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What's the best podcast of all time? This boy isn't boring, baby. I'm Rob Radford, and every single day I'm sitting down with the biggest names to show you this great game is the greatest game. It's my podcast. It's my passion. It's a cause I started more than two years ago. And it's now the most prolific national daily baseball pod. There is another fact. So jump aboard the BIB Express. Follow and listen to baseball as I'm boring. Presented by Wasabi Hot Cloud Storage on the free Odyssey app. Or wherever you get your podcasts. With Walmart's new fresh and frozen subscriptions, you can save time when you're weekly grocery shopping. Dad, you're supposed to be grocery shopping. And miss the chance to embarrass you in front of your friends? I subscribe to snacks and wet napkins. You know how messy you are. Dad! Walmart, subscribe to your weekly list. Hey, fantasy football owners. The road to winning your fantasy football championship starts now. I'm Matt Harmon from Reception Perception. Join me and James Co as we take a deep dive into the position that's going to make or break your fantasy roster. Wide receivers. We analyze route running, target share, and all the metrics that matter, giving you the insights you need to draft the best wide receivers. As you prep for your draft, let us give you the coverage you need. Follow and listen to Reception Perception on the free Odyssey app. Or wherever you get your podcasts. It was the night before Pat's camp. And all throughout the nation, the fans were waiting with great anticipation. We can't wait to see Drake May. I heard he's got a really good arm. And I hope that none of the other players experienced training camp are. Good morning, everybody. And welcome to the latest and greatest edition of Six Rings and Football Things. On the eve of Pat's camp, 2024. I was just doing a little improvisational. Night before Christmas. Patriots training camp edition. Of course, if you're watching live now on Facebook, YouTube, and beyond, you see how disappointed Andy Hart already is in the process. You get him back in the saddle again. Oh, yeah. No, just because there's less of them now. Mr. Awaken 180. He still brings the same disgust, frustration, and agitation. But that's why he's on brand. And you know, he is already prepared for what is to come. That's right. He's not for everyone. He's that jumbo heart. And of course, I'm not ready for camp. Because I'm still with my summer mode, your old pal Nick Vitzy Stevens. This is Six Rings and Football Things Live on Tuesday morning, July 23rd, 2024. Training camp does begin tomorrow at 11 a.m. Weather pending the first of 13 open practices available to the media and the public fans at large as well. I, for one, am very curious to see what sort of turnout we get tomorrow at camp. How will Gerard Mayo run things? How does Drake May look? Who's healthy? Who shines? Who fails? Who's a star? Who's a stud? And who sucks? So many questions to ask. So many answers, hopefully, to come Andy. So what's the first thing when I just when I say like, let's look to our old adjective game here. Give me one word to describe your feelings as we head into the great unknown. New coordinators, new coaches, new executive vice president of operations. So many new players. What's the one word that describes your feeling as the Patriots head in to their latest camp, the first one under Gerard Mayo? Skeptical. Yeah, I, um, and I think, you know, as you would say, on brand, so to speak, even though I am of the belief that this should be the time of year when 32 teams have hope and are sort of looking toward the optimistic end of the, uh, potential spectrum. I just look at this team and this coaching staff and just, you could just do 99 questions and just go right down the list. And, and they're just so many on the field, off the field, scheme, coaching, leadership, contracts, energy, effort, and attitude. You know, Greg Badard's writing about his skepticism of sort of player empowerment, something that's really pissed off. Our big guy Andy Gresch for a while now and this whole idea that coaches are just trying to make the players happy and which I think is a little misrepresented. You know, good coaches say they put players in position to succeed, right? Giving, giving them everything they need to succeed. But bad coaches are just doing everything to make them happy. And that is like, I'm cool. Like, all right, whatever. It's all sort of just repackaging the same thing. But, um, I just have so many questions about this team and every, uh, everything you see and, you know, coming out, all these preseason lists, like, you know, your boy. I know you're a big Warren Sharp guy. The let's rank the wide receiver groups in the NFL and you're like, scroll, scroll, scroll. It's funny you bring that up. I was going to mention that at the back end of the pod. But I knew I knew you were just going to be like sitting down, like, you know, a meme of a cartoon character with like oversized fork and knife. Like, yes, Warren. Very good. I actually think there's a chance they overperform from that. But the reality is there are questions like that everywhere. Every position, of course, every group. You see all these, these, um, record predictions coming out from various places. And I'm not saying those are the B and all there. Those are power rankings for the most part. They're just kind of, but there's a lot of people saying, hey, three wins seems about right for this team. Oh, are you referencing America's favorite hotel newspaper and their sports sections prediction that the New England Patriots will go three and 14 this season? Thanks a lot, USA today. And they joined Fox Sports with the exact same prediction from a week earlier. So, um, there are some major outlets and think of them what you may. I don't care. Like, you know, whatever, you don't have to respect them. Hell, these days, I don't even know who puts these things together. I think half these places have like interns putting them together. That's fine. But the reality is there's a lot of questions around this football team. And when you have a lot of questions, usually a good chunk of them come up with negative answers. Yeah. I was thinking that the theme of, you say skeptical. I'm not going to go with something. I will