New England STANDS ‘PAT’ at the deadline… is long-term thinking going to cost them this year?

New England STANDS ‘PAT’ at the deadline… is long-term thinking going to cost them this year?

What’s up everybody? Welcome into Tom Cron’s Patriots Talk podcast along with the Senator Phil Perry. We are here to talk trade deadline. It’s a YouTube live special event. Phil, what do you have to tell the people about what the Patriots did at the trade deadline? Not a whole heck of a lot going on unless we get something trickling in at the very last minute, Tom. It looks like the Patriots did not make a single addition. Obviously, a couple trades. Kyle Duggar, Keon White out the door days ago, but nothing today on the Patriots front. Let’s take a look at some of the deals that were made if we could. Our guy Steve Hamlin is on the ones and twos as they say back there. Number of guys making moves. Some big names flying out of New York. We got Sauce Gardner, Quinnon Williams, both making a move. The Indianapolis Colts obviously getting better. Jacobe Myers and Rasheed Shahed. We’re going to go in-depth on those two players. Wide receiver, not as great a need in both of mine and Phil’s opinions, but both those guys would have been nice fits. Jaylen Phillips, you knew about that. Alexander, Draymond Jones, and then you see Keon White and Duggar. So basically, Phil, the only thing the Patriots did was export as they approached the trade deadline. Here’s Mike Vrabel to give context to the moves that didn’t happen. At seven and two though, has it changed at all your approach to tomorrow? I I don’t think it is. It’s nine games in here to to what we’ve tried to build here. Um I don’t think that that’s made anything more imminent. Um if something that we feel like is going to help us now and in the future, then that probably is something that we should look at. But I don’t think that the 7 and2 record is going to have to force us to do something or not do something. It works for the long term and we can build this thing and you know want to be here for a long time. What else do you need to know? I mean, he kind of summed everything up about their mindset going in. Why do you imagine if there were deals to be made and the Patriots have a boatload of draft picks to spend, why no go? I don’t think they’re willing to part with draft picks in the middle of what they still can consider a rebuild. You know, he uses that word build all the I asked Rabel two or three weeks ago, I think now, if their record and their performance this season would at all change their approach at the deadline. And he basically at the time flatly said no. And so to me, that’s just indicative of the fact that, hey, if there was something out there that made all the sense in the world and it was cost effective and they weren’t going to be sacrificing real draft capital to add a player that fit a need, you know, that he wasn’t shutting off the idea of making that happen. But he clearly was not taking an aggressive stance either at the trade deadline in order to help bolster what they already have on the roster. To me, I end up finding myself saying, “What’s the BFD?” Uh, what’s the big flipping deal? You have so many draft picks. We’ll show you all the picks the Patriots have in just a minute, but you have so many picks. You’re not getting held up by any team asking for a sixthrounder for an edge rusher, even if it’s just a rental. I don’t understand why it’s so difficult for the Patriots to part with those. Now, maybe they didn’t have anything hanging out there, but Phil, should they have been reactive to the situation that they’re in? I have strongly believed for a couple weeks that they should have been. I agree with you on that and I’ve been saying the same thing. The fact that they are better than everyone thought they would be. The fact that the quarterback’s playing like an MVP, which no one expected, to me those necessitate a little bit more aggressive than whatever it was you were planning on, right? Because bestlaid plans, they go ary. And so to to assume that your plan is going to be the thing that works, who are they in this position next year? Maybe if everything goes right, they make the right additions, if they make the right draft picks this coming off season. But it looks like the conference is as open as it’s ever been. I think you could have Tom middled it to a degree where you say, “Okay, guys, we’re not partnering with first and second round picks, right? All the way from the top on down, Robert Craft, anybody else that’s concerned with that. We ain’t doing that this year.” Okay, kids in his second year at quarterback. We’re keeping those picks. But if you want to go and spend on something else that’s going to help us right now, even if that guy’s just a rental, let’s try to make the most of this season because these opportunities do not come around all that often. Even if your plan, your blueprint, your