Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - New England Patriots Throwback Thursday: Revisiting New England’s 2022 Draft Class, Pats Add Trace McSorely

Episode Date: April 14, 2023

The New England Patriots have added some athleticism to their quarterback depth chart for 2023. However, the addition of Trace McSorely should not be expected to displace Mac Jones or Bailey Zappe. Host Mike D’Abate breaks down McSorely’s signing before welcoming fan-favorite Thomas ‘Murph’ Murphy to re-evaluate the Patriots 2022 NFL Draft Class on Throwback Thursday.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-the-new-england/id1140512627Spotify: 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!BetterHelpThis episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. BetterHelp connects you with a licensed therapist who can take you on that journey of self-discovery from wherever you are. Visit BetterHelp.com/lockedon today to get 10% off your first month.Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.Ultimate Football GMTo download the game just visit Ultimate-GM.com or look it up on the app stores. Our listeners get a 100% free boost to their franchise when using the promo LOCKEDON (ALL CAPS) in the game store.FanDuelMake Every Moment More. Don’t miss the chance to get your No Sweat First Bet up to ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS in Bonus Bets when you go FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON. 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

The New England Patriots have added some athleticism to their depth chart at quarterback for 2023. But does it change their plans at the position? 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 Lockdown Patriots a daily part of your New England Patriots coverage. Don't forget, Lockdown Patriots is a proud part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. So subscribe to or follow for free on YouTube wherever you listen to podcasts to get the latest episode as soon as it's available. I'm your host, Mike DeBate, and I cover your New England Patriots for Patriots Country of Sports Illustrated.

So please reach out to me. Let me know what's on your mind on Twitter at M-D-A-B-A-T-E-N-F-L. And while you're out there wading through the Twitterverse, please be sure to follow the Locked On Patriots account as well at L-O underscore Patriots. Pats fans, especially all of you everydayers of Locked On Patriots out there, thank you once again for taking time out to make Locked On Patriots a daily part of your Pats coverage. It is Throwback Thursday here, and we're going to be taking a retrospective look at the Patriots 2022 draft class in just a moment.

As an added bonus the legendary Green King of Sting Thomas Murphy of E2G Sports gonna join me for the trip through time so stick around folks you're not gonna want to miss this but first things first Pats fans your New England Patriots have secured the services of a former Baltimore Ravens quarterback. Now, relax, folks. Now, settle down. Not that one. Lamar Jackson, still very much a Baltimore Raven, at least for the time being.

But the quarterback depth chart has returned to three for your New England Patriots. The organization signing free agent Trace McSorley on Thursday, confirmed by the NFL's transaction wire. And the 27-year-old is coming into a patriots room where now he joins mac jones and bailey zappy had been recruited to penn state and if that sounds a little interesting it's because when he was recruited he was recruited by new patriots offensive coordinator bill o'brien who was the head coach at the Penn State Nittany Lions at the time.

Now, much like tight end Mike Gusecki, he was not someone that suited up for Penn State, didn't get a chance to play for Bill O'Brien, but he did suit up in state college without any question. Red-shirted as a freshman under new Nittany Lions coach James Franklin and saw the field for six games in 2015. He would go on to post a 31 and 9 record as the starter from there 77 passing touchdowns 30 rushing touchdowns and he ran for 1697 yards during his time at penn state so a lot of athleticism a lot of mileage on the ground when it comes to trace mcsorley mcsorley entered the league with the Baltimore Ravens. He was a six run draft pick in 2019, signed off the practice squad by the Arizona Cardinals in 2021. He was

then promoted to the active roster again early in 2022. So somewhat battle tested, backed up one of the more prolific quarterbacks in the league when it comes to Lamar Jackson during his time in Baltimore. So there is some pedigree there, folks. And he's played nine career games in the NFL. Starting with the debut his last season, he completed 48 to 93 passes, 502 yards, one touchdown to five interceptions. But on the ground, showing that he can get the job done,

scrambled for 79 yards over the course of 27 carries. Good size, six foot foot even 202 pounds he's looking like someone that can come in add some depth add some veteran leadership to this quarterback room and again he is going to be the probably the third option here behind Mac Jones and Bailey Zappi with Brian Hoyer having been released last month so right now you're looking at Mac Jones slotted in as the number one Bailey Zappi right now as your backup and Trace McSorley coming in at the third option and all in all folks this one to me shapes up as a pure depth addition the Patriots typically carry three quarterbacks during this time of the year especially in the offseason through training camp.

