This summer, get away in the Hyundai you've always wanted at the Hyundai Getaway sales event. Get the hottest deals of the season on many of our award-winning Hyundai models, which all come with America's best warranty. But get going because these deals won't last. Add more joy to your journey at the Hyundai Getaway sales event. Get 0% APR for 60 months or up to 7500 total savings on the Hyundai IONIQ 5. Hurry into the Hyundai Getaway sales event. Offers end September 3rd. Call 562-314-4603 for details. Well, we got a minute and I'm going to buy that truck I've been wanting. Wait, don't you need like weeks to shop for a car? I don't. Carvana makes it super convenient to find exactly what I want. Hold up. You're buying a car on your phone? Isn't that more of a laptop thing? You can shop wherever you want. I like to do my research. Read reviews, compare models. Plus, Carvana has thousands of options. How'd you decide on that truck? Because I like it. Oh, that is a great reason. Go to Carvana.com to sell your car the convenient way. Okay, you can do this. I know, I know, Carvana makes it so convenient to sell your car. It's just hard to let go. My car and I have been through so much together. But look, you already have a great offer from Carvana. That was fast. Well, I know my lessons played in my heart and those questions were easy. You're almost there. Now to just accept the offer and schedule a pickup or drop off. How'd you do it? How were you so strong in letting go of your car? Well, I already made up my mind and Carvana is so easy. Oh yeah, true. And sold. Go to Carvana.com to sell your car the convenient way. Fitsy and hard. Come and etch you here on 937fmwei.com. And of course, all of our fabulous affiliates. I said fabulous. Sorry, I got a little tongue tied. Not gonna lie. All that sounds good to me. Our fabulous affiliates throughout New England. And all over the world. T minus 15 hours till parade time, Andy. Are you going to be slipping in for the parade? No. No? How about your kids? No, he's got to work. Nope. Where does he work? Baseball camp. Oh, nice. My kids are starting baseball camp next week as a, no, this is not to draw things back to the Cape, which I do oftentimes during the summer. The Cape Cod Baseball League actually does a camp. They do it on the field where the YD Red Sox play at Yarmith Dennis High School. And it's only like 20 bucks a day for a couple, like three hours. Drop the kids off. They get a chance to work out and run some drills with some future potential major leaguers who are all paying their way for the summer. Cleaning pools and teaching camp. It's a blast. Anyone else get the feeling fits he tries to ditch his kids a lot or whines about his kids a lot? I don't ditch my kids a lot. I can't spend enough time with them. I am such an active hands-on dad. It's ridiculous. He's like 20 bucks. You can dump your kids. Great. I get two hours. I got, I got to run home and do a six-rings podcast with you in peace. Record for big 103 and whatever the hell else I do. Um, no, I'm fully committed to the whole thing. I'm already designing this fall's curriculum because I'll be ascending from assistant coach to head coach of the flag football program. Oh my God. Who's going to be better? Mayo or Fitzy? That's a great, you know what? Who is less prepared? Mayo or Fitzy? Who's going to have to walk back more things they say within the first three months on the job? Mayo or Fitzy? It's got a culture shift for the flag football team as well. Or it's going to be super fun. They're already actually working on the huge murals of me talking to the kids and making connections with them. So we'll see how that goes. But like I said, you and I often have to- I thought your dad was a comedian. How come he's never fun? See, you have to always do that. You know, hey, you know, oh, Andy Hart's dad, you know, Jackson Hart's dad is coaching us. He talks about football a lot. How come he doesn't know crap? That's right. Back-to-back Super Bowl champions on the flag football. Please, bought and paid for back to back and paid for. Illegal job got in the way they lost in the final and I couldn't call plays. Man, you sure you're sounding out working at the excuse factory where his dad made a mint? You have to call plays himself. She was like a 12-year-old calling his own plays. It was a debacle. If he got wheels like his, it probably, well, he probably hung in there as long as he could. But like I said, oftentimes if the kids are away at camp doing their thing, we run home, we do a little six-rings pod, we talk some Pat's football. Just like one and many out there today, I was surprised to see the Patriots made a little news, Andy. That's right. They promised one of the many things that the Wolf of Ball Street, Elliott Wolf, promised us before he was actually given the title of executive vice president of player personnel, de facto GM. Of course, it's