pie in the sky thoughts about how this thing should go has you in the mix every single year. I don’t think parting with a fourth or a sixth or both, for example, would necessarily take you out of the running to accomplish your goals. No. Nor will it upset the apple cart going forward. My god, we don’t have a sixth round pick here. You’re going to be sitting there saying that next April 29th. Boy, we could have used that pick that we used on pass rusher Z. It’s just to me the conversation and look, I’m sure they spent hours, days, literally weeks on this trade deadline and trying to cobble it together. And the place where they’ve gotten the Patriots to, Mike Frabel, Ryan Cen, um the folks who were here prior to them in the personnel department, they’ve done a great job with their acquisitions and their decisions. So, I’m going to acknowledge that as we sit here on backseat drive on it. But if you go into a playoff game and you have the equivalent of Stephen Jackson taking handoffs as the Patriots did back, I believe it was in 2015 against the Denver Broncos because you didn’t do anything at the trade deadline and try to get younger at either that spot or try to get an edge rusher and that ends up costing you because you can’t get pressure on Justin Herbert and he’s standing there flatfooted picking you apart, then it’s going to be well worth our while to second guess. Also, the wide receiver position. I want to delve into that a little bit because you have pounded the drum for Rasheed Shahed. He goes from New Orleans to Seattle for a fourth round pick and a fifth round pick. Speedster. Meanwhile, Jacobe Myers, who I’ve been pining for for two years, and this was a great opportunity because now he is on the move, requested a trade, got it. He’s on his way to the Jaguars. And the compensation on that I believe is a for Meyers was a fourth and a sixth I believe. Fourth and a sixth. Okay. So there was your going rate. Um now he signed through the end of this year. Myers is so it is a rental and you have to convince him to stay and you’re going to have to spend probably more than 20 million on both of those guys per year. Again I’m watching the pocketbook but as salary cap goes up 20 million ain’t what it used to be. Do you think the Patriots missed the boat or wide at the wide receiver spot? I do especially with Shahid and I like Jacobe Myers as you do too. I think he actually would fit the culture that they’re trying to have there at one Patriot place perfectly. I think he’s you know a football guy through and through and I think Vable would really appreciate coaching him and I think they know that they’ve got enough people there who worked with him primarily Josh McDaniels who understand what kind of player, what kind of person he is and so that shouldn’t have been a barrier to entry which Kobe Meyers uh to me the picks shouldn’t either. I just I don’t understand falling in love that this is what’s happened. Falling in love with as much of a draft guy as I am, Tom. And I love the draft and I love me some day three draft picks, but I think falling in love with them is is not a great idea. Typically, like a fourth and a sixth, are we talking, you know, Javvon Baker and, you know, Bryce Behinger or Jayvon Baker and Amir Speed was taken in the sixth round a couple years ago? For the most part, those picks don’t work out. They don’t work out. It’s not the only sixth round pick that they have. They have three of them. We’ll flash those draft picks up there, Steve. We can do them now. We can do them later. But here’s the draft picks the Patriots had. Here’s the ammo that they had if they wanted to use it. Um, multiple sixths. Multiple six rounds, multiple fourths as well. And so, like I I the reason I liked Shahed a little bit more than Myers as much as Myers I think is a culture fit and he would understand the offense right away. He’d be willing to block. Here’s all your picks here, Tom. Yep. Four sixths, two4s. I mean, you can sit there and say you can get Deario Douglas and Kan Booty in the sixth round. You can also say you can get Josh Bledsoe, William Sherman, Cash Malawi, Justin Haron, Justin Roarwaser as a fifth round pick a few years ago. Are you? I mean, it’s, you know, again, every once in a while you get a okay like Braxton Berios was taken in the sixth round in 2018. He’s not a horrible player, but they also took Christian Sam a few picks before that in the sixth round. It’s for the most part those picks don’t work out. I understand having darts and the more darts you have, the better your chances are of hitting on those guys. But I think with both Shahed and Myers, Shahed because he’s that deep threat and because Drake May loves to throw the deep ball. I don’t think you necessarily have to replace Kahan Booty. You might be replacing Kyle Williams. Might be telling Kyle Williams, “We’ll see you in 2026. This is going to be a red shirt year for you, buddy.” But it hasn’t