00:00High noon, Jones and Keefe, W-E-E-I.
00:03It is a Tier Tuesday.
00:05Tears are up at Jones and Keefe.
00:07Some are saying best tiers ever.
00:08I think that's just Ken texting the text line.
00:12But the best current athletes in Boston, your Hall of Famers,
00:16Tatum, Anthony, May.
00:18You can go follow along at Jones and Keefe.
00:20It is also a Tom E. Tuesday.
00:22Tommy Curran, NBC Sports Boston, joins us every Tuesday at high noon.
00:26What's going on, Tom E. Curran?
00:28Nothing. Working. Talking to Ty Law.
00:31So I might have to jump because we had an interview going on
00:35and he just excused himself for a few minutes to do another one
00:38and he's going to come back.
00:40So we have to resume.
00:41But I'm not saying that.
00:42Thanks for coming on, Tom.
00:43Well, okay.
00:44So you're jumping like Ty Law jumps around.
00:48No, he's going to pop back in.
00:50But I'm excited because I'm having a great conversation with him
00:53in the middle of the pod right now.
00:55But we're on a break.
00:56So let's do this.
00:57One interesting thing.
00:59Can I jump into this?
01:00Jump away, baby.
01:04So Ty was the original cornerback businessman.
01:09And he was very practical and pragmatic during Bill's reign in the early 2000s
01:16when saying, give up something for the team, swallow hard, deal with it,
01:21put the team first.
01:22And Ty eventually said when they asked him to take a pick out, I'm not doing that.
01:25Sorry.
01:26And it ended up with him heading to the Jets where he had 10 picks.
01:31And we're in a period now where Christian Gonzalez is going to come up and he's going to probably
01:40and rightfully look for a $30-plus million contract with an unbelievable amount of guaranteed money.
01:46And Mike Vrabel has articulated that he would do that.
01:49He doesn't want the players to be self-sacrificing but also make sure that they, as a team,
01:55are doing what's best for those guys and their families.
01:59There could come a time, and the reason I'm bringing this up is, I saw the franchise numbers last week.
02:05It's $21.5 million to franchise a corner.
02:10That's an unbelievable amount of leverage the Patriots would have if they come to an impasse with Christian Gonzalez.
02:16So they're going to...
02:16Do they want that?
02:17Okay, I was going to say, because that's a...
02:19Wow, but that's a dangerous game.
02:21And, you know, if you have...
02:22Sorry, you guys are in a union.
02:25You guys all signed up for it.
02:28I'm sure they don't want to, but that's the way it is.
02:30Does he feel like the kind of guy who's going to, you know, go along with that?
02:35Or does he feel like a holdout if you play that game?
02:37Yeah, he's not playing that.
02:38No, I think he would hold out.
02:41I think that you would have...
02:42Again, how do I know?
02:44And I don't think...
02:46I don't think that the likelihood or the preference of anybody would be to use a $21.5 million franchise
02:52tag
02:52on a guy who probably is in line for a $150 million contract.
02:57But it is part of the equation when you're looking at the Patriots and what they want to extract.
03:02And it's been a very loving kumbaya existence for the Patriots since Mike got here.
03:11And guys overachieved and overperformed their contracts.
03:14We are into the business side of the season now.
03:16And to practically speak about how the team stays together and maintains its momentum
03:22is to look at the business decisions that have to be made that help keep teams together.
03:27And Gonzalez and a $70 million a year contract for Drake May looms.
03:33And, you know, the ideas of adding an A.J. Brown or a Max Crosby are on everybody's lips.
03:39So it's really interesting when you think of these different things.
03:43And with success comes those high-class problems.
03:46So that's all.
03:47I just wanted to give insights.
03:50That's interesting.
03:51That is interesting.
03:51What would be the argument against making Christian Gonzalez the highest-paid corner in the league?
03:58Like, his time is up, right?
04:00So it's one of those things that even if you think Patrick Sertain's better,
04:02like that's just sort of how free agency or contract extensions in this case work.
04:07So what would be the argument against that?
04:09Because I feel like he has lived up to it.
04:11Okay.
04:13That's the best question.
04:15Yeah.
04:15How do you sit down at the table and look across and say,
04:18we can't do that unless you're going to cry poor mouth and say,
04:22sorry, we have a $70 million Drake May contract coming up?
04:26You can't.
04:27You literally can't, Rich.
04:29There's no way to frame it unless you are giving some kind of an indication of a hypothetical middle class
04:37that you need to build.
04:38You can say, for instance, look, our wide receiver group has to be better, Christian,
04:44for all of us to get better.