New England. We always have to do things a little different around here. Before, given the title, said he was going to weaponize the offense and the draft, delivered on the promise, seven out of eight picks. We're on the offensive side of the ball and yes, they were going to do their best to retain the veterans. The core, the players who had earned their second contract here, dare I say, this feels like three off seasons of Belichick core retention contracts given out. We had Ramandre today, four years, $36 million, 17 million guaranteed, joining that bag three for 57 that Michael Wendell got. David Andrews getting extended by another couple of years as well. Duggar got the four for 54 after he was given the transition tag. And the Christian bar more. You Christian bar more four for 92. Biggest of them, the biggest of them all, literally and financially. Yes. So what is your all these players that earned the number three pick in the draft? So see, that's the thing though, the whole entire idea of like, as a bunch of bombs band together, baby, they played terrible views. These guys were awful. This band sucks. Let's just keep them together. See, I disagree. I think so many things went sideways. So many things went wrong for that team last year between the coach. Obviously in the quarterback, the dysfunction on the team, just everything surrounding it, it almost made it seem, at least to me, like it was an impossible situation for anyone to barely survive, let alone to thrive in as well. And yes, I understand they had the 30th ranked offense last year. So why wouldn't you want to race to bring back as many of the players from that 30th ranked offense you possibly could? You know, the tables tilted in the wrong favor for them last year. So many different people got injured. The defense still hung in there as well. The offense was just legendarily bad. Do you not think that if you're going to run your team through a certain player this year, at least run the offense through a certain player? Ramondre Stevenson would make the most sense and paying him that second contract as a running back. You trust a running back. You know, that has good hands. Two years ago led the team with 69 receptions. Isn't he somewhere? Gronk smiles. Nice. Don't you think that he's worth at least that's 17 million. That's basically paying him up front for two more years of his prime. He's only in his mid 20s. It's not like you're paying a running back who's 28, 29 and could be on the doorstep of tired legs and, you know, tread bear tires. Makes sense to me. Yeah, I think this is a win-win deal. Ramondre previewed it when he said during many camp. Yeah, I think we're close. He said he thought he was going to get the deal done. They obviously got the deal done. He had seen everybody else kind of get theirs fall in line. And the packer way of retaining talent that Elliot Wolf has spoken about and now enacted. And there's no question. He's the centerpiece of the offense. That's the first thing that Alex van Pelt said. It's the first thing we've seen in OTAs and mini camps. They throw it to him. They run it with him. And quite honestly, there aren't a lot of other proven options or guys you can lean on, especially at running back. I mean, it's Ramondre and pray for rain at running back. And I know he didn't have a great year last year, started slow and finished hurt, which is not a great season in any sense of the words. Nope. Um, but two years ago, I thought he was on a trajectory where he was sort of, you remember, I kept calling him poor man. Sequin Barkley, you know, thousand yard back, 69 catches, made big plays. He needs to get back to that. But no, I think this is a win-win because you need him. He had some leverage. He's the centerpiece of your offense. And he gets some money. He gets paid in this weird running back market world where, yes, it took a little uptick this off season, but he's not Josh Jacobs. He's not Sequin Barkley. He's not Christian McCaffrey. He's not one of these truly elite running backs. And yet he got some financial security. He already has the job security. So, no, I think this works for everybody. Now he just needs to go out, stay healthy and do his job. So it was Stevenson for 36. Duggar ultimately was four for 58. Excuse me. On wento three for 57. Hunter Henry also in the club this off season. Three years, $27 million. And we both thought at the time that sounded like a pretty good deal. And he is definitely going to be either a veteran or rookie quarterback's best friend. Kendrick Bourne coming off of the torn ACL last year in October against the Dolphins. Got extended three for 19 and a half million. Hopefully he can make it back to the field sooner or later, sooner than later rather. And of course, the big deal for the big man, that would be four for 92 for Christian Barmore. Also, let's not forget. Anthony Jennings, one of the sneaky, secret pieces of