NFL Stock Exchange: An NFL Draft Podcast - 288. Fix Your Franchise: New England Patriots

Episode Date: November 26, 2024

0:00 - Intro 5:20 - Coaching situation 28:50 - Roster overview 39:30 - Free agency plan 54:45 - 3-round mock

Welcome to the opening bell of the NFL Stock Exchange podcast. I'm Trevor Sikama, that is Connor Rogers, joining you once again for aots. We got a couple of these left. The Patriots had to be one of the teams because right now, they're 3-9 and hold the number four overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. We figure, Connor, they'll probably stay within the top five. It's just a matter of how high can the Patriots get. We got a lot to talk about in this one. Certainly, the organizational structure moving on from Bill Belichick last year. This is a team that we did a fixture franchise for last year. And we kind of went about it thinking that Gerard Mayo was going to be the head coach.

Now he is. Is he potentially a one and done? We'll get into that. And this team also has the most free agency money to spend of any team in the NFL. So it's going to be a robust free agency plan for us once we get to that point. And then, of course, we'll end things with a three-round mock, which has a little bit of a cherry on top because they have that extra third round pick due to the uh matthew judon trade with the atlanta falcons first of all connor how you doing my

friend i'm good pal i mean this is a absolute cut and dried fix your franchise a a bad team that expected to be bad right that's in a in a first-year coach, first-year quarterback, a roster that needs a lot of work and fortunately has the resources to make things better, not only in draft capital, notably because of where they'll be picking rather than the volume. But you're right, the match you don't pick does help. And like you said, the money that they can't spend now, we know that free agency isn't the perfect fix to everything but the flexibility should go a long way so this is about as old school of a rebuild

as that as it gets yeah there's nothing tricky about this one it's no bad team a lot of money to spend still have all the draft picks even have an extra draft pick within the top 100 you know sometimes promising quarterback like what you're right excited to hopefully develop and build around i mean honestly it sounds weird to say this but for this exercise and you know for anybody who would have their hands in truly rebuilding this team we know whether it's Gerard Mayo uh Elliot Wolfe obviously Robert Kraft is involved as well as the owner like this is sort of a dream you didn't move off the number one over number three overall pick last year for a reason because you wanted to make sure you got the quarterback. Drake May looks great.

We got five games left. I hope he continues to improve. I don't know how much he's going to improve behind this offensive line. If I'm keeping it a buck with you. But as long as he doesn't get hurt, obviously we got a good building block moving forward. So the Patriots, where where their cheeks right now could certainly turn it around what's the what's the phrase we need like from cheeks to something what was that

what did we say what did we say from cheeks to champs or something like that i can't remember champs is good i would say champs isn't bad yeah cheaps cheeks to competitive is would be a would be a really nice step. Yeah, I like that. It doesn't roll off the tongue as much. Cheeks to Champs is like, that's the t-shirt you wear when you – it's like that year the Niners, they had the shirts that were about like from Mobile to Super Bowl or whatever it was.

Yes. They literally were coaching the Senior Bowl, and then the next year they were in the Super Bowl. Cheeks to Champs is the other version of that. Wasn't it from Senior Bowl to Super Bowl or whatever it was? Something like that. That sounds right. I feel like that would have been it.

We were talking about making merch for the show. And we asked you guys if you'd buy hats. A lot of you responded to it. And you said that you would, which we appreciate. So we're going to try to figure out a way to make merch possible. But a lot of people talked about T-shirts and hoodies as well. Might have to come up with a from Cheeks to Champs shirt. Maybe we'll rename this this this whole series maybe we'll change the picture franchise from cheeks

to champs that would be man that's like the tiktok version it's definitely the gen z like like you're just screaming in front of the phone and like it's all in 30 seconds like you name the new coach the three free agents you do the mock draft in 30 seconds you know don't tempt our producer johnson t higgins 35 million dollars draft shinder sanders and you won't believe how easy it is there's some kind of mashup in the background explosions all right so before we get to our tiktok era which you know obviously you know we're on it uh head-on collision with very clearly with ideas like this let's talk about the new england patriots and let's intro they're three and nine right now coming off of a pretty uncompetitive loss to their to their divisional foe in the

miami dolphins 34 to 15 that game was just never going to be close, and a big reason why is because of the offensive line. And we'll certainly dig into the offensive line in this roster a little bit later in the show. But right now, they're projected to have the number four pick in the NFL draft. And Connor, I think that you appropriately set it up correctly. This team was not going to be good this year. Winning a division was not really in the cards for this team.

Getting to the playoffs was not in the cards for this team getting to the playoffs was not in the cards for this team i feel as though a realistic goal for the new england patriots this year was maybe five six wins and most importantly just make sure drake may's the guy you know just make sure that you nailed it at number three overall that you have the building block moving forward. But with it looking like Drake May could be that kind of a player because since they have put him into the starting lineup, he has definitely given them some great juice to work with and some good thoughts and good vibes moving forward. The clock has started, right? You drafted the quarterback.

Now it's your job to make sure you accelerate this rebuild, that you are consistently going in the right direction. And we're sort of going to tell you what that right direction looks like for this team. So I think I do want to start this conversation with the front office and the coaches though, as we often do when we do these fixture franchises. And for the Patriots, it's very interesting. You fire Bill Belichick last year. The Patriots were a team that won double-digit games from 2003 to 2019. They won double-digit games every single season. A ton of success, a lot of Super Bowls, but as things started to dwindle down with Tom Brady no longer in the organization, the warts of Bill Belichick, the general manager, really started to show up. They go 9-8 the year prior, and then they really struggled last season. And it was just a team that there were just so many bad team-building moves that even Bill Belichick could not overcome.

Starts with the quarterback position, drafting Mac Jones. Mac Jones is a disaster. Wasn't even starting by the time the year was over. Bailey Zappi as well, but Bailey Zappi being a starting quarterback, it was never going to work out for you. They were 31st in the NFL in EPA per play on offense last year, but they were still top 10 in EPA per play on defense, and they were still a top 10 team in terms of least amount of penalties called for. So the Bill Belichick part of coaching football was still there for them last year but robert craft still thought that it wasn't good enough after he fired bill belichick he said okay well you know i love bill i love his football mind but he was not willing to evolve and i kind of felt that way about bill and that's why we decided

to move on so they hired gerard mayo and when i say they hired gerard Mayo. And when I say they hired Gerard Mayo, I mean, Robert Kraft said afterwards that he basically knew that Gerard Mayo was going to be the coach after Bill Belichick five years ago. Right. They didn't interview a single candidate for head coach. It was just Gerard Mayo's job. This year, they're once again 31st in the NFL in EPA per play on offense, but they're worse in defense. Now they are 25th in EPA per play on defense. And when it comes to total penalties, instead of having the 22nd total penalties, so being top 10 in the NFL, they now have the sixth most penalties in the NFL. So they're a worse defense. They're a less disciplined team and they still can't move the ball correctly. Now there's whispers. Ah, maybe Gerard Mayo's out of there. Connor, that was sort of my way of setting it up. What do you think about Gerard Mayo? What do you think about the reports that,

ah, okay, maybe this last month is really important for him. If he doesn't play, if he doesn't coach well, if the team doesn't improve, he could be a one and done type of a coach. What do you think about how they handle this whole situation and then where they're at with Mayo? It's easy to see both sides of the coin here, right? With the fact is it's not looked good for much of the year for New England. It really, really hasn't.

