FOXBOROUGH – The Patriots wrapped up spring workouts on Tuesday inside the WIN Waste Innovations Field House.
The team still has some meetings, lifting, running and possibly a team bonding event on tap for Wednesday, but the final session on Tuesday was basically the end of minicamp. In just over a month, players will be back in Foxborough for training camp and the unofficial start of a long (hopefully) six-month season.
As I’ve been saying throughout OTAs and these two mandatory practices, fans should be encouraged by where this team is at on the field, on the sidelines and up in the booth.
Once again, energy and competitiveness were as high as you’ll see anywhere this time of year on Tuesday, with Vrabel and his staff continuing to lead from the front. Vrabel was once again actively coaching up a little bit of everything during early indy periods and then he threw a pinnie on – today was No. 24 – along with a few other coaches during walkthrough periods for the offense. A regular occurrence this spring.
At one point, the leadership was also on display just from a human decency perspective. Before practice, the media is given a window in which TV cameras can get stuff for the news and reporters can get content for social media. Vrabel had changed up the schedule a bit during a certain period that wasn’t supposed to be filmed and instead of demanding things be shut down or anything like that, he jogged over, explained the situation given the move indoors and then said go right ahead for the next period or so.
A small thing, but it all adds up.
As for on the field, Maye had four truly competitive periods where he was up-and-down, but it’s clear he’s getting more comfortable in the McDaniels offense.
Drive No. 1 went like this: Quick comeback to Kayshon Boutte in front of Christian Gonzalez; screen to TreVeyon Henderson (real deal, quick burst and can fly once he gets going); check down to Henderson; crosser to Pop Douglas, although, it would have been another sack for Harold Landry after blowing by Morgan Moses for the second straight day; coverage sack after Maye had to hold the ball waiting for guys to get open, even as ‘rushers’ pulled up.
I tried to watch a lot of former Harvard star Truman Jones during Josh Dobbs’ ‘drives’ throughout the day. Both he and BC UDFA Jack Conley have made a real case to stick around, hopefully it continues into training camp. Jones flew off the edge to force an incompletion during the first Dobbs drive and has shown he can even drop into coverage. Don’t be surprised if both end up being rotational pieces at best and practice squad guys at the very least.
One of the highlights of the day came on Maye’s second drive when he hit a deep-ish ball over the middle to Hunter Henry, who beat Jabrill Peppers cleanly. One play later, Landry again got in the backfield quickly and forced a scramble. Gonzalez had the top play during the same series, making a one-handed interception on a go ball down the right sideline intended for rookie speedster Kyle Williams. A snap prior to that, Keion White and Landry met in the backfield and forced Maye to get rid of a ball extremely quickly.
A little more on Conley – at this point in practice during another Dobbs drive and one for Ben Wooldridge, his size just stood out as he towered over everyone in the huddle. I keep talking about it, but between that, his versatility and familiarity with both Doug Marrone and Vrabel, it’s hard to imagine he won’t be able to contribute in some way to an O-line that’s going to need all the depth it can get.
Rookie Bradyn Swinson and Alex Austin had PBUs in a couple uneventful series for the two backups.
Around 1:15, Parker Romo went 3-4 and rookie Andres Borregales was 4-4 during a competitive period.
Maye’s fourth team series came during red zone work and included a nice TD pass to Pop on a slant. There were also a couple of incompletions and a quick out to Kendrick Bourne. On the Bourne play, Will Campbell did an excellent job shutting down a speeding Keion White, allowing Maye to get the throw off. It’s the second day in a row he did that.
Dobbs hit Pop on a ball to the sidelines his next series where Douglas would have turned it into a big gain. Stefon Diggs sprinted downfield to congratulate him and hyped him up the entire way back downfield.
Maye’s final drive wasn’t pretty: False start, out to Bourne, offside White, designed run, incompletion to Henry. After a similar sequence for Dobbs, Vrabel fittingly led from the front to close out his first spring as HC of the NEP.
Wooldridge hit John Jiles for a touchdown and Vrabel absolutely took off, sprinting about 50 yards downfield to celebrate with two guys who may be looking for jobs in a month or so.
Instead of the usual conditioning runs to end things, players from every position broke into relay teams and had to push sleds with weights on them down field and back. Teams that finished first or second on the way down didn’t have to participate in the push back.
Peppers let it be well known that his team in particular put on an ass kicking in the event. Vrabel then called the guys up and chatted for a few minutes before position group meetings.
Vrabel didn’t mince words when he spoke earlier on Tuesday morning when asked about how important the next five weeks now are. Players are out on their own and losing any momentum that’s been built would be a killer.
“It’s probably the five most important weeks of the offseason as far as I’m concerned, just in my history as a player and a coach,” he said. “It’s critical that they come back in shape, that they’re ready to go for training camp, that we’re prepared as coaches with the schedule, the installation and what we’re doing.
“The players have to hold up their end of the bargain to prepare for training camp.”
If they do, it’s hard not to think (and expect) competitive football finally returning to Foxborough in 2025.
