Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Wellness Wednesday: Dr. Jessica Flynn discusses Edelman, Newton — 4/14/2021

Episode Date: April 14, 2021

The New England Patriots lost one of their most prolific contributors earlier this week, as a result of injury. Still, the question remains: How did Julian Edelman’s knee injury become career threatening? Joining host Mike D’Abate is sports physician Dr. Jessica Flynn of Boston Sports Journal and NBC Sports Boston. The pair discuss Edelman’s injury, as well as the prognosis for quarterback Cam Newton’s health heading into 2021.Support 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.BetOnline AGThere is only 1 place that has you covered and 1 place we trust. Betonline.ag! Sign up today for a free account at betonline.ag and use that promocode: LOCKEDON for your 50% welcome bonus.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

You are 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. You are now locked into the Lockdown Patriots podcast. It is Wednesday, April 14th, 2021, and it's time for a little wellness check here on your daily home for news notes and analysis infused with the occasional opinion on your six-time Super Bowl champions, the New England Patriots. Happy Hump Day, Patriots Nation, and thank you for joining me here on this midweek episode

of the pod. My name is Mike DeBate, your host of the Locked On Patriots podcast, which of course is a proud part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. And folks, because it's your team every day, that means your questions, your comments, your feedback are always welcomed, very much encouraged. So share that feedback, send it to the internet by reaching out to me and following me on Twitter at MDABATEFPC. And while you're out there doing some Wednesday wandering through the Twitterverse, please be sure to follow the Lockdown Patriots account as well at LO underscore Patriots.

Pats fans, I know. The sting of Julian Edelman's retirement announcement on Monday afternoon still being felt throughout Foxborough. It's palpable. After all, Julian was, is, always will be a fan favorite up here in New England. And even though we knew that injury would eventually take its toll, his retirement still came as a hard blow to all of us here in Patriots Nation, and some of you out there might have even been surprised by it.

But since Julian underwent that procedure last fall to try to repair some of the damage done to his knee, most of us, if not all of us, knew that there was a chance that Julian Edelman may miss significant time from the football field. We might have even had our suspicions that the injury could be career-threatening. But regardless, when it comes to matters of medicine, only expert analysis will really tell the story. And I know a lot of you out there are wondering, how did we get to this point?

How did Julian Edelman's knee injury deteriorate to the point where it effectively ended his career? Well, lucky for us here today on Locked On Patriots, my guest is a medical expert that has those answers. Joining me here today on Locked On Patriots is Dr. Jessica Flynn of NBC Sports Boston and the Boston Sports Journal. As a sports medicine physician at Lahey Hospital and Medical Center in Burlington, Mass., Dr. Flynn is one of the leading experts in the country when it comes to sports injury and

related analysis. Today here on the pod, she'll lend her expertise on the level of severity of Julian Edelman's knee injury, why this particular knee injury is more complicated and more resistant to recovery, and why ultimately it led to the end of the career of one of the New England Patriots true fan favorites. Jess will even offer her thoughts on whether or not a recovery and return to the field could even be possible for Julian. I know, folks, I roll my eyes at it too. There are some people thinking he's going to make a miraculous recovery and end up down south.

But before I start booking any flights down to Florida, I'd listen to what Jess has to say on the subject first. But as Steve Balistrieri and I said yesterday, life goes on in Foxborough beyond Julian Edelman. Julian wasn't the only one nursing a high-profile and somewhat concerning injury heading into this season. Quarterback Cam Newton has been the subject of some injury speculation as of late. Don't forget, prior to his arrival here in New England, Cam had suffered a significant shoulder injury and a significant foot injury. Did either of them, or both, contribute to Cam's subpar season, especially in the latter half of 2020?

Did his bout with COVID-19 contribute to it? Again, folks, I'm as far from a medical expert as you can get, but my guest today is certainly not. Dr. Jessica Flynn lends her expert professional medical opinion on both Julian Edelman and Cam Newton, today here on Locked on Patriots in just a moment. But before I welcome Dr. Flynn to the pod today, I wanted to share with you some additional collective health news when it comes to the NFL that does now include your New England Patriots. As a lot of us know, the NFL is set to begin voluntary off-season workout programs next week. But not every player in the NFL is excited about beginning these.

