Patriots Beat: Day 4 Training Camp Recap: Offense Has BEST Day So Far

CLNS Media Sports Network

Join 98.5 The Sports Hub's Alex Barth and Pat Pulpit's Brian Hines on another LIVE episode of Patriots Beat! Alex and Brian discuss their observations from Day 4 of training camp!  ⏱️ TIMESTAMPS ⏱️   This episode of the Patriots Beat Podcast is brought to you by:  FanDuel Sportsbook, the exclusive wagering partner of the CLNS Media Network. Get a NO SWEAT FIRST BET up to $1000 DOLLARS when you visit https://FanDuel.com/BOSTON! That’s $1000 back in BONUS BETS if your first bet doesn’t win.  FanDuel – Official Partner of Major League Baseball.  Major League Baseball trademarks used with permission.   21+ and present in MA. First online real money wager only. $10 Deposit req. Refund issued as non-withdrawable bonus bets that expire in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at fanduel.com/sportsbook. Hope is here. GamblingHelpLineMA.org or call (800)-327-5050 for 24/7 support. Play it smart from the start! GameSenseMA.com or call 1-800-GAM-1234.  #Patriots #NFL #NewEnglandPatriots

Transcript

00:00 live edition of the Patriots beat podcast here on the CLNS media network.

00:04 Brian Heinz from Pat's pulpit with always Alex Barth 985 the sports hub.

00:09 Fresh off the practice field from day four of Patriots Trump and we got hang

00:16 times today. But before we get into the good stuff, we'll tease that and we'll

00:23 get to that at the end. So you're on for the hang times. But um, cooler day on

00:28 the practice field temperature wise, really big crowd the last day before

00:33 massive crowd, massive crowd, probably the biggest I've seen in a few years,

00:38 honestly. So everyone on deck and it was a good day to come because the offense

00:44 today, right? We heard Max say last week, you want these types of days and

00:49 training camp defense is going to win. The offense is going to win. You want to

00:53 blow punches back and forth. And that's kind of what the offense did today. Good

00:59 day from Mac. Really good day from Bailey's happy. The diva, the fever was

01:03 out in full for good, good all around. Good site to see after a few kind of not

01:09 so great days there to start. I think you needed to see that in it. You know,

01:13 good kind of the calming message when the offense started a little slow for me

01:17 and you and other people was, hey, they're in low red zone. It's super

01:21 condensed. There's not a lot of room to work with and they're not handling it

01:23 well. And wouldn't you know what? They backed it up. They did full field two

01:27 minute and things were a lot smoother. Now they went back into low red zone at

01:30 the end of practice and again, it didn't look good. And eventually they're going

01:34 to need to figure that out. And maybe they met with a free agent recently that

01:38 will help them with that. We'll get to that in a little bit, but it's, it's I,

01:43 how many times did I say like, it's not like last year right now. I know

01:46 everybody wants to freak out cause we're saying the offense is bad. We said it

01:49 was bad last year, but they never, this was their best offensive training camp

01:54 practice in two years. Like they never performed as well as they did today.

01:58 Last year, last year is a low bar is shout out to Leroy Irvin, who I was on

02:03 the hub with earlier today, who asked me a question that kind of floored me.

02:06 Cause I feel like Brian, we've been doing everything in comparison to last

02:09 year. And he asked me how they look in comparison to 2001. And I had to kind

02:13 of stop and catch myself. 21. This was more along 21. Yes. 21. This was more,

02:19 more, uh, second podcast of the day. How many hours in this was along the

02:24 lines of a 2021 practice in my mind. Yep. I'd agree with that. And you

02:29 mentioned things got a little clunky in the red zone there still there. They

02:33 don't have the run game, right? So you hope when they're inside the five, that

02:36 would be a strength of theirs this year. But I thought Mac wasn't really

02:42 pushing the ball downfield much, even though he, they were, you know, back on

02:46 the open part of the field in between the twenties a little bit, but I

02:51 thought his two best passes, he had two really good plays. And we've talked a

02:55 lot about last year, how bad he was under pressure, right? With rushers in

02:59 his face, he had two really, really nice plays today. Just kind of control. It

03:05 was just a little, he had a, uh, motion to remandre and he just dumped it off.

03:09 And then another one, which was really good. He Jalen mills came on a blitz.

03:13 He recognized it just hit Kevin Harris in the flat for an easy touchdown. So I

03:18 thought, you know, he didn't light up the scoreboard in any way, but it was

03:21 just kind of what you wanted to see from Mac in these types of practices.

03:25 Calm, cool in control, throwing into the blitz, I think is big because that's

03:30 something he's going to have to be better at this year because it has

03:34 aren't on yet. But if today was any indication, the offensive lines as bad

03:36 as we think it is. So I thought that throw certainly was notable, but yeah,

03:41 it wasn't super flashy, but I don't, did he miss anything? Did he have a bad

03:45 play? I don't think he did. And that's, that's building. That's, that's a big

03:50 building block.

