Progress: Patriots and Mike Vrabel Attack Team Weaknesses in Free Agency

Hey everyone, this is Ross Jackson, one of the hosts of the Lockdown Podcast Network.

If your group chats been a little quiet lately, I want to invite you to come and join

ours.

If you sign up for the everydayer club, you get access to the members' only group chats

for your favorite teams, plus national chats for every sport.

Personally, I love watching folks talk a little smack in the NFC South Trash talk chat.

You also get an ad-free version of your favorite Lockdown show and a whole lot more.

You can check it out by tapping the everydayer club link in the show notes.

The Pats haven't sat back and enjoyed their run to the Super Bowl.

Instead, they have attacked their weaknesses this week in free agency.

This is Lockdown Patriots.

You are Lockdown Patriots, your daily New England Patriots podcast.

Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team, every day.

What's happening?

I am Nick Cattles, your host, been covering the Pats for the past 16 years, and welcome

the Lockdown Patriots, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network.

Now the number one sports podcast network, your team, every day.

On today's show, comments from three free agent signees confirm that New England is a destination

and the Pats are so back.

In the second segment, Elliott Wolf did not shy away from addressing AJ Brown on Thursday.

But first, the Pats continue to execute their plan.

Today's episode is brought to by Fandall.

Fandall is giving you a way to turn that energy into even bigger potential wins where

they college basketball, parlay, profit boost had to fandall.com to get started.

The Patriots had a free agency plan and at the top of that plan was to attack their weaknesses

from the 2025 season.

We talked about it all year long.

It was a great run.

It was a lot of fun.

It was unexpected, but the Patriots don't get it twisted.

They had weaknesses.

They had weaknesses this past season and they knew that.

We knew that.

And so going into free agency, you have seen this team start to attack those weaknesses.

And I want to mention three of them that I have noticed the Patriots have written down

and said, we're going to attack that and we are going to approve upon what we saw last

year in that specific category.

Let's start with run game, run game, run game, run game, it's old school, right?

Not really.

When you look at defenses in 2025, you see a lot of, you know, too high shell, safeties,

back, right, making sure that they don't give up a lot of explosive plays in the past

game.

Well, that opens up the run game and you see a lot of defenses playing smaller guys as well

on the second, third levels.

That allows you to run the football and if you can run the football against those nickel

and dime packages, it makes the defense very, very uncomfortable.

So when you look at going into 2026, one of the top needs for this football team was to

figure out how to run the football consistently week in a week out.

We have big plays from Travianne Henderson, Ramon Dre Stevenson was tremendous towards

the final couple months of the year and going into the playoffs.

But still week to week down to down, this run game was so incredibly inconsistent.

And you were as an offense, one dimensional too often.

You had to rely on Drake May to do the unbelievable way too consistently to move the ball and

win football games.

How many times that I mentioned on third and long Drake May out of nowhere with a gigantic

play to move the chains and keep the drive going.

You want consistent offense and you want an offense that is not one dimensional.

So Patriots, they were number 21 in the NFL this past season in run success rate when

they were looking at one to two yard situations.

So not only was their run game inconsistent, their short yardage was brutal.

How many times we see them try to run the football short yardage, third and two, third and

one and they could not get a first down 21st in the NFL and run success rate in one to

two yard situations.

Even those situations, one to two yards, they gave up the seventh highest stuff rate in

the league.

They couldn't run the ball.

They couldn't run the ball, third and two.

They just couldn't do it.

They couldn't run the ball in the goal line.

How many times we see inside the five, the incapability of running the ball down the defense

is throat.

So what do you do?

You go out and you sign Elijah Barrett Tucker who in 2024, when he was fully healthy

was the 12th best run blocking guard in football.

You go out and you sign Reggie Gilliam, a legitimate fullback, the 10th best run blocking

player in the league.

That was a non offensive lineman.

