Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Takeaway Thursday: Then and Now in New England - 1/9/2020

Episode Date: January 9, 2020

With the 2019 NFL Season slowing shrinking in the New England Patriots’ rear view mirror, host Mike D’Abate opens the Locked On Patriots Mailbag for Takeaway Thursday. Among the topics discussed were the Patriots’ offensive struggles against the Titans, N’Keal Harry’s prospectus for 2020, and the Pats’ plans for free agency and beyond. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello to all you Foxborough faithful and welcome to your takeaway Thursday episode of Locked On Patriots, your daily home for news, notes, analysis, and the occasional opinion on your six-time Super Bowl champions, the New England Patriots. My name is Mike DeBate and I am your host of Locked On Patriots, which of course is a part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Please feel free to reach out to me and follow me on Twitter at MDABATEFPC and be sure to follow Locked On Patriots on Twitter at LO underscore Patriots. Folks, we are nine days into 2020.

It's still considered early January and usually at this time, we're looking to prepare for playoff games. Am I right? It's just what we do here in New England. For the last 10 years, the Patriots have been playing on Divisional Round weekend. Not so much this year, folks. And it's a tough pill to swallow. For me, for you, for everyone connected with the New England Patriots.

Especially the guys in that 2019 locker room. They would love to be out there this weekend. But as the saying goes, reality is reality. And that reality is starting to set in. The Patriots season is over and we're on to 2020. But you still have questions. You want to know why the Patriots aren't playing this weekend. You want to know what they're going to do in 2020.

And the most common question that everyone's asking is, what will happen to our star quarterback? Our GOAT, Tom Brady, will he be back in New England next year? Well, I'll tell you what, folks. That last question, I'm going to table that one until tomorrow because I'm going to dedicate an entire show to it. My guest here tomorrow on Locked on Patriots is going to offer an opinion that you haven't heard here before.

Exactly who that is, well, I'll let that one be a surprise. But exactly what that opinion is, you can probably deduce. But again, we'll get into that tomorrow. All things Tom Brady to close out the week here on Locked on Patriots. But that being said, you still have questions. And a lot of all you listeners out there sent in great questions this week for what was supposed to be Takeaway Tuesday. I know, folks, it's Takeaway Thursday now.

Well, Joe Judge went and got himself hired as head coach in New York. As a result, Patricia Trena of Locked on Giants and I thought it would be nice to do a little collaborative effort. So we brought you the latest news on Joe Judge and what it means for the Patriots on Tuesday. As for Wednesday, there wasn't a game to chronicle, but we still brought you a crossover here on Locked On Patriots, and it was my honor and pleasure to join Ross Jackson of Locked On Saints on the microphone, and we had a great discussion on the Brady Breeze debate, how similar these guys are, their career arcs, and what it means for 2020. I really want to thank a lot of Saints fans for reaching out to me who enjoyed the podcast yesterday. I usually make it a point to never speak for my colleagues, but I think I can do so in this case to say that respectful feedback

like I've received from a lot of Saints fans is the best compliment that we can get as hosts here on the Locked On Podcast Network. Without our faithful listeners, there's no Locked On, plain and simple. I've said so many times that I appreciate each and every one of you that take time out of your day to make me and Locked On Patriots a part of your daily Patriots coverage. I can't say it enough, and I can't thank you enough for doing so. But as much fun as it's been conversing with Patricia regarding the Giants

and Ross regarding the Saints this week, I want to show my appreciation by opening up the Locked On Patriots mailbag and bringing you this episode of Takeaway Thursday. And again, it overwhelmed me. The amount of questions that came in this week, by far our largest number. I really want to thank you guys for bringing some great questions. To work within our time parameters, we had to limit the questions that will be answered today to five, but I will answer each and every one of those. Once again, a huge thanks to all of you that took the time to submit

questions. You're an insightful group of listeners, and I appreciate you very much. Okay, Patriots fans, without further ado, let's open up the Locked On Patriots mailbag. This was a really good cross-section of questions this week, folks. I really want to give you a lot of kudos. There were good, insightful questions about the Patriots-Titans game. There were a lot of questions about the Patriots' future plans, not just about Tom Brady, but about the free agents in general. Which of their own free agents are staying, which are going, and who might they target in free agency beyond the roster right now? And we're going to get into all of that, but before we look at the future, you have to evaluate the past, and that's where we'll start. And in keeping with the tradition for the past two takeaways that we've had here on

