Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Stretch, Speed and Surprises: Breaking Down the New England Patriots 2022 Draft — 5/4/22

Episode Date: May 5, 2022

The New England Patriots 2022 Draft performance continues to be impugned by several members of the national media. However, the Pats made their selection in the interest of what they believe to be best for the football team. Joining host Mike D’Abate is Clare ‘ClazzyClare’ Cooper of Pats Propaganda. The dynamic duo discuss whether the team may have overreached for offensive lineman Cole Strange, the speed of Tyquan Thornton and potential Draft surprises.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

Did the Patriots reach for Cole Strange in the first round? Does Taequann Thornton satisfy the Pats' need for speed? And who might be the biggest surprise in the 2022 draft class? Discussing that here today on Locked On Patriots. As always on Wednesdays, joined by the Countess of Class, I'm Mike DeBate, and you're about to be locked in to the Locked On Patriots podcast. You are Locked On Patriots, your daily New England Patriots podcast, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello to all of you, Foxborough faithful,

and thank you once again for making Locked On Patriots your first listen every day. Remember, Locked On Patriots is free and available on all platforms. It is Wednesday. Happy Star Wars Day to all of you out there. And, of course, if it's Wednesday, that means it's time to class up the place a little bit and add some class and pizzazz with the Countess of Class herself. I'm Mike DeBate, your host of the Lockdown Patriots podcast. I also cover your New England Patriots or Patriots Country of Sports Illustrated.

Reach out to me. Let me know what's on your mind on the bird app at MDA, BAT, E NFL. And while you're out there showing some love to that Twitter verse, please be sure to follow the lockdown Patriots account as well at L O underscore Patriots. Of course,

folks, I already gave it away that it is Wednesday and we're still heavily into the NFL draft, breaking it all down. And who better to break it all down than the Empress of Tight Endage herself, the Baroness of Blockers, the Queen of TE,

the Countess of Clas, the Principal of Positivity. Folks, I can't keep track of all the names, and I'm sure I've missed one, but you know what? She is deserving of every single one of them. My esteemed Lady of of lockdown here every Wednesday. I am always honored.

I am always humbled when she takes time out of her schedule to join me. The illustrious Claire, classy Claire Cooper joins me today. Thank you for joining me from across the pond. May the fourth be with you, princess. Oh, well,

yeah, my homage is, you know, princess herself. So yeah, I thought I'd do my best anyway. Well, it's looking good. It's definitely looking good.

You know, I like that. I like the homage. I like the word homage. You know, we can incorporate that in. No, good, good stuff. Good stuff, folks. It is Star Wars Day. And don't worry, folks.

My impressionist repertoire does not extend to the Star Wars worry, folks. My Impressionist repertoire does not extend to the Star Wars universe, unfortunately. Really don't do a good Darth Vader. You want to talk sci-fi? Pirates of the Caribbean, I can do a lot of characters in that. I'm not going to do them today, folks. It's not the time or the place.

We'll wait for Talk Like a Pirate Day when that comes down. Yes, there is a national Talk Like a Pirate Day. It's in September., there is a national Talk Like a Pirate Day. It's in September. Claire will be my guest that day, whether it's Wednesday or not. We're going to have her on because she's the only one that giggles at this stuff when I do it. Folks, we're off to a fun start already. And Claire, I know over the weekend your eyes were glued, as all Patriots fans were, to the 2022 NFL Draft. 17 new members of the Patriots fold are in Foxborough.

Actually, it's 18 now, believe it or not. 10 through the draft, obviously. That's going to be our focus. Undrafted free agents we're going to talk about a little bit later in the week. Steve Balistrieri joins me here today. Or not today. He's going to join me in a little bit. Folks, it's still early.

Coffee's still kicking in here. But everybody is talking primarily about the Patriots' first-round draft choice, Cole Strange out of the University of Chattanooga. A lot of excitement for the player, but not a lot of excitement for the pick. I was fumbling around to develop the best and most diplomatic way to say that. But he's still getting an awful lot of vitriol thrown at him, mostly from the national media. I think the local media is starting to really warm to this kid and see the type of player he can be in this system. But a lot of national talking heads are calling this pick naive.

