Latest / Patriots Unfiltered / Patriots Unfiltered at the Combine 3/3: Spotlighting the WR/TE Prospects, Mark Schofield on QB Prospects
Transcript
- 0:02Speaker 1: From the twenty twenty three NFL Combine. This is Patriots unfiltered.
- 0:09Speaker 1: All right, guys, it's Dus Lazarre and we are back
- 0:11Speaker 1: again here on Friday from Indianapolis at the NFL scouting Combine. Evan,
- 0:15Speaker 1: today we heard from the quarterbacks, the wide receivers, and
- 0:18Speaker 1: the tight ends. It's an exciting day. I mean, let's
- 0:19Speaker 1: face it, this is it. The Patriots need a wide receiver,
- 0:22Speaker 1: then you need it. They could use a tight end
- 0:24Speaker 1: long term. You know, some questions there as that as
- 0:26Speaker 1: far as that goes. But I saw a number of
- 0:29Speaker 1: good players today and we should tease too. We're going
- 0:32Speaker 1: to focus here mostly on the wide receivers and tight ends.
- 0:34Speaker 1: If you want to hear about quarterbacks, we had guess
- 0:36Speaker 1: Mark Schofield from sp Nation. Come on, he has a
- 0:38Speaker 1: quarterback guru. He knows everything about these guys. We talked
- 0:40Speaker 1: to Mark about mac Jones about last year, about what
- 0:43Speaker 1: he expects this year. A lot of great stuff. So
- 0:45Speaker 1: if you want to hear about the quarterbacks, go on
- 0:47Speaker 1: to the end. We're going to focus here though on
- 0:48Speaker 1: the wide receivers and the tight ends. So Evan, you
- 0:50Speaker 1: know what is your big you know, just overall takeaway today,
- 0:53Speaker 1: starting with the wide receivers well first and foremost. I
- 0:56Speaker 1: did an interview with Macro, Patriots director of player personnel
- 0:58Speaker 1: that's up on patriot dot com right now, and he
- 1:01Speaker 1: said to me that with the playmaker positions, you either
- 1:05Speaker 1: have to invest high draft capital or cap space, and
- 1:09Speaker 1: these guys they don't come cheap anymore. You know that
- 1:11Speaker 1: I'm paraphrasing, but that's essentially what he said. And I
- 1:14Speaker 1: think when you look at this draft, it's another draft
- 1:17Speaker 1: where using a top fifty pick on a wide receiver
- 1:20Speaker 1: or maybe a tight end, which we can get into
- 1:21Speaker 1: here in a second as well, is where the Patriots
- 1:24Speaker 1: are at. And I understand the optics of that for
- 1:28Speaker 1: the Patriots and their history at that position and maybe
- 1:31Speaker 1: wanting to go through the veteran market. But we were
- 1:34Speaker 1: talking about this off the air yesterday, trying to go
- 1:37Speaker 1: through the options in the veteran market and nothing appealing.
- 1:40Speaker 1: There's nothing great unless one of these guys really comes
- 1:43Speaker 1: available that you know, a Jerry Judy or te Higgins
- 1:47Speaker 1: or somebody like that. Because the contract negotiations. My guests
- 1:50Speaker 1: would be why that would be the situation. But I
- 1:52Speaker 1: don't think their teams. Currently, the Bengals and the Broncos
- 1:55Speaker 1: have big plans to move on from either one of
- 1:58Speaker 1: those guys. So I could be wrong about that. It's
- 2:00Speaker 1: not inside information, it's just the feeling after talking to
- 2:03Speaker 1: them here the other day. So looking at this draft,
- 2:07Speaker 1: I think you're looking at taking another stab at it, right,
- 2:10Speaker 1: Throwing another dart got you gotta And I think at
- 2:13Speaker 1: this point in time, you know, I always compare this
- 2:17Speaker 1: draft of the twenty nineteen draft because more of the
- 2:21Speaker 1: receiving talent that ended up panning out in the league
- 2:23Speaker 1: when in the second and third rounds instead of the
- 2:25Speaker 1: first round. But with this draft, I can promise you
- 2:29Speaker 1: that a couple of these guys are going to pan
- 2:31Speaker 1: out to being really good NFL players. That's just how
- 2:34Speaker 1: it works, whether they're drafted in the top ten or
- 2:37Speaker 1: or you know, in the third round, right, somebody is
- 2:40Speaker 1: going to end up being the A. J. Brown, Deebo,
- 2:43Speaker 1: Samuel DK Metcalf, Terry McLaurin of this draft. And eventually
- 2:49Speaker 1: Patriot's got to hit on one of these guys eventually,
- 2:51Speaker 1: like you, they need it. And so I want to
- 2:54Speaker 1: start at the top. You know a guy that I
- 2:56Speaker 1: think we, you know, kind of agreement on at least
- 2:58Speaker 1: early Quentin Johnston certainly a physical specimen. We saw him
- 3:01Speaker 1: walking around. Big guy is straight speed outside receiver primarily
- 3:06Speaker 1: not you know, I've been banging quickness inside. But an
- 3:10Speaker 1: interesting day, I think, especially for you getting to hear
- 3:13Speaker 1: from him, getting to talk to him a little bit.
- 3:14Speaker 1: My mind's a little bit swayed. It's a little bit swayed, Eldrich,
- 3:17Speaker 1: You'll be happy about that. I think the one thing
- 3:19Speaker 1: that you can see with Quentin Johnston, let me start
- 3:24Speaker 1: with why I wasn't high on him to begin with,
- 3:26Speaker 1: and now we can kind of explain it from there.
- 3:28Speaker 1: The two things that really show up on his film
- 3:31Speaker 1: are one, he's not a very good separator at the
- 3:34Speaker 1: top of the route at the break point. He's not
- 3:37Speaker 1: somebody that's gonna sink and then create separation like a
- 3:40Speaker 1: Zay Flowers or Jordan Addison might on a route going
- 3:44Speaker 1: over the middle or something like that. So you're really
- 3:46Speaker 1: talking about a linear athlete that operates on a vertical
- 3:50Speaker 1: route tree, So we're talking about verticals, fades, posts, things
- 3:54Speaker 1: like that. And then maybe like a hitch to keep
- 3:57Speaker 1: defensive backs honest, right, and I think that the route
- 4:00Speaker 1: tree that you look at if you want to see
- 4:02Speaker 1: a guy that's panned out in this mold, it's like
- 4:04Speaker 1: a Dez Bryant, right, who ran literally three routes his
- 4:07Speaker 1: entire career. It was a vertical, it was a slant,
- 4:11Speaker 1: and it was a hitch like. Those were the three
- 4:13Speaker 1: routes he ran. But he was dominantly good at those
- 4:15Speaker 1: three routes and he was able to make up where
- 4:17Speaker 1: I think DK metcalf is another guy that's in a
- 4:19Speaker 1: similar situation. So that's why I had some reservations about
- 4:22Speaker 1: Quentin Johnson. There's also the issues with his hands. He's
- 4:25Speaker 1: had some drops on his tape and he's not at
- 4:27Speaker 1: his high six foot three, six foot four. This is
- 4:30Speaker 1: not DeVante Parker like. He's not a contested catch receiver.
- 4:33Speaker 1: He's more of a burner. Now, with all that being said,
- 4:37Speaker 1: it was very, very impressive at the podium, which I
- 4:40Speaker 1: thought was great. Very confident but cool, not like overconfident
- 4:44Speaker 1: or cocky, but just a really good swagger about him.
- 4:48Speaker 1: And I think the other thing is you start to
- 4:49Speaker 1: look at some of these guys in this draft, I
- 4:52Speaker 1: think the one guy where I can say a defensive
- 4:55Speaker 1: coordinator might lose some sleep at night thinking about the
- 4:58Speaker 1: matchup against this guy, or they might have to leave
- 5:00Speaker 1: that safety over the top and take him out of
- 5:03Speaker 1: the middle of the field, or the guy that's going
- 5:05Speaker 1: to impact teams the most. Turned from a game plan perspective,
- 5:09Speaker 1: it's probably Johnston if he pans out in the NFL,
- 5:11Speaker 1: because these other guys are more of the R type
- 5:14Speaker 1: of guys, these separation quick, you know, twitchy slot receiver
- 5:17Speaker 1: types that aren't necessarily going to demand double teams or
- 5:21Speaker 1: extra attention or coverage being rotated over to them, or
- 5:24Speaker 1: whatever the case might be. So the other three guys
- 5:27Speaker 1: kind of next on the list, say Flowers of course,
- 5:28Speaker 1: were familiar with him. Boston College was at the Shrine Bowl.
