Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Reloaded: New England Patriots Have Added Talent, But Are They Better?

Starting point is 00:00:00 With a much tougher schedule in 2026, the Pats have improved their roster, but not every position has been upgraded. 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. What's happening? I am your host, Nick Cattles.

Starting point is 00:00:29 On today's show, the Pats have stocked the tackle position with depth, but the splitting of reps is going to be a fast. fascinating juggling act. In the second segment, the defense has improved in a couple of spots, but not in a couple of others. But first, let's get into the offense. Today's episode is brought to by a Fandul. Right now, new customers can bet just $5 and get $150 in bonus bets if your first bet wins. At defandul.com to get started. On paper, on paper, the 2026 Patriots offense is better than what it was in 2025. there is room for this offense to be much better than it was in 2025.

Starting point is 00:01:12 Let's start with the quarterback. Now, do I think Drake May is going to put up the same types of statistics that we saw last year? I would find that unlikely because of the schedule being tougher this season, but I do think that Drake May is going to be a better football player. You know, it doesn't always result in better statistics. So Drake May in his second year in Josh McDaniel's offense, I think he will be a better football player. He will have a better handle on this offense.

Starting point is 00:01:41 He will be better at the line of scrimmage. He will be better understanding what he's seeing pre-snap versus post-snap. He should not be surprised like he was against Seattle in the Super Bowl with where guys were being sent from in that Seattle defense. So I think Drake May is going to be a better football player in 2020. 26 than last year, but I also believe his stats won't tell you that. It won't just come down to the stats. It's going to be the eye test.

Starting point is 00:02:10 It's going to be the understanding of football. So Drake May better in 2026. How about the running back room? Do you think the running back room is better now than it was last season? I would say slightly better. And here's the conversation that we have to have. Trayvion Henderson's second year. we should expect these rookies from last year as second year guys in 2026 to be better.

Starting point is 00:02:36 That's how it's supposed to work. If you hit on those picks, the guys improve their second year, their third year. So it's really comparing Trayvion Henderson's second year to the Antonio Gibson absence. And right now you got Terrell Jennings, a number of other guys, Jan Miller, who you drafted. You've got some guys fighting for that third running back spot. but I don't think any of those guys in that room will end up being a better option than Antonio Gibson was before he blew out his ACL. So this is really how much better can Trayvion Henderson get in year two?

Starting point is 00:03:09 And will that make up for the absence of Antonio Gibson, the step down to the third guy on this roster at that position? And I think it's going to happen. I think Trayvion Henderson will be better in year two. And I think you'll see an awful lot of Ramandre Stevenson and Trayon, Henderson and as long as they stay healthy, that backfield will be better because Henderson will be better. Wide receiver.

Starting point is 00:03:34 Of course, right now, I don't think it's as good as it was last season. Right now, we know this can change. More on that in a minute. But why do I think this wide receiver room is not as good as last years? Because right now, your number one receiver is Romeo Dobbs. And I think Stefan Diggs is a better football player. Now, I think Romeo Dobbs is going to do really. well in this offense. I think he's a great fit, but we haven't seen it yet. And we know sometimes

Starting point is 00:04:02 receivers don't necessarily jump right into the Josh McDaniels offense and do wonders. It doesn't happen all the time. So looking at Romeo Dobbs and what he can do and what he did in Green Bay, I think he can mirror a lot of what Stefan Diggs did last season in that type of role. But Stefan Diggs is Stefan Diggs. And he was a bona fide number one receiver for a long time for a reason. if not multiple reasons. So I need to see Dobbs do what I think he can do before I sit there and tell you that Dobbs is as good or better than Stefan Dix. So right now, that room to me is not as good as it was last season.

Starting point is 00:04:44 Because as many warts as Stefan Diggs has or had, he was still a number one receiver for plenty of weeks within this offense. Now here's the thing. I keep saying right now because we know what's going on. We know that a month from now, that wide receiver room could look dramatically different. You add A.J. Brown to that room, then it is clear that you have a better wide receiver room, if not much better wide receiver room with Brown in there and the rest of the guys. And as I just talked about with Trayvion Henderson, I do hope that kind of.

Starting point is 00:05:24 Kyle Williams takes a little bit of a leap here in year two. If you get both of those things to happen, if Kyle Williams takes a step forward, which is going to be made more difficult by any kind of trade of A.J. Brown into New England because A.J. Brown is going to get a lot of targets. Romeo Dobbs is going to get a lot of targets. You pay Romeo Dobbs $17, $18 million a year. You're going to throw him the football.