Then you go out and on Wednesday, you sign a why tight end Julian Hill, a blocking tight

end to a three year deal up to 18 million, by the way, which tells us Julian Hill, we'll

get the details later, but Julian Hill is going to be a part of this football team.

And Julian Hill might be the last free agent tight end that you sign this all season, but

he is a why tight end.

That's what you do.

You want to run the football?

Then you invest in AVT, you invest in Reggie Gilliam, you invest in Julian Hill.

Second aspect that the Patriots wanted to attack a second weakness from 2025, red zone

offense.

The pats were 20th in the NFL in conversion rate when they got into the red zone.

How many times do we see this team move the ball 2025 and then get stuck inside the 20?

Too often how many times do we see them move the football and get stuck inside the 10 inside

the five?

The Patriots, they know they need to finish drives.

They need to finish drives at a much higher clip next season than they did in 2025.

So how do you improve your red zone offense, better run game, which we just talked about,

better short yardage offense, which we talked about, but also going out and signing Romeo

dobs because one of the things that Romeo dobs does at a high level is he scores touchdowns

and he scores touchdowns from inside the red zone, Karen Grigian from Mass Live wrote

about dobs this week.

Dobs was especially effective in the red zone of his 23 career touchdowns, 20 came from

the 20 yard line and in.

So 20 of dobs is 23 touchdowns, red zone touchdowns.

He can get open in the red zone.

He can convert in the red zone.

That's how you help better run game, better short yardage run game, bringing somebody

in like Romeo dobs, Mark Daniels, Mass Live since 2023, dobs has 18 touchdowns that ties

him with Drake London, Keenan Allen and Quentin Johnson for the 22nd most in that span.

So the Patriots, they went into free agency.

They said we want to establish a run game again.

Let's make some signings that can help us do that.

Then they said we want to be able to finish drives and be much better in the red zone.

Let's go get a wide receiver who's literally been one of the best in the league when it

comes to operating in the red zone.

The third, the third weakness, the Patriots attacked was being disruptive on defense that,

you know, they were 21st and takeaways last season with a total of 19 Kevin Byard who

they just signed yesterday had seven interceptions on his own.

Kevin Byard had more than one third of the takeaways that the entire Patriots team had

in 2025.

You want to create turnovers.

You want to create chaos.

You want to give Drake May the football more.

You want to have more offensive possessions.

So you go out and you sign a guy like Kevin Byard, who has been absolutely unbelievable

when it comes to creating turnovers out of the secondary.

That's what he does.

That's how you help address that issue, create more turnovers, go out and sign or draft

guys that can create those turnovers.

Now you can look at the pass rush.

I think the Patriots will address the pass rush.

I don't think they're done.

I don't think they're going to just replace Caleb on chase on with Dremont Jones.

I would not be surprised that they signed another veteran at edge before all is said

and done.

And I would especially not be surprised as we've talked about if they go into the draft

and draft one or even two young defensive ends to go along with Elijah Ponder and you

hope that Braden Swinson continues to develop and gives you something next season.

But those three weaknesses, the Patriots addressed in the first week of free agency.

The run game, the red zone offense and takeaways.

Those are three of the weaknesses.

They addressed this week and I think that they've done some pretty, pretty, pretty good

work.

All right.

Elliott Wolf did nothing to silence the AJ Brown talk.

That and more coming up next.

This is Lockdown Patriots, part of the Lockdown podcast network, your team every day.

College basketball is nonstop big games tight spreads momentum swings every single night

from early tip offs to late night West Coast shootouts.

There's always action on the board.

The now Fandall is giving you a way to turn that energy into even bigger potential wins

with a college basketball parlay profit boost.

You can build any college hoops parlay you want rivalry games, rank matchups.

You can mix spreads totals and player props to match how you see the slate playing out.

Then you can apply the profit boost and instantly bump up the potential payout.

Go safe.

Go bold.

Ride with the team.

You've been following all season long.

It's your parlay, your style now with more upside behind it.

I'm talking about even bigger potential wins with that college basketball parlay profit

boost at Fandall.

