Stefon Diggs At OTAs: New England Patriots WR Ahead Of Schedule?

Stefon Diggs At OTAs: New England Patriots WR Ahead Of Schedule?

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. That’s where we start on this episode of Lockdown Patriots. You are Locked On Patriots, your daily New England Patriots podcast, part of the Locked On Network, your team every day. What’s up Patriots fans? I am your host, Nick Cattles. Born and raised in New England, your New England Patriots expert, host of the Everything Pats podcast, co-host of the Greg Badard Patriots podcast with Nick Cattles, and also a sports talk show host veteran. On today’s episode, Josh McDaniels looks to revive a young receiver and the top three priorities for one of the most important coaches on this staff. But first, the picture that spawned fan optimism late last week. We appreciate you joining the show, making us your first listen and for being an everydayer. The Lockdown Patriots podcast is a proud partner. The Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Stefan Diggs, if he is 85% of what he once was, he will have a significant impact on the 2025 Patriots. Significant. And late last week, I don’t know how many of you saw this. I’m sure many of you did if you’re watching a Patriots podcast or listening to a Patriots podcast in late May. There was a picture of Stfan Diggs that surfaced and this picture was from the Patriots themselves. And I think that means something. If the Patriots are releasing a picture of Diggs working at OTAAS, that tells us something because I don’t think the team or at least they shouldn’t want to do this. I don’t think the team is in the business of getting fans excited and pushing this idea that Diggs is out there on the field to get them excited of Diggs possibly being out there week one. I don’t think the organization would be throwing this picture out there to fraudulently tell us that, hey, Stefan Diggs is ahead of schedule. I don’t think the Patriots are going to be pumping the tires of Diggs in late May to set up the expectation of Diggs possibly being out there week one, maybe probably being out there week one. I don’t think the Patriots are going to push that narrative on social media to just destroy all hopes by the time we get to camp in late July. This OTAA picture had Stfan Diggs with helmet on catching the football and being involved. Just being involved. And that matters. And it matters because if we look at Kendrick Bourne and his situation, Kendrick Bourne got injured going back to 2023, tore his ACL, and he was out until October of 2024. If you look at Diggs and his injury, Diggs right now is ahead of Bourne. If we’re just treating this as a two-horse race to kind of visualize things, Kendrick Bourne did not take part in OTAAS. Wasn’t out there, wasn’t involved. I don’t think there were pictures of him wearing a helmet, catching passes, being an active participant in OTAAS. I don’t think we saw that with Kendrick Bourne. Hour actually talked about it going back a couple of months ago saying that, you know, this year he feels like he’s a different guy. He’s more optimistic about his ability to help this team because last year he did not take part in OTAAS. But not only that, Bourne was a bystander at training camp. I was out at training camp. Bourne was not involved. I think he was out there every once in a while as far as just standing and watching the action, but Bourne was not actively participating in training camp. He just wasn’t out there doing football activities. So, the fact that Diggs is pictured doing football activities with helmet on during OTAAS before Memorial Day weekend. That tells me that he is ahead of Bourne. And if we just match it up, if we just match up time of year and how each guy was being handled, Bourne not at OTAAS, Bourne not involved with training camp, not on the field, actively participating. Now we look at Diggs in late May, helmet on, seemingly participating via the football team on social media. a full two months ahead of training camp. If Diggs is out there participating in football activities like that picture presents to us, if that is the case, that will tell us that Diggs is at least two months ahead of where Kendrick Bourne was. And Bourne, he ended up starting his first game or at least playing his first game week five, week six of last season. So, it stands to reason if Diggs is indeed participating like we see in that picture. I don’t think it’s AI, maybe it is, but if he’s participating in OTAAS, that means he’s going to be participating in training camp. And if he’s participating in training camp, that absolutely opens the door to Diggs playing week one. And I know we heard all these things when Diggs signed that he was ahead of schedule. And I know that there have been a lot of stories written about Diggs and you know what he’s been going through with his rehab and interviews with the guy who’s helping him rehab the injury and we’ve heard it all. However, it’s much more significant that we’re seeing pictures, that we’re seeing visual evidence of Diggs with