On this episode of the Greg Bedard Patriots Podcast w/ Nick Cattles, Greg and Nick dive into Jerod Mayo's firing and Robert Kraft's press conference. They discuss reports that the Patriots will interview Byron Leftwich and Pep Hamilton for the head coaching vacancy and analyze why Mike Vrabel is considered the frontrunner for the job.
The Greg Bedard Patriots Podcast is presented by:
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The Greg Bedard Patriots Podcast is presented by:
Prize Picks! Get in on the excitement with PrizePicks, America’s No. 1 Fantasy Sports App, where you can turn your hoops knowledge into serious cash. Download the app today and use code CLNS to get $50 when you play $5! PrizePicks, run your game! Go to https://PrizePicks.com/CLNS
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00:00This is the Gregg Bedard Patriots podcast with Nick Cavins.
00:07All right, we've got a lot to get to, so let me get right to it.
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01:12All right.
01:13Now that we've gotten through that, let's get to the actual information.
01:17And obviously a lot is happening right now, Greg.
01:20I want to start from the beginning, which was Gerard Mayo's firing.
01:24Were you surprised by the timing of it on Sunday?
01:27Yes, I was.
01:29I was stunned, Nick, with how swiftly it happened.
01:32I mean, you know, and this was one question I didn't get to ask Bob yesterday because
01:40we were short on time and apparently only current gets multiple questions.
01:44But anyway, no, I didn't raise my hand again.
01:47I'm just kidding.
01:48Just poking fun of my, my guy, Tom.
01:52I, uh, it's stunning to me that to go from, to go from a hiring that was so personal for
02:01Robert Kraft and how much belief he had into Rod Mayo to not to, to less than a year later,
02:09not even allowing the guy to state his case and why he should be back is absolutely stunning
02:17to me, Nick.
02:18I think it's, to me, look from covering the league for a lot of years, there's two reasons
02:23why that happens.
02:25Um, one, like basically total incompetence and, or there's something personal there.
02:33I don't think that's the case here, but I'm not ruling it out.
02:37I wouldn't be surprised, Nick, if there was a conversation between probably between Jonathan
02:44and Gerard at some point this week, uh, where maybe Gerard asked for a little bit clarification
02:51about his future and whatever he got back from the crafts.
02:58He didn't really love and, you know, maybe he mouthed off a little, maybe, um, something
03:04like that.
03:05Um, so there's that possibility then the other possibility, which I think is the more likelihood
03:10here is the crafts know exactly what they're going to do with the next step.
03:17Just wanted to clear the decks and get moving as quickly as possible.
03:21Not let's not screw around for a couple of days, do the, you know, Wednesday meeting
03:26type of thing.
03:28Like there's no point in it.
03:29We need to get moving.
03:31We know who we want.
03:32Let's get going.
03:34When do you think the decision was made?
03:39I think the decision was made after the chargers game that, uh, it was over.
03:45I think that, uh, everything that went down that day, you know, and we've talked about
03:49it of course, um, from the game, from the, you know, the Gibson and Stevenson stuff,
03:56um, to what happened during the game being just totally, uh, not competitive, uh, to,
04:04you know, the post game and, uh, the fans and the chance.
04:09I think, I think it was after that, maybe not like right then and there, but in the
04:14aftermath of that game, I think that's when they knew what they had to do.
04:19I did a show on 98 five and also NBC sports, Boston with Phil Perry on the Thursday before
04:24the chargers game.
04:26And my question to Phil was how much could things change if the Patriots are thumped
04:32by the chargers?
04:33And Phil said, well, what is stumped?
04:34And I said, well, you know, 10 points, he said, well, how about two touchdowns?
04:37I said, two touchdowns or more.
04:39What happens if the Patriots get thumped?
04:41And at the time, I don't think many of us thought that that was going to be the case.
04:45I think a lot of us thought that game would be within a touchdown, 10 points, and just
04:51that whole debacle on that Saturday and the crowd reaction and the lack of competitiveness,
04:57the lack of preparation.
04:59I think the Arizona game, Greg, after the buy opened the craft's eyes even more and
05:07really put Gerard on alert.
05:10I think he bought some of that back with the Buffalo game, at least the first half of the
05:14Buffalo game.
05:15I still don't think he was safe going into that LA game.
05:18And I said that on the Thursday with Phil, I said, you know, it's going to come down
05:22to this game.
