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EPISODE 17 - MIKE VRABEL??? WHATS NEXT???
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Transcript
Introduction and Podcast Welcome
00:00:00
Savage Boston
All right, guys, welcome back to the Savage Blossom podcast. We're here for the second week in a row, which is shocking and surprising and great.
00:00:07
Bret
Thank you.
00:00:08
Savage Boston
We've made it back.
Rapid Hiring of Mike Vrabel
00:00:10
Savage Boston
yeah um Anyway, so lots to talk about. um You know, obviously last week, <unk> a lot of news, you know, last week's Drod Mayo gets fired.
00:00:19
Savage Boston
We're going and crazy, a lot of reaction. And I mean, I think it was less than a full week after Drod Mayo gets fired, they hired Mike Vrabel. because today is again January 14th, don't get the date down, 2025. The hiring of variable came extremely, extremely quickly.
00:00:39
Savage Boston
Um, which again, me personally, I'm happy about that. I'm okay with, with what happened. I'm okay with how quick it happened.
Concerns Over Rooney Rule Violations
00:00:47
Savage Boston
Um, kind of a lot of buzz on like the Rooney rule and we don't have to go into it a ton. If you don't want, I don't know if you guys want to touch on kind of, they got some national attention for how quickly they dismissed the two minority candidates. like They didn't even make individual Twitter posts about them. They made a double Twitter post about both of them, you know which seemed silly. so i don't know do you guys why What do you guys think about the Rooney Rule stuff? I don't know if you want to touch on that.
00:01:14
Snooty
I mean, I think, um, they clearly sidestep the intent of the rule. Um, but I think it kind of highlights an overall take that I have on them is that they only look internally. And at some point that's, that's a problem. And I know variable didn't coach here and all that, but he's still familiar to them. They
Internal Hiring Critique and Comparisons
00:01:37
Snooty
know him. Like if they don't know you in some capacity or have worked with you in some capacity before they won't even.
00:01:44
Snooty
Really look at you um And so I think that's why it's it's in stark contrast to a guy Tomlin was hired because he wasn't on the radar They brought him in the Steelers did to in part to fulfill I mean he was a qualified candidate but to you know fulfill kind of the Rooney rule and he blew them away and he's been there for what, 12 years, 15 years, whatever it is.
00:02:05
Snooty
So um I just think it it's sir it's the intent of the rule is there.
00:02:06
Savage Boston
Yeah.
00:02:11
Snooty
Clearly, they sidestepped it, which you know obviously isn't good. But you know I think it speak to me, it speaks to a larger issue that they just don't look at. They get too comfortable with their own thing.
00:02:23
Snooty
They don't look outside the box or look for new ways of doing
00:02:27
Savage Boston
Yeah, I mean, the only guys that gave them Crap, I mean, he's like, I would say the use the word locally, but it's really not
Rooney Rule Backlash and Media Reactions
00:02:34
Savage Boston
local. Like Burt Breer ah gave gave the craft shit for that. You know what I mean? he He had a big post about the Rooney rule and they really kind of stepped aside what it's supposed to be. um You know, he lives locally, but he's really kind of like a national guy. You know what I mean? Like he's on Amazon, he's he's bigger. um And then, you know, but nationally they got they got kind of killed. and And I thought it was, I don't know, it's,
00:02:58
Savage Boston
I thought in this circumstance, when you're so desperate for for a change and something new, and blatantly the candidate was right there who they wanted to hire, they just they just
Vrabel's Press Conference and Leadership Qualities
00:03:08
Savage Boston
didn't give a shit. They're like, we're hiring Vrable. This is who we want. like Ben Johnson, I'm sure, was impressive in the room because he's so analytical, but Vrable's the hire they wanted from day one, and I'm i'm happy he got hired.
00:03:23
Savage Boston
I think he's he's he's that dude. I love though all of his press conference stuff from all the uncomfortable stuff that may have said Very bold polar opposite. I love I absolutely loved it. So how do you guys feel about all kind of the intro stuff?
Patriots' Hiring Criticism and Overlooked Candidates
00:03:36
Bret
Well, I'll just comment real quick on the Rooney part. You know, I'll agree with Snooty from the standpoint that like, I think it's more of an indication on just the Pats are consistently just kind of setting their ways, which.
00:03:39
Savage Boston
ah Yeah
00:03:49
Bret
I don't like the idea of narrowing your search. ah you know We talked at the last pod. Vrable was my guy. I felt like they were going to get him, but I also wanted them to get him.
00:03:55
Savage Boston
Yes.
00:03:58
Bret
So I'm happy with the pick. But I also think it was kind of a wasted opportunity where you you could have had a chance to you know take a ah real hard look at Ben Johnson or you know If you want to fulfill the Rooney rule, like obviously, Glenn out of ah Detroit is like a viable candidate that's going to get a lot of looks. so like there was ah There was opportunities where they didn't have to sidestep and they could interview some legit candidates, but I think it it shows the flaw in the rule, but that's not really...
00:04:31
Bret
you know teams always sidestep rules all the time, especially in that league. I
Vrabel's Strategy and Team Improvements
00:04:36
Bret
think it's really more of an indicator that the Patriots are kind of stuck in their ways and how they approach it, and they could have lost out on an opportunity.
00:04:36
Savage Boston
Yeah.