a helmet on in late May because that tells me that he is ahead of schedule. And the stuff that we’ve heard wasn’t just trying to build the excitement or justify the decision by the Patriots to sign him. Now, with all of that said, I don’t think there’s a reason to rush Diggs. I is the team better with Diggs out there? Absolutely. And that’s why if he’s say 85% of what he once was, he will have a significant impact on this season and especially have a significant impact on Drake May, but I don’t think that’s a reason to rush him back for week one. Three out of your first four games this season are at home. So, you got some home cooking to start the season. Those four games are against Vegas, Miami, Pittsburgh, and Carolina. Vegas at home without diggs. You’re favored at Miami with or without diggs. Tough game. Back home against Pittsburgh. We’ll see who the quarterback is, but right now favored at home against Carolina right now favored. And when we look at underdog or favored right now, I would imagine that the thought process before this picture surfaced especially the thought process is that Diggs will not be fully ready to participate in week one. So the early schedule with or without Diggs is an opportunity to go at least two and two, maybe even three in one. This season is about the build. It’s about building momentum towards the final month of the season, month and a half of the season. It’s about getting better as the year goes on. That’s the most important part. So, if Diggs has to miss the first few weeks of the season, but he’s there for you week five through 18, that’s when you need him the most. And I would say if Diggs is not ready by week one, this is an opportunity for other wide receivers in that room to take advantage of that. The wide receiver room, that competition is going to be legitimate. There are a number of guys that could be cut, could be traded, and if Diggs is not ready and you decide to say, “Let’s pump the brakes. Let’s wait a little bit here. At least through the first few weeks, those other receivers like Jaylen Poke and Jayvon Baker, Kahan Booty, they’re going to have the opportunity to prove their worth. And that would give the Patriots coaching staff more time to evaluate that position and see what you have. And maybe, just maybe, one of those guys actually pops and it kind of changes your dynamic. And I just hope I hope that when Diggs returns, if when he returns, it’s for the right reasons. It’s because he’s healthy and not because of ego. It’s because he’s healthy and not because of money. Because his contract has incentives. $500,000 for each of the following reception benchmarks. 70 80 90 100. He gets $500,000 receiving yards for each of the following 1,00100 1200300. He gets a half a million dollars if he makes the Pro Bowl. And also roster bonuses per game roster bonuses. $3.4 million in per game roster bonuses. If Diggs, who we know was not necessarily super happy about his contract and his market out there, if Diggs wants to make as much money as possible, he does that by being out there week one. And I just hope that does not drive him to rush himself and be out there week one when he’s not ready. This could only be a one-year deal if you look at the details. And that could be some pressure on Diggs, but I would preach patience. No reason to rush, but certainly that picture late last week was reason for optimism. Speaking of wide receivers, Josh McDaniels will attempt to give new life to one of them. That’s coming up next as we continue with today’s episode of Lockdown Patriots, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. Your team every day. [Music] The NBA playoffs are in full swing and every night delivers highlightw worthy performances, major momentum shifts, and can’t miss moments. Whether it’s a game-winning shot or a breakout player, there’s never been a better time to get in on the action. And speaking of in on the action, check out FanDuel. FanDuel makes it easy to stay in the game. Before tip off and live with player props, performance trends, and same game parlays, fans have more ways than ever to play smart and win big. I mean, just imagine what would it look like to combine live prop bets midame based on how the action unfolds. Somebody is super hot and you feel like, oh, this guy is going to absolutely score 40. Or maybe a player gets off to a slow start and you feel like the numbers have dropped a little bit. You’re going to take advantage of that because inevitably that guy is going to get hot. If you’re new to FanDuel, it’s the perfect time to sign up. Head to fanduel.com and place your first $5 bet. If it wins, you’ll get $200 in bonus bets. make every moment more with FanDuel, official sports betting partner of the NBA. One of the more interesting players on this roster is Jaylen Poke. And Josh McDaniels, one of his priorities during this camp is to try to revive Poke. You drafted him in the second round last year. He was a bust in his rookie season. Can Josh McDaniels get anything more out of Poke than what you got from him last season? Greg