It's customary. They carried three last season into the regular season. So that is something to keep an eye on, although they did so only until Brian Hoyer was placed on season-ending injured reserve. In my assessment, this changes nothing about the Patriots' plans at quarterback. So maybe looking to read a little extra into the tea leaves here. This is not one of the signings that's going to move the needle. I still think Matt gets the job at least to start the season. Bailey could be the choice.

There is a definite argument to be made. So for all of you, Bailey Zappi fans out there, I still think there is a shot. He wins the starting job. If Matt falters in training camp, but this doesn't mean that the Patriots are going to make a move and drop one of their top two options. I don't see McSorley coming in as a precursor to Mack being traded or to them looking to unload Bailey.

No, that's not going to happen. I don't think either one of those is going to happen. But what it does mean is that the Patriots no longer have to take a quarterback in the upcoming 2023 NFL draft. Prior to Trace McSorley signing, I would have said that it seemed like they had to do something. After all, they needed a third arm. And what better way to go about doing it than drafting someone, bringing in a new rookie presence, someone infusing a little bit of youth, and maybe seeing what was available. Now, the Patriots may little bit of youth, and maybe seeing what was available. Now,

the Patriots may indeed still do that, folks. I'm not saying that they won't take a quarterback, but I don't think it's a need anymore. They have a third arm now, and with Trace McSorley, you're going to get some added athleticism. I would definitely not discount his chances of making the team as a third quarterback out of training camp and to start the regular season. He has the chance to take and make the team, I should say, if the Patriots carry three quarterbacks, but that's a big if. The Patriots may look at the roster and say, you know what, 53 guys, we need that roster space somewhere else, but thanks to drafting Bailey Zappi in the fourth round round 2022 patriots could get away with carrying only two quarterbacks and it's safe to say the bailey was a pretty good pick in 2022 but

who else stood out in this draft who still has something to prove well brace yourself for temporal displacement because the conner murphy costello and i are going to hop into our bella checking in time machine out of a delorean and we're going to head because still and I are going to hop into our Bella checking in time machine out of a DeLorean. And we're going to head back to 2022. We're going to reevaluate last year's draft class. When throwback Thursday here on lockdown Patriots continues. But first folks,

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Built products, you have got to try them. Patriots fans, thank you once again for making Locked On Patriots a daily part of your New England Patriots coverage and a special shout out to all of you everydayers out there. Each one of you that take time out of your busy schedules to listen to Locked On Patriots. I always appreciate you from the bottom of my heart.

Because after all, the Locked On Podcast Network here is your team every day. And in that vein, folks, I also want to let you know about our new Locked On NFL Draft Buzz newsletter. You can find it at LockedOnPodcast.com slash newsletters. Sign up free right away. Each week, you're going to get a top story from NFL Draft expert Luke Inman. You're going to get a top five ranking, and you're also going to get links to great draft content across Locked On Podcast Network. That's the Locked On NFL Draft Buzz newsletter, lockedonpodcast.com slash newsletters.

Sign up for free today. Folks, as promised, we are taking a trip through time, and we could not in good conscience hop into the Belichickian DeLorean without any green wisdom and counsel. What kind of trip through time would it be if we didn't grab our good friend, the Count Murphy Fisto himself, the legendary Thomas Murphy of E2GSports.com. Murph, thank you so much for taking the ride through time with us today. How was the ride in the Belichick and DeLorean, bud?

It's fantastic, man. It's amazing. I bring 1.21 gigawatts to every single show. And we all. I bring 1.21 gigawatts to every single car. And we all. Without any question. The temporal displacement, not as bumpy as you'd expect with Murph in the car. When this baby hits 88 miles an hour, you're going to see some serious. All right.

