Zolak: Can Jerod Mayo Have The Mentality of Mike Tomlin?

On Thursday's edition of Zolak and Bertrand, the guys questioned who in the Patriots front office is making the call on the starting quarterback to start the season. This led to Zo making the point, that it should be Jerod Mayo's call.

McKone: So who do you want making the decision ultimately?

Bertrand: Jerod Mayo. Jerod Mayo should be telling Alex Van Pelt what to do, period. How he should be spending the time in practice, how those snaps should be divided up. He should be the guy who makes the call. Now, that's not to say you take all decision making away from Alex Van Pelt. It's perfectly appropriate to rely on your OC and his expertise, which he has more of than Jerod Mayo. Make a decision, and have a conversation and include him in that and hear him. But ultimately, you've got to be the man in charge.

Zolak: You're getting to the point now where you're getting close to the season opener. You have to make a really tough decision, and it's a big decision. You have to emphatically get behind one guy, because you instill confidence in one and you lose it in the other. He said it from day one, " Eliot (Wolf) and I, we're hand in hand in everything we do, but there's going to be times where the bleep is going to hit the fan and we're gonna have to get through that." He knows this situation is starting to become one of those things. It should be on him though. He's the head coach. He's the guy you picked to make those tough decisions. There's only 32 of them in this league. He's one of them. You know, is he a defensive minded head coach? Sure. That's why Mayo said that AVP's (Alex Van Pelt) the head coach of the offense. How many coordinators has Mike Tomlin brought in. Did he coach Ben Roethlisberger's offense? No, but he has a feeling of ,"Ben's the guy". He gonna think, "Am I going to pick Russ or am I going to pick Justin Fields?" That's Mike Tomlin's decision. It's not the GM's, it's not the OC's. I don't even know the OC in Pittsburgh this year. They change them every damn year. That should be Jerod Mayo's decision. He's a smart guy. He knows what to do. So give it to him.

This year’s New England Patriots training camp has a chance to be as busy and as involved as any camp the team has had in recent years. After all of their offseason changes - in terms of both players and coaches - the team has a lot of questions to answer as camp begins on Wednesday. 

Of course, position and roster battles tend to be the bigger storylines of any training camp, but there’s much more going on than just that. So, having already covered the top position battles to watch this summer last week, let’s dig a little deeper. 

Today, we’ll be taking a look at the biggest non-battle storylines to watch at each position on the Patriots’ roster (not including coaching, which is in itself arguably the biggest story following the departure of Bill Belichick but will have less tangible short-term results). That ranges from individual player improvement and usage to full positional questions. 

Heading down to Gillette Stadium for a practice or two this summer, or just following along from afar? Here are some key storylines to keep track of…

Quarterbacks: Drake Maye’s development

This is probably the most obvious ‘what to watch for’ of all the positions. Rookie quarterback Drake Maye seemingly checked every box he could be expected to check in the spring non-padded, non-contact practices. Can he keep building and keep that momentum going in camp?

The biggest test will be when the pads come on and he starts facing something resembling more of a ‘live’ pass rush. That will build up to the actual pass rushers he’ll face in the preseason. Can he operate as cleanly when there are NFL defenders actually on their way to/allowed to hit him?

Running backs: How are they splitting up the reps

For a long time, the Patriots split their running back responsibilities by situation. They had early-down backs (ex. Antowain Smith, Corey Dillon, LeGarrette Blount, Stevan Ridley) and passing-down backs (ex. Kevin Faulk, Shane Vereen, James White). While some backs did both, for the most part there was a clear division in the usage. 

Now the Patriots are running a new offensive philosophy with a new coaching staff, and have two well-rounded backs at the top of their depth chart in Rhamondre Stevenson and Antonio Gibson. They are now set up better to divide the workload simply by rotation or fatigue, rather than situation. This can have the advantage of making the offense less predictable, but running backs capable of playing this style can be harder to find. 

Training camp will give us an early look at how the Patriots are dividing the workload. Are there certain situations only one back is repping in? How comfortable do the backs look, not just catching the ball, but blocking? These will be important to track at the position.

Wide receivers: Is Kendrick Bourne ready to start the season?

There’s a log-jam at the bottom of the Patriots’ wide receiver depth chart, which we discussed in our position battle preview. As those players compete amongst themselves, Kendrick Bourne’s ability will loom large.

Bourne is working his way back from a torn ACL he suffered in October. He didn’t participate in any practices this spring, but was on the field with his teammates at times in street clothes. There hasn’t been an update on Bourne specifically since, but head coach Jerod Mayo did tell reporters at the end of minicamp that - besides Cole Strange - he expects all players to be good to go within “the first couple of weeks of training camp.”

If Bourne is back and at full strength by roster cuts, that’s one less wide receiver job available. However, there is a new rule this year where up to two players can be placed on IR prior to final roster cuts, and still be eligible to return during the regular season. If Bourne isn’t going to be ready for Week 1, the Patriots could go that route with him - potentially opening another spot for a receiver.

Special teams: New kickoff rule