- 5:31Speaker 1: Patriots have plenty of contact with him out there as well.
- 5:34Speaker 1: Jackson Smith and Jinba not going to run here at
- 5:37Speaker 1: the combine. We're kind of waiting to see tomorrow night exactly,
- 5:40Speaker 1: you know, how we tests otherwise see what he looks
- 5:43Speaker 1: like on the field. Probably a little bit of a
- 5:44Speaker 1: you know, question mark for guys like us who are saying, hey,
- 5:46Speaker 1: we just want to make sure someone comes through this door.
- 5:48Speaker 1: He can run like the run like the win in
- 5:50Speaker 1: terms of quickness and you know, get open. And then
- 5:53Speaker 1: the last, the last one, Jordan Addison, who you know,
- 5:55Speaker 1: my guy, my first mock questionable if that will remain.
- 6:00Speaker 1: But overall, all three of those guys guys that can
- 6:03Speaker 1: control the middle of the field, and it feels like that's,
- 6:05Speaker 1: you know, something that would help Mac Jones. And I
- 6:06Speaker 1: don't know what's going to happen with Jacobe Myers. That's
- 6:09Speaker 1: certainly his area and where he kind of makes his living.
- 6:11Speaker 1: But I don't see it as hard if you're gonna
- 6:14Speaker 1: let Jacoby Myers go cashing somewhere else, and then maybe
- 6:16Speaker 1: you bring him one of these rookies and you say, hey,
- 6:18Speaker 1: let's go plug him in the middle, develop a relationship
- 6:21Speaker 1: with Mac Jones, and then those two guys are together
- 6:23Speaker 1: for the next two to three years. I'm really gravitating
- 6:25Speaker 1: more and more towards Zay Flowers. I just feel like
- 6:27Speaker 1: his game is exactly what the Patriots need for Mac
- 6:31Speaker 1: Jones and specifically and Bill O'Brien, because Bill O'Brien talks
- 6:35Speaker 1: about a lot with the middle of the field role
- 6:38Speaker 1: that he likes out of the slot, he likes to
- 6:40Speaker 1: put his quickest guy in that role, that Edelman, that
- 6:44Speaker 1: Welker role, And right now, I love Jacoby Myers, but
- 6:48Speaker 1: I don't necessarily think that that's his game. Like I
- 6:50Speaker 1: don't think he's really a true jitterbug like Zay Flowers is.
- 6:53Speaker 1: Whereas Zay can really get in and out of the break.
- 6:55Speaker 1: He's got great electric quickness, and he's excellent after the catches,
- 7:00Speaker 1: explosive all around player, moves at a different speed than
- 7:03Speaker 1: everybody else out on the field. And now that he's
- 7:06Speaker 1: up to one eighty one eighty five, like he told
- 7:08Speaker 1: us here today, and I also like he doesn't shy
- 7:12Speaker 1: away from things like you know, I think people were
- 7:16Speaker 1: asking why did you go to the Shrine Bowl instead
- 7:18Speaker 1: of the Senior Bowl, And he said he wanted to
- 7:19Speaker 1: be different, he wanted to stand out. Why. You know,
- 7:23Speaker 1: he's going to test completely here at the combine, run
- 7:25Speaker 1: the forty, jumps, agilities, on field work, the whole nine yards.
- 7:30Speaker 1: I'm not saying Jason's ducking it a little bit, but
- 7:33Speaker 1: I'm saying Jason might be ducking it in a little
- 7:35Speaker 1: bit because the forty might not be very good for him.
- 7:38Speaker 1: And I think that Zay Flowers this whole entire process
- 7:41Speaker 1: has said, I'm a stud. I know I'm a stud.
- 7:44Speaker 1: I'll run a forty, I'll play at the Shrine Bowl.
- 7:46Speaker 1: I don't care. I'm gonna be good. I love that attitude,
- 7:49Speaker 1: And that was kind of what the battitude Mac had
- 7:51Speaker 1: when he came out, when he went from winning a
- 7:52Speaker 1: national championship to go in like right to the Shrine
- 7:55Speaker 1: Bowl working out there. I'm sorry, the Senior Bowl. Yeah,
- 7:58Speaker 1: I got senior in Shrine Bowl. I gotta get these straight.
- 8:00Speaker 1: They're playing together here, folks. They're both start with s.
- 8:03Speaker 1: It's and we're here like we've been at the combine
- 8:05Speaker 1: for day we're day five now, it's all blending together.
- 8:08Speaker 1: I but hey, if there's anything though that can get
- 8:10Speaker 1: us up, it's these wide receivers. And I think, you know,
- 8:13Speaker 1: part of the excitement is and I know there's there's
- 8:14Speaker 1: been some reports I think maybe Chad Graff from the
- 8:17Speaker 1: Athletic reporting that you know, the Patriots might choose not
- 8:19Speaker 1: to use their fourteenth overall pick on one of these
- 8:21Speaker 1: wide receivers and instead might look to either free agency
- 8:24Speaker 1: or maybe the later rounds. And you know, I think
- 8:25Speaker 1: we both agree as always, and I say this. I
- 8:28Speaker 1: feel like this is the third or fourth year in
- 8:29Speaker 1: a row that I said this, that there are good
- 8:31Speaker 1: players in Day two. There are starters in Day two
- 8:34Speaker 1: and maybe even into day three. I think for me
- 8:36Speaker 1: today hearing some of these guys, I know, we both
- 8:38Speaker 1: really like Jayden Reid. I mean, if you watch any
- 8:40Speaker 1: of the Senior Bowl practices, he had some amazing downfield catches.
- 8:44Speaker 1: Really exciting guy guys like him, you know, these second
- 8:47Speaker 1: level guys that I still think even though they're not
- 8:49Speaker 1: going to be the fourteenth overall pick, but somebody like
- 8:51Speaker 1: him who you know, you're not waiting to get that
- 8:53Speaker 1: seventh round slot receiver that Perlo always makes fun of
- 8:56Speaker 1: us for, like, well, let's just find our slow guys.
- 8:58Speaker 1: Who was who was here today? Is well that, but hey,
- 9:01Speaker 1: let's get the day two sluck. I let's get it. Yeah.
- 9:03Speaker 1: Maybe he's not as polished as some of these guys
- 9:05Speaker 1: like Zay and Addison that we're talking about, but guys
- 9:08Speaker 1: that just innately have that top half of the draft quickness.
- 9:11Speaker 1: That's a separation. So the guy that really stood out
- 9:13Speaker 1: to me along with Reid, who I think is more
- 9:15Speaker 1: of like a vertical slot and you know he's someone
- 9:17Speaker 1: that's gonna run a lot of slot fades, are overs,
- 9:20Speaker 1: you know, deep crossers from the slot, things like that
- 9:22Speaker 1: Josh downs from you and see I had him in
- 9:24Speaker 1: my mock draft to the Patriots at forty six in
- 9:27Speaker 1: the second round. He feels like a guy that is
- 9:30Speaker 1: one of those jitterbug quickness, good twitch, good ability after
- 9:34Speaker 1: the catch, but also has some high IQ route running
- 9:37Speaker 1: about him as well. And I asked him today, what's
- 9:40Speaker 1: your favorite route and he said that the Edelman pivot route.
- 9:42Speaker 1: He said it is. I'm like, all right, well, this
- 9:45Speaker 1: guy is a Patriot. He said something along the lines
- 9:48Speaker 1: of if you need to play, come to Josh down.