the show, we start with a great question from Instagram. And our first question came to the Locked On Patriots Instagram account via NoRajNoMore221. Hmm, NoRajNoMore. I wonder what Raj he could be referring to. Could it be a Roger? I'll tell you what, we'll just leave it at that. But regardless, the question is a good one, and it reads, how could the Patriots have a first and goal at the one-yard line, at home, in the playoffs, and not score a touchdown? Well, that's a great

question, and it's one that is going to be scrutinized, already has been, will continue to be, and probably one of the keys to the reasons why the Patriots are not playing this weekend. Bottom line, folks, we all know it. The Patriots know it. You can't have a situation like that. Just like the question says, you have first and goal. You're at the one-yard line. You're at home. You need to put points on the board.

You can't leave points on the field. That's exactly what the Patriots did. And at first glance, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Until you take a look at the Patriots' goal line strategy throughout the year, and then you start to see some of the pieces of the puzzle fit. On Monday's show, Thomas Murphy and I both criticized Josh McDaniel's play calling in this situation. It's something that we both still stand by, so my answer to this question is definitely not to make an excuse for Josh. However, just as a reminder to everybody for

exactly what happened on that goal line stand, there was 429 left in the second quarter, first and goal on the Tennessee one-yard line. The Patriots ran the same play on three consecutive tries. They did that in what's called a wide zone scheme. Wide zone is a running scheme. It relies very heavily on offensive line blocking. It's designed to stretch the opponent's edge defenders and force them into assignment conflicts. Again, the Patriots employed this three straight times. Sonny Michel ran it for a one-yard loss, Rex Burkhead for a one-yard gain,

and Michel again for another one-yard loss, Rex Burkhead for a one-yard gain, and Michel again for another one-yard loss. In my opinion, there really shouldn't be a lot of criticism as to why the Patriots ran this play. They do it regularly, and normally they do it very well. The problem I have with it is running it three straight times. Credit Mike Vrabel and the Tennessee Titans defense. They read this all the way. They knew it was coming all three times. They recognized it, and they defended it very well. And if any of you do re-watch the game film, it looked like Josh McDaniels, Tom Brady, and the Patriots offense knew that the Titans knew what they were going to do. They actually called timeout between the second and third snaps, which proved that the Patriots weren't

comfortable with how the Titans were lining up to stop the run. Once again, same play three times. Now only the Patriots offensive play callers know for sure. Primarily, that means Josh McDaniels, but Bill Belichick and even to an extent Tom Brady all have input in how the Patriots call their plays. Only they know for sure why they ran it that way. They could have been trying to lull the Titans into a false sense of security, running the same play, knowing it was something that they could run effectively. Again, the Patriots have had a lot of success in this type of scheme and formation. To me, that's really the only logical reason why the Patriots would even consider running this type of scheme on a third time.

So to answer your question, NoRaj, the Patriots obviously ran this play three times in a row because they felt it gave them the best opportunity to score. It didn't work out. It was the wrong call. It does happen, and the Patriots are not infallible. Now, that doesn't mean that this one shouldn't hurt, because four extra points in that situation could have made the difference in the game but ultimately the Patriots had a number of chances to win this game so it's a little unfair to put the blame of this loss entirely on the shoulders of this one sequence. I hope that was able to shed a little light on

this for you Noraj and I do appreciate the great question. For the next question here on Takeaway Thursday we return to Twitter and this question comes from BruinsCupQuest2020, at RichG6567. Rich is a friend and a great supporter here of Locked On Patriots, so I appreciate this question. And it reads, why did Josh McDaniels abandon the run game in the second half after running for 80 yards in the first half? Rich's question is kind of an offshoot from the previous question, folks. And it's equally as good.

Answer is, Rich, it wasn't so much an abandonment of the run by the Patriots, just a lack of efficiency to do so. Don't forget, the Patriots' desire to run the ball in this game is probably not as great as most people think. The Titans have a very good run defense. They came in ranked 12th overall in the league, 7th in terms of yards per carry. So the Patriots probably had a pass-heavy game plan coming into this game.

