NFL Stock Exchange: An NFL Draft Podcast - 216. Fixing The New England Patriots

Episode Date: December 12, 2023

Hosts Trevor Sikkema and Connor Rogers take a deep dive into the New England Patriots, and the changes that could come for them in 2024. Answer as much as they can about the Bill Belichick situation in New England, and explore a world where he returns, retires or is even traded. Plus look at potential head coach replacements, explore all the free agent possibilities, and end with a 3-round Patriots mock draft

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It's awesome. Sign up now at youtube.com slash BS, device and content restrictions apply. Local and national games on YouTube TV NFL Sunday ticket for out-of-market games excludes digital only games welcome to the NFL Stock Exchange podcast in this episode we are fixing the New England Patriots we are answering as much of the Bill Belichick questions as we possibly can we're talking about if Bill is there what does this team look like moving forward if he is gone what direction does that mean the team is going to go we'll talk about their big team needs their free agency options

how much cap space they have to work with the guys on the rosters that have to stay and some guys that could go and of course this is a draft podcast so we will also end it with a three-round Patriots mock draft I'm Trevor Sycamore with me as always is connor rogers let's ring the bell welcome to the opening bell of the nfl stock exchange podcast i'm trevor sycamore that is connor rogers joining you on an early week edition of the show and today we are fixing another franchise it is the new england patriots we'll be talking about this one a lot connor as the season has gone on because well the patriots don't look very good so we're going to get into all the conversations what are we doing with bill belichick is he sticking around are we moving on if we're moving on from him what are some head coaching options we'll talk about this roster some guys that we think you should definitely

build this team around some free agent options that they have we'll talk about the cap space and all that good stuff and of course because it's an nfl draft show at the end we will give you a mini new england patriots mock draft to wrap it all up connor i'm gonna look forward to this one man because it's a deep one how you doing buddy i'm good man it really is this one it's so different from the one we kicked it off with with the Panthers, right? With the Panthers, you look at it and go, okay, they already made their bed at quarterback. Now they need to do right by him and develop him. You know, and there's a lot of decisions they have made already. They still had a GM sitting in the chair when we did that show and still do. With New England, I mean, the conversation starts. Does the greatest coach of all time return next year? Does he retire? Probably not. Can they trade him?

Yes. There's so many avenues of how that goes. Can he stay? Sure. And unlike Carolina as well, they have no quarterback on the roster, which speaks volumes. After using a first-round pick on Mac Jones. Not that long ago, uh, they benched him multiple times. The offense is lacking playmakers. They're

a franchise that notoriously has everything solved on the offensive line. And that hasn't been the case this year. It's just, it's crazy. Trevor, when you look at the Patriots right now, they are, it feels like the first in in my lifetime that I remember being so invested in football that they are a clean slate team like truly they can go we could fast forward to February and they can they can have a new coach a GM not a head coach GM right they could be all in on drafting a quarterback and really blow up this roster so this is you know kind of one of those ones where you love it when you're fixing a franchise because the power is yours but it feels so weird talking about the patriots like this it really does just because for essentially our

entire sports life this has not been the case right i mean bill belichick took this job in 2000 okay i was nine years old at the time so i've never really known anything else other than bill belichick and the patriots being good and now i think the crazy part of this conversation is that people almost feel like it's a bad dream like almost like that this can't be because they've been so programmed to believe that this isn't the case with the Patriots and the way that we do these fix your franchises every single year is we start with the teams that are either for sure picking number one overall or then you know maybe maybe it's the top three maybe it's top five but we always start with the teams that are a little bit higher up.

And even though the Patriots did get a win on Thursday night football against the Pittsburgh Steelers, you look at this team right now, they have the number two overall pick. They're sitting at three and 10, and the rest of their schedule is, oh boy, do they get to go up against a pissed off Chiefs team next week. They then play the Broncos in Denver. So that could easily be a loss for them. They're playing a Buffalo Bills team that after that Chiefs win,

playing pretty inspired ball. And they're desperate. They're going to have to obviously give it their best. So I think that that's also in Buffalo. So I think they win that game. And then they play the Jets at the end of the year. And for as much as you and I kind of joked about that week 18 game meaning a lot for draft position zach wilson back in the starting lineup and goaded once again and but no in all seriousness that defense is playing so well i think they're going

to eat the patriots alive so it is very realistic to say that this team's going to finish with three wins and pick number two overall in the draft and it has just been unthinkable that a bill belichick coach team could ever be at that point and i think with belichick is really where this conversation has to begin it there's no other way you could start this show because the trickle down of this is massive and i agree with you trevor you could sit here and say you know there's a very good chance they pick number two even if they picked number three they can still be a team that would be in the driver's seat to flip to two if it's arizona for a quarterback or still take a quarterback at three or take harrison jr whatever it may be we're going into this show under the assumption that it is number two.

And then the question is, because if you're sitting at two and you look at this roster, I mean, it's going to be the start of a new era under center. And the question is, is that Bill Belichick's mission, right? Are you, I don't even know, it's not fair to say, are you trusting Bill Belichick's mission, right? Are you, I don't even know. It's not fair to say, are you trusting Bill Belichick with that? But it's a question of, I mean, Robert Kraft has been out in public and he's a guy that says, you know, we need to get back to our winning ways and all of these things. And I think it's fair to at least question after how everything went with Mac Jones,

that at this age and the way the game has gone, are you, and for this conversation, we'll say Drake May, are you trusting the future of the franchise's development in a guy like Drake May in the hands of Belichick, who has absolutely whipped on the offensive side of the ball for multiple years now? And I'm not saying that as a loaded question, or I'm not saying that leaning one way or the other.

It's a significant question that needs to be answered. And is Belichick, this is a question too, Trevor. It's amazing how many lingering questions there are here because of how little we know with this franchise. Is Belichick interested in that? Seriously. I mean, he's 71, man. He is 71 years old.

And so let's say it takes three years and that might, that might be low barring it, but say it takes three years to really get to where you think you're a real contender with this new quarterback and the roster and everything. It's just, it's so interesting to me where Belichick wants to be at this stage of his life and his career and maybe his love for the game and player development maybe that is exactly what he wants to do but there's a side

to me that's also like knowing that Chargers job is going to be open and that's an example there's a lot of job but the Chargers job is going to be open does he want to go somewhere that there's a tailor-made situation under center that if he gets his hands on a defense and makes his tweaks and makes his obviously week in and week out game plans with better talent which he's at fault for for new england but still oh we'll get into that we'll get into all that is that where he wants to be and have a quicker chance to try to get another Super Bowl. So these are all the things lingering with Belichick, who is under contract as far as we know as well. Right. You know, we're going to answer a lot of questions here on this podcast.

