Patriots training camp notebook: Multiple changes on Day 15
New England Patriots training camp resumed on Saturday, and saw the team experiment with multiple changes on the offensive side of the ball.
The New England Patriots got just one day off after Thursday night’s preseason game against the Philadelphia Eagles. Patriots training camp resumed on Saturday, although a lot was different.
For one, the team has entered a different stage of the training camp process. With less than a month to go until the season opener they’ll now start to dig more into the exact X’s and O’s of what they want their team to look like, rather than focusing more on the evaluation and player development that is at the forefront early in training camp. The practices are also now closed to fans, which allows the coaches to do a bit more.
Another notable change was the tempo. This has been a pretty aggressive camp to this point, but on Saturday the pace was lower with players in shorts and shirts instead of full pads. The practice also only lasted 90 minutes instead of the typical two hours. With five more practices ahead over the next six days it makes sense to take at least one easier day, with Saturday potentially being a sort of ‘walk-through’ for the week ahead.
The changes weren’t just limited to the structure of practice though. While the actual results of the practice don’t mean as much with the lower tempo, there were also some notable tweaks to the lineups. That will be our focus in today’s Patriots training camp notebook…
Drake Maye with the top offense
Towards the very end of practice, the Patriots had the huddle many fans have been waiting for – Drake Maye with the projected starting offense.
Now, this comes with some heavy caveats. For one, it was just one drive at the end of practice when Maye stepped in for Jacoby Brissett. The drive was also run at a jogging pace, meaning Maye wasn’t exactly getting ‘competitive’ reps. It also happened when the team was working on split fields, so all of the backup linemen were on the other field with Bailey Zappe and Joe Milton.
This was much more dipping a single toe in the water than a full-on cannon ball into first-team reps for Maye. The real tell will be if Maye gets more reps with the ones when practices get more competitive later this week. For now though, we can no longer say he hasn’t repped with the ones in practice.
As for Maye’s performance, he was able to open things up with the deep ball in this setting. He had two downfield connections during practice – one on a wheel route to running back Kevin Harris which he dropped perfectly in the bucket about 45 yards down field into tight coverage from linebacker Christian Elliss, and another on a corner route to K.J. Osborn for a 30ish yard gain.
Shuffling the offensive line
The more notable offensive lineup changes – and the ones that may be worth reading a little more into – came on the offensive line. Practice started with the Patriots using the same group and they have for most of the summer, but as reps went on different players were rotated in and out.
Over the course of practice the Patriots had a handful of different groupings in front of Jacoby Brissett. In different variations and combinations we saw Michael Jordan and rookies Caedan Wallace and Layden Robinson get snaps with that unit. Additionally, Mike Onwenu got some run at right tackle, while Chuks Okorafor was moved from right to left tackle at times.
Now, it is worth noting this only happened during a few periods in practice and not throughout the day. For instance when the team was walking through two-minute drills late in practice (the period where Drake Maye got his starting reps) the group up front stayed as the five that started the preseason game.
After practice Onwenu noted that some of the changes were due to players not being available – Calvin Anderson was on the field but didn’t practice – and that the team was “preparing for the worst” in terms of mixing different combinations.
Under Bill Belichick, there would be periods in Patriots training camp where most of the starters would work with one or two backups rotating in simply for the purpose of letting those players get used to playing together – even just briefly – in the event those backups were called upon in a game. Was Saturday that, or a sign that change is on the way up front for the Patriots’ offense? Like with the quarterback situation, if it still looks like this when the pads come back then it’s real.
Cornerback depth returns
The Patriots got two of their top three cornerbacks back at practice Saturday, with Jonathan Jones and Marcus Jones back after missing over a week. Again, we’ll see what they’re workload is when there’s full contact, but it’s an encouraging sign.
Having both players back allowed some of the other Patriots cornerbacks to play their more natural positions. Some of those depth players did make plays in the full speed 7-on-7s early in practice. That included a pass breakup from Alex Austin as he ran with Pop Douglas on a crosser over the middle. Meanwhile, Marcellas Dial had a pass breakup on a deep ball to Tyquan Thornton, staying in step with Thornton through the route and boxing him out at the catch point to knock it away.
Attendance
While Jones and Jones returned to practice, the Patriots had some new absences as well. Joshua Uche, Nick Leverett, Oshane Ximines, JaQuae Jackson, and Calvin Anderson all didn’t practice. They joined Hunter Henry, Marte Mapu, and Christian Barmore, who had been out since before Thursday’s preseason game. Shaun Wade was still limited.
The Patriots also had one player leave practice early. Austin Hooper went back to the athletic training area at one point, and after getting his leg looked at walked off with a limp. He did not return. With Henry already missing time (although Jerod Mayo said earlier this week he didn’t expect Henry’s injury to be a long-term thing), the Patriots are now thin at tight end with Mitchell Wilcox and La’Michael Pettway getting most of the reps on Saturday.
What’s next?
The Patriots will be back on the practice fields Sunday morning. That will be the second day in a three-day block of practices.
