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 high above the practice fields:
-Drake Maye was the first guy on the field around 11:30 while Jerod Mayo was speaking to the media.
-Pretty good attendance again, but Judon, Takitaki, Milton, Jonathan Jones, Tavai, Uche, Jake Andrews, Strange, Bourne, Barmore, Godchaux and Sam Roberts were all absent. Again, important to remember these are still voluntary and many guys are also working back from significant injuries. This isn’t that big of a deal…yet.
-During a walkthrough period before the team stretch, it was (as expected) Brissett getting the first reps again with Zappe after him.
-Bryce Baringer put on a show with his leg booming punts high and far while the offense and defense did their walkthrough. Baringer Bombs are back.
-Indy period around 12:50. Tyquan Thornton looks really good physically and seems to be moving smoother than he has before. Same for Javon Baker who had a great day.
-I already love Jaheim Bell too. He moves well for a big tight end (I swear it’s not just because I saw him rip up BC last year), I genuinely feel like he could be a legitimate weapon for them at some point.
-First team 11-on-11 work started right around 1:02. Brissett and Zappe split reps on the two fields at this point. Tough to keep track of both units at the same time but here’s what I got:
Brissett – Slant to Jalen Reagor, great leaping grab for Pop Douglas with Azizi Hearn and Gabriel Peppers in coverage deep, (Robert Kraft strolled in at this point).
Zappe – PBU from Dugger over the middle (he also struggled on the accuracy when throwing into the net during indy period too. Not the best day for him). Tight end screens to Bell and Mitchell Wilcox.
Maye – Overthrew JuJu deep and at this time it felt like he was a little slow getting in and out of the huddle, almost like he was overthinking it and trying to make sure he’s perfect. Also had a nice throw on a slant to Reagor.
-Team went to 7-on-7 around 1:15 and this was Maye’s time to shine. Maye got all of the reps on one field while Brissett and Zappe split them on the other field. I obviously focused more on Maye here than the other two guys…
Maye – Slant to tight end Jacob Warren, out to T.J. Luther, dime deep to Thornton (drop in the bucket about 45-50 yards), slant to Warren, slant to Thornton, pump fake and a dart in between two defenders to JuJu, PBU by Isaiah Bolden, short comeback to Luther. He also had a late dart on a slant to Luther.
Zappe – One of the few snaps I saw of his at this point was a great diving tip from Alex Austin that turned into a pick for Jaylinn Hawkins on a ball intended for Baker. A minute or so later, Baker had a sick leaping grab on a deep ball down the sideline, going up to get it in double coverage.
Brissett – Dime down the sideline to La’Michael Pettway and another high point grab from Baker in double coverage again.
-When done on his field, Maye had a long chat with Ben McAdoo and TJ McCartney while Zappe and Brissett wrapped up their reps.
-Back to some 11-on-11 at 1:25…
Brissett – Great diving grab on the sideline by Thornton on an out, screen to Austin Hooper, incomplete pass to the sideline, ‘sack’ for Deatrich Wise and Trysten Hill.
Zappe – Out to Kawaan Baker, run for Rhamondre Stevenson, PBU for rookie Marcellas Dial Jr. on a slant.
Brissett – Stevenson stuffed on a run outside, PBU for Mikey Victor, run for Antonio Gibson, quick out to Baker.
Maye – Scramble after being forced to step up in pocket, rollout (left) and completion to Bell on the sideline, nice grab for Kawaan Baker on a slant tightly covered.
-During this time Chad Ryland struggled with field goals on the other field, missing wide both sides and short at times. He’d redeem himself a bit later.
-At 1:40 Brissett and Zappe took a few minutes of hard count and QB sneak reps. I’m sure it happened under Belichick, but I don’t remember seeing it in an OTA or a training camp practice in the now four years we’ve been covering the team.
-Ryland went 5-5 (some debate whether it was 4-5 but I thought he hit all of them from my angle) from 30-35 yards out. Joey Sly was there but was only retrieving balls and did not kick.
-Team headed to the Hill at 1:46 for sprints. After the team break down, Maye, Polk and Baker were on the field for at least 20 minutes after working. On the opposite end of one of the fields, Deatrich Wise was the last defensive guy out, getting some work on a sled.
It might still be far too early to take anything major away from these practices, but it felt like a very productive day across the board for everyone. We’ll be back there on June 4th for open OTA No. 3 as we creep closer and closer to the much-more-important mandatory minicamp.