Good morning. Here are your Patriots news 4-20 and notes for this week. Before we begin, Happy Easter or Passover to our readers and listeners from all of us here. Spend the day with your families and have a happy and safe time.
The NFL Draft begins on Thursday night, and it is a big one for the Patriots’ new regime. There has already been a lot of movement with the roster, and they’ve added a lot of new faces in free agency. Now the draft should be the final big pieces to be added, while the UDFAs will start being added a week from today.
In case you missed it, Derek Havens, Mike D’Abate, and I got a great guest on last week as ESPN’s Field Yates joined us in the studio for some draft talk. Thanks again to Field, who is a very busy man this time of year.
Rumor Mill, Misinformation/Disinformation Time:
Here we go again – without fail, every year, after months of draft evaluation and mock drafts. Right before the draft, rumors start linking players with previously unknown red flags for this or that.
One of those players was Abdul Carter, who had an incident with a tow truck driver exactly a year before this spring’s draft. He was being towed for parking in an apartment complex parking lot without a permit sticker. Carter believed his car was being stolen, and the two tussled. Carter was issued a summons, but it seemed like both parties could have handled the situation better.
Also, there were rumors that he isn’t a great worker.
So, while this should be noted, are these red flags that would stop you from drafting him? Absolutely not. As Albert Breer said earlier in the week, it would be “idiotic” to pass on Carter. And I agree with Breer on that.
Carter visited the Patriots last week, and Coach Vrabel said that he wouldn’t discuss the interactions with Carter, “but I would say that the tape is dynamic. There’s a lot of great qualities of a disruptive pass rusher. Very slippery, loose, sudden player. It was a fun tape to watch.”
Others tried to put the same red flags of Travis Hunter for saying he’d quit football if he weren’t allowed to play both ways. That’s just the kid being a little cocky coming into the NFL this year. He had no discipline issues; he actually graduated early, and his work ethic, Pullleeeze. He played both ways.
Maybe it’s the Patriots spreading these red flag rumors to see if the Browns or Giants decide to pass on either one of them. That would play right into the Patriots’ hands at #4.
Another rumor making the rounds concerns the Patriots and Eagles. WEEI host Nick ‘Fitzy’ Stevens said he received a call from a source that the Philadelphia Eagles could present a trade for the No. 4 overall pick to draft Penn State edge rusher Abdul Carter, with wide receiver A.J. Brown and potential draft compensation going to the Patriots in the reported scenario.
“I got a call earlier today that the Philadelphia Eagles really, really, really want Abdul Carter and that they would consider, rather, are planning to call your New England Patriots on draft day, if Carter falls to No. 4, to see if Mike Vrabel would like a reunion with A.J. Brown and possibly more draft selections and compensation to come,” Stevens said.
Quick Hitters For the Patriots and NFL News:
Milton Williams: The new Patriot defensive lineman was on the ‘Green Light Podcast’ with Chris Long and he had some really cool stuff to say, not about himself, but about a teammate.
He told Long about a conversation that he had with new teammate Keion White. “I already told him, if we end up on the same side, when it’s time to go rush, it’s gonna get nasty,” Williams said to Long. “It’s going to get nasty, for sure.”
“I see a lot of myself in him,” he said about White. “Just how he carries himself, how he goes about his business. Similar body type — 6-4, 6-5, 280, 290. Fast strong, has everything in the toolbox to really line up wherever, having the versatility to play inside, outside. I pride myself on being able to do the same things.”
Williams, White, Harold Landry, K’Lavon Chaisson, and a healthy Christian Barmore will be the keys to getting the Patriots pass rush untracked in 2025. And they will be looking to add a couple of more pieces in the draft.
“I’m definitely excited,” Williams added. “We just started our OTA program — just getting work in, getting around the guys, getting to know them. I’m already trying to pick Coach [Mike] Vrabel’s brain. He came in our meeting, gave us some tips and pointers. It’s going to be fun.”
Kolton Miller: The Patriots are in dire need of a left tackle. What if they got one before the draft even started? Raiders’ left tackle Miller is in the last year of his contract that pays him $15.7 million this year.
He wants a new contract, but, so far, the Raiders don’t want to give him one. Would the Raiders entertain, trading Miller? He is one of the better left tackles in the game, and has been very solid for Las Vegas.
There is no indication that ‘da Raidahs’ would be willing to trade him, but, the Patriots are flush with cap space, more than $67 million, so the money wouldn’t be a factor. What would the Raiders want in return?
Bill Belichick: Great nugget from the coach last week in his book, The Art of Winning, where he said “The Patriot Way” didn’t exist.
“Someone came up with the phrase, ‘The Patriot Way,'” Belichick wrote. “I think they made some money off it. Good for them. Here’s something you should know: The Patriot Way does not exist.“
Belichick’s remark definitely appeared to be a shot at owner Robert Kraft, and who can blame him after much of the documentary that came out last year was critical of the guy who coached the team to nine Super Bowls in 18 years.
Patriots 4th & 2 Podcast: Derek, Mike D’Abate, and I discussed the draft with @fieldyates and took some draft questions from our listeners. Please check us out and listen to us on YouTube, Apple, or Spotify.
Russ Francis/Chuck Fairbanks: The former Patriot tight end and head coach should be in the Patriots team Hall of Fame, and the fact that Francis isn’t is an absolute travesty. Francis and the Raiders’ Dave Casper changed how teams used the tight end position. This will be displayed in our Sunday posts until it happens. Casper is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Francis’ numbers stand up well against Casper’s, yet he isn’t even in the team’s HOF.
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“What my goal was that I told everybody in the building, and I told Mr. Kraft, I told the coaches, it was to build a program that you guys and the coaches and the staff wanted to be a part of, that they wanted to protect,” said Vrabel. “When you care about something, do you protect it?”
“Yes,” the players responded.
“And that you were proud of it. That I’m proud to be a New England Patriot. I’m proud of the way that we do things. I’m proud of the way we prepare. I’m proud of the way we practice. And I’m proud of my teammates for the effort in which they play. So that was my goal, to get started. And then that you’re going to eventually believe in that and then start to trust it.”
“The goals for our program, the overriding goals for that program that we’re going to build, is going to be one to win the division,” said Vrabel. “When was the last time the New England Patriots won the division? Does anybody know? 2019. And we have one player, Joe Cardona. That’s one person. So we’re building our own identity. We’re building our own team. We’re building our own program.”
“There’s going to be things within that that are different. There’s going to be things within that that are the same. And it’s all going to be based on, how do we make you guys as good as you possibly can be as an individual, as a player, and then as a teammate? That’s going to be our whole goal. And you have to start understanding that of why we’re doing what we’re doing.”
Head Coach Mike Vrabel discussed the expectations and goals for the team.
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“Somebody asked me what success looks like, and I said, ‘Yeah, you can judge it by wins and losses during the season, but success for me in the offseason is going to be that the players believe in what we’re doing, and they believe in the message, they believe in the teaching, and they believe in the connections that we’re making.’” — Mike Vrabel
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A former US Army Special Forces NCO and Officer, Steve has been following the Patriots since their days at Fenway Park. Steve has worked in the film industry and wrote as an Military Editor at SpecialOperations.com, 1945.com as a reporter for the Millbury Daily Voice, Millbury-Sutton Chronicle, and the Grafton News. He's also a member of the Pro Football Writers of America (PFWA)