They're calling it a mistake. They're giving it an F grade. A lot of vitriol being thrown in this direction. But I only take the talking head so far, Claire. We only put so much stock into their opinion. I'm more of the ilk. Let's go to the source. Let's talk to the people that have watched this kid play, that have coached him, that have done what they need to do to make sure that their opinion is valid, to say he's ready for the NFL. And I went straight to the jugular yesterday. I had the opportunity to speak with Coach Rusty Wright of the University of

Tennessee Chattanooga and an exclusive for Sports Illustrated. You can check that out. That's on the site right now. There will be more information on that and actually more details on that later this week on Locked On Patriots. Stay tuned because that will also be a part of our weekly coverage here on Locked On. But the thing that I came away with from that interview about Cole is that Cole Strange is in fact ready to play. It's not

just a matter of his being ready to play on the field, which Rusty was very complimentary about his skill set and being able to play multiple positions, really complimentary about the way he's going to be able to fit in at guard for the Patriots. We're assuming it's going to be at left guard, but also the leadership qualities that he has taking team on his back, really wavering from the moment never letting the moment get too big for him that's so important when you're in the wingland patriot one of the reasons why i think mac jones succeeded so much last year when you look at cole strange because you see things us mere mortals don't see countess and i hold your opinion in very high regard you

always she always giggles when i say that folks i really do hold your opinion in high regard that's why you're here um when you look at Cole and you look at the evolution of what Patriots linemen usually go through and you see this kid's makeup what he's done in college what's your opinion do you feel that they reached in the first round and maybe left some dynamic talent on the board when they maybe could have gotten Cole in the second or third round well this is the thing isn't it as you mentioned you like the player but not the pick I think the most common feeling at the moment probably in Patriots Nation is that the Patriots took maybe a second round guy in the first round and and that's kind of the sticking point but there's plenty of reports that as you said have come out to say that he's the guy that they really wanted and they were looking to

try and move out of the first round as i said it's just scuttlebutt it's just what i hear from the people that here um it's just it's difficult to say if they reached they needed to pick in the first round it had to happen as i said there's there's been mentioned that they were trying to trade out and they couldn't find a trade-out partner now a lot of us fans are like yeah but there was more talent there as you said that they've missed that kind of thing but obviously the patriots knew that this was the guy that they wanted and what for whatever reason they the other guys and they wanted to take their top choice and that was him um yeah maybe it's a bit earlier than projected but this is the other thing who's to say that

these projections projections sorry are that correct anyway of course there's a lot of analytics and there's a lot of smarts involved but at the end of the day players go higher than they're projected they drop more than anticipated. That sort of thing. There's things that we don't find out until later on. I mean, Murph's favourite, N'Kobi Dean, he was a very top player. And I'm not saying he's not a top player, but things sort of came out in regards to more injuries.

And this reduced his draft stock. There's things that we don't know, as you said, as us mere mortals don't realise, don't know about, that these underlying things that we don't know as you said as us mere mortals don't understand realize don't know about that these these underlying things that could be why there's there's also kind of the rumors around um that strange was a top lineman and he was going to be sought after but he was going to be sought after in the second round i mean i've even heard it speculated now this is just as I said this is just rumor this isn't things that I've seen properly reported this is just social media kind of chitter chatter

but I've heard that the books were even looking at him favorably and their pick was quite high up in the second round so there's a case of that you know the Patriots obviously wanted this player and that's where he was available to be picked up for them. And they felt it important to take him. Now, with all due respect to kind of those do the scouting and selecting, they know way more than I will ever dream of being able to learn in a lifetime, in all fairies. It was a position that a lot of fans were hoping wouldn't be addressed in the first round, wouldn't be addressed in the first round wouldn't be addressed so early and there's also that feeling of that they didn't necessarily need a guard until you released a

guard in regards to the making the hole when they let Shaq Mason go so the other thing is that we don't also we mere mortals don't know is the fact that maybe they let mason go because they knew they wanted cole strange to replace him and it was a case of they got what they could get best out of him and reduce their kind of cap increased sorry their cap space in regards to letting him go because they knew that cole strange was the guy they wanted to plug in at that place and ultimately a draft prospect is cheaper than a veteran in all fairness so I mean they utilised what they wanted in regards to drafting Cole Strange now yes us fans still think the whole as you mentioned at the beginning you kind of love the player maybe not love the position but at the end of the day the

draft can be such a hit and miss it can be such a russian roulette of taking who you want in the round that eats available versus the round that they're they're valued to that kind of thing that at the end of the day we're not really going to see what this guy has got until we look at until they play him and that's fair enough There's always going to be the residual of the Patriots took a guard in the first round. But at the end of the day, none of us should be surprised. This is so Belichick,

as I'm probably going to repeat throughout this episode of Locked On. It is so Belichick. And most of us are like, why are we surprised? Yes, it's difficult when you look at it. There was some top talent that that we see there and he didn't take it or they didn't take it you know however you want to phrase it and we're always kind of going to be questioning of that