00:04:45
Bret
Regarding Raybone, the opening press conference, I thought it was so night and day. with regards to how it was compared to Mayo, that it's refreshing that we have an actual competent coach that knows how to command a room and has his convictions that you can stand behind. So that was that was helpful. And I you know, I loved it. But like the the reality is is It was pretty vanilla in responses. I don't think there was too much to kind of cling on to. My biggest takeaway that I loved hearing was that he focused on offensive line and his line that he talked about when it said, you know, right now we, you know, my goal is to get us to be in a team that we can capitalize on other teams mistakes. And I don't know if we're there yet, which is.
00:05:32
Bret
point blank are like biggest opportunity to go into this year. I mean, we just played stupid football and there were opportunities that we didn't capitalize on and like just making those incremental changes could have resulted in like two, three wins, right? So ah those were my two key takeaways from the presser. I felt like him talking about the offensive line was encouraging for me And him talking about just focused on you know capitalizing on those ah opportunities when they present themselves tells me it's it's the right mindset.
00:06:07
Savage Boston
He can really, you know, he really does command a role. I mean, he can, he can really not, you know, not about public speaking wise, but he just has that aura about him that like he,
Vrabel's Decision-Making Power Confirmed
00:06:19
Savage Boston
he's that figure. He is really the figurehead now. And, uh, one comment I liked a lot today from, uh, Schefter.
00:06:26
Savage Boston
Uh, when Schefter was on McPhee and I didn't, you know, I was driving around working stuff, like I didn't get to hear all of it, but, uh, I saw the clip where, um, they're asking about Elliot Wolf and Matt, even MacPhee's like, so, you know, do they do it together? What's the deal? And Schefter is basically like, Vrable's the man. It's Vrable's decision on personnel. It's Vrable's decision on coaching. Like Vrable is kind of the de facto figurehead.
00:06:51
Savage Boston
Not quite the power that Belichick had, but like, Elia Wolf's gonna have to go to him and be like, hey, I wanna draft Abdul Carter. And then Rabel's gonna have to say, that's the guy. But if if he goes to him and says, hey man, I really wanna trade down, and Rabel's like, we're drafting Carter, it's Rabel. Rabel's the man. So I found that that to be good, you know I don't think, I know the crafts are high on Elia Wolf and some sort of his program or his his his grading system that he has yet to implement. But like, if he was to do those behind taking Polk over McConkie, I don't know how you trust him at all. I mean, it's just such a horrendous decision looking back on it. So I know people whiff all the time. So I'm not going to judge him on just that, but but yeah, long story short, happy to hear that Vrable is the one who's really the, the, the figurehead position.
00:07:46
Snooty
yeah i mean it's not wolf which is good um i mean i'd be for anyone above wolf or at this point um he also brought in his own guy i think's crowd the name from yeah he was with the giants this past year but he was with in tennessee before that um I mean, the only defense of Wolf is I know that they were overhauling the scouting system because New England under Belichick used a scouting system that weighed their fit with the Patriots very heavily, which is why you got some really weird rankings with guys like Deron Harmon and stuff that got drafted like way earlier than expected, because they valued the fit in New England more than the actual
00:07:49
Savage Boston
Yeah.
00:07:57
Savage Boston
Yeah from the Giants. Mm hmm.
00:08:29
Snooty
like general talent of the player so to speak or general draftability i guess of the player um so you can't you can't undo that in till the draft is over really right because like even right now the hay is in the barn largely for the draft work for for this year so this is Right.
00:08:32
Savage Boston
yeah
00:08:47
Savage Boston
Yeah, all the contracts open May, I mean, what can what can we do?
00:08:50
Snooty
Well, it's not even that it's you do all the scouting like the whole time.
00:08:53
Savage Boston
Yeah, the whole year.
00:08:55
Snooty
Yeah. So it's like this is the first year with the new system, basically. And my understanding, I could be wrong on this, but my understanding is it's it's more close to what everybody else in the league uses versus like, New England was kind of an outlier.
00:09:09
Snooty
um So in that regard, that's the one that's really the only defensive wolf is that like he didn't get a chance to really implement his stuff and maybe it was based on last year or whatever. I don't know. Did Mayo have input on the draft last year? Like, I don't know. I just don't trust him. He's been here for years. You have to make a whole bunch of assumptions, uh, to have any type of defensive wolf. And I'm just going to go walk in his razor and just say, no, he just sucks and grow too. So.
00:09:37
Savage Boston
he had to so like Again, if he was the one in charge of this last draft, like I thought his interview with ah Henry McKenna, I think his name is, from Fox Sports or whatever that we read before before the final game, before Mayo got fired. That was one where he called out the coaching in it and he's like, yeah, I thought we'd have a little more development of Polk. He was supposed to be plug and play. It's like, you're just saying like the coaches did a shitty job. Like that's what you said in the interview. Like my draft was good. Like my research was good. The coaches didn't get enough out of him. And some of that is potentially true.
00:10:12
Savage Boston
Maybe it's a combination, but like what a weird thing to say before the season's over from your VP of player personnel.
00:10:19
Snooty
He's trying to save his job.
00:10:20
Savage Boston
That was great. That was so weird. i was like yeah Yeah, the coaching sucks.
00:10:23
Snooty
i and then really you mean you say You said it, right? like it Realistically, it's not he's not entirely wrong.