In fact, there's more concern than not when it comes to attending these workouts. Keep in mind, the operative word here is voluntary. And the reason why so many players are still concerned is because the COVID-19 pandemic is far from over. I know a lot of us have difficulty believing that, but folks, it's still very real. It's still very much out there. And on Wednesday, the NFL Players Association released a statement on behalf

of your New England Patriots and several of their players. In that statement, they declined that quote-unquote many of the players have decided to skip the sessions that are scheduled to begin next week on April 19th. And the full statement reads as follows. In solidarity with other players across the NFL and in interest of our health and safety. Many of us at the New England Patriots will be exercising our right to not attend voluntary workouts this offseason. The NFL has yet to agree to the full details of a plan for players, despite the fact that we are a few short days away from the start of these voluntary workouts. The threat of COVID-19 is still serious in our community and across the country.

We think it is safer for everyone if we choose to work out on our own. While we understand that some players will need to go for various reasons and some safety measures have been put in place, we also know that NFL players have a choice which our union bargained for. We saw the health and safety benefits that a fully virtual offseason had on our fellow players last year. As experienced professionals who love the game, we know how to prepare our minds and bodies for an NFL season and look forward to working hard in pursuit of a Super Bowl this coming season. Now, I'm sure a lot of you are wondering out there what precipitated this action. Well, the NFL has been pushing to return to in-person work after the first two weeks of workouts,

and they're also aiming to have some on-field practices during mandatory minicamp, essentially doing everything they can to get back to a normal offseason. But the Players Union continues to push to move all offseason work to a virtual forum. And on Tuesday, the NFLPA sent a letter to the players, urging them not to participate in voluntary workouts until this dispute is settled. So far, five teams have at least partially followed this recommendation. The Patriots joined the likes of the Denver Broncos, the Seattle Seahawks, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and the Detroit Lions. All four of those teams issued statements very similar to

that I just read to you by the Patriots. Now, before we start hopping on, they need to attend OTA. It's voluntary, but it shows you that they're dedicated. They need to be there. The voluntary workouts that were scheduled to take place next week, folks, are mostly due to strength and conditioning. I'm not lessening their importance, but especially for athletes that have been around for a number of years, they know the type of workouts and exercises they'll be doing. They're more than capable of being able to do this work on their own. If they feel it's safer for them to do it

virtually, then this is probably a good move for the long-term health of everyone on the New England Patriots team. That being said, I expect at least a few players to show up, maybe more than you might think. The Patriots have eight players with workout bonuses in their respective contracts. Most notably, Cam Newton. Could be interesting to see if Cam is among the, quote, many or among the few that actually does show up in Foxborough next week. One player that right now looks like a safe bet to show up is special teamer Brandon King, who recently was quoted as saying,

If Bill tells me to show up, I'm showing up. Now, I think some took that statement a little too far, insinuating that Bill Belichick is coercing these people into showing up. Now, I think some took that statement a little too far, insinuating that Bill Belichick is coercing these people into showing up. Far from it. We all saw how Bill handled offseason workouts last year. He was very much in favor of players doing what they believed was best for them last year, which included eight players opting out, the most by far of any other team in

the NFL. So if you think Bill Belichick is trying to use the Billy Pulpit, so to speak, and get his players to show up even though they don't want to, quite clearly you don't know Bill Belichick is trying to use the Billy Pulpit, so to speak, and get his players to show up even though they don't want to, quite clearly you don't know Bill Belichick. But granted, even though this situation is not of the highest importance, it's still worth keeping an eye on. And as next week approaches, it'll be interesting to see who does end up in Foxborough for some of these workouts.

Traditionally, last year of course notwithstanding, the Patriots always have excellent attendance when it comes to the offseason workouts, even if they're voluntary. Here on Locked On, Patriots will continue to monitor all the comings and goings of this situation, including any news if it becomes available on players that are in or out. So Patriots fans, Dr. Jessica Flynn of Boston Sports Journal and NBC Sports Boston will join me here in just a moment to discuss the retirement of Julian Edelman and the potential future health of Cam Newton. But first, I know

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It might be the off season, but that doesn't mean that the health of your New England Patriots is backburner news. We all found out just how much in the forefront it truly is on Monday when Julian Edelman announced his retirement, the result of a knee injury that forced him to miss significant time in his final NFL season. But if you're like me, you're wondering, how did we get to this point? Well, luckily for us here today on the pod, I am joined by one of the nation's leading experts in the field of sports medicine to help us make sense of all of this. She is a sports medicine physician at Lahey Hospital and Medical Center in Burlington, Massachusetts.