They, especially I'm sure the fans of that team notice it. You know, it's almost jarring to them because of how often Bill Belichick teams were prepared to play. And you mentioned the discipline aspect, Trevor. They've lost a lot of that. Now, I will say what comes with lack of discipline and penalties, sometimes you're just overmatched. And the reality is this roster pretty much week in and week out is overmatched. And when you look at even some of the wins they've had, they've been really, really ugly wins, which is how they have to win.

But they come into the season, they were one of five teams with a win total set at five and a half. That's the lowest in all of football. It was the Patriots, it was the Titans, the Panthers, the Broncos, and the Giants. So now win totals don't mean everything, all the football. It was the Patriots. It was the Titans, the Panthers, the Broncos, and the Giants. So now win totals don't mean everything, but that's basically telling you what Vegas is projecting for them coming into the year. And they're hovering there. It's going to be right around that, right? Like, I don't even know if they're not going to get over that win total probably. They're probably not going to get to six unless things really, really change.

No, it's a weird part because I think you could evaluate things in a vacuum. I think everybody is comfortably sitting there and saying, man, Gerard Mayo did not inherit a great situation because of a lot of bad roster decisions by Bill Belichick for a long time in the post Tom Brady era. that it's hard to feel optimistic about him and his coaching staff right now going forward because they just haven't shown you enough so far in terms of preparation, in terms of game plan, in terms of feel and flow of the game itself. And I think that's a difficult situation. Now, I will cap this by saying, I don't think this organization is going to move on from Gerard Mayo because if that's a decision Robert Kraft felt strongly about like he indicated for a long time you don't pull the plug on that guy after one year because it's a decision that you were really really stewing on for a while. I would, I don't think this staff is the staff for the long haul. I know Alex Van Pelt, once again, their offensive coordinator hasn't been given a,

you know, a ton to necessarily work with this offense, especially on the line, but, and he's developing a rookie quarterback that's had some real bright moments, but also has a turnover issue right now, because once again, he's's like unc it feels like he doesn't have much out there it's just to me trevor it's hard to envision robert craft pulling the plug on mayo after knowing that this was his guy for that long would you agree i agree with you completely um i think this i don't know if some people are listening to this podcast hoping that we give some you know in-depth head coaching candidates i'll give you some you know just for the you know for the sake of this exercise and be thorough but i really don't think they're going to move on from a minute it would be pretty silly to do so unless you really thought that it was a circus behind the scenes like unless it was

this sort of urban meyer like you like players don't even know what they're doing in the middle of the week during practice you don't know where this guy is like you can't even come up with a game plan like unless it's that bad to move on from a head coach after one year even in a vacuum is a a terrible process and decision right let alone a guy that you've been grooming within the organization for the last five years that if they move on from Mayo that would be crazy to me changes adjustments sure I understand that but even that I'll get to that in a second you know the the big quote that I think really combats Mayo being fired this year is something that Robert Kraft said after they hired Gerard Mayo now of course this was what six seven months

ago that he said this quote. And we've had a 2024 season that we've had to watch since. But Kraft said, quote, I've been running business for more than 50 years. And in my experience, the most successful leadership transitions happen when we are privileged to develop talent from within. That allows us to create a succession plan that allows the candidate to better prepare for the opportunity when he arrives now that quote could tell you that craft is actually disappointed at how mayo has played out of the gate because they have talked about him as a future head coach for so long but if robert craft has been in business for 50 years, and he has, he also understands the fact that to have short-term

vision is to take away long-term dreams and manifestations and achievements. You cannot just totally judge somebody in one year, especially in a role like head coach at the NFL level. It's a big learning year for Gerard Mayo, but I think that it would be completely unfair to him for them to move on from him after one year, especially given, I'm sorry, the shit roster that he inherited from Bill Belichick. And here's the thing. They sort of wanted to have their cake and eat it too right Robert Kraft didn't want to really move on from Bill Belichick but he felt like with the team going backwards two years in a row that Belichick was not going to evolve the way that this team needed them to to where the game currently is and where it is going they were hoping that Mayo a younger version of the Patriot way and the Belichick way,

was going to be more pliable in how he could adjust to things. Well, he has no experience. He has no head coaching experience to lean on. He's learning it this year. So it would be completely unfair, in my opinion, to think that a Belichick-constructed roster, which we've talked about this on fix your franchise connor when josh mcdaniels goes other places when when um when matt patricia goes other places when when joe judge goes other places guess what it fails the whole thing fails when you try

to do the belichick way the patriot wayot way, outside of Bill Belichick, why would you not have that same realization right now? So this is not enough time for them to be able to move on. You have to give Gerard Mayo his shot, and you have to give him his shot with a real draft class, a second draft class, I should say, because the first draft class, not great. But more importantly, the free agent money to be able to build this roster the way that you want. class the second draft class i should say because the first draft class not great uh but more importantly the free agent money to be able to build this roster the way that you want well i'll say one thing quickly trevor yeah the only the only logical thing that would make sense

if they're gonna pull the plug this early is if they know they can get Mike Vrabel and Robert Kraft wants you know but you could have Vrabel last year right you're right that's my hang-up you could have had him last year you're right it's it's if you you made the Mayo decision go with the Mayo decision and right I don't I think Robert Kraft has enough awareness to know this was not a playoff contender this year. I think it's been bad, and you'd like to see more, even in a year where you're not expected to be a contender. But it's just, yeah, you're right. That's a fair point.

If you were going to do that, you would have done it. Right. on it right my the the biggest um i would say the most important evaluating moment for gerard mayo and i think for the new england patriots over these next five games is development because if you ask me right now the actual most damning criticism of gerard mayo is that nobody on the team is getting better nobody i don't i don't know who has gotten better on the team is getting better. Nobody. I don't, I don't know who has gotten better on this team throughout the season, outside of natural progression of maybe second or third year guys who are just playing a little bit better because it's another year in the NFL.

Javon Baker can't get on the field. Jalen Polk was supposed to be your wide receiver one this year because of how bad the wide receiver room was. He is terribly underperformed. The offense offense it's almost like mental at this point because he looks nothing like the guy he was last year in college right the offensive line is bad and the linemen that you guys that they drafted you know the Caden Wallace the the the Layden Robinson right those guys couldn't even get on the field when they were healthy and I mean like Robinson I think he's playing now but he's not really playing well in my opinion and why do you take Caden Wallace Penn State's right tackle when you have no answer

at left tackle and think that's gonna work when he wasn't really a great college right tackle that was just I'm not hindsighting that Caden Wallace they took 68th. I'll check what he was on the consensus board from a reef, but I can tell you it was nowhere close to 68. I'll tell you right now. Yeah. He was, he was much lower on my board as was laid in Robinson. And this draft felt like a draft where the people that were making the

decisions were making the decisions for the first time in 20 years. Cause that's exactly what it was. Right. Bill the decisions for the first time in 20 years. Because that's exactly what it was, right? Bill Belichick had been there for 20 years. It's his way or the highway. He's picking and drafting the players that he wants. And, you know, Elliot Wolfe's situation is that he's the director of player personnel. Is that his official title?

He is the VP, executive VP of player personnel, which for those at home, he's the GM without being a GM. For whatever reason, this team does not use a GM title. He has full roster control, and he controls the pro side of things, the scouting department, and the draft. So... Caden Wallace, by the way, 186th. On yours, on your board? No, consensus. Yeah, yeah.

That's wild. No, I hated... Look, I don't want to be too hindsight on this because people appropriately so like could call us out when we're when we're a little too hindsight and we're revisionist and we don't remember our rankings i love the drake may pick i love the fact that they didn't trade out same i like the jaylen polk pick i like the jaylen and i like the javon baker pick i like those picks a lot. Hulk and Baker have done absolutely nothing, and I will admit that, but I was very critical of the two offensive line picks that they had in the middle in between those guys.

