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00:00Mike Giardi on WEI Afternoons last week.
00:05He works at the Boston Sports Journal. His boss is Greg Bedard.
00:08Bedard calls Joe Milton a bad dude. Bad guy.
00:11Bad guy. He's a bad guy. And Giardi says, well, yeah, I think I've heard
00:16he's a little immature. Yeah, or immature, depending on how you say it.
00:20That feels like a drastically different report
00:24from the same publication, no? It does. No, it doesn't mean everybody that works at the same place
00:28views things the same way. No, I think we've learned that here at WEI.
00:32Yeah, that's true. That might be the case.
00:34Is that not a big difference? It's a big difference.
00:38Bad dude or immature? But bad dude was backed up
00:42with what? Nothing. Oh, he doesn't know his role, basically.
00:45No, no, no, but it went from like bad dude. That's a great headline. Like, holy smokes, it's a bad dude.
00:49That must be why he traded him. Why is he a bad dude? Well, he kind of thought he could play.
00:54Like, okay, and? Right. Well, no, he thought maybe he could
00:58play football. Like, what are we talking about?
01:01So, I never really understood that he's the bad guy, bad teammate,
01:04any of that stuff. Didn't seem like that was the case.
01:06And you always have to raise an eyebrow when the first bad thing you heard
01:10about a player or coach or manager
01:11is the day they leave. It's a little suspect.
01:14It's a bit suspect.
01:16Yeah, like you left. Oh, well,
01:18now we can tell you the truth about this guy.
01:19Oh, yeah, you were protecting Joe Milton all year.
01:21You couldn't tell us a single bad thing about Joe Milton all year.
01:25And now he's a little immature.
01:26All right, so a young guy might be a little immature.
01:29So, you got to get rid of him because of that.
01:30Yeah, well, just which is it? Is he a little immature or is he a bad guy?
01:32That, to me, is a big difference.
01:33Yeah, it is.
01:34And so, interesting answer from Giardi on Friday, yeah.
01:37I would say so. I mean,
01:38in either one on the surface,
01:41to me, wanting to play more
01:43or maybe being a little immature,
01:45where you're like, it's one thing if you're immature
01:46and your coaches are like Gerard Mayo
01:49who are not prepared for it at all
01:51and probably aren't the best to kind of coach you out of that,
01:55if you have somebody like Josh McDaniels
01:57who's been in the league for 100 years
01:59and Mike Vrabel's been in the league for 100 years,
02:01wouldn't those guys be able to take a,
02:04maybe an immature player
02:05and get the most out of them?
02:07One would think.
02:07I guess not.
02:08One would think.
02:08So, look, Milton, to me,
02:10ties in on this conversation about the Patriots.
02:13And if the pendulum has swung too far on
02:15let's bring in high-character guys,
02:17let's bring in good guys over talented guys, right?
02:20And I think Milton is at the center of that.
02:22I think Will Campbell has come up in that discussion before
02:24where, do you like Will Campbell?
02:26I like a lot of what I hear from Will Campbell.
02:28I'm very entertained by Will Campbell.
02:29I think everything he says is great.
02:30Me too.
02:30But is that why you drafted him
02:31or did you draft him because he can play?
02:33I mean, hopefully it's a combination,
02:35but you do start to wonder,
02:37has the pendulum gone a little too far?
02:38And then I get Mike Reese's Sunday notes this weekend,
02:41and this just jumped out.
02:42It's his number one item about Kyle Williams,
02:44the receiver they drafted in the third round out of Wazoo.
02:48Reese says,
02:49it appeared wide receiver Kyle Williams
02:51had an important decision to make last December.
02:54He had one game remaining in his college career,
02:56but with Washington State in the midst of a coaching transition
02:58and more than 20 teammates
03:00immediately entering the transfer portal,
03:02the question was,
03:03would Williams play in the Holiday Bowl?
03:06To Williams, however,
03:07Reese writes,
03:08that wasn't a decision to make.
03:09He was always playing.
03:10Such a mentality appealed to the Patriots,
03:13who selected Williams in the third round of the NFL draft,
03:16number 69 overall.
03:18And they project him as a speedy,
03:20versatile compliment to other players on the roster,
03:22blah, blah, blah.
03:23Just for the record,
03:24he had a very good Holiday Bowl,
03:2510 receptions,
03:26172 yards,
03:28and a touchdown in a loss to Syracuse,
03:31again in the Holiday Bowl.
03:34But, okay,
03:34is that a nice thing to say after the fact
03:36when you draft him
03:37and another reason to defend the guy?
03:38Or was that an actual factor in
03:39why they drafted him?
03:41Reese goes on to make the point.
03:42In the NIL world,
03:44you got to know who loves football and who doesn't.
03:46This is used as an example of a guy who loves football.
03:49Yeah,
03:49it did seem like they drafted a ton of team captains
03:52and a ton of guys with stories kind of like that.
03:55That was one of the takeaways from the draft weekend.
03:57And I guess if you want to use that as a tiebreaker,
04:00that's fine.
04:01But that shouldn't go overboard on some of the other stuff.
04:05Be like,
04:06well,
04:06this guy's a lot better.
04:07However,
04:08this guy played in the Holiday Bowl.
04:09It's like,
04:10who's more talented?
04:12And look,
04:12I think football character matters.
