Speaker 1: This is the Draft Prospect Review Podcast on Patriots dot
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Speaker 1: like now here to preview the quarterbacks, the writers of
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Speaker 1: Mike Draft Expert. Yeah, glad to be back for another
Speaker 1: year of draft preview stuff. Can't get enough, well, you
Speaker 1: guys can't get enough. I can get enough because it
Speaker 1: bores me to tears. But where anyway? We have to
Speaker 1: do it. So Mike, just so, Paul Prolo and a
Speaker 1: special guest going to be with us this year because Matisse,
Speaker 1: you made the mistake of suggesting that you wanted to
Speaker 1: be more involved in the draft preparation. So you ask
Speaker 1: and you shall receive, my friends, so we're gonna have
Speaker 1: Matisse Bowman with us for all of our positional breakdowns.
Speaker 1: What exact, why don't you tell everybody what you do here?
Speaker 1: I don't know what is it that you do here?
Speaker 1: I help out post the Patriots dot com website, you know,
Speaker 1: when you post your wheatly notes and Mike does the
Speaker 1: mailbag and Um sometimes help out Matt Morrell of Patriots Unfiltered.
Speaker 1: He's always he's always got draft commentary, like throughout the
Speaker 1: time he's been here, he's got his prospects. So I
Speaker 1: always go over to him to see a white like
Speaker 1: that guy Ta. So you guys have heard tease because
Speaker 1: he does. He fills in for Matt on occasion as
Speaker 1: our producer for Patriots Unfiltered. Today, we're gonna kick things off,
Speaker 1: you know, in the logical spot here, We'll start with quarterback. Uh.
Speaker 1: Not a great class of quarterbacks this year in the
Speaker 1: twenty twenty two draft, A lot of question marks at
Speaker 1: the top. There could be a couple of guys in
Speaker 1: the first round. There might be nobody in the first round.
Speaker 1: I think there are still some teams like Pittsburgh, like
Speaker 1: Carolina h maybe a few others that are really still
Speaker 1: searching for that guy. Got take a guy, and the
Speaker 1: question is do you overdraft a guy? But I'll start
Speaker 1: with you, Mike, who's the one guy if you had
Speaker 1: to overdraft somebody in the first round, who's the one
Speaker 1: guy you liked the moment? I think it's pretty clear
Speaker 1: Malik willis Um. You know, I just I think he
Speaker 1: had a real good cam He had a real good,
Speaker 1: real good senior Bowl, uh, you know, through the ball
Speaker 1: all in weather down there in Tuscaloosa. When so I think,
Speaker 1: you know, showing that he can do that, but you know,
Speaker 1: not great. I means he's one of these new guys
Speaker 1: that's athletic. I mean he you know, is a small
Speaker 1: school from Liberty, started at auburn Um, you know, so
Speaker 1: we lit it up at a small school, and obviously
Speaker 1: the question is can he make the jump? But I
Speaker 1: think is athleticism another thing to point out about him,
Speaker 1: just you know, getting caught at the combine, you know,
Speaker 1: given a homeless guy a bunch of stuff, so, you know,
Speaker 1: just things like that. Seems like a good quality leader.
Speaker 1: But I think you're right, Paul, it's is a team
Speaker 1: gonna overdraft him? Maybe, you know in the teens twenties,
Speaker 1: that's that's probably Carolina. I think sitting at six, if
Speaker 1: they were to take a quarterback, I think that would
Speaker 1: be the definition of overdrafting. But Tis, do you agree
Speaker 1: with Mike? Is? It is it Willis? I think Willis
Speaker 1: is the one that stands out and the only other
Speaker 1: person I'd reach for it maybe be Kenny Pickett. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I would take Pickett ahead of Willis, But what are
Speaker 1: your thoughts on Willis? Before I talk about Kenny Pickett?
