Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - TBD: Patriots O-Line Questions Linger | McDaniels Rescuing Drake Maye

Starting point is 00:00:00 Somehow, some way, the offensive line is a huge question once again for the paths as we creep closer to the season. That's what we start in this episode of Lockdown Patriots. You are Locked-on Patriots, your daily New England Patriots podcast, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. What's up, Patriots fans? I'm your host, Nick Cattels, born and raised in New England. also host of the Everything Pats podcast, co-host of the Greg Bedard Patriots podcast with Nick Cattels and a sports talk show host veteran. On today's episode, a story from Drake May's rookie season that will leave you stunned. And Trayvion Henderson isn't just wowing his own team and the local media.

Starting point is 00:00:47 But first, here we go again. O-line concern hovers over the packs. We appreciate you joining the show, making us your first listen for being an every day or the Lockdown Patriots podcast, a proud part of the Lockdown podcast network, your team every day. Before camp began, I had a hope. I had a dream. The hope, the dream was that the Patriots would get their best five offensive linemen settled before the Vikings preseason game. Get through those joint practices, feel like you have a solidified top five in front,

Starting point is 00:01:21 so then you can get ready for the regular season. You wouldn't have to worry about figuring things out before you play the Giants in the third preseason game, which is usually, for most teams, a useless preseason game. But here we are. We're in the middle of August, just went through the Vikings preseason game, and the offensive line is a TBD. Greg Bedard at BSJ wrote the following. Left guard and possibly center could be put into a blender for the next three weeks.

Starting point is 00:01:51 Unfortunately, we won't be able to see the competition outside of the final preseason game as practices are now likely closed to the media. Evan Lizarre wrote following the game, Vrable acknowledged that left guard is still an open competition while also saying that Wilson is dealing with something physically. Wilson was cleared to play pregame, but Ben Brown got the start. The starting offensive line on Saturday, left tackle Campbell, left guard Brown, center Bradbury, right guard, Owenu, right tackle, Brian. Second string offensive line on Saturday.

Starting point is 00:02:23 left tackle Bryant, left guard Wilson, center brown, right guard strange, right tackle low. Third string offensive line, left tackle low, left guard was Wilson slash strange, center was strange slash Wilson, right guard was city so, right tackle was Demontre Jacobs. So when we talk about a blender, when we talk about still TBD on the offensive line, you see that, you see this coaching staff trying to figure out what to do, especially at left guard and maybe even center so we are a couple of weeks away from the patriots hosting the raiders and the o line is still a question first and foremost the center position should be a competition 100% there should be a competition at center garret bradbury to put it simply

Starting point is 00:03:16 has not been good enough he's been mid too bad on balance throughout this camp now against Washington in the preseason game, he had a pretty good game. But then he once again kind of fell off a cliff going into the Vikings week, and on Saturday, he wasn't much better. Greg Bedard wrote about Bradbury, appeared to have an awful game against the Vikings. Lazar wrote, the Vikings were able to knock the interior offensive line back a few too many times while May was under center with questions at left guard and center in that regard. Garrett Bradbury has not been good enough to hold his starting center spot right now.

Starting point is 00:03:58 And the Patriots need to have a competition there. They should absolutely have a competition there. Bradbury was not good enough in 2024. That's why Minnesota got rid of him. They wanted to upgrade at that position because he was not good enough in past protection. And he's come over to New England and he's had some of the same issues. He's not an overly big guy. And he's struggling.

Starting point is 00:04:21 And if I'm Mike Vrable, if I'm Doug Marone, if I'm Josh McDaniels, I'm looking at Bradbury and saying he hasn't been good enough. We can't just hand him the keys to the starting center job because we went out there and paid him $3 million guarantee. That's not how this is going to work. We can't sustain that level of play at that position throughout the season. We need to do something. We need to put Bradbury's feet to the fire.

Starting point is 00:04:48 We need to have a legitimate competition, not just that left guard, but at center. And yes, Jared Wilson should absolutely be a part of that conversation. You drafted Wilson as a center. You drafted him. That was his position at Georgia. The thought was that's where he was going to play. Then you slid him to left guard. And things started to kind of fall apart there over the last week or so. Back to Evan Lazar, writing about Wilson and how he played at center against Minnesota. Wilson played 13 snaps at center, and I thought it mostly went well, especially the run blocking. Got to wonder if this is the start of something. Badard, Wilson appeared to do a good job at center. Could the Patriots entertain opening that

Starting point is 00:05:32 competition up between Bradbury and Wilson? Yes, yes, not only entertain it, but do it. Take the guy that you drafted as a center and have a competition at that position. I don't think Wilson could be worse than Bradbury. Bradbury just has been that mid too bad throughout camp. I can't imagine Wilson would be much worse. And you have a much higher ceiling. He's younger and you hope that he continues to get better throughout this season. Bradbury might continue to get worse.

