Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Spotlight: Jared Wilson Set to Elevate New England Patriots' Offensive Line

Starting point is 00:00:00 Jared Wilson is as critical as any piece of this offensive line and could be on his way to a breakout season. This is Lockdown Patriots. You are Locked on Patriots, your daily New England Patriots podcast, part of the Locked-on Podcasts Network, your team every day. What's happening? I am your host of Nick Cattles. On today's episode, back-to-back off seasons that I don't feel like pulling out my hair. have been objectively fun. In the second segment, it's time to break down why Marcus Jones is a crucial piece to this defense's success. But first, Jared Wilson's sophomore year.

Starting point is 00:00:44 So much attention has been placed on Will Campbell. Even more attention placed on Will Campbell after the Caleb Lomu pick about a month ago in the NFL draft. Meanwhile, you got Jared Wilson, another sophomore on this offensive line. and Wilson just actually made pro football focuses all breakout team. Here's part of what PFF wrote. Moving back to center should do wonders for Wilson, who compiled a 79.6 overall grade during his time they're at Georgia in 2024, adding veteran Elijah Verit Tucker to man left guard and retaining the likes of Michael Wenu,

Starting point is 00:01:24 Will Campbell, and Morgan Moses creates a relatively ideal situation for Wilson. Wilson's move to center is just as crucial to the offense as anything else we can talk about regarding this offensive line. Yes, it's as crucial as Will Campbell playing some good football. When we talk about the pass rush, we have to not overlook the pass rush up the middle. I have said this for years. Getting a pass rush up the middle in those trenches that drives quarterbacks crazy. You flush them out of the pocket.

Starting point is 00:02:00 You hope that your defensive ends can make plays once they are flushed out. A lot of quarterbacks, when they're flushed out, they tend to make mistakes. Getting that pass rush up the middle is significant for any defense. So it stands to reason. A strong interior offensive line is something that you need. An Emery Hunt who does a great job of breaking down pretty much every single draft prospect year in, and year out for the NFL draft, he recently said on the Russ Tucker podcast, quote, big tackle propaganda fooled people.

Starting point is 00:02:36 If you don't have elite guards and center play, you don't have a run game, you don't have a pocket, you don't have offense, unquote. Now, elite guard play, elite center play, that's a little bit of a stretch from Emery Hunt. But you do need at least good guard play and good. center play. If you want to have a run game, if you want to have a pocket, if you want to, therefore, have an offense, you need steadiness on the interior of the offensive line. If your center is a mess, your offense could end up being an all-out mess. Think about Milton Williams. Think about his impact on the Patriots defense. Think about how much

Starting point is 00:03:23 of a difference maker he is when he's out there, his ability to play against the run, his ability to get after the quarterback to collapse that pocket. He and Christian Barmore, a nightmare combination when they are at their best. Offensive lines, they're not in love with the idea of having to protect against those two interior defensive linemen. So Jared Wilson, his past protection is going to be crucial. And here's the good news. His past protection actually improved last year throughout the season. Let's get to pro football focus again. Here's what they wrote. Wilson experienced growing pains in his first pro season, playing almost exclusively at left guard, where his 52.2 overall PFF grade was the eighth worst among qualifiers. Nick, you're killing me. However,

Starting point is 00:04:15 Wilson showed signs of progress later in the year with a 73.6 PFF pass blocking grade from week 11 through the Super Bowl. So as Will Campbell was dealing with the MCL and he was missing games, and when he came back, he did not look like the same left tackle. And we all know what happened in the Super Bowl. While this was happening, Jared Wilson actually did a pretty good job, if not just straight up good job, protecting Drake May at left guard, a position he had not played much at all.

Starting point is 00:04:49 So a very interesting context to the 2025 season of, Wilson. And Jared Wilson, to me, he's got potential in the run game. We talk about the past protection, but I do think that he's got some potential in the run game. He is a terrific athlete. You can certainly see Wilson climbing to the second level and making those blocks on linebackers and safeties. Now, he did not consistently do that last year. And the run game was a problem. Surprisingly, Will Campbell was also not so good in the run game. He was very, much better in past protection, Will Campbell was, until the MCL injury. So they've got to figure some things out with this run game.