that highly effective Patriots defense, three years, $12 million as well. Don't get Uche. Oh, and Josh Uche won for three. He turned down boatloads of money elsewhere to take that deal. Or so we were told. No, that's what he said. I'm going to take him at his word. You are? No. Why would you believe him and no one else? I never believed the players. I think they lie nonstop. So yeah, so Uche is, well, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight players, eight veterans, a minimal free agent law. Who's the only free agent they really lost? Miles Bryant? Uh, no, Ezekiel Elliott, the best offensive player. Ah, they're passing later last year. They lost their best offensive player. It was soon probably going to be coached by Bill Belichick. See, I think I'm with you. I think this makes a ton of sense as well. You know, guys like Josh Jacobs, he left the Raiders and went to the Packers. That was four for 48. So he got 25% more money than Ramondre Stevenson. Do you think he's 25% more the back than Ramondre is? Because Ramondre is healthy. He's a multifaceted, versatile, explosive player. He's a good player. Josh Jacobs is a foundational player. He's pretty led the NFL in Russian. Like he's an all pro caliber player. Whereas at his best, I think Stevenson is a pro bowl caliber player. And I like Stevenson, but even a couple of years ago, if you go back and look at the yardage in some of those games, it was there were stretches where he was really good. And there were stretches that he was really quiet. He can't be that this year. You know, he brought up. He's been watching Nick Chubb going back to Alec Van Pelt in Cleveland, watching Nick Chubb. Nick Chubb's a 14 or a 1,500 yard running back. Speaking of juggernauts, he runs like when healthy runs like. Correct. And you need Stevenson to be consistently good. It's a little like Jason Tatum. You know, not all 28 or 30 point games are the same. Not all 1200 yard seasons. Like if you have two 200 yard games, but then go quiet for three games where you only give me 35 yards 35, you know what I mean? Like, no, you're going to need to be consistently good. Consistently productive. If this team is going to have a chance to maybe overachieve offensively. But again, he's, he looks like he's, I guess he's going with redistributed his weight. Same weight to 25, but a little better weight. He's eating better. He looks like he's got a little bounce in his step and is ready to have a good year. But you know, it's a big jump from mini camp, no pads, no contact, no hitting to. Oh, it's the second week of the season and it's a real game. And how does he look? Yeah. Remindre Stevenson at first was remembered for the fumble in the, or the missed blocking assignment in his first game back in 2021. Then he came on and was remembered for supplanting Damien Harris. And basically being a star on the rise and a focal point of the offense, then he became remembered for being part of the single worst play in Patriots, if not NFL history. And then last year, man, like there's really no, there's no signature remandre moment from last year. There was no signature remandre play. No game. You can say like that's the remandre Stevenson game. He put the New England Patriots on his broad shoulders and carried them across the goal line to victory on this given Sunday. But to defend him, like, the offense suck period. What was there? And all aspects, the quarterback sucks. We have no passing game. We have no offensive line. Like, how am I supposed to do my job when those guys can't block? The defense doesn't think we can pass it all. So they're going to, you know, play the run. Like, I kind of give him and everybody a pass. It was so bad last year that it was, yeah, the, the, the, the, some of the parts was just so hideous that I don't blame any of the parts. Except the line was so bad. You had to get rid of the greatest coach of all time. Yeah. That's gone off the rails and he's on Nantucket. I won't say it. What are you talking about there? Once was a man from Nantucket who had a younger whose girlfriend was so young, it caused a ruckus. Uh, yeah, Josh Jacobs 2022 1653 yards rushing. Yeah, pretty good now. Damn. Pretty good. Yeah, he is so good. So that even they got rid of Aaron Jones for him instead, which was amazing. Jones goes over for the one year, $7 million deal with the Vikings. There's a player I would like to see Ramondra Stevenson emulate, because Aaron Jones, yes, sneaky fast at times, good between the tackles, a little too injury riddled. That's hopefully Ramondra has kicked that out of a system. Like you said, eating better training, better this off season. Hopefully he's in it for the long haul because they're going to lean on him early and often and then in between both of those this season. So let's see how that one works out. I'm not an Antonio Gibson guy. Yeah. I love Antonio Gibson, but I don't think he's going