BradyManny

Belated notes for my first Pats training camp trip. Hadn't been to a professional practice of any kind since going to the C's in Waltham as a teenager (though thats not THAT long ago). Of course, NBA practice is much different. I left with a new appreciation for the folks like Reiss, SMY, Perillo and posters here who can go and bring back worthy observations given how often there are multiple things going on and sometimes only one is handy to where you are sitting.

So, from my own vantage point, it was - to my contentment - easiest to hone in on the wideouts and especially my main man Chad Jackson, who given the absence of Moss and Welker, was active during the day.

- For all the talk about Chad having a mixed camp, or trouble separating, my homer eyes didn't see it. He separated from the DBs in the drills, once on a deep route where the ball was badly overthrown and once going up against Meriweather on a quick out (made the catch). He looked pretty comfortable in the scrimmages and passing drills, although one time it appeared he hesitated on which side he was to line up on. He seems adept at any routes sending him to the inside, he got open and was the target quite a few times. I also noted him having a private convo w McD before practice started - let's hope he's spent a lot of time w him over the offseason.

- I noted that Kelley Washington broke off from the receivers when they went to do cone drills in order to go work with special teams. Washington didn't make a huge impression either way when working with the receivers, to me at least.

- Speaking of special teams, Sam Aiken - as others have pointed out - may have more value than just that. As a receiver, he was quite active on the day and caught a few balls. He is much bigger than I anticipated. He almost looks like a tight end out there to be honest - both in terms of his size, fortunately, and unfortunately, his mobility. I still think its a long shot that he makes an impact as a wideout, but he did make his presence felt there in camp yesterday.

- With Welker out, Gaffney did a lot of work out of the slot. Although he was sent deep on one play during scrimmages, and Wilhite had nice coverage to knock it away.

- I love Slater thus far. And I think BB does, too. At the end of practice, Slater and BB had about a five minute private discussion at mid-field.

- The defensive backs generally impressed. Fernando Bryant looks pretty good out there, and I disagree w a Reiss comment from yesterday that his coverage on a long ball was pass interference. As there's no face-guarding rule, I think what he did was good clean coverage, and the receiver couldn't get open.

- Both Mayo and Meriweather look good and seem vocal and active - granted, there were a lot of stars absent at the early practice.

- Capers gets really hands on with the DBs and really demonstrates technique. Love his addition to the staff.

- The backup QBs were not too hot, especially early on. By the scrimmage they were starting to hit targets a little more consistently, but early on in the day they were doing drills, I honestly felt I could get out there and toss it better than any of the 3 of them could.

PatsFan37

Good stuff. Between you and the fish and others on the board, the private citizens of training camp are turning in some nice observations.