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00:00But it's a Tommy Tuesday. We're joined by Tommy Curran of NBC Sports Boston. His latest is up at
00:05NBC Sports Boston right now. Overview on what the Patriots did in day one of free agency. Tommy
00:11Curran, what do you think of what the Patriots were able to accomplish on day one of, I shouldn't say
00:15free agency, day one of legal tampering? How do you think they did? I think they made progress
00:21where the ability was there to make progress. You know, you got to fish where the fish are,
00:26and then on the offensive side of the ball, the two obvious positions of need, and I'm sure you
00:32guys have explored it plenty over the last 24 hours and during the early portion of the show.
00:37But you can't force it. You can't force people at the point of a bayonet, whether you're Chris
00:43Godwin or Ronnie Stanley, to say, you know what, I'm going to uproot. I'm going to take that money
00:47that they're offering me and that opportunity in New England and just on a lark, just go there
00:54at my age and walk away from a team that's either a playoff team as Tampa was or, you know, a Super
01:00Bowl aspirant as Baltimore was. So I look at it and say, OK, we understood that that was a chance
01:07and they made their decision. Then you look at the defensive side of the ball and I think that
01:12they were innovative. I do wonder, like a signing of Carlton Davis, though, for the amount that he
01:16got, would he have been offered that kind of money if a Godwin or a Stanley were aboard?
01:22I think it's interesting to wonder about what domino effect those two missed signings had on
01:28the group they brought in. Where do you stand on Milton Williams? Obviously a huge commitment to
01:32him. I think he's certainly shown how good he can be. The other thing is he's part of a really
01:39good defense. He was next to Jalen Carter and played less than 50 percent of the snaps. So
01:44where do you come down on Milton Williams, the player? To the good. He could be nasty when you
01:49look at that defensive line. I mean, Keon White is a freak. Christian Barmore is also a freak.
01:59Harold Landry is absolutely a talented outside rusher, although he's more of an
02:03uche than a judan by a long shot. So you could have a really potent front if it's just Milton
02:10Williams at 295 pounds and you don't have that compliment around him to to help him get better.
02:16I think it's a great point by you. He's 26. There's plenty of upside. There's a massive
02:21commitment made there. He can either be a huge part of an extremely talented defensive line
02:30or the only game in town because we don't know what's going to happen with Barmore
02:36health-wise and his availability. And Keon White is wonderfully talented and you saw that in the
02:42early portion of the season. Then he tapered off and actually was seemingly at the scene of the
02:47crime with a lot of defensive breakdowns and loss of contain. So I like it in theory on paper
02:58and he wasn't, you know, you can't blame them for making that signing. But as always with defensive
03:06linemen, sometimes you hold your breath. I walked outside so it's a little windy right now. I was
03:11not confident about my indoor reception. We're picking up a little bit of wind but your reception
03:17sounds good. Tom, you also wrote that culture will be a determining factor on who the Patriots are
03:27pursuing in free agency. It certainly seems to be that way. They have ties to a lot of these players
03:31whether it's McDaniels and his time with the Raiders or Terrence Williams's time with the
03:35Lions or of course Rabel in Tennessee. How much of a determining factor is that for the Patriots
03:41and how badly do they need that in the locker room? Because that does seem like a big point
03:46of emphasis. It's a huge determining factor. I'm not saying it's as big as production but
03:52it's a disqualifying factor if there's a question mark around how you would impact the players
03:58around you. Because your most important players on this team, especially Drake May and Christian
04:03Gonzalez, are young enough to be in positions where if you bring players in on the defensive
04:09side of the ball or the offensive side of the ball who might pull in the other direction. As Gerard
04:14May always said, you got 10% of the team pulling in the right direction, 10% could be pulling in
04:21the wrong direction, and that 80% in the middle to see who wins. And last year, I think that
04:27in Gerard's first year here, by the end of the season the empowerment given to players to speak
04:32their minds and feel empowered to say what you like and let your feelings be known, actually as
04:39the team started to play worse, that 10% of the negative started to pull in a direction and they
04:46joined in. I mean, why is Keyshawn Booty, who I really enjoy, but a sixth round pick, voicing his
04:53opinion so freely on the direction of the offense the amount of times he should get the football. I
04:58mean, so to me, that empowerment of guys to be able to speak their minds, really, I mean, speak
05:08your mind, go ahead. I mean, it is a free contract still, but there should be a pecking order. And I
05:14think that when you look at a DK Metcalf or a Devontae Adams, they're not things, but they have
05:19an expectation for what they should get in terms of targets and production. And the Patriots looked
05:27at Drake May in particular as being the leader of the team. And if you're going to bring somebody
05:32in and give them 25, $30 million at the wide receiver position, you're inferring that they are
05:40as or more important than anybody else on your team. So they want to make sure that it's the
05:45right person that they empower with that. Well, speaking of some of those big receivers that
05:50have not signed with the Patriots, is there a chance that Drake May isn't the draw that a lot
05:57of us around here thinks that he would be? I don't know if I would ascribe it to May. I think
06:04that would be really the lone thing that you could look at. If you're, say you're Chris Goblin and
06:09you're deciding, do I want to play with Mayfield and stay down here in Florida with a team that
06:14went to the playoffs in a place that I'm comfortable when I've always been and I'm rooted, or do I want
06:19to uproot and go to New England? What are the pros about New England? And I think that Drake
06:23May would be about their only pro. He's probably, but I think he's better, certainly trends better
06:31than Baker Mayfield. Yeah, he's better than Baker Mayfield. No, he's not. Not right now.
