Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - What Now at Wideout?; Potential Patriots Tight-Endage from the Combine — 3/9/22

Episode Date: March 10, 2022

The New England Patriots will begin the process of building their roster for the 2022 season in less than one week. Host Mike D’Abate welcomes Clare ‘ClazzyClare’ Cooper of Pats Propaganda to discuss the Patriots free agent options at wide receiver and the best tight end prospects from the 2022 NFL Scouting Combine.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.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 J.C. Jackson does not get the franchise tag as expected so the Patriots will be allocating that saved money into free agents and draft picks but how will the Patriots be allocating that are they looking at the wide receiver position and what were they doing scouting tight endage at the combine we'll answer those questions and more today with my illustrious guest Claire Klazik Claire Cooper of Pat's Propaganda, and a Claire perspective of the podcast. I'm Mike DeBate, and you are 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 Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello to all of you, Foxborough faithful, and thank you for joining me here today on the pod. My name is Mike DeBate. I am 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, thank you very much for making Locked On Patriots your first listen every day. As you can see, it is Wednesday, and that means a visit from our Lady of Locked On, the Empress of Tight Endage herself, the Countess of Clas, the empress of tight endage herself the countess of class the baroness of blockers the queen of te the principle of positivity

columnist extraordinaire for that's propaganda dot com and full press coverage patriots where she hosts her very own podcast a clear perspective the podcast folks Claire continues to deliver an amazing listen. Check out this week's show with NFL Network's Mike Giardi.

Claire, again, just a phenomenal listen. Smash the subscribe button, especially right after you listen to this episode or view this episode on YouTube of Locked On Patriots. Trust me, you will not be disappointed. As well, a co-host of One Patriot's Place, I welcome in the Countess of clazz herself claire thank you so much for joining me from across the pond today welcome to locked on patriots on a wednesday your designated day miss lady of locked on this is it thank you for having

me but as you said it's wednesday so where else would i be i'm sure you can think of a lot of other places you'd rather be right now. But in all actuality, you're too kind. You're too kind. You're too kind. Thank you so much, Claire, for joining me today.

Again, Wednesdays are a day that we like to add a little class to the show and you do that better than anybody after all her middle name folks is class so i mean you have to really you know that's just i'm just kidding folks that's not the case but um claire there's so much to talk about in the land of the new england patriots obviously the big news coming yesterday which really wasn't a surprise to anyone. JC Jackson will not be franchise tagged. And I don't think there was anybody that was really shocked by this. Maybe some that were a little disheartened, maybe a couple that were surprised that they didn't work something out at the 11th hour, but ultimately 17.3 million, even for one year is a lot to allocate to just one player. And the Patriots now are probably going to look to use that money better elsewhere, not

just to address the cornerback position, but likely to address other positions as well. And we've talked about a lot of them here on Locked On Patriots over the course of the last couple of weeks, whether it be the linebackers, whether it be the outside in terms of, you know, finding someone on the edges of the offensive line, whether it be a third down running back. But one of the positions that a lot of fans want to see addressed, and quite frankly, I think the Patriots want to see this one addressed too, is the wide receiver position.

And over the weekend, the Patriots were linked to a couple of high-profile free agents. I should say one soon-to-be free agent. The other most likely would have to be pried by a trade, whether it be Amari Cooper or whether it be Robbie Anderson. Of course, Anderson right now is under contract with the Panthers. Patriots would have to pull a trigger on a trade for that. Reportedly, these two sides had discussions at the combine last week um also the news coming out last week about the dallas cowboys willingness to cut ties with amari cooper and he may end up being out there as a free agent sooner rather than later maybe even before uh next wednesday's

beginning of the uh the league year claire i know you are the empress of tight endage, but you are so much more than that in terms of the analysis that you provide. And pass catchers are really becoming your specialty, not just at the tight end position, but at the wide out position, at the fullback position. You're a wealth of knowledge. And because it's Wednesday, we're going to pull upon that Wednesday wealth of knowledge. Yeah, I see a role in your eyes. I see it. I do. You know, my alliteration, you know, I love this. I live for this. It's usually Wednesday wisdom in all fairness. So the wealth of knowledge is a new one. I don't know if there's a wide receiver wealth of knowledge on my Wednesday in all fairness. I had to kind of do a bit of research

on this one, but you know, we're going to give it a go. It's all in good foot. No, it isn't. And you you know what we wouldn't be pulling on that wealth unless i knew it was there and trust me our listeners know it's there as well have confidence in yourself so anyway getting back to what i was saying about the wide receivers specifically cooper and anderson have been in the news a lot lately but i think new england is serious about adding some talent at wide receiver. When you look at the landscape of the way the New England Patriots do business, Claire, do you believe that there is, I don't want to say any truth to the rumors

because it's very difficult to gauge that right now, but where do you think the Patriots are better off focusing their attention? Is there something that you see in Anderson or in Cooper that you like for this team or are they better off going in a different direction maybe targeting the slot position as opposed to that outside perimeter wide out that the fans seem to want so badly well that's the thing that you touch upon is I know that many fans want that wide receiver one and that's what he's kind of being called for and that usually trends towards a veteran guy who has a good record so you can sort of see that he's a wide receiver one because he's put the numbers down