Speaker 1: A little bit big, He's strong, and he looks like
Speaker 1: he can command an offense, and he's pretty mobile, which
Speaker 1: is where the league's going now. But then again, do
Speaker 1: you really want to risk a first round pick on
Speaker 1: somebody that you're pretty unsure about? Yeah? No, I mean
Speaker 1: no question. I mean the measurables, you know, the highest
Speaker 1: ceiling I think by far is Willis. I think that
Speaker 1: he has a skill set that most of the other
Speaker 1: guy's darm most of the other guys don't have. I'm
Speaker 1: worried about the level of play that he was at
Speaker 1: and when he did get a chance at Liberty to
Speaker 1: go up against some of the better programs, I don't
Speaker 1: think it was great. But also part of that is,
Speaker 1: you know what he's surrounded by. It's sort of the
Speaker 1: anti Matt Uh. You know, you didn't have a tremendous
Speaker 1: amount of talent around him. But I I the one
Speaker 1: thing that scares me about Kenny Pickett is just basically
Speaker 1: one year. He had an unbelievable year in twenty one,
Speaker 1: forty two touchdown seven picks. I think that that kind
Speaker 1: of came out of nowhere, and now everybody's worried about
Speaker 1: the hand size. You know, he's got tiny little Paul hands,
Speaker 1: so you know in the gloves, you know whether or
Speaker 1: not you measure it with you know, wrapping his hand
Speaker 1: in a different way around the football like doing it them. Yeah,
Speaker 1: there's some different, uh thing. I think Kenny Pickett is
Speaker 1: a safer pick. I agree with you guys that Willis
Speaker 1: has the higher up sta. I mean, I just think
Speaker 1: the thirty eight career fumbles lost twenty six, that's that's
Speaker 1: the hand size concern. That's that's legitimate. But but you're right,
Speaker 1: you know it was there for a while, exploded his
Speaker 1: senior year. He does he does ask them upside. I
Speaker 1: think it's, you know, you get so caught up in
Speaker 1: the minutia of hand size and forty time and all
Speaker 1: those different things. But I do think he's a good
Speaker 1: football player. You know, if he he seems like a
Speaker 1: Pittsburgh Steeler guy, right, like he's Pittsburgh went to pit
Speaker 1: like that. That that just seems like a natural fit
Speaker 1: to me for for the obvious reason. But um, you know,
Speaker 1: I think he's another guy, definitely, same kind of range.
Speaker 1: Low first round. Some team needs a quarterback, like Pittsburgh tease.
Speaker 1: The Patriots obviously are not going to be in the
Speaker 1: market early on for a quarterback, you after taking Mac
Speaker 1: Jones last year. So you know, there's there's some other
Speaker 1: guys that are probably Day two picks. Matt Corrall, Desmond Ritter. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know those kinds of guys. But if we go
Speaker 1: a little bit further down the list, the Patriots good
Speaker 1: I mean, it's always good business, always quarterbacks. Give me
Speaker 1: a Day three kind of guy that maybe stuck out
Speaker 1: to you, any of these guys you like. Sort of
Speaker 1: as we moved down the list, the only two or
Speaker 1: Carts and Strong from Nevada and Derek King Um. And
Speaker 1: you take Derek King with hoping that he's a receiver
Speaker 1: or another precaution. I tell him, Paul, go ahead, guy,
Speaker 1: he's been his ball, He's been his guy ever since.
Speaker 1: Paul compared to Drew Blood. So as a calm he
Speaker 1: was like, well, he barked out, did you see this guy?
Speaker 1: I do like Strong? Um? You know I saw that
Speaker 1: the knee injuries though multiple knee injuries. That said, he
Speaker 1: didn't remind me all that much when I want to
Speaker 1: see it either, I didn't really see it either. I'm like,
Speaker 1: it's not even really that, you know, I always think
Speaker 1: it drew six six, you know, pocket guy and um,
Speaker 1: you know, certainly he's a little more athletic. I think
Speaker 1: this guy is definitely a pocket past everybody. I do.