to. You love guys who fumble more than they score. Yeah, you know, I like, you know what, I like third downbacks. I like pass catching backs. I like guys that have a little, a little extra dynamic in their game out of the backfield. I think it wasn't Gibson a converted wide receiver turn running back. Yeah, no, he is. He's a essentially receiver playing running back. And I'm interested to see how he fits in with Alex Van Pelt and the system and third down. And you know, you have been lacking that. It's why Elliot and Stevenson had to kind of lead the team in receptions. You didn't have the James White, Kevin Falk at all type. I'll be interested to see how that works with this offense. I just, I think that's what he is. I don't think you want to see Romandre Stevenson get hurt. And now Antonio Gibson is your lead back and he's going to get all the touches. I don't, I don't think that's a good game plan to win with. So I'm curious, were you in the role of Elliot Wolf? Would you have given him this deal or something? Oh, absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. I'm a Stevenson fan. And again, I don't think you overpaid. You didn't go long term. You know, and we need to wait and see the details too. Sometimes these contracts aren't, you know, it's four for 36. Is it or is like the last year sort of a fake year? Well, it was reported 17 million guaranteed. Yeah, I know. But even if it's just a three year deal for 20 something million, I'm fine with that, right? I'll pay him like, Devon Godshaw is making eight million a year, nine million a year. Now he wants a new deal or so I'm told. Well, he can pound sand. Wow. And he's a big man. So it's a lot of sand that can be a pound. He's got that sand hard. What didn't Bill Belichick tell us? He's one of the best defensive tackles in football. The unemployed guy? You listening to people on the unemployment line now? Wow. Shots fired from the South Coast. Truth is never mean. So Ramondre has totaled 2,265 rushing yards on 499 carries with only 14 touchdowns. Geez, you think he'd have more. 120 percent is good. You think he gets seven or eight yards? Ah, they overpaid him. What the hell? Actually, here's what I'll say. I'll leave with this before we go to break. If it's possible that Alex Van Pelt is able to engineer some sort of Ramondre Stevenson as Nick Chubb and Antonio Gibson as Kareem Hunt type of thing this season with a nice, you know, with a first and second down back, possibly mixing up the passing game every now and again. Gibson gets the carry and Ramondre catches the pass. If he can have the kind of efficiency and productivity those two guys had in their prime a few years back with Mondre and Gibson this year, that'll be fun. That'll take a little pressure off of Jacobi Brissette. That'll take a little pressure off of Drake May whenever he takes over his QB1. I'd like to see it. And since there's a lot of questions at the wide receiver position, it would be nice to lean on a running back, not only running the ball, but I think you're going to see a lot of screens and dump offs and some of those. Oh, yeah, you can say that again, Margie. My dad works in B2B marketing. He came by my school for career day and said he was a big row as man. Then he told everyone how much he loved calculating his return on ad spend. My friends still laughing me to this day. Not everyone gets B2B. But with LinkedIn, you'll be able to reach people who do. Get $100 credit on your next ad campaign. Go to linkedin.com/results to claim your credit. That's linkedin.com/results. Terms and conditions apply. LinkedIn, the place to be, to be. This episode is brought to you by Experian. Are you paying for subscriptions you don't use, but can't find the time or energy to cancel them? Experian could cancel unwanted subscriptions for you, saving you an average of $270 per year. And plenty of time. Download the Experian app. Results will vary. Not all subscriptions are eligible. Savings are not guaranteed. Paid membership with connected payment account required. Each and every week on the podcast, Andy and I do something we call the Patriots positional preview. Very creative. It's very-- it's literative. It's the PPP. Isn't that-- wasn't that the loan? Yeah. Yeah, okay. Oh, yeah, I thought so. It's also fast PPP is the guy that-- and the Celtics hits half-court shots. Oh, that's right. By the way, I shared a little-- a fun little slow-mo video. I think it was either "Seltice Unite" or "Seltice Junkies" put up on Twitter. Of Peyton Pritchard's shot from like a high up, almost drone-like angle. Obviously, I know it wasn't. It was just a big TV camera. It was slow-mo. And the entire comment section is people still marveling at the fact that he traveled on the play. Oh, absolutely. But it's the NBA. It took about 17 steps. Don't care. Like it would have affected the outcome. Right. It would have affected my joy if they wiped that