not go with a synonym to skeptical, like dubious. Obviously, we're all very curious how the process is going to play out. That's a good one without it. It looks like a curious, a good one because it's, it doesn't have really a positive or negative tint. It is just kind of, we'll see what happens. But I'm not sure exactly. I'm legitimately excited. I am because of the fact that because it's at both the fan side and the media side of me is very, very, very curious and a little bit excited because I want to see what's new. You know, this is, you know, I'm not going to go quote in Disney movies, but like this is basically the big song from Frozen 2 is called Into the Unknown. And that's exactly what the Patriots are doing now. They are heading into the vast unknown in the first year following everything that they knew, the consistency, the construct, the structure, the discipline, the regimen. Everything came funneled through, even though Tom Brady was the hero who operated it seamlessly and brilliantly for two decades. Everything was funneled through Bill Belichick. He was the way. He was the manner. He was the tone. All of it. Now, all of a sudden, who knows who's going to be the spokesman for the team? How open, how, you know, how at ease, Gerard Mayo is, do the coordinators speak more? Can players say more? Is it going to be easier access? Is it going to be more fun to watch? Is it going to be far more undisciplined team? I will say this. For everyone out there dreading like the Andy Greshes of E.E.I. and beyond, and you know, who still loves Bill, can't believe things were changed and shaken up, doubts that this is going to be a well-oiled machine. We'll say this. Over the last couple of years, you'd made a point on this very podcast on our airwaves, the post game and beyond of saying, how much longer do we go with this whole narrative of, well, you know, this is unpatriot-like play. This is an unpatriot-like display of a lack of discipline of making mistakes. That actually almost became the norm in the last couple of years. Punts getting blocked, false starts, bad whistles, mistackles, blown assignments. If they clean even half of that stuff up now, won't we see that as the first step towards progress and rebuilding a competent and competitive football team? I say so. Certainly, again, with such a young team and a new team and a new scheme and new coaching, we'll see if that comes to fruition. I also don't know how it will be packaged. As you said, some of the cynics and critics will probably forget that this was a sloppy football team in recent years and, oh, well, you know, Belichick always had a well-coached team too. Well, not really. At the end, and if they are sloppy, like they've been in recent years, they will blame Mayo rather than, you know, admit that Belichick's teams did the same things in recent years. So the narratives and sort of the way the team is received is going to be interesting to watch as well as like a lower-level storyline. Our first comments are coming in as we broadcast live across the FTSE, G-F-Y and W-E-E-I socials as well. Of course, you get to consume this and take this in at your leisure. If you are a subscriber to the Six Rings and Football Things podcast, and please tell your friends, use the Odyssey app, Spotify, Apple Pods, and more to download, subscribe, and become a member of the fastest growing Patriots fan group, or rather, what are we? We're a community, right? We're not a fan. Sure. We're a community. Yeah, yeah. Community. At R, who has the bat symbol for an avatar watching live on YouTube right now, the Patriots look like spanked ass. Could be. I mean, but, you know, sometimes spanked that ass is a good thing. So, we could turn that to a positive at some point in August and September and October. I don't know. Tap that ass. You're going to back that ass up. Are they going to be ready for that ass? If you're an ass man, you might like that ass. Like, right? There's so, you know, some Patriots have lofty aspirations this year. Exactly, exactly. Oh, yeah. We're not going all negative early on here. No, too much so. You have to stay on brand. I've got to be a little extra goofy and Gideon. You've got to be you. But that's fine. And that's what the people come to the party expecting. So, let's just get down to what's to come. So, first practice, Wednesday, 11 a.m. Weather pending, probably about two hours outside in the fields. What do you think the turnout is going to be? Well, we see we're not going to see the throngs of, you know, like when they used to break through the gates, like, "I got to see Brady. I got to get Croton again. Oh my God." Like, it was Beatlemania. But it also kind of tapered off the last couple of years. So, what do you think it'll look like? I think there'll be a buzz. It'll be a little bit better. I think there'll be a buzz. Now, there's a couple of issues. As you mentioned, weather can put a damper on some of those things. Also, the reality that, you know, people now know. I think for a while, people didn't realize like the first few days, a camp kind of suck. There's like no pads. It's kind of just that buildup period until they actually can put on pads, until the competition kind of amps up a little bit. These are more like OTAs early for the first three days before that day off. So, I think it'll be down. But as you said, the days of like using the ramps over the stadium, like those have been inconsistent at best for a while now and kind of disappeared, kind of dissipated over the years. I will say this. And I mean, I'm interested to see the draw that is Drake May. Because I think Drake May. So, here's my hot take number one from this. Whoa, all right, hot take number one coming up. Drake May is under the most scrutiny and pressure of any patriot in history. Whoa, Drake May, under the most scrutiny and pressure of any New England patriot in history. Yeah. Wow. Arguing aside from that, usually you like to say that unless Marcelo Mayer is a combination of No-Margit or an A-Rod, then he's going to be the biggest bust in the history of the Red Sox. I can't, I don't know, I can't see. I don't think he's under that much pressure right now. Because, here's why. Because they brought in, because of bringing in Jacobi Bursett to take $8 million and basically be John Snow with the sword, standing there