We'll pose a lot of questions, but we'll also try to answer as many as possible. But ultimately and unfortunately, the biggest questions are the ones that we can't answer because it has to do with what Belichick wants to do. OK, because. All right. Let me just I'm going to read you his bio from the Patriots website, because it's it's it's kind of hilarious to think about why would this dude continue right like brother just pack it in go move to Florida go move to Key West never talk to anybody about football ever again and just live your life with a beer in hand at all times here's the bio that is on the web the Patriots website Bill Belichick completed his 48th season as an NFL head coach in 2022 and is in his 24th season as head coach of the new england patriots 24 years for one franchise as a head coach that's insane

belichick is the only head coach in nfl history to win six super bowl titles in 2018 he won his six super bowl joining george hallis and curly lambo as the only nfl coaches with six championships he enters his 49th consecutive year as an NFL coach in 2023, the most consecutive seasons of any NFL head coach. Pro Football Hall of Famer Dick LeBeau, who has 45 seasons, is second. The only other NFL coach with at least 40 consecutive NFL seasons is Tom Moore with 41. So when you talk about a lot of the crazy Tom Brady records that I don't think will ever get broken, Bill Belichick's records are probably more untouchable

than Tom Brady's are, right? Tom Brady has a handful of records, whether it's the total yards record, the total touchdowns record. Obviously, like the Super Bowl one is tough to think that people would be able to get more than Tom Brady. But like those records, Drew Brees was close to him, you know, back and forth for a little bit.

It's, it's very, very difficult to believe that there will ever be an NFL head coach that could ever get even close to what Bill Belichick has been. So the biggest question is, does this guy want to do it? It's what you kind of said at the very start of the show. He's 71 years old. If you believe the Patriots are even two, three years away from seriously competing again for another Super Bowl, the dude's going to be 74. Does he want to still be doing this at 74 after he's done it for 50 years of his life? You don't have anything to prove, especially in New England, where they have two decades of success in New England. And they've had three, but really like the 2021 year wasn't terrible for them.

It's really just been the last two years that have been bad and then worse. You've had two bad years and all of a sudden like people are calling for your job you gave them 20 plus years of incredible unprecedented success in this league and they've got two bad years people want you gone is he annoyed with that does he want out is right is this kind of the situation where it felt like tom brady just wanted to get out of new england does bill belichick want to get out of New England? I don't think they're going to fire this dude, Connor, honestly. I think that if Belichick wants to stay,

he's going to get at least one more year. Maybe the conversation is different next year if the team is just as bad. But if he wants to come back to new England, I think he comes back. Do you agree with that? I do. I think that even if there was some kind of one side over the other, say craft is just at the point where he's like,

listen, I'm looking for a fresh start. The messaging would never be delivered as the Patriots fire bill Belichick. That's just not, it just can't be done. There would have to be, there might be a conversation of, we will work together to trade you, and we will only send you where you want to go coach.

Yeah, yeah. And we will hold that team hostage for draft capital that's too insane. I think the Patriots would get a first-round pick for Bill Belichick, but I would agree. Yeah, I mean, that's the starting price um but you're right trevor it's it's not going to be the situation where he's his contract is terminated adam shepter tweets out like hey bill belichick was fired by the patriots today he's free to go interview wherever he wants that would be that's not that's just can't see that happening honestly i can't see that happening. Honestly, I can't see that happening. So I think that's the one thing you could rule out is a free agency for Bill Belichick that is unregulated.

Now, the question is, if they do mutually agree to move on, a team that has a lot of needs on their roster can get draft capital for him. And I think that's one of the rare, you know, cards the Patriots can play here to improve an off season that they really need to make stuff happen. You know, I think it's also, you got to look at, we talk about the Patriot way and you mentioned like,

there's not a lot that's known about this organization. The tough part with moving on from Belichick is that. Like, do you have to move on from all of it? Like, is it basically all or nothing? Cause in my mind, I think it's not fair to whoever comes in there. Because look at, look at this entire coaching staff. It's Bill Belichick at the top. Joe judge is back as the assistant head coach.

So Joe Judge is there. Troy Brown is the wide receivers coach, played for the Patriots. Vinny Sinceri is the running backs coach, played for the Patriots. Gerard Mayo is the linebackers coach, played for the Patriots. He's kind of like in waiting. Brian Belichick and Steve Belichick are the safeties and linebacker coaches on this team so it's like there's there's so much bill belichick that's on this roster where it's it's almost as if if you move on from him you have to just move on from every little part of belichick that ever existed in this roster and i don't given the fact that there's no GM on this team, I don't know if Robert Kraft has it in him to do that.

Because I think Robert Kraft had to live through watching Tom Brady leave and go somewhere else. And you know how much Robert Kraft loved Tom Brady, like as a person, not just as a player, like everything to that franchise. I don't know if he can do it. I don't know if he can do it i don't know if he can bring himself to do it i think and i think this could this can take us into you know maybe head coaching plans short and long term i think the plan is craft is willing to let Belichick go out on his own terms. And when I say go out, I mean not coach elsewhere.

Coach the Patriots probably one or two more years. And I think the plan is for Gerard Mayo to take over. That was the name I keyed in on. Because he's the inside linebackers coach right now for them he's 37 years old he was heralded as a top young defensive coaching candidate in last year's head coaching cycle it was reported that he was going to get some head coaching interviews and then he pulled his name out from that and the patriots which they don't often do this put out a press release that a guy who is coaching last year who is still under contract was just going to continue coaching for them this year

and I think that held a lot of meaning I think Belichick looked at Gerard Mayo and said you are who I want to hand the reins to because you listened to Mayo. And I read some articles on him. This is an article that, that he did. I can't remember where I found this. I'm sorry. It was an interview that he did after he kind of like pulled his name out from that head coaching circuit. He said, quote, first of all, my family's here. Second of all, I love it here in Boston. Pretty much was raised here in Boston. Came here in 2008. It would take a lot for me to leave.

This is where I want to be. And I feel the same way about the coaching staff and also the Kraft family. He said, there's still a lot that I don't know. This is still Gerard Mayo. There's still a lot that I don't know. I'm very aware of that. So it's not only about talking with Bill, but also about talking with the scouts, talking about the cap guys um talking about researchers that we have there's a lot to learn honestly that's another reason why i wanted to be here because i could feel like we could do that right here so he's not just talking about being a better coach very clearly he's talking about getting groomed to do other things right and he also had mentioned in this article that mayo was in on the offensive coordinator interviews that the Patriots were having last off season.

That's a big one. So to me, that's where I think we are with the Patriots. I, I, I agree with you. I don't think they're going to fire him. I think the bill is either got one or two more years left.

