How Would You REBUILD the Patriots? | Greg Bedard Patriots Podcast - video Dailymotion

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In the latest episode of the Greg Bedard Patriots Podcast with Nick Cattles, Greg and Nick tackle the question: How would you rebuild the Patriots? They delve into whether to focus on building around the quarterback or improving the team overall first. Additionally, they discuss the Brady-Belichick dynamic as portrayed in the new Apple documentary and debate whether Kraft had a better understanding of the market for Bill Belichick when he chose not to seek a trade and instead let him go.  0:00 Building the team by drafting a QB? 22:07 Brady-Belichick stuff in the Apple doc 35:55 Alex Van Pelt's comments  42:12 Did Kraft have a better sense of the market for Bill when he declined to seek a trade for him and instead let him go?   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.  Get buckets with your first bet on FanDuel, America’s Number One Sportsbook. Because right now, NEW customers get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS with any winning FIVE DOLLAR BET! That’s A HUNDRED AND FIFTY BUCKS – if your bet wins! Just, visit FanDuel.com/BOSTON and shoot your shot!  Bet on all your favorite NBA players and teams with:  ● Quick Bets ● Live Same Game Parlays ● Exclusive Props ● And more!  FanDuel, Official Sportsbook Partner of the NBA.  DISCLAIMER: Must be 21+ and present in select states. 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. FanDuel is offering online sports wagering in Kansas under an agreement with Kansas Star Casino, LLC. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG in Colorado, Iowa, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia and Vermont. Call 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 in Arizona, 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat in Connecticut, 1-800-9-WITH-IT in Indiana, 1-800-522-4700 or visit ksgamblinghelp.com in Kansas, 1-877-770-STOP in Louisiana, visit mdgamblinghelp.org in Maryland, visit 1800gambler.net in West Virginia, or call 1-800-522-4700 in Wyoming. Hope is here. Visit GamblingHelpLineMA.org or call (800) 327-5050 for 24/7 support in Massachusetts or call 1-877-8HOPE-NY or text HOPENY in New York.

Transcript

00:00 And I would hope that they would look to 2025 and beyond and not be obsessed about 2024.

00:06 And so, I don't think you can look at it and say like you're gonna break the rookie quarterback.

00:14 I mean, you could look at David Carr and say that's what happened to him.

00:17 That was a expansion franchise, that was different.

00:21 But I think that you just, there are two separate discussions for me.

00:27 Picking the guy and then developing the guy.

00:30 There's no question that a franchise has to hit on both or else they're in trouble.

00:42 He's Greg, I'm Nick, you know the deal.

00:43 This episode is brought to you by FanDuel, exclusive wagering partner of the CLNS Media

00:47 Network and right now new customers get $150 in bonus bets with any winning $5 bet.

00:54 All right Greg, so coming out of the Super Bowl, there's been this philosophical discussion

00:59 that's happening.

01:01 If you're a team that's looking to build, do you build with the quarterback first and

01:06 find that guy or do you address the ensemble first before getting the quarterback?

01:15 Where do you land on this discussion and why do you land where you do?

01:20 So Nick, I think I would have to say it depends on what resources you have available.

01:27 I mean if you're one of these teams, I can't even think of one, but let's just say a team

01:34 that doesn't have a first round pick, doesn't have a quarterback, doesn't have the resources,

01:41 then I might look at building the team first.

01:46 You really don't have any other options.

01:48 Because either you're going to have to put a lot of resources into trading up into the

01:52 draft, say like the 49ers Trey Lance trade, which didn't really affect them.

01:58 It was like a speed bump for them because of the depth of the organization that they

02:06 had built.

02:08 But just specific to the Patriots, I mean they have the third overall pick and they

02:12 don't have a quarterback.

02:15 Let's not be under any illusions.

02:18 While I don't think that Mac Jones is definitely done as an NFL starting quarterback in the

02:24 league at large, it's pretty much over here.

02:28 I would be stunned if he is back on this team in any capacity for a bunch of different reasons,

02:36 including I think that it's just running course.

02:39 He has too much history here the past two years.

02:42 I think that he lost the confidence of players and coaches, including a lot of the holdover

02:49 staff and head coach Gerard Mayo.

02:52 I don't think there's a lot of support for Mac currently in the building.

02:56 I don't know if there would be if Bill Belichick was still here.

03:00 So Mac is gone, maybe Zappi sticks around, but that's it.

03:05 And so to me, when you start off this discussion, you have to look at, all right, what are the

03:11 resources available?

03:12 The Patriots have the third overall pick.

03:16 I can see the point, and I certainly fluctuate between the quarterback and the team and how

03:21 to build it.

03:23 But when you have a top three pick and you have three potential franchise quarterbacks,

03:29 I think that you have to take what's there.

03:32 Because the alternative is, and look, they could get offered a trade package that is

03:38 just unbelievable and could really benefit the franchise.

03:42 You also have to look at the quarterbacks that might be available in next year's draft,

03:46 which according to consensus, it's not very good.

03:50 So this could be a special quarterbacks class, could not.

03:55 That definitely factors in.

04:00 It starts with the evaluation of the quarterback position and the quarterbacks.

04:04 If you believe that any of the top three, whoever falls to you at three, has a good

04:12 potential to be the franchise quarterback.

04:14 We know all about their athletic abilities, all of them, whether it's Caleb Williams,

04:19 Jaden Daniels, or Drake May.

04:23 They have unbelievable athletic ability.