06:36Would you rather play with Baker Mayfield if you're a wide receiver?
06:40Well, no, I mean like in two years, maybe he could be, or maybe if he has a great year,
06:44I think based on just what we saw last year. Who's going to have a better year this year?
06:47Who's going to have a better year, Baker Mayfield or Drake Mayfield?
06:49Baker Mayfield.
06:51Oh, it's on.
06:52Baker Mayfield's not throwing a Mack Hollins and Jalen Polk, but how about, this is a more fair
06:58one in my estimation. How about another guy who turned down their money a year ago, Ayuk,
07:03who chose to play or return to play with Purdy in San Fran? Like Ayuk or May, sorry, Purdy or May,
07:09I'd say May.
07:10Hopefully May, yeah.
07:12Oh, definitely. But again, we then get back to the conversation of what's the level of
07:20comfort the Patriots would have with Ayuk's demands and ability to kick rocks if he's not
07:26getting things his way. I think the bar is going to be so high. You don't have to be a pain in the
07:30ass. You don't have to be Terrell Owens in the locker room, I think right now for the Patriots
07:36to say, eh, not sure. Dodd would fit the bill. Kobe Myers would fit the bill. Cooper Cupp would
07:42fit the bill. I think they're setting a high bar for that. And because it's not just about May,
07:48it's about the wide receiver room as a whole. Jalen Polk and Javon Baker did not signal that
07:53they were guys, or Booty, who were guys who were like, okay, we understand, we know our place,
07:59whatever we can do to make ourselves better. Jalen Polk's proclaiming himself to have the
08:03best hands in the league. Javon Baker on draft day is telling everybody how unbelievably
08:09he's going to perform so that he's performing literal miracles. So they're very concerned
08:15about the cultural aspect. And that trumps character aspect. I want to reiterate that.
08:23Character to me, when you start talking about kids' character when they're 22 and 23,
08:28that's tough. It's cultural. What do you like? Not are you a bad person because we all change
08:34all the time. We're talking to Tommy Curran, NBC Sports Boston. He joins us every Tuesday
08:39here on Jones and Keefe at high noon. We call it a Tom E. Tuesday. I love that too.
08:44Yeah, it's Keith. You can give the hat to Rich Keefe there. You're kind of locked in now.
08:49That's true. We can't have no other days for you. No options. It is day two legal tampering.
08:54What are you hearing? What are they going to get done here in the next,
08:57oh, whatever it is, 28 hours leading up to the official start of free agency?
09:03It's interesting because they talked about pivots and moving and the ability to be
09:10mobile. And I think we saw that. For instance, we see a guy like Cam Robinson's continuing to sit
09:15out there. If you look at some of his numbers from 2024, he's not an encouraging guy. He is
09:24seen, I think, as a, he's a left tackle, of course, and that's a position of need.
09:29So he's seen as a player that would be the number two guy behind Ronnie Stanley,
09:34and he's still sitting there on the board. I think that the Patriots are moving quickly to
09:38tier two free agency as the signing of Matt Collins would indicate. I would also say,
09:44continue to stay loose on Jacoby Myers. I think that the Patriots want to move
09:49somebody. I mean, let me rephrase that. I think the Patriots will explore trades of all manner.
09:59That is, they've already reportedly made entries on A.J. Brown. I think they were rebuffed. I think
10:06Matthew Berry reported that. Jacoby Myers will be a target. Cooper Cupp, if he hasn't been released,
10:14is, that release is imminent. So all of those guys would be looked at as tier two.
10:19I think that the Josh Dobbs signing means that the Joe Milton flip could be imminent.
10:27So I would bear that in mind, too. And something I mentioned a couple weeks ago, just spitballing,
10:32why not send Jacoby, Joe Milton for Jacoby Myers? It's an easy flip. Pick up his $10 million
10:39contract for 2024, excuse me, 2025, and figure out if you want to do an extension with him.
