0:00This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed Human. Kyle McLaughlin, legendary musician Amy Mann and many more.
0:05Kyle is going for it here. You fully improvised not just words but a song.
0:10Well I thought you were all gonna write a song.
0:13I remember you thinking that. Listen to Podlandia, AAO Rewatch on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
0:20Welcome everybody to the tailgate. I'm your host for today Andrew Erickson and today I'm joined by a very very special guest.
0:27Evan Lazar, senior reporter and host of the Patriots Catch 22 podcast at Patriots.com.
0:31Evan, we've met briefly at the NFL Scouting Combine in 2025 where you gave me the intel that the Patriots were going to draft an offensive lineman.
0:40They ultimately did. Drafting Will Campbell. Solid rookie year.
0:42Shaky to end but I'm very happy to have you back on the show here.
0:47Talking about the Patriots as we're previewing them heading into 2026.
0:51How are you doing? How was the boots on the ground analysis so far?
0:55Yeah, it's been great. I'm happy to be here and that's the best part about the combine right?
1:01You meet a bunch of people and it's almost like a big NFL networking event.
1:05So it was great to meet you and yeah, things are going great with training camp so far.
1:11It's starting to heat up a little bit with the joint practice earlier this week and then Thursday night preseason opener.
1:18We're taping this Thursday morning. So right before their first game of the preseason.
1:22So we're getting into the meat of of the summer now of what we're actually going to see some real live football, which is really fun to see.
1:31So I'm excited to get going here. Yeah, the air felt a little bit different this morning waking up knowing that it was game day.
1:39Even though it is a preseason game, it's still again going through team with the warm ups getting the stadium going the music blaring.
1:46So even though we won't see most of the main starters here in week one against the Colts, it's still fun to
1:53see some of these depth players, especially with you following the team so closely.
1:58So let's kick it from the top here. Any specific takeaways from the joint practices with Indianapolis Colts?
2:03Obviously, you've been watching the Patriots go up against their own team for multiple weeks against new bodies.
2:09I feel like that invigorate some of these players where I get to hit somebody that I haven't been hitting for the last three weeks.
2:17We obviously also saw the A.J. Brown route against Sauce Gardner as a big A.J.
2:21Brown stand and someone that still can't get over the fact the Patriots pass on A.J.
2:26Brown to draft Nikhil Harry and Joe Jawan Williams in the same draft.
2:31Very upsetting. How have the Colts joint practices kind of been?
2:34Yeah, you know, it was a good day. I think both sides probably come out of it thinking that that was a good day's work.
2:42And, you know, going into it, I feel like the Colts are maybe a little bit underrated here locally.
2:48Like that was a playoff team until Daniel Jones got hurt last year and they were one of the best teams in the AFC.
2:55And I'm sure they feel like they're going to be right back in it as long as Jones stays healthy this year.
3:02So I thought it was a really good practice for Drake May for about 95 percent of practice.
3:08And then his very last throw of practice and a two minute drill.
3:12He threw an interception trying to throw to Demario Douglas in the end zone.
3:16It was a 20 ish seconds left need a touchdown kind of situation.
3:20Looked like Pop Douglas was open behind the safety, but may couldn't get it over the safety and it was intercepted by Cam Bynum.
3:28So before that, there was a lot of really good stuff from the Patriots offense against the Colts defense downfield throws to
3:35Romeo Dobbs, AJ Brown, the two tight ends, Henry and Eli Reardon, the rookie that we can talk about.
3:41Ramondre Stevenson getting involved in the passing game. So really encouraging overall with those two new guys, especially in the rookie Reardon
3:48that those three players are starting to find their stride and find their footing in this offense was extremely encouraging.
3:54Defensively, it was a little bit harder to tell because they were down some guys.
3:59No Christian Gonzalez, no Carlton Davis, no Christian Barmore.
4:02So those are three pretty big, important pieces on the Patriots defense.
4:05Now the Colts didn't have Alec Pierce out there, so I guess, you know, there was some of that going on, but
4:12I thought the defense was a little bit more shaky against the Colts offense, especially covering Tyler Warren and Josh Downs in
4:19the middle of the field seemed like a little bit of an issue.
4:23But there's that caveat with their down there to starting corners and one of their best defensive linemen.
4:29It's not exactly like they were at full force.
4:32So, yeah, a lot to unpack there. Something that caught my ear when you're kind of perked up talking about Eli Reardon.
4:39Now, again, coming from my fantasy background, Eli Reardon was a very popular dynasty pick after the Patriots drafted him this past
4:46draft with the idea that, OK, maybe the Patriots don't extend Hunter Henry entering a contract year.
