Thursday Afternoon Patriots Notes 7/28
 Albert Haynesworth has dominated the news on the first day of training camp. (FILE:Icon/SMI) |
Sifting through some of the early reports, here are some things worth noting.
Some of the initial reactions in the locker room on Haynesworth seem pretty positive, with Vince Wilfork telling ESPNBoston.com's Chris Forseberg that he's excited about the prospect of playing with the veteran defensive lineman. You can check out the full interview here.
"I think he’s a great player, hell of a player. I had a chance to play in the Pro Bowl with him. I think he’s a great athlete... One thing we try not to do is see what’s going on around the league because our hands are full right now. No more two-a-days, that knocks half of your practices away. We’re in that study room, watching film, getting back, and trying to move forward. Whatever that is, that’s what we’re going to do. If it’s with certain people, it is, if it’s not, oh well, this ship is moving, moving fast, moving quick. I'm just excited to be back."
Christopher Price of WEEI.com talked to Jerod Mayo, who talked a little about Haynesworth and hopes if he comes he can help the team this season.
“I met him a couple of times [as a collegian],” Mayo said of his fellow Volunteer. “He’s a good guy but I really don’t know. He’s not here right now. That’s another question you’re going to have to ask me tomorrow or the day after. I really don’t know. … Hopefully he can come here and help us out.”
Some photos from the morning session, with Lyndsay Petruny of Patriots.com posting a couple of photos from practice here and here, while the official site also added a gallery to their site as well.
Andy Hart of Patriots.com reports that 14 players listed on the roster handed out by the Patriots PR department were not seen on the field. According to Hart the players absent included unsigned rookies Nate Solder, Ras-I Dowling, Shane Vereen, Stevan Ridley, Ryan Mallett, Marcus Cannon and Malcolm Williams. Veterans included Kyle Arrington, BenJarvus Green-Ellis, Logan Mankins, Nick Kaczur, Alge Crumpler, Myron Pryor and Stroud. Ian Rapoport reported that Stroud has been released, while Ridley's deal was just completed this morning, and he'll likely need to undergo a physical and take his conditioning test before he's able to practice.
Deion Branch told Christopher Price that should Nnamdi Asomugha end up in New York, he'd welcome the challenge, saying, "Yeah, that would be good if that happens for them. ... I'd love it. I love the competition."
The Globe's Julian Benbow caught up with cornerback Devin McCourty, who said that the biggest advice he can give the new players is to "just listen".
"I told a lot of those guys coming in yesterday, ‘Just listen.’ It’s going to be a lot going on around you, but the biggest focus is if you can just listen to every word that all the coaches are saying, all the administrative people are saying, you can start hanging on to stuff and you can start getting better, using all the advantages and all the people we have around us."
Greg Bedard of the Boston Globe reported this morning that negotiations for a new deal for Matt Light are underway, and if all goes well will be done later today. Sebastian Vollmer reportedly worked at left tackle in his place this morning.
That's it for now. We'll have another update later this afternoon following the second session which is scheduled for 2:30pm.
