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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. You're listening to Fitzy and Lions on WEDI. I was of the belief that Mac Jones was going to start as a rookie for the New England Patriots. I do not feel the same way about Drake May, despite being a Drake May fan. So my question is, do I feel less confident in the rookie quarterback this time around because of the rookie quarterback, or because of the guy he's competing with? The guy he's competing with. You know, the gap between Ken Newton and Mac Jones in terms of being able to get the ball out on time accurately and manipulate things at the line of scrimmage and understand what they were looking at was non-existent. I don't think Drake May has a shot. I think it was Chad Graff. I was reading his story on the athletic and he said 35% chance the Drake May is the opening day starter, which certainly isn't walking the plank and saying I think it's going to happen, but I don't think it's even close to that. I mean, he has to win by frigging knockout and injury to be starting on day one. NBC Sports Boston's Tom E. Curran joining the afternoon program of Jones and Hart earlier this week, discussing the camp to come for the New England Patriots, which opens up this Wednesday, as well as the competition for new starting quarterback in the post-Mac Jones era. This is Fitzy and Lyons coming to you all across WEI, our affiliates, the Odyssey app, and beyond we're with you until four o'clock today. Don't forget Mass Mutual pregame show at 6'10". The Red Sox are the Sunday night baseball game on ESPN. And of course, you can hear the call right here on the Red Sox radio network with Tyler Murray and the great Lou Merloni. So how does that make you feel as we head into camp? Obviously the biggest question. I'm not even really sure, actually. Let me pull back. I agree with everything I heard from Tom and I read that Chad Graff story in the athletic. It seems to make sense to me, John, that you bring in a guy like Jacobi Bursett because you think he should be the temporary starter. He should be the bridge quarterback if you want to, like the holding QB. He's going to stand guard until at which time Drake May is ready or there. So out of it that it only makes sense to start Drake May at that point and just get the rook in there for some licks and some experience. But that all makes sense to me. What would you say between like if you had to go between biggest question mark on the team? Is it head coach? Is it coordinators? Is it the starting quarterback job? Is it the assimilation of all the new players they've added? Or is there something else that comes to mind for you? So I think it's the quarterback, but the head coach is a close second because as we saw for 20 years here, if you're going to be a great team, you need a great quarterback, but you also need a great head coach. And, you know, you can, I personally put quarterback maybe slightly ahead of head coach, but if you're going to be a great team, you have to have both. And I put the quarterback first here because again, I think the position is just a little bit more important in today's NFL, but also the unknown, right? Since Brady left. The Cam Newton experiment failed. The Jared Stidham waiting in the wings experiment failed. The Mac Jones experiment failed. Even Zappimania got cured pretty quickly and failed. So there's been a lot of failure at the quarterback position over the last five years. And now they have a guy who, if you watched him in college, if you're into the draft, there's a lot to like there, but there are some things that he does need to fix in Drake May, and he does need to improve on. And if he can do those things, the Patriots can be all set at the quarterback position and have one of the better ones for a while. But if he can't do those things or they run into trouble, then we're in a couple of years going to be turning around having this conversation again about another failed experiment at quarterback, which I don't necessarily think is going to happen, but that's still the biggest question because we just don't know exactly how it's going to work out. There's uncertainty there, right? In the past, you knew you'd have good quarterback play from Brady, or you knew you would have good coaching from Belichick or Josh McDaniel's is OC. Now, you don't really have that certainty. And that's why, to me, May is the biggest question followed closely by Mayo. Yeah, I think I have to agree with you. But like you said, they are neck and neck because there was somebody through whom all edicts, all messages, all styles, all tones, all messages, all plays, all plans. Everything ran through Belichick for two and a half decades here. And now it's all being done differently. And now it's just a completely new era. It's a new regime. It's a new everything. So, yeah, I am as intrigued as anyone else to see how the starting quarterback race shakes out, to see how long Jacobi Versett may be the starter, if he actually earns it, if he beats out Drake May fair and square, how long can he hold down the fort? How long can, you know, he stand off the dogs and hold guard until Drake May is ready? There's so much, there's so much to consider there, and I can't wait to see what Drake May is like. Have they worked on the hitch? Have they worked on his feet? How does he adapt from going from a shotgun style, you know, quote, pro offense in college, basically kind of aerating it like everyone else to now having to drop back under center, changing the footwork and the throwing motion up a bit. Maybe a more precision-based offense if indeed Alex Van Pelt's offense resembles the Cleveland Brown offense of years, of recent years, and if it's kind of West Coast-ish or West Coast offense adjacent. That's all fascinating. We all should be concerned about that. We're all going to have plenty of time to analyze, wrap our minds around it, and decide when we want to see Drake May get in there as well under center. But to me, like, I just can't wait to see how the whole operation works. It's just