4:51Now that's obviously changed. Hunter Henry signing a two year deal with the Patriots.
4:55Now, does that pour cold water on what Eli Reardon could do, you know, this year and in years in the future?
5:02I get that Hunter Henry has really been just very reliable, very consistent pro.
5:07Again, not the most dynamic pass catcher, but someone that again, when you just look at the chemistry and who Drake, that's
5:14who Drake may has played the most with. You know, dating back to his rookie year, Hunter Henry was still one of
5:21his most stable receivers at the tight end position.
5:23So Reardon kind of what you expect his role to be potentially in year one, obviously with the caveat that he is a rookie.
5:31Yeah, I've reigned on the parade just a little bit with Eli Reardon, not because I haven't been impressed with what I've
5:38seen out at practice, but more about rookie tight ends, especially rookie tight ends drafted second, third round or later in the NFL.
5:45And it's just a slower developing position for a lot of those guys.
5:49There's always outliers, you know, Sam LaPorter, Harold Fannin, you know, guys like that.
5:54But for the most part, you know, rookie tight ends average about 26 catches a season if you're drafted on day two
6:00of the draft, you know, 250 ish yards. So it's not like they go out there usually and have monster rookie seasons
6:07when you're drafted later, like Eli Reardon was. So on top of the fact that he's behind a really trusted target of
6:14Drake Mays and Hunter Henry, I think that he's a guy that they're hoping is going to make a lot of big plays within this offense.
6:22Maybe not the volume right out of the shoot.
6:25He's might not be a guy that's going to catch 50 passes as a rookie, but can he catch 25 passes at,
6:32you know, 14, 15 yards a catch and have some of those explosive plays that we saw him have at Notre Dame?
6:39He had eight 20 plus yard plays at Notre Dame last year.
6:43So if you take that and you put that into the Patriots offense, you know, seams, crossing routes, play action, passes, things
6:50like that, you know, things off bootlegs, like those plays that you can really take off and see him.
6:56I use his buildup speed to create chunk plays in the passing game.
7:00I think that's where you hope he's going to shine.
7:03So a little bit different than Henry in that regard.
7:06Henry is much more of a, you know, you need seven yards.
7:10I'm going to get you eight kind of guy.
7:13Right. And that's great. They need somebody like that.
7:16That's going to move the chains, but hopefully with Reardon.
7:19Now they have a little bit more of an explosive tight end that has that ability to create the big plays.
7:25Yeah. More juice. That's what this offense has needed for the last couple of years.
7:30And they're finally addressing it, which I absolutely love.
7:33And my mind immediately went to when you kind of described how you would view Raritan's rookie season.
7:38Reminds me a little bit of what we saw with the Rams tight end last year, Terrence Ferguson, where very low volume.
7:45I think he only had 11 catches, but those 11 catches were electric, like big downfield plays.
7:51And he's obviously someone that they're really excited about entering year two.
7:54So maybe when we're looking at Raritan at the same time next year, we're looking at him through a Ferguson type of lens.
8:02So someone that the definitely there is a ceiling case to be made, but obviously maybe not here in year one.
8:08Now it's not buried the lead. Drake may AJ Brown, like the combination that everybody wants to know.
8:14How is it going? I think the things that I read where again, Rocky to start, which I think is to be
8:21expected with a quarterback and a brand new wide receiver.
8:24But I don't think from what I watched from AJ Brown last year that he has washed or fallen off anyway.
8:31I think if anything, he was just disinterested in playing in that Eagles offense.
8:35And I think that the ceiling is sky high for him with Josh McDaniels, with Drake May.
8:40Evan, please tell me you agree with me here.
8:43If there's any pushback, we also need to know, but why should the people be excited about this AJ Brown, Drake May combination?
8:50Well, it's definitely mostly excitement. I think the down the field stuff has been a little bit slower than every single time
8:57they throw a slant to AJ Brown. It feels like it's completed, right?
9:01Like he can throw a seven yard slant to AJ Brown all day, every single day.
9:06They could probably complete that pass 10 times a game if they really wanted to.
9:11You know, the question is going to be the downfield stuff.
9:15And again, you know, you always put context on these training camp practices.
9:19He's going up against Christian Gonzalez every single day.
9:22You know, so he's going up against maybe the best cornerback in football who is very, very good at playing the deep part of the field.
9:30So you're not going to see Gonzalez give up a lot of vertical shots down the field on the outside.