Those were major reaches in my opinion. Those were, you know, I guess we need an offensive lineman. Let's take one of these guys. Nope, terrible process. Terrible drafting process. Bad. Don't do that. Especially when you know you're in a multi-year rebuild.

Don't do that. They had to play. They knew they were going to have to play these guys. And I didn't think either of them were even close. And that's a bad setup into a bad draft. That's what we call that. That's a bad offseason right there. The fact that you felt like you had to do that.

So that's sort of what we're dealing with decision makers who are truly making decisions for the first time in this organization in 20 years because Bill Belichick had so much on his plate. You know, if they're going to move on from Gerard Mayo, again, money talks, but Ben Johnson could have made millions of dollars with Tepper or whoever it is.

Like he's not coming to New England, not a chance. The only two guys that I think would be realistic to go to New England, that they would move on from Mayo for. We talked about Liam Cohen, the offensive coordinator for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. I think he's doing a great job as an offensive coordinator there. If he's getting serious head coach looks, he played at UMass. So he's like, you know, he is a Northeastern guy. Maybe you have that connection.

Maybe you love that part of it, going back to the Northeast. You think about that a little bit. The other one is a home run hire in Dan Lanning, the head coach from Oregon. I don't know other head coaching candidates that you would move on from Gerard Mayo for outside of maybe like a hometown feel with Cohen and then a true home run if you think that Lanning is a special special football head coach you go pluck him from Oregon I'm just curious because I feel like you have a good handle on the culture of college better than me this time of year is landing a guy that you think is interested in the nfl i don't interested it's a weird word because like he's been amazing at the at the college level that's the thing is is he was

under kirby smart as georgia was rising to power and winning national championships then he goes over to oregon and it's only his second year at Oregon. And both of these past two years have been very successful for them. I mean, they are the number one team in the country. They are undefeated this year. So he is accomplishing what he set out to do at the very highest level already just two years in at Oregon. And if he stays at Oregon, I think he can shape that program and continue to make it a powerhouse for many years to come.

I don't know if the NFL is truly in the cards for him, because honestly, man, it's happened so fast. He went from DC head coach to successful head coach. And now it's like, damn, now we're talking about him potentially moving to the NFL. I don't even know. Maybe, maybe it's his NFL dream. And again, if it is is that's a guy that I would inquire about if I'm New England but there's not many other realistic head coaches that I think

that they would entertain moving on from Mayo for it is crazy I mean this guy was a GA at Alabama less than 10 years ago right and now we're talking about him faces of college football. Yeah, yeah. So, I mean. Those are the only two, in my opinion. Those are the only two. The logic that Kraft could explain if he surprisingly let go of Mayo is that they wanted to staple what they deem an elite offensive mind, Drake May. That would be, in my opinion, how he would sell it. You brought up Liam Cohen.

Yeah. Right, like right that would be and and people would sit there and be like you know what i get it like some people would be like that kind of stinks for gerard mayo but at the same time those same people would be like man like this organization and this is going to be a theme of this fix your franchise everything is about drake may and then all the other stuff falls beneath that. This is all about Drake May right now. I think that people might look at this coaching staff and they might go, okay, well, if Mayo stays,

then they've clearly got to make some changes elsewhere. I don't know if they do. You mentioned Van Pelt, Alex Van Pelt, the offensive coordinator. He was the offensive coordinator with the Cleveland Browns before he came over with the Patriots. And the Patriots, I don't think people remember this like the patriots did not interview another head coach but holy cow they interviewed a lot of offensive coordinators like they interviewed zach robinson they interviewed thomas brown they interviewed like basically everybody under the sun everybody who is even a remotely successful dan pitcher who we talked about on the

Bengals Fiction Franchise episode, like they interviewed him. Anybody who was anybody last year, the Patriots interviewed for offensive coordinator, and they landed on Alex Van Pelt. And if you want to scapegoat the guy, like we've seen that happen before at the NFL level, but

again, this offensive line sucks. This receiving group right now sucks so I I I get the game is the game with firing some of these coordinators but like that'd be pretty shitty man that there's a guy I would do it for though there there's a guy very familiar with this organization he's worked with this organization on two separate occasions, multi-year stops. Joe judge, of course,

Joe judge is the guy to develop Drake may. Oh Lord. No, Brian Dable. If Brian Dable gets fired by the giants. Yeah, he, he was a defensive assistant for new England from 2000 to 2001.

And then he was their wider uh no he's there wow he's had a couple jobs wide receivers coach from 2002 2006 then he was their tight ends coach from 2013 and 2016 after having failed offensive coordinator runs in the nfl then he takes the alabama job and his ascension begins from there. So he knows this organization. Well, he knows craft. Well, yeah,

I had to look at Drake, my skillset. If, if Brian's able gets fired and you know, he'd go take the OC job in new England, I would fire Van Pelt to bring in table. That's I didn't even think of table. And that's a really good call out because it's,

it's a topical thing that I wanted to somehow bring up on the podcast i just didn't really know how without forcing it i'm less confident now than ever that dayball returns as the giants head coach it got grim quick didn't it and it got grim in my opinion because it i mean these players are losing motivation i watched that buccaneers giants game and yeah daniel jones isn't there and it's tommy devito and they don't really expect to win the game but damn you got guys just running out running around out there like just getting cardio in like the locker room after the game was some of the quotes it's yeah and that's and that's the problem is even though I like Brian Dable as a coach

when you lose the locker room like this even if you say hey we're bringing in new coaches or sorry we're bringing in new players we're going to be better we're going to draft a quarterback all that kinds of stuff guys in the locker room still going to believe in you yeah like the guys because you can't fire them all you can't cut them all you can can't cut them all. You can't sign all new guys. It's not how it works. So to me, watching that Bucs game, that was honestly the first time I ever went, oh boy, okay. It felt over in the building.

He might actually not be back next year. Yeah. The team being booted off the field multiple times, it fell over. Maybe he does change that, or maybe John Mara does stick to his original word. I think he's going to be out there, and I think he's going to be a very highly desired offensive coordinator. I don't think he's going to jump to a new head coaching job. I think he might just not be a head coach.

I think there's still a chance. I think he'll get head coaching interviews. I just wonder if it's like, oh, Brian D'Abel comes on the market. He's for sure getting another head coaching gig. I don't know if we're there anymore. So then getting the opportunity to coach Drake May, and especially if Robert Kraft likes you and you're in a situation where it's like, all right, well, if it doesn't work with Gerard Mayo, he might be able to elevate himself to a head coach spot with Drake May then. That might be a good opportunity. And the defensive coordinator is kind of tough. Like, they can't really make changes on defense coordinator. Demarcus Covington's their defense coordinator right now. And he was the defensive line coach for this team basically since, what, 2016, 2017? I think he's been around the Patriots organization.

So he's the same thing. Like, he came up with Mayo. Like, Mayo was his defensive coordinator last year. And then when Mayo got elevated to head coach, Covington got elevated to defensive coordinator. So Mayo is not going to fire Covington. I don't think that's going to happen. If there's any change to said offensive coordinator,

and I actually do like the Brian Dable shout out. I did not think of that, but that is a good shout out by you. We would love to hear from the people. Let us know what you think of the coaching situation. Do you think that Mayo deserves another year? Do you think that Dable is a good shout-out by you. We would love to hear from the people. Let us know what you think of the coaching situation. Do you think that Mayo deserves another year? Do you think that Dayball is a good shot for offensive coordinator? Is there another offensive coordinator you'd like to get in there? Is there another head coach you'd like to get in there?

