Bill Belichick met with the media virtually on Tuesday ahead of his 47th NFL training camp, and 22nd as head coach of the Patriots. Belichick was Belichick in his comments — the man is nothing if not consistent — but the theme of his remarks seemed to center on competition.
"Every year is pretty much a clean slate for me with everybody," Belichick said. "Myself, other coaches that have a lot of experience, players that have a lot of experience, we all have to start all over again, new players, how fast, and what kind of impact they'll have. There's really no way of knowing or predicting, you just have to take it day by day and see how it comes along. Some young players start fast and fizzle out. Some start slow and come on strong. Some start fast and keep it at that level. Some players never really have a big impact.
"I'm not really big on the expectations. We'll go out there and continue the process we started in the spring and see how all the players and our team come along and how it all fits together. I don't know exactly how that's going to go, and I'm sure we'll see some things along the way that we haven't prepared for that we'll have to adjust to. That's part of football and part of coaching and part of the NFL season. I think we'll just have to see how it goes"
That's to be expected with several new players added in free agency to up the talent level on the team, but will an open competition be featured at the most important position — quarterback?
"As I said every one of us has to go out and establish our level of performance whatever our role or capacity is," Belichick said. "It's a new season. We've done some things in the spring, but this is really the start of football season in terms of the team-building part here in training camp. We all have a lot of work to do. That includes all of us. So we go out and do anything, so it's pretty much a clean slate."
If there's any player who could enjoy a clean slate, it's Cam Newton, the incumbent starting quarterback. After a strong start to the season, Newton quickly fizzled and Belichick was left to defend not benching Newton for Jarrett Stidham in the second half of the season. Belichick declared Newton the team's quarterback, and that even continue after the drafting of Mac Jones in the first round of the draft.
"Cam's our quarterback," Belichick said on April 29th. "Whatever position, whatever time Jarrett or Mac are ready to challenge and compete, then we'll see how that goes."
There was no such declaration on Tuesday.
Does that mean things have changed?
Not exactly. Some might bring up the fact that Belichick didn't say Newton's name during Tuesday's session. But it's also a fact — and likely not a coincidence — that Belichick did not name one player during the interview.
Camp is starting. Time for the team to get better, in other words.
A year ago, Belichick said similar things about the quarterback position when the only players on the roster were Newton, Stidham and Brian Hoyer.
"Well, I think that spot is the same as all the other spots on the team. We’ve got a long way to go and we’ll see how things turn out," Belichick said. "I can’t control how players perform. That’s up to them. We’ll give everybody an opportunity and see what happens. I don’t know."
It is believed that Newton will get more of the starter reps to open camp, but that is always subject to change. And those around the team believe this is an open competition that could go right up until the first game. Newton will likely, however, get the first shot to hold onto his job. Jones is expected to make a hard charge because at this point, he is able to more fully operate the Patriots' entire passing system.
In other news as the Patriots are set to open camp:
- Stephon Gilmore, Byron Cowart, Terez Hall, Dalton Keene, Brandon King, Devin Smith, Stidham and Chase Winovich were all placed on the physically unable to perform list ahead of camp. They will not be activated until they pass their physicals.
- Stidham, Cowart and Winovich could be in roster battles so getting off to a late start will put them behind.
- Belichick would not touch the situations of Gilmore (contract) and N'Keal Harry (trade request). "Yeah not going to talk about contracts and personal situations," Belichick said.
- Belichick would not say how many Patriots are vaccinated but said "most of them, probably" have received their shots.
- TE Devin Asiasi tested is in Covid protocols, a source confirmed. Asiasi, whose positive test was first reported by the Boston Globe, along with Devin Smith's release, is another young player who needs all the practice time he can get.
- Belichick said that Carmen Bricillo will be coaching the offensive line. Cole Popovich, who was an assistant line coach, did not return due to the NFL Covid vaccine mandate. "From a staff standpoint, Carm will be coaching the offensive line," Belichick said. "Again, these are all things that play off the protocols from the league and so forth, so I'm not going to get into that any further. It is what it is. From this point on, I'm focused on football and trying to get our team ready to go."
- Belichick mentioned the club will not be in pads for "several days." According to the CBA, this is the schedule for the opening week:
