In the latest episode of the Greg Bedard Patriots Podcast with Nick Cattles, Greg and Nick delve into a variety of topics following Eliot Wolf's recent press conference. They start by discussing the key points from Wolf's talk, especially his comments on the wide receiver situation. They then explore the likelihood of a draft trade and whether the Patriots have decided on their pick. Discussion continues with whether JJ McCarthy is still a contender for the Patriots' third overall pick and the team's strategy to draft a great player. They also address the season of misinformation leading up to the draft and conclude with commentary on recent ESPN articles about Bill Belichick and Robert Kraft.
EPISODE TIMELINE:
0:00 Eliot Wolf talked today … what caught your eye?
15:36 Wolf on Wide Receiver
21:20 Is a draft trade likely?
22:50 Do the Patriots know who they are going to pick?
25:39 Is JJ McCarthy still in the mix for the Patriots third overall pick?
27:53 Are Pats looking for a GREAT player?
30:03 Misinformation time?
35:45 ESPN comes out with another Belichick column…
42:43 Kraft not doing himself many favors of late
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:
PrizePicks! Get in on the excitement with PrizePicks, America’s No. 1 Fantasy Sports App, where you can turn your hoops knowledge into serious cash. Download the app today and use code CLNS for a first deposit match up to $100! Pick more. Pick less. It’s that Easy!
EPISODE TIMELINE:
0:00 Eliot Wolf talked today … what caught your eye?
15:36 Wolf on Wide Receiver
21:20 Is a draft trade likely?
22:50 Do the Patriots know who they are going to pick?
25:39 Is JJ McCarthy still in the mix for the Patriots third overall pick?
27:53 Are Pats looking for a GREAT player?
30:03 Misinformation time?
35:45 ESPN comes out with another Belichick column…
42:43 Kraft not doing himself many favors of late
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:
PrizePicks! Get in on the excitement with PrizePicks, America’s No. 1 Fantasy Sports App, where you can turn your hoops knowledge into serious cash. Download the app today and use code CLNS for a first deposit match up to $100! Pick more. Pick less. It’s that Easy!
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SportsTranscript
00:00 This is the Greg the Guard Patriots podcast with Nick Cavins.
00:07 He's Greg.
00:08 I'm Nick.
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00:28 All right, Greg.
00:29 Earlier today, Elliot Wolf met with the media, his pre draft press conference.
00:34 Before I ask you a question, I know you and I have to be on the same page with this.
00:40 I urge the Patriots to use a microphone to each media member that is in that room when
00:47 they have a question, because Greg, I will give you credit.
00:51 You are one of the only cats in that room that I could hear today watching this thing.
00:55 You have enough base in the voice and you up the ante.
01:01 A lot of people, they're whispering and everything.
01:03 So can we please get a microphone to the media?
01:05 Yeah.
01:06 I mean, I got to tell you, Nick.
01:10 Yeah.
01:11 I got to tell you that they moved us in the new media room digs, I want to say about a
01:19 year ago.
01:20 And it's great for the most part.
01:25 I will tell you those press conference settings, and I've been trying to think of what they
01:31 can do to alleviate it.
01:34 First of all, they need to bump up the microphone level, even just for the speaker like Elliot
01:41 Wolf today, in the room.
01:42 Because I'm trying to record and I have this transcription app called Otter that I use.
01:50 It's hard to pick up in there.
01:54 And you weren't the only media member that texted me like, "Hey, what was this question
01:58 about?
02:00 What was this answer in response to?"
02:03 And even in that room, if you're not one of the eager beavers, and let's just state it
02:09 out, I am not one of the early risers, early arrivers for any event.
02:15 That's just, I am who I am.
02:18 And I'm 50 now and it ain't changing.
02:22 So I'm not one of these guys, Giardi, I will say.
02:25 Giardi, when he's there, he wasn't there today because he's off doing college visits with
02:29 the family.
02:31 But Giardi is one of these, he's in the front row.
02:35 He's an early riser, he's an early bird.
02:38 But it's hard not only to hear the questions, but for them to see you, to get within the...
02:48 It's tough, but I agree.
02:50 I think a good first step would be...
02:54 Because you have different levels, like Tom Curran's up on the front left, I'm in the back
02:59 right, Phil Perry's in the front, we're next to Reese.
03:03 And when those guys ask questions, I can't even hear their questions and I'm in the room.
03:08 And so we might as well go to the post-game press conference where it's like, "Raise your
03:13 hand, we'll give you the microphone," type of thing.
03:16 Because I think it would be more productive for everybody.
03:18 Yeah.
03:19 So hopefully, Stacey James, I know that's probably not his department, but the audio
03:25 technical people there, we can fix this.
03:28 All right.
03:30 Can we also first acknowledge this about Wolf?
03:32 His job today, Greg, is not to tell the truth, correct?
03:36 Yeah.
03:37 I think it's fair to say after his 20 minutes after talking with us that I think he viewed
03:44 his job as clouding as much as possible the Patriots' interest and also opening everything
03:54 up for a trade that somebody might want to come up and trade because they're not sure
04:02 what direction the Patriots are going to go in.
04:05 Is it Daniels?
04:06 Is it May?
04:07 Is it JJ McCarthy?
04:08 Are they going to trade down?
04:10 Is somebody going to jump and go to the Patriots and take the quarterback that they want?
04:14 So yeah, I will say, having known Elliott over the years, I don't think he is...
04:24 He's somebody that in his answers that you think he might be deceptive.
04:28 I think there's a lot of truth in it.
04:30 He doesn't like to straight out lie, but I do think that Elliott...
04:34 I've been very impressed with the confidence that he has operated in.
04:42 It seems like as we get closer to the day of draft day, and maybe it's because a lot
04:46 of the hay's in the barn at this point, and he even talked about that they've gone through
04:50 the different scenarios that they pretty much know what they're going to do at three, depending
04:56 on what Washington does.
04:58 I think he's extremely confident in his plan, their scouting, their preparedness for this
05:04 draft going forward.
