- 5 days ago
On Friday's edition of Zolak and Bertrand, the guys reacted to the news that second year receiver Ja'Lynn Polk has missed the first two practices of training camp. While on the topic, Bertrand made the point that the team missed out on the 2024 NFL draft outside of Drake Maye.
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00:00The Patriots will treat it as a walk-through day here today.
00:04That's what they're doing.
00:05No helmets, no pads, of course, and they're just doing a walk-through.
00:09And they're going to be done by 11.
00:10They just finished their stretch, and they're going to be over and out of here within the hour.
00:15So it's a quick one today.
00:17It's a walk-through today.
00:18I don't know how much we'll learn today, but we will be talking to players once the walk-through is completed.
00:24We're hoping to grab a number of players live on the show.
00:27We're looking forward to that.
00:28I know the league's mandates with the first five days of practice sort of dictates what you have to do,
00:34and he just looks at me and says it like we had two-a-days, you know, where it's real two-a-days, where you actually hit.
00:40I mean, my God, they're in walk-through mode day three.
00:43Walk-through.
00:44Yep.
00:45I would have loved that back in the day.
00:47So I would have known that.
00:48Parente's the night before.
00:49We'd be hammered.
00:50You'd be sweating out all the booze the night before.
00:53Yeah, that'd be fine.
00:53Maybe they are.
00:54They might be.
00:55They might be.
00:56They may have gone out.
00:57They may have had a thirsty Thursday.
00:58Last night.
00:59I mean, Foxborough's built up so much, especially where they're staying.
01:02Man, they got good restaurants.
01:04Well, the fact that their training camp is here, they got a lot of places they can go and not be sort of noticed.
01:09Yeah.
01:10Right.
01:10Right.
01:10When you were in Smithfield, you had parentes, and that was it.
01:13You had one bar, and if the coaches were looking for you, they knew where all of you were.
01:17Yeah, they did.
01:18They did.
01:19They sure did.
01:20They could find out if you were out drinking the night before pretty easily, right?
01:22That was like a second autograph session after camp.
01:25So if you didn't get the autographs at camp, you'd get them in practice.
01:27Head down there.
01:27Everybody was there.
01:28Yep.
01:28Is that in the afternoons?
01:30No, this is a night.
01:31Oh, it's a night.
01:32So after the second ones?
01:33Yeah, after the second practice.
01:35You had to head down there before the team meetings.
01:37Come in.
01:37Come in a little zipping.
01:38Oh, man.
01:39Yep.
01:40Take that now.
01:40The good old days.
01:41Yeah.
01:41The good old days.
01:43Yeah.
01:43All right.
01:43So anything that's going on here, we'll let you know, but it's a slow one.
01:47It's going to be a slow practice here.
01:49And if you're out there in the stands, good luck, because it is sweltering down there.
01:54Yeah, good pull day.
01:55On that concrete and on those bleachers, but still decent attendance today.
01:59Yeah.
02:00They keep coming out.
02:01That's good.
02:02That's good.
02:03Decent attendance.
02:03It's going to build next week, and then commanders come in, and we're off and running, man.
02:07It'll feel like season mode.
02:08Yeah.
02:09All right.
02:10Through a couple of days of camp, we have talked a little bit about the offensive line.
02:16We've talked quite a bit about receivers in this camp, and I think those are things we're
02:20watching from an offensive standpoint.
02:24And in addition to that, there's something that I think is developing that is a story that
02:31I've repeatedly told you I don't care about, but it's the fact that Jalen Polk is not a part
02:38of this.
02:39The fact that last year's high receiver draft pick is not even participating is noteworthy,
02:45is it not?
02:45I mean, I don't even put him on the list of receivers when I'm trying to get ready to call games in two weeks.
02:51I have zero expectations for him being there.
02:54Let's hear Phil Perry talking about how second-year players on this roster are getting lapped by
03:01rookies who are participating in this camp.
03:04Jalen Polk, we haven't seen.
03:06He did not start camp on either PUP or NFI, and yet he's missing practice time.
03:11So Mike Giardi from Boston Sports Journal says Polk is dealing with muscle soreness.
03:17Whatever it is, he needs to get on the field to try to earn himself a role.
03:19He clearly, in my opinion, does not have one just based on the fact that he was a second-round pick last year.
