Latest / Patriots Unfiltered / Patriots Draft Countdown Previewing the Offensive Line with Brandon Thorn
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: This is Patriots Draft Countdown presented by bud Light.
- 0:05Speaker 2: Welcome to an NFL draft.
- 0:07Speaker 1: Posted by the writers of Patriots dot Com. From now
- 0:10Speaker 1: until you here, New England Patriotslie, the countdown is on.
- 0:15Speaker 1: Welcome to the Patriots Draft Countdown presented by bud Light.
- 0:20Speaker 2: What's up, everybody?
- 0:21Speaker 3: Welcome to Patriots Draft Countdown presented by bud Light, Easy
- 0:25Speaker 3: to Drink, Easy to enjoy, bud Light.
- 0:26Speaker 2: The official beer sponsor of the New England Patriots.
- 0:28Speaker 3: And today we're gonna touching on a number of topics
- 0:31Speaker 3: all related to the draft. We've got a great offensive
- 0:33Speaker 3: line preview. Evan had a chance to sit down and
- 0:36Speaker 3: talk with Brandon Thorne really drilled down on some of
- 0:38Speaker 3: those offensive line prospects. But first here in this first segment,
- 0:42Speaker 3: we're just gonna kind of catch everybody up on some
- 0:43Speaker 3: of the latest news that's happened over the last week
- 0:46Speaker 3: since the last episode relating directly to the Patriots and
- 0:49Speaker 3: how it impacts their draft.
- 0:50Speaker 2: So, guys want to start at the top. Justin Fields.
- 0:53Speaker 3: He is now a Pittsburgh Steeler, So we know we
- 0:56Speaker 3: spent a lot of time talking over the last few
- 0:58Speaker 3: months about Justin Field's potential to come here. Now he's
- 1:01Speaker 3: kind of off the table to start with you, Paul,
- 1:03Speaker 3: you know, what was kind of your reaction to that,
- 1:04Speaker 3: and how do you think that does that impact the
- 1:06Speaker 3: Patriots at all?
- 1:07Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean I would say personally, just you know,
- 1:11Speaker 4: very selfishly, I'm glad that he got moved to somebody
- 1:14Speaker 4: so we could sort of stop with Like to me,
- 1:17Speaker 4: when they signed Jakobe Brissett, that kind of eliminated the
- 1:19Speaker 4: Justin Fields portion of the Patriots connection to that possibility,
- 1:24Speaker 4: but the questions were persisting, So I'm glad it kind
- 1:28Speaker 4: of got resolved. I'm not overly surprised. I think if
- 1:31Speaker 4: you saw it, like you know, Chicago had made it
- 1:32Speaker 4: clear that they were looking to deal him. They wanted
- 1:35Speaker 4: to do right by him and move him as quickly
- 1:37Speaker 4: as they could, and it took a while. So that
- 1:39Speaker 4: told me that there wasn't a tremendous amount of interest.
- 1:42Speaker 4: Now they also people around the league. If you're interested
- 1:44Speaker 4: in Justin Fields, you knew Chicago was going to have
- 1:47Speaker 4: to release him at some point if they weren't able
- 1:50Speaker 4: to make a deal, So that lowers the value you know,
- 1:53Speaker 4: a conditional pick if he plays for Pittsburgh, it's a
- 1:56Speaker 4: fourth round pick. If he doesn't, it's a sixth round pick.
- 1:58Speaker 4: So I think it's probably the best for Chicago and
- 2:02Speaker 4: fields Pittsburgh specifically. I know we're not necessarily caring about Pittsburgh.
- 2:07Speaker 4: I think it makes a little sense because I'm not
- 2:09Speaker 4: sold on Russell Wilson, and I know they've said that
- 2:11Speaker 4: it's Russell Wilson's job, but we'll see.
- 2:14Speaker 5: Yeah, it makes a lot of sense for Pittsburgh because
- 2:16Speaker 5: they have the twentieth pick in the draft, so they're
- 2:18Speaker 5: not gonna have an opportunity to take a Jayden Daniels
- 2:21Speaker 5: or Drake may or one of these guys. So their
- 2:23Speaker 5: upside play is justin fields, which I think makes sense
- 2:26Speaker 5: for a team like that. But clearly teams like the Commanders,
- 2:30Speaker 5: teams like the Patriots, teams like the Minnesota Vikings, they
- 2:32Speaker 5: didn't have much interest in justin fields because they were
- 2:35Speaker 5: more worried about the guys in the draft and Tyler
- 2:37Speaker 5: talking about contract and value and things like that. Justin
- 2:41Speaker 5: Field's coming up in his fourth year. He's gonna have
- 2:43Speaker 5: to get paid at some point, even if he is
- 2:45Speaker 5: starting caliber or versus starting all over. First year of
- 2:49Speaker 5: a rookie contract. Now you have team control for the
- 2:51Speaker 5: next five years. It's a much different scenario. So I
- 2:54Speaker 5: get it for a team like Pittsburgh. I never really
- 2:56Speaker 5: got it for a team like the Patriots that had
- 2:58Speaker 5: that pick to be able to take a quarterback in
- 3:00Speaker 5: the draft and basically do what people would want you
- 3:03Speaker 5: to do with Justin Fields, which is develop him and
- 3:05Speaker 5: hope that you can tap into the upside. So it
- 3:08Speaker 5: makes sense that he's not coming here makes sense for Pittsburgh.
- 3:11Speaker 5: I think the Justin Fields too, and Justin Fields and
- 3:14Speaker 5: Marvin Harrison junior pairing that everybody called in and emailed in.
- 3:18Speaker 5: Sorry rip to that take.
- 3:20Speaker 2: That was me.
- 3:22Speaker 6: Tp right up, Like part of me is a little upset.
- 3:25Speaker 6: I've always been a Justin Fields guy. I'm surprised how
- 3:28Speaker 6: cheap he ended up going to Pittsburgh for. But as
- 3:30Speaker 6: Paul said, I'm kind of happy this is done with.
- 3:32Speaker 6: It's fun to, like, you know, picture what could have happened.
- 3:35Speaker 6: But it's done. He's in Pittsburgh. I'll be upset about it,
- 3:38Speaker 6: but I'll.
- 3:38Speaker 2: Get over it.
- 3:39Speaker 3: So it's just some clarity though as we get into
- 3:42Speaker 3: this last month, it's like, you know, I mean My
- 3:44Speaker 3: favorite part of the draft usually is the day after
- 3:46Speaker 3: the draft, when you're like, here's the ten guys that
- 3:47Speaker 3: you have and you can just kind of focus on
- 3:49Speaker 3: those instead of doing all this speculation. So that speculation
- 3:52Speaker 3: is now out. So I'm glad about that. But the
- 3:54Speaker 3: Patriots did make a move this weekend, signing kJ Osborne, receiver,
- 3:59Speaker 3: kind of the third receiver there in Minnesota. We know
- 4:01Speaker 3: they missed out on Calvin Ridley really, you know, coming
- 4:04Speaker 3: in with a big offer kind of showing. I think
- 4:06Speaker 3: that this you know, regime understands that you got to
- 4:08Speaker 3: take a big swing on those kind of players. But
- 4:10Speaker 3: they're settling for kJ Osborne, who kind of himself settles
- 4:13Speaker 3: into a group Paul that it kind of looks similar
- 4:16Speaker 3: to me. You know, it's it's kJ Osbourne, It's it's
- 4:18Speaker 3: Kendrick Bourne. It's a lot of those kind of not
- 4:20Speaker 3: a big outside X guy, a lot of these guys
- 4:22Speaker 3: that you can kind of move around in the slot.
- 4:24Speaker 3: We'll see how it all plays out, but I think
- 4:25Speaker 3: they've got nine receivers on the roster.
- 4:27Speaker 4: Throw Jamario Douglass in there too, and I agree, and listen,
- 4:30Speaker 4: he's been you know, I would say a professional receiver.
- 4:33Speaker 4: I think he's he's been reasonably productive in Minnesota, So
- 4:36Speaker 4: I don't I don't think this is a move like
- 4:38Speaker 4: you just like scoff at. But you do wonder, you know,
- 4:41Speaker 4: where those outside guys, the guys that Evan's been talking
- 4:44Speaker 4: about for the last couple of weeks, those X receivers,
- 4:47Speaker 4: where are they're gonna come from. Mike Williams is still,
- 4:49Speaker 4: you know available, kind of a strange story about him
- 4:52Speaker 4: with the Jets, you know, coming out over the last
- 4:55Speaker 4: couple of days. But I like Osborne. I think it's
- 4:59Speaker 4: a good addition. I think create more competition. You know,
- 5:01Speaker 4: it's some insurance if Kenrick Bourne doesn't you know, bounce back,
- 5:05Speaker 4: you know from the town. Acl is as quickly and
- 5:08Speaker 4: as well as as everybody hopes, so you know, bring
- 5:11Speaker 4: them in, create some competition. You need a lot of
- 5:13Speaker 4: receivers in camp. Those guys run a lot in camp.
