00:00But I just want you to understand, and I want to be as clear as possible on where I'm coming
00:06from.
00:06If you do not replace Steph Diggs, this is a major, major mistake.
00:14The fact that you're even saying this to him, I think is a major mistake because he's going to become
00:22disgruntled, is what you're saying.
00:25There's always that risk.
00:27Or you're giving him the opportunity to look elsewhere.
00:31That's the other thing.
00:32But I would still look at it like this.
00:36You know what the money is.
00:38You can always finagle the bagel.
00:40Why can't you have A.J. Brown and Steph Diggs?
00:44People talk about it all the time.
00:45This is a major mistake.
00:47You wrote your point down.
00:48I did.
00:48And the reason why I think it's A.J. Brown or bust when it comes to if you're going to
00:52get rid of Steph Diggs, it's got to be A.J. Brown or nothing else matters.
00:55Because you're also dealing with a head coach in Mike Vrabel that's not like other head coaches.
01:00He got rid of so many players, veteran players, in this locker room going into his first season that we
01:05were all scratching our heads like, that's a bad idea.
01:07Why did he do that?
01:08Why did he do that?
01:09It's a specific player he's looking for.
01:11That's not just a – you can't just look at his stats from the last year.
01:14And so I think that cuts down the list.
01:17To me, it's A.J. Brown or nobody else.
01:19Like, I don't know how all these other guys that Shime's bringing up or Curtis is bringing up would fit
01:24in when it comes to how Mike Vrabel runs this team.
01:27So I don't think that you just have your pick of the litter when it comes to guys that have
01:31good stats because he picks such specific individuals.
01:35Everybody thought Steph Diggs was going to be a bad idea going into this season.
01:38But he's the one deciding this, right?
01:41I don't think that this leak is coming from Mike Vrabel.
01:43No, no, no.
01:43But Mike Vrabel will be deciding if Diggs is here or not.
01:46Well, I mean, I think it's Robert Kraft at the end of the day if he wants to pay.
01:50I believe that Mike Vrabel has control and he has a budget and that budget is set by Kraft.
01:55But if Mike Vrabel thought he was a great ad for the locker room and thought he'd continue to be
01:58that way, he'd be here.
01:59And I also look at if there is a budget.
02:02So you're going to get rid of one guy and you're going to pay another guy more?
02:06Right, because A.J. Brown is a better player than Steph Diggs.
02:08And A.J. Brown is going to cost more.
02:10So you're like, all right, well, we're willing to pick up whatever that cap number for A.J. Brown is.
02:15I can find that for you.
02:18Well, it's probably like 26 or 27 or something, isn't it?
02:2226.4, I believe.
02:23Is that what it is?
02:24But all the guarantees are on Philly.
02:26The trading team is the one that eats the bill for the guaranteed money.
02:29So you're willing to pick that up, you know, obviously because you feel like A.J. Brown is a better
02:33player.
02:34But until you know that you can get that done.
02:38Do you think it's close?
02:40What do you mean?
02:40A.J. Brown and Steph Diggs.
02:42No.
02:43I think A.J. Brown is a better player.
02:44Right.
02:45But you said if you feel that way.
02:46I feel like everybody would feel that way.
02:47No, no, no.
02:48I said if you can get it done.
02:50There's no guarantee you can get it done.
02:53Until we know Philly for sure is like, all right.
02:56And are you willing to give up a second round pick for A.J. Brown?
03:00Well, aren't you going to have to be, when you look at the Bills, like the Bills have to be
03:04all in on him.
03:05Right?
03:06I think there's a lot of teams that are probably all in on A.J. Brown.
03:09The Bills, Courtney brought up the Chiefs.
03:14Who was the other team that we potentially was looking for, a wide receiver that we were talking about?
03:19Chiefs?
03:20Do you say the Chiefs?
03:20Maybe the 49ers, the Packers.
03:24I don't know where Baltimore kind of finds themselves.
03:28But there will be a lot of teams in the A.J. Brown market.
03:32So there's no guarantee you get them.
03:34But do all those teams have a head coach that has that deep of a relationship with the guy?
03:38Well, they don't.
03:39No, that's an advantage.
03:40But are there teams that might be willing to give up more?
03:44Patriots might only be willing to give up a second round pick.
03:46And a team like Kansas City might go, we'll give up a first round pick.
03:49Or a team like Buffalo.
03:51I'm just using these teams as an example.
03:53So we don't know if necessarily New England is willing to give up the assets they need to get A
03:59.J. Brown.
04:00I'm just saying I think it's very – it just – it don't make sense to me unless you know
04:05you're getting somebody better than Steph Diggs.
04:08Why you would potentially alienate this relationship this early with the whispers of take less over cutting you.
04:16Just the – there's a 407 texter on the Subaru of New England text line who is – who writes
04:23this conversation isn't some recent leaker story.
04:27We have been discussing this back and forth a little bit here over the last couple of weeks.
04:32There is a source that told MassLive that it is – this is the direction the Patriots are going in,
04:39which is restructure or we're going to cut you.
04:42So that's why we have reignited the conversation this morning for that 407 text.
04:48And Wiggy is spot on in one part of this.
04:51It is not – I mean, obviously, we don't think the Patriots are leaking this.
04:54But I would be damn sure to have my decision in order with the communication with Steph Diggs before I
05:00did any of this stuff with A.J. Brown.
05:02And I would pursue the trade.
05:05If the trade is looking like something will happen, that's great.
05:09But you don't want to alienate Steph Diggs and then you lose out on A.J. Brown and you're basically
05:14the Red Sox without Bregman and Devers.
05:16So the MassLive source, from your perspective, is Steph Diggs or somebody in his organization.