On Friday, Mark Schofield joined me here on Locked On Patriots, and we talked about areas in the Tennessee run defense that might be able to give the Patriots the window to run the football. That would be if the Patriots attack the bubble, run to the weak side, run toss plays, and look for cutback opportunities against a linebacker group that can be slow to get into the run fits. When the Patriots were able to do that, they found success, particularly Sonny Michel's

25-yard run. But in the second half, Tennessee, like any good team, made adjustments. They stacked the box and the linebackers were better prepared to defend against the run. Also, don't discount the lack of success the Patriots had in running the football on the goal line stand. Instead of being stretched, the edge defenders were well-equipped to be able to stifle the Patriots' run. That's why you saw them utilize play-action, and you saw Tom Brady testing a secondary that he usually has success in beating. But lastly, I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't say that some of that might have been a lack of confidence in Sonny Michel. When the holes are adequately opened up, Sonny can run through them, and he did so in the first half. Running into

coverage has never been his strong suit. And again, credit the Titans for recognizing that. They held him in check and forced the Patriots to try to beat them through the air. Normally for the Pats, that's a recipe for success. On this night, it wasn't. As a result, all of these factors contributed to the Patriots' lack of desire to run the football in the second half. Would it have worked if they tried it? Well, as anything, especially with a loss, we'll never know for sure. But I can say with a pretty high degree of confidence that Josh McDaniels saw the effectiveness that the Patriots had in running the ball in the first half. What he also saw was the Titans' ability to adjust and stop the run.

Therefore, to answer your question, Rich, that's probably the reason why the Patriots didn't make more of an abundant effort to run the ball in the second half. And make no mistake about it, I don't expect that answer to make you feel any better about Saturday night's loss, but I hope it at least sheds a little bit of light onto what the Patriots might have been thinking and some of the strategies they tried to employ. Thanks as always, Rich, for your support, and thank you very much for the great question. The next question that I wanted to address here in the Locked On Patriots mailbag comes to us via Carl Brooks. Carl can be reached on Twitter at BritishPat28, and his question is,

Based on his productivity in 2019, is Nikhil Harry a first-round bust? Carl, this is a question that's being asked by a lot of Patriots fans right now. They see the productivity of rookie-wide receivers like A.J. Brown, Marquise Brown, Debo Samuel, D.K. Metcalf, and they're looking at Nakiel Harry and not seeing similar production. Well, there's a couple of reasons for that. First off, it cannot be ignored that Nakiel Harry only played in seven regular season games and one postseason game this year. He didn't have a complete season. He missed most of training camp, and he was placed on injured

reserve to start the season. In a complex offense like the one the Patriots try to run, it's very difficult to get acclimated when you've missed over half the season. And when I say over half, I'm referring to training camp in the preseason games too. That all factors into development. It's one thing to learn the Patriots playbook, but it's another thing to be able to run it efficiently. There's no question that missing that time early on in the season definitely hurt Harry's ability to get on the same page with Tom Brady. But Brady still saw enough in Harry to be able to trust him. For example, Saturday night's game against the Titans was the biggest game the Patriots played all year. Brady still targeted Nikhil Harry seven times in that game. That's hardly banishing him to the football wasteland.

In fact, Brady thought so much of Harry, he targeted him with his first pass of the game. Harry ran a comeback and the two clearly were not on the same page as the ball fell incomplete. When you look at the play, it's clear that Harry hesitated and then held up a little bit. That means an incomplete route. The route was correct, but it just wasn't completely run through. Having more time to learn Tom's mannerisms and where he expected Nikhil to be right at that point would have been a helpful thing for the rookie in that situation. That type of hesitation can also lead to drops, and Nikhil had a few of those this year too. Keep in mind he's a rookie, and rookies all develop at different stages. What the Patriots saw in Harry when they drafted him was the combination of speed and the ability to be physical and go up and make contested catches.

In a way, what they saw in Nikiel was very similar to the productivity they received from Rob Gronkowski. Now, I'm not saying they drafted him to replace Gronk. Two different positions, two completely different players. But the ability to go up and make contested and physical catches is what Nakiel Harry is good at. Again, the time that he missed due to injury was a big reason for that, and that really lends itself into the second factor of why Harry struggled this year, and that was his timing and inability to develop a

strong synergy with his quarterback. His final regular season stats for 2019 of 12 catches and 105 yards is not going to raise anyone's eyebrow. I also don't believe that's not indicative of the type of productivity he's going to give you in 2020. With a full healthy season, I think Nikhil can make a big positive impact on the Patriots offense this season coming up. The only question is who's going to be throwing him the passes. Another question is who's going to be calling the plays. If Tom Brady and Josh McDaniels