00:10:30
Savage Boston
<unk> No, he's not.
00:10:30
Snooty
like I'm sure Polk is better than what he showed. You know what I mean? I'm sure Polk has is maybe not Wallace at left tackle. that That's an entire you know projection, but Polk is probably better than what he showed.
00:10:42
Savage Boston
What players, this is this is random, what players got better as the year went on?
00:10:42
Snooty
but
00:10:47
Savage Boston
I mean, serious question, what Patriots players improved as the year went on?
00:10:51
Bret
Drake May.
00:10:51
Snooty
and May and Milton.
00:10:53
Savage Boston
Drake May, Joe Milton, you got some quarterbacks, okay?
00:10:57
Bret
Yeah, that was it.
00:10:58
Savage Boston
So Alex Van Pelt did a pretty good job and then was it T.C.
00:10:58
Bret
That's all.
00:10:58
Snooty
Yeah.
00:11:01
Savage Boston
McCartney?
00:11:04
Savage Boston
So, you know, so those guys did a pretty good job.
00:11:04
Snooty
yeah Yeah, the TV coach.
00:11:07
Savage Boston
Okay, what other position group got better?
00:11:11
Bret
No one.
00:11:11
Snooty
Gonzalez.
00:11:11
Bret
yeah I mean, that's this is part a wide may this is part of why Mayo is fired, right?
00:11:14
Savage Boston
Yeah, Christian.
00:11:18
Bret
It was not only just the fact that the obviously the record sucked, but it and then that you got all of those reports about you know what was going on in the locker room, and and he was clearly starting to lose the locker room.
00:11:19
Savage Boston
Yeah.
00:11:31
Bret
But you also just look at development and like, how did it look? How did it feel? And the reality is is we got progressively worse than just about every metric other than some special teams. And you look at player development, just team development, and it was just poor. So that's why he's gone. And when it comes to Wolf,
00:11:51
Bret
Like he's definitely on a guy on borrowed time. You know, ro Ryan has clearly come in with Rabel as like a Rabel package and Rabel essentially, I'm sure it was part of his request to get a guy in the front office if he's going to stick with the GM that we have with Wolf.
00:12:08
Bret
But you look at wolf and you say, well, you know, draft wise, it's still too early to judge a draft guys. Yeah, they they look like shit compared to how other draft guys were. um But, you know, I wouldn't just say throw in the towel, right? They could still develop. The other thing to look at with wolf last year is I mean, he didn't hit on any of his free agency signings either, like atrociously bad.
00:12:31
Savage Boston
no
00:12:32
Bret
And you look at it this year and you're like, okay, we got the fourth overall pick.
00:12:35
Savage Boston
No.
00:12:37
Bret
We have the most cap space. Like if you're going to make a move and save your job, this has to be it. And he's, he's on borrowed time for sure.
00:12:47
Savage Boston
I mean, he gets one more year.
00:12:47
Snooty
Hooper and Gibson Hooper and Gibson were the the only good signings and and I've And I know someone was talking about that the only reason they got hooper is because vampelt wanted hooper So you can't even say it was Yeah Terrible
00:12:50
Savage Boston
Sorry, go for it soon.
00:12:53
Savage Boston
Yeah, i was like I was literally looking up the trying to look up the list of his free agent settings right now.
00:13:02
Savage Boston
Oh, here you go. Yeah, so Hooper Hooper's a Van Pelt guy, not Wolf. He came because, so that kind of takes that out. So, I mean, here's a rough list if you want it. Chukes of Core 4 and the biggest F possible.
00:13:14
Bret
Brutal.
00:13:15
Savage Boston
Antonio Gibson, pretty good.
00:13:17
Snooty
Yeah.
00:13:17
Bret
Respectable.
00:13:18
Savage Boston
Pretty good. Like, I like Gibson. Back-up running back, not exactly the biggest impact, but pretty good. Austin Hooper, I like what Hooper did.
00:13:25
Snooty
yeah
00:13:25
Savage Boston
Back-up tight end, liked it. Van Pelt guy. And Sion Takitaki, nothing.
00:13:30
Snooty
know No.
00:13:31
Savage Boston
Jacobi Brissett,
00:13:32
Snooty
No.
00:13:33
Savage Boston
Nick Leverett, JJ Osborn, Jalen Hawkins, I guess was moderate,
00:13:33
Bret
now now No.
00:13:34
Snooty
He got cut. He got cut.
00:13:41
Snooty
ah He either got hurt or cut.
00:13:44
Bret
I don't know who that is.
00:13:44
Savage Boston
O'Shane Zeminis, I think got hurt, Joey Sly, this is mediocre, mid-tier.
00:13:46
Snooty
He got hurt.
00:13:49
Snooty
he Yeah, yeah, sure.
00:13:49
Bret
yeah
00:13:53
Savage Boston
So I mean, you know, it's, I don't, people try to defend them. Like he couldn't bring in people. He tried to bring, I get it. Yeah, he tried to bring in people, but like, You got to be creative, man. You got to do so. You still have to do a job. Like at the end of it, it's a results-based business. And if you can't bring in, if you can't overpay, like they had, they left money on the table this year. A lot of money they had. They could have like, I think.
00:14:16
Savage Boston
if If you want to tell me that Kraft hamstrung him and they said, we're not signing, you know, we're not doing anything big. We're having a recovery season, gathering storm, whatever, like that's, that's fine. But, um, but the guys he did bring in just so disappointing all of them.