Well, it's a family show, folks. I'm going to leave it like that. I'm just Einstein. Okay. I'm the guinea pig. They put me in the driver's seat and got the remote control out. Let's go. All right. Well, the flux capacitor is fluxing folks there you go the time circuits read 2022 we went back in time one year to the advent of the nfl draft in 2022 well actually a

little bit less than a year because we're dealing post-draft here, Merv. We're talking about the 2022 NFL draft class. And I know we're looking ahead to 2023. We've been doing an awful lot of that here on Locked On Patriots with mock drafts and draft evaluations. And we just love this time of year. And we really got a third year doing this, by the way, folks. And we absolutely love it. We'll keep it coming.

But thank you, Mark Schofield, for allowing us to do it. Absolutely. it. We'll keep it coming. That's it. Thank you, Mark Schofield, for allowing us to do it. Absolutely. Absolutely. And, folks, yeah, if you want to thank Mark in person, he'll be joining me here next week for some great, great draft insights. You don't want to miss that. Stay locked in to Locked On Patriots. Not Monday, right?

Thank you. Later. Absolutely. Oh, no, he'll be here on Tuesday. Monday is our mock draft show, folks. I wouldn't mind getting benched for Mark. I've got no issue with it. Murph is benched for no man or woman in the case.

Okay, so we're going to go ahead and we're going to move forward right now. And we're going to talk about the past, Murph. How do we move forward and talk about the past? Well, this is how we're going to do it here. A ride in the Belichickian time machine. Murph, the Patriots sent shockwaves through a lot of the NFL universe last year when they chose Cole Strange in the first round, traded down to get him. You and I had had a pretty good grade on Cole,

but neither one of us had a first-round grade on him. But Bill Belichick dances to the beat of his own drum. Past, present, or or future he's there and he's always always going to do what he feels is best for the football team when you look at this class i know a lot of people focus in on strange but there are gems that were plucked from this class i happen to like this class a lot um what are your thoughts when you look at this group as a whole? Who stands out to you? You know, Cole Strange right off the top of the bat. You know, again, we talked about him at length, possibly ad nauseum, with what he did postseason last year and leading up to the draft, and we

both had him on our wish list for the New England Patriots. I didn't think that he was going to end up going that early. I had him go into the Patriots, I believe, in the fourth round. People can go back and check on that at etugsports.com and let me know if I'm wrong. But the way that the board was falling, it was then or never because he wasn't going to get to them in the second round. I really don't think he was going to get to them in the second round.

Two offensive tackles, three offensive tackles came off before him. Kenyon Green was the first offensive guard to go off the board that year. And then Zion Johnson went right after. The writing was on the wall. All right. And that's when they went and they grabbed him and said, we probably don't want to do this, but we don't want to trade back any further and take a shot that he's going to be there. We know that he's not going to be there with our second pick.

What Cole Strange was able to come in and do here last year was quite impressive. He's a rookie, came from a small school, was stuck right in there to start the season. And nobody here is claiming that Cole was an all-pro or a Pro Bowl OG, but you can't expect that out of a rookie. You really can't, especially coming into the situation here. He had no offensive line coach.

He didn't. He was stuck into a mismatch and a hodgepodge of guys that were unhappy with their coaches, unhappy with their playing positions. A rookie, especially on the offensive line, depends on the guys next to him more than almost any other position on the field that isn't quarterback. And he just did not have the support. He did not have the direction. He did not have a solid foundation in teaching him how things should be done at the NFL level last year. You can put some of that, you can put most of that on Bill Belichick because he's the one that put together the coaching staff. But the attitude of a lot of the other guys on this line didn't help in this situation. I give him a B for what he did this year. It's not an A, it's not a B plus.

It's a solid B though for what he did last year and a solid B for the pick. Yeah, without question. I mean, look, you can make the argument that Cole may not have silenced all of his critics. The Patriots came under a lot of fire for drafting him as early as they did last year. I think the jury is still out on whether or not that was beneficial for the Pats to do that or whether they may have been able to manipulate the trading board a little bit better to still get him but get better value out of the pick. I happen to not have a problem with it because I think the Patriots zeroed in on a player they felt fit their system extremely well.

And I think you're going to see that this year. And the reason why is for the reason you mentioned. No offensive line coach last year. No additional help. He's got that this year. And Adrian Clem, I think he can really make strides in helping him to reach his potential. He's durable. He started every game last year.