but it doesn't it doesn't necessarily appear that the patriots would be spending top money on a wide receiver in free agency you can never say never i mean last year the patriots would be spending top money on a wide receiver in free agency. You can never say never. I mean, last year, the Patriots stunned us all, and they took two of the top tight ends that were available. So, I mean, I think that's why it's so kind of turbulent to say whether or not they're going to get a wide out. I mean, some of the less successful choices of last free agency are still counting against the cap so it

would take some work to move around because you've still got the likes of nelson agalor so you know he's to plug in another highly paid guy he's gonna take some kind of work some shuffling i would imagine i'm only sort of from a guesstimate perspective. One of the other issues is you need to kind of think about the future as well. You've got or you want players that are going to be around for a few years within the system. Working alongside Matt Jones, I mean, not just a quick one year hit, plug and play, move on afterwards sort of thing. Hopefully the Patriots are trying to rebuild something or build something within and build it around Matt Jones because as far as we can all see as far as we can all tell Matt Jones is the quarterback for the future and that's that's what the Patriots are building

around at the moment and you know to be expected sort of thing number one draft pick so I mean there's a rather decent depth at wide receiver in the draft now I know we're not really going to talk about the draft because it's still kind of free agency sort of time. But there is, I mean, there's a lot of depth in multiple positions in the draft at the moment. I mean, that's great, but it's also frustrating because there's so many guys that, you know, you look at and think,

oh, you want the Patriots to draft, but there's only so many picks to go around sort of thing. So maybe kind of on my sort of perspective of it is maybe the draft would be the best route because ultimately that's possibly the cheapest route to go down in regards to getting yourself a wide receiver and as you said there's there's depth so there's there's plenty of choice there there's particularly one um and his surname is escaping me now i should have written it down his first name is sky with two y's and i know that he really um sort of molds himself upon sort of a very edelman very amandola kind of sort of skill set if you like and yeah he's he's somebody that i'm kind of looking at

thinking he might be a quite a good roger and I don't think he's necessarily a very early round draft pick. He hasn't been projected that high. So that's something to sort of consider. So I think I'm very much over on the side of maybe let's look at drafting. However, it is locked on Wednesday and we are talking about what's going on at the moment. And as you mentioned, at the moment is free agency. So in regards to what you said about amari cooper now it was said that he's likely to be released by the cowboys he isn't currently a

free agent and he's due something in the region of 20 million in cap in guaranteed money sorry um if they cut him the cowboys are only on the hook for six million. I say only on the hook, but when you look at 20 million versus six, you can sort of use the only on the hook. So, I mean, they're projected at the moment. It's something along the lines of 20 odd million over the cap. So they've just franchise tagged their tight end. So, you know, another sort of surprise of a lot of money being dropped on the

tight end so amari cooper at the moment we don't necessarily know if he's an availability and then kind of what it means is to don't know if there's anything in place in regards to if he's not cut then is he just literally not available or is he somebody that they're looking to move around so the thing is with Amari Cooper I mean I know a lot of people have him highly rated but I know a few people have him kind of good not elite now particularly now um and in all fairness not to not to shamelessly plug myself but Mike Giardi yesterday on a clear perspective which dropped this morning he actually mentioned how amari cooper is a good wide receiver but he's not an elite wide receiver and the one thing that i want to add to that is but he's getting elite wide receiver money at the moment and that's something that do the patriots want to look at they haven't got the money for the the elite wide receiver they just haven't got those numbers this year. Or a lot of people say,

oh, you can move the cap around this, that, and the other. But also, do they want to? They've got a lot of holes to plug. They spent a lot last year. Do they really want to do a significant amount of shuffling to buy out that elite wide receiver's kind of stock money that's going at the moment? So as much as I kind of look at Amari Cooper as in,

that's great because that's a wicked jersey for me, on a much more realistic sort of note. I just don't really know if it's something that the Patriots want to go down in that direction. Because again, how long term are we looking with a guy like that? Is he an individual that's sort of slightly on the decline or anything? I don't have his age in front of me, unfortunately. I should have Googled that at the same time.

I have all the other ones, so I'm not really sure how old he is. But I know that he's been kind of in the league for a while. So I'm not saying age should matter and that's it, we're done with them. But it's definitely a position that that youth is gonna help to win out because it's a speed position so you're always going to sort of look more to a younger guy who's who's got sort of more energy more speed however tom brady really just throws that to the wolves doesn't he in all fairness with his own so yeah this is it i had a look at um the free agency wide receiver,

because you also mentioned Robbie Anderson from the Panthers. But again, he's not a guy who's at free agency at the moment. So I looked at the top free agents because we know that they're available. We know that that is just a monetary thing. It's not sort of a negotiation that is needed to be put into place, like possibly Robbie Anderson would be I know Amari Cooper if he's cut then then again that just goes to the same as a free agency situation it's just you're picking the guy up on a contract and that's fair enough but

looking away from some those sorts of chaps I looked at the list of wide receivers that are hitting free agency and as much as we want these wide receiver ones, they come with such a hefty price tag. It's difficult to look at the names that they've got going sort of at the top end at the moment and think that it's really feasible for the Patriots. I mean, you've got DJ Chalk of the Jags. Now, he may go for slightly less money than he'd really want to.