04:27 They all have great arms.

04:28 They can all make plays off of platforms.

04:30 So as far as that and the stuff we talked about in the last podcast about the secondary

04:35 reaction plays, they have that.

04:38 Now, these guys are all underclassmen.

04:41 They haven't really gotten their hands on them yet.

04:43 They're going to spend the next three months doing background on these guys to figure out

04:48 what kind of intangibles do they have, what kind of competitors they are.

04:53 And if those boxes are checked, I think if you're the Patriots, you have to grab the

04:58 guy.

04:59 Because what's the alternative?

05:00 Where are you going to get your quarterback from?

05:02 Are you going to sign Kirk Cousins for $40 million a year?

05:06 Are you going to sign Justin Fields or trade for Justin Fields and send, I don't know,

05:12 a third and a sixth to the Bears for what?

05:17 For one year of control?

05:18 The guy could walk after a year.

05:19 I mean, yeah, you could franchise tag him, but that doesn't sound very good.

05:23 So you have to look at all the different avenues available to you.

05:26 And I just think the Patriots, where they are, if they like the three quarterbacks,

05:32 I think you have to draft the quarterback and then say, "Okay, how do we build around

05:39 this guy?"

05:40 And use your cap space.

05:42 Well, they will already have used the cap space.

05:45 But trades, everything available to you, I think that's the route you have to go just

05:50 because they're at number three and you might not get this opportunity again.

05:56 Before I give you my thoughts, I just want to ask a question based off of what you just

05:59 mentioned.

06:01 Free agency.

06:02 All right, let's say free agency comes and goes.

06:06 Do you think we have a clear idea as to what path this team is going to take if we get

06:11 to, let's say, late March and there's Jacoby Brissett on the roster and Mack Jones and

06:20 Bailey Zappi?

06:21 Would that be an indication as to, yeah, they might be leaning quarterback at three?

06:25 Or do you think that Elliott Wolfe, Alonzo Highsmith could look at this and say, "All

06:31 right, well, the guy's not there this year in the draft.

06:34 We're not going to reach just to reach."

06:36 We think Jacoby Brissett could be the "bridge quarterback" for the next year or two.

06:41 Do you think we get any indication as to how this team acts in free agency as to what they

06:45 would do in the draft?

06:47 That's a great question, Nick.

06:49 And we will be talking about that ad nauseum during free agency.

06:57 If I'm the Patriots, I have to prepare for every scenario.

07:02 I want to have every option available to me come the draft.

07:06 And to take a page from Bill Belichick's playbook, he would never go into the draft with glaring

07:14 weaknesses on the roster.

07:16 Maybe not the greatest players, but he had somebody at every position where the team's

07:19 like, "Well, they could really go in any direction," which he used as an advantage

07:24 when it came to trades and things like that.

07:26 But I think if they sign, say, a Jacoby Brissett or a Gardner Minshew, to me, that's the best

07:34 route because they could go any route.

07:38 Like you said, they could view Jacoby Brissett or Gardner Minshew as a stopgap.

07:44 Now, if they sign a Kirk Cousins for $35, $40 million a year, I don't think that precludes

07:50 you depending on how the contract is set up from passing on a quarterback.

07:56 I think it makes it less likely.

07:57 But if they only come out of free agency with a Jacoby Brissett-type guy, I do think that

08:04 both avenues are open there, but I think it's more likely that they take the quarterback

08:11 at three.

08:12 All right.

08:13 So my general philosophy on this is much like yours.

08:18 You look at it and the scenarios are you have to hit on one guy who ends up working out

08:25 incredibly well, or you have to hit on multiple guys that work out incredibly well.

08:30 The NINERS are in this position because of the Fred Warner's George Kittles of the world,

08:35 the guys that they drafted, you know, Hu Fonga before he got hurt, guys that they drafted

08:40 in the third to fifth rounds that ended up being so much better than they probably ever

08:46 anticipated them being.

08:47 That certainly helped.

08:48 Deboe in the second round, hitting on that pick.

08:51 You have to hit on a number of free agency decisions and draft picks to go that pathway.

08:57 And let's also not forget that, you know, Brock Purdy was Mr. Irrelevant for a reason.

09:01 It's not like they were going out of their way to draft Brock Purdy.

09:05 He fell into their lap, much like Brady fell into the Patriots' lap in the sixth round.

09:10 So don't tell me that they were like all over Brock Purdy.

09:14 And you have to ask yourself the question, could you do it better than San Francisco

09:17 did?

09:18 San Francisco made a lot of, again, great picks, but they also made a lot of smart decisions

09:22 with some of their other moves and free agency.

09:25 And they were willing to spend money and get creative with the cap to keep pushing things

09:30 like bringing in Hargrave when they didn't necessarily have to.

09:35 The other side of this, Greg, is stuff that you mentioned, right?

09:37 The quarterback position within itself.

09:39 If you believe that the guy is there at three that could change the projection of your organization

09:44 for the next 10 to 15 years, you have to take him.

09:47 If you don't take the quarterback, if you love the guy, if you believe that he can be

09:51 a true franchise quarterback, then that is a dereliction of duty.

09:55 You're doing it wrong because you're not going to have this kind of opportunity always.

10:00 This is the highest draft pick the Patriots have since going back to Drew Bledsoe 30 plus

10:04 years ago.

10:05 So it's the opportunity at number three to land a special quarterback.

10:11 And people might say, oh, well, Nick, you can get your quarterback in different rounds.