- 5:15Speaker 3: I wann to t up Evan just because what do
- 5:17Speaker 3: you think this does to affect their draft needs? Because
- 5:19Speaker 3: you've talked a lot about it. Paul just mentioned you
- 5:21Speaker 3: talking about it, the need for an outside X. They
- 5:23Speaker 3: got rid of Devonte Parker, who pretty much played that
- 5:25Speaker 3: role last year. I look at this roster, I don't
- 5:27Speaker 3: see anybody on it. So would you say going into
- 5:30Speaker 3: the draft that we don't really need to spend time
- 5:32Speaker 3: thinking about these Z kind of receivers. Let's focus on
- 5:35Speaker 3: guys that could potentially be an X.
- 5:37Speaker 5: Yeah, I would say yes, But at the same time,
- 5:39Speaker 5: I would hate to pigeonhole yourself just to one type
- 5:42Speaker 5: of receiver, because that's what it looks like on paper.
- 5:44Speaker 5: You're missing. The Patriots need talent at that position. So
- 5:48Speaker 5: if they grade out Ladd McConkie as a much better
- 5:50Speaker 5: player than Keon coleman, and they should draft Lad McConkie,
- 5:53Speaker 5: they shouldn't draft Keon coleman. You figure it out down
- 5:56Speaker 5: the road. But you look at some of these receivers
- 5:58Speaker 5: in that X mold, some guys they're probably going to
- 6:00Speaker 5: go in the first round. Obviously we know about Marvin
- 6:02Speaker 5: Harrison Junior, Romadoonze, those guys off the top of the draft.
- 6:06Speaker 5: Then you go to the Brian Thomas juniors, the Ady
- 6:08Speaker 5: Mitchell tier, that sort of next wave. Keon Coleman to
- 6:11Speaker 5: me is somewhere in the middle between the next wave.
- 6:14Speaker 5: On Day two in the first round, guys, and then
- 6:16Speaker 5: you'd see some of those probably around three picks, like
- 6:19Speaker 5: a tes Walker, like a Brendan Rice. So I know
- 6:22Speaker 5: a lot of people like because of the lineage and
- 6:24Speaker 5: everything like that. So I think all those guys are
- 6:27Speaker 5: interesting for different reasons. I'm not the biggest fan of
- 6:30Speaker 5: Coleman gives me too many Nikhil Harry vibes with, you know,
- 6:34Speaker 5: no separation, contested catch type of guy. I really do
- 6:37Speaker 5: like Brendan Rice a lot, not just because his father's
- 6:39Speaker 5: Jerry Rice, but just watching him on film. Explosive guy,
- 6:43Speaker 5: can run routes as an ex bigger guy, can win
- 6:45Speaker 5: to tested catches, but also seems to be able to
- 6:48Speaker 5: get separation on slants and breakers, things like that. So
- 6:51Speaker 5: there's some guys there. And then obviously just quickly tes
- 6:54Speaker 5: Walker pairing him with Drake may Is college quarterback. Maybe
- 6:58Speaker 5: they go that direction for you.
- 7:00Speaker 2: So I love it.
- 7:01Speaker 6: I would love it. I need something that moves the needle.
- 7:02Speaker 6: kJ Osborne, it's just tough. We missed out on Ridley
- 7:06Speaker 6: Keenan a left and it's like here's kJ Osbourne, Like,
- 7:08Speaker 6: I don't know, we need something.
- 7:09Speaker 4: So I just met the whole college quarterback receiver.
- 7:12Speaker 2: I would love that. I would love that.
- 7:16Speaker 5: He scares me a little bit, I'm not gonna lie.
- 7:18Speaker 5: I think part of it is because of the offense
- 7:20Speaker 5: that he played in at North Carolina. It's an air
- 7:22Speaker 5: raid system, so a lot of his reps are just
- 7:24Speaker 5: him running by people in a straight line. And those
- 7:26Speaker 5: types of guys always give me concern because they don't
- 7:29Speaker 5: have a lot of branches on the route tree. Yet
- 7:31Speaker 5: you know, is he going to be able to run
- 7:33Speaker 5: three different levels of routes. Senior Bowl was not a
- 7:35Speaker 5: good week for him either. So as much as I
- 7:38Speaker 5: love the idea of taking the college quarterback and pairing
- 7:41Speaker 5: him with his number one receiver, there are some concerns
- 7:44Speaker 5: with tes Walker on film that you are a little
- 7:47Speaker 5: bit hesitant. Maybe third or fourth round would be good value,
- 7:51Speaker 5: but I'm probably not taking him inside the top fifty.
- 7:53Speaker 6: If you take someone in the third or the fourth.
- 7:55Speaker 6: As du said, we have nine receivers on a roster.
- 7:57Speaker 6: That's pretty open competition for me. So if you're a rookie,
- 7:59Speaker 6: come in like this is your chance to do it.
- 8:02Speaker 3: So yeah, Well, I mean one more question though, is
- 8:04Speaker 3: usually you know you talk about the X receiver, These
- 8:06Speaker 3: are the big dogs, right, These are the guys that
- 8:08Speaker 3: you know don't need help. They can get off the line,
- 8:09Speaker 3: they can get off press. Is it too much to
- 8:11Speaker 3: kind of hope to develop a guy like that? Not
- 8:13Speaker 3: quite as crazy as like a quarterback, Like usually if
- 8:15Speaker 3: you're in a quarterback Day two, day three, it's it's
- 8:18Speaker 3: a developmental guy. You're probably not having high hopes that
- 8:20Speaker 3: this guy is going to be a star.
- 8:22Speaker 2: But is it unreasonable to.
- 8:23Speaker 3: Kind of hope that you could take a guy like
- 8:25Speaker 3: that in the middle of the draft and that he
- 8:27Speaker 3: will develop into a legit outside presence that draws coverage
- 8:30Speaker 3: and attention from defenses.
- 8:31Speaker 2: I mean, I don't.
- 8:32Speaker 4: I think it's probably case by case, but I don't
- 8:34Speaker 4: think it's unreasonable to expect. I mean, whatever the style
- 8:38Speaker 4: of receiver, we've seen a lot of guys over the
- 8:42Speaker 4: last five seven years, not necessarily be those blue chip
- 8:46Speaker 4: guys in the first round really develop into weapons in
- 8:51Speaker 4: the NFL. I mean, I have to do a little
- 8:54Speaker 4: more research to see how many of those guys are
- 8:56Speaker 4: strictly outside guys as opposed to slot guys. But you
- 8:59Speaker 4: know the names everybody knows, you know, Pooka and the
- 9:02Speaker 4: cop as a fifth round pick last year, you know,
- 9:04Speaker 4: comes in and he looks like a seasoned veteran from
- 9:07Speaker 4: you know, week one did a lot of that, by
- 9:09Speaker 4: the way, without Cooper Cup early in the year when
- 9:12Speaker 4: when Cup was injured, so he didn't even have the
- 9:14Speaker 4: luxury of you know, kJ Osborne. There's probably a thought
- 9:20Speaker 4: in your mind that all he's playing with Justin Jefferson
- 9:23Speaker 4: and even a little like last year with Jordan Addison
- 9:26Speaker 4: who had a really good rookie year, how good is
- 9:28Speaker 4: he or is he just benefiting from open space kind
- 9:31Speaker 4: of you know makeshift Juju Smith Schuster thing with with
- 9:34Speaker 4: Kansas City from the year before. I think he's probably
- 9:36Speaker 4: a little bit better than that, not just a product
- 9:38Speaker 4: of the guys he was around, but that you know,
- 9:41Speaker 4: that's something you have to keep in mind when you
- 9:43Speaker 4: watch some of these guys in college too. But I
- 9:45Speaker 4: think you can develop. Why can't you develop a guy?
- 9:47Speaker 4: I absolutely think you can.
- 9:48Speaker 5: Yeah, I think when you said that about kJ Osborne,
- 9:51Speaker 5: there's a touchdown of his last year where they just
- 9:53Speaker 5: ran it was called scissors, just two crossing routes like
- 9:56Speaker 5: this and three guys go to Justin Jefferson and he's
- 9:59Speaker 5: just all alone in the corner of the end zone
- 10:01Speaker 5: by himself, and I was like, all right, well, we
- 10:03Speaker 5: got the guy that can catch it when he's all
- 10:05Speaker 5: alone in the end zone. But who's the guy that's
- 10:07Speaker 5: taking three guys with him in the coverage?
- 10:09Speaker 4: Right?
- 10:09Speaker 5: And that's what we're all talking about. That's what Matist
- 10:11Speaker 5: was talking about. And I think some of these guys
- 10:13Speaker 5: in the draft. The good thing is is that some
- 10:16Speaker 5: of these Day two guys, especially early Day two guys,
- 10:18Speaker 5: probably would be first round picks in different drafts. This
- 10:21Speaker 5: draft is so loaded at the receiver position that if
- 10:24Speaker 5: you were to put some of these players in last
- 10:27Speaker 5: year's draft class, then a lot of those guys would
- 10:29Speaker 5: be in the conversation with the Zay Flowers of Quinton
- 10:32Speaker 5: Johnson to Jackson Smith and Jigba. They're all in that
- 10:34Speaker 5: same tier. So thirty four is a nice pick to
- 10:37Speaker 5: have because if some of those guys slipped through the
- 10:39Speaker 5: cracks that you might have a really really high grade on,
- 10:42Speaker 5: but they don't end up going in the first round,
- 10:45Speaker 5: you're going to have that opportunity at the top of
- 10:47Speaker 5: the second round or even to trade in late first
- 10:49Speaker 5: round to grab one of those guys. I'll mention one
- 10:51Speaker 5: more name who I don't know if he's necessarily going
- 10:54Speaker 5: to be a prototypical ex but xavierly Get from South
- 10:56Speaker 5: Carolina is rising extremely quick and had a great combine
- 11:02Speaker 5: two hundred and twenty one pounds, ran a sub four
- 11:04Speaker 5: four two twenty one six foot two two twenty one.
