NFL Combine review, Draft preview with Mark Daniels

The Toucher & Hardy show started the week off right with an NFL Combine review, as well as a look ahead at the Patriots' offseason.

Mark Daniels is the man you hear in the clip above. He's on the Pats beat for MassLive and was fresh back from a week at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis. Toucher & Hardy were not at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis, so we've been relying on firsthand (or, in some cases, secondhand) accounts from some of our regular contributors. For example, we had a boots-on-the-ground report from Christopher Price from the Boston Globe last week, and a stranded-in-Florida-for-some-reason check-in from Mike Giardi of the Boston Sports Journal. Both are here.

Back to Mark Daniels, he was busy all week in Indy, keeping tabs on the Combine and New England's offseason priorities. He even shared a bit of his technique. Mark remarked that he's too old to have been single during the current dating app era. So he would actually walk up to women in bars and attempt to strike up conversations with them. A bygone era, to be sure. But now? Mark's using those same skills while he's posted up at Starbucks, waiting for NFL execs to come through for coffee so he can pick their brains for info. Smart one, that Mark Daniels.

Toucher, Hardy, Jon and Mark covered a lot of what Mark spent last week and the weekend writing about. Pivoting away from the actual combine, a question came up. Is there a scenario in which the Patriots are able to restructure the contract of Stefon Diggs in order to go after A.J. Brown? Daniels says there is. And while carrying both Diggs' and Brown's salary would be a heavy weight, that's the type of elite talent that New England is eyeing to surround QB Drake Maye. You can read more of Mark's thoughts on that here.

The show also discussed at length the future of Will Campbell. Daniel's echoed the messaging that's been coming from Pats brass like Mike Vrabel and Eliot Wolf: Campbell is their guy, there's no plan on moving Campbell, etc. But Fred Toucher pushed back on this. In Fred's scenario, the Patriots use their second-round pick to draft a readymade offensive tackle that gives them the flexibility to move Campbell around. As Fred pointed out, you can't look at Campbell's historically bad Super Bowl LX performance and not at least consider a change in scenery would benefit him. And Drake Maye, for that matter.

The conversation continues all week long on Toucher & Hardy, live weekday mornings from 6-10. Or, via the podcast on the Toucher & Hardy page any time you need it. We'll have Chad Graff from The Athletic in the mix later this week. And with the NHL trade deadline looming, expect to hear from Bruins voice Ryan Johnston on Wednesday, and hopefully his broadcast partner in crime Bob Beers. Oh, and if Jayson Tatum returns to the Celtics this week? You know the show will be all over it. Stay tuned.