I suppose everybody would really. But in that, I mean, he's going to have maybe reduced his price tag because he's coming off a fractured ankle injury. So he only played up to week three. I think he got injured in week four last season. So you're looking at a chap who hasn't really played for a while, coming back off injury maybe wasn't in you know in in the best sort of team to showcase him either so is he going to be

out there on a price tag that's lower than he's worth possibly but there's no guarantee you've got juju smith schuster again 25 Steelers coming off of shoulder injury and reduced production so is he I know that Patriots fans will probably be like okay if you can just give me Juju Smith-Schuster then I'll just have him regardless if he's on the decline and stuff like that and I appreciate why you would say that but he's not going to be a guy that's just one are going to come over here on a reduced price tag I mean, it's been said,

I know that there's been rumors and whispers and all this kind of thing about how the Patriots are still operating as if they had Tom Brady. So it's, it's all of a, you can kind of, yeah. So they sort of exceed their, you know,

their self worth in all fairness. And as a Patriots fan, I'm obviously going to be of the mindset of, well, in all fairness, they may not have Tom Brady, but they've still got Bill Belichick. And yeah, they've got a depleted offensive coaching staff, but it's something that's in the building, you know, the building stages. And you've got a rookie quarterback who got plugged in in his first year

and outshined all the quarterbacks that were taken before him. Yeah, he isn't the epitome of the best quarterback in the league. Of course not. But he's a rookie with one year on his belt and really performed really well. It's not going to have the same pull as Tom Brady, obviously, but I can appreciate why they'd still have this attitude of well we are the Patriots because they still are especially under Bill Belichick now I know a lot of people will disagree with me on that and I can

completely understand why you're looking at a rookie quarterback and you're looking at a depleted um coaching staff yeah completely but I still kind of see under the whole Bill Belichick and he still sort of demands respect within the industry and stuff like that so I think they can still kind of have that little bit of you know with great attitude in a way sort of thing so I'd still see that free agents would kind of want to come to New England it's just definitely going to be less so now because individuals like that have said that they kind of want to play under Tom Brady and you can appreciate why so yeah I can I can understand in regards to to why those comments are going out there but going back to

the list sorry digressing going back to the list you've got Christian Kirk of the Cardinals now he's versatile slot and um out wide he's's had a steady improvement, which ultimately means he's a hot commodity, which again would mean a high price tag. So again, you're looking at sort of, is he somebody that's going to be out of the Patriots price range completely? Michael Gallup of the Cowboys. Now he didn't get franchise tags because they tagged the tight end, as we said. But he's talented.

But he's unable to stay on the field. And this is one that I'm sort of curious as if he's going to stick around with the Cowboys. I genuinely think that he will. I think that they will work something out to maintain him. But I mean, particularly as they've gone on record saying that they're looking to drop Amari Cooper,

I can't imagine that they would sort of continue to try and build themselves up, releasing another wide receiver sort of thing. So I think that's something that's going to be worked out. But, you know, what do I know? Odell Beckham Jr. Now, I know a lot of people kind of yeah we're talking about him he's another kind of big name he's been out there for a few years so he's got the credibility he's got these stats that he's got kind of the reputation if you like a little bit like juju

smith-huster he's got that reputation that it's a name that you throw out there and you don't even really have to have watched many games to recognize the name um you may not have seen much of him play but you you hear that name and you're like well i know that guy's good because i've heard his name so much sort of thing and i know dalbeckham jr is one of those personally i think from what we saw last season that came out when he went to the rams and how much he seemed to enjoy being with the rams i mean obviously when the super bowl say you're going to but he seemed to it came out that he he really seemed to fit and he really seemed to kind of be happy and i think that although being 29 and stuff like that i i would imagine that he's going to go on some kind of if the rams need him to my opinion is he'll go on some kind of Rams friendly deal because he just seems to enjoy it with the team too much I don't

really see him being pried away unless somebody wants to drop ridiculous money on him which obviously the Patriots wouldn't I say obviously they're going to now aren't they just because I said the word obviously just to make me look terrible obviously they won't to now, aren't they? Just because I said the word obviously, just to make me look terrible. Obviously they won't, so they will. But no, seriously, I couldn't imagine the Patriots dropping a considerable amount of capital on a 29-year-old, who's been in the league for a while this year and had some kind of adversity behind him as well.

So I personally think looking at that name, I would not be surprised if it comes out that they you know they worked out some deal only on a year but he's going to be back with the Rams I genuinely I don't see him on the list of just sort of like potential even so right moving down there's not many left don't worry moving down there was a couple that got franchise tag that would have been on the list such as Mike Williams and Chris Godwin that was the other name got franchise tag so obviously another set of top dollar names that you'd think would be out of the Patriots price range so the the sort of the most exclusive the sort of the people are sort of saying that would be number one is Alan Robinson

at 28 from the Bears now he needs a better offense and and I think that he's hitting free agency as possibly now the number one wide receiver prospect probably the top of all of all the lists that's left simply because a couple of the guys have dropped off the board because they got franchise tagged so as much as Mike giardi mentioned sorry second plug a clear perspective podcast as much as mike giardi said that he would love that that's two that's two we're going for three no sorry keep them coming but mike giardi knows his stuff so i definitely want to go with these because he knows absolutely you know if mike gi says it, then it's probably true. So he would be very interested in Robinson coming to the Patriots.