05:08 All right, so let's run through some of the questions I had for you after this press conference,
05:12 and then we've got some Bidart thoughts off of some of the reporting that he's done or
05:17 is in the middle of doing.
05:18 Let's first start with this.
05:20 Decision makers jumped out to me that Wolf said it's going to be him, Gerard Mayo, Matt
05:26 Groh, and then depending on which prospect they're talking about, offense, defense, the
05:32 coordinators will also get involved.
05:34 Does that make sense to you?
05:36 Yes, in a sense.
05:38 I think that with the coordinators being involved, I think that's probably after the first day,
05:47 more of a second and third day thing where they might be getting close on a pick.
05:54 "Hey, here's what we're thinking about these guys.
05:58 Which one do you prefer?
06:00 Which one do you need?"
06:01 Say we're talking about Alex Van Pelt in the offense.
06:04 Say, "Hey, these are the guys that we have highest rated on the board.
06:08 We're coming up in five picks.
06:11 Which guy do you think that we need that would be the most help for you right away?"
06:15 I don't think that that will be...
06:18 Certainly those conversations are going to take place in the lead up here to the draft
06:22 about three, possibly trading up from 34 or sticking at 34.
06:28 But yeah, it does make sense to me.
06:34 No mention of the crafts.
06:36 Was that intentional or we're really just looking at the crafts being involved, that
06:40 they are involved in this decision-making process only at pick three and really nothing
06:44 else?
06:45 I think, and this is just my impression, nobody's told me this.
06:49 My impression is that, especially in light of recent news that we will get to later,
06:57 and this also goes along with, remember about the published reports that came out right
07:01 before Gerard Mayo was named head coach and about Jonathan Kraft's influence and all that.
07:06 All of a sudden, Jonathan Kraft went from being announced to being on the dais with
07:10 his dad and Gerard Mayo to him not being there and having too much business to take care
07:15 of with Crafts World.
07:19 I think my read on it, Nick, was that there's a concerted effort to keep them out of much
07:28 of anything, much discussion about the draft, the team, personnel, things like that.
07:36 I think there's a concerted effort going on to keep the Crafts out of it.
07:44 So I've got a question about an offensive player.
07:48 Sorry, I got thrown off because I just saw that account ML Football, which tweets a lot
07:54 of stuff out there.
07:56 AJ Brown has started to follow Jacoby Brissett and KJ Osborne on Instagram.
08:07 So there you go.
08:10 But when it comes to an offensive player, obviously Mayo has a large voice in the room.
08:15 But if it's an offensive player, you bring in Alex Van Pelt.
08:20 Does Mayo kind of acquiesce to Van Pelt and say, hey, that's your world or the head coach
08:25 can can step over the the offensive coordinator in that situation, say, look, I understand
08:29 what you're saying, Alex, but I'm the guy who's running the program.
08:34 I lean more towards this guy.
08:35 So that's where we're going.
08:37 I think Gerard Mayo will do a good job of listening to people and soliciting information.
08:44 But at the end of the day, I think Gerard Mayo and this could end up being his detriment
08:51 as as Patriots head coach, at least early on in his career.
08:57 I think he has a steadfast belief in his own opinions and his own.
09:03 How do I want to put this, his own ability to do the job, his own performance level.
09:08 So I think he might say the right things, but I think really in his mind, he's thinking
09:15 that's OK.
09:16 I know what I'm doing.
09:17 I've been waiting for this.
09:18 I could have been head coach five years ago.
09:21 As soon as I got into the league, I'm ready to do this.
09:23 I'm making this is my vision for the football team.
09:27 So what you're saying, Greg, is that Gerard Mayo is a very confident fellow.
09:31 Yes.
09:32 I would say that.
09:33 And I would say the same thing about Elliot Wolfe.
09:36 Like I said earlier, like, you know, one of my early impressions of Elliot, not only
09:41 today, but I've seen him in some other settings, you know, from, you know, the combine to,
09:47 you know, some other things.
09:50 He has this look on his face like the cat that caught the canary.
09:54 Like he he's he's ready.
09:57 I think both of these guys, I think they feel like they're ready for this and they think
10:01 that they are going to knock it out of the park.
10:05 Now, often reality in the NFL is much different.
10:08 So we'll have to see.
10:10 All right.
10:11 So Wolf said he feels that the current roster could support a rookie quarterback during
10:15 the press conference.
10:16 Do you agree with that?
10:17 I don't disagree with that.
10:21 Totally.
10:22 Now look, let's be honest.
10:25 The the left tackle position, at least, is a huge gaping void on this team.
10:31 And we we heard him say that if the season started today, it would be a core four at
10:37 left tackle and they think he can do a representative job.
10:42 You know, but I agree with his assessment.
10:44 And I think we've talked about it sort of over the course of the offseason, you know,
10:48 when a bunch of other people are throwing temper tantrums about the Patriots, like lack
10:51 of moves and and, you know, not burning cash and not doing trades that all the Patriots
10:58 could have done that.
10:59 Why did they do that?
11:01 I think that and I only feel better about my opinion that, you know, Elliott Wolf looked
11:07 at this and probably Gerard Mayo and and said this is not a this was not a four win team,
11:15 that there are a lot of good pieces on this team.
11:17 And, you know, when you talk about a really good defense, it's going to get Gonzalez back.
11:21 It's going to get Matthew Judon back in, you know, in most respects.
11:26 I assume they're going to do something about his contract at some point in time.
11:30 I think that and then, you know, the offensive line is is representative.
11:34 I think the weapons are representative.
11:36 I think getting Hunter Henry back was big.
11:41 They're going to have a professional quarterback, whether that's Bresset or somebody else.
11:45 The third overall pick, if they're ready to go, they have a good running game.
11:48 Like I, I agree with him.
11:50 I don't think this is like a it's a complete, you know, a lot of people just look at last
11:56 year and they're just like, oh, well, you know, they're just going to they haven't really
11:59 changed much.