so good. And that's the key word, right? Fitsy is the operation because we do. It's a massive operation. Right, and we knew for two and a half decades, like you said, how things were going to be run, what they were going to do, because the Patriots scheme-wise and on the field over two and a half decades, were actually really adaptable. Right, a lot of people looked at Belichick as setting his own ways, but if you really go back and through it, the offense they ran in 2002 was a lot different than the one in '07, which is a lot different than the one in 2010 or 2018, right? They would evolve and they would adapt on the field. But off the field and how they ran their program was very stable for 25 years. Now, and again, some of it's the simple questions, like, how does Gerard Mayo want to run a training camp practice? How does he want to schedule practice? And we already have the early schedule training camp, but how does he want to schedule the practice days? Right, what does he think of joint practices, which we know Belichick thought were really valuable and wanted a bunch of them? Well, he's only got one against the Eagles set up. So what does he think of joint practice? How does he manage reps, not just a QB, but left tackle? How much does he let his assistants just coach and how much does he dive in? Are there certain positions he dives in more than others? Like all these things that a month from now will probably know the answers to or at least have an early indication. We have no idea because all we've seen of Gerard Mayo is him run the defense with Steve Belichick and do a great job with that for five years and then have one spring and mini-campus head coach. Like all these other things, like how does he approach cut down day? Does he cut any guys early? Does he wait till the last minute? Does he want eight offensive linemen and fewer running backs? Are they going to keep six or seven wide receivers? Who does he have a relationship with and what is he like engaging and interacting? How much does Alex van Pelt factor into those decisions? Does he work more with Demarcus Covington because Gerard Mayo obviously was part of the defensive coordination the last couple of years and a world champion linebacker for the Patriots? Or because he knows they needed to quote weaponize the offense and prioritize revamping the entire offensive operation. Does he spend more time with Alex van Pelt getting to know these receivers? What's his investment in special teams? There's a new kickoff for Drake May. All the special teams have been a trash fire the last couple of years. A, the special teams you're right have been atrocious since 2021. B, you have a brand new kickoff rule which is going to greatly affect how the game has played at least for that play every game. Another great point. Just like your Bailey Zappy point the other day that Bailey Zappy may have to be kept around because if Drake May isn't ready, maybe Bailey Zappy will have to stick around for a little while and be the backup until at which point maybe they could release him or trade him or whatever. But yeah, I keep forgetting about the new kit. Yeah. Well, and even like you knew like Belichick signed Chris Board to a big contract and other special teamers. And sometimes that was smart, but sometimes he went overboard and we criticized him for it. Does Gerard Mayo agree there? But does Gerard Mayo agree with him? Or does he say no, I'm not going to prioritize signing special teams guys. I'm going to just have some of my offense and defense reserves, you know, fill out special teams. You know, what is he going to do with Marcus Jones, who was one of the best partners in the league. He was a second team all pro a couple of years ago. Is he going to have him return kicks too? Like all these little schematic things and big picture things. They're all unanswered just all the way down to how's he going to handle press conferences as head coach, you know, after games, which we just haven't seen like all these things are unanswered. And I think it's something that wild Drake may is the biggest question. All this stuff with Mayo. It's a close second. So, and by the way, a quick question. Do you know where Chris board signed this off season because he was released by the Patriots just before the day before the Ides of March. I should know that. And I totally forgot because he came from Detroit. He signed with the Ravens. Yes. Yep. That makes total sense. He'll be an absolute menace for it. He'll have another pro bowl season down there with them. He'll be like Chris sale on the Braves. 100%. Of course he will. We'll make some big play in the AFC Championship game. We've seen. Yeah. He'll have. You know what he'll do? He'll have a he'll have a tackle and a fumble recovery on opening night against the Chiefs as well. And by the way, I was watching a little bit of Chiefs camp. You know, for all the jokes everyone wants to make about Patrick Mahomes spending the off season. Eating, you know, little Debbie's having a baseball jersey on him called Ficky Mantle, right? Yeah. Exactly. King cones and Coors light showing up with a dad bought a camp, moving just fine and throwing against his body, dropping 55 yard bombs down the field, even if it's against air or no padded practices to save your worthy. Like anyone who's like, Oh, now this is going to be the year. Yeah. You know, my homes. He can't be Brady. He's going to take a step back. No way they can three Pete. Yeah. They didn't have any great wide receivers last year and they won the World Championship. Kelsey is a year older, but they just added Hollywood Brown and Xavier worthy. So if you if you're not worried about the Chiefs, you may want to thank you. This reminds me of like when the Patriots were at the height of their powers and they'd be in the AFC Championship game, but then still get like great guys in the draft the following year. It's just it's it's like how they went to the Super Bowl in '07, lost the Giants and then they get a top 10 pick and get Gerard Mayo in '08. It's it's kind of reminded like that's kind of where the