FOXBOROUGH — Practice No 7 is in the books; let's run down all you need to know, including stats, 1-on-1s, play-by-play, lineup adjustments and observations:
FOUR THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
Gabe Jacas cleared to practice: The second-round pick was on the field in a limited capacity. He didn't take part in any drills, but he worked on the side with Mike Vrabel on punt protection and OLBs coach Mike Smith on pass rush. At one point, Jacas bowled over Smith while he held a blocking pad. Jacas looks, well, jacked. He is one impressive-looking dude. Someone hasn't been eating bonbons waiting to be signed.
Gabe Jacas is off to a hot start pic.twitter.com/wHCwQDlMJF
— Matt Dolloff (@RealMattDolloff) August 1, 2026
"He’ll be out there in a limited role," Vrabel said. "We’ve talked to you about the return to play protocol that we have, and so now he gets handed over to the coaches, and that’ll be in a limited role. He won’t be involved in the team reps, but hopefully Monday, we’ll see him back out there.
"He loves football. He’s been itching to get back. He texts me all the time. He texts me late at night, "Hey, am I going to practice tomorrow?" I’m like, "No, just like I told you at 6:30 last night or tonight that you’re not going to practice tomorrow. You don’t have to text me at 10:00 and ask again. The answer is still no, not yet." You want that. You want guys that are looking for ways in as opposed to looking for ways out. I think he just wants to get out there, get acclimated and be with his teammates. That is all he wants to do. He just wants to play football."
Both sides of the ball go without a script: Vrabel said before practice that this would be a "call it" practice for both sides of the ball.
"There is no script, so the players won’t have what the play is or what the situation is, which we always like to do here, and give them an opportunity to go play, get into a little bit of rhythm, get into a little bit of conditioning, create a drive," Vrabel said. "If it’s a three-and-out, I’ll just make it first down. Just bear with me. Players will probably start to [say], "Oh, that was a sack," and, "Now why is it not third-and-15? Why is it third-and-7?" So, we just do all those things, and I think they understand that that’s really good for the football team. So, I’m excited to do that today."
It was good, productive work for both sides of the ball. Wouldn't say either side had the edge.
Injuries, rest part of the story: The Patriots saw some players go off with injuries - Caeden Wallace, Kyle Williams (returned), Romeo Doubs (stayed on the field) and OL James Hudson. Some of the veterans checked out before the end of practice for rest, including AJ Brown, Marcus Jones and Christian Gonzalez.
Starting line, including Will Campbell, suffer first 1-on-1 losses: It was a fast start to pass rush drills for the starting offensive line (save Morgan Moses, who has yet to take a rep), but that came back to reality a bit as Will Campbell, Mike Onwenu and Jared Wilson suffered their first losses, but still battled well. Ben Brown took Vera-Tucker's reps at left guard. It was a good day for the defense, which posted its first win 19-11-6 with 2 decisive wins.
TAKING ATTENDANCE
Physically unable to perform list: DE Harold Landry, TE CJ Dippre
Non-football injury list: RB Terrell Jennings, S Brendan Schooler
Red non-contact jerseys: QBs.
Returned to practice: DT Christian Barmore (rest), DE Gabe Jacas.
Full participants: None.
Out: CB Carlton Davis (hamstring), G Alijah Vera-Tucker.
Limited: OT Morgan Moses, WR AJ Brown, CB Christian Gonzalez, CB Marcus Jones, RB Rhamondre Stevenson.
New injuries: WR Kyle Williams (returned to practice), WR Romeo Doubs (unknown), OL James Hudson (right leg), OL Caeden Wallace (unknown).
DRESS CODE
Full pads (3rd day).
LENGTH OF PRACTICE
1:50 under tough sun and humidity.
QB STATS
Drake Maye: 9 of 11, sack (4 of 5, 5 of 6, sack).
Tommy DeVito: 6 of 9 (4 of 4, sack; 2 of 5, INT)
Behren Morton: 1 of 3, 2 sacks, scramble
Note: I do not have the number of reps that some other writers have because I do not count when the offense is "working off cards." Those are plays when an assistant coach literally brings out a play on a card and shows it to one side of the ball. They are not running their own plays, so since there are so many x-factors — including the receiver running the right route, and blockers executing correctly — I do not count those reps.
IMPACT PLAYS IN TEAM PERIODS
Fumbles: Lan Larison, Romeo Doubs.
Drops: None.
Pass breakups: Dell Pettus, Kobee Minor
Interceptions: Karon Prunty (DeVito)
Run stuffs (10): Dre'Mont Jones (Henderson), Elijah Ponder (Henderson), Kobee Minor (Larison), Muma (Henderson), Farmer (Jam Miller, JonDarius Morgan), Jacobs (Myles Montgomery), Channing Canada (Miller), Pharms (Miller), Farmer (Montgomery), Wilson.
Pressures/sacks (6): Leonard Taylor, Khalil Jacobs, Ponder, Jones, Gainer, Taylor (Morgan)
PASS RUSH ONE-ON-ONES
Offense
Defense