10:14 We've seen that before.

10:15 Yes.

10:16 But as you move on in the draft, the probability of landing that guy in those in those rounds,

10:21 it gets less and less and less.

10:24 And so I think, you know, if you pass this up, there's no guarantee that you get somebody

10:27 better.

10:28 At any point, it's very difficult to find the next guy.

10:32 So if you pass up Jaden Daniels or Drake May, everybody looks at it and says, well, what

10:36 if you blow the pick?

10:38 Well, what if you don't make the pick?

10:40 That guy ends up being a stud and then you're stuck in quarterback purgatory for the next

10:44 eight to 10 years.

10:46 That sucks, too.

10:47 You have to take risk.

10:49 Everything is risk.

10:50 The draft is risk.

10:51 If you feel like that guy can be the guy and you love him, then you take him.

10:55 If it if it blows up in your face, then so be it.

11:00 Yeah, Nick.

11:01 I also like I, you know, I think we're on the same same wavelength here.

11:06 I've also heard the debate and I heard, you know, Tom Curran, he might have just been

11:12 making the argument.

11:13 But, you know, Tommy talked about like, well, like if you don't have the team, like, are

11:20 you going to break the guy?

11:21 Like what's what's the point of having a quarterback like let's say the Patriots are in total rebuild

11:28 mode and they take Drake May at number three.

11:35 And you know, the argument could be made like you're doing more damage to the quarterback

11:40 like to me, I sort of reject that that line of thinking because it's up to the coaches

11:47 to figure out the best way.

11:48 Like I mean, look at look at Patrick Mahomes, you know, John Dorsey, who was the GM at the

11:54 time, traded up about, I don't know, 13 something spots to get Patrick Mahomes, took him over

12:00 to Sean Watson.

12:01 There was a bunch of controversy at the time that that that that was a that was a poor

12:06 pick.

12:07 You know, they had Alex Smith at the time.

12:09 They were winning games.

12:12 And you know, I don't think Alex Smith was making like huge money, but they they made

12:19 the decision to, you know, they drafted Patrick Patrick Mahomes and he basically like sat

12:25 for the first year.

12:26 And it's up to the coaches.

12:29 To put out the best plan to develop that guy.

12:33 Now there's different ways of doing it.

12:34 I mean, you look at, you know, Troy Aikman.

12:40 Andrew Luck.

12:42 There was another one, Peyton Manning, Troy Aikman and Andrew Luck.

12:48 These are guys who came in as top draft picks and they got beat the hell the first year

12:54 and they they stunk.

12:56 They won like one, two games.

12:58 Peyton Manning threw a bunch of interceptions his rookie year on a really bad Colts team.

13:03 And you know, Andrew Luck's probably not a great example because that beating helped

13:07 probably retire him early.

13:09 They just never got the offensive line figured out.

13:11 But you know, those guys took their lumps.

13:15 Now can everybody do that?

13:17 No.

13:18 I think Jaden Daniels can do that given his build.

13:21 No.

13:22 But if you think that's the way to go, then that's the way to go.

13:26 If you think sitting him for a year, part of the year, what have you until the team

13:31 gets better and learns the new scheme under Alex Van Pelt, then that's the decision.

13:35 So that's a coach's decision.

13:38 That's Gerard Mayo's decision.

13:39 Alex Van Pelt's decision on, you know, once the personnel department gets them the quarterback,

13:45 what's the best path forward for them?

13:47 And I would hope that they would look to 2025 and beyond and not be obsessed about 2024.

13:54 And so, you know, I don't think I don't think you can look at it and say, like, you're going

14:00 to break the rookie quarterback.

14:01 I mean, you could look at, you know, David Carr and say, that's what happened to him.

14:05 That was a that was an expansion franchise that was different.

14:09 But I think that you just there are two separate discussions for me, picking the guy and then

14:15 developing the guy.

14:16 And there's no question that a franchise has to hit on both or else they're in trouble.

14:22 Yeah, there's no rule that you have to start the guy in year one.

14:26 Of course, most teams do that because of the rookie scaled contract, more bang for your

14:31 buck, yada, yada.

14:32 But there's no hard, fast rule that, oh, you drafted Jaden Daniels at three.

14:37 That dude better be playing week one.

14:39 I think all fans, I would hope that all fans would rather have a quarterback that is ready

14:45 instead of rushing somebody, throwing them in the mix, and then that backfiring and ruining

14:53 that player's career.

14:54 So there's no rule with that.

14:57 And I would just simply look at it this way.

15:00 If you're looking at Marvin Harrison Jr., a lot of people mention him.

15:03 And I know Marvin Harrison Jr. is beloved.

15:06 Look, the guy's a stud.

15:07 I've seen him play a ton of games.

15:10 He's really good.

15:11 We get it.

15:13 But when you're looking at this and you say, all right, the next five or six years, would

15:17 you rather have Jacoby Brissett slash Gardner Minshew and Marvin Harrison Jr. or would you

15:23 rather have a bona fide QB one and let's say Adonai Mitchell from Texas or one of the other

15:30 receivers that you could get in the second round who, you know, are really good because

15:35 wide receiver is super deep in this draft.

15:38 And people might say, yeah, but Nick, that's taking for granted that QB one is QB one with

15:42 the third pick.

15:43 Well, isn't that the point?

15:44 Like, the premise is that the pick works.

