Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Strange, Strong and More: Grading the New England Patriots 2022 Draft Class — 5/2/22

Episode Date: May 3, 2022

With the image of the 2022 NFL Draft starting to shrink in the review mirror of the NFL universe, the New England Patriots begin the process of assembling their roster for the upcoming season….including the 2022 Draft Class. Joining host Mike D’Abate is Thomas ‘Muprh’ Murphy of E2G Sports. The duo evaluate and grade each of the Pats ten picks as well as New England’s overall haul.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/id1140512627 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1c5ZxFmwg3WbfxAU3tR5Ve?si=k196wH-yRqifUcQQz8SjIQStitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/show/locked-on-patriots And follow host Mike D’Abate on Twitter, where he’ll be sharing the latest news about the New England Patriots and talking with fans.On Twitter: @mdabateNFLSupport Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKED15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.BetOnlineBetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts!Rock AutoAmazing selection. Reliably low prices. All the parts your car will ever need. Visit RockAuto.com and tell them Locked On sent you.Blue NileThis Mother’s Day give mom something she’ll treasure forever with fine jewelry from Bluenile.com, and LOCKEDON SPORTS listeners get $50 off $500. Use code LOCKEDON at checkout.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You are Locked On Patriots, your daily New England Patriots podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. We'll see you next time. day. Remember, Locked On Patriots, free and available on all platforms, free and available on YouTube as well. So smash that subscribe button, download, subscribe to and follow the Locked On Patriots podcast wherever you get your podcasts. And of course, today's episode of Locked On Patriots brought to you by our good friends at BetOnline. BetOnline has you covered this season with more props, more odds and lines than ever before. Bet online where the game starts. Folks, the 2022 NFL Draft is now in the books. The Patriots have added 17 players to the Foxborough fold,

10 of which came by the draft, seven of them undrafted rookie free agents. We know you love your undrafted rookie free agents. It's been a long weekend, folks. Bear with me. We will be breaking those down later this week. But here today to grade the ultimate muse of the draft, the actual draft hall for your New England Patriots,

is my Don here on Locked On Patriots. My godfather, the man I pledge eternal loyalty to. He is a columnist extraordinaire for E2GSports.com, not just for your New England Patriots, but also provides, in my opinion, the best damn Red Sox coverage in the nation. The Count of Murphy, Fisto himself, the legendary Thomas Murphy, joins me today.

Thank you for coming to me in friendship. Thank you for joining me today, Don Murphy. Oh, my pleasure, bud, my pleasure. It was nice of you to give me a little bit of time to calm down. And look at this. But I did get one pick right. It just didn't happen in the round that I

thought it was going to happen. Well, you know, you find yourself in familiar territory and really familiar company when it comes to the New England Patriots. A lot of fans not happy with the Patriots draft haul. Steve Balistrieri joined me over the weekend here on Locked On. We talked a little bit about the Patriots' number one pick, talked a little bit about their day two haul.

We're going to get into all of it here today for you, Pats fans. Thank you for joining us, and I always thank Murph for lending his wisdom and counsel each and every week here on Locked On Patriots. Murph, we've been breaking down the draft for a while now. We've been using it every Monday here on Locked On Patriots. It's still hashtag Locked On Murph Monday, folks. That's not going away anytime soon. If I have my way about it, this will continue to be Locked On Murph Monday for as long as

this man and I decide to have the microphone. And bottom line, bud, we hyped up Georgia linebacker N'Kobe Dean quite a bit. He was my pick in the ultimate mock draft. I did not have the same fortune this year that I did last year. I correctly picked Mac Jones at number 15 this year, not so much. N'Kobe is someone that I know we still have a tremendous amount of respect for. Love the game, love the player, are going to be a dynamic pro. He slipped to the third round, and there are some medical concerns that were responsible for that.

Murph, were you surprised by how far N'Kobe fell in this draft? And do you think that other teams, including the New England Patriots, made a mistake by passing on him? I was shocked. I wasn't surprised. I was shocked. I was knocked off my seat when the first round ended and N'Kobe Dean had not been taken. I was drinking with two hands after the second round and seeing that he had not been taken. I wanted to know what else was going on. I beat the bushes. I talked to everybody that I know in this business as to why this happened. And it came down to this. He didn't work out. He didn't work out before. He didn't work out at the combine. He did not work out at the pro day. It was let slip that,