So what do you have to do?

Well, head to fandall.com to get started.

That's fandall.com fandall player game.

Don't forget to like comment and subscribe.

Help us out on YouTube as you watch if you're watching live or if you're watching on demand.

You could always help us out clicking that thumbs up helps us with the algorithm throwing

a comment and also helps us with that algorithm.

And don't forget to subscribe as we try to get to 10,000 subscriptions.

That is the next goal on YouTube also of course free agency is here.

And so are we get one month free of the every dare club with code free agency.

No spaces now through March 15th.

Go ad free.

Keep this conversation going on discord join the club at lockdown patriots dot supercast

dot com or check the link in the show notes to learn even more.

My guy of the Bruce connection says nice.

He meant Nick is the type of guy you'd like to have a beer with.

Well, I appreciate that Bruce.

That's the hope.

That's the hope.

I actually own a sports bar in Virginia Beach and hang out there.

I do hang out often on the weekends.

So I do not I do not miss an opportunity or many opportunities to have a couple of beers.

I will tell you that it's my one vice in life.

I wait until the weekends, but craft beer, my freaking goodness.

Don't forget to like, comment and sub.

All right, let's get to Elliott Wolf.

So Elliott Wolf spoke to the media on Thursday and the AJ Brown talk.

It's not going to die.

Mike Giardi was on NBC sports Boston and and so was Tom Kern.

And they were discussing the idea of the Patriots still being in talks with Philly still

being interested in AJ Brown.

And Mike Giardi said that everybody, everybody to a person that he speaks to in the game

of football, everybody in the NFL that he has spoken to believes that AJ Brown will eventually

be a New England Patriot.

Now Mike Giardi also said and so did Tom Kern that most of these people and pretty much

the feel that they get is that the Patriots are going to wait until that June first date.

We've talked about it, the cap ramifications.

I'm done yapping about it.

We all understand.

We all understand the cap, you know, implications at this point with all the AJ Brown talk.

But Mike Giardi said that everybody he talks to in the game expects the Patriots to make

a deal and for AJ Brown to be in New England before the season kicks off.

Now again, Wolfe met with the media in Foxboro and he was asked about AJ Brown and Elliott

Wolfe did not run away from the questions.

Karen Grigian of Mass Live writes Wolfe was asked if there was any type of deadline that

would prevent him from pursuing a player either now or a few months down the road.

Wolfe indicated there was no quote unquote deadline or cutoff date where they need to move

on specifically from Brown.

Here's what Elliott Wolfe said quote, I think the only real

deadlines you have are salary cap related.

For instance, did we spend money and free agency that would take us out of something?

But I wouldn't say there's a deadline on trying to improve the team.

So Wolfe, he knows why these questions are being asked.

He's well aware of what people are talking about and he's not running away from the idea

of AJ Brown.

He's telling us there is no deadline to go out there and acquire a player that we think

will help our football team.

Now Pat's cap who is no longer on Twitter, but is on blue sky.

I went and checked out Pat's cap and he has the Patriots at $41 million in cap space.

That's before the Romeo dobs contract is known as well as a few others as well as you

know, brown, Brit Hill, those deals.

I don't think will be too, too crazy.

But in essence, the Patriots have enough space to fit AJ Brown.

If they wanted to make that deal right now, they've got the space.

And there are other ways to lighten up the cap numbers as we know with current players

and restructuring.

Here's more from Karen Grigian.

Wolfe also indicated he has a quote unquote good relationship with Howie Roseman.

Of course, Roseman is the GM of the Eagles.

He said he's known him for a long time and they quote unquote talk often.

Grigian writes asked point blank.

If an AJ Brown trade is something the Patriots would continue to explore Wolfe answered quote,

we explore anything we think can help the team unquote again, not running away from it,

not shutting it down.

And in a way, maybe pouring a little bit of gasoline on the fire, but the fact that he's

not shutting the possibility of brown down, I do think is noteworthy.