worked out to this point. And they need people to throw down the field, too. They need it immediately because Kyle Williams as the Patriots are going to enter into the second half of the season. They’re nine games in. They’re seven and two. Things are going great. Kan Booty has a malady right now. Um hamstring probably not going to keep him sidelined. Doesn’t sound that dire. He said it’s a first degree hamstring. Um which is, you know, better than a crime in the first degree. If you have a hamstring in the first degree, much preferable. Um so he’s got a grade one hamstring situation. That means Kyle Williams is going to be on the field extensively. I don’t know if he’s going to be a direct fit switch in for Khan Booty in terms of the responsibilities, but you’re going to be asking a lot. And with Shahed or with Jacobe Meyers, you had an opportunity to add if you wanted to cough up some picks and make a deal with those teams. Now, the qualifier to that would be, am I going to give up a fourth round pick for a guy that we’re not convinced we’re going to resign and give up on? say if I spend a fourth round pick here, Raandre Stevenson who was a fourth round pick, do I want seven games or eight games of Jacobe Meyers and then we’re not going to resign him when I could have had four years of a player of Raandre Stevenson’s ability. So that’s to balance it out. And the other aspect is too when they’re hoarding these picks, they also have the opportunity to try and turn them into a deal later on on draft day or something like that. Sure, that’s true. And maybe you improve your draft positioning. Maybe, you know, you’re not going to have 11 players, I don’t think, make the team next year out of that draft. And so, do you want to take a handful of those sixths and move up in the fourth or move from the fourth to the third? You know, those are the types of deals you might be able to accomplish. But I think Tom, you’re you’re hitting on it when you say or when you’re thinking about the long-term future when it comes to these different acquisitions. Both Meyers and Shahed, this is the end of their contract, the end of the 2025 season. And I did find that quote from Mike Vrabel. When I asked him, and this was October 15th, so this a while ago now, but when I asked him, he had a longish answer, but I’ll give you about half of it. He said, um, oh boy, here we go. Of course, I’ve lost it. Be that as it may, I’m gonna say it’s coming. It’s coming. I got it. I got it. I got it. I don’t think that’s something that really bears into it. He said, “We found it. We’re live and we found it.” I asked him about the record and if that would change their approach at the deadline, he said, “I don’t think that’s something that really bears into it. We’re building something. And if any of those things can help us build and strengthen us and allow us for long-term consistent success, then I think that’s what we should try to do.” Meyers, Shahed, those don’t equal long-term consistent success just because of their contract status. I think there’s something also at play here that accompanied Mike Vrabel when he came in, and that is the culture aspect. Not like Jacobe Myers is going to come in here and start lighting people’s, you know, lockers on fire. He’s obviously a good teammate and has been in every place he’s been, but it does change the culture of a position group when any player comes in. And a couple weeks ago, Mike said something about not wanting to jerk the wheel with Raandre Stevenson and make a hasty decision because he was fumbling. Um, there was so much thought, as you and I both reported, throughout the offseason into finding the right players to surround Drake May in the huddle. They didn’t want guys who were going to be pains in the ass. And that’s why quite honestly, in addition to the injury, we didn’t want look at Stefon Diggs as maybe being an early guy. He could be a demanding player and has shown that through throughout his career. Patriots are obviously getting a tremendous version of Stefon Diggs right now. But they were very concerned with putting the culture and the mood and the atmosphere high up on the list. I wonder if that also informed their decisions on who they added, especially at wide receiver. It might have because if you add say they add a Rashid Jahid now is Kan Booty looking at it and say am I getting replaced here one hamstring right it’s a grade one you guys you guys don’t follow me on Discord it’s just a grade one hammy I could be back as early as this week I posted it yesterday so I do get that to some extent my rebuttal to that again as somebody who felt as though there were some deals to be made here that could improve their chances in 2025 because I don’t like and I’m not saying they’re punting on the season but I don’t like looking at your standing right now and not being aggressive and not trying to capitalize on where you are. I look at that potential, the