but at the end of the day it it's the team that we support and you know who are we to sort of question in a way they know their stuff we like to be passionate we like to question it we like to kind of root for the guys that that we think are going to be better but at the end of the day they took col strain and it makes for a really really cool 69 jersey so silver linings folks that's it that is it and uh yeah you're absolutely right on the jersey i think that is going to be a best seller i think it's going to be sold out by the time they start to uh to get these if for no other reason people are just going to love what walking around with strange 69 on their back i mean who wouldn't but at the same time i really think that new england patriots fans

are going to embrace cole strange in a way that we've seen them embrace linemen here before uh Logan Mankins had a big cult following and he was very similar to Cole Strange had a second round grade on him a lot of people thought the Patriots reached on him coming out of college uh smaller school not really a big time program but Logan came in and proved himself to be invaluable to this team and now he finds himself nominated for the Patriots Hall of Fame. And I said here last week, I'm not saying that's going to happen with Cole. We don't know that yet. Way too early, and that's a lot to place on the young man's shoulders. But to sit there and to say that he is not going to be able to have an impact

or that this is a naive pick, I think it's probably a little naive of them to say it. I think it's really more about headlines at that point than really drilling down and looking at what this pick means for the New England Patriots. So excellent insight. I'm sorry, go ahead. I can see why fans feel like they do. I felt like all the other fans did at the time of,

really, we took a guard in the first round. But, I mean, I still try and look at it as matt jones is your is your biggest commodity being the the quarterback and at the end of the day yes he needs guys to throw to i i know all those arguments and i am not disrespecting any of them they're all correct he does need wide receivers to throw to he you know he needs those weapons as people like to call but at the end of the day the kid isn't going to get the ball out he's flat on his back and i have said this over and over and over again on this show we in in different topics when we've discussed them i'm big o-line girl i am big into my o-line guys i like those big strong tough guys at the front

protecting our little matt jones i like it i mean that no disrespect i know matt jones isn't little but you know i'm i'm all for O-line so I can see I can see why they want to make sure that that O-line is as strong as possible and in all fairness if this is what's going to make it this is what you know if Cole Strange is that is is who makes your your O-line great then you know we're going to reap the benefits in the future hopefully sort of touch with that kind of thing. And I know it's not a sexy pick. And I know people say you want a guard away from the Super Bowl.

The amount of times I have heard that recently, and it's not untrue, but you are an O-line away from a Super Bowl if you've got a quarterback who can't get the ball out because he's kind of sitting on his butt all the time because he hasn't got the time. He hasn't got the, you know, to get the ball out to those's kind of sitting on his butt all the time because he hasn't got the time he hasn't got the you know to get the ball out to those weapons that we so need so yeah I fully sympathize with the rest of the fandom of you know it's it was a reach and it was a guard in the first round but the end of the day when Mac Jones can can get the ball out to jacoby myers and stuff like that then maybe look at cole strange you think okay maybe he wasn't such a bad pick in

the first place it's true and i think a lot of people are going to uh to view that and i know there's some internet sleuths out there social media sleuths i like to call them that think that they've uncovered the holy grail in a couple of clips from the Senior Bowl, where maybe Cole is getting beat a little bit by Travis Jones, who's the third-round pick of the Baltimore Ravens defensive lineman. Phenomenally talented player. And they think that this is a microcosm of what his career is going to be like. That's it.

Two clips from the Senior Bowl. Kid hasn't taken a snap in the NFL yet. Yeah, that's it. Time to throw this pick away and just, you know, chalk it up. And then, you know, let's hang Bill in effigy. But bottom line, and Rusty pointed this out to me yesterday, Coach Wright of Chattanooga, in each of the instances where he's being beat, he held his block for over three seconds, which is still impressive for a rookie for someone

who is going against a player that he's not going to be matched up against in nfl competition and he still held his own for over three seconds what's the average time that mac jones is able to release the football folks 2.83 seconds if he can hold off that blocker for that time and that's his average cole strange is doing his job so relax don't worry don't buy into the hype on this give the kid a chance i'm not saying you have to embrace him before you've seen him on the field but it's also not enough to condemn him and i think a lot of the condemnation that's coming out there is just um headline chasing and i think that's kind of disingenuous claire we're not disingenuous here on the show. We always try to provide the wisdom and counsel the way only we can.