Does it mean AJ Brown's going to be a patriot?

No, there are no guarantees.

But I do think that all of this conversation that's happening.

I do think it's a possibility that Brown ends up being in New England for 2026.

I think that's absolutely a possibility.

I don't think there's as much smoke out there if there wasn't at least the possibility

of it happening.

How about Stefan digs?

Could Stefan digs return Wolfe said quote, we're always looking for ways to improve.

I'm not going to say that anything's final at any position, wherever he goes next,

if it's elsewhere, if he comes back here, he's going to have a tremendous season.

I do not think I actually have more confidence in the idea of AJ Brown being a patriot next

year than Stefan digs being a patriot.

I don't see it.

When we talked about Romeo Dobbs, a grain tool contract with the Patriots, we talked

about Dobbs being the perfect type of receiver to fill the role, to fill that spot left

by the Stefan digs release.

I think that's the plan.

As a matter of fact, if you read anybody writing about the acquisition of Romeo Dobbs,

all of them are telling you that the Patriots see him as a replacement for digs.

So I think Wolfe is saying the nice thing.

I think Wolfe is trying to be diplomatic and not trying to make Stefan digs look bad

or shut him down or throw him out, right?

But they released him for a reason, multiple reasons, and they now have Dobbs who they just

paid a good amount of money to be the number two receiver.

And I think again, to fill that digs role, if you want to try to move Romeo Dobbs to

the outside, well, that's going to impact everybody else.

It's going to impact Mac Collins and Casey on booty and Kyle Williams.

So I just, I just don't see it, you know, Occam's razor, the easiest, most logical explanation

is usually the explanation.

It's usually what's actually happening.

And so Romeo Dobbs replacing Stefan digs and everybody else right now having the same

role they had in 2025 makes the most sense.

If you're going to really rock the boat, it's going out there and getting someone like

AJ Brown or someone else, and then you're moving some of those other guys.

But I think it's rather obvious that Dobbs is just going to replace digs in this offense.

And that's the plan for right now.

How about the offensive line?

Well Elliott Wolfe said that yes, Elijah Vera Tucker is going to the plan right now

is for him to play left guard and for Jared Wilson to move back to his natural position

at center.

Now we've been talking about this since the Super Bowl was over.

I've been stressing.

I want Jared Wilson to move back to center when Garrett Bradbury was traded.

We said, well, that seems to be a sign that Wilson will be going back to center.

And finally, Elliott Wolfe with the media today said, yeah, that that's the plan as

of right now.

That's the working plan is Elijah Vera Tucker left guard Jared Wilson center.

Of course, I think the Patriots will have a competition at center and Wilson will have

to beat out Ben Brown.

But this is the perfect plan.

This is what should be happening.

AVT is a huge upgrade over Wilson at left guard huge.

I believe Wilson will be better at center again, natural position.

What you drafted him to be, it makes all the sense in the freaking world.

And I also love the idea of AVT's presence in between your two young offensive lineman

sticking AVT right in the middle between Will Campbell and Jared Wilson makes a ton of

sense.

It makes a lot of sense to surround Jared Wilson.

It's going to be his first year.

If he beats out Ben Brown, it will be his first year playing center at the NFL level.

How do you help secure the young man?

How do you help him and support him to make sure that he gets the best out of his first

season at that position?

Again, if he wins the competition, you surround him with two vets.

You surround him with AVT on the left side, Mike Owenu on the right side.

Now he's got two big veteran steady guards around him.

Just makes sense when you look at the totality of this offensive line.

Asked about Christian Gonzalez.

I know some people have been a little concerned by Christian Gonzalez.

I have not.

I think he's going to get signed.

And will said quote, it's no secret that we'd like to keep Christian Gonzalez unquote.

I would be stunned if Christian Gonzalez is not extended.

You know, if you look at the extension, it would kick in for 2028.

So think about all the money coming off the books by the time you get to 2028.

Think about the money in the second day, like Carlton Davis, I would think likely gone

by 2028.