They're going to let them coach it out. And I think Gerard Mayo is going to be the guy that they want to hand the reins to whenever that is. It makes a lot of sense. If there was a transition guy, I would absolutely say Mayo for sure. I would think that. Now, I guess the question is, Trevor, what if this does come? What if this really does come to a head and belichick is ultimately traded you know it's what he wants there's somewhere he wants to be that we don't

know about craft is willing to accommodate him it's a very amic you know amicable ending between them do you think that's the plan that it's still Mayo's franchise? Or do you think with that being the case, it is that clean slate of we're going to go out there in the coaching pool and we're going to totally, you know, go a different way. Something we have not done in decades.

Right off the bat. I would tell you that if they're trading Belichick, they're not going to be able to just give it to Mayo because I wonder if wherever he gets traded, you mentioned the chargers. So let's just use the chargers as a placeholder. Yep. Let's say he gets traded to the chargers as the head coach in Los Angeles. I think Belichick would get Mayo to come be his DC,

like be the official defensive coordinator of that team and continue to say like, hey man, I've still only got a couple of years left, not really ready to hang it up yet. Like let's build the Chargers up and then when I'm done in two years, you take over. You've got Justin Herbert, you've got all that stuff. So if they move on from bill

it would be a weird feeling for mayo who i think is a big loyalty guy right played for belichick himself as a player um if he kept coaching elsewhere i don't know if mayo could could really just take over the patriots the name that i thought of if they move on and they just like totally clean house i thought harbaugh because i don't i don't know where else they go right what who else are you going to get do we do we honestly think that the new england patriots are going to move on from bill belichick and then hire ben johnson like i don't think i don't think it's going to happen we talked about it uh when was this oh last week for the mailbag episode i said that the patriots job is alluring because of how much flexibility it has but it's also not alluring because it's an insane amount of pressure this team has won so much over the last two decades so yeah i mean like what are

you gonna go hire ben johnson and be like yeah buddy welcome like it's all good like i mean i think you would have to go hire a guy who has a lot of weight to his name in the head coaching cycle and truly the only other guy that i think makes sense if it's not gerard mayo is jim harbaugh i could see it it's we it feels weird right something about it just feels weird but that's because almost anything feels weird when you move on right now belichick and harbaugh for sure who did you have do you have another name i mean I was looking at Mayo pretty much in any situation. I could see a situation that they trade Belichick and Mayo gets the job and some of the staff stays, some of the staff goes.

I think now with that, I think Kraft would have to have a significant guarantee of Mayo of what is the offensive staff plan going to look like? Because this team offensively is so lost that you can't just hand the keys to Mayo and not be convinced of significant change on the offensive side of the ball. That's kind of the holdup there. And then the reason I won't throw Ben Johnson out there is it just feels like a weird fit in a sense. Yes. He's a young offensive mind. And this is a team that could be able to get a Drake may caliber quarterback and all of that is enticing, but I just feel like there'll be some better jobs out there for a guy that wasn't

even interested in taking the top jobs last year for the most part. That's what's so weird with the Ben Johnson, um, um situation it's so amazing looking at the patriots coaching history i feel like the trivia question of who is the last patriots coach before bill belichick it being pete carroll is so odd oh my gosh i didn't even realize that and right now they are the two what they are the two oldest head coaches in football right now. Isn't that so weird? Why is that? Yeah, Pete Carroll. And obviously before him was Parcells, which is how, you know, Belichick.

What a three. What a succession of head coaches. Go Parcells, Pete Carroll, go Belichick. Well, and it's remarkable that before Belichick, you know, that overall those weren't really a success. I mean, Parcells was 500 in New England. Pete was a little over 500, but didn't win anything. It's, you know, as a whole, I know, I know Parcells,

I think was coach of the year with them. Maybe his first year, but yeah, it's, it is. It's so weird. It's so weird with the Patriots because it's it is it's so weird it's so weird with the patriots because it's just been so so long but i think i guess i'll ask you like ask it to you like this if you're robert craft after what you've seen the last two years and where the game is going and knowing that you have a legitimate chance here to like get this right like when they took mac i think a lot of draft consensus was it was a reach but he was a guy that if things were right you'd be able to develop

him and help and he'll be able to win with him yeah the idea the idea the idea was that belichick's defenses were so good you get a couple of decent receivers and mac and manage the game put it yeah put up just between 20 to 30 points a game and the defense can hold most of its opponents to less than 20 and like that was going to be the formula which is a i mean if we're being honest antiquated that's it that's a a weird way to draft a first round quarterback first round quarterback is to say like hey buddy just manage the game for us i mean but that doesn't work anymore man and like bill's drafts we've talked about his drafts but i mean they're bad man these these drafts are just this past year okay i guess like it's too early to judge too

many of these guys obviously i think christian gonzalez is going to be really good when he's healthy yeah he will he will um a lot of interior offensive line which offensive line like takes time anyways demario douglas has been nice um but like last year okay like cole strange probably overdrafting him in the first round tackle on thornton okay marcus jones jack jones pierre strong bailey zappy all right mac has obviously proven to be like not a good quarterback christian barmore good pick like it ronnie perkins not a difference maker ramondre stevenson fine but fourth round running back what am i supposed to you know give you a pat on the back for drafting a fourth round running back and he was fine no kyle duggar who i think is good now we're into 2020 kyle duggar who i think is good josh uche who's fine i don't know if they're

gonna bring him back it didn't seem like it anthony jennings devon asiasi dalton keen michael mwenu in the sixth round all right nice but now it just seems like you're kind of just hanging your draft hat on day three picks and not nailing day one and day two not really a good way to do it Nikhil Harry bad Juwan Williams bad Chase Winovich bad Damian Harris up and down he's been hurt but like not an not a big difference running back yeah it's just there's just bill belichick the general manager has really the i'll say this the only reason we're having this conversation right now is because of bill belichick the general manager if he drafts better and signs better guys we're not having this conversation it's totally different and i think that okay that's a duck is like oh well if everybody drafts

well but the difference is is that bill Belichick's the head coach, and he's also the general manager. And the head coach part, you look at the defenses, like defense is still all right this year. Defense over the last couple of years, even post-Brady years, been fine. It's the offenses that are absolutely terrible, because it's not his area of expertise. So instead, he's leaning on the coaches that he hired

and the guys that he's drafted on the other side of the ball bad both of them very bad and that's just kind of the way it is in Belichick right now it is and it makes you this is a Patriots fix your franchise so I won't get too far down this road but it's it's if New England moves on from him, it's a unique circumstance that like that team needs to have a GM. I think that he's willing to work with. And I don't know if we'll we don't. Once again, we just don't know certain things. This is how he's operated. He's very hands on.