03:50 No interception for second straight practice. Now after two, I don't even

03:56 think he had a ball batted down. Yeah, I don't think it was, it was pretty

03:59 clean from him. I think few incompletions, but nothing. But the big

04:05 thing was like the three coverage sacks. He had three coverage sacks at the end

04:09 once they got into the red zone. So that's, he also had the one, one of the

04:13 incompletions was Cole strange, got bulldozed by Dietrich wise and max like

04:17 mid drop and just hummed it off his back foot. Yeah. So that's the line.

04:23 That's the biggest thing. Zappy really good day for Bailey's happy. I thought

04:27 maybe his best practice we've seen since he's got here, he had a really,

04:31 really maybe the play of the day touchdown to Jalen heard and a whole

04:36 shot on cover to, as he explained after practice back left corner of the end

04:40 zone, then he hit trade Nixon that same. And then that next session he hit a

04:45 beautifully thrown fade to Taekwon Thornton who got a little more involved

04:50 today too, which was good to see with that. So really good Zappy throughout

04:55 the day, but ended with an interception, kind of a bad pass. Jalen Mills had a

05:00 really nice play, but fortunately that before that it was really solid.

05:06 Yeah. Look, I thought that Zappy was excellent today up until that pick. I

05:10 thought he had a really good day. Um, I'll say that the pick was not a great

05:15 one and he's working against second team defense. Like Zappy and I'm already

05:20 getting gotten on it for the, for the, in the comments, Zappy had a really

05:24 good day. There is no quarterback competition. The two can be true. Brian

05:29 Royer had good days back in the day. Matt Castle had good days back in the

05:33 day. I'm too young to remember, but I'm sure Rohan Davey had good days back in

05:36 the day. Mac had a really good day today as well. I thought he looked really

05:41 good today, but yeah, no Zappy playing at a high level. I thought early and

05:45 and it sucks. I have to preface everything with that because some of

05:48 these fans are so delusional, but I thought the first few days of practice

05:54 Zappy looked a little, I don't know if mechanic's the right word, but like he

06:00 was pressing a little bit. He was almost a little too confident, right? Yeah.

06:02 That sidearm throw. And I thought today he let the game come to him. He did

06:06 what he does best. It Bailey's happy, spread quarterback, make the read three

06:10 step back foot out and not getting too flashy with it. I thought the throw on

06:14 the out route to, to train Nixon was a really good throw. I thought he had the

06:18 fade to Taekwon in the back corner was a really good throw. He was good. He was

06:23 really good today. And maybe if he has like 10 more days like this and he

06:27 starts having against the first team offense in, in back in Mac kind of

06:30 backslides a little bit, we can start talking about a quarterback competition,

06:33 but a Zappy look good today. Yeah. No quarterback competition. I saw a lot of

06:38 the Zappy fans. You see them in the comments and on Twitter, they were the

06:43 hive today. Let me just, let me, let me just bring this one up. Mac needs an

06:47 Alito liner. He's a bottom three QB Zappy doesn't need an elite O line. Uh,

06:50 he was struggling with the rush today. I mean, Mac was too. They all were that,

06:55 that just, it's not true. It's not true. One of Zappy's touchdowns, it was.

07:00 He, he, it was a rollout, which probably in a sack or blown dead in a live

07:05 scrimmage, but he hit, it was nice adjustment by Taekwon on the back line

07:10 and he hauled in the touchdown, but it would have been a sack in real time. So

07:15 he, you know, Alito line, you're not going to get that. And it's shaky on

07:20 both ends. Right. But no, but Zappy was good today. Zappy was good today. Yep.

07:25 It's really good. And maybe his favorite target, Mario Douglas popped off. Yes.

07:32 Pop Douglas. He is not to get too carried away because you know, four days,

07:40 non pads, it's the type of skillset that's going to be really impressive in

07:45 these types of practices. But he was really good. He, he beat Marcus Jones

07:50 across the middle on a touchdown. You saw his acceleration when he was able

07:56 to pull away. He had a really nice whip route against Isaiah Bolden, Bolden,

08:01 right? Not speed. I believe. And then, so he, he was, he was impressive and

08:07 he's, they don't have that type of skillset in another receiver. And so if

08:13 he can keep stringing these days together when the pads come on, he could

08:18 really make a push here. And it's exciting kind of prospect that they

08:21 might've found. So I I've used this. You guys have heard me say this before.

08:26 He's tomorrow. Douglas has checked every box. You could want him to check up

08:30 until this point. I think he certainly has looked the part of an NFL wide

08:34 receiver, but there's a lot of these guys that are, you know, fast and quick,

08:38 but they're small that they really good until the pads come on. And then once

08:43 there's some contact, they disappear. So tomorrow, this week, really big

08:47 chance for DeMario Douglas, because if he's still doing this, when the pads

08:51 come on him, you have a legitimate NFL wide receiver at this point that they

08:54 got in the sixth round. So really good day for him. Again, he started repping

08:58 with the ones today that tells me that the coaches believe in what they're

09:01 seeing. And it's not just us having only half the context thinking he's

09:05 looking really good, but yeah, he's going to need to do when the pads come

09:08 on. I think that's the, that's, that's a big step. Yeah.