9:36So that might be part of it. Why those have been more, I'd say maybe 60-40 in favor of Gonzalez because Gonzalez is a really good player too.
9:45But I think I've seen enough out of it, enough flash to be really encouraged.
9:50And I think the two areas that AJ Brown, I hope, is going to bring a little bit more to this offense than he did in Philly.
9:58One would be in the red zone where every time they go down there in the red zone, you know, his catch
10:05radius, his size, his play strength really shine with Drake May.
10:08And so I think that that's going to be an area that he is going to really excel in.
10:14And the Patriots last year, as good as they were, they were 17th in the league in red zone scoring offensively.
10:21So that's an area that they want to improve.
10:24And they've gone out and they've made the acquisition for AJ Brown.
10:28They signed Romeo Dobbs. They draft a six foot six tight end.
10:31So I think that there's things that they're doing to try to be better in the red zone this year.
10:38The other thing is, is I think he's going to move around a lot more.
10:42And this was something in Philly that we talked about when they traded for him in June.
10:48You know, 90% of his routes last year were on the outside.
10:51You know, he's playing that boundary X receiver role vast majority of the time in Philadelphia.
10:56I think with the Patriots, Josh McDaniels is going to be a little bit more creative with his usage and move him
11:03around, play him out of the slot, play him out of stacks and bunch alignments.
11:08You know, things that they can do to get him off the line of scrimmage and allow him to build up speed.
11:15So those are all the encouraging things. I would say, you know, when you go one on one on the outside and
11:22it's a 50 50 ball against Christian Gonzalez, like those are going to be tough to complete sometimes.
11:28But I don't think we've necessarily seen the full gamut of what AJ Brown is going to do in New England, because
11:34these are just training camp practices where they're running base plays and they're not game planning or anything like that.
11:41So I think that there's a whole different chapter of the playbook that's yet to be seen that we probably won't see until September.
11:48Regardless, I'm giddy about AJ Brown this year, especially from a fantasy perspective.
11:52I think that if you're listening to this now, I think that Evan is painting a picture where AJ Brown seems like
11:59a very strong pick to make in your fantasy draft because of the upside case of man.
12:05If he gets fed into McDaniels offense, like we've seen in the past, whether it was Devante Adams, whether getting back to
12:12his Broncos days with Brandon Marshall, this is a true alpha wide receiver that just absolutely wants to dominate the defensive backs that he's going up against.
12:20And the fact that it's the classic iron sharpens iron and going against Christian Gonzalez every single day.
12:26I mean, this might be the best cornerback he faces all year long and it's in practice every single day.
12:32So I think that the his ceiling is just so, so high.
12:36Now, before we get off the office and quit on defensive quickly, the other receivers in this offense, again, everyone last year,
12:43I think, stepped up in certain roles. You got more of expectation, obviously led by Stefan Diggs, who's now part of the Washington Commanders.
12:50The Patriots go out and trade for AJ Brown, obviously signed Romeo Dobbs, projected one to up top the depth chart.
12:57And then the other guys, Douglas, Booty, Matt Collins, Kyle Williams.
13:00Is he already destined to be the next Patriots day to wide receiver bust?
13:05Any of those guys that you wanted to hit on just things that you're impressed with or things that I need to see more from this receiver?
13:13Well, I would say that, you know, encouraging signs last couple of days from Romeo Dobbs.
13:18You know, I think that one to me was a little bit more concerning in terms of how it started than AJ Brown.
13:25I felt like Romeo Dobbs is in a role in this offense where there's a lot of mental stuff that goes on.
13:32You know, they put a lot of burden on option routes and understanding coverage and seeing coverage the same way as the
13:39quarterback after the snap and all that kind of stuff.
13:42And that type of role that, you know, Diggs played last year that we've seen guys like Jacoby Myers play and Julian Edelman and all those guys.
13:51So they've sort of figured out a way, I think, to use Romeo Dobbs a little bit more to his strengths each day.
13:58You know, he's more of a physical, you know, good catch radius, strong at the catch point, very strong hands.
14:04Like that's more of his game than a Diggs who's like a real crafty route runner, you know, so there's a little
14:11bit of a different flavor there with Dobbs compared to Diggs.
14:15And I think that they've figured that out slowly but surely.
14:18And it keeps on, you know, arrow pointing upward there.
14:21But the one guy that I would say that is the holdover that stood out the most in camp is Demario Douglas.
14:28You know, he's their primary slot receiver right now.
14:31And three receiver sets, it's Brown and Dobbs on the outside and Pop Douglas in the slot.