as 500 marauders on horsebacks stream madly toward his direction, he doesn't have to play this year. I know you want him to play as soon as possible. I know the fans want to see him as quickly as possible. We have offered up possible soft landing spots from week five to week eight, week nine, week 10, whenever, or maybe after the buy in December, maybe they just basically trot Bursett out there as long as they can until he's just like, "But I can't take any more." And then you get the last couple, who knows, Andy, who knows. But I don't think he's under that much pressure now to save the franchise. In time, yes, I think the person who's under the most pressure, if we want to play the who's under the most pressure game is Mayo. Because if this looks like a slapstick operation out there, if this looks like what my flag football team is likely to look like this fall in Connecticut, guess what? I don't get fired, I'm also not getting paid. Gerard Mayo could become the laughing stock of EEI, all the stations in town, the Patriots media cartel, and the fans as well. And then they're like, "Why'd you buy a bell check if you're going to have this monkey outfit?" Yeah, I mean, Mayo's certainly under a lot. If we're going to go off the field, I think it's Robert Kraft. I think Robert Kraft, in his 80s, who handpicked Mayo on a trip to Israel years ago, and basically put this whole operation in process by writing into his contract that he was the coach in waiting, and that pissed off Bill, and sort of ruined that relationship to some degree. Robert is under the most pressure time line-wise, fiscally, because we know how much. And by the way, he'll have to deal with Jonathan, who's basically like, "Wait a minute, you're leaving me a pile of crap as I transition into the head roll here at whatever point." So I think Robert, I was going more with players on the practice field, people that are being watched at practice, because I would give you a challenge. You love Fitzy Man on the street shit. Sorry, excuse me, stuff. Just because it's 8am, people are real. It's all good. I would like you to find me, I don't know, three to five people in all of training camp practices that want to see Jacobi Brissette play. I challenge you to do that, because I don't think they exist. I don't think there's anyone who goes, "You know what I'd like to see? A good eight or 10 weeks of Jacobi Brissette." No one wants to watch that. No disrespect to him, love him, mean it. Journeyman, professional, great guy, attitude, all of those things. No one wants to see him play. I bet you, I don't even know if he has kids. He's probably going to be like, "Hey, when's Drake May going to play if he has kids? The sons are going to want to see Drake May." Drake May is the guy, he's the future, he's the phenom, and everything he does. And part of this, like Drew Bledso faced some of this, but it was such a different time, 1993 versus 2020, social media, cell phones. If Drake May bounces a ball in practice, it'll be all over the internet, right? Right, crappy. You do not want to see Jacobi Brissette. Tim's card collection, currently watching live on Twitter, says he can't wait to see Jacobi Brissette. You're full of it. You're lying. That's a lie. Fake news. Yeah, you're so full of shit guy, your eyes are browner than the football Brissette will be throwing tomorrow. Okay, yeah, all right, so Andy, can you address this? See somebody with a Patriots avatar watching live on the YouTubes. I heard today from a sports analyst, the Pats are going to be under four wins this upcoming season, and that pissed me off. What do you guys think? Andy has been, now Adam Jones has even taken your take, your prediction, what you've said here, what you put in print, what you also took to the Terrestrials. When you said anywhere between zero and six wins is in play, they could go six and 11, and we could have hope for the future, and there'd be optimism in Pats Nation, or they could go all in 17, which would be not great, which would be great, that would. And the six would really surprise me. I'm on the lower end, so under four wins, if you made me take, you know, the Vegas four and a half over under. Yeah, give me the under, I know this is a little under that, because it's three wins or fewer. I don't know which sports analyst said this, maybe he's even referencing the USA today predictions for records. Whatever it may be running with that on the radio now, like presenting it as fact. Oh yeah. Yeah, and this is the great unknown, right? We know that. So I did a little thing here. So I knew we would talk about record and predictions and whatever in this podcast. So I wrote down seven games that I called there, got a chance part of the schedule. You got seven got a chance. Seven, just an FYI, that means there's 10 no chances in my opinion. But just, we already have 10 L's on the table for Mandy, okay. Although, I will say sometimes you win the no chance games and sometimes you lose the got a really good chance to win games. And in full disclosure's sake, I will say one of the reasons why I believe this team has a chance to maybe win a few more games than many and most anticipate is because last year there were so many games where they made so many of those uncharacteristic Patriots mistakes, read into it what you will that their Mac Jones is mostly the scapegoat with a side order of Belichick, that they were in so many games that if Ryland just makes the field goal this year, or if it's Joey Sly, or I don't know, they can score more than seven points because the defense held their ground. Maybe they actually go from 4 and 13 to 7 and 10. Now, if they could only play last year's schedule instead of this year's schedule, where their last place games include Joe Barrow and Justin Herbert and the Jets include Aaron Rodgers, not Zach Wilson. So that's become a growing pet peeve of mine, people comparing to last year's schedule, which could not be more irrelevant. Joe Barrow doesn't give a rat's ass what happened last year. Joe Barrow's healthy and ready to prove a point in week one. Oh yeah, well, T Higgins is unhappy and Jamar Chase is unhappy because neither of them can get a contract. Trey Henderson is unhappy. Like I bet you they'll be happy when they see the Patriots defense because I think they're going to have some fun. Go ahead, go