09:12 But that's enticing, right? Because they haven't had a stop start guy like

09:17 who can stop and start like that. And probably since Edelman and we know that

09:23 mentioned it today is watching Troy Brown. He's watching West welfare film.

09:26 Like that skill set works in this offense with Bill O'Brien. So if that

09:30 can translate with the pads that we really excited to watch. So I, I, I've

09:36 talked to Douglas in the past and I know he watches a lot of Edelman to

09:39 speaking of the stop start. I mean, it was like one of the coolest plays of

09:42 the day where Douglas run a quick slant and he catches the ball in stride.

09:47 But then like, as soon as he catches it, he stopped and ducked and Isaiah

09:51 Bolden who was in zone was like flight. Cause it's not tackle, but you know,

09:54 they go, they wrap up, they do two hand touch. I say, a bold, it was running

09:57 over, goes to wrap them up. Douglas ducks and Isaiah Bolden went right over

10:02 the top. And that sucks. Cause that play is getting a lot of attention and

10:05 like, I get it. But also Isaiah Bolden had a sneaky, really good day today.

10:09 So I don't want to take that away from him, but it was, you saw it within that.

10:13 Um, what DeMario Douglas can do. You saw that like to stop on a dime, like he

10:19 did. That's, that's a rare ability. Now he's got to be able to do when the

10:23 corners can press in the corners and get hands on him and all that. But that's

10:26 what we're going to see this week.

10:27 Yeah. And his second, his first touchdown, the one against Marcus Jones

10:32 was want to see from Bill O'Brien too. Cause it looked like they motioned them

10:36 inside so that, you know, it was a theoretical corner. Couldn't even press

10:40 them. Give them that free release off the line. Then we talked about what we

10:44 kind of want to see with Taekwon Thornton. So I thought now that they got

10:48 a little more space too, we got some, some positives get a little more in

10:53 depth on Bill O'Brien's offense. It was some good stuff there. Some good,

10:56 little good teas before we really get some, get some good stuff with the pads

11:00 tomorrow. Hopefully.

11:04 Yeah. Yeah.

11:05 And then Isaiah, if we want it, like Isaiah Bolden, who you just mentioned,

11:12 he did have a seems probably is the fourth option for boundary corner besides

11:18 Gonzalez, Jack Jones, who got some run with regulars for the first time since

11:24 camp opened and then Jonathan Jones. So we'll see if they keep a six corner here,

11:30 but it might be as a leader in the clubhouse early on.

11:34 And that's a sneaky big one. I know people are going to roll their eyes at a

11:39 fourth quarter, fourth boundary corner, not even a fourth corner, fourth

11:43 boundary corner battle. Oh boy. Like what are we doing? Well, you got to

11:47 remember the Patriots like to rotate on the boundary. So three guys are going to

11:50 play significant snaps. And if Jack, something happens with Jack Jones, like

11:55 if he gets suspended, now this is a guy that's playing a significant role and

12:00 make Marcus Jones is kind of the wild card here. Cause he's not a boundary

12:04 corner, but they put them out there. But if they want like a third big corner

12:09 behind Gonzalez and Jack Jones and, and, and John Jones, I guess we want to throw

12:16 him in there too. Like maybe it's Jalen Mills, but they see, he seems to be stuck

12:20 at safety. Like I think he's going to play safety period and there's Marcus

12:23 Jones. And then you're getting into Sean Wade, Amir speed and Isaiah Bolden. And

12:29 I think early on, Isaiah Bolden has kind of looked like the leader in the clubhouse

12:32 for that spot. Like you said, and he brings a lot of intriguing things to

12:36 table six, three incredible athlete, great length. He looks the part of an

12:42 NFL corner. Technically he's Robby. You can coach those guys up and we know they

12:46 can coach up late round undrafted cornerbacks. So it is interesting to see

12:51 him kind of start to emerge here. And was it one day where they giving him a look

12:55 today, or is that something we're going to see going forward? Like I'll be

12:57 looking tomorrow to see, all right, as Isaiah Bolden out there with the twos

13:01 again.

