FOXBOROUGH — The Patriots wrapped up the Gillette Stadium portion of their training camp on Tuesday with a light walkthrough. It was good to see new tight end Eric Saubert get into the mix with a few receptions right off the bat, but it was sad to see the Danny Etling Experiment end with his release.
There are still two competitive practices remaining in Nashville against the Titans on Wednesday and Thursday (we'll be there to bring you all the action), so our camp wrap and superlatives will wait for those.
But there are still some things that puzzled us during this training camp. From the usage of Mike Pennel and Maurice Harris, to the lack of one-on-one reps overall and for players like Dont'a Hightower, Jamie Collins and Chase Winovich, to the three days off after the Lions game, we have some questions and explore the possible answers and reasoning.
But first, we start with the unquestioned sensation of camp: undrafted receiver Jakobi Meyers.
How did Jakobi Meyers go undrafted?
His production in the first preseason game was evident, but it's always dangerous to read too much into production during the preseason. But the truth of the matter is Jakobi Meyers has almost been more impressive in practice, including this week.
There was one play in particular, between Meyers and Tom Brady, that stood out and indicated this rookie might just be very different. During Monday's padded practice, Meyers came across the middle and stopped at the same moment Brady threw behind him for a back-shoulder throw while the defender continued on and Meyers was in the open field. Not sure if the play was talked about before practice or before that play, but for Meyers and Brady to see that sort of off-script play, be on the same page and then execute it? That Meyers is an undrafted free agent, it left me speechless. That's the type of thing you see between Brady and someone like Julian Edelman. Maybe.
But it's also more than that. While Meyers entered college as a quarterback, he has still constantly demonstrated a feel for the passing game that is well beyond his experience level. His quickness inside is good enough to get separation inside. He catches everything and gets open. This is clearly a player that is going places and, I mean this in all seriousness and respect, if you squinted a little bit, you'd swear you were watching a young Troy Brown.
So how the heck did he go undrafted? Guess it would have to be that he didn't test very well at the combine. His 4.63 40-yard dash was tied for next to last among combine participants, and the slowest drafted time was 4.60 seconds. Meyers' 37-inch vertical was middle of the pack, as was his three-cone (7.07) and short-shuttle (4.23) times.
Just another reason why the combine and draft talk is complete nonsense.
Why did the Patriots take three days off after the Lions game?
In previous years we would have made a bigger deal out of this, but last year's Patriots team changed the rules. They showed that you can take it easy in camp, 14 games of the regular season, and still win the whole thing.
But it was highly unusual for the Patriots to take three days off after the Lions game — especially considering not many regulars took part in the game. The game was on Thursday and they didn't take the field again until Monday, which was the only day in pads before today's walkthrough. After last year's preseason opener against the Redskins, the Patriots took the next two days off, practiced in pads for two days, then walked through.
Two years ago the Patriots were "off" for three days after the preseason opener against the Jaguars, but that was an unusual circumstance. They had a walkthrough the next day, then had two padded practices with the Texans at The Greenbrier. The team then had to travel to Houston for the game.
So why all the rest this year? Guess Belichick liked what he saw last year with less work. This isn't your uncle's Belichick-led training camp.
Why did Mike Pennel seemingly plummet down the depth chart?
At the time, it seemed like Mike Pennel was a perfect fit for the Patriots when he signed a two-year contract with max value of $8 million ($500,000 signing bonus). The Pats didn't re-sign Danny Shelton (he has since returned), and Malcom Brown signed with the Saints. The Patriots weren't good at the nose tackle spot in 2018 in any event, and Pennel had played well in his previous two stops (Packers, Jets). The only question was whether he could avoid another substance-abuse suspension.
Early in offseason practices, Pennel seemed to plug right into the starting nose tackle spot next to Lawrence Guy. It all made sense.
But at some point, Pennel's run with the first team ended and he has largely been working on the third team ever since. That's puzzling considering Pennel has looked like a good player.
So what gives? A couple of possibilities.
The Patriots have been working a lot on their pressure packages, and Pennel wouldn't be part of those. Sometimes when a player is seemingly shelved, it's because another suspension could be coming and it hasn't been announced because it's being appealed (just a wild guess, but I've seen it happen before). The team wouldn't want to waste many reps on a player who won't be playing for the first four-plus games. Or, and this is the likely reason, Pennel just hasn't been that good. He's only 1-3-3 in one-on-one reps, which is second-lowest on the defense to this point.
Why hasn't Maurice Harris received more first-team reps?
There was little question that in offseason practices and the first week of camp, that free agent Maurice Harris was the best receiver on the field. His soft hands allowed him to catch everything — even contested balls — and he seemed to be the only receiver that was consistently making plays.
But in the second week, Harris was relegated to the second team and only re-emerged this week after N'Keal Harry's injury against the Lions has kept him out of practice.
The answer to this seems simple enough: the Patriots wanted Harry to get as many reps as he could to get him up to speed. That's fine and understandable, but why not give Harris reps in multiple-receiver sets instead of Braxton Berrios or Phillip Dorsett? Kind of leads me to question Harris' spot on this team, and that definitely perplexes me.
Why were there so few one-on-one pass rush reps overall?
By the conclusion of camp last year, the defensive linemen had taken a combined 247 one-on-one pass rush reps. To this point, they have taken 135. Now, that doesn't include about 15 from one day against the Lions, and we may miss the same against the Lions. But, still, they are going to have at least 50 fewer reps in this camp.
Why? Could be another case of the Patriots believing more and more in rest. But it could also be that the team realizes, after the success of the amoeba pressure packages last year, that the team will again rely on games between multiple players — linemen and linebackers — to bring pressure, so the one-on-one stuff would be a waste of time.
Why didn't Dont'a Hightower or Jamie Collins take one-on-one reps?
When it comes to pressuring the quarterback, not many are better on the Patriots than Hightower and Collins — when they're asked to do it. But neither worked on pass-rush moves in this camp.
Why? It could go to the previous answer — Hightower and Collins have mostly been inside linebackers and will be coming from depth and running off other people when they're asked to rush. Usually, when the Patriots do one-on-one drills, the rest of the team is working on 7-on-7 passing drills. Being predominantly inside linebackers, Hightower and Collins would be in coverage more often so their pass coverage skills are more important.
Why did Chase Winovich only get three one-on-one reps?
This one, I really don't get. While other standup outside linebacker types like Derek Rivers, John Simon, Shilique Calhoun and Kyle Van Noy got at least five (mostly six) one-on-one rush reps, the rookie out of Michigan got just three. If anybody needed to learn to work against NFL tackles, you would think it would be Winovich. But that wasn't the case.
I don't have a guess on this one. Maybe Winovich needed to work on his coverage skills more in 7-on-7 because the Patriots think his athletic ability will help them more there on third down. That's all I've got.
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