potential for ruining the vibes and I would say number one, the vibes are a byproduct of your success on the field. Really and truly, number one, I what Mike Greybel’s done in training camp and leading up to the season was huge in terms of establishing it, but the vibes would not be great if they were two and seven as opposed to seven and two. And so if you can get somebody who contributes to winning moving forward for this season, that to me shouldn’t kill the vibes. Number one. Number two, if you feel so strongly about your culture and you love where it is right now, how strong is it? If one addition or two additions really rattles the cage so much that you think it might alter the course of your season, and we’re not saying that’s the case, and these probably are uh a combination of circumstances. Oh, yeah. I’m not saying that’s why they didn’t make I just want to redirect, but you try and figure out a reason where a team that’s won eight total games in the two previous years has now won seven halfway through this year and is on its way to a high seed and definite games in January, the athletic playoff predictor has them as a 97% likelihood, unbelievable making the playoffs. So, you do have to maybe pivot a little bit. Let’s delve into those two positions that we agreed were the most important to fill, edge and running back. They were certainly the two biggest needs. My understanding is that the Patriots were targeting those positions strongly and they felt the price was high at those positions. We do see however some edge rushers and defensive ends. I don’t know if that’s interchangeable anymore. Be that as it may u is it I think edge rusher you’re just you’re including outside linebackers and defensive ends. Miles Garrett’s your you’re defensive end. Caleon Chaon’s more of an outside line. Anthony Jennings as a defensive end. He’s done an edge player. No, I would I would call him an edge guy because he could do a little bit of both. I think he could do a little bit of both. Never. Right. I know he could do a little bit of both. That’s why I So edge edge covers everything. Okay. Yeah. Well, they ain’t got one and they’ve moved on from Keon White. They’ve were trying to move Anthony Jennings. They didn’t bring anybody in. How large is your concern about the Patriots pass rush as they go to see a squirly little Baker Mayfield and Lamar Jackson and more Josh Allen? They’re all over the place. To me, those fingers just have me mesmerized. But to me, that that was the position that had the potential to move the needle more than any other. You know, it’s pressure. Pressure is a funny thing and how you track pressure is a funny thing in the NFL because you could go to 17 different sites that track it and you’ll get 17 different numbers in terms of how often the Patriots have been able to pressure the quarterback. If you look at NextGen stats, the numbers aren’t horrible. If you look at, for instance, Sumer Sports, which you know, I really like a lot of the work they’re doing there, but they track it in a different way clearly because the pressure percentages for the Patriots there have them near the bottom of the league. I just look at the two guys that they’re getting the most pressure from on the outside, Harold Landry and Kavon Jason. And that’s Tom basically exclusively where they’re getting their edge pressure from. And I look at that and I say, you might actually not only just add a piece that can help your pass rush by trading for someone, but you might get a little bit more from the two guys you’re already using a lot in Landry and Chaon just by being able to rotate a little bit more freely because it does to me it feels like those guys are out there quite a bit, especially in situations where you need a little bit of pressure. And so that would have been at the top of the list for me. Not a ton of not a ton of edge rushers ended up moving. Jaylen Phillips the biggest name a couple a couple uh days ago. You know, some mid-range guys. Uh I think it was Draymond Jones went to the Ravens from the Titans. Um Joe Trion from Cleveland got dealt today. He was a former high-end pick uh out of Washington, I believe, and pretty long and pretty athletic. Draymond Jones going from the Titans to the Ravens. Do you think there was any aversion? I think Mike V uh excuse me, Giardy alluded to the idea that, hey, maybe the Titans don’t want to deal with Mike Vrabel and help him out. Would it surprise you if that was the case? It would be kind of shortsighted because in every deal that you make, you’re probably saying to yourself, “Well, this will be good for us.” It would be short-sighted, but if that’s an ownership call, it would surprise me, for example, if Mike Boranzi, who’s the general manager of the Tennessee Titans, is saying that we can’t deal with Mike Vrabel because it’s Mike Vrabel, but he’s got a boss. We even fired a coach before Mike Vrabel came in here. Mike