you know, his, his, his pec had had serious issues that we all knew about. He had issues with his pec. He chose not to get surgery. And it scared a lot of people off, and wrongfully. Yeah, I think it did scare a lot of people off. Credit to the Philadelphia Eagles, albeit they did pass on him for a couple of rounds. But getting him in the third round, I think, is tremendous value. And again, the sideline-to-sideline speed, the ability to understand the the playbook which is such an underrated part of a rookie coming in uh you hear the uh narrative from coaches all the time you know rookies that come in highly touted rookies have a tendency to think

they know what's going on but they really don't know the pro game yet they're raw their talent needs to be cultivated yeah uh nicole b was one of those very few guys that I think comes in NFL ready because of his understanding of multiple offensive, excuse me, multiple offensive and defensive compilations. You look at what these guys are able to do, and he's able to really find that niche of being able to defend and also be able to protect. And I think those are two things that um are so rare in a

rookie uh philadelphia in my opinion got a good one so unfortunately murph we were not correct in our musings uh with nicobe dean coming to the new england patriots the good news is we don't have to face him all that often here in new england he will be up in philadelphia so he'll be in the nfc barring uh a uh meeting in the super meeting in the Super Bowl or just the quadrennial, I think is the best way to put it, meetings with the NFC East, maybe a little bit in the preseason. Not going to have to see too much of N'Kobi Dean. He won't haunt the New England Patriots. But, Murph, that being said, I'm sorry.

At one point, I was just like, not Buffalo. Please not Buffalo. Yeah, I was a little worried. I was a little worried with Buffalo on the clock a couple of times. And, you know, knowing their penchant for really wanting to stick it to the Patriots. But, you know, the Jets laid off of him. The Buffalo Bills laid off him. Each one of them had pretty good drafts.

But Murph, the New England Patriots draft is being met with a lot of different kind of reaction. This is really, I think, something that is, I don't want to say surprising, considering the haul that they were able to bring in, but also I think maybe a little bit of impatience with this draft and with seeing how this is all going to shake out. Obviously, it all started on Thursday night with the Patriots trading down in the first round.

Which we predicted. Exactly. And we did predict that. And it looked like things were aligning for the Patriots to select a top flight corner, maybe N'Kobe Dean or a top flight linebacker. There were still a couple of guys on the board at that point. Quay Walker and Devin Lloyd, I believe, were already gone by the time the Patriots made their pick. But at the same time, everything was kind of rounding into place for the patriots to get a little bit more value

out of that number 29 pick yeah cole strange is the guy he becomes their offensive lineman definitely fills a need no question about it and to patriots fans credit i don't see a lot of people um really unhappy with the player i think a lot of people look at this and say yeah great guy tremendous run blocker uh real quickness to generate you know that uh that that protection on the power runs he looks like the type of new england patriot that fans are going to immediately love but exactly they're looking at this as saying you could have had him in the second you could have maybe even had him in the third. He probably wasn't a guy that you needed to spend a first-round pick on. Murph, in your opinion, is that a fair and accurate assessment?

Or if Cole Strange comes out and is the offensive lineman that everybody thinks he can be, is all forgiven in the Wing-1 Patriots lane? No, all is not forgiven. We all looked at this draft as as something to akin that the the patriots could do some serious damage with with playmakers and address this need later they've done it time and time again um and i i honestly if you look if you look back at who went after him before even going back to 21 they could have had m even going back to 21, they could have had McDuffie at 21. They could have had Quay Walker, Kier Elam, Tyler Smith was, you know, went off the board.

All people that would have come in here and made an immediate impact on this roster. Right now, I don't think Cole Strange is pushing anybody down the death chart. I really don't. And there were players that could have been had in this draft that certainly would have done that. And I don't want to get ahead of ourselves. I don't see that happening with anybody that the Patriots took on over the weekend, over the entire weekend. They did not immediately upgrade this, the starting lineup on this team. And it could have happened. Now,

the other side of that is last year, everybody screamed, moan, and whined, if you loved Mac Jones so much, why didn't you trade up to get him? And, well, Bill saw somebody that he liked, that he thinks is going to come in here and be a starter for the next 10 years, maybe not right out of the gate, but for the next at least five years because that's how much control you have over a first-round draft pick, is going to come in here and contribute and be a solid, solid guy, a guy that you're not going to have to worry about sending out there every single Sunday.

