Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - No Regrets: Patriots Sacrificed Depth to Land Caleb Lomu & Gabe Jacas

Episode Date: April 27, 2026

New England Patriots make bold draft-day moves, sacrificing mid-round picks to secure top talent. Is this aggressive strategy the missing piece for a roster turnaround? Nick Cattles breaks down the Patriots' decision to trade up for Caleb Lomu and Gabe Jacas, analyzing the impact on linebacker and safety depth as key fourth- and fifth-round targets slipped away. He explores the real effect of Mike Vrabel’s absence on Day Three, the rationale behind adding late-round picks, and whether the undrafted free agent receiver class hints at an imminent A.J. Brown trade. Key discussion points include New England's evolving wide receiver room, the front office's long-term planning for the 2026 roster, and potential moves involving Kayshon Boutte and Pop Douglas. Will the Patriots’ calculated risks pay off, or will the lack of depth haunt their 2026 campaign? Don’t miss this comprehensive look at the franchise’s next steps. Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms 🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/podcasts/locked-on-patriots/ Locked On NFL League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft, & More 🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/leagues/nfl/ #patriots #NewEnglandPatriots Everydayer Club If you never miss an episode, it’s time to make it official. Join the Locked On Everydayer Club and get ad-free audio, access to our members-only Discord, and more — all built for our most loyal fans. Click here to learn more and join your team’s community: https://lockedonpodcasts.com/everydayerclub Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! FanDuel Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now new customers can bet just five dollars and get one-hundred and fifty dollars in bonus bets if your first bet wins. Visit https://FANDUEL.COM to get started — Play Your Game. Indeed Listeners of this show get a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to help give your job the premium placement it deserves at http://Indeed.com/podcast. Rugiet Get 15% off your treatment → https://rugiet.com/lockedonnfl Rugiet. Performance medicine for men. 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) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Pats should have zero regrets with their approach in rounds one and two, but that approach meant a significant sacrifice. This is Locked-on Patriots. You are Locked-on Patriots, your daily New England Patriots podcast, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. It's happening. I am your host, Nick Cattles. On today's episode, we'll share a theory as to why the Pats' urgency at wide receiver

in their UDFA class will lead to an alpha in that room in 2026. In the second segment, Mike Vrable's absence shaped the day three, strategy, decision making, and operation. But first, the give and take of being aggressive in the early rounds of this draft over the weekend. We spent weeks, we spent months heading into this draft, talking about how the Patriots had plenty of young depth needed on this roster, right? We looked at linebacker.

We looked at edge. We looked at safety. We looked at corner. Just a bunch of different spots. The interior offensive line, the tackle spot on the right side. There are a number of spots because of the free agency period in 2025. The guys they brought in like Robert Spillane and Carlton Davis and Morgan Moses. And because there were so many bad drafts, the latter years of Bill Belichick and especially,

especially Gerard Mayo's only year in 2020. that led to a bunch of different spots where you could say they need young depth there. And hopefully they can find that young depth in the draft. But the first round trade to move up and draft Caleb Lomu and the second round trade to move up and draft gave Accus fundamentally changed the approach and the strategy for the Patriots. Let's start here. The gap. the huge gap between picking at 95 in the third round and 171 in the fifth round. That means you're sitting there.

You're watching a bunch of cats get drafted. You've got your feet up. And this was one of the Bill Belichick philosophies about draft time, right? You don't want these huge gaps from one pick to the next pick because you're just waiting around, you're missing out on runs, and you don't control your own destiny. So the Patriots had to sit there. They take Eli Raarden at 95,

and then they're not picking until 171, which is a lifetime in the NFL draft. You know, almost 100 picks to sit through and watch play out. And because of that, you lost out on a number of positions that I think the Patriots were looking at to address, to find that young depth that they need. Let's just look at the fourth round.