Baddard wrote about this months ago. And here’s what he wrote. McDaniels and Vrabel see player development the same way. They’ll tailor the plan to the player. Kendrick Bourne needed a lot of help in his first season and he got it from McDaniels and Mick Lombardi who was the wide receivers’s coach at that time. It produced Bourne’s best season. Poke will get similar treatment. So if you could work with Kendrick Bourne and understand back in 2021 what he needed to be successful and have his best NFL season, then maybe you can do the same for Poke is the point from Bard. And and McDaniels, he has certainly developed receivers. He hasn’t developed every receiver he’s worked with. He has not been a magician for every single person that plays that position, but he has experience of getting the most out of certain players at said position. But with all of that, I actually find it very unlikely that Poke will be revived here in New England year two. And it’s not because I’m giving up on Jaylen Poke. I don’t give up on any player at the beginning of year two. I don’t believe in that. You draft a guy, you see what he does. his rookie season. Maybe he exceeds expectations. Maybe he f falls well short of those expectations, but I never sit back and say that guy is done. He’s dead to me. He’s not going to be a player after one year. It’s just not going to happen. Now, if off the- field stuff happens and you know, arrests or what, that’s a different conversation for a different time. on the field, on the field product, on the field production. I don’t rule out anybody being able to revive themselves in year two or year three, but mostly year two. So, I’m not sitting here telling you that I’m giving up on Poke. I’m not telling you that I’ve written him off as an NFL player, but I find it very unlikely he finds that revival, so to speak, this year in this place. Jaylen Poke for McDaniels is likely going to play the Z position in the offense. Now, he might play something else, but in a perfect world, you look at Poke and you say he’s a Z receiver. He can be moved around, play outside, play inside, all those things. And at Z, the Patriots are going to have a big time numbers game. I mentioned Bourne and how good he was in 2021 for McDaniels and for this offense. And last year when he came back from the ACL, he was at the Zpot. So Bourne best year of his NFL career was playing the Z position in a Josh McDaniels offense. Poke would have to leaprog him to make a significant contribution. Stfan Diggs can play the Z. He can play outside. He can play inside. He moves all around for the offense. Tough, tough, tough assignment for Poke. You could even include Kahan Booty. Maybe you move him around even though he’s played mostly on the outside for the Pats, especially last season. But maybe he’s a possibility. Kyle Williams played 25% of his snaps in college last year at the slot position. So Poke would have to leapfrog at least Kendrick Bourne. Now maybe Bourne gets traded. Poke has a great camp can’t predict the future. But right now when you’re looking at the numbers game, it’s a very difficult challenge for Poke to leaprog Bourne, to leaprog Diggs, especially like we talked about last segment. If Diggs is healthy and ready to go week one, it might even be difficult to leaprog Kahan Booty because Booty had a pretty good year last year. All things considered, it’s going to be maybe difficult to leaprog Kyle Williams. Even though Williams has never played an NFL game, he is this front office and this regime’s this regime’s guy. So the numbers game is difficult for Poke. And when you talk about the numbers game at wide receiver, you’re talking about mouths to feed. If Diggs is ready week one, we know who’s going to get the football thrown to him a decent amount. And that would be one Stfane Diggs. Diggs did not sign a contract that could be a one-year deal when all is said and done. He did not sign that contract to not be a big part of this offense out of the gates when he’s ready to go. So Diggs, he’s going to get targets. Pop Douglas or Kendrick Bourne, I think one of those two guys is going to get plenty of targets. We’ll see if Pop fits within this offense. We’ll talk about that at a later date because there are some things that he brings to the table that would make you believe he’ll be a fit. But there are a couple of questions about Douglas that might get in the way of him being a fit with this offense. But I would say it’s safe to bet one of Pop or Bourne is going to make this roster. And if they’re out if they’re out there day one, then I think they’re going to get some targets. But it’s not just, you know, those guys. Kyle Williams. Does Does Williams have a great camp and push this coaching staff to say, “Man, we drafted him in the third round. He’s an impact player. He brings a different electricity to that position for us as a football team. We got to get him in there more than we thought we were going to get him in there. Going to feed that mouth.” But it’s not just wide receiver. Hunter Henry, Austin Hooper had who had one of