FOXBOROUGH – From the time the fans started streaming in and out of the Patriots pro Shop around 1:30 on Wednesday, you knew it was going to be a special night. The day just felt different. Not quite a game day, but a festive, anticipatory atmosphere. Many of the lots closer to the stadium started filling up quickly. Jahlani Tavai was out taking pictures with fans. Dietrich Wise cruised by…

We’re on to the summer time, ladies and gentlemen. The Patriots officially wrapped up the spring with the final mandatory minicamp practice on Wednesday morning and as usual, it’s tough to put too much stock into a lot of things we’re seeing so far, but there were a few things that stood out in the just-about two hour session. For the final time until late July, here’s everything I saw…

The third ‘first’ of Jerod Mayo’s coaching career took place on an absolutely beautiful day in Foxborough on Monday. The first mandatory minicamp practice of the Mayo era lasted two hours and while it wasn’t pretty at times – especially for the offense – there was still some good stuff to take away from the non-padded session. As usual, here’s everything I saw from high on top of the hill……

There’s been a lot of talk about how Jerod Mayo will fail because he doesn’t have any head coaching experience. Well, there’s another local coach who’s now three wins from a championship that didn’t have any head coaching experience when he took over last season and look how it’s turned out. In fact, Mazzulla wasn’t even on the bench two years ago, he was a row behind Ime Udoka. Mazzulla…

One of the latest hot topics surrounding the Patriots is the use of virtual reality gadgets being used as teaching tools, particularly for the quarterbacks. The development of Drake Maye is obviously the most important thing that happens this season regardless of the team’s record. Assuming Jacoby Brissett is in fact the Day 1 starter until the team feels Maye is ready, reps will probably be hard to come by…

The second stage of the Jerod Mayo wrapped up on Tuesday and fittingly, it was the defense having its best day so far. Step 1 was the draft, Step 2 was rookie minicamp and voluntary OTA’s. The OTA part of the schedule wrapped up with the final session before mandatory minicamp starts next week. This one was the most competitive yet (out of three with no pads on, important to…

FOXBOROUGH – On another perfect day for some football in May, the Pats were back in front of the media for the second time during the voluntary portion of OTA’s on Wednesday. The team has two more voluntary days scheduled that we’ll be able to report on before mandatory minicamp June 10-12. This near-two hour session was quite entertaining by OTA standards. As always, here’s everything I saw while sitting…

Dont’a Hightower still has that presence. Once one of the best linebackers in the league, now he walks around OTA’s with a visor on, but it’s hard to miss him at any point. As he stood in front of a microphone holding a cup of something in his hand (I couldn’t see what it was) before another day of work on Tuesday morning, you could just tell how much he…

After a week and a few days behind closed doors, the Pats will be back in front of the media on Wednesday for the second open OTA. New England has two more open voluntary OTA practices after this one for us to get a glimpse and report on how things are looking early on under Jerod Mayo before mandatory minicamp June 10, 11 & 12. Jacoby Brissett and Bailey Zappe…

While fans worry and debate just how much talent the offense has, it’s safe to say that the Patriots defense is still pretty loaded. Barmore, Godchaux, Judon, Dugger, Bentley, Uche, Gonzalez. There’s some pretty big names on that side of the ball who could (and should) have a big say in how long or quick this turnaround is. But, there’s another name that both fans and media alike aren’t talking…