- 9:49Speaker 1: So I was like, all right, you know, I like
- 9:51Speaker 1: that swire, that attitude. He's somebody that I think is
- 9:54Speaker 1: gonna be available. I don't know if he's gonna make
- 9:57Speaker 1: it to forty six. I do is every year there's
- 9:59Speaker 1: I always say like, this guy might not make it,
- 10:01Speaker 1: but I don't know if he's gonna make it to
- 10:02Speaker 1: forty six. But I think he's someone that if you're
- 10:05Speaker 1: serious about this, And it's what they did with Taekwon
- 10:08Speaker 1: last year, remember trading up from fifty four to fifty
- 10:11Speaker 1: and wasn't a huge trade up, but they did. If
- 10:13Speaker 1: you're serious about this, then moving up from forty six
- 10:16Speaker 1: to thirty six, let's say to secure Josh downs at
- 10:19Speaker 1: the beginning of the second round. That's something that I
- 10:22Speaker 1: think that they should really entertain if they don't want
- 10:24Speaker 1: to use the fourteenth overall pick on An Addison or
- 10:27Speaker 1: on a Flowers. It's funny with some of these guys, Evan,
- 10:29Speaker 1: because I mean, I you know, I try to get
- 10:31Speaker 1: a look at as many of them as I can
- 10:33Speaker 1: and try to research, but inevitably, you're not going to
- 10:35Speaker 1: get a hand on everybody, or you're gonna forget somebody.
- 10:37Speaker 1: And then you get here and you happen to walk
- 10:39Speaker 1: by a podium and you say, this guy see any
- 10:42Speaker 1: I don't remember seeing any film on him, but he
- 10:43Speaker 1: sounds like a patriot a little bit to me, or
- 10:45Speaker 1: you know, just his presence. It's like, this seems like
- 10:47Speaker 1: a guy that would fit into that locker room. Marvin
- 10:50Speaker 1: Mims was a guy I haven't I can't recall any
- 10:52Speaker 1: tape I've watched of him, but I'm like, it sounds
- 10:54Speaker 1: like Damian Harris up there. This is Damian Knight, not
- 10:56Speaker 1: quite as deep and sexy voice that Damien Harris has,
- 10:59Speaker 1: but just that a serious tone to him. And that
- 11:02Speaker 1: was the same thing that I noticed with with your guy.
- 11:04Speaker 1: You were just talking about downs serious football guy, and
- 11:08Speaker 1: that that always kind of triggers me a little bit.
- 11:10Speaker 1: I'm like, oh, there might be something there. So if
- 11:12Speaker 1: you ask ou fans, Marvin Mims should have won the
- 11:14Speaker 1: Bulletin Cough last year. I went to Jalen High from Tennessee.
- 11:18Speaker 1: Mims is a vertical route runner as well as speed guy,
- 11:22Speaker 1: kind of in that read mold from Michigan say the
- 11:24Speaker 1: guy we're just talking about from the Senior Bowl. He's
- 11:27Speaker 1: got some really good film though, and he had some
- 11:29Speaker 1: really great production last year with the Sooners as well.
- 11:32Speaker 1: So he's somebody that can certainly get up the field
- 11:34Speaker 1: and has that ability to just stretch the defense from
- 11:37Speaker 1: all three levels. And I really liked what I saw
- 11:40Speaker 1: out of him, and I think that in some ways
- 11:42Speaker 1: he's sort of the forgotten receiver of this class because
- 11:45Speaker 1: Addison had the big twenty twenty one. He wins the
- 11:47Speaker 1: Bulletin Cough at Pittsburgh and then last year High At
- 11:50Speaker 1: wins the Bulaton Cough at Tennessee, and Mims was just
- 11:53Speaker 1: right there both times almost and just didn't get over
- 11:57Speaker 1: the hump to get into the actual win circle of
- 12:00Speaker 1: that award. So it's a really interesting player. I actually
- 12:04Speaker 1: think for where they're going to be drafted, I would
- 12:07Speaker 1: probably prefer Mims over Hyatt, honestly, because I think high
- 12:10Speaker 1: it's going to be overdrafted because of the speed, Whereas
- 12:13Speaker 1: Mims I think has in the ballpark speed as Jalen Hyatt,
- 12:17Speaker 1: but has a little bit more film against press coverage
- 12:19Speaker 1: and a little bit more film against NFL style defense,
- 12:22Speaker 1: Whereas with Jalen Hyatt you have the splits and you
- 12:25Speaker 1: have the releases and it's just all, you know, smoking
- 12:28Speaker 1: mirrors there from Tennessee. I saw a lot of a
- 12:30Speaker 1: lot of Taekwon Thornton in him. But the guy who
- 12:33Speaker 1: quick want to talk about it is just the other
- 12:34Speaker 1: Tennessee receiver who was Cedric Tillman, who more productive played
- 12:38Speaker 1: this year his last year this year played with a
- 12:41Speaker 1: high ankle sprain. He talked about that a little bit.
- 12:43Speaker 1: He's another one of those guys. And I mean I
- 12:44Speaker 1: brought up Garrett Williams from Syracuse coming off and acl
- 12:47Speaker 1: like I always get intrigued by these guys who you know,
- 12:49Speaker 1: maybe had a little bit down production in terms of
- 12:51Speaker 1: an inch dealing with an injury. But you look as
- 12:53Speaker 1: taped the year before. He's an explosive guy that you
- 12:56Speaker 1: wonder where would he be being talked about if he
- 12:58Speaker 1: was still that player. If you're if you're grading just
- 13:01Speaker 1: off of film and you're evaluating just off of film,
- 13:04Speaker 1: and you're not looking at production, and you're not looking
- 13:06Speaker 1: at forty times, Cedric Tillman's tape is better than Jalen
- 13:09Speaker 1: Hyatt's tape. He's a more technically sound receiver, he's a
- 13:12Speaker 1: better route runner, he has more tools in his bag.
- 13:15Speaker 1: But because Jalen Hyatt has the production as the guy
- 13:18Speaker 1: that Tennessee everybody talks about last year, one of the
- 13:22Speaker 1: games he was healthy for was the Georgia game. Killey
- 13:24Speaker 1: Ringo had all sorts of problems with this guy. He
- 13:26Speaker 1: couldn't cover him because killey Ringo has some stiffness and
- 13:30Speaker 1: coverage and change of direction concerns. And Tillman would just
- 13:33Speaker 1: get on that vertical and then just sit it down
- 13:35Speaker 1: really quickly and stop down on hitches and things like that,
- 13:39Speaker 1: and he would just you know, ringo bid bye, you know,
- 13:41Speaker 1: like up the field and he would just lose him
- 13:43Speaker 1: and then he was pretty elusive and good with the
- 13:45Speaker 1: football in his hands after the catch as well. So
- 13:48Speaker 1: if I am going with that big body X receiver,
- 13:51Speaker 1: I obviously Quentin Johnson's one of one in that category,
- 13:54Speaker 1: but I think Cedric Tillman would be the number two
- 13:57Speaker 1: guy on that board for me that might be available
- 14:00Speaker 1: more in like the top seventy five pick picks instead
- 14:03Speaker 1: of you know, up in the first round. All right, well,
- 14:05Speaker 1: let's let's turn the page then to the tight ends
- 14:07Speaker 1: and again, you know, go to the end. We'll talk
- 14:09Speaker 1: about the quarterbacks. Great stuff with Mars Schofield tight ends
- 14:12Speaker 1: and Evan, I know you got you got a little
- 14:14Speaker 1: enamored with Quentin Johnson. A I think you got a
- 14:16Speaker 1: little enamored with Michael Mayer as well. But um, we
- 14:19Speaker 1: know Mayor is a well rounded tight end. I mean
- 14:21Speaker 1: he's he's probably like the full package in terms of
- 14:23Speaker 1: you know why tight end he can block? He you know,
- 14:25Speaker 1: is he is he a next generational kind of move guy?