12:00 So they're going to suck again.
12:01 I just I don't believe that.
12:02 And here's another big thing, Nick, is and I didn't really realize this till somebody
12:08 pointed this out to me recently, that in the last five years, the Patriots have had five
12:15 different offensive line coaches and in all essence and, you know, from from scar to the
12:24 guy who went with McDaniels, I forget what his name is.
12:27 What?
12:28 Bracillo?
12:29 Yeah, Bracillo, Bracillo, Bracillo.
12:33 And then, you know, and then to Matt Patricia and Billy Yates and then Clem to whatever
12:40 the hell they had last year.
12:42 Like, you know, again, people know how I feel about offensive lines and just like if Peters
12:47 and Kugler, the two offensive line coaches are legit, that can make a huge improvement
12:56 on this team.
12:57 So in general, like, is it perfect?
12:59 No.
13:00 Do I think it's going to be a train wreck for a rookie quarterback?
13:03 No, I don't.
13:07 Wolf said he feels people are underestimating the tackle spot and wide receiver spot as
13:10 far as the guys they have on this team.
13:13 Do you think we're underestimating them or do you think that Wolf's point today, because
13:19 he kept saying we have NFL players, is just look, these guys can play.
13:22 They might not be great.
13:24 They might not be top tier and we'll get to the receiver thing in a minute.
13:28 But do you think it was, you know, proper for for Wolf to say?
13:32 Because I think it was Karen Greig and who asked him if people are underestimating what
13:36 they have.
13:37 And he said yes.
13:38 I thought I the first thing I thought of when he said, like, we have NFL receivers and we
13:42 have NFL tight ends and NFL running backs, I just thought of Bill Belichick saying, like,
13:49 Mac Jones can play quarterback in the NFL.
13:52 Like it was but like that's just me being the cynic and being an a-hole.
13:58 That's that's all I could think of.
13:59 I mean, I think I think I think Wolf is correct.
14:04 Is it top line?
14:05 No.
14:06 Is it a disaster?
14:08 No.
14:09 But I think that I think that, you know, they view Hunter Henry is like the top ten type
14:13 top tight end that was available.
14:15 They view Michael winning was the top right tackle that was available.
14:18 They brought him back.
14:19 Ramond Stevenson will probably get an extension at some point.
14:23 He's really good.
14:24 They really feel really good about Antonio Gibson.
14:26 There's a lot to sort out at the two guards and obviously left tackle.
14:30 And but I just think I think in their mind, if they get a quarterback at three, they get
14:36 an offensive tackle at some point.
14:38 And I don't know about you, Nick, but the discussion today about trading for a wide
14:43 receiver.
14:46 It sure sounds seems like you asked me, I think last podcast, what my percentage was
14:51 on them trading for a wide receiver at some point, probably likely after the draft.
14:55 So you can get into future picks trading those instead of this year.
14:59 And I said 52 percent.
15:02 I might be up to 58, 59 percent.
15:05 So, you know, things I think they're confident that things are going to look a lot different
15:11 in about a month or two.
15:15 We talked about a little bit a core for the left tackle.
15:19 You know, he said if the season started today and he made a joke that he always kind of
15:24 picks on people who say that if the if the season started today, because it doesn't start
15:27 today, I think we'll get a real feel about their offensive line during the draft and
15:33 whether or not they believe a core for could be that that starting left tackle.
15:37 But I want to move on to receiver.
15:40 He said this a couple of things before we get to the wide receiver trade and what he
15:45 specifically said, you just kind of hinted towards it.
15:47 But first he was asked about the X role.
15:50 And he said, I think we have players that can line up and play at X.
15:55 Do we have players that on a three by one beat the backside coverage every single time?
16:00 I'm not sure we have that just yet.
16:03 But we certainly have good receivers.
16:05 And then he got he went on to say, you know, Osborne could play all three positions.
16:09 Your read on that answer.
16:12 I thought it was hugely accurate.
16:14 And I'm pretty sure I saw Evan Lazar probably pass out from the discussion about three by
16:20 one sets and all that stuff.
16:24 I think I think I had to wake up Evan after that.
16:27 He might have blacked out.
16:29 But yeah, I mean, that it just shows you that, you know, Elliott's not an idiot and like
16:35 he he he wants to provide information.
16:37 I think that's hugely accurate.
16:39 I mean, you look at it and you if the Patriots go out there with, you know, one back and
16:44 four wide receivers, I think between Osborne, Pop and Kendrick Bourne, should he be healthy?
16:49 Those are three pretty good options.
16:52 And you know, none of them are top line or anything like that.
16:55 But all of a sudden at the boundary, if you get like who is the guy you just mentioned
17:00 about the ML football, AJ Brown, you get AJ Brown or Cortland Sutton or somebody like
17:07 that, and then you draft a guy to develop to be like sort of the next guy or to take
17:12 the place of somebody else in that three man group.
17:15 All of a sudden, the Patriots look a lot different.
17:18 And you know, if you're asking me right now, I think that's the plan.
17:24 Now as far as the pursuing a wide receiver via trade, he said, we've had conversation
17:28 with teams about different scenarios, not just that wide receiver, but other positions.
17:32 It's something we'd be open to.
17:34 So again, you felt a little bit more confident in them going after a veteran wide receiver
17:40 after today.
17:41 Yeah, yeah, I did.
17:44 And I've sort of been there.
17:45 I've been ridiculed for it.
17:48 You know, even though, you know, every few of I still you know, whether it was the onset
17:53 of free agency or a trade, like I've been pretty steadfast that I believe at some point
18:00 the Patriots will trade for a number one wide receiver.
18:03 And it's not just things that I've heard.
18:05 And this is where I sort of punch back at Felger where, when he's saying like, you know,
18:11 he does his finger wag thing where he's just like, they're never going to pay for a number
18:14 one wide receiver.
18:16 Like and I'm just like, dude, they just offered Calvin Ridley $22 million a year.
