FOXBOROUGH — The Patriots’ final mandatory minicamp session is in the books. Here’s what went down:
TAKING ATTENDANCE
Not spotted: J.C. Jackson, Sony Michel, Nick Brossette, Deatrich Wise, Patrick Chung and Demaryius Thomas.
Red non-contact jerseys: None, other than the four quarterbacks.
New injuries: Jackson, who pulled up lame after a drill late in practice on Wednesday, was out.
Limited: Isaiah Wynn. Nate Ebner was present but not dressed. Michael Bennett, looked like veteran rest.
Dress code: Per rules, shorts, shells and helmets. No hitting.
THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
Isaiah Wynn can do things: Besides Sony Michel's disappointing absence from mandatory minicamp (guessing it's a minor injury recovery, like a scope — his knee was an issue at times last season), one of the biggest developments of camp has been the lack of work by the 2018 first-round pick, who was expected to be the starting left tackle this season. That may still happen, but he didn't exactly hit the ground running in minicamp, as he was solely an observer the first two days. That changed on Thursday. During a positional period midway through practice, Wynn jumped in with the rest of the tackles taking turns as a pass rusher and pass blocker — on the left side — in a drill designed for the tackles to work on their pass sets. Wynn, while still looking a bit on the heavy side after recovering from Achilles surgery, took regular reps and his feet looked good. He was able to shuffle his feet quickly and didn't seem to be limited. And his technique appeared to be sound — he wasn't corrected much by Dante Scarnecchia. This is a very welcome development for the Patriots and indicates his recovery appears to be on schedule. With players coming back from major leg surgery, the Patriots like to take things slow. In all likelihood, Wynn should be on schedule to either start camp on time, or very likely within the first week without any setbacks.
Patriots get back to their regular groups: Like most teams, the Patriots like to use these offseason practices to take a look at several personnel groupings to see what they have, which combinations they might want to take a harder look at in camp, and which ones don't deserve another look. On offense, that has meant a rotation of single heavy days for new pass catchers — N'Keal Harry on Tuesday, Maurice Harris on Wednesday, and Thursday was Dontrelle Inman's closer look. On defense, the Patriots got back to their core group and likely projected starters (sans Bennett, who watched most of this session). So you had a line of John Simon, Lawrence Guy, Mike Pennell and Jamie Collins on the edge (he's gotten a lot of looks there the past two days). The linebackers were Kyle Van Noy and Dont'a Hightower, and Duron Harmon was back with Devin McCourty. Cornerback remained unchanged with Stephon Gilmore, Jason McCourty and Jonathan Jones.
Passing offense sputters until very late: If this was the last real glimpse we get of the revamped passing offense until training camp ... they have a long ways to go. There was a lot of "teaching" from the coaches on how to properly run routes, more drops than usual, and a lot of passes broken up by the defense. Overall it was very sloppy — until Jarrett Stidham and Brian Hoyer led touchdown drives. Maybe that's why Bill Belichick said, when I asked about the toughness of hockey players, "... Just trying to see if we can get a couple of first downs out here."
HANDS TEAM
- Drops: Matt LaCosse, Julian Edelman, N'Keal Harry, Maurice Harris, Damien Harris.
- Pass breakups: Duke Dawson, Jamie Collins, Stephon Gilmore
- Interceptions: None.
LENGTH OF PRACTICE
1:30.
QB STATS
(7-on-7 and 11-on-11 — some of the day had a rather broad definition of "competitive" sessions, but these are the totals I had...)
Tom Brady: 6-for-11 overall — 4-for-4 on 7-on-7s and 2-for-7 in 11-on-11s.
Brian Hoyer: 6-for-9 overall — 1-for-2 in 7-on-7s and 5-for-7 in 11-on-11s
Jarrett Stidham: 5-for-9 overall — 1-for-1 in 7-on-7s and 3-for-7 in 11-on-11s.
Danny Etling: No competitive reps.
FOUR UP
CB Stephon Gilmore: Capped a very strong minicamp by coming off his man and knocking away Brady's final pass in the end zone to Edelman. Gilmore shut everyone down in this camp.
