Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - The Butler Did It…Again / New England Patriots Place in the AFC East — 3/25/22

Episode Date: March 26, 2022

“Malcom, Go” has become “Malcom, Come Back.” Cornerback Malcolm back is back in the Foxboro fold for the New England Patriots. Host Mike D’Abate welcomes Steve Balestrieri of PatsFans.com back to the Locked On Patriots studios to discuss the return of Malcolm Butler and what it means for the Pats secondary. The duo also dish on the new role of Patriots’ scouting director Eliot Wolf and where the Patriots now rank in the AFC East.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-yRqifUcQQz8SjIQ Stitcher: 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Patriots fans, the Butler did it again. Malcolm Butler back in Foxborough. Elliot Wolfe has a new title. And what does Tyreek Hill's acquisition by the Miami Dolphins mean for the Patriots' place in the AFC East? Stick around. 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 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 free and available on all platforms, including YouTube, which you might be watching this show on right now. I'm your host, Mike DeBate. I also cover your New England Patriots for Patriot Maven of Sports Illustrated. Feel free to reach out to me. Interact with me.

Let me know what's on your mind on Twitter at MDABATENFL. And while you're out there doing some weekend wandering through the Twitterverse, please be sure to follow the Locked On Patriots account as well at LO underscore Patriots. Pats fans, Malcolm Butler is back in Foxborough. Elliot Wolfe has a new title. New director of scouting in Foxborough. What does that mean for the New England Patriots? And of course, a big blockbuster acquisition within the division earlier this week.

Tyreek Hill changing the balance of everything that the New England Patriots are trying to achieve in being a top dog, or at least competing for that spot in the AFC East. Does that change that? We'll discuss that because my guest here today, so nice we asked him back twice in one week, folks. It's always my honor, always my privilege to talk to my Patriots Paisan, the resident voice of reason here on Locked On, doing us a big favor here today. And we appreciate you being here to kick off the weekend in style, my friend.

Steve Balistrieri, columnist extraordinaire for PatsDepans.com, as well as the host of not just one, but two amazing podcasts, Patriots 4th and 2 and 1 Patriots Place. Aizan, thank you so much for joining me today. Welcome back to Locked on Patriots. As always, thanks for having me. I know Murph and Claire will be jealous now. I've been on twice this week.

Well, you know what? We needed the wisdom and counsel, the voice of reason, to kind of reason things out here for the New England Patriots because it's been a little bit of a tumultuous week for New England and I know a lot of Patriots fans are a little uneasy about their place in the division and things that are going on and we're going to get into the Miami Dolphins new look potential new look in the season and also we're also going to get into the return of Malcolm Butler as well but Steve one of the big pieces of news coming out of the patriots news cycle friday morning was elliot wolf uh has a new title in new england he is now director of scouting and

this of course coming from the latest patriots do your job video that's out on patriots.com if you haven't checked it out folks i definitely recommend it a lot of key information there in terms of how the patriots do their scouting the types of roles that these guys play and elliot wolf to me is a really intriguing character because early on when dave ziggler took his talents to the nevada desert and he's now out in las vegas with josh mcdaniels as a member of the raiders as their general manager. We heard Elliott Wolfe's name come up routinely as someone that could possibly fill that seat. He's got a lot of experience in pro-level scouting, a lot of experience in free agency, the draft, did great work for the Green Bay Packers, worked a little bit for the San Francisco

49ers. He's been to some very successful organizations. And it looked like the things were starting to align that Wolf was going to end up being the guy here. But Patriots ended up going with Matt Groh. And the one reason why I think they went with Groh, and this is per reports that we heard after Groh was given that title, is that the Patriots wanted to make sure that the person they give the title to, director of player personnel, was going to stick around for the long haul. But they felt that Elliott Wolfe, it's only a matter of time before he goes on to greener pastures. Now,

if it is a situation where he was only going to be in New England for maybe another year or so, it seems a little odd to me that they're giving him the title. Could this be a sign that the Patriots have bigger plans for Elliott Wolfe this year or do you think it's just a situation where they're giving him his just due and a well-deserved um probably big increase but also a well-deserved title I think it might be a little bit of both I think uh you know it's obviously a little bit of a you know promotion name-wise there to for you know for the work that he's done. But I do think they want to keep him around. I do.

