- 2 weeks ago
Patriots training camp begins this Saturday and that means Tom E. Curran returns to weekly conversations with Rich, Ken, and Ted. Today, he talked about the Gabe Jacas debacle, Christian Gonzalez’ contract, what he expects from A.J. Brown in camp, and more.
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00:00A time of year that I'm sure, Ted, you remember this well, I'm sure.
00:04Summer is over.
00:06Time to go to work.
00:08What was that first day like when you arrived at campus?
00:11Like when you arrived at the camp to get ready for what was going to be a very,
00:17very long stretch of months.
00:18What's day number one like for you, Ted?
00:20Ted showed up in a Batmobile.
00:21I did not.
00:22Nothing.
00:22I came in, no, not on a wing and a prayer.
00:25Well, pretty much a wing and a prayer, but nothing fancy.
00:27I came in just nervous as it's all get out because the first day of camp,
00:34Steve Diossi knocked on my door.
00:36He said, yeah, Parcells told me to come over and tell you that the incumbent
00:42linebacker named Todd Collins did not show up,
00:44and so you're going to be starting from day one, and so don't screw it up.
00:48And so I went into the bathroom and just threw up everything I ate for breakfast.
00:55Oh, geez.
00:55And then I went out and practiced.
00:57Just, you know, and I just remembered nerves, ball of nerves, man.
00:59I mean, you know, the Patriots were turning the corner.
01:01You know, the 94 season, they had a really, you know,
01:04Bledsoe kind of had an outbreak season and a lot of high expectations,
01:08and so Bill Parcells was not an easy coach to play for.
01:11And then all of a sudden, the guy that I was competing with didn't show up,
01:15so there was a lot of pressure on me day one.
01:18So, yeah, I think I threw up before every single practice for the first week.
01:22Oh, my God.
01:23Well, a lot of people are going to be throwing up next week because it is the beginning of camp,
01:27and covering the whole thing is going to be our good buddy Tommy Curran from NBC Sports Boston.
01:32Tommy Curran, have you ever thrown up on the first day of camp by any chance?
01:37No.
01:38No, and I love that story from Ted.
01:42I never caught that after any practices, the vomit on the breath.
01:46That's actually a good question you could ask these guys.
01:49Like, you know, did you have any strange reaction on your first day out there?
01:53I have a feeling that –
01:54Hey, there's rookies.
01:55You're going to hear – you go into the bathroom before practice in these first few practices,
01:59I bet you hear some guys heaving.
02:01Oh, yeah.
02:02I mean, that was commonplace, at least it was, when I played.
02:05I can't imagine being – I mean, the pressure is – there's a lot of pressure, man.
02:08This is your big break, and you don't want to screw it up, man.
02:11Absolutely.
02:12And you were making $200 a day back then, too.
02:15That's correct, yeah.
02:16All that jingle.
02:17Well, Tommy Curran, we've been talking a lot about one particular story.
02:22We've got a lot to talk about with you, obviously, with camp starting.
02:24But can we just start with the Gabe Accus situation?
02:27You know, I think we heard Burt Breer yesterday say that this could be a redshirt situation.
02:34First of all, can you kind of explain what that could mean?
02:36And second of all, whose fault is it that this guy doesn't seem like he's going to be playing this
02:43season?
02:45I wouldn't go that far at all.
02:48It could be a redshirt season in that – and I would imagine Burt meant that there's a lot for
02:55him to overcome in terms of the learning curve.
02:58But that being said, if he signs tomorrow, and even with that learning curve, he's going to play.
03:07They need edge help.
03:10It's not like they can just have him sign and say, we have plenty of players.
03:14We don't need you out there.
03:16It's going to certainly be a learning curve.
03:18He's put himself behind the eight ball with this contract strife.
03:22And my best understanding of what has occurred right now is it's contractual.
03:29It's not physical.
03:30And we've seen him posting on social media.
03:33This is a second-round pick from Illinois, edge player who they had high hopes of having to be a
03:39contributor in a huge position of need this year.
03:43He had a knee procedure done.
03:46Now, when the knee procedure was done was after he came to minicamp, rookie minicamp.
03:57He said, well, I think I have a knee thing here, or I have a knee thing.
04:01And the Patriots hadn't found that, nor had anybody else prior to the draft and prior to the rechecks done
04:08right around the draft.
04:09So the player that they drafted, in essence, was not the one they signed up for because he had a
04:16knee issue.
04:17It didn't occur under the Patriots' watch.