18:21 And he's not even a number one wide receiver.
18:23 Like what are you, what are you talking about?
18:26 So like their, their pursuit of Calvin Ridley should be a big billboard to everybody that
18:31 says they looked at their roster, they looked what's in the draft and they said, the quickest
18:37 way for us to get competitive is to bring in a dangerous outside receiver that sort
18:44 of makes everything better.
18:46 And it's, it's not to say you can't get in, in the draft.
18:49 Um, certainly, you know, if you draft one at three, you're getting one.
18:54 But um, that, you know, they, I think they are on the prowl for that and they are waiting
19:00 and they are laying in wait and have been, you know, look, they $22 million for Calvin
19:06 Ridley.
19:07 He didn't take it for whatever reason.
19:08 And now I think they're like, okay, well now the price tag might come down on some people
19:14 after the draft when, when other draft receivers are in these programs and things like that.
19:19 And I think they are ready to pounce if they can.
19:23 I'm so glad you said that thing about Ridley.
19:25 Cause I've said that same thing to myself watching certain programming over the last
19:30 couple of weeks.
19:31 I want to put my head through a wall.
19:32 I'm like, did they not just offer that?
19:33 Did that not just offer Ridley $40 million guaranteed that I, did I dream that was that
19:38 something that actually happened in reality?
19:40 I also enjoyed, uh, Elliot Wolfe's answer today when he was asked what happened with
19:46 Ridley's like, uh, yeah, another team offered more money.
19:49 He was like, that's a short, short, but sweet.
19:53 He didn't go into the girlfriend thing or, or wife thing like Robert did.
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21:16 Let's get to some of your thoughts, Greg, out of some reporting that you've done and
21:21 you're in the middle of reporting stuff.
21:22 Of course, as we're now about a week away from the draft, what are the chances that
21:28 a team will offer a trade that you think would make the pats move off of the three spot?
21:34 Not very good.
21:35 And I don't think that the Patriots expect one.
21:39 I think they are going full bore ahead with the thought that they are going to stick at
21:45 three.
21:47 They've already gained the situations where if the, if the commanders take Jaden Daniels,
21:52 if the commanders take Drake May, if they take JJ McCarthy, what are we going to do?
21:57 The feeling is, and I also got this talking to some, you know, other NFL executives that
22:02 they just think that they're too, the Patriots at three, that's too high for people to, and
22:11 again, this goes back to, you know, when you have three or four or five quarterbacks that
22:16 could go in the top 10, there's a premium on those picks that you have to get those
22:22 teams out of the spot.
22:23 So it's not only just number three, it's number three plus the tax that it's going to be a
22:29 quarterback that for a quarterback needy team to move out of a spot where they can get a
22:34 quarterback that there's, I think the feeling is that there's very little chance that somebody's
22:41 going to offer them is going to blow them away, which is what they're going to have
22:45 to do to move into that spot.
22:49 You touched on this a little bit earlier, but I want to dive deeper.
22:52 If we can, the Patriots, do they already know who they're picking depending on what Washington
22:59 does that to my senses?
23:01 And I think Elliot Wolf answered it where he, I forget the way he answered it, but he
23:07 basically said, like, I think it was asked, like, where are you guys like on the court
23:11 to your final decision on the quarterback?
23:13 He said, we're not quite there yet, but soon from what I understand, they know what they're
23:21 doing, that they have, it's, it's not that difficult.
23:23 I mean, because you know, Caleb Williams is going one and now it's just a process of elimination
23:28 where you're just like, you know, I think there, you know, it might not completely be
23:34 done because, you know, they just got done with 30 visits and, you know, now they put
23:38 Pennix on the, you brought them in as well, but you know, they just had, you know, Daniels
23:42 and McCarthy in recently, they had May in.
23:45 So now probably in the past couple of days or in the next couple of days, you know, they
23:50 formally, formally, you know, do it.
23:53 But I think in terms of, do I think Elliot Wolf knows what he's going to do or what he
23:58 wants to do at three?
24:00 Yeah, I think he knows.
24:03 He also said today he'd feel comfortable picking any of the top quarterbacks at three.
24:08 Do you believe him?
24:10 I do not.
24:11 No, I think this is more what you, you sort of open the show with.
24:16 I think this is more sort of lying, clouding judgment, like all that stuff.
24:22 I think, and this also goes to the column that I wrote over the weekend where, you know,
24:26 the person that I talked to, um, said like, you don't go into the draft saying like, you
24:33 know, there's five or six, five or six guys that we'd be happy with.
24:37 Like I don't, I don't think that's the case at all.
24:39 I think, you know, it's a, it's a, it's a three person board for them with Williams
24:45 and then, and then how does it go?
24:48 And then if I think they'd be happy with, in my opinion, I think they'd be happy with
24:54 Daniels or may, and I think it would be on their board.
24:58 It would be Daniels and then may.
25:01 And then, uh, if for some reason, uh, they're not there, they might be, you know, into like
25:07 a Penn X or something like that.
25:09 If somebody does come up and offer them a ridiculous package for number three, um, then
25:14 I think they have that guy in mind who, who, who they would want perhaps trade back up
25:19 and, and that sort of thing, like we talked about in the last podcast.
25:23 Um, but no, I don't believe, well, I mean, I don't believe his, his talk about the five
25:29 or six quarterbacks.
25:30 Like, I do think that they, they have a three port person board and they're confident in
25:36 that.
25:39 Some of the smoke around JJ McCarthy has been dying down the last few days.
25:44 Is he still in the conversation you think at number three?
25:47 I'll put it this way.
25:52 I can't tell you if he's, if it's, if he's legitimate, legitimately in the mix for the
25:57 Patriots at number three, but I'll say that the Patriots want us to believe that he is
26:02 in the mix for number three.
26:04 And again, this is, this is sort of where I was when, you know, Tom Curran, Michael
26:10 Holly, Chris Gasper, who's back to almost all of them have backtracked, you know, um,
26:16 Scott Zolak, you know, all these people who, um, pretty have pretty strong connections
26:21 to people in the Patriot organization all of a sudden came out at the same time.