Starting point is 00:06:06 So absolutely there should be a competition. And you wonder, do the Patriots regret having Wilson take so many reps at left guard? And now, as he was taking all of those reps at left guard, he was not taking reps at center. And if you want to have a competition between Wilson and Bradbury, now you're giving Wilson like a couple of weeks to prove himself. So you do wonder if the coaching staff looks back and says, maybe we shouldn't have pushed Wilson at left guard and kept him out there.

Starting point is 00:06:37 Maybe we should have just kept him at center and seen if he could beat out Bradbury. Maybe they thought they were all set with Bradbury. Maybe it was a mis-evaluation. Bradbury has not been good enough. And if you're not going to put Wilson back at center and have that competition, then by all means, open it up with Ben Brown. But now you've moved Ben Brown to left guard to try to help Wilson out because Wilson was starting to crumble a bit.

Starting point is 00:07:02 And this is not what you want in the middle of August. This is not what you want when you're done with all of your joint practices. I can guarantee you this coaching staff wanted to settle on their best five by now. And that's not happening. and the lack of a steady veteran at left guard is hurting them, somebody that they feel confident in, that they could just put out there and say he's good enough. Cole Strange hasn't been that guy during camp.

Starting point is 00:07:28 So they don't really, since West Schweitzer retired, they haven't had that, you know, steady interior offensive line kind of swing guy, and they're trying to throw darts. And because you did not have a steady vet at left guard, you had the Wilson experiment. Because you don't have a steady vet at left guard, you're having the Caden Wallace experiment,

Starting point is 00:07:51 who was a right tackle. His entire time at Penn State was drafted as a tackle. Elliot Wolf said he might move to left tackle, and now he's playing left guard. So you're shuffling Wilson, you're shuffling Wallace, you're shuffling Ben Brown, all because you don't have a staple. You don't have a steady vet at left guard.

Starting point is 00:08:12 And so now you're hoping, that Ben Brown can work. And Taylor Kyle's wrote about Brown said he held up well and passed protection at Left Guard against Minnesota, but was pretty boom or bust as a run blocker. Badaard wrote, left guard appears to be an open competition again between Wilson Brown,

Starting point is 00:08:28 who is really only a center, Badaard writes, and possibly Cole Strange, depending on his film from the Minnesota game. I feel okay at tackle. I think Campbell will be solid enough. I think Morgan Moses, as long as he stays healthy, will be solid enough. Marcus Bryant seems to be improving the further camp goes along.

Starting point is 00:08:51 And now he is clearly at this current time, your top backup at offensive tackle. I think Vedarian Lowe, you know, look, I understand how he was last year. But Vadarian Lowe as a backup tackle on the left side isn't the worst thing in the world. There are not a lot of very good backup left tackles in the NFL. It's just not how that position works. So I feel like they're okay at tackle, but man, oh man, they got to figure out left guard and they got to figure out if they want to stay committed, if they want to be married to Garrett Bradbury, because I would not be if I were them.

Starting point is 00:09:26 And hopefully they find their top five this week so they can have a week and a half or so of practice before that Raiders game on week one with that starting five in Drake May. But this is not what you want. It's not ideal. to be scrambling at one, maybe two offensive line positions on the precipice of opening your season. The Drake May anecdote that made my headspin over the weekend. That's next as we continue with today's episode of Lockdown Patriots, part of the Lockdown

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Starting point is 00:11:19 sandwich in 2024. In his rookie season, the Patriots handed the young man a poo-poo sandwich. And the latest anecdote from May's rookie season that made my head spin over the weekend was thanks to Jason McCordy during the telecast of the game on Saturday. Andrew Callahan transcribed what McCordy had to say. during the broadcast, he said, quote, talking to May yesterday, the one thing that he said he had to get adjusted to last year with Alex Van Pelt as the offensive coordinator, Van Pelt didn't, did not talk in his helmet a lot. This year, McDaniels talks to him as much as possible. When Josh says something, May can't anticipate what's going to happen.

