Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Tuesday Trends and Tom Brady with Glendon - 3/3/2020

Episode Date: March 3, 2020

Tom Brady continues to be the premier trending topic on social media when it comes to the New England Patriots, and the NFL as a whole. Ian Glendon of Full Press Coverage joins host Mike D’Abate on #TrendingTuesday to discuss Tom Brady’s future in New England. The pair also prognosticate on the potential of who might comprise Tom’s supporting cast, should he choose to remain in Foxboro.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello to all of you Foxborough faithful. You are listening to the Locked On Patriots podcast, your daily dose of news, notes, and analysis infused with the occasional opinion on your six-time Super Bowl champions, the New England Patriots. I am Mike DeBate, your host of Locked On Patriots, which of course is a proud part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. And because it's your team every day, that means your questions, your comments, your feedback is always welcomed and always appreciated. And you can always send those questions, comments, and feedback to me via Twitter at MDABATEFPC. And a follow is always appreciated, I'm just saying.

And while you're out there roaming around on the Twitterverse, be sure to follow the Locked On Patriots account as well, at LO underscore Patriots. Speaking of the Twitterverse today, Patriots fans, it is Trending Tuesday here on the Locked On Patriots podcast, and that means I will be delving into the hot topics here in Patriots Nation. And as usual, folks, Tom is the trending topic here in New England. And look, folks, I know it sounds like a broken record, but when the greatest and most important athlete in all of New England sports is set to become a free agent for the first time in his career, it's a big topic.

And anything and everything related to it is going to be a big story. We saw that over the weekend. Tom made a barely audible comment at a basketball game, and the vast majority of social media lost its collective mind. I said it yesterday, and I'll say it again. If it's Brady-related, it's going to trend on NFL Twitter. And unfortunately, it looks like it's going to be that way, right up until the legal tampering period begins on March 16th.

So for the next 13 days, it's highly likely that all of these social media sleuths will keep coming out of the woodwork. But even taking under account all the pathetic attempts to read Tom's lips over the weekend, that's not the only story buzzing around Tom Brady right now. If he does come back to New England, what kind of team are they going to build around him? With only so much cap space to go around, can they really rely on free agency to bring in the quote-unquote piece of the puzzle that Tom's going to need to be able to contend? There's a lot of buzz surrounding the Patriots' intention to maybe look to the trade market to bring in that piece. Or might they even be willing to turn their attention to an old friend who's highly problematic, but very talented? You think you know who I'm talking

about? Yeah, I think you do, folks. But if in fact you don't, I'll let my guest today enlighten you. And he won't be shy in doing so, folks, because he is one of the premier voices when it comes to standing for all things solidarity between the New England Patriots and Tom Brady. My good friend Ian Glendon of Full Press Coverage is joining me today on the hot seat. And because Tom Brady is the trending topic, we'll talk about all of the weekend activities, why the exercises and lip reading were all much ado about nothing, what the New England Patriots plan on doing when it comes to roster building, and is it even humanly possible that that old friend I talked about earlier could come back for a second go-round in Foxborough in 2020?

And in just a moment, Ian and I will be discussing those topics in more as we delve deeply into trending Tuesday here on the Locked On Patriots podcast. However, before I proceed with that, I just wanted to take a moment to address you. Yes, you, listening out there. If you've been a listener of this podcast, I'm sure you've heard all of the great advertisers working with Locked On to reach sports fans. But you may not know that Locked On Patriots is a great way for your local business to reach passionate Patriots fans just like you.