05:23Week 18 is going to be a joke.
05:24It's coming down to week 17.
05:26If they play competitive, then Gerard might save his job.
05:30If they get blown out, if they get thumped, I would not be surprised whatsoever.
05:34He's gone.
05:35I agree with you.
05:36I think it was the chargers game.
05:37That was ultimately the death knell for Gerard Mayo as head coach for the new England Patriots.
05:42Do you think Greg that Mayo knew during the bills game that he was gone?
05:48I think that he had an idea.
05:50I don't think that he knew.
05:51I don't think he was told anything.
05:53He might've heard about the Schefter report, which is never a good indicator.
06:00And we all sort of know that Schefter's in pretty good with Patriots ownership.
06:07To me, that was, that was surprising to hear that.
06:10I mean, when, when Schefter put them into the lean to out column and he was like the,
06:16I think he was the only one on that list.
06:18There might've been, I think he said Peterson out, but other than that, everybody was like
06:22safe or lean to safe and Gerard Mayo leaned to out.
06:28I think, I think he had an, I think he had an inkling might've I'm I bet that he heard
06:34about the Schefter report and then he had an idea about it.
06:38What really jumped out at me, I think it was a combination is the fact that over the final
06:4172 hours that led to Mayo getting fired, nobody came out and said he was safe.
06:47Not a single person came out and said Gerard Mayo is safe.
06:50And I tweeted this, uh, I think it was on Sunday morning, you know, Saturday, I said,
06:55I I'd still be surprised if Kraft says goodbye to Mayo, but it's noteworthy that the local
07:02guys are not saying anything about him being safe.
07:05And the national people all last week were, were, were pretty much pumping the tires of
07:10Mike Vrabel and everything was, Hey, Mike Vrabel would be a favorite in new England
07:14or Mike Vrabel is interested in new England.
07:16And then in parentheses, it was, if Mayo is gone or pending Gerard Mayo, which told
07:22me it was getting shaky underneath Gerard.
07:25And then by Sunday morning, Greg, you know, this, if ownership wants to get it out, that
07:30somebody is safe.
07:31If they want to stand by their guy, right.
07:33Stand by your man.
07:35If, if you want to stand by your man, you leak it to Schefter and say, yeah, uh, Gerard
07:40safe.
07:41He's going nowhere.
07:42Or you leak it to Jay Glazer.
07:43He's not going anywhere.
07:44You, you, you talk to guys like you or Mike Reese, who's going on 98, five in the pregame.
07:49The fact that there wasn't a whisper of Gerard being safe before that game on Sunday, I felt,
07:55okay, now I'd be a lot less surprised if he's gone.
07:58And then you had the Adam Schefter thing, which was kind of, you know, the icing on
08:02the cake.
08:03There's a story at Boston sports journal by the way.
08:08One second.
08:09There's a little bit of breaking Patriots coaching news, um, that I'm sure we'll get
08:14into a more, but, uh, Mike Jones from the Washington post is reporting that Byron left,
08:18which is interviewing today for the new England Patriots head coaching job.
08:22Oh, that's a, that's completely a Rooney rule.
08:25Oh yeah, absolutely.
08:27That's I mean, I, I hate to say that.
08:30I hate to say that, but left, which is out of football, isn't he right now?
08:34I don't think he's in football.
08:36That to me reeks of the Rooney rule, which is awful.
08:43Um, for a lot of different reasons.
08:47And again, it's not, it's not great to say it, but I, I think that's what we're seeing
08:53here.
08:54And we'll get to Mike Rabel.
08:55We'll get to the head coaching search, but if you want to do this quickly, if you want
08:59to get your guy within the next seven to 10 days, let's say, what do you do?
09:04You run through the process and Byron left, which is not, let's put it this way.
09:09Is he Aaron Glenn?
09:11Nope.
09:12I don't see any Aaron Glenn interviews being lined up by the Patriots.
09:16Is he Brian Flores who has a link with the Patriots?
09:19Nope.
09:20I don't see them going out and talking with Brian Flores Byron left, which is out of left
09:25field.
09:26That's out of left field.
09:28I would also say, Greg, just the thought process here as I, as I'm working through this, it
09:35does feel like checking the box, which sucks.
09:39I would also say, however, I want your thoughts on this left, which worked with Brady in Tampa
09:47Vrabel, obviously friends with Brady.