- 11:08Speaker 5: He can really move. I think he's like across prospect wise,
- 11:12Speaker 5: between AJ Brown and Debo, he's like right in the middle.
- 11:15Speaker 5: He's more natural receiver than Debo, but he's not quite
- 11:18Speaker 5: as big and stocky as AJ Brown, So he's like
- 11:21Speaker 5: right in the middle of those two guys. And he
- 11:23Speaker 5: had a great season last year at South Carolina. So
- 11:26Speaker 5: those types of guys like a like a Leget that
- 11:29Speaker 5: are explosive, good with the ball in their hands, you know,
- 11:32Speaker 5: chess pieces that you can move around the formation. I
- 11:35Speaker 5: could see those types of guys developing into what we're
- 11:38Speaker 5: all looking for at the next level. Maybe not as
- 11:41Speaker 5: we get into the tes Walkers, the Brendan Rice is
- 11:43Speaker 5: that tier. Those guys are probably just this is my
- 11:46Speaker 5: role and I'm gonna play it type of guys. But
- 11:48Speaker 5: there are some guys at the top of the second
- 11:50Speaker 5: round that are intriguing that that could fit in terms
- 11:52Speaker 5: of drawing coverage and being that that big time coverage dictator.
- 11:56Speaker 2: You got, anybody tech, what do you want? You want
- 11:58Speaker 2: that X receiver.
- 11:59Speaker 6: I know I'm a big Xavier Worthy guy. I know
- 12:01Speaker 6: he's not Zachty straight X, but you know he's a burner.
- 12:03Speaker 6: I know Evan doesn't like the burners, but he's proved it.
- 12:06Speaker 7: I love the burners. I don't like that.
- 12:07Speaker 5: I'm normally not a guy that likes the Keon Coleman
- 12:11Speaker 5: types like I need separation at the top of the
- 12:13Speaker 5: route and if you want that, Xavier Worthy's guy all that.
- 12:16Speaker 5: I think one thing about Xavier Worthy that we have
- 12:19Speaker 5: to remember this is not just a really good combine tester.
- 12:22Speaker 5: This is a guy that has great film at Texas
- 12:24Speaker 5: on top of the fact that he broke the combine record.
- 12:27Speaker 5: I think a lot of people come swooping in towards
- 12:29Speaker 5: this time of year and are like, well, what makes
- 12:31Speaker 5: this guy different from Taekwon? What makes this guy different
- 12:34Speaker 5: from John Ross or some of these other guys that
- 12:37Speaker 5: ran really fast. His film at Texas shows legit route
- 12:40Speaker 5: running on top of the fact that he runs a
- 12:42Speaker 5: four to two to one.
- 12:43Speaker 6: I love both the Texas kids.
- 12:44Speaker 2: So that's all there, you go.
- 12:45Speaker 3: We could talk about receivers all day long, but this
- 12:47Speaker 3: is going to be a show about offensive line. So
- 12:49Speaker 3: we four of us sat down and.
- 12:51Speaker 5: Oh right, yeah, I totally forgot about that.
- 12:54Speaker 2: So check out. Here are our discussion on the offensive line.
- 12:57Speaker 2: All right, we're here in the studio.
- 12:58Speaker 3: We're gonna be talking offensive lines, and guys, this is
- 13:00Speaker 3: a big position, a need. First though, I gotta welcome
- 13:03Speaker 3: in Chris Cassidy making his debut here on Patriots Draft Countdown.
- 13:06Speaker 2: Chris, we do good. You kind of you play a
- 13:08Speaker 2: little offensive line? Yeah, a little bit.
- 13:09Speaker 8: I dabbled, dabbled in high school, not so much in college,
- 13:12Speaker 8: so eligibility left well four years. But I don't think
- 13:15Speaker 8: I'm gonna be taking that.
- 13:16Speaker 3: Okay, So guys, we do as we get through free agency.
- 13:20Speaker 3: At least the initial part this is this is a
- 13:21Speaker 3: big need on this team and they didn't really address
- 13:23Speaker 3: it with it with a notable piece at least when
- 13:25Speaker 3: we're recording this right now. So sizeable need maybe not
- 13:28Speaker 3: something they could take. But Evan, I'm gonna start with
- 13:29Speaker 3: you because you have, like you said, there are about
- 13:31Speaker 3: nine guys I have a kind of go in the
- 13:33Speaker 3: first round. I think you're gonna just rattle some of
- 13:35Speaker 3: them off.
- 13:36Speaker 7: So is that what we want me to do?
- 13:37Speaker 5: Because it's it's the easiest way to do this right now,
- 13:39Speaker 5: we can just talk about the ones that we like.
- 13:41Speaker 5: Obviously at the top you have Oli, Shanu and or
- 13:44Speaker 5: fash Now. I'm gonna get it right, Olu fash Now
- 13:47Speaker 5: and Joe Alt the time we go, j C. Latham,
- 13:50Speaker 5: Marius Smith is from Georgia, Talise Fugawa from Oregon State,
- 13:53Speaker 5: Tyler Geiton, Jordan Morgan, Troy fott Now, Kingsley, Sue, and
- 13:57Speaker 5: I tie Patrick Paul. I would say that ten right
- 14:00Speaker 5: there or nine, whatever that is, is the start of
- 14:05Speaker 5: the first I would say top fifty picks in the draft.
- 14:08Speaker 5: You're talking about at least nine guys in the top fifty,
- 14:11Speaker 5: maybe six in the first round. It's gonna be a
- 14:14Speaker 5: top heavy class, but it's there's a ton of talent
- 14:17Speaker 5: at the top.
- 14:18Speaker 3: So we know, like you said, a ton of talent
- 14:19Speaker 3: at the top. Maybe not what the Patriots are gonna hit.
- 14:21Speaker 3: Maybe we've talked about trading back up into the second
- 14:23Speaker 3: round to maybe or low first round, maybe early second
- 14:26Speaker 3: round is where the Patriots already are, but they probably
- 14:29Speaker 3: not gonna have a chance of those top guys. Maybe
- 14:31Speaker 3: some of the lesser ones though, guys, So let's just
- 14:32Speaker 3: kind of go around. We've all been doing our studying.
- 14:34Speaker 3: We found some guys we like, maybe that like you know,
- 14:36Speaker 3: day two, kind of in that range, Paul, what caught.
- 14:40Speaker 2: Your eye here on your extensive that.
- 14:42Speaker 4: Showed up to the midterm and hasn't been at the
- 14:44Speaker 4: class all year? You know me in the offensive line,
- 14:48Speaker 4: I don't go as in depth as most and certainly
- 14:50Speaker 4: not anywhere near as in depth as Evan does. I
- 14:53Speaker 4: do love those two guys at the top, and if
- 14:57Speaker 4: for whatever, I just want to throw the caveat out
- 14:59Speaker 4: the ear for whatever, for a reason, they don't love
- 15:00Speaker 4: one of the quarterbacks. You know, these two guys, Alton
- 15:05Speaker 4: fashion Now, fashion Now, those two guys are outstanding prospects.
- 15:10Speaker 4: So that would be the only way you could get
- 15:12Speaker 4: them is if you decided to trade down and maybe
- 15:14Speaker 4: you end up at eight or nine and one of
- 15:16Speaker 4: those guys falls in your lap. I do like the
- 15:18Speaker 4: Alabama guy. I kind of feel like that's a pretty
- 15:22Speaker 4: strong tradition of offensive lineman. They're not without you know,
- 15:25Speaker 4: Alex Leatherwooding. You know, there's there's some misses and whatnot.
- 15:29Speaker 4: But I do like JC Latham, and I felt like
- 15:33Speaker 4: the kid from Georgia Mims is so ridiculously athletic, but
- 15:37Speaker 4: doesn't have a lot of playing experience, So that kind
- 15:39Speaker 4: of worries me a little bit, and I wonder if
- 15:41Speaker 4: that causes him to drop a little bit. A lot
- 15:43Speaker 4: of people feel like he's one of those that Evan
- 15:45Speaker 4: just mentioned, and maybe because very little real starting experience
- 15:49Speaker 4: experience in college. That's a lot like he doesn't have
- 15:53Speaker 4: anywhere near the amount of snaps that most of these
- 15:56Speaker 4: other guys come out of college with. Maybe that helps you.
- 15:58Speaker 4: Maybe he drops down in the the second round and
- 16:01Speaker 4: you can grab him. Doubtful, but I like the athleticism.