Starting point is 00:05:45 You're going to trade for A.J. Brown. You're going to throw him the football. And we know that A.J. Brown wants targets. He wants to produce. That's part of the problem of his time. in Philadelphia last season. So I don't know how much Kyle Williams is going to get the football thrown to him, but he could still take that step forward. And so if Kyle Williams improves and you add A.J. Brown, now all of a sudden, that wide receiver room is pretty darn good.

Starting point is 00:06:14 And it is better than it was last year, certainly better than it was last year. How about tight end? I would say tight end is better. Austin Hooper, I appreciate what he brought to program. I thought he was a solid veteran, a solid second tight end. But I think the tight end room is better this year because Hunter Henry's Hunter Henry, same. But I think you're deeper with Julian Hill and Eli Rairden in that room. And I think you're more versatile. Julian Hill can block. He's going to help you win the run game. Eli Rairden brings that explosivity downfield to that tight end position. So I think they are better because they're deeper and I think they're more versatile. Offensive line. I'm going to say the offensive line is better.

Starting point is 00:07:01 Elijah Vera Tucker, yes, if healthy, that is always the caveat with AVT. But Elijah Vera Tucker is no doubt better than a rookie Jared Wilson playing at a position that really wasn't his natural position a year ago. So that is a clear upgrade. Elijah Verit Tucker, clear upgrade. over Jared Wilson. I also believe that Wilson getting back to his natural position of center, I think he has more potential than Garrett Bradbury. And I'm not saying that week one, he will be better than Garrett Bradbury. But I do believe by the time you get to the middle of the season, three quarters of the way through the season, Jared Wilson will prove to be as good, if not better than Garrett Bradbury and what he gave you in 2025. And I expect Will Campbell to improve.

Starting point is 00:07:51 It's one of the main reasons why. So you stick them at left tackle, you keep them at left tackle. I want to see year two Will Campbell do some work. Got to stay healthy. But I do think Will Campbell will be better this year than he was last year. Fullback, they have one. They have an actual fullback. And not only do they have a fullback, they have a good fullback.

Starting point is 00:08:14 Reggie Gilliam is a legitimate NFL fullback. So the offense to me overall is it's going to be better. And I think they're going to be able to run the football better than they did last year. I think they're going to be more consistent running the football. As Mike Rable has pointed out, you know, you could look at some of those big runs that Trayvion Hederson popped. And it might mislead you about the run game. Consistency, you know, down to down, drive to drive was not necessarily there for the running game. They need to be more consistent.

Starting point is 00:08:44 And I think what they've done bringing in Reggie Gilliam, bringing in Julian Hill, I think that will help the run game. And with the better run game, you're going to have a better offense because it's going to be less on the shoulders of Drake May. You add A.J. Brown, you're adding another element to this offense as well that you haven't had. So if you put A.J. Brown in that wide receiver room and you look at what else you've done offensively, I do think you are better on that side of the football on paper than you were a year ago. coming up, there remains a couple of questions regarding this defense. This is Lockdown Patriots, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. Now, the number one sports podcast network, your team every day.

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Starting point is 00:10:24 You need to hire. This is a job for indeed sponsored jobs. The Pat's defense led them to a Super Bowl last season, but there are a couple of positions that have me wondering if the team has done enough this offseason on that side of the ball. Thank you for making us your first listen and for being an everydayer. Don't forget to check out the Everyday Club for ad-free episodes and access to a group chat with other listeners of this show.

Starting point is 00:10:52 Tap the link in the show notes to find out more or go to lockdown patriots.supercast.com. Like, comment, and subscribe as well. If you're watching us on YouTube, click that thumbs up, always helps us with the algorithm, throw a comment in. Do you think the Patriots are better on paper offensively?

Starting point is 00:11:09 Before any move, before any move of AJ Brown, do you believe that this offense is better than it was a year ago on paper? I want to look at the other side of the ball. Let's talk about the defense now because on paper, I'm not sold that the 2026 defense is better than last year's unit that led them to that Super Bowl that was just unbelievably good throughout that postseason run. Literally looked like one of the best defenses in football during the playoffs last year. Let's as we did last segment look position by position and say if the position is better, the same or worse. paper right now than it was when the Patriots walked off the field during that rough Sunday

Starting point is 00:11:56 that we all want to forget. Let's go to Edge. Start with Edge. We talked a lot about the edge position throughout this offseason. I think the Patriots right now on paper are better at the edge than they were a year ago. Let's start with Gabe Accus. I do think Gabe Accus is going to give you more than Anthony Jennings. And I'm a fan of Anthony Jennings. By the way, he ended up signing, I think it was with the Saints right after the draft last week. So props to him, staying in the NFL, getting a gig. And he was a super professional last year. And I think for the Bill Belichick defense, he was really a good, a good find for them,

Starting point is 00:12:37 you know, setting the edge, doing those types of things. But Gabe Accus, he brings more pass rush juice. And I do think that Accus has the potential to set the edge at the NFL level. He has done that at Illinois. Now, sometimes he would show some inconsistency there, but he is absolutely capable of doing that. So I think Gabe Accus is at least a slight upgrade in 2026 over Anthony Jennings in what he gave you in 2025.