04:47Our edge issues have to get better.
04:49It's going to make you a better player.
04:50And he can already say, I'm already a good player, and everybody frigging knows it.
04:55So it would be very, very difficult for them to do that or to explain, yeah,
05:02we're trying to be cautious.
05:03They're not up against the cap.
05:07So, again, I'm not poop-stirring by any stretch.
05:13I'm just saying when you cover the league or you follow the league,
05:16as so many of the people in the audience do,
05:19these are all the different parameters and things that will be at the Patriots' disposal
05:24with not just Christian Gonzalez, but with Drake May in a couple years.
05:28I'm sure they're not going to try and franchise the franchise.
05:31I would hope not.
05:33Don't franchise the franchise.
05:35But he's literally going to be a third of a billion dollars.
05:39I guarantee you that.
05:40He will be one-third of a billion dollars to retain.
05:43Yeah.
05:44And in the meantime, you have him on a rookie deal for nothing,
05:46which would be a time to go capitalize.
05:48I want to tie that in with something Mike Vrabel said last week at the Combine.
05:52We spent a lot of time talking about this.
05:54And I'm paraphrasing, but Vrabel said,
05:56Hey, you know, I'll go to Nordstrom.
05:58I'll go to Neiman Marcus.
05:59When I see something, I am a place where I can usually,
06:03or at a place where I can usually buy it.
06:05How did you interpret those comments from Vrabel?
06:08And is that foreshadowing for the offseason?
06:14I interpret it as a responsible shopper who's going to buy quality.
06:22I have, because I'll go to the rack, and if something is on ridiculous sale,
06:28I don't care how ugly it is.
06:29If I think I'm saving money, I think I'm actually making money.
06:32So that $200 jacket that's marked down from $700 that I pick up and wear four times,
06:39I think I've saved money.
06:41I didn't.
06:42I lost money on that because it was still $200.
06:50So if you're a responsible shopper, you don't wander around the rack.
06:53You walk into, and I like the rack.
06:55I love Nordstrom Rack.
06:57My wife loves Nordstrom Rack.
06:57My credit card statement can attest to it.
07:00My wife loves Nordstrom Rack.
07:01Yeah.
07:01Yeah.
07:02So, you know, or you walk in there and find a real legitimate deal for something
07:06that's high quality that you like and will definitely use for 10, 12 years.
07:11So I think that Mike's saying that, look, I can, and the team,
07:16because of his financial situation, can't afford to shop in certain stores right now.
07:21But don't just go in there and buy a whole crap ton of stuff that you don't need
07:25because you can.
07:27And I think that's what he's driving at.
07:29Now, will they or won't they?
07:30I mean, look at the 2021 Patriots.
07:32They shop like idiots.
07:35Just buy everybody.
07:37Buy your Nelson Aguilar.
07:38Buy your, you know, Jalen Mills.
07:40Buy your Hunter Henry.
07:41Buy your Matt Judon.
07:42Buy your, I mean, I could keep going, but I can't remember everybody else.
07:46John Smith was a good one.
07:47Yeah.
07:48Yeah.
07:49So buy them all and just throw them in there and, you know,
07:52we'll be able to wear some of these things.
07:54And they were.
07:55But you can't wear them all.
07:57So go ahead.
07:57How much of a chance do you give them trading for Max Crosby?
08:03I feel like it's a decent chance.
08:08And when I say that, it's relative to the rest of the league.
08:11It's not, hey, I think that's likely to happen.
08:14But if the Raiders are interested in moving them
08:18and they are willing to take the 31st overall pick,
08:23I would say go ahead and do that.
08:25What are you getting at 31?
08:27Right.
08:29So, to me, if you get an established player who's a great culture fit,
08:33who will make your defense better.
08:36And Phil and I had this conversation on early edition, Phil Perry, yesterday.
08:40He's like, do everything you can to support your quarterback.
08:42Who cares about, not who cares, but that's your priority.
08:46Making him better and building his nest is more important
08:49than making the defense better than it already is.
08:53And I understand that, but the offense should get better on its own.
08:59Will Campbell should be better.
09:00Jared Wilson should be better or moved.
09:03And you can get guys to fill positions.
09:07I do like Max Crosby in terms of he's probably one of the 10 best players
09:10in the league at any position.
09:13So that's a place where you can definitely get somebody who makes an impact.
09:16When I look at A.J. Brown, I'm looking at a guy who did not match
09:21statistically the performance of Stephon Diggs this past year.
09:25So you're going to bring him in, you're going to give something up,
09:27and you're going to spend money on him.