Unlike any other podcast, Locked On gives your local company the unique ability to reach local podcast listeners. We'll see you next time. Let's put your company right here on Locked On Patriots. Local fans love to support local businesses. Text the word advertising to 33777 or visit LockedOnPodcast.com slash advertising and let us know who you are. We'll get our team to help your team achieve Locked On advertising success. Once again, text the word advertising to 33777 or visit LockedOnPodcast.com slash advertising. We look forward to hearing from you. It is always an honor and a lot of fun to share the microphone with my guest today, and especially with all of the news surrounding Tom Brady and all else that brings the deranged

out of their lair. He is the ideal person to be welcoming in today because he tirelessly fights the good fight in the crusade against Brady derangement syndrome. He is the editor-in-chief of Full Press Coverage and the host of too many shows on Full Press Radio for me to mention right now. He is my esteemed colleague, my great friend, Ian Glendon joins me today. Ian, hello. La la la. How you doing, buddy? Long time no talk. I'm doing well. Long time no talk, I know. Absolutely. I don't get a chance to talk

to you enough. And you know, we love it here on the Locked On Patriots podcast because we're both very much like-minded. It's been said several times that we share half of the same brain, and I know our listeners always appreciate you coming on. I've been looking forward to this one for a while. It is trending Tuesday here on the Locked On Patriots podcast.

And what better topic to discuss than Tom Brady? Because Tom is always trending in New England. He is the trending topic. And we can't ignore it. We have to embrace it. And we have to hit it head on. And I said yesterday here on Locked On Patriots, my friend, what we saw over the weekend surprised me.

But how surprised were you to find out that there were so many trained lip readers just hanging around on social media? I mean, who really knew for sure that so many hone this skill in that takes so long to perfect? To be honest, I was most surprised that I took it so lightly because I when I first saw it pop up, I was like, I looked, I kind of chuckled. I was like, you know, there's no way that, you know, this is the line. This is the line people aren't going to cross when it comes to wild speculation. And I severely underestimated people because almost instantly it caught fire. And then everyone and their mother were all of a sudden trained lip readers and experts in body language. And yeah, it was, again, just another step in this very long and painstaking journey to get to

the end of, you know, to get to free agency and all that. So, yeah, I was mostly surprised with myself that I underestimated the people out there. Well, you know, underestimation, I think, is a relative term when it comes to that. So, well, I'm sure we'll expound upon that in a moment. But all kidding aside, folks, everybody knows what we're talking about. Again, I mentioned it here on Locked On Podcast yesterday. Ian and I have discussed this several times. The fiasco that was Saturday ended up being a whole lot of nothing. Tom didn't say he's not.

He didn't say this guy. He was actually saying he's got it to someone off camera that actually had nothing to do with his free agency status. Believe it or not, I think he was actually talking about the game. Or some people think he might have even been talking about Jimim boeheim and his coaching style when it came to syracuse so all much ado about nothing and that really is par for the course when it comes to all of the tom brady rumors when you look at this bud do you see things like this and it makes you say oh my god we got 15 more days of this or do you try to find some humor in all of it because i think that's really the only way to get through it i don't think we're really going to know exactly

what's going to happen until both tom and the patriots want us to know to be honest what's getting me through all this is is me knowing that uh i have a victory lap ahead of me so and and look this to me it's it's exhausting it it's it's tiresome to watch it every every day but but there is a lot of humor to it because i mean we see everyone come out and make these wild wild speculative uh uh just notions on on national television so i mean again these things tend to catch fire and you know that the ones generally with the loudest voices, you know, don't necessarily know, you know, the ins and outs of everything that's actually going on with Tom. So, you know, it leads them to just kind of throw things out. And, you know, there are no repercussions for being wrong anymore. But trust me, I have receipts and I don't, people don't forget. Let me remind you, but I know, no, in all seriousness, I'm what's getting me through this is really just the idea that I,

I feel so strongly and, and, and what I think the end result of this whole situation is going to be that it, that it's brought me a little bit of a, you know, it's brought some humor to the whole situation to watch it unfold. And really I'm just anticipating the anticipating the fun victory laps that will be had in the year in the next couple of years to come. Well, I'm looking forward to it. I can tell you that much because you've pretty much been on you out and you've been on the same train since it began, even more so than myself. And I consider myself someone that's been on the Brady is staying train from quite the get go. But

as always, there's always a little bit of staying train from quite the get go. But as always, there's always a little bit of squeamishness on my part. You've never wavered from that. And when that time comes, and I said when folks, not if that time comes, when that time comes, I will definitely be giving you your kudos. And you know, that day that the decision is made, you're going to be sitting right here on the lockdown Patriots podcast with me, helping you take that victory lap. Two-hour-long episode. Absolutely. Blistering, blistering set that we will have.