03:25His stock is down.
03:27Caden Wallace playing only at guard.
03:29They might have a need at left guard, so in some ways, maybe you could say they're trying to turn that pick into a success story.
03:35On the other hand, they have very little tackle depth.
03:37Demontre Jacobs has been filling in for Morgan Moses at right tackle.
03:40It's been Marcus Bryant, the seventh-round rookie out of Missouri.
03:43He was the left tackle at Missouri while Armand Membu, remember that name, was the right tackle there for the Tigers.
03:49Marcus Bryant looks like he might be your backup left tackle.
03:51So you've got rookie Will Campbell and then maybe rookie Marcus Bryant, seventh-round pick, behind him.
03:57Behemoth of a human being.
03:58He has all kinds of physical traits.
04:00There was a reason they let him play left tackle, and they kept Armand Membu on the right side.
04:05But, boy, they could use Caden Wallace as a tackle, and they're not.
04:09And I think that tells you about maybe how they feel about him right now in 2025.
04:14Layden Robinson has not been a contender for that top left guard spot.
04:18It's really been Cole Strange's job.
04:20The only young player who has filled in for Cole Strange, we'll get to him, is Jared Wilson.
04:25And then fourth-round pick, Javon Baker.
04:28To me, he's not in the conversation to make the roster.
04:31Did they blow every pick in the 2024 draft outside of Drake May?
04:38Maybe.
04:38Did they blow an entire draft after Drake May?
04:41That's my question.
04:43That's the kind of stuff that typically gets people fired when you blow an entire draft outside of the third overall pick,
04:52which is so simple and so stupid that, again, Konky could have done it.
04:58Right?
04:58Yeah.
04:59Anybody could have made that pick.
05:02They had no choice at number three.
05:04No.
05:04They didn't have number two.
05:05They didn't have number one.
05:06They didn't have a decision to make at number three.
05:10They knew they were drafting a quarterback there.
05:12If Drake May went number two, they were taking Jaden Daniels.
05:15They had no decision to make.
05:17It's the only pick it appears they hit on in 2024.
05:20So, the next time someone asks me, why do you want to have Elliott Wolfe fired, I'm just going to say, go take a look at that 2024 draft.
05:28Tell me if you think they know what they're doing.
05:30They don't.
05:31Get out.
05:32Those linemen that are taken after, say, the third round, you can all put them all pretty much in that same bag, shake it up and mix it.
05:39Whether you're a guard, whether you're a tackle, like, Wallace doesn't have the frame size to be a tackle, I don't think.
05:46He looks more like a guard.
05:47I'm just saying, if you look at the guy, what do you think this guy plays?
05:50Now, that kid from Missouri on the left side, he's huge.
05:52He's a big kid.
05:53I wouldn't mind him staying there left side and trying to figure it out.
05:57He played at a high level of Missouri.
05:59Membu was the other guy on the other side.
06:00He went top ten.
06:02But this kid's a late-round pick.
06:05Yeah, I mean.
06:05Jalen Polk was 37th overall.
06:07That is such a big mistake and such a glaring mistake that it's not about Jalen Polk because I don't give a damn.
06:15He can't play.
06:16He can't play.
06:18He's not going to make it.
06:19He probably isn't going to make it in this league anywhere.
06:21But it's more about, wow, what could have been if you had used the 37th overall pick after you had a four-win season and had high picks in each round
06:32and put yourself in a good position to build up your roster for years to come and try and build a core.
06:38You had a front office that absolutely blew it.
06:43And nobody has paid a price for that yet.
06:45And this camp is going to prove that they swung and missed on everything and the only thing they got right was Drake May and they didn't even have to make a decision on it.
06:55This camp is going to be a massive indictment on those guys who still work here in this building, Gillette Stadium, and still come here every day.
07:02And still apparently, the team wants to tell you, has real influence over which players they put on this roster.
07:09How is that a recipe for success?
07:11Someone explain it to me.
07:12Like I'm five.
07:14Pick 37, man.
07:16You could have had a backup linebacker.
07:17You know what I mean?
07:18You're a thin linebacker depth-wise.
07:20You mean you couldn't have drafted a Mike Backer, an edge guy, a corner, a second-round pick on a corner.
07:25Those are high-value picks, man.