- 16:04Speaker 7: That's probably all I got. No, that's not bad.
- 16:06Speaker 5: I honestly Mims start with him just because you did
- 16:10Speaker 5: seven career starts. He only has eight hundred snaps in
- 16:13Speaker 5: college under his belt. Some of these guys were going
- 16:15Speaker 5: to talk about over the next couple of weeks have
- 16:17Speaker 5: fifty career starts in college. So he's someone that is very,
- 16:21Speaker 5: very raw doesn't have a ton of tape that I
- 16:24Speaker 5: definitely think is a profile that typically does project to
- 16:28Speaker 5: the early second round when you start to talk about
- 16:30Speaker 5: guys that just have these little red flags here and there,
- 16:33Speaker 5: nothing major off the field or anything like that, but
- 16:36Speaker 5: hasn't been healthy, didn't really win the starting job early
- 16:39Speaker 5: on in his career.
- 16:40Speaker 7: That's Mims.
- 16:41Speaker 5: His opportunity to start as the full time starter was
- 16:45Speaker 5: last year and he injured his ankle and had to
- 16:47Speaker 5: have tight road surgery came back at the end of
- 16:49Speaker 5: the year. So he has someone that has all oozing
- 16:54Speaker 5: with physical talent. If we're talking about a player that
- 16:57Speaker 5: made fifty career starts in college, he's probably a top
- 16:59Speaker 5: ten pick off of raw tools and the film that
- 17:01Speaker 5: it was available, but it's just a very small sample sized.
- 17:05Speaker 9: Yeah.
- 17:06Speaker 5: Yeah, obviously, alt is in my mind, one of the
- 17:11Speaker 5: most can't miss prospects in this draft, if not the
- 17:13Speaker 5: most can't miss prospect in this draft, because of his
- 17:16Speaker 5: athleticism and because of his experience and really just a
- 17:21Speaker 5: very seasoned tackle prospect, someone that just looks like he's
- 17:24Speaker 5: going to walk off the bus on an NFL field
- 17:26Speaker 5: and be a starter right away. He's extremely athletic, great feet,
- 17:31Speaker 5: great posture in his stance, great balance, really recognizes things
- 17:35Speaker 5: happening in front of him post snap movement, things like that.
- 17:38Speaker 5: He's awesome to watch. I mean, he's one of those
- 17:41Speaker 5: guys that I get all excited about just watching him
- 17:43Speaker 5: on film. Fasher now is a little bit more raw,
- 17:46Speaker 5: I would say, but his physical tools are immense, but
- 17:50Speaker 5: he doesn't necessarily have the technique down as smoothly as
- 17:54Speaker 5: alt does, So he could be someone that would be
- 17:56Speaker 5: available in some of those trade down scenarios that Paul
- 17:59Speaker 5: is talking about. I think alts Floor is probably the
- 18:02Speaker 5: fifth or sixth pick in the draft, depending on who
- 18:05Speaker 5: makes those picks and where based off of trades.
- 18:08Speaker 4: Before we get Chris going, because I'm curious to hear
- 18:11Speaker 4: you know some of your different guys, some of the
- 18:13Speaker 4: different names. One thing that really stuck stood out to
- 18:16Speaker 4: me when watching like these top I watched the top
- 18:19Speaker 4: eight or ten of them really solid, Almost every one
- 18:22Speaker 4: of them. Pass protection is really really strong. Some of
- 18:25Speaker 4: them are not to me as as good in the
- 18:28Speaker 4: run game. And some of these guys, I think, you know,
- 18:31Speaker 4: Evan likes to talk about the zone schemes that maybe
- 18:33Speaker 4: they want to be a little bit more athletic and
- 18:34Speaker 4: a little bit mobile. Some of these guys have that
- 18:37Speaker 4: and they're run blocking techniques, a little bit more mobile,
- 18:40Speaker 4: but really impressive. I think you look at all these
- 18:43Speaker 4: top guys that there's almost like no sacks allowed for
- 18:45Speaker 4: any of them.
- 18:46Speaker 3: Yeah, we don't want to get too carried away because
- 18:47Speaker 3: probably Patriots, unless they trade down, probably not going to
- 18:49Speaker 3: get these top ranked guys. But Chris, we talked a
- 18:51Speaker 3: little bit about some lower round guys or even you know, midday.
- 18:55Speaker 3: What do you who stood out to you?
- 18:56Speaker 8: Yeah, No, I looked at about like seven or so guys,
- 18:59Speaker 8: like say the Patriots go the quarterback ground one or
- 19:01Speaker 8: wide a round one, you know, guys I could follow
- 19:03Speaker 8: a second, third, fourth round. Even just did a little
- 19:06Speaker 8: bit of research. Again, seven guys, I mean I looked
- 19:09Speaker 8: at the zag centers of the world, Christian mahoganies. But
- 19:12Speaker 8: there are three guys that really stood out to me.
- 19:13Speaker 8: I mean those are more interior alignment. You don't really
- 19:15Speaker 8: need that necessarily this season. You have to see what
- 19:18Speaker 8: Cole Strange can do coming up, but hopefully that'll be
- 19:21Speaker 8: something solid. But yeah, three guys. One of them Evan
- 19:25Speaker 8: already mentioned was Kingsley assumataie. I mean he's a big fella.
- 19:31Speaker 8: He's six four, three hundred twenty six pounds. You know,
- 19:33Speaker 8: he's got great speed, right a five four forty five
- 19:37Speaker 8: four forty yard dash at the combine.
- 19:40Speaker 2: You know you should have seen Evan staring at him
- 19:42Speaker 2: at the combine.
- 19:43Speaker 5: He was just like, okay, So, so I'm glad you
- 19:46Speaker 5: brought up Kingsley because that's my guy at thirty four.
- 19:49Speaker 5: So athleticism off the charts. Why cousin Penny Sewell, So
- 19:54Speaker 5: he has it in his blood right and offensive line
- 19:57Speaker 5: is one of those positions. And I know we do
- 19:59Speaker 5: this in a lot of other instances, like Marvin Harrison
- 20:01Speaker 5: Junior with his dad and Patrick sart Tan years ago
- 20:03Speaker 5: with his dad. But offensive line is a unique position.
- 20:07Speaker 5: And when you have it in your blood like that
- 20:09Speaker 5: is I love that. I love when you yeah, when
- 20:12Speaker 5: you just have that lineage of I've just grew up
- 20:15Speaker 5: with this. You know, I grew up doing past sets
- 20:17Speaker 5: in my backyard. That's what I want to hear from
- 20:20Speaker 5: my offensive lineman. And that's what Kingsley was talking about
- 20:23Speaker 5: doing with his cousin, with Penny Sewell and They are
- 20:26Speaker 5: very similar body types and very similar athleticism. Maybe not
- 20:31Speaker 5: quite as as polished as Penny was coming out of college,
- 20:34Speaker 5: which is why he's gonna go a little bit later
- 20:36Speaker 5: than Penny Sewell did. But in terms of body type athleticism,
- 20:40Speaker 5: he's actually more athletic than Penny sewel is from the
- 20:44Speaker 5: combine testing, so's he's got a loays to go with
- 20:47Speaker 5: his technique a little bit, but in terms of just
- 20:50Speaker 5: raw tools, he's a really good bet.
- 20:53Speaker 7: Yeah.
- 20:53Speaker 8: And one of the stats really stuck out to me
- 20:55Speaker 8: was in twenty twenty two, three hundred and sixty one
- 20:58Speaker 8: snaps to not give up one sack. So that's a
- 21:01Speaker 8: huge number. I mean, Patriots were one of the highest
- 21:04Speaker 8: pressure teams in the league last season, and I mean
- 21:07Speaker 8: went through two quarterbacks and you saw both of them
- 21:09Speaker 8: go down multiple times, and I mean having a protection
- 21:13Speaker 8: like that is huge. One other person, I'm gonna try
- 21:16Speaker 8: my best to pronounce the dame, but Kieran ahmud Imad,
- 21:21Speaker 8: I thought I got it earlier. Dodgy, Yeah, yeah, he's
- 21:26Speaker 8: from Yale. I didn't mention m. Kingsley's from BYU, but
- 21:30Speaker 8: from Yale. You know, Kieran another big fella six three
- 21:35Speaker 8: twenty six as well, only one secle out in twenty
- 21:38Speaker 8: four games. Again, good speed on that outside. You can
- 21:43Speaker 8: put them really left or right tackle, whatever you want
- 21:45Speaker 8: to choose. That's, of course you want to expect on
- 21:48Speaker 8: one new to step down to an interior ligneman type role.
- 21:52Speaker 8: That's More's bill, That's what he fits. But I want
- 21:54Speaker 8: to know what you guys think about him.
- 21:55Speaker 5: Possibly, yeah, yeah, you know, I think that the biggest
- 21:58Speaker 5: thing when you look at him is obviously the jump
- 22:01Speaker 5: up in competition, especially at the offensive line. You want
- 22:04Speaker 5: to see a guy that dominates at that level of
- 22:07Speaker 5: competition if you're gonna draft him early, which you probably
- 22:10Speaker 5: are in maybe the third round, you know, top one hundred.