It'll be doled out, of course. Locked On Patriots here is a daily podcast, so we'll be doing maybe like a half hour every day, but we will space it out. We will give this man the utmost opportunity to be able to bring you his wisdom and counsel, and the wisdom and counsel he's brought to us all year long but that being said the patriots on this side of it still have a roster

to build if tom brady is indeed returning to new england they still have to surround him with a supporting cast that's going to be able to help compete for a super bowl title because you and i both know but tom br Brady, Patriots, both sides, both all about winning. That's what it's about. And I think that's what these negotiations are about. So Tommy Curran dropped, I think, a pretty interesting nugget of information over the weekend in his Sunday column.

And I'll quote it directly. He said, the Patriots are already active in overhauling their offense. And while the timetable for Brady becoming a free agent makes it tough for the team to make seismic moves to improve, don't be surprised if the team is busy on the trade market before free agency opens. And again, I'm not pumping your tires too much. Well, maybe I am, but I'm going to continue to do it. It's cold out, so we lose air pressure. Absolutely.

That's right. Ideal gas law, friends. Remember that. Remember continue to do it. It's cold out, so we lose air pressure. Absolutely. That's right. Ideal gas law, friends. Remember that. Remember where you heard it. But in any case, this is something that you've been an advocate from from the beginning, is that the Patriots would be active to try to bring in some additional pieces. Earlier this morning and even a little bit yesterday, news is starting to break out throughout the NFL about players that might be subject to the franchise tag.

And one of the names that's been linked to the Patriots is Hunter Henry, a tight end from the LA Chargers. I covered Hunter when I covered the Los Angeles Chargers, and he's the type of prototypical guy that you'd love to see in Patriot blue, but I just never believed that was going to happen. I don't think the Chargers want him leaving, regardless of who's going to be taking snaps and their quarterback. He's the type of tight end that you can help build an offense around.

He's never going to be your centerpiece, but he's going to be a big-time complimentary piece and someone that can give you a lot. When you look at the trade market as a whole, whether it be Stephon Diggs, whether it be Odell Beckham Jr., even if it's a little bit outlandish on your part. Who do you look at as a potential trade target? Because if the Patriots are looking to make that big splash, I think they're going to have to do it by the trade. I don't think they're going to be able to do it by free agency, considering that the biggest name available in free agency is Austin Hooper. And I think he's looking at a big time payday, maybe more than the Patriots are willing to go. So who are you looking at as a potential trade fit?

Yeah, I mean, I mean, look, it's they're in a tough situation. It's not going to be easy by any means, because I think obviously the two names that are most likely or most often linked to the Patriots are obviously Stefan Diggs and most notably Odell Beckham Jr. and uh look I I'm not going to say that there's no you know chance that happens I I think sometimes we we talk about a certain scenario so often that we we kind of convince ourselves that it's just the pipe dream that that it's just not going to happen but you know maybe it comes to fruition that that the Patriots somehow pull a deal for Odell Beckham Jr. Now, again, there's a lot of things that have to happen. This isn't as just simple as saying, hey, here's a third round pick and we'll take Odell Beckham Jr.