I think he got better and better as the season progressed. Were there rookie mistakes and growing pains? Absolutely. But I also think there was a lot to love. Yeah, absolutely. He hit the wall. Everybody hits the wall. And when you're doing it as an offensive lineman, that wall is big.

Okay? It is solid. You were out there pounding your body on every single down. We're not just talking about trying to get out into space or get a little separation here. Your body is taking a beating on every single snap. And anybody who doesn't think so can come line up against my 55-year-old self and we'll do it for a half hour and we'll see how we both feel afterwards. Yeah, trust me, folks, you do not want to do that. That's a matchup you're not going to win. Moving on from strength, because I think that there is an agreement. I do happen to agree with you, by the way. I think it's a B pick, not a B minus,

but not a B plus. And I think this has an opportunity to be one of the better picks in Patriots memory in the last few years with the proper growth that you're going to see this year. But before we get to a pair of defensive rookies that just happen to share the same last name, I think we'd be remiss if we didn't throw Bailey Zappi into this gem mix. I know you and I have been very vocal about the fact that we still believe this is Mac Jones's team. I don't think that either of us have wavered in that. I talked extensively on yesterday's episode of Locked On Patriots about why I believe that Mack is still in the driver's seat. But if you're going to look at this purely from drafting a backup quarterback that can give

you spot starts, can even give you multiple spot starts if your starter is injured, I think you'd be hard-pressed to find a better situation for the new England Patriots than Bailey Zappi right now, steer the Patriots to comfortable victories. I've been critical of the fact that these were not very good offense defenses that they were facing, but let's face it folks, they're NFL defenses,

right? These are NFL players. So for Bailey to come in and do what he did still pretty impressive. And, you you know ultimately you have to give him kudos and credit for that I do think the Patriots got a good one here in terms of a backup quarterback and I I do like this uh the Zappi pick off a lot especially value in fourth round yeah especially in the fourth round when he was drafted in the day afterwards when I went in and really got into some film because I'll admit I did not watch film of Bailey Zappi coming into last year's draft.

I watched very little, I'll be honest. What I saw and what I said last year when we did our post-draft show is we got Don Strzok. The Patriots have Don Strzok. For those of you that are under the age of maybe 45 and don't remember, Don could run your offense and keep you in games. And he could win you games when your starter went down. And unfortunately, Don Strzok was stuck behind one of the greatest quarterbacks, two of the greatest quarterbacks that ever played this game. And he didn't get his chance, but he stayed in Miami and he did it.

And this is the person that I think Bailey Zappi is. Now, another reason why I like this pick is because there are people out there who think that Bailey Zappi should be running this offense. They don't even think the Patriots should go out and find another quarterback in this year's draft, even though they're picking 14th, and there's going to be a quality guy sitting there. They're not saying to go do that. These people are saying, no, we want Bailey Zappi. Go trade Mack Jones and give us Bailey Zappi. Well, one, that's ridiculous, but two, that doesn't make this a bad pick. I thought this was a fantastic pick, at least a C+. The only reason why I give it that is because there were other areas of need that probably could have been addressed at that point in time. Yeah, I agree with you. I grade Bailey a little bit higher. I have him as a B plus simply because I just think the value that

he brings, especially at the backup quarterback position, knowing that Mac had his injury issues last year and some struggles on the field, that it's good to be able to have that arm that you know you can go to. And that is battle-tested and someone that can go in there and make starts for you that's not a um a typical rookie or a second year guy that really hasn't had any nfl experience with the exception of in garbage time this guy's played and he'll be able to do it if he needs to but again it really have to even out everything. And I think it is a valid argument for you to say that the Patriots had other needs

that could have been addressed. That may be one of the things that works against this pick. But ultimately... I wanted Tyreek Woolen there. Yeah, I know. And we did talk a lot about him last year. I do remember that.

Of course, we are in 2022. I was kind of ticked when he came off the board like right after Bailey about five or eight picks afterwards. I was course, we are in 2022. I was kind of ticked when he came off the board, like right after Bailey, about five or eight picks afterwards. I was like, son of a bitch. But no, I like Bailey and I like your evaluation there. Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, folks, we can definitely go back and take a look at what we said last year. Because, after all, we are in 2022, Murph.

