Patriots Lessons From 2023 Season | Greg Bedard Patriots Podcast

In the latest episode of the Greg Bedard Patriots Podcast w/ Nick Cattles, Greg and Nick review the Chiefs’ Super Bowl victory against the 49ers and discuss its implications for the Patriots’ future direction. They ponder the lessons learned from this season and the Super Bowl regarding the team’s strategy, particularly in quarterback selection and overall team building. They also debate the potential of selecting a wide receiver with the third pick and analyze Robert Kraft’s comments on spending, questioning their significance for the team’s plans.

Check Greg’s Coverage out over at www.bostonsportsjournal.com, for $50 on BSJ’s annual plan. Not only do you get top-notch analysis of all the Boston pro sports, but if you’re a Patriots junkie — and if you’re listening to this podcast, you are — then a membership at BSJ gives you access to a ton of video analysis Bedard does on the coaches film, and direct access to him in weekly chats.

This episode of the Greg Bedard Patriots Podcast w/ Nick Cattles is brought to you by:

Fanduel Sportsbook, the exclusive wagering parter of the CLNS Media NetworkRight now, NEW customers get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS with any winning FIVE DOLLAR MONEYLINE BET! So, visit https://FanDuel.com/BOSTON and kick off the NFL season. FanDuel, Official Partner of the NFL. 21+ and present in MA. Hope is here. First online real money wager only. $5 pregame moneyline wager required. First online real money wager only. $10 first deposit required. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable bonus bets that expire 7 days after receipt. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. GamblingHelpLineMa.org or call (800)-327-5050 for 24/7 support. Play it smart from the start! GameSenseMA.com or call 1-800-GAM-1234.
#patriotspresspass #clns #patriots
__________________________________________________________________________
🍀 For Celtics Content:
🔴 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmp3kivpOg3lzoJC7yV7VjQ?sub_confirmations=1 🔴

🏈 For More Patriots Content
🔴 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqX7G3pEDTseNxtoDU27PEg?sub_confirmations=1 🔴
*******************************************************
Check out over dozens of sports podcasts from CLNS Media here: https://clnsmedia.com/ OR for all 200 shows, go to https://northstationmedia.com
*********************************************************

Come Chill With Us on Social Media:

🏀 🍀 Celtics Twitter – https://twitter.com/CelticsCLNS
🏈 Patriots Twitter- https://twitter.com/patriotsclns
🔵 Twitter Main- – https://twitter.com/clnsmedia

📸 🏀 Celtics Instagram – https://instagram.com/celticsCLNS
📸 Main Instagram – https://instagram.com/clnsmedia

🔵 Facebook- https://facebook.com/clnsmedia
🔵 LinkedIn- https://www.linkedin.com/company/clnsmedia/about/
💟 Tik Tok – https://www.tiktok.com/@clnsmedia

Subscribe to CLNS’ Celtics 🍀 All Access Here:
🔴 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmp3kivpOg3lzoJC7yV7VjQ?sub_confirmations=1 🔴

**********************************************

🏈 ABOUT PATRIOTS COVERAGE ON CLNS: 🏈

Welcome to the CLNS Media Network’s YouTube channel for New England Patriots 🏈 football. CLNS Media is the leading online provider of audio/video coverage for the 6X Super Bowl Champions. Get complete inside access to the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro and everywhere on the road. CLNS Patriots credentialed insiders Greg Bedard, Andrew Callahan, Tayler Kyles, John Zannis, Alex Barth and Mike Kadlick provide instantaneous news and analysis all in real time, as well as full access to complete videos from the players, coaches, ownership and everyone else inside Patriots Place.

If you enjoy CLNS’ Celtics 🍀 All Access and are craving more Boston sports content, you head over to CLNS’ Patriots 🏈 Press Pass at
🔴 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqX7G3pEDTseNxtoDU27PEg?sub_confirmations=1 🔴

Did the Super Bowl highlight anything that Elliot wolf Alonzo High Smith and Company they’re looking at it and they’re they’re thinking all right we need a qb1 does it change any of their math after watching Sunday night play out I don’t know if it it changes it but

You know I’ve come to believe and and and I I keep going back and forth I mean I you know I I think the ideal is building up the team and not putting too much into one position however I’ve now become a Believer and I think it’s

Part of the reason why you’ve seen the the quote unquote Patriots offense basically go extinct at the NFL level is that I I think it’s really hard to get good enough offensive line play to have a quarterback that is basically a pocket quarterback and is just making plays

From there like diagnosing the defense ball out get to get to the back back of my drop top of my drop boom balls out like I just the the offensive line play in the league is just too bad there’s not enough development time the the defensive lineman and the pressure