13:01 I thought he was starting in the spring, even maybe climb up that depth chart a

13:06 little. So keeps building off that. That would be positive because you mentioned

13:11 he's got that size and size really good athletes. So if they could develop that,

13:18 they might not need it year one, depending on what happens with Jack

13:20 Jones, but just have that skill C type with that athleticism. It could be, you

13:27 know, a really good piece to add to that secondary at some point here and then

13:31 your future. So good addition there. But I mean, the main guy there is Christian

13:38 Gonzalez still, and he just remains to be awesome. Probably my camp crush. So

13:43 first round pick, right? Like we all kind of were watching him coming in,

13:47 right? Got his hands on another football. I'm pretty sure that's every day. He's

13:51 got his hands on a ball. He should have had an interception. It was. Yeah, I

13:56 mean, based on his reaction, he should have. He was not wrong. Drop that. Yeah,

14:00 it was juju cutting across. I was like right on the go. Tried to just kind of

14:04 shove one to him, and he came really close to picking that off one hand. It

14:08 looked like he lost it when he came into the body, but he just continue our and

14:14 just he's getting his hands on the football every day. It's got to be a

14:17 matter of time before he brings one of these in for a pick. And look with all

14:22 the rookies, there's that default. We got to see it with the pads. We've got

14:26 to see with full contact, but he's playing pretty physically right now for

14:30 what these practices are. Gonzalez and that was one of the knocks on him

14:33 coming out. Members that he's soft and you know, he's more of a sitting weight

14:36 corner. He doesn't attack the football.

14:38 There was a little bit of a tape in college. I thought that was overblown,

14:42 but I think they've coached whatever that element of his game was out of him.

14:46 He is going after the football right now. He is starting to play a lot more

14:50 like a lockdown corner, and that's really exciting. Yeah, that was what we

14:56 talked with some of the assistant coaches like right after he got drafted

14:59 and that was Mike Pellegrino's big things like he shows the willingness to

15:05 do it. He might not always show up. You know, he might not always make the play

15:08 or something, but he shows the willingness to put his head down. It's

15:13 like he had that big tackle against Georgia. That was the popular one going

15:16 around on Twitter and everything, but he doesn't look afraid to kind of get

15:21 his hands stick his head in there. So but again, as always, we'll see how

15:27 things look when the pads come on. And then

15:29 I think the other rookie we can just keep all the rookies here was they move

15:34 out of the red zone and Marte Maffu gets thrown right into the mix. Makes

15:38 that linebacker next to John Bentley.

15:40 Yeah, so he played a couple different spots. He's playing Mike. He was playing

15:45 on the edge. He played a little slot corner that Bentley one of those the

15:49 most interesting because if you remember back a couple years ago and Dante

15:53 Hightower was still here and Bentley was the under player, they would do

15:56 that. They would put Hightower at the mic and have Bentley on all three

16:01 downs like as an edge center and as a pass rusher, they put him on the edge

16:04 and he was pretty good at that. Now the last he's better off the ball and they

16:09 haven't had another off the ball linebackers. They've been able to do

16:12 that the last two years. But you know, on third downs, like I think Bentley

16:16 is underrated pass rusher on third downs. If you can put Mop with the

16:19 mic and put Bentley on the edge opposite Jude on opposite with one of

16:23 them and let him pin his ears back. It's just another wrinkle in a defense.

16:29 It's gonna be so multifaceted. It's yet another thing opposing offenses have

16:33 to prepare for.

16:34 Yeah, that would be

16:36 a real, a real good dynamic piece there to add. And he is still in the red

16:41 non contact jersey, so we'll kind of see his participation level as we get

16:46 through ads tomorrow. That'll be interesting to watch. But we've talked

16:51 so much about his athleticism, pairing that with Bentley and now even

16:54 allowing Bentley to go other places line up in different looks. And as you

16:59 said, I think he is a really underrated pass rusher. So if you could let him

17:03 rush the pastor a little more and give Mop through those coverage assignments,

17:08 just another piece for this defense to really have to try to have a special

17:13 year because their talent level is off the charts. Yeah.

17:17 So that was the secondary pretty much defensive line. We'll see more of that

17:25 tomorrow, but although we did, we did see Dietrich wise bowl over Coles

17:30 trade. So there there are a couple moments today we saw that we saw

17:34 Jelani to via kind of accidentally light up. Uh, was it pure strong,

17:39 right? They're, they're, they're ready for pads. You can tell they're,

17:43 they're ready to start hitting out there. Yeah. Well, so we'll see how

17:47 the offensive line handles that too. On the flip side, it was still, it was

17:51 still Bill Murray who got even more praise from Bill Belichick prior to

17:55 practice. The nobody works harder than Bill Murray. Um, still at right guard

18:00 and caught. I thought it was funny how, so Bill said that for practice,

18:04 nobody works harder than Bill Murray and then Bill Murray got a false start

18:08 and it was the first lap of the year and he full sprinted it. So nobody

18:15 worked harder than Bill Murray. Also just as a quick aside, it's a long

18:18 camp. It's however many days like people are gonna jump off sides four

18:21 days in for the first lap. Again, this is super low bar, but from where they

18:25 were last year, like they couldn't stop jumping off sides and run

18:30 line up wrong last year. So to go four days without an offensive penalty is

18:33 encouraging, which was sick. He kind of talked about the other day, right? Yes.

18:38 Uh, friday. How much they're not having these penalties pop up a lot. It seems

18:43 like he might have been tuned into what happened last year here or something.

