PATRIOTS TRAINING CAMP 2026 Patriots Training Camp Day 4

[Zuma]

Can he play coverage LB?

 

[Family]

Wait for hitting and real competition. This isn’t real football.

This is a given. You asked where I saw the report and I answered.

Why read anything now then?

How an on the bubble lineman is doing in individual drills is worth noting, but we know Bryant may win them tomorrow and joint practices/games are more important.

It's a pattern that's important, not one day.

 

[Triumph]

Boutte is going to have a blockbuster season.

 

[JohnJH]

I always thought we should keep Boutte. Y'all saw some of those plays he made to get us to the big game. It takes two to tango and he helped get it done with our superstar QB.

Agreed. For the life of me (and I'm probably alone in this), Douglas has shown almost nothing and Williams is still an unknown. Boutte last season, who despite BB doing nothing with him his Rookie Season, and then the Mayo Circus after that, really became a trusted target of Maye and showed he's an up and coming NFL Caliber WR. He's only 24 going into his 4th Season and I don't understand why we're not trying to tear up his last year of his Rookie Deal and extend him for 2 to 3 more years (especially with almost 40M in Cap Money which wouldn't put much of a dent in it) . Having 3 WR's (Brown, Doubs, and Boutte is not a bad thing, and that's if there's no injuries). Doubs is still young and his best Football can be ahead of him, the same with Boutte. He gets to where he needs to be and just catches the dang ball.

He's not just a deep ball WR, he has the size to play the Slot as well, and run routes to anywhere from the Slot (he's versatile). If we get 2 to 3 solid years from A.J., then Doubs and Boutte will still be on the young side and better.Boutte is a guy that, had he not had some bumps along the way in College, was a 1st Round Rated WR. We should be keeping him, NOT trading him. But, maybe that's just me.

 

[TheRainMaker]

The Boutte trade talk was nonsense whether he was making noise in camp or not. An injury can occur at any moment and the media hasn't seen anything good about Doubs yet. He could end up being another Agholor.

 

[Gumby]

I always love hearing this.

He’s not the only Alum I like reading this, but like you…he is my favorite alum to hear that he is back giving advice. HOF OL coach.

Moss is the guy I would lik to see show up. Receivers would be in awe, and they would hang on every word.

yeah, but just back for a visit - not for anything in depth. I am not sure a guy with his natural ability could really bring it off as a coach type. A guy like Edeldude who had to learn the smallest details to get an advantage and always gave 110% effort is someone that I think is more of a longer term educational resource.

 

[patfanken]

from Lazar;


- Barring injury, it would be surprising if the Patriots O-Line to start the season wasn't LT Will Campbell, LG Alijah Vera-Tucker, C Jared Wilson, RG Mike Onwenu, and RT Morgan Moses. First-rounder Caleb Lomu appears to be on the Nate Solder rookie plan, where he's the top swing tackle and eligible tackle in six OL packages.
-Tes and Bradyn Swinson, with the latter coming on a quick set/two-hand punch that shut Swinson down quickly — it was good to see Campbell set aggressively rather than vertical setting. Lomu was 3-0-1 with two reps each at left and right tackle, with wins over Elijah Ponder and Jones. LG Alijah Vera-Tucker also looked outstanding in his two reps – advantage O-Line in round one of 1-on-1s.
- Second-year pro Marcus Bryant and sixth-year pro James Hudson are in an early camp battle to be the fourth OT, with rookie Dametrious Crownover still taking third-team reps. We've seen both Bryant and Hudson take some reps that allow Lomu to keep working as the jumbo tight end or get his full string of reps with the second unit. On the interior, the Pats are cross-training G/Cs Ben Brown and Andrew Rupcich, with Rupcich as a dark-horse roster candidate.

THAT'S IT, I can't take it anymore. It is driving me NUTS, watching mediots and fans ascribing wins and losses from OL/DL "battles" during a shorts and T-shirt walkthrough practice. How the **** can you make player judgements that matter until the contact is live ESPECIALLY when it involves the OL and DL. You can't and yet we and they do anyways.

