Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Turncoat: Did Tom Brady Secretly Help Seahawks Beat Patriots?

Starting point is 00:00:00 Tom Brady not publicly rooting for the Pats to win the Super Bowl was disappointing. But helping the Seahawks beat the Pats, that would be unforgivable. This is Locked on 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 happening? I am your host to Nick Cattels. On today's show, another day, another Patriot gets overlooked by the NFL.

Starting point is 00:00:34 In the second segment, Milton Williams could make the leap to all pro in 2026. But first, Tom Brady is being eyed as a turncoat by many in New England. For a limited time, download the Kalshi app and use code locked on to get $10 when you trade 10. Cal she trade on anything. Mike McDonald joined the Dan Patrick show late last week. And during this interview, Mike McDonald, who of course is the head coach of the Seattle Seahawks mentioned to Dan Patrick that he got Super Bowl advice from someone with a quote unquote conflict of interest. During the interview, Dan Patrick threw out Bill Belichick.

Starting point is 00:01:17 And Mike McDonald said it was not Bill Belichick, which led many to surmise that Tom Brady was the person with the conflict of interest that gave advice to Michael McDonald for the Seahawks before the Super Bowl kicked off against the Patriots. radio host, Zach Gelb, responded. He reached out to Mike McDonald. This is what Zach Gelb posted. I reached out to Mike McDonald to get clarification on his comments on the Dan Patrick show. I asked if Tom Brady was the person with the quote unquote conflict of interest that gave input to the Seahawks before the Super Bowl.

Starting point is 00:01:55 Mike told me it was not Brady that he was talking about in the interview. So Zach Gelb reaches out to Mike McDonald, says, hey look, were you talking about Tom Brady? Mike McDonald says I was not talking about Tom Brady. He was not the person with the conflict of interest. Now, would I expect Mike McDonald to admit that it was Tom Brady? If it was Tom Brady, of course not. Of course not, because this would have been done in confidence. And Mike McDonald floats it out there just vaguely enough where you don't know for sure if it was Tom Brady or somebody else. We just know that Mike McDonald's that it was not Bill Belichick.

Starting point is 00:02:35 Now, does that mean Mike McDonald was being truthful to Dan Patrick? Of course not. So who really knows who discussed the Super Bowl with Mike McDonald and gave him advice before the game kicked off? Who knows? But I do not anticipate Mike McDonald letting us all know because he would have said it during the interview. It really could be anybody with the networking throughout the NFL.

Starting point is 00:03:03 everybody knows everybody else. And Mike McDonald has been in the league for a few years, and he is somebody that obviously has a certain amount of connections. And so it could be literally anybody that has a history with the Patriots and would be seen as a conflict of interest. Now, I do think it is 100% believable that this was Tom Brady. Why do I think that? Let's begin with Mike McDonald.

Starting point is 00:03:33 Yes, Mike McDonald is the current head coach of the Seattle Seahawks. But Mike McDonald back in 2021 was the defensive coordinator for who? Oh, he was defensive coordinator for the Michigan Wolverines. And obviously we know Tom Brady went to Michigan. Tom Brady continues to go to Michigan from time to time for certain events. And one would imagine Tom Brady has some type of relationship with Mike. McDonald. Now, does that mean they're super close? Of course not. But I would find it to be incredibly hard to believe that Tom Brady doesn't know Mike McDonald

Starting point is 00:04:14 and did not have a conversation with Mike McDonald, even going back to 2021. I mean, you would have to think that Brady at some point has had a conversation with the head coach. Now, then you move it fast forward style and you think about Tom Brady's role at five. Of course Tom Brady has had conversations with Mike McDonald. He's had conversations with a lot of coaches in the league because of his job at Fox. And I've talked about it. Others have talked about it. This conflict of interest with Tom Brady being a minority owner of the Raiders and still being allowed to do the job at Fox,

Starting point is 00:04:55 that is questionable at best. But there is no question that Tom Brady has had conversations with the head coach of the team that went to the Super Bowl last year and won the Super Bowl. Tom Brady worked the NFC championship game. You don't think there was a conversation between those two guys? Of course there was. So it is completely believable that Mike McDonald reached out to Tom Brady and had a conversation with Brady before the Super Bowl.