In addition, she provides sports injury analysis for Boston Sports Journal and sports injury commentary for NBC Sports Boston. It's always my honor and privilege to welcome Dr. Jessica Flynn back to Locked On Patriots. Dr. Flynn, thank you so much for taking time out and joining me today. Thanks so much for having me back. My pleasure. It's always my honor, always my privilege, and you lend wisdom and counsel that I'm simply not able to lend here

on Locked On Patriots. I've said to my listeners several times, my initials may be MD, but trust me, folks, you don't want me anywhere near your medical evaluation. This is something that I leave to the experts and great experts like Dr. Flynn here. And again, I do, I really thank you for taking the time out to join me today. Jess, Monday was a tough day in Patriots Nation. It was the end of another era. And unfortunately, it's becoming quite common here in New England. We're bidding farewell to a lot of our beloved athletes over the course of the last few years. And Julian Edelman, to me, just defined the word fan favorite or the term fan favorite.

He's just an easy guy to root for. He was the underdog. He was the clutch performer. He was a great teammate with a lot of personality. That's why the fans loved him. His teammates loved him, his coaches. But most of all, he was as tough as they come. And because of that, that means he played through a lot of pain, more often than not, maybe more pain than he should have played through. Jess, you've been on top of Julian's injury story since it happened in October of last year. In fact, as soon as word broke of Julian's release by the team with the failed physical designation, and then of course his retirement announcement coming right after that, you tweeted out that this was likely the knee, likely the arthritis that stopped responding to the treatment.

Even going back as far as October of last year, you outlined what might have happened with Julian's knee. And I quote your October 31st article from Boston Sports Journal saying, quote, with a history of ligament PCL injury and a more recent scope for loose bodies, which folks, thanks to Jess's expert insight, we know that loose bodies are small pieces of bone or cartilage that are kind of floating in the knee. They can end up getting stuck in the wrong spot. That can cause a lot of pain, some stiffness, and definitely a lot of swelling.

That sounds painful just saying it, let alone actually going through it. But based on that procedure, you said that it was very likely that there was at least some arthritis in Edelman's left knee. Now, arthritis itself can be very painful. We all know that. But Jess, you went on to say that it can also lead to degenerative tearing of the meniscus, even saying that it could have been a meniscus tear that led to Edelman's knee problems and maybe even to the end of his career. Jess, as you look back on Julian Edelman's situation from the time that he suffered this

knee injury right up until Monday afternoon's announcement, is this something that you saw coming? And ultimately, what was it about this injury that let Julian and his team around him know that this was not something that he could come back from? Well, you know, I think for the injury and for his retirement announcement, unfortunately I wasn't surprised. It was one of those things that I could feel growing and coming for the past year, but something that I sort of never wanted to hear nonetheless. You know, I think we've known for years now just with various injuries.

And when I say I watch these guys closely, like I watch the All-22 for every game, every athlete. I rerun the plays. So I've seen Julian Edelman battle through a lot of injuries. Even though I'm not on the inside in the training room evaluating him, I'm seeing him push through it on every play. And this knee was certainly an issue for at least a few years. And so kind of knew that he had some arthritis that had been suggested

in the past by sort of insiders and beat writers before. And we just saw it becoming a growing issue for him until ultimately, like you said, in the middle of the season last year, he had to hang up the cleats and try to do something about it. And unfortunately, you know, I think this was the moment where it was just the straw that broke the camel's back. The treatments just really weren't as effective as they hoped. And that's why we didn't see him, you know, later in the season or into the post season, be able to make a return.

So certainly going into the offseason this year, I did expect some news maybe out of his camp that this might be the end of football. And unfortunately, that came yesterday. It's amazing that he played through as much of it as he did. And we heard Ian Rappaport talk a little bit about that on Tuesday, giving a little bit more of his opinion on Julian Edelman, stating that trying to come back, the Patriots were trying to give him as much time as they could to rehab it, to be able to recover. And simply it's just the body was no longer able to answer the call. And I think that's unfortunate without any question.

But it's understandable when you take a look at Julian's medical history, you take a look at what he played through. I've gone on several times here on the pod and talked about watching Julian suffer chest injuries, shoulder injuries, knee injuries. Any one of those would have probably put a lesser competitive out of action for quite some time. At one point, Julian was battling all three and he still did it and was still a productive member, a very productive member of this offense. And I think that's one of the reasons why Patriots fans are taking Julian's retirement so hard, Jess, is that they have a hard time believing that someone so tough could be brought down by injury.