Concepts are too good um to me like you can’t just base your base your offense on this is what we’re going to do on a five-step drop every time I just don’t think you can do it so to me I think going forward and I think we’ve seen

This with a lot of quarterbacks that are successful now in the NFL you have to be able to make secondary plays secondary reaction plays that means all I get to the top of my drop but something’s not there or a guy’s coming in free and I make a miss

And I go outside the pocket and I either run or I drop it off to somebody like you have to be able to make those plays with regularity or you’re just going to get stuck in the mud and you’re too dependent like you said you’re too dependent on the offensive line being

Really good having a running game having wide receivers that are good and it’s just it’s just too hard to thread the needle in the NFL he’s Greg i’m Nick this is the Greg Bard Patriots podcast with Nick cattles brought to you by our friends at FanDuel the exclusive wagering partner of the SS

Media Network new customers join today and you’ll get $200 in bonus bets if your first bet of $5 or more wins Greg let’s start with the super Bowl you want to talk about that for a little while here before we move on to Patriot stuff uh was that game on Sunday night about

Patrick mahomes’s greatness or was there more than that yeah I didn’t look obviously excuse me obviously Patrick Mahomes is great and he is the heir to Tom Brady’s Throne if he ever gets there with longevity and things like that we shall see but in terms of uh a quarterback that you can never

Never count out that there that his team always believes they’re they’re never out of any game because they have number 15 just like the Patriots had number 12 um there’s no question that momes is on that plane and this this championship for them reminded me a lot of Brady’s

Last championship 2018 that was that was a team that should not have won a championship um you know yeah they got off to a really fast start that year but even Tom Brady the whole way you know they were 8-0 saying I’m the most miserable 8-0 quarterback on the planet

He knew that they excuse me that was 2019 uh but in any event the 2018 team had its flaws they went on the road in December and lost back-to-back games the the Miami fluke game with the grank on the kickoff and then they go to Pittsburgh and lose and we’re all like

What the hell’s going on here and they sort of change things up and went to more of a runbase game but when it came down to it I mean having to go to Kansas City you know similar to what they said about Patrick Mahomes this year well

He’s never gone on the road had to go through the playoffs on the road and they said the same things about Brady in 2018 and guess what he went on the road and and and and won his game and I mean you can say that they were groundbased

And Sony Michelle and the offensive line and all that stuff which is you know all true but at the end of the day you know the Patriots don’t a win a Super Bowl or B advance to a Super Bowl unless Tom Brady is just lights out in the fourth

Quarter just you know dissecting the Chiefs and then the Rams uh when it came down to it so there there’s no question that momes and Brady are similar but as far as this individual game goes and um I’m sorry but you know I don’t like the

Throwing all these things in a bucket or you know previously in the postseason and all this stuff no let’s look at this one individual game and this game did not come come down to wasn’t determined by Patrick Mahomes what it was determined by was the San Francisco

49ers dominating the game into the third quarter and not doing anything with it not getting out far enough ahead where Patrick Mahomes couldn’t come back or he would be put into a very tight situation where you know no mistakes by by the Chiefs and the 49ers just failed to do

That I mean you know for for Brock pie to go six for 15 for 43 yards in the second and third quarter not good enough Kyle Shanahan letting Andy Reid off the The Hook at the end of the first half and not getting another possession to at

Least get a field goal to to go up by two scores again before halftime you know not good enough and so especially the third quarter was just abysmal for the 49ers they get the turn over they get the interception the short field do nothing with it they had three three

Andout drives they total ruled I think uh like four yards on those on those three drives with nine plays and it it just wasn’t good enough so to me when I look at this this was a big missed Opportunity by the San Francisco 49ers I’ll give Mahomes his flowers but he

Should have never been allowed to do what he did at the end of the game I was sitting there at a party and I said to some people I was like man the Chiefs have played like utter dog crap they played like crap for two and a half quarters three quarters and you’re

Sitting there at halftime it’s only 103 and I just kept telling people I’m it doesn’t make me any kind of Mena I think a lot of people had this feeling the Chiefs are playing as bad as they could play they looked like uh you know regular season Chiefs before they really

Kicked it into gear when the playoffs started and this game should be two touchdowns and the fact that this is a one- score game would scare the crap out of me I kept saying it if I were the ners and it came back to haunt them your

Thoughts on Kyle Shanahan Greg and what we saw you know a lot of people talking about his performance or lack thereof in big games did we see that again on Sunday night uh a little bit um Kyle’s a guy that I have an enormous amount of respect for and there’s no question to

Me that he has a really good Vision on what a football team needs to look like to win and his offense is really good and his defense for the most part has been pretty good and is you know they’ve their roster um basically all the way arounde except for special teams and you