- 22:14Speaker 5: Certainly I saw some dominant streaks, but it wasn't as
- 22:19Speaker 5: dominant as maybe some of the other lower level guys
- 22:22Speaker 5: I've seen in years past.
- 22:23Speaker 7: But he's definitely got the tools.
- 22:25Speaker 5: I think one thing that works against him sometimes those
- 22:27Speaker 5: guys that are really really tall, it kind of works
- 22:30Speaker 5: against him in the leverage and pad level situation. So
- 22:32Speaker 5: he's got to get some more flexibility and be able
- 22:35Speaker 5: to get down. But in terms of raw tools, definitely
- 22:38Speaker 5: fits the mold and you hope it just translates to
- 22:41Speaker 5: the next level. I wish I'd seen him at the
- 22:42Speaker 5: Senior Bowl, but he either wasn't there or had an
- 22:45Speaker 5: injury or something like that. But it's it's tough sometimes
- 22:50Speaker 5: to project those guys to the next level. But every
- 22:52Speaker 5: once in a while, you see a guy that just
- 22:54Speaker 5: looks like a man amongst boys at you know, a
- 22:56Speaker 5: lower level IVY League D two whatever it is, and he,
- 23:00Speaker 5: I would say, fits that Bill.
- 23:01Speaker 2: Yeah, two more, Chris, you got who too? I got
- 23:04Speaker 2: one more?
- 23:04Speaker 9: One more?
- 23:04Speaker 8: I one more?
- 23:05Speaker 7: Well, I guess I got two more.
- 23:06Speaker 8: But this one, uh one of my favorite, one of
- 23:10Speaker 8: the more I guess interesting people that I studied. Javon
- 23:14Speaker 8: Foster out in the zoo. Uh again, another big fella.
- 23:18Speaker 8: And there's two offensive tackles that are in the upcoming
- 23:21Speaker 8: draft that ranked uh PFF over eighty in both categories
- 23:26Speaker 8: pass blocking and run blocking. And it was Joe Walt
- 23:29Speaker 8: and Javon Foster. And those are two huge statistical focuses there.
- 23:35Speaker 8: And you know, somebody with that type of stature and
- 23:39Speaker 8: that type of excuse me ability could go a long
- 23:43Speaker 8: way with this offensive line.
- 23:44Speaker 5: Yes, he was a Senior Bowl guy. Definitely a riser
- 23:47Speaker 5: on Senior Bowl week and just a maler.
- 23:50Speaker 6: Yeah.
- 23:50Speaker 5: I think, you know, a little bit smaller than I
- 23:52Speaker 5: was expecting terms of weight. He's like six five three twenty,
- 23:56Speaker 5: but it reminded me a lot of like a Marcus
- 23:58Speaker 5: Cannon type of Patriots right tackle. Bit more stocky guard build,
- 24:02Speaker 5: but definitely has the play strength. And you could see
- 24:04Speaker 5: him just getting on double teams with the kid from Yukon,
- 24:07Speaker 5: who I'm blanging on his name right now, the guard
- 24:09Speaker 5: and those two guys just were moving the line of
- 24:11Speaker 5: scrimmage together, yeah, Haynes. Yeah, And they were really good
- 24:15Speaker 5: down there in Mobile. And I look at him, I
- 24:17Speaker 5: look at a guy like Christian Jones from Texas to
- 24:19Speaker 5: as maybe guys that could slip into the fourth round
- 24:22Speaker 5: there for the Patriots at the top of Day three
- 24:24Speaker 5: when they're on the clock, as you know, good prospects
- 24:27Speaker 5: at that spot.
- 24:28Speaker 3: I'm gonna throw out four Deuce's mid round guys, mostly
- 24:32Speaker 3: from the combine, but Tyland Grabil was the number one
- 24:34Speaker 3: athletic score from UCF. Really athletic tackle is you know,
- 24:37Speaker 3: developmental guys. Julian Pearl another one thirty five and an
- 24:41Speaker 3: eighth inch Arms liked him a little bit from Illinois,
- 24:44Speaker 3: good link. Walter Rouse from Oklahoma, another guy big, got
- 24:47Speaker 3: the size, you know, just needs to develop a little bit.
- 24:50Speaker 3: And finally Kid Wallace from Penn State, another highly athletic
- 24:54Speaker 3: guy that developmental, you know. And I think that's I
- 24:57Speaker 3: don't know, I don't know where they're going to land
- 24:58Speaker 3: in that like early second round, you know, late first
- 25:00Speaker 3: maybe if they get somebody in there, but it just
- 25:02Speaker 3: feels like a double dip kind of position. And one
- 25:04Speaker 3: of these guys who has a lot of athleticism that
- 25:06Speaker 3: you could probably at least develop for the future, so
- 25:09Speaker 3: you're not getting back into this problem where you have
- 25:11Speaker 3: no tackles.
- 25:12Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, I would say the only other ones that
- 25:14Speaker 5: we haven't mentioned just quickly. Patrick Paul from Houston is
- 25:17Speaker 5: a good second round target for the Patriots. Made forty
- 25:20Speaker 5: forty five career starts at left tackle at Houston, so
- 25:23Speaker 5: his experience, I'm not sure if he's necessarily going to
- 25:25Speaker 5: get significantly better. He's kind of tapped out physically, but
- 25:29Speaker 5: definitely someone that could step in and maybe play year
- 25:32Speaker 5: one just because of how much college experience he had.
- 25:34Speaker 5: And then you're really talking about guys that if they
- 25:37Speaker 5: did decide to trade back into the back end of
- 25:39Speaker 5: the first round. You know Tyler Geitton for example, you know,
- 25:42Speaker 5: is he someone that you would want to go up
- 25:44Speaker 5: and get Those types of players are there. You know
- 25:47Speaker 5: Troy fought Now from Washington, he passed the thresholds for
- 25:51Speaker 5: tackles in terms of arm light. That was a question
- 25:53Speaker 5: mark with him coming into the combine. Maybe a guy
- 25:56Speaker 5: that would be you know, twenty five twenty to twenty
- 25:59Speaker 5: five range that you could sneak back up in the
- 26:00Speaker 5: first round and grab two. So it really is one
- 26:03Speaker 5: of those positions that early on, if they want that
- 26:06Speaker 5: day one impact starter, they got to jump on the parade.
- 26:09Speaker 5: We talk about this all the time because they're just
- 26:11Speaker 5: gonna go. So once they're off the board and you
- 26:13Speaker 5: start getting into some of these other guys that Duce
- 26:16Speaker 5: mentioned or the Yale Kid or whatever, you're starting to
- 26:19Speaker 5: get into more developmental guys that are probably not gonna
- 26:21Speaker 5: be rookie starters.
- 26:23Speaker 4: I just wanted to throw and I don't remember if
- 26:25Speaker 4: Evan had this in your list at the beginning.
- 26:27Speaker 2: The Duke Kid Barton.
- 26:31Speaker 4: More so, because I thought he was really and I'm
- 26:33Speaker 4: still sticking into the old patriotsing the versatility played some
- 26:36Speaker 4: center played, some left tackle. Not a lot of guys
- 26:39Speaker 4: play like interior and then tackle. So you know, you
- 26:42Speaker 4: think Mike gol when you you know a guy with
- 26:45Speaker 4: some versatility inside out. Yeah, not one of the top
- 26:48Speaker 4: rated guys, but maybe a guy on day two.
- 26:50Speaker 3: I put Dominic Puny in there too. Another guy play
- 26:53Speaker 3: a bunch of different spots.
- 26:54Speaker 4: Graham Barton is the kid.
- 26:55Speaker 5: Yes, so Graham Barton projects as a guard at the
- 26:58Speaker 5: next level. But somebody that could back up attack almost
- 27:02Speaker 5: like a different player than on Wenny. But just say
- 27:04Speaker 5: idea that he could back up drawing stuff that you like, Yeah,
- 27:08Speaker 5: could you know pin and poll? You know that kind
- 27:10Speaker 5: of stuff that runs a pin poll? You want pin poll,
- 27:12Speaker 5: you want zone And I'm telling you Kingsley sum I
- 27:14Speaker 5: Tie is the guy. That guy you watch him on tape.
- 27:17Speaker 5: You watch him get into space, get out of his stance,
- 27:20Speaker 5: first step, all that stuff checks.
- 27:21Speaker 4: All So adding that into my word dictionary, this quickness
- 27:25Speaker 4: is just so which part yeah, Kingsley, Oh yeah, the
- 27:29Speaker 4: whole thing.
- 27:30Speaker 2: Well, there we go, guys.
- 27:31Speaker 3: We did the first positional preview here offensive line. A
- 27:34Speaker 3: lot of names huge need for the Patriots.
- 27:36Speaker 2: Now.
- 27:36Speaker 3: Evan also had a chance to talk to Brandon Thorn,
- 27:38Speaker 3: who gives his expert opinion on a bunch of these
- 27:40Speaker 3: guys as well.
- 27:41Speaker 2: So trying to cover all the bases here.
- 27:43Speaker 3: Check out what Evan end and Brandon had to say.