09:52We talked about this last year during going through the, I hate to say process, but going
09:57through the, whatever the hell that was.
10:01Sometimes sometimes you interview guys for bigger titles, bigger jobs, but ultimately
10:07you're kind of poking around.
10:09What my question would be is could left, which be somebody they could entertain as either
10:16offensive coordinator, or I think more likely maybe quarterbacks coach.
10:23So maybe you're kind of getting information on left, which who has worked with Brady has
10:26worked with quarterbacks.
10:28So maybe that's a part of this too, which is Elliot Wolf and Alonzo Highsmith gathering
10:33Intel from left, which because he might be somebody they have on the radar to be a part
10:38of the offensive staff.
10:39Yeah.
10:40I mean, look, I, I don't rule that out.
10:43It's it's it's definitely possible.
10:46You know what I'll say, you know, and I'm sure we'll get into this more, but you know,
10:50about the Rooney rule.
10:51I mean, I get it.
10:52I don't like it either, but the rules are what the rules are and the the sort of hurdles
11:02that the Rooney rule presents, like, you know, they could talk to, if you're talking
11:07about like, you know, token interviews, look, the only thing that they can do with these
11:14guys who are, you know, their teams are going to go deep into the playoffs.
11:18We pretty much have a good idea about that.
11:20They can only do virtual interviews this week and that's only with the buy team.
11:23So it would be the, the lions, Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn.
11:27It would be the chiefs.
11:28And I don't know if they're going to talk to anybody from the chiefs, but they can't
11:32do with the Rooney rule yet to have two in-person interviews.
11:35And those can't really happen until after the divisional round.
11:39That's not until like January 20th.
11:41And if you're the crafts, we heard Robert yesterday said, we're going to move fast.
11:46I mean, they're entitled to do what they're going to do.
11:49The rules are the rules are, you know, the easy way to get past the Rooney rule is to
11:56interview people who are out of the game, like Byron left, which Ron Rivera, David Shaw,
12:04those types of guys.
12:06And you know, it, it sucks.
12:08Nobody likes it.
12:10But I mean, I don't know what you're really supposed to do these it's their franchise.
12:15I think they have an idea who they want to hire especially after what just happened.
12:20And we'll see what happens.
12:22Yeah.
12:23Left, which has been out of football since 2022.
12:26So he has been out of football for two years and he's the first guy that's getting an interview
12:31with the Patriots.
12:33Seems kind of fishy to me.
12:34Right.
12:35I mean, I, again, I hate saying it, but it's, you know, a guy that's been out of football
12:39for two years is getting the first interview ahead of Ben Johnson and Mike Fravel.
12:45Certainly smells.
12:46Don't, don't hate the play.
12:47I hate the game.
12:48Exactly.
12:49Exactly.
12:50Don't, don't get on me for delivering the message.
12:51I'm just telling you when, when you're interviewing a guy that's been out of football for two
12:55years for the head coaching job who has never been a head coach before.
12:58Yeah.
12:59Yeah.
13:00All right.
13:01We'll get to the GRD story in a minute.
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14:16All right.
14:18All right.
14:19So Mike Giardi had a great story today.
14:21Some reporting at Boston Sports Journal.
14:24You all should check it out.
14:26The gist is that some vets, at least some veterans on this team, lost belief in the
14:32coaching staff quickly.
14:33And one vet says it happened as quickly as the springtime when it just felt like the
14:39coaching staff was throwing stuff up against the wall, Greg.
14:43How much more do you think there is to this decision by the crafts just beyond what we've
14:47seen and what we've heard?
14:50How much do you think, you know, the dysfunction, how high of a level could we be talking about?
14:56Yeah, I, um, it'll be interesting to hear.
15:00I know, you know, I'm supposed to go on failure mass today and failures like all over me to
15:03give me like, give like details and stories and like, dude, it just happened two days
15:09ago.
15:10And like I have, and the other thing is, is like, look, I've been the only guy in this
15:18market who has been reporting on Mayo since before he got the job.
15:23I'm the only guy who tried to, who attempted to vet him even a little bit, who pointed
15:27out like some of the dysfunction last year and how he rubbed people the wrong way.
15:31And I got crap for that and I got crap for this.
15:34And like, I mean, I've been reporting the whole time along the whole way about Mayo,
15:40about ownership, having issues back in the spring.