Chiefs are right now where it feels like just about everything is like even think about their off season. Rishi Rice has that bad incident with the car crash and gets in trouble. He may not be there long term. And of course, Xavier worthy falls into their lap in the draft in their biggest rival, the Buffalo Bills trade away Stefan Diggs. Right. It's it's it's just it feels like again, like the Patriots were like the Patriots win the Super Bowl in '03 and Corey Dillon becomes available for like a second round pick and they get them. Yeah, the Ravens are the Ravens are going to give him a run. We'll talk a little general NFL in the three o'clock hours. Well, the Ravens will give him a run. Joe Burrow is back in Cincinnati. And of course, there is the rising storm that is the Houston Texans down there as well with rookie second year quarterback CJ Stroud and others as well. So yeah, I to me, it's it's the it's the way Gerard Mayo goes about business. Like you mentioned, what's he going to be like after a game? What's his post game press are going to be like in victory and probably to be seen more likely than not this year in defeat as well. It's going to make things fascinating because he's we've already gotten a feel from Gerard Mayo for what he's going to be like when he's emotionally neutral. And just offering up insight and answering questions at large from the Phil Perry's and the Mike G yard. He's in the Greg Badards of the world. He's been very pleasant. He's been rather insightful. He's given more information. He even mentioned after he provided an update this spring that Kendrick porn would not be on the practice field this spring as he recovers from his ACL surgery, which by all accounts is going very well. And that you wouldn't see Cole Strange till at least this fall because he's had a setback with his knee and it was more damaged than originally anticipated. He then even said that you guys weren't expecting that much information. You know, that's probably more than you're used to getting. So he's kind of setting. He's set two precedents for himself. One that he's going to offer up lots of little more information that he's going to be a little more forthcoming and insightful than Bill Belichick, though he's not doing business like Bill Belichick and two. Sometimes when he does that, he has to walk those words back because at times it didn't exactly seem like they were burning some cash. And he also said they were going to win many more games than they won last year. And if that doesn't work out in their favor, Johnny, there's a little account called old takes exposed that I'm sure would love to get a hold of that audio. Yeah, and Mayo is kind of it's a delicate balance for him because I understand he's his own man. He's going to want to do some things differently than Belichick. And that's his right. And I'm sure there are some things that he can do differently than Belichick that will work. But you also don't want to get too far away from stuff that made you consistently the best coach team in the NFL and got you to nine Super Bowls, right? And I know the easy comment there is, well, you get the nine Super Bowls because you have Brady. Sure. But all those other things you did on the margin where you was step ahead of opponents or you were ready for things or you, you know, in free agency and you were able to manage your money and your draft capital to consistently be good around Tom Brady. Like, you don't want to get too far away from that stuff. So again, there's things he can do that are new that probably, you know, will be a good thing and a welcome change, but you have to be careful that you don't just do the opposite of every. And I think Mayo is smart enough to that that won't happen. But again, you got to be careful. You don't just do the opposite of everything. Build it because a lot of the stuff bill did for 25 years was correct. And even at the end last year, okay, their offense was terrible, but their defense was still one of the best in the league. So you really don't want you want to change a lot on offense, but you don't want to get too far away from what you did defensively the last few years. So it's, it's a delicate balance for Mayo and you're right about the old takes exposed thing like everybody loves openness until you start losing. And then they say you should stop talking. Right. So like just and it's the reverse of Bella check everybody loved him snorting at the microphone when they were winning. And then they got really old for people when they had back to back losing seasons the last two years. So it's just, it's a, it's a very delicate, especially in year one, like this time next year, let's just say the Patriots go six and 11 or seven and 10. We can sit here and say, all right, hey, it's another draft. You know, it's over and done with. They have potentially a young core. They won a couple more games than they did in Bella checks final year. Maybe they're on the right track, but right now we have nothing really to go on. So this first year, I think is especially kind of putting, not in an awkward spot, but especially maybe a little delicate than it will be in the future. All right. So earlier this week, you published on W E E I dot com. And then we had a chance to debate to list debate and rationalize your list of the five players you will have your eyes on when Patriots training camp kicks off on Wednesday. I replied with my five players. Now, I'll be honest, when I put out my list of five players, I would have my eye on. I kind of guessed who some of yours were, so I figured you had a couple on the list, couple no brainers. So not that I wanted to make my list like two precious, two unique or totally contrarian, but I think when you add our two lists together, you kind of come up with the 10 guys. I think everyone is going to want to keep their eyes on. So why don't you let's bust out your list, John. Once again, the players that we think we're going to want to keep our eyes on that you will be most interested in and curious in hearing about once camp gets go. Once camp gets going this