- 8 minutes ago
Adam Schefter joined the show and shared his thoughts on A.J. Brown’s return, the sentiment around the NFL on the Patriots after losing the opener, the Robert Kraft/Macklemore story, and more.
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00:00Hey, Adam, thanks for coming on with us, man. We appreciate it.
00:02Sure, what's going on?
00:02What's up? Let's just start with the big news around here, Patriots-wise.
00:06You pretty much broke the news about the timeline for A.J. Brown.
00:11What are you hearing? Is there any kind of update?
00:13And when do you believe that most likely he'll return to the Patriots?
00:18During that four- to six-week range, it'll depend on how he's recovering during that entire time.
00:22And it's impossible to say that now, but I think, obviously, with him being on IR,
00:27he automatically misses four weeks, and then if he can recover quickly, that's what it would be.
00:32If not, I think probably, again, four- to six means I'm going to get five, right in that range.
00:39Now, do you believe, because, I mean, when you take a look at his injury,
00:44do you believe that he'll be able to bounce back and come back the same A.J. Brown?
00:48Because, unfortunately, we're here reading all these articles, and everyone always looks for the worst.
00:52Just, you know, fear-mongering is obviously clickbait, and we see all that.
00:55But do you believe that he will be able to be back to his old self after this injury?
01:03Well, I think it's going to take a little bit of time,
01:06and it's a situation where you have to navigate it and handle it.
01:16So, oh boy, the 49ers just got bad news, bad, bad, bad news.
01:21Uh-oh. What is it?
01:23Jake Tongass, they're tied out for the year, and Deshaun Scribling, uh, out for 10 weeks.
01:29Wow, that is bad news.
01:31As broken here on the Rich, Ken, and Ted show.
01:34Thank you, Adam Schefter.
01:34We appreciate that.
01:36Yeah, you got it.
01:37So, Adam, I don't know if you've seen this other report from Spotrack,
01:40and now the Boston Herald has it as well,
01:42that the Patriots approached Matt Collins this offseason about reducing,
01:47tweaking his incentives from likely-to-be-earned to not likely-to-be-earned incentives,
01:51and the implication here was they may have, you know, cut him if he hadn't accepted this.
01:56Do you know anything about this, and how common is this situation in the league?
02:01Well, every player and every team assesses the contract,
02:05and they both do what is best for them in the offseason.
02:09So, obviously, they must have felt at that point in time like,
02:15look, he might not have a lot of options,
02:17and if Matt Collins had a better option, he wouldn't have done it.
02:21So, his agent's job is to survey the landscape,
02:25find out what he would make on the open market,
02:27see how much he likes it in New England compared to somebody else,
02:29and then make a decision that's in his best interest.
02:33So, that's what happened, and he felt like that was the best thing for him to do.
02:37Adam, I'm curious, you know, what the NFL maybe thinks about these international games.
02:43I mean, they're kind of a hard watch.
02:44That opening game in Melbourne was a tough watch for the 49ers and the Rams.
02:48I mean, just not a pretty game.
02:51I mean, any concerns about just what the product looks like,
02:54even though, you know, I know they want to expand their game globally,
02:57but that was a tough watch, man.
03:00Well, you get that sometimes.
03:02By the way, sometimes you get that in games that are played domestically in the United States,
03:06and it just so happened that that was that game.
03:10Some opening games are great, some not so much.
03:12That was not so much.
03:13So, no, I think the league is determined to grow internationally.
03:17They're going to be, what, nine games this year?
03:19I think it's nine more than ever before.
03:22Next year, there'll be more than that, I would bet.
03:24But just because there was a game that you didn't think met their standards on Thursday night
03:29doesn't mean they're going to slow down that international train where all are aboard
03:35and they're moving ahead to future years.
03:37I was talking to Adam Schefter.
03:39And, Adam, there is the biggest story right now in the city is something that has been simmering
03:43and is just kind of blown up everywhere, and that is Robert Kraft is all over the news.
03:47There was the story last week that during the Ed Sheeran tour,
03:53McLemore had gone on stage.
03:54He made some comments that were pro-Palestine.
03:57And after that, it was announced that he was leaving the tour.
04:01McLemore went online and said that it was Robert Kraft who had pushed for that to happen
04:06because, indeed, Ed Sheeran was going to be playing at Gillette Stadium
04:08and that he had rallied other stadium owners to try to lobby to have him be off the tour.
