Patriots training camp notebook: Drake Maye dealing with pressure on Day 7

For the third day in a row on Wednesday, New England Patriots training camp saw the team practice in full pads. This was another more up-tempo session on a hot day in Foxborough.

While the first two padded practices earlier this week saw the team focus on situational football, this practice was more wide open. Certain 11-on-11 periods tracked down and distance and flowed more from play-to-play, compared to simply working on third down calls, red zone calls, and things of that nature.

That sort of setting allowed for a wider look at the Patriots' top units on offense and defense. We'll start with the offense as we get going with today's notebook...

After two solid practices in pads to start the week, Wednesday was a step back for rookie Will Campbell. In one-on-ones he had a win against Keion White and a loss to college teammate Bradyn Swinson, but the more crucial part of practice was in team drills.

During the first 11-on-11 period Campbell got beat twice for sacks twice by K'Lavon Chaisson, who had a few other pressures during that time as well. On both sacks Chaisson beat Campbell with an outside-inside move - stopping those sorts of rush moves was one of Campbell's biggest areas of improvement coming out of the draft.

Campbell settled down after that and didn't have any clear losses for the remainder of practice. Still, Campbell is a key part of the Patriots' improving their offensive line overall, and he'll need to be better than he was on Wednesday for the Patriots to do a better job overall of protecting the quarterback.

It wasn't just Campbell getting beat on the offensive line on Wednesday. Demontrey Jacobs struggled in one-on-ones, losing both his reps. There was also a false start, where Mike Onwenu and Morgan Moses both jumped.

Despite facing pressure - some of it from specific players and some of it from generally shrinking pockets - throughout practice, quarterback Drake Maye had himself a solid day. He finished the day completing 10 of his 13 pass attempts. That came as he had a move and reset the pocket a few times, but did a good job of prioritizing remaining a throwing instead of going right to scrambling.

Maye's best throw came early in practice. After his unit's initial drive was stalled out on a third-down pass breakup by Alex Austin against Kyle Williams, he came back and delivered a third-down strike down field to Williams on a go-ball. He fit the ball in a tight window downfield with D.J. James in tight coverage.

In addition to dealing with pressure, the encouraging thing in this practice from Maye was that he started strong. For the last few practices he 'bounced back' after inconsistent starts, but in this one he was in command wire-to-wire.

With Garrett Bradbury not at practice after getting hurt late in the day on Tuesday, the Patriots had a new-look offensive line. This new-look could be a signal that the depth chart has shifted.

Rookie Jared Wilson has worked at both center and left guard extensively this summer, so reason stands he'd fill in for Bradbury. Instead though Wilson stayed at left guard while Ben Brown - who was the starter at center for most of last season - stepped in for Bradbury. Meanwhile Cole Strange, who had worked as the top left guard at the start of camp, stepped in for Brown as the center in front of backup quarterback Joshua Dobbs.

In what's been an outstanding start to camp for Wilson, the lone concern has been two bad snaps when he was at center (one last week, one earlier this week). If that's something the team is worried about, positioning him more as a left guard would make sense, but does displace Strange from the top unit.

Through the first three days of padded practices the top player has arguably been pass rusher K'Lavon Chaisson. The only major caveat to Chaisson's start to camp was that some of that early production was against the second unit as well as the first.

On Wednesday Chaisson worked more exclusively with the first unit, which in itself is notable. He dominated those snaps, picking up a handful of pressures in addition to his two sacks against Will Campbell.

After a strong close to last season some have pointed to Chaisson - who for the most part has failed to live up to his first-round draft selection in 2020 - as a potential breakout candidate. He's off to a good start, with the next test being joint practices and then game action next week.

Another edge rusher who has been interesting to follow since the start of the spring is Anfernee Jennings. One of the few bright spots on the Patriots' defense last year Jennings' role as a strong-side run stopper is not as prevalent in the Patriots' new defensive system. Despite his talent, he had a visibly lesser role through spring practices and the start of camp.

Still Jennings has talent, and that's shown up when he's given a chance. With Harold Landry limited on Wednesday Jennings had more opportunities and made the most of them. He had a couple of run stops, and later chased down tight end Austin Hooper on a screen to force a fumble, which was recovered by Christian Elliss.

Jennings' roster case is an interesting one. Again, he's not a perfect fit for the system but this is not a Patriots team that can afford to turn away talent. If Jennings continues to make plays, it would be tough for the coaching staff to leave him off of the 53 even if he doesn't have an immediate obvious role.

After the kickers alternated exclusive reps the last two days, the back-and-forth kicking period returned on Wednesday. Andy Borregales and John Parker Romo each got four kicks, going one after the other from 35 to 53 yards. Both kickers hit all four attempts, as the kicker battle still looks close.

Catching up on observations on the Patriots' UDFA's from Wednesday, and the start of this week as a whole...

-Running back Lan Larison caught a swing pass from Drake Maye during an 11-on-11 period on Wednesday. It's the first time we've seen those two connect in a team drill this summer.

-Outside linebacker Elijah Ponder had an impressive win in one-on-ones. He beat Demontrey Jacobs clean off the line with a ghost move.

-Tight end Gee Scott Jr. looks to be among the favorite targets of Joshua Dobbs. He caught two touchdowns from Dobbs in the red zone the last couple of days, and Dobbs connected with him again on Wednesday. In particular, he's done a good job hauling in passing through contact/tight coverage.

-Wide receiver Efton Chism still isn't getting a ton of run with Drake Maye, but is getting open regularly with the second unit.

Wednesday featured the longest list of absences for the Patriots so far in camp. Players who had previously missed time due to injury not on the field were center Garrett Bradbury, tackle Yasir Durant, defensive tackle Joshua Farmer, linebacker Jahlani Tavai, and cornerbacks Christian Gonzalez and Carlton Davis.

The new absences were highlighted by linebacker Harold Landry, although Mike Vrabel hinted before practice it could be a veteran rest day for Landry. Other players not at practice were running back Traveyon Williams and wide receiver Demeer Blankumsee.

Another offensive lineman also left practice early. Sidy Sow walked off slowly with trainers about midway though and did not return.

Thursday's practice is expected to be a walkthrough. That will lead into the in-stadium practice on Friday to wrap up the week.