his best seasons. We talked about him on yesterday’s podcast as as one of the three forgotten guys that’s not being talked about. Oh, and running back Trayvon Henderson, his explosivity. We talk about his ability as a pass catcher from the running back position and McDaniels and how he leans he leans on running backs third down to be a help in the passing game. So Henderson is going to get some looks. So when you look at Poke, what if Poke makes this roster, it’s most likely going to be as, you know, the fifth or sixth receiver on the depth chart. And how many opportunities is he going to get? And the final point I want to make on this, the learning curve for Poke could be difficult. One of the biggest issues for Poke last year was wrong time, wrong place during games, not running the correct routes. Sometimes we saw Poke in places he shouldn’t be where wide receivers were kind of clumped together. The spacing wasn’t right and he had some issues with that. Now, it could have been a a coaching problem, but some of that, maybe most of it could be on Poke. So, wrong place, wrong time. And now he’s got to learn his third offense in three years. And he’s working within a Josh McDaniels offense, which depends on wide receivers and quarterbacks adjusting and being on the same page. Not to mention the new verbiage, the new language they’re going to use. So, I find it unlikely, if not very unlikely, that Poke revives his career here. But I’m not going to put that on Poke. I’m not giving up on him. I just think there are lots of challenges in front of him to get through to prove himself day one. Doug Marone was one of the most important coaching hires for Mike Greybel. We outline his top three priorities during camp as we continue next with today’s episode of Lockdown Patriots, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. [Music] If Doug Marone fails this season, it will have a catastrophic impact on this team, not only in the short term, 2025, but it would also have a catastrophic impact into future years. Karen Gerrigian, OG at Mass Live, spoke with Bill O’Brien recently about Doug Marone. And here’s what Gerrigian wrote. O’Brien, who spoke with Mass Live, said fits in well with Rael and McDaniels. Quote, “Doug is very smart about that position. He knows how to coach it. He’s developed a lot of players over his time. You go back to when he was the O line coach with the Jets and the Saints in college. He was the O line coach when I I was at Alabama,” unquote. So, some people say you can look at Marron’s history and his development of players is actually a little hot and cold and there have been questions of whether or not he is going to be capable of developing players at the level that you want him to. O’Brien thinks he’ll be capable of doing that. Another quote from Bill O’Brien in this story, he knows the technical part of it. He’s been in Shawn Payeyton’s offense, which is similar to this offense. So, he’ll be able to learn the offense and coach it. Now, that’s a good point by O’Brien. is not parachuting into the McDaniels offense with absolutely zero knowledge of what McDaniels likes to do, wants to do, loves to do. He’s not parachuting in with ignorance. He has the history with Payton. And if you look at it, Shawn Payeyton’s offense very similar to McDaniels and should be able to with his vast experience in football, he should be able to adapt, understand what McDaniels, the changes, the tweaks between the Payton and McDaniels offense, and he should be able to adapt to that and coach to the best of his ability. Here is one more from O’Brien to Karen Gerriian. Quote, he’s got a ton of experience. I think it’s a great fit for the Patriots. I think the Patriots are lucky to have Doug. So, let’s talk about Marone’s top three priorities as the offensive line coach of this team. And I go back to development. That has to be the number one clearcut priority for Marone. The the number one at the top of the heap priority for Marone. And I’m not just talking about this rookie class. I’m also talking about year two development for last year’s rookie class. We start with Will Campbell. has to get the most out of Campbell at left tackle. He has to coach him up. He has to make sure that Campbell is ready. Day one, you’re not getting drafted fourth overall to play that premium position and not start the season. So the development of Campbell is huge. If Campbell does not develop the right way, then that is a a huge issue for this O line. It’s a huge issue for the O line. It’s a huge issue for Drake May. It’s a huge issue for the entire offense. You have to get Campbell to play at least average, if not above average football at that position. You also have to develop Jared Wilson, who played one season as the starting center for Georgia, one starting year in college, and you have to make sure that Wilson transitions from college to the NFL. You have to make sure that Wilson learns the McDaniels offense and that he is able to communicate said offense if he’s asked to. Even though the quarterback for the most part will be in charge