00:14:33
Bret
Yeah, I don't think Kraft, so we'll see. We'll see what happens. But like I have a hard time thinking a guy like Brabel is gonna come into an organization and then be hamstrung by the owner because he doesn't want to spend, right?
00:14:50
Bret
And time will tell, but I just think it's one of those situations where like I don't think that money's gonna be as much of a factor this year.
00:14:58
Snooty
I mean.
00:14:59
Bret
It's just about who's the guys we we get and like how we get them. And I do think having May and having Vrabel is going to help us out better this year than we did last year. So like you take it like a guy like Ridley, where we were like right there, having Vrabel and May could be the differentiator. that That, you know, that might just put you over the top. So like, there's more contributing factors, but I do think I'm going to go with the assumption that Kraft is opening the checkbook this offseason and we're going to, we're going to spend some money.
00:15:33
Snooty
So I think actually the the thing that makes me most concerned about the team going forward is craft and spending because they've historically been one of the lowest cash spending teams in the league. And when you have a coach in Belichick that can optimize picking up guys off the street and hit on mid-round picks and stuff with some you know regularity, um and will invest in key places and you have the quarterback who's willing to take below market value and is really the guy that made everything go, then that's fine.
00:16:06
Snooty
You don't have that anymore. So to me, long-term, the biggest concern I have is that, is the spending. Because it's a whole different stratosphere in terms of spending now than it ever used to be.
00:16:13
Bret
Yeah, I'd say
00:16:18
Savage Boston
He has to really, he has to really spend and I, and he says all the right things, right? He's never limited spending. The only thing he said is like over a three year period, he needs to not be over the cap.
00:16:29
Savage Boston
Yeah. Because he doesn't want to get into cap jail or whatever, but like, but basically, and that's just from probably a and more of a management perspective, but like, yeah.
00:16:31
Snooty
Yeah.
00:16:36
Snooty
Well, you don't want to be the Saints. You don't want to keep kicking the can down the road until like your cap situations of fucking hell, basically.
00:16:43
Savage Boston
Yeah and obviously they're the opposite. They've not spent so much now that they have a ton of money to spend and they need to spend the cap and they could go over the cap and they could really use a lot of cash spending.
00:16:55
Savage Boston
But like he's got to he's going to pay up it. It's not you know.
00:16:58
Bret
but Yeah, to your point, studio, I could see that long term, you know, craft sliding back. I just think this this offseason, especially. I mean, he is very much in a like, he's commented on it numerous times. Like he hears the fan, he understands public sentiment. And this is a guy that like,
00:17:18
Bret
loves to be loved, right? You know, he's, he's definitely reacting to how the fan base is going with it and like, trying to i do what we have to do to make it work. And I mean, it also is one of those things where I do think he is a competitive guy. And he's not like Henry is someone that I think is just content with as long as profit margin line looks good. He's good. Well, I don't I don't get that from k craft. I think craft He wants to win.
00:17:47
Bret
He wants to lie in life. He wants people looking at him. Show me on CBS camera. Let me hold a trophy. Let me be the guy that's center of attention. I'm the guy that's going to go in the hall of fame. I'm running, you know, he wants that attention and he he knows he can only get that if the team is good.
00:17:58
Savage Boston
yes
00:18:04
Savage Boston
Yeah, I mean he he loves ah He loves the attention for certain and he wants to be known He wants to get in the Hall of Fame and he wants to be known as that that big figure. So I don't know I mean, it's a huge offseason coming up, you know as we know and it then there's a lot to talk about in terms of like roster construction and free agents and who they actually want to to Pick to try to build it out and and I'm interested in what variable is gonna do and I think you know I put together just a small whatever ah List today on who I thought would be like your ideal people to get into your room and you know number one and I don't know how you can make it happen but is to trade for AJ Brown and the reason why that comes up is not just because variable spoke about him by name today and
00:18:51
Savage Boston
and loves him and coached him before. It's because AJ Brown's not super happy. Despite being in the playoffs and winning, he's not super happy with that team and and hurts.
00:19:02
Savage Boston
like They had a falling out publicly. They deny it, but they did. and And he's not that happy about how he's being used. So I don't know if you can somehow figure that out and trade for him.
00:19:13
Savage Boston
you know that That's a pipe dream, obviously, but that's like the absolute goal.
00:19:18
Snooty
i think i think I think what they're, a more realistic view of what they're going to do is probably something similar to what Belichick did that first year he was here, which was sign a whole bunch of, no, but it's like sign a whole bunch of, not top tier free agent, but like,
00:19:18
Savage Boston
I love AJ Brown.
00:19:28
Savage Boston
Sign everybody? but
00:19:37
Snooty
You know, 15, 20 guys that are middle tier type of thing. And I know those aren't like great players necessarily, but they're a lot better than the, you know, the crap that we have on this roster at the moment.
00:19:51
Savage Boston
Yeah, but that's what Elliot Wolf thought he was doing this year, though.
00:19:54
Snooty
No, Elliot Wolf brought in a bunch of dog shit and piled it on top of other dogs.
00:19:54
Savage Boston
That's the problem.
