Patriots training camp notebook: Right to competitive reps on Day 1
New England Patriots training camp began for 2024 on Wednesday. Here are the takeaways from the first practice of the year.
Football is back in Foxborough. On Wednesday afternoon, New England Patriots training camp began for the 2024 season. The team held its first training camp practice of the summer on the practice fields behind Gillette Stadium, which lasted 90 minutes.
One of the big overarching questions of this camp – and this season – is how things will change going from Bill Belichick to Jerod Mayo. From Day 1, two things quickly stood out.
WATCH: Scott Zolak & Alex Barth react to Day 1 of Patriots Training Camp
First, the scheduling. Mayo told reporters before practice the Patriots won’t be in pads until Day 7 (July 27). That’s as soon as they can do so per the NFL CBA.
At the same time, there were more competitive team drills packed into Wednesday’s practice than there typically have been this early in camp for the Patriots. The final 75 minutes of practice were almost all 11-on-11 work, with one seven-on-seven period mixed in.
Given that, there was a lot packed in to Wednesday’s session. Here’s what stood out…
Lots of play action
The Patriots are in the early stages of putting their offense together, but one this was easily apparent on Wednesday – this offense is going to feature a lot of play action. When they were working in 11-on-11 situations, more than half of the Patriots’ plays involved play action, many with a quarterback bootleg following.
This shouldn’t come as a major surprise, given the way Van Pelt ran the offense in Cleveland. Early indications are those philosophies will follow him to New England in a strong way.
Drake Maye’s first practice
Drake Maye’s first training camp practice was an up-and-down day. One thing that was clear though was Maye did his best to make the most of it – after checking down to Rhamondre Stevenson on his first pass in team drills, he spent the majority of the day testing tight windows and throwing the ball further down the field.
That came with mixed results. Maye had a few highlight throws, including a deep ball down the sideline to Jalen Reagor, and an off-platform, sidearm throw he zipped between two defenders to hit JuJu Smith-Schuster for a first down.
Testing those windows can come with hits as much as misses though. Maye had a few passes broken up by defenders, and another where he just overthrew Ja’Lynn Polk, who had half a step on two defenders on a deep out.
The big takeaway from Maye’s Wednesday practice wasn’t his performance as much as it was his approach. He’s not as timid as one might expect a rookie quarterback to be, and he should only get more confident as camp goes on.
The starting quarterback
Jerod Mayo referred to Jacoby Brissett as the starting quarterback when he spoke to the media on Tuesday, and Wednesday’s practice reflected that reality. Brissett went first in both individual and team drills, and worked exclusively with the projected top offense.
Like Maye, Brissett had highs and lows on Wednesday. The lows came first, with his second pass of camp getting intercepted. Facing pressure from Davon Godchaux, Brissett threw off-balance and slightly behind Jalen Reagor. That allowed Jonathan Jones to make a play on the ball deflecting it up in the air, with Kyle Dugger grabbing it on the bounce for the INT.
Brissett did have a couple of savvy veteran type throws as well. The most notable one came shortly after the interception, when he hit tight end Austin Hooper up the seam, leading Hooper away from a lurking safety where he could safely make a play on the ball.
No contracts, no issues
Coming into training camp, the statuses of linebacker Matthew Judon and defensive tackle Davon Godchaux were real questions. Both are looking for adjustments to their contracts (both players are in the final year of their current deals), and there was speculation about potential hold-ins.
That wasn’t the case. Not only were both on the field, they both participated fully in individual and team drills. The contract questions will continue to loom as camp goes on, but it doesn’t look like either player will come off the field because of those discussions.
Judon addressed his contract situation after practice. He admitted it’s been tough to see teammates get new deals without him getting one, but that he’d be willing to play on his current contract, even though he doesn’t feel it accurately reflects his value.
Moving pieces on the offensive line
Last week in the leadup to camp, we broke down the puzzle that is the Patriots’ offensive line. For the first practice, right tackle was the pivot position. Mike Onwenu worked at guard with the top group. Calvin Anderson saw a good amount of time at right tackle, but rookie Caedan Wallace got some looks as well.
While that was the case Wednesday, it may not be the case all week. Asked after practice about playing guard despite training this offseason as a tackle, Onwenu told reporters the team plans on experimenting with different combinations in the coming days during camp. So, the daily alignments will be something to track day-by-day moving forward. It seems the offensive line question is far from solved.
Player of the day
The player of the day on Wednesday was, without a question, wide receiver Jalen Reagor. Reagor caught the one deep ball from Maye, another from Bailey Zappe, and had a few other catches underneath.
On top of those catches, the simple fact that Reagor was on the field as much as he was is notable. There is at least one wide receiver spot to be won in camp, and on Day 1 Reagor was given as many chances by the coaching staff as any player vying for that spot.
However, speed-dominant players like Reagor often shine during non-padded practices. He’ll need to continue to perform this way when the pads come on to really make some noise.
Early opportunities for a rookie
Speaking of players who were given plenty of chances on Wednesday, rookie wide receiver Ja’Lynn Polk seems to have the early trust of the coaching staff. He was one of the first wide receivers on the field in 11-on-11s, and spent time with the projected top offense. Those chances came with a couple of catches, and the second-round pick already looks comfortable running routes in an NFL offense – something that stood out about him in the spring.
Tracking tight ends
What will the Patriots’ tight end depth look like behind Hunter Henry? Free agent signing Austin Hooper is expected to be the second tight end and looked the part on Wednesday. He had his moments, and seemed to be a preferred target for multiple quarterbacks during practice.
At the same time, fellow free agent signing Mitchell Wilcox was on the field a good amount and recorded a catch early in practice. Earlier this week we highlighted Wilcox as a player who could make a surprise push for a roster spot given his blocking ability and usage in the spring, and he picked up where he left off as camp started.
Meanwhile, it wasn’t an ideal start to camp for rookie Jaheim Bell. He struggled to line up correctly at one point in seven-on-sevens, and was pulled out of the drill.
Mixing and matching on defense
While there seemed to be more of a clear demarcation between the top and second offensive units, the defensive groupings featured much more mixing and matching between players projected at different spots on the depth chart. This could be the Patriots preparing a multitude of looks early, in order to take advantage of the depth they have on that side of the ball. The multiple variations of the defense will be interesting to see evolve as camp goes on.
In the secondary
Usage in the secondary in particular will be a big story this summer, given the versatility of some of the Patriots’ top players in that group. At cornerback, Jonathan Jones continues to rep on the boundary like he did last year, which opened up chances for Marcus Jones in the slot.
At deep safety, Kyle Dugger got a number of chances. However, there were times where Jaylinn Hawkins took that role, allowing Dugger to play in the box.
Attendance
The Patriots had perfect attendance on Wednesday, from the players available. Only the six players on PUP/NFI were not in attendance.
What’s next?
Patriots training camp resumes on Thursday, with another non-padded practice. Practice is scheduled to start at 11:00 a.m., with gates opening up to fans at 10:00. Patriots training camp practices are free and open to the public.
