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Don't follow and listen to baseballs and boring presented by Wasabi Hot Cloud Storage on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. 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 Ko 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. Oh, I see which way the Braverman blows with this one, huh? You got to let me know. Should I stay or should I go? Matthew Judon, is he the DJ extraordinaire for this particular rejoin Joe Braverman? Well, he's the GM of my DJing ideas, so he DM'd be a tweet on Twitter saying, "Hey, if you're going to talk about me, this is the song you got to play." DM'd you a tweet on Twitter, huh? Nailed it. That went south. And quickly, no less. But it's a good point. Oh, would you rather it be? Oh, he DM'd me on X on a tweet and all that. Sounds wrong. How about he DM'd me? Just DM'd, yeah. Well, you can DM people on the TikTok and on the IG. That's fine. I don't need details. The GM gave me a DM. The unofficial assistant, GM. Yeah. And G.F.Y. Andy always likes to say that Matthew Judon is the worst general manager in the history of the NFL because he's recruited millions and signed none. Yeah, he's over. He can't even sign his own deal. Is he tweeting at himself like, "Hey, stay with the Patriots, Judy. All right, I guess I will." So, if I'm not mistaken, Andy, we have a little bit of a thing going on right now with Matthew Judon and potentially soon Gabriel Peppers. So, if you guys are unaware, earlier this week, Gabriel Peppers tweeted that he, rather he put it on his, it was sourced out, aggregated, if you will, on the X platform. But he put on his Instagram that he knows it's a contract year and it's a big year for him coming up. That was the pleasant way of beginning or trying to open negotiations with his current football team, the New England Patriots, if you will. That was him knocking on the office door saying, "Excuse me. Excuse me. Excuse me, too." I've been here for two years. I would like a new deal. Hey, Patriots have, you know, as many know, have locked up a lot of members of the Corps, which of course has, you know, begat a lot of debates. Belichick can't draft. Belichick's draft was so bad and he had to get fired for it. How come they're re-signing on Wenu and Andrews and Anthony Jennings and Uche and all, to Vi and all these guys? Well, I mean, no one ever said Belichick couldn't draft. Overall, and these are the kinds of guys that he was great at picking and finding, like the Gelanti to Vi's. Well, some people said he couldn't draft. Couldn't draft at all? Yeah. Oh, yeah. There were people that said he flat out, could not draft anymore. There was a certain type of player. He was great at developing, great at finding, great at discovering, great at refining. And then there were certain kinds of players that he wasn't able to wide receivers. And that could very well be like, maybe Elliot Wolf will not be the Lord and Savior as the executive vice president of football operations. I don't know why they just can't call him GM, but whatever. Him with the fancy title as he tries to weaponize the offense. If one or both of these wide receivers end up working out, then great. Then he'll have been the right guy to come in and solve all the Patriots' problems. But he's going to have a little bit of an issue over the next couple of weeks because while Peppers is not noisome or an issue now, and he hasn't said that he's not going to play on the final year of the deal, he certainly would like a new deal. And it may be a tough one for him to find in New England, Andy, because he got Kyle Dugger, who plays a similar position, as a matter of fact the same one, basically. He just signed a four year, $58 million deal. And you got Marte Mapu listed as a linebacker and a safety on the roster. Now he's only in the second year of his deal, but you figure they're going to try to figure out where he plays best and what his value is this season as well. If Mapu develops and you got Dugger on a four year top of market safety deal, I don't feel like there's going to be much room for Gabriel Peppers when there's a glaring need for free safety on the Patriots. And then, of course, we have the curious case of Judon. So I ran a Twitter poll yesterday, Andy, just to give you an idea what the people say, the you people, or we people, as we like to say. Quick Pat's poll in the summertime, which player would you offer a new deal to first this summer? Matthew, Judon, or Gabriel Peppers, both or neither were not options. It was just Judon or Peppers, and Judon won 58.7% to Peppers, 41.3%. So I ask you, Andy, would you sign Judon Peppers both or neither? I would probably trend toward neither. If I were answering your poll question, and the way you phrased it was, who would you offer? Is that what you said? Which player would you offer a new deal to first this summer? Matthew Judon, I would offer him a deal. As you and I have talked about previously on the six rings, a deal that would be what I would call team friendly, or he might call unfair. I would use the structure of Hunter Henry, who is making less on his extension than he did in the previous deal that brought him into New England in that uncharacteristically aggressive off season. I think they are very similar. I want them around. I think they are when healthy productive players, but I can't give them raises necessarily on what I've been paying them. Hunter Henry took the bait. You know, I was surprised all along. He signed, I think, three and 27, nine million a year instead of the 12 and a half million a year he was making previously. If I can get, I'd offer a deal to Matthew Judon. As far as Peppers, I love him. He might be one of my favorite Patriots over the last couple of years. I think you can make strong arguments. He was been the best safety on the team the last couple of years, but you just paid a 28 year old safety