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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. One week out from the start of Patriots training camp 2024, expectations are, well shall we say, tempered at best for the coming season for your New England Patriots. What with a potential new quarterback in third overall pick, Drake May, a new head coach in first ever head coach in the NFL, Gerard Mayo, former defensive assistant former player under Bill Belichick, the removal of the Belichick regime, a new GM in the face of Elliott Wolf, new offensive coordinator and Alex van Pelt, new defensive coordinator in promoted former defensive line coach Demarcus Covington. Damn, it looks like just about everything around Gillette Stadium, home of the six time Super Bowl champion New England Patriots is brand spanking new. So much uncertainty, so much change. These Patriots, what with flux on the field, on the sidelines, the front office and beyond, these guys are going to have to struggle, right? They're going to have to take their lumps. They're probably going to stink it. I mean, that's what Vegas keeps telling us in all the various sports book with a four and a half win total season projected for 2024. And yet today, on the latest edition of the Six Rings and Football Things podcast, we kick off with a what if Wednesday installment, the final what if Wednesday of the 2024 off season joined by my guy, John Lyons, at the real John Lyons from W E E I and W E E I dot com, or as many like to call him, Mr. Football, your old pal, Nick Fitzy Stevens, an unapologetic Patriots fan, if ever there were, John and I are here to play what if Wednesday? And I ask you this, John, an audience at large, what if the New England Patriots actually don't suck this season? What if the combination of Gerard Mayo and Drake May pulls a 2024 version of the 2023 Houston Texans, the new gold standard for first year coach and first year quarterback, the unprecedented surprise success of rookie coach, D'Amico Ryan's, the former defensive coordinator of the San Francisco 49ers and CJ Stroud, former starting quarterback of the Ohio State University, go blue, we're Michigan here at this house, it's all good. They had a spectacular season winning their final two games, winning the play in Veritable Game, if you will, in Indianapolis to punch their ticket to the post season, which then allowed them on a national stage on wild card Saturday to show up and show out and put a whooping on the heavily favorite Cleveland Browns and Old Man Flackout. Now they lost the divisional round, but they actually held their ground for three quarters against the Baltimore Ravens, the number one seed in the American Football Conference. All that being said, John, that is the gold standard of first year success for a rookie quarterback and a rookie head coach. So I ask you on what if Wednesday, John Lyons, what if the New England Patriots are successful just like the Texans last year? And if so, what's the blueprint for that happening? Yeah, so it's an interesting question because we've talked a lot this off season fits about all the things that have gone wrong the last two years, whether it was the offense of coaching set up in 2022, Mac Jones's regression in 2022, and then the disaster that was the 2023 offense. And let's not leave the special teams out of that either, which has been really atrocious since 2021. Because, and we talked about this, Fitzy, they have a playoff defense. The problem is the other two thirds of the game have been the opposite of playoff quality. So, if Gerard Mayo comes in, and he's actually good, now he's not going to be Bill Belichick, obviously, he's not going to be Andy Reed, he's not going to be one of the best coaches in the NFL. So I'm going to be Kyle Shanahan even, but if he can be good, and then if their quarterback position can just be average, because think about how bad their quarterback position was, they got the worst quarterback play in the NFL last year. I mean, if you think on the balance of 17 games between Mac Jones and Bailey Zappi and three snaps of Molly Cunningham, they got the worst quarterback play in the NFL. So they just got average quarterback play. They're going to win three more games. It may be four. And the problem with the Patriots, because you mentioned what if, you know, May and Mayo are as good as Stroud and Demico Ryan's, the Patriots schedule is so tough that they could be a lot better than the Patriots offense was a year ago. They could mirror what those guys did in Houston, and it still might not be quite enough to get to nine wins and to fight for a playoff spot. But I think you could see a lot of progress offensively, because what are you looking for really out of this season, right? Besides the cliche of, oh, we want to make the playoffs and win the Super Bowl, like every