18:47 But uh, so good that you don't want penalties, but four days in for your

18:51 first one is pretty good start there. And then Conor McDermott back over

18:56 Riley Reef there on the right tackle spot. So that's probably the biggest

19:01 battle we're gonna be kind of watching here as as tomorrow. Yeah, I think

19:07 that's, that's the big one and that's what we've been waiting for is this

19:11 offensive line. The tackle position especially really is where this team is

19:14 gonna get undone if they get undone and it's already concerning that it was

19:19 Riley Reef and now it's turned into rotation. But now we're gonna see for

19:22 sure, like at 34 years old, where is Riley Reef at? Can he be the starting

19:26 right tackle or is it gonna have to be Conor McDermott? Are they gonna have

19:30 to get creative? I'm also interested to see if Michael when you or Calvin

19:33 Anderson gets back out on the field tomorrow. Now that again, those

19:36 linemen are in the spotlight. Yeah, Riley Reef will be interesting because

19:41 his game at 34 his game really was throughout his career. It was predicated

19:47 on, you know, more power blocker strengths with pads on the foot speed

19:52 as we've talked about it is a worry and we've seen guys through the first days

19:56 of camp kind of blow by him around the edge there. So maybe now that he's able

20:01 to be a little more aggressive, he can maybe start to separate himself from

20:05 Conor McDermott. But if not, it looks like McDermott will be the main

20:09 competition there. No one else has really made us charge yet. Not that we

20:14 were expecting them to without pads, but that's that's battle battle to

20:19 watch here. So that'll pick up tomorrow with the pads. So do you want to hear

20:25 from our pals at FanDuel before we get into some hang times here? Yeah, let's

20:30 do that. Uh, as soon as there it is. All right, let's do that.

20:33 Your first swing at betting MLB on FanDuel and get 10 times. It's 10 times

20:40 your first better amount of bonus bets and up to $200. Just make 20 bucks and

20:46 you'll land $200 in bonus bets. Win or lose. That's 200. You could spend

20:52 betting everything from the money line to the over under to who you think is

20:56 going to be well hitting the first home run all in the app. That's safe, secure.

21:01 It's super easy to use. Plus, when you win, you get paid instantly. There's no

21:07 better place to bet on MLB than FanDuel, America's number one sportsbook. So

21:12 sign up today and visit FanDuel.com/Boston and get up to $200 in

21:17 bonus bets. That's FanDuel.com/Boston. FanDuel, official partner of Major

21:24 League Baseball.

21:33 Just look in the Red Sox got walked off again. Yeah. Also, my buddy just sent

21:38 me his big fancy draft. He does every year. Somebody took Zeke in the 12th

21:42 round. I think it's like a 12 team league.

21:43 All around. Interesting. Touchdown Vulture Zeke, which we can get into.

21:49 Get into Zeke. Yeah, should have saved that. But, um, so special teams for the

21:54 first time this summer, we got some team punting drills. So Bryce Berenger and

22:00 Corliss Waitman. What were rattle off some of the some hang times we got?

22:04 Yeah. So the hang times today, I think the second punting period was a quick

22:09 release period because the hang times were like oddly short. But I had

22:14 Corliss Waitman down for 4.87, 5.17, 399, 475, 448, 450, 437, 453. And then

22:24 his last one, because I said that last period was short. I think he was like,

22:28 all right, I gotta I know this kid's out there time and I'm gonna give him

22:30 one wrapped up with a 522 at Beringer at 444518481467479432477. And then

22:41 barrier with the last one. He saw the 422 and he put out a 433. So I thought

22:46 Beringer was the better punter today. Overall, not just the hang times. I

22:49 thought the rotation on the ball was was definitely significant. The other

22:52 interesting wrinkle to it when they did live field goal drills, Beringer was

22:55 the holder pretty much throughout. I didn't see Corliss Waitman hold today

22:58 and Beringer was holding for both Ryland, who got most of the reps today

23:02 in Nick Fulke. So that tells me Beringer is in the lead for that

23:06 punter job. Yep. And I thought Ryland was was really good today. The ball

23:12 just jumps off his foot. I was when they were doing first half of practice

23:16 was very heavy, like walk through stuff and on one half of the field, Ryland

23:21 was kicking and I was just watching him kick. He really has some some power on

23:25 that ball. It jumps off. He was five for six in the two minute two minute

23:32 drill at the ends, and it looked like the one miss might have been a bad

23:37 snap or hold in that department, but he took credit for it after he pushed it

23:41 right. But we said it would be kind of surprising if they moved away from a

23:47 fourth round pick, and I don't think anything that Ryland has done so far

23:50 would warrant that. I think he's been really solid here. Yeah, again, I've

23:55 been under the assumption that it's gonna be Ryland shot kicking. I think

23:57 the punter competition is a lot more interesting, and today was definitely

24:01 so. All right. I had wait men after the spring, and we didn't do any team

24:06 punting drills until today. I thought Beringer was, uh, like clearly the

24:11 better punter today. Yeah, that that rookie duo would be exciting to go into

24:15 the year with if they can keep this up throughout the summer. It'd be fun.

