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....a camp report. PM - not a full contact practice
I'll try not to repeat what so many others have noted. Mostly these are just personal impressions.
First of all when you are in the sideline stands MOST of the OL and DL work is done too far for you to see anything.
The preseason is long and there is so much to see that if you try and watch everything you end up seeing nothing. So I after I tried and failed to do exactly what I just said, and concentrated on the DBs, CB specifically, and here are a few observations.
L Boddin is the real deal. You all read about the play he made on Moss, but he was right on the ball for all the drills I watched. He was very physical.
I thought Butler looked very quick, though he hasn't seen a fake he hasn't fallen for. Moss made a double move on him and he fell for BOTH of them. But still you can see how he can be a big time starter in the future.
Wilhite was playing the slot CB with the first group.
It was Brandon McGowan who was starting with the first group, not James Sanders. This might mean nothing, but I'm surprised no one else has reported it.
For the most part the offense was abusing the DBs and LBs in passing drills, but that's to be expected.
A word of caution of JEdelman. It is very easy to fall in love with a try hard guy like him. He is like a mini Wes Welker, if its possible to be smaller than Wes Welker, and he often looks good. However it took Welker a full 4 years and 3 teams before Welker became a finished product and HE had a full college career as a WR. I do think he's doing enough to get on the PS, but roster spots are like gold on this team, and better players than Julian Edelman are going to be cut.
BTW- He might never be a factor in the regular season, but you can't help notice that Sam Aiken is a quality WR. When I watch him I think of a big Jabar Gafney. He creates separation, he catches everything.. and did I mention the dude is BIG. He's a very nice luxury to have as a 5th WR
Edelman is fast, but in watching him cover kickoffs, I couldn't help notice at a very big dude was beating him down the field. A quick check of my program and I found that #49 was Vince Redd. I knew he was one of those "measureable" guys, but when you watch him CONSISTENTLY beat WRs down the field, you can't help but be impressed. Hopefully some of that will translate to OLB.
Finally a quick anecdote - It was the OL's turn to sign at the PM practice, though after a few minutes Moss stopped by the stands and signed for about 15 minutes. As I was walking out a young guy, in his late 20's I guess, was just beaming because he got Moss to sign his very long camera lens. He was telling a friend on the phone, how last year Moss wouldn't sign it. Finally he told his friend how he yelled to Moss how he had dogged him last year and he'd been waiting a year for this autograph to go along with several others he had on the lens....and he said, Moss smiled and signed it with a magic marker he gave him.
See a nice story about a fan who is getting an autograph of a favorite player. A fan that percevered. I was feeling kind of nice as I walked along. And then... I guess by now you knew there was going to be a "and then"... And then after saying again how jacked and excited he was, his friend must of asked him if Brady was signing, and he said, "no".....and then added. "Yeah, when I can get Brady's signature, this lens is going up on EBay the next day..... free rent for a year"...
Well needless to say my feel good enthusiasm for this story evaporated like a punctured balloon. Finally I said to him, "ever think that's why he didn't want to sign your lens in the first place." He gave me kind of an embarassed look before he looked away and wandered off and we went our separate ways. I can see now why some of these guys hate to sign stuff for adults. What sounded at first like a feel good story, turns out to be another tale of greed.
But on the whole, it was a beautiful afternoon, and it didn't rain on me
I'll try not to repeat what so many others have noted. Mostly these are just personal impressions.
First of all when you are in the sideline stands MOST of the OL and DL work is done too far for you to see anything.
The preseason is long and there is so much to see that if you try and watch everything you end up seeing nothing. So I after I tried and failed to do exactly what I just said, and concentrated on the DBs, CB specifically, and here are a few observations.
L Boddin is the real deal. You all read about the play he made on Moss, but he was right on the ball for all the drills I watched. He was very physical.
I thought Butler looked very quick, though he hasn't seen a fake he hasn't fallen for. Moss made a double move on him and he fell for BOTH of them. But still you can see how he can be a big time starter in the future.
Wilhite was playing the slot CB with the first group.
It was Brandon McGowan who was starting with the first group, not James Sanders. This might mean nothing, but I'm surprised no one else has reported it.
For the most part the offense was abusing the DBs and LBs in passing drills, but that's to be expected.
A word of caution of JEdelman. It is very easy to fall in love with a try hard guy like him. He is like a mini Wes Welker, if its possible to be smaller than Wes Welker, and he often looks good. However it took Welker a full 4 years and 3 teams before Welker became a finished product and HE had a full college career as a WR. I do think he's doing enough to get on the PS, but roster spots are like gold on this team, and better players than Julian Edelman are going to be cut.
BTW- He might never be a factor in the regular season, but you can't help notice that Sam Aiken is a quality WR. When I watch him I think of a big Jabar Gafney. He creates separation, he catches everything.. and did I mention the dude is BIG. He's a very nice luxury to have as a 5th WR
Edelman is fast, but in watching him cover kickoffs, I couldn't help notice at a very big dude was beating him down the field. A quick check of my program and I found that #49 was Vince Redd. I knew he was one of those "measureable" guys, but when you watch him CONSISTENTLY beat WRs down the field, you can't help but be impressed. Hopefully some of that will translate to OLB.
Finally a quick anecdote - It was the OL's turn to sign at the PM practice, though after a few minutes Moss stopped by the stands and signed for about 15 minutes. As I was walking out a young guy, in his late 20's I guess, was just beaming because he got Moss to sign his very long camera lens. He was telling a friend on the phone, how last year Moss wouldn't sign it. Finally he told his friend how he yelled to Moss how he had dogged him last year and he'd been waiting a year for this autograph to go along with several others he had on the lens....and he said, Moss smiled and signed it with a magic marker he gave him.
See a nice story about a fan who is getting an autograph of a favorite player. A fan that percevered. I was feeling kind of nice as I walked along. And then... I guess by now you knew there was going to be a "and then"... And then after saying again how jacked and excited he was, his friend must of asked him if Brady was signing, and he said, "no".....and then added. "Yeah, when I can get Brady's signature, this lens is going up on EBay the next day..... free rent for a year"...
Well needless to say my feel good enthusiasm for this story evaporated like a punctured balloon. Finally I said to him, "ever think that's why he didn't want to sign your lens in the first place." He gave me kind of an embarassed look before he looked away and wandered off and we went our separate ways. I can see now why some of these guys hate to sign stuff for adults. What sounded at first like a feel good story, turns out to be another tale of greed.
But on the whole, it was a beautiful afternoon, and it didn't rain on me
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