00:19:58
Savage Boston
Yeah, but I guarantee if you talked to L.A. Wolf, he'd have been like, oh, you know, Antonio Gibson, Austin Hooper, and those end up all right. But the rest of them, like, Chuke's a core for, was your left tackle.
00:20:09
Savage Boston
He literally quit football.
00:20:09
Snooty
He signed, he signed a right, well, that aside, he signed a right tackle to make him play left. Did not work. He drafted a right tackle, probably overdrafted a right tackle in the third round after he missed out on the run of tackles. I wanted Patrick Paul. He out he i he missed on that guy to make him play left. And like you you drafted and signed a right tackle to make them play left tackle. Your center got hurt. You had no backup. You had no depth anywhere on the roster.
00:20:37
Snooty
You had no depth at linebacker, you had no depth on the offensive line, and those were really your two biggest weaknesses. this year. Bentley goes down, your line back and core basically fucking implodes. It's just like, whoop, I guess, device. Okay. But in a certain role and when when Bentley's out and you ask him to play more of that role, he's not as good. And all of a sudden you're like, line back and core is just like gone. So your front seven's like a fucking waste. You can't get any pressure. Your whole line was fucking terrible. You still, I can't believe Vadarian Lowe, I thought he was going to get cut in camp.
00:21:09
Snooty
All of a sudden he's the starter and he's like the freaking linchpin of the offensive line because he's the only viable left tackle we have.
00:21:14
Savage Boston
And that's currently...
00:21:17
Snooty
You're signing centers off the street. A guy came back from a torn Patel attendant, played two games at center, looked okay. Right? So like your offensive line is is a fucking shithole right now.
00:21:28
Snooty
You have maybe one, maybe two alignment right now in when you and Andrews and Andrews can't have more than a year left. Right? So like realistically, you could see three new starters on your offensive line, maybe four.
00:21:43
Savage Boston
I think you can genuinely toss a huge bag at first Trey Smith for Kansas City. Like like a bag of that dude, like a cornerstone guard. um Throw a bag at him. And then there's a multiple decent free agent tackles, not Cam Robinson, who just got exposed the other day. I know that part of that was like Sam Darnold's fault we're running around forever in the backfield. But he gave up something like 12 pressures in one game.
00:22:11
Savage Boston
um not a good game but um uh alaric dude alarica tackle from the rams i think and then ronnie stanley from the ravens like there are there's a couple decent guys out there and again like money talks man and you got enough money like you got to lock up one if not two tackles maybe one and then draft to tackle but like
00:22:22
Snooty
and
00:22:32
Savage Boston
You don't have time, like they don't have time to to fuck around. You need talent now. So I think you need two premier offensive line positions that you sign in free agency, that's my opinion.
00:22:43
Bret
Yeah, I mean the big, the big problem with taking the old approach that we did before where you just get like 15 middling guys to try to improve the overall roster, like upgrade as many positions as you can, but you don't get major upgrades is, you know, the holes that we have, which we have a lot.
00:23:05
Bret
But the glaring hole that we have with regards to like, left tackle, offensive lineman in general, but left tackle, you know, wide receivers, these are premium positions that are going to get paid. The thing that helps us is we obviously have the quarterback who's going to be on a rookie contract, which is huge right we have Gonzales who's on currently a rookie contract who's a stud uh which is huge so like you do have some and then you have Barmore uh who's you know coming back and you know we all think he's he's a solid player so like you do have some solid young talent on rookie contracts
00:23:43
Bret
uh that's going to be helpful there but like the obviously the positions you gotta fill are in high demand and it's going to be extremely expensive to go with so i'm really interested in the free agency because obviously that hits the ground running before we get into the draft um i would hope that we can somehow address the offensive line in free agency so that we can get a guy like abdul carter but if we can't I'm okay if they go ahead and get that left tackle and the fourth pick, and you know whether it's you know Campbell or ah Banks right and see what happens there, just make sure it's the right guy. But I'm okay with that too. like i i I hear obviously talk about wide receiver and you know what we can do there. I would prefer us going middling route with wide receivers.
00:24:33
Bret
and like spend the money on the offensive line for what we need to do there and you know try to work through the draft in like the wide receiver position or like get some of these guys that are like middle of the pack in the league but are clearly better than what we have.
00:24:50
Savage Boston
genuinely think they will be overpaying for T Higgins, genuinely. um I don't actually think that's even debatable. Reports are they love him. We're able to talk today how they want big big catch radius guys who can make contested catches. you know like you know That's T Higgins. I know he has like some soft tissue injury stuff, which is always concerning. but like you got You got to do something to make a splash and and change the offense a little bit. And I think T Higgins is just, I know they're like, oh, he might want to stay. That's bullshit. Like, what? He's going to get offered $17 million a year from Cincy. And the Patriots are going to offer him fucking $32.
00:25:28
Savage Boston
like, sorry, he's not going to put up, give away $15 million dollars a year. Like, I'm sorry. So I think T Higgins is a genuine, genuine candidate, free agent and candidate, and probably their number one signing this offseason. And I would, I would absolutely risk that. Like, I don't, I think like he, you need people to talk about that true ex receiver forever. um You know, Godwin is more of like the the slot.
00:25:55
Savage Boston
Although God is good. He's still he's also coming off an injury and he's a little bit older I believe too. So it's hard to hit hard hard to hit well and fill the roster out but like You don't just need big names.