You just have to be careful not to run into your other self. Could cause a paradox. But in any case, that's a bad Christopher Lloyd impression, folks. I'm sorry about that. That was so bad. That is terrible. That was so bad. I'm feeling better, but I'm not feeling better enough to realize

when you've made a bad decision. Mea culpa on that one, folks. If you want to do Don Corleone today, go right ahead, but stay away from Don Corleone. my no my impressions are done they're absolutely done so in any case folks um how are we going to talk about gems without talking about a pair of jones's not that jones the other jones right murph let's talk about the other jones first because uh i'm going to take a little bit of a victory lap on Marcus Jones in just a moment. But I think Jack actually flashed some maybe pro-ball caliber down the line.

No, no, no, no. You go ahead and take Marcus. Don't talk Marcus. Yeah, this kid looked... As a matter of fact, I'm not going to steal your thunder. I'm going to let you go ahead and talk glowingly about Jack Jones, because you had this kid very much pegged as well. And there is a lot of potential there, save for what happened at the end of the season. I think there's a lot to like. I did right off the bat. I love Jack Jones. I love the pick. I danced up and down the living room that night. I was just thrilled to death because

here we had a kid that had some trouble in college. We called him the Panda Express leading up to the draft. You guys can go look that up. I'm not your intern. But what Jack flashed at the beginning of the year was exactly what I thought we were going to get what I wanted here was the, um, the small gutsy, uh, go for it all playmaker of a cornerback that this team desperately needed at the time. Um, there wasn't anybody there in the first round as in a shutdown corner that the Patriots could have taken. What they did was they bided their time

and they grabbed a pair of Joneses that, you know, you just can't argue are two of the highlight picks. We'll get to it at the end of this, but these two guys were two of the better picks that Bill, who can't draft, you know, came in. And a lot of people are going to say, well, Bill turned the board over to something. No, he didn't.

He didn't turn the board over to anybody. These two picks were just fantastic. And they played well above expectation when realizing that certain other people, uh, you know, when Butler, uh, decided to re-retire when it just wasn't happening for him, it's, it was a beautiful thing. They're fantastic picks. What he's going to do here, well, everything will get shook and off what happened at the end of the year. And, uh, they'll come back. He's Jack Jones is going to come back even stronger and you know basically say who you got on the other side yeah without any question and uh who they have on the other

side i think it's still a matter of conjecture folks you're probably looking at jonathan jones i'm sure uh and i would say you're probably right on that but who knows new england may be in the market for a cornerback in this draft there's a lot to think about but there's also a lot to remember in Jack Jones's prowess and I think people forget that sometimes that this kid is very much capable with a full year of off-season training a full year of pro level experience under one more year of maturity too yeah oh yeah that had to come things came really easy for jack right out right through camp you know as soon as camp he was out there making plays and making you know grown-ass men look silly and then it continued through the first month and a

half of the season and you know that kind of attitude as a rookie doesn't really fly. So maybe he got, maybe he got a little time out there and, and we'll see. But like I said, another year of maturity and that's going to be, but please, I, by all means get, go in on, on your Jones. Well, I mean, I'm not going to take credit for Marcus because I didn't scout him to the Patriots or anything of that nature. I did mention that I thought the Patriots would be in on this kid in the draft prior to the draft. And I wasn't alone in that regard, folks. There are a lot of other of my colleagues in the media that joined me in that

opinion. But I did say before the draft or shortly after it, that I believe that if the Patriots did take him and once they did, that he would be my favorite Patriots pick in this draft. And he's proven me right. Marcus Jones, to me, is still the guy that I'm going to look at in this draft. And I believe when we look back on this draft, he's going to be the gem of it. And it's not just the versatility that he brings to the table, folks, because it's exciting to be able to know that this kid has the speed, the savvy, the ability to recognize routes and be an offensive weapon. He can be a weapon on defense.