Michael whenu could be gone by 2028.

Christian Barmore could be gone by 2028.

Those are all significant contracts and cap hits off the books.

I would be stunned in the cap increases every year as we saw this past year.

I'd be stunned if Christian Gonzalez isn't a patriot for the next five, six years.

I would I would pass out.

I'll pass out live via YouTube.

I don't know how I do that.

I'll do something on YouTube.

I don't know.

I would I would lose my mind if it randomly Christian Gonzalez is not a patriot.

Like, I think the patriots are well aware of what he can bring to the table.

They know the timeline.

They know what they need to do.

And I think it's only a matter of time before they execute and sign Christian Gonzalez

to that contract extension.

All right, destination, New England is actually a thing.

The latest analyze of our Tucker's health and we'll have a whole lot more than that coming

up.

This is locked on Patriots, part of the lockdown podcast network, your team every day.

Today's episode is brought to by indeed.

We talk a lot about the chaos of the NFL offseason, but let's talk about the chaos in

your own office.

Deadlines are stacking up.

Your inbox is a disaster and that one crucial position you need to fill is still sitting

open.

When the pressure is on, this is a job for indeed sponsored jobs.

You shouldn't just be crossing your fingers, hoping the right person stumbles onto your

post.

Indeed, sponsored jobs helps you reach the people who actually fit your specific needs,

skills, experience and location and get this.

In the minute I'll spend talking to you right now, companies like yours made 27 hires

on indeed globally, according to their data, spend less time searching and more time actually

interviewing the people who check all your boxes cut through the chaos today.

Listeners of this show get a $75 sponsored job credit to give your post a premium status

it deserves and indeed.com slash podcast, support the show by letting them know you heard about

them here.

Indeed.

Podcasts terms and conditions apply need to hire this is a job for indeed sponsored jobs.

Don't forget to like, comment and subscribe.

Help us out here on YouTube.

Justin jumps in.

Talk about the Christian Gonzales stuff that looks really bad for the team when you draft

a guy in the first round.

He balls out to an all pro level and then you don't want to pay him.

Yeah.

I mean, the chiefs just did that with Trent McDuffie, right?

I tend to agree with you, Justin, and especially when you have somebody who is an all pro talent

at a premium position.

And some of the reason, you know, everybody has talked about in not the last few years

because the Patriots have spent, they have spent plenty of money this off season as well.

But when you, when you look at, you know, the older years with Bella check and stuff, a

big part of the problem of the Patriots not spending money at times was they were just

bad at drafting.

And as you see, teams are doing a much better job of keeping their own players in those

big contract extensions usually happen when you draft well and then you extend and keep

those guys because you're happy with their production.

All right.

All the newly signed Patriots spoke with the media on Thursday, multiple important nuggets.

We discussed on this podcast, the recruiting edge.

I think it was what Sunday night, Monday morning, that episode, the recruiting edge that

the Patriots should have and would have with Mike Rabel and Drake May.

And I'm here to tell you, the Patriots Foxboro is now a destination.

Kevin Byard said to the media today, quote, this was my top destination to go to, not necessarily

just because of the relationship I've got with frames.

I think that the culture of this team, this organization, obviously winning culture.

I think the pieces they have in place, whether it's the quarterback or the secondary, all

those things.

I think it makes it very attractive for any free agent, unquote, Taylor Kyle's posting

on Romeo Dobbs.

Dobbs said he's blessed and thankful for the opportunity to play for the Patriots.

He added that the organization's structure and presence of Drake May, Josh McDaniels

and Mike Rabel played a factor in his decision to sign with New England.

We discussed it.

We discussed how more attractive New England is now when you have Drake May, runner up MVP,

Josh McDaniels, respected as one of the best offensive coordinators in all of football,

Mike Rabel, two time coach of the year, who does a great job of connecting with his players.

Dremont Jones said quote, waves and winning.

Pretty simple about it as to why he chose New England.