Starting point is 00:05:32 It's part of the reason why they went out and signed Julian Hill. They went out and signed Reggie Gilliam. But I do think the potential is there for Wilson to be a key cog in the run game. At Georgia, he did a good job of pulling from the center position, targeting tacklers, and taking them out. Now he's not Will Campbell with the finish. He's not a guy who, you know, malls people, but he effectively gets in their way. Then we think about something we discussed on the podcast, the prior podcast we just did, regarding Drake May.

Starting point is 00:06:09 And one of the things that Drake has to do a better job of is taking care of the football, specifically not fumbling the ball. Well, it just stands to reason that your censored to quarterback exchange is pretty important when you go into a season wondering, can your quarterback fumble the ball less? You want that exchange to be clean. Time in, time out. It's got to be there. And I know a lot of people will have their own thoughts, their own evaluations of Wilson

Starting point is 00:06:40 and what he did last year. I just want to remind those people that this is a young man who was very young stepping into the NFL to begin with. He was very raw stepping into the NFL to begin. with. And then he played. He started in the NFL at a position that he was not used to. Before last year, Jared Wilson played only 93 snaps at guard. That's it. That's the equivalent of a couple of games. That was his only experience at that position. So not only was he young for the NFL, not only was he making that jump to the next level from Georgia to the NFL, but he was also tasked with

Starting point is 00:07:22 playing a position that he did not play a lot of. He wasn't really used to it out there when the real bullets were flying, so to speak. Now back at his natural position with all of that potential, the athleticism, the smarts, one year under his belt, he knows the strength and the speed of NFL defensive lines. I don't think it's crazy to believe that Jared Wilson could have a really good season, whether or not you want to coin it a possible breakout season. I would not scoff at that idea. I would not make fun of that thought.

Starting point is 00:08:00 I think it's part of the conversation. Now he's not flawless. He has questions. As I mentioned about a minute and a half ago, he's not necessarily a run grader. He's not a guy who mauls people. He kind of shields them off. He blocks them off.

Starting point is 00:08:18 He's not going to, you know, make a lot of blocks that make you stand up and scream at your buddies. Did you see that? He lacks premium size. You know, he's pretty average when it comes to length. He's not an overly big dude, which, again, I think speaks volumes of the challenge he had last year. Because not only the things I brought up, you know, his age, the fact he wasn't polished at all at guard. And then he's already lacking premium size to play center, which usually means you're going to lack

Starting point is 00:08:49 premium size to play guard. And he wasn't an all-out disaster week in and week out. He showed some of those flashes. Now he had those weeks where he was rough. He had weeks where I was asking, can you possibly keep playing Jared Wilson? Could you put Ben Brown out there? But the Patriots, they stayed the course with him.

Starting point is 00:09:10 And now he's back at his natural position. He's fundamentally raw. Don't get it twisted. Even for center. He's fundamentally raw. might take him a little while to get going again. But you look back at the scouting report last year after the Patriots drafted him, and you look at what Dame Brukler had to write.

Starting point is 00:09:27 Bruechler had Wilson as his number two center prospect in that draft a year ago. He had Wilson as his 57th overall player in that draft. I remind you that Wilson was picked 95th. Bruechler said he was a top 60 guy. So I think he's got exciting potential. he's got the raw ability. Now we're just going to hone those skills. And if you could do that,

Starting point is 00:09:51 I would not write off the idea of Jared Wilson having a breakout season. And I understand why pro football focus would have Wilson at center on their all breakout team. A Marcus Jones appreciation segment coming up next. This is Lockdown Patriots, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. Now, the number one sports podcast network, your team every day. The NBA playoffs are here and every possession matters. If you're looking to get even closer to the action, Fandall, they have a great offer to get you started. Right now, new customers can bet just $5.

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Starting point is 00:11:32 and Zach Korr's secondary. Thank you for making us your first listen for being an everydayer. Get your daily Patriots fix completely ad-free by joining the Everydayer Club today. Start your seven-day free trial right now and get closer to your team without the interruptions. Click the link in the show notes or go to Lock on Patriots.supercast.com to claim your free trial. Also, don't forget, if you're watching us on YouTube, to click that thumbs up, give us a like, help us with the algorithm. Don't forget to throw a comment in as well. Are you excited for Jared Wilson's second year as he gets back to his natural

Starting point is 00:12:07 position of center? Do you think Jared Wilson could have a breakout sophomore season? I want to see your comments. And don't forget to subscribe 10,000 subscribers. The next goal, we're at about 9,700. Let's continue to build this community. One more note before I get to Marcus Jones. In the month of June, three episodes per week. That's the deal. Now, every day, 11 out of the 12 months pretty much. But in June, before camp gets kicked off, we take a little bit, we take a little bit of a break from time to time, the foot off the pedal a little. Tuesday through Thursday in June July. We are right back to the everyday method here on lockdown. I also say this, and I've said this all week, I'll continue to say it.