He can be an excellent slot corner and has the ability to play bigger than his frame. Tremendous in the return game without any question about it. This guy can do it all on offense, defense, and on special teams. But the thing that I love most about Marcus is the maturity that you see, the ability to play, a wisdom beyond his years in not only knowing the field but also knowing where his teammates have to be these are the moments where you see prototypical Patriots take that step forward guys like Devin McCourty guys like Dante Hightower um you know lifers that have been in the Patriots system that

were drafted here that come up through the ranks and just get it right off the bat. You saw that in Marcus and you see a desire for him to just do whatever he needs to do on the field. And he wants to play on defense. And that's probably one of the things that people were looking to forsake. He eats it up, man. He loves it. He does.

He just loves it. This is where he wants to be. He wants to be out there hitting people. He wants to be out there making plays on that side of the ball. Uh, if you ask him to run into the slot and go do something, he'll be happy to do it. He just doesn't want to do it as a full time job. Right? Exactly. And he doesn't, I don't think we'll have to, I think he will be your primary option out of the slot this year. I think that's the way the Patriots are trending. And if they do, I can't argue with that. Uh will definitely be your return man. I made the pro ball doing that. Excuse me. I mean, he made the all protein doing that. So, you know,

Marcus right now. When Mike says weapon out of the slot, he means on the defensive side, folks. He didn't mean the slot wide receiver. Yeah, but I think you're going to see him align in that. I do think Bill O'Brien will keep that trickery under his hat. He's not quite as fond as some of the trickery that you'd expect to see under Josh McDaniels or maybe Matt Patricia trying to inject some life into the offense last year when we saw it against the Bills. But I do think you will see Marcus Jones line up in that. So tip of the cap, nod of the gods to a lot of the great athletes we saw take the field for New England last year. But you and I both know that we have our favorites, but we're not done with our journey through the past just yet, folks. My impression is absolutely done.

It's buried. It's not coming back. But we will be back in just a moment because there are still paths with things to prove in 2023. And Murph and I will let you know who's on our list of prove it or lose it when this episode of the Locked On Patriots podcast continues. Patriots fans, thank you once again for making Locked On Patriots your first listen of the day. Remember, tomorrow here on the pod, we're going to be taking a look at prototypical Patriots

as it relates to the 2023 nfl draft so after our little trip into the past we're going to be moving forward into the future and i'm going to be joined by a very special guest here who like our guest today has phd in draft dealings intense scientific research done by tomorrow's guest folks if you're thinking scientists you're thinking laboratory think dr ian malcolm a little bit more than Dr. Emmett Brown. I don't know, Murph. I might have just given it away. But in any case, tune in tomorrow to find out who our guest is.

Don't forget to download, subscribe to, follow Locked On Patriots wherever you consume podcasts. We are a proud part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Definitely not Dr. Moreau. No, no Dr. Moreau, no island over here that's it um murph the time circuits still say 2022 here on our belichickian delorean so we're still throwing it back to last year's draft class we've talked about our favorites from last season's rookies but there are still some that have something to prove in a patriots uniform in the upcoming season

i'll start with you, my friend. When you look at this draft class from top to bottom, might be someone we've mentioned, might not be. Who are you looking at to make that jump in 2023? Tyquan Thornton. Tyquan Thornton. Okay. This poor kid got, he ended up trying to prove that he was more than he wasn't and putting his body in the way.

And he ended up getting hurt and set back. And it was really difficult for him, once again, not to keep running, beating the same dead horse here with the offensive minds that he had to lean on last year to get back into the rotation on a serious level. When he was out there, I thought he played really well. I thought he was open a lot more than he was hit or used, you can go back and look at the tape and see why is Mac going here when Taekwon is open over there? Quite honestly, because Mac didn't have the time to get back there and Taekwon wasn't open early in that route.

And so another, a full year in the weight room, a full year of maturity, a full year of knowing how things are expected to be done around here is only going to help him. But I expect a serious uptick from Tyquan Thornton. I've been beating the drum and beating the drum that the Patriots do not have to take a wide receiver at 14 okay and some of the reasons that i believe that they don't need to go and trade for a number one wide receiver because i don't want this kid blocked up i don't i want him on the field i want this is how you get better and i think he's going to earn it but this that's the man that i think needs to take the step next year yeah i talked about taekwon a lot yesterday on the pod and talking about his work with mac jones and with bailey zappy especially the informal throwing sessions early on it's great to see that buy-in from rookie

he definitely is serious about making sure that he puts in the work to do what needs to be done on the field and you've got to give him a little bit of a pass. Obviously, the broken collarbone to have him miss the first part of the season certainly set him back. You can do all of the drills. You can do all of the training camps, preseason games that you want, practical training, on-the-job training in the regular season is a whole different animal. And Taekwon didn't have that last year.