Wednesday, and by the way, just in case anyone wants to attend camp. The first day of training camp is Wednesday, July 24th, the gates open at 10 and practice begins at 11. So yeah, there you go. Gates are open at 10. So a little bit later, that's interesting. Usually I think that's another thing. And we can. I mean, there might be no real reason for it, but still they used to do 930 a.m. Now they're doing 11 a.m. Is there a reason for like and I know it sounds trivial, but it's just all these little things that they do differently or that they do. We're going to be learning kind of on the fly about how drawed mail approaches this stuff. You know, maybe maybe drawed mail likes to sleep in. Maybe he likes a big breakfast. Maybe he wants to maybe there's a sports science thing that says, you know, if guys get an extra hour of sleep and practice an hour later, you get it's more productive. Or maybe just like you said, says, I want to wake up an hour later, you know, or he'll rather stay up an hour later on the back end at night. It's funny. You mentioned that though, my wife got a copy of this like little book called the nine habits, the nine habits, the nine healthy habits of successful people in life. And I took a quick look at it this morning. Funny thing was, John, there was no mention of being a successful person by staying up late drinking beer eating Pringles and watching season six of Cobra Kai. Really? Nope. I was just surprised as you are. See, I thought that would have just been the pinnacle of human achievement. I couldn't help it. Come on. Like Cobra Kai is like the Pringles of TV shows on Netflix. Once you have one. Also unhealthy. Also completely. Yeah. Yeah. All right. So give me a first player, John, before we go to break. So, well, the obvious one, we don't really have to go into this. Drake may, right? We are talking about that. Yeah. We got that. The next one for me, though, and I think it's real close behind May. Chuck Wano, a core four, right? So he, they sign him to potentially be their left tackle. They also draft Kaden Wallace out of Penn State. A core four played six years in the NFL for the Steelers. Two total snaps at left tackle the rest of time on the right side. Kaden Wallace, 2,200 snaps at Penn State. All of them at right tackle. So the Patriots have a massive question mark at left tackle and what they're going to do. Not just for Jacobi Brissette, but that's also Drake May's blindside too. I want to see, how does a core four in Wallace, but specifically a core four? Cause he's the vet and I think he'll have the early leg up. How do they progress? Can they be a legit starting NFL tackle? Because there were left tackle options out there in free agency. The Jonah Williams one stands out the most to me. There were left tackle options in the draft. They could have gone with instead of Jalen Polk and the second round. So it seems to me like Mayo and Wolf believe either a core four or Wallace can be a legit left tackle. It's a risk and I want to see personally how that works out. Cause if that works out well, hey, you're in great shape. If it doesn't, you might be in for some serious problems on the left side of your offensive line. I think if I had to name a player or select a player, not named Drake May, who was the most important player at Patscamp 2024, it would be Chuck's a core four. Yeah. I don't see, I actually don't see how he wouldn't be the most pivotal player because if he comes out and showcases, he still belongs on an NFL offensive line that he can block his ass off that the blind side of Brissette and or May is locked down this year and that though he had his disagreements with the Steelers offense and shall we say controversial offensive coordinator, much credit, the off criticize Matt Canada that he can switch from the right side to the left side, validating the faith that the Mac grows and most especially the Elliott Wolfson, Alonzo, Highsmith placed in him, that'll be fantastic. And if it's another off season where the Patriots failed to put, took a blind eye to the blind side of the quarterback, then we may be in for no matter how good the receivers are or how much further ahead of his development than we thought Drake May could be. We could be in for a long season, Johnny. So he is a natural to be at the top of the five players to watch list. All right. We're just getting started with the players. We have our eyes on as Pat's camp 2024 kicks off this Wednesday at 10 a.m. for the gates. 11 o'clock the practice begins 6 1 7 7 7 9 7 9 3 7. You can jump right in here with Fitzy and Lyons talking Patriots on E.E.I. With Walmart's new fresh and frozen subscriptions, you can save time when you 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 your perception perception on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcast. Just a couple of minutes until three o'clock here on a beautiful summer Sunday on Boston Sports Original W E E I. Your old pals Nick Fitzy Stevens and John Lyons here talking up. The New England Patriots in advance of training camp opening up this week, we just got into our respective five players, we're going to keep a good eye on when training camp opens up this Wednesday. John listed off his first player, but so the way we get this going was Drake may is on anyone's list of five players. You want to keep your eye on in training camp because well, he's the future. He's the hope. He's the hype under center. So goes Drake may so go the New England Patriots this season, possibly for all five years of his rookie contract and hopefully beyond because I think we all believe Drake may looks like he has the tools, the affability, the talent and the demeanor necessary to succeed in the NFL. Look, I've said before as well, you know, if there's any way that Drake may can show us why Brian Dayball looked at him with the, the, the, with such amorous eyes with the lust that he had when he was talking to him in that clip that was released from hard knocks off season with the New York football giants, then we've got a real one and Patriots football should be fun to watch and talk