Friday Four-Pack 4.25.25
Pats draft Will Campbell...but oh, what might have been. WEEI vs. The Sports Hub winter numbers. A new horse racing docuseries. Media notes!
The full ramifications of that moronic Week 18 win - one of, if not the worst, win in Boston sports history - were front and center Thursday Night for everyone to see.
Picking at No. 2 overall in the NFL Draft, the Cleveland Browns traded down with the Jacksonville Jaguars. In addition to handing Cleveland the No. 5 overall pick to move up, Jacksonville added a second-round pick (No. 36), a fourth-round pick (No. 126), and their 2026 first-round pick.
That was a HAUL for the Browns, who ended up taking Mason Graham. The Jags moved up to take Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter. The Titans held the No. 1 pick and selected quarterback Cam Ward.
That No. 1 overall pick should have been the Patriots’ pick.
All they had to do was lose that Week 18 game to the Bills. And look, I blamed now-fired head coach Jerod Mayo for that win on X.com. But ownership deserves blame, too.
After that Week 18 game, they said publicly they had never talked to Mayo about the importance of a loss and what it could mean for the franchise's future. The Krafts seem like pretty smart people, so I’m hopeful they’re just trying to avoid the backlash from the NFL for tanking a game.
But if they had any concerns about Mayo not getting the implied message about Week 18, and knew they’d move on from him after the season anyway, they should have fired him before that Week 18 game—that’s on ownership.
Run the ball 50 times. Play basic defense. There are plenty of ways to lose a game on purpose without looking like you’re trying to lose the game on purpose. Instead, Joe Milton is out there slingin’ it, while the Bills are happy to let you win and game and screw up your own draft pick.
You lose that game, you get the No. 1 pick in a draft where you don’t need to draft a quarterback. It’s easy to see how the Patriots could have gotten MORE than the Browns ended up getting for the No. 2 pick by trading down from the top spot. But that valueless Week 18 win had them drafting No. 4 last night, rather than No. 1.
A lot of anti-Mayo on X.com during the draft, and rightfully so. There were rumblings he had some dirt on the Krafts and might talk about it at some point. So far, nothing, but I hope he speaks because I’d like to know precisely how and why they fumbled that game so badly in Week 18. Like, is there a 5% chance Kraft told him to play to win that game because he didn’t want to hear all those boo birds at Gillette Stadium? Shame on him if true, and if that's the case, let’s hear about it, Jerod.
Or, maybe one of the reasons Mayo doesn’t have a new coaching gig yet is that the word going around is that Kraft told him to lose that game, but Mayo ignored the ‘Code Red.’ There are a lot of unanswered questions.
I’m clearly still not over it. I want someone to be angry at.
And for such an impactful result for the team, we still don’t know who’s actually to blame for the win, which ended up being a massive net loss for the franchise.
What could have been. What should have been. Thanks Jerod. And Robert. And Jonathan. And you too, Joe Milton.
Meanwhile, the Pats did make a pick at No. 4, and there is mixed reaction. The ratings of a popular sports radio show in Boston are down 20% from last year. We review the new Netflix horse racing docuseries. And so much more.
All ahead in today’s Four-Pack.
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On the Pats drafting Will Campbell…
Zero surprise here.
In a calculated move that Bill Belichick probably hated, the Pats seemingly told everyone Campbell was the pick in the final days before the draft. The media, Campbell himself, and maybe even Drake Maye knew this was the pick. Mike Vrabel said in his Round 1 press conference that the team might have been willing to trade back, but I don’t get that sense—especially after Campbell put Vrabel on his ass during a secret workout last week.
They needed a left tackle. Vrabel fell in love with him. Campbell would be their pick if the chalk went in Picks 1, 2, and 3. If Hunter or Abdul Carter fell to No. 4, maybe the team could have traded back at that point and still picked Campbell? Didn’t happen, so we’ll never know.
Instead, they drafted a guy who was considered the best tackle in college football last year. His arms measured short at the combine. Add in his historically short wingspan, and suddenly, he became one of the most talked-about players in the draft.
Most of the post-draft grades were favorable of the team picking Campbell. Matt Miller’s Substack, The Draft Scout, gave the Pats an A+ for the pick.
With the No. 4 overall pick, the New England Patriots made an exceptional move by selecting Will Campbell, the powerhouse offensive tackle from LSU. Campbell’s combination of size, strength, and technical ability is unmatched in this class. At 6’6” and 325 pounds, he’s a force to be reckoned with in the trenches. His quick first step and powerful hands allow him to dominate in both run blocking and pass protection. Campbell is a physical specimen with the agility to excel in the modern NFL, making him a top-tier talent at a premium position.
