Attendance
Absent/Did Not Participate: WR Mack Hollins, CB Miles Battle, LB Jahlani Tavai, G Tyrese Robinson IOL Wes Schweitzer
Limited: WR Ja’Lynn Polk, WR Stefon Diggs, LB Marte Mapu, S Kyle Dugger, IOL Jared Wilson, DT Wilfried Pene, RG Mike Onwenu
Tweet of the Day
Stefon Diggs on what was in the bag in the viral boat video:
“Obviously it’s a conversation that’s happening internal, I can’t have too much of a conversation about it. I’ve been in this league 10 years; you can format your question many different ways, I’m obviously going to… pic.twitter.com/e4BygZWp3L
— Patriots on CLNS Media (@PatriotsCLNS) June 10, 2025
Mike Vrabel’s Top Quotes of Note
On his message before the upcoming break: “Well, I don’t think it’s a downtime. It’s time away from the facility. I think it’s important. It’s probably the five most important weeks of the offseason as far as I’m concerned, just in my history as a player and a coach. It’s critical that they come back in shape, that they’re ready to go for training camp, that we’re prepared as coaches with the schedule, the installation and what we’re doing. The players have to hold up their end of the bargain to prepare for training camp.“
On Efton Chism: “I think he’s a talented player. I think he has a certain skill set. He’s dedicated. He’s studied extremely hard. He has a good feel for what we’re asking him to do. I think the biggest thing for receivers is that there’s trust from the guy that throws the football. When you earn the quarterback’s trust – any one of them that we have, any one of the three – it doesn’t take you long to figure out who the quarterback trusts. It’s the ones they target. That’s a good indicator.”
On Terrell Williams’ status: “Doing well. He’ll be here soon and excited about that, so I think everybody’s looking forward to that.”
On hiring former 49ers Football R&D Coordinator Ekene Olekanma: “We’ll add a couple other people there. I think that just having somebody that’s dedicated, that’s been in that role, that can manage the people that we have here. He did a fantastic job in his interview process and meeting with all the different groups that we feel like he’s going to be able to work with. He played football. Not that that’s a prerequisite, but you have to have the ability to not only take these numbers and pull them out of wherever they pull them out of. I’m not going to pretend that I know, but also have some application to it and be able to explain it to the coaches and say, ‘How much is too much, probably need more.’ However we can make our jobs more efficient and better is something that I’m excited about. We’re all excited about him.”
On whether Olekanma will work with coaches or through the headset on game days: “Yeah, that’ll be Stretch [John Streicher] and I. That’s a pretty proven system, but I would say that he would be involved. That would be one area that he would help us, help me and Stretch specifically outside of the game planning, the self-scout, the opponent’s pre-advanced report or anything that they may do. We’d carve out some time for him, me and Stretch based on who we’re playing, how aggressive we need to be, what are the field conditions, what are the wind, what are the game conditions. That would all be part of what he would do, but I would imagine that the communication would still stay between Stretch and I. Not that he wouldn’t communicate with him throughout the game.”
Defense Ends Drake Maye’s Hot Streak
After three impressive sessions in front of media, Drake Maye and the Patriots’ offense came back down to Earth on a strong day for the defense.
Mike Vrabel has called spring practices glorified passing camps, where pass rushers and pass catchers benefit from a lack of physicality and run plays. This was true for the Patriots’ rush, which applied even more pressure than usual on Tuesday, but it didn’t feel like receivers had much of an advantage. No matter who was at quarterback, nearly every attempt was either contested or into a tight window. Maye’s ball placement also put his receivers in tough or impossible spots on a few throws.
The performance was highlighted by Christian Gonzalez, who intercepted Maye with one hand on a go ball to Kyle Williams. It was a tough day for the rookie receiver, who had two more incompletions forced against veteran corners. Alex Austin broke up a fade from Joshua Dobbs later in practice, and Marcus Jones prevented a Red Zone score by dislodging another Dobbs target at the last moment. Linebackers Cam Riley and Monty Rice also got their hands on short throws to running backs.
Maye and the offense had their highlights here and there, particularly over the middle. Hunter Henry had the offense’ best play, hauling in a downfield target against Jabrill Peppers with one hand. DeMario Douglas had another productive day, beating Carlton Davis on a crosser for a 3rd down conversion and notching two more Red Zone scores, including a mismatch against Jaylinn Hawkins. Still, positives were few and far between against New England’s veteran defense.
Maye didn’t sound thrilled about the team’s extended break while speaking with reporters yesterday, and the rest of the offense sounds optimistic about the group’s potential. Today’s disappointing performance should serve as a bit of extra fuel to hit the ground running in training camp.
Notebook
- The Patriots placed veteran lineman Wes Schweitzer on the reserve/retired list after missing the last two practices. Schweitzer had been competing with Cole Strange at left guard.
- Sidy Sow and Demontrey Jacobs with the top unit saw reps in front of Maye with Mike Onwenu and Morgan Moses limited.
- Andres Borregales went 4-4 on field goal attempts. Parker Romo went 3-4.