26:26 And they're just like, JJ McCarthy is like in play.
26:29 And now they're backtracking a little bit.
26:32 Like I said, uh, I've been told it's legitimate.
26:37 I don't know whether to believe it's legitimate.
26:43 Why would they want people to believe that they're really interested in McCarthy?
26:48 Is it trying to build the value of the three pick because just in case their guy goes number
26:55 two, is it because they want to try to make Washington believe that McCarthy is a little
27:01 bit better than he really is and maybe get Washington to bite.
27:06 Why would you do that, Greg?
27:07 What do you think?
27:08 I, I think it's, I think it's all of the above, but I do think they're just, maybe I think
27:14 they know somebody, whether it's Minnesota or the giants, um, Denver, I don't know.
27:23 I think they believe that some teams love JJ McCarthy.
27:28 Like and I think we've heard some reporting on this from some national guys that, you
27:32 know, JJ McCarthy is like number one on the board of some teams.
27:37 And I think that they are trying to, uh, draw those people out, um, smoke them out to come
27:43 up for the three pick.
27:44 And so they are, they are talking up JJ McCarthy big time, uh, at one Patriot place.
27:50 And again, I don't know whether it's a legitimate or not.
27:54 Are they looking for great or are they looking for just good enough at three?
27:58 I, I thought that they are looking for great that, um, which, you know, is part of the
28:05 reason has led me to, they need to go Drake may if Washington goes, Jaden Daniels go Drake
28:10 may because the, the upside to Drake may is, is immense.
28:16 And you know, you're talking, um, probably a little bit of notch below Josh Allen, Justin
28:22 Herbert, like that type of guy.
28:24 Um, whereas, you know, JJ McCarthy, I think his ceiling is, I don't know, Kirk cousins,
28:32 you know, something like that.
28:35 But from what somebody explained to me the other day was that the NFL has changed a little
28:47 bit and I'll be interested to hear what you have to say about this, Nick, and whether
28:51 you believe this as well, um, that the NFL has changed a bit from, let's say Ron Wolf's
28:59 day.
29:00 When, you know, it was Brett Favre, it was, um, you know, it was, you know, Joe Montana,
29:06 you know, it was the, the NFL was ruled by great quarterbacks.
29:11 Um, there is now a belief and, and, you know, you could possibly look at some teams like
29:17 San Francisco and other teams that, um, that you can, you can win in today's NFL as opposed
29:25 to yesteryear with a good quarterback.
29:30 I don't subscribe to that.
29:32 Um, I don't know how you feel about it.
29:38 I think you can win with a good quarterback if everything else is built very, very well.
29:45 You need to hit on a bunch of different players, a bunch of different ways like San Francisco
29:50 has.
29:51 I mean, if you can hit on a George Kittle in the, in the fifth round and a, and a Warner
29:56 and a number of the guys that they have, that they have hit on in the draft, then yeah,
30:02 I mean, it, it makes sense.
30:03 You have to draft unbelievably well, for the most part, you've got to hit on the Debo Samuels.
30:08 You've got to hit on the Brennan IUCs and, and look, San Francisco did swing and miss
30:12 on some big picks.
30:13 Okay.
30:14 Trey Lance, number one, but you have to hit on a lot of different areas to, to have that
30:21 kind of team.
30:23 But I would also say this, Greg, even if you do that, the path to a championship is still
30:29 much easier with great at quarterback, not good enough.
30:32 And we just saw that play out in the most recent super bowl.
30:36 We just saw that in February Brock Purdy.
30:39 It's not that they lost the game because of Brock Purdy, but Purdy could not win the game
30:43 for the 49ers and the chiefs played like crap for three quarters.
30:47 Mahomes turns it on and they end up winning that game.
30:50 That's because of my homes is greatness.
30:52 You go back to the first time it was San Francisco, Kansas city, San Francisco couldn't shut the
30:56 door because Jimmy Garoppolo missed a throw in the fourth quarter to a guy who was wide
31:00 ass open going down field.
31:02 That would have been six.
31:03 So again, it wasn't that Jimmy necessarily lost the game for them, but he did not win
31:08 the game for them.
31:09 He gave them enough of a margin for Patrick Mahomes to slide in with his greatness and
31:13 win.
31:14 So if you talk about competing, if you talk about making the playoffs and if, if everything
31:18 goes right, yes.
31:19 But we're talking about margin of error for me.
31:22 And when you have greatness at that position, the margin for error is so much wider and
31:28 larger for that football team.
31:30 I completely agree with you, especially when you look at it as you know, in the context
31:36 of just the AFC, I mean, you know, provided Aaron Rogers is healthy this year, like you're
31:42 going to have to beat just in your own division, Aaron Rogers and Josh Allen.
31:46 And you, you know, you can't do that with a, I mean, you need, like you said, you need
31:52 like a wagon, like the San Francisco 49ers around Brock Purdy to even have a chance to
31:57 compete.
31:58 You also have to go through, you know, burrow and you have to go through my homes and you're
32:03 probably going to have to go through Justin Herbert with Jim Harbaugh now.
32:08 And you know, just to me, an illustration of that is, yeah, it's, it's okay.
32:13 You can do that in theory.
32:15 Look at the dolphins in Tua.
32:17 Like you know, what's, if they're going to try to break through here and get to an AFC
32:21 championship game, let alone a super bowl, like you're going to need to put two to play
32:26 lights out against Joe burrow, Josh Allen, Aaron Rogers, Patrick, my homes, like all
32:31 these people.
32:33 And do you really think two can do that?
32:35 I don't.
32:37 It's also about consistently contending, right?
32:40 Like so much has to go your way to win a super bowl with a quarterback like that, because
32:45 you have to face the greatness that Greg just brought up consistently contending.
32:51 That's very difficult to pull off.