So hopefully that will change, and he'll get a lot more time on the field. But the other thing that I like about Taekwon and what'll get a lot more time on the field but the other thing that i like about taekwon and what makes me believe that this kid has the stuff to move forward go back go back a little bit further we're still in 2022 here murph maybe we'll hop in the belichickian time machine and go to this game before we head back to the future um week six against the cleveland browns last year receiving touchdown rushing touchdown first Patriots wide receiver since Dion Branch to do that score both in the same game grateful so you look at that you look at what he's able to do that's versatility the speed is unquestionably

there unquestionably you know we've seen him on the practice fields in Gillette I mean he really this kid's second and third year is just unbelievable it really is unbelievable uh you you thought Jones was fast this kid is fast this kid is really really fast yeah lightning in a bottle type vest uh he's that good uh and that strong so um absolutely we love it and speaking of strong Murph there you go you want to talk about speed this kid has it as well and yeah I think Pierre Strong has the stuff to make a bigger leap than a lot of people are expecting everyone's thinking that maybe beyond Ramondre Stevenson and maybe James Robinson coming in the Patriots still need a big time back in kind of waiting in the wings in order to be able to see if he can spell from Andre, if the wheels start to come off a little bit, a couple of years down the line, don't worry folks, neither of us believe that's going to

happen, but you never know. You always have to be ready for contingency. I think the Patriots have that in Pierre Strong. I expect a lot more out of him this year. What say you, Murph? Because I know you were very impressed with this pick when they made it. I really was. And you couldn't get much less production from somebody that was taken in the fourth round unless you're Bill Belichick and you happen to play running back. You know, it's forever in the back of anybody's mind whenever Bill drafts a running back that, oh, red shirt, red shirt, red shirt, perfect red shirt guy. Everybody here has done it. Um, you know, James White did it.

Every, everybody does it. And, uh, he came in, he only had 10 carries last year, but he averaged 10 yards of carry. He averaged 10 yards of carry. Okay. Um, I. I forget what his long was on the year. It might have been like 40 yards or something like that. But the kid averaged 10 yards a carry. This is somebody that can catch the ball out of the backfield, do something with it. And, yeah, no, I like your pick here. I'm expecting more out of him.

And don't, you know, be surprised if there's a surprise cut at uh you know on cut down on that last cut down day and they go with uh with mr strong yeah if he can prove himself in training camp i think the sky's the limit for this kid in terms of speed and in terms on field savvy the only thing that worries me a little bit and this is where a special teams coordinator comes in very handy a lot of costly errors on special teams last year everybody remembers the roughing the kicker penalty things every night that set up minnesota's game-winning touchdown so a lot of people have not forgiven pierre for that but he's a rookie folks those yeah those mistakes are going to

happen i was eating pie by then i was having pie. A pie? And that case, you also have to remember that, you know, there wasn't a whole lot of continuity on special teams last year, and the Patriots really lacked, I think, presence in the coaching staff to be able to do it. Whatever you may think of Joe Judge, folks, he is phenomenal when it comes to special teams, and I think the Patriots are going to be a lot cleaner and a lot neater in that department in 2023. So, again, I have high hopes for Pierre Strong. I think you can add Kevin Harris into that mix as well. Not necessarily as high into that. But I think that, you know, when you look at the backfield moves that New England has made in the offseason with just bringing in Robinson,

letting Damian Harris walk off to a division rival in this case in the Buffalo Bills, it does show that I think they have a lot more confidence in Harris and in Strong to really step up and make those types of leaps that you need to make in year two as a Patriots running back. So those are the guys I think that have stuff to prove. Before we take our leave of this subject, Murph, and we hop back into the Belichickian DeLorean, head back to 2023, anybody in this draft class that we have not mentioned yet that you think deserves a shout-out as a solid member of this 2022 draft?