What might be even harder for me to believe is that Julian could suddenly recover from this and return to the field, seeing what a meniscus tear and some of the loose bodies that he tried to have clean up could still be causing problems and pain there. And before you roll your eyes on this one, folks, because you know where I'm going, there are people talking about this, and some whose opinions I usually hold in high regard. So, Jess, I'm not going to put you on the hot seat.

I'm not going to ask you if it's probable or if it's likely or even ask your opinion, but is a recovery and return to the field. Is a recovery and a return to the field from something like this even possible? And Dr. Jessica Flynn, in your expert, professional opinion, is it possible that we'll see Julian Edelman on a football field again? You know, obviously I'm not examining his knee. I haven't seen any of his imaging. But I will leave you with, I guess, just my opinion and thoughts. I do not think that Julian Edelman would have hung up his cleats this year

if there was a chance that he could play. I really don't. The issue that I suspect is going on is not a meniscus tear. It's not loose bodies. Those are all things you can kind of shave away. You can take out a loose body. It's really arthritis. And arthritis is not something that's easy to fix in someone who wants to keep playing football because it's wearing away of the surface of the joint. And that just happens and it becomes so significant at some point that it's not

something you can push through. If this was something he could gut through or rehab through, he'd be doing it. So I would be shocked if we see Julian Edelman play football again, although I definitely hope to see him on the sidelines, maybe in a coaching type position, because I do think he needs that grind and adrenaline of the game. I think that's something that I think football would miss out if he wasn't there, and I think he would miss it. Yeah, without question. Likely, we've seen the last of Julian Edelman on a football field. I know some people are still holding out hope that they'll see him down in Tampa Bay, which

I don't think will happen. But other than that, I think that we've definitely seen the best of him without any question, and we really can't ask him for more than what he's given us here in Foxborough all of these years. Just amazing. He's amazing, and his toughness, it's like nothing I've ever seen. So, yeah, I'm going to miss watching him play. Yeah, without question.

I said yesterday, you know, privately to a friend of mine that reached out to me, and I said, you know, training camps, practices, all of those, they're not going to be the same without watching Julian run out of the tunnel, without watching him put on his helmet and gut out a lot of what you knew he was playing through. It was an inspiration to everybody. You just saw him on the field and you're like, how is he out there? But he's still out there and he's limber and he's athletic and doing all the things that he needed to do. I think Julian Edelman is the type of athlete that if he couldn't play the game the way he wanted to play the game, then he was going to walk away from it.

And it reminds me a lot of a story that I was told about Larry Bird growing up about someone telling him that, you know, if you want to play into your 30s, you better stop mopping up the floor, Larry, because you're going to feel the bumps and bruises and the aches and pains. And Larry kind of scoffed off at him and just said nah forget it that's the way I play that's the way I'm playing and I'm not changing and when he got into his 30s Larry finally said well I finally I really understand now what that guy was talking about but I'm still going to play that way and if I can't play that way I'm going to walk away and I think that's exactly what happened so maybe

Julian took a page unwillingly or unknowingly or maybe knowingly out of Larry's book and decided to walk away from the game. Patriots fans, Dr. Jessica Flynn has graciously offered her time in her expert analysis today to Locked On Patriots. And I'm always humbled to have you join me here on the pod, especially when you challenge me to call you out on your opinions. I happen to like that. And I thought that was great.

But folks, life goes on in Foxborough, and as much as we will miss Julian Edelman, there's another high-profile New England Patriot whose health will be catching the sharp eye of all of us here in Foxborough. That's quarterback Cam Newton. Should the Pats be more concerned about his shoulder or his foot, or is all of this just much ado about nothing? Find out when the Locked On Patriots podcast continues.

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Odyssey is your audio home for all the sports, podcasts, music, and news that matter to you. That's A-U-D-A-C-Y. Patriots fans, Dr. Jessica Flynn of Lahey Hospital and Medical Center in Massachusetts joins us today on Locked On Patriots. And Jess, in the previous segment, we talked about Julian Edelman's injuries, and he essentially confirmed what we all knew, that his health was going to be a factor this year,

regardless of his status on the field. Thanks to you sharing your wisdom with us today, we have a much better idea of exactly what Julian went through, why he made the decision to walk away from the game. But Julian's not the only high-profile Patriot with health concerns this year. Quarterback Cam Newton has been the subject of much speculation throughout the past year, especially given his struggles in the passing game on the field last year. Some have said that Cam simply cannot throw the ball anymore.