Is the whole thing broken with Robert Kraft at the top? Very curious as to what Patriots fans have to say about that one. I think that brings us to the roster overview, which we can dig into that now, right before we get into sort of their free agency strategy. Sound good? Yeah. So, key players.

Always a fun exercise. Offense. I got one. It's obviously Joe Milton.ton of course the future so drake may is their only key player that i have on the offensive side of the ball not that that means he's going to be the only player returning from this year to next year that's not what we're saying but in terms of key pieces drake may and then i'm curious do you have Mike Unwenu on there? Would you say that he's a key player? He ain't going anywhere, so he technically is.

He's going to fill one of those O-line spots. He is. He is. I feel like he hasn't been played up to his standard this year that we're accustomed to seeing from him, and I know there's been a lot of movement around. It's not a stable offensive line, which doesn doesn't help anyone but this is a guy that just signed a three-year contract with you know 37 million dollars guaranteed i i would call him a key player okay so he's not going anywhere i i wanted to hear sort of what you thought of him

even though i knew that he'd be on the team next year and i think he is a versatile piece i just you know key player maybe he is maybe i'm just i'm just overblown it too much i think pop douglas is a good wide receiver three i wouldn't call him a key player jaylen polk i don't even i don't even i don't even know what to say about jaylen polk at this he needs a ref like a new seat like a refresh a full camp and like holy cow man this guy had the some of the surest hands of college football last year he was incredible concentration and catches. And it just has not. Now you can't even catch the ball.

Right. He's just dropping everything in the NFL level where they don't trust him out there when he's not banged up. Wild. So that's sort of my thoughts on the office. This is a good time to sneak this into one thing that I'm, I'm sure new England fans can relate to this, that I've not liked of Mayo's first year,

his need to just explain everything in every press conference is just not a good quality of the coach. And I don't know if that's a local media thing there in New England, the Boston media. But when Polk was going through his struggles, it just felt like Mayo, and when he called the team soft, I know that really did piss off a lot of people on the team like it's one thing that i think he can grow from from year one to year two he doesn't need to explain to the media publicly every little struggle that's

going on with the team i think i think it really rubbed some people the wrong way within the team so he's a fair point and again learning lessons from a coach right yeah that's that's why you right you everybody learns things on the job interesting um oh defense side of the football yeah this is better much better bar more yeah bar more who obviously the blood clots really like it's it's been a lost year for him until he came back but that's a that's a tough draw he was given but bar more is a good player yep keon white great second season yep yep i think that he is absolutely a key player for them um i feel like the linebackers are like good as a group i don't know if there's anybody that like like talky talky and jelani devai

anthony jennings anthony jen, like there's like all those guys. I feel like are kind of just like the Patriots linebacker group. I don't know if I'd identify them as key players, but no, I also I'm not like breaking up the band or anything. The one was Juwan Bentley and he's out for the year. Right. I think he tore his pack. He would have been, he would have been the guy if he was healthy.

Yes. So I, I'm fine with the linebacker level, but you're right. This could call out with Bentley when he gets back next year. Secondary. Duggar, I like. Yeah, he doesn't look right right now. He struggled this year. He's a good player.

I think he's really hurt this year. Gonzalez is an obvious. He's the key player. Yes. Of the secondary. I don't. That's it for me. That's it for me. That's it for me as well.

But hey, they got a key player basically at all three levels, which is... There's talent on this defense. There is. Before we get into free agency, I want to go into their draft history. Yeah, I have this up right now. This is ugly. Well, the 2022 draft was really the end of the Belichick era

because they got laughed at publicly. So, I mean, even go back to 20, it is actually insane how well this team was able to hang on. 2018, it's Isaiah Wynn, it's Sonny Michel, it's Duke Dawson, rounds one, one, and two. Then you get Jawan Bentley in the fifth, who, okay, good. Better player than all three of those guys. Right, right. So you got him in the fifth, so like, good, okay. The rest of the draft doesn't really matter at all so you got one fifth round pick out of 2018 2019 Nikhil Harry

Juwan Williams Chase Winovich Damian Harris Yadni Kajus Hjal Freudholt who actually is great now for the uh Arizona Cardinals it's funny how that works not on the team I mean like that drafts bad certainly the first two picks they got nothing from that track they got damian harris out of it who was fine at points sure hey man it's never great when you say you remember the damian harris draft everyone's like oh man yeah i do oh that's actually a good point 2020 they get tyler they get kyle duggar and then josh uche and then anthony jennings all right good and then it's and this is michael and wayne who in the six so not a bad 2020 draft 2021 it's mac jones bad

christian barmore good yeah very good ronnie perkins bad. Ramondre Stevenson, okay, I mean, like, I'll give you that. McGroan, Bledsoe, Sherman, Nixon, bad. So, like, even that draft with Barmore and Ramondre Stevenson, the Mac Jones pick was bad. And it developed poorly. You never were able to develop Mac Jones. He never was able to get better. And then this next year, you got Cole Strange in the first round,

who, I mean— The Rams laughed at them. Right, who, like, might not even be a piece for them next year. Tyquan Thornton, who you've already cut. Marcus Jones, all right, nice slot defender for you. That's fine. Jack Jones, not on the team anymore. Pierre Strong, all right, not much. Bailey Zappi, bad.

I mean, that draft's horrendous. It was like the final straw of bad drafting. Yes. I mean, like that draft horrendous as it was like the final straw of bad drafting. Yes, it was absolutely, you know. The final final piece, like the final stone where you were like, oh, man, we can't we can't anymore. We can't like the problem when you get you draft that poorly and you get laughed at in the moment. You always hold on hope that you could do the laughing in two years at everyone else. And that does happen.

Like, let me tell you, there's picks I've laughed at and they just shock the hell out of you. But more often than not, and I like to use the consensus board because the reality is the consensus board that Arif puts together, factoring in forecasters who are projecting where guys will go and evaluators, people like us,

like that many opinions are not going to be that far off. Sure, there could be a couple outliers here or there, but Cole Strange, often viewed as a third round pick taken in the first round. Taequann Thornton, often viewed as a late day three, late day three guy taking around in the top 50 yeah yeah and and i think that the the big issue is like for as much as bill belichick's an incredible head coach none of these guys even developed like beyond the criticism that we had on draft night of them which i think was a major issue with a lot of with a lot of these drafts they were bad drafts on draft night and then they did not develop we all sort of like there were you remember the string of years there where we were

like hey you can't criticize bill belichick graph because it's bill belichick and then all of a sudden like these dudes just were not developing and the team just was getting worse and worse and worse and now the health of the team is bad uh the last draft that i would read off would be this 2023 draft which christian gonzalez good kian white good marty mapu starter for you but it's a 12 pick draft and now it's like jake andrews chad rylan city so antonio mafi kashon butte demario douglas all right pop douglas in the six i like it see you. But like that entire middle between Mapu and Douglas, I get that it's fourth and fifth round players, but like hit rate was way too low there.

And I also think that they were way too comfortable just going, yeah, yeah, yeah, we'll draft fourth and fifth rounders. We'll be good to go. No, no, no, we're good. We'll be good. We'll be good to go. The lack of movement. Nah, yeah.