single team says, what are they really looking for this season? You want to see your defense continue to be one of the better units in the league. You want to see your special teams improve from one of the worst units in the league, and you want to see promise on offense for your future, right? You want to see maybe Drake may get some action and play well. You want to see Stevenson who just got an extension, stay healthy and play well. You want to figure out left tackle because we still don't know what left tackle is. You want to see City so on the offensive line, continue to make some progress. Mike Onwenu, continue to earn that contract extension that you got. You want to see an Alex Van Pelt offense that doesn't get stagnant, doesn't get stale, that gets complexes the year goes, keeps teams off balance. So if they can see that, I think we're going to walk away from the season feeling really good. If we don't see that, then we're going to walk away from the season feeling really bad. But I think if they can mirror what Stroud and Ryan's did, we'll walk away in January thinking, okay, hey, they're on to something here. They're on the right track and maybe there'll be a real contender in only a year or two instead of this four or five year rebuild, which I think a lot of people are worried about. So if they're able to emulate the success or at least the program building effort and execution that the Texans did last year, I believe Stroud got off to an insanely good start, which was also key for Houston's 10 and 7 season winning the AFC South surprising so many who had basically just punched the tickets of Trevor Lawrence and the Jacksonville Jaguar's with then second year head coach Doug Peterson as the automatic AFC South Champ. I mean, there was a point where they were eight and three on Monday night football playing for the top seed in the AFC. And that just shows you how quickly poor line play injuries and quarterback injuries, quarterback health can affect the quality of your team. Stroud missed a couple of games, I believe, with concussion related symptoms, but came back with great vengeance and furious anger or at least great efficiency and execution as well. If the Patriots are able to mirror what the Texans did last year and in no disrespect to the work that was put in by Nick Casario and D'Amico Ryan's building a quality team, they obviously didn't have any question marks at left tackle last year. He had one of the best left tackles in football and Laramie Tunsell, they had poured resources into the offensive line. Nick Casario had done a good job, they had stingley. So they had their, they had their, you know, hotshot cornerback who's had some health issues as well. And Darryl Stingley Jr. Darry Stingley. Darry Stingley. Yeah, Darry Stingley obviously. He, you know, fun fact about him. True freshmen starter on that 2019 LSU team. Joe Burrow, Justin Jefferson, he was a true freshman starting at corner and playing really well on that team. So all the more impressive as well. Yeah. So they, you know, they had line, but they had good receivers, not incredible receivers. They got the unfortunate news that John Metche was to admit had been ill. But like Nico Collins was legit. He was good for that. I can wrap, but second round pick. Can you imagine? Like, how about this? What if Jalen Polk turns into Nico Collins? Wouldn't we be doing backflips in Foxboro? Yeah, I think we would. And you and I talked a couple weeks ago when I was on six rings last time and thankfully I did a good enough job to be invited back. You didn't ban me for life. Guy, not only are you not banned for life. I think your, I think your, your VIP pass, your lounge access, everything is currently in the approval process. Like you may become part of the family. Watch out. Be careful what you wish for. Yeah. Right. Of course. But we talked a couple weeks ago about, you know, how good their defense was, but how when you were game planning against them, was there anyone in the passing game the Patriots have that really worries you if you're an opposing defense? Now I'm not telling you the guys aren't good. Like I think Kendrick Bourne is a really good player. I think Hunter Henry's a really good player. I think DiMario Douglas is a really good player. But is there a guy in that group like a Nico Collins for the Texans that you really, if your defense coordinator say, hey, we got to stop that guy. We got to slow, because for years the Patriots had Rob Gronkowski, defensive coordinator said, hey, we got to stop that guy before him. It was Randy Moss before him. It was Corey Dillon and Dion Branch, right? And even if you want to throw in Troy Brown in 2001 with 101 catches, right? There was always, there's always a guy that teams say, okay, we have to stop that guy. And I don't know if the Patriots, because this ties into