out. Yeah, give us a highlight for the age. He's drained of 49 footer. So what if he traveled? There's a little travel. Everyone. Yeah, Brady Fumble, who cares? It was the longest shot in the NBA Finals in like 10 years or something. It was cool. Love it. Love it. And then Dante XM for them didn't even try it, the end of the first quarter. And I know, that's-- That's Myers. Bob Myers. Like, shoot the shot. Right? Actually, who's going to shoot? The ball. Is this your first time in a court? Throw the ball towards the hoop. Every once in a while, it goes in. Just ask Joel Embiid, who chucked in a 75-footer against his oldest ones. Exactly. He's a pilot. It didn't count. But it doesn't matter if it counts. Try. Try. Try. Like the old man used to say, you hit 0% of the home runs. You don't take a swing at it. Yeah. And you probably hit 0% of home runs when you did swing. I did not hit any home runs. It was also very difficult for me to huff and puff my way around the bases as old-- Fatty McGee. He used to set off the sprinklers, Fatty Fitzy. Jackass. How much longer do I have to deal with this? I think I'd rather be on the parade route right now. Anyway, like I said, Patriots positional previews each and every week on the podcast. We work our way around the roster to tell you exactly what we like about the room. What needs some work in the room? Who's the star? Who's got a long way to go? And basically just take a look at the depth before we get into training camp this coming summer. So far on the podcast, Andy, I believe we have done defensive line. We have not. If you say so. I think we have. We may have done cornerbacks. I believe we did cornerback, yes. Okay. Tonight, we're going to do wide receivers. Yeah, stacked position. It is a stacked, too many studs in the room. Stacked, jacked, locked, and loaded. Yes. So the New England Patriots head into the 2024 season with a lot of wide receivers and no definitive number one. Now they did draft. Randy Moss. They did draft. Wes Welker, Julian Edelman. Dion Branch. They did draft two wide receivers this year in the draft as well. And I have heard things about Quechon Bouté, actually turning some heads. I bet you have. I have indeed. And I'm sure that'll show right up in your feed. You absolute filthmonger. I have heard good things about Bouté heading into training camp, but Andy, tell me right now, as we always begin this segment, pick an adjective to describe this room. Competitive. Ooh, wow. I like it. I actually think it's very competitive. I didn't say it's high level competition. This is not the days of, as I said, Moss and Welker, and number ones and all pros and future Hall of Famers. But I actually think there is quite a bit of jockeying for jobs and roles, and who's going to be the number one? Is Juju back and healthy? Is DiMario Douglas going to have a breakout slot year? One of the rookies is going to be one of these impact rookies that we've lusted after with other teams? Feels like the last two or three years, we're like, "Hey, how come they can draft a receiver?" And he comes in and he's good as rookie year and catches balls and helps the offense. I think there's a chance of that. There's a chance of bounce back rebound stories. I think we all like Kendrick Bourne. Whenever he gets healthy, I think people will be rooting for him. Jalen Rager has been catching balls and looks a little quicker to me in mini camp action. So competitive position. Competitive would be the word to describe this room of 12. This dirty dozen right here includes 12 angry men. Cat could very well be. Kendrick Bourne, Kendrick Osborne, also known as KJ Osborne from Minnesota on a one year deal. Jalen Rager resigned. He, of course, of the kickoff return touchdown in the ever so forgettable New Year's Day finale in Buffalo. Kwan Baker, who exactly? DiMario Douglas, Pop Douglas, who everybody says can't be covered right now. Hopefully he can stay healthy enough for the breakout season or the double breakout season or the next great season that we all think he's capable of. Juju Smith-Shuster, see ya. Tyquan Thornton, who's doing pull-ups and eating lots of egg whites this off season. We got David Wallace. Rookies Jalen Polk, who made a great catch at the end of mini camp last week. J. Von Baker, my guy, Keshan Butte, and Jaquay Jackson. Those are your 12 wide receivers currently on the New England Patriots. Two questions for you, Hart. Number one, ultimately, how many wide receivers do you believe will be carried by the New England Patriots this season? And two, who among them will be the leading receiver? So, how many they carry, it's usually in the five to six range, right? And sometimes there's crossover like his Jalen Rager, a kick returner. So does that help him get on the roster? Special team's value. Is it as valued as much on the New England Patriots under Drahd Meos? It was under Bill Belichick. I don't think it is. I don't