return, look for them to work with Harry early on. They're going to develop that synergy and they're going to try to get on the same page right from the get-go. If either Brady or McDaniels or both move on, then Nikhil Harry's going to be learning the system from a different quarterback, and possibly a different offensive coordinator. The good thing about that for Nakiel would be that he's coming off of a rookie season in which he played only half of his available time. As a result, he might find it easier to acclimate to a new system. But in my long-winded way of answering your question, Carl,

no, I don't believe Nakiel Harry is a first-round bust. I believe when healthy, he brings a great deal of skill and physicality to the wide receiver position for the New England Patriots. To label him as a bust, I think, is a disservice to Nikhil, especially when he's missed more than his share of time due to injury. Will he be a superstar in this league? The jury's still out on that. We haven't seen enough of Nikhil to find out whether or not that's true.

I can tell you with confidence that he has the skill to do so. But that doesn't always translate to a prolific career in the NFL. My take on Harry would be to give him a full season to prove what he can do. If healthy, I believe he'll turn those naysayers into believers. So again, Carl, thank you for the question, and I hope I was able to at least give you a little bit of information and background on what Nikhil Harry brings to the table, and I hope I was able to answer your question adequately. Again, it's a question I'm glad you asked. It surprises me that this narrative is surrounding Nikhil out there. I think a lot of that is fodder for talk shows,

trying to maybe even smear Bill Belichick's ability to draft. But I think there's something there with this kid, and I expect big things out of him. Will it happen? I guess we'll find out next season. Thanks for the question, Carl. Our next question was probably an unintentional team effort, but the questions were phrased so similarly that I chose to combine the answer into one.

It starts off with our good friend from across the pond in jolly old England, at Matt Inkster, Matthew Inkster of Patriots Nation UK, and he asks, the offense was generally considered a shambles. I don't know if it was necessarily a shambles, but it wasn't as prolific as we usually are used to, Matt. But he says barely breaking the 20-point mark at the back end of the season. Fair enough.

If you were general manager or head coach, where would you start with it all? Free agency and draft considered? Great question. This also piggybacked off of another great question that I received from TruePatriot4Ever, at TruePatriot4Ever, at TruePatriot4Ever, spelled at T-R-U, Patriot, number four, ever. And he made the point that several key free agents

decided not to choose New England last season. What can the organization do to make it more desirable to sign with the Patriots? And he goes on to mention Hunter Henry, A.J. Green, Amari Cooper, Emmanuel Sanders, just a few of the free agents that could dramatically improve the offense. I'll start with the point that True Patriot Forever was trying to make, and I assume you're referring to Adam Humphreys last year, who was probably the most high-profile free agent that the Patriots targeted, and he chose to sign elsewhere, obviously the Tennessee Titans. The Patriots liked Humphreys' game more than they did Cole Beasley, who ended up signing with the Buffalo Bills from the Dallas Cowboys.

As good as Beasley was for the Bills this year, I don't think the Patriots made the wrong decision by targeting Humphreys. I think he would have been a better fit in this offense, has a little bit better of a break and a little bit more speed. You would normally think that having a quarterback like Tom Brady would be a big draw. Players would want to come in here, play with one of the greatest quarterbacks, if not the greatest quarterback, to ever play the game. But Humphreys said that Brady's age and the uncertainty surrounding the future of the

team is why he chose Tennessee. With the players that True Patriot forever mentioned, like Hunter Henry, Mari Cooper, A.J. Green, just to name a few, these players are veterans, and they're hungry for a ring. In my opinion, re-signing Brady is the best way to attract one of these free agents to come play for your team. Now, at least one or some of these players might share Humphreys' concern, but all it takes is one to recognize that re-signing Brady indicates that the Patriots are all in to win it this season. Despite what you'll hear a lot of people say, the Patriots don't need an offensive overhaul. They've got a lot of talent on their offense. Their wide receiver core just needs one more piece to bring it all together,

but they have a lot of great complementary parts. They have a great amount of young talent at running back, and yes folks, that includes Sonny Michel. Don't forget Damian Harris. He was a very prolific running back out of Alabama, mostly redshirted this season, but that is Bill Belichick's MO. He brings along rookie running backs very slow, especially when they're not first round picks like Sonny Michel was a couple of years ago. Harris should be a big part of this running back core this year, and he, Rex Burkhead, James White, and Sony are more than enough to give you production out of that position. That leaves the Patriots' depth chart at tight end, and this is where they are very thin.