Vrabel has a hold on that organization organization. It’s it’s it’s remarkable. And so too bad for them because somebody like um Draymond Draymond Draymond Jones um or Ardan Key who was the other outside linebacker who’s a veteran guy and was uh drafted to Tennessee Velabel’s first year there in 2018. you know that those guys would have been the types of players that just give you more depth there and help keep everybody else a little bit more fresh. All right, before we get into a little bit of money talk, does the running back situation the Patriots currently find themselves in concern you? Stevenson obviously could be dealing with a lingering injury if it’s a turftoe. Trayvon Henderson’s a good player, fairly untested and raw um at this juncture. And Terrell Jennings is a player who hasn’t done a ton in the league yet. Yeah. And I thought, you know, Sunday, I don’t know if you noticed this as well, but it just did look like there were another, you know, another snap or two with Tvian Henderson where in pass protection he he had an issue. Yep. And so is that something that he’s going to be able to get solved because it feels like it’s been very up and down and a lot of times down um with him in that aspect of the game if you’re going to be the team’s primary pass catcher in those third down sorts of situations. You know, you’ve got to be able to contribute as a blocker too. And I don’t I just don’t know how much they they trust him in that regard. Um I don’t hate Terrell Jennings between the tackles. No, he looked good the other day. He runs hard. I think he’s going to get you what’s there for him. You enjoyed Terrell Jennings in 2024. I did. Yeah. Yeah. I thought he actually had a chance to maybe make the team uh coming out of camp last summer and ran really hard in the preseason a little bit similar uh similarly to Tvian Henderson this past summer where man he was running through contact and it’s yeah it’s backups and it’s third and fourth stringers but uh he was relatively impressive a couple summers ago. So I don’t mind him being part of that rotation whatever they’ve got going on there. I just think you might want another body there, whether it’s Bree Hall or somebody else who you feel really comfortable with in those pass protecting situations because Stevenson’s pretty good at it. But if he’s out, I don’t know who you use back there. All right. you know, uh, here’s the point in which I want to pivot a little bit to the money because that’s going to be a conversation and and it should be because if the Patriots didn’t make a move at the deadline on a bigger name player because they were concerned about maybe not having or having to resign that player or just renting him and letting him go. Take a look at the cap space they have right now. Hobbby Meer is making $10 million this year. When you prorrate that thing out, whatever that adds up to over the last uh seven games, eight games, it’s a little more than five. Uh they would have had to pay him for a game. And then they would had to make a decision on resigning him to probably a $50 million contract, believe it or not. you know, if he’s done what he has, maybe he would have taken less because it seems as if the league might be turning its nose up to him in general. But the point I’m trying to make is that $50.6 million the Patriots still have on the books right now, they can also roll it forward next year, whatever portion is left over. And to that, they’ll be adding the 50 million. Say it stays like that, which it won’t. It’ll go down a little bit. Say they roll 40 into next year. They already have the ninth most cap space available for next year. If you roll the 40 in, they’re going to be close to the top. You’re not looking at over the cap right now, are you? No, I’m not. Okay, I’m trusting you. Just nodding away. I’m trusting you. You’re doing great. So, the Patriots have a massive amount of money to spend. They opted not to in November spend it on any players who they could get at the trade deadline and re-up them. What are you going to do with all the money, Phil? Is it all going to Christian Gonzalez and Drake May? Are you just rolling it forward? Rolling, rolling, rolling. Are you going to sign some huge ticket free agent? And at what position? An edge guy. Are you just going to continue importing edge guys next year? Now you do have me going over the cap because I want to see who might be available in free agency. But, you know, you could always trade for players too that are making good money. Um, if you do want to do that, again, we’re talking about all the picks they have. Now, if you want to trade for a real star, now you’re now you’re talking about abandoning that plan and that build of having a sustainable winner. Uh, if you do do something like that, depending on the player, maybe it’s somebody who’s young who could be with you for a number of years moving forward. But I just I do wonder how much of