Nope. Bad. And then we recapped last year. Drake May may i think you nailed it at number three overall you didn't want to trade back you nailed it jalen polk i'd like to pick man but he's just playing terribly yeah let's hope jalen polk can turn it around yes yes uh certainly not a nail on the yeah it's been real it's been a really bad rookie year like really bad there's no way around it's been a really bad rookie year. Like, really bad. There's no way around it. And it's been a really bad draft for development. The four guys that you really needed to develop on this team. Drake May was...

Drake May... Like, I don't even count Drake May because Drake May was the obvious. If you didn't develop Drake May, you were all screwed anyways. So, like, you basically had to count that one as good. The ones that would have been difference makers for you, Polk, Wallace, Robinson, Baker, all of them are unplayable right now. They're like unplayable. And we're 12 weeks into the season. That's, they're unplayable on this roster. That's where you get the real criticism of Mayo. That, to me, is the only criticism of him

that really holds water at this point. Not to say what you were talking about with the press conference and saying too much. Obviously, I agree with you there as well. Sure, sure, sure. The one of, okay, enough weight to maybe move on from, that's the one that actually carries weight. Can this guy develop players?

Especially on the offensive side of the ball, as he was a defensive minded player so yeah right that's you know elliot that's on the elliot wolf the start to the elliot wolf era but if they nail the drake may pick they'll be given a lot of time to you know try to forgive the mistakes taken after him no doubt good. Good thing for Patriots fans, though. Now we get to talk about the good stuff. Now we get to get into free agency plan. Let's have some fun, baby.

118 million projected effective cap space. That is number one in the NFL for 2025. They do have some free agents coming up. Jonathan Jones is a free agent. Jacoby Bursette's a free agent. Chuck LaCour is a free agent. KJ Osborne, Austin Hooper, Raekwon McMillan. They've got a handful of players there. The only one

who I could see them bringing back is Jonathan Jones. Who else are you bringing back? What does it matter? He's the guy that you would bring back if you're bringing back anybody. I agree. I don't know if they're going to bring him back. Do you think they're going to bring him back? Was he in your plan? As a I agree. I don't know if they're going to bring him back. You think they're going to bring him back? Was he in your plan? Like as a, like for market cost, just because you, my argument, Trevor, is you just have

so many damn needs that you're not trying to create more needs, but he's not like a must keep player for me. I think that's a good way to put it though. You're not trying to create more needs. So let's identify some team needs for this team moving forward before we get into some of our targets. For me, the team needs for the Patriots wide receiver.

Yeah. Number one, wide receiver. Well, offensive lines. Number one, in my opinion, but right. But no, a number one, wide receiver is, Oh, a number one wide receiver well offensive line is number one in my opinion but right but no a number one wide receiver as well oh a number one might say yeah yeah totally great so wide receiver offensive line edge rusher yeah and then potentially corner those are the four

right very vl very casual just four out of the five pillar positions of the game of football. Yeah. I mean, it's casual. We're good. We're good. We're good. We're good. Which is why they've already tried to get ahead on things like number one wide receiver.

They were so invested in trying to get a guy like Iook. But he clearly didn't want to go there, which is going to be their biggest hurdle throughout free agency. But they do have, you know, oodles of cash. Stupid money. To sway people. So I'll let you start. Where are we starting here with free agency?

It is truly an open canvas with over $100 million to work with here. Well, if he makes it to free agency, you would think their first phone call would be to T. Higgins. Just you are picking up the phone the second he becomes available. You would think so. I almost think T. Higgins is a Patriot at this point. You almost think T. Higgins is calling them. Like, hey, we've been, we know what's coming here, guys.

Yeah. And I know when we fix the Bengals, like, obviously, we think they should find a way to keep t higgins it's it's it's hard to truly convince yourself of that though with how the bengals operate and knowing the money chase is going to cost and t and t higgins probably has had many conversations with himself and with his agent of the most money for me is out there on the open market because guys like me don't don't go to the open market they don't number one wide receivers either get paid a gazillion dollars by their own team or they get paid by their own team and then eventually get traded or they get traded and then get paid. They don't really have full autonomy like this.

And I know they have a lot of control based on the trade market, but you just look at all the top. This is the best way to do this, right? You look at the contracts in the NFL at wide receiver, and it's, it's pretty easy to figure out how this goes. Justin Jefferson,

while he was drafted by the Vikings and he signed an extension, same for CD lamb, AJ Brown wanted the Titans to pay him. The Titans didn't want to pay him. So they traded him to the Eagles who did pay him. Amon Ross, St. Brown drafted it by the lions and paid by the did pay him monro saint brown drafted by the

lions and paid by the lions brandon iuk almost traded by the 49ers but ended up getting paid by the 49ers and i'll stop after tyree kill but tyree kill another guy that was due to get paid and the chiefs traded him and he wanted to be in miami and that was that so with t higgins it feels safe to say he will be somewhere else. And the team that makes the most sense, I think in the NFL, in terms of needing him and taking the risk on him, because some of the injuries he's had, but the talent he has is new England.

I think the most likely landing spot for T Higgins next year is new England. I think that the most likely reality of, of where we see T Higgins playing next year is, is with the new Patriots because you're right. They don don't just need a wide receiver they need a wide receiver one and the the only real thing that i kind of want to add to this because he is very clearly like the guy that they would go after right like stefan diggs okay maybe like somebody to grow with drake may that's the yeah yeah i mean like chris godwin would be great but he's coming off an acl tear and i i just genuinely

don't think he leaves the buccaneers i really don't um i think they're going to resign him he loves it in tampa him and his wife love it in tampa um like they're big parts of the community jason light and that entire staff absolutely loves him as well I just don't see them leaving but he would obviously be an option there too but the rest of the wide receivers that are going to hit the market Stefan Diggs, Keenan Allen, Amari Cooper, Brandon Cooks, Deontay Johnson, Mike Williams, Darius Slayton, Odell Beckham Jr. I mean like none of these guys are wide receiver ones like T Higgins is a wide receiver one. Right. So I think that you are throwing all this money

at T Higgins and trying to make it happen. The, the question and the exercise that I will pose to you that I think is sort of a fun one. Wide receivers become available all the time like around the nfl like you like said a couple of them you know like davante adams tyree kill aj brown like these are wide receivers that we would have thought teams had no interest in moving on from and then for whatever reason, they're out there. They're out there. They're available. So I wonder, like, is there anybody out there that you think could be available that the Patriots might go after via trade? It's a great question because these are the more difficult ones to predict because these situations unravel so quickly. Of course. And obviously, we're just having fun here. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, we're just having fun here. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, we're just two chill dudes having a good time on the podcast. We're just two chill dudes trying to just, you know, absolutely throw the NFL world on its head. That's it. You know, honestly, right now, I don't see that scenario very easily.

It's kind of hard to, I really don't, honestly. So Debo is one that I think of. Okay, I should not have missed that one. I think the Niners are definitely moving on from Debo after this year. So Debo, I think, is going to and that's could absolutely be a Patriot. It's a bad investment. I'm sorry. Fun player for many years,

but it's, uh, it's not, he, he's a, he turns 29 this January. He will be a different 29 than your typical 29 year old receiver. You're just saying just because of the mileage and the injuries.

Yeah, it's, it's been, it's, he's played a hard game for a while. And think that that's also why new england would be very interested in him because like he's not the type of receiver where it's like all right drake's got to hold on to the ball for forever in order to get them the ball like deep down the field they're gonna tell themselves like oh like debo can you know he could be a major difference

in fact i could even see a world where they go after T Higgins and Debo Samuel. Cause I wonder, because I wonder like what Debo ends up going for. Cause Debo's contract is up next year. Yeah. He's got at least another year on it, but he's, they're going to cut him if they can.