24:20 Yeah, I know. Has anyone ever? I know it's been like 20 years since that

24:25 someone's drafted. Has anyone gone throughout a year with a rookie kicker

24:28 and punter? Do you know?

24:29 I don't believe so. I think that Raiders team was the last team to do it.

24:34 Period. Yeah, it's probably been like spot games here or there, but start to

24:38 season or primarily for the season. I think it's that. Yeah, so it'd be fun

24:44 to go through the year with, but we'll see how that develops. Um, yeah, that

24:50 was pretty much all I had throughout practice. I don't know any other little

24:55 details, things you picked up throughout the day. Yeah, I had a couple

24:59 of smaller notes. Just, you know, while we're on special teams, and we talked

25:02 about this back in the spring, but Jordan Healy continues to work. You

25:06 know what? Call it one on two or two on one with Matthew Slater and Cam

25:10 Accord. That's a guy that I think is angling for roster spot. So that's

25:15 notable. Certainly, um, I you know who's having like a sneaky good camp to

25:21 going back to defense is Jelani to buy had another past breakup today. He's

25:26 kind of like showing he's not gonna be a feature third down player passing

25:32 down players not, but I am interested. Asked him. Ask him. I think he worked

25:37 on his coverage ability this offseason, like Juwan Bentley did last year and

25:40 came back, and it was night and day. And I wonder if maybe he did some

25:42 similar things, but you're seeing him make plays in coverage. And if he has

25:46 even three down versatility, you're not gonna play him on all three downs,

25:49 but maybe he could give you something if you need it on third downs. What

25:53 does that mean for a guy like Ronnie Perkins or Anthony Jennings? Does that

25:56 have them keeping one less linebacker? Because Jelani to via could do just a

26:00 little bit more. I think that's that's an interesting thing to watch. Yeah,

26:05 he's had a really good camp. Just solid all around player. Um, Marcus Jones.

26:11 We talked about him a little earlier. He kind of had a rough day and

26:14 coverage got beat twice for two touchdowns.

26:17 Um, and I noticed

26:20 not that it's a major surprise, but if we were

26:25 a lot of talk about Gerard Mayo throughout the offseason, you know, new

26:29 potential role, new title. He didn't get a new title. Some people thought he

26:33 would, but it was Steve Belichick. I noticed on the walkie talkie calling

26:37 defensive plays today. So it's been a case. Yeah. So it doesn't look like

26:41 anything is going to switch there. If Mayo is taking on more responsibilities

26:47 in some matter.

26:48 Yeah. Well, and I mean, they're also stretched thinner too, because Brian

26:53 Belichick is not out there. He had that knee injury that has him. He can't

26:58 come to facility right now. He's still involved behind the scenes. That's what

27:00 the report is. But so you have Steve back working with the safeties like he

27:05 did when he first got in coaching and Gerard's just on the linebackers now.

27:08 So everything stretched a little thin, but yeah, that's that's what it's been.

27:12 Right. Steve calls the defense. So it doesn't seem like that's changed.

27:14 So all about the same there. So I guess we can end with some running backs

27:22 because well, I mean, before we get to that, I mean, I think it's probably

27:27 worth, you know, looking ahead. Full pad practice tomorrow. We kind of

27:30 talked about the lineman, but the other things, you know, to watch when the

27:34 full pads come on, I think to Mario Douglas is certainly got to watch when

27:38 the pads come on. I can't wait to see Johnny Lumpkin when the pads come on.

27:41 I think we all know that it's something that's flying a little under the radar,

27:44 maybe because this rookie class is doing so well to start. Cole Strange

27:49 year to jump. Is it real? Had a rough day today. Does he rebound tomorrow?

27:53 Does he show tomorrow that maybe he's he's made some progress from last year?

27:57 Yeah, would be nice to see Taekwon also build off. Yeah, touchdowns today

28:02 with Zappy. If they get back into more in that in between the 20s area, can

28:08 he still make an impact? And how will they scheme him away from contact?

28:13 Maybe now that it will be in pads. But yeah, it's the offensive line. That's

28:19 gonna be the main thing. Although Marte Mapu to we'll see if he's still out

28:23 there in the red and how involved he gets with contact. So it's this is

28:28 when the fun starts, right? This is when the teaching part of this is kind

28:33 of over and now it's evaluation and competition and the good stuff kind of

28:37 picks up real football is Bill Bell. Try likes to call it real football.

28:42 And maybe they'll have another running back on the roster because, um,

28:48 guessing it's gonna be pretty heavy run game the next day or two as you know,

28:52 first days. And it's still no time Montgomery again today.

28:57 And it was. It's still a light room. It's still very light room, especially

29:03 it's really highlighted in those positional drills. And here strong goes

29:06 into his special teamwork. It's remandre Kevin Harris and J. J. Taylor.