00:26:07
Savage Boston
You got you just need talent you need talent everywhere Yes
00:26:11
Snooty
They need talent and they need depth. And then to me, their draft should be best player available outside of, outside of like quarterback, right?
00:26:17
Savage Boston
yeah
00:26:19
Snooty
And I mean, hell, if that, if they deem that the, at number four, the best player in that draft is the corner from Michigan, fucking take them. I don't care. Then you have to shut down corners. Fine.
00:26:30
Savage Boston
yeah
00:26:31
Snooty
I don't care. You, you lack talent everywhere. And you actually, the corner is a sneaky need. You know what I mean? I mean, obviously Christian Gonzalez is, you know, a number one, but like,
00:26:37
Savage Boston
Yeah. Yeah,
00:26:40
Snooty
You don't have much. Jonathan Jones is a free agent. You don't have Marcus Jones as a slot guy. You don't have anybody else outside.
00:26:46
Savage Boston
yeah but with Belichick as coach, you could use Christian Gonzalez and then scheme the rest of the field, you know, and as soon as you go to DeMarcus Covington and and with Steve Belichick out, they don't, they couldn't scheme.
00:26:46
Snooty
No.
00:26:58
Snooty
Right.
00:26:58
Savage Boston
There's no scheme.
00:26:59
Snooty
No, I know. and And what I'm saying, though, for the draft is like, I don't want, to me, I don't like the idea of drafting for need. Certainly if it's down to two prospects that you go, hey, it's equal, then, you know, then it's a philosophical, you know, pass rusher versus left tackle, two premier positions. Right? So it's like, and you need both. Right? So of the like, they always, was it pass rusher, left tackle?
00:27:22
Snooty
ah Quarterback and and corner or like the four, you know premier you you need two of those and really the only way you can get them is through the draft because Legit left tackle and past rushes and stuff almost never hit the free agent market, right?
00:27:26
Bret
Yeah.
00:27:31
Savage Boston
yeah
00:27:37
Bret
Or you're going to pay or you're going to pay a huge premium, but to me.
00:27:37
Snooty
So For for an older guy or something, you know, I mean there's something wrong with the market so
00:27:43
Savage Boston
Yeah.
00:27:43
Bret
Yeah, I still look at it though. yeah For the fourth pick, I'm not good with a cornerback. It's got to be either a tackle or an edge guy.
00:27:55
Bret
Give me Abdul Carter, give me Banks, give me Campbell, give me one of those guys.
00:27:58
Savage Boston
the The problem that there's, from early draft stuff, dude, there's no tackle there.
00:28:03
Snooty
Yeah.
00:28:03
Bret
Yeah. And that's why I was content with trading back.
00:28:04
Savage Boston
It is no tackle.
00:28:06
Bret
That's why I was content with trading back.
00:28:08
Savage Boston
Yeah.
00:28:08
Bret
But obviously we were talking, we had the number one pick, which would have been great, obviously. um Four kind of hurts our stock. So like, I don't, I don't, I think it's a risk trading back.
00:28:19
Savage Boston
What if you trade back, I mean, this is a hypothetical, what if you trade back and you're like, all right, we'll trade back, we'll get Kelvin Banks Jr. And then you're like, all right, he's really good. But he's he's his numbers are kind of similar on the year to Vidarian low.
00:28:33
Savage Boston
And then you basically you which is could be possible because low is better than people think he was.
00:28:39
Snooty
at the past logger.
00:28:39
Savage Boston
Although he had mistakes, you know, like, um, so it's like, okay, that's why the best player available thing I'm into this year, I would I would usually go go more for fit or like,
00:28:50
Savage Boston
you know, yeah, your target, your position. But if you get to four overall, and you have to presume two quarterbacks are gonna go before you, you hope, cross your fingers. And the third guy should be Travis Hunter. And if that's the case, you got your pick of anybody else. And right now we're all pretty dead set on Abdul Carter. I just don't think with that player, after watching him play against premier talent, you can't, he's he is like Micah Parsons, basically. yeah Like it's hard to go wrong with that level of elite talent.
00:29:20
Savage Boston
Um, so I'm all on board. I'll do a car. I know we're for three months away, basically now, but like, I'm all on board that and and you do have the need to, I mean, you're desperate for an edge rusher. So I, that's, that's the guy I want right now.
00:29:32
Snooty
You you can see I could see Abdul Carter I could see Mason Graham I could see the I think it's what's I think it's I forget his name the corner from Michigan But then I'd be against the guy tet from the wide receiver from Arizona.
00:29:37
Savage Boston
Yeah.
00:29:47
Snooty
I'm not sure he's special enough to go top five as a receiver um I From what I've seen this year um Banks over Campbell um That being said banks isn't you're like
00:29:51
Savage Boston
Yeah.
00:30:01
Snooty
You know stud generational you know not necessary generation but he's not your stud bonafide. No doubt about it left tackle prospects like it's it's not like last year with alt.
00:30:12
Snooty
um you know You got to go with if it's clear heads and above that they think that the corner is better than anybody else fine I don't think that's going to be the case just because I mean i've seen carter play too is what you know what I mean so But i'm just saying outside of quarterback I i'm gonna or running back.
00:30:31
Snooty
Don't take a fucking running back. Um, i'm happy with whatever they take because Oh, I would that's the one That that would make me lose my fucking mind
00:30:34
Savage Boston
Yeah, they take gente. They take gente.