The class and pizzazz is all on this side of the screen, folks. But today's episode is brought to you by our good friends who add class and pizzazz to every special lady of your life's life. And that is our friends at BlueNile.com, who proudly sponsor the show today. You can celebrate all of life's special moments with BlueNile.com, especially with Mother's Day coming up. And whether your mom prefers a statement piece or an everyday piece of subtle elegance, BlueNile.com has fine jewelry options for every mom. Shop high-quality classic diamond earrings, elegant tennis bracelets, or gemstone pendant necklaces. This Mother's Day, give her something she'll treasure forever

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joining me as the Lady of Lockdown. Folks, if you haven't subscribed to Claire's Podcast, The Claire Perspective, a Patriots podcast, please do so. A phenomenal new episode dropping this Wednesday with Nick Fitzy Stevens. Folks, when I tell you this is the definition of must listen, it absolutely is. You will be entertained, you will absolutely love it, and you'll be informed. And what better way to celebrate that than to have her on Locked On here today, and I can steal a little bit of her thunder. No, I'm just kidding. Claire, we talked a lot about the strength of strange

in the last in the last segment but there's also something to be said about the speed of Tyquan Thornton who comes in and joins the wide receiving crew he is the Patriots second round pick another player that a lot of people were saying well the Patriots may have reached for or maybe they could have gotten him later, or they got, you know, necessarily a little bit scared by some teams that might've been interested. I've heard that, you know, they took the bait, so to speak. In other words, teams were feigning interest in this kid to get the Patriots to trade up. We've heard all of this on Taekwon, but the one thing you can't deny is this kid can absolutely

fly on theekwon. But the one thing you can't deny is this kid can absolutely fly on the football field. Set it ad nauseum here on the airwaves and locked on Patriots. 4.28 running time in the 40. That's lightning. That's grease lightning. And this kid can get open. He can definitely be that type of receiver to take the top off the defense. But there are still some that question whether or not he's going to be durable enough to

hold up, whether or not he can take the hit, whether or not he's going to be durable enough to hold up whether or not he can take the hit whether or not his size and frame i've heard a lot about his hands and his wrists not really being up to par to be able to make the grabs murph and i talked about this a little bit on monday and that he makes the catches away from his body rather than close to his body so that may help him um but ultimately it's the speed that this kid was brought in for. And the Patriots needed it. They didn't have that type of speedy wide out. But this is also not a team that's always been predicated on over-the-top speed. They've been able to get by with savvy, versatile weapons in the slot and utilize that in better fashion elsewhere. When you look at the selection of Taequann Thornton

and the Patriots' obvious need for speed, we've heard Matt Groh talk about it. We've heard Bill Belichick talk about it. Is this the pick that the Patriots have been waiting for in terms of adding speed to their offense? Or do you think maybe there's still another move to be made out there before this really becomes a modern NFL offense?

Well, as you sort of mentioned will thornton's speed satisfy the need on paper yes this dude is super super fast as you said however it's not all upside is it i've heard he has as you as you alluded to he has small hands but there's always something to pick out there's always pros and cons of a player there's never just pros none of the guys that were taken in the draft have got 100 perfection not even the first round pick in Travion Walker I mean plenty was surprised that he was the first round pick surprised that the Jags that think maybe they took a bit of a risk on him in a way but he's still you know obviously a very very player, but there's always these little niggles that they may not suit or transfer their skills to the NFL, that kind of thing.

I mean, you can't please everybody all the time. So they addressed speed. That was something that going into the draft, everybody, I think pretty much everybody, Boston Sports Media, Pats Nation, fandom alike, were that they needed to get younger and they needed to get stronger and they needed to get quicker. And now it's whether or not they got the right kind of quicker. And I mean, time will tell.

This is what we'll see on the field. I mean, to kind of expand on that, the two cornerbacks that they took, again, quicker but smaller and quicker. I've heard good things about Thornton and the cornerbacks that they took again quicker but smaller and quicker I've heard good things about Thornton and the cornerbacks plug you know positives have been plugged on social media the Boston sports media have have kind of really got into plugging the positives on this guy so I can see that it might have been a good choice again it's not the choice that everybody wanted but you weren't going to please all the people all the

time you're never going to get that wide receiver that every single person wants because people wanted different ones for different reasons I mean not every single person anyway so possibly with some of the picks this year some of the players were kind of definite top guys that the majority of people would have been really happy with still got taken kind of before the ones that after sorry the ones that that the Patriots selected I mean wide receiver wasn't one of my top selections anyway I wasn't looking for a certain wide receiver I was looking at addressing the kind of the cornerback the linebacker and the offensive lineman in in the first top few rounds so if you like top wide receiver was never going to be picked in in my draft if you like it's all about what the guy can do within the system