07:27For this kid to do nothing, it's just such a – it kills your roster, man.
07:33It's what it does.
07:34This is the point of, like, when Bill couldn't draft at the end, he left a covered pair.
07:39I mean, these second-round picks are guys that should be on your football team and should be starters.
07:43And I know that everyone thinks that you can quickly get back into Super Bowl contention and you could be like the Commanders a year ago.
07:49But if we're looking at eight, nine win seasons for the next few years and you want to know why they can't get over that hump, this is going to be why.
07:59Because they didn't draft well and they don't have enough talent.
08:02But, oh, wow, they got to ten wins one year and then they were a wild-card exit.
08:06Why can't they get over that hump?
08:08I'll tell you why.
08:09They're not deep enough and they lack talent still because they had full years where they blew a draft in years after they had won four games and put themselves in a good spot for that draft.
08:19All you draft people that call us and you're obsessed with it, right?
08:23All of you who love it.
08:24I don't particularly love it.
08:26But all of you that love it, you should be more pissed than anyone.
08:30You guys love that thing.
08:31You think it's the path to everything.
08:33And now you're watching a team that a year later you're like, well, that was a dud.
08:38Well, that's the crazy part, too, because all those people say you need two or three years to evaluate a draft class.
08:43Not really.
08:43This one, no, you needed a year in the first week of camp to realize that, like you said, it is a complete dud outside of Drake May.
08:49It's crazy.
08:50And you know it's a dud because you have people that work here now.
08:53You have a coach that knows what he's doing.
08:55And you have his people with him, whether it be Stretch or it be Ryan Cowden.
09:00And those guys come in and they say, Caden Wallace can't play.
09:04We're not using this guy.
09:06Lane Robinson?
09:07No.
09:08That guy doesn't have it.
09:09We've got other guys we just drafted that might be better for us and a better fit and might actually be able to play.
09:16Polk?
09:16What?
09:17He's got a sore muscle?
09:18How do you think that's going to play with the new coach?
09:20What does that mean?
09:21The new coach is going to be like, get out of here.
09:22I've got no time for sore muscles, pal.
09:24I've got 14 receivers out here.
09:26I'm trying to find out if any of them could play.
09:28You're out.
09:29Unless he's trying to tank it and get an IR.
09:32I'm serious.
09:33His only chance of making this team is being on IR.
09:36Good luck.
09:37With a sore muscle.
09:39How do you sore muscles?
09:39I've got to go on IR.
09:40I've got a sore muscle.
09:41Imagine being Mike Vrabel and your number two pick from a year ago, receiver, a wide receiver, is sore in July.
09:49Get the F out of here with that.
09:50Three days of camp.
09:51That's all it took to know the 2024 draft was junk.
09:55Three days of camp.
09:56Not even a real camp so far.
09:59This is the warm-up phase of camp, and we already know these guys are on the outs.
10:02Cut dates change.
10:03These guys are on the outs already.
10:05Cut dates have changed over the years.
10:06Vrabel's looking at this going down like, when's that first cut date, damn?
10:09I've got to wait until the end so I can whack these guys.
10:11Yeah, that's how you piss off a head coach.
10:13Yeah.
10:14Sore muscle.
10:14I've got to say, though, I am just so happy that Cowden's here and Stretch is here and Mike Vrabel is here now.
10:20I don't put up with that crap.
10:21I mean, I just feel so much better because Vrabel's taken over.
10:26So much better.
10:28And you can put out all the forged and Foxborough videos you want that prop up Elliott Wolfe.
10:33I'm not buying it.
10:34I don't buy it.
10:35This is Vrabel's operation now, and we can all be thankful for that.
10:39What's that?
10:39Because the 2024 draft has been declared a dud.
10:42I was watching some of the stuff on SportsCenter and NFL Network, and they're bouncing around camps down at Atlanta.
10:47Penix is talking about creating this opportunity with his tight end, how many catches and touchdowns they're going to have this year.
10:52A dunesay over there with the Bears talking about that.
10:54I'm like, what are those guys from Washington that played with Polk?
10:57What do they talk?
10:58What do you think they're talking about right now?
10:59What the hell is going on up there?
11:00What's wrong with him?
11:02He's a high-production guy there.
11:04Scratch your head on that one, man.
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