Jones & Keefe: Are the Patriots taking this "character thing" too far?

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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.

06:52I'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.

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