LB Jamie Collins: Had my doubts about his return, but he gotten off to a very good start with several pass breakups and pass rushes. A great multi-tool option up front, he could headed for an edge spot.
TE Benjamin Watson: Seemed to settle down on Thursday and was rock solid as a pass catcher.
LT Dan Skipper: No pads yet so take this for what it's worth, but Bedard's Offensive Line Darkhorse could just be the well-traveled former practice squadder (Cowboys, Lions, Broncos). Has basically been the second-team LT to Thuney and in tackle drills, looks like he has decent enough feet to play the position. Big and long too. Something to keep an eye on.
FOUR DOWN
CB Joejuan Williams: The second-round pick gave up two touchdowns late to much smaller receivers. He was also turned around by Edelman. Williams appears to be really struggling at this point, but that's not unusual. Some rookies are swimming at this point, and they just need more reps. Williams has barely cracked the two-deep depth chart at this point in a crowded secondary.
WR N'Keal Harry: He got a lot of hard coaching during practice as he was trying to run routes the correct way. I think it said a lot that Brady was asked two questions about Harry after practice and he basically said, He's a rookie. "Like any rookie, I think there’s a lot to learn, there’s a lot of things happening," Brady said of Harry. "I think like anyone, he’s working and we’re trying to use the time to talk about different routes and there’s so many different things to learn. I always say when someone’s 22, in some ways it’s a disservice the way they get treated because everyone expects them to come in and just take what they did in college and replicate it in the pros. And in reality, it’s a totally different game. It’s really hard to get acclimated to these environments to go from an amateur to being a professional is entirely different. Like all of us who were 21 or 22 at one time, the difference when you’re older and have experience, the level of comfort, knowing exactly what the expectations are is very important. It’s just a work in progress. I think all of us are trying to learn each other, trying to learn the offense and we put all these moving parts together and it takes time to forge relationships but you do it through a lot of repetition and a lot of communication and that’s the time of year that we’re in."
P Jake Bailey: After putting on a big-legged display on Wednesday in an attempt to unseat incumbent Ryan Allen, the fifth-round pick showed Thursday he has much work to do, as two of three punts during a pooch punt session went for touchbacks. Allen, meanwhile, had only two of his five go for touchbacks.
LB Ja'Whaun Bentley: If you were doing a list of most disappointing players in this camp, Bentley would be near the top of the list, and that might just be because of expectations. At this point last year and early in camp, Bentley was one of the best players on the field and he was headed towards being a starter before an elbow injury prematurely ended his season. This year, he hasn't popped to this point and it's because of his legs — he looks slow — and not his upper body. Linebackers are always better with the pads on. Maybe that's it.
TOP PLAYS
- Brian Hoyer to a leaping Phillip Dorsett in the right corner of the end zone, where he took the ball away from Joejuan Williams, who is four inches taller.
- Hoyer to Braxton Berrios for a touchdown in the same spot on the next play against ... Williams.
- Brady hit James White in stride on a 60-yard bomb.
- Maurice Harris hauled in a flea flicker from Brady.
QUICK HITS
- Wouldn't say that Braxton Berrios had the greatest three days ever, but I will say this: the difference between his body and athletic ability from last year is night and day, and it speaks to the fact that players are never static, they can get better. Berrios looks much quicker and his body is much better. Last year he didn't have a chance to make the team, but he does this year.
- Matt LaCosse drew the ire of Brady and some coaches for apparently running a wrong route. Brady was all over his case to the sideline and LaCosse was obviously not happy.
- Second team offensive line appeared to be: LT Skipper, LG James Ferentz, C Ted Karras, RG Shaq Mason (starter), RT Cole Croston.
- CB Duke Dawson popped the past couple of days. So did TE Ryan Izzo.
- Patriots ran a two-way drill I had not seen before. Receivers caught slip screens on air and two safeties had to rally to the ball.
- This practice was definitely dialed back. A lot of glorified walk throughs.
SCHEDULE
Patriots are back on the field Monday and Tuesday for the final time before training camp. The Tuesday session is open to the media but closed to the public.