15:44This went into training camp, they're calling around like, you know, look, there was just,
15:50there was a level of incompetence, how, how deep it is.
15:53I'm not really sure.
15:54I think that'll come out in time, especially the senior I'll be at the Mike and I will
15:59be at the senior bowl.
16:00That's a really good place.
16:01There's usually, that's usually like a, uh, the fired coaches convention where they're
16:06looking for jobs.
16:07So I assume a lot of the Patriots assistants will be there.
16:10People who aren't hired.
16:11So we'll hear.
16:13But um, yeah, I do think, I do think that there, there was incompetence, um, all season
16:21long, how deep it is, how bad it was.
16:24I'm not really sure, but it's very similar to me.
16:26It's very similar to, you know, Matt, Patricia and Joe judge and, you know, uh, at the time
16:32you remember that spring after they started working with players, I went on TV and said,
16:37people were alarmed about what's going on with this offense and I, and I got similar
16:42vibes about this coaching staff, especially Mayo, uh, very early on as well.
16:48All right.
16:49If you're watching this, if you think I'm not paying attention to Greg, I am listening
16:52to Greg just because the time of the year, I'm also paying attention to Twitter, keeping
16:56track of that.
16:57Uh, so just in case there is breaking news, we don't need Greg to break it.
17:00Cause he's got a thing.
17:01He's got to think about what he's saying here, folks.
17:04Me less.
17:05So, I mean, Greg, he's got, he's got credibility, you know, that he's going to worry about he's,
17:10he's got a reputation.
17:11Who the hell am I?
17:12Right.
17:13Follow me on Twitter at Nixie radio.
17:14All right, let's get into the craft press conference, uh, quickly here.
17:17We'll just run through a couple of questions and we'll get to the coaching search.
17:20Your thoughts from 30,000 feet on the press conference by craft yesterday, overall, I
17:26thought it was good.
17:27I thought it was, um, a very good move for him to come out and just take accountability
17:32and say, you know, um, it's on me that he felt bad for Gerard.
17:36He put them in a, I mean, I, I don't know if the word he used the word untenable position
17:42or untenable situation.
17:47I don't know about that.
17:49Um, you know, unfair, um, maybe, or not the right situation for a first time head coach
17:56who had never even been a coordinator.
17:58Um, but I, I thought it was mostly good.
18:01I thought some of his messaging about the front office was, uh, inconsistent.
18:07I don't know exactly how much to make of it because I think a lot of it is him being 83
18:11years old and sometimes not completing thoughts or sort of being all over the place a little
18:18bit.
18:19Uh, but I thought in general, uh, it was fine.
18:23I think, you know, he took accountability.
18:26He said, they're going to move fast.
18:28Um, you know, the front office stuff I'm sure we'll get into, but, uh, I thought it was
18:33good.
18:34It was, it was, it was good.
18:35It was good and solid.
18:36A lot of people wanted to see Jonathan craft.
18:38I asked that question on Twitter before the press conference, if we'd see Jonathan craft,
18:43but I feel like Greg, the lack of Jonathan craft yesterday had more to do with Robert
18:49wanting to be the face of what went wrong.
18:52And I think that that led to his opening statement where it's like, this is on me.
18:57And if you have Jonathan, if you have somebody else up there, it could deflect from, I think
19:02the message that Robert wanted to send, which was, I screwed up.
19:06This is on me.
19:07I'm taking accountability.
19:08The buck stops with the owner.
19:11So I didn't have a huge problem with that.
19:12I've got to ask you though, how involved do you think Jonathan is?
19:16Oh, I think he's very involved and, um, you know, I wouldn't be surprised.
19:21In fact, I believe that he sort of, uh, drove the bus on this and, um, you know, just, I,
19:30I think he was more involved, whether it's him personally or with Robin Glazer about
19:35being informed what was going on in the building.
19:38But, uh, yeah, I think he's involved.
19:40And I also, I agree with you.
19:43I think that Robert wanted to take it upon himself because it's real, the, the Mayo thing
19:47was really his doing, but I also think, and I think it'll be interesting to see if Jonathan's
19:52out there when, when they announced the new head coach, um, because I do think it might
19:57be Robert.
19:58Cause I think Robert just, he wants to, he wants to sort of ride off into the sunset,
20:03the, you know, hiring the, this coach is my last hire or the franchises is good hands.