Speaker 1: I do worry about those injuries too. They said he's
Speaker 1: gonna move around like old Philip Rivers. And he's twenty
Speaker 1: two if you're already making that, and therefore he's a
Speaker 1: Day three pick right right, you know, So I agree
Speaker 1: with Teath. I think he probably out of this group,
Speaker 1: had the best skill set. Think he threw the best,
Speaker 1: the best ball. You know, good size six sixty three two,
Speaker 1: you know, two thirty ish, you know, good, good solid
Speaker 1: comes from good stock, ye duce right, I like that.
Speaker 1: So he's a guy. Now. I wanted to bring up
Speaker 1: um Caleb Ellaby from Western Michigan only because we know
Speaker 1: that Joe Judge and was part of a Patriot's contingent
Speaker 1: that was in Kalamazoo about a month ago, and they
Speaker 1: were looking at him. Now there were other guys too.
Speaker 1: There's a receiver that we'll talk about in later podcast,
Speaker 1: Sky more that he threw to a lot like him
Speaker 1: at Western Michigan, but specifically they were looking at Caleb
Speaker 1: Ellaby that day. Was there anything that you guys saw
Speaker 1: from him that stuck out? Not really get Okay? So
Speaker 1: this is then with no Caleb Ellaby fans here, This
Speaker 1: feels like a due diligence trip a little bit to me,
Speaker 1: you know, the small guys, But but I like it.
Speaker 1: I just again, to go back to your point, I
Speaker 1: think every year I would select a quarterback at some range,
Speaker 1: even if it was an undrafted guy. Um, I just
Speaker 1: think it's good business to bring guys every year. You
Speaker 1: have Jared Stidham coming into the final year of his deal.
Speaker 1: You did sign Brian Hoyer for a couple of years.
Speaker 1: But how how you know is he really gonna step
Speaker 1: in as a backup. I think he's more of a mentor. Um,
Speaker 1: he could step in. But I just again, I think
Speaker 1: it's just good practice to commune to bring these guys in.
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, another guy, just want to bring
Speaker 1: up with Sam Howell from North Carolina, who you know,
Speaker 1: coming into this year, I thought he was getting a
Speaker 1: lot of hype. He was kind of in the back
Speaker 1: of my mind. And then you know, I when I
Speaker 1: really actually watched him, I was not impressed. I kind
Speaker 1: of felt like he was football player, not a quarterback. No,
Speaker 1: he kind of reminded me of like kind of a
Speaker 1: kind of a budget version of of of Cleveland's quarterback.
Speaker 1: I've hit their former quarterback. I should put like Baker Mayfield.
Speaker 1: He looked like a like a like a budget version
Speaker 1: of Baker Mayfield, which I know wasn't saying much, but um,
Speaker 1: you know, just saw him at the combine. Didn't really
Speaker 1: look the part. So I think he embodies some of
Speaker 1: what a lot of this class is outside of Willison Pickett.
Speaker 1: And after that, everybody's got some questions. Nobody's got perfect
Speaker 1: side or perfect arm or perfect you know, athleticism. There's
Speaker 1: questions across the board. And I mean, I think if
Speaker 1: if I had to take a chance, I'd probably go
Speaker 1: as strong and you know, hope that that he's healthy
Speaker 1: and that you know, maybe he can be a backup
Speaker 1: for a little while and really get healthy and learn
Speaker 1: the system. I think he kind of fits what they do. Yeah,
Speaker 1: the one guy before we wrapped this one up, I
Speaker 1: would say is Desmond Ridder. For me, I think he'll
Speaker 1: probably get taken a little bit earlier than some of
Speaker 1: these other guys that we're talking about. But if you
Speaker 1: got him, you know, day three, fifth round ish, um.
Speaker 1: You know, I don't think he'll be around that long,
Speaker 1: but if you did, I think there's something to work with.
Speaker 1: He has good size, he's a good athlete, has a
Speaker 1: good arm, and I think he could probably learn the
Speaker 1: NFL system a little bit. Um. You know, during you know,
Speaker 1: he had good success at Cincinnati. You know he's got
Speaker 1: he got he got stacked team. I mean, it just
Speaker 1: got that into the you know, he got him into
Speaker 1: the College Football Playoff this year, which obviously is unprecedented.