04:19We went and had the procedure done.
04:21And I think now the issue isn't whether or not he's healthy.
04:25It's the simple fact of, okay, well, we drafted you thinking you were in one condition, and you were indeed
04:33in another condition.
04:36Where do you fit, then, in terms of the slot?
04:40Because it shouldn't be complicated.
04:41I'm sorry, Tom.
04:42I'm a little confused here.
04:44Are you saying that did he injure himself after he was drafted, or was it an injury that they just
04:52didn't find when they were drafted him?
04:56I don't think it was disclosed.
04:58And I don't blame you for being confused.
05:00I'm glad you asked.
05:01Every team does a recheck.
05:03All the players are rechecked prior to the draft, and the Patriots went and drafted him.
05:07And after drafting him, he came to the OTA's minicamp, said he had a knee issue, and then that was
05:13addressed via surgery.
05:16If that injury occurred after the recheck, which seems to be the case, the onus would, I think, be on
05:22Akis and his agent to let all the teams know we had an issue.
05:26It's not the same player that you saw.
05:30It's not the same player that was going to recheck on.
05:33So that's my best understanding of where things stand.
05:37So basically, they drafted a player that may not have fully disclosed his condition prior.
05:44Again, the team hasn't done a very good job of illuminating us on what the situation is, nor has the
05:50agent come out and said anything.
05:53So this is my best understanding of where things are, and that's what the hang-up is.
05:57The hang-up is not that he is injured beyond repair and may not play, but the Patriots, still, because
06:03he hasn't been in, have still not had a chance to look and say, okay, well, he's going to be
06:08fine.
06:09So your hang-up is that.
06:11I hope I was clear enough in my understanding of the situation.
06:15Was that kind of clear?
06:16Yes, yeah, that does make sense, yes.
06:19ATC, let's go from the Gabe Akis situation and go to the Gonzo.
06:23How do you anticipate the Christian Gonzalez contract, you know, lingering kind of thing out there?
06:30How do you feel that's going to get resolved, and what does that look like for training camp?
06:35I think it's really contingent on Devin Witherspoon with Seattle.
06:39Another player similar to Gonzalez, when his deal is done, then I think the Patriots, and Gonzalez in particular, will
06:48say, okay, now we have a comp that we're going to work off.
06:51You can't really work off of Trent McDuffie.
06:54He's a slot corner.
06:56Christian plays a different position.
06:58I would imagine that Gonzalez wants to be closer to 33 to 35.
07:03We've heard mentioned upper 30s, even 40, and Albert, again, does a great job, and he wondered aloud, didn't report
07:11it, wondered, but would he want to reset the market and be closer in cost to some of the non
07:16-corners out there?
07:18And I think that's an interesting counter on the part of a player like Gonzalez.
07:21We heard a tackle recently, Paris, played for the Cardinals, might be Paris Johnson, I might have the wrong name.
07:29He made the point, he's like, look, I play left tackle, I have to stop guys who are making $40
07:33million, why aren't I not making $40 million?
07:35Jackson Smith and Jigman signed for $42 million as a wide receiver.
07:39Christian Gonzalez had a good Super Bowl, very good postseason in general.
07:45That could be his counter, but I think Witherspoon is the domino that they're waiting to see fall, and I
07:51think that it does make sense for the Patriots to say, okay, you want to do that?
07:54We can do that.
07:55We'll wait for that to happen.
07:56But generally, Teddy, don't you see these things take longer rather than shorter once it gets to this point?
08:05I mean, closer to the season sometimes.
08:07Absolutely.
08:08And I anticipated getting done, but, you know, a week, week and a half before the season starts maybe, just
08:13at the end of training camp.
08:15Same.
08:17So, A.J. Brown, obviously a big story here in the offseason, Tom.
08:20How healthy is he, to your knowledge, and how hard are they going to ride him?
08:23Because he does have that knee issue, right, in camp.
08:26How much do he and Drake need to work together to get that chemistry up?
08:30That's a great question.
08:31It's probably going to be the number one thing that we're all going to try and watch, engage going through.
08:36We watched with Stephon Diggs last year.
08:38He was coming off an ACL, and he participated pretty strenuously for a guy with that situation, and he was
08:45out there a lot.
08:45I don't imagine that A.J. Brown is going to be limited in any way.
08:50They might manage him because he's a player who's getting closer to 30 at this juncture, but they need the
08:57reps in terms of establishing that kind of chemistry that's necessary and the communication that's necessary.
