Ten Post-Draft Patriots Thoughts
1. Eliot Wolf has a type: Last season we had to witness the “battle” between Mac Jones and Bailey Zappe to prove which quarterback could play worse during a 4-win nightmare. Two QBs who had limited physical skills, attempting to orchestrate an offense from the pocket, while being mostly inept at creating off-schedule, if “ept” at all. Wolf watched and said ENOUGH. First, it was Jacoby Brissett, who has more than enough arm to go along with some good mobility. Then, it was the QB double-dip on draft weekend. The Patriots invested in big-framed, rocket-armed, athletically nimble prospects, Drake Maye and Joe Milton. No longer will this be an offense that has to be perfect to produce chunk plays. We should all be thankful.
2. Wolf and Jerod Mayo have a ton of confidence in their offensive staff: They’re trusting Alex Van Pelt, Ben McAdoo, T.C. McCartney, and Evan Rothstein (he’s still here?) to develop the future face of the franchise. Wide receivers coach Tyler Hughes has been handed two rookie WRs to transition to the NFL, while working on improving second-year wideout Pop Douglas and trying to revive Tyquan Thornton’s career. If that’s not enough, how about Scott Peters and Robert Kugler? The offensive line coaches will be responsible for making "Chuks" Okorafor and/or Caedan Wallace switch from RT to LT, while figuring out if Cole Strange is worthwhile anymore, developing second-year RG Siddy Sow and getting the most out of Mike Onwenu’s full-time move to Tackle. Yeah, that’s quite the list.
3. The Patriots believe they have one of the best defenses in football: They’ve barely touched that side of the ball this offseason, other than bringing back some familiar faces. With DeMarcus Covington taking over the play calling and roughly 98% of the same on-field talent, we’ll quickly figure out how much Bill & Steve Belichick meant to this defense.
4. Good for Christian Barmore. Dude’s a beast and played All-Pro level football over the last 8-10 weeks of the 2023 season. If he takes the next step, he can be special.
5. Speaking of Barmore, there’s no way that Bill Belichick would have brought back Onwenu, Kyle Dugger, AND Barmore this offseason. Especially with all three getting the deals that they received from Patriots brass. Our guess: Onwenu might have had the best shot at returning, while Dugger would have been allowed to test the market and Barmore would have been given a “take it or leave it” extension at the beginning of the offseason. If he didn’t take it, the can would have been kicked down the road towards the 2025 offseason.
6. Do Covington and Mayo believe in the young unproven corners more than most of us do? Not addressing the cornerback position in free agency and waiting until the 6th round to invest in the secondary, certainly seems like a nod towards Alex Austin and Isaiah Bolden, hoping one of the two can pop and take the OCB2 job from Jonathan Jones.
7. Did you know that the Patriots Defense have 13 guys looking at unrestricted free agency after this season? That list of thirteen has a number of impact players on it. Get ready, next year’s draft could be the antithesis of what we just witnessed last weekend.
8. Captain Bedard’s constant reminders this offseason of Alonzo Highsmith’s resume of evaluating the running back position and landing diamonds in the rough, has this writer irrationally excited to watch Deshaun Fenwick. If he doesn’t work out, blame Bedard.
9. Speaking of Bedard, it was interesting that he brought up the idea of starting to transition Strange to center on our pod this week. Something to keep an eye on, especially after the Patriots decided to use a top-of-the-fourth-round pick on another offensive guard.
10. With this rookie class, camp should at least be entertaining.
After many discussions, the HEAT were perfect
During the tail-end of the regular season, there was a ton of discussion about who the Celtics could end up playing in the first round of the playoffs. Many within that discussion were concerned about who the opponent would be. Would it be Philly? Oh, no, it could be the HEAT!
Well, now that the series is over, we can unequivocally say the Celtics got the perfect opponent. The HEAT, with or without Jimmy Butler and Terry Rozier, were going to fight. Figuratively and literally. The C’s couldn’t take them lightly after the countless battles these two teams have encountered over the last few years. Miami forced Jayson Tatum and Company to be engaged from the very first second. Even Tatum admitted that very fact during his Game 5 postgame press conference. None of this should have surprised us.
We don’t think that would have been the case, if it were any other opponent than Miami. You might say the Bucks, but we’ve seen the C’s take other teams lightly when they have stars missing. With Giannis’ status, would it have shocked anyone if the C’s decided to sleepwalk in the early stages of that hypothetical series?
Erik Spoelstra will always challenge the opposition’s coach and make him respond to certain strategies. Miami will always test your composure, poise, and physicality. And, yes, they’re dirty. Annoyingly and ridiculously dirty. For the Celtics to win in five, while dominating four of those games, it took a professional approach. And, as soon as Kristaps Porzingis went down, it took focus on the task at hand and trusting each other. Mission accomplished. Onto to the next one.
The Early Season Red Sox Have Been A Great Story
We predicted the Red Sox would win 77 games this year. And, who knows, maybe we end up being right. But, no matter what, this team will always have its impressive April.
Yes, we acknowledge the schedule hasn’t been a murderer’s row. But, is there any way on God’s green Earth that if we told you this team would lose Trevor Story, Brayan Bello, Triston Casas, Masataka Yoshida, Nick Pivetta, and more throughout the first month, you’d believe this team would finish the month at 17-13. No. Way.
Yet, that’s precisely what they did. Andrew Bailey’s pitching staff continues to not only exceed expectations, but make those expectations look laughable. Tyler O'Neill has been a weightlifting robot who smashes baseballs from the right side. Wilyer Abreau has been excellent. Conor Wong has done it both in the field and at the dish. All the while, the clubhouse has shuffled guys in and out like a porta potty at Coachella.
Who is Zack Short? No idea, but he started on Thursday. Dominic Smith? He was literally shaking hands with his new teammates during BP. Did you know that Tyler Heineman was a Red Sox? Me neither, but he got an at-bat!
It’s been chaotic, but it’s been weirdly fun. They’ve quickly become the loveable underdogs. If you’re not rooting for this club and the staff, you’re doing it wrong.