about for years to come, John. But also there are a lot of other players looking to establish themselves, looking to make a name, looking to hold on to their job and looking to help propel the Patriots out of the dumpster, maybe, maybe, as my pal Jerry Thornton wrote in his book, from darkness to dynasty, if not maybe to dynasty, at least relevance or competitive decency from darkness to not sucking from, from darkness to a little less darkness for us. Exactly. Alright, so you first one with Chuck's a core for potential left tackle in the 2024 season, free agent out of Pittsburgh, who you got next. So next up for me is Christian Gonzalez and something the Patriots defensive backfield lacked ever since Stefan Gilmore left was length in their corner group and Gonzalez brought that to the fold last year, 61, 205, 32 inch arms, he was a good press corner, good overall coverage corner and actually was, you know, for a rookie skinnier guy, reasonably physical against the runs, probably can still improve a little bit there. But in his limited action, you know, three and a half games, he had an interception, three pass breakups, his second and third game, he was only targeted 12 times total, which I thought was a nice step up from week one against the Eagles. If you're in the PFF grades, he had an 80.8 grade for his three and a half games, which if that had continued through the season, that would have been the thirteenth best for any player playing corner in the season, which pretty good for a rookie, but he does have that injury. So I want to see how does he work his way back because I think if he is healthy and he plays like he did in the first few games of his rookie season, this Patriots defense can be one of, if not the best in the entire NFL and you just look back through all their good defenses in the last 25 years and the reason I bring up the last 25 years is I think with Mayo and Covington, they're going to run a similar scheme to what Bella checked it over the years, they always had at least one longer, tough man coverage corner on the outside. Whether it was Tylods or El Rivas, Malcolm Butler, Gilmore, if Gonzalez can kind of fit that mold, then you have Jonathan Jones on the other side. You can have a three safety package with peppers and dugger. And if Marcus Jones is a free safety or you want to put Marcus Jones down a slot corner and if we'll see about Marcellus dial as well, the rookie Alex Austin's in that, like it gives you a lot of flexibility to do a lot of interesting things in your defensive backfield. But we're going to see if he's healthy and if he can extend that three games out to a 17 game season this year. Gonzo showed a lot of promise last year in just three and a half games before he got injured against the Dallas Cowboys. There is everybody is all over Christian Gonzalez being a big deal this year. Jonathan Jones said if he's healthy and plays a full season, he could easily be a top three corner. Of course, Jonathan Jones is on a great job in the slot. Love you outside of him. He might be my favorite. Jonathan Jones might be my favorite player on the team right now. Like he's awesome. Best slot corner in the NFL when he's happy to please one of those guys who's outside quintessentially Patriots. I'll play wherever you tell me to. That stuff he did on Tyree Kill in the 2018 AFC Championship game is still amazing to me. And I know they doubled Hill as well, but Jonathan Jones with toe to toe with him pretty much all night and did a great job. Yeah. He really did as well. And so random is his I think it's a contract year for him coming up as well. Looks like he'll be back on the outside again. Christian's all looks like he can be the real deal. He's got the size. He's got the speed. He's so fluid and you know, Pat's fans love him. Pat's fans want him to be the next answer or cornerback. They want him to be the star. Look, with questions surrounding Matthew Judon, not just in terms of what he brings to the defense, but as the most popular player on the Patriots, the last three years, sadly, I won't say sadly for his case, just the fact that no one else has emerged and seized that opportunity of being the most popular patriot. There's a chance of Christian Gonzalez, even with people buying up Drake May 10 jerseys or taping over Garoppolo or Jones or whichever Patriots jersey you have that has a number 10 on it and putting may on the back of it. There's a chance Gonzalez might be our Gaffney Jersey. Yeah, don't you dare put some respect on that name. John Gaffney was a legend, dude. He played well in that AFC Championship. It was Caldwell who dropped down. Oh, six. Gaffney had about one touchdown. Maybe two in that game. He was legit. He was awesome. But there's a chance Gonzo could become the most popular patriot and, you know, over the weekend made a nice little splash because there was a video that was released on social media that he just bought his family a house, you know, making you love to see those little things. Other kids, generous family man, like I'm going to be pulling for him just like you will. And there will be no, but also just, well, we're talking secondary real quick and we'll get back to the rest of the names when we flip the script and get to the top of the fourth and final hour here coming up, John. Alex Austin, spoiler alert made neither of our lists, but I think some people asked us over the weekend when we started this discussion on Friday and earnest, like, hey, how come Alex Austin isn't on your list? How come you guys didn't want to talk about him? I think we're both so sneaky confident in him that he's not just going to have been this late season anomalous flash in the pan, like a campbody who just did well in a game or two surprisingly like I think he's actually going to be a consistent contributor to the secondary and a pretty darn good player. He may be another one of those diamonds in the cornerback rough that the Patriots discovered and he's another one right six one one ninety five, so a little bit of a skinnier guy, 32 inch arms, a guy that he's got some of those physical