Starting point is 00:12:57 Don't forget that if A.J. Brown is traded to the Patriots, whether it's post 4 p.m. Eastern time on June 1st or June 2nd, June 3rd, don't have any concern. Don't have any concerns. We will be here, Lockdown Patriots, to cover that pillar to post. And yes, we will very likely be doing more than three episodes that week. All right, lots of focus on Christian Gonzalez and justifiably so. One of the best corners in football. Carlton Davis, really solid year, the first year with the Patriots as the outside cornerback number two.

Starting point is 00:13:31 And I think because you've got Gonzalez and you've got Davis, that at times people overlook Marcus Joan, Christian Gonzalez's skill, Christian Gonzalez's contract, Carlton Davis' skill, Carlton Davis, can he stay healthy? Meanwhile, Marcus Jones, like raising his hand, you forget about me? No, I did not forget about you, Marcus. We can't forget about Marcus Jones. Most fans are more enthralled by Marcus Jones's ability to return punts, right? How many times when the discussion of Marcus Jones happens on the radio or at a bar,

Starting point is 00:14:07 how many times do people say, yeah, man, he's a great returner. That dude's electric. you know what they should do, they should get the football to Marcus Jones on offense. How many times have we heard people talk about that? Marcus Jones is vitally important to this defense. You know, offenses are using all types of players in the slot now. You saw it last year with the Patriots,

Starting point is 00:14:33 Mack Hollins sliding down to the slot from the outside. They call it the big slot. A lot of these bigger receivers who can play on the boundary are now also sliding inside so they can be part of the run game. I would not be surprised at all if A.J. Brown is used in a similar fashion. I would not be surprised whatsoever if you see A.J. Brown getting a decent amount of snaps in the slot to try to set up the run game and then also play off the run game. So you've got bigger receivers now lining up in the slot. You've got your traditional, you know, short area quickness type guys, your traditional slot receivers.

Starting point is 00:15:11 lining up in the slot. Offenses also play games now with tight ends. You see tight ends outside. You see tight ends in line. You see tight ends in the slot all over the place. A guy like Eli Stowers, who's going to be facing the Patriots twice a year now that he's a New York jet, you know, you look at Eli Stowers and you say to yourself, he's more receiver. Sorry, Stowers plays for the Eagles. I got my signals crossed there. He plays for Philadelphia, the other green team. But you can look at, you can look at Eli, As soon as I said, I said, is he with the Jets? No, I'm not the Jets.

Starting point is 00:15:45 You look at Eli Stowers. He's more, many people will tell you. And I said this, they're in the draft process. He's more of a receiver than he is a tight end because he's going to line up in the slot a decent amount. So you've got offenses using all types of players in the slot, big slot, traditional slot, tight ends. The other part of this is what teams are doing defensively.

Starting point is 00:16:07 Nickel is the new base defense of the NFL. And as a matter of fact, the Patriots last year played a decent amount of nickel. Steve Patton from stat rankings had a post this week. And he looked at nickel rate over expectation along with expected nickel rate. And there was the graph. He provided a graph. I can't provide it for you right now this second visually. But that's what it was, right?

Starting point is 00:16:36 When you look at vertically, the graph says nickel rate over expectation, horizontally, it's expected nickel rate. And here are a few things that you gather from that. And Steve makes the same observation. Steve Patton says, look, nickel defense is a new base defense in the NFL. When you look at nickel rate over expectation, the Patriots were between plus 10 to 15 percent. So their nickel rate over expectation, they were about 10 to 15 percent over the expectation, the amount of time they played nickel last year. What does that mean? Well, only five

Starting point is 00:17:16 defenses. Only five defenses had a higher rate. When you look at nickel rate over expectation, only five defenses had a higher rate than the Patriots did. It's pretty fascinating when you look at this graph. Houston, Atlanta, Chicago, Seattle, San Francisco. And when you look at a team like the Texans with D'Amico Ryans, when he was calling the plays, they majored in nickel. Now, a little less so when D'Miko Ryans took a step back. But that's a big reason why the Texans defense was really, really good, because they could play a heavy amount of nickel. But when you look at it, the Patriots, they played. They played a lot of nickel over the expectation where you thought they would play nickel.