Starting point is 00:05:24 Another connection, which is pretty easy to make and was made by Albert Breer on 985, the sports hub, is who is the current head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders. It is Clint Kubiak. Clint Kubiak is the guy in Vegas now. So one plus one equals two, if you're looking at the idea of Tom Brady being this mystery person with the conflict of interest

Starting point is 00:05:54 that spoke to McDonald. It just kind of stands to reason that Tom Brady's team, that he is a minority owner within is interviewing Clint Kubiak, who was the Seattle Seahawks offensive coordinator last year. They're interviewing Clint Kubiak to be their head coach in Vegas.

Starting point is 00:06:15 So inevitably there is a connection there and there's maybe information shared. And then you look at the connections in the past of Brady. Obviously, he worked with Josh McDaniels for a long time. obviously Tom Brady is pretty close with Mike Vrable. We know that Tom Brady was looking at Vrable as a possibility before the Raiders hired Pete Carroll last year.

Starting point is 00:06:42 So Tom Brady is at the center of a lot of these connections between these two teams. He has to have a connection with Mike McDonald. He has a connection with Clint Kubiak as he's trying to interview him to be the next head coach of the Raiders. He has a connection with Mike Vrable. He has a connection with Josh McDaniels. And you think about the awkward post-Patriots career for Brady, seemingly unwilling to marry himself to the franchise that helped him become who he became. And of course, he will always have the, I'll always be a Patriot speech during halftime of when he was officially inducted into the Patriots Hall of Fame.

Starting point is 00:07:27 He will have his statue in front of Gillette Stadium. but Brady has made it clear. He's not rooting for New England. He doesn't have much interest beyond any usual interest he would have in every other NFL team, given what he does for a living now. There's not really much more to that than the Patriots relationship with him and how he conducts his business. He will be going to a Patriots game as a broadcaster for a game that matters this year.

Starting point is 00:07:58 He will be there. I believe it's going to be for the Packers game. So he has tried to keep his distance. He has tried to keep his distance away from the Patriots organization and not wanting to be seen as a Patriot while he is the minority owner of the Raiders in doing this broadcasting gig for Fox. So when you just combine all of this,

Starting point is 00:08:23 it is absolutely believable that Brady was the guy that Mike McDonald was referencing. Now, if it were to come out that it was Brady, if we get some kind of official confirmation, if Brady comes out and says, yeah, it was me, which again, I find unlikely. But if we did find out that it was Brady, that's tough to come back from, man,

Starting point is 00:08:45 because inevitably you were a turncoat. And I hate to say that, I hate to fix my lips to say that about Tom Brady, but it is what it is. If he went to Mike McDonald or Mike McDonald reached out to him and he gave information that helped Seattle win that Super Bowl. He gave Mike McDonald information about, you know, maybe things that he had heard from Rabel or had heard from McDaniels

Starting point is 00:09:09 or heard from other people in the league. If he understood some of the weaknesses of Drake May early in a Josh McDaniels offense when he's still trying to learn that offense, that to me is unforgivable. If we found out that Brady was the guy, that is unforgivable. That is worse than anything he has said or done since he retired. And I don't think there's much of an argument against it. Now, do I think it was Brady? I actually don't think it was Brady.

Starting point is 00:09:44 It is just so hard for me to believe that Tom Brady would, in essence, go behind the back of Josh McDaniels. and Mike Vrable and Robert Kraft, I find it difficult to believe that he would go behind those three and talk to Mike McDonald and give Mike McDonald information that would help him win a Super Bowl against the team that, you know, employs two of those guys and is owned by the other guy. The history is deep. The history is long with Brady and McDaniels and Vrable and Kraft.

Starting point is 00:10:24 And I just think that's a step too far. Now, maybe I'm wrong. And again, I don't know and I don't think you know. And I'm not going to hold it against you if you do think it was Brady. But I just, I can't imagine Brady in essence, stabbing the backs of guys like Josh McDaniels and Mike Vrable and Robert Kraft. He still holds Robert Kraft in pretty high esteem. So I just, I can't come to that conclusion. And if it was Brady, what was the nature of his advice?