Linebackers. Linebackers that were drafted in the fourth round. Kyle Lewis could end up being a safety, but listed as a linebacker. Bryce Becher, Jimmy Rolder, and Caleb Alarms Orr, those are just four guys, just four of the six names that were drafted at linebacker in the fourth round. You had to sit that out. And we heard Elliott Wolf before this draft talk about. Day three. Day three was a great day for linebacker depth. Now, of course, they drafted a linebacker in the sixth round, but I would bet you. I would bet you linebacker. If they didn't make those trades on Thursday night and Friday night, I would bet you that linebacker would have been a spot that they would have been looking at heavily in the fourth round. In the fourth round, fifth round, before you picked that 171. How about safety? An idea of trying to find somebody who could be behind.

Kevin Byard, who's 33 years old, going to need some of that young depth and hopefully marry that guy along with Craig Woodson and your defensive backfield for the next six, seven years. Well, in the fourth and fifth rounds, safeties, Genesis Smith, Kamari Ramsey, Dalton Johnson, and Zaki Wheatley, who was somebody that took a top 30 visit to the Patriots, somebody that we had mocked to the Patriots in one of our mock drafts. Those guys gone. Other guys, other guys who were drafted in the fourth and fifth rounds. That could have been of interest to the Patriots. How about defensive tackle Caleb Proctor? Somebody who can really pressure the quarterback from the interior of the defensive line. Pats could have been interested.

He was gone. Denied Dennis Sutton. You want to double up at edge. Now, of course, the Patriots did double dip at edge in this draft, but they waited until the seventh round to pick that second edge. So if you wanted to bring in more of an impact edge, to go along with Gabe Accus, deny Dennis Sutton was drafted in that fourth, fifth round area.

How about your interior offensive line, finding a guard of the future? If you want to say goodbye to Mike Owenu, Jalen Farmer was drafted in the fourth fifth round. Jeremiah Wright, somebody we talked about an awful lot. I wouldn't say a Mike Owenu clum, clone, but pretty close to it. Those guys were off the board.

So by the time you got to 171, Kyle Lewis, Bryce Betcher, Jimmy Rolder, you know, Zaki Wheatley, Caleb Proctor, Jeremiah Wright, all those guys were off the board. And then you think about the impact of not having a fourth round pick and how that might have had a trickle-down effect at the wide receiver position because you didn't have any fourth round picks. That meant you were unlikely going to make some kind of investment over the weekend at wide receiver.

I had said leading into this draft, I didn't think it was crazy that the Pats could draft the receiver somewhere in the middle rounds, right? Because Pop Douglas might not fit in this offense. K. Sean Booty might get dealt. You got guys who were going to be free agents, those two, including Mack Hollins after 2026. It would make a lot of sense to, you know, draft a young development. developmental cat at that position in the fourth, fifth, six rounds. Well, when you knock out those two fourth round picks, that made it to me unlikely that you

were going to invest in the wide receiver position with one of your picks. And when you look at the fourth round, the receivers that went in the fourth that we had discussed, Elijah Surat, Skyler Bell, Bryce Lance, just three of the names at wide receiver that were taken. So no fourth round picks. All of a sudden that talent pool, it starts to dissipate. And let's not forget that this draft to begin with wasn't necessarily deep.

Now, some people might say, why not move up? I had somebody tweet at me at Nick C. Radio this week. You know, why not move up, Nick? They could have moved up. Why not move up and try to find one of those linebackers? What are you moving? What are you moving to get a fourth round pick? What are you moving to climb up in the fifth round?

You know, all you had was 171 and a couple of sixth round picks. I don't think that's going to make some kind of monumental move for you. I don't think you had enough assets to make a move that would have been significant enough without including a pick from 2027. And I don't think the Patriots wanted to deal. any picks from 2027. Now that can play a part in our third segment today when we talk about a certain receiver.