No, there's a lot of things that would have to go down. But I would say that would most assuredly guarantee that they intend to bring Brady back. And, of course, I think that would guarantee Brady would be back more so than I feel now. So it's hard to pinpoint because like, you know, you think you think of a guy that that may be kind of under the radar that might ultimately be that type of player for them. And, you know, you look at a guy like Amari Cooper, who is going to be a free agent. However, that's another player that would come with a high price tag. So the Patriots are certainly better off going and trying to find a player that's at the very least, you know, in their control for a couple seasons and preferably with a reasonable contract. But, you know, again, I think they would, you know, make things work if the opportunity to

bring in a guy like Odell Beckham Jr. or even Stefan Diggs, who, again, has a little bit more of a reasonable contract for now, you know, I think they would make a, you know, a little bit more of an effort to to do that. But, you know, again, if it's not through a trade, you know, you're probably talking about one of those, uh, uh, legal tampering window type deals where, you know, the news will break that such and such player intends, you know, the, the classic he intends to sign with team a, uh, news breaking. So, um, so if it's not a trade, I would imagine maybe it's a very early quick move for a guy like maybe Amari

Cooper or something. If, if, you know, again, these big, uh, top targets aren't available, but it's a very early, quick move for a guy like maybe Amari Cooper or something. If, you know, again, these big top targets aren't available. But it's going to be it's going to be interesting to see how it plays out. And we know the Patriots can and will be aggressive. This idea that they, you know, don't play players and don't do certain things is kind of, you know, they wait and they make their move i mean look at 2007 for instance after 2006 they realized what they had to do with that team and that was to add to this offensive add our offensive firepower and they went out and got randy moss dante stalworth uh kelly washington i mean all these players came in and it turned that team into a high-powered offense and uh

you know a little bit different circumstances now but but, you know, I, I, I feel very confident that that's what they're going to do. And, and the fact that, uh, Mike Curran had, uh, added that, or Mike Curran, uh, Tom Curran, uh, that, yeah, I was going to say a little, a little Freudian slip there. Tom Curran. Sorry, Tom. We love Tom. No, no, that was, I actually feel horrible because I don't even, you know, I feel like the other one brings a bad name to the name Curran. Tom does a fantastic job. So, no, Tom Curran, you know, him bringing that up in his piece really, you know, kind of, you know, made me shake my head and be like, yeah, you know, this, this, again, this makes sense to me. This is

kind of how the Patriots would operate. I feel in this situation, they have to be proactive. They can't sit back and wait kind of like what they did with Gronk last year. They have to go for it. They can't sit there and ultimately get down to the third, fourth, fifth option because then, you know, then to their third, fourth, fifth option because then, you know, then you start saying, okay, maybe all bets are off. But, you know, again, I think that's a long ways away. I'm just saying like the Patriots do have to be aggressive somewhat relative to what they normally do. I totally agree with you. And I think you made a couple of good points that I really want to expound upon first is the point about them using the opportunity

to lay low and then be able to make a big time deal. We did see them do that in 2006, as opposed to going into the 2007 season. And believe it or not, there are some parallels in that a playoff frustrating playoff exit, uh, maybe coming off of a team that just wasn't capable of giving the Patriots what they needed when they needed it and understanding how this is going to work and what's going to happen with the team, how they're going to need to make moves and be able to expound upon their roster to be able to contend. Even when you have a good nucleus in place, sometimes you need that shot in the arm, that sort of B-12 shot type player that's going to come in and be able to do that. The second point that you made that I really,

really appreciated, and I'm so glad that you made, was the ability for the New England Patriots now to put this information out there. And I think it's very interesting the timing that you saw Tom's column hit on Sunday, because early on in the week, early on in the weekend, I should say, and toward the tail end of last week at the Combine, the Patriots took a pretty good PR hit. Everybody was looking at it and saying, they haven't reached out to Tom yet. How dare they not do it?