And for a long time, it led to him being the best coach in football. And unfortunately, everything comes to an end and it's kind of led to his demise I completely agree it's the guy could still coach but he does not have the ingredients on this roster to compete in this conference right now and that is his own doing I mean that's the problem so that's why I look at New England as well. And it's like the whole Patriot way and the whole situation with Belichick. So part of me thinks that they do need to get back to a traditional structure and hire a head coach and a GM pairing

and kind of strip this down to the nuts and bolts of this thing because the roster is so far away that I don't know if you can keep going with the way you have and think that a couple changes are going to fix it yeah that right like that's where it gets kind of tricky and even I think the bigger conversation too is if Belichick does stay Mac Mac Jones isn't good in a vacuum but Mac Jones is in a situation this year that no quarterback would overcome. And that's inexcusable to be quite honest with you at this stage,

year three of your first round quarterback where they've gotten, they've gotten everything wrong at wide receiver. The Taekwon Thornton pick was an absolute disaster. It's unfathomable that he was drafted over george pickens um the juju smith signing bad horrific we knew it was gonna be bad they just randomly paid davante parker i feel like he can never play they've gotten literally everything wrong it feels like put a crap ton of money in tight ends and dad and and and drafted a bunch of tight ends and it right like never came to fruition the tight ends that they signed or i mean like hunter henry okay they could bring hunter henry back but like how much is maybe being cynical but like how much is hunter henry

moving the needle certainly not the amount that you paid him in the previous contract and not for what he needs to be throughout the rest of this passing game which is yeah and just designing your offense financially around like that is just once again they are stuck in in an era that they're just right they're just behind it's really really hard to be a general manager and a head coach really hard there are not many examples of it working out um bill walsh worked out for him paul brown's kind of like an obvious older one but like those are like throwback dudes and everyone for the longest time believed that Belichick was just this guy who was the next, okay, he's brilliant. Bill Belichick has been a reason why head coaches have pushed for organizational control throughout, I would say, the last 20 years. The one that pops into my

head immediately is, of course, Matt Ruhle. Matt Rule right Matt Rule gets to Carolina he basically sets things up for him he boasts himself as the CEO he has full roster control no matter what even though there was GMs there around him he had the final say in everything so he was essentially exactly what Bill Belichick is and it doesn't it just it's so difficult to work it's so difficult to work and Belichick was such a brilliant coach certainly on the defensive side of the football that it worked because he also happened to have difficult to work it's so difficult to work and belichick was such a brilliant coach certainly on the defensive side of the football that it worked because he also happened to have the greatest quarterback to ever play the game on the other side of things for the offense so i'm with you i think we're kind of talking in circles a little bit now with belichick

well look at look at pete carroll right like pete Pete Carroll is a guy that has had a ton of power. But he trusts John Schneider. Yeah. To rework that roster. And that's the Seahawks are a good example because the Seahawks had an incredible run with Russell Wilson. And, you know, obviously that defensive core. And while Pete has all this power, and he's made mistakes at times, he's let Schneider and that scouting staff turn this roster back over and they're competitive again. So this is once again, another thing that like Belichick has to make that you could still have a ton of power, but it's pretty clear that the drafting has to be somewhere else if he stays which kind of takes us to that which kind of takes us to that and we're gonna obviously get into the roster we'll dig into that we'll talk about some guys that need to stick around some guys that needs to leave um we'll talk about their

free agent situation then of course to a mock trap before we get to all that you know this time of year it's all about setting up the routines the checklist that stuff the most important thing on that checklist should always be secure in family's financial future, starting with life insurance. Fabric by Gerber Life makes it quick, easy, and affordable to protect your family so you can get back to enjoying life. It was designed by parents for parents to help you get high quality, surprisingly affordable term life insurance policies in less than 10 minutes. They got flexible policies that fit your budget with quality policies like million dollars in coverage for less than a dollar a day. You can get your personalized quote in just

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M-E-E-T. M-E-A-T. We cannot guarantee what might pop up on the browser if you go to that. So can't hold it against us. We've already clarified. M-E-E-T. So when we set this thing up, we'll go into the offseason now. Do we both kind of think that Belichick's going to be back?

I kind of feel like he's going to be back. I go no. Okay, so you say no, I say yes. So I guess this is fun. So it'll be a little bit of a different approach here. Yeah, we can pick our own adventures. Yeah. I say it gets traded.

Okay, so you think it gets traded. All right, all right. Are we building that into the mini mock draft? Are we building it into it? We can for fun. We don't have to because my idea is if he gets traded and we'll set the bar at a first rounder this year obviously there could be more involved and this is good because i'm getting a little off the rails and you're keeping this on

a pathway that is a little bit safer so it shows all about one of us just yin and yang one of us going far off the rails. The other one trying to bring it in. I feel like normally it's me who's going off the rails, and you've got to anchor us. So this is a nice little change of pace here. I think with that extra one, say you draft a quarterback early,

I feel like you could use that extra one and go get a T. Higgins or some kind of offensive piece for your young quarterback. And similar to how the bills after they drafted Josh Allen shortly after they paired him with Stefan digs. And they were like, okay,

this is going to be our number one wide receiver for our young developing quarterback. And we saw what those two blossomed into. Now it doesn't mean that a T Higgins is going to be out there or, you know, say the Eagles come up against and they're like, you know, we don't want to pay Devante Smith. This is where we get off the rails. Like, these are just names. But yeah, I would I would use that extra one and I would go get a pro playmaker rather than just drafting. But if you couldn't, if that market didn't exist, those players aren't out there.

This is a really good wide receiver class. You might not even have to do that. All right, let's get into it. Okay, so roster needs. Obviously, there's a lot of things that the Patriots need. Connor, I set the four top positions of need for this team as quarterback at number one, wide receiver at two, offensive line in general, but offensive tackle,

probably because they're not bringing back Trent Brown. And then edge rusher as, as the four pillar needs. Did you see it any other way? No, that makes sense to me. I think, you know,

Drew Don's out for the year with the biceps tear. We don't think Uche will necessarily be back. Although he's been a good player. He might be, but it's not a guarantee i'm comfortable with edge at four because you always need more pass rushers right so i would agree okay so we've got those four positions in need here let's get into a little bit of what the roster is like right now it stakes uh no but honestly I think that there are only a handful of players

that you have to keep on this roster. Right. I think the ones that are on rookie deals are Christian Gonzalez, Christian Barmore, Ramondre Stevenson, and Demario Douglas. Right, they're good players. Those four guys are good football players. And Keon White. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

