Tuesday Patriots Notebook 6/18: News and Notes
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Some Patriots news and notes for this morning:
Heading into New England Patriots training camp next month, the big question is going to be whether or not the team takes care of a couple of remaining players who are unhappy with their current deals.
We mentioned Rhamondre Stevenson’s situation yesterday, but two other key players who are looking for extensions are both Matthew Judon and Davon Godchaux. Judon talked about his issues recently and he made a good faith move last week by showing up and participating during the mandatory portion of minicamp. Godchaux was on hand, but didn’t wear a jersey and didn’t participate, which shows there’s clearly a little more frustration on his part.
Greg Bedard of the Boston Sports Journal spoke about their respective situations in a podcast last week, and he believes things are going to be complicated there. Part of the reason for that is the recent offseason deal Christian Barmore received, which he feels has set a new benchmark that may make it difficult when it comes to extending either player.
Bedard also believes that while Judon may have said the right things, it won’t last if this issue is still lingering next month.
“I know Judon has said the right things, we talked about it on the last podcast, he went on Rich’s [Shertenlieb] show and basically said he wasn’t going to do what he did last year,” said Bedard. “I have reason to believe that will not be true. But I will say that there are rumblings that there are a couple of big contract issues with the Patriots, and they stem from Christian Barmore’s deal.”
“Godchaux lines up next to Barmore, he’s been in the league a lot longer. Judon, of course, we know what he’s done, but he hasn’t been healthy. Barmore, last year he was pretty healthy but he hasn’t exactly been the picture of health. But I think that some of these contract issues could be bubbling up. I would expect them to bubble up during the summer, you know, during training camp, unless the Patriots do something. And that’s the question. Do they do anything?”
“I really don’t know. I would probably think they’re probably going to do a little bit of something for both guys.”
One thing Bedard mentioned is the fact that while the club has clearly placed an emphasis of taking care of its own, they also need to accept the fact that philosophy is sometimes going to cause problems, and he praised Bill Belichick’s ability to both understand and handle the ramifications that sometimes came from those decisions.
“This is what you get, and look, I think we’re both fans of what the Patriots have done in terms of taking care of their own and how that’s a change from what we’ve seen,” said Bedard. “But I’ve also been a proponent of the way Belichick handled these things, and he always had these things in mind that, ‘If I do x, y, or z with contracts, what’s going to be the ramifications in the room?”
“And fans can put their heads in the sand and think that these aren’t real, but they are real. I think Belichick went to the extreme often and didn’t need to do what he did. And certainly with certain people and positions like slot receiver with Wes Welker and Julian and people like that. But I do think that Bill had a method to his madness, and the new regime of the Patriots, Eliot Wolf and Jerod Mayo, namely, they’re going to deal with some of the fallout from some of the decisions that they’ve made.”
There has obviously been a lot of discussion about New England’s offensive line as of late, with left tackle still a giant question mark heading into the season.
However, the news of Cole Strange’s knee injury being severe enough where it will potentially see him miss half the season also complicates things at left guard, which now has two positions on that side in question.
Still, most people believed that David Andrews, Sidy Sow, and Mike Onwenu would take care of things on the right side and that the team will plug in someone at left guard and then figure things out at left tackle. But Bedard says that what’s played out so far in both OTAs and minicamp changes things, which now has him worried for how they’re really going to handle things.
“Probably my biggest takeaway from this offseason with the Patriots is that I am now officially worried about the offensive line and what they’re doing, where they’re going, the fallout from that,” said Bedard. “I went from the offseason of, ‘OK, well, they have David Andrews, Sidy Sow’s a good player, left tackle we don’t know about, but right guard, you should be able to figure out right guard, and they drafted Layden Robinson, but big Mike [Onwenu] will be there at right tackle. And as long as you’re good at right tackle, you can figure out the left side, and you can find somebody to play guard, it’s not a five alarm fire. But to spend almost all of mandatory minicamp with Caedan Wallace at right tackle with very few looks at left tackle to me signifies that he is going to be a right tackle.”
With Wallace, Bedard believes the team is going to want to play him, which is why his presence on the right side at tackle was a concern. He also noted that Onwenu didn’t appear to report in great shape, which is another reason why he’s concerned with where things are at.