15:46 You don't go into a draft saying we're going to screw this up, everybody like you go into

15:51 the draft saying this is our future.

15:54 And again, if you love the guy, I would much rather have stud QB one potential top eight

16:01 quarterback in the NFL and maybe a receiver that I don't know for ranking purposes to

16:06 throw a number out there ends up being a top 15 to 20 receiver in the league instead of

16:11 a top 10 receiver.

16:12 Give me the top 15 to 20 receiver and the top eight quarterback instead of the inverse

16:18 having a top eight wide receiver and a top 15 to 20 quarterback.

16:22 To me, that argument is the easiest to make every single day of the week.

16:27 All right, before we move on, Tom Brady, some of his former Patriots teammates spoke to producers

16:34 for this dynasty documentary that's coming out this week.

16:38 And for the first time in public that we know of, Brady actually admitted something about

16:44 his relationship with Bill Belichick, how things might have gone off the rails.

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17:20 Nick, real quick, just to follow up what you're talking about, and that's a good point to

17:26 bring up the wide receiver and Marvin Harrison Jr.

17:31 Because I know there are I'm sure there are people out there who are like, you know, they

17:35 hear generational receiver and they want to grab them and all that stuff.

17:39 Sorry, no, no, how I'm not doing it.

17:44 Look, I what's the best case scenario?

17:48 He's OK.

17:49 Say he's Calvin Johnson.

17:50 Say he is great and he's not even as big as Calvin Johnson.

17:53 I think he'll be highly productive.

17:55 But what did Calvin Johnson ever win?

17:57 You know, love Justin Jefferson, best wide receiver in the game.

18:02 What's he won?

18:03 Randy Moss, what did he win?

18:06 I mean, just think of any top wide receiver draft pick and you can pretty much see that,

18:11 you know, those teams don't win like, you know, not getting a great receiver and not

18:17 having a good quarterback as we to me is just is just completely useless.

18:24 And you know, I come from the the Bill Walsh school, which is Bill Walsh always said you

18:30 get the wide receiver last.

18:32 That's what you do.

18:33 You know, they should really be.

18:36 Get a special quarterback that can make special plays, the type of plays that we talked about

18:40 Brock Purdy in the Super Bowl didn't make.

18:42 And by the way, if people from the last podcast were doubting my opinion or thought I was

18:47 a hater or something like that, go check out Chris Simms is breakdown video breakdown of

18:53 Brock Purdy in the Super Bowl and also JTO Sullivan QB school on YouTube.

18:57 He went through all the plays.

19:00 These guys know a lot more about the quarterback position than I do.

19:04 And both of them pretty much had the same opinion that I did that, you know, Brock Brock

19:08 Purdy was good.

19:09 He was solid, managed the game, did all that stuff.

19:13 But at the end of the day, he didn't.

19:15 You got to make special play.

19:16 Your quarterback has to make special plays to win a Super Bowl, especially against against

19:21 a guy like Patrick Mahomes.

19:22 And he didn't do that.

19:23 So I don't care about I don't care about getting a stud wide receiver like ever.

19:29 Just get me the quarterback and then go find a bunch of guys in the third through seventh

19:34 rounds and undrafted free agency that can get off man and catch the ball and are smart

19:41 and can compete.

19:43 Go find those guys.

19:45 And then I'll be cooking with gas on offense.

19:49 Few things before we get to the Brady stuff and Belichick, you know, the Bengals did this,

19:53 right?

19:54 Yeah, they have Jamar Chase top five pick in the draft, but they got Joe Burrow first.

19:58 So Joe Burrow, Jamar Chase instead of Megatron and who knows at quarterback in Detroit.

20:06 I also think you look at Green Bay, Greg, and it's funny.

20:09 You've got Elliott Wolfe, Alonzo Highsmith, two guys that worked in that operation for

20:13 a number of years together.

20:14 And look at what Green Bay has.

20:16 Green Bay, you know, Romeo Dobbs, Christian Watson, Wicks.

20:20 These guys are not guys that were picked in the top ten, top 15 in the first round.

20:24 The reason why those guys are playing so well is because guess what?

20:27 They drafted a quarterback in the first round.

20:29 They developed him.

20:30 And now Jordan Love looks like he is absolutely ready to be a QB one, which makes those other

20:36 guys better.

20:37 So just look at some of those examples around the league.

20:39 Finally, I would say wide receiver is actually third on my list for the people that talk

20:43 about Marvin Harrison Jr.

20:46 I would rather go tackle than wide receiver.

20:48 I think your top two priorities right now, quarterback and offensive tackle, and then

20:53 get to the receiver.

20:54 But you need your QB and you need the big guys up front to be able to protect that quarterback.

21:00 That is what you should be focused on.

21:02 Wide receiver, lots of opportunities to get those guys, even though I think Marvin Harrison

21:07 will be damn good.

21:08 I also think people are underestimating the gap between Marvin Harrison Jr. and somebody

21:14 like Malik Neighbors and Roma Doonzey.

21:16 Those guys aren't too far off, by the way.

21:18 Like, yes, Marvin Harrison is the best wide receiver in this draft.

21:22 But when you look at a Doonzey and you look at Neighbors, both those guys could go in

21:26 the top seven or eight, and both those guys could be elite talents at that position at

21:30 the next level.

21:31 So I just, if you have a chance to get a Joe Alt and you think that guy is going to be

21:36 10 to 15 years starter, could be a Hall of Famer, at least at worst, an all pro for a

21:41 year or two.