But it makes a lot of sense to say, no, we're not going to give up a fourth round pick in 2027 to move up in this draft that's not heavy with talent to move up a few slots in the fifth round. That doesn't make much sense. So when you made those deals, when you made the trade in the first round, when you made the trade in the second round,

you had to understand if you were Elliot Wolf and Mike Vrable and John Stretch Stryker and Ryan Cowden. That was a calculated decision. And what the Patriots decided was that we want to land two top 50-ish players in this draft at two needs. Caleb Lomu was seen as a top 25 guy by many out there. I think that a number of people liked Gabe Accus in the league. And so when you're sitting there, and the Patriots, according to Elliot Wolf had both guys ranked pretty highly. So you're sitting there, you have a chance to land two top 50 players in this draft. Remember we talked about leading into it, you know, pick 21 to like pick 50 pretty flat in this draft, the same type of player.

But once you got beyond 50 or so, then it was an even bigger drop. So the Patriots made the calculated decision. we're going to land two top 50 guys, guys that we consider top 50 dudes, we're going to land those two guys and part of that sacrifice for moving up. Part of that sacrifice to make those moves and land those players is that you no longer had those fourth round picks. And you were going to sacrifice filling some of those holes on this roster with guys who are more likely to make an impact on day one than the guys you ended up drafting

later on. But no regrets. I think the Patriots made the right calculated decision. It's just if you're wondering why, oh man, why'd they end up with this dude? Why they end up with that guy? I want to draft this guy. I want to draft that guy. You know, the guys that a lot of us talked about and the guys that were more likely

to make that day one impact, if they were going to make a day one impact, they were off the board, baby. And that's because you made that decision, a decision, again, that I agree with. Rable's absence was felt in several different ways on Saturday. That's next. This is Lockdown Patriots, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. Now the number one sports podcast network, your team every day. We just witnessed the NFL draft where preparation meets opportunity and every decision

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Thank you for making us your first listen for being an everydayer. Speaking of, check out the Everydayer Club. Add free episodes, access to a group chat with other listeners of this show. Tap the link in the show notes to find out more. We're to lockdown patriots. Supercast.com. Also, don't forget to click that. thumbs up give us a like we have now climbed over 9,500 subscribers and it's all because of you don't

forget to click that thumbs up helps us with that algorithm don't forget to throw a comment in as well are you okay with the sacrifice the patriots made by moving up in the first and second round sacrificing those fourth round picks which no doubt impacted your draft strategy and impacted the type of depth that you could draft over the weekend are you cool with it and don't forget to subscribe. Appreciate every single one of you. That next goal, 10,000 subscribers. There was some mass confusion over the weekend about Mike Vrable. Was he completely absent on day three? Was he talking to the Patriots? Now, of course, before the draft kicked off, Vrable had spoken to the media and the idea was that they were going to keep in contact, that Vrable was going to keep in contact

with Elliot Wolf and Ryan Cowden. And, you know, every once in a while, the coach would get an update or the coach would reach out. Peter Schrager came out on ESPN on Saturday and said that the Patriots were, quote, unquote, in constant contact with Rable. Elliot Wolf came out and said, no, we were not in constant contact during the draft on day three with Mike Frable. As a matter of fact, we had no contact.

with Vrable during day three. And according to Elliot Wolf, Mike Vrable, the front office, they went over the plan for Saturday on Friday night. And they made a conscious decision to let Vrable go out and about in the counseling world with his family outside of Massachusetts, reportedly get that counseling and not be worried about football. Peter Schrager then came out and backtracked and said,

you know, I was told before this and it was a very confusing backtracking, but apparently there was no contact between Mike Vrable and the franchise on Saturday, aside from a few texts in the morning, Elliot Wolfe said, wishing him well and wishing him in the family that they were okay. So no contact. Now, I do think the impact of the Vrable absence was lessened because of what we just talked about in the last segment, because of those two trades, the Patriots made.

Because instead of having two fourth round picks to go along with the fifth and the four sixth and I think one seventh, those two fourths were gone. So you had nothing in round four. You had one of the last, you know, eight to ten picks in the fifth round, depending on how many cop picks there were. I think there were like seven or eight, whatever. So you had one of the bottom eight to ten picks in that fifth round when you include those cops.