May and Mayo, do they have that guy offensively that teams are really saying, hey, we have to stop that guy. And I think the left tackle thing is a really big deal, Fitzy, right? Like Kate and Wallace, I think has legit potential to tackle. Maybe he could play left tackle, but he's never done it before. Chucks Okora for if he was really going to be an elite left tackle, do you think of all organizations the Steelers would have let him go? And I'm not trying to down on the guy here, but it's something that we don't know what the answer is. Maybe Okora 4 will be good at left tackle. Maybe Kate and Wallace will emerge at left tackle and be pretty good. But I think that's a question mark that say that Houston team didn't have. Now, the other side of the coin, I think the Patriots defense is better than Houston's defense last year, no doubt about it. And Houston's defense wasn't a slouch, but I think the Patriots defense will be better. So it's kind of an interesting balance where I don't think they're going to, even if Drake may start a week one and played all year, I don't think they're going to get out of him what Houston got out of CJ Stroud because a CJ Stroud was more pro ready. That offense was more ready for a rookie quarterback. But I think they'll be able to win games 17 to 13 as opposed to maybe Houston would not be able to win those games, not that they couldn't win those games last year, but the Patriots can win. I mean, look at last year, I mean, they gave up six points to the Chargers in the game in December and lost. They lost the fight. The Bill Bell checks one song, 17 to six, 17 to three like the Giants game. They gave up 10 points and lost and lost like what did you? Yeah, because of because of shoddy quarterback play. The Colts game, they lose 10 to 10 points lost. Exactly. Right. Because of bad quarterback play, inconsistent, all right. Yeah, we are not crazy when we say even though the schedule is very tough this year, and you are working in a rookie head coach and you've got a rookie general manager, who by the way, I think is doing a phenomenal job this offseason solidifying and resigning the core as we learned yesterday. And we'll get into this a little bit more. They're bringing back all bills, guys. Yeah, but I heard Bella check in draft draft. He stinks. Like Adam Jones has been saying like, I don't want to sign these guys. Why? Why are we signing a bunch of guys that, you know, went, you know, led to one of the worst records in Patriots history live, we're 13. Like, why are we signing a bunch of bombs? I want nobody back from this team. This is a guy. No, what if these guys are all actually good football players and Wolf is nailing it. And this is a side note. And I've talked about this not to pat myself on the back, but I've talked about this since like January. And I know like Chris Gaspers talked about this too. The crafts in the front office are telling all of us. They think the last two years were exclusively the fault of Bella check and Jones. If you really look at what they've done, because they get rid of those two guys, but those people would tell you like Mac Jones would say, this is Bella check's fault and Bella check would say, this was mostly Mac Jones with a splash. And what the, because if you look at what the crafts have done, if you want to lump Ellie Wolf in there to find whatever, but they're keeping a lot of the guys that Bella check brought in, right? They promoted a guy that worked under Bella check to head coach. Like if they thought this was a big failure, they wouldn't have promoted a guy in house to take over for the guy they fired. They wouldn't have resigned all these players here. Even remember when Mac Jones went to Gerard Mayo's press conference, which I know was a little bit awkward, but even that was a little signal like, yeah, see it wasn't our fault. It was that coach we fired like it was. So that's what they're telling us is they believe that with a new coach and a new quarterback, they're going to be a lot better. Now we'll see if it happens, but that's the signal that they are sending us that new coach, new quarterback is all we need. All these other guys were fine. Even look at the coaching staff. So the offensive coaching staff is new, but remember those were all bill guys that he hired. The defensive coaching staff largely all the same. So there's even a freaking Bella check on the defensive coaching staff, not to which I know they had hoped to hold on to, but they've got Brian Bella check and coach in the safeties. And it's also John and much larger coaching staff than Bill had had in recent years because scouting staff's almost all the same guy. I mean, a few little promotions will have Matt grow Elliot Wolf had been around as well. So there there are even though they're trying to change the aura and they're not trying to