training camp,
and I did, folks, and I was really high on this pick
when the Patriots made it.
Very low risk, very potential high reward.
He's got all the intangibles, folks.
And that's what's so frustrating
about this is that you look at him and he has the ability to be an explosive big play threat
well-sized not the biggest wide receiver out there but well-sized six feet 195 pounds he's going to
be tough to bring down after the catch he's built well to be able to sustain tackling um he can make
his body he can adjust his body
to make contested catches.
We saw him do it at LSU.
And there was a lot of promise
coming out of this pick.
But again, Patriots see things
that us mere mortals
don't see on a daily basis.
And attitude is a big part
of whether or not
you see the field in New England.
For better or for worse, folks,
I've been critical of Bill Belichick
and calling it Belichick and calling it
Belichick it's a double secret probation right you know talking about how you know Belichick
is playing Dean Wormer there may be a reason why he has to play Dean Wormer so you know what we're
going to look and we're going to see over the course of these next few weeks whether or not
it is attitude based because if Kayshaun's not getting his shot now it's difficult to envision
getting a shot down the line I think you're onto something Murph as much as it does pain me to admit not to
admit that you're you know that you're right that never pains me but it pains me to admit that you're
right about Keishon because I really had high hopes for him so we'll see folks in my estimation this
is the time where we need Juju Smith-Schuster to step up. And whether or not that's going to happen, folks, I know a lot of you are probably rolling your eyes.
But this is where we need the guy that the Patriots saw last year.
The one that got 141 yards above expectation last year.
The one that averaged 5.8 yards after the catch per reception.
I understand where he was playing.
I understand who was throwing him the ball. But when you're that good at being able to draw yards after the catch, you have to showcase
it. And Bill O'Brien is someone that can scheme yards after the catch as well as any offensive
coordinator in this league. If Mac Jones is going to find his weapon to do that, he's got to develop
a better synergy with Juju Smith-ith schuster i think he needs to step
up and be that yak machine patriots need especially without someone like kendrick and folks don't be a
bit surprised to see jalen rager get a few extra looks and again murph i think this feeds quite
nicely into what you said about kajan i think kajan would probably be more of a necessity
if they didn't have someone like jalen rager on this roster right now. 4.4740 yard dash speed, that's definitely lightning if he can catch it, but
his ability to add more motion into the offense, primarily at the snap, is where I think he's going
to be utilized. So this could be something where you see Jalen maybe go back to his collegiate
days, or maybe somewhere we saw it with Philadelphia and Minnesota.
Utilize him in the backfield on specialized packages.
That could be where he helps fill some of the void that Kendrick had in that area,
because we know that Kendrick loved his jet sweeps back there, and he was very good at dialing them up.
He really was. He really was.
And I said last week, I gave out my super secret key that you only heard right here that it was going to be DeMario Douglas in the backfield.
But no, I agree with you.
He could be the guy.
Oh, and I think you are going to see DeMario Douglas do that, folks.
I think Murph is absolutely right on to something.
But if the Patriots want to keep their options open, it's always good to know that you have two guys that can do it.
They had it in Douglas and in Bourne.
And I think that could have been a nice tandem,
maybe even a little trickery here and there every now and then sprinkled in.
You don't have Bourne back there anymore, folks.
Who's going to do it?
I know they had hopes for Taequann Thornton to do it,
but until he proves he's healthy enough and capable of carrying the load,
give Jalen Rager a shot.
Let's see what he's got.
And if he does, there's first-round talent there, Murph.
There's no question about it.
Maybe you stumbled onto something, and maybe you can catch lightning in a bottle
with a player that could be a solid number three for you
throughout the remainder of this season.
But ultimately, of course, anyone that saw social media earlier on Tuesday,
he is going to get his rehab now, and he's looking forward and looking to next season.
We talk all about players in their contract years.
Kendrick is in his contract year.
We hope maybe the Patriots are able to keep him around
and keep him here and really see what he can do
because he was developing such a great rebirth
here in New England prior to his injury.
We said it on Monday that, you know,
walk in,
walk into his,
his hospital room,
offer him a,
an extension right now,
a two year extension just to,
just to,
to keep him
focused on,
on his return and his return here in New England.
This is a guy that really enjoys playing here and finding those guys is few and
far between when you have to make the sacrifices to play here.
And you know, like I said, if you can,
if you can go and find what Matthew Slater had to say about about him this
week, go and find it. You know, it was,
it was so true and nobody could say it any better,
that this kid is just a joy to be around.
He loves playing the game of football,
and that's the type of guy that you want as a part of your team.
I don't know what the issue was last year with Tweedledee and him,
but it's worked out this season.
It's only gotten better as the year has gone along, and I would.
I would roll the dice on this kid twice every Sunday.
He's just that great a guy.
So well said, and you find very few athletes, very few people in any walks of life
that are more eloquent than Matthew Slater
when he describes what a player's impact is,
not just on the field, folks,
but most importantly in the locker room
from an emotional and a spiritual connection.
I think there's definitely something there.
Kendrick is just one of the good guys
you want to keep around.
And hopefully it does mean a greater future
for him here in New England.
But Murph, the roster is set for better or for worse,
and the Patriots are moving forward.
And we're going to continue to move forward here on Locked On Patriots, folks,
because we still have a Washington Commanders crossover episode
coming at you this week with David Harrison, host of Locked On Commanders,
my colleague also with Sports Illustrated.
You're not going to want to miss that one.
David is one of the best in the business i'm certainly looking forward to it and of course don't forget
later this week miguel la pat's cat ben's on coming on to talk about all of your financial
questions and we're going to discuss contracts as well maybe we'll talk a little kendrick born
potential deal but definitely extension talk when it comes to the Patriots big three coming up in Ushe and Duggar
and of course in Michael Wainu
but what can I say my friend thank you so
much for pulling back to back duties
coming in taking the ball for the
handoff whenever I need you
you are truly the Don here on Locked On
Patriots I appreciate you
and before I let you go bud please let everyone
know where they can expect to find you
and where they can absorb your great work coming up for the remainder of the week from the great
pen, the great voice of Thomas Murphy. Ah, check me out on Zitter at TMurf207. And of course,
you know, run on over to E2GSports.com and click on, you know, just about anything that's going
on over there. Absolutely, folks. Anytime Murph puts pen to paper, voice to microphone,
it's appointment listening, appointment viewing,
you're going to be entertained.
And like I always say, you're going to be well-informed
and you can't ask for anything else as a sports fan.
In the meantime, folks, I thank you for joining us here today
on Locked On Patriots and hopefully for making us
your first choice each and every day.
Locked On Patriots is always a proud part
of the Locked On Podcast Network, your
team every day, and in that
vein, I am your host, Mike DeBate,
and on behalf of my good friend, my
co-host, my cohort in crime,
host days on the week, Thomas Murphy
of E2GSports.com. I
remind you to stay safe and to stay
well and to be the change that you wish
to see in the world. Have a great day, everyone,
and we'll see you back here again tomorrow
on Locked on Patriots.
We told you.
Nothing's happening.
Nothing.
He called it.
He called it.
He called it.