So really you're looking at, you're looking at. You know, a fifth round pick that all intents and purposes is a sixth round pick. The sixth round picks and seventh round pick that are, as we've talked about, sixth round and seventh round, they are really like lottery tickets, dart throws. Doesn't mean you can't hit the bullseye every once in a while. Kishon Booty, I would say, is a bull's eye for a sixth round pick. You know, Puka Nukuwa is a bonanza for a fifth round pick. Those things happen, but they are the anomalies.

Doesn't mean that it couldn't happen this year. maybe one of the guys the patch drafted this year. Maybe Karan Prunty ends up shutting everybody up and ends up being one of the better players on this roster in a couple of years, or at least maybe he ends up being a contributor. Maybe he ends up starting. But the impact of Rabel's absence,

no doubt lessened when you moved on from those two fourth round picks. I've said this before. I'll say it again. When you get to six round, seventh round, there is a heavy scout, heavy coordinator, heavy front office influence with those picks. And I mean personnel guys, not just a dude calling the shots.

A lot of those picks, you know, you're giving your scout one of their guys. You're giving your coordinator one of their guys. Don't forget Belichick, right? Belichick had Ernie Adams make a seventh round pick one time. Like when you look at the sixth and the seventh rounds, I don't want to say favors, but, you know, a little tip. of the cap to guys that are working hard for you. So I don't think the Vrabel impact as far as those sixth and seventh round picks,

not a huge, huge impact. Now, the two day three deals, when you think about the trades that the Patriots made on Saturday, they make a lot of sense given Vrable's absence. So the Patriots traded pick 191 to Jacksonville for pick 196 and pick 244. The Patriots also traded pick 198 to the Vikings for pick 234 in a 27th, sixth round pick. And I think there might have been another trade thrown in there as well. And when you think about the context, when you think about Vrable not being there on Saturday, those trades to me make even more sense.

Why are you adding seventh round picks? well teams they will use seventh round picks at times to you know replace the undrafted free agent field and so the idea is instead of trying to recruit one of those UDFAs trying to sell one of those UDFAs on your organization you use a pick on them because then they have no choice you drafted them they're coming to you they're going to be in your facility so instead of trying to battle other teams across the NFL for a certain player, you will use that seventh round pick on that player because that secures you the player. So when you think about that, I had heard, you know, from other people, you know, I think Phil Perry maybe, some others saying,

well, you know, if Mike Vrable's not there, it certainly will hurt the recruiting. And I think even Elliott Wolf might have mentioned that at one point. You know, man, a lot of times you get to use the head coach to recruit the UDFAs. And somebody like Vrable, his personality, he tends to be really good at recruiting those UDFAs. Well, it would stand to reason adding some seventh round picks to use on players that might not be seen as draftable from some teams or most teams, but you use those picks on those players to get them in the building

so you don't have to worry about Vrable trying to recruit those guys. So that makes sense. I also will say this. I sneaky love. I sneaky love that trade with the Minnesota Vikings. And I know it might not seem like a big deal to you, but moving from pick 198 to pick 234, that's a big drop. But you ended up adding a sixth round pick in next year's draft.

Now, again, they're lottery tickets. But as we've talked about, even though they're dart throws, I'll try to I'll try to make a visual for you. Yeah, they're dart throws. But in 2027, because of the draft, you know, it's expected to be loaded next year. You know, that dartboard is bigger.

So you have a better shot at hitting a 20 or a bull's eye or a 19 or a double 20. You get the point, right? So I sneaky love getting that sixth round pick in 20. because we saw it happen this year. The Patriots used one of their sixth round picks this year to go along with that fourth. They use that sixth as a sweetener to move up for Gabe Accus. So now you get to next year's draft. You can use some of those late picks, some of those late day three picks.