Yeah, without question. Good, good opportunity for you to kind of lend your wisdom and counsel there as well, and also your grade, which we'll get on in just a moment. But Strange is definitely, I i think a player that is going to take a little bit of time to develop but i also think that the patriots look at him as filling an immediate need as well uh i think he will be their starting left guard uh when the season begins and i think they've invested the capital in him i think they like what they see

in him we've already heard that the san francisco 49ers and kyle shanahan graded him pretty high as well now that could be something as simple as the shanahan family may be doing bill a solid uh you know considering what uh the patriots uh you know had to go through with sean mcveigh and the whole rams fiasco and then reportedly laughing at the pick and then kind of walking it back a little you know what that's that's all smoke-filled coffee house stuff i'm not going to get into that that's their business and that really has nothing to do with on the field. But when you look at Mac Jones and you look at his development and where he struggled last year, Murph,

primarily he struggled when opposing defenses like the Buffalo Bills were able to confuse him, deploying those strategically placed blitzes from the second and the third levels of the defense. That is up to the wings. That's up to the end of the offensive line to be able to recognize that and stop it immediately trent brown having the injury that he had last year i think hurt them isaiah win did a better job than people are going to give him credit for because of some of the bad beats he got but he held up pretty well um you need a solid interior as well there's no question about it and with a way new

moving over to the right guard position you now have maybe Cole strange at the left um this is going to be interesting David Andrews is going to have a lot of pressure on his shoulders right it's all together um so ultimately I give this pick a B I know people are probably going to roll their eyes but I'm not in love with it in terms of the value because I think there were dynamic talent that was left on the board. But at the same time, you've got to give the Patriots for plugging a hole that everybody agrees they needed to plug heading into this draft. Yeah, Bill saw who he wanted. He focused in on him much like I do. I get a little enamored with some people and like I did,

I did have Cole strange coming to the, to the Patriots. I had them there in the fourth round and there's moving up and down the boards, but no, I'm going to, I'm going to give this a C plus. Okay. Just because of what was left on the board, what he traded down for brought it up from a C to a C+. I'm going to be really honest there. And I look forward to seeing Cole here for 10 years. Yeah, I think we look forward to seeing him here for a while too.

And getting a chance to get to see him in the environment in Foxborough when he was introduced on Friday was a true treat for the media because I really think you're seeing a Patriot future favorite in terms of the fan base. This is a guy you can get behind. He's polished. He's definitely got a little bit of that edge to him when he plays. So I think fans are going to like him, but be patient with the pick folks. We'll see what ends up happening, but ultimately it's return on investment and that's going to be the ultimate decider of what Cole Strange means to the New England Patriots in the future Murph the Pats

weren't done with surprises just yet and day two Steve and I talked about this a little on Saturday um definitely satisfied a need for speed but did they really satisfy the full requirement of what they were looking for at the wide receiver position? Also, did they get enough size and strength out of the corner that they picked in order to make this a rebound day for the New England Patriots? Murph and I discuss day two and give you our grades in just a moment here on Locked On Patriots. But first, remember that our friends at BetOnline.net are your number one source for all of your sports betting needs and sports information needs.

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foot per year in your lease payments. Go to catalystpower.com slash lockedonpatriots to learn more. Patriots fans, once again, we are musing the ultimate muse, which is the 2022 Patriots Draft Hall. I am with my good friend, the Don of Locked On Patriots here, Thomas Murphy, who joins me each and every Monday here on Hashtag Locked On Murph Monday. Murph, we talked a little bit about Cole Strange and the New England Patriots selection on day one of the draft.

You graded him a C+. i graded him a b uh but ultimately i think the jury is going to be out on this pick until they hit the field we start to see what cole can do did the patriots leave too much on the table and did they really uh make a bad move by not bringing in some dynamic talent alongside uh what they could have had probably in strange in subsequent rounds but day two on friday night was another interesting night and the wingland patriots clearly were not done with their surprises folks they came into this with two clear positions of need in addition to the one they filled on day one which was offensive guard cornerback wide receiver uh they went with wide receiver first in their first pick number 50 in the uh the second round murph the new england patriots looked

at this i think from a perspective of a need for speed we heard matt grow say this after he had finished up day two of the draft on friday evening very very early saturday morning to be honest with you and he mentioned that if you want speed you can't do much better than taekwon thornton of the baylor bears which was the new england patriots draft choice uh you want to talk about speed this kid's got it no question about it 4.28 in the 40 um you know the ability to run past any defender in his path this kid clearly is a downfield threat that's why they got him they're giving mac that speedy weapon uh that all the fan base has been clamoring for but some of the fan base is going to be patient with this kid there are others that are not so convinced that the patriots got it right when you look at the patriots need for speed and their need at the wide receiver position considering john mechi was already off the board right um and i do think i

honestly think that that was the target in but uh the the patch just missed on them by a few by a few uh few draft picks six to be exact um yeah i i can see bill channeling his inner Al Davis here. I really can. You want a fast wide receiver? Who do you channel? Al Davis. This kid is speed personified. It is track speed.