Could make the argument that special teams determ in this game and it was no shock that Kansas City was like I think top five in dvoa and the the 49ers were bottom five in dvoa so that that didn’t surprise anybody that that it had an influence on the outcome but to me as

Far as far as Kyle Shanahan I just he’s great in the regular season he has a great vision for what the team looks like but when it comes down to the biggest game one game Seasons what he believes and and how he does things it just doesn’t work he’s

Just not focused enough on the big picture uh again I’ll go back to that that situation before halftime you know and to me it loomed large and you have to know you should know this already I mean go in a Super Bowl let alone against Pat Mahomes we have to take

Advantage of every opportunity presented to us and with I’m just going through the the sheet so the the the the Chiefs are driving they’re down 10 nothing you know they get the ball to start the second half the Chiefs drive down and they get a first down at the San Francisco 14

With 109 left now there’s some controversy I don’t know whether the the the Chiefs called this timeout or not but at the end of the day a timeout was called officially at 109 they called their first timeout even though there there was no reason for them to call a

Timeout they were on the 14 yard line they had all three timeouts left what they wanted to do is you know run a little bit more clock probably about to you know 45 30 seconds and then use your timeout see what happens either you get a touchdown or an extra or field goal

But the point is is like you’re only down one score and you get the ball back to start the second half as soon as Andy Reid took that time out or the Chiefs took that time out with 109 left Shanahan should have been alert enough

If he wasn’t in his play sheet and said oh crap they just gave me an opening right here so as soon as you know first down pack P Patrick Mahomes goes short right to Rashid re for three yards they should have called timeout right there and they didn’t that allowed the Chiefs

Go down to 37 seconds they ran it again they ran it on second down KC calls a timeout and then San Francisco finally uses their first timeout with 23 seconds left after momes is sacked they could have gotten the ball back with about 50 seconds left one or two

Timeouts and you have a chance to put it right back in their face and go up two scores again before halftime and that’s just an example of Shanahan just missing the big picture in the game and I think you know to me I think that Shanahan and the 49ers are

Constructed like a regular season team they are not built for one game scenarios I did not think that Kyle Shanahan was ready for Steve spagnolo and the pressure they didn’t have answers to that to me that’s unfathomable to me they needed another answer at running back in this game

Christian mcaffry is great but he’s not a Workhorse and he’s so versatile you can use him in different ways like just as a slot receiver if you wanted to to exploit matchups and he doesn’t do any of that stuff so um to me Kyle Shanahan you know the overtime I didn’t have a

Huge problem with um his decision but just there’s those micro things in a game that don’t matter in the regular season but they matter huge in one game seasons in the postseason he has always always had trouble with game management th this goes back to his first year in

San Francisco he has not gotten any better at managing a game the clock management sometimes third and fourth down decisions and and play calling in certain situations and scenarios he suffers and they don’t spend enough money I guess on bringing somebody in who could be a game strategist to help him with that

Stuff it’s a major weakness of his coaching and it’s gone like completely not addressed over the last what he’s been there since 2017 you you’ve seen this movie before if you’re a Niners fan and at some point the team has to figure out we got to help the coach and we got

To bring somebody in who can be in his headset or be paying attention to the bigger picture game management because he has struggled as far as overtime time I I do think he messed up there and I know I’ve seen all the analytics people tweeting out I appreciate your analytics

Get out of my face with them in this case because look I want to know what I need to win the game I’m I’m that way like I it it’s crazy to me that and and I enjoy analytics to a point analytics people argue all the time about you know

The the two down 28 score whatever the hell thing and the oh you you got to go if you’re down two scores go for this two-point conversion the first time around because that gives you an idea of what you need to to tie or win the game

Why is it not the same idea when you talk about the overtime knowing what you need to tie or win the game if you kick off if you defer you give it to Kansas City they score a touchdown okay now you know you have to score a touchdown

That’s if you look at the Chiefs and how they handled it they went for it on fourth down and overtime because they knew they we got to go for this this is what’s going to happen if they were down by seven they would have done the same damn thing they would have been

Aggressive and the Kyle Shanahan thing his his response of well I wanted the third possession makes absolutely zero sense right because what he’s not accounting for is what if Andy Reid went for two Kyle what if what if you scored a touchdown you’re up by seven Mahomes

Scores a touchdown does Andy Reid go for two to try to end the game there I would probably put my money on it I think Andy Reid would have said okay we have a chance to win the game and go home and instead of kick it off to San Francisco

And if they score we Lo no I’m going to go for two here on my terms so it didn’t make any sense the final thing I would say is some of the guys not knowing the details and and now there’s been a lot of you know there’s been a lot of push

Back from the Niners and people are kind of you know moonwalking Michael Jackson Style on what they said after the game and I think that’s just they’re all trying to save face that makes me wonder again the D details game management the idea of what you just said not understanding spags and the