- 27:45Speaker 5: All right, everybody, I'm very excited to join, but be
- 27:48Speaker 5: joined by there we go, all right, Ben a long day,
- 27:50Speaker 5: be joined by Brandon Thorn, he writes for a Trench Warfare.
- 27:54Speaker 5: Give him a subscription on there, and also Bleacher Report
- 27:57Speaker 5: and Brandon, I use your Bleacher Report scouting reports all
- 28:01Speaker 5: the time on the offensive line. I always love looking
- 28:04Speaker 5: at your insight and your rankings and everything like that.
- 28:07Speaker 5: So that's a great resource. All you got to do
- 28:09Speaker 5: is google Joe all to bleacher Report, Joel Brandon Thorn,
- 28:13Speaker 5: and his full scouting report will pop right up on
- 28:16Speaker 5: your screen for you to read about these guys. And
- 28:18Speaker 5: you know way more about all these technical terms and
- 28:21Speaker 5: things like that than I do, so it's a lot
- 28:22Speaker 5: of fun to read though. So thanks so much for
- 28:25Speaker 5: doing this and happy to have you here.
- 28:28Speaker 9: Yeah, man, I'm always happy to talk with you and yeah,
- 28:32Speaker 9: excited to be here. So thanks for inviting me.
- 28:35Speaker 5: No problem, no problem. I talked to you at the
- 28:38Speaker 5: combine briefly, and I probably kept you for a little
- 28:42Speaker 5: bit too long just asking you questions about every single
- 28:45Speaker 5: Patriots offensive lineman and where they fit on the roster.
- 28:48Speaker 5: So I did want to start really quickly off the top.
- 28:51Speaker 5: They obviously resigned Mike on Wenu, big move for them
- 28:54Speaker 5: this offseason in free agency. Where do you see him
- 28:58Speaker 5: fitting into this equation in the Alex Van Pelt offense.
- 29:01Speaker 5: There's a lot of conversations about if he fits at
- 29:04Speaker 5: tackle in a more zone based scheme.
- 29:07Speaker 9: Yeah, I mean, I just think even kind of regardless
- 29:11Speaker 9: of scheme. I know there's probably some nuances there, you know,
- 29:14Speaker 9: to where he's a little bit better fit at this
- 29:15Speaker 9: position in that scheme, But just generally, I think at
- 29:19Speaker 9: right guard is the spot that you want to put
- 29:21Speaker 9: him in pretty much all schemes and you'll probably get,
- 29:24Speaker 9: at the end of the day, the best version of him. Uh.
- 29:28Speaker 9: You know, we talked about this as the combine, and
- 29:31Speaker 9: I think his contract kind of alludes to more of
- 29:33Speaker 9: a guard as well, based on you know, kind of
- 29:37Speaker 9: what I know at least I'm not a contract expert,
- 29:39Speaker 9: but just the fact that he can do both though,
- 29:43Speaker 9: is you know, extremely valuable and it just adds flexibility
- 29:46Speaker 9: to how you build stuff out. And then if stuff
- 29:48Speaker 9: goes wrong with injuries or whatever, you know, you have
- 29:50Speaker 9: a guy like that, it's just adds to his value.
- 29:53Speaker 9: But I think when you watch his film over the
- 29:55Speaker 9: last several years, uh, you know, it's with a highlight
- 29:59Speaker 9: on last year in particular, he's clearly better at garden
- 30:03Speaker 9: than tackle and that stems from pass protection, you know,
- 30:07Speaker 9: where I guess in a Van Pelt scheme, maybe that
- 30:10Speaker 9: could be mitigated to a degree with you know, whether
- 30:13Speaker 9: it's RPOs or play action, you know, being a run
- 30:15Speaker 9: first offense, things like that. But on an island, you know,
- 30:20Speaker 9: the range or lack thereof to protect the corner against
- 30:27Speaker 9: you know, high side rushes from wide alignments from good
- 30:30Speaker 9: or better players. I mean, it's just shaky. So you
- 30:34Speaker 9: can kind of mitigate that a little bit inside and
- 30:36Speaker 9: get the best of him and allow his play strength
- 30:39Speaker 9: and his size and his power you know, to really shine.
- 30:42Speaker 9: And I just think it's interesting because CD so you know,
- 30:47Speaker 9: was there and I thought him and so in the
- 30:49Speaker 9: run game with on one would tackle. You know, that
- 30:52Speaker 9: was awesome but passpro with both of them, you know,
- 30:56Speaker 9: with Shaky understandably. So it's so being a rookie, you know,
- 30:59Speaker 9: day three pick, but now that you've got a CORPS
- 31:01Speaker 9: four in there, it tells me, you know, maybe they
- 31:03Speaker 9: are thinking more guards. So I don't know, it's it's
- 31:06Speaker 9: still kind of up in the air and there's variables there,
- 31:08Speaker 9: but you know, I like the depth on the interior.
- 31:12Speaker 9: I think overall though too.
- 31:13Speaker 5: Yeah, I would get into a Corps for but we
- 31:16Speaker 5: really do want to focus on the draft specifically on
- 31:18Speaker 5: this show. So I'll get into some of the draft
- 31:21Speaker 5: guys and I just start at the top. I obviously
- 31:25Speaker 5: love Joe Alt. I think we all can see the
- 31:27Speaker 5: talent there. It's not maybe the most popular pick among
- 31:30Speaker 5: Patriots fans to take a tackle early on in the
- 31:33Speaker 5: draft over a quarterback or Marvin Harrison Junior or something
- 31:36Speaker 5: like that. But what makes Joe Walt such a great
- 31:39Speaker 5: prospect in your mind?
- 31:41Speaker 9: Yeah, just to you know, piggyback on that, I think
- 31:44Speaker 9: ideally you trade down in draft jolt, but yeah, if
- 31:47Speaker 9: you do pick him at three, I mean I still think, Yeah,
- 31:49Speaker 9: the part that makes him, you know, so appealing is
- 31:53Speaker 9: I think you look at the fact that he is
- 31:55Speaker 9: so young. You know, he's like a month or two
- 31:57Speaker 9: younger than even Olu, you know, for Seanna from in State,
- 32:01Speaker 9: who is considered a very young player. So I think
- 32:03Speaker 9: they just they both turned just twenty one, are about
- 32:06Speaker 9: to turn twenty one, so they're gonna be twenty one
- 32:07Speaker 9: for the duration of the rookie year. And the fact
- 32:11Speaker 9: that he is so young and so polished with his technique,
- 32:15Speaker 9: specifically as a run blocker. That's the thing when you
- 32:18Speaker 9: watch this film that really jumped out to me. For
- 32:20Speaker 9: a guy being almost six ' nine, you know, a
- 32:22Speaker 9: legit six ' eight, you know, three twenty plus, the
- 32:26Speaker 9: leverage that he plays with in the run game is
- 32:28Speaker 9: just tremendous. Like he's a Notre Dame offensive lineman personified.
- 32:32Speaker 9: It's just he's six ' eight, long arms, and really athletic,
- 32:36Speaker 9: and you know, I just so I love that he
- 32:40Speaker 9: has that part of his game that is really gonna,
- 32:44Speaker 9: I think, create a high floor for him as a player.
- 32:48Speaker 9: And then the pass pro the traits are certainly there.
- 32:50Speaker 9: I mean, he's good too. He's productive as a pass
- 32:52Speaker 9: protector in terms of blocking guys with good technique, and
- 32:56Speaker 9: you know, having the athletic ability to certainly do it.
- 32:59Speaker 9: Not the most powerful guy you know that is in
- 33:03Speaker 9: the draft or you know, or anything like that. He
- 33:05Speaker 9: plays a lot like Jake Matthews, but he's in like
- 33:08Speaker 9: Nate Soldier's body. That's kind of like what I've seen
- 33:11Speaker 9: from him, you know, since I wrote his report, you know,
- 33:15Speaker 9: in December or whatever it was, So yeah, I think
- 33:18Speaker 9: he kind of confirmed. They tests very similarly to Nate
- 33:21Speaker 9: Solder coming out of Colorado. It's just I think he's
- 33:24Speaker 9: a higher quality prospect than he was, and you know,
- 33:28Speaker 9: I just, yeah, it's tough to poke holes in his game.
- 33:31Speaker 9: Aside from saying that he's not the most powerful guy.
- 33:33Speaker 5: Yeah, you mentioned Nate Solder. Obviously everybody here is familiar
- 33:36Speaker 5: with Nate Soldier's game. And the one thing I remember
- 33:39Speaker 5: talking to to Scarnekia and some of the coaches about
- 33:42Speaker 5: with Nate Solder is that he was honestly almost too tall,
- 33:46Speaker 5: where you know, his lower half was in flexible enough
- 33:49Speaker 5: and sometimes leverage and stuff like that was an issue.
- 33:51Speaker 5: But you just kind of perfectly said about how that's
- 33:56Speaker 5: not really a concern with joll because of how flexible
- 33:59Speaker 5: he is in his lowers to be able to get
- 34:01Speaker 5: down and create leverage.