It really is. It is not football speed, people. This is track speed type of an individual that Bill has brought in here. But once again, is he better than anybody that's already on the roster? And I don't believe so. I really don't. Not after the trade with Miami. Somebody who would have been better than everybody on the roster,

which gives me great pause, is the fact that Pittsburgh, two picks later, picked up George Pickens out of out of Georgia you know that's that's really that's going to sit in my in my in my jaw crawl however you want to call it for years to come uh this kid is is somebody that I thought before his injury was was one of the best wide receivers in this draft. Yes, there are some off-field issues that you would have to deal with. But the Patriots certainly didn't seem to have a problem with off-field issues later in the draft. I hope this kid comes in here and does really well.

It's just that I hope he doesn't get blown over by a strong breeze. Yeah, the question mark on Thornton right now is clearly not his speed. There's no question about it. This kid can fly, he can get open and ultimately that may be all the Patriots need him to do. And if that's the case and he can beat his defender, not have to worry about it, uh, then maybe they do have a solid pick here. Uh, the one thing that a lot of people have criticized is his physical uh makeup right most notably uh not the you know not the biggest hands in the world for a receiver small at the wrists um some have mentioned that maybe that might be tiny little wrists oh my god

tiny well some would argue and some have said that this would be mitigated a little bit by the fact that he catches the ball away from his body rather than cradling it in. You don't necessarily need the biggest hands in the world to be able to do that. He might still be able to be an effective receiver at that level by doing so. But I agree with you. There definitely are question marks when it comes to that. Is he going to be able to withstand the rigors of pro-level hit as opposed to college? That's a big difference, folks.

I mean, a lot of people trivialize it but it is it is a difference kid can do against man really has me wondering and scratching certain portions of my anatomy that i won't be shown on television um yeah i'm sitting on it uh it's it's i i took great pause with what was, again, still left on there. But Bill saw the guy that he wanted, and once again, he didn't want to take a chance on waiting. A lot of people had a third or a fourth round grade on this guy. Bill decided to grab him in two when he did. I do think that Mechie was the target.

Unfortunately, he didn't drop to them, and Bill didn't see a real need with another guy that he really liked on the board being able to go. But there was a run right after him of wide receivers, Pickens, Alec Pierce went, and Sky Moore, who a lot of us thought was a really good fit here to come into the slot and be able to do stuff. But you mentioned he's a guy that catches the ball away from his body. He is faster than lightning. And he gets the yak that you really, really need in this Patriot system.

So, yeah, we'll get to the grades in a minute for the whole round. But it was a surprising pick. But the more I watch of him, the easier it is to swallow. Yeah, without question. When you look at film on this kid and you look at tape and you look at the ability of him to glide past his defenders. And Steve and I talked about this a little bit on Saturday. I got a text message from a friend of mine that said, oh, he looks like a young Moss out there. And I'm like, whoa, wait a minute.

Let's not get ahead of ourselves here. But at the same time, he does have that glide, that long stride that Randy, I think, was ultimately the greatest I've ever seen when it came to that. I mean, he looked like a gazelle out there. But please do not think he's going to, this kid's going to be running past the second incarnation of Revis with his hand out in the air and just plucking it. Let's not put that kind of pressure on this young man. Yeah, it's not fair to Taekwon. It really is.

I think he'd be the first to admit it. Please don't compare me with Randy Moss, arguably the greatest receiver of all time, but being Jerry Rice 1 and one a there. I mean, but you look at what this, you know, pick means for the Patriots. It does mean that you're not going to get the same chirp every single game, every single year. Patriots don't have anybody that can beat anybody. They can't, you know, they don't have the guy that takes the top off the defense. This kid can take the top off of a defense. Let's see if he can do it consistently. I am really looking forward to seeing what this running

attack is going to be able to do with this guy on one side and Nelson Aguilar on the other, dragging people back and out of the way. It's going to be something special. It could be something special. Let me put it that way. It truly is. So we'll see. We'll see what happens. So far, so good, Murph. I think we're uh rolling right along here but Patriots were not done on day two because in the third round the New England Patriots were going to go out and address the cornerback position and they did that with a player that we talked about here on Locked On Patriots a couple of times I had actually mocked him to New England uh in a previous mock draft that I had done uh had him going in the fourth, not the third, but we'll see what ends up happening. And

that is Marcus Jones out of the University of Houston. Marcus is definitely not the biggest corner in the world. That size deficiency may have caused him to drop a little bit, but his production on the field, I think would have made him much higher if he was more of that prototypical physical corner that most teams wanted uh you know out of him definitely a an adept player that can really i think play some slot corner he can probably take some of the pressure off of jonathan jones um you know he's very good with a great athleticism this kid very good in open field tackles uh he ranked second nationally in interceptions this year. Passes defense.