- 14:28Speaker 1: Maybe not. We'll see how he tests tomorrow night. Um,
- 14:31Speaker 1: but there are some of those move guys and I
- 14:32Speaker 1: and I have to admit I'm intrigued, you know, like
- 14:35Speaker 1: go back to Aaron Hernandez. You know they took Gronk
- 14:37Speaker 1: and and As together. They were a perfect compliment. I
- 14:40Speaker 1: think some people thought that's where you were getting with
- 14:41Speaker 1: John Smith and Hunter Henry. It hasn't quite worked out
- 14:43Speaker 1: that way. Um, So it's intriguing. As Michael Mayer is,
- 14:46Speaker 1: as you know, that prototypical guy, there's also plenty of
- 14:49Speaker 1: guys who are that f tight end and that you
- 14:50Speaker 1: know that that can be a move guy that you know. Again,
- 14:52Speaker 1: it just for me, it goes back to creating mitts
- 14:55Speaker 1: matches in the middle of the field, and I see
- 14:56Speaker 1: some of these guys Luke Musgraves, Dalton Kincaid. I don't know,
- 14:59Speaker 1: it's be a little bit too rich for their blood
- 15:01Speaker 1: there in the first round or two, but it's not
- 15:04Speaker 1: hard to envision a guy like that being a weapon
- 15:06Speaker 1: for Bill O'Brien. So I felt the same way about
- 15:08Speaker 1: Quentin Johnson, and I felt the same way about Joey
- 15:12Speaker 1: Porter Jr. And I felt the same way. I would
- 15:14Speaker 1: say also about Nolan Smith, who just put on an
- 15:17Speaker 1: absolute show last night on the on field workouts and
- 15:20Speaker 1: athletic testing A four three nine at like two hundred
- 15:23Speaker 1: and forty pounds is unfair. That's you know, Captain America
- 15:26Speaker 1: type stuff. So he was ridiculous. All three of those
- 15:29Speaker 1: guys are the type of players that like are Captain's
- 15:35Speaker 1: longtime captains another year franchise, those guys that you're gonna
- 15:40Speaker 1: put out and be faces of your organization. And Michael Mayer,
- 15:44Speaker 1: to me, was exactly that. And I talked to him
- 15:47Speaker 1: at the podium briefly and then I tried to grab
- 15:50Speaker 1: him off to the side as he was walking around
- 15:52Speaker 1: going through all the big Jay media trying to get
- 15:55Speaker 1: him on TV and things like that, and just talking
- 15:58Speaker 1: to him. I just went up to him as like,
- 15:59Speaker 1: you know, I really enjoyed watching your film, you know
- 16:02Speaker 1: what he met with the Patriots things like that, and
- 16:04Speaker 1: he was just he's just a great guy, you know,
- 16:07Speaker 1: and intense, intense competitive, confident and a leader. And you
- 16:11Speaker 1: can tell that guys are going to gravitate towards him
- 16:13Speaker 1: in a locker room and are really going to follow
- 16:15Speaker 1: him when he pulls on that rope. And I think
- 16:18Speaker 1: that's something that you have to think about in the
- 16:20Speaker 1: first round, like that's it's legit. You have to think
- 16:23Speaker 1: about it in the first round that this is going
- 16:25Speaker 1: to be a guy that's going to be front and
- 16:27Speaker 1: center for your organization, hopefully for a very long time.
- 16:31Speaker 1: And I think that mayor really passed that test today.
- 16:33Speaker 1: It's a great point. I feel like if we were
- 16:34Speaker 1: in two thousand and five or two thousand and six,
- 16:36Speaker 1: maybe back when, like every it was just a running
- 16:38Speaker 1: joke that the Patriots always draft tight ends like they
- 16:41Speaker 1: just always needs. Like I think if we were still
- 16:42Speaker 1: in that headspace, I think it would be getting a
- 16:44Speaker 1: lot more attention for Michael Mayer, but a couple other guys.
- 16:47Speaker 1: I just wanted to highlight. Darnell Washington from Georgia's a
- 16:49Speaker 1: guy we were talking about prior to him getting up
- 16:52Speaker 1: just a monster, you know, not going to be that
- 16:54Speaker 1: dangerous move tight end. But if you want to talk
- 16:57Speaker 1: about a dominant, big bodied guy that you could stay
- 17:00Speaker 1: next to a tackle and run a jumbo O line package,
- 17:03Speaker 1: he could do it. He's got a big scar on
- 17:05Speaker 1: his face too. I mean, the guy just looks like
- 17:06Speaker 1: a baller. But one more guy want to highlight, and unfortunately,
- 17:09Speaker 1: you know, the Holy Cross guy they lost to South
- 17:11Speaker 1: Dakota State in the FCS semi finals. But Tuckercraft I
- 17:14Speaker 1: just really enjoyed listening to him. He was from a
- 17:16Speaker 1: small town. He said. You know, his whole k through
- 17:18Speaker 1: twelve is altogether. There were like twenty kids in his
- 17:20Speaker 1: graduating class. And you know, pil Hey, how would you
- 17:23Speaker 1: feel about going to Tampa Bay? And He's like, honestly,
- 17:25Speaker 1: I go anywhere. I just looking forward to getting out
- 17:26Speaker 1: of South Dakota. He's been there for for his whole life.
- 17:29Speaker 1: But you know, just a couple of examples and one
- 17:31Speaker 1: more I'll tee up for. He was Cameron Lattu that
- 17:33Speaker 1: we were there for with Alabama, And you asked him
- 17:35Speaker 1: about Bill. Yeah, I was asking him about Bill O'Brien.
- 17:37Speaker 1: He had some good things to say. I think the
- 17:39Speaker 1: best thing for Patriots families from my perspective that he
- 17:42Speaker 1: said about Bill O'Brien was that Bill O'Brien knew his
- 17:45Speaker 1: strengths and weaknesses and knew how to use them, which
- 17:47Speaker 1: I think is going to be really those words like
- 17:50Speaker 1: really resonated with me. That he said that every time
- 17:53Speaker 1: he was asked to do something, it was something that
- 17:55Speaker 1: he felt comfortable with, that he was good at and
- 17:57Speaker 1: I was going to amplify his skill. But you mentioned
- 18:00Speaker 1: RNL Washington. He called himself the most unique tight end
- 18:03Speaker 1: in this draft. He wouldn't say he's the best tight end.
- 18:05Speaker 1: He's is the most unique tight end, and I'd agree
- 18:07Speaker 1: with that. And I think if you look at what
- 18:09Speaker 1: the Patriots might morph into, it's not exactly what they
- 18:13Speaker 1: were the first time around with Bill O'Brien, where it
- 18:15Speaker 1: was a lot of pace in space and shotgun and
- 18:17Speaker 1: things like that. But a lot of us were clamoring
- 18:19Speaker 1: for more play action last year. And if you start
- 18:22Speaker 1: to be a run heavy, play action heavy type of
- 18:25Speaker 1: offense maybe moving forward, and now you have basically a
- 18:29Speaker 1: sixth offensive lineman on the field that once you run
- 18:32Speaker 1: that play action fake and you get those linebackers stepping up,
- 18:35Speaker 1: he can sneak behind somebody up the seam or something
- 18:38Speaker 1: like that. He has that ability about him to run
- 18:41Speaker 1: the seam, to adjust the balls in the air and
- 18:44Speaker 1: make catches outside of his frame with his length and
- 18:46Speaker 1: his size, and then rumble after the catch like he's
- 18:49Speaker 1: got Dak Gronkowski bounce off of me type of yacability.
- 18:53Speaker 1: And that fits really well with like an under center
- 18:55Speaker 1: play action downhill run offense, which I wouldn't be surprised
- 19:00Speaker 1: if that's where they go. I also wouldn't be surprised
- 19:02Speaker 1: if it's the total opposite, but I feel like that
- 19:04Speaker 1: it is a possibility at least that that's the type
- 19:07Speaker 1: of offense they run. All right, now, we're gonna take
- 19:09Speaker 1: a quick cut over to our interview with Mark Scofield
- 19:12Speaker 1: of SB Nation and we're gonna talk some quarterbacks. All right.
- 19:15Speaker 1: We're excited to be joined out by Mark Scofield of
- 19:18Speaker 1: SP Nation. If you guys don't know him, he is
- 19:19Speaker 1: a quarterback guro. He knows everything there is to know
- 19:21Speaker 1: about quarterbacks and the draft classes. I was happy to
- 19:24Speaker 1: run across him here at the combine as we usually do.
- 19:27Speaker 1: How to have him come on talk about this class
- 19:29Speaker 1: a little bit about Mac as well. I know Evan
- 19:31Speaker 1: is familiar with him. Thank Mars, thank you for coming on.
- 19:34Speaker 1: How are you doing here at your combine week? I
- 19:35Speaker 1: know you just got in last night, right I did,
- 19:37Speaker 1: yet it I get in Thursday morning. It's it's strange
- 19:39Speaker 1: the way the schedule is set up this year, because
- 19:41Speaker 1: they had the general manager's head coaches early in the week.
- 19:44Speaker 1: Usually like to see that. But we got quarterbacks thrown
- 19:46Speaker 1: on Saturday, and that's you know what I do, That's
- 19:48Speaker 1: what I love. So I want to make sure I
- 19:50Speaker 1: could be here for that. So I came in Thursday morning,
- 19:52Speaker 1: which is probably physically for the best because combined week
- 19:55Speaker 1: tends to be a bit People are running on fumes
- 19:58Speaker 1: right now, so I've still got a little bit of
- 20:00Speaker 1: get up and go left. I don't know how long
- 20:02Speaker 1: that's gonna last. It's raiding here in Indy today on Thursday,
- 20:05Speaker 1: so that's taking a lot out of us. But it
- 20:07Speaker 1: is great to be here. It's great to see you guys.