ahead, you do you. So I have seven got a chance games. Seven got a chance. There's got a chance one. Seahawks, Jags, Titans, Bears, Colts, Cards, Chargers. I think I'm being a little optimistic on some of them, but whatever, I'm trying to, you know, those are the real got a chance games in my mind on the schedule. So you're a bad football team, right? So you're probably going to win half your got a chance games because you're bad. So therefore, seven divided by two. Two is three and a half. It'll still be two and a half, three and a half. I'll take the under. I'm predicting three and 14. I know the record most normally associated with me is zero and 17. And again, I think 0 and 17 is very much in play. But I would say that I think these three win predictions are pretty spot on, you know, we have no idea. If Josh Allen blows out his UCL in week one and has Tommy John surgery, changes everything. If Aaron Rodgers blows out his Achilles in the other leg in week one, changes everything. But I'm just going by the information we have now. And the information we have now is the Patriots are going to, I also, it's funny, the cold hard football facts guy, Aaron Chats. Yeah, who believes that they're going to, they likely can finish six or seven wins, which I think fans with. He doesn't really because if you listen to him, he said, when you play a rookie quarterback, you lose. And they're going to play a rookie quarterback. I mean, I've had people inside the building tell me, start looking for Drake May in week two. If I'm looking for him in week two, then he's playing by October, right? If he's, if I'm looking for him in September, it doesn't mean he plays, but he's playing in October. And Aaron Chats believes if you play a rookie quarterback, you lose a lot of games. So Aaron Chats doesn't actually believe, even though he runs his numbers or whatever the hell, you know, that's also the website that famously, back in Mac Jones rookie season in like November, said the Patriots were going to the Super Bowl in every simulation they ran for the Super Bowl and the playoffs. And then they got to the actual playoffs, and they were barely a speed bump for Josh Allen and the Bills. So when you don't make your playoff opponent punt, something's missing. Is that bad? That's usually pretty bad. Well, actually, there was a playoff game. I think it was Chiefs Colts years ago, where Peyton Manning didn't punt. And it was actually a game, like the Chiefs kept scoring as well. It's just that they couldn't make the Colts stop scoring. Correct. But yeah, so I think three and 14 is very much in play as TD says. TD, I disagree with you. It will really surprise me if we get to week 10, and we still haven't seen Drake May start a game. I continue to say the most likely scenario is that week five dolphins game coming off the 49ers when you get your ass whooped out there. Boy. That is my most likely scenario, but I don't rule out earlier. I still don't rule out. I have a low percentage. I don't rule out him winning the starting job. You know, I don't. Much better. He's going to have to play like everyone under the. Curran was talking about it on the radio last week. Chad Graf wrote about it a few weeks ago. Yeah, let's touch on Curran real quick, because Curran said he has to beat him by a mile or whatever. Like he has to blow him up at a 35% chance. Mind you, Tom Curran, great guy. Great reporter, blah, blah, blah. He was right on with the whole bell check. We'll be dismissing. However, he did say last year's team did have the potential to go 12 and five. He said, quote, the winds are everywhere on the schedule. Funny how that worked out. I didn't see a lot of winds on the schedule. Then they never came. But I disagree with Curran saying that Drake May has to blow Jacobi Bursett out of the water. If it's even, I said this to Pac-Man Jones on our station. Remember Randy Moss used to say about the cornerbacks? If we're even, I'm leaving. If I'm even with you, I'm about to blow by you. I think Drake May, if he's even, you start him. The one and Alex Martinez brings up the offensive line. That is the one wild card I leave. If they are an absolute poop show in training camp, if Matthew Judon and Keon White are in the backfield on every play, and then we get to joint practices, and then we get to preseason games. And the offensive line blows. That would affect my decision. I don't want to throw Drake May to the wolves and say, "You can't, you cannot risk battering this kid's body." His confidence, like his, again, I don't care what kind of offense Alex Van Pelt runs. If he runs the old wing tee, if it's going to be Wildcat Ahoy, if it's going to be, if he's literally just working with a facsimile of the 1983 San Francisco 49ers offense, whatever. If he borrows last year's Browns, it doesn't matter. As long as he and TC McCartney and Macadoo groom and develop Drake May, protect the asset and ensure his good health and confidence for the future, I'm fine with just about everything else that happens this year. And again, you say Drake May is the one that's under the most pressure. There are so many people, there are so many people in this team, like the offensive line might be a disaster. Again, we're presuming it's going to be as bad as it was in years past. First of all, Cole Strange will likely not see the field this year at all. I think he has been an absolute liability for them for ages. Now, if you if you trod out City So and let's say Layden Robinson wins the job and he plays right guard and you're confident that you've got these two big bad guards, that's an upgrade. David Andrews, hopefully he's healthy. It's really the left tackle issue, which is why John, which is why I know it for Robinson's an upgrade. He could win a poop show. He could win a bum battle or whatever. Hobo fight. The Hobo rumble, the Hobo rumble was last year right tackle. Yeah, no, but this offensive line, they could put five guys out there that quote won the jobs. That doesn't mean they're good. Just because you win a job doesn't mean you're good. Justin Berg watching live on YouTube, Andy, any idea who they'll start a left tackle? Is it the guy from Pittsburgh or a guy like Wheatley? I would say Chuck's a core for is the clubhouse leader to start a left tackle. Yeah, his job to lose. It is his job to lose right now. Now he