32:52 The easiest way to consistently be in the conversation, the top four or five teams is
32:57 having one of the best quarterbacks in the league.
32:59 So I just, I would disagree with that idea for all of those reasons.
33:05 What have you heard about a possible Patriots misinformation campaign?
33:08 I think, I think we're in the midst of it.
33:11 I think that, um, you know, from what I understand, the Patriots, um, are very happy that no one
33:20 has any idea what they're going to do at number three.
33:23 I think.
33:24 And so to me, that has been part of a plan.
33:27 You know, how much is Gerard Mayo involved?
33:29 How much was he involved at the league meetings?
33:32 How much is he involved behind the scenes now with sort of his media connections and
33:36 stuff like that?
33:37 I think it's, I think it's real.
33:39 And we, we really have no frame of reference with this.
33:42 We have zero frame of reference with this new crew with Mayo and, and Wolf.
33:47 Um, you know, and so we're not really going to know anything.
33:51 How much was BS, how much was smoke, how much was real until the drafts over and, you know,
33:56 we can see what they did.
33:59 I go back to, are there any common themes over the last several weeks going back to
34:06 the combine?
34:07 And to me, it's been really, really quiet around Drake may since the combine immediately
34:12 following the combine, it was, Oh, he impressed them a lot.
34:16 You know, he was very impressive in those interviews.
34:19 And then things just went quiet for the most part around may.
34:22 I'm not talking about, you know, people mocking drop, uh, Drake may to the Patriots at three,
34:28 like many, many, many, many have.
34:30 I'm talking about reports of, they love the guy maze, the pick.
34:35 I just, I get the feeling I'm going to stand by this until next week, unless something
34:39 crazy pops up.
34:41 I get the feeling the McCarthy smoke was all trying to, you know, make sure and solidify
34:46 Drake may sitting there at three.
34:48 I think maze their guy.
34:49 I really, I think Drake maze their guy and I could be dead ass wrong, but there's just
34:55 so much has been said.
34:56 You had that weird Daniel's thing.
34:57 He wants to play in new England and not Washington report come out.
35:01 This seems like in McCarthy, it was just nonstop McCarthy for two or three weeks.
35:06 Just feels like it's made of me.
35:07 All right.
35:08 We got a couple more things to hit before we say goodbye this week.
35:11 This episode though, before we get to those brought to by prize picks, largest daily fantasy
35:15 sports platform in North America, download the app today, use the code CLN as for a first
35:20 deposit match up to 100 bucks.
35:23 Also check out Greg, Mike Giardi and company at BSJ 50 bucks for the year.
35:30 And now you get the Bruins.
35:31 Sounds like it's going to be Saturday night against Toronto.
35:34 You've got the Celtics on Sunday afternoon.
35:36 Corrales will be, you know, covering those guys.
35:39 So a lot going on.
35:41 Red Sox keep playing David Hamilton at shortstop for some reason.
35:44 A lot is going on.
35:45 All right, let's get to, uh, let's get to this ESPN report that came out.
35:51 Everybody was talking about it yesterday.
35:53 Another bill Belichick column.
35:55 I just want, before we get into the Robert craft piece, cause I saw you write about craft
36:00 yesterday, a little critical, little critical of the owner.
36:03 But before we get to that, Greg, just kind of big picture thoughts from the story.
36:07 And let me just first set it up here.
36:10 We're talking about Jeremy Fowler.
36:11 We're talking about van nada.
36:13 We're talking about wicker sham.
36:15 Those are three of the most legitimate, well-sourced journalists that ESPN has on their payroll.
36:22 So those were the three guys who wrote this, just your, your big picture, 30,000 foot view
36:28 of that story.
36:29 First of all, I was a little bit surprised that Fowler got a byline on this.
36:33 This isn't, isn't normally his bag, but he must've gotten some good information that
36:37 was part of the article.
36:39 Cause I put Seth and Don, um, in a separate category.
36:43 I mean, they're just, and I think even Jeremy would admit that.
36:46 I mean, those guys are just, um, they're tremendous.
36:49 I had a dinner with them at, um, the league meetings and, uh, it sure was a good time.
36:54 Of course, they didn't even hint to me that they were working on this.
36:57 So thanks for that guys.
36:58 But, um, uh, so basically, you know, my, my overarching opinion was, um, some of the specifics
37:09 was fantastic in this, in this article, but I do think a lot of this just basically like
37:15 confirmed a lot of, um, like what I've reported, what we've talked about here on the podcast
37:21 that, you know, I thought that, you know, Belichick, I was told Belichick thought he
37:26 had the Falcons job in the bag.
37:28 Um, if not when he was, when he had that press conference, the day of the press conference
37:33 with Robert Kraft, but pretty soon thereafter that he thought that was wrapped up, he was
37:38 in a good space.
37:40 And I think, uh, I think he was shocked that he didn't get the job.
37:46 Um, I think that, uh, you know, the, the reasoning behind some of the other teams not pursuing
37:54 Belichick, uh, was interesting, um, and laughable, uh, especially like Carolina Panthers.
38:00 Um, you know, how Dave Tepper likes to question his head coach with analytics and didn't think
38:06 he would be able to do that with Belichick.
38:07 Um, I found it fascinating that magic Johnson was beating the drum for Belichick with the
38:14 commanders.
38:15 Um, I think that's a, that's a nice compliment for bill considering, you know, the head coaches,
38:20 Matt Riley, uh, and others that magic has been around.
38:23 Um, and he knows greatness of course, and he knows what it takes to win a championship.
38:28 And sometimes that can be an a-hole head coach.
38:30 And so I thought that was a feather in Bill's cap.
38:33 Um, man, but of course, you know, the, the biggest bombshell was that, and, and let's
38:39 also point out that the, the Patriots through Stacey James, Dan Strenu, strenuously objected
38:45 to the character race characterization.
38:48 I can't speak suddenly that, um, that Robert craft basically torpedoed Bill's chances at
38:57 getting the Falcons job because he talked crap about him to Brad blank.