I I'm, I'm assuming once again, I don't know this is fact, but it just, you're on the numbers. Yeah. He's got one more deal and then a ton of void money. I think they might be able to get him for like cheaper than you think.

So there's a world where they do. He won't. That trade won't cost much because. Yeah, yeah. So I'm thinking like T Higgins and Debo Samuel. So you give T Higgins the mega deal, but you're going to pay Debo on his expiring is what you're saying, which is really interesting. And then you lose all the money.

And then, and then you have Jalen Polk and pop Douglas and, and Javon Baker, and they're fighting it out for wide receiver three and four as opposed to wide receiver one and two. Right. That's a totally different landscape for you. I wouldn't acquire Debo personally,

but I would trust those guys behind T Higgins and I would draft another receiver. Not in the first round. Well, on day two, I just, I, I don't like the way things are trending for Debo.

Unfortunately. All right. And he's an expensive addition. He would be, he would, he would be more expensive, for sure. I'm kind of just scrolling here. Because there's some offensive line additions that are going to be expensive that would help a lot.

I agree, too. But I wonder, like, what's Debo's extension going to be? I don't think he gets one. But, like, with whatever team he is at next you know what i'm saying like not with the niners no i know i i think he plays his deal next year's deal out wherever he gets traded to you're saying after that yeah yeah yeah yeah so you're saying you can make debo a longer term yeah yeah like you could like you could like if they wanted to trade for debo samuel then you sign him to like a two-year extension on top of that or maybe you i mean shoot

maybe you wait i don't know just see how he holds i just don't think it will cost you that much money no it should i mean debo's not in line to be one of the highest paid receivers yeah he's not going to be making like 30 mil or something like that no those days are over he'll be sort of expensive though anyway so that was that was my vision of i think a lot of people think of t higgins but like i'm also like i'm going i'm going there as well but other people will want t higgins and t higgins gets to decide where he wants to play if he gets the free agency correct but i i do agree with where you are going in this conversation and that is i want to form a mercenary offensive line right i want four well three potentially four new starters on the offensive line next year michael wayne who's keeping one of those spots yeah and depending

on if david andrews retires or not, he can keep the center spot. I want two new guards, and I want a new offensive tackle. And we're either doing that in free agency or the draft. So we are drafting three to four new offensive linemen this offseason. This is a mercenary offensive line that I want to form here for the New England Patriots. Well, I'll get started. Let's do it.

I'm going after Garrett Bowles. Yeah, baby. He's on my list. Yeah. Let's go. Listen, Garrett Bowles, who I believe was older when he was drafted. I understand. I understand he's 32 right now and he'll turn 33 next May.

He's playing maybe his best football. Dude, he's been awesome. Yeah, he's been awesome. He's been really, really good for this Denver team. And, you know, so much so that Denver should do everything they can to keep him. But listen, folks, we only control what over the cap list is free agents after this year. So Garrett Bowles is on the list. If I'm New England, he's my mercenary left tackle for sure. Absolutely. And I think you could put on way new at right tackle if you wanted to or back to guard or back to guard hey shit we might like a tackle in the

draft and then on when who's very comfortable a guard plays guard and then the other one that i am going for is i am i am trying my damnedest to get trerey Smith or Will Fries in the building. Yeah, yeah. I am getting one of those two players. Trey Smith's been one of the best offensive guards in the NFL. He will likely hit the market as the highest paid offensive guard, which is going to be like low 20s, like, I don't know, like $21, $22 million, it sounds like.

And then Will Fries, I mean, he's 26. He's coming off a really great year, but he is now out for the rest of the year this season. I can't remember what his injury was. I'll find that. I can't remember what he's missing the rest of the year. But him and Quentin Nelson were absolutely mauling people this year at guard for the Indianapolis Colts.

I bring in Garrett Bowles, and I bring in one of those guards plus T. Higgins. And that right there is gonna be like 90 million dollars for you on your cap so you obviously got to be careful like the Debo trade and extension and all that like you've got to probably be able to trade for him and extend him and then spread the money out and be able to do all that to make that happen if you want to bring Debo Samuel in but to me it's those guys And then you can sort of fill out the rest of it. Like, I think there's some secondary players like a Christian Fulton or an Asante Samuel Jr. that I'd maybe like to bring in as a startable outside corner for you.

Tevier Thomas is somebody who I think is very underrated. He's with the Buccaneers right now. But they didn't realize that Tykee Smith was going to come on as strong as he did. So I think Tevier Thomas is actually a really good nickel defender. I know they got Marcus Jones, but being able to get a really good nickel defender like that into the building just to fortify the depth that you have a corner, I think those are little additions that I would love on this team.

But that is, you and I see eye to eye. Going to get Garrett Bowles, go get me one of these guards, go get me T. Higgins, and then we talk about Deebo Samuel as well. That's what I think they should absolutely do. I'm a big fan of this. All right. All right. And maybe you do go get one more rotational edge.

I brought up Aziz Ojolari before. Someone in that mold. Let's see. Oh, yeah. Yeah, Aziz is, I think, somebody who's defusing there. Let's see. Team. All right.

The Broncos have. I'm seeing just how realistic it is that uh balls makes it for the agency yeah broncos got 56 mil in effective cap space next year that's a decent amount but they should be able to retain him should they i mean you think about how much sean payton values the offensive line and the run game. And Sean Payton has operated with the cap is not real. Yes, he's very familiar with that strategy. Mindset. He's got that Walmart money over there in Denver.

Let's see. Oh, no, they got to pay Zach Wilson, dude. How could we forget? Yeah. The big Jarrett Stidham-Zach Wilson decision. Damn. Yeah, they could definitely retain him there's nobody else that they really is gonna that's really gonna be big for them but the idea

this it stands the point stands yeah this point stands look we're trying to fix the patriots all right it's not easy go get garrett bowles sign one of the guards now you got one of the guards you got a david andrews at center uh we got mike on wayne who at right tackle or maybe right guard depending on how this mock draft goes right here and i think it'd be a surgery for fries by the way okay okay all right i mean you know could be worse but i've heard worse could be worse could be the leg is intact that's good are you ready to do it you're ready to cap this off of the draft this is this is where it is where the real money is made. Time to fire up the Mock Draft Simulator, which you can go over to pff.com, get yourself a PFF subscription,

and you can do one of these bad boys, unlimited one of these bad boys, if you want. If you have the Unlocked Mock Draft Simulator, you also get all seven rounds. We're only doing three today, but you get seven if you got a PFF Plus subscription. So we're taking the New England Patriots, like we said, currently selecting at number four overall.

We're taking our free agency strategy into this, so we've got at least a Tee Higgins in hand, perhaps a Debo Samuel. I'd honestly love to go for it. Let's see. All right, they have Atlanta's pick, so we're picking four times here. All right, let's start the draft.

Let's rock and roll. Travis Hunter's off the board. Jalen Milrow's start the draft. Let's rock and roll. Travis Hunter's off the board. Jalen Milrow's off the board. Tetra O and McMillan are off the board. Number four overall. Everybody else is still here. Oh, man. Travis Hunter would have been fun.