Starting point is 00:12:06 Hey, the safety's looking like he's going to come. Talk to a teammate about this. those are the things McCordy said that even as Drake is learning the offense it's also operationally getting used to one another and building that relationship on the field on game day this is similar to what McDaniels did with Mac Jones in 2021 he really held Mac's hand throughout most of that season right up until he could and then it's up to Mac Jones at that point to make the play happen and McDaniels is doing the same thing with men this camp he is staying in the air of may he's making sure may understands what's going on in front of him and he will hold on for as long as he can talking to the quarterback to prepare him the best

Starting point is 00:12:52 and then it's up to may but what's what's truly unbelievable i mean maybe it's not unbelievable maybe it's completely believable because of the coaching staff last year but how does van pelt not help a rookie quarterback pre-snap how do you not help your rookie quarterback quarterback. How was that not even a conversation? What happens? How in the world? How in the world does something like that happen? And I understand that Van Pelt was an offensive coordinator actually calling plays only once in his NFL career for a full season. I think it was back in 2009 with the Buffalo Bills. And that was a last minute decision because they fired who was supposed to be the offensive coordinator right before that season. Not great. But it's, this is just simple stuff.

Starting point is 00:13:43 I mean, Van Pelt played the position. He played quarterback for nine years in the NFL. How in the world can you play quarterback in the NFL for almost a decade and not think to yourself, hey, I could probably help the rookie quarterback because I'm allowed in his earpiece. You know, maybe, maybe just maybe, I can help him. him before the snap of the football, be better at what he's trying to do. Nine years of experience playing quarterback in the league, 12 years as a quarterback's coach, do you not think this would help the quarterback? I mean, I just envision Alex Van Pelt calling the play and then just laying out.

Starting point is 00:14:30 Good luck, Drake. Good luck. X, O, Z-Y, 25, banana, split, chocolate fudge, 42. And then that's it. And then just silence. And May's like, do-to-do, do, do. Standing at the line of scrimmage, whistling, trying to figure out what's happening. No help from the coach in his ear.

Starting point is 00:14:57 Nope. Good luck, Drake. You got the play call. That's all I'm going to be able to do for you today. you got the play call. Whatever happens after that is, it's on you, buddy. Good luck. I hope it works out for you.

Starting point is 00:15:11 And as crazy as that seems, again, it made my head spin to hear this. But I also want you to think about Gerard Mayo. What is Gerard Mayo doing during this time? What is he doing? We know that he wasn't consistently talking to the defense when they were off the field. I don't know how many times we saw. video of Mayo during a game last year, standing on the sidelines with his headset, just looking out onto the field. He's obviously listening to what's happening. He's obviously

Starting point is 00:15:43 listening to the communication or lack thereof between his offensive coordinator and quarterback during the game. What's he doing? Mayo's just standing there in silence. He's just letting this happen. He doesn't think to go to Alex Van Pelt and say, hey, man, maybe we should actually help instruct Drake as much as we can during the game. game. Was this a concerted effort by the coaching staff to not do that? That would make no sense. Did Mayo not demand more from his coaches? Did he not demand more from Van Pelt working with May? Did he not sit down with the offensive coordinator and have a conversation? You know, let's not forget that that weird thing that happened with Ramandre Stevenson when he was

Starting point is 00:16:26 supposed to be benched after he fumbled for the 55th time last year. And Mayo went on the radio and said, yeah, he's not going to start today. Antonio Gibson is going to start. And then the game started and Stevenson was out there. The only thing that made sense at the time, how that could happen is that the coach didn't talk to the offensive coordinator. The offensive coordinator had a personnel package that he wanted to start the game with. And Stevenson was part of that personnel package.

Starting point is 00:16:49 So I guess they didn't talk much. I mean, I don't think we've even scratched the surface of that dysfunction from 2024. I don't know how you are Mayo and you're. you're standing on the sidelines just watching the rookie quarterback try to adjust to things in real time while your offensive coordinator is picking his rear end not having a conversation not not not instructing him and maybe it's just Mayo was so uneducated on the offensive side that he did not have the confidence to go to Van Pelt and say hey man how about you lend a helping hand to the rookie quarterback

Starting point is 00:17:27 maybe he just wasn't maybe Mayo wasn't confident enough and you you just think about what May went through last year with the offensive line, the lack of weapons, the lack of wide receiver separation, the Van Pelt scheme, obviously Van Pelt, not going, you know, beyond to help the young quarterback on game day. And you move that forward to 2025. And, man, May has a very, very steep learning curve. I mean, we talked about the new offense. You know, it's new offense with McDaniels that he's learning.