think you're going to see these core special teamers, the Cody Davis, Brandon Bolden types or as many of them moving forward. You're obviously going to have your Brendan Schuller. But the second question, I like what I see from DiMario Douglas. You mentioned it. If he can stay healthy, I think there's a legitimate opportunity here for DiMario Douglas to catch a significant number of footballs. You know, I don't know if we'll get back to the true old school, West Welker days of, he would roll out of bed and catch like 115 passes in that slot receiver role with Tom Brady. Still somehow underrated to the day. Yeah, because you people stink. Hey, hey, hey, I don't fault him for Super Bowl 46. That was a team loss. I didn't say just you. I said you people. It's too many people that blame Welker for the Super Bowl 46. You created those people. You're one of the people. Nope. Some of them were just born impossible to please. But yeah, no, I think he could catch 85 balls if he has a good year and kind of. What do I like? 85 balls? I don't know how I want to go. See it. People won't listen to that though. I'm saying DiMario Douglas could catch 85 balls and they'll be like, yeah, you're the guy who said they're going to win zero games. Well, both could happen. He could catch 85 balls and they could suck as a team. But yeah, I like him. Juju, I'm not really buying them. I'm 100%. I wasn't 100% last year. I played at 60%. I'm healthy. I'm not really buying into that. Does he make the team? I don't think he makes the team. I'm not sure he makes the team. I'm not sure he's healthy enough to make the team, but then if he's not healthy, I don't think he caught him. I mean, this ownership, excuse me, this new regime has shown that they are not to be beholden to any of the players that were signed by the former EVP of PP or had AC of the AC. They've re-signed a lot of them. Yes, but they re-signed who they chose, but it doesn't mean they're married to each and every one of them. No, but they re-signed a lot of them. Anyway, so no, Juju, I think, is fighting for a job. I think Taikwon Thornton is fighting for a job. If you made me pick between one of those two guys, I think I might take Taikwon Thornton over Juju. But I think KJ Osborne is going to make it. Lock, I think. DiMario Douglas is going to make it. That's two. I mean, the only way he's not on the active roster is if he's injured. He had 49 catches last year for 561 yards. No touchdown, so he's in that sort of... Who was it that didn't catch a touchdown? Jacobi Myers. Jacobi Myers took him like, what, two and a half seasons? But also, the slot guys don't always catch a lot of touchdowns. True. You know, there were different errors. When Moss and Gronk were kind of poaching those touchdowns, it changed their point. I think both rookies make it unless they're hurt. So that's four receivers right there. I don't see any Foxborough flu there. Now, how about Kendrick Bourne? Shouldn't he be five if he's healthy enough? Or does he start the season puffed? I'm feeling like he might start the season puffed, even though he's all jacked up and jazzed up on the internet, trying to earn captains' votes and talk himself up. Yeah, it'll be interesting to see if he is a PUP candidate or not. He's on the roster if he's not, and that's your five, in my opinion. Did I leave anybody off? So let's just say he's healthy. All right, so you say, if he's healthy, it's Kendrick Bourne, KJ Osborne, Pop Douglas, Jalen Polk, J. Von Baker. So that leaves... Tyquem Thorne. Jalen Rager would then have to qualify from a special team's capacity, which is up for grabs, which is a possibility. Keshan Butte, who's turned heads for the right reasons in this particular camp, not at the end of last year when he was the parlay kid. And Juju Smith-Shuster. Interesting. That's why I say it's competitive, because I think some people will be surprised if Tyquem Thorne or Juju gets cut, or one of those guys. That was Butte actually arrested? Was he charged? I think he was charged with something. I forget exactly. Finally, if only I had a super computer. The arrest of Keshan Butte, and growing... Yes, he was arrested. Damn. Yes, that happened. Yeah. Arrested on a felony charge of computer fraud in one misdemeanor count of gambling, prohibited for persons of... Come on, Boston Herald. Felony charge of computer fraud in one misdemeanor count of gambling, prohibited for persons under 21 Louisiana State Police announced back in January 2024. Oh, just a felony? That's it. That's all, just a felony. And I'm surprised, wouldn't the league could swoop in and be like, "Hey, great camp. Maybe you'll actually work out." And people will say, "Yeah, we stole another one with a six rounder." But you don't get to play this year because the commissioner dropped the hammer. But he didn't gamble on pro games. This only happened to him in college. It's not like he's one of these