Speaker 1: No non traditional school, non Power five school has ever
Speaker 1: done that in the short history of it. So he
Speaker 1: was a big part of that. I do think there's
Speaker 1: some upside there. I mean, he'd be a good backup.
Speaker 1: I think initially if he wasn't relied upon, um, you know,
Speaker 1: for a couple of years. I think there's some some potential.
Speaker 1: But again, I don't think he'll be around. You're talking
Speaker 1: about Sam Howell, Skylar Thompson. These guys, they were they
Speaker 1: were like running back athletes that were asked to play quarterbacks,
Speaker 1: you know, in college and they were gamers, you know,
Speaker 1: like Sam Howell at North Carolina. I mean he had
Speaker 1: a great career there, great college career, nothing to be
Speaker 1: ashamed of. He's not an NFL quarterback, I don't think.
Speaker 1: But now the last guy I'm gonna throw out there
Speaker 1: just because he's local, EJ. Perry from Brown some wide
Speaker 1: ranging opinions. I think the consensus on this show with
Speaker 1: the three of us is um really good athlete free agent. Yeah, well,
Speaker 1: all these guys, I mean yeah, I mean Caleb Ellaby
Speaker 1: is a free agent. I mean, I don't think any
Speaker 1: of these guys are going to get drafted. You might
Speaker 1: only have five or six quarterbacks even selected. It's crazy
Speaker 1: and you're just happy that you got one last year
Speaker 1: and the Patriots aren't sitting in a position. Think there
Speaker 1: were five in the top fifteen picks, and I don't
Speaker 1: think anybody would be bat an eyelash if there were
Speaker 1: only five taken total this year. Right. Well, um, I
Speaker 1: mean I've I've seen a bunch of DJ Perry. This
Speaker 1: is what's kind of funny. Going to the combine. I
Speaker 1: talked to him, wrote an article about him there, went
Speaker 1: out to Holy Cross his pro day. He was there throwing. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, he's he's a small guy, and I know
Speaker 1: he's athletic and um, you know, I don't really see
Speaker 1: the wide receiver comp. He doesn't really seem like that guy.
Speaker 1: But he does seem focused on, you know, getting into
Speaker 1: a camp. I think he understands where he's at. He's
Speaker 1: getting a lot of support locally. Matt Hasselbeck came out
Speaker 1: to the pro day for him and you know, just
Speaker 1: getting a chance. I mean, he he's literally the only
Speaker 1: quarterback I've seen throw the ball in person. He threw
Speaker 1: the ball, did a bunch of drills, Um it got there.
Speaker 1: It wasn't always pretty. Um, So you know, I think
Speaker 1: I think he's probably kind of guy that that that
Speaker 1: I agree, signs with somebody and and gets a camping
Speaker 1: and listening to him talk, I think he understands that
Speaker 1: he's a good athlete. He'll get in camp with somebody,
Speaker 1: and yeah, I happen to know the family a little
Speaker 1: bit is up my way from andover, So I wish
Speaker 1: him well, but I yeah, I don't really see the
Speaker 1: NFL future. I know a lot of people will convince
Speaker 1: he'll be the next Ivy League quarter hasn't been an
Speaker 1: IVY League quarterback drafted since Ryan Fitzpatrick. A lot of
Speaker 1: people are predicting he will be the next one. I
Speaker 1: don't think you will. So that's going to wrap up quarterbacks.
Speaker 1: We don't need to spend too much time on a
Speaker 1: position that I think we all agree that Patriots probably
Speaker 1: are not going to be having at the top of
Speaker 1: their priority list. But we're underway. We've kicked it off,
Speaker 1: so twenty twenty two draft podcasts are underway. We'll be
Speaker 1: back shortly with running backs. Thank you for downloading this podcast.
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