- 20:09Speaker 1: Always fun to catch up, you know, on air off air,
- 20:11Speaker 1: and I'm really excited to be here. One of these days,
- 20:14Speaker 1: I'm gonna publish some of our dms together, Mark, because
- 20:17Speaker 1: it's just me being like, am I right about this?
- 20:20Speaker 1: Or am I seeing this correctly? Or of the time
- 20:23Speaker 1: You're out here, two kinds now back and forth about
- 20:28Speaker 1: quarterbacks with you all the time, and I'm always like,
- 20:31Speaker 1: it's his foot, like a little bit off here, what's
- 20:35Speaker 1: going on? We went as deep as like Tyree Jackson,
- 20:38Speaker 1: I think you and I have discussed before and all
- 20:41Speaker 1: the way down the rabbit hole we go. But I
- 20:43Speaker 1: think to start We'll get into the draft in a second,
- 20:46Speaker 1: but I would love your opinion on Mac last season
- 20:49Speaker 1: and what you saw from him that led to the
- 20:51Speaker 1: regression from a quarterbacking standpoint, not just a coaching standpoint,
- 20:55Speaker 1: but some of the mechanical things or the processing things. Yeah.
- 20:57Speaker 1: I mean we know the coaching stuff, we know the
- 21:00Speaker 1: scheme stuff, and that's sort of been talked about it.
- 21:02Speaker 1: I could go twenty minutes on run more play action,
- 21:05Speaker 1: we could go down that road. But I think sort
- 21:07Speaker 1: of mechanically structurally, there were some lower body inconsistencies from
- 21:12Speaker 1: Mac Jones last year that we hadn't really seen before.
- 21:15Speaker 1: This is part of what you and our DM in
- 21:16Speaker 1: a mode. Yeah, sometimes that front foot wasn't where it
- 21:19Speaker 1: needed to be, or you know, the hallway, like we say,
- 21:22Speaker 1: with the hips weren't set the right way to get
- 21:24Speaker 1: him in a position to make a good throw downfield,
- 21:27Speaker 1: whether it's you know, intermediate DP boundary wherever. And so
- 21:30Speaker 1: I think that's part of what he faces this offseason,
- 21:34Speaker 1: is to reset him from a mechanical standpoint, particularly in
- 21:37Speaker 1: the lower half. That was on an issue coming out
- 21:39Speaker 1: of Alabama. I mean, coming out of Alabama, he was
- 21:42Speaker 1: fairly clean mechanically, whether it was protection upfront, trying to
- 21:47Speaker 1: get through reads, quicker, trying to speed himself up for
- 21:50Speaker 1: one reason or another, that sort of took a step back,
- 21:53Speaker 1: and I think that's part of the process. We can
- 21:55Speaker 1: certainly talk about the conceptual stuff, the schemes, the designs,
- 21:59Speaker 1: the play calling, but from a get the ball where
- 22:02Speaker 1: it needs to be, where it needs to be their perspective,
- 22:04Speaker 1: that's one of the biggest things he's facing this offseason.
- 22:06Speaker 1: And so when you look at Bill O'Brien coming back
- 22:08Speaker 1: to the Patriots this year, what, knowing what you know
- 22:11Speaker 1: about him, what's kind of your expectation in terms of
- 22:13Speaker 1: how are Mac Jones's game, bill O'Brien's offense, his philosophy's
- 22:18Speaker 1: gonna mesh this year? I have, you know, I'm pretty
- 22:20Speaker 1: optimistic about what this is going to look like next year.
- 22:23Speaker 1: And part of that is if you sort of watch
- 22:25Speaker 1: Bill O'Brien and his offensive philosophy, he molds it to
- 22:28Speaker 1: his talents, he molds it to the quarterback that he has.
- 22:31Speaker 1: I mean, obviously, add somebody that we just heard from
- 22:33Speaker 1: this morning and Bryce Young and you know the way
- 22:35Speaker 1: he was able to mold and you know, shape that
- 22:38Speaker 1: offense and what Bryce Young likes to do, spread it out,
- 22:40Speaker 1: get the ball out quickly, things like that and some
- 22:43Speaker 1: of the other things he's done over his various coaching
- 22:45Speaker 1: stops for different types of quarterbacks. That tells me that
- 22:48Speaker 1: they're going to figure out over the course of these
- 22:50Speaker 1: next couple of months where Mac Jones needs to be
- 22:53Speaker 1: where he's most comfortable, and that's what the offense is
- 22:56Speaker 1: going to look like. So I mean, I could tell you,
- 22:58Speaker 1: you know, what it should look like, what it might
- 23:00Speaker 1: look like. They're going to figure that out. They're going
- 23:02Speaker 1: to figure out what it looks like and best in
- 23:04Speaker 1: Mac Jones's hands. And that's the biggest part of this
- 23:07Speaker 1: because you know, now Mac Jones is going to be,
- 23:09Speaker 1: in a way, a third offense a three years that's
- 23:12Speaker 1: not always conducive to quarterback development. So now the process becomes,
- 23:16Speaker 1: where do you take this offense? How do you construct
- 23:19Speaker 1: it in a way that Mac Jones wants it, because
- 23:22Speaker 1: that's what the focus should be. Now. You know, we
- 23:25Speaker 1: used to live in a world where like the best receivers,
- 23:27Speaker 1: the open receiver and all that fun stuff. No, let's
- 23:29Speaker 1: find out what Matt Jones wants to do. Where's he comfortable,
- 23:32Speaker 1: what designs does he want to run? Put it in
- 23:34Speaker 1: his hands. If it works, that's what we want. If
- 23:36Speaker 1: it doesn't, now you've got your answer. After year three
- 23:39Speaker 1: of the Mac Jones experiment. Let me let me ask
- 23:40Speaker 1: a quick follo up heaven Um. Just in terms of
- 23:42Speaker 1: the guys that are here, wide receivers, tight ends, we've
- 23:44Speaker 1: talked a lot about we think they need weapons. You know,
- 23:46Speaker 1: for you, is there a particular and it doesn't even
- 23:48Speaker 1: have to be a specific player maybe it is, but
- 23:50Speaker 1: just a style of player or style of weapon or
- 23:52Speaker 1: you know, what do you think they need to put
- 23:54Speaker 1: around Mac to to do what you're saying, to play
- 23:57Speaker 1: to those strengths what you mean? I mean a lot
- 23:59Speaker 1: about quickness. There are two guys that come to mind
- 24:01Speaker 1: remedia that Quentin Johnson from TCU, Zay Flowers from Boston College.
- 24:05Speaker 1: And what I look for are guys that can create
- 24:08Speaker 1: up to the catch point and then after the catch
- 24:10Speaker 1: because I think some of the times we saw Mac
- 24:12Speaker 1: most comfortable was when they were sort of spreading things out.
- 24:15Speaker 1: They don't get the ball out of his hands. Quickly.