of that, you still want the center to be on the same page. If you want to even try Wilson at guard, that’s going to be up to Doug Marone and his two other offensive line coaching assistants and Jason Hotailing and Robert Cougler. But the development of Campbell and the development of Wilson is paramount. If you develop both of those guys in the right way and you get production sooner rather than later and they give you average to above average play sooner rather than later, then you’re talking about your left tackle of the future and your center for the future. You should have those two spots on the offensive line solidified for the next decade if Doug Marone can develop them in the correct way. And let’s also bring up Marcus Bryant, who yes, was a lottery ticket in the seventh round, but he’s got the size, he’s got the athleticism, he’s got the length. If you could develop Bryant even as just a swing tackle, then that is a major hit for you drafting him where you drafted him. But it doesn’t end there because you got to look at the 2024 picks as well. Kaduman Wallace. Can you get Kaden Wallace ready to supplant Morgan Moses at right tackle? Moses, 34 years old, closer to the end than the beginning, closer to the end than the middle of his career. And if you could develop Wallace, who had mostly a lost season last year due to injuries, if you could develop him, that is a huge step forward of solving your tackle problem because you could now have Wallace and Campbell as your bookends of this offensive line for the next decade. Leen Robinson, is he a fit? If he’s a fit, can you develop him? Can you get more from him this year than what you got last year? another guy who had to deal with injuries. But if you could develop Campbell and Wilson and Bryant and Wallace and Robinson, that would answer so many questions about this offensive line, not just in the short term, but in the long term. Priority number two, just mentioned Robinson and whether or not he’s a fit, and we’re looking at that with left guard. Priority number two is to make the right decision at that position. You can’t get it wrong. Is is going to lean towards the safe and maybe even uninspiring choice of Wes Schwitzer, who we know who he is because he’s been in the league, he is what he is, for better or worse, limited ceiling. Does just kind of fall back to the safe, uninspiring pick or does he try to work with Robinson and end up getting more out of Robinson and figuring out that Robinson is an actual fit for this offensive line? Jared Wilson, as we mentioned earlier, do you try to transition him to guard? And I don’t mean a full transition and not have him be center, but if Garrett Bradberry is going to start, could you see Wilson play left guard? Can can you get him to a point before the season that you feel comfortable with that idea? And we mentioned reviving Jaylen Pul. Can Doug Marone revive Cole Strange, who arguably has the highest ceiling of of the guys that we talk about in the left guard competition. And finally, the third priority is no loyalty. No loyalty. Doug Marone has to pick the best five. That is his job. That is his responsibility. He’s got to pick the best five and he’s got to get it right. and he’s got to figure out whether or not baptism by fire is necessary. Maybe it’s necessary to throw Jared Wilson into the deep end and say, “No, you’re going to start for us at center. Yeah, we signed Garrett Bradberry, but it’s not a big-time contract, and we think that you have the potential, and it it might be a little rough at the beginning, but we feel like by week seven, week eight, you’re going to be fully ready to be that guy to take charge. So, you’ve got to pick the best five. Take the best five, even if it includes baptism by fire to a point. Don’t show the loyalty to the veterans and the older guys. This 2025 season is about not only improvement, it’s it’s about growth. And it’s about growth on that O line specifically given the last couple of years. That wraps up this edition of Lockdown Patriots. Let me know your thoughts on today’s topics. Reach out to me on Twitter at nickc radio and don’t forget to throw a comment in on the YouTube channel. And thank you for making Lockdown Patriots your first listen today. For your second listen, check out Lockdown NFL Scouting. Hosts Kyle Krabs and Joe Marino make you the most informed NFL fan this off season. Find Lockdown NFL Scouting on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcast. Have a great day and we will see you tomorrow.

Stefon Diggs was pictured at New England Patriots’ OTAs last week. Diggs is seemingly ahead of schedule to return from ACL surgery, but could he be back by Week 1?

Speaking of WRs, can Josh McDaniels revive the career of Ja’Lynn Polk? We’ll get into the three reasons why that will be a challenge. Finally, Doug Marrone was one of the biggest coaching hires of the offseason and he has three clear priorities this camp season. We’ll tell you what those priorities are on today’s episode. Pull up and enjoy!

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