live by the reputation of the six rings and the success of Brady and Bella check, putting up new murals, new mottos and sayings around there. They're keeping a lot of like, this wasn't a full gut Renault. This was a live in Renault that the Patriots underwent this offseason. And if we find out that there was enough talent on these teams, it's going to make things like the decision to put Matt Patricia as offensive coordinator, the decision to forego more quality control assistance and assistant coaches, the decision to draft Nikhil Harry, some of these other things, Cole strain. I just, I mean, what, yeah, what if Cole strange ends up being a worse pick than Nikhil Harry? And that's really difficult to do. By the way, just real quick, thanks to the magic of 2024 and being able to broadcast a podcast live to our friends and fans here, as well as recorded for the six rings and football things feed courtesy of W E I Odyssey and 24 and sports. We can look up stats in real time and share them with you as well. So last year, Nico Collins, after two seasons where he caught 33 and 37 balls respectively for less than 500 yards. So not even pop Douglas stats, mind you, not even pop Douglas stats his first two seasons. CJ Stroud, who you said was significantly pro ready, lands on the scene, new regime, new coordinators, new scheme, same dream. Last year, Nikhil Collins becomes an absolute WR one. He's a stud. And now, of course, they're adding Steph Diggs, which is why I've got them ticketed for the AFC Championship this year. And they swapped out Grina Jonathan Grinard for Daniel Hunter, which is a significant upgrade, even though Grinard can get after it. He went for 80 receptions, 1300 yards and eight touchdowns last year, which is pretty damn impressive and CJ Stroud on the Patriots last year was Zeke Elliott with 51. So it's like, you know, like, that's the situation may is, and you're right, like Nikhil Collins made this huge jump. Is there a guy in the Patriots right now that we're like, he like, I love tomorrow Douglas. He's one of my favorite players on the team, and I love the draft pick, but and not to discriminate against slot receivers, because I coached them for many years, but the slot receiver position is just not the position the defenses are going to say, Oh my God, we have to game plan around this guy, you know, like, even for all those years with Welker and Edelman, like the defense was game planning for Moss and Gronkowski, and then Welker and don't get me wrong, those guys could be Hall of Famers, but still like the focus of the defense, if it has to be on tomorrow Douglas, they'll accept that rather than having to be on another guy that can just destroy them down the seams around the outside. So that's the thing, like, even if tomorrow Douglas takes a big another step forward, like he did in his rookie year and gets to 65 or 70 catches, they're still missing that Nikhil Collins type guy that can really make defenses game plan around them. Yeah, I think I'm on board. I put last week in the Sunday 7 at W E I dot com. I'm all on board with if healthy and he can avoid and he can learn to get down after the catch, get out of bounds when necessary. Obviously, he's going to be working the slot the middle of the field, places where it's pretty dangerous for a small diminutive football player or any football player to be operating. If pop Douglas can stay healthy this season, not get his bell wrong, learn from some of the best about, you know, making the catch, but not also trying to extend it. You want to extend your career as well as maybe extend the catch. And you're not going to do that by trying to get fight for the extra yard every every single time you catch the ball. This guy could have 80 85 catches for 1100 yards and a handful of touchdowns written all over him because the Patriots offense, you're switching to the Alex Van Pelt thing, you're moving away from the air heart Perkins, Weiss McDaniel system as well. It's got its precision passing. The short game is going to be a big deal as well. I mean, there are just so many questions on the Patriots offense to cast aspersions and to judge them now with so much new talent and a whole new scheme and two new quarterbacks in veteran bersett and then ultimately the rookie may taking over at some point this season. How can we predict what they're going to be? I doubt. I can tell you I doubt I would be stunned, stunned beyond belief. Narragansett's on Uncle Fitzy for everyone in six rings. If Drake May comes close to 4,108 yards passing, 23 passing touchdowns, only five picks, 167 rush yards and three running scores. That was the year last year for CJ Stroud. That's a great season for any quarterback. I know quarterback stats have been inflated significantly with the fantasy football occasion and the wide open air rate of vacation, if you