Starting point is 00:11:00 I mean, maybe we're thinking way too much about this anyway. There is a world where this could be Tom Brady, but Tom Brady was just giving Mike McDonald kind of your generic run-of-the-mill advice on how to handle a Super Bowl Sunday because Brady had been there forever. You know, maybe the fact that Brady had conversations about Sam Donald and maybe lent some thoughts to helping Sam Donald get through his first Super Bowl. Now, you could argue, and I would understand the argument, why didn't Brady do that for Drake May and the Patriots? But I just, I don't know how specific this advice was and how specific the advice was towards the Patriot side of it.

Starting point is 00:11:40 Like was Tom Brady sharing state secrets? Or was he just generally giving some information to Mike McDonald? I don't know. But I don't like it. And if it was Brady, I hate it. Coming up, Milton Williams gets recognized by the league, but I think he's ready to take a bigger step forward this season. This is Lockdown Patriots, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, now the number one sports podcast network, your team every day. Today's episode is brought to by Indeed.

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Starting point is 00:13:04 slash podcast. Terms and conditions apply. You need to hire. This is a job for indeed sponsored jobs. Milton Williams was the second best patriot last season when he was healthy. May obviously was the first, but I would put a healthy Williams just ahead of Christian Gonzalez for the entire season because I thought Milton Williams was better against the run and the past than Christian Gonzalez was. And in 2026, Milton Williams, I believe, could be set up to be an even bigger game wrecker than he was in 2025. Thank you for making us your first listen and for being an everydayer. Don't forget if you're watching us on YouTube to like, comment and subscribe. We appreciate every single solitary one of you. Milton Williams was ranked ninth overall at

Starting point is 00:13:58 defensive tackle in Jeremy Fowler's league straw poll, so to speak, at ESPN. We've talked about this poll that was done with NFL executives and coaches and scouts for other positions. They got two defensive tackle. Milton Williams was the second patriot to be listed in the top 10 at a position. Christian Gonzalez was the other one at number three, as we discussed last week. But Milton Williams was ninth at defensive tackle. And when you look at the rankings, man, DT is just loaded in the NFL.

Starting point is 00:14:32 Think about how many talented defensive tackles there are. So here were the eight guys ahead of Milton Williams. Leonard Williams, Jeffrey Simmons, Jalen Carter, Chris Jones, Derek Brown, Quinn and Williams, Dexter Lawrence, and Zach Allen. Now, as far as Milton Williams being ranked ninth, his highest ranking from one of the people who voted was actually fifth. So there was at least one person that thought Milton Williams was a top five defensive tackle and will be a top five defensive tackle in 2026. The lowest ranking was unranked. So there was at least one person who didn't believe Milton Williams should be in the top 10.

Starting point is 00:15:19 last year Milton Williams was unranked. Here's what one NFL personnel evaluator said to Jeremy Fowler, quote, New England has an anchor up front and the defense was not the same without him. I completely agree, by the way. Explosive, strong, and great effort player. And you can move him all around the defensive front and he can be effective. And I think that's one of the things about Milton Williams that gets overlooked is the fact that he's not necessarily just stuck at defensive tackle.

Starting point is 00:15:51 You can move him around to one of the end positions. And I would not be surprised. I've said this before in prior podcast during this offseason. I would not be surprised if we see Milton Williams move a little bit more than he did last year because of Draymont Jones's presence. And the fact that you can use Draymont Jones and his flexibility and move him inside, you can move Milton Williams outside. I think the Patriots are going to play more games up front with their talent because

Starting point is 00:16:19 they have more versatility now. It is tough for anybody to climb from unranked last year to being in the top 10 this year. It's very difficult to climb from unranked to the top 10 in one year with the talent that I just named, right? I mean, Milton Williams would have to leapfrog a lot of dudes. And so the fact that he got into the top 10, I do think speaks very highly to what his 20, 25 looked like when he was on the field. We also can't forget that Milton Williams missed five games last season. And if Williams played three of those five, four of those five, all of those five, like if Milton Williams played 15 games or 16 games or 17 regular season games last year, then he might be higher on this list. because his numbers would have been even better, but he missed five games,

Starting point is 00:17:17 which I do think hurts him in this top 10. Now, I could argue, even with the fact that he was out five games, I could argue, and I would argue, Milton Williams is a better football player than Zach Allen. And Zach Allen was ranked eighth, so we're splitting hairs, but I would say Milton Williams is better than Zach Allen,

Starting point is 00:17:39 because Zach Allen is not as good against the run as Williams is. Zach Allen is more of a one-trick pony, so to speak, and that trick is a good trick, and he puts up numbers, but he gets after the quarterback at a very high level, but not necessarily very good against the run. And we saw Milton Williams, when he was with the Patriots on the field in 2025, the Patriots run defense was so much better than when Williams was off. I know what happened in the Super Bowl, folks.