- 34:03Speaker 9: Yeah, that's that's the part that impressed me more than
- 34:06Speaker 9: anything watching him on film. I mean, I was pretty
- 34:08Speaker 9: floored by his run blocking on film because when you
- 34:11Speaker 9: see him in his stance on film, you could tell
- 34:14Speaker 9: he's huge. Just he's just an enormous dude. So typically
- 34:19Speaker 9: those guys, when they get out of their stance, especially
- 34:22Speaker 9: post contact in the second, third, fourth phase of the
- 34:25Speaker 9: rum block, the pads just rise and they gradually lose leverage.
- 34:28Speaker 9: They get to spots quick but then in terms of
- 34:31Speaker 9: sustaining and finishing, it gets real dicey really quickly. But
- 34:35Speaker 9: for him, his ability to keep his pads down, you know,
- 34:38Speaker 9: bend at the ankle's knees and hips, sustain move his feet.
- 34:42Speaker 9: He has a good feel you know for body positioning
- 34:46Speaker 9: on blocks, and he plays a great effort. He's a
- 34:48Speaker 9: great finisher. So his ability to sustain and finish rum
- 34:52Speaker 9: blocks at a guy his size is really I think
- 34:56Speaker 9: the most rare part of his evaluation, like what he offers,
- 35:00Speaker 9: you know, and so yeah, it's it's it's quite a
- 35:04Speaker 9: bit different than they soldier, uh, you know, in how
- 35:06Speaker 9: it manifests on the field, you know their skill.
- 35:08Speaker 5: Set, Yeah, yeah, absolutely, Before we move on to the
- 35:11Speaker 5: Day two guys, just quickly. It probably won't be the
- 35:14Speaker 5: Patriots that take Olu Fashanu, but maybe in a trade
- 35:17Speaker 5: down scenario or something like that, it ends up being
- 35:19Speaker 5: more of a conversation. Let's say they trade with, you know,
- 35:23Speaker 5: someone like at eleven the Minnesota Vikings for example, or
- 35:26Speaker 5: something maybe more of Ashani's range. What do you see
- 35:29Speaker 5: with him that is he as pro ready to you
- 35:32Speaker 5: as Alt is? And you do you think that both
- 35:34Speaker 5: those guys are plug and play Day one franchise left tackles.
- 35:40Speaker 9: I do think that Olu is a plug and play starter.
- 35:45Speaker 9: You know, I gave him a grade that suggests he's
- 35:48Speaker 9: a you know, a really good starter right away now,
- 35:52Speaker 9: you know, in terms of being as pro ready or
- 35:55Speaker 9: polished as Joe Walt, I don't. I don't think that's
- 35:57Speaker 9: the case. And so you with Olu, like I think
- 36:01Speaker 9: the thing that his kind of trump card, you know,
- 36:04Speaker 9: if you will, as a prospect is his pass protection
- 36:07Speaker 9: ability and just how natural his movements are in past protection,
- 36:11Speaker 9: getting out of his stance, mirroring guys, recovering, anchoring, utilizing
- 36:16Speaker 9: his length, in a really nice way with independent hands.
- 36:20Speaker 9: And you saw that two years ago when he stepped
- 36:23Speaker 9: onto the field for the first time in college and
- 36:25Speaker 9: just how natural he was, and that pretty much carried
- 36:28Speaker 9: through for all twenty one or whatever starts that he
- 36:31Speaker 9: had aside from the Ohio State game this year. You
- 36:34Speaker 9: really can't poke many holes in his game as a
- 36:37Speaker 9: pass protector aside from that one tape, because I pretty
- 36:40Speaker 9: much watched him all and I think that's the case now.
- 36:43Speaker 9: Run blocking is a different story. He's much more raw
- 36:47Speaker 9: there than Joe Walt, although you did see progress this
- 36:52Speaker 9: year after that Ohio State game in particular, the rest
- 36:55Speaker 9: of the season were his best tapes as a run blocker.
- 36:58Speaker 9: He really kind of flipped to switch after that game.
- 37:02Speaker 9: And I remember talking to him about it a little
- 37:04Speaker 9: bit as well during the time, because I had a
- 37:05Speaker 9: question about a clip against Ohio State that he you know,
- 37:09Speaker 9: answered for me, and he basically said, like, you know, yeah,
- 37:13Speaker 9: I know that was my worst game, and you know,
- 37:15Speaker 9: he was highly motivated to correct that and he did so.
- 37:19Speaker 9: Just the fact that he and what I mean by
- 37:21Speaker 9: that is a run blocker, like his ability or struggles
- 37:24Speaker 9: to sustain and finish blocks, letting guys get off of
- 37:28Speaker 9: him a little early, across his face and just kind
- 37:30Speaker 9: of fall off stuff a little prematurely. That was kind
- 37:33Speaker 9: of prevalent throughout his career, I thought, and you just
- 37:36Speaker 9: always wanted a little bit more physicality and just control
- 37:42Speaker 9: from him. But then, like I said, after that game,
- 37:44Speaker 9: he showed it. So that was really encouraging to me
- 37:46Speaker 9: that that's just the fact that you could see it now.
- 37:48Speaker 9: It doesn't need to be more consistent and things like that.
- 37:50Speaker 9: But yeah, it's kind of an inverse thing. Like Joe Walt,
- 37:53Speaker 9: you're getting a really really polished, high end run blocker
- 37:56Speaker 9: and a good pass protector, and then Olu, I think
- 37:58Speaker 9: you're getting a really really polished past protector and maybe
- 38:02Speaker 9: like a below average to average rum blocker. But again
- 38:05Speaker 9: they're so young and all that. I would expect those
- 38:08Speaker 9: things to improve, yeah, at least a little bit.
- 38:11Speaker 5: So yeah, yeah, two really good prospects there. I'm gonna
- 38:14Speaker 5: skip over a group that I feel like is in
- 38:17Speaker 5: a weird spot for the Patriots, you know, the Talisa Fugawa's,
- 38:20Speaker 5: the J. C. Lathams, like those guys probably gonna go
- 38:23Speaker 5: somewhere in between the Patriots two picks. So let's go
- 38:26Speaker 5: to the top of day two at thirty four, which
- 38:29Speaker 5: is they take a quarterback at three. Then thirty four
- 38:32Speaker 5: is probably the pick that's going to be earmarked for
- 38:35Speaker 5: a tackle. One would think, who are some of the
- 38:38Speaker 5: guys that a you could see falling to that spot,
- 38:41Speaker 5: but be more importantly that you like on film.
- 38:44Speaker 9: Yeah, so yeah, so Latham would be my tackle three.
- 38:49Speaker 9: My tackle four is Varus Mims, you know. So I'd
- 38:52Speaker 9: assume those guys are gone, and then you know five
- 38:54Speaker 9: and six Tyler, Geydon and Kingsley Swim Mattia from BYU
- 38:59Speaker 9: Guians probably gone. Sue and Matia there, I would say
- 39:02Speaker 9: it probably starts at Sue and Matia as a guy
- 39:05Speaker 9: who could potentially be there, uh at your pick at
- 39:08Speaker 9: thirty four. So he's a guy I do like, I mean,
- 39:11Speaker 9: I gave him, you know, a let me just get
- 39:14Speaker 9: the potential impact starter. So like a low end second
- 39:18Speaker 9: round pick, I'm sure you know that's gonna get a bump,
- 39:21Speaker 9: as tackles do. He's gonna probably be a late first
- 39:24Speaker 9: round pick. But there is just more of this sort
- 39:27Speaker 9: of rawness that we've spoke about. But it's it's pretty
- 39:30Speaker 9: much in all areas of his game, I think, as
- 39:32Speaker 9: opposed to just one, uh there, there's a lot to
- 39:35Speaker 9: work with there in terms of physical traits, height, weight, length,
- 39:39Speaker 9: frame build, athletic ability, the way he moves, it's natural
- 39:43Speaker 9: for him. You could tell he's a former five star recruit.
- 39:48Speaker 9: You know, he's cousins with Pine Sewel and trains with him,
- 39:51Speaker 9: and you know, chances are he's going to develop at
- 39:54Speaker 9: least into a solid starter. If not, you know, he
- 39:57Speaker 9: could potentially be really good. Who knows. But he came
- 39:59Speaker 9: out as a retro sophomore, you know, so he's just
- 40:02Speaker 9: young and raw, but it'll be really interesting to see.
- 40:06Speaker 9: So he's one guy that I would say would be
- 40:09Speaker 9: available and actually kind of add value, have value at
- 40:12Speaker 9: that pick. After that, I mean, I have a lot
- 40:15Speaker 9: of tackles that are kind of projected inside but could
- 40:18Speaker 9: play inside that could be available there. The first one
- 40:22Speaker 9: that comes to mind is probably Jordan Morgan from Arizona,
- 40:27Speaker 9: who's you know, he's a big, strong guy. Came back
- 40:32Speaker 9: from a torn acl really quickly this past year, less
- 40:36Speaker 9: than a year, I think like nine months, and he
- 40:38Speaker 9: started the whole year, which was impressive. But he has
- 40:40Speaker 9: kind of a reoccurring issue in pass protection. That leads
- 40:43Speaker 9: to me to believe that it'd probably be best that
- 40:46Speaker 9: he kicks inside, although I'm sure and I've heard teams
- 40:49Speaker 9: are gonna view him as a tackle. But yeah, you know,
- 40:53Speaker 9: those two guys if I had to bet top of
- 40:55Speaker 9: the second round to play tackle, Jordan Morgan and Kings
- 40:59Speaker 9: of Suwamatia would probably be my best bets there.