No, no, no. I'm not saying like you're cutting everybody who's not right guys but i'm saying i would identify these four guys i would hope that keon white would obviously be a contributing like big impact player in the future for this team but those are the four where i'm like okay those are the guys on rookie deals who i really like right now you've got you you've got judon under contract you've got jabril peppers under contract jelani tovi and david andrews oh and uh and jonathan jones those five players you have under contract i'd be like okay we're keeping those dudes we're not thinking about cutting them i like all those players judon's the big impact guy on defense i

think peppers is playing i think peppers is playing pretty good this year. Devise their best guy in the middle. Andrews is a veteran, but he's like the, he's, he's the steady dude at center for them. So I think you want to keep him. And then Jonathan Jones,

I vet in the secondary, but you kind of, you need somebody to be the vet in the secondary. And then the two guys that I have for that are upcoming free agents that I would say you prioritize these two players are mike and wayne who's playing tackle right now we know he's got inside out versatility and he's playing it fine so i'd bring him back for sure and then kyle duggar is also a pending free agent i would damn that went fast i feel like it was just yesterday we were watching him

field punts at the senior bowl oh man that's true yeah no and and he's up this year so they gotta resign him so those are the kind of like pillar players that i identified on the roster yeah but dude i mean there's a lot of other players that i don't think you have to bring back. No. Like, if you can get out of Devontae Parker, I'm probably getting out. Gone. You can't get out of Juju Smith-Schuster unless you're taking a loss.

You're taking a little bit of a loss. But if you want him off the field, or if you want him off the team, you can. I just think that he's probably going to be there next year. Keishon Butte, Jalen Rager, non-impact dudes to me. Trent Brown, you could probably let him walk. You got a lot of young guys on the interior, so you're probably going to let them figure it out there. Hunter Henry, you could bring back if you wanted to.

At this point, he's one of your most impactful players on offense, so maybe you feel like you have to, but I don't love it. Uche, you could bring back. Yeah, secondary's a mess too yeah that's not it for me yeah i'm probably with you there i don't think we're forgetting anybody i think the question is you know what do you get for mac jones right now a fourth yes right yeah this league where fourth or a fifth it's not you're not getting you're not getting a third round pick for mac jones i do think that i know he's bad and his demeanor is bad okay so that's a bigger problem with me is that his attitude sucks um i i well and we don't know like a hundred percent

what's going on behind his hands but it's i mean it doesn't look good belichick's not his ass you know is he he seems like a deer in the headlights at the podium when he's answering these questions well i mean just the stunts he pulled i i remember going all the way back to when they played the jets in week three he did something i think he he punched sauce it was a low blow and there was a debate over that and i think he like hit him in the groin or something he did in the video you could see the slow-mo video and there was a whole debate over that but but that doesn't even matter here or was it just a little sack tap you know it's still something you don't do but whatever he did he heard it from cj Mosley and nobody came over to defend him.

That was a massive red flag to me. Yeah. I was like, yo, that is your quarterback. And your teammates are like this dude again, like walked back to the huddle. Right.

It's like, but anyways, I think, I think he gets a fourth rounder back because third and fourth string quarterbacks are playing meaningful games every single week. Like if you are a able body Mac has been able in this, like he's been, he's been averaging this league before in a better situation. Sure. So I think, I think you get a four back for him, which is, Hey,

more draft assets, the better. You know. It's also interesting how much cap space this team has. Right. They can go out and buy up the market if they really wanted to. This team has a projected cap space. I'm looking at over the cap projected cap space of seventy five million dollars right now, which is third most in the NFL. Effective cap space. so projected for like the 51 the top 51 spent contracts 61.7 million which is the fourth highest so essentially it's basically the same and their active cap space that they are projected to have is just 160.5 million dollars of the guys who are like on the team right now,

guys who are already under contract. It's only $160.5 million, which is the second lowest. So this team has so much money to play with. They've got anything around $70, $75 million to play with when you take into account, okay, what might the draft class be and all that stuff. I mean, this team has a lot of flexibility heading into free agency i'm one you brought up like a t higgins name i mean is that kind of like the big one that you would with him being a free

agent is that the one where you would be like hey let's pay him to come be the man in yeah that would be the one for me um because i think spoiler alert, Trevor and I have been grinding wide receivers. I look at this class. Just absolutely. I think there's a lot of speed in this class. And I think if I go get size and T, I can find the right compliment in the draft. And then I start to feel really good about the playmakers I'm putting around my young quarterback.

Man, especially if you get a pick for Belichick. Totally changes everything. Who do we got here? Okay, Mike Evans hit in the market, but he's retiring at Tampa Bay Buccaneer before he falls in the Hall of Fame, so he's not leaving. Odell?

Odell will always go to a contender yeah higgins raven's choice he made it's looking good right now man there's some there's some decent ones here higgins michael pitman jr and higgins has to get tagged so the cost will be you're gonna trade him why i i i went over this with the panthers episode i i would keep Higgins if I was the Bengals. Well, I would do, but you never know. Things get crazy.

Higgins clearly wants and deserves to be paid like a number one. And I know this year hasn't gone well for him health wise, but I think, you know, like remember the year, remember the year. It was that close. Tyreek,

AJ Brown, like all these guys got traded yeah they knew that somebody was out there that would pay them right i think higgins looks around like that and goes man like if you're not going to pay me and cincinnati hadn't said they won't yet they might the money is out there somebody will pay him as a number one so the patriots don't have any extra picks. No. They have first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and then they have Chicago's seventh. Right.

And I think the sixth is Las Vegas. I think it's Vegas. On Tankathon, it's just theirs, but. Okay. I'm on draft tech. Interesting. Wow. War of the.

Yeah. Choose your fighter. Full orders here. I'm going to choose Tankathon. So if you are trading Belichick, let's say you get a first or a second round pick. That would give you some extra draft capital. I think you could move either of those selections then for T. Higgins

if you are giving him the money that he wants. Especially if it's a first rounder, because then the Bengals can go and just draft a top tier wide receiver with then two first round picks to get. So that would make sense for the Bengals. If they don't want to pay him on dig straight, it would, right.

It would make sense for the Patriots. If they believe that they're really able to slingshot, which if you're drafting it to overall, if you're getting Caleb Williams, you're getting Drake may you're getting the quarterback there. You're going to want the wide receiver. So you probably go out and do that um and it's a like i said a one-for-one trade with you're getting belichick out of there you're

getting the extra pick you're not really losing anything and then if you trade mac jones you get an extra fourth round pick that's nice too so i don't hate that yeah i really don't hate that move i think it makes sense um other guys who are hitting the market darnell mooney is hitting the market um i mentioned michael pippen jr calvin ridley sitting the market noah brown is hitting the market josh reynolds who i would really like like if they went out and let's say the patriots moved on from belichick use that pick and a bunch of their cap to go get t. Higgins. T. Higgins is the one. You sign Josh Reynolds.