That's 2 full pages of judgement made on zero evidence. Sure you can see INDICATIONS of how a player is doing during these drills, but making judgments is ludicrous and having us giving them credibility by seriously commentating on these "reports" diminishes the intelligence of our fanbase.

just sayin'

 

[Gumby]

from Lazar;


- Barring injury, it would be surprising if the Patriots O-Line to start the season wasn't LT Will Campbell, LG Alijah Vera-Tucker, C Jared Wilson, RG Mike Onwenu, and RT Morgan Moses. First-rounder Caleb Lomu appears to be on the Nate Solder rookie plan, where he's the top swing tackle and eligible tackle in six OL packages.
- Campbell and Lomu both fared well in the first 1-on-1 period of camp in shells on Tuesday. Campbell won his reps against Dre'Mont Jones and Bradyn Swinson, with the latter coming on a quick set/two-hand punch that shut Swinson down quickly — it was good to see Campbell set aggressively rather than vertical setting. Lomu was 3-0-1 with two reps each at left and right tackle, with wins over Elijah Ponder and Jones. LG Alijah Vera-Tucker also looked outstanding in his two reps – advantage O-Line in round one of 1-on-1s.
- Second-year pro Marcus Bryant and sixth-year pro James Hudson are in an early camp battle to be the fourth OT, with rookie Dametrious Crownover still taking third-team reps. We've seen both Bryant and Hudson take some reps that allow Lomu to keep working as the jumbo tight end or get his full string of reps with the second unit. On the interior, the Pats are cross-training G/Cs Ben Brown and Andrew Rupcich, with Rupcich as a dark-horse roster candidate.

I agree with Lazar (& you if you were 2ding him).

The ROOKIE WALL is REAL….. Folks can talk about injury and tells in the SB (or the BS of T-Rex arms if you like), but I am convinced that as much as anything else a 21 game season in a rookie year AT A POSITION WHERE YOU PLAY EVERY SNAP was more of the SB OL problem. Not to mention doubled down to 2/5th of O line. So let’s NOT repeat that with Lomu and try to get him in starting 5 by game 1.

Let’s pretend we (& team) are learning-capable.

 

[Family]

The Boutte trade talk was nonsense whether he was making noise in camp or not. An injury can occur at any moment and the media hasn't seen anything good about Doubs yet. He could end up being another Agholor.

No I think they would have been willing to trade him for a 5th if somebody offered. I agree with the last two sentences of your post., though the Doubs thing isn't significant yet.

I think they would be nuts to trade him now, and believe it or not he would be nuts for him to want to be traded.

I really believe no one made a great trade offer. He wasn't getting paid that much of a contract until he proved more, and now I think he has the best chance to prove more here.

There will be enough touches/accolades for everyone if they're winning, and the offense looks like a 2024 Detroit. I also think he will be better with better players around him, than if he were the focus.

He has a chance to make a fortune and rewrite his story.

 

[ScottishPatriots]

On Boutte i guess it depends how much of the available for trade story was true and how much was just media putting 2 and 2 together and coming up with 5 because if they wanted to trade Boutte 3-4 weeks ago a couple of good practices aren't going to change their mind since they just saw him have a good season and still wanted to move on.

 

[rkarp1]

I agree with Lazar (& you if you were 2ding him).

The ROOKIE WALL is REAL….. Folks can talk about injury and tells in the SB (or the BS of T-Rex arms if you like), but I am convinced that as much as anything else a 21 game season in a rookie year AT A POSITION WHERE YOU PLAY EVERY SNAP was more of the SB OL problem. Not to mention doubled down to 2/5th of O line. So let’s NOT repeat that with Lomu and try to get him in starting 5 by game 1.

Let’s pretend we (& team) are learning-capable.

I disagree. If an OL man is getting beat because of poor footwork or hand placement, that is eveident with or with out pads.
fwiw, players were wearing pads for the practice referenced
that's not to say cut Bryant today. still a long ways to go, but it appears he is at the back of the pecking order with in the OL group as of today, and has some ground to make up/catch up

 

[Family]

I disagree. If an OL man is getting beat because of poor footwork or hand placement, that is eveident with or with out pads.
fwiw, players were wearing pads for the practice referenced
that's not to say cut Bryant today. still a long ways to go, but it appears he is at the back of the pecking order with in the OL group as of today, and has some ground to make up/catch up

Give it a few days.

They'll probably have Bryant and Hudson splitting time between second and third team sometime. That will be minor, but still a trend IMO.