04:15Robert Kraft has come out with a statement himself and had basically said that that was the truth,
04:19but he also said, I would welcome the opportunity to sit down with McLemore and discuss the facts
04:24because, ultimately, our goal is the same.
04:25This has become such a massive story.
04:27Do you know, does he have any plans to sit down with McLemore?
04:33That's a good question.
04:34I don't know.
04:36I know that, you know, Mr. Kraft puts a lot of time, money, resources into that type of situation
04:47where that's really important to him.
04:51And I don't know that they have any plans currently to sit down.
04:54It's a good question.
04:55I need to ask some people that.
04:57It's a good question.
04:58Do you think that he had any idea this would...
05:00Because, I mean, all of the artists that were on the tour with Ed Sheeran have dropped off now
05:06and they've all come out with very strong statements.
05:08There's, like, projections in, like, Los Angeles that I've seen.
05:12And it's...
05:13Did Robert, do you believe, have any idea of how much this would blow up?
05:17Because I agree with you.
05:18He's obviously very invested.
05:20He's got the Blue Square Alliance.
05:21But did he realize this was going to be as big as it is?
05:25I don't know.
05:26My guess is no.
05:27I mean, you know, who thought it was going to take on a life of its own where it's leading
05:32the morning news shows in the morning?
05:34It's on the evening news.
05:36It's national evening news broadcasts.
05:40It's obviously a very...
05:43It's an issue that means a lot to a lot of different people.
05:46And they are different people that feel differently about it.
05:49Clearly.
05:50A polarizing issue.
05:52So, I'm going to guess he didn't know that it would become this.
05:55But it's easy to understand why it has.
06:00Adam, the other big topic, of course, coming off the Week 1 loss has been the performance
06:03of Drake May and just Patriots' expectations here.
06:06As you talk to people around the league, how have things changed in the way other teams,
06:11franchises are viewing May and the Patriots this season?
06:14Well, it hasn't been a great run for them.
06:16And so...
06:18And for him and them, recently.
06:20What is it?
06:2111 turnovers in five games.
06:23Not playing well.
06:23People wondering.
06:24I still believe that Drake May, you know, is developing into one of the best quarterbacks
06:30in the league.
06:31Was one of the best in the league last season.
06:32He was second in the MVP balloting.
06:35I think he's going to be a star for a long time.
06:37But he's...
06:38But I think on the way to that area, every player goes through challenging, difficult periods
06:45of growth.
06:46And that seems to be the case right now for Drake May at this point in time.
06:51And, you know, got to find a way to snap out of that and keep growing and not making mistakes
06:57and not turning over the football.
06:59Let's see if he can get that done starting Sunday against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
07:03So, Adam, you had a great story that you reported this week.
07:07And that was that the Broncos had reached out to Drew Brees to play in the AFC Championship.
07:12First of all, that was awesome.
07:14That would have been kind of fun to watch.
07:15But we got Stidham instead.
07:16And listen, at least the Patriots benefited.
07:19Do you believe that the Broncos could get some sort of tampering penalty because of that?
07:25Because he is under contract.
07:27You don't believe that that will happen?
07:28I do not believe that will happen.
07:30Okay.
07:31How often does that happen where somebody who is retired gets reached out by a team that
07:36has an injury, especially during the playoffs?
07:37We know the Phillip Rivers story.
07:39Like, how often do you hear about that happening behind the scenes?
07:43Well, you don't hear about it very often, but I guarantee you that there are instances in
07:49which it does, like this one.
07:51You know, I saw somewhere online, too, that Boomer Esiason was talking about when he was
07:55doing Monday Night Football.
07:57A team reached out to him.
07:58And it can't just be that Boomer Esiason, Phillip Rivers, and Drew Brees are the only
08:04quarterbacks in history that have ever had a team reach out to them after they retired.
08:08Like, it would be naive to think that.
08:11You know, the interesting part about Drew Brees is, I think he retired after the 20 season.
08:19And in 21, the Saints had a situation where they lost Jameis Winston to injury and two
08:27quarterbacks on the COVID list.
08:28And when Sean Payton heard about his assistants reaching out to Drew Brees right now, last
08:38offseason, he thought they were talking about that year, 2021.
08:47Okay?
08:48So, um, it's a situation where he didn't know that his coaches had already begun the
08:58process this past postseason.
