The Patriots 2023 Preseason Thread - OTAs and Mini Camp

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Can't wait to see this guy play.

Another GLOWING story about a Pats draft pick. Sheesh. If these guys are even close to what people are saying the draft was gold.
 
Patriots waive Yodney Cajuste. He was the last player on the roster draft in 2019.

N'Keal Harry was BB's first pick in 2019. Did you know that SIX WRs selected after Harry in the 2019 Draft have been Pro-Bowlers??????
 
Can't wait to see this guy play.


I've come around to being OK with Mapu after initially being dubious that we really needed another Safety/LB hybrid that will need to
make a big jump from College.

One thing I saw Tyler Kyles illustrating was that we have been very vulnerable to crossing routes and that is one of Mapu's specialties. The
clip he showed in evidence of that was very impressive, but.... I really don't understand how he might be deployed in order to plug that particular
hole or if he'll end up doing a redshirt kind of year. I suppose he could substitute in for Bentley or Tavai on passing downs, which makes sense.

I don't want him to be redundant. Not at a 3rd round value.

I'm just hopeful he has something unique and can help quickly, but am going to have to just sit back and see how it plays out.
 
Patriots waive Yodney Cajuste. He was the last player on the roster draft in 2019.

N'Keal Harry was BB's first pick in 2019. Did you know that SIX WRs selected after Harry in the 2019 Draft have been Pro-Bowlers??????
Thanks for doing the math. I couldn't have totaled them up all by myself.
 
Patriots waive Yodney Cajuste. He was the last player on the roster draft in 2019.

N'Keal Harry was BB's Caserio's first pick in 2019. Did you know that SIX WRs selected after Harry in the 2019 Draft have been Pro-Bowlers??????

fyp
 
Patriots waive Yodney Cajuste. He was the last player on the roster draft in 2019.

N'Keal Harry was BB's first pick in 2019. Did you know that SIX WRs selected after Harry in the 2019 Draft have been Pro-Bowlers??????
Actually, I think that has been pointed out about 1,000,000,000 times,but I guess it never hurts to point it out 1,000,000,001 times.
 
Actually, I think that has been pointed out about 1,000,000,000 times,but I guess it never hurts to point it out 1,000,000,001 times.
Someone's gotta put a stop to all this anticipation and excitement over this year's draft, and the best way to prove how bad the 2023 draft will turn out to be is to cherry-pick one draft pick from a draft that took place 5 years ago.

I forgot to check - did we trade Mac Jones or are we stuck with that one-year wonder for another year?
 
I don't want him to be redundant. Not at a 3rd round value.

I'm just hopeful he has something unique and can help quickly, but am going to have to just sit back and see how it plays out.
I'm torn between what you are saying in that I agree with you about not getting a guy is is redundant, but also remember Colts HC Ted Marchibroda's philosophy of "strengthen your strengths," (I lived in MD for a couple of years.) When I got back to Mass, watching Hannah-Gray-Cunningham dominate power runs to the left made me think Marchibroda was onto something.

My 2 ¢
 
I've come around to being OK with Mapu after initially being dubious that we really needed another Safety/LB hybrid that will need to
make a big jump from College.

One thing I saw Tyler Kyles illustrating was that we have been very vulnerable to crossing routes and that is one of Mapu's specialties. The
clip he showed in evidence of that was very impressive, but.... I really don't understand how he might be deployed in order to plug that particular
hole or if he'll end up doing a redshirt kind of year. I suppose he could substitute in for Bentley or Tavai on passing downs, which makes sense.

I don't want him to be redundant. Not at a 3rd round value.

I'm just hopeful he has something unique and can help quickly, but am going to have to just sit back and see how it plays out.
Here's what I think:
Q: When is a "3-3-5" nickel not a nickel?
A: When one of the OLB weighs 285 and is a hybrid odd front DE, and 2-3 of the 5 DBs are in the 220# range and hybrid SLBs.

Imagine by December a base/early down package:
3 DL: Wise/Barmore, Godcheaux, Guy
3 LB: White, Bentley, Judon/Tavai
2 "Box" Safety: Peppers, Mapu/Dugger
2 CB: Gonzalez, Jon/Jack
1 "pure" safety: Dugger/Jon/Mills

Size to spare. Speed to spare. Multiple guys who can cover RBs or TEs. Multiple real threats to blitz. Functionally it's 8 in the box. The flexibility to beef up, speed up, or adjust for additional length by tweaking personnel here and there. With Jon at the safety position you can drop him into the slot and drop one of the Box safeties back as necessary or to spin the dial. Or with Mills at safety you can roll him to a boundary or down onto a TE, bringing Jon or Dugger back. Mobile QB? As many as 3 guys who could legitimately spy. Can legitimately play man - and with deep help - against 12, 21, 13, 22, and many specific instances of 11, 20, and 02. Barely registers as a concern if RBs or TEs are flexed to WR positioning.

Gonzalez was a pure best player available.
White and Mapu give Bill, Steve, and Mayo the ability to seriously mess with QBs heads, making pre-snap reads almost useless, and reads in the first half second almost as tenuous. This would be really messy to scheme against, and worse to execute against.

It's silly to assume that all 3 will not only hit, but be ready for prime time by December. But boy, would it change the game against Mahomes and Allen for that stretch run. I can't to see what these guys look like in camp, and how they develop over the course of the year. They could be sick chess pieces.
 
I'm interested to watch Boutte continue to work back from injury.

I found this:

View: https://youtu.be/HVCxJ1wPSBY


...and I have to say that @0:35, watching Boutte run away, that's a tantalizing bit of tape considering Forbes's combine numbers. That is not 4.5 range play speed. Not by a long shot.

Also, I still really like Forbes as a ball-hawking game-changer. If he can be coached into stability to go with it...dude is dangerous. But landing in DC is not going to be good for him.
 
I'm interested to watch Boutte continue to work back from injury.

...and I have to say that @0:35, watching Boutte run away, that's a tantalizing bit of tape considering Forbes's combine numbers. That is not 4.5 range play speed. Not by a long shot.

Also, I still really like Forbes as a ball-hawking game-changer. If he can be coached into stability to go with it...dude is dangerous. But landing in DC is not going to be good for him.

I'd seen that same clip and a bunch more that are eye-popping stuff. Of course, the question is how much the ankle is messed up, but the medicals have to
be good or we'd have scratched him off the list, right? If it's something that will always be an issue.

I'm not looking for him to be a Chase or Jefferson, but just what he was before it all started going sideways for him. He's shown all kinds of skill and that
40 number is definitely not an accurate indication of what he was running pre-ankle. He was losing guys at will. He is, right now, the biggest threat we have in the skills
group. IF.....IF.......if.

I could not be more fascinated to see how it all plays out. We could seriously use a break here. A big, massive, exciting break to get a bargain if not a total calculated heist.

Interesting observation about Forbes going to DC. Care to elaborate?
 
What happened with OTAs? I’m reading some strange things.
 
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