Zero blitzes and not being prepared for that does Shanahan you know does he turn over every Rock before the Super Bowl does he turn over every rock that he needs to turn over with his team and with his staff before they go into it because after Sunday it didn’t look like

They did that yeah it’s it’s a great Point by you Nick you know a couple thoughts on the OT decision I completely agree with you and in in the big picture as far as like I want to know what I need to get and I

Want to know all right if if we give up a touchdown or you know what have you if we’re trailing now I know I have four downs to play with and that’s huge and if I’m Kyle Shanahan I don’t want to put um Patrick Mahomes in a four down situation

Um but the only X Factor for me and I wish he didn’t address this so it’s it’s hard to say this was on his mind definitively or not you know I wish he just would have been completely honest in the post game about his decision I

Just want to know was the state of his defense having just been on the field against Patrick Mahomes was that really the determin factor because look I could I could see that I could see the logic in that like look we’ve been chasing him for a quarter um he’s getting hotter our

Guys are wearing down we’re not very deep on the defensive line which I think is a little bit of a flaw on this team especially when you get into Super Bowl situation something that belich was always cognizant of um having enough defensive lineman in Super Bowls because

Those games get long they get hot they’re just you know the amount of adrenaline you pump out like it it’s a factor um which again goes to you saying probably Kyle Shanahan never really thought about that but Bill belich definitely did um you know if he thought

His defense was gassed and said look look we’ve been on the field they’ve been on the field Mahomes is hot right now I’m putting my offense out there I feel good about us scoring a touchdown and we get a chance to get a rest we

Only need to make one play if we get up and maybe we cool off Patrick Mahomes a little bit if that’s his reasoning I don’t think a lot of people have an argument with that I mean I think it’s it’s definitely something to consider um

As far as you know what you were talking about um with Kyle Shanahan in his game management which I I completely agree with you um it’s it’s a huge weakness of his my idea if Kyle Shanahan is serious about being a world champion about being the best that he

Can be in a lot of different ways I think his two biggest weaknesses are game management and also that his offense does not have answers Ready Answers at the line of scrimmage for what a defense might do if I’m Kyle Shanahan I am on the phone with Bill

Bich and Josh McDaniels after the season and I am tell telling Bill uh I’ll pay you whatever you want can you come in and be my game management coach for this year and also Josh McDaniels can you tell me how you guys did this with your protection sort of Mel the Shanahan and

McDaniels offense in terms of how can we be better at the line of scrimmage because that’s that’s a key for the McDaniels Patriots offense and you know McDaniels doesn’t have to be there for the year he can come in an off season and just talk it through with him this

Is what I would do if I were you but I I would Bill’s a good friend of Mike Shanahan maybe Mike talks to Bill Bill and Josh both had the benefit of going behind the scenes with another team that they could be competing against a year from now and gain the Intel from

Everything that Shanahan does which there’s a lot of good things and to apply it the next time they get a chance um I don’t know maybe it’s far-fetched but if I’m Kyle Shan Shanahan I’m calling belich and McDaniels you imagine if that happens and then Bill ends up in Dallas or Philly next

Year good call you get him twice that season and you’re going for the division uh one last thing I wanted to ask you about you kind of touched on this a little bit with Brock P second and third quarter a lot of conversation about pie coming out of this game what was your

Takeaway about pery watching him on Sunday night I thought he was average um I did think he made some plays um especially towards the end of the game um you know the the touchdown throw to Jennings was a good timing throw um back foot there was pressure tight window he

Made some tight window throws um there was the play to to I think it was McCaffrey uh when he avoided pressure and sort of shovel the ball out to him okay you know nice play but you know it it was two yards behind the line of scrimmage and mcaffrey made the whole

Play um there was I’m not going to take this play away from him I think it was second or third down the one the use che where use Che had the Jesse James play where he Dives and the ball pops out not a touchdown for the Steelers against the

Patriots but it’s a first down with no review in the Super Bowl I would have liked to have seen a review there but that was a nice play by perie like he started to run then he came back and then he got rid of it like I’m not going

To take anything away from him he certainly made some plays in this game but to me you know I’m sorry Michael fegler um this this was not just about Patrick Mahomes being on the other side and what are you going to do because it’s Patrick Mahomes and you

Know God forbid okay Brock P’s not as good as Patrick Mahomes we got no that’s not what it is about Michael this was about you like he was a c quarterback in this game he was a game manager for the most part he made a couple of plays but

In a game like this if you’re going to win a championship your quarterback has to make special plays not all the time and not on the level of momes or Brady or anything like that but you know Nick Foles against the Patriots Joe flacko against the 49ers um you know any other