09:01He thought they were talking about five years ago when he reached out to him.
09:05They did that behind his back?
09:06That's so crazy that they would do that.
09:08It's not that they did it behind his back.
09:10It was like an idea.
09:11They were taught, let's go see if Drew, hey, Drew, any interest?
09:14I got to see how I feel.
09:16Let us know how you feel.
09:17And he went out and threw with his son and he didn't feel well.
09:19Like, his wrist and his shoulder.
09:22Okay?
09:24So, that's the situation.
09:26And he just wasn't physically up to it.
09:28Hey, Adam, back to the A.J. Brown thing real quick.
09:31Obviously, hindsight 2020, it would have been a good idea to keep Keishon Booty around if
09:35you had known A.J. Brown was going to go down or maybe even sign Stephon Diggs.
09:39How tough do you think those decisions were to not bring either of those two back this
09:43season?
09:43And is there any buyer's remorse now?
09:47Well, we were talking about Matt Collins earlier.
09:50And they felt like they had an excess of receivers.
09:53And so, they were able to restructure that contract.
09:57And so, that's what goes on in this league.
10:00You think you're deep in a position.
10:02And it all it takes is a game or two.
10:04You lose some people.
10:05You're not so deep anymore.
10:06And that's why it's always important for teams to draft the best player, no matter the
10:12depth you have at that spot.
10:14So, just because you're strong in a spot doesn't mean in April, doesn't mean you're going to
10:18be strong there in September.
10:20Just because you're strong there in July, doesn't mean you're going to be strong there in November.
10:24These things come and they go.
10:26So, and obviously, losing A.J. Brown is a disadvantage for this team as it gets ready for a big
10:36game
10:36on Sunday.
10:37All right, Adam Schefter.
10:39We've been watching, obviously, Bill Belichick and how he's been doing last year.
10:42Obviously, a disaster this year.
10:44He's got two wins, but he's got a big game, obviously, this week.
10:47If Bill Belichick wanted to return to the NFL, what teams do you believe would consider hiring him?
10:56Look, there have been at least two off-seasons that have passed, and no team has hired him.
11:03So, to me, I always thought that was a mistake by those teams.
11:07I thought he should have been hired.
11:09Atlanta considered it.
11:11Washington considered it.
11:13Washington went with Dan Quinn.
11:15Atlanta went with Raheem Morris.
11:19There may have been other teams that have reached out to him, gauged his interest, but I've never heard of
11:26anything gaining any traction.
11:27So, I couldn't come up with a team when there's been a lack of them that have been interested in
11:34his services as an NFL head coach the last two off-seasons.
11:38Does he have to have a great season this year to come back?
11:43What has anything to do with it?
11:44Really?
11:45What has anything to do with it?
11:45I don't know.
11:47Like, he's there.
11:48You know who he is.
11:49You know what he's done.
11:50If you're looking for a veteran, accomplished coach with as much experience in Super Bowl championships, then you call him.
11:58If you're not, you don't.
12:00And teams have shown over and over that they have it, that they would rather go a different direction.
12:07Do you think that he would take a job as just the coach and not the guy who calls the
12:11shots like he was with the Patriots?
12:14I mean, you're getting into hype.
12:15He hasn't even been offered a job of any sort.
12:17Like, now we're putting conditions on getting a job that he couldn't even get the last two off-seasons.
12:22I think, I have no idea.
12:23Like, I would think if he wanted to come back to the NFL, he'd be happy to come back to
12:27the NFL.
12:27I don't think he'd really care about calling the shots.
12:29I don't think that ever mattered all that much to him.
12:34I'm curious, Adam, is that the reworked committees now with the Hall of Fame, do you think it's a foregone
12:39conclusion Bill makes it into the Hall of Fame this year?
12:42Reworked committees or not, he was getting in this year, period.
12:45Yeah.
12:45Period.
12:47And Kraft?
12:50Well, I don't have the rules work anymore to say that he is or isn't.
12:54Like, I don't know where they're at.
12:56Maybe if he sits down with McLemore, that will get him in.
13:00There you go.
13:01That's right.
13:02All right, well, Adam Schefter, great stuff.
13:03Thanks for coming on with us.
13:04We appreciate it, and we will talk to you again next week.
13:07Thank you, guys.
13:07Have a great week.
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