It's worth noting, but early, too early for back of the pecking order.

 

[DoubleDeluxe]

Team isn't doing shat (getting to SB) without Maye. QB2 or QB3 makes no difference.

It makes a difference if Maye has to miss a game or 2.
We will not win a SB with a backup QB, but a backup may be necessary to win a game to make the playoffs.
You can’t win a SB if your not invited to the dance!

 

[DoubleDeluxe]

If we lost Maye for the season, yeah obviously. But if he misses a game or two here and there, having a chance at actually winning those games can make the difference in making the playoffs or, at the very least, seeding.

Exactly!!

 

[jimnance]

Line play in non contact practices are basically agility drills. Warm ups. Get up to speed after a long offseason drills.

Once the full pads come on and hitting begins we’ll see where these guys are at. It will be far more evident once joint practices start and they’re not going against teammates.

Agreed. And its not just o and d lineman.
It applies to every position on both sides of the ball.
How many times have we seen wrs and rbs look like superstars in shorts... and when the pads come on they can't play.
I've always advocated that pretty much all drills at the combines should be done in full pads, including 40's and 3cones. Bench press might be the only one to leave out.
A lot of players who starred in college just can't handle NFL contact,collisions and physicality

 

[DoubleDeluxe]

Agreed. And its not just o and d lineman.
It applies to every position on both sides of the ball.
How many times have we seen wrs and rbs look like superstars in shorts... and when the pads come on they can't play.
I've always advocated that pretty much all drills at the combines should be done in full pads, including 40's and 3cones. Bench press might be the only one to leave out.
A lot of players who starred in college just can't handle NFL contact,collisions and physicality

So true.
This is why I’m not overly concerned about Jacas missing a couple of non padded practices.
He’s a power player, you can’t test your power in shorts, it’s ridiculous to think him missing a couple of days will set him back.
If his injury lingers into padded practice and preseason, that’s a different story.

 

[ScottishPatriots]

It makes a difference if Maye has to miss a game or 2.
We will not win a SB with a backup QB, but a backup may be necessary to win a game to make the playoffs.
You can’t win a SB if your not invited to the dance!

The Patriots would be betting underdogs in every game this season without Maye bar the Jets/Dolphins at home when they might be a tiny fav against this schedule.

If by being able to beat the Jets in a 17-16 rockfight without Maye then you might be right but the Pats are back to being down there with the worst teams in the league if Maye goes down, if you plugged Maye into the Jets they're an instant playoff contender we act like there's some huge chasm between the good and the bad but 80% of it is just the quarterback the whole teams confidence and the culture implodes when you get bad QB play.

 

[rkarp1]

Can he play coverage LB?

he can't play coverage for any position.
never could

 

[DoubleDeluxe]

The Patriots would be betting underdogs in every game this season without Maye bar the Jets/Dolphins at home when they might be a tiny fav against this schedule.

If by being able to beat the Jets in a 17-16 rockfight without Maye then you might be right but the Pats are back to being down there with the worst teams in the league if Maye goes down, if you plugged Maye into the Jets they're an instant playoff contender we act like there's some huge chasm between the good and the bad but 80% of it is just the quarterback the whole teams confidence and the culture implodes when you get bad QB play.

Underdogs, agreed.
However if the D and running game are as good as many expect, a good backup QB can win games by being a manager and not giving the game away.
Remember in 2016 we started 3-1 with Grap/Brissett.
If we go 1-3 we miss out in homefield advantage, and maybe the miraculous 28-3 SB never happens.

 

[Ring 6]

No I think they would have been willing to trade him for a 5th if somebody offered. I agree with the last two sentences of your post., though the Doubs thing isn't significant yet.

I think they would be nuts to trade him now, and believe it or not he would be nuts for him to want to be traded.

I really believe no one made a great trade offer. He wasn't getting paid that much of a contract until he proved more, and now I think he has the best chance to prove more here.

There will be enough touches/accolades for everyone if they're winning, and the offense looks like a 2024 Detroit. I also think he will be better with better players around him, than if he were the focus.

He has a chance to make a fortune and rewrite his story.

They were never going to trade him. We use 3 WRs in our base offense and he is one of the 3 best.
“Trade rumors” were all just people speculating he may have a reduced role and not like it and misunderstanding that teams don’t trade players they need because of things like that.