FOXBOROUGH — Practice No.1 of the Patriots' mandatory minicamp is in the books, let's run down all you need to know, including highlights and practice tidbits:
THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
Major switch on the offensive line: Trent Brown wasn't immediately on the field for the start of practice so to begin things, it was Yodny Cajuste at left tackle and, at right tackle, ... Isaiah Wynn. After sitting out OTAs, the Patriots' starter at left tackle his first three seasons was moved to a position he's never played here. Brown did eventually take the field, and he was solely at left tackle, and Wynn stayed on the right side. Patriots could just be taking a look at this, and things could change for the start of training camp, but this was a significant move nonetheless. That Wynn is playing on the right side and making $10.4 million, it makes Wynn's future here even more murky.
Matt Patricia gets bulk of work as playcaller: The Patriots had four periods where they were calling plays — guess Bill Belichick would say they're calling mini-camp plays in this session — and for the first time we saw the walkie-talkies used to radio plays into the QBs' helmets. Patricia was calling plays in three periods, to one for Joe Judge — during 7-on-7s when Patricia was busy on the side with the offensive line. A breakdown of which coach was doing what during non-positional/special teams periods:
Passing offense very sharp before 11-on-11s: For much of the practice, Mac Jones was on fire, completely about 20 passes in row. Some were terrific plays — a post corner shot to Tre Nixon of some 60 yards over Jonathan Jones was perfect, as was a sideline play to DeVante Parker over Jalen Mills, there was a deft little middle throw to J.J. Taylor that burned LB Jahlani Tavai, and Jones hit Jonnu Smith down the sideline on a bucket throw — but the bulk of the plays were checkdowns and quick flat throws, so I wouldn't get too excited over one session. When there were pass rushers in front of Jones and the other QBs, reality set in: there were a combined 3 of 9 and a Brian Hoyer INT that Dugger picked clean off the turn. Jones himself was 0 for 3 and had three sacks or scrambles, and he looked visibly frustrated during that period.
No Kendrick Bourne: Before practice, Belichick said that any players not there were excused, and that would include the speedy WR. Still, it is interesting that just days after Bourne told some reporters about the Patriots having a new offensive system, he was not to be seen anywhere. Not saying the two are related, but the timing is at least interesting.
TAKING ATTENDANCE
Not present: WR Kendrick Bourne, DT Byron Cowart, OT Andrew Stueber, OG Chasen Hines, K Quinn Nordin, K Nick Folk.
Rehab group: CB Marcus Jones, S Jabrill Peppers, WR Jakobi Meyers.
DRESS CODE
Shells
LENGTH OF PRACTICE
2 hours under clear skies and breezy conditions.
QB STATS
11-on-11s, the only truly competitive period.
Mac Jones: 2-5, 3 sacks/scrambles
Brian Hoyer: 0-2, INT
Bailey Zappe: 1-2
HANDS TEAM
Fumbles: None.
Drops: Ty Montgomery, Kevin Harris, Jonnu Smith
Pass breakups: Jalen Mills, Jack Jones, Jahlani Tavai, Harvey Langi, Terrance Mitchell.
Interception: Kyle Dugger.
TWO UP
QB Mac Jones: It appeared to be a largely good day for Jones as he was accurate and got the ball out quickly before 11-on-11s. Would not say his arm was noticeably stronger, although the motion is tighter.
WR Tre Nixon: Looked like Ernie Adams' favorite WR got an opportunity with Bourne out, and he made the most of it.
THREE DOWN
WR Nelson Agholor: Not a terrible day by any means, but he was roughed up on one pass that almost led to an INT, and Jones wanted hin to sit down on a crossing route.
QB Brian Hoyer: Seemed to have the roughest go working with mostly backups and threw an INT to Kyle Dugger that wasn't close to the target.
WR N'Keal Harry: Returned to the team and was basically relegated to the scout team.
(Fred Kfoury III/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
QUICK HITS
- Related to the OT switch, it's interesting that the Patriots are at least taking a look at switching up the styles of play on each side of the line. Wynn and LG Cole Strange would be an athletic duo on one side, while RG Mike Onwenu and Brown would be straight power at their old spots. With the switch, the Patriots are looking at pairing power and athleticism.
- N'Keal Harry was at practice and was solely at WR. Lot of scout team work for him.
- WR Tyquan Thornton got a long look at punt gunner, including some pointers from Matthew Slater. Thornton caught a coffin corner punt at one point.
- First time seeing Jabrill Peppers on the field and while it was limited, he's thicker than anticipated. Looks like a true LB/S hybrid.
- Hunter Henry worked on positional drills with the WRs.
- First group of linebackers were Ja'Whaun Bentley, Raekwon McMillan and ... Anfernee Jennings? Jennings got a lot of run with the first two groups, mostly on the edge. Mack Wilson and Tavai were next inside.
- Predominant CB group: Jalen Mills, Terrance Mitchell and Jonathan Jones, followed by Jack Jones, Malcolm Butler, Myles Bryant.
- Matthew Judon, who hasn't been at OTAs, seemed to be slowly worked in. Josh Uche was on the edge early but wasn't noticed much after that.
- If you were hoping the Patriots would be debuting the Kyle Shanahan offense, you'd be disappointed. It looked like the same old Patriots offense. Belichick himself threw cold water on a new system, basically saying they were streamlining some language. Some back and forth with reporters:
Q: Some of the offensive players have noted that the terminology is a bit different under Joe and some of the coaches than it was with Josh. What went into changing some of the offensive terminology this offseason?
BB: Well, we’ve had a lot of changes offensively in the last couple of years. Good time to streamline things – we did that defensively a couple years ago, feel like this is a good time to do it offensively. So, there’s an element of that every year.
Q: When you say streamlined, does that just mean the language?
BB: Sure, that’s part of it.
Q: And is that for players’ benefit or coaches or for both?
BB: Well, anybody that’s been here for 20-something years understands the process, and what words mean certain things, and what refers to certain situations and all that. Somebody that’s coming in here that’s only been here a couple weeks wouldn’t have any way of correlating all those things, so I think there’s other ways to sequentially teach them, as an example. So yeah, absolutely. We do that normally every year. But it’s been more on offensive this year, probably more on defense a couple years ago.
Q: Bill, you wouldn’t call it a new system, would you? Or would you say this streamlining process you’re going through — is it a new system on offense? How big are the changes that you’re making?
BB: I don’t know. We make changes every year. I wouldn’t be able to rank them.
Q: Are we going to see you guys run an entire new offense, sets of plays we’ve never seen before, or is it just the plays that you’ve had, and the schemes that you’ve had, just, maybe behind the scenes you guys are talking about those in different ways? Is that closer to the bone in terms of some of the changes that you’ve made?
BB: I don’t know.
Q: It’s early for that?
BB: Yeah, I mean, if you’re asking if we’re going run the Veer offense, no. Not really sure what we’re talking about here.
(Fred Kfoury III/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
SCHEDULE
June 8 – Mandatory Minicamp with media availability
June 9 – Mandatory Minicamp with media availability
June 13 – Media Availability
June 14