this is let’s save because we have a 6570 million a year contract coming down the pike for our young quarterback and a what how much did Sus Gardener sign? just made 30 million a year which might be what you’re looking at for Christian Gonzalez. So that’s a lot and that’s a lot that you have to write in guaranteed money which you can’t just say hey we’ll get you we get to prorrate this money this guaranteed money so we don’t have to give it to you all at once. No the guaranteed money comes all at once and then you prorrate it to satisfy the salary cap. But you know when you lay plans let’s look at the Patriots and the plans they laid for 2025. Did they want their left tackle to be Will Campbell, ladies and gentlemen? No. They wanted their left tackle to be Ronnie Stanley. That’s who they were attacking in free agency. And had they succeeded in that pursuit, and Ronnie Stanley was not leaving the Ravens, but had they succeeded in that pursuit, they would have gone elsewhere. They had to pivot. It’s worked out great. Did they want Stfan Diggs to be Drake May’s number one veteran wide receiver that they were going to spend dough on and throw money at and have him in the huddle? No. They wanted Chris Godwin. They wanted who else they want? DK Mechaf. DK Mech list there. Perhaps they wanted some Terry McCorin. They I think they would have been interested in Jacobe Myers had the Raiders been willing to deal. So, how’s that worked out? Great. Terry Mcorin’s, you know, on the shelf on a consistent basis. Same thing with Chris Godwin. DK Mechaf be that as a made good player, but I think they’ve done okay with Diggs because the version of Stefon Diggs that they’ve got is far and away the best free agent wide receiver signing of 2025. Discuss among yourselves if Mike. I don’t know if Dvonte Adams might have a thing or two to say, but the point is the Patriots are getting into a position where the money is burning a hole in their pocket. Now, their situation is different right now than it was a couple of years ago. When they had money burning a hole in their pocket following the 2023 season, nobody wanted to come here. So, the Patriots had to resign Raandre Stevenson and Kyle Duggar, all these guys that they’ve been moving on from because they had to spend the money to get to the cap floor and they had to fill out their roster. This year, it could be far different, Phil. I think in terms of the spending and who they can attract because of who they’ve become as a football team. Yeah, I think that’s fair. Right. you’ve got a quarterback who’s playing the way Drake May is playing and all of a sudden, you know, the Ronnie Stanley’s of the world and the Chris Godwins of the world take a little bit more seriously. And so there are some big names, Tom, that are going to be free agents next year. I’m not even looking at uh, you know, the young players who are going to be at the ends of their rookie contracts, but Trey Hendrickson, obviously, Debo Samuel, uh, Mike Evans, much closer to the end than the beginning. um Christian Kirk from Houston who’s been a highly paid receiver the last couple contracts that he’s been able to pick up. So, you know, there’s a there’s a handful of of bigger names there, but I’m not sure there’s anybody that screams to me, boy, they got to make this guy one of the highest paid players at his position in the NFL in 2026 and beyond, and that’s why we’re not looking to be spending a whole lot of money mid-season in 2025. Phil, the uh the Patriots have a season that in some ways mirrors what the Washington Commanders did last year. Lot of free agent and draft pick inflow for the Commanders in 2024. They have a tremendous season make it to the NFC Championship game. Jaden Daniels is considered one of the five best quarterbacks in the league by the end of the year certainly in terms of the season that he had. And then this year that at the trade deadline last year when they were having a successful season I think they got Marshon Latimore quarterback spent a great deal of money on him. They continued in the offseason. Debo Samuel they dealt for. Um he’s been good for them. Um Terry McLaren they resigned him after much hand ringing. But the point is they’ve they spent a lot of money. They made a lot of trades but now they stink in large part because their quarterback ain’t as durable as your quarterback. But do you believe the Washington commanders are a cautionary tale whether inside the building or for anyone who’s sitting there saying um the Patriots should have made a move here and would you ever say yeah but look what happened in Washington? I think listen it I think there is merit to some degree to looking at that and saying I’m not sure we want to pursue that same path. I just would look at it and say to me that’s not why they’re struggling right now. I I don’t mind the approach the Commanders took. First of all, they made an NFC Championship game in part because