Another guy that could definitely get the job done. But where this kid, I think, is going to shine is obviously as a returner. He has elite return skills. A lot of accolades this year, whether it be first team All-American Athletic Conference. As a return specialist that designation uh leading the league in of his ability to be able to do it rattled off a 100 yard return right 17 seconds left against smu the 19th ranked team in the nation so there's a lot to like with this kid but but ultimately Murph, I yield to your wisdom and counsel on this. Did the Patriots get it right in terms of their need at corner or was this purely special teams?

Um, no, I think he's going to be able to come in and compete at corner, especially in the slot. I think he's going to do fine there. Uh, he's going to be able to, to, to fit in where he needs to and not have to be the man coming out of the gate. But no, this is a special teams move. And this is really a special, special individual when it comes to it. He was the Thorpe Award winner, wasn't he? He was the Thorpe Award winner, is the most versatile player in college football. And that just speaks to everything that Bill loves.

I like this pick. I gave this pick a B. Yeah, I give him a B as well. And we'll get into our overall grade on the round in just a moment. But yeah, I definitely give this one a pick, either a B or maybe even a B-plus rising for the special teams prowess that he's able to provide. I really like this kid, and like, I liked him from the beginning. And the only thing obviously that was deterring me from saying, yeah,

prototypical type of Patriot guy was the size, but you know what, for what he's going to be called in here to be able to do, I think he's going to fit in just well. And he's very coachable. Talk to a couple of scouts close to the Houston program that said that this kid will take direction well. He's not going to come in here and act like he wants to reinvent the wheel for the Patriots defensive backfield. He understands that Bill Belichick has forgotten more football than he'll probably learn throughout the course of his career. So he'll take to it very well, and hopefully it will mean good things on the field.

While remaining with that swagger, he has that swagger on the field while while remaining with that swagger he has that swagger on the field which i really yeah but it doesn't it doesn't carry over to the sidelines it does not carry over to the practice field uh that that was a great point michael yeah absolutely and i think you know bottom line the new england patriots went with their guys i don't think they worried too much about who was on Kuyper and McShay's big board. They didn't really worry about what Peter King was going to say on Monday morning. They were worried about what their guys were and targeting the players they felt were the good fits for them in this draft. And like it or not, that's what the New England Patriots did.

So we'll continue to break that down. But Murph and I are not done yet, folks, because a day three haul brought some surprises, including one at the quarterback position. Yeah, that's right, folks. Not cornerback, quarterback. Murph and I are going to talk about all of that in just a moment. But first, Team Butchie's favorite segment here on Locked On, Patriots. I get to tell you about the products that are put out by our good friends over at Built Bar. And Murph, covering the NFL draft is a labor of love.

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My friend, what can I say? We are arriving at the ultimately last day of the draft. We already graded days one and two. The Patriots came into the day with seven picks on their docket. They made all seven. Murph, I said that there was almost a slim to none chance that the Patriots would do that. Considering the amount of roster spots they had open, I said that there was almost a slim to none chance that the Patriots would do that.

Considering the amount of roster spots they had open, they probably should have given better odds, but I still think it was a surprise that the Patriots did make all of these picks. Really, I think just an interesting haul for the New England Patriots when you take a look at it. Were you surprised, first off, before we start grading the individual picks and what your thoughts were, were you surprised at all by the fact that the Patriots did make all seven of these picks on Saturday? Yeah, I was. I thought that Bill would use, but I thought he would attack the draft completely differently. I thought that he would go along with what he did last year when in the first and second round, you got players of immediate help immediate impact and i'm not seeing that out of this draft but what he did uh was was fill the basket with a lot of different eggs instead of the two or three best eggs in the uh in um in the carton and we'll see

how it works out yeah absolutely and uh it went back to back corner to open up fourth round, first pick, no trades for the New England Patriots on Saturday. They had their docket and they just went down and sliced through the draft and had, I guess, the guys that they had had on their radar all along. Arizona State cornerback Jack Jones was the first player chosen on day three, number 121 in the fourth round. They had Jack in for a top 30 visit. They met with him a couple of times. So clearly there was a lot of interest in his position. He comes with his off field issues.