10:44Again, Jacoby Myers is not an elite wide receiver, but he is an 85 catch a year guy. And you know
10:49where he's going to be when he starts his route. He's pretty durable. So I continue to bang that
10:54drum. What about Cooper Cupp? You mentioned him. Jones and I both like him a lot. And it sounds
10:58like he's going to get released. But why take that chance of him picking you over other teams?
11:03Should they offer some sort of late round pick in exchange for him now?
11:13We all do this. Do you sometimes get to a point where you feel like you're finding fault with
11:18guys? That's my default position. Do I sometimes feel that? Yeah, I feel that.
11:30What do you think of this Jesus guy? I don't like the long hair.
11:35Again with the sandals.
11:41But you look at Cooper Cupp and the ability to play 17 games and it's just not there. Additionally,
11:50I don't know Cooper Cupp's character. No, that's not the right. I don't know about Cooper Cupp's
11:56cultural fit character. Again, I just said I don't like using that word because unless you
12:03know the guy's a horrible human, let's stick away from that cultural fit. You got a guy who's been
12:08in Los Angeles, performed and produced at the level he has. And now he's going to come to New
12:13England clear across the country to a different climate, different situation with different
12:18aspirations for the team. Do you guys want to do that? I think everybody looks at their own careers
12:25and there are probably times that you do it. Maybe he would look at that and say, you know what?
12:30This place thinks I'm good still. This place wants to give me a chance. I can help this kid,
12:34Drake May. I like Josh McDaniels. I think he's smart. Maybe he would or maybe he'd be in a
12:39position like, do I want to do that at this point in my career? Go to a building team?
12:45So I think every player is different. But that's why I would look at Cooper Cupp and you really
12:51have to vet what he would want from the team he's going to. Does any other activity in free agency
12:58to this point steer you in a direction when it comes to the number four pick in the draft or
13:03their approach with the number four pick in the draft? The fact that they haven't addressed left
13:09tackle with a starting level individual continues to make me believe that they're going to have to
13:17do that on day one, whether that is taking someone at four, Membu or Campbell, whether that's dealing
13:24down, trading that pick and especially if Travis Hunter or Abdul Carter aren't there.
13:32But if you're sitting there looking at Will Campbell and Membu at four and you feel, and I'm
13:37spitballing here, I don't know how they feel about Membu necessarily. I do think that there's a lot
13:44of appreciation for Campbell. But if you're sitting there staring at that spot and saying,
13:49we can get one of these two guys, can we move down and add? But to answer your question more
13:56succinctly because I'm in a battle mode right now, yeah, I think it impacts what they're going to do,
14:01especially on the offensive line because you can't go in with a straight face saying,
14:05this is all we have at left tackle, go left Drake. All right, he's Tommy Curran, NBC Sports Boston,
14:11every Tuesday on Jones and Keefe. We call it a Tom E Tuesday. You can check out his latest
14:16at NBC Sports Boston for the Patriots free agency, a reminder that there are no shortcuts. You're
14:21back on quick slants tonight, right? I've seen the polls going out today. You're back on quick
14:25slants. Nice. Yeah, we're going to go crazy with the polls too, because I know that people have a
14:29lot of opinions all cooped up. So we're going to have plenty of polls in tonight's program at six
14:33o'clock. Okay. Very good. Tommy Curran's polls. You can see that tonight on NBC Sports Boston.
14:38You can hear them on Thursdays with WEI afternoons and every Tuesday at high noon
14:42here on Jones and Keefe. Tom, we appreciate the time as always. Thanks so much.
14:46Thank you very much, guys. Thank you, Tom. Tommy Curran. Still beating the drum for
14:50Jacobi Myers. Jacobi Myers for Joe Milton. How would you feel about that? I'd do it.
14:55I'd do that. I think I would. I think that one I would do. Like I said before, I'd want a two,
15:00I'd want a day to pick, but now you're telling me no draft pick. You got a number two receiver
15:05kind of thing. No draft pick compensation for Myers. Yeah. I was about to ask, why would the
15:10Raiders do that? He answered it. They just want to ditch the contract. So Milton for Myers. Okay.
15:15Yeah. I would do it. So what's the Raiders quarterback room right now? Gino Smith and
15:21right. They got Gino, didn't they? So yeah. So maybe they even take care. Do they still have
15:26yeah. Who's the O'Connell O'Connell. Thank you. Yeah. All right. Maybe they do. But I mean,
15:30it's a new wave of it's a new GM. It's a new coach. And maybe they'd be like,
15:34all right, we're going to change this up anyway.