guys who was betting on his own team while he was playing. Right, but yeah, I don't know how that'll play out. I think they'll let it play out legally first and then probably drop whatever hammer they're going to drop or adjudicate, however they want to do it. I think Mayo has just flat out said we're going to let it play itself out in regards to booty when he was got enough to worry about. Yeah, and but I think he's a long shot either way. I mean, I think with this roster, I think he's a little bit of a long shot. I know people got all excited when they draw. He had 300 yards as a freshman. Oh my God, in one game. He was a long shot. Like his career was not great at LSU. He petered out. Well, there was the ankle injury. There was the disagreement with the coaching staff. He had some really good games. They're all the excuses. Well, whatever the case, I'm just presenting the factuals. That's all I'm saying. Yeah, they're called excuses. Yeah, we make plays, not excuses. And he didn't make enough plays. And now they have other guys that can make plays named Polk and Baker and those guys. So yeah, I'm sorry, opportunity lost. Now, the other day, when you were filling in for Captain Kidney Stones, we had a six rings in football things podcast. And here for years, I've always said for you, it has no stones. I was wrong. He's got stones. All right. Wrong kind. Yeah, the bike doesn't have many more though. He's passed. They have since been factually passed them. But he would not. He would not be on the radio tomorrow if they were not dissolved or passed or. Oh, I thought he was just going to drug himself up. Uh, I don't think so. Concoction of morphine and takila and maybe some takila to mix in the extra. Uh, Andrew Callahan from the Herald who had that great piece yesterday about going fishing with David Andrews, the nice little profile piece that he did. I highly recommend everybody give that a read if they haven't yet. Really, really, really great piece. And also must be fun and efficient boat at six in the morning. Crushing beers and doing McGill Cuddy shots with some with a member of the Patriots offensive line, especially somebody as cool as Bear Andrews. But Callahan told me that on this particular Patriots team, one thing he is certain of is that if it's going to come down to a veteran who could be on the last leg of his last, you know, last leg, last legs, if you will, or a young guy with upside, even if he's not proven, they're going to go with the upside because they see this as a long game. This is a long play here. So if it's going to, let's say it comes down to Tyquan Thornton or Kesha on Butte versus Juju Smith-Shuster, I think they're going to go with the young guy. Yeah. And that's why I just think unless there's a bunch of injuries or like the young guys just aren't ready, I think it's a long shot for Juju Smith-Shuster beyond the roster. Maybe you can trade him? Maybe you can get a couple preseason games out of him. How are you going to get in a deal for Juju Smith-Shuster? Something? Who's going to give you something for him? I don't know. Bag of balls? What do you want with that bag of balls? You've got plenty of balls in your own. I do, but they might need more. I don't think that they need more balls. And they certainly don't need the kind that they would get for Juju Smith-Shuster. All right. I asked you the one adjective to describe the room now. And you said competitive. Give me an adjective that you believe will describe the Patriots wide receiver room at the end of the season. Unimpressive. I know. I'll give you mine. Productive. I think this is going to ultimately be a productive. What's productive? Uh, better than last year. But better than last year is too many words. So I just went with the productive. Yeah. I think you're going to see some things out of Polk. I think you're going to see some things out of Baker. I think, like you said, KJ Osborne might actually look to be more than just the number three receiver that he was in Minnesota. And yeah, you could see 75-80 catches out of your boy pop Douglas. Um, they'll be better than last year. But again, are they going to get up to NFL standard? Are they going to have, I mean, they still could end up being one of the lower end wide receiver rooms in the NFL, correct? They can't, they can't be worse than they were last year. So you could go with improving, perhaps. Improved. Okay. Uh, I'll just stick with competitive. I'm just going to say competitive to start because I don't think they're going to nest. You know, DiMario Douglas will be the closest thing they have to a number one option in terms of production and consistency. But I don't think anybody's necessarily going to fear DiMario Douglas. I think you'll just get your five catches for 45 yards or whatever it is. And everybody'll be like, yeah, that's fine. You caught the ball. You do that regularly, but it's not leading to big