and on the field and this is something that we aren't going to know just yet the one thing that we do know is that he's really really quick so let's maybe we can look at celebrating that fact and sort of seeing what happens in regards to his frame his small hands him catching the ball out of his body see how this sort of develops how this grows on the field how it works within within the Patriots system and sort of just see bottom line is they took a wide receiver not the wide receiver that most people wanted not a wide receiver that most people know that much about and all this but they took the wide receiver that that they see is is the one that's going to work and you know

we just hope that we're not sort of in a year's time complaining in the same way that we're complaining about the kill hurry type thing and yeah it's one of those as i said before as i'm probably going to repeat myself a lot you can't please all the people all the time and a lot of patriots are still patriots fans sorry are still sort of queer in the pics at the end of the day but it's just it's another case of let's sort of just see what this guy can do they saw something in him it that he's got a small frame, be it that he's got small hands. He's got some serious speed

and everybody was chanting for speed. So let's at least see that on the field before we make our definite, definite decisions. Absolutely. I feel the need, the need for speed. The Patriots got it here with Taekwondo. You knew it was coming. Murph and I talked about it on Monday.

Yeah, we just, you got to do it. It's it's necessary new top gun movie coming out guys my age definitely want to go see this for the special effects value there's no question about that but no all kidding aside i think you make an excellent point this is something where you have to take the good with the bad and yeah maybe it wasn't the top wide receiver on the board on a lot of people's big boards for the new england patriots but he does satisfy that need and regardless of what you're looking for sure hands jacoby myers are some of the surest hands in the league you're looking at someone that can do that i would have liked to have seen maybe a little bit more versatility in the slot but i think myers and henry mckenna of um patriots touchdown wire of USA Today really made, I think, a very good point earlier this week in that everybody that's clamoring for a slot receiver for the New England Patriots forgets that Jacoby Myers is on this team.

And he is very good in the slot and good at being able to play that. Maybe he doesn't play it the same way that a Julian Edelman played the slot here in New England for a number of years or even a Troy Brown but it doesn't mean that because he plays it a little bit differently that he's any less effective or any less capable of being able to give the Patriots what they need Nelson Aguilar can give them that speed over the top as well and Kendrick Bourne is really that Swiss Army knife that you just love seeing in this offense he can do it all let's not forget about the addition of davante parker alan popard who i worked for at sports illustrated who runs the all dolphins site could not say enough good things about davante when he's on the field and healthy uh very capable receiver of doing it all so the patriots wide receiver core this year is going to be much better than they were last year by default

but i think taekwon thornton gives them a chance to be even better than people think because of that added ability it's just going to be a matter of whether or not he can harness it and take it in Claire it's always great sorry he might just be the one wide receiver that the Patriots saw as fitting best he might not have been the top wide receiver at that pick that kind of thing but he might have been the wide receiver that the patriots saw enough of or enough in to say that he fits the best he'll fit in the best so we can get the best out of him he might not have been initially the best one that they thought that that people think but if you can get more out of a guy who's kind of a grade b if you like

but you've got a guy who's a grade a but you can only utilize him to a c what's what's the point you're wasting talent kind of thing so they may have just taken the one that they see as being the best in their system the best with their other players the best compliment to the rest of the patriots team so and but obviously we're not going to see that because we don't know so they may have taken the best receiver for them right time will tell yeah time will tell and you know they satisfied a need at wide receiver definitely satisfied a need at offensive guard we talked about Cole Strange earlier here uh the New England Patriots are filling holes on their roster and I understand and you said this very eloquently, that some of the fan base is going to continue to wonder whether or not the Patriots may have reached for him or left talent on the board.

That's still a valid argument. I'm not going to disagree with you at this point. It's way too early. But at the same time, if these picks end up hitting on all cylinders, then you have to look at this draft and say, well, you know what? Regardless of what was left out there the patriots got their guy i don't know how you label this an unsuccessful draft that these players are successful on the field but these are the patriots flagship players if uh you know if i can uh throw that term around they're not the surprise under the radar draft these that the patriots may have gotten in later rounds that might end up paying big dividends for this team.

In just a moment, the Countess of Clash herself and myself will talk about those surprise players and who might be the biggest surprise in this draft class. That and more when this episode of the Locked On Patriots podcast continues. But first, Claire, it's time for one of your favorite segments on the show and that's the opportunity folks where i kind of make claire hungry a little bit here and we're talking about the great sweet treat that is excellent for you from our good friends at built bar built definitely provides some of the greatest products out there when you're craving a sweet treat but also something that's good for you high in protein with less sugar and less calories than a candy bar, always reach for a Bilt Bar. And Bilt Bar now has granola bars out there. That's right, folks. Check out Bilt.com and check out their selection of granola bars. Chocolate coconut, chocolate peanut butter, and white chocolate berry. Folks, I can tell you these are delicious, along with all of the great products that they put out. Some of my favorite traditional Bilt Bar flavors. We know about the peanut butter brownie,