Starting point is 00:18:12 I'm just telling you, you look at the sample size of the entire season with Williams, without Williams, it was clear that the Patriots defense was better with Williams, and it was clear that the Patriots run defense was much better with Williams. I would also, and this might be unpopular to some, but I couldn't care less, I would also put Milton Williams ahead of Dexter Lawrence. Dexter Lawrence is a tremendous football player. And if you go back to two years ago, Dexter Lawrence is in the conversation

Starting point is 00:18:44 from one of the best defensive tackles in all of football. But if you're talking about right now and you're taught about what you saw in 2025 and trying to project what you saw in 2025 into 2026, Milton Williams is ahead of Dexter Lawrence. Dexter Lawrence had half a sack last year. He wasn't close to the same productive football player in 25 than he was in 24.

Starting point is 00:19:09 It wasn't close. But overall, I would say it's a reasonable range for Milton Williams. I'm not going to lose my mind that Milton Williams was ranked ninth and maybe not six or seven. I'm not going to go nuts. But I will tell you, if Williams is able to stay healthy in 2026, he is going to be a monster. he is going to be, I think, quite unbelievable in 2026. I think he's that good. I think we saw just the beginning of what Milton Williams could be in this defense last year.

Starting point is 00:19:50 Second year in the system, second year working with the scheme, second year working with Zach Corp, as Zach Corp becomes the full-time defense of coordinator and play caller now, second year in the Mike Vrable program, he will be much more. comfortable, much more confident. As we discussed recently, I do think Christian Barmore is going to be better this year than he was last year. And I think with a better Christian Barmore, you will get a better Milton Williams. With a better Milton Williams, you will get a better Christian Barmore. And Milton Williams, nobody is going to question this dude's dry and his motivation.

Starting point is 00:20:27 He works his took us off. And as Mike Giardy pointed out at Boston Sports Journal recently, despite missing five games with that high ankle sprain, Milton Williams was still, he was still seventh in total pressures from interior defensive linemen with 59 total pressures. And as Mike Giardy points out, consider the names in front of him.

Starting point is 00:20:52 Zach Allen, Kobe Turner, Leonard Williams, Jeffrey Simmons, Chris Jones, and Byron Murphy, some of the best of the best. at a pass rush win rate of 14.6%, which Mike Giardy points out, was fifth best in the league. And it's clear that Milton Williams gave the Patriots the on-field impact they crave. And I believe that Milton Williams will have the opportunity, as long as he stays healthy,

Starting point is 00:21:17 to be considered a top three or four defensive tackle in 2026. Just got to stay healthy. Hunter Henry deserves, attention and respect. It's coming up next. This is a lockdown Patriots, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. We can list the most important offensive players on this year's team. And I'm not sure Hunter Henry would get mentioned in the top five or so for many people out there. Now, I would disagree with that. And I certainly disagree with how the league looks at the New England tight end. Thanks for checking out the Lockdown Podcast Network. Now the

Starting point is 00:22:05 number one sports podcast network. Let's go back to ESPN's straw poll of executives and coaches and scouts from Jeremy Fowler. When you look at tight end, Hunter Henry shows up in the quote, also receiving votes, unquote, list. He's not in the top 10. He's not even in the honorable mention. And I think that's crazy. I think it's crazy that Hunter Henry is not in the honorable mention section. after what he did in 2025.

Starting point is 00:22:38 I would argue that Hunter Henry should be in the top 10. Not just the honorable mention section. He should be above and beyond the also receiving quotes, also receiving votes, not quotes, also receiving votes list. You know, he should be beyond that part in this story from Jeremy Fowler, in this poll from him. Now, why do I say that? Not because he's a patriot.

Starting point is 00:23:07 Because Hunter Henry put up the numbers in 2025. That should result in him being better than just an honorable mention or also receiving votes. Just look at the numbers. Look at the production. At tight end, Hunter Henry was tied for 10th in the most receptions at that position last year. He had 60 catches. That's tied for 10th most in the league last year. he was seventh in tight end receiving yards.

