Patriots Training Camp 9: Big Day for Big-Bodied Targets

The Patriots returned to their standard practice fields for their ninth training camp practice and fifth in pads. The main areas of focus were full-field drives, including exotic third-down pressure looks and blitzes, and end-of-half situations, which the team introduced for the first time this summer.

Here’s a look at New England’s attendance, Mike Vrabel’s top quotes, and what I noticed on a sunny day in Foxborough.

Attendance

Absent: CB Carlton Davis III, G Caedan Wallace, FB Reggie Gilliam, FB Jack Westover, WR Cameron Dorner

Physically Unable to Perform: ED Harold Landry III, TE CJ Dippre

Non-Football Injury: ST Brenden Schooler

Injured Reserve: WR Jeremiah Webb, WR Jimmy Kibble, TE Julian Hill

Tweet of the Day

Mike Vrabel’s Top Quotes

On what he’s seen from Gabe Jacas: We’ve got some time to make up. We’ve got to make up for lost time, I think, a little bit with Gabe. I’d say he’s working hard. I think he’s into it. He’s trying to learn, he’s focused. A lot of these things are new for him, and I think he has done a good job of controlling what he can control. I see him in there meeting with Smitty [Mike Smith] a lot – and again, there’s a return to play. He’ll have a few more reps than he did yesterday and – these situations he has to just understand, and it’s good to see him get acclimated to the special team stuff. So, I think it’s going well. I think we’re off to a good start, and hopefully he can continue to keep adding things and figure out where he can help us defensively and really, special teams.

On the team’s guard depth: I mean, I think that there’s — whether we have injuries or things, but I think that guys are working in there. James [Hudson] is getting some reps inside there, and there will be a time where you guys will see Caleb [Lomu] work in there. So, we’re just looking to find the best combination of guys for the season. So, I think we’re okay. I think the depth could always be better at every position, just to continue to build competition and finding the right mix of guys that are going to help us for this year.

On DeMario Douglas’ involvement: Yeah, I think that Pop was — I think the most impressive thing was that he was ready, whether he got 12 snaps or he got 30 snaps. I think some of his best plays were his ability to not catch the football and go and finish. He made plenty of plays for us. But his attitude remained really good. I know that every receiver wants to get the ball more, and I think we will continue to try to find ways for Pop to help us and then look at where he can continue to improve. But nobody cares more about the team than Pop Douglas. I think that shows by the way he plays.

On Andy Borregales’ strong summer and lack of competition: I think he’s made the majority of his field goals, a high majority. I think that that’s something that’s a fine balance of where you want your kicker to be. If you feel good about the competition or the job that he did last year, then I’ll just try to evaluate that each week. I think he’s continuing to work with Tom [Quinn] on his steps, the consistency and everything else. So, I know that there — Bryce [Baringer] does not have any competition either. We’ve got to make sure that those three guys – the more specialists you add that the less that you add on the rest of the roster. So, we try to figure out what is best for the team, and we felt like those guys would be okay without having to have some sort of competition.

On Will Campbell’s off-field growth: He’s still going to do the news on Friday, so that’ll be consistent. He was trying to talk his way out of that yesterday. But he did such a good job that he’s earned that role for another year. Yeah, I think just some little things that he’s trying to work on and build with Alijah over there on the left-hand side, how critical that connection is and that relationship of how they want to work their combination blocks or how they block games. But it’s a young player that we’ve to continue to stay on, and he wants to do a good job, and he wants to play hard for us and do all those things. So, just keep moving, keep moving forward.

Notebook

• The top passing attack finished strong after a rough start to 11-on-11 periods. Drake Maye went 1-5 during the first full-team drive, with his only completion being a checkdown to Rhamondre Stevenson off play-action. The defense had two strong efforts (more on those later), but Maye seemed to be on different pages with A.J. Brown and Eli Raridon on separate downfield throws, due in part to quick pressure. The starting offense came back with a vengeance on their ensuing drives, with just one pass hitting the ground the rest of practice. Maye locked in on his big-bodied “X” receivers, hitting a Kayshon Boutte slant versus a blitz, connecting with Brown on back-to-back slants, finding Boutte again on a back-shoulder fade, and returning to Brown for a curl completion. During a one-minute drill to close practice, Maye got the offense into field-goal range with a dig to Mack Hollins, quick out-breakers to Hunter Henry and DeMario Douglas, and another slant to Brown.
• It was a productive practice for the Patriots’ top edge defenders. Elijah Ponder popped early, beating Morgan Moses with speed before dropping into coverage to deflect a pass from Maye, and Dre’Mont Jones had would-be sacks on each of the next two drives. Gabe Jacas continued to increase his participation with the second defense but didn’t particularly stand out in limited reps.
• Hollins continues to be Tommy DeVito’s top target. The two connected on a hole shot against what looked like busted coverage, a sliding dig target, and a slant to set up a field goal during a one-minute drill.
• Andy Borregales added another perfect day to what’s been an excellent summer. He connected on all five of his attempts during a field goal period, then nailed both of his kicks during one-minute drills.
• TreVeyon Henderson looked fast on an outside zone run from shotgun, taking the carry wide and exploding toward the sideline for an explosive gain. It seemed to be one of the starting run game’s few productive runs on the day.
• James Hudson continued to rep at guard today after primarily playing tackle early in the summer. The team seems to like him.
• Kyle Williams returned to action after not participating yesterday. He got wide open on a post with the second offense, but DeVito overthrew him.
• Kobee Minor was competitive in coverage today, providing a back shoulder completion to Boutte before breaking up a curl target to the veteran later in practice. Channing Canada came back down to Earth after a strong practice in the bubble, giving up a post from DeVito to Boutte and giving up back-to-back completions during the second defense’s one-minute drill.
• Nick DeGennaro caught a deep ball from Behren Morton for a second straight practice, making another impressive adjustment to a ball that hung in the air a bit too long.