39:02 And um, you know, and the, the other thing I wanted to point out that also backed up
39:07 our reporting is that I, I've been saying all along that keep an eye on bill to the
39:13 Eagles after the season.
39:15 And it basically sounds like it's Eagles or Cowboys or bust, um, for bill.
39:20 But you know, of course the, the craft, the craft stuff was the most explosive in the
39:24 story.
39:25 A couple of things from, uh, Stacey James before we talk about crap.
39:32 I do love the, he steadfastly denies Robert steadfastly denies.
39:37 He doesn't just deny it.
39:38 He steadfastly denies it.
39:40 Okay.
39:41 So that, that's a little extra emphasis.
39:42 Put that in your pipe.
39:43 I, I steadfastly, uh, deny.
39:46 Is that how it works?
39:49 And then the other part though, too, it's so funny.
39:52 Cause Stacy's like, well, did he, did craft order the code red on Belichick in January?
40:03 No, he didn't.
40:04 But I will acknowledge that he might've done so before January.
40:09 Oh, okay.
40:11 So, so maybe the phone got the specific phone calls that we're talking about steadfastly
40:17 deny, but Hey man, before Jay, he also said that craft had no recollection of doing that,
40:24 which is I misremembered or I can't remember.
40:28 I don't recall when you say that my shit detectives pop up immediately.
40:33 I don't, you know, I have no recollection of it.
40:36 Oh, so you could have done it.
40:37 You just don't recollect it.
40:39 And then, well, he didn't do it when, when they're saying he did it, but Hey, James did
40:44 acknowledge craft might've done so prior to January.
40:47 So maybe right before Christmas craft ordered the code red, but it wasn't, it wasn't in
40:52 January.
40:53 Damn it.
40:54 That was, that'd be like me.
40:55 If like you came to me and it's like, Greg, were you talking crap about me and my performance
41:01 on the podcast?
41:02 Well, um, maybe during the season I might've been frustrated with you and might've voiced
41:08 that, but I can't really remember if I did that.
41:10 So yeah, I don't know.
41:13 It just, it brought me back to Tom Curran when he said, you know, after the Colts game,
41:19 the crafts had made up their mind.
41:20 Like I could see, I could visualize craft on the phone during the week, talking to Arthur
41:25 blank at some point being like, I'm sick of this guy.
41:28 This guy, I don't trust him.
41:30 He sucks.
41:31 I'm done with them.
41:32 But he didn't say it in January, but he couldn't go back on his word.
41:34 Cause blank was like, I remember what you said during the season, Robert, when you were
41:37 pissed.
41:38 Is that true?
41:39 I would also say this before we get to craft.
41:43 How about the assistant coaches catching strays the line in there that Belichick told blank
41:48 that they're more soldiers than generals.
41:51 If you're, if you're like Matt Patricia or Josh McDaniels, and you read that, you're
41:54 like bill, what the hell man?
41:57 He'd thrown me out of the bus.
41:59 Yeah.
42:00 I, yeah, I completely agree.
42:01 And if I were in one of those guys shoes, I'd be like, well, you know, if you weren't
42:07 such a dick all the time and you actually like explained to us things and actually like,
42:11 you know, developed coaches like, you know, other great coaches have like, you know, Mike
42:16 Shanahan or bill walls who took, you know, developing talent, um, you know, very seriously,
42:23 you know, Mike Holmgren and, and green Bay, like all those guys like viewed like part
42:28 of their job was to develop people that they could go out and have like a successful tree
42:33 and stuff like that.
42:34 But instead, bill, you just crapped on us.
42:36 You know, you treated us like, uh, like fungus, like, you know, you kept us in a dark and
42:41 fed a shit and like, look what happened.
42:44 All right, let's get to a Robert craft.
42:48 You're pretty critical of, uh, of Robert yesterday when you wrote about this column at ESPN,
42:54 why were you so critical Greg?
42:56 Because I'm, I'm just, I'm, I'm sick of it.
42:59 I'm sick of like all this bickering back and forth, the neediness, the want the egos, like
43:06 all this stuff, like, you know, it's late.
43:11 And I just think, I think crafts on like a huge L like he's in, I even think bill Simmons
43:17 tweeted this today.
43:18 Like, you know, it's been like a year and I, I completely agree with him.
43:23 I'm trying to find out, you know, exactly where I wrote this.
43:27 Oh, I was like, you know, um, you know, starting with, first of all, they, they, they enter
43:35 to, this was a shock to me in this.
43:38 Cause I always, and this is another piece of my reporting that some people have crapped
43:42 on it.
43:43 Didn't believe when I said at the end of last year is not assured that bills back.
43:47 And again, they report, but this time it's Robert craft wanted to fire bill Belichick,
43:52 but Jonathan crafts saved the job.
43:54 I'm pretty sure worker sham and those guys are wicker sham when he wrote sort of the
43:58 end of days for bill Belichick reported the opposite that it was Jonathan who wanted the
44:03 shit can bill, but Robert kept him out of it.
44:07 But you know, you don't do that.
44:10 You bring in the Billy O'Brien thing.
44:12 You do the Gerard Mayo contract language that basically kneecapped Belichick's authority
44:17 inside the building that basically led to a dysfunctional season.
44:21 That was a complete outlier from any other time in Belichick's career here or otherwise
44:27 where, you know, they underperformed where they were.
44:31 And to me that had to do with dysfunction on the coaching staff, which to me was a direct
44:36 result of Gerard's Mayo contract.
44:39 They rushed out the dynasty and an obvious attempt for crafts hall of fame chances to
44:44 improve it.
44:45 It was, it was bad timing.
44:47 I railed against it after the first episode where everybody was like, this is awesome.
44:51 And I was just like, no, this isn't fair to bill.
44:55 And um, you know, playing dumb about the NFL PA grades, not giving Elliot Wolf a real title
45:02 and a contract.