plays and winning and scoring. Um, I think they're just going to be painfully obvious that they don't have a number one receiver. And that's why Patriots fans, you should hope that they have a relatively bad record, so they can take a number one receiver early in the draft or a tackle. Ah, all right. And the final question here in our Patriots positional preview as part of the six rings power hour on the Rich Keith show, between Jalen Polk and I was taking the second round 37th overall and J. Von Baker taking 110th overall. Who do you think has the more impressive rookie season? Uh, split decision because I think going to the card on this one, huh? Yeah, I think Polk will have more catches and more playing time. And I think Baker will have more memorable plays. You're going to remember a couple one offs like, oh my God, that play. Remember when he did that thing, whatever, highlight, real tight plays. Five catches, 132 yards and two touchdowns against Buffalo, but then he gets held catchless the next week. Yeah, but I think Polk will be around more often than not for a couple catches, a couple possession type plays, a first down here, first down there. So I think Polk will be the more consistently contributing player. And Baker will say, huh, you know, if he can put that together more consistently, he's going to be a stud kind of guy. If they could only exactly. And Polk did make the catch that capped off minicamp last week, which probably will listen to Brady night as well. You've seen a lot of the, and you've seen, would you believe you've seen at OTA's in minicamp, many of the reasons why the Patriots chose, and obviously in deficit of talent at the receiver position, have you seen enough yet to validate why they went and chose him 37th overall? Um, yeah, I think he's a, I think he is in a weird world. He's a second round talent truly. The problem is I feel like in recent years, there's been a number of receivers lower that are obviously better than their draft spot. You know what I mean? Like, I think he's a second round talent. He's not going to wow you. He's not like an elite talent playmaker guy. But I think people have these visions of every second round receiver is elite, is a pro baller because so many of them in the last few years have turned out second, third round to be really good players. And like Puka Nakua, like he broke every freaking rookie receiving record last season. Last season, last season. So he should have been a first round pick, like he shouldn't be a fifth round pick. I think Polk is a true second round pick. I think his ceiling is second round pick. I think his floor is second round pick. I think he's a good solid player. Nothing wrong with that. And I know many people said that J. Von Baker was being comped to, or so I had read that he could be the next Puka Nakua. I doubt he's going to even come close to the stats he put up last year. It's just more to the point of here's a dynamic talent that could slip to the middle or late rounds that people may one day soon say, how the hell did we let J. Von Baker go 110 to the Patriots? He could very well look like a third, a second, or even a late first round talent. If given the time, obviously the reps, a quarterback, and the line. You know, just a couple of those things that you need to make for a product of offense. That's all. Just those things. Okay. Perfect. All right. So competitive is your choice. I say improved or improving productive, if not maybe, to describe them. We gave our pick for the six wide receivers as well. What do you guys say? 617-779-7937. You want to weigh in on the wide receiver room. You can always listen to the six rings in football things podcast. Where every week we break out more new, fun things to talk about related to the New England Patriots. We have a what if Wednesday, a brand new speculative podcast each and every week. Mike Dusso from Patriots.com. Nice enough to join us for yesterday is what if Wednesday? What if Bill Belichick were still coaching the Patriots this year? How would things look that way? That was a fun little chat we had yesterday, Andy. Well, you boo the radio. Why are you booing? I don't know. It was time. Yeah, honest to God. Can't you really just can't, can't please all the people or any of the people. None of the people any of the time. All-star, closer, Ken Lee Janssen. We have a question. What's the best podcast of all time? This part 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 is now the most prolific national daily baseball pod. There is another fact. So jump aboard the BIB Express. 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The Rhamonster is here to stay! Fitzy and Hart break down Rhamondre Stevenson's four-year, $36 million extension. Plus, it's the latest install of the Pats Positional Preview series, with the guys diving into the wide receivers.
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