He said, I've never been in the playoffs.

So hopefully now that I'm here, playoffs and super bowl appearances will happen again,

unquote, times of change in New England.

I mean, it is such a better recruiting pitch to free agents.

It really is speaking of Dremont Jones.

He's listed at 281 and this was kind of questioned by many people of, is he too big to be a past

Russia for the Patriots at 281?

He corrected the record.

He's not 281.

That was when he was still kind of a defensive tackle, playing more on the interior.

Dremont Jones said that he weighed 265 last year and he plans to play somewhere in the

260s this upcoming season.

That would be heavier than Landry, Harold Landry is in the 250s, low to mid 250s.

But again, remember Jones was a defensive tackle, as I just mentioned, to start his career.

So I think if you lose too much weight, it might change your impact that you can make

negatively.

Elijah Varatucker, this is a big one.

As we talked about when AVT signed, the biggest question is his durability.

Can he stay healthy?

If he can stay healthy, he's one of the best guards in football.

AVT told the media that his triceps is almost 100%.

He expects to be cleared for OTAs if you're wondering that's late May, early June.

So AVT expects to be cleared by late May.

He also plans to be a full participant in the voluntary off season program, you know,

for the, for the Pats again.

And if you're looking at the voluntary off season program, that starts in like a month.

So he plans on being around in late April.

And he plans on being ready to go and on the field when you're out there in June late

May, early June.

And it's going to take a village to take care of Elijah Varatucker.

A lot of people are going to have the responsibility to make sure that he's ready to play and that

he can stay healthy.

His injuries have been kind of freak injuries, right?

The tricep injuries, one each arm, the Achilles, you know, Evan Lazar, I thought brought

up a good point.

He mentioned how the jets moved AVT around the offensive line a lot and how that might

have played a role in some of those injuries because you're just technically, you're different,

depending on the spot that you're playing and shuffling a lot around the online could

bring up some, you know, some issues physically, but it's going to take a village for the

Patriots.

You're going to make sure AVT's healthy, medical staff, training staff, Mike Vrable talks

about it all the time, analytics on how to keep guys healthy, how to keep them rested.

Vrable did a fantastic job this past season, managing practice time, managing workload,

guys like Morgan Moses didn't practice every practice this past year.

And I do think Vrable deserves some credit for how healthy the team was in 2025 by how

he managed some of the older cats.

And I would imagine that knowing the history of AVT, they will manage him.

So I trust his staff.

It's not a guarantee.

He's going to stay healthy.

But I do trust this staff.

I trust the operation to do all they can to try to keep him healthy.

Finally, connections matter.

AVT said that he spoke with Morgan Moses before signing with the Patriots.

We've mentioned connections, networking, this coaching staff, Vrable players, AVT played

with Morgan Moses with the Jets had a good relationship with Moses.

Those two guys talked before AVT signed.

This is why if you have the right culture, if you run the program the correct way, guys

love to play for you guys enjoy their time.

You won a lot of football games this year.

That matters because when somebody picks up the phone and says, Hey, I might sound with

the Patriots.

They're interested.

What's going on up there?

I mean, does it from the outside looking in?

It looks great.

But is it really that good?

You want the voice on the other end to say, yeah, it's that good, which is why Moses'

relationship helps you land AVT.

Romeo dobs me while raving about Drake May and his personality and his improvement and

had a conversation with Drake May apparently on Thursday.

So connections, networking relationships, they all matter.

All right.

That wraps up this edition of Lockdown Patriots.

Thank you for making us your first listen.

Being in every day or reach out to me on Twitter at Nick C radio, don't forget again to

throw a comment in on the YouTube channel, hit that like button, give us a thumbs up and

subscribe.

10,000 subscribers is the goal our next goal, not the final one.

And also, don't forget, get one month free of the every day or club with code free agency.

No spaces now through March 15th.

Join the club at lockdownpatriots.supercast.com.

Have a great weekend and we'll see you next time.