20:09And now Jonathan's going to take over sort of thing.
20:14Last one, before we get to the coaching search, uh, speaking of coaching some, some news before
20:18recording this DeMarcus Covington gets an interview with Cincinnati, uh, for their defensive
20:23coordinator position.
20:24What do you make of it?
20:27Uh, very interesting.
20:30Um, I don't really know any connections that Covington would have, um, there with that
20:38coaching staff.
20:39Um, but you know, good, you know, good for him.
20:43I mean, I don't know what he did this year.
20:45That would, uh, you know, it could be a situation where they're, they're looking at their options,
20:50but also, you know, he could end up being a position coach at the end of the day, that
20:54sort of thing.
20:55All right.
20:56Before we get to the coaching search and Mike Vrabel, which many of you are waiting for,
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21:37All right.
21:38Coaching search.
21:39Yeah, baby.
21:40Let's get into it, Greg.
21:42Let's get into the info.
21:43The Intel Greg's been on the phone texting, taking calls, you know, if the season couldn't
21:50get any longer.
21:51Now we're going through a coaching search.
21:53All right.
21:54Greg Daniels reported today, Mike Vrabel interviewing this week.
22:00Let me just cut to the chase.
22:02Handicap the chances, Greg, that Mike Vrabel is the next head coach of the New England
22:05Patriots.
22:06If you want to give me a, you know, four to one, 80%, however you want to handicap it.
22:11Go ahead.
22:12Big guy.
22:13Tell me.
22:14Good question.
22:16I'm trying to put a percentage.
22:18It's high.
22:19So I'm trying to say, is there a real difference between 80 and 90%?
22:24I'm going to go 90%.
22:25I think there's a 90% chance that Mike Vrabel is the next head coach of the New England
22:30Patriots.
22:31And, and, um, do I think some things have been in motion?
22:37Yeah, I do.
22:38But I think the biggest reason, the biggest reason you can point to why it's Vrabel and
22:42not say like Ben Johnson or something like that is, you know, look what, look what the
22:47craft just went through with their own rookie head coach.
22:52You know, at least Ben Johnson has been a coordinator, but a guy that they knew went
22:56to Israel with all this stuff, believed in it.
23:00And that guy fell on his face after that.
23:03Do you really think they're going to bring in another first time head coach, someone
23:08they don't even know and put them in charge?
23:12To me, there is little chance of that, like 1%.
23:15So Mike Vrabel makes a lot of sense.
23:19They know him.
23:20He's been a successful head coach.
23:21He spent this year learning how to coach offense better in Cleveland, was in Cleveland with
23:27their analytics department, saw that, used basically this season to educate himself more
23:34in a lot of different areas.
23:35So it'll be better the second time around.
23:38And it's just, it's too perfect a fit.
23:42You know, now we'll see what he's going to do for offensive coordinator and stuff like
23:45that.
23:46It could be left, which now that he's coming in, it could be Josh McDaniels.
23:51But yeah, to me, I would be stunned if it's, if it's not Mike Vrabel either by the end
23:57of the week or early next week, I would be stunned if it is Vrabel is not the new head
24:03coach in fairly quickly.
24:07Any idea about the staff he'd bring along with him?
24:09You just mentioned McDaniels.
24:10Have you unearthed any more information regarding that?
24:12I know Tommy Reese has been brought up.
24:15Any thoughts on, on who he might bring along?
24:18Uh, no, um, awesome.
24:22I mean, I mean, I, I, uh, I would be interested to see who is defensive coordinator is going
24:30to be.
24:31I mean, you know, maybe he has some more thoughts about, you know, maybe branching out.
24:35I mean, I would love to see, you know, a guy like Robert Sala or somebody like that, but
24:41I don't know how Vrabel's idea about defense and how he ran, runs his defense.
24:45Now he didn't run the Patriots defense in Tennessee per se.
24:50Um, so maybe that's a possibility, but you know, Shane Bowen, who is, I think still employed
24:56by the Giants as their defensive coordinator, I mean, he could get fired.
25:00Um, he was his last defensive coordinator in Tennessee, um, to me, it doesn't really
25:05matter who the defensive coordinator is.
25:07Mike's going to make sure, uh, unlike Gerard, Mike's going to make sure that that side of
25:12the ball is good and ready.