The Patriots have been searching for a franchise left tackle and solidify their offensive line for years to come. With Campbell, they not only fill a significant need but also get a player who is ready to start immediately and develop into a cornerstone for the future. His technical skills and ability to overpower defenders will instantly bolster New England’s running game and pass protection, offering Drake Maye the support he desperately needs to reach his potential.
Will Campbell is a perfect fit for the Patriots at No. 4. This pick fills a glaring hole, provides instant impact, and offers long-term stability. A home run for New England, both for today and the future.
The lowest grade I could find for the pick came from Underdog’s Hayden Winks, who gave the Pats a C-.
“I just disagreed with Will Campbell vs. most people,” Winks says of the pick. “In consensus rankings, he was 5th overall, and I had him down at 23rd. He was not my top prospect at left tackle…does he have enough strength and length? I think long-term, Campbell will be a guard, but they needed a guard as well.”
After bolstering the defense in free agency, the Patriots' goal in this draft has to be making life easier for Drake Maye. On paper, that’s what this pick does.
Campbell’s "The New England Patriot logo speaks for itself" line surely won some fans over, as will the idea that he’s an underdog. Fans love that angle. He seems like an easy guy to root for.
I wish I had a hot take on Campbell. They desperately needed a left tackle and they got one. It’s just hard for me to get jacked and pumped over an offensive lineman. I wanted Travis Hunter, but thanks to that Week 18 win, there was no real chance of happening.
I do like that this was clearly a Mike Vrabel pick. If Campbell works out, he’ll get all the credit. The same goes for the blame if he’s a bust. Drafting Campbell means a lot of talk radio hosts in Boston will become offensive line experts this August, which will not be fun. “MIKE HE HAS T-REX ARMS AND CAN’T GET LEVERAGE ON HIS MAN. HE SUCKKKKKKKS”
It seems they did the prudent thing of getting someone who can protect their best player in Maye. Now, go out and get him more help on Friday in the form of one of the Iowa State WRs in the second round.
On the winter sports radio battle in Boston…
Depending on the sports station, management will give different versions of positive spin to their staff, bosses, and advertisers about the winter radio ratings that cover the period from January 9 to April 2, 2025, Men 25-54.
Sports Radio WEEI: “We’re up 63% overall from last year at this time, while the competition is down almost 10%. All of our dayparts are up year-to-year, one by almost 100%!”
98.5 The Sports Hub: “We’re beating our competition by an average of almost 10 points per show from 6 am to 6 pm. And on the weekends, we have almost 5x the listeners!”
And looking at the raw numbers, they’d both be true, to some extent.
For WEEI, this is a significant improvement over the winter book 12 months ago. Market Manager Mike Thomas can point to the midday move to pair Adam Jones and Rich Keefe as a success. We called for this move here a year ago.
As a station, WEEI is up almost 65% in the most important demo for sports radio. By putting on a show that people actually want to listen to immediately after the most-listened-to show on the station (The Greg Hill Morning Show), you’ve set yourself up to carry those AM drive listeners later into the day.
A phrase I hear often among radio people is that a certain show “is a tune-out.” In this case, the numbers from the last two years showed that WEEI listeners were actively tuning out Gresh and Fauria—something we wrote about here at MutStack.com before anyone else. Jones and Keefe are keeping that audience, and it’s been a big boost for the radio station.
Greg Hill’s show is down from the fall but up from last winter. The new afternoon show, creatively named WEEI Afternoons with Andy Hart, Nick ‘Fitzy’ Stevens, and Part-Time Ted Johnson, is up from a year ago. It was Jones and Mego then. Given all the WEEI shuffling, I understand if it’s hard to keep track of who has been hosting where.
Nights at WEEI? Well, they’re still being ignored by the Boston sports radio audience. A good Red Sox season would help out there, but I saw ratings that showed some nights registered less than a 1.0 during the winter.
For all that improvement, 98.5 The Sports Hub can still say it has a commanding lead on WEEI, not just overall, but across the board.
But the biggest story of the winter book is that 98.5 The Sports Hub’s signature show is down 20% from last year at this time.
Afternoon drive with Felger and Mazz is a wagon. But down 20% is down 20%.
Former WEEI host and now Barstool Sports staple Kirk Minihane suggested on his show this week that Mike Felger and Tony Massarotti's push for negative angles on Boston sports stories has worn down the audience over time. Maybe? But Felger and Mazz have done that for years, leading to record ratings. Mike and the Mad Dog crushed the NY teams for decades, to great success.