Not goated quarterback like just look at those games those guys had to make special plays and to me perie missed a lot of plays in this game you know not a crap ton but enough where you know he just and you could tell during the on The Telecast like Shanahan was pissed at

Py for a good part of this game because he was leaving plays on the field he wasn’t throwing the ball in Rhythm until the the very end of the game fourth quarter and into overtime and you know to me I’m not saying that py can’t be a

Guy that wins the championship just this year year two for him he’s not good enough Kyle Shanahan is being held back again whether it was Matt Ryan or Jimmy Garoppolo and now it’s Brock pie where the quarterback position is not that he’s not getting good enough play and I

Don’t care how good your scheme is you need your quarterback to win a championship your quarterback has to make special plays and again I’m not saying Brock pie can’t do it because you got to remember he’s only in his second year and he didn’t have an off season

This year because of the elbow surgery so I am going to allow that he might have the opportunity to be a lot better next year when he gets a full off season but if I’m Kyle shanan and I’m and and I’m Lynch I am taking a serious look having

Serious discussions about all right well what else are we going to do at quarterback um you know are we gonna bring back Sam darnold do we trade for M Jones is that good enough do we look at taking maybe one of the second tier quarterbacks in this be penx or you know

B Knicks or JJ McCarthy do we look at that I think they have to give themselves options I don’t think they can go full in on Brock pie because I just think at the I guess I am saying I I don’t think he’s going to be able to do it he’s just too

Limited as an athlete I do think he has a chance but I’m not I’m not taking a chance on it this is my longevity this is this is my legacy as an NFL coach I’m not putting all my money into Brock pie I’m just not doing it so you know

Whether it’s a year from now or two years from now they need to start making other plans just to have options the idea that oh the the ners lost this game because you know Patrick Mahomes was just Patrick Mahomes that makes it sound like Mahomes was otherworldly in this football game

Again for the first three quarters or so this team played like trash momes had a terrible interception he threw it up for grabs to to an unopen Travis Kelce down the field he forced that throw when he could have ran and maybe picked up the first down I mean they were snapping the

Football all over the place momes wasn’t very good they couldn’t get really anybody involved offensively outside of Kelce every once in a while they couldn’t run the football so it’s just it’s not a case of man momes threw for 400 yards and lit the world on fire and

How could you possibly challenge a guy like that I also hate this idea of well they didn’t lose the game because of pie I don’t think anybody is saying that they lost the game because of perie they did not win the game because of pie you could say well they didn’t win because

Of him either it it comes down to this Greg and I posted this uh I think it was on Monday or it was Sunday night later on in the night Brock Pie when you’re talking about going against one of the best quarterbacks any of the top five or

Six that have great or Elite traits pie can’t match that so because your quarterback cannot match those Elite traits the margin of error is so damn slim for a team like San Francisco the fact is that py cannot over come some of the things that the 49ers did

That really bit themselves in the ass because he’s not as talented as a momes he can’t come back in a fourth quarter and just lead them on three four scoring drives like no big deal you need the operation to work and you need to and you need to have it work almost

Perfectly if Mahomes is playing great which he wasn’t so that’s the difference that the gap between the quarterback position is that everybody else has to pick up the slack and if somebody fumbles the football inside the 10 damn it we’ve got Brock pie we not we might

Not be able to make that up someone misses an extra point damn it we have Brock pie every one of those mistakes hurt you more because you’re inevitably Limited at the quarterback more than the other team that’s the point and Pro Football Focus has their grading system

And I know people dump all over it but just to give you an idea I believe Patrick Mahomes was like 14th or 15th when it came to PFF grades on Sunday night he was the 14th or 15th best player on the field according to Pro Football Focus pie wasn’t in the top 15

So this wasn’t Patrick Mahomes playing like an all World Talent Mahomes was struggling the chiefs were struggling you just did not have the special talent or the talent at quarterback with those great to Elite traits that could make those guys pay for it consistently enough that’s the difference excellent

Uh excellent point by you um this is why we pay you the big bucks um Nick on this podcast but like you know just for example like you know because felger was giving it to me today of course and and so like just quickly I went through and

I and I wrote down the quarterbacks that I would take over Brock pie if I were the 49ers and I came up with 17 including some controversial guys but I Rogers Mahomes burrow Allan Dak Stafford cousins Herz love Herbert Lamar Jackson I would take Tua I think he’s like I

Think he’d be better in that scheme and again this is in the scheme like I’m putting these guys in the scheme with Shanahan not just on their team so it’s a little bit different I would take Gino I think that Gino with his size his running ability his arm strength like I

Think he’d be really good in that scheme Stroud of course I would take uh Trevor Lawrence I would take Baker Mayfield I think he would be pretty good in that scheme the way he makes plays um you know with his feet his arm strength I think it would be really good Kyler

