Day One of Patriots training camp is in the book. The team only practiced for about an hour and half.

The focus was on individual drills and group period with three team periods mixed into the practice schedule. There was some good and some ehh. Here is what caught my attention.

1. Maye Day: I do not chart throws. I prefer to watching the quarterback and assess his performance from there. I thought Maye threw the ball well in certain aspects of team but consistent pressure, especially from the defensive tackle was throwing him off his spot and forcing him to move and throw on the run. Maye threw a nice ball to Stefon Diggs on a crosser and Hunter Henry on a seam. His ball placement was good and he showed good timing and anticipation but his mental clock needs to go off a little sooner.

2. Williams speed shows: Rookie wide receiver Kyle Williams caught four passes on the day and his quickness and acceleration was evident. Williams caught a ball along the left sideline going towards the equipment shed and showed some burst picking up an additional ten yards. Two plays later, he beat Christian Gonzalez down the sideline for a completion. Williams was impressive in all team periods.

3. Henderson shows off cutting ability: Rookie running back Tre’veyon Henderson showed off his cutting ability on a couple outside zone running plays. Henderson did a nice job of taking it outside, reading his blocks and cutting off of flow. He did showed terrific vision, patience and footwork in making the cuts. I know it was only day one, but Henderson looks like he is going to have a strong camp and get more playing time.

4. Pass Rush: I thought the front seven had a good day, especially the interior defensive line. They did a good job of rushing Drake Maye and throwing him off his spot. Milton Williams and Joshua Farmer in particular stood out. Harold Landry picked up where he left off in the spring, getting consistent pressure off the back side. Keion White was also active and looked much more at home in the Patriots new penetrating, one gap defense.

5. Campbell looked fundamentally sound: Before I start talking about Will Campbell, let’s remember one thing. The pads aren’t on yet. We will have to wait until next week to judge him. For now, I thought he was fundamentally sound. He blocked with pad good leverage and extension. I especially thought he did a good job sealing the backside and turn guys. His lack of length showed up on a couple of snaps of pass protection but overall, he was good.

6. Diggs looked to be in early season form: Stefon Diggs was cleared yesterday and he appeared to be in early season form. He ran clean, crisp routes getting in and out of cuts with ease. There was no hesitation in his movements. He also led drills during individual and was vocal with his teammates, guiding them. As for his return, Diggs says he did not think of the injury and coming back from it. He just went and practiced.

“I didn’t think about the timeline too much,” Diggs said of being on the field to begin camp. “Everybody kind of said I came back pretty fast, but it was a different journey for me. I kind of approached it like I wanted to get back as fast as I could, and I was just super serious about my rehab process. I love football, and if you really love football, you put in that time. Getting injured is a part of the game, but getting back to football, it just makes me extremely happy.”

7. Left guard competition: Cole Strange started with the first offensive line. He got the majority of the reps and was competitive. He should be the favorite to win the job. Caedan Wallace and Layden Robinson also got reps and held their own, Offensive line coach Doug Marrone did a lot of mixing and matching with the second unit to find the right combination.

8. Heavy emphasis on the run game. As expected, Mike Vrabel wants to set a physical tone offensively so offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels scripted a lot of runs for day one of training camp. Again, there are no pads so you cannot actually gauge the level of physicality but the run game blend was interesting and it speaks to the multiplicity of the offense that we will see.