29:12 And that's not the depth you probably need at the running back position right

29:16 now. So we know they've been kind of tests in the waters there, and it

29:22 continued yesterday because they had Zeke Elliott in for a visit.

29:25 I think

29:27 he's I think Dalvin Cook's better player, obviously, but I think for what

29:33 they need, I think Zeke's might be the best option. Short yardage back can

29:39 come in around the goal line and punch it in. He still 12 touchdowns last year,

29:43 and he's a real exceptional pass blocker. So I think he'd be a great

29:47 fit for what they need here and would be a good addition to that room.

29:49 I don't. I'm surprised Dalvin Cook's not a jet already. So kind of ruling

29:56 that out. I really like Zeke for them. I think some of the things you said,

30:00 like the experience that he brings a better mind to it. Good bowling ball

30:04 back like goal line runner. He can take on some of those more physical carries

30:07 Damien Harris had. Also, if they're gonna struggle to throw the ball

30:11 inside the five, you need a good

30:13 goal line back, right? And you have potentially one of the best goal line

30:17 backs in the league in in Ezekiel Elliott, who I think, you know, he's

30:23 not the player he was maybe two or three years ago, but

30:26 at the same time, outside of Derrick Henry, I need two yards. I don't know

30:30 how many more, but how many backs and given the ball to before Ezekiel

30:33 Elliott right now. Really good pass blocker, good football IQ, all of that.

30:37 And, you know, from their end of things, it cooks gonna cost real money.

30:42 And again, I think he's one of the jets anyway. Even for net has a couple

30:45 other teams interested. This is the first time Zeke's been attached to

30:48 anybody in three months. I don't think they're bidding against anybody, and

30:51 it may come down to, Hey, you come play for a million and a half, two

30:54 million or you sit out the year. And is he gonna sit out the year? I don't

30:57 think he is because, you know, um, it's got what's it called? You get like

31:02 after you retire the, um,

31:04 no, the, uh,

31:05 uh, can't think of the name of it. I know what you're talking about, though.

31:10 Yeah, yeah. Um, but anyway, so he needs to get a couple more years service

31:15 time under his belt. So I think Zeke makes a lot of sense. Now, I don't

31:18 think the sign is gonna be imminent. It the way they've done things in the

31:22 past that I kind of look at it is they'll go through the padded practices

31:25 this week, which again is Bill Belichick says the start of the evaluation

31:29 evaluation stage. They'll go through the padded practices this week. Maybe

31:34 those joint practices next week in green Bay, and then they'll look at

31:37 it and say, all right, you know, do we need another running backer? Because

31:40 if they go through that in Kevin Harrison, Pierre strong or both great

31:43 through the padded practices, then maybe they say, all right, we got

31:47 three solid backs. JJ Taylor's the emergency guy. We're in good shape.

31:49 If they look at it and like, you know, Pierre, uh, stronger Kevin Harris

31:55 isn't ready. Then maybe they go and say, all right, yeah, we, we, we need

31:58 a guy at this position. Yeah. And maybe Ty Montgomery's injury isn't as

32:03 serious as it might look right now, but we kind of, kind of gauge the

32:07 market there and see how that develops. But it sounds like they'll stay in

32:11 touch. I know, obviously he left yesterday without a, uh, without a

32:14 contract. I think there was a report that he was still, was NFL pension.

32:19 And that's the word. I'm sorry. Continue. Um, but yeah, it sounded like

32:24 he was still in town today out for dinner with Mack Jones. It looked like

32:29 last night, maybe Matt can be a better GM here than that Jude on, but yeah,

32:34 I wouldn't, I wouldn't be surprised if it maybe drags on and they see what

32:39 they have in these sophomore backs with the pads on before anything.

32:42 And yeah, I'm definitely not rolling out Zeke being a Patriot. I just, I

32:46 don't think it's going to happen the next day or two. I think you're looking

32:48 at more like early, mid August that that would happen. Yeah.

32:54 And someone would Zeke, you want to be a backup? I don't think he has another

32:59 choice really right now. I don't see where he's going to go to start. I know

33:03 he wasn't big on the whole Tony Pollard situation last year, but that's, I mean,

33:09 it's July 30th. There's not going to be a team unless someone like gets hurt

33:14 the next week. It's right. But again, it goes back to that point of, is it,

33:18 would he sit out the year? Cause it doesn't seem like he has options. So I

33:23 don't think he'd love being a spell back. I don't think he'd love backing up

33:25 for Monterey Stevenson, but I think he'd rather do that than not be in the

33:28 league. Cause generally with these guys, like sometimes players will sit out a

33:33 year and come back. They get a job. Jimmy Graham just sat out like two, right?

33:36 But once you're out of the league for a year, that changes the way you're viewed.

33:41 And it also changed you as a player. Not that Zeke's at the level Le'Veon Bell

33:45 is at, but remember Le'Veon Bell set out that year was never the same. If Zeke

33:50 sits out this year, people are going to start considering him retired, whether

33:53 he is or not. Like he's going to get that retired unofficially retired label.