00:30:41
Savage Boston
There's no solution no chance.
00:30:41
Snooty
um I Like motherfucker, you know, like No, but let but it's not gonna happen but like, you know what I mean?
00:30:47
Savage Boston
No chance. No chance.
00:30:47
Bret
There's no line to run behind.
00:30:51
Snooty
Like though it you can it doesn't matter what position they take like if they were a Brock Bowers type of tight end and and yeah I don't think Warren is that from Penn State, but like if they thought that he was then shit I don't care like if you get a dynamic tight end that can open everything up fine You know I mean like you need you have needs everywhere Because henry Hunter Henry's like 31 32 like he's older as a for a tight end You don't have a tight end of the future.
00:31:16
Snooty
I know he's got great rapport with May but like Well
00:31:17
Savage Boston
you You could do so much to to improve the team in almost any way. The problem is you need the six first round picks. like you need like the talent so bad like you need like I'll do Carter then you want to somehow get ah Will Campbell then you want to get Ted then people want to get ah Golden from Texas or whatever or Tyler Warren from Penn State like there's a lot of There's gonna be a lot of there's some pretty decent players like I I don't I don't mind the draft for some position groups I think some are are not good, especially quarterback.
00:31:53
Savage Boston
I really don't like the class. I don't at all I think I'm not convinced whatsoever I don't even think and I agree with most most of the pundits like if this is in prior years a lot of these dudes They're not first-round picks like some of these guys.
00:32:06
Savage Boston
They don't have first-round pick grades Like these are second or third round guys.
00:32:08
Snooty
Yeah.
00:32:11
Snooty
Like, what sucks about losing the first overall pick is, like, you could have gone to this offseason saying, okay, we know that someone that picked three, four, five, whatever it is, is going to move up, right?
00:32:13
Savage Boston
I
00:32:23
Snooty
And to get us a the one this year, a two this year, and a future one, right?
00:32:24
Savage Boston
Yeah.
00:32:28
Snooty
And that's conservative.
00:32:28
Savage Boston
Yeah.
00:32:29
Snooty
You just say, like, okay. And you go, you know what? We're going to take that other two this year and flip that two for DK Metcalf from Seattle. So then you still have a first, you still have a second, you got DK Metcalf who you can throw money at right to to extend him.
00:32:43
Snooty
And then you have a first future first next year.
00:32:43
Savage Boston
Yeah.
00:32:46
Snooty
And you would know that now going into free agency and shit because you would be willing, like you could have those discussions with teams.
00:32:46
Savage Boston
yeah
00:32:52
Snooty
You could say, what is Seattle looking for? right like What are they looking for in some type of return? And you can be like, okay, you can flush out what are the Raiders looking to do? you know Move up from whatever spot. Where are the Giants?
00:33:02
Savage Boston
Yeah, they blew it.
00:33:03
Snooty
The Giants high on somebody? They just fucking blew it.
00:33:05
Savage Boston
They blew it.
00:33:06
Bret
Yeah, it sucks.
00:33:07
Savage Boston
That's why Graff carried him so quick.
00:33:07
Bret
it sucks
00:33:09
Savage Boston
He's like, fuck you. He was so mad.
00:33:11
Bret
Yes.
00:33:13
Snooty
You just rage fired mail.
00:33:14
Savage Boston
He did. He prior him 90 minutes after the game. It was ridiculous. He's like, fuck you. He'd enter the booth. He's like, ah, fucking idiot. You know what I mean? Can you imagine? Like Jonathan Graff was probably losing his mind.
00:33:28
Savage Boston
I would trade a second and a heartbeat for DK Metcalf or AJ Brown.
00:33:28
Snooty
Well, cause maybe you trade your second.
00:33:33
Bret
yes
00:33:34
Snooty
You know what I mean? Maybe it's pick 33, but you have picked 37 already from the trade. You know what I mean? Like that's how it would have worked.
00:33:40
Savage Boston
Yeah, yeah, no that yeah, you fucked up. who could you who You have two thirds, because they actually Wolf had a good move when he traded Judon. Good idea. um So you have two third round picks. It's like, all right, well, you could um trade those two third rounders for a second.
00:33:57
Savage Boston
And then you have ah another second. And then you could trade that second for a receiver and have two seconds. You know what I mean? like You could make it happen. Or you keep both thirds and add talent.
00:34:03
Bret
Yeah. i don't i I don't see us moving up to kind of the same logic we talked about a free agency, right? i we We have to fill out the roster.
00:34:14
Bret
I do think there's gonna be some splash signings for this. I mean, I really fuckin' hope. But when it comes to the draft, it's the more you know the more shots in the chamber you have, the more likely you're gonna be able to hit the target, right?
00:34:29
Bret
So I look at that and say, we're just not in the position to consolidate picks to move up.
00:34:32
Savage Boston
Yeah.
00:34:36
Bret
It's just not. It's just we're not in that position.
00:34:39
Snooty
unless they think unless they think the draft really sucks this class.
00:34:39
Bret
I don't think it works.
00:34:44
Savage Boston
I mean, if you could, like I said, if you could somehow get two seconds and then trade, you know, like you could, or you get two seconds and then you trade two seconds for a second first and, you know, ball out, like there's some options.
00:34:44
Bret
Yeah.