Who would have? Travis. Yeah, I know, but you got to keep losing if you want that pipe dream. That's true. It's not insane to discuss Abdul Carter in this spot. It is not. It's not insane. I mean, it feels like they should take an offensive lineman here

if they can't get out of the pick, as annoying as that is. It's just that there's better players on the board. I mean, it's not a great take Mason Graham. Will Johnson would also be great. He would. This is a franchise that has loved having that number one corner, and I know they already have it in

Christian Gonzalez. You're right, they already have it in Gonzalez, and it's like you automatically have two of the best corner duos in the game. You can play whatever type of coverage you want with Will Johnson and Christian Gonzalez. I really like that idea. Carter is fascinating with what he could be as a pass rusher

with him and Keon White. Bar more in the middle. Bar more in the middle, right, right. But, you know, offensive line is sort of where we go, you know? Well, it's what they need. Now, to be fair, Shadur Sanders is on the clock here. Like, is it ridiculous to trade with the Titans or Browns? No, they're not going to trade with the Jets.

No, they're not going to trade with the Jets. They're not going to trade with the Jets. No, they're not going to trade with the Jets. They're not going to trade with the Jets. All right. I mean, like, yeah, I mean, Titans, I could buy that. I know Levis has played better, but it's like we can't sit here

and have an honest combo and say the Titans won't at least do their due diligence on the quarterbacks. Cowboys. We're not there yet. Are we not? We're not there yet. Are we not? We're not there yet.

Okay, I could buy a little trade down with the Titans. You look up how much it would cost. Okay. This is usually my lane, as the kids say. You look up how much it would cost, and I'll look at other... I will look at other potential teams that they could trade with i don't think so we are this far uh we are talking about maybe the bangles but they don't do that so we're picking at four right yeah and the titans pick at

six okay so you're talking about a point difference of 45 points, which is the equivalent, folks, of a late third-round pick. It would be the equivalent of the 90th pick in the draft. So more likely Tennessee's fourth-round pick, unless the quarterback demand was high enough that Tennessee was like, ah, you know what? Screw it.

Let me look at what other picks they have. Hmm. Yeah. I would love to do a pick jump. Like I'd love for this to mean more. Right. You know what I'm saying? Like,

plus the quarterback tax, like I'd love to do, I'd love to give them, if we're the patriots give them 68 four six we get 38 from them i see what you're saying so we're going down two spots but we're popping up like an entire round and then we could also give them like 140 so we're moving back to six but yeah i know what you mean no this makes okay i'll give you the equivalent of this okay so 68 would be valued at 73 points yep uh

38 would be valued at 157 so that is like 75 points ish right around there, which is the equivalent of more of an, or it's equivalent more of an early third round pick. All right. But then we're kicking them back. We can kick back one Oh five. Sure. One Oh five would give you,

would add you 32 points to the pile, which kind of makes up the difference. Okay. So then we're jump. We so then we're getting there first and second. They're moving up two spots. Tennessee's getting a quarterback. Tennessee's also going to be picking once in the third round and then two times in the early fourth. Yeah, the 105th pick in the draft is valuable. Them moving on from their second round pick would be tough to do, but.

If they want to go up and get the quarterback that they want. It kind of throws everything else out the door, right? Like that's. Yeah, it can. Because Carolina could be could be doing the same thing. And we could also be calling with other teams that the browns are back there there's a lot of teams that would be in on this situation hmm all right i'll leave it up to you do you want to get funky and do this trade or yeah i want to

do this trade okay all right okay i think it's i think sorry i'm very excited after all that mathing i guess i'll just press the button all right okay what did you think and then they drafted a running back clairs um all that capital for ashton gentry fourth overall all that for a drop of blood tony pollard called his agent it's like what the fuck oh god all right the good news is i don't even know why they would pick a running back we don't have running back as a need no they're just doing whatever they want but let's all pretend that they took shooter sanders all right we're gonna we're gonna we're gonna pretend that they took shooter sanders or cam ward cam ward, too. Yeah. Either one of those quarterbacks.

So we're sitting here at number six. We got a little bit of extra ammunition. We're picking an offensive tackle. Which one do you want? Will Campbell or... I kind of like... I know Kelvin Banks is my guy, but I kind of like Will Campbell here because...

I do, too, because he can play guard or tackle. The flexibility. And I think Banks can, too, but I kind of like Will Campbell in this spot. I do, too. And we've just been saying for a long time, Will Campbell, you are. It really feels that way. All right, we'll draft Will Campbell. So now. I do too. And we've just been saying for a long time, Will Campbell, you are. It really feels that way.

All right, we'll draft Will Campbell. So now the offensive line is Garrett Bowles at offensive tackle. Trey Smith at guard. Probably Will Campbell next to him, right? Yes. Because Trey... Trey's right guard.

Trey's right guard. Exactly. Wait, right? Why am I... Yeah, hey's right guard trey's right guard exactly wait right why am i yeah he's a right guard is he yeah okay all right all right okay okay unless i totally missed it the chiefs have bumped him now he's still right guard because toony plays left guard um so will campbell's probably playing left guard. David Andrews at center. Smith's at right guard. And then on Wynu's at right tackle. I mean, hell yeah.

We did it, folks. That's beautiful. Shadur Sanders somehow still on the board, number 36 overall. You'll love to see it. We're trading down again. Well, Dion didn't want him to go anywhere, so he got his wish. Ooh, Walter Nolan. That's an interesting one. Walter Nolan next to Christian.

We're very different players in a good way. And in the same defensive line is Keon White. It's sick. Yeah, that might be the pit. Dude, where are the wide receivers? They all went, didn't they? No. Yeah, they No. Yeah.

They did. Yeah. Wow. Okay. All right. We got played. We've been had. All right.

So just why? Oh, I just watched Dylan Samson, by the way. Very good football player. Okay. Extreme. Yeah. He is fun as hell. I was watching Tennessee's defense to catch up on Norman Lott. Yeah. Big riser. Big riser. Yeah. He's T is fun as hell. I was watching Tennessee's defense to catch up on Norman lot.

Yeah. Big riser. Big riser. Yeah. What'd you think? Uh, interesting. I think,

I think he's, yeah, he's fine. He's a day two guy to me. Hater. Love the leverage he plays with. No, I mean,

he's, I think he's an early second rounder. Probably great motor. Yeah. I like Walter Nolan the most here. I do, too. I mean, Nolan's got gifts that a lot of these guys don't have. Yeah, I think that's pretty good.

So, like, from wide receiver. As that grade indicated, Nolan's been a pest against the run. Wide receiver, not really a sweet spot here at the beginning of the second round. No, that board's way off. I wouldn't think any of those guys are 36. Yeah, so, all right, we're taking Walter Nolan, and then we're picking two picks later, picking a 38 as well. Could take Barron.

What is... I was going to say... Tight ends. Tight ends went. Yeah, I mean, Mason Taylor, Gunnar Helm, Eli Stowers, Fannin Jr., they're still here, but we could probably get them later. Yeah, I wouldn't take them top 40. Yep.

Want to look at corner? Sure. If they didn't bring back Jones. Good players across the board. Darian Porter is here. Yeah, I mean, it's still realistic to get Judea Baron at 38 yeah I think so I think so too Darian Porter I don't think

would be that much of a reach I think he's a really good football player dude look at this coverage grade I mean you gotta up the run defense grade but like the coverage grade is fantastic yeah I'd actually take the flyer on Darian Porter I was gonna say we've taken Baron in a few drafts let's take Porter alright we're taking Darian Porter. I was going to say, we've taken Barron in a few drafts. Let's take Porter.

All right, we're taking Darian Porter, the cornerback from Iowa State. Massive dude, like 6'3", 200 pounds. But like I've said, I think that he is what people think Takario Davis is from Arizona. Like I think he's just a better football player. Yeah. Not a great year for Takario, unfortunately. No. Okay.