And I can imagine plenty of other people would. It's just one of those you need to look at the picture from the case of he's going to demand a lot of money. He's going to warrant a lot of money. And he's going to be on the market with a lot of money being thrown at him and unless there's something that the patriots have got that catches his eye for example if he you know if one of his lifetime goals would be to work with bill belichick then you could use that but other than that i can't really see necessarily the patriots have really got the money now i know a lot of people will say, I think I mentioned that, you know, the cap can be manipulated. Of course it can. But there's only so much that you can stretch and move and extend. And then it's a case of, but would they want to? Because what you've

always got to look at is how much of the future you can compromise by manipulating what cap space you've got now. so it is fair enough saying well if you you know if you if you get the money freed up and you sign somebody like alan robinson you've really sorted yourself out but you could possibly have compromised the future for the next three two three four years in extending deals with guys that you want to keep you can only kick the can down the road so far before it bites you in the butt, in all fairness. So there's only so much that you can sort of think about how Bill can sort of manipulate it and work around it.

So in that respect, my gut feeling is it's just this year isn't the expensive year for the Patriots. So this year isn't really an Alan Robinson kind of Juju Smith-Houston sort of year for the patriots i could be highly wrong that's fine wouldn't be surprised you then kind of go into the second layer if you like of wide receivers that have maybe got fitness and reliability questions such as the will fullers and the jameson crowd is that kind of thing. So, I mean, Will Fuller's serious speed, and that is definitely something that the Patriots maybe seem to be lacking.

Although Kendrick Bourne, you know, I think he's very good. So it is a sort of a debate. And I know that Will Fuller's had his personal issues with his steroids and things like this. So it may be that you can pick him up on a reduced price. Is it really worth it? Is it really worth still dropping quite a considerable amount of cap on a wide receiver that you aren't sort of fully confident in,

that kind of thing? I'm guessing that they probably wouldn't do if they weren't fully confident. But you sort of get where I'm going with the whole, he's not going to be straight off the bat a hundred percent not a problem he comes with a bit of baggage sort of thing as as do most really i suppose you could say but when you start looking at those individuals those sorts of names braxton berrios you start to drop down the sort of list of should we say desirable wide receivers you then kind of say well looking at that guy has he really

got more than what we've already got or what the Patriots have already got sorry how does he really compare to sort of what's in camp at the moment and what's the is the real is the much point of kind of like a lateral slide because you're going to have to do something financially to get plenty of cap or you're going to have to utilize somebody in a trade now other than Nikhil Hari I don't really see an individual that isn't going to create a hole by moving with him other than possibly Nelson Aguilar because you might be trading him for something similar so you you literally swap spots with him but again you've dropped a lot of money on him and you have only given him a year in the system and as we mentioned on an episode recently he drew coverage he didn't do nothing he didn't sit there just right with money

raining on him while he did nothing he just didn't put up numbers that fans really wanted to see right so he didn't give them them the sparkly wide receiver one that they wanted to sort of see. And I can appreciate why we did that kind of thing, but there's always a way that a guy can perform and it's not really measurable. And I think he kind of did that last year in a way. So when you drop past the sort of the Robinsons and stuff,

do you just get into the realms of the names of the guys that are just similar to what you've already got and is there really much point putting a new guy into the system who's then got to use the first year to develop within the system he probably might not put up numbers like nelson agalor didn't and then really you've just kind of repeated what you've just done with Aguilar with just a new name and although I know we can and I was fans we get fickle and we get bored easily and we want the nice new shiny thing and this that and the other is it really worth kind of doing that on that sort of level like I said if you get the top end wide receivers that

are demanding sort of something like, I think Mike Williams just got, I've got it written down. He got a 60 million three year deal with the Chargers, 40 million guaranteed. I mean, Robinson's probably going to go somewhere in the region of that. And I mean, some of these other guys, very similar. So it's a lot for the patriots to put down when they need to spend money on plenty of other things you could argue how much they want to kind of rebuild develop without that wide receiver one i know everybody's kind of calling for max wide receiver

one but this is it's a journey and they're building around mac jones and if you haven't got his o-line solidified is there much point having that wide receiver one that costs you 40 million guaranteed to run out there and max flat on his back because the o-line is so weak because you haven't put any money into it or you know you've got a wide receiver that's scoring you touchdown after touchdown but your defense is so weak that receiver that's scoring you touchdown after touchdown but your defense is so weak that the other team is getting touchdown after touchdown after touchdown and you still lose I mean this it's such a large picture to look at that one single wide receiver one piece sort of sometimes gets lost when you've got to look at so much more and I think that's

just I think that's the thing with the Patriots right now is there is so much more that they need to look at that. Maybe that wide receiver one isn't necessarily what they should sort of should be spending their money on this year. Yeah, absolutely. You made such great points. So many of them. And I want to touch on a couple of them.

First of all, I'm glad that you mentioned Alan Robinson because he is a player that I've sung the praises of. I've highly touted him here on Locked On Patriots for years now. He's been a trade target. Every time the trade deadline came up, it was either Stephon Diggs or Alan Robinson were the guys that I wanted here in New England because of their ability to run routes, because of their ability to be versatile, their prowess that they can show on the perimeter. Robinson is going to

be among the top targets right now. And especially with guys like Godwin and Williams off the board, all of a sudden Robinson's value was going up and up and up. And New England Patriots right now with $9.5 million in available cap space don't have the wherewithal right now to start negotiating with these players and be able to meaningfully sign them to long-term deals now i understand like you said the cap can be manipulated they can make moves to try to get those guys here but at the same time it's not as easy as people think it is just a clear cap space it's not the you know the the just foregone conclusion or just you know i'll take money and put it over here it's easy to do it no it's not i'll tell you