Josh Reynolds could be the two. You got Demario Douglas, who's been a nice player for them. He could be the three. All of a sudden, boom, we're cooking with gas. You got Drake May at quarterback, Caleb Williams at quarterback. Boom. Looks a lot different. Looks a lot different.

I think this is a realistic battle plan that we're building here for them. That's what's so enticing with New England is that, and why the Belichick thing has so much drama to it, because they have a real shot here to get this right for a long time. But if they don't change their philosophy drastically which is very hard to do the olds have trouble doing this trevor the the olds don't like showing their tickets uh on the phone to get into the stadiums or they don't like reading their newspaper articles on the ipads man like the like belichick it's it's kind of funny that we talk about him

like this though and I it's weird to talk like this show has been rough on him but it's just the way the end of his there's recent Patriots tenure has been this is a guy that like traded for Randy Moss I mean yeah it's not like this team doesn't ever give a shit about playmakers and they're like we just run the ball and have Tom Brady. It's like, no, for a long time, they had it going with a lot of different wide receivers,

man. And they can, you know, if they were able to do that at like wide receiver, um, cause hold on, let me, I gotta,

hold on. I gotta pull up the page again to see what the market value is for those guys. So T let's say they have like anywhere from, I know I said 70 to 75, I got to pull up the page again to see what the market value is for those guys. So T, let's say they have like anywhere from, I know I said 70 to 75, but it's probably more like 60 to 65 million dollars to play with because you got to think about the rookie contracts that you're going to sign in. So you got to save like 10-ish mil for that, depending on how big your draft class is.

So T Higgins market value is 16.5 on SpotTrack. I bet he gets 20. Yeah, I bet he gets more than that too. Let's say he gets 20 just for fun. Easy math. So that's 20. So now we've got, say, like 42 million to spend. Josh Reynolds, they've got his projected salary at $7 million.

So let's add that. That's $35 million. So you've got $35 million to play with. And you obviously got to sign a handful of players here, so you can't just take it to zero. You have to field a team. But I think that you probably got $20 million, $22 million to play with still. Edge rushers that are feel the team. But I think that you probably got, you know, $20, $22 million to play with still. Edge rushers that are hitting the market.

Chase Young, Josh Allen, Brian Burns, Daniil Hunter, Carl Lawson, Zedarius Smith. Bryce Huff. Yannick Ngakwe, Bryce Huff, Jadavion Clowney, who's having a really good year. He's having such a good year. I mean, you can easily get another edge rusher to go along with Matthew Judon then at that point

and still not be breaking the bank. Now, obviously, if you go and you get like Brian Burns or something, I don't know if they could afford a Brian Burns. Plus, I think Burns gets tagged anyway. You know, that's my problem with this. All the guys you're listing, these guys never make it. They never make it. I think Clowney would make it.

Clowney will make it. Clowney always makes it to the market every year. Right, but I think Zedaria Smith would make it. I think King Dockway would make it. I think Carl Lawson, you know, is probably going to make it. Yeah, and he's close to done, but unfortunately it's been a tough go. Clowney is who I think is realistic. I like that one a lot for this team.

I really like that one. Judon and Clowney on the edges. Cause the Ravens will have to pay Matt a bouquet. Who's just killing it this year. Yeah. So I'm not saying they can't also pay Clowney cause they're not paying a ton of contracts right now, but you could see one where Baltimore is like, man, we always find these guys.

We'll replace them. I like this game plan. I think it makes a lot of sense. I think revolutionizing the passing attack with those players and then going to get another edge rusher, that is enough for me this offseason to say okay you're going in the right direction you're making the changes that you need to make now i guess the big lingering question a patriots fan would have sitting here is what are we going to do at offensive tackle because he can't really put a dra May or a Caleb Williams in that situation.

So when Wayne is going to be one of, he's going to play at one of the tackle spots and then you're probably drafting another tackle. I think you're signing a veteran and drafting one. Yeah. Cause like who's a vet that would be available here. That market's always tough. Yeah, because it's not you're not going to get.

Like edge rushers, tackles don't make it to free agency. They do not make it to free agency, although. Jonah Williams might make it free agency pass. Well, come on, brother. I know our options are limited. Yeah, Donovan Smith is is hitting it could hit free agency um it's tough yeah there's just not a lot of like starting options here for you damn they might just have to bring Trent back on a one year.

I don't know if they can do that though. I know. I know he's got void money. I believe. Yeah, that would be tough. So maybe Trent has Trent has about 2 million in void money next year. Well,

we can see if there's some tackle options when we do the mock draft. Right. So you don't always, I think it's a great, I think it's a great i think it's a great question that you brought up and we'll be able to kind of like work through it as we do this mini patriots mock draft you're gonna be like that's a great question you brought up and i hate that you did yeah and i absolutely hate i hate you for it it's one of the many

reasons why i hate you this podcast is brought to you by our friends over at prize picks. Our producer, Eli, one of our producers, Eli, he is back and he needs vengeance because he got screwed over last week with Nico Collins getting hurt. Oh no. And I,

I did the rest of them hit. The rest of them might've hit. So this week, all right, this is what he's cooking up this week. So prize picks, if you guys don't know, it's a daily fantasy sports platform.

And you're taking anywhere from two to six entries, and you're going to wrap them up together, and all of them got to hit. So PFF has an official PrizePix lineup every single week, and it's always three entries. So this week's entry is, oh, so this is Monday Night Football edition. So it's already passed, but we'll see if it actually hits. Jordan Love, more than 228.5 passing yards. Okay.

More than.5 rushing or receiving TDs for either DeAndre Hopkins or Jaden Reed. So if one of those guys scores a touchdown, we're in the money. money and then who Saquon Barkley more than 93 and a half rushing and receiving yards that one that one's going to come down to the right wire Eli actually has analysis for this one he said Jordan Love's gone over this line in four straight games Jane Reed and DeAndre Hopkins have either had a TD in the last have either had a TD in the last, have either had a TD in the last four weeks. And then Saquon Barkley's gone over this total four of his last six games. And I think if they go down, DeVito's going to have to check it down to Saquon a lot. So he's going to have to make something happen.

That's right. Look, you know, it's all there. It's all there. You can go over to price picks. You can cook up your own lineups with as many entries as you want. Also, with basketball season here, you can pick combo projections. It costs both football and basketball in the special leagues tab. It's a league that's created specifically for combo projections.

They include two or more players from different sports leagues. For example, you can take LeBron James and Travis Kelsey at 10.5 combined three-pointers made plus receptions. It it's just a fun way to if you see a line that you like from both sports uh make sure that you uh are catching it on that as much as possible price picks also has a reboot policy so that your entries stay in play even if one of your guys gets injured i think nico collins didn't get injured in time for the last one but maybe he did i got to double check it very early well well then maybe what maybe we I got to double check it. Yeah, very early. Well, maybe it was. Maybe we're good to go.