Starting point is 00:18:11 They played it more than that. Again, 10 to 15% higher rate of a nickel defense. And Marcus Jones, you guessed it, is your nickel back. And when you have somebody like Marcus Jones who is not afraid to stick his nose into the run game, not afraid whatsoever to fly downhill and make a play. Speaking of making a play, when you have Marcus Jones who has the playmaking ability in the secondary, he can pick you off, he can pick you off and take it to the house. I mean, that's Marcus Jones.

Starting point is 00:18:44 That is that explosiveness that we discuss with him. All of a sudden, he could turn a pick into six. When you look at what Marcus Jones did last year, his overall pro football focus grade last season was 26th out of 114 corners. Top 30 corner, according to pro football focus. And there's even more with Marcus Jones that makes him vital. Not only does he play the nickel back when you have nickel defense, really the new base, and the Patriots playing a decent amount of nickel compared to what you would expect him to be playing in certain situations.

Starting point is 00:19:29 So not only is he vital just because of that, but he also can play outside corner if you need him to do that responsibility. Now, of course, Marcus Jones not. the best against bigger-bodied receivers, as we know, but he's capable of doing it. He's capable of playing outside corner. And he's made some really nice plays on the boundary as an NFL cornerback. So, you know, not only is his position, the nickelback position, that much more important in today's NFL, not only does he play that position for a team that relies on the nickel a decent amount.

Starting point is 00:20:07 Not only is he, let's just say, a top 25 cornerback. I mean, he was 26th in pro football focus. So, you know, just right there on the outside looking in as a top 25 corner in the league, according to PFF, but he also can play outside cornerback for you. And I think he can play some safety if you needed him to play some safety. And so when you put all of this together, is it a surprise that the Patriots in the middle of last season decided to extend Marcus Jones and said, we don't want him to walk into the offseason without a contract.

Starting point is 00:20:42 Let's get this thing done. Let's give him this contract extension because they know how vital he is. And they know how good he is. So when we talk about this defense, when we talk about this secondary, just do me a favor. Do not overlook Marcus Jones. Coming up, it's refreshing when a franchise does things that just makes sense. This is Lockdown Patriots, part of the lockdown pod.

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Starting point is 00:22:02 slash go slash lockdown NFL. That's SQ-U-A-R-E-D-com. slash GO slash lockdown NFL. Run your business smarter with Square. Get started today. In the latter years of the Bill Belichick era, there were countless head scratching personnel decisions. We don't need to relitigate the past. In 2024, we know how that offseason went. However, the last two off seasons have been refreshing. And it's been refreshing almost in their simplicity the last two off seasons. Thanks for checking out the lockdown podcast network,

Starting point is 00:22:42 now the number one sports podcast network. Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe, help a brother out here on YouTube. Back-to-back off-seasons, I think, we have witnessed, have been refreshing to watch, having a logical plan, and executing for the most part, that plan. I think the Patriots have done that two straight off-seasons.

Starting point is 00:23:05 We can play the grade game. We can go move by, move, but I mean, just look at what they've done. Let's look at this off season and let's discuss the top needs. One of the top needs that we have had conversations about for years now is having a number one wide receiver, an alpha wide receiver, whatever you want to call that guy. Well, we certainly anticipate within the next week and a half or so, the Patriots will land one of those guys in A.J. Brown. We talked about Edge. Edge was a need. I think you upgraded with Draymond Jones over Caleb on

Starting point is 00:23:39 you upgraded from Anthony Jennings to Gabe Accus. Then we talked about tackle. He can't have enough tackles. What are you going to do? Morgan Moses 35. Questions about Will Campbell, yada, yada, well, go out there. Signed James Hudson, a little vet depth.

Starting point is 00:23:56 Then go to the draft, not be content with what you have. Far from it. You draft Caleb Lomu moving up to 28 and picking him. Then you come back in the sixth round to draft Demetrius Crownover. So you look at the top three needs that we had walking into this offseason. As long as this A.J. Brown deal happens like everybody expects it to happen. You did a lot to address those three needs.

