NFL Notebook: Patriots 2019 training camp awards - best, worst & everything in between

The Patriots 2019 training camp is done. Fourteen practices are in the books as New England begins to set the stage in earnest for the regular season. Consider this the capper on camp — 13 awards for what I've seen sitting on the hill — in three different states — for the last two-plus weeks.

The envelope please…

Comeback Player

Shilique Calhoun, Edge: The former third-round pick in the 2016 draft never caught on with the Raiders, and only played a total of 413 defensive snaps in three seasons there. He was never a good fit in the scheme for the Raiders' last two defensive coordinators, as he was used more as a standup linebacker than anything else. Well, that looks like it could change. Calhoun appears to be the latest in a long line of players who

were misfit toys elsewhere, but found a home in New England. Since about the end of the first week of camp, Calhoun has been a regular with the starters and could probably end up displacing John Simon, if he didn't have a guaranteed salary for this season. Calhoun is big, strong and imposing on the end of the line of scrimmage and he looks like he's going to have a big role this season.



Best defensive rookie

Chase Winovich, Edge: For much of training camp, Winovich hasn't been very noticeable in the Gillette practices. He hasn't gotten much of a chance to take part in 1-on-1s, and he hasn't shown up a ton during the 11-on-11s (he has a bit). But once the Patriots hit the road to Detroit and Nashville, Winovich turned into a different player and appears that he's on his way to being a bit contributor early on. The Patriots have even started to walk him around the line of scrimmage. For a rookie, he has a surprising variety of pass-rush moves and quickness. He still needs to watch going low on quarterbacks — he's going to get a big penalty or two during the regular season if he doesn't clean that up.



Best offensive rookie

Jakobi Meyers, WR: For a lot of teams, it would be an indictment to have an undrafted player honored here when the team spent five picks in the first four rounds on offense, and maybe it might be in the end. But this is more about Meyers being a diamond in the rough and the team finding him than anything else. It's hard to overstate how good he's been in the practices, and how it's obvious he's earned Tom Brady's trust already. It also helps that N'Keal Harry, Damien Harris and Yodny Cajuste all suffered injuries at some point.



Best newcomer

Michael Bennett, Edge: There's no question that Trey Flowers was a very good player here and he'll be missed. But Bennett, even at 32, is a better all-around player than Flowers and is more of a natural playmaker. The only question now is whether or not he can remain healthy and fight through injury. There's no question Flowers did that — he's still on PUP from an offseason surgery that lingered from his final New England season — and Bennett has the reputation for being a warrior, but sometimes players change as they age.



Most consistent player, defense

Stephon Gilmore, CB: The beat goes on. He's become one of the best cornerbacks in the league to the point that his first six games as a Patriot seem like a different player was in that No. 24 uniform. Gilmore just keeps getting better.



Most consistent player, offense

Joe Thuney, LG: The left tackle experiment didn't last very long (thanks to Dan Skipper), so Thuney was able to get back to his normal spot where he's become one of the better players in the league. He was great in practice and he was great in the joint sessions.

Most memorable moment

Well, there was no Kenny Britt around to take the field in headphones, or play with his kids while practice was still going on. But a couple of things stood out. The first would be Bennett and Skipper getting into a scrap at one point, and Bennett taking a head slap at Skipper, who responded with the old double-bird salute. Bennett is very ornery on the field and gets into a lot of pushing and shoving. The second would be Trey Flowers leaving the practice field after the Lions joint sessions, and some of the Patriots — mainly the Rutgers crew of the McCourtys and Duron Harmon — ragging on Flowers and his big money, and how he had to go put on his diamonds. There was a lot of good ballbusting among ex-teammates in Detroit and Nashville.

The longshot who caught our eye

D'Angelo Ross, CB: The undrafted free agent just kept showing up by getting his hands on passes and making plays in practice. He's not the most impressive athlete in the world or imposing player, but he knows how to make plays. There was no way the Patriots were going to be able to keep him with the secondary depth, but his injury and reverting to injured reserve buys him another year.

Biggest Surprise

Dan Skipper, OT: Considering he had been on three teams in two years and cut and signed 10 different times, you'd figure Skipper was just a big oaf who would just take up space and not last very long. But almost immediately, you could see that Skipper had some decent feet for his size (6-9) so there was something there to work with. From there, Dante Scarnecchia has worked his magic to the point that Skipper looks like a very viable swing tackle who could develop into a starter given more time to develop.

Biggest Disappointment

Mike Pennel, DT: Looked like a perfect signing in the offseason considering he's a stout run-stuffer and the Patriots had let Malcom Brown and Danny Shelton (since re-signed). Pennel is really well built and strong as an ox. But for some reason, Pennel has basically been relegated to third-string reps in practice. Not sure if there's an underlying reason for that (give others a chance), or Pennel is just not doing the right things behind the scenes. But this is definitely perplexing and disappointing.

Best player of camp (and no, you can’t pick Tom Brady because he wasn’t)

Joe Thuney, LG: Yeah, I know, typical Bedard taking an offensive lineman ... but I'm not going to apologize because Thuney just had an outstanding camp. Doesn't mean he's going to be great in the games, or come the season (if he's not traded), but up until today, he was the Patriots' best and most consistent player in camp. He was an amazing 14-4-2 (20% loss percentage) in 1-on-1s and he did not have a decisive loss (had two decisive wins). Thuney was unflappable. Rushers found it impossible to get around him. His feet and balance were tremendous.

Worst player of camp

Cedrick Lang, OT: Truth be told, Lang improved a lot in this camp and should be commended. Obviously Dante Scarnecchia is doing his job because, for the first week or so, I thought Lang was in the running for worst offensive lineman to come through Gillette. He's not that bad anymore, but he's not that far off either. He could, actually, play in this league given some time and perhaps a practice squad spot.

Biggest takeaway of camp

I have no idea how the Patriots are going to cut this roster down, especially on the defensive side.

On the edge, you could make the argument for any of the players, even Trent Harris and Keionta Davis.

Inside, how do you choose between Mike Pennel, Byron Cowart, Adam Butler, Danny Shelton, Nick Thurman and David Parry? They call play in this league.

At linebacker, Elandon Roberts, Christian Sam and Calvin Munson appear to be on the outside looking in with a deep group.

And we've been over cornerback and safety.

Yes, I understand that some of these guys may get cut, picked up elsewhere and do nothing. But that doesn't mean they couldn't be good, productive players in this system.

The good thing is, at least the Patriots have some depth defensively now. I remember in the 2011s and 2012s, you were scraping to find a good linebacker, cornerback and edge player beyond the usual suspects. Now they're all over the place.

It will be interesting to see which road Bill Belichick chooses. In the past, he's gone with veterans over youth. But that's gotten very expensive on the cap. Doubt he'll go really young, because that included jettisoning some good players. Hopefully Belichick will go with more of a mix, which would keep the Patriots strong in the short term, but ready for the future.

There's going to be some tough choices, pending injuries, but that's a good problem to have.