will, of a lot of NFL offenses going forward. But if the Patriots offense is close to as efficient and productive as Houston last year, now what do they say about Mayo? What will they say about May? What will they say about Belichick and John, what do you think that will do to what should be a top heavy potentially very, very competitive, yet still very competitive AFC East where I think the dolphins are going to take a step back and I could see Buffalo and the Jets depending on how this Devonta Adams situation plays out competing for top spot needs. Yeah, it's funny because the AFC East, right? Like everything we said about the Patriots defense, you can pretty much say about the Jets defense. Like it's legit. It's one of the better defenses in the NFL. They have good skill players. Now you if you get a fully healthy year out of Aaron Rodgers and even if he's not Aaron MVP Aaron Rodgers, but he's a couple of years ago, Green Bay Aaron Rodgers, where he was like a top, you know, 14 or 15 quarter back in the league, maybe top 10, you know, right there. I mean, the Jets can win the division and the bills look, they lose stuff on digs. I know, but that's still a really good team top to bottom. Miami, I agree with you. I could see them. They can kind of go either way this show. Like I could see them still being pretty good, but I could also see them taking a step step back. Like the way they that playoff game against the Chiefs and I know it was really cold there in Kansas City, but like they went out with a whimper to end last year. Yeah, I just, again, there's a lot to like about Miami and Mike Mcdeanyo is a great coach and they have that great receiving core and they have some pieces on defense, but they added Odette and they added Odell to it as well. Right. The suffer some losses on defense, which I think you're going to buy. Zavian Howard, I thought played well for them last year. He's actually still sitting there as a free agent, which is kind of mind boggling little. He's he's mildly off field toxic, I think, at this point. Yeah, maybe. But still, so that's a piece that was pretty good for them. That they lost and this is a Miami team that again, I'm not trying to be revisionist history here. If the Patriots quarterback play wasn't awful, they could have beat Miami twice last year. Correct. Again, correct. They had a lead in the second game down in Miami in the first game. They were right there back and forth that that flake and kick the Mac through to Jalen Ramsey was awful. That's the game where you lose. The you lose. Kind of roll thing. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's 24 17. Again, terrible. Awful interception by Mac Jones in the first Miami game when for some reason he thought, no, today's the day where I'll target Devonta Parker again, Zavian Howard always ate Devonta Parker's lunch. And for some reason, Mac tried to force that issue. Again, I know Mike Lombardi made a point of saying for the longest time, the interceptions, the turnovers, the lack of protecting of the ball and the bad attitude of Mac Jones is killing this team. And a lot of us wanted to say, well, that's only part of it. But there are other bad decisions made. We may just see flat out if Jacobi Brissette is a game manager and a tough SOB who plays his way through the Lions evolution this year. And then Drake may steps in and brings his you know, positive attitude, the things that impress Brian Deiball and that great clip from Hard Knocks, as well as his athleticism. We may like, we may instead of just preparing for like, all right, three and 14. Here we come. But I'm going to feel great about 2025. We may be in this for the long haul and not talking about who the Patriots draft picks are going to be around Thanksgiving, but rather like, Hey, am I crazy? Or is there, am I allowed to dream? Is there a path here? Like, could they just could they scrap for a wild card? Come on now. And I think again, like we're not even saying the offense has to be great or good. If they're just competent, like literally competent, competent, then we're going to sit here in December, where they're at least in the range of a playoff spot. I think again, just competent. I'm not telling you they're going to do what Houston did and get to the division around. I'm not telling you they're going to go to the AFC Championship game. But again, you look at these games they lost last year, where they scored six points or scored zero points or scored seven points, right? And defensively, I think they're going to be probably just about as good as last year. Like, I think their talent is going to be a little bit better than last year, but the coaching won't be quite as good because you don't have Bella check anymore. But it'll still be good. Like, I think Covington's a really good coach. It's just, I'm not going to sit here