21:42 Give me that guy over the wide receiver that might be a pro bowl or future Hall of Famer

21:47 every day of the week.

21:48 Offensive tackle is thin.

21:49 Wide receiver is deep.

21:51 In the NFL, coming out of college, in this draft, you have a deep tackle class.

21:56 We've talked about it, Greg.

21:57 Offensive line play in the league is on its way down.

22:00 It's on the decline.

22:01 Wide receiver play, deeper than ever, better than ever.

22:04 More guys coming out every single year in the draft.

22:06 So give me the offensive tackle.

22:08 All right, let's get to the Dynasty Dock.

22:11 Coming out this week, we've heard a lot about it.

22:14 It officially gets released on Friday, the first couple of episodes.

22:18 And Chad Graff of The Athletic wrote about this.

22:21 He got a preview of the documentary, and he wrote about Brady, Belichick, and the relationship

22:29 and what Brady said.

22:31 And here's what Graff wrote.

22:32 Brady makes clear his departure had more to do with who was coaching the team than the

22:35 amount of money he was offered.

22:37 Here is the Brady quote directly from Tom Brady.

22:40 "Me and Coach Belichick, we did what we loved and competed for 20 years together.

22:46 But I wasn't going to sign another contract in New England, even if I wanted to play until

22:50 I was 50."

22:52 This is the moneymaker.

22:53 "Based on how things had gone, I wasn't going to sign up for more of it."

23:00 And there are other players, Greg, if people think this is just Brady being angry because

23:04 he didn't get paid and he's being petty, eh-eh.

23:07 Other players in this documentary talking about playing for Belichick and how difficult

23:11 it is and was.

23:12 Matthew Slater says, quote, "It was brutal," unquote.

23:15 Gronkowski describes pulling up to One Patriot Place and not wanting to get out of his car

23:19 to go into work.

23:21 Wes Welker compared Brady to an abused dog for continually going back to work for Belichick.

23:28 Your thoughts on this, Greg?

23:32 Unbelievable from Wes Welker, who, you know, I think we all know has no love lost for Bill

23:37 Belichick.

23:41 I think my general comment, I just chuckle a little bit because, you know, our buddy

23:47 Jerry Thornton over at Barstool, you know, wrote a post about this and his headline was,

23:52 "Tom Brady opens up about why he left New England and it sounds like things were even

23:56 worse than we all thought."

23:57 Really?

24:00 We all?

24:01 I mean, sorry, but a lot of us were reporting this stuff in real time as this was going

24:07 on and, you know, we basically took abuse that, you know, "You're making it up.

24:14 You know, you don't have any sources.

24:17 You're a liar."

24:18 Like, this is not a revelation.

24:22 Like, we knew all about this at the time, especially that, what year was that?

24:28 Was that, was that 2018?

24:32 Was that the Falcon Super Bowl?

24:34 Yeah, Wickersham in January of 2018.

24:37 Yeah.

24:38 And, and I had been working on something at the same time.

24:42 Seth's came out first and, and, you know, I had a lot of background.

24:45 I mean, you know, to me, and we've talked about this before, and, and when Tom talks

24:50 about everything that had gone on, there's a lot of stuff wrapped into there.

24:57 Now, do I think Tom's being a little disingenuous that, do I think at the end of the day, if

25:03 Bill gave him the Drew Brees, like two for 25 a year, do I think he would have re-signed?

25:08 Yeah, I do think he would have re-signed.

25:10 I think that was the final disrespect to, to Brady and Giselle at the time.

25:17 But this all goes back to, you know, the drafting of Garoppolo was one thing and Bill's comment

25:23 about we all know Tom's age and contract situation.

25:27 By the way, I really wish Kraft would have used that line at some point after Belichick,

25:33 not at the press conference with him there.

25:35 That would have been cold.

25:36 That would have been awesome.

25:37 That would have been like, Oh, gee, RKK.

25:40 If he was like, look, we all know Bill's age and contract situation.

25:45 So we decided to, you know, make, make other plans with Gerard Mayo.

25:50 But aside from that, you know, it was, Tom felt so insecure and Bill, Bill is one of

26:01 these guys and look, at least he's consistent with, with everybody in this regard, but he,

26:07 he doesn't have the, the side where, you know, the soft hand where it could be like, all

26:12 right, he's doing this to the player, but you know, he's really been like, look, you're

26:15 my guy, you're doing a really good job.

26:17 I know I'm being hard on you, but you know, just keep doing it.

26:20 You know, you're really doing a good job for us.

26:22 He never says any stuff like that.

26:24 So you know, Brady, the Garoppolo stuff, and then, you know, once they won the Superbowl,

26:34 the Falcons 28 to three comeback, that's when Brady should have gotten a contract extension.

26:41 He expected a contract extension and he never got it.

26:45 And Tom was, that was sort of the, that definitely started everything on a downward slope.

26:51 Tom was so hurt by that.

26:54 He was, to him, it signaled that Bill could trade him at any time that he was not assured

27:01 of being the Patriots quarterback, even though he was on top of his game, he had won the

27:05 battle over age and Tom, like he would constantly go to the crafts.

27:11 It was like, where's the loyalty?

27:13 Where's the respect?

27:15 And Bill wouldn't give him the contract extension.

27:17 So that's when Robert sort of put his foot down and said like, you're getting rid of

27:22 Garoppolo and Brady still wanted the contract extension.

27:24 Where is it?