Wide receiver? Yeah, let's see what wide receivers we got left here. Juice Wells, Jalen Noel, Torrey Horton, Ty Felton, Jaden Higgins, Evan Stewart, Ricky White, Pat Bryant. Pat Bryant, man. Another big week for Pat Bryant. Yeah, did he play well?

Yeah, Pat Bryant's had an awesome year. He's had an awesome year. He's had an awesome year. 89.7, great against Rutgers. He went for 200 yards against Rutgers. What's the kid eating? Yeah, the kid has had a season. For an Illinois offense, it's not like these Big 12 offenses where it's like you get 14 targets a game.

Okay. Yeah, Pat Bryant. I mean, it's interesting because we signed T. Higgins, so it's like, do we need another physical, you know, X receiver? But I just think he's really good in this spot. I do too. I don't mind that. Okay, so we've taken Will Campbell.

We took Walter Nolan. We took Darian Porter. So our wide receiver room right now is probably, realistically, if we went after the offensive line that we wanted to go after, it's just T. Higgins and then the other wide receivers that are there currently. I don't hate Pat Bryant. I don't hate Torrey Horton either. I like't hate Pat Bryant. I don't hate Torrey Horton either. I like Torrey Horton. Yeah, Torrey Horton's

solid. But what was his injury? He's coming off a season-ending injury. I was going to say, I feel like he lost his whole season. He's a good football player, though. I know. He's been. I actually thought he would come out last year. He was definitely knee. Back-to-back thousand yards receiving.

I actually do think that I'd lean Horton. Okay. I like Bryant better, but I'm not dying. This isn't like a fight here on this one. It's late. I do like it. Oh, man. I like Pat Bryant,ant too i'm just looking at some of their statistics like two percent drop rates really good man tory horner 3.8 all right let's go pat bryant i'm cool with it okay and we're and we're getting somebody else in the mix here

all right folks there it. There's the draft. What we get here. They tried saying it couldn't be done. Pat Bryant was going to be an F just because he's graded lower because I haven't raised him at all over the last month since I've watched him. Will Campbell. Well, we traded back. Traded back two spots. Got an extra second-round pick.

So, Will Campbell, Walter Nolan, Darian Porter, and Pat Bryant to go along with a free agent hall of Garrett Bowles, Trey Smith, and T Higgins. We changed the game. We changed it. We truly fixed the Patriots. I want everybody to know that. It kind of feels that way. We have fixed. I definitely feel, I definitely feel really good about just the player acquisition throughout that one. So to recap a little bit, because people have sort of asked us to do this when we've gone through the fixture franchise, I think that this is a good way to do it.

We don't really think that Gerard Mayo is gone. I mean, maybe you try to go after Gittaday and Lanning, but we don't think that Gerard Mayo is gone. If they move on from Alex Van Pelt or if Brian D'Abel just straight up becomes available, I think getting Brian D'Abel as the offense coordinator, like Connor said, makes a ton of sense. They got a lot of room to work within free agency. So the starting wide receiver group for the New England Patriots next year is going to be T. Higgins, Pat Bryant, the wide receiver from Illinois, and then you got Jalen Polk, you got Pop Douglas,

and you got Javon Baker as well. I like that wide receiver group a lot more. The offensive line, like we mentioned, it's Garrett Bowles at left. It's Will Campbell at left guard. It's David Andrews, hopefully still at center. It's Trey Smith at right guard and Michael Nwainu at right tackle. Tight ends are still the same. It's going to be Hunter Henry, Jaheim Bell probably backing him up because he drafted him last year and Austin Hooper's a free agent. He got Drake May. He got Ramondre Stevenson. On the defensive line, it's Keon White. It's Christian Barmore.

It's Walter Nolan, the interior offensive lineman from Ole Miss. And then you got linebackers, Anthony Jennings, Juwan Bentley, Christian Ellis, John Elanik Tavai, Simone Takitaki. It's probably, I mean, maybe we're bringing back Jonathan Jones, but we got Darian Porter as well to go along with Christian Gonzalez, Marcus Jones. Maybe you're bringing back Jonathan Jones, but we got Darian Porter as well to go along with Christian Gonzalez, Marcus Jones.

Maybe you're bringing in a Tevier Thomas, and then you get Kyle Duggar and Marte Mapu at the safety level. Buddy, that is how you slingshot a goddamn roster. It's a much different-looking team in the best way possible. That felt good. That felt good. I know it's sort of a pipe dream because you're nailing it with some massive free agents and maybe you don't get yourself a garrett bowles

but even if you don't get yourself a garrett bowles think about the fact that you could take will campbell and just put him at left tackle and you can probably either draft an interior offensive lineman with maybe that third or fourth pick that we had there or even you know hoping one of those guys that you drafted last year develops into being an interior offensive lineman. I think that no matter what, it looks a lot better than it did last year. So even without Garrett Bowles, I think this one makes a lot of sense. I think so too.

I think with these specifically, you want to kind of try to set the ceiling and fill out that ceiling in this because it's all player acquisition. A lot of the other ones, we spent a lot of time on on head coaching gm and the quarterback topic where this is filling out or there are promising things in new england right now notably drake may and it's filling out the right roster for him to succeed and there was enough supply out there that we were able to fill some of those things we would love to hear from you guys of course let us know what you think of gerard mayo and the coaching staff the whole situation in the front office and ownership with the new england patriots if you think they're going in the right direction or not let us know what you think of gerard mayo and the coaching staff the whole situation in the front office and ownership with the new england patriots if you think they're going in the right direction or not

let us know what you thought of our free agency plan and the draft plan that we had of course the best way to do that in the youtube comment section if you're watching this video for the first time and you're new here thanks for watching we love you for it please subscribe and like the video it really helped the podcast out and you can catch a lot more of the picture franchise stuff and of course if you're interested in the draft stuff we'll get into all the prospect profiles and the prospect rankings and all that coming up very, very soon. If you're audio only, hit us up on X and Instagram, at Tampa Bay Trey, at Karanjai Rogers.

Best way to get in on the show. We will have another episode for you very soon coming up, I should say, because of the holiday season. We're actually going to be fixing the Indianapolis Colts next. So that's going to be coming to you tomorrow. We're going to get this episode out to you as soon as possible so you can enjoy it throughout the entire holidays whenever you're able to listen, whether it is Tuesday night

or Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. I don't know, Thursday. I mean, you don't have to listen on Thursday. Hang out with your family. Maybe you hate your family. I don't know. All right, maybe we are your family. All right?

So enjoy Thanksgiving with us. Keep the AirPods in while you're eating Thanksgiving food. I guess you could do that if you're a real addict. Maybe that's where we're at at this point in time. But we wanted to make sure that we gave you two episodes as early as possible. We didn't want to make you wait until Friday. But, Connor, anything else before we get out of here? No, definitely a true nuts and bolts Fix Your Franchise.

I really, really enjoyed it. And man, we're cranking through these at a rate we have never hit. So it's exciting because you kind of see how different every team is situation by situation. And New England, you know, what they have to be feeling good about is their number three overall pick in the draft. And now, you know, the the right accessories around him to supplement his career going forward. And it's a long road to get there, but I think this was a really, really good outline of how to do it.

I think we did a very good job. If I do say so myself, which of course I do the next picture franchise for the Indianapolis Colts going to be very interesting. We're going to have the Anthony Richardson conversation, but maybe more importantly, we're going to have the bigger Chris Ballard conversation. How much are we going to change with the indianapolis colts and how close and how quickly can we slingshot this team back to maybe the top of this division you're gonna have to

listen in to find out i'm trevor sycamore with me as always is connor rogers thank you guys so much for watching and listening to the nfl stock exchange podcast See you guys soon.