skills, which you like a lot. He popped at the end of the year, I mean, his four yard dash 4.55 solid, right? But he popped at the end of the area that interception in the game up in Buffalo like if he's your fourth corner behind your Jones, Marcus Jones, and then Gonzalez like that's not bad considering the depth they have at safety as well and we haven't even mentioned Marte Mappu and what they're going to do with him. I mean, he could be your free safety or he could move around a bit. So I really like Alex Austin kind of as a developmental piece and in that role, like if he's your fourth corner, plays in certain dime packages or whatever they want to call it and have him on the field for, I think it's a nice role for him and I think he can contribute there. Absolutely six one seven seven nine seven nine through seven. That's the phone number if you want to holler at your boys, Fitzy and Hart and talk some Patriots. When we come back top of the fourth and final hour, we'll finish John's list. I'll give you my five Patriots that we are keeping both good eyes on when camp opens up this week. Plus we'll get to the rest of the NFL news, notes and nuggets that are rumbling and bumbling around the most popular sport in America and Patriots Nation. Like the news that we learned this week about the New England Patriots actually contacting the 49ers on multiple occasions, even submitting an offer for a wide receiver who could be dealt away from the 49ers before the season starts. We'll get to all that in the final hour plus your calls. It's Fitzy and Lyons here on E. E. E. I. Couple minutes after three o'clock fourth and final hour on a beautiful summer Sunday here on Boston Sports Original 93 7 W E I W E I dot com. All of our fabulous affiliates and of course the Odyssey app A U D A C Y. If you don't have it downloaded today, of course, you can use it to get all of our fabulous podcasts. Use the rewind feature and catch up with any of your favorite programs here any given day of the week, six eight to six P from Monday through Friday and beyond. John, we've got camp opening up in just a couple days. We have our first pre-season game. Geez, the Hall of Fame game is less than two weeks away now. And the first Patriots pre-season game of these are 21st 10, 18 days from now. Can you believe the Patriots are going to play a simulated or a pretend season, not a fake game, but a game that doesn't count in the standings in two and a half weeks and their first one ever in the 21st century, at least without Bill Belichick as head coach. Wow. And the first one with Gerard Mayo. Unbelievable. Wow. These are just and this is going to be one of those. And we're doing all this by the way now as you know, the country will be in chaos and wild times because you know, if you hadn't heard already, somebody probably told you you got to push alert or a text from somebody somewhere Joe Biden has dropped out of the race will not be seeking reelection for the Democratic Party as president of the United States. So yeah, let's see socks are pushing for the playoffs. New regime and Fox, bro, Bruins looking for redemption. So, uh, Celtics want to repeat. Oh, and just maybe the wildest presidential election of our lifetimes. No big deal, John, interesting fall. This is a year to the preseason for the Patriots. Maybe a little bit more emphasis, more importance than we've seen in recent years. I mean, 2020 2021, excuse me, you had Mac Jones and all those new free agent additions. But the actual pre-season games this year, I think are going to have a greater emphasis because you have fewer join practices than in the years past. And there's a chance, Fitzy, we could see a lot of guys in their first, second or third year playing significant snaps for the Patriots. Like we already talked about Christian Zollis, but they have key on white. They have Marte Mappu, who I mentioned, then of course, Drake May, we don't know if Kate and Wallace will play city. So like all these, there's a Jalen Polk, there could be a lot of guys in their first, second or third year playing significant snaps. So I think it's a more important pre-season than maybe we're used to. Unbelievable, just wild times. All right, you've gotten a couple of players into your five players to keep an eye on so far. You've listed Chuck's decor for obviously Drake May, Gonzo, let's run through the other ones real quick and then that way I can give you mine and we'll have like our list of the guys that we're going to be most focused on too. And good job mentioning also Marte Mappu as well, spoiler alert, didn't make other of our list, but that is certainly somebody to keep an eye on as well given that we don't know how the Patriots are going to deploy him. Where's he going to play more at the line of scrimmage as a box safety as a linebacker. They have a lot of strong safeties, but no free safeties, which is why another spoiler alert, Marcellus dialed the cornerback rookie six rounder out of South Carolina made my list because I'd love to see if they could match another big guy to the outside. Let John Jones go back, work with Marcus Jones on the inside or maybe that allows one of the Joneses to be free safety or maybe dial is going to be the free safety. So again, a swirling number of questions surrounding many of these players, but back to the rest of your list, John. So I got a couple more guys here, one of them I just mentioned city. So he's going to be playing one of the guard positions. I think it'll be right guard next to Mike on one who, but depending on how things shake out, it could also be left guard if they, you know, I think Nick Lever, it's going to be the other guard because we don't know what's going to happen with Cole Strange and a Tony Ohmoffee just didn't really look like he had it last year. So city. So early last year was pretty inconsistent, but down the stretch, he was really solid. So his overall PFF grade, 64.4. That was 27th among guards. Again, doesn't suck right solid, but in the last month of the area, two games graded over 80. And then if you're not in a PFF, you can just watch them