For football and basketball games on PrizePix, if you have a player who exits the game in the first half and does not return in the second, that player is automatically rebooted. PrizePix is the only daily fantasy sports platform with an insurance policy, folks. Go to prizepix.com backslash NFLSC. Use the promo code NFLSC for a first deposit match up to $100.

Again, that's prizepix.com backslash NFLSC. Use the promo code NFLSC for a first deposit match up to $100. Again, that's prizepicks.com. Backslash NFLSC. Using the promo code NFLSC for a first deposit match up to $100. All right, let's do it. Let's get into the Patriots mini mock draft. We're pulling up the PFF mock draft simulator, selecting the New England Patriots, and we're going to do three rounds so we'll have a

little bit of fun on maybe some draft picks that they acquire via a bill belichick trade but as of now we're only going to pick for them three times so it's entering the draft here start this bad boy up in this mock draft that i have on my screen connor caleb williams won one so you know where this is going i think this is a pretty obvious one yeah um i think that we are uh we're gonna go with drake may here actually you know what let me just pull it up let me make it easier i can make it i can make it easier hold on let's do this sharing the screen and now the good people who are watching it on youtube boom there it is so you guys can see exactly beautiful site as well um scale williams goes

one we said the quarterback was the number one need for this new England Patriots team which means it's gonna be Drake Mack right yeah although I'll tell you what the it's gonna I think it'll get more interesting than this closer to the draft I for me it's not like I I have Drake and Caleb in their own tier away from the other quarterbacks but and i won't go too far into this because this isn't the right episode for it but i've heard i've heard quarterback rankings all over so far trevor for teams that jayden daniels rises you and i've talked about is very real as i've said before there are teams that can i say take sure pending medical really like pennix so go ahead though i think jayden daniels is going top 10 oh i don't think that's hot at all yeah like i i think i think i think we all need to get on board with that you had it in the last mock draft right right and i was like dude i'm not here yet

but i know the i'm not saying it's like totally left field or anything, but I genuinely believe like he's too talented at so many different things that I know me personally going into the season. I did not view Jaden Daniels anywhere close to this type of prospect. So it's taken me a long time to get over my preconceived evaluations of him going into the season, but he's just, he, he does too many things well too many quarterbacks have been picked higher for less if you will right so i mean i think i think we all

need to get on board with i think there's a lot of teams that are maybe picking in the back half of the first round that are like yeah yeah we'll just pick jayden daniels or we're like yeah yeah we'll get jayden daniels in the second round and this first round that are like, yeah, yeah, we'll just pick Jayden Daniels. Or we're like, yeah, yeah, we'll get Jayden Daniels in the second round. And this is kind of my version of, of telling you that's not going to happen. I think he's going to be a lock for the top 10 when it's all said and done. So anyways, um,

can we, can we, uh, entertain a bill Belichick trade here? Okay. Yes. Let's entertain one where's the chargers so so the chargers pick at 12 and if you get pick 12 for bill belichick which is a lot right especially for a chargers team that needs a lot of stuff. I don't know if you get that from them. No, that seems really, really rich. I think instead you would, if you're trading Belichick, I think it's too like, I don't

know, who would it be? Who would, I mean, winning teams aren't moving on from their head coach. Yeah. And if the bills move on from McDermott, it won't be them. No. Obviously. They're not going to trade Belichick within the division. No.

They're not. I mean, Pete's not going to go just for Belichick to go there. I don't think so. So I'm glad that we kind of walked it through this, because I agree that there's a world in which bill Belichick gets traded. I don't think it's for a first round pick. Okay. Cause I just don't like,

where else would it be? I know that's where the team's not going to give a top 10 pickup for him. No. And they shouldn't. The thing is, does new England move him? I think if you're ready to move on, you move like it.

It was like two twos. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So like, let's like it. It was like two twos. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So like, let's say he went for the equivalent of Aaron Rogers. Yeah, there we go.

I think that that's fine. All right. So let's pick Drake may at the top, knowing that we're probably not getting a first round pick then for Belichick. And then on the board here at 34, when did the charges pick? So the charges also pick at 44 yep you want to make

this trade we can make this trade all right so let's let's go to the where are the chargers am i high where are the chargers here then uh 44 and then a second rounder next year oh we can select the player i gotta be on it we gotta be able to select the coach come on that's probably that you know coming soon folks um and then i don't know it's just like a seventh round pick in two years because i'll just i'm just gonna force the trade so we got the patriots then up at 44 so that kind of changes what we have here at 34 what are we thinking so we below i was on the board get an edge rusher see if you're worthy wide receiver

found now but do you think he's a tackle? I still think he could play tackle, but... Morgan and Paul are here. I think that's probably more our speed. Right. We want to get a tackle. God, the wide receiver run was real, right? There's no A.D. Mitchell. Yeah, Mitchell went 24.

Leggett went 32. Polk went 33. Wow. Tough break for us.ekic buka yeah whoever makes the rankings for this really screwed us over yeah what an asshole whoever does that screw that guy uh ruined our mock draft i think we should go with one of these tackles yeah i would still go fountain now i just think he's too talented or two in the low one of the two oh yeah no because we have pick 44 so we do which is a nice little there is a certainly a chance that these guys given that it's the mock draft machine could be available 1551. So do we pivot away?

We could do two in the low out here at 34 and then see what happens. Let's see what happens. Alright. Yeah! Let's go! Manipulation, baby! Knowing the

AI. Alright, so we went with an edge rusher there and i i like that edge selection i really do do you have i know jordan morgan's kind of your guy yeah i like morgan but there are some length concerns i think think Morgan is a better run blocker. While Paul has more desirable, like this has got to be a true tackle here, right? Like that's the issue.

Yeah, I think I might. I like Morgan. I'll have Morgan ranked higher as a player, but it feels like a situation where when you look at what New England needs, Paul might be the more ideal fit. Would you agree with that? I just like better as a player that and I hate picking guys over guys that I liked more. Because

that never when teams do that, it never really works out in real life. What picking like they're like they talk themselves into a player because of certain reasons reasons even though they know the other they think the other guy is overall just a better player let's go morgan then we'll do morgan i'm cool with that so we'll draft jordan morgan at 44 and then here we are beginning of the third round a wide receiver that's what i'm thinking can we get somebody that could stretch the field a little bit we're kind of in a we're kind of in like a big gap with wide receiver though no it feels like we're in no man's land yeah i mean that did not this did not go right for us i will say i need to michael sturdivante is is