could lose it. I don't rule that out. It's a creepy made to lose it by Thursday. He lost his right tackle job in Pittsburgh. And now he's a left tackle position. He hasn't played in forever. So two snaps. Yeah, he could lose it. Two snaps in the pros at the left tackle. More than you and I, that's good. Okay. Well, I mean, he gets paid more too. I mean, this is what he does for a living, so yeah. So, all right. So he's the one under most pressure. You say three and 14. I say, I'm going to go with, I'm going to go with six and 11. Six and 11. All right. So 50 says 50 pounds go six and 11. Just, I just feel like, I just feel like the Patriots feel, it's not like blind faith. Fitzy just being the Fox bro fanboy once again. Now I just see, I see some of the mistakes they made last year not getting made again. Now, look, they may, now they may clean up some of the mistakes of years past. And maybe they have, maybe they have a full seat for the first year and three years. Maybe they actually have, oh, God forbid, a competent offensive line coach for the whole year. Patricia had to bail on his job leaving at the hands of Billy Yates in 2022, because he was in over his head call and plays. Last year, Adrian Clem was yelling at Matt Groh wasn't happy with the talent he had. He and Bill O'Brien apparently had issues or so, so we believe. And then he had a health issue and he disappeared. So the offensive line has been a mess because they haven't had someone there with them, guiding them holding their hand and kicking their ass the whole entire time. It'd be nice actually to have one singular voice guide in the offensive line. Maybe a core for his decent. Look at this. He can't be worse than a disinterested Trent Brown, Vadarian Lowe, who Connor McDermott and the other creative dollar store tackles. He absolutely could be worse than Connor McDermott and he absolutely will be worse than Trent Brown, who at least for a portion of the year was engaged in good. Remember mid-season when Trent Brown told us he was the best player on the team or the best player on the offense? And then he kind of pissed all over that and sulked and didn't play the rest of the way. And did he have an injury or was he just a bad apple? Revenge game coming week one, bro. Yeah, well, if he plays. But no, it absolutely could be worse. Absolutely the offensive line could be worse because if you stink, remember, they've stunk horrifically at right tackle for the most part of the last couple of years. Now they're going to stink over last year. Now, yeah, because Bill was hesitant to do that, but now they can sink a left tackle from week one on. Week one straight through the season, they could stink at left tackle. There aren't too many teams that stink at left tackle that win many games. Generally, when you stink horrifically at left tackle, you look for a left tackle in the top five picks of the following year's draft. That's how that works. All right. So you believe you're calling for week five against the dolphins. So these are our training, not our full season predictions. These are our training camp predictions. But we've offered both offered up records. Andy, three and 14. I say six and 11. You say Drake may starts week five. I say week nine on the road in Tennessee. Who he won't start on the road. That would. Why not? I think he starts. But isn't that a soft land? They want people to go to Gillette Stadium. And they wouldn't even do that to see the final game in Bill Belichick's tenure. I'm telling you snowing sideways was a miserable day. I'm telling you he started a game at home in front of the home crowd to try to inject life to get some ticket sales. TD says week 10. That would be on the road in Chicago, a game that I anticipate or at least plan to attend as well in person. So get ready for a heart and lions on the six rings post game show for that one, buddy. I mean, hey, John, he might be watching right now. Nice job, teammate. Andy, Andy Hart fostering that great team wide spirit right there. The togetherness, the band of brothers change. I mean, I told you that. I know you are so masshole in that. Like, just give me a constant and consistent. Like, even if it's shitty, keep it shitty. Excuse I'm right here. I can hear you. Well, I mean, I mean, you specifically. All right. We are mid season four. I love it. Uh, hey, all right. So let's give him a couple other. You say Drake may week five. I say week nine. Let's do a couple other, let's do a couple other camp predictions. Okay. One, um, one is, uh, let's say camp star. Who is the player? Be he a wide receiver or running back a corner or more? Who is the person that everyone three weeks from now is talking about, you know, sitting around on the beach like, hey, did you see that blank? Uh, or did you see that play from so and so? They flash maybe in the first game against Carolina. Who's the buzziest camp standout? DiMario Douglas. Now, I mean, May is in contention. Um, but I think DiMario Douglas, his quickness, the, the fact that I think they're going to be looking to get rid of the ball quickly in this offense. Quick throws to the slot guy. Let's go back to those days. And he just looks cool. I think he's likable. Like, I, I just think everything about him screams. Some are fun. Some are training camp star. Now we'll see the rest of the, the crap. Um, it's shitty and we're keeping it shitty. I got to tell you, even for this early in the morning, I'm not sure how caffeinated you people are, but you're bringing the heat in the comments section early and often, which I appreciate. All right. So far in the comments section, we've got J. Von Baker, J. Von Baker, Alex Martinez says, Jaheem Bell, that would be a surprise. Delusional Patriots fan, Ramon Dre Stevenson. Um, can he be a camp standout? Can he look that much different? Could his usage behind, I mean, first the offensive line has to perform number one and number two, the offense has to be coordinated and competent and, you know, professional and organized. We'll see how long it takes for them to look, you know, they're, they're just, they're taking in so much, the old playbook, which was this big is gone. And now here's this new playbook with new terms, new slogan, new acronyms, all that jazz. It's going to take a while. Um, I'm going to go with Baker as well, just because I think Patriots fans