Murray I think would be Sensational and that’s might think about looking at that trade if I were the 49ers Kyler Murray Deshawn Watson and I drew the line kind of at Goff I said no on golf I mean Shawn McVey said no they run s similar

Schemes um but I’m not saying that Brock P’s bad and again he can be better with a with a full off seon um he was put at a big disadvantage this year but he just and this is this is going to relate to our discussion about the Patriots he

Just doesn’t make enough special plays and second second reaction plays that you need to win games on the biggest stage new customers joined today and you get $200 in bonus bets if your first bet of $5 or more wins just visit fanduel.com Boston to sign up that’s fanduel.com Boston make every moment

More with FanDuel an official Sports partner of the NFL that leads us Greg what you just said a moment ago before our friends at FanDuel had that uh little reminder of who they are and what they do for us you talked about the Patriots and coming out of this game on Sunday

Night did the Super Bowl highlight anything that Elliot wolf Alonzo High Smith and Company they’re looking at it and they’re they’re thinking all right we need a qb1 does it change any of their math after after watching Sunday night play out I don’t know if it it changes it but

You know I’ve come to believe and and and I I keep going back and forth I mean I you know I I think the ideal is building up the team and not putting too much into one position however I’ve now become a Believer and I think it’s

Part of the reason why you’ve seen the the quote unquote Patriots offense basically go extinct the NFL level is that I think it’s really hard to get good enough offensive line play to have a quarterback that is basically a pocket quarterback and is just making plays from there like diagnosing the defense

Ball out get to get to the back of my drop top of my drop boom balls out like I just the the offensive line play in the league is just too bad there’s not enough development time the the defensive lineman and the pressure concepts are too good um to me like you

Can’t just base your base your offense on this is what we’re going to do on a fep drop every time I just don’t think you can do it so to me I think going forward and I think we’ve seen this with a lot of quarterbacks that are successful now at in the

NFL you have to be able to make secondary plays secondary reaction plays that means I get to the top of my Dr but something’s not there or a guy’s coming in free and I make a Miss and I go outside the pocket and I either run or I

Drop it off to somebody like you have to be able to make those plays with regularity or you’re just going to get stuck in the mud and you’re too dependent like you said you’re too dependent on the offensive line being really good having a running game having

Wide receivers that are good and it’s just it’s just too hard to thread the needle in the NFL so to give yourself more of a margin for error you need the quarterback that makes up for other things and I just think it’s too hard to get things aligned especially on the

Offensive line for a guy like Tom Brady or a pton Manning where you know they they feel protected enough I I just think the days of that might be gone with the way the the way the NFL is structured the way the guys in in the college game aren’t getting coached

Enough on the offensive line uh so to me I think it’s I if I’m a Patriots executive coming out of this I’m be like we have to get an athlete at quarterback and whether that’s at three or that’s at 33 or whatever it is um that’s what I’m

Looking for and that doesn’t preclude other things but I could tell you one thing I ain’t drafting a wide receiver at third overall I no way I mean I mean look at what the 49ers have done with both those teams in the in the championship game in the Super Bowl none

Of them had you know guys who were first round picks and and and you know spent a lot of money on free agency in fact the Chiefs traded Tariq Hill and they win two Super Bowls without him so the big thing is the quarterback they got to get

An athlete who makes uh secondary reaction plays I have been standing on top of the mountain screaming since the end of the year quarterback quarterback quarterback I am a quarterback freaking guy and that’s not to say that if you don’t like the quarterback draft the quarterback of

Course I’m not saying that if Elliott will and high Smith and Matt Gro and all the other guys in the front office Stuart cargy Williams you name them Robin Glazer oh let’s get people triggered uh let’s say you know all of those people are sitting there they’re

Looking at it if you love a quarterback if you think a quarterback at three can be your franchise guy for the next 10 to 15 years it’s not even close it’s not even a conversation it’s if you to me it’s so obvious and there are people that I respect and appreciate in this

Business that are arguing the opposite and arguing oh well you can trade down because the team’s not ready for a quarterback you you are at number three in the draft this is a golden opportunity to take a swing at somebody again if you love them right that has those kinds of

Traits and when you look at these quarterbacks Greg in this draft the three guys that we’re talking about constantly they all have the trait they all have the off platform extend play trait Drake May has it Daniels has it with his legs and Caleb Williams has it

In Spades it’s pretty much his biggest strength is that he can just make plays when you don’t think he has any chance and that’s why people bring up Patrick Mahomes when they talk about him so all three of those quarterbacks whether it’s Daniels or may that falls to you at

Three and I hate saying Falls to you because it makes it sound like they’re not they’re not worthy of being a top three pick when that’s not the case if if this was any other year you could argue that Daniels could be a number one