and say he's the greatest coach of all time like Bill is. So the coaching is going to be, but I think if you have Gonzalez for a full year, Marcus Jones will come back and help out. You have Dugger and Peppers and Jonathan Jones back key on whiteness. Second year, I think is going to be a problem for a lot of offensive lines. So I think your talent is going to be a little bit better. So it's going to even out and their defense is going to be, I think just as good as last year. So am I telling you that they're going to hold San Francisco to seven points? No. But I think on the whole, their defense is going to be top five in the league. If their offense can just be competent and we need to add Fitzy special teams in this too, especially for talking about your rod Mayo, like their special teams lost them games in 2021, lost them games in 2022, lost them games last year. So if their special teams and offense can just be competent, we might sit here and you know, there's seven and seven with three games to go in December and it's like, okay, you have two against the bills, one against the charges. Do you lose all three? Do you win two out of three? Do you win? But that could end up determining where they make the playoffs, but I'm not going to be shocked if we're sitting here in early December and there's seven and seven. Just the worry is you're going to play the bills, the charges and the bills to end the year. But again, if their offense is just competent, we can sit here and they can be seven and seven, maybe six and eight going into those final three games within range of fighting for a playoff spot. I mean, would you, would you not just be over the moon if the Patriots were five and seven at one point or six and eight and even, you know, even though we've all reasonably believed like, okay, this is already more progress than we could have even predicted or asked for, wanted or wished. You know, if just, just to like, not only are we seeing building blocks and signs of success and a team to be proud of root for and get behind for the future, but we also see a team that we legitimately believe is worth watching each and every week and not just for the developmental prospect, but at quality football. See, I think, I don't think, like, I hear guys like, I hear guys like Gresch on the radio, on our station, pushback, so hard, so, so loud, so defiantly, this is going to be a mess. Mayo's going to have no idea what he's doing. I'm hearing that this is going to be a disaster. He's supposed to take his lumps. He is supposed to have issues. There are supposed to be growing pains. I can guarantee you, if we went back, full Brian Baldinger, Michael Lombardi, whomever used your favorite film analysis, blow hard style, whatever, last year, and looked at every single decision Demico Ryan's made. I'm sure we got, nope, that was the wrong decision. Nope, should have done this differently. Probably wishes he could have that one back. That's a breakfast ball. He'll take him all again on that one. And the same is going to hold true for Gerard Mayo. The, I mean, he was called baby Belichick or like, Gerard Belichick for a reason in the way back when. So his foot, just because people are still mad about the way things ended with Belichick, just because people are still big mad about the, the, the devolving of this team and still not over Brady being gone, even though he came back and told you all how much he loves you and that he's, he's a patriot for life. People need to get over that and just give this guy a chance. And also the fact that he's going to run things, he's going to be one of those. I heard Fourier call it like corporate CEO style head coaches where it's not going to be like, I have to have my hands and everything. And I have to be, I'm going to like Belichick lorded over every last detail of everything, right? And now Mayo's like, no, he's going to go about it the way certain film director, there are film directors like a, like a Stanley Kubrick and David Fincher who control literally every detail of everything from the acting to the set dressing to the cinematography to post production. And then there are some like Clint Eastwood is like, well, I hire professional people to do their job. So I'm just going to let you guys do your job and then we'll wrap it up and present it to people in theaters in the end later on. That's the way Mayo's going to likely go about things. You probably didn't think that you're going to hear anybody compared to Rod Mayo, Clint Eastwood at any point. But when you have a background in film and you love football a little bit too much, that's what you get here on the six rings podcast, Johnny. I, you know, and then Demarcus Covington, coach coordinator on the rise. This will be his chance to get after it with a defense that he promises is going to be aggressive. This will