Our Friday friend was in studio a day early to talk about NFL free agency, Patriots news, potential moves, and more.

That’s Bert Breer up top, our NFL insider from Sports Illustrated’s MMQB. He was busy yesterday, writing about all the franchise tag action happening in the NFL, starting with tight end Kyle Pitts Sr. and the Falcons and wide receiver George Pickens on the Cowboys. Of course, the big news here in New England didn’t involve franchise tags. It involved the Patriots moving on from Stephon Diggs. The veteran wide receiver will be released at the start of the league year. More importantly, the team won’t be on the hook for the $6M he was guaranteed.

Breer characterized this as a sign of respect. The Patriots, in informing Diggs of their decision, are giving the veteran a few days of lead time to hopefully set things in motion to get to his next team lined up. Opinions across the Sports Hub have been split, but Fred, Hardy, and Jon Wallach seemed to agree with Bert that Diggs at WR1 isn’t a recipe for long-term success for Drake Maye and the Patriots. That’s all well and good, but there’s not necessarily a “next man up” on the roster to replace Diggs. Which leads to the next part of the conversation.

NFL Free Agency: Patriots Needs

With an elite receiver at or near the top of the Patriots free agency shopping list, what are the options? The early fan favorite is Indianapolis wide receiver Alec Pierce. It a move that was surprising to some, the Colts used their transition tag not on Pierce but on QB Daniel Jones. That’s good news for the Patriots, as this ensures Pierce will hit free agency, which is something he said he was looking forward to in recent comments. To say there would be interest in swapping in Pierce for Diggs among the fans in Patriot Nation would be putting it mildly.

But would there be interest in coming to New England for Alec Pierce? The Sports Hub’s Alex Barth seems to think so. He wrote about how New England seems to have what Pierce is looking for in his next team. Read Barth here. Then make your way through the rest of the clip with Breer and the show if you haven’t already. Suffice it to say, there are a few options for the Pats at WR in free agency. But the prices will be steep, to say the least. We’ll have more insider perspective as noontime on Monday, March 9 approaches and the legal tampering period begins.

Tatum Takes

Before you tap away and scroll elsewhere, a slice of Celtics. Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe joined us this morning. The odds seem to be in favor of Jayston Tatum returning to the court at home when the Celtics host the Mavericks on Friday night. We talked a bit about that, but more about Tatum’s series of short videos documenting his Achilles injury and road to recovery. Fred finds the exercise to be corny. Gary doesn’t go that far. He understands the “why” behind Tatum’s marketing endeavors, but agrees that it’s a bit much. Hit the clip above to see.