14:36And he has been extremely difficult to guard in practice, you know, crossing routes at all three levels, vertical routes up the seams.
14:44You know, really just anything over the middle of the field where he can get into a foot race with a slot corner.
14:51He's been winning, whether it was against Marcus Jones or against the Colts corners the other day on Tuesday.
14:57So he's been very, very good. Looks really confident within this offense in the second year with Josh McDaniels.
15:03So they've had this before with Pop. He's had great summers before.
15:07There's not a lot of contact in these practices and he's a jitterbug receiver.
15:11So those guys can sometimes be difficult to cover when it's glorified, you know, touch football out there in practice.
15:17But he has really come on strong and it's been holding off like all of those other guys that you mentioned that
15:24he's been the third guy on the field with Dobbs and Brown.
15:28So I would be pretty surprised if he at least isn't the starting slot receiver in the beginning of the year.
15:35And it's his job to lose. You know, if he if he really excels in that role, I don't really see him giving it up.
15:42You know, the other guys, that's that's the big question on everybody's mind.
15:46They have seven receivers that they could keep on this roster.
15:50You know, you mentioned Hollins and Williams and F.
15:53and Chisholm being the seventh guy. And a lot of people, that's probably the number one question other than Christian Gonzalez's contract right now.
16:00Are they going to keep all seven guys? And my view on it right now is that I probably would keep all
16:07seven because I don't know if you're really going to feel like you're cutting that linebacker, cutting that fourth or fifth safety or something like that.
16:15And you're going to be really kicking yourself about it down the road.
16:19Whereas if you move on quickly from a Kyle Williams or you cut an F.
16:24And Chisholm, I feel like you're cutting an NFL player there.
16:28So it'll be interesting to see how that all shakes out.
16:31But those guys have all had their moments. Kyle Williams had a slow start, but had a really good play the other
16:38day against the Colts from Tommy DeVito, caught a deep post down the middle of the field for about a 50, 55 yard touchdown and practice on Tuesday.
16:47So he's had his moments. Matt Collins has had his moments.
16:50I think right now it's kind of an embarrassment of riches, but I would keep all of them and figure it out.
16:57You know, if you get to the trade deadline, everything's going well with Dobbs and Brown.
17:02One, everybody's healthy. Then maybe look to move Kayshawn Booty at the trade deadline.
17:07But I don't see any rush to move him right now.
17:10Yeah. And I think too, if you're just looking at the depth chart, having an embarrassment of riches at one position.
17:17Okay. Maybe we can address a position where we don't feel like we have as much depth.
17:22I know when I'm looking at the roster, like cornerback kind of stands out to me with Gonzalez, obviously at top as
17:29the number one guy, Carlton Davis can be very inconsistent.
17:32Like there are times where, especially when he's either dealing with injuries or he's healthy, there are times he plays like a top 10 cornerback.
17:40And then there are other times where he's getting absolutely roasted.
17:43So again, as a number two corner, that's, you can live with that.
17:47And then obviously Marcus Jones man down the slot, but behind those guys, I do see some areas of, okay, maybe if
17:54they do flip one of these receivers, a cornerback would be an area that they would target flipping to defensively.
18:01Gonzalez is obviously the main guy on this team.
18:03This secondary will go and have success based on how Christian Gonzalez is doing.
18:08Milton Williams, Christian Barrymore plugging up that interior of the defensive players.
18:12So someone besides Christian Gonzalez, like who is the most important defensive player on the Patriots roster?
18:17I'd say Robert Spillane because really at linebacker, they don't have tremendous depth right now.
18:22And he's really the guy that not only wears the green dot and steers the ship and all that kind of stuff,
18:29but he's by far their best linebacker. And I think we saw it at times last year, they survived the games that
18:36he didn't play at the end of last year defensively, but the run defense really suffered.
18:41You could tell that, that they really missed him in the middle.
18:44And so I think that he's probably one of the most important players on the team, just because I don't know exactly
18:51how they'd go about replacing him if he were to miss games due to injury.
18:56So even though I agree that cornerback depth is something that's on all of our minds, you know, we've seen a lot
19:03of Charles Woods, a lot of Kendall Vildor for Carlton Davis and Gonzalez who missed Tuesday's practice.
19:08And those guys have been getting a lot of reps.
19:11I'm not sure if anybody's really separated themselves out of that group, probably Charles Woods as the fourth corner, but we'll see, you know, Caron Prunty, their rookie.
19:20They like him pretty, you know, he looks pretty good for a fifth round pick.
19:25Maybe a guy that they stole on day three of the draft, kind of like Craig Woodson last year.