have yearned to see, Christian Gonzalez was also on the table once again, because he looks healthy. He looks happy. Uh, if you can get, I don't know, you know, let's, let's hope we get more than 12 and a half games out of him this year. We can, if we can actually get most of, most of a season or a full season. How about we shoot for four, but, you know, four full games and, and grow from there. Over three and a quarter. Full games. Yeah. Hey, may not want to be spending. Mom, dad, can you guys finish making those mortgage payments? Cause, uh, this rookie contract may run out sooner than we think. I, he's going to be great this year, but I'm going to go with Baker just because the second he, and apparently he was limited in training camp because he had a fractured thumb. Or so Andrew Callahan, let us know the earlier this week. You're taking a guy who's already been hurt before they even hit anybody as your breakout guy. Good, good call. Uh, no, I think because you're going to actually see, like we haven't seen, what's the, when's the last time anyone saw a highlight play from a wide receiver in Patriots training camp? There's been some. Yeah, I didn't say that with that ton of comp. I mean, like confidence, but there's being a man, a 50/50 ball, leaping up to make like the, didn't he make some nice contested catches before he got a little dinged up back in spring practices as well? He flashed a, he flashed a little bit. He absolutely flashed a little bit. Now, remember, Tyquan Thornton has flashed at times in the summer and the spring too. So like, let's not totally discount him. It's when he gets to the regular September is what screws him when he gets to September. Oh, you mean actual gameplay, uh, having an opponent. And that's why, um, I would shoot down the delusional Patriots fans, Ramondre Stevenson idea. I think Ramondre Stevenson has a chance to be the breakout star of the regular season, the star of this team, this book, but it's hard to be the star in training camp in the run game. They basically do nothing full contact, very, very, very limited full contact, full running game. And that's why the old guys then end up on all the talking head shows, and be like, they're ruining the game and can't know. Right. And it's why the only hit sucks early in the year. That'll jump on six rings and he'll be like, they screwed the game up. Nobody can hit each other anymore. It's flag football. Right. And, and that's why most breakout stars or talking points in the summer come from the passing game. So tomorrow, Douglas, Gervan Baker, you know, you bring up one that I think is a sneaky negative, in a way, because if Christian Gonzalez is the star of training camp, my guess is it involves him running back some pick sixes on Drake May. Drake May whistling some putt passes into it. Do it now though. Go ahead. Throw your picks now. Make your mistakes now. We fall down so we can learn to pick ourselves up again. How do you know, how do you know how to do something correctly, unless you find a way to do it. If you did it incorrect and then taught yourself or had someone instruct you otherwise, like now's the time to screw up and crap the bed. I'm fine with all of that. I don't need, I don't need Drake May, nor do I anticipate. I don't think there's anyone from the fans to media alike that anticipates Drake May playing a flawless, seamless, you know, mid-brady level professional training camp. There are times he's going to flash and the Patriots will release slow-mo videos accompanied by some sort of cool hip-hop music that they probably got licensed to of him like throwing a sideways pass, juking someone out, dropping a bomb in the bucket. And we're going to be like, he's him, he's the one, he's ready. And then meanwhile, you'll be like, yeah, that was the one highlight from that day of practice where he also took seven sacks and threw three picks. Yes, he hits guys in stride. And I mean defensive guys, not just offensive guys, like he's, he's really good at hitting fellow players on the field in stride. Unfortunately, sometimes it's for the, he's Otis Smith. We used to joke about Otis Smith playing a playmaker for both teams. OTIS, my man. I think Drake May will make a lot of plays this year. Some will be for the Patriots and some unfortunately will definitely be for the opposition. All right. Let's see, we'll get a couple more predictions in before Andy has to roll out to Galette Stadium to listen to the pre-camp pressers from coach and others. Let's see, how do you get the record? We said, I got Baker, you have tomorrow Douglas for the camp standout. Could pop star could be a big thing this year? Again, let's just hope he learns to get down, get out of bounds and not take big hits like he did. As a rookie, who's the first big surprise cut or trade? So, I love this and if he was healthy, I think it would be cold, strange. Unfortunately, he's not healthy. So I think that probably eliminates that from happening. I think the most likely candidate people will point to is Juju Smith-Shuster. Guy that some people thought was a number one receiver a year ago. We made it 35 minutes into a podcast and haven't mentioned it. I think that tells you what Juju is and this youth movement, you know, Keishan Booty gets the charges dropped. I don't know if that necessarily means he'll get no punishment from the NFL. They could still give him a punishment if they wanted to. But I think, yeah, Vinny said the third. It's Savile. Yep, we got a couple of Judons. How many Ls in a row? Five Ls in a row. He's the third, so it's Savile and then the third. Bill Bell, guys, he's one of my guys up there in the Potom Club. Now, a bunch of people say in Judon because he could get traded. He's not obviously not going to get cut. What do they do and what do they do about that? How does this resolve itself? Like does he just play it out and get the money? Does he not go full tilt all season so he can preserve himself for that contract elsewhere? Or do they find a way to reach contractual harmony and allow the dude with the red sleeves to end his career in Foxborough? I don't think they do a contract. I think his asking has been too high. And I'm not sure he even knows what he wants. I've gotten some indication that every time they kind of negotiate, he's all over the map or his representatives are all