Some have said that he just wasn't able to learn the playbook in the time that he was given. All kinds of reasons are offered as to why Cam struggled in 2020. But a lot of them are concerning his health. After all, Cam is just a little over three years removed from rotator cuff surgery on his shoulder. And in 2019, he suffered a lisfran fracture in his foot, which, folks, is an injury of the foot in which one or more of the metatarsal bones are displaced from the middle to the end of the foot. How did I do on that one, Jess? Did I do okay on that for at least an amateur explanation? Like a B-minus, maybe.

Come say B-minus. I'll take it. I'll take it. Believe me, that's better than I thought I did. So I'll take that. Again, you don't want me anywhere near your medical diagnosis. This is why I talk to Jess in these matters. Anyway, back to business, folks. That foot injury sidelined him for much of the 2019 season. That essentially ended his tenure with the Carolina Panthers.

Despite all of the speculation out there about Cam's though and i see a lot of it a lot of it unsubstantiated but people speculate recently our mutual friend tommy curran of nbc sports boston spoke with quarterback guru tom house and tom had something interesting to say he said that he believed cam's foot looked to be more of the culprit and maybe that hindered his ability to work on some of his mechanics. So, Jess, from your evaluations and observations of Cam Newton, do you believe that the shoulder is still a problem from a medical standpoint? Or if you agree with Tom's assessment and it is the foot, could Cam's Lissron fracture from 2019 still be holding him back to this day?

So I would start with the shoulder. I was really actually very happy to see that commentary from Tom House because it's what I sort of had suspected and had gleaned from watching the video myself. So watching every single throw over and over again and texting people in the business and asking them, did you see this specific play and sending them video and saying, I don't really see anything in the shoulder, do you? And what we look for with a quarterback with a shoulder injury is you look for sort of a tell, something that they do every time that shows that the shoulder doesn't have

enough strength, that the shoulder is causing pain, which is affecting accuracy. And I never saw that. But what I saw was just, I mean, accuracy. And I never saw that. But what I saw was just, I mean, he was just all over the place. His footwork was all over the place. His mind seemed to be all over the place. He wasn't doing his normal checkdowns. And there was just something going on, but it wasn't like every play he did the same thing,

which led me to believe it wasn't the shoulder. So that was reassuring. And the other thing, like I've heard commentary, he can't throw the ball. Well, you know, he did have some pretty long receptions that were perfect throws. So I, my conclusion was either something in his training where his footwork, he just wasn't able to kind of like mentally get to a place where he felt comfortable with the play work and that his footwork was off. And so, you know, as far as the foot being a current issue, again,

I never saw something that looked like he was in pain or he wasn't planting that foot. So I don't think that is a current painful problem for him. But I do think the fact that he had the shoulder surgery, he had that foot injury, which kept him out for a year, interrupted his progression of training and working on footwork and working on mechanics, which then led to issues when he shows up with a new team, gets COVID. So I think it was all a matter of sort of his progression getting interrupted by these two kind of major injuries. And my hope is that this off season, he's able to get back on track and really start to work like basic mechanics, foot mechanics, footwork, and then throwing mechanics.

Great information, Jess. So well said. And especially when it comes to Cam's condition, which we all know has caused a lot of speculation from fans, media. People see him throwing passes, skipping them in the dirt. And all of a sudden, everybody's thinking he's having shoulder problems. He's having foot problems. There's got to be some kind of problem that he's having.

I include myself into that mix because I'm looking at him last year at times and saying something just doesn't look right. His mechanics look off. In fact, there were times where I thought it could have been injury related. And I like to think that I'm able to at least look at an athlete, look at the mechanics, and say something's off. This looks physical as opposed to mental. But it was tough to tell with Cam last year. You've helped us take a look at this through more of a medical lens, and I thank you for that, especially in light of what Tom House had to say.

And House's opinion is someone that I'll always take to the bank. This guy has been evaluating quarterbacks and football players all of his life. He has an impeccable reputation in this business for a reason, folks. It's because he knows what he's talking about. And again, I've seen so many erroneous reports out there about Cam's shoulder, about his foot. I appreciate you coming on and lending a little bit of medical expertise to this, letting us know that, yeah, these are problems.