25:13And if he has to spend all his time over there, he will do that and make it better.
25:17Uh, you know, to me, the big, the big hiring is offensive coordinator.
25:22I think if I had to guess, and this is just a guess, I have no information on it.
25:28I think it'll be Josh McDaniels, but I really don't know that it's, it's, um, let me put
25:33it this way.
25:34He's really quiet on that front.
25:36Um, and so that leads me to wonder, I know, I know McDaniels has a lot of interest around
25:43the league with different people, uh, as this hiring process goes through.
25:48Um, but I don't know, to me, it makes too much sense.
25:53What could get in the way of Rabel being the guy?
25:56It's a great question, uh, that I hadn't really pondered.
26:02Um, nothing, I can't really think of anything.
26:07I mean, I can't see the, I can't see the crafts balking on money.
26:11I can't see variable going nuts with the money.
26:15Um, I, I think that some of the front office stuff that's going on right now, um, I wouldn't
26:23be surprised if there haven't been conversations about that.
26:29I think, um, people being on board with certain things.
26:34Yeah.
26:35I'm trying to be very vague.
26:36I'm trying to, I'm trying not to step in it, uh, very much.
26:40Uh, do you think, uh, do you think if he walked in and said, I want final say, I
26:44want the power, I want the personnel power, would that make the crafts a little shaky?
26:51Um, it might, but from my understanding, um, I would not be surprised if Mike
26:58Rabel doesn't have final say, uh, if he is named head coach of the new England
27:05Patriots.
27:05Oh, look at you.
27:06Look at you.
27:07Huh?
27:07Look at a little smirking and everything.
27:09This guy, he knows more than he's telling us folks.
27:11He just see, did you see me on TV last night?
27:14I actually winked into the camera, like talking about, uh, yeah, I saw you.
27:19I saw you.
27:20I watched it this morning.
27:21Um, all right, quick.
27:24And I mean quick, cause we got, we still got a lot to get to and you're
27:27going to get to Felger and mass.
27:29Um, ran Carthon.
27:30Greg was pop.
27:33Uh, I, so I tweeted this out.
27:37The Tennessee Titans told the Vrabel to screw pretty much because he
27:41said ran Carthons, our guy ran car.
27:44They attached themselves to ran Carthon.
27:47They chose him instead of Vrabel.
27:49Vrabel said, you're making a mistake.
27:51And now a year later, after Vrabel is let go, ran Carthon gets fired after
27:57being the GM in Tennessee for only two years, does that give Mike Vrabel more
28:02credibility when he walks into a room now?
28:05Absolutely.
28:06Yeah, I do.
28:07Um, you know, what's interesting is like, from what I understand, like
28:10Vrabel didn't want John Robinson fired.
28:13Like, look, was he happy about the AJ Brown trade?
28:17Um, no, but John, I think did what he thought he had to do.
28:21Um, I think it ticked off ownership.
28:24And I do think I, from what I understand, the John Robinson
28:27firing was Amy strunk Adams.
28:30And then the Vrabel firing was strunk.
28:33And now she picked grand Carthon when she picked ran Carthon, um, hired him.
28:40Um, Mike Vrabel wanted Ryan Cowden who's now with the giants.
28:44Yeah.
28:45And then fired Vrabel and then back to ran Carthon who is now fired.
28:51What a clown show.
28:52Okay.
28:54Uh, quickly, does Ben Johnson have any shot?
28:58Let's put it this way.
28:59If variables, 90% is Ben Johnson.
29:02The other 10%, is this a two person race?
29:06If for some reason, this gets to January 20th, about, I think that's
29:11the end of the divisional round when you can have in-person interviews.
29:15Um, I would put, I would put it as Vrabel, Ben Johnson and Brian Flores.
29:22I would say those would be the final three.
29:25I even might put Flores ahead of Ben Johnson because he's already been a
29:30head coach and because the crafts know him, um, yeah, they, uh, yeah, that's
29:38what I put, but that's the way I would put it.
29:40And I would tell you that Brian Flores just took questions
29:44about his head coaching prospects.
29:46This is Kevin Seifert from, or Seifert from ESPN.
29:49He said he would take every interview that has requested asked if he
29:52is interested in the Patriots job.
29:53He said, quote, I would say yes, but it's not up to me.
29:58And, uh, so it sounds like the Patriots have not reached out to Brian
30:01Flores, which again, could tell you a lot about Byron left, which is interview.