27:26 And Robert says to Tom, like, look, your security's in San Francisco right now.

27:32 And that just wasn't enough.

27:34 And so I just think all of that, that the constant disrespect to Tom, finally at the

27:40 later stages of his career, he finally had enough of it.

27:43 And I'm glad that he's saying something about it now.

27:45 I'm glad they're being truthful about it, but this is not new news.

27:50 The people in the know, we all knew this stuff a long time ago.

27:54 People just didn't want to hear it.

27:57 There's so many thoughts and I just did a podcast on this this morning.

28:00 So if people are interested in my full thoughts on it, you can check it out.

28:04 Nick cattle show that podcast, YouTube channel, Nick cattle show.

28:07 But just a couple of things, Greg, people might look at this and be like, oh, Brady

28:11 was just being a diva.

28:13 He just wanted preferential treatment.

28:16 Number one.

28:17 Put yourself in Brady's shoes, and I know it's very difficult, pro athletes versus,

28:21 you know, quote unquote, real life.

28:23 But imagine the job that you do, whatever it is, and you are the best at your job.

28:29 You're not only the best at your job in your office or at your building, you're the best

28:35 at your job in the country.

28:37 And you've been working this job for 20 years.

28:42 And you've had the same manager for 20 years.

28:45 And every day you go into work, that manager is a hard ass.

28:50 Every day you go into work, that manager treats you like it's your first day on the job.

28:57 You tell me under those circumstances that you would be totally cool with it, not be

29:01 frustrated, not be infuriated, not be wondering what the hell have I not proven myself to

29:05 this guy?

29:06 Have I not done enough for this company?

29:08 So just look at it from that viewpoint, not the pampered athlete.

29:12 Also, the teammates in this, in this stock, they tell you their viewpoint is that this

29:20 was on Belichick, that Belichick treated Brady like crap.

29:25 And they don't think Brady was looking for preferential treatment.

29:29 And that's really what matters.

29:30 It doesn't matter what you think.

29:32 It matters what the rest of the team thinks.

29:34 They did not believe that Brady was looking for more than he should have been looking

29:37 for.

29:38 And it's just Belichick, his unrelenting approach, Greg, for 20 years.

29:45 And as you said, consistency, stability, some of that is good.

29:50 But I don't know how many people would have survived this for as long as Brady did.

29:53 Gronk got tired of it after like seven or eight years.

29:56 A lot of these guys get tired of it after seven, eight years.

29:59 Brady was just, to me, mentally tough enough to do this for two decades.

30:04 And one final thing I would say that should really bother people out there, learn from

30:09 your mistakes, right?

30:11 I've made mistakes.

30:12 Greg's made mistakes.

30:13 We've all made mistakes.

30:14 What's important in life is evolving.

30:16 And you evolve by learning from your mistakes, learning from your history.

30:21 And Bill Belichick helped force out the greatest quarterback of all time and decided to handle

30:29 whether you hate him, love him, dislike him, whether you think he could have been good,

30:33 should have been good, or sucked from the very beginning.

30:36 That doesn't matter.

30:37 It's a different conversation.

30:39 Don't move the goalposts on us.

30:42 Belichick went through this with Brady, and he handled Mac Jones the way he handled Mac

30:47 Jones.

30:49 It just shows you the inability to evolve handling that position.

30:57 And this is a through line.

30:59 If you've had tons of bad roommates in your life, it's probably not the roommates.

31:03 It's probably you.

31:04 Belichick, with his time in Cleveland, an issue with the quarterback, right?

31:09 Quarterback position in Cleveland, didn't get along, bad relationships.

31:13 Brady, even though Brady stuck through it, not a great relationship, eventually soured,

31:19 pushed him out.

31:20 Mac Jones, awful relationship with the head coach.

31:24 The common denominator is Bill Belichick.

31:27 His lack of appreciation for that position, his lack of understanding about how important

31:33 that position is as the game evolves, and the fact that, yes, you can't handle everybody

31:39 the same exact way, especially when that person is the quarterback.

31:43 And the fact that Belichick failed to evolve, failed to understand his mistakes that he

31:48 made in Cleveland and with Brady, and didn't treat Mac differently and give him some kind

31:54 of confidence and give him some kind of weapons around him, that is the most frustrating to

31:59 me, Greg.

32:01 Yeah, I think I and I agree with your point, and you would hope that people would learn

32:08 from their mistakes.

32:09 The thing that that that bothers me the most about everything with Tom Brady at the end

32:14 and how things went is that.

32:19 Bill Belichick at the end of the day treated Tom Brady like any other player on the roster,

32:25 and I understand.

32:28 From his perspective, like that's the way he believes he has to run the team.

32:33 Every every nobody special everybody.

32:36 Everybody gets treated the same when it comes to contract and playing time and all this

32:39 stuff like you know, I understand that, but it's not like he was in danger of setting

32:46 like a bad precedent for the rest of the team if he did something outside of the norm for

32:53 Tom Brady like you know, like gave him the contract extension or you know, treated him

32:59 a little bit better in meetings or you know, gave him a little bit more leash when it came

33:04 to like Alex Guerrero and and things like that just made things a little bit easier

33:10 for Tom later in his career.

33:12 And what stage he was at he he was there was no danger that suddenly the Patriots were

33:18 because Bill Belichick treated Tom Brady a little bit special that they were going to

33:23 devolve into some sort of undisciplined mess.

33:26 Yeah, and that was just not going to happen.