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Patriots fans, once again, the illustrious lady of locked on joins me here today to i don't want to say uh you know smooth out the week but she always brings that mid-week wisdom and counsel as i like to say she adds the class and pizzazz here on locked on patriots and claire we've talked about the strength of cole strange we've talked about the speed of Cole Strange. We've talked about the speed of Taequann Thornton. But the Patriots also made eight other picks throughout the course of the weekend, including another day two, Marcus Jones, cornerback out of the University of Houston. Big upside there. I really like the way this kid's put together.

And then, surprisingly, making all seven picks without making a trade on day three on Saturday and made for a busy day covering the team that day. There's no question about it. But at the same time, the Patriots also continued to stockpile talent at positions of need. When you look at the Patriots day three haul on Saturday and you look at the seven picks that they've gotten, including Marcus Jones, I don't want to exclude him. I't know if i necessarily consider jones a surprise because he's a day two pick and third rounders usually are uh counted upon to be a player that really is uh productive at least in their rookie year going forward when you look at potential surprises maybe under the radar players

that the patriots have brought in who catches your sharp eye in this draft class well this this one this is this is maybe not going to be my sharp eye but we'll we'll see we'll go with this one I think the whole draft selection was a bit of a biggest surprise really I mean yeah other than Cole Strange in a way I think maybe he was the biggest shock for everyone but I mean I feel maybe for most of us the fans anyway a lot of the names were names that we maybe really didn't know that well that kind of thing so I mean I'm sure they're all very good but they weren't just kind of really necessarily on our radar so to speak so I really think it might be difficult to pinpoint just one as we aforementioned the wide receiver wasn't the wide receiver that people were sort of, I want to say, expecting.

But maybe it's less of an expectation and more of just hope. I mean, we spend time watching, researching and whatever these draft prospects and rooting for them. So maybe it wasn't necessarily what we're expecting the Patriots to take more. So it was just people hoping that they take them because they could see something good in that player I mean I think it's difficult for me to personally narrow it down to one certainly one of the most surprising was the extra running back that they took and although I know that this is this is kind of to do with the future question mark um on Damon Harrison his contract and how running backs are kind of injury prone because of that whole running into a wall situation

and stuff like that. I think to take two surprised me and may have surprised a few people. I mean, again, it was that whole, there was top talent there sort of thing, that kind of thing. I mean, to be honest, it was the quarterback pick that did it for me.

I think I'd have been less surprised if they took that punter, Matt Ariza, instead was the quarterback pick that did it for me I think I'd have been less surprised if they took that punter Matt Ariza instead of the quarterback now it's not to say that I don't think anything of Bailey Zappi but I'll admit I don't think much because I didn't do any quarterback research this year I was quite adamant and I haven't been quiet in admitting this, that I thought that quarterback wasn't a necessary target this year. The Patriots had a lot of gaps that needed to fill that were necessary. And a backup developmental quarterback was not the role that I personally, a clear perspective, felt was necessary. I thought one more year of Stidham is fine.

Now I know he's not amazing and a lot of people don't need much of him I feel that we haven't really had that opportunity to see that much but obviously he's there in kind of practices and stuff like that so they'll know what they can get from him that kind of thing but to me he's been in the system for you know for a while now for a few a few years now he's been around Matt Jones it to me it seemed like get that one more year out of him now there is the thing that i'm hearing that zappy is sort of molded on he's very similar to sort of the way matt jones is the way he performs the way he plays that kind of thing so it may be that they they've collected this this guy who is that mold of the future way that how they want to work with with the quarterback.

And obviously next year, this kid wouldn't be available and maybe there's no one coming out of college that sort of fits that Patriots quarterback mould the way that Zappi does. So, you know, I have to understand that, you know, when you put it down on paper like that, he makes a lot of sense. And I fully appreciate that.

For me personally, as I said from my perspective it that was the most surprising now I don't necessarily believe he would be the most surprising for everybody I've got a dear friends that have said that they were fine with taking a quarterback and they expected a quarterback about the sort of reins that they took is happy anyway I argued with them that it wasn't necessary I'm still not convinced that it is at this stage but like I said Patriots guys who make these choices have forgotten more about football than I could ever hope to learn in my lifetime so I mean really you could pick for everybody you could pick most of the draft selection as a surprise the draft selection

itself the full selection i think was pretty much a surprise for a lot of us like the whole the taking the guard in the first round as we've already touched upon that kind of thing um and it's the history of felicek it's the we should learn by now really that this is how it goes this is how it goes on draft in all fairness he takes all the ones that we're like who what why where and and he just know and you know it's it's his thing but bottom line if you want me to pick one surprise I'm sorry I'm not keeping my sharp eye as such on this guy I don't necessarily think he's a diamond in the rough or anything so I know that's kind of where you were alluding to now I'm not really sure that this is the guy that they've taken who's gonna be outstanding it's the guy that i was like what really a quarterback do you have to do this to me right now this was this was the most

surprising for me i think yeah as i said i don't i would genuinely genuinely be i'd put money on them taking the punta over them taking the quarterback i kind of hope to be proven wrong because like i said i see that there might be something good in this kid he works the kind of patriots way he's he's very similar to matt jones so he creates a brilliant continuity in regards to kind of practice field off field whatever you want to call it process that kind of thing using a guy that works the way that Matt Jones does yeah it makes a lot of sense and this is why they get the paid the big bucks and I really don't and that's fine that's why I'm sitting here in all fairness but yeah so for me the biggest surprise was the

quarterback however I know that's not naturally what probably most people will think but I think the draft this draft in a whole was it was a pretty much a big surprise for most of Patriots Nation. Yeah, I agree with you. First of all, don't sell yourself short. I think they should be paying you the big bucks because I think that was excellent insight. You answered my question perfectly, and I do agree with you. I think Bailey Zappi was the surprise pick of this round for the New England Patriots because all of the needs going into this draft, nobody mentioned quarterback figured well they're well set they've got Mac Jones at the helm

they've got Jared Stidham as his primary backup and they got Brian Hoyer coming back who's probably going to be more of a mentor than anything else but Brian can take snaps he's done it before he's can he's a capable quarterback in the NFL he's definitely lost the step we would rather he didn't absolutely and I think you know Brian would probably be the first to admit that that you know if he's playing large minutes into a game then that means something's wrong with Mac and that's not something that he wanted but when you look at the tape of especially and this is something that I've been doing a lot this week to try to make sense of the pick when you look at Bailey Zapping and you look at the stuff that he did at Western Kentucky his ability to complete the short to intermediate pass that's really where he is at his best but also his

ability to get the ball downfield his quick release his ability to put the ball on time it very closely mirrors what Mac Jones can do now he's not at Mac's level but he is someone that can come in and can allow the Patriots to run the same type of offense. If in fact, something does happen to Mac and he does go down. I don't think Jarrett gives that same like for like, and I think they worried about that fit between these two guys being the type of quarterback that can really help lead this team and keep continuity.

Because don't forget, you've got a new offensive coaching staff there. You don't have Josh McDaniels to maybe cover things that these guys are not going to be able to do. When I say these guys, I mean Matt Patricia. I mean Joe Judge coming in, Bill Belichick as well. So you're going to need that continuity on the offense, especially at the quarterback position.

And I think Bailey Zappi comes in and is able to do that a little better than Jarrett. Now, that's not to say that Jarrett's not a good NFL quarterback or that he can't succeed. I do believe he'll probably go elsewhere. And I think he can be a capable backup in the NFL, even making spot starts at the time. I like Jarrett. I really do. And I wish him well, no matter where he goes. But at the same time, I also think that Zappi is a better fit for this offense.

And I think it does make sense. Now, did the Patriots necessarily need to do it then? I mean, that's up for debate. Maybe they needed to because he wouldn't have been on the board. I agree with you. I think Ariza was someone that the Patriots did kind of zero in on. Our good friend Phil Perry said during the draft, if you heard a loud crash coming from one Patriots place,

it was after the Bills picked up Matt Ariza as their punter. I don't think that sat too well with the front offices in Foxborough, so we'll see. But I agree with you. He was definitely the surprise pick of this draft. But in terms of Diamond in the rough, you mentioned the running backs, and Kevin Harris obviously was a big surprise with the Patriots stockpiling there's upside to Kevin and I really would love to see him I can't wait to watch him during training camp and during mini camp and see

what this kid can do but the guy I'm excited about as a day three pick and I talked about this with Murph on Monday is Pierre Strong Jr. South Dakota running back. Just really, I think, such an amazing opportunity for him to come in here. Again, you want to talk speed? This kid's got speed, too. He ran the 40 at 4.37. That is very fast for a running back of his ilk. He moves with such ease in between the tackles. Go and watch some film on this kid, folks, right on YouTube.