- 24:16Speaker 1: The guys that create after the catch, that can create
- 24:18Speaker 1: in space, and those are two guys that can certainly
- 24:21Speaker 1: do that can do it at a high level. And
- 24:22Speaker 1: so whether it's at fourteen, which is probably why you're
- 24:24Speaker 1: gonna have to do it with one of those guys,
- 24:26Speaker 1: or a trade back, those are two players that I
- 24:29Speaker 1: really have in mind. But it's really that ability to
- 24:31Speaker 1: create before the catch point, release packages, separation make life
- 24:36Speaker 1: a little bit easier in mac Jones with what those
- 24:37Speaker 1: guys can do, and then after the catch created with
- 24:40Speaker 1: yards after the catchers where this offense has been historically,
- 24:43Speaker 1: and that's what they need in this offense. You know,
- 24:46Speaker 1: whether they bring Parker back, whether they bring Meyers back,
- 24:49Speaker 1: either way, having a player like that will be huge
- 24:52Speaker 1: for this offense next year. Yeah. Absolutely, I think the
- 24:55Speaker 1: big thing I wanted to ask about with Mackett and
- 24:57Speaker 1: then I think we can move more on to the
- 24:58Speaker 1: draft prospect. But out of structure playmaking and out of
- 25:02Speaker 1: the pocket playmaking is something that is getting really popular
- 25:06Speaker 1: around in the league. And I think this is a
- 25:07Speaker 1: big question mark that people have with the future with
- 25:10Speaker 1: mac Jones, is he's not one of these Patrick Mahomes
- 25:13Speaker 1: Josh Allen type of athletes that gets out the side
- 25:15Speaker 1: of the pocket. I guess it's a two prong question. One,
- 25:18Speaker 1: how much do you think that that actually matters to
- 25:20Speaker 1: quarterback play in the league right now? And do you
- 25:22Speaker 1: think that that is something that he could improve on
- 25:24Speaker 1: and become better at outside the pocket, out of structure
- 25:28Speaker 1: type of stuff. Yeah, I mean, I think it does
- 25:29Speaker 1: matter because it gets to the idea of football as
- 25:32Speaker 1: problem solving, right, and if you've got multiple ways on
- 25:36Speaker 1: a down to down basis to solve problems as a quarterback,
- 25:38Speaker 1: whether it's with your mind, whether it's with your arm
- 25:40Speaker 1: and velocity, or created as a secondary reaction player where okay,
- 25:44Speaker 1: we've got a free rusher off the left edge, I
- 25:46Speaker 1: could spit away from that and create off of structure
- 25:49Speaker 1: outside the pocket. The more ways you can solve a
- 25:52Speaker 1: problem as a quarterback, the better the offense is going
- 25:54Speaker 1: to be. If you're only going to be able to
- 25:56Speaker 1: solve it with your mind and your arm and you're
- 25:58Speaker 1: dead to rights when you get that free rusher, defenses
- 26:01Speaker 1: will be able to take advantage of that. Now, can
- 26:03Speaker 1: Mack do that? I think so? As a rookie, I
- 26:05Speaker 1: thought he showed a little bit more athleticism than perhaps
- 26:08Speaker 1: we gave him credit for in the breads. I gave
- 26:10Speaker 1: him credit for coming out of Alabama. But his next
- 26:12Speaker 1: evolution in this process is to be ahead of things
- 26:15Speaker 1: with his mind. And I know you, Evan, You and
- 26:17Speaker 1: I talked about this a little bit going into his
- 26:19Speaker 1: year too. Was pre snap pressure identification. Okay, can you
- 26:24Speaker 1: get a better idea before that snap of where that
- 26:26Speaker 1: pressure was coming from? If you think back to his
- 26:28Speaker 1: college days, he had to play against Notre Dame in
- 26:30Speaker 1: their playoff game where he saw that blitz coming pre
- 26:33Speaker 1: snap and was Evan you and I talked about this
- 26:35Speaker 1: a lot and spun away from him because he was
- 26:37Speaker 1: ahead of it with his mind. If he can get
- 26:39Speaker 1: to that level in the NFL, he'll be able to
- 26:42Speaker 1: create some of these sort of outside the pocket, off
- 26:44Speaker 1: of structure moments. He's never gonna be, you know, a
- 26:47Speaker 1: Kyler Murray or Lamar Jackson, but if he can get
- 26:50Speaker 1: ahead of things with his mind, he can be a
- 26:51Speaker 1: Ryan Tannehill type who Okay, he's not gonna create as
- 26:54Speaker 1: an athlete or be an explosive, you know, ball carrier,
- 26:57Speaker 1: but he can get ahead of things with his mind,
- 26:59Speaker 1: beat fences with mine and put himself then physically post
- 27:02Speaker 1: snap in a position to do that. Yeah, I think
- 27:04Speaker 1: the big thing for me is that people always get
- 27:07Speaker 1: caught up and out of structure bombs down the field, right,
- 27:11Speaker 1: and it doesn't always have to be that. I remember
- 27:13Speaker 1: he made play against Baltimore last year where he scrambled
- 27:16Speaker 1: out on fourth down and was able to just find
- 27:18Speaker 1: somebody right past the sticks for like a four or
- 27:20Speaker 1: five yard game, which still added something to what they
- 27:23Speaker 1: were doing. It wasn't necessarily a Josh Allen, you know,
- 27:26Speaker 1: seventy five yard piss missile. It was something a little
- 27:28Speaker 1: bit different, And I think that that's okay, Like, we
- 27:30Speaker 1: don't have to sometimes you just got to get to
- 27:33Speaker 1: the next play, right, you know, And we get so
- 27:35Speaker 1: caught up. And I was having this conversation this morning Evan,
- 27:37Speaker 1: we get so caught up in like, oh, explosive plays,
- 27:40Speaker 1: and you do have to generate those as an offense,
- 27:42Speaker 1: but sometimes you just got to get to the fresh
- 27:44Speaker 1: set of downs. And that play you referenced Evan, like, yes,
- 27:47Speaker 1: what it would be awesome if he then throws across
- 27:49Speaker 1: his body thirty five yards downfield to the opposite hash. Yeah,
- 27:52Speaker 1: we'd all be losing our minds, rightfully so, but sometimes
- 27:55Speaker 1: it's just as important to Jacobe Myers is at the
- 27:57Speaker 1: five yards downfield, it's fourth and four. Let's get to
- 28:00Speaker 1: first down. Because now the playbooks open, we're still on
- 28:03Speaker 1: the field. We're not sending out the punt team, we're
- 28:05Speaker 1: not sending out the defense again. And so, you know,
- 28:07Speaker 1: sometimes being a quarterback that can create outside of the pocket,
- 28:11Speaker 1: off of structure is just can you get us another
- 28:13Speaker 1: set of downs? Yeah? Absolutely, so we saw the quarterbacks today.
- 28:16Speaker 1: I know this is your thing, Mark, that's why you're here. Um,
- 28:18Speaker 1: I'll just teet up for you know, general general thoughts
- 28:20Speaker 1: on the class. I mean, we know Bryce Young, we
- 28:22Speaker 1: know CJ. Stroud. We've got to look at Anthony Richardson,
- 28:24Speaker 1: who looks like he was sculpting in a lab. No
- 28:27Speaker 1: reports that the Patriots actually met with him. What are
- 28:30Speaker 1: your thoughts and what are you looking for here these
- 28:31Speaker 1: next couple of days with these guys. It's a very
- 28:33Speaker 1: interesting class, Mike. I'm very excited about this group. And
- 28:36Speaker 1: it's really I've used this phrase a couple of times.
- 28:39Speaker 1: It's a pick your poison quarterback class. Like, you could
- 28:42Speaker 1: tell me, are these four guys that we're all sort
- 28:43Speaker 1: of talking about it at the top, whether it's Levis, Richardson,
- 28:45Speaker 1: Stroud Young, you can tell me any one of those
- 28:48Speaker 1: is your QB one. I might not agree myself, but
- 28:50Speaker 1: I could see a case for it, even Levis, who
- 28:52Speaker 1: most people have here's that they with Will Levis. So
- 28:57Speaker 1: this is I've used this sort of hypothetical lot. If
- 29:00Speaker 1: he goes to Carolina at nine, it could work right
- 29:03Speaker 1: because they have put so much around that quarterback position,
- 29:06Speaker 1: whether it's Frank Reich, who's got a record of quarterback
- 29:09Speaker 1: development dating back to Philadelphia in his first run with
- 29:11Speaker 1: Carson Wentz, Josh mcdowan who was basically like a coach
- 29:14Speaker 1: last player with the Jets, and Sam Donald, Like, they've
- 29:17Speaker 1: put a lot structurally around the quarterback position where I
- 29:20Speaker 1: could talk myself and do what working with well off
- 29:22Speaker 1: its But look the three that excite me the most. Yeah,
- 29:25Speaker 1: it's Shroud, It's Young, It's Richardson. I think everybody that's
- 29:28Speaker 1: going to be in Lucas Oil on Saturday to watch
- 29:30Speaker 1: Richardson throw and work out, we might see a show,
- 29:33Speaker 1: you know, because he might throw some incredible throws during
- 29:36Speaker 1: his throwing session and then run a four or four,
- 29:38Speaker 1: and then it becomes that could be something special. We
- 29:41Speaker 1: could leave Indianapolis saying he's the first player drafted. It's possible.