33:29 Everybody knew Tom's Tom's the goat.

33:32 Tom does Tom.

33:33 Not only that, but Tom did everything right.

33:37 And and that you know, you want to you want to look at how things started to devolve with

33:41 the Patriots is not only just about Tom's.

33:43 I mean, yeah, it started with the Tom contract stuff and not doing right by him.

33:49 But you know, all of a sudden, Tom, who was always at every offseason workout stops coming

33:54 to offseason workouts stops coming to, you know, optional camps and things like that.

33:59 I mean, that's when other players start to say like, well, if Tom's not going to do it,

34:05 why am I going to do it?

34:06 That's part of the reason why they were so good for 20 years is because Tom did everything.

34:10 He was the example.

34:11 And when that happened, that's when things started to take slow steps backwards.

34:17 And why did that happen?

34:19 Because of Bill Belichick, because he didn't give Tom Brady just a little bit more respect,

34:24 which he had obviously earned.

34:26 And so, you know, yeah, to me, I don't know what this documentary is going to say.

34:31 I haven't seen any episodes yet.

34:33 I don't know what the end product is going to be.

34:37 But you know, if it comes out, if it gets, I doubt it's going to get painted this way

34:44 because it's coming from the craft's perspective off of the book that they commissioned, that

34:49 they sell in the Patriots Pro Shop.

34:51 But you know, I sure hope it doesn't come off that Tom had a hand in how things ended

34:58 because really, it was about Bill.

35:01 It was about Bill at the end of the day, and he failed to do his job well.

35:07 And that led to his eventual ouster as Patriots coach.

35:12 One last note on this before we move on, because I think it's truly delicious.

35:17 At the end of his tenure here in New England, Bill Belichick wanted preferential treatment.

35:24 Bill Belichick wanted to be treated as somebody who hadn't gone 29 and 39 in his last four

35:30 years since post Brady.

35:32 He wanted to keep his control of the organization, even though his drafts had been so dreadful

35:37 from 2015 to 2022.

35:40 And the free agency decisions at the wide receiver position was a disaster.

35:44 He wanted that preferential treatment.

35:47 And that to me is the height of hypocrisy.

35:49 He wanted to be treated differently than he treated everybody else, including the greatest

35:53 quarterback of all time.

35:56 And I think that says a lot.

35:57 All right, before we move on, Alex Van Pelt's a little bit of a video released by the New

36:02 England Patriots over the last day.

36:04 I want to just pick Greg's brain on a couple of things that Van Pelt said in the video.

36:09 But I want to remind you, you can check him out at B.S.J.

36:11 Fifty bucks for the year.

36:12 But Darji already the whole crew do great work.

36:15 Fifty bucks for the year.

36:17 Fantastic value.

36:18 B.S.J. check him out.

36:20 All right, Alex Van Pelt, Greg.

36:22 There was this short video.

36:23 It's about like a minute long.

36:25 Patriots released it on social media yesterday.

36:27 I'm sure they have a longer version of this that'll come out at some point.

36:32 But the first thing that I think a lot of people heard and got their attention was that

36:36 Alex Van Pelt believes running the football wins championships and being able to run the

36:41 football late in the season specifically makes you a better football team.

36:47 How do you react to that?

36:50 I like it.

36:51 I mean, it's something that I believe.

36:54 And I think you need to be able to win in different ways.

36:58 But I don't think that necessarily means like they're going to devalue the quarterback position

37:03 and put all the resources, say, in the offensive line and, you know, signing Ramondre Stevenson

37:09 to a contract extension or, you know, drafting a running back up high.

37:12 I mean, you know, I like it.

37:14 I don't think there's I think it's factual.

37:16 I think you you especially in this offense, in in the West Coast offense.

37:21 And, you know, we'll have to see, I mean, because a lot of these West Coast guys, including,

37:24 you know, Mike McCarthy, who I covered and a lot of these guys like Alex Van Pelt is

37:28 a disciple of Mike McCarthy.

37:31 They talk big about the running game.

37:33 They love to talk big about the running game.

37:35 Mike McCarthy would say stuff.

37:37 I'd run the ball 50 times in a game if I had to.

37:39 And they're full of crap.

37:42 They love their passing game.

37:44 They the big thing in the West Coast offense is the the short pass game is viewed as an

37:49 extension of the running game.

37:51 So they might not have the rushing attempts, but they'll tell you that another 10 plays

37:57 were really an extension of the running game.

37:59 So my first reaction is I like it, but I got to see it on the field that you're actually

38:06 going to do that.

38:07 I'm glad you mentioned the quarterback position because something else that Van Pelt said

38:09 in this video and we just talked about Belichick not necessarily appreciating the importance

38:15 of that position, especially nowadays.

38:18 Van Pelt did put emphasis on the quarterback and Greg, I wrote about this at Boston Sports

38:22 Journal.

38:23 I think it was last week or the week before my column on Friday.

38:27 Just the idea that the Patriots, this staff and the idea of this staff is really focused

38:34 on quarterback Ben McAdoo, Alex Van Pelt, those two guys, their history working with

38:39 that position.

38:41 You bring in a devoted quarterbacks coach to work with whoever you have.

38:46 You know, there's been a lot of effort within this coaching staff early to pay attention

38:51 to that position.

38:52 And Van Pelt in this video said, if you can make the quarterback successful, oftentimes

38:57 your offense is successful.

38:58 So I just think that underlines how this coaching staff is going to approach quarterback versus

39:05 the last coaching staff.

