Patriots Minicamp Day 2 practice report – Big day for the defense

FOXBOROUGH — This will be a muted version of our comprehensive mini-camp/training camp practice reports. It’s only the third week of full-squad workouts, and they’re not close to having pads on. It’s hard to draw too many judgments from the Underwear Olympics.

HEADLINES

Defense dominates: For all the buzz that was generated by the return of Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski on Tuesday, the big story on Wednesday was the defense, which was pretty impressive. There were numerous pass breakups of both Brady and Brian Hoyer, with Stephon Gilmore, Duron Harmon and Ryan Lewis (on a ball for Phillip Dorsett) coming away with highlight-reel PBUs. Jordan Richards added a pick of his own and rookie Duke Dawson chipped in with a batted ball off a Brady pass. And Trey Flowers did a nice job batting a Brady pass down and almost making an excellent acrobatic catch to come away with the pick.

More celebrations from Gronkowski: It wasn’t all struggle for the offense, however, as the big tight end still had some fun on the day. Relatively early on, he made an impressive fingertip catch just inches from the ground and did a nice job protecting the ball as he rolled over. He got up and delivered a first-down celebration. Later on in 11-on-11 work in the red zone, he caught a Brady floater in the corner of the end zone and flung it into a nearby tree in celebration. There were times where he appeared positively overwhelming — in one 11-on-11 drill, he caught a pass over the middle and stiff-armed the defender on the way to the end zone. But you take a lot of that with a grain of salt because there were no pads.

Cordarrelle Patterson is really fast: There was a lot of kick return work, which isn’t a huge surprise given the looming changes in the rule. While a variety of different guys worked as returners, Patterson’s speed and vision really stood out. It’s one thing watching him on film, but it’s another thing altogether to see him in person. The guy just seems to have another gear. While the jury is still out on just how much he’ll be able to contribute offensively — he’s improved in the passing game to this point in the spring — he should be a dangerous option for the New England special teams’ unit. (For the record, it appeared Julian Edelman has the inside track as the primary punt returner.)

ATTENDANCE

Notable absences: Kenny Britt (right leg), Joe Thuney (foot), Malcolm Mitchell (knee), Brandon Bolden, David Jones.

Rehab group: The group on the lower field included Cyrus Jones, Jonathan Jones, Marcus Cannon, Braxton Berrios and Nate Ebner.

RANDOM OBSERVATIONS

We’re not going to go off the deep end about anything, so don’t overreact to the stuff you read here. It’s like the third week of school. At the same time, you can’t completely ignore it (plus, we’re not entirely sure who is who thanks to the great number switching of 2018).

• As we said, it was a good day for the defense. We had Brady at 8-for-14 in 11-on-11 work and 4-for-5 in 7-on-7s. Meanwhile, Hoyer was 3-for-3 in 7-on-7 sessions and 6-for-9 in 11-on-11 drills.

• The Patriots continue to do plenty of mixing and matching along the offensive line, and considering the calendar and the health of some of last year’s starters, I wouldn’t read too much into the combinations. But LaAdrian Waddle appeared to get plenty of run at right tackle and Trent Brown at left tackle. (Thought it was interesting that Brown was walking next to Brady on the way out to the practice field.) David Andrews is the go-to center of choice, but Ted Karras is also getting reps there as well. We also saw plenty of Matt Tobin at left tackle and first-round pick Isaiah Wynn at left guard. (At one point, we saw offensive line coach Dante Scarnecchia light into Wynn and Brown.)

• No Malcolm Mitchell again, and the fact that Kenny Britt was missing because he appeared to tweak something at the end of practice likely led to more reps for Patterson at the receiver spot. After what appeared to be some struggles earlier in the spring, it appears he’s in a little more of a comfort zone in the passing game. Patterson was one of several who drew big media crowds after the workout — we’ll have some quotes from him along shortly.

• James White is going to get a lot of work in the passing game. There’s still a possibility for someone to take advantage of the fact that Danny Amendola is in South Florida, but right now, my bet is on White to get a lot of those targets. He’s been a fairly consistent checkdown option out of the backfield for the quarterbacks, but he’s also done really well when it comes to longer and intermediate stuff with the wheel routes, particularly on a sweet deep ball he caught from Brady down the sidelines.

• Jacob Hollister is quietly having a pretty good spring. He consistently catches everything thrown his way, and has been singled out by teammates and coaches during drills for his work. It’s a crowded tight end picture, but he’s certainly doing everything he can to make his case at this stage of the offseason. (Conversely, Troy Niklas really hasn’t popped to this point.)

• Officials were present. They worked during position drills on things like sideline catches. They were also in the mix during the team drills like 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 — at one point, Bill Belichick stopped what looked to be a two-minute to talk with players about the idea of handing the ball back to the officials at the end of a play.

• Danny Etling and Braxton Berrios were the last two guys off the field. Brady, Edelman and Dwayne Allen were part of a group that spent a good amount of time on the field throwing after the workout.

• Robert Kraft was spotted at practice, and the Iowa coaching staff was back for another day of observations.

• Heard plenty of music during the 11-on-11 work, including AC/DC, Bon Jovi and Aerosmith.