Pick May could be a number one pick at the beginning of this year they thought May would be a lot of the pundits May would be battling Caleb Williams for the number one spot they all can do that off platform extend the plays last thing I

Will say on this Greg your wide receiver point this is something else that I I’m I’m very very very stringent on wide receiver to me is the third most important need for this football team quarterback’s number one tackle number two you can go out and you can get wide

Receivers in the third round fourth round fifth round puka Nua fifth round I did this on my podcast the Nick cattle show a few weeks ago I went through I think it was since 2017 up until 2023 and I just added ncua because he was you know no doubt a guy

And there were like 14 or 15 cats that were drafted in the second round or later since 2017 that you could categorize as number one receivers for their football team you can get that guy you can get that guy in the second round third round fourth round and I know

People will say you can get the quarterback in those rounds too it’s much more likely look up how many Super Bowl quarterbacks were drafted in the first round that’ll give you your answer okay it’s it’s yes it’s it’s an inexact science and every draft is different I

Don’t want to go too far because that that brings me to something else where people say oh well you know look at the the third quarterback the third quarterback every draft is different every offensive tackle Prospect is different can we stop saying oh well the third quarterback that was taken last

Year or in 2021 that guy stunk so that that that means this guy’s gonna stink if he’s a third guy taken that that’s so nonsensical like the draft picture this Greg it’s like a snowflake drafts are snowflakes they’re all different my friends they’re all different uh this episode snowflakes we didn’t get

Today yeah I know went 12 plus inches to about three here in Foxboro uh before we before we continue here this episode I remind you brought to you by our friends at FanDuel exclusive wagering partner of the CNS media Network $200 in bonus bets

If your first bet of $5 do or more wins and by the way I know Jay Stu listens to this podcast I will pay 985 I will go give Rick radzik money if I could do an hour with felger one day because I just want to battle him until

I drop on the floor I see you and him on Tuesdays I I what I would do for an hour with that guy give the money to charity whatever we got to do put me in that studio against Mike felger let me battle him all right let’s get to the FanDuel

Odds for next season to win the Super Bowl Greg here’s how they look Niners actually number one according to FanDuel at plus 500 Chiefs plus 650 if you’re wondering you want to try to make a little bit of money Patriots are plus 15,000 uh the Panthers are the only team

That is worse than the Patriots just uh your your reaction into those odds the ners then the Chiefs and the Patriots way down bottom just ahead of the Panthers yeah I mean look the Patriots were tied with a bunch of teams but I had closed out that window by then so I

I you know I I didn’t uh I didn’t go back and look at it but I think they’re tied with like five or six teams so I don’t want to I don’t want to come across that they’re like second to last in the NFL it’s not quite um that bad

But um you know a little bit surprised at the 49ers um I thought I don’t know why the Chiefs wouldn’t be favored I like some of the teams there were longer odds for teams that I like that could come out of nowhere that I kind of like

Like the Rams uh the Packers didn’t have great odds uh I was surprised about that with the step forward they took this year with Jordan love and now they’re revamping the defense with with Halley um but yeah this is where the Patriots are I mean you know not only do you have

An unknown head coach you I mean unknown a head coach they don’t have a quarterback um you know we’ll see with Alex Van Pelt and uh you know there’s a lot of unknown with the Patriots but uh and you know they’re changing offensive schemes so everybody’s got to learn

Again so you’re going through all that stuff so yeah I expect this to be a tough season for uh the Patriots but um yeah we to see how it goes one of my best friends in the world he was in my wedding I went to his wedding and uh his

Name is Jim L he works at 985 assistant program director Jim back in 200 W won bet money on the Patriots to win the Super Bowl he made a he made a pretty good he made a pretty good little chunk of change for uh placing that bet before

That season so you put $ five on something like that crazy things can happen you never know uh we’ll give you thoughts on Robert Craft and and what he had to say about spending in this one hour sitdown out there in Vegas most of

It off the Record by the way uh but I want to remind you you can check out Greg gardi and the rest of the peeps over at bsj 50 bucks for the year uh they do great work over there and I’m not just saying that because Greg’s a

Friend and I write a column every week for him it’s it’s I I believe that Greg will tell you I was paying for Boston Sports Journal up until like the last year I was I was paying him religiously year to year because I actually believe

In that in that uh website and I believe in what Greg does so check it out 50 bucks for the year all right Greg so Robert Craft mostly quiet uh outside of the goodbye press conference to Bill and the intro press conference to Mayo but he sat out there in Vegas

With I think it was what three Outlets it was the athletic it was NBC Sports Boston and it was the globe I believe and he sat down for an hour most of the conversation was off the Record however Robert did allow two answers to go on the record and it had