09:28And you probably can't bring him in until June 1st or after
09:31because the Eagles take such a massive hit.
09:33So, boy, am I babbling.
09:35But Ty still hasn't shown up.
09:36No, it's okay.
09:37Hey, Ty, take your time.
09:39I like the Max Crosby thing.
09:40You guys get to take a break.
09:42It's like DJs back in the day when they used to put on
09:45Stairway to Heaven and go outside and smoke a butt.
09:47Yes, yes, yes, yes.
09:49That's what we do during commercial breaks.
09:50We go rip a few darts.
09:52On Max Crosby, by the way, the Bears are the betting favorite at plus 200,
09:56which is actually ahead of the Raiders retaining him, plus 350.
09:59The Pats are after the Rams, Cowboys, Bills, Ravens, and Eagles,
10:02all at plus 700.
10:03Pats are at plus 1,000 for Max Crosby.
10:06I've seen a lot of different beat writers, including your colleague, Phil Perry,
10:11say that Stephon Diggs will not be back on his current deal with the Patriots.
10:17They're going to have to sort something out.
10:19He'll probably get cut if they can't come to an agreement.
10:22What I haven't really seen, although I can infer by the lack of news,
10:26is how close the Patriots and Diggs are to working anything out.
10:29How would you characterize the closeness of them reworking that deal?
10:39Should we read into the lack of insight and what I would say seems like the lack of news on
10:43any progress there?
10:44Should we read into that?
10:46Yeah, I think that's fair.
10:47I think we would know if there was progress being made.
10:50It might be one of those things where they don't want to – it might not be something you want
10:54to broach.
10:55Like if you want to ask permission to go do something that might get some resistance,
10:58you don't start talking about it on Tuesday.
11:01Start talking about it Friday morning for Friday night.
11:03You don't need to ruin the whole week.
11:06So his bonus is March 13th, the $6 million bonus.
11:10From the Patriots right now, I am intensely exploring the opportunity to find out whether or not the cost for
11:17A.J. Brown,
11:18if you do think that's an upgrade, and I'm not positive it is, what will the cost, trade cost be
11:23for A.J. Brown?
11:24When can you get him in the building?
11:26Does he want to come here?
11:28Because if the Eagles are serious about entertaining the possibilities, then let them do the research.
11:35And that's what Albert Breer said yesterday.
11:37He said, you know, both Brown and the Eagles are interested, but they're tiptoeing around both how they do it,
11:43but they're trying to get the parameters of what would it look like if we dealt him,
11:48and for him, what would it look like if I went to another place?
11:52I'd also, if I was the Patriots, tamper my ass off with Alec Pierce.
11:58Find out whether or not a guy who only had 47 catches last year but has led the league,
12:03and that was a career high, led the league the past two seasons in receiving yards per reception,
12:09can you get him?
12:10Do you have to pay him $35 million a year?
12:12A 47-catch guy?
12:13Does it feel like...
12:41Are we back?
12:43That was good timing there.
12:44Curran, you were right in the middle of talking about Steph Diggs.
12:46What were you saying?
12:48I was saying that.
12:52Alec Pierce.
12:53Do you want to chase Alec Pierce, who had 47 catches, a career high,
12:57but he's led the league in receiving yards, excuse me, yards per reception the last two years?
13:0325 years old, he's 6'3", 211 pounds, he runs like a deer.
13:11Do you want to spend $35 million a year on him?
13:13No.
13:13To make him your Drake Day downfield receiver?
13:15No.
13:16Do you want to spend 25?
13:17No.
13:17Do you want to spend 27?
13:18No.
13:19I don't know.
13:20I would think 25 or 27 would be a reasonable take.
13:24Do you?
13:25No.
13:26I'd rather have Diggs.
13:27You don't have to ask.
13:27Yeah, no.
13:28I'd rather have Diggs.
13:29I'd rather have Diggs.
13:30But, Tom, anything are you hearing on Morgan Moses?
13:33There's just some of the rumors out there, maybe retiring?
13:38I don't know about retiring, but I think that that would be a position where better, younger,
13:43cheaper is certainly going to enter into the equation for the Patriots.
13:48And Mike Vrabel has stated that.
13:50So, I think that's a spot where they would like to do that.
13:54But, he was, again, as were many, helpful.
13:58Helpful individual.
14:01All right.
14:01Ty's coming.
14:02Okay.
14:02Thank you, Tom.
14:03All right.
14:03Gross.
14:04Tom, we'll talk to you next week.
14:06Tom E. Curran on a Tom E. Tuesday joins us here from NBC Sports Boston at high noon every
14:12single week.
14:13Take care.
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