over the map and things are changing and that. Okay, moving the goalpost on his contract. Like you offered up like you should get him for like three years, 50 million dollars like middle of the edge defender more than he used to make and a nice chunk of change up front that he and his family can probably afford to go to market basket on for years to come. But he's not going to get to Neil Hunter, not even Jonathan Grenard money. Like he's not going to get 25, 26 million. Not going to get Max Crosby money. He's on the other side of 30 coming off a torn bicep but still getting tens of millions of dollars to play football for the next couple of years would make a lot of sense. It would make a ton of sense, but you have to convince the player. It makes a ton of sense and the player wants a lot of money. Joey, he would not surprise me because I'm somewhat surprised that Zappy is still here. So that would not surprise me at all. He was a broken man in the spring in OTAs and minicamp. I did hear a good interesting theory when John Lyons was with me Friday on the midday show and he said Bailey Zappy, he wasn't on his list of five players to keep an eye on, but he doesn't think he's going to get cut as quickly as a lot of other people do because it's going to take until Drake May plays an entire camp and proves that if Brissette is going to be the starter, you have a backup you're comfortable with. Like if Drake May is super unprepared and super not NFL ready, how can you list him as the backup just because you spent the third overall pick on him? You may still need to make him like a healthy scratch a few times, potentially. You may want to have the Zapper back there as your backup for the first couple of weeks. Maybe except for the fact that he stinks too. So just because he's experienced in stinks, I don't really know if it makes a difference. The Dietrich Wise one, Jeff Steinberg says, that's the first one here that I consider an actual surprise cut. If Dietrich Wise got cut, I'd be stunned. Absolutely stone cold stunned. I think there's definitely room for Keon White to eat on this roster, along with Dietrich Wise. I think Wise is part of the foundation of what should be a very good front. No Brad Stone, I don't think they can cut Milton. I agree with you cutting Joe. Someone grabs that Bazooka Joe arm in a heartbeat. Yeah, that's why Zappy's going to be, I mean, nobody wanted Zappy when he was cut last year. Zappy has no value. There's been no injuries. Like, I don't think there's any desperation. I'll give you a seventh round pick for Zappy. And I do wonder at some point, I go back to those comments he made. Do you think you're competing for the job? That's what I was told. I think at some point, his air, I don't think he fits in with what they want to, you know, an optimistic new age world, everybody rowing in the same direction. At no fault of his own, I think Bailey Zappy is going to be sort of depressed, not happy. And I'm not saying he's going to be like this child and create all these issues. He's Bailey Zappy, but I just don't think he fits in. You have a youthful room with May and Milton. You have the clear holdover who's comfortable in the holdover role in Bursette. Zappy just doesn't fit in any sense, emotionally, physically, everything. He just doesn't fit through. No, it doesn't fit. Hopefully, he can find his way to being a third stringer somewhere else and, you know, Zappy says youthful as a screen door, stopping a fart. That's the thing. Jordan Watson always brings the heat in the comment section. Jordan, good job, buddy. Next, Gance, it's on Uncle Fitzy. All right. Lastly, like I said, John Lyons published his five Patriots that he's most keen to see. And then I had a couple extra ones that I want to keep my eye on as well. I'm, I for one, I'm interested in seeing Layden Robinson. I want to see if Marcelo's dial can play corner on the outside. Could he shift over to free safety? Yeah, but there's so many different, you could honestly list 50 or 60 of these players. And nobody would say of your five of the 50 or 60. Like, hmm, those are, those don't seem like people that I would have an eye on as well. Like I can't wait to see if Antonio Gibson fits. And if you can get the chub and hunt thing going on with Stevenson and Gibson now in Van Pelt's office. So Lyons had his, I shared mine on the radio. Andy, who are the guys that you are most locked in on? So I treated this like Mike Mayuck. And he always made top fives that included like eight people tied for the last spot. And you know, covered all his bases. So I have five people I'm keeping my eye on that I think really, really matter. Starting caliber people, which I think is important for this team who the starters are. So I'll zip through those. And then I have a secondary list of non starters that I'm very much focused on. So first group of starter May, Gonzo, Mondre, Okora, four and Douglas. To me, those guys could really decide if those are all hits this year, if they are all on the upside of their potential, that's how you get to six or seven wins fits Gerald. Okora for is the, the most interesting man in Foxborough. He is the guy you said it was may under the most pressure. Okora for is to me number one. If this guy balls out, if this guy fits, if he actually is competent and left tackle. Hey, maybe the past don't have a line issue. Hey, maybe Drake, Maine, Brissette, don't have to fall in their ass 17 times a game. And they'll be validated for the faith that they put in a guy that was cut from the Steelers and only played right tackle. So hey, and maybe that cheetah woman did a great job running the Secret Service. You are full of shit today. She did the impossible. She unified everybody. Democrats, Republicans, independents. We're not an easy time. It's you're a clown lady. We all agree, you stink at your job. You are not good at what you do. And there's nothing better than politicians when they are in bully mode, when they smell blood in the water and can just go all in on somebody in one of those here. And this polarized America unifying us together. Tremendous. Secret Service did not do their job and the Patriots are going to win 10 games. She's the great American. She brought people together. My secondary list, these guys that I don't think are going to start. But these guys could have major