04:14And I think loving football and wanting,
04:16I think all that matters.
04:18But my question is,
04:19are the Patriots putting too much of a premium on that
04:21and overlooking other talented players?
04:22Yeah,
04:23there's definitely a fine line.
04:24It should be a part of the criteria
04:26that you look at for sure.
04:28But I remember going back to whatever the year
04:30the NBA draft was,
04:32that Anthony Edwards was the number one pick.
04:34There was a big story that came out that was like,
04:37he doesn't watch basketball in his free time.
04:39I don't think he loves basketball.
04:41Maybe he shouldn't be the first pick.
04:44And that,
04:44there was like a lot of steam behind that.
04:47So,
04:47and that wasn't like a great draft or anything.
04:49But then when he went number one,
04:50people were like,
04:50well,
04:50you got to question whether he loves the game or not.
04:52Who was in that?
04:52That was LaMelo.
04:53What draft was that?
04:54Yeah,
04:55that was Edwards.
04:55I think I was a LaMelo guy in that draft,
04:57which I liked Edwards.
04:58I'd rather have Edwards in retrospect.
05:00I don't think it was saying much,
05:01but I think I liked Edwards the most out of that draft.
05:03But he,
05:03he,
05:03he was the guy that went number one.
05:04It was the 2020 draft.
05:07James Wiseman,
05:08LaMelo,
05:09Patrick Williams,
05:10actually Halliburton's draft too.
05:12He went 12,
05:13but that was the year the Celtics drafted Aaron Neesmith,
05:15who we'll see.
05:17Maybe in the Eastern Conference Finals.
05:18Watch him right now.
05:18Yeah,
05:19maybe.
05:19Cole Anthony's draft.
05:20But anyway,
05:21there was,
05:22there was a big question mark about that
05:23because he didn't check all those boxes.
05:24He wouldn't have been the guy probably playing in the holiday bowl against Syracuse,
05:28right?
05:28With his NFL future on the line.
05:30So it's not always a slam dunk case.
05:33But I mean,
05:33it's interesting.
05:34And again,
05:34maybe this is just after they drafted him,
05:35it's justification for the pick.
05:37Yeah.
05:37And so that's fine.
05:38You're trying to justify your picks.
05:39I get that.
05:40But it is interesting to highlight that in the NIL world,
05:44in the transfer portal world,
05:45where guys are constantly transferring.
05:48You know,
05:49I mean,
05:49the idea that Kyle Williams is going to stick it out somewhere.
05:51He did transfer earlier in his career from UNLV.
05:54He himself did.
05:55So like,
05:56you know,
05:56but he transferred upwards and he went to a bigger school and he went to the Pac-12.
06:00It's going to be hard to really keep tabs on that.
06:02But I'm saying in that world,
06:03he was a part of that.
06:04I mean,
06:04he was right in the transfer portal with all of his teammates leaving earlier in
06:08his career.
06:09So all I would say is maybe that is an interesting tiebreaker.
06:12I would use it the same way you did,
06:13Keith.
06:13We have Jalen Noel and Kyle Williams ranked very similarly.
06:17Noel,
06:17the receiver out of Iowa state who went to the Texans.
06:20We have them ranked very similarly on our boards.
06:22This guy,
06:22and I don't know if Noel played in his college bowl game,
06:24but let's just say he didn't.
06:27And that's your tiebreaker.
06:28This guy loves football.
06:29This guy proved he wanted to stick it out.
06:30We like his football character.
06:32Well,
06:32great.
06:32I think that's a good tiebreaker.
06:33Are you bumping guys up the board?
06:35I got news for you.
06:36Otherwise,
06:36yes.
06:37Jalen Noel did play in the pop tarts bowl.
06:38Oh boy.
06:39And he had a monster game.
06:40What'd he do?
06:41How about eight for 117 and a touchdown?
06:44Well,
06:44Kyle Williams outperformed in there,
06:45Keith.
06:46All right.
06:46Well,
06:4710,
06:47172 and a touchdown.
06:48He played Miami though.
06:49He didn't play Syracuse.
06:50Did Noel win?
06:51Oh yeah.
06:51They won big.
06:52Okay.
06:52Well,
06:52no,
06:52no,
06:52no.
06:52I'm sorry.
06:53They won by a point.
06:54So it was clutch.
06:54Okay.
06:55Williams did not win.
06:56Okay.
06:56Well,
06:56got smoked by Syracuse,
06:58which I don't think is a tremendous look.
07:00Kyle McCord was on the other side.
07:01Good point.
07:02Yeah.
07:02Slinging it.
07:03It's an NFL quarterback.
07:04That's right.
07:04So fair point.
07:05You can jump in on this.
07:06The Patriots in their approach to building character and culture within the locker room.
07:11Have they gone too far?
07:12Joe Milton in the middle of that.
07:13Will Campbell in the middle of that.
07:15And as it turns out,
07:16Kyle Williams,
07:17just because he decided to play in his bowl game.
07:19Apparently something in the words of Mike Reese that the Patriots put some stock into 617-779-7937.
07:26You can jump in there.
07:27We'll hear from you.
07:28And speaking of hearing a little something,
07:30you hear that Keith?
07:31I hear it.
07:32You know what that means?
07:33I do.
07:34Time for the keys to the Celtics and Knicks game one tonight.
07:37You got Keith's keys next.