Starting point is 00:13:04 Draymont Jones to me is also an upgrade over Kalevon Chase-on. I think Caleb-on-Chison was tremendous last year for what the Patriots asked him to do. But don't get it twisted. He was very, very, very inconsistent against the run. Sometimes he was just flat out bad against the run. He did give you the pressures. He gave you the sacks. But I think Draymont Jones is going to give you that quarterback pressure.

Starting point is 00:13:27 I think he's going to be better against the run than Chaseon was. And I also like Draymont Jones's versatility where you can slide him in to the inside of the defensive line and have him rush the quarterback from the inside. I was talking with my buddy Greg Bedard last week. And Greg brought up the thought of like the NASCAR package where you slide. where you slide Draymont Jones to the inside, and then you've got Harold Landry and you've got Gabe Accus on the ends.

Starting point is 00:13:54 I absolutely think we're going to see at least some of that this year. So I think you're better at the edge. You're more versatile and you've got some more pop on the edge. Interior defensive line, I'm going to say slightly worse because you lost Kyrie's Tonga. I have tons of respect for Tonga thought he was very good at his job last year before he got injured. he had, you know, a number of injuries.

Starting point is 00:14:19 The Patriots thought he was very good. They wanted to bring him back. One of the fumbles of this offseason was not getting a Kyrie's Tonga extension done when they were reportedly close to doing so. And then things kind of fell apart, went off the rails, and now you lose Kyrie's Tonga. So somebody has to step up and fill that role of Kyrie's Tonga. Somebody's got to step up and play against the run really well, give you some pressure from the inside. The guy I'm looking at is Joshua Farmer.

Starting point is 00:14:48 Draft pick from 2025. Is he going to be able to take that next step? We talked about Trayvion, Henderson, and Kyle Williams in the last segment, looking defensively, Joshua Farmer, if he can step up and fill that Kyrie's Tonga role, that would be fantastic news for the Patriots. Corey Durdon is another guy that we can bring up, and you would hope that he continues to take steps forward. But they have to figure out if, if one of those two guys can replace Kyrie's Tonga, I think it's going to be tough.

Starting point is 00:15:19 Right now, on paper again, on paper, I would say that the interior defensive line is slightly worse than it was a year ago. Linebacker, I think it's worse. Depth questions. You know, Dr. Gibby, Jack Gibbons, gone. Jalani Tavai, gone. Now, I'm not sitting here telling you

Starting point is 00:15:37 that either one of those guys is awesome. I'm not telling you that you can't replace a Jolani Tavai. I'm not telling you that you can't replace a Jack Gibbons, but I do wonder if the Patriots have done enough to replace those guys. Because right now, the way it looks, and we can talk about Namdi, OBI, Zor, but he's a sixth round pick. Right now, the way this looks is it's KJ Britt, Chad Muma, against Jack Gibbons, Jolani, Tuvoy, Tavai.

Starting point is 00:16:06 And so if I'm looking at Jack Gibbons and Tavai, you know, I know what they brought you, even if they weren't awesome, I know what they brought you. I'm not sure what KJ Britt and Chad Muma can bring you at offball linebacker. We also have to take into account that Robert Spillane is, you know, as we all are, he's getting older. And he dealt with injuries last year towards the tail end. He's now 30 years old, turned 30 in December.

Starting point is 00:16:33 So, you know, Spillane is now 30. And I think you got questions at that spot depth wise. cornerback. I would say you're pretty much the same. Christian Gonzalez is Christian Gonzalez. Carlton Davis is Carlton Davis. Marcus Jones. When you look at the depth chart, I do think, you know, Charles Woods is somebody that they probably would have as the fourth guy in their debt chart right now. You drafted Karan Prunty. I think, you know, he takes the place of Alex Austin. I thought Alex Austin was going to be a good football player for the Patriots. and I thought he showed flashes early on with the pads. But last year, man, he fell off a cliff and he did not play well.