absolutely couldn't have said it better myself great analogy i love that um i'm going to use that i'm going to steal that but in any case i'll give you proper credit for it so i won't steal it i'll borrow it that's fine that's fine but uh any case, I really think that's exactly what we're seeing here with the New England Patriots and their pursuit of a wide receiver one on the free agent market. If the Patriots are going to come away from the 2022 offseason with a wide receiver one, my opinion, Claire, it's going to be from the draft. It's not going to be from free agency. I don't think there's a guy out there that they're going to target to be able to bring that in you mentioned cooper

earlier cooper had his lowest totals since 2017 in 2021 and people will tell you oh we'll change the scenery he's going to get a chance to play with mac jones last i checked amari cooper was playing with dak prescott in talus so the dak is not exactly a lower level quarterback. This guy is among the elites in the league. So there's a reason why CeeDee Lamb was able to leapfrog him in terms of being the number one receiver on the other. Again, I completely agree with Mike on this. Amari is a talented wide receiver.

No one's questioning that. He's a solid contributor. But is he going to be that elite wide out that the Patriots really need? Is he an upgrade? Absolutely. I think you put him on this team right now, and he's among the best, if not the best that you have. But if you're going to invest that kind of money, you have to be investing that kind of money in a surefire number one. I'm not sure amari cooper sets that uh here and the other thing that you mentioned that i wanted to touch on briefly before we get into your area of expertise countess is uh the robbie anderson situation and the nelson aguilar situation i wrote about this a little bit for sports illustrated earlier this week about it not being the like for like swap that a lot of people are thinking it's really a case of and i think you said this brilliantly is it really worth jettisoning nelson agalor to bring in robbie anderson where there's a similar skill set there's a similar type of you know situation where they're coming off of career years struggled a little bit this year in terms of having some upheaval with the quarterback position i think

environment was a little more due to robbie and. Whereas I think, uh, Nelson Aguilar was a little bit, uh, more acclimating to his new system and getting used to a new quarterback. And there was also injury concern as well. I don't think, uh, Nelson was the same player after he suffered the concussion against the Colts in week 15, I believe, um, off the top of my head, I probably got that wrong, folks, but I'm thinking off the top of my head here. But bottom line, bottom line, Robbie Anderson, I think, is a solid wide receiver. He knows the AFC East. I would welcome him here in New England. But at the same time, if you are essentially swapping Nelson Aguilar or Robbie Anderson,

how much are you really gaining as opposed to how much you're losing? So if the Patriots are going to go wide receiver, if they're going to go pass catcher, I think they're going to go to the draft. And if they do go to the draft, folks, wide receiver may not be the only area in which they target. A position that continues to be talked about, and we talked about this a couple of weeks ago here on the pod, is the tight end position. And the Patriots may have their

sharp eye on some draft targets this year who catches the patriots sharp eye when it comes to tight endage in the upcoming nfl draft and who stood out to the patriot scouts at the combine our empress of tight endage will enlighten all of us when this episode of the locked on patriots podcast continues but first folks football on the field may be over for this season, but basketball is in full steam for both pro and college hoops, and there's still some equivalent of football hot stove going on. From all the latest odds, totals, player performance props, to where the next free agent's going to land,

BetOnline.net is the number one spot for all of your sports betting needs. BetOnline remains the best spot for all of your sports scores, podcasts, and news this season. And it's not just basketball, folks. BetOnline.net is your source for hockey, boxing, UFC, you name it, BetOnline.net's got it covered. So head to the website today or use your mobile device to learn more about the trends in action. Bet online where the game starts. Patriots fans, thank you once again for making Locked On Patriots a daily part of your New England Patriots coverage and your first listen every day.

I am honored, as I am every Wednesday, to be joined by the Countess of Clas herself, the Empress of Tight Endage, the Queen of T.E., the Baroness of Lockers, the Empress of tight endage, the Queen of TE, the Baroness of Lockers, the Principal of Positivity, the illustrious Claire Clasie. Claire Cooper joins me here today as she does each and every Wednesday. And Claire, because you are the Lady of Lockdown, I know that you had your sharp eye on the tight end position.

You always do. We joke about it, but you are an expert in the field of tight endage and one of the things that i've been dying to talk about with you when we started this discussion a little bit a couple weeks ago is the patriots potential to address the tight end position in the draft and i know this is not something that a lot of people are talking about you look at the roster up and down you you see Hunter Henry, John O'Smith, numbers one and two on the depth chart. They're not going anywhere.

They're going to remain there for at least 2022 without any questions. Devin Asiasi, Dalton Keene, they're your number two. They're, you know, your second tier now. And each of these guys is expected to compete for a roster spot. But Claire, you and I both know

that the New England Patriots are always all about the team. They want to improve. They want to make sure that they're doing the right thing, crossing all their T's, dotting all their I's. Word has it that down in Indianapolis at the Combine last week, that the Patriots had their sharp eye, the scouts at least, on some of the tight endage that was going on in Indianapolis. And Claire, I've got to give you credit. You know, folks, it's one thing to be at the combine in Indianapolis, scouting these guys, watching them up close. It's another thing to be watching the coverage on the NFL network. But for Claire to brave the time difference and

put in the work that she puts in to scout tight endage for all of us here in Patriots Nation. That deserves some well-deserved kudos. So all hail Countess for doing that. We appreciate you and we definitely are ready to absorb your wisdom and counsel. But that being said, not only have the Patriots scouts had their sharp eyes open, you have as well. And who caught your sharp eye at the combine