impacts as role players, complementary players and flat out. I don't know what to expect from them. I'm intrigued by them. So mappu, one of the most interesting athletes on the field. I don't know if he can play. Maybe go join American gladiators, the reducks or something because you're big, you're fast, you're athletic. I just don't know if you play football at a high level at any one position. He on white, I told you early on long before the head coach pinpointed him as a guy, making a year to jump. Keon White looks like a guy ready to bust some asses, not slap asses, bust some asses in front of him on a regular basis. One sack, 16 pressures last year, turn a quarter of those into sacks, five, six sacks. Oh yeah, he's coming. I'm telling you, he's coming. You're going to, he's going to be a fan favorite because he's also an edgy personality that I am intrigued by. Polk and Baker have to be on any list that you put together like this, the rookie receivers. And then Marcus Jones, because I don't know what the hell Marcus Jones is. I don't know if he's a slot corner because you know my doubts about him as a corner back. I think he's better at other things with the ball in his hands. Is he going to be a kick return or a punt returner? Will he get chances in the offensive side of the ball? Like the whole thing. How about free safety? Sure. I mean, I don't know if he can play it. But Freisa, I think Marcus Jones, a little like Mapu. If I were putting together a list of the best athletes on the Patriots, I think Marcus Jones is in the mix. If I'm putting together a list of the best football players on the Patriots, I'm not sure Marcus Jones is in the mix. So that's the divide there. But it should be fun to watch. And he's a nice fellow. Nice smile. Seems to really enjoy football. He does. Seems like it seems like a quality upstanding matter. And we need quality upstanding members of the locker room, society, etc. As well. Not that we had a team full of derelicts, neirdo wells, criminals, and miscreants the last couple of years. But hey, listen, if you've got the special assistant to the head coach, be in the preacher man who led the Patriots for so long, their spiritual core, their emotional center and Matthews later, if he's still sticking around. Again, the one thing I can tell you is that we know nothing. We know next to nothing about this football team. I agree, you know nothing. Yes, yes, yes, yes. You are Jon Snow. This is my second Jon Snow at reference. You know nothing, Andy Hart. We know what we know and we know what we don't know. And that is a whole hell of a lot heading into this particular training camp. Questions galore. It is going to be absolutely fascinating. I cannot wait. I cannot. That may be my word. Fascinated. I'm going to be, I predict I'm going to be fascinated by this team one way or another. Like, wow, they actually came together. They overcame the mistakes of recent years and they're blazing a trail in a positive new direction. Or, wow, I never had any idea that Rod Ruschs, the spirit of Rod Rusch could come through and Gerard Mayo in company. We'll see. Well, Nick McPherson. Everybody loved Nick McPherson. He just, they weren't very good when Nick McPherson was their coach. Everybody loves Gerard Mayo. There's still the possibility, even if we love you Gerard, you're not a very good coach and they don't win for you. Oh, look at this. Look at this. The Patriots best player will be Bryce Parringer. Oh, come on, Jeff. Oh, it's possible. They're best golfer for sure. And he may be doing that nice and early this year as well. We'll see. I also want to keep my eye on the Ryland versus Sly battle as well, because Chad Ryland really sucked last year. And if you can actually make 80% or more of your kicks, you might be in more games than not. Not saying, but also just saying. My bad news here is, I think they both kind of stink. I think you have two bad kickers vying for the job. You might be looking for a cast off. Somebody else whose second kicker is better than yours. Like Nick Folk, we sent Nick Folk to the Titans last year. We might be looking to get some Nick Folk out there. Somebody who loses the job in another camp, but is still better than Sly and Ryland. I still am this big kick, Nick. Oh, for the days of Nick Folk, the folk hero, the folk star. Damn it. Well, we traded Folk for Polk. So I think Jalen Polk's going to be a pleasant surprise as well. But here's the thing. We have so much time to see who's going to be a star, who's going to sink like a stone, who's going to make the team, who's going to make the headlines. Here's what we have coming up for you guys. Andy and I will be doing as many of these analytical fan-based forum podcasts throughout the season. Each and every day at training camp, after camp, we'll do a quick 15 to 20-minute reaction pod to tell you what we saw, what we think. We'll also be doing quick recap videos, letting you know all the headlines and things that you need. Oh, you people. Oh my gosh. I can't even read half of these comments now. I still want to hold on to my job. I like it, Brad. You guys are great. You guys are awesome. Yeah, we'll be doing the pods, reacting at the end of every practice. We'll be on the radio bunch, new videos as well. And six-rings post-game shows, following all three pretend season football games. And of course, you can hear us on WEI Live after each and every Patriots game. All right, Andy. You need to get the to the stadium for the pressers. I need to wrap this up and make sure it gets published on the pod feed. Thank you everyone for playing along. Great to have you live on the Fitzy GFI and E.E.I. socials. This has been the latest edition of Six Rings and Football Things brought to you by WEI Odyssey in 2,400 sports. For Terp, for my dog who's walking out of the room, the background for Andy and everyone else involved today. Thanks for listening. We'll talk to you soon. Good day, God bless and go Pats!
On the eve of Patriots Training Camp 2024, Fitzy and Hart offer their predictions for what's to come as the team heads into the unknown under new coaching, with a new quarterback and more. Who will shine? Who will sink? Who will be a star? Who might be shipped out early? We'll make our calls before the new season's prep begins.
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