be a chance for Alex van Pelt to finally take the stage and say, Hey, I've been coaching, I played quarterback and I've been coaching quarterbacks and involved in productive offenses for years. Now I'm going to show you and I'm going to groom this quarterback and we're going to help some of these players blossom. Like, again, I want to lead the pushback and if people want to throw it in our face, John, that's fine. But if the Patriots offense is good, if John Mayo is a quality coach, if Drake May gets under center and actually validates the faith that Elliot Wolf and everyone had in him, I'm going to feel pretty good about that. And just like you said, I don't want to tear a labrum or injure my rotator cuff, but I'm not going to be shy about patting us on the back. And it's interesting because every year going into training camp, I have a handful of guys on my mind that I'm really watching, right? Like whether it's this assistant coach or this, you know, quarterback or this defensive tackle, just guys that I want to see if it's a new guy and how they fit on the team or a guy that was here last year, but I want to see how he improves. I always, you know, every single training camp, I have guys like that on my mind. For the first time in a very long time, I have the head coach in mind when it comes to that because there's a really delicate balance for Gerard Mayo here because I think when you look at how things ended the last couple of years, there are some things Mayo can do that maybe will be a good change from some of the things they did that like the offensive coaching staff from what Bella checked it. But you don't want to get too far away from the stuff that helped you in six Super Bowls, right? And one of them, by the way, Mayo was on the team floor. So you don't want to get too far away from that either. So like, even remember, Mayo made those comments like, Oh, it's not going to be as much of a hard-ass culture here. And he had to walk them back the next day. Like that's what I'm talking about, more evidence of burning cash, collaborative environment, tearing down silos, more evidence of, like I said earlier, they really think this was all Bill and Max fault. And that's what they're telling us, right? And again, you want to tell me it's a little more collaborative. I'm not against that. But if you say, Hey, it's going to be less hard asked, well, does that mean it's also going to be less accountable? Is that means if somebody screws up, they're going to get a third chance instead of a second chance? And then that third chance they cost you a game, like it's going to be Montessori style football where it's going to be like, okay, now let's talk about what we did wrong at the right. So it's a delicate balance for Mayo here that yeah, okay, there's things that they can change. Their offensive coaching staff is probably already better than it was two years ago, might be better than it was a year ago. But even if Scott Peters, the offensive line coach, is as long as he's actually there the entire year, that's an improvement over the last two seasons, because Patricia was in charge of the line. Then he was in over his head and out over his skis coaching the offense and dealing with Mac Jones. So he handed it to Billy Yates and Billy Yates was like, I'm just the assistant. I can't figure that. This is a mess. Cole Strange sucks. And then 2023, you hire Adrian Klem, he doesn't connect. Then he has health issues. So you've got no one goes away with macro to has health issues. Then he leaves, right? And Adrian Klem's telling macro, Hey, these guys, you gave me suck. And macro saying, no, I think you suck. And then of course, Klem's not here anymore and grow is and that's the thing. Like when people say this offense could be a mess and it could be bad. Obviously, I hope it's not. Look at the floor. The one avenue I could see it being a problem is if they don't figure out the left side of the offensive line, because I think, look, David Andrews is at center. He's legit at right guard. I think it'll be city. So maybe Nick levered, but probably city. So and you have on when to a right tackle, like that's legit. That's pretty good. And don't rule out, don't rule out somebody who I'm very, who could who may end up making my and this is a little horizontal tease for when John and I are on the radio this Friday together in the Greschen Fourier spot. We're going to be doling out our five players to watch in Patriots camp. I'll tease out one. I want to see this laden Robinson kid. I don't know necessarily if he's going to make the line, but apparently he's he's big and nasty. And he may just be one of those guys that turns heads like, Oh, I forgot about him. I was so excited about J. Von Baker says Fitzy when I had an absolute score gasm on the radio when they try to remember that. Oh, God, I'm still not