FOXBOROUGH — Can you believe we have a football game Thursday night? That escalated quickly. I can’t promise it will be good football, and who knows if that turf holds up (what are we doing?), but there will be something resembling a pro game at Gillette, and we will have it covered. In the meantime, some thoughts on the roster after 14 days of training camp.
I think the running back pecking order is established. Rhamondre Stevenson is the between-the-tackles guy, and until proven otherwise, the most reliable back on passing downs. That’s not just for his blitz pickup, which is superior to Treveyon Henderson’s, but he’s surehanded and has continued to flash that this summer.
Terrell Jennings is, in my mind, far and away the best of the rest. He knows what he is and runs that way. Lan Larisson has been just a guy, and the two rookies, draft pick Jam Miller and UDFA Myles Montgomery, have shown a flash here or there and will get plenty of run in these preseason games.
As for Henderson, I told you I haven’t seen much improvement with his vision and patience, but I don’t have access to practice film. Mike Vrabel does, so I asked him for his thoughts.
“He had a few nice cuts, and again, I think I’ve always said that the best receivers have the ability to play at different speeds and not just be fast all the time, but being able to play at different speeds. I would say that for a running back with his speed, sometimes it’s important that he sees it, and much like linebackers, that no step is better than a bad step.
“I think by understanding the front that’s out in front of the run or what it may look like at the beginning, whether there’s movement, and then what his adjustments are, I think some of that is starting to slow down for him and being able to see the picture of what it looks like and then potentially what it could look like a couple strides into the run. So, he continues to work at it, and the only way to improve at it is to work at it and see it, and he’s getting a lot of different looks from our defense in the run game as well.”
In other words, it’s a work in progress.
How many receivers is too many? Vrabel is on the record that if they feel like carrying 7 makes sense, they’ll do it. They did that a couple of years ago, but that’s because their roster was a wasteland. This group is light years ahead of that, and I’m not sure I’d want to squeeze a spot where I’m thin in favor of keeping a player who won’t ever be on the gameday roster.
You know what I believe will happen with the Kayshon Boutte situation, but if he does stick around, then what? Would the team put Efton Chism on waivers, with eyes on getting him back on the practice squad? I think he would get through, but, as Belichick always said, you have to be okay with the idea of losing him because you are exposing him to 31 other teams.
How about Kyle Williams? He hasn’t opened my eyes this summer very often, though his release package and ability to get vertical are unlike any other player in that position group. Williams hasn’t gotten a ton of reps with Drake Maye - he’s 7th of the top 7 by my count - but internally, the staff remains high on his potential. In addition, Vrabel made it clear he’s going to have a role.
“I really, really know that Kyle is going to help us. His speed is going to help us. And I don't want to use this and get this to be overblown, and I'm going to use the word scheme or – He's got a skill set, right? We're going to find ways to get him the ball, and it may be outside of just the normal installation plays, but that's my responsibility, that's Josh [McDaniels]’s responsibility, that's Todd [Downings]’s responsibility is to put him in those positions where we see the speed that showed up last year.”
Maye said the right thing, but is he aware of who he’s talking about? The Patriots' quarterback was asked if he feels there are challenges to make sure he keeps all those mouths in the receiver room happy.
“I think the best thing for that is winning,” he said. “I think nobody really tries to complain when you win games. I think nobody’s really that prideful in this sport about personal stats or achievements when we’re winning games. So that’s our job as a team, to come together and try to win games. So, I think that’s the biggest thing that coach is preaching, and we’re trying to be second voices of him and knowing ‘protect the football team’ and doing things the right way. But no, I think my job isn’t to try to make everybody happy. I think my job’s to have the offense move up and down the field and score points.”
In an ideal world, he’s correct. And if you want to point to year one of the Vrabel/McDaniels/Maye partnership, they were able to keep Stefon Diggs quiet despite some stretches where the ball wasn’t being sent his way.
However, Maye’s two newest big-money wideouts have both expressed displeasure with targets/touches in their previous stops. We’ve seen A.J. Brown reading books on the sidelines and posting cryptic nonsense on social media. At the same time, Romeo Doubs actually just upped and left one day, skipping practice in Green Bay because he was unhappy with his role in the offense (for which he was later suspended for a game). Never mind that Pop Douglas, Boutte and Mack Hollins are in contract years (though at his age, Hollins isn’t going to see any big paydays).
So while Maye’s job is to throw to who is open, even the greatest quarterback of his generation, Tom Brady, felt the need to feed some of his guys to keep them engaged (see Moss, Randy, and, though on a lesser level, Lafell, Brandon). Maye is not at that stage of his career, and Brown, in particular, is a big personality. There is absolutely pressure on the quarterback to make sure these mouths are fed and loved, and McDaniels falls in the same category. It’s something I’ll be watching; I can promise you that.
I have no idea if Eli Raridon can block, but I saw some things in joint practices that reinforced the notion that he will be an asset in the passing game in year one. It may not happen right away because that’s the position, but man, he runs well. There was a rep in one-on-ones where he did get jacked up on his release. To me, it was a ‘Welcome to the NFL’ moment. But Raridon kept his balance and went right on his merry way, creating a step of separation. Now the timing of the play was off, and the ball was overthrown. Still, I took it as a teaching moment (you can’t get rocked like that) and a ‘Hey, pay attention to the young fella’ in future reps because there is an athleticism there they haven’t had at the position in a bit (I’m pretending the Jonnu Smith era/error never happened).
Tuesday was the first day I think Khyiris Tonga’s absence was felt. This is not a great Colts team, but it is a good offensive line/running game, and I did not think the Pats front 6 (or 7) held up well enough. Jonathan Taylor had some creases he slipped through, and also some significantly large holes that he (and some of his backups) romped through.
Second-year pro Joshua Farmer was at the point of attack on some of the interior runs, as was Corey Durden. The edge defense was less of a problem, but it wasn’t stout, either. In their defense, Christian Barmore wasn’t out there, but as we know, he can come and go. This is where Tonga would have been a factor, both when attacked directly and as the Colts pushed the edges. That lateral quickness is rare for a dude that was 330 (probably more). They don’t make many humans like that. By the way, I’ve heard rave reviews about Tonga’s early impact in Kansas City…
Tommy DeVito has been impressive in the last week or so. I didn’t love the dumping of Joshua Dobbs - better athlete, bigger arm - but “Tommy Two Chains” has been ripping throws and taking shots. I didn’t know he had it in him. I feel better about the state of the backup QB position than I did when camp started.