Starting point is 00:17:15 So you're replacing Alex Austin with Karan Pruntly, Prunty. And, you know, same kind of who knows, right? But your top three are your top three, Charles Woods was really your fourth guy by the end of the year last season. So that room is mostly the same. I will say cornerback, same, 25 to 26. I don't think it got better. I don't think it got worse. It is what it is. Safety. Safety is better.

Starting point is 00:17:41 Safety is better. Kevin Byard is better than Jalen Hawkins. Jalen Hawkins was solid for you, but he did have some weaknesses. Wasn't the best tackler in space. You know, at times he would lose some guys. So I think the Kevin Byard signing, that is an upgrade at that spot for 2026. Even though Kevin Byard is 33 years old, he is an upgrade over Jalen Hawkins. I also want to point out the staff because I think the staff is going to be better this year. You know, when you look at Zach Corr and what he had to do last year,

Starting point is 00:18:17 he really did a tremendous job stepping in for Terrell Williams. Now, of course, Terrell Williams is back. He's in the facility. He should be around much more often than he was last year when he was going through his battle with cancer. And so now you have both Zach Corr and Terrell Williams running this defense to go along with a number of other guys who are just good positional coaches. And of course, Mike Vrable's in the room. So I think this defense has a chance to be better because of the staff being better,

Starting point is 00:18:46 because of having Terrell Williams back in that room. I think it's tough to argue that this defense is going to be, you know, worse. I think they're at least as good as they were a year ago, at least as good. Some depth questions they have to, you know, answer. but I do think with this staff, with Terrell Williams being back, with the upgrade of Kevin Byard, with the upgrade at edge,

Starting point is 00:19:12 the upgrades at edge, I would say this defense will be at least as good as it was a year ago, and maybe they even end up being better. If Joshua Farmer takes that step forward, you know, maybe you add a linebacker, maybe KJ Britt proves himself to be as good,

Starting point is 00:19:28 if not better than Jack Gibbons, and that linebacker depth that we're talking about isn't as big of a question by the time we get to the middle of October. But we'll have to see. I would say that the defense is at least as good on paper. I don't think, I would not say they're better just yet. There's going to be a very delicate balancing act by the offensive line coaching staff this summer. It's coming up next.

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Starting point is 00:21:05 Fandle, play your game. Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe. You know, it's never a bad thing to have numbers in the offensive tackle room, right? The more guys you have in that room that you feel like you can trust, the better. But figuring out how to handle those numbers in the offensive tackle room is going to be quite the challenge. Thanks for checking out the Lockdown Podcast Network. Of course, now the number one sports podcast network, your team every day. I love the offensive tackle depth that this team has built after the draft.

Starting point is 00:21:41 I mean, when you look at what they did in the draft and what that room looks like now, Will Campbell, Morgan Moses, Caleb Lomu, Demetrius Crownover, Marcus Bryant, James Hudson. You know, you have six guys in that room. Now, are you going to keep six guys? No way on God's green earth. Are you going to carry six tackles into the season? But Ryan Cowden said this, you know, during the draft. he was asked about, you know, how many guys they have at tackle drafting Demetrius crown over after drafting Caleb Lomu in the first round and moving up to draft Lomu in the first round.

Starting point is 00:22:17 And Ryan Caudin said, hey, if there's any room, if there's any room that we might have too many people in, I don't mind it being the tackle room. And again, I completely agree. Finding tackles are so difficult to do now, it is an extreme challenge. for any GM president of football operations to find multiple tackles that are worth your while. It's just a very, very difficult thing to do. It's not impossible, obviously. Teams do it. But if you look around the NFL, there are not many teams that have two good to really good tackles.

Starting point is 00:22:53 It's just very difficult. So, you know, you play the numbers game. You go in there, you draft a couple tackles. Last year, you did the same thing. You drafted Will Campbell. Then you came back in the seventh round and you drafted Marcus Brian. This year, you'd try. draft Caleb Lomu, you come back in the sixth round, and you draft crown over.

Starting point is 00:23:10 So I love the fact that you have drafted four tackles the last two drafts. Now, of course, you also drafted Caden Wallace going back to the 2024 draft, but he's no longer a tackle. It's fascinating because you have six dudes, it's fascinating how they're going to get their reps and how you split the reps up. you know, Jason Hothailing, Jonathan D'Coster and, you know, Doug Marone, your offensive line coaching staff is going to have to figure this thing out. Of course, Will Campbell and Morgan Moses are your starters. Those are your bookends to the offensive line.