33:57 And that's the last thing he wants if he wants to extend his career. So I think

34:01 he's going to have to, he's going to have to settle and it sucks that the

34:04 league is in this position right now with running backs. That's a much bigger

34:06 issue, but it does seem like Zeke's going to have to settle and why not do

34:11 that? New England.

34:11 Yep. Where he'd also get a revenge game against Dallas week four in Dallas too.

34:18 Right. Right. Yeah. And Dallas. Yeah. So that would be, maybe that's appeasing

34:24 for him, but so we'll see where that goes. And then in more running back news,

34:29 a Patriots legend, Sony Michelle retired last night, two times Super Bowl

34:34 champion, Sony Michelle, obviously didn't go maybe great for a first round

34:40 pick, but he was a pretty instrumental part of that, that Super Bowl

34:44 championship in 2018. So I know he like just signed a contract with the Rams,

34:51 but that's, that's a mood. You go to work for a few days and then you say,

34:55 no, I'm good. So Sony Michelle,

34:58 hanging them up weird trajectory to his career because I always say like people

35:03 like love to pick on the Sony Michelle pick. And I would say, yes, that was a

35:07 bad traffic, but Sony Michelle being a bad pick has nothing to do with Sony

35:11 Michelle himself. They, they just, they should not have taken a running back

35:15 there. They, it is so hard to justify taking a running back in the first

35:19 round. They were not in position to do so. Even him versus Nick Chubb. I think

35:23 a lot of that discourse is revisionist history coming out. They both had knee

35:28 issues and the difference in what I think put it over the top for the

35:31 Patriots was Nick Chubb fumbled a lot in college and people forget that, but Nick

35:36 Chubb had a lot of trouble holding onto the ball where Sony Michelle didn't.

35:40 Now you could have taken Sony Michelle maybe in the second round and be fine,

35:43 but he was never going to live up to that first round billing. That being said,

35:47 he's a good player rush for, you know, just under a thousand yards as a rookie

35:51 was great in that playoff run in 2018 had a pretty good 2019. Actually looking

35:57 today, I forgot. He pretty much put up comparable numbers in 2019, 2020 gets

36:01 hurt. Damien Harris emerges, got buried and then got traded in 2021. And it was

36:06 kind of a backup for the next two years. It had trouble sticking. He got hurt

36:10 again a few more times, but, uh, his 336 yards in that playoffs Patriots

36:15 franchise record for the most in a playoff, six touchdowns, the most for a

36:19 player in a single playoff. So it, yeah, the, they shouldn't have taken him in

36:24 the first round and he was never going to justify that pick, but that aside,

36:29 especially for a running back in the modern era, like, yeah, he only played

36:32 five years. Well, he rushed for basically a thousand yards in two of them.

36:37 And he won two super bowls. That's objectively not a bad career. So

36:42 congrats to him on retiring and, and all that. But, um, yeah, it's just, it's an

36:48 interesting era of, of Patriots history. We can say this. He was not the worst

36:51 first round picks Patriots made that year. So there is that also just from

36:56 the college football football point of view, like amazingly dominant college

37:02 football player that Rose bowl game. He had outstanding.

37:05 He was awesome at Georgia. And I know the big ones like Lamar and then Nick

37:11 Chubb, obviously, but whole different thing. I thought Michelle was probably

37:16 ranked higher than Chubb coming out. Probably even had more potential as a

37:20 pass catcher, which they probably liked. So that's revisionist history, but

37:25 obviously that 2018 postseason big touchdowns in Kansas city, the lone

37:30 touchdown in the super bowl, it was maybe not worth the first round pick,

37:36 but, but, you know, he, he was a big part of that. So yeah. Congrats to him

37:40 on his retirement there. Yeah.

37:44 So back pads tomorrow. First time, anything else here before we kind of

37:53 wrap it up.

37:54 I think that pretty much covers it. Real football starts tomorrow. I'm excited.

37:58 Oh, shout out to the crowd today. If you went to like awesome crowd, that was,

38:01 Hey, that was as many people as I've ever seen at a training camp practice.

38:04 They were up on the ramps and people watch from the parking lot. So it was

38:08 good energy too. So shout out to the crowd today.

38:09 They even had like the top, you go on like the top of the ramp. They had to

38:14 continue it into the stadium almost. So, yeah, very good crowd. It was beautiful

38:20 day out. Kind of got that football chill in the air. So real football tomorrow.

38:25 And we'll be back to this. We'll right there and we'll be back to discuss it.

38:30 So until then you can go follow Alex on Twitter at real Alex Barth and go read

38:35 all his training camp coverage over at 98, five, the sports hub.com. Follow me

38:39 on Twitter at I am Brian Hines and go read all my training camp work over at

38:43 pats pulpit.com. Thank you all as always for tuning in and we will see you.

Category

Transcript

Recommended