In my teens I was at a local Boys Club event and got to meet Max Lane. Blew my mind.
Mac's Future
- Thread starter TomRicardo
- Start date
As a kid growing up in Foxboro I'd run into the players quite frequently around town. Back then (80s/90s) the players were more "normal" than they are today. My sister was good friends with Tim Fox's daughter and Fox looked athletic, but not imposing (granted he was a safety).
The exception was Steven Moore. We went to a charity pancake breakfast one time and Moore was our waiter. Holy crap was that dude immense. "House" was an appropriate nickname.
The ones that are most shocking to see in person are the basketball guards. You think they are little, because they look relatively smaller on tv or even live at games, but in a Starbucks or whatever they look way different.
I've been around a ton of these guys over the years in various settings.
The one guy that made my jaw drop was Vince Wilfork. He's about 6'2, and was, my guess 330 pounds or so, but what was striking was standing there at 30 years old and realizing if this motherfucker gave me a two second head start, he'd run me down in about 8 seconds. Like a fucking grizzly bear.
Bruschi is one of the few guys that have slimmed down after their playing days, significantly, IMO. Not saying his head looks different or anything (it does), but I think the stroke probably played a large factor:
I recently met Andre Tippett and, in addition to looking great, his hands were possibly the largest I've ever shaken. I have decent-sized hands and they were utterly consumed by his. My lord.
To put the size differences in perspective, Andre Tippett was/is 6'3, 230 pounds (he reportedly ran a 4.41 at his pro day). Travon Walker is 6'5, 275 pounds and ran a 4.51 at the combine.
I think he also ran a marathon or two. Training to run a 26 mile race will certainly have a slimming effect.
I met Terry Glenn back in the day and I've met Desmond Howard a few times, and I'm always baffled that these guys (and anyone else their size) play in the NFL. They really aren't materially bigger than me at 5'8'', 160 lbs.
Him and his friends used to eat at an ex girlfriends family restaurant, was in there a few times when they came in; when he walked in the door, he took up the whole frame, as you said, he was immense back then.
I also used to go to a chiropractor in Norwood who was the Patriots team chiropractor, I was in there once on a Monday the day after a game, a number of players were there, they were all just huge.
Taking a QB is a risk but it's always going to be a risk. If the Pats are in position to select Williams or Maye and pass, when is there ever going to a sure thing?
In my book I made a chart of the teams that passed on Mahomes, and almost all of them wound up using a first round pick on another quarterback within the next two / three years. Getting the quarterback is hard, but it's vitally important, so I wouldn't put it off.
| Pick | Team | Selection | Incumbent QB | Next QB |
| 1 | Browns | Edge Myles Garrett | Cody Kessler | 2017 - Deshone Kizer (2nd) 2018 - Baker Mayfield (1st) |
| 2 | Bears | QB Mitchell Trubisky | N/A | N/A |
| 3 | 49ers | DL Solomon Thomas | Brian Hoyer | 2017 - Jimmy Garoppolo (trade, 2nd) |
| 4 | Jaguars | RB Leonard Fournette | Blake Bortles | 2019 - Gardner Minshew (6th) |
| 5 | Titans | WR Corey Davis | Marcus Mariota | 2019 - Ryan Tannehill (trade, 4th) |
| 6 | Jets | S Jamal Adams | Josh McCown | 2018 - Sam Darnold (1st, trade up) |
| 7 | Chargers | WR Mike Williams | Philip Rivers | 2020 - Justin Herbert (1st) |
| 8 | Panthers | RB Christian McCaffrey | Cam Newton | 2020 - Teddy Bridgewater (FA) |
| 9 | Bengals | WR John Ross | Andy Dalton | 2020 - Joe Burrow (1st) |
| 10 | Bills | CB Tre White (trade back) | Tyrod Taylor | 2018 - Josh Allen (1st, trade up) |
I met Lee Smith as a 14 year old at a Sox game (seats right along the first base line). He shook my hand and said hello. His hand looked bigger than most people when they were wearing a baseball glove.
The flip side of this is if you look back at the 2021 draft, almost every non-QB picked between Trevor Lawrence and Mac Jones ended up being wildly better than any of those 4 QBs. But after Mac, there weren't a lot of stars picked in the rest of the first round -- a few solid pros, but nothing compared to the stars that went 4-14: Pitts, Chase, Waddle, Sewell, Horn, Surtain, DeVonta Smith, Parsons, Slater, AVT.
I met Smokin' Joe Frazier in January 1975. I was almost 14, and nearly as tall as him. His fist seemed to be about the same size as my head.
Stood next to Larry Bird at a summer league game in Boston circa 2002. Post playing days, yes, but dude was a burly 6'9" or 6'10".
I saw Wilfork at the Game On for a wings competition, and he was smaller than I had expected, while somewhat perversely seeming to possess the density of a neutron star. To be fair, I was probably the shortest guy in my group at (then but no longer) a SoSH schmedium 6’2.
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The density is real. We got tickets in the family section in 2010 that came with a postgame spread bracelet. Wife and I sat with DL Kyle Love and his parents. They were nice. I've never owned a car that could have driven all five of us anywhere safely.