It probably bothered him a little bit last year, but was it the ultimate reason why Cam Newton had difficulty? We'll find that out soon enough, because Cam Newton is going to report for training camp, whether that's next week or the following week, or whenever they begin mandatory workouts, and we're going to see what Cam Newton looks like. He can't have the excuse of being new in the system, not being able to know his teammates any longer. Patriots got him some good weapons around him. I think it's telltale that he signed the contract that he did. Not a lot of guaranteed money, very heavy in incentives. That tells me Cam is betting on himself. Maybe that's a good sign for the Patriots quarterback

this year. Hopefully that means good things for Cam Newton on the field. Jess, before I let you go today, you mentioned very briefly Cam's bout with COVID. And this is a question I get a lot in direct messages on twitter locked on patriots has gotten this question a lot as well about covid fog and about maybe cam newton struggling since he had covid a lot of people have been saying he looked like a different quarterback after that diagnosis again my assessment of cam has been more mechanical rather than something physical that might be holding him back. But is it possible that the COVID diagnosis and the way his body reacted to the virus could have caused some of the issues that he had this past year?

COVID fog is very, very common after a COVID diagnosis. So it wouldn't surprise me if for a game or two, you know, for those few weeks, he wasn't quite himself. He wasn't quite able to lock in like normal. But it does not explain a season's worth of issues, the virus itself, the COVID fog itself. However, the timing of his COVID diagnosis and the time that he missed from, you know, preparation with his team was pretty vital.

It was, you know, just as the team was starting to maybe, you know, make strides. And so that I think is more of a concern. And so that could have affected him. He just lost that momentum and then things kind of fell apart. I think, you know, just to go back to the shoulder very quickly, two shoulder surgeries in the throwing arm of a quarterback is obviously concerning, right? So I can't rule that out as a problem, but I think we're going to be able to see early on in the season if, in fact, Cam Newton is the starting quarterback, which I think a lot of us anticipate he will be, if that shoulder's holding up.

Because once those mechanics, once that comfort with the team gets better, then that could sort of unroof any issues with the shoulder, and we might be able to see sort of what's going on there. Excellent. And every step of the way, Jess, we will definitely rely on your medical expert opinion when it comes to these types of injuries, not just the CAM, but any New England Patriot folks, because I say without hesitation, Jess is among the best in the business nationwide, worldwide at what she does. And it's always my honor to share the microphone with you here today. Thank you for dropping so much wisdom, so much counsel to our listeners that don't get a great opportunity that often to hear a lot of the medical issues behind the players.

You do it and you bring it to the forefront so well, whether it be for Boston Sports Journal, NBC Sports Boston, or making numerous podcast appearances such as the one you've made today. So from the bottom of my heart, Jess, thank you. Before I let you go, please let everyone know here, listeners of Locked On Patriots, and we do have several new ones, where they can find you and where they can find your great work when it comes to sports medicine. So, you know, you can find me at Leahy Hospital anytime if you have any issues, but I am, you know, I'm on Twitter at Doc Flynn NFL. I write for Boston Sports Journal. So you can find me there. But yeah, those are probably the two best ways to find me.

Absolutely. And again, folks, if Jess is putting her name to it, I can't recommend it highly enough. Always the most informative information, medical-wise, that you'll receive anywhere. I trust her opinion as much or more than anyone in this business when it comes to medical expertise. And we'd love to have you back here on Locked On Patriots soon, hopefully to discuss good health for the New England Patriots. But you're always our go-to source no matter what.

In the meantime, please stay safe and stay well. Jess, my best to you and the family. And thank you again for joining me here today on Locked on Patriots. You too, Mike. Thanks so much for having me. I always love coming on with you. Absolutely.

Pleasure is mine as always. Just like that, Patriots Nation, we are over the hump and more than halfway through your work week, but we're still not done here on Locked on Patriots Nation, we are over the hump and more than halfway through your work week, but we're still not done here on Locked On Patriots just yet. Plenty more New England Patriots coverage still to come, including more draft talk here tomorrow, including what the Patriots might have seen from Justin Fields' second pro day, where they sent a pretty impressive contingent to watch the Ohio State quarterback

work out. So to ensure that you do not miss a single second of the action, follow the Locked On Patriots podcast on platforms such as the Odyssey app, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcasts. Just make sure that you are staying locked into Locked On Patriots. Once again, my name is Mike DeBate. I thank Dr. Jessica Flynn for her time, her insight, and her appearance on today's pod. But most of all, I thank you so much for listening and for continuing to make Locked On Patriots

a daily part of your New England Patriots coverage. Until tomorrow, Foxborough faithful, stay safe, stay well, continue to be the change you wish to see in the world. Have a great day, everyone.