If you need a sweetener to move up in the third round or the second round, you now have that sweetener. And that draft class, again, is expected to be loaded. It gives you more picks. It gives you more options. It gives you more fluidity in the 2027 draft. You have a better shot to move around in that loaded draft. And right now, if you look at 2027, the Patriots have a first round pick, second round pick, third round pick, fourth round pick.

All of their own picks. Then you have two fifth round picks, your own and one from Chicago in the Garrett-Bradberry trade. And now you have four sixth-round picks. You have your own pick. then you have the Saints pick because of the Jalen Polk trade. Then you have Houston's pick because of the Marte Mapu trade. And now you have that Minnesota pick to go along with your own. So you have a pick in every round, the first through the sixth,

including two fifths and four sixths. And let's not forget, you can still deal Kashan Booty for a day three pick in next year's draft. I think the Patriots are still going to try to do that. And that gives you currency. that gives you currency to move around in next year's draft when the talent is going to be much deeper and more exciting. In one last thought, I'm not really worried about picking guys that aren't Vrable guys. You know, oh, well, Mike Vrable, he might have been in the room and told the Patriots that,

you know, that guy's not our type of player. Listen, stretches in the room, stretches best friends with Vrable. They share a brain pretty much. Ryan Cowden is in the room. Elliot Wolf is in the room and has worked with Vrable now for a year. The coaching staff, a lot of those guys Vrable's known for a long time. I'm not worried about that. I would like to imagine that the guys in the room have a pretty good feel as to what type of player Vrable likes and how that guy would fit in.

So I'm not so worried about that. The UDFA class, speaking of UDFAs, the UDFA class could tie directly into the plan at wide receiver for this. upcoming year. How? Well, find out next. This is Lockdown Patriots, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe. We appreciate you. So, you know, I've been going back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, fourth and forth, fourth and forth, fourth and back between this AJ Brown deal is agreed upon. It's like a handshake deal. These guys know, I've been going back and forth between that and, well, it's like 95% done. It's like you're not, you're not right at the tape, but you're close to the tape that you've got to run through.

And I'm telling you, after watching the draft this weekend, I'm now saying the deal is done. I believe there's been some agreement between the Patriots and the Eagles. I believe that there's been some agreement between Howie Roseman and Mike Vrable to go along with Elliott Wolf and Stretch Stryker and Ryan Cowden, but mostly Vrable and Rose. and probably Elliott Wolf on the phone representing Vrable. But I really believe, I really believe that there is some kind of people call it the handshake deal. I think there is an agreement between the two sides. They're going to trust each other and they're just going to wait until that June 1st date.

I don't think the Eagles, you know, the Eagles moving up, they didn't just draft McKay Lemon. They moved up to draft McKay Lemon. they gave up assets to draft him. And when you look at what they've done at wide receiver, investing the money, they've invested the money into there with, you know, Hollywood Brown and the Don Tavian Wix extension for next year at more than $12 million. The money they're going to pay Mackay Lemon as, what, a top 20 pick in the draft this year.

You know, the assets, the draft picks they've given up to acquire Wix and to move up to pick Lemon. just investing that money and investing those picks. And I would sit there and say, well, that's, you know, that doesn't mean the Patriots and the Eagles have an agreement. It just means the Eagles know they've got to move on from A.J. Brown. But by all accounts, the Patriots right now are literally the only team that is interested in A.J. Brown. And so before you make these big decisions that were made over the weekend, especially by the Eagles, before you make those decisions, I mean, to just believe that,

you'll be able to get rid of A.J. Brown when right now there's one team that is willing to give up legitimate draft capital to bring him in. I just, I would find it very hard to believe. So the Eagles moving up and drafting Lemon, the Eagles trading for Jonathan Grenard and giving him a $100 million contract extension, which will add his cap hit, you know, to future years. And that's made easier by trading AJ Brown. Yes, you could keep both guys. And yes, Jeffrey Lurie, the Eagles owner has been known to, you know, pay a lot of money, cash and stuff like that to build the roster up. But it's just easier to make that type of acquisition without A.J. Brown on the roster. Now, some are reading into the fact that the Patriots did not draft a wide