19:31So we'll see, you know, how that cornerback depth chart shakes out.
19:35But a linebacker, it's Spillane. It's Ellis, who's a nice player, but really a weak side linebacker and somebody that you don't
19:42necessarily want being, you know, your primary Mike. And then Chad Muma, who's having a little bit of a career resurgence, you
19:48know, another guy that was drafted relatively high that hasn't necessarily found his footing in the NFL.
19:54So those three guys, and then behind that, it's not a whole lot of depth.
19:58So if they were to lose Spillane, I don't know where necessarily they would turn.
20:03It would probably be an Ellis Muma combination at the second level.
20:07And I think that that's a pretty steep drop off.
20:10Last thing before I let you go on the tailgate show a couple of weeks ago, we talked about our favorite preseason stars of years past.
20:18And for me, Zach Sudfeld was a player that I just could not forget about what he did in the preseason.
20:25At the time it was, wait, we don't need Gronkowski.
20:28We got Zach Sudfeld. Like this guy's going to be a superstar.
20:32Now, obviously someone that's covered the Patriots. You've seen all of these preseason games.
20:36You've seen guys that flashed and then turned into absolutely nothing.
20:40Of all the preseason performances, which one do you remember the most?
20:43Again, whether it was a player that ended up having a successful NFL career or a player that just totally flamed out.
20:50When I say preseason goats, Evan Lazar, who is your preseason goat?
20:54Well, this one's personal to me a little bit because my first full training camp cover of the team was 2019.
21:01So Brady's last year with the Patriots and the Patriots signed Maurice Harris, who's a veteran receiver that had kicked around the
21:08league and really wasn't necessarily an NFL player as it turns out.
21:11But he had a great beginning of training camp, a really good first preseason game.
21:16Moss, the guy made a catch down the sideline.
21:19And, you know, young me took the bait. You know, I thought, OK, this guy is going to be, you know, the next star receiver for the Patriots.
21:28They found these guys all the time. Diamonds in the rough, Julian Edelman's, you know, like they'll find another one of these guys.
21:35And two weeks later, he got cut, didn't even make the team.
21:39So his just whole story, not to pick on Maurice Harris, but I always remind myself of that every training camp of
21:46don't get duped by Maurice Harris again. Right. Like, don't take the cheese on some journeyman receiver or UDFA or something like that.
21:53It's got to you got to wait until it's really tangible and real to get excited about it.
21:59So we always joke about Maurice Harris because that was the first time.
22:03And I remember too vividly that Jacoby Myers was a rookie that year and everybody was on Maurice Harris to begin training camp.
22:10And then about halfway through training camp, right around probably when the pads came on and the preseason game started, Jacoby Myers
22:17started to elevate and he started to get better and better.
22:20And all of a sudden we went from Maurice Harris stands to Jacoby Myers stands like overnight.
22:26You know, it was really quick. So that was a good lesson.
22:29That was a good lesson for, you know, me when I was a young, a young guy on the beat was, you
22:36know, there's always going to be a Maurice Harris.
22:39There's always going to be a Zach Sudfeld. There's always going to be one of those players that has a great couple
22:46of weeks of training camp and it really amounts to nothing.
22:49Great life lessons here with Evan Lazar. Again, the Pat, when the pads come on, the story changes a lot.
22:56So again, thank you, man, for joining me here on the tailgate before you go again, just plug where the people can
23:03follow you for all of your great content covering my, our New England Patriots.
23:07Go give them a shout to where they can find you.
23:10Yeah. Patriots.com. Everything's on Patriots.com. So we have Patriots unfiltered.
23:14We do that twice a week. We'll go to three times a week.
23:18Once the regular season rolls around and then Patriots catch 22 is my podcast with Alex Bartha, 98 five.
23:24We do that once a week on Wednesdays. So we got a lot of stuff going on.
23:29A lot of podcasts. I do all the written stuff as well.
23:33So we'll be a jam packed for the next six months, hopefully.
23:37So it'll be good. Awesome. Well, thank you guys all for listening.
23:40Again, this is the fantasy pros version of the tailgate and we'll see you next time.
23:45Hey Portlandia fans. Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen here.
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24:58This is Chelsea Handler from Dear Chelsea. Every week, the news gets worse, the world gets crazier and Yamanika is here to tell whoever's responsible you're the problem.
25:07Do you know I just found out who Sidney Sweeney was?
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25:27I'm Nick Turturro. You probably know me from NYPD Blue, The Longest Yard or Spike Lee's Black Klansman.
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