Starting point is 00:23:45 They're going to get their first team reps. But how do you handle the other reps for these guys? How do you do it? Caleb Lomu is going from left tackle to right tackle. He's making that transition. At least that's the plan. That's what the Patriots want to do. So if you're moving Lomu to right tackle, he's going to have to get reps at right tackle.

Starting point is 00:24:04 He's going to have to get plenty of reps at right tackle. He's going to have to get plenty of one-on-ones at right tackle so he can get used to playing on the right side. Not only is he transitioning from the left side to the right side, he's also only 21 years old. I don't think he turns 22 until like December. He is a young guy. He is a young guy. So he needs that experience. He needs those reps.

Starting point is 00:24:29 So how do you get him those reps? And are you going to, you know, specifically look at training him at right tackle for the most of the camp because you feel like, you know, he's played left tackle at college. So not to say that he's good to go there. He has to continue to improve, of course. Not like he's a top five pick. But, you know, how much are you moving him to the left?

Starting point is 00:24:52 How much are you playing him at the right? Is it, you know, 75, 25, 25, right? the left. Is it 60, 40? I don't know. So it's going to be very interesting to see how they handle Caleb Lomu's reps during camp. And, you know, rookie minicamp starts up this week. And Lomo will be introduced to the media and they will be on the field. They will get on the field at some point later this week. So what do those reps look like? We'll see. Demetrius Crownover. He's also an interesting guy because as we talked about after the draft, Crownover was initially a tight end. And he moved from tight end to tackle.

Starting point is 00:25:33 So he's making that move, which means he's still raw. He's only been playing a couple of years at tackle. He is still a raw guy on the offensive line. And so he needs reps to gain the experience to gain some polish to his game. And where do you rep Demetrius Crown home? Are you going to rep him on? both sides. Are you reping him at right tackle? If he's getting reps at right tackle, which is where he played in college, he's going to be behind Morgan Moses and Caleb Lomu. So how many snaps,

Starting point is 00:26:03 how many reps is he getting on the right side? Do you roll him over to the left side as you have Lomu on the right side? Now you're trying to teach, you know, two dogs, new tricks. That's pretty difficult. So you have two young offensive linemen who need reps. in camp. How do you get that done? Especially when they both play right tackle. You want Lomo to play right tackle and crown over is a right tackle. Now, of course, they want to have at least one, if not, both of these guys be capable of being that swing tackle, but that will have to be learned whether or not they can do that

Starting point is 00:26:44 throughout camp. You know, do they prove themselves worthy, capable of playing both spots? Then you also have Marcus Bryant, who you drafted last year. year. I would say he's probably the odd man out early. That's kind of what I would guess, is that, you know, Marcus Bryant ends up getting released, ends up being on the practice squad or something. I don't know if they would draft Demetrius Crownover if they were big believers in Marcus Bryant. And last I heard, Marcus Bryant was still looking pretty raw at practice. And, you know, at the tail end of last year, still looked like he needed some

Starting point is 00:27:23 seasoning. So I would think Marcus Bryant is likely the odd man out early. And then you have James Hudson. And James Hudson's been in the NFL for a few years. You brought him in right before the draft, some tackle depth. And I think James Hudson is going to have to outplay Demetrius Crownholm. So, you know, it'll be interesting to see how much does James Hudson play in camp? How many reps is he getting? You know, is he actually going to start out at? the third tackle, so to speak, until Caleb Lomu surpasses him, or at least you hope he surpasses him. So it's going to be compelling.

Starting point is 00:28:03 It's going to be intriguing to see how the guys that are sitting behind your top two, how those tackles are splitting the reps and how the offensive line coaches are dealing with especially the young guys. You know, Lomu, Crownover, Bryant, those guys. Will Campbell's obviously young, but again, he's going to be starting. He's going to get a ton of reps. So it's a pretty delicate balancing act of how they're going to handle each of those tackles and how much those guys will actually get an opportunity to be out there and get loose and get ready and getting their reps.

Starting point is 00:28:46 Very interesting. Very interesting to see how this all unfolds. That wraps up this edition of Lockdown Patriots. Thank you for making us your first listen for being an everydayer. Reach out to me on Twitter at Nick C Radio. And don't forget to throw a comment in on the YouTube channel. Hit that like button and subscribe. And if you never miss an episode, the Everyday Club is built for you.

Starting point is 00:29:04 Get Lockdown Patriots ad free plus members only Discord access and more. Head to LockdownPatriots.com or check the link in the show notes to learn even more. Have a fantastic day and we'll see you next time.

Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Reloaded: New England Patriots Have Added Talent, But Are They Better?

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