30:05Right.
30:06If you're not reaching out to Flores, if you're not reaching out to Aaron Glenn,
30:10what is that telling us?
30:11All right, before we get to the front office, let's talk about factor.
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31:59What the hell is going on with Elliot Wolf and Alonzo Highsmith?
32:04Um, so they are involved, uh, with the search.
32:09I think they are basically running point on it because, um, I don't think, uh,
32:14Robin, uh, Jonathan Kraft, Robert Kraft, Robin Glazer, even though I think
32:19Robin Glazer is probably heavily involved in this as well.
32:22Um, you know, they don't have contacts.
32:26You just started something with the glazer stuff.
32:28I just want to let you know that.
32:30Oh yeah.
32:30Just by what you said, get ready.
32:32I mean, look, she's, she's involved in everything.
32:35I mean, you know, I, I don't think heavily, um, by the way,
32:39I met her a few times this year.
32:40Very nice woman, extremely smart.
32:42Uh, I know, I know she gets trashed a lot, but, um, I can see why
32:48the crafts like her so much.
32:49But anyways, uh, I think they're just running point, um, identifying
32:54prospects, calling them, arranging with agents, blah, blah, blah.
32:58You know, all that stuff.
32:59Now the bigger question, and I think where you're getting at is,
33:04you know, what's the deal?
33:05Why, why are they still here?
33:06Why is Robert talking about them?
33:08Quote unquote, staying on.
33:11Um, first of all, there's a lot of work to get done.
33:14Rarely do you, you're not blowing out a whole personnel department.
33:17Um, you know, you can fire the GM like the Titans did.
33:22As long as you have a second in command that you feel strongly about that
33:26they're ready and almost like on an interim basis, the Patriots don't
33:29really like Alonzo high school Smith could do it, he's been here less than a year.
33:33Pat Stewart can definitely do it.
33:35Been with the Eagles, the Panthers, um, in prominent roles.
33:39Uh, but again, I don't know what kind of relationship with the crafts have,
33:42and everybody knows about crafts and their relationships.
33:45So number one, the work needs to get done.
33:46Like I think the hula bowls this week, the college all-star games are starting.
33:51Be down at the senior bowl around, uh, January 27th.
33:56Um, so the work continues.
33:59Um, I do think that I do think that the front office largely, and we'll
34:05see if anybody leaves with Belichick and things like that, like, you
34:08know, maybe a macro, I don't know.
34:10But I think that this front office will largely be intact through the draft.
34:17Now, does that mean that somebody like Mike Rabel is not going to bring
34:21in his own personnel guy and eventually that guy's going to be in power?
34:25Uh, it doesn't preclude that.
34:27Um, but that's sort of where I think we are right now, by the way,
34:31we have more news, Greg, for you.
34:32Uh, make of this what you will.
34:37Tom Pellicero says the Patriots have interviewed pep Hamilton
34:40for their head coaching job.
34:44Rooney rule done.
34:45Yeah.
34:46I mean, hire whoever they want to
34:49have Hamilton last time in the NFL.
34:512022 as an offensive coordinator.
34:55Um, was a head coach for the, uh, XFL.
34:59I like, I like, um, look, I like both those guys.
35:05I don't think they're in serious contention for head coaching gigs.
35:08I don't think the Patriots are genuinely looking at them as, as a head coach.
35:13I would put pep Hamilton in the same bucket as I'd put Byron left, which
35:17maybe he, maybe he is a part of the staff.
35:19Maybe, maybe, you know, quarterbacks coach, offensive coordinator,
35:23background, like left, which maybe they're lining up some, some, some
35:26names to look at as far as the staff goes under presumably Mike Vrabel.
35:33Um, would Vrabel would Vrabel work with Wolf?
35:37What would Vrabel ever say?
35:38Hey, look, keep Wolf on.
35:40Or is it more likely that he's like, I just want my guy.
35:45I don't, I don't, I want my guy.
35:48I'm going to have the final call.
35:49I don't care who's there until after the draft.
35:52And then once it's after the draft, it's, uh, you know, clean up time.
35:58Yeah, I do.
35:59Um, I think that, I think that both of those guys have a chance to get a position.
36:05Both of them have been QB coaches in the league before, um, be interested.
36:09You know, I do think this falls into the crafts, you know, making calls about how
36:13to best support the rookie quarterback.