receiver as some type of A.J. Brown guarantee. I'm not sold on that as much as some others are. Because A, we talked about it in the first segment, that fourth round trickle-down effect, it's tough to say. The fourth-round trickle-down effect was real. And so when you traded those two fourth-round picks, the idea of spending a pick on a wide receiver became less likely. I would also say that Kishan Booty wasn't dealt. And I think the idea was if you were going to be able to trade Kishan Booty, you get that extra pick, which would allow you to invest a pick in the wide receiver position. So Booty right now is still on the roster and you didn't have your two fourth round picks.

So I don't think the Patriots, you know, not drafting a receiver is a, oh, man, big time. There you go. there's the tell, there's the tell. I don't think that's the case. But loading up on undrafted free agents could actually be more of a tell that Brown is on his way to New England

than not drafting a receiver. The Patriots, as of right now, what we know, four receivers signed as undrafted free agents. Kyle Dixon from Culver Stockton, Cameron Dorner from North Texas. Nick DeGonero.

I messed that one up. DeGonaro. There you go. Nick DeGonaro from James Madison and Jimmy Kibble, not Kimmel, Jimmy Kibble from Georgetown. So the Patriots have not one, not two, not three, but four wide receivers in as UDFAs. And that's a pretty significant number.

Now, of course, you can get rid of all these guys. guys, they're UDFAs. However, my argument, my tie-in here is that if you're going to carry A.J. Brown and his contract and you just sign Romeo Dobbs, you're paying a decent amount of money at wide receiver for your one and your two, which means you're more likely, much more likely to be frugal the longer you, you know, the more you go down that list, that receiver. So when you get to the fifth spot, the sixth spot, you're less likely to spend legitimate money at those spots when you are top heavy with AJ Brown and Romeo Dobbs.

So I think it makes a lot of sense. And we go back to the booty stuff. We go back to Pop Douglas. I would not be surprised if Pop Douglas is traded eventually. Maybe it's during camp. Maybe he sticks. We've talked about it. Vrable did pump the tires.

So maybe he sticks. If he sticks, cool, he's not worth a lot of money. But if you move on from Pop, I do think they're going to eventually move on from Kishan Booty. I think whether it's right before this deal is official or right after the deal is official, I think Kishan Booty will be traded. I think it's less likely he's traded to Philly

because they already have five or six receivers on the roster and Booty's walking into a contract year. He's going to want some opportunity. But it just makes a lot of sense. Like if you're going to go top heavy and you're going to pay Dobbs, you know, 17, 18 million a year, you're going to pay A.J. Brown 25 million a year. Then you're more likely going to, you know, spend less towards the tail end of your wide receiver debt chart. And that's when you get the Pop Douglas.

If you deal him, he's gone. You get Efton Chisham. He slides up. And then you slide in one of those UDFAs because if Pop and Booty are both gone, you obviously replace a booty with A.J. Brown, but you still need to find that other guy. And if you're going to carry six,

if Pops gone and Booty's gone and Brown comes in, you're minus one. So, you know, my wide receiver room prediction right now could end up being totally wrong, but I've got Brown as your one, Dobbs as your two. I do think Kyle Williams is going to leapfrog Mac Hollins as your three,

Mac Hollins as your four. and then any two of Pop, F.Den Chisholm, and an undrafted free agent. That kind of makes sense to me. All right, that wraps up this edition of Lockdown Patriots. Thank you for making us your first listen for being an everydayer. Reach out to me out on Twitter at Nick C Radio. Don't forget to throw a comment in on the YouTube channel.

Hit that like button. Give us a thumbs up and subscribe. And if you never miss an episode, the Everydayer Club is built for you. Get Lockdown Patriots, ad free, plus members only Discord access and more, head to lockdown patriots.supercast.com or check the link in the show notes to learn more. Have a great day and we will see you next time.