No, I really think that we hit on everybody, man. I'd love to bring up Sam Roberts, but we'll see what happens there. I loved his stuff coming out of college. We'll see if he takes another step. Look, folks, it's really hard after a season to go back in on this, and I might be stepping on myself, but this is one of the better draft classes that Bill has had. You know, I we could, you know, definitely go into, you know, which is the best draft class of all time.

Twenty twelve. Twenty thirteen. You know, going all the way back to, you know, two thousand and three. You know, when they grabbed Ty Warren, Eugene Wilson, Bethel Johnson, Asante Samuel, and, and, and, you know, of the like Dan Copen, but no, this draft five years from now, I think we're going to look back at it as one of the more solid drafts that the Patriots ever had. It's not, it's not 2016, but, uh, it's not 2017 or 18 either. Yeah, good, very good point. By a long shot. By a long shot.

Very, very good point. And again, I think that you hit the nail on the head. Sam Roberts, Jason Hines, Andrew Stuber. You can't really throw those guys in because there's not really a sample size in order to be able to either accept the pick or reject it. Yeah, exactly. And it's all about potential. One guy I did want to mention that I know some fans are probably going to mention in the comments, but I want to remind you that we're talking draft class here, folks.

We're not talking rookie class. There is a difference. Brendan Schooler definitely deserves a shout-out for the rookie he had on special teams. I love this kid. I love his instincts but we didn't mention him as part of this show today folks because why your name's on he's an undrafted rookie he's an undrafted rookie so you know at that point you want to talk rookie class yeah schooler is probably in our list of gems uh but he wasn't mentioned here today because we're

talking purely on the draft but again folks you know a couple of special schoolers there too yeah absolutely yeah up there too you know it just goes back to everything that we were talking about earlier but no fantastic fantastic pull you know you can't leave brendan schooler out of a out of a show like this yeah absolutely and again you know there are you know undrafted rookies that did make an impact on this team that I think could make a bigger impact in 2023 as well to Marcus Mitchell, Raleigh Webb. These guys still have the opportunity to be impact players, whether it's 2023 or beyond. So, Murph, this travel trip through time was just, it was a lot of fun. But the clock tower is about to hit midnight and we've got to get back in the DeLorean. The lightning's about

to strike here. Enchantment Under the Sea dance is done and we're ready to head back. What can I say, my friend? Thank you so much for taking this travel trip through time here on Locked on Patriots. Folks, I always say it and I mean it every single time I

say it. It is appointment listening, appointment reading. Every time Murph puts pen to paper or voice to microphone, before I let you go, my friend, and take our lead for the week, please let everyone know where they can find you and what you have cooking over the weekend from the great pen, great voice of Thomas Murph. Well, you can sit there and follow me on the Bird app at TMurph207. Another nod to Mark Schofield there.

And, of course, I'll have some Red Sox stuff coming up this year. Another game choked away this afternoon. That's why we're taping this so late. Thank you for being patient, Michael, so I could watch that and get a few more gray hairs. Got a nice piece up over there at E2gsports.com right now on the IQ problem that there seems to be on the Red Sox roster right now. Just a lot of stupid, sloppy baseball. And so I get into that. Please go check that out. And I'll be back here Monday and I'll pump one Patriots place on Monday. Absolutely, folks. And please, as a reminder,

send in your great mock drafts here to Lockdown Patriots because we will be going over those on Monday. And don't forget to check us out here on Friday as well, because again, a very special guest coming in to take us from the Cretaceous period to the present period.

Now I'm really giving away who's going to be our guest, folks. Those of you who are savvy enough will be able to pick up on that. And Murph, you never have to thank me for either going later or going earlier. Come on, we've got a Belichickian time machine. We've got all the time in the world, my friend. Folks, once again, thank you for all of the support that you provide to Locked On Patriots and for allowing us to come into your homes, your lives, each and every day on the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. On behalf of my good friend, the Count of Murphy, Fisto himself,

a legendary Thomas Murphy of E2G Sports, I'm Mike DeBate. Folks, continue to stay safe, stay well, be the change you wish to see in the world. Have a great day, everyone. Ted Karras, six-round pick.