enlighten us on some of the tight endage that Patriots fans should keep their eyes on as the other NFL draft approaches in just under two months well I'm here as a service obviously to you guys that's what I'm here to do to provide a service I mean the tight end class is another deep class in the draft, but I think the need for tight end around the league with a few top names hitting free agency shows that there's definitely a market for tight ends this year. The Patriots may look at maybe the lower round

because they have significant need kind of elsewhere. I mean, the amazingly talented and very lovely Mark Schofield did help reassure me um on tuesday on one patriots place that it's not beyond the realm of possibility that the patriots take a low round pick on the tight end now to be fair mark was one maybe saying that to make me feel better and two of course just speculating in his opinion and it's probably that it's probably unlikely but not crazy for the Patriots to look at a lower level guy now by looking at a lower level guy or a lower a later round should we say it means that the Patriots aren't really going to

be looking at taking the kind of Trey McBride of Colorado State or Greg Dorchich of UCLA. I mean, the ones that were there that are significantly top round sort of tight end projected. One of the ones that I really enjoyed watching was Daniel Bellinger of, let me just make sure, of San Diego State. He's a great wide tight end, a really good blocker um and that might possibly be why i took a bit of a shine to him i kind of naturally gravitate towards those kind of times but he performed really well across all the tests and all the drills and so i think his draft stock will kind of be affected by that so i think he's definitely going to be too high for the Patriots now as I always mention I don't get to see uh very much college football at all unfortunately so a lot of what I saw at the draft was the first time that I'd seen these these guys a couple of

them I'd already sort of seen their names in passing in draft guides and things so I'd sort of seeked out their information or a little bit of tape on them, that kind of thing. So there are names that I saw at the combine that that looked really good, that perhaps in the more natural environment maybe aren't quite as good as someone else. So granted, I can only give a sort of a certain perspective of opinion, but I never shy away from the fact that that's the truth. And I always kind of let you know and I'm always very sort of open about the fact that college football isn't something that I really get to delve into and when you look at sort of if you search for the name of you know one of these chaps on here that kind of thing you're only really going to get their highlights you're not really

going to get their like low lights so there's there's only so much that you can sort of go forward with an opinion of somebody if you're not sitting at his college football game each week sort of thing so you know kind of take of it what you will these are just names that i saw and i have sort of tried to look into and i think seemed to perform very well like i said daniel bellinger just out of the whole of the combine from sort of all the tests that he did, all this side of the, the ones that they actually put stats down for like the 40 and the three cone drill,

that kind of thing to the actual drills that you just sort of watch, you watch their footwork and stuff. I, I watched every single one made little notes on every single guy's feet, or if he looked speedy, that kind of thing. And he was one that sort of always came out as being one of the better ones. So as much as I thought he was really good, because of that,

I don't really think he's going to be there for the Patriots. I don't really think he's necessarily going to be a low-round pick, especially now that a lot of the teams haven't picked up their tight ends in from free agency haven't tagged them and stuff so there was still quite a considerable list of free agent tight ends out there um with big names such as like zackerts and stuff like that so i think that scouting at the from the draft with tight endage is going to be maybe something that's quite popular this year if if people don't look to go down and pick up maybe a bargain in free agency, if that's even possible.

So unfortunately, as much as I like him, I don't really think he's going to be there. So if you're a Patriots fan and like me, you want a tight end, I think setting your sights on him might be a little bit too high in all fairness. However, he's not my draft crush. As good as he was, he still isn't my draft crush as good as he was he still isn't my graph crush and my draft crush crush even when i can say he's he's still he may still be out of reach of the patriots um and this is something that really quite depresses me to watch the draft in all fancies that my draft

is going to go somewhere else again i i should have learned last year with patrick freemuth and i knew the patriots weren't going to draft a tight end because they just picked up Hunter Henry and John O'Smith. But this guy was so good. It was like, how can you pass a point in? But obviously they did. And they did get some very good guys, so that's fair enough. But he went over to the Steelers and he's actually doing pretty darn good.

I had a lovely message the other week from somebody. I won't name and shame, but I appreciate the message. They said to me, I've got to give you credit. you were bang on when it came to pat freemuth he's been really great and i was like i want to say i told you so but i just don't want to be that person so you wouldn't do the told you so dance really but no you know for any so yeah i should have learned from that but i didn't so I have a draft crush again this year. And it's, as I mentioned, it's Austin Allen of Nebraska. Now, I talked about him last time. We sort of mentioned him.

I watched him at the Combine, and it just enamored me to this kid more. Now, unfortunately, Nebraska didn't have such a great performance in offense, and that didn't show him in the best light. Now, that might work in our favor in regards to the Patriots and it might kind of reduce his draft stock unfortunately for him but great for me um might reduce his draft stock and the Patriots may be able to pick him up but it's starting to look maybe unlikely unless they go sort of yeah I still think it's really unlikely. He's a tall guy. Now, he recorded at just under six foot eight. He was six, seven and I should have this in front of me, six, seven and five, eight, apparently.

However, if you've read things online, I've read that he was six, nine. So I think it's always difficult to get an exact. But going on the combine figures, which you would think would be is probably the figures that they use when they kind of go into the NFL. He's just under six foot eight. So he's got really good size. Now, the concern with someone who's really tall is the fact that they might not be very good at blocking because they go too high. And I watched the blocking drill at the combine, which I found just awesome.