a lot of money. Can you pay another 28 year old safety? A lot of money, both of whom are box safety is physical safety. I think you already picked. You picked Dugger over Peppers, and therefore, I don't know that I can do a long term deal unless he really wants to take a team friendly deal. Can I say that I don't necessarily love your answer? And that's mostly just because I'm a Jibrill Peppers fan as well. And I love the way the guy plays the game. I think he's a bit of a non reluctant leader. He wasn't, wasn't afraid to tell Saint Juan Barkley what he thought of the team last year. Probably my favorite, the truth, exactly the truth. You lucky we ask. He hits like a freight train, Devonta Adams, who I got a fun little clip to share with you on the next break from the new receiver series on Netflix. Devonta Adams remembers real well what it's like to go over the middle and run into Jibrill Peppers and what number he wears because it was stamped on him last year in that he'll be gotten game out in Las Vegas as well. I love the way Peppers plays the game. And I'm also surprised. Is Kyle Dugger actually 28? Did he enter as that old? Because he was like a six year Lenore Ryan player, right? Yeah, Division II, Lenore Ryan, the whole his sort of road was elongated. Yeah, he's 28. Wow. That's the lead that accidentally got buried in that analysis right there. Kyle Dugger is older than you think. Yeah, I think they actually kind of did just choose Andy. You're right. They chose. They more than likely have chosen Kyle Dugger over Jibrill Peppers. Now Kyle Dugger was set to make near top of market values. Matter of fact, this week, ESPN was running a series of behind the paywall ESPN plus top 10 breakdowns. Basically what they were. They were lists. Anonymous, anonymously GM's executives and such from around the league helped ESPN put together a top 10 list of the best players at every position on the football field. And of all those top 10 lists, quarterbacks, running backs, tight ends, receivers, offensive lineman, defensive lineman, linebacker, safeties, cornerbacks, etc. Do you know how many Patriots made all of those lists? The, I'm going to say one. That's right. And who was it? Kyle Dugger. Correct. He finished number eight in a random anonymous polling of GM's executives and coaches across the league. He's the eighth best safety. So he got paid like it. He got paid basically top of market by his team. Jibrill Peppers didn't factor into the top 10. If you were to try to resign him, even though there is age and positional redundancy in that they're both that hybrid linebacker safety tank box safety, whatever you call them. What do you think is the kind of deal that would get a Peppers long term? What's he want three for 30 maybe? I bet you he would take that. That sounds like a pretty good deal with like 17 million guaranteed, something like that. We're pretty good at these hypothetical contracts, if I may, just, yeah. And again, I like him. And on that deal, like, I would give that deal to him if I hadn't given the deal already to Dugger. But, you know, I think we talked a lot about this heading into free agency. I'm not the biggest Dugger fan. I probably would have let Dugger walk, even though you had a boatload of money and you still lead the league in cap space available right now at like 45 million or whatever the hell the number is. I just don't know long. I think you might be a better team long term with Jabril Peppers on a more palatable contract than what you gave Dugger for who he is as a player, even the leadership angle. Like, you know, I talked about it previously, the Devers thing. You gave him a boatload of money and he doesn't want to be the face of the franchise. I think Jabril Peppers is fine being a leader, not only on the field and in the locker room, but talking to the media. He's been a stand up guy. I don't know that Dugger loves that aspect of the job and whether I should or shouldn't look at it this way. When I give a player, if I'm giving a player a big contract like Dugger got, to me, there's some other value to that. Like, I'm expecting you to step up and be a face, be a leader, be a voice, take on like more responsibility within this team. I think that comes with that salary and I'll be interested to see if Dugger latches onto that or does more of that. He matters more comfortable doing that now that he has the stability financially. See, I like that. Maybe Kyle Dugger is a quiet leader. Maybe he's a great locker room presence. Sure. Maybe he's one of those guys, the teammates would say like, "I'd go to the mat. I'd go to war with this guy. He's great. I love him. He's a tone setter. He's our quiet leader." I love the loudmouths. I love the guys who set the table and set the tone who aren't afraid to rock the microphone in the same way that they rock tight ends and linemen. Yep. Like Judon. Judon is a vocal leader. Yes, he is. He's a vocal spokesman. Probably the most popular patriot the last three years, Post Brady. Probably is, thanks to the red sleeves, the production, the talking, the lap with the fans, doing the ball toss with the fans. The whole thing, he probably is. And I think that probably plays into his mindset, his value. Not only do I produce on the field, I'm one of your more marketable mainstay players. You're in a bridge transition here. You lean on me. You need me in a certain way to be a star, to be on WEI with Greshen Fourier every week and do these various things. Come to the podium every post game. He probably should get extra money for that. That's a tough spot. That is hazard pay at the utmost. That's like living in Mexico City with the bad air or something. But yeah, no, like, and I understand Judon, I just think you're 32 years old coming off a season in which you played four games. That right there, just those numbers, I tell you, Player X is a pro bowler. Really good player, great teammate, great leader