- 41:02Speaker 7: What do you think about Patrick Paul from Houston?
- 41:05Speaker 5: Because I feel like he's always projected a little bit
- 41:08Speaker 5: after those two guys that you mentioned, but a little
- 41:10Speaker 5: bit before the next wave of guys.
- 41:12Speaker 7: Is sort of that tweeener on day two.
- 41:15Speaker 9: Yeah, so I have more of a third round grade
- 41:18Speaker 9: on Patrick Paul, but certainly, like you know, traits wise,
- 41:22Speaker 9: you got to start there. You know, he's you know,
- 41:25Speaker 9: six seven, six ' eight. I think he's six seven,
- 41:27Speaker 9: like three thirty three twenty three thirty you know, elite length,
- 41:31Speaker 9: you know, thirty six plus in charms and he's really
- 41:34Speaker 9: strong actually when he actually gets his hands inside. But
- 41:37Speaker 9: that's the problem. He struggles to kind of get his
- 41:40Speaker 9: hands inside of guys. He's very wide and kind of
- 41:44Speaker 9: a little uh you know, I don't want to say lazy,
- 41:47Speaker 9: but just inconsistent with his hand placement I think is
- 41:52Speaker 9: probably the best term. And that just creates a lot
- 41:55Speaker 9: of leverage issues, Guys getting inside of him, you know,
- 41:59Speaker 9: driving him back. You saw it at Senior Bowl one
- 42:01Speaker 9: on ones, where you see it on tape all over
- 42:02Speaker 9: the place. I mean, it's just it's up and down.
- 42:05Speaker 9: But you love the size, you love the strength. And
- 42:09Speaker 9: the thing that I probably like most about him that's
- 42:11Speaker 9: kind of most surprising with the guy with his all
- 42:13Speaker 9: that stuff I just said, is his competitive toughness is very,
- 42:16Speaker 9: very good. He's physical tone setter, and you don't get
- 42:20Speaker 9: that a lot at tackle, you know, I don't think
- 42:23Speaker 9: especially left. So you know, I think he's a better
- 42:26Speaker 9: prospect than his brother was coming out of Tulsa a
- 42:29Speaker 9: couple of years ago, Chris Paul. And you know, he's
- 42:32Speaker 9: working with Duke Mannyweather at Oil Masterminds, which is encouraging
- 42:35Speaker 9: because most of his issues are technique based. I think
- 42:39Speaker 9: it would be a little bit of a reach there,
- 42:41Speaker 9: but I think he could he could feasibly go there,
- 42:44Speaker 9: you know, I think that's definitely possible.
- 42:46Speaker 5: Yeah, So before I let you go, just some some
- 42:49Speaker 5: Day three sleepers. A couple of guys you know from
- 42:52Speaker 5: the Senior Bowl, Christian Jones, h Javon Foster might be
- 42:55Speaker 5: you know, early day three if they do slip into
- 42:58Speaker 5: Day three. Those are two guys I caught my mind,
- 43:00Speaker 5: but you go, you know, a lot deeper than I do,
- 43:02Speaker 5: so or any sleepers that that you like on day
- 43:04Speaker 5: three for the Pats.
- 43:06Speaker 9: Okay, day three, so we'll assume that Roger Rosengard and
- 43:09Speaker 9: Blake Fisher are gone. Yeah after them, Yeah, Javon Foster,
- 43:14Speaker 9: you get into that. The print the or the Yale
- 43:16Speaker 9: kid is intriguing as a Day three guy to me. Yeah,
- 43:22Speaker 9: Cayden Wallace maybe, you know, and these guys. You know,
- 43:26Speaker 9: if I had to pick a favorite pure tackle out
- 43:29Speaker 9: of those guys, it would definitely be Javon Foster. And
- 43:33Speaker 9: that's that's because of first, I think the improvement that
- 43:37Speaker 9: he showed from twenty twenty two to twenty twenty three,
- 43:40Speaker 9: because I watched him last year thinking he could potentially
- 43:43Speaker 9: come out, and I just you know, I'm glad he
- 43:45Speaker 9: went back, and I thought he played with a lot
- 43:48Speaker 9: more control this year. He's not as kind of wild,
- 43:52Speaker 9: and you know, he's a heavy two hand strike guy.
- 43:55Speaker 9: In pass protection, he tries to kind of kill guys
- 43:57Speaker 9: with his punch and I can get him into trouble.
- 44:00Speaker 9: He kind of reeled that back a little bit, played
- 44:02Speaker 9: with more patients. Uh, So for him to show that
- 44:04Speaker 9: was nice. And then you know, had a really nice
- 44:06Speaker 9: Senior Bowl as well. Yeah, not perfect, but you know
- 44:09Speaker 9: good and uh, you know, I just think he's also
- 44:13Speaker 9: a guy traits guy for sure. In terms of you know,
- 44:15Speaker 9: high weight, build, length, I would say athletic ability with
- 44:19Speaker 9: him is uh, you know, maybe like solid, you know
- 44:23Speaker 9: to good. Not a bad athlete, not a great athlete,
- 44:26Speaker 9: but good.
- 44:27Speaker 4: Uh.
- 44:27Speaker 9: He's coming from a heavy RPO system at at Missouri,
- 44:32Speaker 9: which you know kind of protected him a little bit
- 44:35Speaker 9: in past protection, which wouldn't be an issue if he's
- 44:38Speaker 9: doing that in the pros. But he's you know, that's
- 44:41Speaker 9: why he's a Day three guy because you just don't
- 44:43Speaker 9: feel great relying on him. But yeah, if you're picking
- 44:47Speaker 9: a guy in day three, he kind of reminds me
- 44:49Speaker 9: of Sean Coleman coming out of years back from Auburn.
- 44:53Speaker 9: You know, he's he's that kind of guy who he
- 44:56Speaker 9: has started level size, length and athletic ability, but you're
- 45:00Speaker 9: going to need to be patient there, and you know,
- 45:02Speaker 9: ideally he's part of a rotation.
- 45:04Speaker 5: Yeah, definitely somebody that senior bull riser columns all over
- 45:08Speaker 5: the place after mobile people mover. That's what I noticed
- 45:12Speaker 5: about him was his play strength, and I did a
- 45:14Speaker 5: great job on those double team blocks and things like
- 45:17Speaker 5: that in those drills.
- 45:18Speaker 9: Yeah. Yeah, he has power at the point of attack
- 45:22Speaker 9: for sure, it's just after the fact if guys challenge him,
- 45:25Speaker 9: he gets out leveraged pretty quickly and he's kind of
- 45:28Speaker 9: late to adjust. He over extends his body control isn't great,
- 45:32Speaker 9: but yeah, I mean double teams is a great opportunity
- 45:35Speaker 9: to just unload on somebody with help and not have
- 45:39Speaker 9: to rely on It's more about immediate displacement as opposed
- 45:42Speaker 9: to you know, a base block, you know, where you know,
- 45:45Speaker 9: it's a lot different in terms of, you know, after
- 45:49Speaker 9: the point of attack. So yeah, there's certain areas where
- 45:52Speaker 9: you know, I think he has a lot of appeal
- 45:54Speaker 9: and could help right away. It's just you know, he
- 45:58Speaker 9: just needs some work, you know, with technique.
- 46:00Speaker 5: Yeah, absolutely, he's Brandon Thorne. As you can tell those
- 46:03Speaker 5: everything there is to know about the offensive line and
- 46:05Speaker 5: off offensive line guru. You can find him at Trench Warfare.
- 46:09Speaker 5: Please subscribe there to read Brandon stuff. He does free agency,
- 46:12Speaker 5: he does the draft, a lot of great write ups
- 46:14Speaker 5: on all these guys, and obviously on Bleacher Report you
- 46:17Speaker 5: can read his scouting reports on all the draft prospects
- 46:20Speaker 5: in the twenty twenty four NFL Draft.
- 46:22Speaker 7: Thanks for joining us, Brandon.
- 46:23Speaker 9: Yeah, happy to do it, guys, Thanks for having me.
- 46:25Speaker 3: All right, that's going to do it for this episode
- 46:27Speaker 3: of Patriots Draft Countdown.
- 46:28Speaker 2: Will be back next week.
- 46:29Speaker 3: It's going to be a busy week for us. Evan,
- 46:31Speaker 3: you're head nowt to do some pro days. He's going
- 46:33Speaker 3: to get an up close look at both UNC and Georgia, Right,
- 46:37Speaker 3: all right, SSU might apologize, I'm going to be I'm
- 46:41Speaker 3: going to be at the owners meetings, so we'll see
- 46:42Speaker 3: maybe if some deals get done. So we'll be back
- 46:45Speaker 3: next week though, taking a look at the secondary.
- 46:47Speaker 2: And don't worry, all will be here. He's got covered.