09:05Because we've seen it for decades.
09:07If you're running the Patriots offense and Josh McDaniels is at the controls, you want to be able to do
09:13things post-snap so that that's when the wide receiver is reading the corner, reading leverage, making a decision afterwards.
09:22So we used to see it, Teddy, Brady would go with whichever his top receivers were and work with a
09:29cornerback.
09:30I remember one of the coolest things I would watch would be Brady working with Gronkowski against Revis and just
09:40standing on a field.
09:41I'm like, watch it, three of the best players that have ever played their positions.
09:43And they would just work for 10, 15 minutes during a practice so that they're getting on the same page.
09:49And as Brady once said about Gronkowski, I can watch the way he's running down the field from 25 yards
09:54away.
09:55And just by the tilt of his shoulders, I know which way he's going to go.
09:59So those things have to be established.
10:01So, you know, it's interesting, too, you know, with A.J. Brown and everything, is Keyshawn Booty going to be
10:06on this team?
10:07Like, what do you think is going to happen?
10:11There's not a huge market around the NFL for Keyshawn Booty right now.
10:14Otherwise, I think he might have been dealt.
10:17And to me, if I were the Patriots, I would look at that situation and say, we're not going to
10:21give him away.
10:22He's a productive player.
10:23He's a good yards per catch guy.
10:25He catches the ball in traffic.
10:27He doesn't have drops generally.
10:30He would be insurance for A.J. Brown.
10:32He would be insurance inside.
10:34I don't think the Patriots would be in a massive rush to move on from him.
10:37But that is, Rich, one of the things that I look at that's going to be really interesting to see
10:42develop.
10:42You have A.J. Brown, you have Dobbs, you have Booty, you have Kyle Williams, you have Matt Collins, you
10:49have Efton Chisholm, you have Pop Douglas.
10:51That's seven players, all of whom, again, Efton Chisholm is not going to be screaming if they throw the ball
10:56to A.J. Brown.
10:57But who could use the football and do some work with it?
11:03So divvying up those reps, especially for Dobbs, I think, is going to be interesting to see how frequently he
11:09gets the ball.
11:09Because he was signed as a player that prior to A.J. Brown getting here, you said, okay, well, that's
11:14where Diggs' targets are going to go.
11:16A.J. Brown's a 150, 160 target-a-year guy, which I think he could be.
11:22How many is Dobbs getting?
11:23So that's an interesting thing I want to see unfold as well.
11:27Hey, Tom, what do you think about the changes made on offensive line?
11:30It's subtle.
11:31I mean, you've got Ron and Vera Tucker to play guard, you moved Jared Wilson from guard to center.
11:36How do you think that offensive line, if they all stay healthy and as it's currently constructed, how do you
11:42think that has been assembled?
11:44Do you like the changes they made on that line?
11:48I think they can kick the hell out of people if Elijah Vera Tucker stays healthy.
11:53You know, you had an issue last year with Will Campbell and Jared Wilson really playing pretty well as rookies
12:00next to each other.
12:00But then as the season wore along and when defenses got more difficult and the Patriots are going to see
12:05a hell of a lot more top-ten defenses this year than they did last year,
12:08I think those two guys next to each other were exploited because of their youth and with Campbell's injury that
12:14he played with during the playoffs.
12:15Now you're going to stick a guy in between them in Vera Tucker, who's got experience, who's an unbelievably talented
12:21player.
12:22He's just been snake-bit by injury.
12:24If they can get Wilson in a more natural position, he should be better than Bradbury, who was good at
12:28center last year.
12:29I think that Campbell is going to be, I think he's a starter-level player at the very least, and
12:34I think he could be a very good starter at left tackle.
12:38So if that side is locked down, Mike Mwenu should be fine.
12:41And I think that from what I've seen, and it'll be fun to watch this, too, Caleb Mwenu backing up
12:47Morgan Moses, the first-round pick.
12:48Mwenu, I like the way he moved.
12:51He certainly fits the suit.
12:53Boy, he looks good, Donnie.
12:55He looks the part, Donnie.
12:56I mean, he's just huge.
12:57He does.
12:57He's huge.
12:58Yeah.
13:00So, Tommy, I want to quickly jump back to something Ted was talking about.
13:03Like, how much influence does Mike Vrabel have on the roster?
13:08Like, this whole Christian Gonzalez situation, do you think that he's got any kind of say or influence on the
13:15Crafts as to whether or not they end up giving him that extension or they look elsewhere?
