Tuesday’s Patriots Notebook 6/4: News and Notes
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Some Patriots news and notes on this Tuesday:
The Patriots are gearing up for another open media session on Tuesday, with New England head coach Jerod Mayo set to meet with reporters later this morning.
It’s another day to hopefully get a look at where players are at after another full week of OTAs. It’s been a slow climb to this point, with this revamped team continuing to prepare for its upcoming training camp.
Last week saw more positive news on Drake Maye, who has continued focusing on his fundamentals along with building a relationship with his new teammates. One of those moments saw some nice plays, inlcuding a no-look pass, along with Maye demonstrating his arm strength after hitting some impressive throws.
One of those included a terrific 40-yard toss downfield to embattled receiver, Tyquan Thornton, which had people talking. That shouldn’t be much of a surprise given Thornton’s history. So far, the third-year wideout has done as he has in past years. He’s looked solid during this period where players aren’t facing contact or the physical play they’ll see in training camp. It’s probably safe to say this is a key stretch for the former Baylor receiver, who will absolutely be under the microscope given the selections of Ja’Lynn Polk and Javon Baker.
Those two additions, paired with Kendrick Bourne and Demario Douglas, along with free agent addition K.J. Osborn, might leave Thornton on the outside looking in if he doesn’t finally break through. As it is, it’s a crowded room that needs reliable guys who can be counted on to contribute.
To this point, that hasn’t been Thornton, who has been battling injuries since the club took him in the second round back in 2022. How long they’re willing to wait for him is now the big question, and the Patriots have created a fairly competitive group that might end up leaving him on the outside looking in depending on how it all shakes out.
Meanwhile, Maye continues to make what Albert Breer called last week as being “incremental progress,” with the club being pleased with what they’ve seen from their rookie quarterback.
“I’ve heard it’s going great,” said Breer. “Honestly, that’s from multiple people today. There’s people who’ve been there every day. They say the progress has been incremental. Now, that doesn’t mean he’s making these huge leaps, but day over day, they’re seeing really good progress.”
So when the reports emerge again following today’s session, the hope is that this team collectively has taken some steps forward. This is the time of year where, given how critical this offseason has been, they absolutely need to build some momentum ahead of training camp.
The biggest amount of criticism that’s come over the last week has been at left tackle, which is where most analysts seem to be focused on.
It’s obviously with good reason, especially since there is still definitely some uncertainty. Chukwuma Okorafor has gotten the lion’s share of the work at left tackle so far, albeit it’s tough to judge him based on the fact he’s not facing the same defensive reps he’ll see when players begin hitting.
From there, people are tearing apart the selection of Caedan Wallace, arguing that he wasn’t good enough to play left tackle in college while seemingly forgetting he was paired with Olu Fashanu. Fashanu just happened to be a guy who was the better player and was drafted accordingly (he went 11th overall to the Jets).
ESPN’s Mike Reiss actually discovered in an interview with Wallace’s former coach that the rookie often practiced at left tackle as they preach versatility, which will hopefully help him in what Wallace felt should be a transition he feels he can make.
“He hasn’t taken any game reps, but he’s taken many practice reps because I always make sure they’re developing on both,” Penn State offensive line coach Phil Trautwein told Reiss earlier last month. “I don’t want them to just be a ‘right tackle’ because I want them to have a long career and get on the field as fast as possible.”
Trautwein reiterated that he had no doubt Wallace can play there.
“His career kind of was just different, but I would have no hesitation to put him on the left side.”
The biggest problem is whether or not Wallace can make the transition to an adequate level ahead of the start of the season. That feels unlikely, and the hope is generally that there’s a veteran ahead of someone in this situation to buy them time.
Coupled in with potentially a “Comeback Player of the Year” situation with Calvin Anderson, who Christopher Price of the Boston Globe reported Anderson’s harrowing bout with malaria last summer that submarined his 2023 season, and it’s possible that the Patriots may have some solutions that allow them to weather an offseason where they couldn’t attract one of the higher-priced players available at the position.
They swung and missed in free agency, with the state of the franchise being something that players seemingly didn’t want to be a part of. We saw it with receiver Calvin Ridley, who we later found out never really wanted to come to New England, with whispers during those negotiations that there was some frustration internally that the Patriots’ offer was simply being used to drive his price up.
Tyron Smith is a name some were frustrated didn’t end up here, with New England not being the club to land the former Cowboys free agent. Oddly enough, health was a question and the Patriots were also seemingly in negotiations with Mike Onwenu, with whatever had happened with Smith – had they made a run and overpaid to land him – likely being something that could have had a trickle-down effect on that deal.
It is what it is. If anything, you can say that maybe they second-guess the timing of where they took Polk, given that there were still tackles to be had. Still, if Polk goes on to have a great year and becomes a valuable part of their offense, maybe people feel differently.
For now, they’ll continue working on trying to figure it out. Let’s hope they find a solution by the time September rolls around.
The Patriots made a roster move on Monday, parting ways with 2022 draft selection and offensive lineman, Andrew Steuber. The former seventh-round pick out of Michigan battled to stay healthy, but wasn’t ever quite able to get himself on the field and into a game. Unfortunately, they’re not willing to wait and decided to move on. … The Patriots replaced Stueber on their roster by signing a player who previously tried out for the club. According to ESPN’s Mike Reiss, New England added David Wallis, with the wide receiver earning a contract with the club after apparently impressing enough during his tryout to land his opportunity. … It was interesting to hear that Bailey Zappe is going through a lot of the same footwork focus as Maye, with the third-year quarterback admitting last week it definitely helps with the timing. “Yeah, I mean, obviously it helps,” said Zappe. “The better you get your footwork down, the better timing it is as far as certain routes and certain concepts. You don’t feel as rushed, and you don’t feel as you’re late or something like that. The feet time up with the route.” … Zappe remains a name that will be interesting to see heading into the end of OTAs. Mayo hinted in his last press conference that the club may shed a player from that group, and it will be curious to see how that’s handled given that moving Zappe would leave them with just Brissett and Maye on the roster ahead of Joe Milton. That would increase the risk that Maye would be rushed into action if Brissett suffered an early season injury. At the same time, reps will be at a premium at camp and the club – in theory – will also be looking at what they have in Milton, who missed last week for an undisclosed reason.
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