Starting point is 00:24:20 You brought in an alpha wide receiver. You upgraded at defensive end, two guys. And you brought in three tackles, two of them with some intriguing potential, especially your first round pick and Caleb Lomu. But of course the Patriots weren't done addressing the offensive line just with tackle. They understood the assignment. They went out and they signed Elijah Vera Tucker. Now, we can talk about the injury history and it's all worthwhile to have that conversation.

Starting point is 00:24:52 We've had those talks on this podcast. I get it. He has not been a healthy player. But when he's been healthy, he's been terrific. Is there a risk? Yes. But this is a big swing. It's a big swing to sign a very, very talented offensive linemen.

Starting point is 00:25:10 So you go out there and you sign AVT, you move Wilson back to center. We talked about him in the first segment. What that could mean, you kept Michael Wenu, which I thought was smart business. There were some people that wanted Michael Wenow out. I said from the very beginning, right after the Super Bowl, I'm not in a rush to get rid of Michael Wenu. He just played his best football as a New England Patriot the last couple of months of 2025 season.

Starting point is 00:25:33 Why am I going to rush to get rid of that guy? He got all pro votes. So keeping him seems to be pretty smart. And then you have your bookend set with Will Campbell and Morgan Moses. Just think about the last two off seasons. All the conversations we had about Mac Jones and not really supporting Mac Jones, think about what this team has done the last two years. Think about how they've grown the support system around Drake May by leaps and freaking bounce.

Starting point is 00:26:09 They brought in Josh McDaniels to stabilize the OC spot, one of the best offensive coordinators in football. They drafted Will Campbell fourth overall. They drafted Jared Wilson in the third round. They signed Morgan Moses to start at right tackle. They went out and made the moves I just mentioned on the offensive line this offseason. They drafted Trayvion Henderson with a top 40 pick. they are anticipated to trade for AJ Brown in just a week and a half or so. They drafted Eli Raarden.

Starting point is 00:26:38 They drafted Kyle Williams in the third round. These are all significant investments to help your quarterback grow. Makes sense. And I'm not going to throw a parade for the front office doing the logical, but it's just refreshing. It's refreshing to go into an offseason and say, we need these things done. And the vast majority of those things getting done.

Starting point is 00:27:08 Now, they're not perfect. I'll get to that in a minute. But when you look at the two off seasons, I think overall, it would be a reach to complain about what they've done in totality. I think they've had two really good off seasons. Mike Vrable, Ryan Cowden, John Stretch Stryker,

Starting point is 00:27:25 to go along with Elliot Wolf and his scouting staff, they have had two really good off seasons. seasons. And they've addressed so much that needed to be addressed with a roster that was frankly barren of talent in a lot of spots. Look at what they inherited before last year. It's it's frightening. They upgraded at safety, you know?

Starting point is 00:27:53 They decided to bring in Kevin Byer to upgrade. Said, yeah, Jalen Hawkins was good, but he wasn't really. really good. We can do better. Let's go out and get Kevin Bayard to make this one of the most talented secondaries in all of football. And to make sure that that secondary, which is crucial to the defensive plan of being aggressive up front, let's

Starting point is 00:28:15 make them even better on the back end. Now again, they're not perfect. Interior offensive line, linebacker depth, obviously not where we would hope it would be. We've discussed it a lot about the trades and the drafts and how that impacted it. So you can look at those spots. You can

Starting point is 00:28:31 Want more depth. I think pretty much every team in the NFL can look at certain positions and want more depth. That is not, you know, a groundbreaking idea. I still would go back and say one of the things I would have loved them to do and I said it in real time was trade for Joe Tuny. If you did that, then that would have had a trickle-down effect on a lot of different players. But overall, again, really good in refreshing to watch a phenomenal. office and a coaching staff, work with logic, plan things out and execute most of that plan. That wraps up this edition of Lockdown Patriots.

Starting point is 00:29:11 Thank you for making us your first listen for being an everydayer. Reach out to me on Twitter at Nick C. Radio. 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 Everydayer Club is built for you. Get Lockdown Patriots, ad free, plus members-only discord access and more at the lockdownpatriots. dot supercast.com or check the link in the show notes to learn more. Have a great holiday weekend and we'll talk to you next time.

Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Spotlight: Jared Wilson Set to Elevate New England Patriots' Offensive Line

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