“He’s a third-round pick. They’re going to want to play him,” said Bedard of Wallace. “The fallout from that, I’m worried about it. I also think there’s an offshoot of Mike Onwenu, to my eyes, my laymen’s eyes, I don’t think that he reported in great shape. When he talked about in the offseason that he was going to train for right tackle, I figured we’d see a slimmed-down version of big Mike. Slightly – I’m not expecting him to lose 50 pounds and he’s never been a small guy – but I’m officially worried. I was already worried about left tackle, but I figured the right side would be O.K. But now I’m worried about the right side too. Both spots.”
“So I’m now officially worried about the Patriots’ offensive line and how that shakes out, especially early in training camp is going to affect what I think they can do this season.”
One positive takeaway from this spring has been the emergence on the other side of the ball of Keion White. He’s a player who Jerod Mayo previously praised during the spring, and he’s made some noise early on so far heading into this preseason.
Given where they’re currently at, Bedard even wonders that should negotiations go sideways with Judon, if White might end up being the player who picks up that slack and allows them to weather it.
“He’s almost immediately from the get-go in OTAs, seeing him out there, him standing up, the two-point stance, it’s extremely exciting and his development, and again, it’s not pads, but you could see the impact,” said Bedard. “And just his physicality, I just love the idea of him standing up. When he was drafted, I had a hard time wrapping my head around exactly where he was going to play because he was a tweener and he was basically like Deatrich Wise’s sort of understudy and then he gained more and more playing time last year. But I think his athletic ability is his strength and standing him up and using him like that can make him really impactful and I’m really excited to see what he can do.”
“And I also think the offshoot of that is, well, if Keion White’s now an edge and they already have Anfernee Jennings and Josh Uche, and if Matthew Judon is going to have an issue with his contract, does that make Matthew Judon expendable? I think that’s a very real possibility at this point.”
The Patriots made a roster move yesterday, with the club waiving guard Ryan Johnson on Monday. Johnson had previously been signed as an undrafted free agent and had been expected to battle as potentially a depth player. Instead, New England has opted to go in a different direction, while opening up a roster spot. … Seth Wilder of ESPN handed out grades for each NFL teams based on the moves they’ve made this offseason, and the Patriots came in with an ‘A-‘. Wilder credits the team for bringing back Onwenu, extending Barmore and Uche and the addition of Brissett. He also likes the fact the club drafted both Ja’Lynn Polk and Javon Baker, along with bringing back Kendrick Bourne and adding K.J. Osborn. Wilder is also positive on Chukwuma Okorafor, calling him a ‘potential steal’, but he’s not thrilled about the lack of depth at guard and was not pleased that they didn’t add a quality veteran there. But overall, he’s pleased with what he’s seen, which certainly goes against the tenor of where most people seem to be when it comes to the team at this point of the offseason. … Comedian Bill Burr apparently removed a joke from his monologue during his appearance at Tom Brady’s Patriots Hall of Fame induction ceremony. In his most recent podcast, Burr talked about the joke that the club apparently pulled off his line-up, which seemed pretty innocuous, but the team seemingly disagreed. “I was gonna be like, ‘Peyton I always loved you. Because you know what? I always related to you more than I related to Tom Brady, because like you, I am also not the best quarterback in my family,” said Burr via MassLive. “So this is such a baller move,” Burr said. “They didn’t argue with us on it. I just went up there and I had my little jokes on my cards. That slide, the one they were like, ‘Ah, we don’t know about this,’ and I thought, ‘I think it’s all right.’ They just took this slide out. I was like, ‘That’s (expletive) brilliant.'” … For anyone looking to get hyped up, the Patriots released a hype video a bit ago, which is pretty cool. The 30-second clip features a handful of players clearly trying to get everyone excited for the upcoming season. … Congratulations to the Boston Celtics, who took care of business at the TD Garden Monday night and are now the 2023/24 NBA Champions. Just an unbelievable season and a fantastic finish, putting the region back on top of the sports world after their 106-88 win over the Dallas Mavericks, winning the series 4-1. It’s good to be world champs, and given that it might be a while before we see the Patriots potentially contending on this side of things, we should absolutely enjoy this one. Hopefully, they’re not done, and we’ll see them back in the mix again in the fall.
From our archive - this week all-time:
April 6 - April 21 (Through 26yrs)
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