Thanks for posting this. Which of Williams, Maye, or any other QB prospect in this year's draft do you think highly enough of to bypass Harrison for? (In other words, I agree with you in theory--but I don't know if either seems as relatively low risk as, say, Trevor Lawrence or Andrew Luck were. Especially in the context of starting-caliber QBs who weren't top-10 or even 1st round picks, like Hurts or Lamar Jackson.)
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He's a really extreme example, even among athletes, but I was working at Boston Children's Hospital in the early 2010s and some Celtics players were there for something and I turned a corner and almost actually walked right into Shaq. Talk about someone that you know logically is a large man but you can't truly appreciate it until you see it in person.
I was at the Shaq sit-in in Harvard Square. Was a foot from him for a couple minutes. He’s massive.
One thing I will say... people are perhaps overrating MHJ's floor, and the value of a WR.
Last WR to go top 4.... Sammy Watkins. top 5 WRs in the last 10 drafts.. Watkins, Amari Cooper, Corey Davis, Jamar Chase.
I try not to watch draft stuff, but my understanding is that they aren't as low-risk, though some seem to be putting them on the Lawrence level or close to it. My point is that it's not really a viable strategy to wait until you have the number one pick in a draft where Lawrence or Luck is available. At some point, you're going to have to take a chance on a quarterback.
And the vast majority of the league's best QBs weren't seen as generational prospects. You bet on traits and hope you're right about them and that the flaws are correctable. Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes, Justin Herbert, Lamar Jackson were all guys who had some pretty important questions about their viability as good starters coming out. Just a few months ago my takeaway from watching CJ Stroud film was "has a Jared Goff ceiling", but it turns out his ball placement, anticipation, ability to vary speeds, incredible footwork and base have all played at a very high level right away. It's an inexact science, if you wait for the perfect prospect to pull the trigger, you'll likely wait forever.
6'3 at my peak probably and have likely shrunk to 6'2 by now. Also, I wasn't that tall at 14 and probably weighed 145 pounds back then. Willie could have used me as a toothpick.
Maybe your jumping skills are suspect. Either way, the dirt from the potted plant outside the bar and the ice from the bartender totally worked and now everything is fine.
Well it was really an issue with communication/ expectations. Why anyone thought I could actually leap over an entire human being without a boost off the shoulders leap frog style I’ll never know. I’m not Vince Carter.
I ran alongside Bruschi at the Boston Marathon back in 2014. We chatted a bit and then I moved on. He was going pretty slow, even for me and I’m slowwwww.I think he also ran a marathon or two. Training to run a 26 mile race will certainly have a slimming effect.
Surround him with the right sales and service personnel, sign a smokin' concierge to manage the front of the house, and he can definitely win a State Dealership Championship.
In "the Brady 6" Tom, or maybe it was his father, related that he was getting really depressed as round after round went by and he wasn't drafted. At one point, Tom grabbed a baseball bat and went for a walk. When he got back and found out he'd been drafted, finally, he said thank God, I won't have the sell insurance for a living now.
I don’t think so. To be a good backup you need to be really smart as you have to be prepared go in with limited practice reps. Mac just doesn’t seem to have a high football IQ.
Easy for that guy to say, whoever he is, because they won't be running him out there every week for his team.
My wife got off the plane in China behind him. Said she felt like she was butt high and his butt was a wide as her wingspan. Obviously an exaggeration, but perhaps not by much.
Said Shaq was very nice to everyone, too.
https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/zach-wilson-understands-benching-i-dont-think-im-being-scapegoated
Fascinating to see the words spoken by Wilson. The exact same thing applies to Mac, but far less accountability and perspective from Mac.
Fascinating to see the words spoken by Wilson. The exact same thing applies to Mac, but far less accountability and perspective from Mac.
Honestly that reads like a guy who is a bit relieved. There's self-reflection and accountability in there, but also a healthy dose of not wanting to be scrutinized anymore.
Who says no to a Mac for Zach trade?
I would swap them in a moment, at least Zach has an NFL arm.
They both suck and neither is the answer. I would prefer trying to find the answer. Even if the next guy only has a 5 percent chance of being the answer, it's better than someone who has a zero percent chance.
I would rather they keep playing Mac. Nobody else on the roster has a real chance of playing the way he did in 2021 as @Deathofthebambino highlighted elsewhere. Mac may not have one either, but there's at least some history there.
Wilson probably would have really benefitted from watching AR all year. To me, he needs that kind of situation. Watch how it's done, how risks are taken (or not), be out of the public eye. With AR coming back in 2024 not sure why they wouldn't just keep him.
Let's spend a few days Zaprudering this quote from Mac:
View: https://twitter.com/ZackCoxNESN/status/1727362674818678828?s=20
View: https://twitter.com/ZackCoxNESN/status/1727362674818678828?s=20
Haha, I didn't even think of that.
Here's the actual video of him answering. Certainly seem like he's saying he's starting.
View: https://twitter.com/RochieWBZ/status/1727366240250003718?s=20
Here's the actual video of him answering. Certainly seem like he's saying he's starting.
View: https://twitter.com/RochieWBZ/status/1727366240250003718?s=20