Having rolled up the sleeves in pursuit of every last clip of potential draftees, to calling and texting everyone in my Rolodex (remember when that was a thing?), to sizing up what the Patriots have done to their roster, I wanted to run through some quick-hitter thoughts of where my head is at when it comes to the team.
- This interior defensive line class is lean. Like, maybe only 4 or 5 players going in the top 100. Considering the revival of the run game and a number of teams (headlined by the Rams) embracing 13 personnel, it would make a ton of sense for teams to invest important resources into the defensive tackle/nose guard position. Heck, they did last year. There were 5 DLs taken in round one, and 12 in the first 100 picks. The year before, 2 first-rounders and 11 overall. You get the gist. But without those projectable types (for a variety of reasons I’ll get into when I take a deeper dive into the DTs), I wouldn’t expect the same level of investment or immediate results. I believe it’s partly why the Pats were disappointed they missed out on Khyiris Tonga (that’s on them for misreading the market), and it's no doubt influencing the decision to ride it out with Christian Barmore, despite having a window to move on this offseason. I would also add that the team did a good job identifying not just Tonga in free agency last year, but Cory Durden and, to a significantly lesser degree, Eric Gregory and Leonard Taylor. That’s why I don’t think they’ll ignore the position, but it’s not a top priority either.
- Mike Vrabel said what he had to say about the wide receiver room. He’s not going to publicly declare they need more there and ding that group’s ego or weaken the Pats’ leverage when it comes to AJ Brown. I firmly believe they could operate at a high level if they added one more body via the draft - assuming Drake Maye’s continued growth - but the interest in Brown goes beyond the familial relationship between the player and the head coach. The Pats know they need to be more explosive in the passing game, especially against better defenses like the ones they saw running the postseason gauntlet. Maye and the rest of the offense saw a dropoff in production, struggling mightily vs man coverage. They’d like an equalizer, although again, they have been wisely unwilling to meet Eagles GM Howie Roseman’s demands. We’ll see if either side blinks, or another team that doesn’t like how their draft turns out jumps in.
- I wonder if the Pats will double dip at the tight end position? This from Vrabel on Tuesday: “Well, I love them. Give me nine of them. ... I think just trying to find the right guy. There's different, you know, some of them are receiving, some of them are more the line of scrimmage, some of them a little bit of both. So, think we'll just try to come up with the one that fits us best and see where we can draft them.” Based on how the wide receiver room is currently constructed, and with Hunter Henry’s age and contract situation (32 in December/last year of deal), finding his eventual replacement as a three-down player would be high on the list of things to do in a few weeks. It’s also conceivable, based on Henry and Julian Hill, that that selection might not come until day three, where there should still be plenty of players who will have long NFL careers.
- Vrabel said the Pats want to add another arm, but I would forego that in the draft. Identify a priority free agent you think can handle the volume of Josh McDaniels’ offense, bring him in for the spring and summer, and maybe he finds his way onto the practice squad. This is Drake’s show, with Tommy DeVito riding shotgun. You can always find a veteran scrap heap QB at some point if something happens or the UDFA isn’t worth keeping around (see Ben Wooldridge from last year). I am a fan of Illinois QB Luke Altmeyer.
- Finally, I was asked to be one of the media voters for the Patriots Hall of Fame with about 20 others. Hearing some passionate arguments made for at least a couple of players I wouldn’t have had on my radar (non-superstar types) definitely made an impact on me, and I think it’s fair to say the committee felt that way, too. Beginning next year, the 10-person senior committee will hear cases for any player in team history who was retired before 2002. In the past, the only way a player was considered by the senior committee was if he had previously received votes as a finalist. That said, there is a logjam, and some very deserving players might not even make the fan vote when that’s released.
CAN BRADY MAKE THE LEAP?
Joe Brady has never been a head coach before. Not in high school, college, or the pros. Heck, he didn’t even lead a flag football team (Mike Giardi, 2x champ...humble brag). But now Brady is in charge of a Bills team that fired Sean McDermott after arguably the best coaching job of his career because, according to owner Terry Pegula, the team had hit the “proverbial playoff wall.”
There have been rumblings that Brady got the gig at the behest of Josh Allen. Allen walked into Brady’s office the day of his official hiring to tell him that wasn’t true, that Brady did it all on his own (even though Allen sat in on some of the interviews). That could create an interesting dynamic between the star quarterback and his new boss, though Brady doesn’t seem too worried.
“We both made an agreement on the accountability we’re gonna hold each other, what our expectations are for one another,” he said. “You’re gonna see me on the sideline pissed at him. You’re gonna see him on the sideline like, ‘What the hell are we doing?’ That’s football. That’s human nature, but we always gotta be able to go back to what we said in the beginning when there was no emotion in it.
“As long as we hold that rope and that vision, we’re gonna be good. I am fortunate. I’ve been with him. I’ve seen the quarterback, I’ve seen (it from) an OC perspective. ... I hope it’s gonna help our dynamic and our relationship.”
Allen is coming off a broken foot that impacted him late in the season, and certainly in that postseason loss to Denver when he turned the ball over four times. Brady’s job is not only to get those games out of his QB’s system, but also to figure out a way to protect him so that he gets to January as healthy as he can possibly be. That may lead to fewer designed runs earlier in the season (a philosophy they’ve adopted in recent years), but then the game starts and, well, the competitor takes over.
“He had one foot, and he’s out there jumping and hurdling (against Denver),” Brady said. “The year that he couldn’t throw with his elbow, he played against Minnesota, and we said, ‘Whatever you can, you just can’t take a hit.’ First drive, he’s in the open field and tries to run the guy over. That’s how his mind works. The more that you tell a guy he can’t do something, he’s gonna be like, ‘Oh, you think I can’t do it?’ That’s what makes him him.”