play. You could see him get better and better, more comfortable pass protecting, more comfortable in the run game as the year went on. And if he can build on that in his sophomore campaign with the Patriots, then they'll have a really nice right side of their offensive line with him and on when and they're going to need it because we talked already. The questions they have on the left side, especially at left tackle for sure. No, it's a solid choice as well. I, I'm kind of curious to see in one of mine, another one of my top five is laden Robinson. Could he be maybe the most overlooked or under discussed member of the Elliot Wolf draft class of 2024? I think many of us given the investment that they placed in guard the last couple of years, re signing on went into the big deal. Hopefully he does play right tackle, but you never know drafting Moffee and city so last year as well. There's a lot of, and they have, they have Jake Andrews. Can he be the replacement center one day for David Andrews? Or is he going to make guard? Or is he not even going to make the team? Nick Leavart, Cole Strange may not come back to late in the year, if at all. And maybe isn't a good scheme fit for Alex van Pelt. But laden Robinson, this was a draft pick that told me Elliot Wolf was going to live by the idea of, I am not beholden to your players. I'll sign a bunch of them that I think will make for a good strong core going forward on the Patriots, but bill grow and company. I'm not beholden to your guys. If I think I find somebody that identifies well as a fit for the offensive line and scheme of van Pelt may own company, I'm going to get them. And this kid by all accounts is a big, mean, nasty mauler of a guard. Maybe he and so become the new guards. You kick on went out at right tackle. David Andrews there and that leaves the left tackle competent, the open convention, if you will, John Lyons to be political momentarily over at left tackle. But laden Robinson is somebody I'm going to, I'd like to just get to know and see what his style is like because early returns are good. He was the 103rd pick top of the fourth round. Yeah, let's see how that works out. Last guy for me, key on white. So defensive ends 65, 285, but a relative athletics score of 9.91, which was 14th best of all defensive lineman since 1987. So he's huge, but he's also really athletic. Now he had 15 quarterback hurries this past year, Fitzy, but only one sack. So if he can turn some of those hurries into sacks, and I think his snap count is going to go up, especially with this Matt Jude on contract uncertainty, he has a chance by the end of training camp to either be one of the starters on the defensive line or at least a guy that is a heavy, heavy rotational player there. I think he's got a lot of the talent. He's just going to be a little bit more consistent than he was last year and finish some of those plays instead of hurries, make them sacks. But I'm really interested in seeing how he progresses from year one to year two. Key on white could be a huge pivotal portion of this defense this year. Like you said, all those pressures last year, just one sack, we're all expecting many more this year. You know, how does he affect what they do with Matthew Jude on in the preseason, possibly regular season in the future? You know, when Judon's out there, everyone is better at rushing the passer because so much attention has to be paid to Matt Judon, who will reap the benefit of potentially having a healthy Judon out there in a contract year for the Patriots? Could it be Joshua? Could it be DJ wise? Or could it most likely be key on white? Who is a just a freak sized human being? What does he six five? What do you say? Six five two eighty five and built like a blank, a brick blank house, just an absolute goliath, no fat on him at all zero, no grass grows under those feet and there is no fat on him as well. Like good luck blocking that man, especially when he gets angry and he's hungry for quarterback. Other story of my last couple ones out there as well, the receiver combination of Jalen Polk and J. Von Baker, we talk about, you know, the development of Drake May being paramount to the development of all other players on the football team. Like he is player number one. He is him. He is it. He is that guy. And as Drake, like we said, as Drake may goes, so likely go these Patriots this preseason this season and for many years to come. After that, it could be the left tackle and Chuck's a core for, but it may also be the development of these receivers, John, because, you know, we heard that they were interested in potentially trading for Brandon Iyuk offering up a second round pick before the draft, then they would have paid him the twenty eight million dollars a year they wanted. So they tried to identify their guy. They tried to do what the Texans are now doing with Steph Diggs and that the Buffalo Bills did with Steph Diggs a few years ago as we've seen and, you know, Joe Joe Burrow got T Higgins and Jamar Chase giving a young quarterback their guy their top target. Look at the look what the Bears have done for Caleb Williams this year. He's coming on to a team that already had DJ Moore. They went and got him Keenan Allen and then they drafted Ro Madunze. They've given this guy a veritable fantasy football offense over there in the super competitive NFC North. I love the fact that the Patriots got aggressive and tried to trade for Iyuk. It didn't work out. Maybe they'll still pursue him, but going after Jalen Polk who was a super productive receiver last year in that awesome trio of McMillan, Adunze and Polk with Michael Pennix in Washington and then going later and right after they took laden Robinson getting one of the more polarizing figures in the draft somebody who was off a lot of draft boards for off field and character concerns. The electric JVON Baker, you know, they may have, they may just, they may have two guys for all we know you and I could be doing a show next year saying like, I think the Patriots got twin twin whiteouts. I think the wide receiver room went from a deficit