They've had so many, you know, the losses from the front office. I think they want a little continuity there for a couple of years until, you know, they can groom some of these other guys. I mean, everyone's getting promoted each year. So they want to give themselves a little bit of leeway in there. And obviously a guy like him with the talent that he has for his job, they want to keep him around. Oh, yeah, absolutely.

And look, Wolf is someone that can definitely add a lot of depth to the Patriots scouting department, and especially if he is now going to be a mentor to some of these guys that are coming in that are doing pro level and college level scouting. He's got a great amount of experience in this area. Word has it that he had a very big hand in what the Patriots did last year in free agency in the draft. 2021 was a big year for building this Patriots roster. Not only did they bring aboard a ton of free agents, spent a lot of money in doing so, they also set themselves up well for a young nucleus that really could be the cornerstone

of this team for a number of years. Not just Mac Jones at 15, but Ramondre Stevenson in the third round, Christian Barmore in the second round. I think Cameron Grone can be a guy that can really come out of this draft class and show people something. I'm looking forward to seeing what the Patriots look like as opposed to the moves that they did last year, you know, juxtaposed to what they did this year. We're going to get into those types of moves in just a moment, but Steve, you always lend that wisdom and counsel, and I appreciate you lending your

insight on Elliott. We'll see what it means for Elliott Wolfe, and counsel, and I appreciate you lending your insight on Elliott. We'll see what it means for Elliott Wolfe. But again, folks, if you haven't had an opportunity to check out that great video on Patriots.com, I encourage you to do so. Before we move on here today, it would not be Friday if I didn't remind you that it's time to indulge a little bit over the weekend. And that means finding your favorite sweet treat. But the good news is, is that finding that sweet treat doesn't necessarily mean that you have to indulge in unnecessary sugar, in more calories, less protein, things of that nature that just really aren't that good for you. Check out my good friends at Built Bar because, folks, every single time you bite into a Built Bar, you think you're biting into the most delicious candy bar you've ever had, but it's good for you. More protein, less sugar, just more of everything that's good for you. Because at Bilt Bar, they focus on the taste first, but they don't neglect the health aspect of it.

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And believe me, I'd be doing commercials for these. We do appreciate their support of Locked On, but believe me when I tell you, folks, I mean, these are you know, Murph comes on and says that Team Butchie's favorite segment of Locked On Patriots each and every Monday is our Bilt Bar

commercial because he finds out a little more about them each and every time. And you know how we love our Team Butchie here on Locked On Patriots. Steve, what can I say? I always appreciate you taking the time out to join me here on Locked On Patriots. And we talked a little bit about Elliot Wolfe to open the show today and the new title of Director of Scouting and maybe a little bit of a new role for him.

But it's going to be a little bit of familiarity, maybe a little history repeating for the New England Patriots as they're bringing back a very familiar face and you know as well as I do maybe the most indelible play in Patriots history and that's saying a lot considering the guy that wore number 12 up here for a number of years but Malcolm Butler making his return to New England he's coming back on an incentive-laden deal, year out of the NFL, retired from the Arizona Cardinals after the 2021 training camp.

But he comes in now very interesting. JC Jackson is off in Los Angeles. This is a cornerback crew that right now, I believe is in flux and a little bit of transition. But I think right now that Malcolm coming into this team at this time, lending the experience he can lend is a very good move for the New England Patriots. What was your reaction to Malcolm's comeback? What do you think it could mean for the Patriots secondary this year? Well, you know, I was actually really surprised. I had

heard, you know, the rumor that oh that they you know they're going to be talking with malcolm butler again and i thought both sides had kind of burned their bridge when he left so which leads me to believe that maybe a lot of the talk we heard when he did leave was a lot of frou-frou because uh you know he's back they gave him a two-year deal um right now i think you know um his presence is needed right there i don't know if he's going to be the answer you know he was out of football last year he is 32 years, so we don't know what he has left in the tank. But right now, given the status of their cornerback position, and again, we're in March 25th, they need him. So I think they're going to add some extra pieces.