36:15These are good guys to interview.
36:16And, um, and also, but largely it's the, the Rooney rules out of the way.
36:23Like I said, someone maybe with the initials MV could be the
36:29Patriots head coach by Friday.
36:34All right.
36:34Well, there you have it before we get to a couple of final thoughts.
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38:23My dog, Sammy is just like staring a hole into me right now
38:27because she wants to eat.
38:28She's like, dad, let's go.
38:29I, so let's do this quickly.
38:31Uh, Patriots against the bills.
38:33Uh, did the Patriots do it right?
38:37Um, you know, uh, you know, Nick, we talked about it last
38:42week and, you know, I was anti tanking.
38:45I was anti may, you know, sitting may.
38:48Um, first of all, you, you're right.
38:50You're right about everything.
38:51Um, uh, but I, you know, just being there, um, and you know, you know,
38:58me, everybody knows me, I'm a football purist.
39:01Um, I think there's such a thing as football gods and you don't want
39:04to anger them and all that stuff.
39:05And I figured, you know, these guys, a lot of these guys, I don't
39:09really blame anybody, but I will say.
39:11By the end of the game, like even I, and I'm not a Patriots fan.
39:14I felt like this was a loss that they, they, they, they lost by winning,
39:19uh, dropping from one to four is crushing.
39:23I don't really blame anybody.
39:24I don't know what else they were supposed to do.
39:26They played their third string quarterback.
39:28They sat some guys, they rotated on the offensive line.
39:32I guess they could have played Jalen Polk and Javon Baker all game and
39:35they wouldn't have had any passes.
39:37Uh, but short of that, they got out tanked by the bills who I did not want
39:42the Patriots to get the number one pick.
39:43That was obvious.
39:46And Joe Milton looked good.
39:47Maybe we'll get into him later on, but Greg's got stuff to do.
39:50I do want to update something quickly here.
39:53Uh, just so people don't think that Greg and I are going for like some
39:57low hanging fruit or controversy.
40:00Um, Tom Pellicero just tweeted.
40:04That's two head coaching interviews today for the Patriots.
40:06Pep Hamilton and Byron left, which the only current NFL assistant coach
40:11they're known to have requested is lions.
40:14OC Ben Johnson.
40:15While Mike Grable is free to interview anytime dot dot dot Tom's
40:21getting to what we got to.
40:23Okay.
40:24Timing matters.
40:26Mike Frabel is going to be the coach.
40:27He's going to be the coach by Friday.
40:29We know what's happening here.
40:30Can we just stop?
40:31Okay.
40:32We it's going to happen.
40:34It's going to happen unless something catastrophic happens during the
40:38interview, Mike Rabel is going to be your next head coach.
40:41Ben Johnson has an outside shot.
40:44If, if Rabel gets pants in the interview, that's what's happening here.
40:48They check two boxes.
40:49Unfortunately, that's what they did today before they interviewed Johnson
40:53probably tomorrow or Thursday.
40:55And then they'll, because Rabel's interviewing on, I think
40:58tomorrow, Wednesday with Chicago.
41:00They're going to do this fun little dance.
41:02Inevitably Vrabel will interview by Thursday.
41:04We'll get stories that Vrabel is going to be the next guy by Friday.
41:07Um, check out BSJ 50 bucks the year.
41:10Great coverage.
41:11Download the prize picks app.
41:13Use code CLNS factor meals.
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41:23Uh, before we go, Greg, my final record, I want to make sure final picks record.
41:27I was seven and 10 against the spread.
41:29I was nine and eight straight up.
41:31Do you know what you were?
41:33Uh, hang on.
41:35I think I have, uh, aw man, I deleted it.
41:38Uh, we, we can get to that Thursday or we might have a coat head
41:44coach press conference by then.
41:46So Greg's going to go.
41:47He's going to go tell Feldman has everything.
41:49He just told you on this podcast.
41:50That's why we rock.
41:52We're even better than those than we're, we're, we're not
41:55better than Felger mass, but we're.
41:58I think we have the best Patriots podcast in the world, Greg, you and I.
42:01That's what I will say.
42:03I'll stop there.
42:04A lot of people do great work.
42:06This is not a pissing contest.
42:07All right.
42:08We'll be back later in the week.
42:09Uh, but there's going to go bye-bye.
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