Tuesday Patriots Notebook 7/23: News and Notes
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Some Patriots news and notes for this morning:
The veterans reported to Gillette Stadium on Tuesday, with New England Patriots players getting set to start training camp.
The first public practice is set for Wednesday morning at 11 am, with Jerod Mayo meeting with the media Tuesday in his first press conference since we last saw the club last month.
Mayo told reporters that the plan is to get everyone through the initial process, which he said includes a conditioning test, as well as trying to get a sense of where guys are from a mental standpoint after being away over the last month.
“The first three to five days is really about seeing what these guys have done during the last four or five weeks when they weren’t here,” said Mayo. “I would also say to see what they retained from a mental aspect of some of the scheme things that we talked about earlier.”
When asked about what the “overarching” message was to the players, Mayo preached competition, and that’s what he expects from them as things get underway.
“The overarching message, I would say, is about competition,” said Mayo. “It’s about competition, and it’s also about building camaraderie and knowing what to do. Look, I’ve learned a lot of principles here, obviously, from Bill [Belichick], and being tough, smart, and dependable is definitely something that I definitely think makes a good team.”
“That’s still part of my message to the rest of the guys. But when it’s all said and done, it’s about competition and going out there beating the man across from you.”
This is also generally the time of year where surprise players emerge, which unlike the spring where teams are limited with the amount of practice time, there will be more opportunities.
Mayo likened these upcoming weeks to what players saw in college. Some of them went up against highly recruited players, and some of them potentially beat those guys out. He said the same holds true at the NFL level, and that’s the mindset they need to have.
“Look, we’re no longer bound by, for the most part, the time rule we had in the spring. So there’ll be enough reps for everyone,” said Mayo. “I will say it’s not about the amount of reps, it’s the quality of reps. If you’re undrafted, and I had this talk with the rookies the other day, it’s the same thing in college.”
“Everyone’s seeing the five-star flop, and everyone’s seeing the guy with no stars become a starter in college. It’s just the exact same thing right here. It doesn’t matter how you got here. It’s what you do with your opportunities.”
The team changing to a later start time of 11am is also a noticeable change to previous years, which Mayo said allows players to ingest information prior to practice, which he feels will have them better prepared from a mental standpoint.
“For me, I thought it was important that we had adequate meeting time in the morning before we touch the field,” said Mayo. “And honestly, I think the guys appreciate that. They want to make sure that they tighten all the screws and know exactly what to do on the field so their athleticism could take over. That was the mindset.”
“And so when you have those earlier practices – look, we’re in New England, we’re not in New Orleans or anything like that – But when you look at those earlier practices, it just takes a lot of time the night before, and you don’t know if those guys really retain it the next day. And so I wanted to give those guys the opportunity to kind of brush up before they went on the field.”
With competition being the theme, Mayo did say on Tuesday that while he expects Jacoby Brissett to be the starter, he hasn’t ruled out Drake Maye coming in and surprising everyone by making a strong case to be out there in Week 1. He also said the same could be said for both Joe Milton and Bailey Zappe.
“Look, and this goes to any position, if he comes out here and he lights it up, and once again, it goes back to the quality of reps, it could absolutely happen,” said Mayo. “I sit here and tell you, coming out of the spring, Jacoby looks like the starting quarterback. Now, with that being said, he’ll have competition. Let’s not forget about even Joe Milton. Let’s not forget about [Bailey] Zappe. All those guys will have opportunities to go out there and be the starting quarterback in week one.”
When asked about the standard Maye might be judged against, or if the offensive line would be a factor in that decision, Mayo simply came back to the fact it’s not about anything other than how each player performs.
“To me, it goes back to the same word, and it’s competition,” said Mayo. “It’s not about everyone else. It’s about, ‘Does this guy go out there and perform better than Jacoby, no matter who we’re talking about?’ And so that’s the way I kind of see it.”
Two key questions heading into camp is obviously the situation with Davon Godchaux and Matthew Judon, with both players currently in the middle of a contract stalemate with the team.
Mayo said Tuesday that all the players were on hand, and that the expectation is that, “If you’re here, you’re going to be out there and practice, and you’re going to compete,” he said when asked about the possibility of the two potentially being present but not participating.
When asked about where their relationship was at, Mayo downplayed any issues but said there’s still a business side in play in these negotiations.
“Look, the relationship is still good, at least from my perspective,” said Mayo. “I know their teammates definitely respect them. Those are valuable pieces of this organization, and they’ve done a lot for us. And hopefully, we can get something done, and those guys are here. I want them here. I think Elliot wants them here. The team wants them here. There is a business aspect to everything, though.”
When pressed, Mayo said that it’s too early to get into any speculation, and reiterated his stance on the matter.
“Look, this is their first day back. All right?” said Mayo. “So this is probably a question for tomorrow. At the same time, I’ll reiterate, we want those guys here, and we’re going to do everything possible to keep those guys. And I think it’s good for the organization, and hopefully it works out.”
Both players have made it clear that they’re not happy, and Judon made it sound as though the two sides were close previously, but recent reports have indicated that things may have changed. Greg Bedard of Boston Sports Journal has said repeatedly that the recent contract extension of Christian Barmore has complicated the negotiations of both players, and whether or not the gap can be bridged to a suitable level remains to be seen.
For now, we’ll have to wait and see how tomorrow unfolds, but the time for football has finally come, and it’s safe to say it’s exciting to see things get underway in the coming days.
Mayo said on Tuesday that with the later start time, the club plans to take a cautious approach with players when it comes to the heat and that they plan on changing things up. “I mean, it’s all about, we talk about hydration, and we take various measures all the time,” said Mayo. “We’ll have the ice box outside, and we always have people tracking real-time data throughout practice. And honestly, it’s my job. If those guys end up looking like they’re about to die, it’s no problem in cutting practice. It’s no problem. I will say this, practice won’t be two hours every single day or two and a half hours every single day. I believe in kind of undulating the practice schedule, continuing to confuse the body. And really, look, we’ll have an hour and 30 minute practice, but it’s going to be high-intensity. Or we may have a two hour and 10 minute practice where there will be some, not, slower periods in those. I think it’s important to do that and change it up, to break up the monotony a little bit.” … Mayo didn’t have any information on Kendrick Bourne, who many believe will start things off on PUP. “Those guys are going to go out here and run here in a second, so we’ll evaluate that,” said Mayo. “He’s been progressing, and we’ll see what it looks like.” … He said the same for Cole Strange, who is still recovering from offseason knee surgery but has apparently been in the building working hard to get himself back out there. “Yeah, He’s been in here every day. I don’t even think he really took a break,” said Mayo. “He’s trying to get out there on the field, and I appreciate it. I’m not exactly sure what that looks like. We’ll see how he progresses going forward.” … When asked if he’s been contacted by the league on Kayshon Boutte regarding any potential punishment, Mayo said he hasn’t heard anything. “I have not,” said Mayo. “I think he’s past it, but that’s more of an Elliot [Wolf] question. He handles that stuff.” … After a couple of rookies, including Javon Baker, missed some time with injuries in the spring, Mayo said there were no lingering issues with any of them. “Ready to go,” he said. … Mayo was asked about younger players potentially seeing more time due to the philosophy we heard in the spring which prioritized reps for younger players. However, while he feels they should get opportunities, it’s all about finding a balance. “You always want to have those young players out there getting the majority of the reps,” said Mayo. “Now, in saying that, we have a lot of good veteran players out here on our team. And I don’t want to go back to this word, but it’s about competition. That’s the word of the day. That’s the word of camp. It’s about competition no matter who you are.”
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