I firmly believe they're going to go for a young cornerback early in the draft. But having Malcolm Butler back there, it's a plus because, one, he knows the defense. So there's not going to be that transition time for him. Oh, he has to learn the playbook. Malcolm knows the playbook. And he can help some of those young guys, you know, that they already have on the roster and guys that they're going to bring in, you know, Malcolm will be there for them.

So, you know, we all know what kind of a teammate he was. His teammates all loved him. It was a great story. I mean, you know, he was a guy that was undrafted. We watched him in training camp. We watched him, you know, shine, earn a spot on the roster, and then earn reps. So I think it's a great move for the Patriots.

Yeah, I think it's a great move for the Patriots, too, for a lot of the reasons that you mentioned. First and foremost is Malcolm is the type of guy that can really play the mentor now, as opposed to the previous four years that he was here in New England still finding his way he was an undrafted rookie free agent really a lot of fame thrust on him and that Super Bowl 49 moment where he makes the interception um he's all of a sudden he's getting Tom Brady's truck I mean things were happening pretty quickly for Malcolm Butler and he handled it well and you know there was some acony, reported acrimony when he, you know, was not played in, you know, in Super Bowl 52. And a lot of people still make that comparison about what happened there and why it happened. I think that's a conversation for another day. Maybe we'll find out the truth. Maybe we won't. But at the same time, the fact that he's back here shows that whatever it was, whatever reason that was,

the two sides were willing to put that aside and let bygones be bygones. And I think Malcolm can thrive here for a lot of the reasons that you mentioned. Something that I think is interesting to me about bringing him back is I think it shows that the Patriots are more likely to play zone coverage this year. This is where Malcolm is at his his best he was very adept in being able to cover in zone in tennessee uh the last year that he was there uh earned a 79.5 i believe 79.5 folks uh pff rating when covered in zone coverage to me i think this shows that he's got the ability to come back in and be a force in that secondary because let's face it they're going to need all the help they can get

looking at the types of wide receiver cores that this secondary is going to have to defend against. And that will lead us into our final point here, folks, in just a moment on Locked On Patriots because so many of the Patriots' rivals seem to be gearing up. And this week, Salvo was definitely fired from the south miami putting everyone on notice and acquiring tyree kill and of course tyron armstead on that offensive line as well does this mean that miami has overtaken new england now for a solid second dare we say

maybe even a first place contender in the afc east ste Steve and I will discuss that point in just a moment, but first, you all know, folks, that college basketball's tournament is in full swing. I'm going to be watching my Friars this weekend. By the time you watch this program, they may either be in the Elite Eight or they may have said c'est la vie to the tournament, but for all of the latest odds, contests, and player props, BetOnline.net is your number one source for all of your sports betting needs and information that online remains the best spot for all of your sports scores your podcasts and news this season and it's not just basketball folks that online is your continued source for all of your sports wagering information needs including live betting

and your favorite vegas casino games head to the website today or use your mobile device to sign up and to learn more about the trends and the action. Sorry, folks. Bet online where the game starts. Patriots fans, the great Steve Balistrieri, my good friend, did us a very big solid here on the Locked On Patriots, taking us to the weekend in style. And, Bud, it's always a blast talking football with you.

But we have one more topic to discuss before we take our leave for the weekend here on Locked On Patriots. And I know you, along with everyone else in Patriots Nation this week, saw Miami's acquisition of Tyree Kill. I was impressed with Teron Armstead going there and being an anchor on that offensive line. But now you look at Tyree Kill adding a level of speed to this team that was already showing signs of being a dynamically athletic team.

You know Mike McDaniel likes to air it out. He likes to get these guys going in the open field. You have to think that Miami is a much better team than they were just one week ago. And a lot of people are thinking that Miami might even challenge Buffalo for the top spot. And that may have thrust the Patriots maybe down to third in the pecking order in the AFC East. Are you as impressed by the national media of the acquisition by Miami of Tyreek Hill? And what does it mean for the Patriots this season? Well, let me say first and foremost,