I'm sorry to like really geek fan geek out on you people now but the blocking drill was brilliant because it was so it was so transparent in showing these guys skills now obviously what you could be having just a bad day you could have nerves these kind of things so it's not cut and dry i appreciate that it's just one small segment of information to show but it really highlighted the way that the equipment works really highlights if you hit too high it's very obvious because the sled doesn't move so it was very enjoyable to watch that to really see these that sort of the blocking capabilities and for a tall guy he didn guy, he didn't do too badly. He did quite well.

So again, that will work against me in the fact that it will put him in a higher position possibly for drafting. So it's really difficult to give you a full picture with only so much information as to where they're going to go in the draft. It's kind of ifs and buts and candy nuts and speculation in all fairness but he ran um a really great three cone drill he actually did he was the top for and for the tall guy it was impressive that he did a six second three cone drill so but i understand that there was an issue with that that they were running the three cone drills after everybody had kind of like done

everything else at the draft so you were hitting them on something that was really kind of athletic ability after they'd had a really long day so i think the the results of the three cone drill maybe not won't be taken uh sort of as much into consideration perhaps this year maybe as they have been so but it still shows that maybe you know he's got a bit of endurance because he ran a really good time after he'd done everything so you can sort of look at it from different perspectives and different opinions completely so I'm not going to be able to go away from the fact that he is my draft crush and I know that I'll get flack from people for having a Titan draft crush again and why didn't you learn at pat freemuth i know i know

why didn't i learn because he was so good that's why i didn't learn he was so good and this kid looks really good too so please all of you i know that obviously you want the pages to get the best players possible when it comes to the draft but i would very much appreciate you all keeping your fingers crossed that a lower round draft pick of Austin Allen goes to the Patriots and so yes from your lips to God's ears Claire and I think that's a lot of ways um we talked about Allen a couple of weeks ago here you actually you you really kind of uh you know gave me the opportunity to take a deeper look into him because he was someone that I had always eyed on the periphery especially with Nebraska he wasn't getting an awful lot of the high level press that some of the other tight ends in this class were getting but he deserves it for

his size his ability to block his ability to be able to you know get open I think that there is a lot of potential there and if the Patriots are serious about keeping this area of their offense uh being a focal point of their offense for many years to come they have to continuously look at ways to upgrade uh and ways to be able to to keep that position fresh and you know hunter henry john who smith are not signed for extremely long-term deals it's looking like henry will be here for quite a while smith i think has to show the patriots a little something this year in order for them to consider maybe extending him out before they say okay well we signed you to this deal uh you know john this was you know it's been real but we're we're going to move on when the contract is over if he can show them that then i think the patriots are very well

set for a number of years to come but if they're looking for a potential number two if he's going to walk after his contract is up then they really have to get serious about maybe looking for something in this draft does have some hidden gems at the tight end position and you turned us on uh to a few of those um little surprised that the name uh connor hayward hasn't come up uh you know i know that uh you know as a tight end he's got versatility uh michigan state kid small he was yeah only six feet only six feet feet. They're actually talking. The draft had him down as 5'11". 5'11 and 1'8".

Yeah, so Connor Hayward, he was 5'11 and 1'8". I've got that he's great after the catch. He's very versatile. He ran a 4.72. Let me just see if I've got any other good notes on him. Just bear with me one moment. You've thrown me for a loop there. The one guy that i was

really interested in was jeremy ruckert and he didn't he didn't perform really at the um at the combine so i was a little bit disappointed because i didn't really get to see much so i watched a bit of tape on him so i i you know i was really interested in him i'd be interested on what ruckert does in his pro day because that's probably going to up his draft stock in all fairness so it's a great yeah i'm just trying to look at what Numba Hayward was because I've got numbers. I have got so many notes. You will not believe.

Well, Hayward's versatility is really what kind of gave me the option to take a deeper look at him. And you mentioned this. Sick of the return kicks and punts early in his career, transitioned from the running back position actually to come in and play the tight end. Oh, him. A lot of people are talking about a lot of people are talking about him as like that tight end hybrid fullback type role uh the patriots love these guys you know you know they love swiss army knife type of guys this is the thing though um oh he did a great push on

the block when he did the he's he's um he's blocking drill performance was really good so that's interesting you making out that see the thing is they brought dalton keen in for that though didn't they or what we assume we we make you know we've um come to the opinion of that they brought dalton keen in for that kind of h back role now i was very much in the let's clean out the cupboard of the tight endage that isn't obviously Smith and Hunter. And he would sort of, he would slot into the role that maybe we thought Dalton Keane might end up being then.

Yes. I was looking for more around the tight end. I was looking for kind of, that's why I was really enamored with the tall guy because he's, the thing with Gronk is he's, he was really, or he is really athletic, but he's above.

He's so much above all the other players. And it just gives a guy an edge when he's a tight end and when he's in the end zone and things like this. It just gives him that edge, having that height without being stretched more like a basketball player. You want the height, but you need the broadness as well sort of thing. So I think that's kind of why Hayward didn't catch my eye as much because of him being a smaller guy.

And I'm not heightist, just for anybody that – I'm not hating on smaller guys, don't have an issue, but he just didn't quite kind of catch my eye in the same way. But yes, I've got notes on him. Really good, yeah, really good performance actually so if they were to take him I don't think I'd be too upset I'd feel that it was the Dalton Keane replacement and hope that he didn't go down the same road and hope that we saw something something more of him the one thing in regards to uh drafting a tight end this year even if it's a

lower round is something that I mentioned when we talked about the wide receivers at the beginning, is having a guy who is developing with Matt Jones for the future. Because at the moment, with Hunter Henry and Johnnie Smith, yes, they're on several-year deals, so they'll have that time with Matt. And Hunter seems to have really made a connection with Matt Jones. So you don't really need that sort of progression. It's already sort of there in a way.