13:23It's funny you said Crafts.
13:24I was talking to Phil Perry earlier today just about this, and, you know, he mentioned how I think a
13:31lot of people are under the perception that it's the Crafts.
13:33I cannot imagine that Jonathan or Robert are sitting across the table from the agent or on the phone with
13:39them talking about what the numbers are.
13:40That's something you've asked, you know, Ryan Cowden and Elliott Wolfe to take care of, and they have a budget
13:46to work with.
13:47And I would imagine Mike's just kind of walking in and saying, what's the status?
13:51That should be the way it goes.
13:54There's a budget there.
13:55Everyone should know that this player is going to make between $32 million and $36 million.
14:00How you divvy it up and how you give them the bonus, how much guaranteed money is up to them.
14:06And I think in Vrabel's, at least the way that he has portrayed it, in the way that he has
14:14spoken to us, is that's them.
14:17That's their job.
14:19Just keep me posted on it.
14:21So I just don't think that – I think the pecking order works, Rich, in other words.
14:28Instead of Mike just, you know, knock, knock, knock.
14:30Can we just get him in camp?
14:31I don't care what it costs.
14:33I just don't think that would happen.
14:34Did you read anything into those comments that Robert Kraft said about Mike Vrabel at the Fanatics Fest when he
14:42went –
14:42I think it was like, sweetheart, I know he'll be our coach for years to come.
14:47Like, he was, like, really emphatic on letting you know that they are all in on Mike Vrabel.
14:53Did you buy that?
14:54Did you get the same sense?
14:56Yes.
14:57I do.
14:58I buy it.
14:58I do buy it.
14:59I think he's done the job long enough – Kraft, I mean, has been an owner long enough.
15:05He's seen every manner and stripe of human failing and misstep.
15:13And generally speaking, in my experience with him, he's got a pretty good heart.
15:18And if you look him in the eye and say, I effed up.
15:22I'm sorry, I need to work on some things, I'm going to be a better person, he's going to say,
15:29look, okay, I wish that hadn't happened.
15:32I wish you well.
15:33Please go do the job well.
15:35I truly believe that would be the case.
15:37Ted?
15:38Agreed.
15:38A hundred percent.
15:40Yep.
15:41It doesn't seem to be affecting Vrabel.
15:43Like, we heard the speech that he made to some of the rookies.
15:46Like, he seems like the same Mike Vrabel, right?
15:48But when you get the owner to back you like that, and, you know, you get the support he got
15:55from Robert Kraft.
15:56I mean, I think it allows him to be freed up and get back to, you know, being the guy
16:01he was before all that.
16:03Yeah.
16:03I mean, I don't think that you're – unfortunately, we all wear masks.
16:07Wherever we are, home masks, there's your work masks, there's your coach masks, there's your talking to the fellow coaches
16:13masks, and I think Mike is adept.
16:16Again, I'm going to defer to Ted because I love having the opportunity to talk to Ted about somebody that
16:20he knows more intimately than I do, but I think Mike isn't artificial or inauthentic, but I do think that
16:27he is able to code switch, if you will, pretty quickly.
16:31And if he's talking to a bunch of 22-year-olds who just got drafted, he's not going to be
16:35sitting there going, oh, no, what do they think of me?
16:38He's got a job to do.
16:40Yeah, absolutely.
16:41All right.
16:41Well, happy football season, man.
16:44This is nice.
16:45I know.
16:48Finally, we can stop speculating about – well, I guess we still have the Diana Rossini thing that has not
16:54yet been settled.
16:54But outside of that, everything else seems to be kind of falling into place.
16:58The Gonzalez thing is going to be wild, wild to see what they end up doing with that, whether he
17:03plays, whether he doesn't play.
17:05I mean, listen, the drama never stops.
17:07The NFL is honestly 12 months out of the year, but this is where it gets good, Tommy Curran.
17:12This is where it gets good.
17:13And you know what?
17:13By the time I talk to you next week, they're going to go at it for the next five days
17:19with kind of a ramp-up period.
17:21Wednesday, I think, is off, and then Thursday should be kind of a legitimate practice.
17:24So by the time I talk to you next Thursday afternoon, you should have some little paint swapping down low,
17:31maybe some goal line activity I can tell you about.
17:34Hell yeah, Tommy.
17:35All right.
17:35Tommy Curran, NBC Sports Boss.
17:37Thanks for coming out with us.
17:37Thanks, Tommy.
17:38All right.
17:39Take care, guys.
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