One radio person I talked to wanted to blame Mazz directly, pointing out that he’s not just negative but inventing reasons to be overly negative. Another suggested that the Bruins being a non-factor was an issue, given the little interest in the team this spring.
Luckily for them, WEEI Afternoons is unlikely to fully exploit any Felger and Mazz fatigue. That show saw just a small bump, even with the 20% drop for their competition.
I’d call the winter book a small win for WEEI. But scoreboard is scoreboard. And The Sports Hub can still point to the overall ratings scoreboard being very lopsided in their favor. Some other ratings nuggets and opinions:
📻 For the ground that WEEI gained this book, The Sports Hub is about to get a significant boost from the Celtics’ expected two-month playoff run. Even if the Red Sox are really good, I’ll be surprised if they don’t have a bigger edge over WEEI in the spring book than in the winter.
📻 Another radio insider pointed to WEEI’s dismal ratings nights and weekends as a reminder that they are not a destination for sports fans in Boston.
📻 Both midday shows got a big boost from Vrabel’s opening press conference. Both will be down in the spring book.
📻 There will be a push in the WEEI offices to move Jones and Keefe to afternoon drive based on their two-book success. That would be a mistake.
📻 That being said….WEEI Afternoons is a tough listen. Ted Johnson, working just four days a week, does not help. And Fitzy gets ignored half the time when he's on remote from his basement—and he’s remote three days a week. I get the sense WEEI might tinker with that show sooner rather than later.
A few other opinions on WEEI below in media notes.
On the new Netflix horse racing docuseries…
The good, the bad, and the ugly of a new six-part docuseries that has the horse racing industry collectively puffing out their chests over.
The Good
🏇🏻 Visually stunning. Netflix did not skimp on the high-end equipment for this project, and it shows throughout the series. It looks fantastic, from the races to the race tracks to the Backstrech footage. Shocked at how good the thing looks, beginning to end. Legit A+, visually.
🏇🏻 Very well-produced. Their build-up to big races works, as does their filming of those races. Like, I knew Thorpedo Anna won the Kentucky Oaks, but I found myself still pumped up, thanks to how it was presented.
🏇🏻 They picked some excellent characters. Mike Repole is a polarizing figure and comes across that way throughout. Ken McPeek is easy to root for. Same for jockey Brian Hernandez. And fellow jockey Katie Davis. Frankie Dettori and the West Coast Italian Jockey Crew create plenty of laughs. Mike Iavarone’s lavish lifestyle was worth including.
🏇🏻 Some very good individual moments. You get the excitement of Iavarone purchasing a share of a potential Derby horse, only to get the call that the horse will not run in the Florida Derby and can’t make the Derby starting gate. The enthusiasm of former MLB outfielder Jayson Werth, as he wins the Belmont Stakes with his first runner as an owner. Thorpedo Anna winning the Oaks. The family of Brian Hernandez as he wins the Derby.
🏇🏻 The series is simple enough to follow for someone who has never watched a race in their life—it does a good job explaining the Triple Crown, the process, etc., without being overly complicated.
The Bad
🏇🏻 John Stewart is the latest private equity guy who’s decided to invest his money into horse racing. I only know him from his battles with Mike Reople on social media and now this docuseries. Just from that, I’m not a huge fan. But Netflix does this weird thing where they highlight him and his horse, Just a Touch, leading up to the Derby. When his horse runs last…they never go back to get his reaction. He makes a big deal about Brad Cox having to prove he’s the right trainer for his stable by running well in a prep race, but then, when the horse bombs in the Derby, they never return to him. Not just in that episode, but the rest of the series…even though his Resolute Racing Stable sponsored a race on Belmont Weekend. Did he refuse to participate once his horse ran 20th in the Derby? Where did he go? Very strange.
🏇🏻 Luis Saez was the winning jockey on Belmont winner, Dornoch. Unless I missed it, he never even gets acknowledged in the Belmont episode - and given his ride that day, he deserved it. That was a miss by Netflix.
🏇🏻 The series could have used a racing fan as one of its characters. You get a mostly high-end, champagne and caviar view of the sport. It’s glamorous, yes, but it’s also a small percentage of the fans who are invested in the game. Speaking of…
The Ugly
🏇🏻 Sure, you could still run races, but the thoroughbred racing industry in the United States would cease to exist without the owners buying the horses and the bettors betting on the horses. Owners are highlighted here, but the bettors are entirely ignored. Outside of John Stewart telling us he “usually wins” (🙄🙄🙄) when he bets, or handicapper Jonathon Kinchen’s throwaway line about “betting a little to win a lot,” the gambling part of the game does not exist in this series. I heard the producer say on Steve Byk’s show that the betting on the horses “was implied” in the series, but it’s not.
