FOXBOROUGH – With football weather in the air, the Patriots were back out on the practice field for their second OTA on Tuesday.
This was the second day of nine for the team, but the first one open to the media. Everything should be taken with a grain of salt in May given there’s no pads, tackling or a fully loaded roster, but there was still some interesting takeaways from the day.
Perhaps most importantly, for a practice that’s still inside the ‘voluntary’ timeframe on the NFL calendar, the Pats had impressive attendance, a sign of guys wanting to be on board and build chemistry as soon as possible. The only players not spotted were Stefon Diggs, Rhamondre Stevenson (personal), Sidy Sow and Joshua Farmer. Mack Hollins and Vederian Lowe were both there but didn’t participate.
In a possible omen of a unique feature returning to the offense, James Devlin was on hand to watch practice. Later in the afternoon, we saw a little bit of it in the Josh McDaniels offense with Jake Westover getting a little look during some walkthrough stuff late in the day. Brock Lampke and Lan Larson are names to watch that could serve that role too at some point.
Before practice, Mike Vrabel spoke and acknowledged there would be an element of competition in everything the team does, even without pads on.
“I think that it already has. I hope that it already has. Life’s a competition. Everything we do every day, we’re trying to improve and we’re trying to do better than the next person,” he said. “But, whether that’s a competitiveness to know what to do, to be able to play more than one position, to go extra reps when somebody’s down and take advantage of opportunities, young guys popping in there. Third group, they do a nice job, then they get elevated and get some reps with the twos, and you see how they do with those opportunities.
“So, I think that there’s always a level of competition to what we do. It just may not be as physical as what it would be in training camp.”
After about 45 minutes of indy period, the offense and defense took the field for some team stuff. All eyes were on the new offense (minus Diggs and Hollins). Things were going to be great.
Now, remember, it’s only May…
Drake Maye proceeded to throw four interceptions on two different series, two of them going to Christian Gonzalez. The first was four snaps in to Dell Pettus. The second came the very next play, the first for Gonzalez. After two short completions his next series, Maye found Gonzalez again on a deep post. The next play, newly drafted safety Craig Woodson was the recipient of another tipped ball making a diving catch.
Overall, Maye had a handful of nice completions to Henry, Kyle Williams and even a deep-ish back shoulder down the right sideline to Javon Baker, who adjusted to make a fantastic catch. In fairness to the face of the franchise, the O-line – consisting of Caedan Wallace, Mike Onwenu, Garrett Bradbury, Morgan Moses and Will Campbell – didn’t always make life easy on him. That’s because former BC Eagle Harold Landry was in his face at least two or three times coming off the edge, while a healthy Christian Barmore and Milton Williams make quite a formidable pair in the middle.
Two more local guys, BC’s Jack Conley and Harvard’s Truman Jones also showed up a few times, with Conley more than holding his own in pass protection and Jones getting in the face of Joshua Dobbs late in the session. Newly drafted linebacker Bradyn Swinson would have had a sack in live action as well.
Speaking of Barmore, one particular play really stood out. Early on during one of Maye’s series, there was a little screen to Antoio Gibson and if the whistle had not blown the play dead, Barmore would have gotten a chase down tackle about five-to-seven yards up field. If those two big guys stay healthy, there’s no telling how disruptive they can be.
On the flip side, it’s not like the new-look offensive line got torched regularly. There was a good back and forth and this is more about Maye having to learn a second system in two years. He’ll be fine. He’s also got guys like TreVeyon Henderson to make things easier. The second round running back looked the part right from the jump, showing great speed and great hands as well. He’s going to be a problem and a great toy for McDaniels to use.
Kyle Williams already seems legit too. Speed, good hands, good route running. Kendrick Bourne is seemingly going to have every opportunity to be a top guy as well and he looked good, particularly during indy period (check out the videos on X). Henry and Austin Hooper are just dependable guys and you noticed them again today. They may not put up wild Gronk-like numbers, but they’re just always there. So important for Maye. One other receiver that stood out was speedster Efton Chism.
Last but certainly not least, the kickers. Rookie Andy Borregales went 4-4 in a 35-45ish yard range. John Parker Romo was 2-2 as the guys rotated kicks from various hash marks in one competitive period.
The next OTA the media will get to see is Wednesday, May 28 and another on June 3. Mandatory minicamp is set to run from June 9 through June 11.