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 keep this all in perspective). Just about the entire day was spent in the red zone. It’s still tough to take too much away, but there were some developments worth noting.

As always, here’s everything I saw…

-Deatrich Wise first guy out around 11:35 just before Mayo spoke to reporters.

-Absences included Judon, Onwenu, Uche, Godchaux, Jonathan Jones, Okorafor, Ekuale, Marcus Jones, Takitaki, Jake Andrews, Zuri Henry, Luther, Bourne, Strange and Tavai. Tavai and Ekuale were both spotted watching practice though. Javon Baker was also out there but did not participate in drills, hopefully it’s just something precautionary with him.

-Mayo, Alex Van Pelt and other offensive assistants spoke before practice. I stuck around for AVP’s and found it interesting that he said you can “get real football from Madden” when talking about the VR topic. It’s obviously not a real rep on a real practice field, but with college athletes growing up with video game technology always evolving, I wouldn’t be surprised if players really can get a bette feel for things mentally by playing Madden or using the VR. AVP pointed out for RB’s and QB’s, it’s a great way to see and hear blitz calls and other adjustments away from the field. Interesting to see how much the team actually uses it going forward.

-Spotted CCSU and Tufts shirts on the sideline (I think it was CCSU, forgot my damn binoculars). Bill Belichick usually had an open door policy with college coaches during minicamp and training camp, ideally it’s the same way still as the talent level locally continues to get better every year.

-Stretch and indy period from about 12:05-1:00. Wide receivers and QB’s worked in the red zone without any defenders. Balls from Brissett seemed a bit high at times with Zappe actually showing the most accuracy on slants/posts to the back of the end zone, but, there’s also a very good chance the throws are high by design. Down there it’s a ‘our guy gets it or nobody gets it’ throw, so that’s probably more of what it was. Maye was just ‘meh’ with a few good and a few not so good throws.

-The first somewhat big development came in the first 11-on-11 session in the red zone, with Maye clearly getting the 2nd reps behind Brissett instead of Zappe. Here’ how each drive went:

Brissett – Incomplete back of the end zone fro Ja’Lynn Polk, incomplete back of end zone, possible nice toe tap near the right sideline in the end zone from Stevenson, but it was probably just out of bounds, PBU in the end zone for Azizi Hearn against Jalen Reagor.

Maye – quick screen TD to Kevin Harris, scramble, incomplete pass to La’Michael Pettway.

Zappe – Tope tap TD on the sideline for Reagor, run for Stevenson, scramble.

-7-0n-7 in the red zone up next…

Brissett – PBU from Alex Austin on Thornton, TD to Henry on bullet at the goal line, incomplete slant to Henry with Dugger in coverage, slant TD to JuJu Smith-Schuster, incomplete back of the end zone intended for KJ Osborn.

Maye – quick slant to Kayshon Boutte, TD in the corner of the end zone to JuJu, TD on a slant to Pop Douglas, PBU for Mikey Victor against Jacob Warren. Maye maneuvered the pocket and changed his arm angles a few times and really flashed that ‘what could be’ factor in this period. He talked about it after practice and said “that’s one of the best things I do is make plays outside the pocket.”

Brissett – TD to Henry in the back of the end zone, incomplete to Mitchell Wilcox, Quick TD to Pop at the goal line on a little stick, great leaping TD grab by JaMycal Hasty with a toe tap vs. Ja’Whaun Bentley.

Zappe – Incomplete to JuJu in the back of the end zone, incomplete pass to Pop low at the goal line. Pop tried to sell the catch but the defense wasn’t having it. TD to Pop on a quick little comeback, another leaping grab from Osborn in the back of the end zone against Isaiah Bolden.

Milton – Incomplete to JuJu in the corner of the end zone, TD on a slant to Kawaan Baker, PBU by Marie Mapu on a slant, incomplete swing pass (overthrow).

-10 minute indy period and field goal work followed for the next 10 minutes or so around 1:35. Chad Ryland went 2-4 on field goals from about 40 yards.

-Back to 11-on-11, this time outside of the red zone around midfield.

Brissett – Stevenson run, back-to-back would-be sacks from Barmore. He’s still a beast and should evaluate to an entirely new level after the contract this season.

Maye – Dump off to Antonio Gibson, hand off to Gibson (Maye handled a high snap with poise and got the hand off delivered cleanly), interception by Kaleb Ford-Dement. This was on a deep-ish post corner with two receivers in the same area. Hard to know who it was intended for, but it was a cluster where Maye ultimately went with the ball and it was picked.

-Back to 11-on-11 inside the red zone…

Brissett – Barmore run stuff, incomplete, incomplete (the 2nd one was pretty brutal, holding the ball for like 15 seconds as receivers were plastered, but he also missed a WIDE OPEN Wilcox in the end zone), TD in the back of the end zone to Boutte.

Maye – Short pass to Osborn (with pressure in his face right up the middle), false start by Michael Jordan, dump off to Hasty, scramble for a TD, pick on a tipped ball by Dugger, For those of you old enough to remember the Troy Brown strip in the Chargers playoff game in 2006, Pop did the same thing here with a great hustle play, stripping him and recovering the ball.

Zappe – Run by Gibson, TD to Jaheim Bell, TD on a toe tap grab by Kawaan Baker.

-One quick drive of 3rd-and-6 for Brissett with the ball at the 3-yard line…TD to Pettway who celebrated like he won a Super Bowl, would-be sack for Oshane Ximines, incomplete pass in the end zone (drop by Osborn). Offense had to do push ups after this last play.

-Quick period walkthrough speed with some running plays before Mayo called the guys up at 1:56 to close out voluntary OTA’s.

Big week next week with mandatory minicamp. Should have guys like Judon, Godchaux, Onwenu and Jonathan Jones out there. Hopefully, it’s another big step forward for Maye against a little bit tougher competition too. Overall, it feels like there’s been some good give and take between the offense and defense through these three very light practices, which is usually the sign of a competitive team. Don’t forget about Brady Night on Wednesday too, which also just so happens to be Game 3 of the NBA Finals. That has the chance to be one of those ‘all timer’ Boston sports nights.