But it's always good to have this kind of player or these kind of players around him to grow, to develop. So like you said, you've got Hunter Henry and Smith for three, four years. You've only got, I think, am I correct in saying, two more years out of Asiasi and Keane on their kind of draft rookie contract? So they're only cheap in adverted commerce for two more years. Am I right in saying that? Yes, you are right in saying that.

So technically, because they didn't really work with Matt Glass-Gia, because of Asiasi being a healthy scratch, that kind of thing, and Dalton Keane being on IR because of his knee surgery back in August. They haven't had much time to really integrate with Matt Jones. Now, obviously, practice and stuff like that, I appreciate, but they've only got two more years with him technically. So you sort of – they're not long-term. So if you were to pick up somebody in the draft now, you've got four years.

So Max already had one year of development. It seems quite not a bad idea to bring a guy in whilst Max had that little bit of time to settle in. And now he's developing, now he's growing that franchise. You plug in a tight end who isn't utilised initially, excessively, because they've got huntenry they've got johnny smith but slowly over the time towards the end of their contracts develops and works his way in you you could be picking the next time you know the tight end one

of 2024 25 that kind of thing so right because there's such depth at the tight end class this year i think this is why even though I know that a lot of people are saying that they've got a lot of other holes to plug, that kind of thing, sometimes you've got to take advantage of what is there in front of you. You can't miss out too much, too many opportunities. And, you know, Coach Bill, he's not stupid. So he's going to be well aware of this sort of thing. So I think this is why sort of my mindset is of

plugging for the maybe a lower round tight end who will grow within the system with mac jones and then in a couple of years you know we could really see something phenomenal from the kind of mac jones tight end one you know relationship so i think that's that's some of the reason behind my you know sort of wanting you know cheering on for this it isn that's some of the reason behind my sort of wanting, you know, cheering on for this. It isn't just that, yes, I'm a tight-end enthusiast and I appreciate that, but that isn't the be-all and end-all of what I think.

And I do look at the team as a whole. I am a full Patriots fan. And I do just think of sort of investing into the future of the Patriots, into the future of Matt Jones. Whilst there's such depth at positions, it's difficult to completely pass it by just because you've got those two top tight ends from free agency that they picked up last year absolutely Claire again once again you put on a master class of tight

endage every single time you're on the show but not just about tight endage really I mean the wealth of knowledge that you've brought you've definitely lived up to the Wednesday wealth of knowledge when it comes to wide receivers, when it comes to tight endage. And really, I think you've given me a little bit of information and a little bit of an education on someone like a Connor Hayward. And who knows, if the Patriots are serious about trying to develop Dalton Keene, then they don't really have a place on this team for a guy like Connor Hayward. But you look at the versatility, and I always look at these swiss army knife guys because it's just bill's mo he

loves versatile guys that can do it all and with the special teams background you know he's going to be somewhere in that draft room lurking around that name's going to be there whether or not they choose to go with him is another thing but he'll definitely be someone that bill has his sharp eye on and again claire if bill is doing due diligence, he's listening to this podcast today. He wants to know what the Empress of tight endage is saying about the tight ends on this board. That I can guarantee, my friend. Thank you so much for taking time out to join me here today on the pod. Folks, she is Claire Clazzi, Claire Cooper, a phenomenal columnist for pat's propaganda she's got a new article out on pat's propaganda i encourage you to check it out the new podcast the claire

perspective of patriots podcast her guest mike giardi this is a must listen for any patriots fan i encourage you all to check it out anything that she puts out there whether it's voice to microphone whether it's a pen to paper absorb it and enjoy it because you will be a better football fan you'll be a smarter football fan and you'll be entertained at the same time what more can you ask for claire before i let you go today please let all of our listeners know where they can reach you where they can interact with you and what you have coming out until our next conversation here next wednesday on lockdown patriots, obviously I haven't plugged myself enough, have I? It would seem.

But no, in all seriousness, if you want to hit me up on Twitter, it's at Klaziklaire, which is C-L-A-Z-Z-Y-C-L-A-R-E. As you aforementioned, my recent article came out for Pax Propaganda this morning. It was Franchise Tagging, a tight-ended report by Klaziklaire. So that's up there now on PaxPropaganda.com. As always, FullPressCoverage.com carries my podcast a claire perspective which went out i think it went out this morning as well and that was the episode i recorded yesterday with the lovely the dashing mike diorda of nfl network and as always one patriot's place is there for you each and

every week with steve balistrari thomas mur, and myself. And Tuesday's episode is now live on YouTube and all the places you get your podcast with the lovely Mark Schofield. Absolutely. And anytime you can end a plug with Mark Schofield, of course, the host of Meredith's here on Locked On Patriots, you cannot ask for better. So on that note, folks, thank you for continuing to make Locked On Patriots a daily part of your New England Patriots coverage. Once again, I'm Mike DeBate on behalf of my good friend, Claire Klazik, Claire Cooper.

Thank you for tuning in today and for staying locked into Locked On Patriots. Until next time, folks, stay safe, stay well, be the change that you wish to see in the world. Have a great day, everyone.