You mentioned that earlier. There's no question about it. But a tremendous upside in terms of being able to lend, I think, maybe a little attitude, maybe a little pop to that cornerback position. It's getting play on the outside. He can play in the slot. Your thoughts on Jack Jones coming in the fourth round here. He's been described as, as one of the best athletes to ever grace the the turf at USC. Yeah, he he's, I'm going to get away from, from the off field issues.

I mean, we've, we've all been there and wanted Panda Express really bad. And so I'm going to let that go. I'm going to let that slide. This is a great pick. This is a fantastic pick. He's a ball-hocking cornerback with the instincts of a playmaker that we all thought Bill should go after in the first round. He is here because of who he is.

Let's see what happens now that he's a Patriots. The only thing that gives me hesitation at this is how aggressive this kid is. And he has given up a lot of touchdowns at the college level. Hopefully that won't be the case going forward. Yeah, he definitely has a little bit of raw talent that needs to be cultivated, but I agree with you on the athleticism. I think that's what drew the New England Patriots to him. Again, they meddled him three times, so they had to see something there that they either wanted to vet him a little bit more, considering the off-field issues. I don't think you can blame the Patriots for doing their due diligence there, but again,

like you said, this is an opportunity now for him to show what he can do. We had the opportunity to talk to Jack on Saturday afternoon by a conference call, and he addressed it. He addressed it head on and said, I'm trying to put it behind me. I'm not trying to live in the past. But he didn't make excuses for himself and basically said that at this point, he understands what he did. And now it's his opportunity to get on the field and prove why he can be a valuable pro and the new england patriots probably are

giving him the platform to do it because they do see what you described in that athleticism his ability to be that ball hawking corner that maybe they need um this is the third corner now that has the last name jones the guy that uh sews is the, the equipment manager. It's going to have to, you know, keep all these, you know, it may be J and maybe J. Oh,

cause you got J O G. He's going to have, yeah, it's going to be J and J O. Cause don't forget Jonathan Jones already. And then you got Marcus. You can't even do M a C. You can't even,

you can have no M a R and then M a C. You may, Mac may have to put his full name on the back of that jersey. Although I know people are going to want him to put McCorkle he's not going to do that folks uh this is going to be an interesting there's going to be keeping up with the Joneses uh here for the New England Patriots coming up in 2022 that may be a theme if all of these guys are rostered uh the next pick that the Patriots made in the third in the uh the fourth round um really I think has my potential to be the favorite pick uh in this pick in this day. And that

is Pierre Strong coming over at the running back position. Again, the Patriots going for speed here. I mean, this kid is a blazer. He can, I mean, this kid can really break the field. If he breaks the tackle, he's off to the races. The New England Patriots getting a good one as far as I'm concerned. Humble, very, very contrite, and loves his ability to play here in New England. I like this pick a lot. Your thoughts on Pierre Strong? Pierre Strong has eight touchdowns of over 50 yards.

Okay, eight. I love this pick. I just adore this pick. This is fantastic. It immediately strengthens a running back room that has been hurt with the loss of one. Brandon Bolden, all the best. Got to get in. Got to get in. Absolutely.

It is very difficult. People were asking me why a running back, Murph. Why a running back? Well, we have running backs that are coming up on contract years, two of them. This kid slots in really well. He also catches the ball quite well. He

wasn't asked to do it a lot, but he can do it. No, eight touchdowns of over 50 yards. This is a guy, if he gets past the second level, is gone. Is absolutely gone. If he's redshirted, I will scream.

Yeah, I think in a lot of ways I don't see the redshirt being put on Peter Strong. I think this kid is coming in to contribute, and I think he's coming in to contribute right away because as much as I love Damian Harris and what he brings to the table, he'll continue to be your feature back. No question about it, folks. I love Ramondre Stevenson. He this kid has the opportunity, I think, to be a good fit here in New England. So good value, I think, in the fourth round. And we'll see. Again, raw talent. Nobody's saying that he's going to come in and immediately be the savior of this running

back room. But this is already a very strong group. This is already a very deep group. So he doesn't have to be the savior right away doesn't have to be the guy that comes in that's uh you know that number one clear-cut running back uh i really like this this kid and i like the uh the value here that's it to round out the fourth round murph at number 137 this was the one that raised the eyebrow of everyone and i don't say everyone just in patriots nation

i mean everyone throughout the country i mean there were some nfl scouts that were really perplexed and really surprised by this but bottom line patriots went with value and it's hard not to like what the player can do on the field your thoughts on bailey zappy of western kentucky being your new potential backup quarterback to Mack Jones. Yeah, who doesn't love a little zap in their backfield? But it was a surprising pick. It is not the way I wanted to go right here. This is somebody, again, that I feel could have been gotten later.