of it. And so, good for them on that. Like, that’s everybody’s goal. But I look at Laramie Tonsel who you did, you know, there’s a there were a lot of picks that went both ways in that trade. But you did give up a second rounder. That’s a starting left tackle for you when you’ve got a young quarterback. I don’t hate that idea. He’s not playing poorly, so he’s not the reason they’ve got a losing record right now. You mentioned it, Debo. Samuel, he’s in the top 30 in a number of different receiving categories. He’s not the reason they’ve got a losing record right now. That was a fifth round pick that went to San Francisco. That cost you nothing. The corner, Marshon Latimore, has been a problem, and he’s part of the reason they’re they’re not very good on defense right now. But even that, the highest pick that went uh to New Orleans in that deal was a third rounder. They to me didn’t sacrifice their future in terms of draft picks by making the additions that they’ve made. They got older guys because they’re trying to compete right now. I don’t hate that. Again, I I think they’re still going to be competitive next year and they’ll be competitive the year after that. It looks like they got it right with the quarterback. The reason they’re having a hard time right now is because the quarterback either can’t stay on the field or when he is on the field, he’s dealing with something. And so that to me is the issue. It’s not the It’s not the team building. Would it surprise you if the Patriots look at that situation from afar and say, “We don’t want to be like that.” Because it it even though I don’t believe that, it wouldn’t stun me if they did. No, it wouldn’t stun me because I think Mike has been so open about wanting to build things the right way. Pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick. But additionally, we’ve been watching two seasons of expressly foundational years. God bless them. They’re way ahead of schedule, but as far as they’re concerned, they can still see the rebar in the foundation. I mean, they they don’t, you know, they’re still working on it. 2024 was all about foundation. And I just look at it and they’re further along, I think, than they maybe are giving themselves credit for. And here’s the, as we were talking, this is what occurred to me. This sums up my feelings on the Patriots trade deadline activity. I didn’t want the Patriots to go and get somebody that was going to help them win a game in February in San Francisco. I didn’t think that was the reason they should do it. I think that they needed to get somebody that prevents them from losing a game to say the Jets, the Dolphins, some team they shouldn’t lose to down the stretch if they suffer an injury. If M. Holland, and why do I always use poor M. Holland as a potential injury victim. But if they lose M. Collins, you’re losing a terrific red zone receiver, a great blocker, a good character guy who’s, you know, really has an impact on his teammates in the um the intangibles. And you don’t have another one of those on your roster. So, I’m looking at it’s not about winning the Super Bowl. It’s not winning about winning multiple playoff games. It’s about building depth so you can find guys who will ensure that your team doesn’t go off the edge because you don’t have a very imposing roster right now. Right. And and that to me I think that is you know in some ways one and the same with try to make a run. Try to make a run. You’re seven and two. Making a run is not ensuring a Super Bowl. Yeah. No, like Rashid Chah is not putting you over the top and and and making you a Super Bowl champion. I agree with that. But I think having as good a season as you can have has a ton of value, especially for your young quarterback. get him that experience now if you can if you can at a coste effective sort of price which in my opinion is what it was to acquire a receiver who could help you. That to me has real value Tom is to it just make this season as worthwhile as humanly possible without sacrificing your chances for the future. And to me, parting with a fourth round pick and a fifth or a sixth, that to me is not sacrificing what you have planned to build here for a long time. All right. So, trade deadline 2025 has come and gone. I’m going to channel my friend Mike Felgar right here, right now. And what did you do? What did you do? Indianapolis got better. What did you do? What did you What What did you do? What did you do? What did you not do? What did you do? Nothing. All right, Patriots Tampa Bay. We’ll see you all week long. Got the next Bats podcast. Of course, we will have quick slants on Thursday and we will have Patriots pregame and postgame live. Tune in for all of it. Be well informed. Be as informed as everybody else or even better. Thanks, Phil. [Music] [Music]

Tom Curran and Phil Perry react to the moves made at the NFL trade deadline.

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