Starting point is 00:18:04 Fourth offensive coordinator in four years that he's worked with. New terminology with McDaniels. So you're working on the new offense. You're working on the new terminology. With the McDaniels offense, you have more responsibility at the line of scrimmage as the quarterback. So you're trying to, you know, figure yourself out, get your voice out there to the rest of the team as you're settling things at the line of scrimmage. As I mentioned on the bonus episode about the Vikings game. Dray did a great job of checking into a run on third and long,

Starting point is 00:18:34 that got him a first down on a shotgun draw. But the responsibility at the line of scrimmage that you're learning, he's learning all of this real time, new offense, new terminology, new responsibilities at the line of scrimmage. And he's also learning how to diagnose things pre-snap and understanding how to go back and forth with his offensive coordinator and being able to accept the information while he's walking. up to the line of scrimmage before the snap of the football.

Starting point is 00:19:03 He's working on that communication between he and McDaniels. I mean, there's a lot on the plate of Drake May, a lot on the plate. And thankfully, so far, he looks like he's handled most of it really well. But it's a shame to think that, you know, 2024, the way things were handled with May just fell way, way short of what they should have done for that young man. And I feel more confident with Josh McDaniels, much more confident with McDaniels. And a major part of the reason why I wanted McDaniels in New England when Frable was hired because of the experience that he has with the quarterback position,

Starting point is 00:19:40 the experience that he has with young quarterbacks, what he did with Mack Jones in 2021. And it's a similar approach here in 2025 with Drake May, thankfully, because that approach is much better than whatever Alex Van Pelt was doing. I mean, that story is just bananas. A top NFL coordinator tells us everything we need to know about Trayvion Henderson. Find out what he said next as we continue today's episode of Lockdown Patriots, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. This episode is presented by Yahoo Fantasy. It's the best time of the year.

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Starting point is 00:21:07 You can still play in head-to-head private leagues or join a public league at Yahoo! Fantasy. Stay tuned for more killer announcements and start playing Yahoo Fantasy football now at yahoofantasy.com slash lockdown NFL. At this point, as we get ready for the final preseason, game. If Trayvion Henderson does not have a major impact this season, something went wrong, whether it's health, whether it's quarterback play, whether it's offensive. Something went wrong. I am confident that Henderson is going to be able to change drives, change halves,

Starting point is 00:21:50 change games for the Patriots this year offensively with his skill set. He has had a tremendous Mendez camp. And it's like every single game or joint practice or practice, he's doing something that people are raving about. And it's not just the local media. It's not just his teammates or his coaching staff. Andrew Callahan transcribed Devin McCordy talking on the broadcast during Saturday's game. And McCordy said that Brian Flores, the defensive coordinator of the Vikings, Flores told him that Minnesota was quote, quote, blown away at how good Henderson was in joint practices. So Flores told Devin McCordy, we're blown away by that dude.

Starting point is 00:22:36 We were blown away by what Henderson was doing on that field. And that speaks volumes. Flores's opinion matters. Look, I know football. I love football. And I can sit here and tell you different things that Travion Henderson did that excited me. and we'll get to that in a little bit, and Greg Bedard and Phil Perry and all the guys and women

Starting point is 00:23:01 that do a really good job breaking down Patriots football for all of you. It's nice. It's nice to hear great things about a young player from people like us. However, it's a completely different world when a defensive coordinator, like Brian Flores, is saying this about Henderson. His opinion matters. nobody knows ball better than those coaches nobody knows ball better than coordinators and flores is an elite

Starting point is 00:23:33 defensive coordinator you could argue he's the best defensive coordinator in football you could at least argue it and let's not forget that flores was in new england from 2008 through 2018 he saw guys like kevin fog and ridley and varene and james white etc etc etc he knows a good back when he sees one. He knows a good receiving back when he sees one. And for Flores to use the language blown away, there are levels to this. And when you talk about a player like Flores is talking about Trevion Henderson, he's letting us know that, hey, you know, Trevion's not just good. He's not just okay. We were blown away by that cat. That dude is different. That's the message. That's the translation when you're blown away by a rookie that means that rookie is just different and it's

Starting point is 00:24:35 terrific to hear so when we read things or we hear things from pundits analysts it's it's good but when you start to hear coaches coordinators elite coordinators talking about a player the way that flores talked about henderson you should be even more jacked than you were when you saw Henderson run in that touchdown against the Vikings on Saturday. It means more. And the expectation level is high. And I think the expectation level should be high. We should expect Henderson to have a significant impact on this season as long as he's healthy.