Starting point is 00:23:38 So it wasn't just like they're dumping it, dumping it, dumping it. He's getting three yard gains here. And they're just easy kind of checkdown catches. No, he was also seventh in tight end receiving yards. So tied for 10th in catches, seventh and yards. Oh, well, Nick, did he get into the end zone? Yes, he did get to the end zone and into the end zone. He was tied for the fifth most touchdowns at tight end with George Kittl.

Starting point is 00:24:03 top 10 in catches, top 10 in receiving yards, top five in touchdowns. What about the analytics? I see a lot of yards per route run stuff, right? I get it. I think Hunter Henry was like 19th in yards per route run. Okay. It's more about the offense than the player. But let's look at EPA.

Starting point is 00:24:29 Let's look at the analytic of total EPA at the tight end position. I mean, I looked this up earlier because I was trying to figure out, am I right or am I wrong about, you know, Hunter Henry in the type of year that he had? Was I was I overrating Hunter Henry because of the type of year he had? And if you go by total EPA at tight end, there's one person at tight end that had a higher total EPA. and that was Trey McBride. Hunter Henry was number two in the NFL at tight end in total EPA. Top 10 in catches, top 10 in yards, top five in touchdowns, number two in total EPA at the position. What are we doing here?

Starting point is 00:25:23 How is he not even an honorable mention? How is he in the also-rescent? voting section of this thing. And then you look at a couple of the names that made honorable mention. Dalton Kincaid, look, Dalton Kincaid,

Starting point is 00:25:40 good football player, but he missed five games. And he had 39 catches, 571 yards, and five touchdowns. Now, if you extrapolate those numbers, you could say Dalton Kincaid

Starting point is 00:25:51 would run away from Hunter Henry. But Hunter Henry, part of Hunter Henry's alert of me and why he should be in the top 10 here is because he posts. I mean, I think when you look at Hunter Henry's, you know, 20, 25, you say, well, he's out there. He played 17 games last year. He played 16 games in 2024.

Starting point is 00:26:20 The last two seasons, the guy has played a lot of football. And I think that is in the positive column and not the negative column. Then you have Pat Friermouth. How on God's Green Earth is Pat Friermouth honorable mention, but Hunter Henry isn't. Prior Mooth got barely over 40 catches last year at 41. He was under 500 yards, and he had four touchdowns. How is he in the honorable mention section and not Hunter Henry? How is Cole Komet? How in the world is Cole Komet listed as an honorable mention, but yet Hunter Henry isn't? And I'm a Notre Dame fan. I'm a Cole Komet fan. But Cole Komet. But Cole Kame,

Starting point is 00:27:06 should not be ahead of Hunter Henry. On no planet should he be ahead of Hunter Henry. Cole Commet last year had 30 catches for less than 350 yards. He got into the end zone twice last year. I get it. Tight end is more talented than ever. And you can look at the top 10 names and there is a lot of talent that is at that position when you look at that top 10. And I get it. Hunter Henry isn't super flashy, but he is reliable, he is dependent, and most importantly, he is productive. And I have no idea how you could be listing guys like Dalton Kincaid who missed five games and Pat Friermuth and Cole Komet. I have no idea how you can list them in honorable mention and Hunter Henry's not in there.

Starting point is 00:27:57 I don't know how in the world Hunter Henry's not considered top 10 when he was top 10 and catches receiving yards, touchdowns, and number two in total EPA. I have no idea if it was. clickbait that you want, it's clickbait that you got, I guess. Maybe you could call it rage bait. Hunter Henry at least deserves to be in the top 10 conversation at his position. He at least deserves that. And not being in the honorable mention is straight up banana land.

Starting point is 00:28:29 That wraps up this edition of Lockdown Patriots. Reach out to me on Twitter at Nick C Radio. And don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe on YouTube. And thank you for making Lockdown Patriots your first listen. for your second listen, check out Lockdown NFL scouting. Kyle Crabs and Joe Marino will make you the most informed NFL fan this offseason. Find Lockdown NFL scouting on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts. Have a great day and we'll see you next time.

Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Turncoat: Did Tom Brady Secretly Help Seahawks Beat Patriots?

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