There were quarterbacks that were taken after him that had much better grades than he did. I like the kid. I like his game. I think it will fit in here. But Zach Tom was there. Zach Tom was there. And I really, really liked his game. I really like what he brings to the field.

And I think it would have, once again, given more depth to one of the thinner positions at this time. You know, God, Michael McFadden was there. He could have addressed the linebacker position, which they didn't do at all in this draft. Khalil Shakur, but, you know, we've already gone through wide receivers here. I don't really understand this except for the fact that, yeah, Bill likes to draft quarterbacks. But don't think for a minute, people, don't go out there and hang your Mac Jones jersey up in the closet yet to forget about it because that's not what this was about.

This kid is a smart individual. He can come in and and run the scout team for years we may be looking at the patriots down strong yeah i mean look bottom line folks uh colleagues of mine in the media are going to talk this pickup like it is a signal of bill belichick not being happy with mac or that he is going to somehow come in and push Mack in a quarterback competition this season look bottom line people in our line of work Murph love to stir the pot and what stirs the pot better than a good old-fashioned quarterback controversy heading into training camp uh folks I'm not going to subscribe to that because that is not why the Patriots did this the only controversy here is is how long it's going to take Spiral Studham to get cut.

Yeah, I think that's it. I think maybe, you know, Jarrett, I think the Patriots would like to do him a solid. Jarrett's a solid kid, and I think that he's played his position well. He's been a good soldier. But he hasn't been available. Exactly. And if they can find a way to move him, I think they'll definitely try to. If not, he has played his final down.

I think I'm fairly confident in saying that. when was the last time he played his final down do we remember um yeah you know what i think my memory's not so good that's what i'm saying i shouldn't say that but not in all in all actuality folks um bailey coming in here will help to push back a little bit and I think that type of competition is definitely good for any quarterback but if anybody is thinking he's coming in to supplant Mac Jones from day one that is not going to happen Mac has a new arsenal he's got a few new weapons on offense they're expecting big things out of Nelson Aguilar and John O'Smith to make that big jump way too early to make that claim and I don't think ultimately Bailey is going to overtake Mac at any point.

I think Mac is their guy for the immediate and long-term future, but bottom line, this kid does fit that mold well. And maybe at the end of the day, that's exactly what the Patriots are looking for. Brian Hoyer, 36 years old, not going to play forever.

We're not sure of his status for this year. That's assuming that Brianrian makes the team yeah i think he will because of his ability to coach mac and be that mentor but you know you look at it and he just he's more of the mac jones mold than than jared stidham is got that quick release accurate and that short to immediate intermediate areas of the field uh this is i think what these guys needed in terms of that and he wins he does a great job of recognizing pressure uh i'm curious to see what he looks like on the field but folks no there's no controversy bubbling out of foxborough sorry to be the bearer of bad news for a lot of my colleagues but i just don't see it happening so

you know what people are going to write what they want people are going to say what they want but ultimately that's my take on the move. I like Bailey Zapp. I'm not sure if I would have used the fourth round capital to bring in a quarterback at this point. But, you know, bottom line, the Patriots did it. And I think he has a chance to be a very good backup in this league. So at the very least, the Patriots strengthened their quarterback room. And you can never argue with that in this league. If you lose a a quarterback your season can be done in the blink of an eye maybe bailey zapp is someone that they feel can be a better fit for new england rather than jared stidham if something should happen to mac jones something happened pardon me somebody has to run the scout team and other guys just you know they're not available

enough and and the other guys getting old yeah absolutely absolutely uh i don't mean uh the interest of time to uh lessen any of the impact with uh the four remaining players on our board but the sixth and the seventh rounders i thought a couple of interesting names here the patriots go back to the running back well uh they're stockpiling joneses well they got a couple of harrises on the board now as well kevin harris coming over with the 183rd pick in the sixth round. Defensive tackle Sam Roberts, who I think is the happiest guy in the world to be a New England Patriot. The team he grew up idolizing coming from a small Division II school.