I think Tyreek Hill is going to miss Patrick Mahomes a lot more than Patrick Mahomes will miss Tyreek Hill. Very good. I think the acquisition, and I know this sounds blasphemous, but I think their tackle acquisition will be a bigger addition this season than Hill will. I'm one of those that's firmly not a true believer in their quarterback situation with Tua. So, you know, I know Tua's played well against the Patriots,

but, you know, in those games, that was because they ran the ball really well. So, you know, with so many new moving parts this year, a new head coach, now you have all these different parts on the offense, it's going to take a while. As we saw with New England last year, a new head coach. Now you have all these different parts on the offense. It's going to take a while. As we saw with New England last year, when you add all these parts, it takes a while for that group of people to gel. And I think it's going to take them a while. And as I said, I wouldn't be shocked if Teddy Bridgewater is seen this year. I'm just not a believer in Tua. Now,

there's no excuses anymore for Tua. They've surrounded him with a bunch of talent. So if he falters in any way or gets hurt, I think that that'll be the end of him down there. I don't think they're going to challenge Buffalo. I still think the Patriots will end up number two in the division see this is why we have the resident voice of reason on folks to bring you into the weekend it's that type of insight and that type of optimism that we desperately need here in New England you're talking everybody off the ledge Steve and honestly I completely agree with you on all counts now look I'm not as low on Tua talk of i lower as some other people are i still think there's a decent amount of talent there i'm not quite sure about the arm

strength and being able to get the ball to his targets to give them the opportunity to get the speed and the the yards after the catch that they so desperately need but the one thing that i will say is you absolutely hit the nail on the head they've surrounded Tua with all of the type of talent that can maximize what he can do well let's not forget the Patriots the Dolphins just didn't add Tyree Kill for speed they also added Raheem Mostert and Chase Edmonds at the running back position these are two of the fastest guys at their given talents in the league right now you also have Jalen Waddell who is a a tremendous talent. You also get Devontae Parker on that list as well. So, you know, there's a lot of talent in Miami's pass catching and running abilities. This is going to be an interesting year for the Dolphins. And in order for them to put it all together, it does have to start with the quarterback being able to get them

the ball. And if they do get solid blocking from the tackle position out of Armstead and the offensive line that Miami has put in place, then yeah, maybe they can make some noise. But I do agree with you. I still don't think they're at Buffalo's level yet. I think Buffalo is still the class of the division. And I still think the Patriots are a lot better than people are giving them credit for. I know they may not have the sexy acquisitions that everybody's been looking for. But Bill Belichick is going to quietly build a roster that's going to keep him in contention. He usually does it, and I think that's going to be the case again this year.

Of course, Steve, all bets are off if a certain player playing on the other side of the Florida Peninsula right now decides he wants to change teams. Folks, we're going to talk about that a lot next week. No, I'm just kidding, folks. It's not. I'm just kidding. This is locked on Patriots. We're going to keep it Patriot centric for the love of God.

Please, folks. I encourage you. Keep an open mind when you hear some of the rumors that are floating around out there. I'm not disparaging anyone where it's coming from comes from reliable sources, but at this point, it's also something that you want to go ahead and just use common sense when it comes to a lot of that. Steve, I think that's a great way to take us into the weekend, my friend. Thank you so much for coming today and for joining me here on Locked On Patriots and lending the reasonable wisdom and counsel that we all know and love. Folks, please follow my good friend Steve Balistrieri on Twitter, on the Bird app. Every single time that he puts pen to paper or voice to microphone, Steve always nails

it and does it with a class and a level of optimism and a level of insight that you just simply can't find anywhere else. That's why he's my Patriots Paisan and such a valued member of the Locked On Patriots family. Steve, what can I say? Thank you so much for joining me today, buddy. Oh, always my pleasure. And remember, Mike, sometimes common sense is an uncommon virtue.

I love it. Absolutely. I couldn't have said it better myself, and I'm not going to try to top that other than to say thank you all for tuning in today and for continuing to make Locked On Patriots a daily part of your New England Patriots coverage. Remember,

Locked On Patriots is free and available on all platforms, not just for the Patriots folks, but for Locked On all different kinds of NFL coverage. Check out my good friends at the Locked On NFL podcast as well. On behalf of my good friend Steve Balistrieri, I'm Mike DeBate. Thank you so much for joining me today.

Stay safe, stay well, be the change that you wish to see in the world. Have a great day, everyone.