Some Patriots news and notes for this morning:
Not a Great Day For the Offense
The New England Patriots offense had a tough time on Friday, with inconsistent play and several not-so-great moments on display in front of the fans who were on hand to take in the session.
Rookie Drake Maye had his first real rookie moment of the preseason Friday, tossing a pick-six to Matthew Judon on a play where he was targeting Rhamondre Stevenson in the flat.
Judon snagged the errant throw from the rookie and took off the other way for an easy touchdown, reminding Maye that against good players, he’s definitely going to need to be a little more careful.
Give Maye credit. From there, he completed some throws and managed to finish strong, so it ended up simply being a learning moment for the rookie, albeit the turnover Judon made was also a nice play.
It’s still early and, like everyone else, Maye’s in the middle of trying to get comfortable in this new offense.
Meanwhile, the offensive line did some shuffling, seeing rookie Caedan Wallace and Calvin Anderson spend some time at left tackle, while Chukwuma Okorafor, who had seen most of the reps on that side to this point, saw things get switched up as he worked at right tackle with Vederian Lowe.
Also getting work at center on Friday was Nick Leverett, and he and Maye had issues on the exchange. Who was at fault during those issues is tough to say, although Maye also seemingly experienced some confusion on one play on the snap count.
According to several reports yesterday, Maye also had moments where he was forced to hold onto the football and that reportedly led to him getting off platform and away from his footwork, which caused some errant throws.
Friday appeared to simply be a day where it was a one step forward, two steps back for an offense that has still yet to get into gear. The unit played relatively well during 7-on-7s, with the full-team period being where some of the miscues took place.
There was one highlight on Friday, with Maye hitting rookie wideout Ja’Lynn Polk on a 40+ yard pass down the sideline, with Polk hauling in the throw and bringing out quite the reaction for the fans who were in attendance.
That was a nice moment for Polk, who has faced some solid competition on the other side of the ball, and he had yet to make a big play through the early part of camp. As a result, seeing him finally connect on a big play from Maye was definitely great to see.
For now, there’s still plenty of work left to do. The team has an off day today and is also gearing up for its first padded practice, which is reportedly set for Monday.
Up and Down Performances at Receiver
Rookie Javon Baker reportedly had some nice grabs on Friday, while also showing some nice acceleration after the catch. He set his own expectations ahead of training camp, and he continues to take some small steps forward here early on.
Reports on JuJu Smith-Schuster have been mixed. He’s reportedly had some nice moments but the amount of separation he’s been getting has seemingly not been great. Many already have him as a roster-bubble player, and – barring a significant change – he remains a player who feels like will be a longshot to stick when the dust eventually settles.
Second-year wideout Demario Douglas was limited again on Friday, which comes one day after he was spotted with a wrap on his hand following Thursday’s practice. Douglas has reportedly taken part in early drills but has sat out team sessions, with the club clearly taking a cautious approach with a guy who was obviously they’re most productive player in 2023.
After making a bunch of what NBC Sports Boston’s Tom Curran called “pedestrian” receptions the day before, Tyquan Thornton had a quiet day on Friday. He remains a player who it just feels like is going to have a tough time being among the last players standing, especially given that there are other players that appear to be making some significant strides.
Speaking of which, K.J. Obsorn falls into that category. He had an extremely productive day on Friday after hauling in quite a few receptions, which was arguably his best performance so far of this training camp.
Mayo: New Lounge Builds Camaraderie
Mayo was asked during his press conference about the club’s new player lounge, which has been a topic of discussion here locally and joins the plethora of changes at Gillette Stadium we’ve seen this offseason.
However, Mayo made a good point. He said that one of the things he noticed was that players tended to just hang out at their lockers and look at their phones, rather than engage with their teammates. So he felt that this space would create an environment that would hopefully cause players to want to interact more, which he said is something he’s been happy to see more of since it became available to them.
“To me, look, this is their place, and that’s their lounge, and that’s their locker room. I think it’s important that you have those spaces,” said Mayo. “One thing I’ve noticed over the past, let’s say, five years is a lot of times when guys get a break, they just go into their locker and they get on their phone, they’re scrolling through social media, and there’s really no interaction. I thought it was important, I should say, we thought it was important that those guys had a safe space to go.”
“Really, that’s also a time where they build camaraderie. You should see some of the ping-pong games in there or even the PlayStation. We have a PlayStation and Xbox in there as well. But it’s really to bring these guys closer together and have those guys want to be here. These days can be long, but we just thought it would be important for those guys to have that space.”
Odds and Ends
Veteran Davon Godchaux was back on the field as a full-participant on Friday, with his contract situation remaining in question. He missed Thursday’s session but Jerod Mayo said on Friday that his absence, “has nothing to do with the contract,” adding, “He had a little bit of tightness.” … After seeing Jabrill Peppers get extended, Mayo said he was happy to see that deal get done. “He really embodies everything that we want on the field,’ said Mayo. “He’s very selfless. He’s out there flying around all the time, and it’s good to get that deal done.” … Jacoby Brissett’s leadership has been on display here early on. He’s been a guy who immediately goes down and celebrates with teammates after a big play, with the veteran clearly settling in well and setting the right example for this football team. Good stuff. … Rookie Joe Milton continued to get reps ahead of Bailey Zappe on Friday, and he’s already shown some improvement after being a little erratic during the spring. Mayo downplayed it with reporters, but it’s obvious that Milton is making progress, and it’s likely complicating things after they’ve already hinted at only keeping three QBs. “Look, I won’t say it will continue,” said Mayo before practice Friday when asked about that rotation. “Sometimes, maybe you have Joe get more reps, maybe you have Zappie get more reps.” … Chad Ryland closed out practice with four-straight field goals, while kicker Joey Slye reportedly hit 3-of-4. However, during practice, reports from media members who were on hand pointed out that Slye’s tended to be more toward the middle, which continues to make this competition fairly interesting. … Jonathan Jones continued to see time opposite Christian Gonzalez at cornerback, with the Patriots still likely hoping to see someone else emerge to add some depth at that position. … Speaking of CB, the Patriots made a transaction on Friday, waving Kaleb Ford-Demont.
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Ian Logue is a Seacoast native and owner and senior writer for PatsFans.com, an independent media site covering the New England Patriots and has been running this site in one form or another since 1997.