"We know in the pass game, Josh is going to scramble. You’ve got to count those scrambles knowing there’s going to be some of the runs. Tell me the time in the game. The importance of it. Where are we in the season? That’s when I think some of the true designed runs come into play. If I ask him, he’ll be like, ‘Run me 40 times, throw me 40 times. I really don’t care.’ Now that we have a grass field, I hope he slides a little more.”
We’ve seen the challenges locally with how the Patriots try to manage Maye. It’s one thing to preach playing a certain way, but these guys aren’t who they are and become what they’ve become by restricting their own movements and instincts. Vrabel and Josh McDaniels are aware of that, and so is Brady.
“Josh sets the tone with everything we do,” Brady said.
He’s not wrong, but now Brady has to figure out how to accomplish something McDermott never could with Allen: winning a Super Bowl. That job got even more difficult with what the Pats did last season.
“Vrabel did an incredible job rebuilding that last year,” Brady said. “They deserved everything that they got. ... I hope that our guys don’t necessarily care who was in the Super Bowl but know that, hey, the team that is in our division, that wore the t-shirts last year, they were in the Super Bowl and we’ve got to do everything we can regardless of who that is, that it’s us in those positions.”
RAVENS RESPOND (SORT OF)
The Ravens have taken hits from here, there, and everywhere when it comes to their reasoning for opting out of the Maxx Crosby trade (as we’ve illustrated). It should come as no surprise that team president Sashi Brown found himself grilled about the deal-no-deal and its fallout, with plenty suggesting it may damage trust with the other 31 teams.
“We’ve got strong and long relationships across the league,” Brown insisted. “We have emphasized the importance of doing things the right way. We’ll continue to do that, and we understand that it is a headline story because of its profile and significance.
“We believe our relationships, to the extent that you need time to repair them, people understand who we are and what we’re about. Our locker room understands that as well, but when you have high-profile transactions like this and opportunities like this, it’s unfortunate that sometimes these things do happen. No fault of Maxx’s or ours or the Raiders, it’s just (how) it played out.”
Brown pointed to a recent signing that fell through in Cleveland, where the Browns and edge rusher AJ Epensa had agreed to terms pending a physical, and when that physical revealed medical concerns, the deal was off.
“This is not the first time it’s going to happen,” he said. “It will not be the last. I think everybody wants to be prudent through our processes. It’s unfortunate and rare, especially in a high-profile case like this, but that’s why the processes are in place.”
Meanwhile, Brown and his staff have another issue at hand: Lamar Jackson’s contract extension. GM Eric DeCosta had indicated they wanted to get that done before free agency, but, as is the norm with Jackson, negotiations are moving at a snail’s pace. New head coach Jesse Minter would love to have Jackson at OTAs (he hasn’t been a consistent attendee), but with this shaping up to take a minute or three, Minter is probably not holding his breath.
"I know Lamar's excited. I think he is excited about some of the changes," the first-year HC said Tuesday. "We've had a lot of good connection points, but the offseason program is voluntary. We're excited to get a chance to work with all the guys, whoever wants to show up. We feel confident that a lot of guys will be there."
Jackson has missed most of the voluntary workouts over his 8-year career, but this one is a little more important, given the change at HC and OC (30-year-old Declan Doyle is a first-timer as well). Wisely, Minter is bringing a bouquet of flowers instead of poking at his franchise QB.
"I'm just excited about him," he said. "You don't become the level of player that he has without a great work ethic, without being a great teammate, without being a leader. And so just excited for him to continue to grow and evolve and become an even better version of Lamar."
CHANGES COMING
The league meetings are over, and I’m picking through the carcass of a number of topics, including rule changes for the upcoming season.
- As the “stewards” of the game prepare to lock the officials out, setting us up for a reprisal of 2012 with replacement refs, they agreed on a one-year change that will allow the officiating headquarters in New York to interject themselves into games where there is “Clear and obvious video evidence” that has been missed by the on-field crew. This only takes effect if the real refs are sidelined due to their labor dispute. As an offshoot of that, “flagrant football acts and non-football acts” can also be addressed from the command center, regardless of who’s officiating. As someone who wants less replay and not more, I’d like to see how these changes are applied before I endorse or start throwing things at the TV. As far as I’m concerned, it’s a slippery slope.
- The league closed the loophole that allowed teams to intentionally kick the ball out of bounds on kickoffs from the 50-yard line. Previously, under the new dynamic kickoff rules, the ball was placed on the 25. Now? If a kickoff lands in the end zone (and is not returned) or goes out of the end zone, the result will be the receiving team getting the ball at the 20.
- On that front, teams can now declare an onside kick at any time. This stemmed from a discussion in which teams wanted the option to be on the table after a penalty placed them at the 50-yard line (or even in opposing territory).
- There will be a modification to the alignment requirements on the dynamic kickoff. I’ve yet to see exactly what that will be; however, the league claims this is being done to reduce concussions (don’t get me started).
- How’s this for billionaire math? Ownership has redefined what constitutes a short week, all in the name of their TV partners and to bilk as much money as humanely possible from those entities. Friday will no longer be considered a short week and will be treated the same as Saturday, Sunday, and Monday games. This matters because teams have been allowed only two short-week games in the regular season. Now, with Friday free of such restrictions, teams that play on Christmas (a Friday this year) can still be scheduled the previous Sunday even if they’ve hit their prior limit. The owners know this game is a car crash every week, right?
- Each team is now required to have a full-time mental health professional on staff or to offer full-time coverage. Shockingly (or not), only eight teams have a full-time staff member. Real nice league...
- Players who begin the regular season on the PUP/reserve list can have their 21-day window opened up as the second game is complete.