A lot of upside with this kid. I was very impressed talking to him afterwards. Got to love that. Chasen Hines coming in on the offensive line, uh, from LSU number two 10. This kid, I think could be a late round, uh, asset to knowing one. I'm not going to call him a steel or a diamond in the rough just yet, but I think he can be a little bit better on that old line than people were giving him credit for. And then Andrew Stuber coming in as the lone seventh rounder at number two 45 from Michigan

Murph. You know, we love our michigan guys here your thoughts on the patriots sixth and seventh round draft halls do they have any potential diamonds in the rough here um yeah i do i i really like uh if i give day one a c i've got to give this day an a um i love heinz out of lsu is, I think, going to be a surprise to a lot of people here. I don't think he is going, he, he could be end up being a, uh, a red shirt for the year, but he, he, somebody that I believe has a future. And of course, Harris, um, you, you like a guy that, that can pick up a blitz.

This guy can pick up a blitz. Yeah. Picks up a blitz. Like, like few other people that i've seen come out of college in years this was a great day three and a an a grade on day three yeah i gave an a grade on this day as well and look i know a lot of our colleagues murph we're taking a look at a lot of what uh they're doing here and giving this uh you know giving day two i think a lot of credit i think because people love

the the potential of thornton and the fit of jones in this system marcus jones meaning you got to really be careful when you say jones now you really have to be specific uh you know you have to use the first names with joneses now here in new england but uh i do i like the value of pierre strong i really love this pick uh i like sam roberts. I'm really curious to see how he comes in and the energy he comes in with. I know Division II, and I know a lot of people are going to say, oh, he was doing it against, you know, lesser talent. But you know what? Bottom line, a scout that I talked to over the weekend. Absolutely.

And the scout that I talked to over the weekend that writes for Sports Illustrated here, one of my colleagues, on the condition of anonymity, basically said that, you know what? I don't really care where this kid played. If you can play, teams are going to find you. The smart teams are going to find you. And he says, then there's no smarter team out there at picking these guys than the New England Patriots. If they spent a pick on this kid, they knew they had to have him and they wanted his services.

So should speak to something. And I agree with you on the O-lineman. I think two good O-linemen that really kind of round this out. One of those guys is probably going to be a red-shirter because of the amount of talent they have. Well, I should say the amount of players they have on the roster overall. But I think that they've got two keepers there, and I would love to see both of those guys stick around. I would hate to see either one have to be a roster casualty. Murph, the 2022 NFL Draft is in the books.

And folks, we cannot thank you enough for all of the support, all of the great feedback and interaction that we've had with all of you throughout draft season here, especially those of you who took time out of your busy schedules, your days and weeks to send in mock drafts each and every Monday. We appreciate you and we're going to continue to bring you all the great coverage that you like. Maybe even take a very, very early preview pretty soon at what the 2023 draft may look

like here on Mondays with Murph. But we're going to start turning our attention to the season and positional groupings. We're going to be talking about it all, but this will remain hashtag locked on Murph Monday. And I for one cannot thank my good friend enough for joining me here each and every week. Murph, before I let you go, please let everyone know where they can find you,

your great work and what we can expect from the great pen, the great voice of Thomas Murphy in the coming days and weeks. Well, yeah, you can follow me on Twitter at team Murph 207. All of my writing is, of course, as Mike said, over there at E2G.com. God.

I have a new Red Sox piece out this morning as they come limping home from Baltimore. So please check that out. And tomorrow, Claire, Steve, and I will have the one and only Evan Lazar stopping in on One Patriots Place. Tune in.

You don't want to miss that where we go over the entirety of the Patriots draft because we have no time limits. Absolutely. There are no days off. The draft may be over, but our coverage is just beginning. We're going to continue to break it all down here, folks. And now we're going to start assimilating these new Patriots into the Patriot way. And that may be a topic of discussion more than once here on Locked On Patriots as we head toward minicamp, training camp, and eventually the 2022 season.

Folks, we always appreciate you staying locked into Locked On Patriots. So please smash that subscribe button on YouTube, download, subscribe to, and follow Locked On Patriots on all platforms. We're free and available. And we look forward to talking to Murph again here next Monday on hashtag Locked On Murph Monday. But we will be back here tomorrow to break down all of the latest news notes

and analysis from Foxborough on your six-time Super Bowl champions. On behalf of the Don of Locked On Patriots, my good friend Thomas Murphy, I'm Mike DeBate. Stay safe, stay well. Be the change you wish to see in the world, folks. Have a great day, everyone.