like the field stretcher like the next field okay here oh i i really like davante's walker oh yeah i do too i really like him yeah i didn't realize he was still just sitting around yeah i have him i have him too low right now yeah i was gonna say i feel like this is gonna be updated it's yeah this is i would take davante i would run to the podium on walker here yeah i would too i would too all right don't go i want to give away too many of the goods as you and i will have clearly the wide receiver talk we will talk about walker we we were um yeah i'll get to i'll get to it in a second all right so it's an a draft and there's a d here for walker but what actually is an a draft yeah i thought you were just saying that no it is it is i wouldn't lie to the good people and devonta walker if they get him at 66 i can already tell

you from what my rankings are going to be like that's going to be an a pick so um yeah there we go kind of a killer draft when you look at the value of it. Yeah, no, it definitely is. Now, you know, there's a couple of ways you could do this, right? They traded Belichick for the second round pick. So in our like free agency scenario, we traded one of these second round picks for t higgins so i think i think the more realistic and probably option that we would want to go with would be drake may at number two and then 34 or 44 traded to the bangles you get 34 and then

you're picking one of these two guys at one of these two spots. So you can probably take one of these guys off the board. If you wanted T Higgins, you're bringing in T Higgins, you're bringing in Josh Reynolds. And then this is kind of like the starting lineup that we have here. I don't know if you need Tez Walker then at this point,

but this was more of a, here's what the draft could look like. If you're not going to get out to get a guy like T Higgins, you're, you're big at wide receiver. you go that way well it would certainly make up for a lot of where they've been right 100 i like it i like the higgins because you have pop right you still pop douglas so if pop's gonna be my slot i got two guys on the outside and walker and hagins that i think can be true outside wide receivers all right we crushed

this i you know what that was a very constructive fix your franchise it was it we really slow walked through it too because the belichick conversation is so long and it's it's almost i almost sure ever want to if like we get the news bit on belichick we almost should shoot like maybe a short to update the beginning of this like now we know bill is here right here's what we would have done differently or maybe nothing at all. Now we know Bill is traded for, whoa, they got the Chargers top 15 pick. Here's what we would like. This is this is definitely a team to be continued one. But I think the road, the pathways we had at our disposal, you know, we did it as much as we could in one offseason. So that's how we'd fix it.

You know, the belichick conversation and the belichick decision obviously is kind of a beast of its own but when it comes to how we would fix this franchise there's a lot of things that they can do in free agency we think that attacking the wide receiver market is going to be advantageous for them the same can be said with an edge rusher you know we talked about targeting guys like t higgins guys like josh reynolds if you wanted a double dip in free agency, which I believe that they can do. A guy like Jadavion Clowney,

certainly players like Bryce Huff, if you like them and they're available, great. But some of those guys are going to get tagged. I like Clowney. You like Clowney as well, infusing some more speed and athleticism along the defensive line. You're keeping a lot of the young core guys

around the roster, but this is probably a two-year roster rebuild in a lot of the identity that we've seen over the last couple of years. And then, of course, the mini mock draft that we said, you're drafting a brand-new quarterback with Drake May at the very top. Basically, you're kind of flipping a coin, whichever one's your preference, Caleb Williams or Drake May. Let us know in the comments, of course.

And then if you end up trading Bill Belichick, you're probably attacking the offensive and defensive trenches with those two picks in the second round, and then whatever offensive weapon that you want with your third pick. Let us know what you guys thought of this conversation, of some of the points that we had, of the mock draft, of the free agency targets that we wanted to acquire. Give us your thoughts on what you would do when you are fixing the Patriots.

The best way to do that, of course, in the YouTube comments section, youtube.com backslash NFL stock exchange if you're listening on audio only at Tampa Bay Trey at Connor J Rogers on exit and Instagram that's how you can hit us up there but we would love to hear from you guys we love doing these fix your franchise episodes because there's so much imagination involved it is just a playground for you to build this team however you want you can get as savage as you want with the roster bring it all the way down to just a handful of players and build it all the way back up however you do it we'd love to hear from you give us your short-term plan long-term plan as detailed as you possibly want we love reading all those as connor mentioned the next

show that we have coming in the middle of the week we are revisiting our wide receiver ranking so we're going to be ranking more than 20 of these guys i'll hopefully have 30 of them re-evaluated connor shooting for 20 you're an animal yeah what we're going to do is we will sort of do like a quick read off of our guys that are within you know 20 to through 11 and then we will each give you our top 10s in more detail and we'll do what we did for summer scouting we'll go from 10 to 1 and um dude i've been looking at wide receivers for the last week and a half because it's a bigger position there's more that goes into it and all i'll say is there are some players who i was lower on

tiz walker's one of them that i'm a lot higher on now after watching some of their end of regular season film me too it's been really fun um it's just a really good class and it's got everything it's so balanced it's got speed it's got size it's got playmakers we know about the blue chip talent at the top it's um we're really spoiled this year and it's got playmakers we know about the blue chip talent at the top it's um we're really spoiled this year and it's i mean already at face value i think it's better than last year's wide receiver class lord yes i will in fact we will answer the question because somebody has asked this to us before how many wide receivers in this class you would take above jack jack smith and jigba was our wide receiver one last year so basically we'll

we'll answer we'll also answer the question how many of these guys would we take above jackson smith and jigba from last year and connor already teased it a little bit before we hit record there is a receiver who is uh moving significantly in our rankings from what we had at the beginning of the season and um i don't know you you could tease it beyond that if you want but he was a big mover for me yeah i mean we'll save we'll save everything for the big wide receiver episode um because the depth of it is just it's just awesome like i said i'm gonna i'm gonna rank 10 um watching more than 20 and i know you're trying to get to 30 you're gonna have what 20 ranked i'll have well i'll have you are the keeper of the keys of the mock draft machine i was gonna say like i'll have if however many i if i get to 28 if i

get to 38 they'll all be ranked so okay because i have to i have to rank them because right when i when i have them ranked and they got to change the mock draft simulator so yeah you feed the mock draft machine i do i choose them up and put them in yeah but yeah it's a good class it's a strong senior bowl roster at wide receiver yes well so Well, so you and I will be, um, side by side down there on the practice field, watching for that's where you, it's where you fell in love with Michael Wilson. Who could ever forget? Let's go,

baby. I mean, this is what I did. That's right. I'll do it again. I'll do it again too. Um, pumped man.

Going to be an awesome show ahead. Yep. Yep. Looking forward to it. Why receiver? We always know that you guys, uh, love listening to that and love giving us your takes on it too it's it's it is the position to me that everybody's got an opinion on like quarterback i think it's kind of an obvious

one because there's only a handful that we talk about but there's so many guys at the top guys through the middle the sleepers in the in the draft everybody loves to talk about wide receiver we do as well that's why we're excited about the the show on wednesday i'm trevor sycamore that is connor rogers thank you guys so much for watching and listening to the nfl stock exchange podcast we'll see you on wednesday Thank you.