Starting point is 00:25:17 I mean, you look at that touchdown run, and it just, it shows you the special traits. Some guys just have a different gear. some guys have traits that go above and beyond just the regular set of traits. And when you look at Henderson's speed, the burst, the gear that he can find, it's different. It's just different when he hits that. And there's not much you can do as a defender because you're not used to seeing that type of speed. I made a joke on Twitter during the preseason game because I think it was Mark Daniels, Doug Kide, and Mike Reese, within 20 seconds of each other

Starting point is 00:25:56 after the Henderson touchdown run tweeted about how Henderson is just fast. I was like, guys, we get it, right? We get it. But he is, he has the type of speed that you just don't see every day in the league. You just don't see it. And then he's got the contact balance,

Starting point is 00:26:12 the ability to just run through that defensive lineman who's trying to tackle him and just kind of bounces off the guy like he's a corner. So the contact balance that different gear, the vision, the patience, I mean, there was not much space for Henderson to find on that touchdown run, but he found it. He was patient. He found it. And then he hit that gear, contact balance through the tackle attempt, end zone, touchdown. Special traits.

Starting point is 00:26:43 Now, there's a challenge. There's a challenge for McDaniels and there's a challenge for May. Let's start with the challenge for McDaniels with Henderson. And that's usage. McDaniels has to make sure that they balance out the touches for Henderson throughout the season. He's not the biggest guy in the world. He's had some injury history. He was better at Ohio State when they used him more efficiently, so to speak. You do not want to overuse him. And McDaniels, because Henderson has these special traits in this kind of talent

Starting point is 00:27:13 that, quote, unquote, blew away the Vikings coaching staff and Brian Flores. Because he has those special traits, McDaniels might want to play around with the shiny toy more than he should. So you've got to make sure that you're taking care of him, that you're managing him to a point. You want to get him through 17 games. He had 171 touches last year at Ohio State.

Starting point is 00:27:35 And you're also wanting to use him on special teams for kick returns. And we should see more returns this year because of the new rules. So you've got to make sure that in the back of your head, you are taking care of Henderson, and you're not going too crazy with him too early and then you gas him out in the final month and a half, he's not nearly the same player he was at the beginning of the year. So that's the challenge for McDaniels.

Starting point is 00:28:00 The challenge for May is that he has to protect Henderson on some of these routes. You know, on Saturday, he threw a wheel route to Henderson. It was a really nice throw with great touch from Drake, but it was somewhat of a dangerous spot. And Drake has to understand, like as much as I love this dude and as much as he can help this offense, I just have to make sure that I don't put him in arm's way because I'm so excited to get the football to him

Starting point is 00:28:28 and I'm not, you know, I'm paying attention to him and I want to get it to him because I trust him and I think he's going to make a play. But I try to do too much to get it to him and I let him into a very difficult situation as a player getting hit by a defender. So the challenge for McDaniels is to make sure you balance out the usage and don't kill those legs early.

Starting point is 00:28:51 And for May, you just got to make sure, as excited as you are to get him the football, you've got to get it to him in the right spots. And don't force something because you're so excited by what he can do with the football on his hands. So those are the challenges for the O.C. and the quarterback. That wraps up this edition of Lockdown Patriots. Reach out to me on Twitter at Nick C Radio. Don't forget to throw a comment in on the YouTube channel that helps us with the algorithm.

Starting point is 00:29:18 Don't forget to hit the like button. Give us that thumbs up if you like what we do here at Lockdown Patriots and subscribe. The subscribers, that number continues to jump thanks to all of you. Thank you for making Lockdown Patriots your first listen and for being an everyday or for your second listen. Check out Lockdown Fantasy Football with hosts Vinnie Iyer and Kate Madjuk. Find Lockdown Fantasy Football on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts. Have a great day and we'll see you tomorrow. Thank you.

Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - TBD: Patriots O-Line Questions Linger | McDaniels Rescuing Drake Maye

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