Monday Patriots Notebook 4/15: News and Notes
(PHOTO: Melanie Maxwell / USA TODAY NETWORK) 🕑 Read Time: 5 minutes
Posted Under: Patriots News
(PHOTO: Melanie Maxwell / USA TODAY NETWORK) 🕑 Read Time: 5 minutes
New England Patriots > Patriots Blog
(PHOTO: Melanie Maxwell / USA TODAY NETWORK) Some news and notes for this morning:
Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy’s name continues to come up in conversation among those pondering where he fits among the top names in the draft, with many wondering what that means here in New England.
According to the NFL’s Tom Pelissero, McCarthy is reportedly in town for a visit on Monday, with the club also having dinner with him Sunday night. His visit comes as the club is likely trying to finish up its evaluations before they begin making a decision on which players will be on their radar when the chips finally begin to fall next Thursday night.
For the Patriots, the question seems to center around whether or not it’s going to be North Carolina’s Drake Maye or McCarthy who gets the call at #3 overall just over one week from now.
With Maye, the feeling is the sky’s the limit when it comes to his ceiling, but that the rookie will likely have a lot of work to put in early on to fix a lot of his issues. From his footwork, to his mechanics, there are a lot of kinks in Maye’s game that, while he survived it in college, could be more of an issue at the next level.
The other big knock against Maye has also been his inconsistency and his accuracy, which at times have been sporadic. He’s also been known for getting off to slow starts, which in the NFL is obviously an issue since getting down early just makes things that much tougher against opposing defenses.
Looking at the numbers, that’s an area where McCarthy definitely has the edge. Last season, Michigan ranked 11th in first quarter scoring, while North Carolina ranked 48th.
That led to Michigan often playing from ahead, which Phil Perry said on a recent Tom Curran’s Patriots Talk Podcast leads to questions of how McCarthy would deal with playing from behind.
“It’s just that whole idea of being a part of the best team in the country. Zero halftime deficits last year, average halftime lead of 14 points, there weren’t all that many situations where stuff was going to hell around him and he had to be ‘the guy,'” said Perry. “And I think when you’re drafting somebody – we’re talking about the third overall pick – you take somebody at three overall, I would prefer to have seen him be a superhero kind of quarterback, and he didn’t have to do that enough because his team was so damn good. And he’s a part of that, so I give him credit for that. On the one hand, it’s one of these things with him … it’s hard to say you’re confident in something when you just haven’t seen it.”
The Patriots know that all too well, with the club tied with the Vikings last season for the fourth-lowest first-quarter overall point total in the NFL. That often led to them having to deal with overcoming a deficit, which as we know, was an issue last season.
With Maye, Albert Breer mentioned something that was a little alarming in that same podcast. The North Carolina QB seemingly has had issues early in games, which included his most recent Pro Day where he was erratic at the beginning of the workout before settling in. Breer said that ‘nervous energy’ is something that has teams concerned about him heading into next week.
“This is just something I’ve heard from teams, there’s a little bit of nervous energy to him, and I think you saw it at the beginning of his Pro Day,” said Breer. “If you really want to tie one thing together with the other, it’s if he has this nervous energy, and it showed up in meetings with teams, you could actually kind of detect that.”
“Now, he calmed down, but if you see the way he started that Pro Day, that’s where the bad throws were and then he settled in. So there’s like a nervous energy to him, and like, is that an issue? So I think that’s something teams are working through right now considering him.”
For a team that experienced plenty of early-game deficits in 2023, that’s something that may be of concern as Eliot Wolf and the Patriots continue mulling their options.
It’s possible we may get some insight on this relatively soon, and today’s visit will likely influence that. Wolf is reportedly scheduled to meet with the media on Thursday, which is his first press conference since he met with the media back in February ahead of the combine.
As the Patriots try and turn things around, one of the biggest concerns – depending on how things ultimately unfold next Thursday – is obviously going to be how New England fares against a division that will likely be even tougher in 2024.
Last season, the Jets losing Aaron Rodgers for the year opened the door for the Patriots to come away with one of their four victories last season, winning their Week 3 match-up 15-10 at MetLife.
The club managed to win one other division game against the Bills in what ended up being Mac Jones’ best performance of 2023, with New England finally getting its second win of the season in Week 7 with a 29-25 victory at Gillette Stadium. It was also the only home win of the season.
Aside from that, they didn’t fare well within the division. They got swept by the Dolphins the following week with a 31-17 loss, followed by back-to-back losses to both Buffalo and the Jets to finish the season to finish 2-4 within the AFC East.
In 2024, it looks like the Jets may be planning on adding more firepower for Rodgers, with several mocks seeing them add Georgia tight end, Brock Bowers.
ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. believes that Bowers would be a great compliment for their veteran QB in New York’s offense.
“Would he fit in well with Aaron Rodgers? Doggone right he would,” said Kiper Jr. recently. “To have him and [Garrett] Wilson and [Mike] Williams, all of a sudden, you go from having questionable weapons to having a heck of a lot of them.”
That would essentially pair Bowers with an offense that already has fellow tight end Tyler Conklin, as well as receivers Garrett Wilson, Allen Lazard, and offseason acquisition, Mike Williams.
The standout from Georgia racked up 2,538 yards on 175 receptions, including 26 receiving touchdowns. He also had five rushing touchdowns after the Bulldogs moved him around and used him as a running back. He’s also lined up out wide at receiver, with Bowers certainly providing some significant versatility.
Bowers told ESPN during the scouting combine in February that it would be “pretty sweet” to catch passes from Rodgers. “He’s one of the best of all time to do it at quarterback,” he said. “It would be cool to learn under him and play under him and, hopefully, learn some stuff.”
With Rodgers, Bowers most likely be productive if he ultimately lands there, as will the rest of New York’s offense compared to what we saw last season.
As a result, if that’s how things do play out, the Jets may end up with a weapon that could give the Patriots fits at some point in 2024.
If McCarthy ends up getting picked in round one, it appears there may not be a snapshot of he and Roger Goodell. According to ProFootballTalk.com, McCarthy never responded to his invitation to attend the draft, while the three players above him – Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels, and Drake Maye – are each reportedly expected to attend. … Nathan Rourke continues putting in the hours, with the former CFL standout again spending time working with his throwing coach virtually last week throwing passes to tight end La’Michael Pettway on the practice field behind Gillette Stadium. It was windy last week, which knocked the camera over during one portion as his coach, Rob Williams, looked on. … Tom Brady agrees with many Patriots fans after being frustrated that Rodney Harrison hasn’t gotten into the Hall of Fame. “To me, one of the greatest football players the league has ever seen and doesn’t get the recognition,” said Brady during a recent appearance on the “Deep Cut” podcast. “He should be in the Hall of Fame. He was as good a competitor, defensive player … smart, tough, physical, f—ing mean out there on the field. I loved it, and I loved playing with him.” … Drew Bledsoe, who played with Alex Van Pelt in Buffalo, said that having someone with experience at the position is significant for New England. “I think the Patriots’ quarterbacks are going to greatly benefit from being around Alex,” said Bledsoe via the Boston Herald. “No matter how genius a coordinator is, I’ve always felt like it’s hard to be a play-caller if you haven’t at least played quarterback at some level.”
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All my players had best have nervous energy. It is a positive and not a negative. Channeling nervous energy is what leads to peak mental and physical performance. I would be much more “nervous” about selecting a QB who never trailed at half time or faced true adversity. One QB was carried by his team. The other tried to carry a team that could not be carried.
Definitely a double-edged sword. It’s tough to not feel positive about a guy who executed well enough to keep his team out of harm’s way, including making plays in “gotta have it” moments, which saw him have a lot of success in 3rd down situations, etc. With Maye, you have a guy who overcame adversity with a change in coordinators, receivers, and still played relatively well. It’s the inconsistency that is the big question mark, along with his tendency to struggle at the start of games. That “nervous energy” feels like more of a trend than an anomaly, which would… Read more »