05:23Or it's Elliott Wolfe and he's trying to pee in the pool.
05:25But, yes, I think it's likely Steph Diggs.
05:27Yeah.
05:28And so – and it's probably not a good thing for you if you're the Patriots, right?
05:34Because you could potentially trade Steph Diggs and maybe get, I don't know, fourth round, fifth round pick.
05:40I mean, maybe they have a team that would be willing to do that, right?
05:43So maybe a way for you to move on from this guy, pick up some capital in that sense rather
05:51than just being like, all right, whispering out there.
05:53Now teams will be like, oh, you know what?
05:55We'll just wait for you to cut Diggs.
05:58It would be ideal if you could keep both of them.
06:01Well, yeah.
06:02I mean, you know what Diggs is going to be making, right?
06:05But in order for them to do that, I would assume they'd have to restructure Diggs' contract, which is why
06:09this is step one.
06:10Like, I just – this is classic Patriots.
06:13They just come to a guy who doesn't have – like, it would be easy for them to cut and
06:18they say, hey, let's restructure.
06:19We can finagle this a little bit.
06:21You can get some cash now and we can kind of work around the cap and add extra cap, which
06:25is classic Patriots mentality.
06:27So I would say to Sean, then this, then if it's classic Patriots mentality, then maybe it's not Mike Vrabel
06:34who's pulling the strings because if you're going –
06:37That's why Elliott Wolfe is still in the front office because he's the direct link to Kraft and he can
06:41enact certain things like this.
06:43That would be an awful sign.
06:44I will jump full on board with Wiggy if that's what happens because we all think that Vrabel is his
06:50own man, right?
06:51Like, not a guy that takes orders.
06:53If this – which we believe also, outside of tackle, this is the position with the highest amount of need,
06:59especially with a young quarterback at wide receiver.
07:01If you're trying to cheap out and do these – like, that would be a bad sign.
07:05Fun fact.
07:05I don't know, you know, it's the A.J. Brown thing.
07:08How would you feel if they moved on from Diggs and they brought in Tyree Killah?
07:13I wouldn't like that.
07:13I would not be happy with that.
07:14Yeah.
07:15I mean, I wouldn't even be happy if they moved on from Diggs and then brought in Mike Evans.
07:19I was thinking those guys plus Diggs.
07:23Don't you guys think this offseason will give us even more understanding as to how the Patriots' business operates?
07:29Because if they do the status quo, what Wiggy is concerned about rightly, then we've got to stop talking about
07:35Bill and free agency.
07:37Bill Belichick, that is.
07:38Yeah.
07:38Like, if they go back to the way they've always done things, even with Vrabel running the show, that would
07:44be, I think, a bad sign going forward.
07:46Well, I think we should be very prepared for that because even Mike Reese had his combine intel in his
07:53latest piece and he said his biggest takeaway, while they will be listening to trade possibilities for big name stars
07:58that they believe would help the team, they don't view themselves as the proverbial one player away from a return
08:04trip to the Super Bowl.
08:05Thus, they are less inclined to send a Micah Parsons-type draft pick haul to another team for a veteran
08:10star.
08:10I hate that.
08:11That is not you, Shyam.
08:13I hate that argument from Mike Reese.
08:15We're not one player away.
08:17Okay.
08:18Remember the Celtics in 07, 08, 09 Wigs when they weren't a player away, but they got Kevin Garnett in
08:25a trade.
08:25Yeah.
08:26And then they signed Ray Allen.
08:27Right.
08:28And Ray Allen came because they obviously got KG.
08:31Like, to say that is just so short-sighted.
08:36But do you think that it's possible that Robert Kraft looks at what happened this season and gives the credit
08:45to Mike Frabel and Drake May and says, that's about it.
08:49That's all we need.
08:50We got there with those two guys this season.
08:53We didn't think we would, and we did.
08:55So, really, I don't need to spend an awful lot more on this football team.
08:59You know, I don't, I can't see that being the approach because the thing that I look at more than
09:06anything is there are going to be guys available in free agency.
09:12Right.
09:12Let's talk about, we were all on the Trey Hendrickson bus last year.
09:19Well, he's going to be a free agent this year.
09:22He's going to be 31 years old.
09:24I don't know how much money they're going to, how much money is he going to want.
09:26Is he somebody, are you going to be big players on day one, like you were last year?
09:32Doubt it.
09:35That, I think, is a mistake.
09:37Because you have a Super Bowl caliber team.
09:42But you need to add day one pieces to that.
09:46And the Drake May, Christian Gonzalez contract situations should be incentivizing the organization to spend now.
09:55Because in three years, you're going to be spending $60 million to $80 million a year alone on Drake May
10:00and $30 million alone on Christian Gonzalez.
10:03Why wouldn't you spend now?
10:05They always said that it's the cheat code to have a great quarterback on a rookie deal, right?
10:10Yep.
10:11I agree.
10:12It should be the perfect time to spend on free agents.
10:14But I also don't think that they will trade for those guys.
10:17Because they are going to, my guess, and this is just me taking a total guess,
10:21I think they are going to load up on draft picks for the 27-28 season for when they do
10:25have to pay those guys.
10:26That they can fill out the rest of the roster with cheap young talent.
10:29So what about, so then you think if they, because you still have to be some type of player in
10:35free agency.
10:36So you think they're going to be more tier three players in free agency.
10:39Yep, the middle of the roster, fill out the depth.
10:41Because this year, they got really lucky with injuries.
10:45They didn't have a ton of them.
10:46And when they did, they were manageable and in bad parts of the schedule that they could easily roll over.
10:51And so this year, they're going to fill out the depth on the roster.
10:53That's the goal.
10:55Yeah, so that's, I don't know.
10:57That is a little bit.
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