To do about spending and so just your thoughts Greg I mean the gist of it was it’s not on me it’s on Bill never Limited the coaching staff etc etc we can spend I never get in the way of spending that’s how I am as an owner

Just kind of your thoughts on first Robert having the sit down in the first place out there in Vegas yeah he’s done this before and uh I’ll just be honest it it pisses me off I mean like we don’t all don’t live here within like a half

An hour of Gillette Stadium we can get together for an off the recer chat like any freaking time but he’s got to do it out at the Super Bowl what because he misses feeling important at the Super Bowl because his team’s not there anymore like what the hell um at least

Like drop a I don’t know call me on the phone put me on speaker phone so I can at least hear this like what the hell um so that being out of the way um you know it was a big nothing Burger he said the exact same thing to me at the league

Meetings which mind you I invited other reporters to come in and hear the answer to because I thought it was important that all the Patriots fans hear his answer on the spending topic because uh Bill had brought it up Robert had not talked about it yet

And I gave him the opportunity and and I wanted everybody to hear it um so it was the same thing that he said last year I believe Craft um you can look at the spending and this and that I’m you know look it’s it’s on Bill the spending has

Been on Bill do I think the crafts hated it no I mean before bich got there they used to spend like wild men and you know they’re goingon to have to spend this year just to get to the salary floor which they’re below but I I keep

Forgetting when I go on feler and Mavs to read the excerpt from Mike’s favorite author Mike Lombardi um his first book grd iron genius page 221 okay A little bit of background I’m not sure what year this is he doesn’t say but I think it’s 94 or 95 in Cleveland mind you bill

Belich hasn’t accomplished crap as an NFL head coach and this this is what Lombardi writes I still remember sitting with belich in Cleveland going over salaries for the upcoming season when we came to a left tackle Paul faren by the way local guy shout out who was due to

Make this is a left tackle mind you in the National Football League who was due to make nearly 500,000 belich looked at me and said I have a hard time with faren making more than I make of course he was right this is Bill bich in 1994 what have you before he’s done

Anything in the league and he has an issue with a player a left tackle kind of an important position in the NFL making more money than he does so if you want to sit there and say it it it was it was the it’s all the crafts and they

Give him a budget and Bill would have spent and then like you’re full of crap bill has a complete history not Al not only you know what what he does with his locker room like we’re paying Wes Welker this so this guy can’t make more than him and keep his locker room

In the line which I agree with that sentiment but the reason the Patriots have been so cheap the reason why they didn’t pay DeAndre Hopkins the reason why they didn’t give jacobe Meyers a million extra bucks to keep them you think that was the craft hell no it’s

Bich it’s always been bich yes the crafts have benefited yes I’m sure they’re happy about it and they would have you know some cause for concern if spending got out of control but at the end of the day bill was in charge of all this stuff and he decided not to spend

Money they’re gonna spend money now and that’s the end of the story for me there’s no way on God’s green earth that Robert Craft is walking into Bill bellich che’s office and saying we’re not going to give jacobe Meers an extra million dollars bill time to Pivot and go to Juju Smith

Shuster that’s not happening folks it’s not happening I would also say um the coaching staff-wise bich che’s on the record he’s on the record saying that his philosophy is not to have too large of a staff he doesn’t like too many cooks in the kitchen he doesn’t like he

Thinks it’s too much work to disseminate one message he likes everybody being on the same page so he doesn’t like having a bunch of people on the staff that’s why he kept it to that close-knit Circle that he kept it for so long that that’s his philosophy it’s his belief it’s not

Robert krafts and I would also say I don’t think it’s a coincidence how much was the most that Brady got paid annually Greg what what was his average annual value at its highest oh probably 20 18 yeah was like yeah 20 somewhere Bill bich makes or did

Make 25 million a year here in New England think about what Greg just told you about belich and how he views players and what he had to say about a certain player making more money than he’s making I think you could add those two things up and you could say that hey

Maybe Bill yes he had an issue with paying Brady cuz Brady was 42 at the time which I have no issue with honestly I think the biggest mistake bill made was he did not have a plan knowing that Brady was going to go he traded Jimmy

Garoppolo and then he sat on his ass and and thought Jared STM was going to be the freaking answer or whatever the whatever he was thinking uh but I don’t think it’s a coincidence that belich made 25 million a year and Brady couldn’t get that 25 million a year for

Two years that he wanted the Drew Brees contract I don’t think that was a coincidence a happy accident I I don’t think that’s how it’s uh how it’s going all right I’m done Greg’s done we’re both done Greg’s had a long day he wants

To go take a nappy nap so he’s going to go do that we’ll come back later in the week we’re going to talk about something cuz there’s just a ton of stuff happening now uh with the Patriots all the way through the draft so and till next time he’s Greg i’m Nick see You