45:03 And now they're bad mouthing Belichick, you know, along with the, the, the lighthouse
45:08 and all that while they're getting poor NFL PA grades, like, and now they're bad mouth
45:14 mouthing bill behind the scenes where they should just be like, look, go talk to, go
45:20 talk to other people, like go talk to Josh McDaniels, anybody who's worked for bill,
45:24 who's go talk to Billy O'Brien.
45:26 You want to know about bill?
45:27 Go talk to them.
45:29 And like, I'm just, I'm tired of it.
45:33 Um, this is similar to a craft and Belichick after Brady left.
45:38 Um, it's just like, it's time to move on.
45:42 Bill's out of the building.
45:43 Just like move on, let him live his life.
45:46 Don't trash him in a documentary and to ownership.
45:50 So he can't get a job.
45:52 Like if he wants to coach and he's still a really great coach, like I'm, I'm just, I'm
45:56 just tired of it.
45:59 Here's what I'll say.
46:00 And I agree with most of what you just said, Greg, I agree with a lot of what you just
46:05 said, and you can throw in the Patriots super bowl video that came out in January where
46:09 all of a sudden Belichick was nowhere to be found.
46:12 I think, I think they had, they had a closeup of his hand holding Lombardi trophy, but you
46:17 didn't see Belichick at all during like the two and a half, three minute video, whatever
46:21 it was that's so petty.
46:22 It's ridiculous that petty, petty, petty, petty, petty.
46:25 No doubt about that.
46:26 I agree with what most of what you just said.
46:28 I will say the Arthur blank thing is a pretty tough.
46:31 And the reason why I went through this on my podcast, I'll, I'll, I'll give you the gist,
46:36 but the relationships matter.
46:39 And so with, with blank and craft, that was a, that's a very difficult position for Robert
46:45 to be in because blank is a very close friend of his.
46:49 And you know, when you think about ownership and, and the owners in the league and they're
46:53 close friends.
46:54 So, you know, if you put yourself in that spot of craft, I don't know if he was going
47:00 out of his way to ruin Belichick's chances of getting that job more so than just being
47:06 honest with one of his closest friends.
47:10 And people would say, well, why couldn't you, you know, try to dance around it?
47:14 Because if you dance around it and, and Belichick comes in blank's going to be pissed at craft
47:20 because he's going to say, wait a minute, you had an opportunity, Robert, to tell me
47:24 we tell each other everything we're close friends.
47:26 Like we're friends, man.
47:28 Like this goes beyond this.
47:29 This goes beyond football when it, when it's blank and craft.
47:32 Okay.
47:33 We'll just leave it at that.
47:34 It goes beyond football.
47:36 These guys are pretty close.
47:38 So like when you, when you're in that spot and you're, you gotta be a reference craft
47:43 was in a very difficult rock and a hard place.
47:46 He had the guy who just worked for him for almost 25 years that won six super bowls,
47:51 but personally they didn't get along.
47:52 And he didn't love how Belichick handled things towards the end of his tenure here.
47:56 And now he's got his closest friend in the NFL ownership wise, asking him, what do you
48:01 think about that guy?
48:04 If craft dismisses it and doesn't answer the question, it's a red flag.
48:08 If he, if he misleads blank now he's misleading his closest friend.
48:13 If you don't have, so if he, if he buries Belichick, he's burying Belichick.
48:16 So in that specific case, I don't know if he had a good way out of it.
48:21 Honestly, I don't know if he had a good way out of that.
48:25 I would also say, I kind of wanted your thoughts before we go here on this.
48:29 Andrew Callahan highlighted the source and it was, it was really weird because in the
48:35 story it's, there was a source who talked to two sources and then the original source
48:41 got back to the writers and the way it was deemed was this source spoke to, you know,
48:49 close front of craft spoke to the long time Belichick confidant.
48:55 Like it just seems like whoever was the main source of the craft Belichick stuff is in
49:01 good graces with both guys.
49:03 And I was, I was just fascinated to try to figure out who that was.
49:06 And I don't want to speculate, but I just wonder what was the connective tissue.
49:11 There was connective tissue within this sourcing.
49:15 And I wonder who could play both sides of that fence.
49:18 It's just fascinating to me.
49:20 Like who is in that position that is close enough to craft, but also close enough to
49:24 Belichick and feels confident enough that they could speak to each of the other sources
49:30 to get that information and then leak it and then leak it to the writers.
49:35 Whoever that person is, they got a lot of Gerard Mayo confidence in them because that's
49:39 I need that.
49:40 I need that meme where the, the, the guy has all the like, I know like this is, that just
49:45 made me dizzy.
49:47 I know it's, it's crazy.
49:48 I was just thinking about it.
49:50 Because there, there can't be many people, Greg, there can't be many people in that
49:54 position to speak with authority to these writers.
49:59 And I'm just trying to pull it up before we go, cause I want to make it specific as
50:03 I can, how it was, how it was written.
50:07 But it had to do with, you know, the source was, Oh, here it is.
50:10 In a conversation with blank craft delivered a stark assessment of Belichick's character,
50:15 according to a source who spoke to two people, a close craft friend and a long time Belichick
50:23 confidant.
50:24 So the source who gave the information to the writers was somebody who spoke to a person
50:32 from each side of the fence, the Belichick fence and the craft fence.
50:36 There can only be so many people that can do that.
50:38 I can't imagine there's a big group of people that can speak to and get, and get private
50:44 information from, right?
50:45 I mean, this is somebody who's trusted by both sides.
50:48 So I just, I wonder who the connective tissue was.
50:51 I would love to know who that person is.
50:54 Just love to know, dig it up, Greg, go to work.
50:57 I'll go.
50:58 Let us know.
50:59 Hey, he's Greg out, Nick.
51:01 Everybody enjoy your weekend.
51:02 We're back next week.
51:03 Big week.
51:04 It's officially draft week.
51:06 It's going to be here.
51:07 We've been talking about it forever.
51:09 Until then be well, it's the Greg Bidard Patriots podcast with Nick Cap.
51:12 [Music]