to a surplus in just one year's time. So I'm, I think I'm the most excited to see these guys in the preseason. Yeah. And it's interesting because when they picked Polk, my thoughts and they still kind of are is I love him as a potential wide receiver too in a great offense because he's got the outside slot versatility. He was a number two in Washington and did really well. Now could he emerges a number one? That's definitely possible. But also that number one slot is still kind of open. Like if they went after I you or if JVON Baker pops and is a number one or if Kendrick born all of a sudden shows up and levels up, which I'm not necessarily anticipating any of those things. But if one of those things happened, then all of a sudden pokes you number two and you feel a lot better about this receiving core than you do right now because right now you look at this receiving core and I like Jalen Polk the player. I like Kendrick born the player. I love tomorrow. Douglas the player, but you take the receiving core and the tight end core together. And if you're a defense, there's not a lot you really have to worry that much about. I'm not saying you don't have to stop them at all, but there's nobody in that passing game that you're really game planning around to stop. But if one of these rookies could evolve into a guy like that and we've seen so many second round picks, third round pick receivers evolve into great receivers like Debo Samuel, DK mecha make mecha excuse me. The list goes on. If one of these guys can become that, then we're having a totally different conversation about their offense. Right now completely and just to wrap it up, the other guys on my list, Antonio Gibson running back. Can he become a pivotal part, a key component on his two year deal to not only just spell Ramondre Stevenson, but be the counter attack, the counterbalance in the rushing attack. It seems to me like offensive line coach Scott Peters coming from Cleveland, Alex van Pelt coming from Cleveland, having worked with Kevin Stofansky and also TJ the quarterbacks coach. They are McCartney McCartney. Thank you. Yeah, they all have, they all have experience over there in Cleveland. Are they going to try to replicate the chub and hunt to running back attack? And if so, can Gibson be that answer and be sort of like a bigger, stronger Kareem Hunt because he has experience at receiver and is a running back as well? Can he solve his football as fumbling issues? And lastly, my final player on the list, Chad Ryland. Because I don't know why. Patriots lost a lot of football games last year because the kicker couldn't make a freaking 35 yard field goal. Yes. And I know he hit the big kick last year that basically sent Chris even Denver out of Jaden Daniels and into the arms of Drake May on Christmas Eve, the 54 yarder against the Broncos. But, you know, he's got competition this summer veteran, Joey Sly is going to be there. It makes a big difference because on a team that we've talked about a number of times that was so close to they were in so many games last year, losing the Giants, losing to the freaking Colts, losing all looks six nothing to the Chargers. If they have a competent field goal kicker, they'll be in a lot more of these games and actually maybe win some more of these games, helping them make an effort to surpass their win total of four and a half games and develop. So I don't know how anyone can trivialize that or say like, oh, it's just a kicker. It's not that big a deal. No, it's a really big deal. And there's going to be a good competition in camp this summer, John. Patriots last in the NFL last year in field goal percentage, 64% of their field goals, they move, which is disgusting. And they were one of three teams to miss multiple field goals between 30 to 39 yards. Like it's, it's not a, I'm sorry, it's unacceptable. Especially for a guy that teams unit is trash. And what did they draft Ryan and the fourth round? Like your fourth round kicker was costing you games like I'm surprised. Honestly, they brought him back and maybe there's part of him they believe in and they think it was just rookie struggles and he'll be okay. But I mean, we're talking multiple misses inside of 40 yards, one of three to last in the NFL field goal percentage. You mentioned the games. It had a direct correlation on them losing whether it was the giants game, the chargers game, the Colts get like a direct him sucking at kicking field goals had a direct correlation on them losing multiple games as bad as their offense was. And it was terrible in its own right them being terrible at kicking field goals, direct correlation to losing multiple games and direct causation to not just correlation. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, I can confirm that. Yeah, thank you. If Chad Rylan was a better kicker, maybe Bill would still be here. Oh my gosh, wouldn't of all the people from that. I'm just saying they maybe they would have won three more games and he'd still be here. Imagine that. Can you imagine that? We make all the jokes we do about letting Brady go. Oh, the Nikhil Harry draft, he was with stuck it out with Cam too long. He squabbled with Mac Jones. He ruined his potential up here in New England. Nope. It all boiled down to Chad Rylan. How about that? The diminutive little kicker out of Maryland. 6177797937. There's your phone number. There are the players that we are going into camp this week with our eyes focused on many players of intrigue and interest. If you guys have any you are most curious to see take the field. Let us know. We'll talk some general NFL get to a little our own veritable grab bag of everything else circulating on in the wide world of sports will maybe preview the socks one more time before they have the big game tonight to try to steal one in LA after dropping two heartbreakers early on against the Dodgers.
Nick "Fitzy" Stevens and Jon Lyons break down the biggest questions heading into Patriots Training Camp this week and highlight five key players to watch as camp kicks off.
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