Much of the social media reaction I’ve seen about the series is focused on this point, and I get it. The sport already does a pretty poor job of respecting the bettor. Now, this highlighted series fails to acknowledge that betting on the sport exists. I disagree with the producers who decided not to focus on a bettor over the six episodes. Big miss.
Final Grade
🏇🏻 The series is not Horseplayers. If you’re looking for a betting show, this is not it. It’s also not an in-depth look at racing, racing safety, policy, rules, etc. It’s a sanitized and Hollywoodized portrayal of the sport’s most important days, mainly focusing on big names and the rich and famous. As part of that, you get high-level video and production that is sometimes stunning.
And if you accept it for that, it’s really well done and worth a viewing, even if you’re not a diehard horse racing fanatic. In fact, the casual viewer will probably like it more than the degenerate who’s betting Finger Lakes on a Tuesday afternoon in July.
Solid B, Borderline B+. Better than the Netflix Red Sox docuseries, The Clubhouse.
On your sports media and sports betting notes…
➡️ File this under Inside Radio. Probably Way Too Inside Radio, actually.
Seeing WEEI Market Manager Mike Thomas post this Wednesday on X.com was interesting. So, Andy Hart and Ted Johnson will be on location for the NFL Draft this week…which is weird in itself. Co-host Nick ‘Fitzy’ Stevens was not included in this super normal promotional photo. But then Thomas went out of his way and did not even include Fitzy’s X.com handle in the post. Odd. I had assumed that Fitzy was staying back to host the NFL Draft event at Gillette Stadium as he had previously done.
On Thursday, I heard from a WEEI source that Fitzy was happy to go to Green Bay but was told by station management they could not afford to send him. I then asked another WEEI source if that was actually possible, and that source confirmed that it was “likely the case.”
Instead, Fitzy would stay back and help host the WEEI NFL Draft coverage from the studio. And there he was, eating pizza and putting on a good face on Draft night.
Meanwhile, Andy and Ted are in some media center, while Fitzy looks bored back home on his phone, reportedly told by management they can’t afford to send him to Green Bay with his teammates. Tough scene for the show’s co-host.
➡️ One other WEEI note: I found it interesting that Ken Laird and Chris Curtis (Ken and Curtis) filled in for WEEI Afternoons this week. While not likely, I don’t think it’s impossible that they might end up as the afternoon show WEEI puts up against Felger and Mazz.
➡️ The Jayson Tatum commentary has been pretty brutal this week, thanks mainly to his head coach yelling at him to “Get up!” when he hurt his wrist on Wednesday. Joe Mazzulla once told The Sports Hub he’d like the ability to fight random people on the street, so his Hardo Meter runs pretty hot. I get that he wants his team to be tough, but yelling at Tatum was not helpful.
➡️ Mad Dog was ready to rant about Lady Belichick…and then ESPN said no thanks (From Awful Announcing). Sad.
➡️ Shannon Sharpe is taking a leave from ESPN amidst a $50 million civil suit for rape. Based on the allegations, I doubt he will return to Disney-owned ESPN (NY Post had the details).
➡️ All those favorites winning in the NCAA Tournament were good for the bettor, bad for Massachusetts sportsbooks (From Bill Speros).
And with that, we have said it all.
Kentucky Derby Week!!! Back on Saturday for a MutStack Podcast - Kentucky Derby Early Preview with a special guest. And wall-to-wall Derby content next week.
Good luck with your bets. And thanks for reading.
Good weekend.
So many WEEI notes (kind of love it in a perverse way). Jones and Keefe is far and away the best show on that station now, and their chemistry really feels great. Comparing them to the afternoon show though, it feels like management stumbled into that success in spite of all of their bad instincts. Hart is fill-in talent, Fitzy is dreadful—and what’s with every hack comedian on sports radio needing to make a bad joke every other sentence?—and Ted Johnson is as multidimensional as a piece of drywall.
You’re right though, leave Jones and Keefe where they are. But just scrap the afternoon show altogether. Get rid of it completely and don’t replace it with two weekday wannabes who can’t cut it on the air every day. Find someone original and interesting again.
I heard Fitzy offered to take the Fung Wa bus to Green Bay.
Have a great weekend Mut!