FOXBOROUGH - Prior to a sled-pushing competition to end day two of mandatory mini-camp, the only reason the Patriots players were sweating was the heat. Otherwise, this was a glorified walkthrough/jogthrough, as promised by Mike Vrabel.
“It probably won’t be as much speed stuff,” he told us before the session, adding, “We will come back and get that same speed that we had yesterday further down in the red zone tomorrow.”
Thus, the observations are limited:
- Once again, heavy emphasis on the red zone, both in team and during skeleton work (skills players vs air). If anyone drops stats from this practice, you should immediately question their sanity. No passes were contested, and no pass rush was generated. Just assignment football.
- Christian Gonzalez did a little more from a participation standpoint, but with almost zero risk of collision (I suppose someone could have tripped over their own feet), I wouldn’t read anything into it.
- Kayshon Boutte was once again a fully involved, though he rarely repped with the other top receivers (A.J. Brown, Romeo Doubs and Mack Hollins). In fact, Pop Douglas had more reps with some combination of that group than Boutte did.
- Kyle Williams continues to share the field with Efton Chism and Boutte. I didn’t notice him repping with the ones at any point. And speaking of, there were some radio rumblings about a potential reunion with Stefon Diggs. Vrabel didn’t slam the door shut, however…
"I am not going to give a percentage on it, but I think we are happy with where we are at right now with the numbers and the people in the receiver room,” he said. “I appreciate Stefon as a person, as a player and what he did for us last year. I value that. He helped us win football games, helped us get to where we got. But right now, I don’t think that is something that I think we are exploring. But I would never say no.”
- With free agent signee Julian Hill lost for the season (injury suffered during OTAs), the Pats continue to roll out Jack Westover as the “other” tight end when they deploy 12 personnel. Vrabel was asked if the team will look to add there.
“Just from a numbers standpoint at camp, I think that is somewhere where we will probably have to evaluate the numbers,” he said. “I mean, there are 90, 91 guys on every team, so we will just have to take a look at that. But I would say that is probably somewhere where we would have to address.”
Vrabel was complimentary of rookie Eli Raridon but it’s clear there’s a lot to learn and adjust to at this level.
“When he is able to play with the speed that he has available to him in his body, that has kind of showed out,” Vrabel noted. “Then with a lot of these young guys, just the terminology, the routes, the coverage, just try to eliminate and allow them to play as fast as possible. So, in the spring it’s like, "Hey, let us try to play out of control, let us play too fast." Then if you make a mistake, that is fine. But we have got to start training that play speed so that when we do grasp everything really well, the play speed is there. It’s not something that we should learn what to do and go slow.”
- With Morgan Moses remaining on the sidelines, Caleb Lomu got all the first-team reps at right tackle, then shifted over to the left side when the second team took the field. It should be noted that he also got a little look at guard on day one (late in practice in a walkthrough stage). Lomu said he feels like he’s been playing on the right side forever. I’m not sure the head coach views it the same way, though he did seem pleased with the progress of the first rounder.
“He is getting a lot of reps," Vrabel said. “I love the versatility. I think when you get a young player, their willingness to learn and just adapt and adjust. There hasn’t been, "Oh my gosh, I’m so used to this." I think it's all new to him.
“So, his flexibility and versatility has been something that I think has stood out. He learns quickly, usually doesn’t make the same mistake twice. And it is different, so the guys that you are trying to put in different places and say, "You have got to get as much reps on the left as you do on the right," that’s important. So, he has done a nice job of that.”
I will say, though it’s not been against the kind of pass rush he will see when the pads come on and the stakes are raised, Lomu is an easy mover.
Elsewhere on the line, Ben Brown assumed some of Alijah Vera-Tucker’s reps as practice wore on (they continue to manage Vera-Tucker after he missed all of last year with injury), while Caedan Wallace got some late work with the first unit as well.
- Edge rushers Harold Landry and Gabe Jacas, like Moses, remain out of action. That has meant more reps for Elijah Ponder, who has impressed the coaching staff. But as I wrote yesterday, with Jacas having missed the entire spring after undergoing a “procedure,” a thin group is even thinner. I will ask Vrabel tomorrow if that’s another position they feel they need to address before training camp starts.
- When the Pats defense subbed out Milton Williams and Cory Durden after a number of goalline reps, the two bodies that replaced them were Leonard Taylor and Eric Gregory. Chad Muma entered for Christian Elliss at LB and veteran Mike Brown gave Kevin Byard a break at safety.
FINALLY
As for this wooden-sled competition, Vrabel and the coaching staff have divided the team into “families,” mixing positions and putting 6 or 7 players into each group (there are 13 families in total). They’ve been having battles throughout the offseason.
“(It’s) just another way of team building and competing and having to strategize and kind of have something that may not go right and try to fix it,” Drake Maye said after practice.
A score is being kept - Maye noted his family is in 2nd place - but there’s no word on what the prize will be. I’m not into the happy horsecrap stuff, but you could see the players let their hair down a bit, trash-talk one another, and see those competitive genes kick in.
Tomorrow, this all wraps up and then it's summer vacation, although these guys won’t get much time to rest. In fact, that’s been the message throughout the spring. Last year is over.
“I would say, like in March, it was already like a reset,” Carlton Davis observed. “I don't think anybody has come in here expecting success without putting in the work. That's just not how this team is built, from the top down… Like everybody knows that we have to build our way back up, and you can feel it. I've been on teams, and you know, you play good one year, the next year is kind of like, well, we'll get there, we'll get there. No. We want to get there now, we want to start training now, and you can tell that's the vibes.”