FOXBOROUGH – The first voluntary OTA of the Jerod Mayo was Monday afternoon in Foxborough and we got our first look at the new-look Patriots.
Heres’ what stood out during the two-hour session:
-Rookie guard Ryan Johnson was the first player to hit the field at about 11:35, wearing No. 75.
-Matt Judon, Anfernee Jennings, Josh Uche, Zury Henry and Davon Godchaux were not in attendance. Kendrick Bourne, Cole Strange and Jahlani Tavai were all there, but did not participate while still recovering.
-Sebastian Vollmer and Ivan Fears were in the house too. Trainer Jim Whelan was also spotted wearing a Habs Patrick Roy jersey, not sure why but John would have given him a bear hug if he saw it.
-First stretch period at 11:50 with light walkthrough work at about noon.
-All eyes were on the end zone closest to the stands during training camp when the throwing nets came out for Jacoby Brissett, Drake Maye, Bailey Zappe and Joe Milton. Most of the time was spent working on footwork with OC Alex Van Pelt. Zappe threw the ball well when guys had to roll out. Van Pelt would yell one of three colors inside the pockets on the net once guys were out of the ‘pocket,’ Zappe was the most accurate. This wasn’t about the throws as much as it was about the footwork.
-Once the QB’s started throwing to receivers (still in indy so no defenders), Kawaan Baker hauled in a bomb from Zappe and Austin Hooper had a nice leaping grab over the middle from Maye. Baker and Polk really run smooth routes, at least compared to what we’ve seen the last few seasons from most of the receivers.
-First bit of team 11-on-11 around 1:00. Each drive went as follows:
Brissett – Dump to Rhamondre Stevenson, deep out to Tyquan Thornton (nice grab), another leaping grab for Hooper, quick crosser to Antonio Gibson.
Zappe – Handoff to JaMycal Hasty, deep middle to Pop Douglas, scramble, handoff to Hasty.
Brissett – Incomplete to Kayshon Boutte, scramble, screen to Hasty, handoff to Stevenson
Maye – missed throw on a screen, out to TJ Luther, screen to Kawaan Baker.
-On to some 7-on-7…
Brissett – short completion to Hooper, drop by Osborn, Kyle Dugger PBU, nice grab on a deep sideline ball for Jalen Reagor against Christian Gonzalez.
Zappe – quick out to Osborn, incompletion deep to Osborn, short completion to Jaheim Bell, incompletion to Reagor (Marco Wilson with good coverage).
Brissett – Sideline grab for Gibson, incompletion to Boutte (twice he didn’t turn his head around during the practice), short pass to Hunter Henry, quick out to Stevenson.
Maye – Quick out to Javon Baker, dump off to Kevin Harris, slant to Boutte, short pass to Mitchell Wilcox.
Milton – Short pass to Terrell Jennings, short pass to Kawaan Baker, sideline pass to Boutte, Ja’Lynn Polk sideline grab.
-Couple defensive observations during the team stuff: new linebacker Sione Takitaki was doing a lot of the communicating, probably just because of some of the absences, but he was very vocal. Same for Brendan Schooler while playing DB as well, a lot of communication from him.
-Caedan Wallace and Chukwuma Okorafor both repped at LT.
-Around 1:27 the team did some run game walk through and then split up into a little bit of indy. Bathroom break for me.
-1:45 the team lined both fields for sprints instead of heading to the hill. At one point, David Andrews jokingly tried to get Vollmer to come out and run some sprints for old times sake, assuring him “it’s fun!”
Overall, it was just good to see some real football (sorta) for a couple hours and there absolutely is a different vibe. There’s clearly a slow approach with all of the rookies, with Maye and Milton barely seeing any ‘real’ action. Now, that could also be the team wanting to save the reps for the practices the media isn’t at as well.
All in all, good attendance for voluntary work and a much more relaxed, yet productive atmosphere. The next open OTA practice for the media is next Wednesday.