39:07 Yeah, absolutely.

39:08 And this is another sort of Mike McCarthy trait that I assume he's going to bring over

39:14 is and the rules are a little bit different now, but one of the things that Mike McCarthy

39:18 was known for in his time in the NFL, even before he became Packers coach, was these

39:26 offseason QB schools or QB camps.

39:29 And it's more like, you know, it's wrapped into OTAs now and that sort of thing.

39:33 You can't really do it the way Mike used to do it.

39:36 But they they were huge on developing the quarterback and working with the quarterback

39:43 and making sure that they had enough resources in terms of a QB coach, the head coach and

39:49 offensive coordinator.

39:51 You know, they have McAdoo as well, who's done a lot of this stuff.

39:54 And so, you know, I love that, that they're they're not just like, you know, just look

40:00 at the way Belichick would do this.

40:01 I mean, without McDaniels, he basically left Mac Jones on an island by himself to fend

40:06 for himself.

40:07 And we saw how that went.

40:08 That will not happen with these guys.

40:10 That will not happen in the West Coast offense ever.

40:14 The quarterback is the jewel and they understand that they have to nurture that player and

40:21 they will do that.

40:23 The final part of this is that Van Peltz said something along the lines I might be missing

40:28 a word or two here, but paraphrasing if the scheme doesn't fit the player, what good is

40:33 the scheme?

40:34 You've got to play to a player's strengths.

40:37 And I also think that shows us, Greg, the difference between West Coast offense and

40:42 what this coaching staff is looking at philosophically, because we went over this for years.

40:48 Earhart Perkins was Earhart Perkins, right?

40:50 And we saw guys come in.

40:51 They couldn't fit the system.

40:52 Oh, well, you're screwed.

40:54 You stink.

40:55 Sit down.

40:56 But here's Van Peltz saying, hey, if the scheme doesn't fit the player, scheme doesn't mean

41:02 anything.

41:03 We've got to play to the strengths and we've got to hide the weaknesses.

41:07 Yeah, I mean, I think that I think that's great.

41:14 Again, it's another lip service sort of thing.

41:18 It's nice to talk about.

41:20 And I think he believes that.

41:23 But, you know, let's see it in action.

41:24 And also the other thing that you have to know about Alex Van Peltz, back to what we

41:27 were talking about with the quarterback position.

41:30 This is a guy who grows very close with his quarterbacks.

41:35 And there are some rumors that McCarthy didn't like that in Green Bay, that he was extremely

41:40 close with Aaron Rodgers.

41:41 And that's part of the part of the reason why they parted ways.

41:45 So, you know, I just want Alex Van Peltz focused on the offense as a whole and obviously the

41:51 number one thing and bringing it back to what we talked about at the start of the show about,

41:55 you know, do you draft a quarterback and number three or not?

41:58 The big thing is when you get the quarterback and I don't care where it is now, the next

42:03 thing that you do is all right.

42:05 How do we build this for the quarterback to make him successful?

42:08 And it sounds like those guys have that at the forefront of their minds.

42:11 And now we just need to see if they follow through with it.

42:13 All right.

42:14 Greg has an idea.

42:15 We got one more thing to talk about here before we bid you adieu for the weekend.

42:18 It's a question about Robert Kraft and whether or not he did a great job of reading the head

42:22 coaching market.

42:23 But first, before we get to that, I want to remind you this episode is brought to you

42:26 by FanDuel, the exclusive wagering partner of the CLNS Media Network.

42:30 Right now, new customers get $150 in bonus bets with any winning $5 bet.

42:35 So Greg, you wrote this question in the email today.

42:38 Did Kraft have a better sense of the market for Bill when he declined to seek a trade

42:42 for him and instead let him go?

42:45 Yeah, that was from one of our members.

42:49 I solicited a question for this.

42:53 I just don't think it was about that for the Krafts.

42:55 I think it had gotten to the point that they were just, they were done with Bill.

43:00 The team had fallen to four and 13.

43:03 It was an embarrassing season in a lot of ways.

43:07 You know, ruined a potential franchise quarterback.

43:12 You know, all sorts of stuff was going on.

43:14 And I think that the Krafts, to them, it wasn't about Bill's market.

43:21 And I don't think they were really interested in compensation.

43:23 I believe Robert, you know, similar to Tom, where both of those guys had done enough for

43:28 the franchise that they were just going to let him go.

43:31 Whatever they wanted to do, they were free to do.

43:33 They had done a great job for 20 years.

43:34 I think it was just about the Krafts were done with Bill.

43:38 Bill had inflicted enough damage at the end, post Tom, including the Tom decision.

43:44 And they just wanted to move on and get their team back in a lot of different ways.

43:48 And so I think that's the only thing that mattered to the Krafts.

43:52 And they weren't going to hold Bill up.

43:53 I mean, they just want to build the press conference and tie a nice bow on things.

43:58 And so the Krafts, in a lot of ways, got exactly what they wanted in a lot of different ways.

44:03 And trying to get compensation for a guy who nobody really wanted this offseason, that

44:10 would have been dumb.

44:11 The elegant solution.

44:14 He's Greg, I'm Nick.

44:15 Everybody have a fantastic weekend.

44:17 Be well.

44:18 We'll be back next week to talk more Patriots.

44:20 [MUSIC PLAYING]

How Would You REBUILD the Patriots? | Greg Bedard Patriots Podcast

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