NFL Notebook: 2021 Patriots Camp Awards - Best, worst & everything in between

The Patriots' 2021 training camp is done. Nineteen practices, two preseason games and one trip to Philadelphia are in the books as New England begins to set the stage in earnest for the regular season. Consider this the capper on camp — 16 awards for what I've seen sitting in the stands for the last three-plus weeks — that will lead into our final 53-man roster ahead of Tuesday's cutdown by 4 p.m.

We cover everything from the best defensive and offensive rookies, to the biggest disappointments.

The envelopes please …

COMEBACK PLAYER

Nominees: OT Yodny Cajuste, TE Devin Asiasi, OT Justin Herron, DB Joejuan Williams.

Winner: Yodny Cajuste.

Not a lot of good nominees in this group. And you could make the argument that Cajuste hasn't come back from anything — he's just getting started after two injury-plagued seasons. But going from, "Is this guy ever going to play in the NFL or for the Patriots?" to Cajuste possibly being the backup at left tackle for an oft-injured Isaiah Wynn (maybe in a crunch ... in the case of long-term injury, I think the Patriots would put Trent Brown at LT and Justin Herron at RT) is definitely a huge upset.

Whatever happens, I do think his comeback has been terrific. A lot of guys just would have quit.

"His (pre-draft) visit was one of the first things that I did, when we got back in the staff as an offensive assistant with Dante (Scarnecchia)," said line coach Carm Bricillo. "Something I learned my days, just in the state of Ohio with Jim Tressel was him saying 'don't judge them when they're hurt, don't judge him when they're young.' Now the guy came in here with an injury that he was recovering from and just kind of have worked through tha. I think we're trending in the right direction but you know there's no finished product here we can't take a bow now, but he's a quiet kid that's trying to do the right things and I think you see that, and he's got some talent, and we'll just see if we can keep getting better."

DESCENDING PLAYER

Nominees: DT Lawrence Guy, RB James White, LB Kyle Van Noy, K Nick Folk.

Winner: Lawrence Guy.

I don't know what the reason is, be it undisclosed injury, just pacing himself, or unhappiness with his free-agent contract, but Guy has not been the same player in this camp that he normally is — every year previously he was among the very best on the entire team.

You know how this pains me. I did not take this lightly.

BEST DEFENSIVE ROOKIE

Nominees: DL Christian Barmore, DE Ronnie Perkins

Winner: Christian Barmore.

Once he got on the field and stayed there, Barmore looked like he just fit, especially as a pass rusher. He also appeared to be earning the respect of the coaches by being included in the base defense more and more. At practice, he is often listening or conversing with a veteran happy to provide a tip. Barmore is definitely on the fast track, and seems to be staying on the right track.

BEST OFFENSIVE ROOKIE

Nominees: QB Mac Jones, RB Rhamondre Stevenson, PK Quinn Nordin.

Winner: Mac Jones.

Duh. The guy could be the team's starter very soon at the toughest position. And he keeps getting better almost every day. Jones is arguably the best rookie QB they've ever had, and you have the feeling he's just scratching the surface of what he can be.

But it's a credit to the personnel staff that this isn't that much of a runaway because Stevenson has been good enough to make Sony Michel expendable, and Nordin has shown a lot of promise.

WORST ROOKIE

Nominees: OL William Sherman, WR Tre Nixon.

Winner: William Sherman.

He looks the part in his stance, but Sherman has been pretty brutal all of camp. He was a team-worst 1-10-1 in 1-on-1 reps. 

BEST NEWCOMER

Nominees: A crapton because of how bad they were last season — QB Mac Jones, OT Trent Brown, LB Matthew Judon, TE Jonnu Smith, DE Henry Anderson.

Winner: Trent Brown.

I don't know what happened with him in Vegas (sort of like San Francisco), but he looks as good as he was the first time around — and he seems to have a maturity about him this time around and is a calming influence.

"He really has done a good job of taking the 2018 year of experience in the system and really building on it and becoming a much more valuable player in terms of leadership, communication and helping other people out," Bill Belichick said. "I think in 2018, he was, as he should have been, very focused on just trying to do his job and do it well, which he still does, but I think now he also brings an element of experience and leadership and stability and dependability that is at a very high level, which is which is great. I mean, honestly, it's been awesome to have him."

There was one practice when Bricillo obviously wasn't very happy with Brown and the two were having an animated discussion. Brown definitely didn't just say, 'Yes, coach.' But the conversation never got heated — I would more term it passionate — and Brown ended up coming back and putting an arm on Bricillo to smooth things out.

WORST NEWCOMER

Nominees: WR Nelson Agholor, DE Montravius Adams, NT Davon Godchaux, TE Hunter Henry.

Winner: (tie) Agholor and Godchaux.

This is just based on practice and the preseason games, and nothing else. It doesn't mean they're going to be a bust this year. it just means, basically, who has gotten off to the poorest start.

It's close between Agholor (solely due to injuries) and Godchaux (games).

I'm going to leave it a tie. I'm disappointed Agholor can't stay on the field and hasn't made many plays. But I think it's there. Godchaux hasn't tried much in the games.

MOST CONSISTENT DEFENSIVE PLAYER

Nominees: JC Jackson, Deatrich Wise, Matthew Judon, Henry Anderson, Devin McCourty, Adrian Phillips.

Winner: JC Jackson.

A repeat winner!! You could make the argument for any of these guys — especially Anderson (Judon runs hot and cold at times) — but Jackson makes plays in every practice.