- 29:46Speaker 1: We were talking about Mike. You just mentioned that the
- 29:48Speaker 1: Patriots didn't meet with Anthony Richardson. It's a little bit interesting.
- 29:52Speaker 1: I think we were talking about maybe them doing some
- 29:54Speaker 1: due diligence on him against the Jets draft him, or
- 29:57Speaker 1: the Raiders draft him, or something like that ahead of
- 29:59Speaker 1: that on the draft board. But what I have found
- 30:03Speaker 1: fascinating about his film, just like I've only watched like
- 30:05Speaker 1: one or two games because I don't think they're going
- 30:07Speaker 1: to draft them, but regardless is that it doesn't seem
- 30:10Speaker 1: to be about his eyes or where he's looking or processing.
- 30:14Speaker 1: It's mechanical. And that is why I think so many
- 30:17Speaker 1: people us in the media and teams are saying this
- 30:21Speaker 1: guy's fixable, like you can you can get this guy there,
- 30:23Speaker 1: because it's not about what's between the ears. It's just
- 30:26Speaker 1: that his feet are a little bit wacky. Sometimes it's
- 30:28Speaker 1: mechanics are a little bit off. Yeah, I think his
- 30:31Speaker 1: eyes are for the most part where they need to
- 30:33Speaker 1: be on a given play. I mean, you watch that
- 30:35Speaker 1: Florida State game. He had a touchdown to Piersol up
- 30:37Speaker 1: the right sea on a post route where he's looking
- 30:40Speaker 1: them off, looking that post safety in middlefield off and
- 30:42Speaker 1: then comes back on time and rhythm and throws an
- 30:44Speaker 1: absolute strike And it's like, I don't It's a put
- 30:46Speaker 1: the pen down moment, right, Like, I don't need to
- 30:48Speaker 1: see anything else. And if you add the four or four,
- 30:51Speaker 1: if you add the run against LSU, the pocket movement
- 30:53Speaker 1: against tennessee all the clips that get you posted on
- 30:56Speaker 1: Twitter day in and day out, there's potential there for
- 30:59Speaker 1: him to be very special. But you're right, Evan, the
- 31:00Speaker 1: eyes for the most part of where they need to be.
- 31:02Speaker 1: It's just getting the feet to match the eyes. And
- 31:05Speaker 1: I think you know you hear the phrase he's raw.
- 31:08Speaker 1: He needs two years. No, he just needs reps. I
- 31:11Speaker 1: think he could play. He could play as a rookie
- 31:13Speaker 1: and play very well. Yeah, what else you're looking at
- 31:16Speaker 1: be lower down? I mean, we know we talked a
- 31:17Speaker 1: little bit to Dorian Thompson Robinson today, who they coached
- 31:20Speaker 1: at the Shrine Bowl, had a lot of great things
- 31:22Speaker 1: to say just about the Patriots tap not a huge need,
- 31:24Speaker 1: of course for the Patriots, but I mean, I'm in
- 31:25Speaker 1: the business. I'm sharing the same It's always good business
- 31:27Speaker 1: to have the quarterbacks in the pipeline. Love taking Zappy
- 31:30Speaker 1: last year. It doesn't necessarily have to be a refermendum
- 31:33Speaker 1: on your starter. Maybe a little bit, but not necessarily.
- 31:36Speaker 1: Who are the guys? Maybe day two, day three, maybe
- 31:38Speaker 1: that you might like to just take a flyer on. Yeah, Mike,
- 31:40Speaker 1: I think I don't want to say. The more interesting
- 31:43Speaker 1: question is who is QB five? But it's a very
- 31:45Speaker 1: interesting question because we're all sort of cold lesser around
- 31:48Speaker 1: the top four. Who's the next quarterback? Hennon Hooker very interesting?
- 31:51Speaker 1: Put up huge numbers this year, but you've got some
- 31:54Speaker 1: question marks about the offense that he ran and how
- 31:55Speaker 1: translatable that is. Obviously the age, the knee injury. You know,
- 31:59Speaker 1: I think there are things you can say about all
- 32:01Speaker 1: of those. The offense could translate, you could run some
- 32:03Speaker 1: of those concepts. The knee he's almost ready to throw.
- 32:05Speaker 1: I mean a clo injuries aren't what they were a
- 32:07Speaker 1: couple of years ago. The age quarterbacks are playing earlier
- 32:10Speaker 1: in their career, so it's not the detriment it used
- 32:12Speaker 1: to be when you hold a clipboard for three years
- 32:14Speaker 1: before you saw the field. I'm very intrigued by Jake Hanner.
- 32:17Speaker 1: You know, he was somebody that was really fun to
- 32:19Speaker 1: watch these past couple of years. Tough, competitive, had an
- 32:22Speaker 1: injury against UCLA two years ago, but finished that game,
- 32:25Speaker 1: got a big win. This year, he had the you know,
- 32:27Speaker 1: the lower body injury against usc but came back well
- 32:30Speaker 1: ahead of schedule, played at the Mount to West Championship game.
- 32:33Speaker 1: You know another quarterback that I'm intrigued by is Tanner
- 32:36Speaker 1: McKee from Stanford. I wonder if he's sort of you know,
- 32:40Speaker 1: behind the times a bit, you know, Joe Flacco. It'd
- 32:42Speaker 1: say if this was two thousand and five, he might
- 32:44Speaker 1: be in the mix for QB one, but it's not
- 32:46Speaker 1: so now. He's probably a Day three guy. You know,
- 32:49Speaker 1: dtrs fascinating, yeah, you know, incredibly athletic. You know, Jack
- 32:53Speaker 1: chip Kelly offense did a lot to stress defenses both
- 32:56Speaker 1: in the run game in the past game, made some
- 32:58Speaker 1: impressive throws. Obviously an a lead and with the way
- 33:01Speaker 1: the game is trending, like we just talked about, would
- 33:02Speaker 1: create an office structure and outside the pocket if you
- 33:05Speaker 1: want to take a flyer in a quarterback on day
- 33:06Speaker 1: three somebody you've now got experienced coaching, and you know
- 33:09Speaker 1: how they take to coaching, which is, you know, whenever
- 33:11Speaker 1: we talk about Shrine Bowl, Senior Bowl, people get caught
- 33:14Speaker 1: up in the game itself or how they look in drills.
- 33:17Speaker 1: The teams want to see if you take to coaching.
- 33:19Speaker 1: If you told them something Monday in practice, do you
- 33:21Speaker 1: run it the next day or not. Patriot's got a
- 33:23Speaker 1: good look at that with dtr and if they came
- 33:24Speaker 1: away liking what they saw, it wouldn't surprise me if
- 33:27Speaker 1: they drafted him Monday three. What about jarn Hall from BYU.
- 33:31Speaker 1: I had high expectations coming into this season, you know,
- 33:34Speaker 1: I think he sort of had a down week, you know,
- 33:36Speaker 1: in his sort of Senior Bowl experience. What I like
- 33:40Speaker 1: about him as pocket movement and pocket boys. There are
- 33:43Speaker 1: some plays he had this year at BYU where I
- 33:45Speaker 1: remember one play if you get who it was against,
- 33:46Speaker 1: but there's pressure off the left edge and he doesn't
- 33:49Speaker 1: even drop his eyes for a second, even though it's
- 33:51Speaker 1: right in his blindside. He just feels and it moves around.
- 33:54Speaker 1: He had some throws against Notre Dame. Now, there was
- 33:56Speaker 1: a situational and wearing a sack against Notre Dame where
- 33:59Speaker 1: he gave up a safety, but there are some other
- 34:00Speaker 1: moments in that game where he's just almost impervious to pressure,
- 34:03Speaker 1: and that's something you can't teach. And you're gonna face
- 34:05Speaker 1: a lot of pressure playing quarterback in the NFL. And
- 34:08Speaker 1: so I think again, if you get into that sort
- 34:10Speaker 1: of you know, round full of round five, round six range,
- 34:13Speaker 1: I'm with you, Mike. You should always be looking to
- 34:15Speaker 1: upgrade the quarterback room overall, whether it's as a starter,
- 34:19Speaker 1: somebody to push the starter, or even somebody to push
- 34:21Speaker 1: QB two, because if number one goes down, you better
- 34:24Speaker 1: have a good answer at number two. Otherwise you're wasting
- 34:26Speaker 1: weeks in the NFL. And we don't we don't like
- 34:28Speaker 1: wasting weeks in the NFL. Here on the new inclam Patriots, Right,
- 34:31Speaker 1: all right, Well, I don't want to end it before
- 34:32Speaker 1: you get a last chance. Even did you get everything
- 34:34Speaker 1: off your chest here? I don't. You're gonna have to
- 34:36Speaker 1: take the DMS later to get there. There's there's a
- 34:38Speaker 1: big one that I do want to ask you about,
- 34:41Speaker 1: and I think this is a really popular conversation. It's
- 34:43Speaker 1: it's a popular take in Boston right now that the
- 34:46Speaker 1: Patriots should follow the model that the Eagles followed by
- 34:49Speaker 1: hedging their bets with Carson Wentz with Jalen Hurts right
- 34:52Speaker 1: and making sure that you have somebody like that. And
- 34:55Speaker 1: I think the only guy in this draft that fits
- 34:56Speaker 1: that is Head and Hooker, Like I can't really think
- 34:58Speaker 1: of anybody else that, But I have reservations about Okay
- 35:02Speaker 1: now as a guy coming off in ACL who's already
- 35:05Speaker 1: an older prospect, and Mac Jones only in year three.
- 35:08Speaker 1: Carson Wentz was year five when they did that in Philadelphia.
- 35:11Speaker 1: It's a much different situation. But what are your opinions
- 35:14Speaker 1: on Hooker? And a lot of people I've heard of said,
- 35:16Speaker 1: if he didn't have a turn toward a c L,
- 35:18Speaker 1: we might be talking about him in the first round.
- 35:20Speaker 1: I don't know if you're that high on him. I'm
- 35:22Speaker 1: not that high on him, but I do understand the
- 35:24Speaker 1: allure obviously the production that offense, though how much of
- 35:28Speaker 1: that is translatable because they had those wide splits, a
- 35:30Speaker 1: lot of stacks concept a lot of switch concepts. I mean, yeah,
- 35:34Speaker 1: let you know, it's a limited rout tree. But four
- 35:37Speaker 1: two is four two, right. There's also that aspect to it,
- 35:40Speaker 1: you know. I think the conversation with Hooker that's fascinating
- 35:42Speaker 1: and again is sort of like you got to the
- 35:44Speaker 1: age thing. Now. There are ways where you could say, look,
- 35:47Speaker 1: it's not an issue. But in New England, if you
- 35:49Speaker 1: might give Mac another year or two, then you're talking
- 35:51Speaker 1: two more years before Hooker seats a field. It's a
- 35:54Speaker 1: different conversation. I think, Look, this is a copycat sport,
- 35:58Speaker 1: it's a copycat league. People say, oh, just made a run.
- 36:00Speaker 1: Look at how they structured it. We should do what
- 36:02Speaker 1: they did. Let's also remember this time last year, Howie
- 36:05Speaker 1: Roseman and Nick Sirianni was sitting at the podium in
- 36:07Speaker 1: the next room saying, yeah, we believe in Jaden and Hurts.
- 36:09Speaker 1: We're gonna build around him. As they were calling around
- 36:12Speaker 1: about Russell Wilson. Like you know, they also acquired a
- 36:15Speaker 1: future first round pick in this year's draft in case
- 36:17Speaker 1: it didn't work out with Jalen Hurts, Like you know,
- 36:20Speaker 1: they can hedge their bets differently, the New England Patriots
- 36:22Speaker 1: can you know, they could acquire a future draft capital,
- 36:24Speaker 1: they could give Bailey Zappie a shot if it doesn't
- 36:27Speaker 1: work out this year with Mac Jones. Now, I think
- 36:29Speaker 1: next year is probably the draft if it doesn't work
- 36:31Speaker 1: out with Mac this year, where you might see them
- 36:33Speaker 1: trying to move up to perhaps Drake may Kayleb Williams
- 36:36Speaker 1: something like that might be cost for him to do so,
- 36:39Speaker 1: but I think that's probably the Mac Jones gets this
- 36:42Speaker 1: year to sort of figure it out. It's year three,
- 36:43Speaker 1: that's take the step with Bill O'Brien. If it doesn't,
- 36:46Speaker 1: we're gonna explore some options in twenty four. Yeah, that
- 36:48Speaker 1: Drake make It's good, He's very good. Williams, Mike get
- 36:53Speaker 1: ahead of our will we do this every year? Right,
- 36:57Speaker 1: It's like, well this girl next year? Next you watch
- 37:01Speaker 1: Josh down. So I think is a really nice fit
- 37:03Speaker 1: for the Patriots in the slot. And I'm texting my
- 37:06Speaker 1: podcast co host Ogs Bars. We text all the time
- 37:09Speaker 1: about prospects, and I'm like, he knows way more about
- 37:11Speaker 1: college football than me. So I'm texting, I'm like, who's
- 37:13Speaker 1: this quarterback that UNC has guys like throwing off platforms.
- 37:17Speaker 1: I was talking to an UNC coach yesterday and I
- 37:19Speaker 1: was just like, casually speaking, so who who's who has
- 37:22Speaker 1: already come around looking for Drake May It's like all
- 37:24Speaker 1: thirty two two years. Yeah, so let's put it that way.
- 37:26Speaker 1: It's very excited. Well, and now we're onto the twenty twenty.
- 37:28Speaker 1: I know that's what I was gonna say. And Mark
- 37:30Speaker 1: will be back next year at the Scout and Combine.
- 37:31Speaker 1: We'll have him back on. So Mark, thank you, you
- 37:33Speaker 1: know so much for taking some time giving your you know,
- 37:35Speaker 1: your knowledge as you do on Twitter as well, and
- 37:37Speaker 1: as you guys can tell, give him a follow at
- 37:38Speaker 1: Mark Scholfield Espnation read all this stuff. Um, if quarterback
- 37:41Speaker 1: becomes a need anytime in the future, certainly that he's
- 37:44Speaker 1: the guy to hit up. So Mark, thanks for joining us, guys,
- 37:46Speaker 1: Thanks so much for having we always a blast. All right.
- 37:49Speaker 1: That'll do it for Lazarre and Deuce on Friday from
- 37:52Speaker 1: the Combine. One more day to go, and I gotta
- 37:55Speaker 1: admit I'm still I still got some energy. I'm still
- 37:57Speaker 1: excited to see some of these offensive linemen tomorrow finally
- 37:59Speaker 1: get a look at them. It's it's probably gonna be
- 38:01Speaker 1: a little bit more subdued than it was here today
- 38:03Speaker 1: with all the quarterbacks going anything. You just want to
- 38:05Speaker 1: tee up for tomorrow. Skronsky, It's Scronsky time, baby, It's
- 38:09Speaker 1: Scronsky time now, and all seriousness though. I was talking
- 38:12Speaker 1: to a lot of the edge defenders at the other
- 38:14Speaker 1: day when we had them available, and there were just
- 38:17Speaker 1: every single guy you asked had a different answer for
- 38:19Speaker 1: who the best tackle that they faced was. Which to me,
- 38:22Speaker 1: I speaks to the depth of the class. You know,
- 38:24Speaker 1: some guys are saying Anton Harrison, some guys are saying Scronsky.
- 38:28Speaker 1: Will Anderson said Darnell Right from Tennessee. So that's like
- 38:31Speaker 1: a riser Darnell right. All I'm gonna mention to him
- 38:33Speaker 1: in the last couple of days. He's one of my
- 38:34Speaker 1: guys in this draft too. So you look at some
- 38:37Speaker 1: of these players at tackle, I think they're going to
- 38:39Speaker 1: have a ton of options, and you're gonna have somebody
- 38:42Speaker 1: available in the first two rounds that you will probably
- 38:45Speaker 1: feel good about starting right out of the gate as
- 38:47Speaker 1: a rookie, which I think the Patriots could really use.
- 38:50Speaker 1: All right, guys, keep an eye out for more content
- 38:51Speaker 1: rolling in tomorrow. Saturday afterwards as a travel day for us,
- 38:55Speaker 1: so it might be a little late coming in, but
- 38:57Speaker 1: Monday Tuesday. Look, we're gonna fire out every thing, recaps, videos,
- 39:01Speaker 1: you guys know how we do it here. It's been
- 39:03Speaker 1: a great weekend now we're looking forward to a strong,
- 39:05Speaker 1: finished show. Stay tuned for more content here on Patriots
- 39:07Speaker 1: dot com.