00:34:54
Savage Boston
No, it's not. a ton of options, but like there's some, I just don't want another year when in free agency, um, you know, like last year, Elliot Wolf, like telling you, like, I actually really, you know, really liked this class and the O-line, I think we did enough. Then like you were by far the worst O-line in football by every metric. And it's like, how could the, how, like how in his brain, unless he's just truly lying to our faces, how could he have thought this is a sufficient unit this year?
00:35:26
Bret
Yeah, no, I mean, he clearly fell short. But like going back to your point about like making trades and stuff, yeah one gripe I've always had with the NFL is I truly think NFL overvalues draft picks when you have proven guys.
00:35:31
Savage Boston
Yeah.
00:35:42
Bret
like your Your point right there, trade a second because it's a top second to get a guy like DK Metcalf. how many times would a team make that trade and then use that pick and then miss on the fucking guy they got and you just traded away a premium guy which i understand they're usually doing that because of contract situations but like figure that shit out you you're basically moving an asset that's like a proven guy for.
00:36:02
Savage Boston
Yeah. Right.
00:36:10
Bret
something where it's like you're taking a shot. So if I'm a GM and I'm in the position to get premium guys that can fit in our cap space and fit in the scheme we're trying to work, I would trade a draft pick all day if I can make it work there.
00:36:23
Bret
I understand there there becomes limitations on a cap situation, right?
00:36:23
Savage Boston
actually
00:36:27
Bret
Rookies have better cap. But I do think when it comes to talent, they the NFL by and large overvalues these draft picks and you see talented guys that are pretty like premier guys that go for like small draft picks and you're like, that's insane.
00:36:42
Savage Boston
But you said it's for it's for money. It's always money. you know like With DK Metcalfe, I don't think Seattle wants to pay him and he's going to end up reaching free agency or something if they don't want to franchise him. I don't know what his contract is at right now. With DK, like maybe they're like, all yeah, we'll take a second round pick for DK Metcalfe. And then you know they get a huge compensation.
00:37:03
Savage Boston
And then you get the receiver and you extend the receiver. I mean, he's on right now a three year, $72 million dollars contract. So like he's getting paid to $31 million dollars cap hit. So he needs to go to a team that has a lot of money.
00:37:16
Savage Boston
You know what I mean?
00:37:16
Bret
Yeah.
00:37:17
Savage Boston
He's like, he's making, he's getting paid man. And, uh, and basically after 2026, uh, it looks like he'll be an unrestricted free agent, but like his money, his money goes down though, I think in 20.
00:37:26
Snooty
Yeah, I think he.
00:37:26
Bret
Yeah, so that's a that's a sign in trades. money
00:37:32
Savage Boston
you see He's got a weird, I don't know, this contract's weird to understand.
00:37:35
Snooty
I think I think he has one year left on his deal.
00:37:35
Savage Boston
he has
00:37:38
Savage Boston
This might be his last year.
00:37:39
Snooty
I believe.
00:37:39
Savage Boston
He has a potential out after 2025.
00:37:42
Snooty
Yeah.
00:37:44
Savage Boston
And it looks like, yeah, 2026 unrestricted free agent.
00:37:47
Snooty
And he'll be 30.
00:37:48
Savage Boston
So you're selling this dude, you're you're basically selling a guy who's um however year old.
00:37:50
Bret
He's 28 now.
00:37:51
Snooty
Yeah.
00:37:55
Savage Boston
ah
00:37:55
Bret
It's 28.
00:37:56
Snooty
So he'll be 29 at the real That's that's really what they're banking on is like
00:37:56
Savage Boston
20 years old and then like how many years does he have I mean he's a freakin nature like does he have four good years three good years and then and you have money to spend so like you gotta say alright fuck it I'm gonna go eat 30 mil of DK Metcalf and 30 mil of D Higgins like or you know what I mean or you don't
00:38:02
Bret
Yeah, at least three.
00:38:15
Bret
Yeah, I mean, you could restructure that too, though.
00:38:17
Snooty
that's that they're not gonna do that
00:38:18
Savage Boston
Or you get just 1x and then you sign a mid-tier wide receiver, like, um, uh, Slayton from the Giants. You get Slayton and DK Metcalf and you still have Born and Hunter Hat, you know what I mean?
00:38:30
Savage Boston
All of a sudden the offense looks, looks different. And then who's your, who's your OC? How do you actually run that scheme? So it's efficient.
00:38:37
Snooty
We haven't even gotten to that.
00:38:38
Savage Boston
You know what I mean? Like it's two, there's a lot this way and I'm going to wrap up the pod now because I should keep it again, keep it probably sub 40 minutes, but, um, But yeah, it's like, scheme. Like, you get the talent.
00:38:49
Savage Boston
OK, cool. Do you have linemen? Can you run? Do you have schemes? Like, there's all these other questions. So good time to wrap it up. More stuff to talk about later on. So ah you know what?
00:38:58
Bret
Yeah, get some ah get some coaching candidates that we can talk about next pod.
00:39:03
Savage Boston
I am sure in the next week, we will have plenty of offensive coaching. Tommy Reese already got locked up, so that one's out the window.
00:39:09
Snooty
Yeah, fuckers.
00:39:10
Bret
Yup.
00:39:11
Savage Boston
So even though people weren't high on him. All right, we'll see you guys later. Peace.
00:39:15
Snooty
Yep.