MOST CONSISTENT OFFENSIVE PLAYER

Nominees: Mac Jones, Jakobi Meyers, Shaq Mason, Trent Brown.

Winner: Jakobi Meyers. 

Meyers must be laughing to himself at night. "Y'all spent how much money on all those free agents, and how many have been a better offensive weapon than me?"

That's right, a big fat goose egg. 

Meyers, the new slot receiver, has been consistent every single day.

THE KENNY BRITT MEMORABLE MOMENT AWARD

Nothing will ever top Kenny Britt walking off the field in the middle of practice to get treatment and stopping to play with his kids on the field (or wearing over-ear headphones onto the field)... but this one from the end of Mac Jones' first camp practice still lingers in my mind:

The third snapshot happened after Jones' final rep of practice. And this felt significant, almost like a changing of the guard because of who was at the center of it: captain David Andrews.

Jones got the final offensive reps of practice, and they were impressive despite the results.

• Jones made a perfect throw to Agholor at the left sideline in the end zone, but Agholor double caught it out of bounds for a drop.
• On second down, Jones and JJ Taylor weren't on the same page, and the QB coached him up after the play.
• Jones made another nice pass, but it was dropped by Matt LaCosse. The next one was batted down.

Stats would tell you Jones was 0 for 5 on those reps but stats lie — only the deflection was truly a "missed" throw.

On the penultimate play of the session, Jones surveyed the field after play-action again — this time from left to right — and fired a touchdown to Gunner Olszewski that had good velocity and once again showed off Jones' anticipation and timing. Jones ended with another touchdown, to N'Keal Harry.

After the play, as the team got set up for field goals, Josh McDaniels and Jones were in a deep discussion about the finer points of Patriots quarterbacking when Andrews walked by and turned around to listen in. When they were done, Andrews had about the biggest smile I've ever seen on him. Then, he took his right arm and put it on Jones' shoulder. Andrews gave him a little squeeze on the shoulder, while still wearing that big smile. 

(CAMERA CLICK).

It was almost like Andrews was simultaneously telling the rookie, "Nice work, kid," but also realizing the Patriots might have something here in Jones.

LONGSHOT WHO CAUGHT OUR EYE

Quinn Nordin, K

We're a little proud of this one because, I think it was during OTAs, I remarked how the ball just sounds different off Nordin's foot, and the Patriots might have something there. And Nordin ended up having a very strong camp, until he flamed out against the Eagles. But he's definitely worth keeping an eye on.

BIGGEST SURPRISE

Justin Herron, OT

Cajuste should probably win this award, but we've already talked about him. Kristian Wilkerson flashed at times. Mac Jones being this good so soon was a little bit of a surprise.

We went with Herron because his 7-2-3 1-on-1 record and play in the games put him on part with the starters, and he was arguably better than Mike Onwenu (8-4-2) in this camp. 

Just very impressed how Herron focused on getting his body stronger, he did it, didn't lose any quickness, and now he's probably going to be the swing tackle. Great job.

Runner-up: DT Carl Davis.

That dude has been a bad man this summer. Team-best 7-1-2 in 1-on-1s for a big gap clogger.

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT

Stephon Gilmore not getting on the field ... yet.

I can only go with what is visible: Gilmore has not yet passed his physical, which is why you are on the PUP list — you physically can't do your job. If that's the case, and Gilmore is making a ruckus about this contract when he can't even pass a physical, that's just wrong.

It's possible the Patriots have agreed to let him stew there over his contract so they don't have to do deal with the mandatory fines if Gilmore were to pass his physical. In that case, the team isn't exactly right either.

Both sides need to have enough respect for each other to do the right thing: Gilmore needs to pass his physical and practice to demonstrate where he is. If Gilmore is still Gilmore, the Patriots need to give him a one-year bump and let him go be someone else's contract problem in an age 31 year in 2022. 

BEST PLAYER OF CAMP

Winner: Trent Brown.

Like we said previously, he's just been outstanding in every facet. He just looks like a very mature, very experienced leader out there. Like the old sage of the team.

WORST PLAYER OF CAMP

Winner: Devin Ross, WR (released)

I couldn't believe they waited until the second cut to release him. All he did was drop passes and miss blocks. People wondered why Mac Jones kind of got off to a "slow start" in camp — you know, all the talk about him being lapped or a bust when nothing was really going on — it was because he had to throw to the likes of Ross, who was just not good.

Of players still on the roster, sixth-round pick Will Sherman is among the worst.

BIGGEST TAKEAWAYS OF CAMP

Usually we go with one, but a couple are on my mind:

• The quick ascension of Mac Jones — and the determination of the Patriots to get him ready as quick as possible. They have thrown everything at the MacBookPro and it is taking in the information and using it to accumulate more knowledge the next time out. It's like watching IBM's Big Blue learning to play chess. It gets better and learns from all stimuli each time it plays.
• Quiet summers from defensive veterans. Maybe they're all just pacing themselves, but guys like Lawrence Guy, Kyle Van Noy and Dont'a Hightower have really taken it slow this summer. They haven't been bad or anything, just very muted and quiet. Like they're trying not to be noticed. 
• Younger talent: Between the last couple of drafts and the large free-agent class with ascending players, there are a lot more talented young players on this roster, and the team needs to make room for them by letting go of some veterans. The personnel department has done a nice job.
• The Patriots think they're pretty good: Things will look a lot better with Gilmore on the field and Jones at QB. Even if that doesn't happen until midseason for either, the Patriots know they have a pretty good team forming right here.