Based on his comments after the game and earlier this week on Instagram, Benjamin Watson is likely headed for retirement again, folks. Matt Lacoste was decent, but was nowhere near even close to being capable of producing some of what Rob Gronkowski gave to you. Ryan Izzo was a scratch for the better part of the second half of the season, and his play probably proved that he wasn't ready for prime time. To me, that's what makes a guy like Hunter Henry or even an Eric Ebron a very attractive option for the New England Patriots.

Veteran tight ends that know how to catch passes, get open in the field, and are pretty adept at blocking. For those of you still holding out hope that Rob Gronkowski is going to come out of retirement, I tell you folks, it is extremely unlikely. It's not impossible, but it is extremely unlikely. Based on that, don't expect someone to come in here via free agency and expect to replicate what Rob gave you. There is no replicating Rob Gronkowski.

However, they need to get more production out of the position than what they got this year. Because of that, I think they look for a veteran tight end, preferably a pretty good pass catcher in free agency, and I think they look to the draft for some depth of the position than what they got this year. Because of that, I think they look for a veteran tight end, preferably a pretty good pass catcher in free agency, and I think they look to the draft for some depth at the position, maybe even bringing in a kid that's pretty good at blocking and learning behind one of those pass catchers. Wide receiver, again, I think they bring in a veteran, maybe at a one-year contract.

If Tom Brady is your quarterback in 2020, folks, I think you'll find at least one veteran wide receiver on this list that will be willing to come in, work with Tom Brady, maybe take a little less cash, but ultimately be motivated by loading up for one more run at a ring. So gentlemen, thank you both for the same questions. I don't know if you intentionally collaborated. I'm guessing you didn't. But in any case, they were both great questions, and I hope I was able to provide some adequate answers for you in terms of what the Patriots might look to do in free agency. And last but certainly not least, my man Anthony Curtis provides the final question I'll be answering today on Takeaway Thursday, and he's been featured here before, but just in case you

don't know where to find him, he's at AnthonyCurtis68, and he says, Mike, I'm an optimist, and I assume Brady comes back. From your lips to God's ears, Anthony, we all hope he's coming back. But anyway, Anthony asks a great question and says, With him coming back, that means cap to cut and holes to fill. What do you think is the most likely to go? Who might be restructured? I have my ideas, but I can't wait for yours. Well, Anthony, this is probably the question in Patriots Nation that everyone dreads the answers to. You never want to see your players go elsewhere.

You develop emotional attachments to them, and you want to see them all come back. But honestly, it's never a possibility. Patriots have a lot of free agents this year, and the chances are that a lot of them won't be back. Obviously, Tom Brady is the biggest name on the list, and I opened today's show by saying that myself and a special guest would be discussing Tom Brady's future with the Patriots in tomorrow's show. I'm going to leave Brady at that for a moment. But your question is assuming he's coming back. So if Brady comes back, who would be the likely candidates to exit via free agency? Well, the highest profile free agents that the Patriots have on the list, with the exception of Brady, would probably be Devin McCourty, Kyle Van Noy, Matthew Slater, and Jamie Collins.

Unless Slater retires, I can't imagine him going anywhere else. If he's coming back in 2020 to play football, I expect it to be with the New England Patriots. McCourty to me is very interesting. He's a team leader on and off the field. He had arguably his best season with the Patriots this past year in 2019. However, his age and the amount of money it's going to take to bring him back could make it difficult. Having had the opportunity to cover him for the past three seasons, I can tell you Devin truly seems to love being a New England Patriot. I really believe they find a way to make this work, and they bring Devin back for one more season. That leaves Kyle Van Noy, Jamie Collins, and even offensive lineman Joe Tooney, who I failed to

mention earlier. Two out of those three, I believe, will be gone. I unfortunately think it's going to be Van Noy and Tooney. Look, Kyle's going to command a lot of cash during free agency this year, and in my opinion, he earned his payday. Had six and a half sacks, 14 quarterback hits, and led the team with 58 quarterback pressures. No one else on the team had more than 33. I believe there will be at least a couple of teams that will be linebacker hungry and look to Van Noy to come in and shore up a questionable group. Ultimately, I think that will put him out of the Patriots' price range,