is 32 and is coming off a season in which you played four games. Right there, you know his value is down, correct? Doesn't matter who the player is. And again, same position, maybe a little bit better, just retired at that same age, Aaron Donald. Did you say maybe a little bit better? No, Aaron, I'm saying Aaron Donald is better than Judon. Yeah, you said maybe a little bit better. That's like saying Tom Brady maybe is a little bit better than Bailey's. Well, you didn't see the air quotes that I put in there. Jesus, Jim and he, Joseph, Aaron Donald's one of the top five defensive players in the history of the game potentially. Anyway, yes, people, it's a retirement age. It's certainly an age where production dips or, you know, Von Miller. You know, you may think you're going to play a long time at a high level, but injuries and lack of sacks tend to come when you're a pass rusher entering your 30s. That's just the harsh reality of mother nature, father time, whatever the hell you want to call it. So, and Matthew Judon, again, appreciate what you've done for the team, but you thinking you're in a world that, you know, 15 sacks gets you a 20 plus million, not a 32, it doesn't. Yeah, that's a problem. He's 30 days on the wrong side of 30. It's a tough, it's a tough year, a tough time, tough place to try to bargain and negotiate from because you did have a torn vice. If you did miss three quarters of the season, you are on the other side of 30. And while he probably still can get after the QB pretty ferociously for another couple of years, if you're the Patriots, do you want to potentially stunt your ability to pursue other free agents that you may find that you need? Because you're not sure how the tight imposition is going to shake out after 100, Henry. You don't know if these rookies at wide receiver or if KJ Osborne are going to fit in New England and if they can play at a high level as well. After you lost out on Calvin Ridley, though, I think that may be a blessing in disguise. You know, if you're going to, and you've got like Josh Uche now, I think Judon's a far better player than Josh Uche, he's only back on that one year, $3 million prove a deal and so much so. Oh, I had other offers out there. Okay. Then why is that why you fired your agent? Why you fired your agent? You know, you want to see what's going to happen with Keon White, but there's no definitive heir apparent to replacement for Judon now. You need him. I like your idea of trying to find that. All right. You want to kneel hunter money and we, uh, supposedly, I think Chad graphs that there is officially an offer out there. But this week also, Bader had reported that Judon is not likely to play on the current amount of money he's making, which is only six and a half or seven and a half million dollars this year. Well, salary, salary, yeah, no, overall, he's made 54 and a half million. That was his four year deal, Andy. And his cap number is the highest on the team at 14 and change. Yeah, it's big. So like the bonus money that's pro rated that counts. That's how NFL contracts work. So the people that just want to throw around always only making six and change this year. Yeah, that's, that's his salary. And I believe he has bonus per game bonus money for like another million bucks, but NFL contracts, you have to bring in the mindset of the bonus money counts like you wanted that up front. You got bonus money up front. That's still, you have a high cap number and is he, there's plenty of guys making more than that at his position. You know, the TJ Watts, the hunters, the, there's a lot of past rushes. I don't know how many guys at the age of 32 got a new deal. I mean, Von Miller is the old guy that got a big new contract. And when he signed it with the bills, I think we all thought, well, that's stupid and it has been stupid. Oh, it's been awful for them. It's been like, they would probably tell you, I'm sure Brandon Bean, Joe Shane, anyone possibly associated with the bills in years past or up to date would say, yeah, we probably shouldn't have done that one. That one really didn't work out too well for us. Yeah, he signed a six year, $120 million contract. Because he had just won a Super Bowl. So he was it. He had the leverage. He had the perfect bargaining chip at that. And that was two years ago, right? Because he's 35 now. So he was 33. So at 33, 35, my God, what a horrible deal. Yeah, we said that at the time and we were right. And if, if I, I'll go on the record right now, if they gave, let's say they gave Matthew Judon four years, $100 million, $25 million a year, which puts them in the middle of the range of higher end pass rush. I would take the Doug Mirabelli motorcade to Gillette and slap Elliot Wolf outside the head. It'd be a disaster. It'd be a dumb thing to do. So Matthew Judon, I love you. Appreciate what you've done. But we're not going to make the same mistake that the Buffalo Bills did. So what do you think Pat's fans? Would you sign peppers? Would you sign Judon? Would you sign both or would you sign neither? I would sign peppers. I think Andy would like to as well. But right now he's going to err on the side of caution and let him both play it out and walk. We'll see how it shakes out six one seven seven seven nine seven ninety three seven. There's your telephone number. When we come back, we will discuss a little insight into young Drake May that we discovered this week as we are awash in fabulous off season NFL content on multiple streaming platforms. It is a great time to be a football fan with less than two weeks to go until Patriots camp, just like it's a great time to be a Boston sports fan and get all of your trending sports news right now from Joe Braverman.
Matthew Judon and Jabrill Peppers have been vocal about wanting a new deal. Should the Patriots extend both, just one, or neither? Fitzy and Hart discuss.
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