They don't want to go the extra mile to sign him. And we saw the Darlington report, obviously, and some of the others that said that the Patriots hadn't been in contact and that it wasn't looking good. But ultimately, I think the Patriots coming out with news like this shows two things. It shows, one, that they're aggressive in trying to put together the best type of roster they can and to contend for a Super Bowl in 2020. So I think the whole argument that they're looking to rebuild the team, I think, goes out the window at that point. And second of all, it's also a commitment to Brady. It shows them that, yes, we are willing to surround you with the type of talent we know that it's going to take to be able to compete with a team like Kansas City, like Baltimore.

It's not so much that, oh, Brady needs weapons now to be able to succeed. I think the job that he did in 2019 is remarkable, considering the supporting cast that he had and the problems he had getting on the same page. I don't think that's a sign that Brady's in decline. I think that's a sign of the league. The competition has gotten tougher. Kansas City is a much tougher team now, obviously being the defending champions,

than they were in 2018 coming into 2019. So is Baltimore. So were some of the teams that you're going to see compete. So I think ultimately that's a big reason why you're seeing the Patriots do what they do. And I think that's a very good point. And I'm so glad that you made it. Once again, sharing half the same brain, my friend. We always aim to please here at Locked On Patriots.

But last and certainly not least, and I'm going to give you time to pontificate on this, because, folks, if you thought that I was going to ask my good buddy, my brother, if you will, to come on the podcast today and not answer this question, then I don't know what to tell you. Because I imagine him reading this news and sitting up like the undertaker in his vintage WWE days or doing maybe like one of those Hulk Hogan Hulk ups when he heard that Tom Brady and Antonio Brown. Yes, folks, that Antonio Brown. This is according to ESPN's Dan Graziano and Jeremy Fowler, who reportedly are close to Brown, that Brady and Brown have been in constant contact and that Brown has told Brady

he wants to play alongside him wherever he signs this offseason. Now, I'm going to pour a little bit of cold water on this because I think it's a massive stretch to believe that this reunion will happen in Foxborough. But that being said, I'm going to give you time to pontificate on this my friend let me ask you when you see this what are your thoughts on the chances of a potential joining of forces in foxborough for tom brady and antonio brown in 2020 well my my one first impression would be high then it would go down to low and be back to high basically the roller coaster that is antonio brown is essentially where i'm at when it comes to percentage wise but you know let's face facts and i and i've been consistent with this as well that um the patriots are likely a

first round by if not a a at the very least an afc championship game participant uh with antonio brown on the roster last year and and look i mean, you know, you can get in and talk about all the things that transpired after his time with the Patriots. And, you know, I'd like to think that that sort of thing wouldn't have happened, or at least it would have been more manageable. Some of the decisions that he made or situations he got into had he been on an NFL team and had he been in that structure so I'm not going to equate what he did uh outside of the Patriots as being something he would have done with the Patriots now again sending that that text was a mistake

um you know again and and you can't excuse what he did after the fact those are certainly circumstances that are you know going to be speed bumps on his way back to the NFL. But, I mean, really, at the end of the day, the same exact obstacles or situation is there that was there during the season the entire year. And it's pretty simple. Robert Kraft has to agree to it. And look, if Robert thinks, if Mr. Kraft thinks that, you know, maybe the chances of signing Tom Brady are starting to slip if they don't make a move, you know, this could be his Hail Mary. Because I think we both agree that, obviously, Tom would surely welcome him back into this uh into this lineup but uh you know bill belichick i think we

both agree probably wanted to keep him on the roster this was a this was a robert craft move yeah i agree with that you know i don't necessarily agree with it i'm not you know i'm not going to sit here and turn on robert craft because i disagree with a move no i mean it's just i just happen to disagree with what he did so you know in my mind the only real speed bump you know outside of you know whatever you know discipline or actions the nfl may take i mean we really don't know i mean it's like i said there was so much that happened with him in the off season who knows what to make of it all but you know the only speed bump really is is robert craft and if robert craft is desperate, whether it's legitimate or not, to really woo Tom Brady,

if he feels like it's kind of slipping from his grasp, then I guarantee you he will. That's a situation that, in my opinion, would force him to, not force him, but would make him reconsider his stance on Antonio Brown if it meant guaranteeing you keep Tom Brady. Because again, that would be a move that could be made to ensure that Brady is back. And again, it would make the Patriots a better team. And I think it would solve a lot of their issues. They would still have normal, every offseason type situations to solve in terms of roster building and all that.