who are expected to have approximately about $49 million in cap space when free agency begins. Especially, Anthony, in your case scenario, if they look to bring Tom Brady back, a lot of that is going to be eaten up by Brady's contract. But the Patriots won't want to lose two prolific linebackers. That's why I believe they'll do what they need to do to work out a deal with Jamie Collins. Don't forget, Jamie Collins made a great deal of money in his contract with Cleveland. I'm not saying that he's going to leave money on the table or that he'd be willing to take a bargain basement offer from the Patriots, but I think he enjoyed his time in New England here

just enough to be able to work out a mutually beneficial deal for both sides. That leaves Joe Tooney, who was the Patriots' most reliable offensive lineman this year. He is going to be one of the most sought-after guards in free agency without question. Not only did he earn second-team All-Pro honors, but he didn't miss one game this year, and durability is so important when selecting an offensive lineman. They're always at a premium, and yes, there will be several suitors for his services, and because of that, I think the price tag is going to be far too high for the Patriots to match. For the record, I believe the Patriots should re-sign him. I just don't believe they will be able to do so.

But again, even with the Patriots letting their free agents walk, they still have to clear some cap space. The only way to do that will be with restructures and releases. On the books and guaranteed for 2020, the Patriots do have a few big number contracts. Notably, Stephon Gilmore. His cap hit in 2020 is going to be $ 18,670,833. Gilmore's dead cap hit, according to SportTrack, is expected to be 15,341,668. Conventional wisdom said he'd be a prime candidate for restructuring, but Gilmore has to be willing to do it, and up till now he hasn't given any indication that he'd

be willing to give the Patriots a restructure that would provide them with some cap relief. Don't worry folks, as Dean Warmer would say, there is 0.0 chance that they're going to release Stephon. But one beloved name in Patriots folklore that could find himself on the outside looking in this year, and it pains me to say this because I am a big fan of this guy, is linebacker Dante Hightower. Hightower's cap hit in 2020 is expected to be $11,320,305. His dead cap hit is $2.5 million. That's a pretty significant drop-off.

You can almost see the Patriots looking at this contract, stating that maybe Hightower might be willing to agree to a restructure. If not, he could be a candidate for the chopping block. The defense would definitely take a hit. There's no question about it. Hightower is one of the most respected guys in that locker room, and he is the director of that defense. But keep in mind, Juwan Bentley in his second season also did some of the directing of the

defense. With a little bit of seasoning behind him, could he ascend to that role and therefore make Hightower expendable? From a talent on the field perspective, I don't think that's necessarily a safe bet. However, the cost efficiency may tip the scales in favor of having Hightower taking his snaps elsewhere next year in 2020. Another prime candidate for release or restructure is right tackle Marcus Cannon. Cannon's on the cap right now for $8,916,666.

His dead cap hit is $3,733,333. That would be a cost efficiency savings for the Patriots. Cannon might be more likely to be released. I'm not sure he would agree to a restructure. However, based on his injury history and his productivity during 2019, he may find it more beneficial to restructure and remain with the Patriots rather than hit the open market where he might not quite have the same value that he had a couple of years ago. So to answer your question, Anthony, even though Gilmore right now has the biggest cap hit, if the Patriots are going to look for any additional cap space, in addition to letting some of their big-time free agents walk,

it's probably going to be between Hightower and Cannon's contract. Of course, as the season wraps up and free agency gets closer and closer, keep a sharp eye on the Patriots' transactions. That could be telltale. And as always, if you have any cap questions, follow my friend Miguel Benzen at PatsCap. He's the best in the business and he'll be all over it. You definitely can't go wrong with following him and absorbing his great wisdom and counsel in the great work that he does with the Boston Sports Journal. So thus concludes another Takeaway Thursday. And I want to thank everyone that submitted questions once again. I especially want to thank Noraj, Anthony, Matthew, Bruins Cup Quest 2020,

Carl Brooks, and True Patriot Forever for the great questions that were used on today's show. As for me, I will be back tomorrow to talk some Tom Brady with a special guest, so definitely stay tuned for that. As always, please be sure to join me each and every day on the Locked On Patriots podcast and subscribe and download via your preferred podcast provider. Once again, I'm Mike DeBate. I thank all of the great listeners out there for submitting your questions on Takeaway Thursday today.

But most of all, I thank you for listening and staying locked into Locked On Patriots. Have a great day, everyone.