You can definitely use it. Just really really just fluid movement and something that i think the patriots are going to be able to utilize he's got great patience when waiting for his hole he waits for the seam and when he finds it he explodes into it and this is something that i think can really make him a very good running back in this system you mentioned uh you know harris and stevenson obviously are at the top james white is your third down option but this kid has the ability i think to be a very strong uh contributor in this uh offense and who knows you know i mean damian harris's contract is you know that situation

is coming up the patriots need negotiating tactics they've never been a team that's been over the top and paying running backs i don don't know. Maybe that doesn't continue this time. And maybe that's why they brought guys like Kevin Harris and Pierre Strong in. But I would love to see what this kid can do as a backfield receiver needs a little bit of work, but he's done that. He's capable of it. Just more like skills, just more like sharpening of the skills rather than ability. I think he has the ability. He just needs to sharpen the skills a little bit at that. But who knows? Maybe the Patriots have found their future third back of the future.

And if they do, and they actually keep Damian in the fold, and you've got guys going forward like Damian Harris from Andre Stevenson and now Pierre Strong Jr. when James White does indeed hang him up, it's going to be fun to watch the Patriots' running game for many years to come. Claire, what can I say? The wisdom and counsel meter, we don't even have it anymore. The needle broke off a long, long time ago. No, all kidding aside, folks, really, it is always my honor.

It is always my privilege for you to join me here on the Locked On Patriots podcast each and every week. Wednesdays are always a fun day here because, like I said, the Countess herself brings that medium that virtue that lies in the middle she provides it and she provides it the way no one else can before I let you go Claire please let all of our listeners know where they can find you interact with you and where they can consume your amazing work both in pen and in voice and what you have coming up in post-draft coverage for our new england agents well thank you very much mike it's wednesday where else would i be so as as mike alluded to

my podcast a clear perspective the podcast brought to you by fullpresscoverage.com episode 31 dropped today wednesday morning so that is with the lovely nick fitzy stevens so that was a good laugh so i do do encourage you, please go out and listen over to that and rate, review and subscribe and all that kind of stuff that you're supposed to do on podcasts. Pat's Propaganda is where you'll find my written work. I did now obviously kind of all done with, I did some draft prospect pieces. So that's kind of done and dusted now. What Tom's going to do, he's kind of, yeah, he's what tom's gonna do he's kind of yeah he's he's drafts them up so just keep an eye on pats propaganda not 100 sure what's coming next but

you will find some stuff on there so keep keep an eye on patspropaganda.com for myself and tom shaw melissi's work on there so yeah and always each and every week day in day out you will find me with c balistrieri thomas murphy on one patriot's place courtesy of e2g sports.com so our show went out yesterday as it always does and it'll go out next week so we had the loving the lovely evan lazar bless him so yeah we had him yesterday so um yeah keep your eyes peeled on that so if you want to hear me you'll find me somewhere but please do go and check out a clear perspective the new episode episode 31 with the lovely nick fitzy stevens absolutely folks at all definitely consume it enjoy it and you will definitely be enriched by it anytime that claire puts her name or her voice

or her pen to something you know it's going to be great the great stuff over at patspropaganda.com check out all the great writers that they have over there as well. And of course, on one Patriots place with our two good friends, the count of Murphy Fisto himself, the legendary Thomas Murphy and our resident voice of reason, Steve Balistrieri, who will be joining me here on locked on Patriots tomorrow, folks. But in the meantime,

we definitely, I think my good friend here for joining me today on locked on Patriots folks, please check out a on Locked On Patriots. Folks, please check out a clear perspective, a Patriots podcast. Again, her performance with Fitzy is absolutely great. I'm rocking the scally cap. You notice that comes out every now and then. Fitz, I'm telling you, I am not trying to steal your thunder.

This is an homage, my friend. We started off by saying homage. I'm going to end it by doing that. Seriously, hats off to you and great work as always, Fitz. We definitely love you and that's a great thing. But Claire, we look forward to next Wednesday here on Locked On

Patriots as we always do when Wednesday's show ends. We already can't wait for the next one. But folks, in the meantime, thank you very much for continuing to make Locked On Patriots a daily part of your New England Patriots coverage and hopefully your first listen every day. If you haven't had the chance to do so, please smash that subscribe button on YouTube. Close to 500 subscribers in less than a month, folks. I can't appreciate you enough and thank you enough for continuing to listen. We always welcome your feedback, good, bad, or indifferent. We're not perfect. We look forward to servicing you and giving you the best Patriots coverage we possibly can. So let us know how we're doing in the comments section. In the meantime, continue to stay safe, stay well, be the change that you wish to see in the world each and every day. Have a great day, everyone. On behalf of the Countess of Clads herself,

I'm Mike DeBate. Thank you so much, everyone.