over it. I may need another scotch and a cigarette nap, right? So he had 2100 snaps while he was in college. All of them were right guard. So like, are you going to try to move him to left guard? You're going to put him at right guard and move city. So where does Nick levered fit in? We still don't know again. I like Kate and Wallace a lot, but he's never played left tackle before a core floor. I think there's things to like there, but the Steelers did let him go like it. And he's never really played left tackle before. So that's the thing. Like, and we saw this last people had issues with Matt Canada, though, pardon my interruption, but people have that that offense, you know, knowing some having some stealer fan friends in my life. And I wouldn't wish that upon necessarily my best friend or worst enemy either. But I think that they had so many issues with Matt Canada's offense that he deserves like a second chance. He deserves a moment like he may be one of these guys was like, I can actually play guys. I just didn't fit that scheme. And internally, we were a mess. Hence, why? Like, why do you think Deontay Johnson? See you later. Enjoy Carolina. Kenny Pickett, go to the other side of the state. Like they've turned over that offense enough that I'm going to give Chuck's a core for a chance over at left tackle. And I'm willing to give him a chance. I want him to work out as badly as Drake made this season. They needed to that left side of the offensive line. And the number one option in the passing game, I think are huge question marks right now. Now again, if Jevon Baker is good, or they trade for Brandon Iuch, which I know we're going to get to in a minute, or if the left side of the offensive line is figured out, then I think they're going to be all right. But I just think they're just huge questions. That's and that's two places, especially the left tackle spot. You really don't want to come in a camp with a question. Because again, maybe a core four will be good. But there's a reason that they went from Matt light to Nate's older to Trent Brown, like they always kind of had an answer there for 20 years. And they tried to they tried to win. They tried to sneak in Isaiah wind. Then he tore his Achilles in the 2018 preseason. They shift over Trent Brown to left tackle. And it's the last time they had offensive line continuity. He was all five players played every snap all season long. And she was look what that led to a great season from Sony Michelle and a Super Bowl championship as well. These are some of the hallmarks and keys to successful football plans. And we know Alex Van Pelt let the cat out of the bag without even saying spoiler alert earlier in the year when he was hired and said, I believe running the football is the success to a productive offense in the NFL. So you kind of he's kind of tipped his cap and told us what they're gonna be a little dubious on that for that. Well, we'll unpack that and explore that more a little bit on Friday when we're on the terrestrial side of things. All right. So this has been the first half of the latest six rings in football things podcast. Our last off season edition of what if Wednesday, what do you guys think? Do you think there's any chance Gerard Mayo may be better than some people are giving him credit for do you think Drake may is going to come in and be able to operate at something resembling a 2023 rookie CJ Stroudian level? And what's it going to do for you and the AFC East and AFC overall, if the Patriots aren't just in developmental mode, but actually a watchable entertaining and most importantly, as John said competent, I say competitive football team. I'd love to hear what you guys have to say. You can tweet at him. He's at the real John Lyons, J.O.N. L.Y. O.N.S. I'm at Fitzy G.F.Y. And of course, this is the at six rings pod. Stay tuned now as we're going to make our way to the second half. The back nine of today's latest six rings podcast discussing all the news notes, nuggets, rumblings and bumblings of Pat's nation. It's time for some Pat's Puri. All start closer, Ken Lee Janssen. We have a question. What's the best podcast of all time? This boy isn't boring, baby. I'm Rob Bradford. 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 B.I.B. Express. Follow and listen to baseball isn't boring presented by Wasabi hot cloud storage on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts.
It's another "What if Wednesday?" on 6 Rings. Fitzy and Jon Lyons play the final offseason edition of the "What If Wednesday" game, speculating to the future: What if the Mayo & Maye combo reaches the DeMeco Ryans and CJ Stroud heights in Houston from 2023? Can anyone buy-in on these Pats being better than expected? And what would that mean for the team, league, media, fans, and more?
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