But again, like it would have been last year, if you add him to that roster if you had add his talent to that roster i i can guarantee you they're they're playing in another afc championship game at the very least because they they would have a first round buy and again that these offensive struggles wouldn't exist yeah and i i see a lot of promise in what you said and i agree with you I think that in terms of Antonio Brown all things aside keeping all of the off the field stuff away from that just the talent that he brought to the table and the synergy that he had with Tom Brady if he where I think this comes off the rails and where I think this might be pipe dreaming a lot is the off the field issues because we still haven't seen enough from Antonio Brown to lead anyone to believe that he's going to be able to stay out of trouble consistently.

We saw the problems that he had down in Florida and then the problems in his house and having to be turned in, you know, to the police. And there's still legal matters that, uh, that might be, uh, pressing when it comes to that. And there might be the other, you know, the other shoe to drop is there still might be a discipline from the league stemming from that stemming from some of the other problems that he had with the text messages and, uh, you know, all of the, uh, the violations supposedly of, uh, you know, agreements and things of that nature. So there's a lot that would have to be worked out. I think maybe that might be just a little bit of posturing when it comes to these reports,

but it does make you wonder whether or not, like you said, if it comes down to the 11th hour and Tom Brady is thinking about leaving and they can't pull the trigger to get a trade in for someone that's going to be a significant upgrade at one of the offensive skill positions, would they look to maybe revisit those talks? I think the chances are very, very slim, but I'm going to surprise some people here. I don't think they're completely impossible, and I think you're like-minded

when it comes to this as well. Ian, what can I say? You are a great man, a great friend. I always appreciate your candor, your insight. Folks, follow my good buddy on Twitter at IGLEN31. You can find his great work and the work of all of the great writers at

FullPressCoverage.com. And it's now available on the app, on the Apple App Store, Google Play, all of your content for full press coverage in one convenient location. The app looks great. I recommend downloading it, folks. Also, on the airwaves, you can catch my buddy on shows like FPC NFL Pre-Game, FPC Radio Live, Cheap Pop, and the Big Bad Bruins podcast with our good friend Chris Blackie.

They do a great job of covering the Spoked Bee. It's a great listen, highly recommended. My friend, thank you so much for joining me today. Always an honor and my privilege. You're absolutely welcome. Can't wait to do it again. And so wraps up another trending Tuesday here on the Locked On Patriots podcast. Both Ian and myself do not sugarcoat our opinions when it comes to

Tom Brady, folks. You know where we stand. We believe he's coming back. And hopefully Ian's next appearance here on a trending Tuesday, or whenever that may be, will be to announce Tom Brady's return to the New England Patriots. However, there is still a chance that it doesn't happen, folks. I know. Painful, but possible. And if the worst should happen, Ian and I will bring you the latest from the very pulse of Pat's nation. As for me, well, I'll be back here tomorrow

to bring you the latest news notes and analysis from Foxborough, and I will be joined by a very special guest with insight into the Tom Brady situation, the Patriots' plans in free agency, and what the team learned from the 2020 NFL Draft Combine in Indianapolis. So as you all know, I love to say, keep a sharp eye and ear out for that. And please be sure to join me each and every day here on the Locked On Patriots Podcast. Subscribe and download via your preferred podcast provider.

Both ratings and reviews are always appreciated. Once again, I'm Mike DeBate. I thank my good friend Ian Glendon for his time, insight, and appearance today. But most of all, I thank you so much for listening and for staying locked into Locked On Patriots. Have a great day, everyone.