MORSE: What to Look For in Patriots Preseason Game #1
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The Patriots will knock heads against someone other than their own teammates. They had two practices this week before their first Preseason game on Thursday versus the Carolina Panthers.
Will the Starters Play More than One Series?
I believe it is imperative that the starters play more, especially along the Offensive Line to gain cohesion as a unit. We have already witnessed some concern about the starting Tackles (Okorafor and Anderson) missing the last few practices. The Patriots must be able to establish a running game in order for the Alex Van Pelt offense to work. AVP relies on high percentage play action passes, and if the opponents don’t respect the run, then they will tee off on the pass game.
How Much Will Drake Maye Play?
There is no QB competition, Maye is the 2nd string QB and usually in the 1st Pre-season game they play a lot. If they are going with backup linemen, then I see him being pressured a lot. I don’t think he will handle pressure well. I am also hearing that Maye is having trouble with adjustments at the line of scrimmage. Remember that he has only had two seasons as a starting QB in the ACC. He missed his Senior year in High School when it was wiped out by COVID, then was red-shirted as a true freshman at North Carolina. All the more reason to have him sit and learn. Maye is just 21 years old and was the 2nd youngest player in the NFL draft. Compare that to Joe Milton who is 24 and had 6 seasons of college ball. Three at Michigan (Big Ten) and three Tennessee (SEC).
Is the Patriots Defense as Good as We Think It Is?
For the most part the Defense has been ahead of the Offense in Training Camp so far. How will that translate against another team? The loss of Christian Barmore is a big blow to the defense as he was a every down player. Not only was he dominant against the run but he supplied pressure in the pass rush that no other D-lineman can supply. Is the secondary (top 10) as good as has been predicted?
Jaylinn Hawkins has Impressed at Safety
He has impressed during camp at Free Safety. Marte Mapu has been banged up and missed most of the Training camp. This gave Hawkins an opportunity and he has run with it. The 2020 4th round pick of the Atlanta Falcons has three years’ experience. He started all 16 games for Atlanta in 2022 and had 84 total tackles. Last season he started 4 games for the Los Angelas Chargers. I like having a veteran that can play either Safety or Cornerback.
Has Christian Gonzalez Come Back from His Injury?
There has been some concern lately that Gonzalez hasn’t impressed like he did in camp last season. Tyquan Thornton beat him cleanly for a couple of TDs in Practice 8. Was this just the dog days of practice or is there some legitimate concern here.
Who will replace Christian Barmore and Lawrence Guy?
Trysten Hill’s name has been mentioned recently as a player to watch. Hill was a 2nd round pick (#56) in the 2019 Draft. He started as a true freshman at UCF and started in 27 straight games until he fell out of favor with the coaching staff. At 6’2 ¾ “ , 308 lbs he ran an impressive 5.04 40-yard dash. Hill has a history of purposely injuring opponents and has been fined and suspended by the league.
Another DT I am interested in seeing is Armon Watts. He was a Free Agent signing that was supposed to take the place of Lawrence Guy. I haven’t heard his name mentioned by any reporters so far at this Training Camp. He is not a pass rusher, but more of a player that will occupy blockers so that others can make the tackle.
How has Keion White Progressed?
Many of the reports from camp state that White has been unstoppable as a pass rusher from the DT position. In his second season I expect that the second-round pick will take a big jump in his play. White has worked on his pass rush moves this pre-season and has not used his bull rush at all. He also picks out Michael Onwenu to go up against in one-on-one battles. White hasn’t won any of those against Onwenu but he is going up against the best and learning every time.
Wide Receivers
How will the rookies Polk and Baker look? Will Pop Douglas play? I doubt it, he has been in a red no-contact jersey and why expose him to a pre-season injury. Does Juju Smith -Schuster have anything left in the tank. From reports so far, he is lagging far behind the other receivers. What does KJ Osborn look like? Can Tyquan Thornton and Kayshon Boutte translate what they have been doing in camp to the field against another NFL team
Tyrone Wheatley Reverts To Injured Reserve
When the Patriots signed Safety AJ Thomas they waived OT Tyrone Wheatley. However, he was waived with an Injury Designation. Wheatley passed through waivers unclaimed and therefore he reverts to the Patriots Injured Reserve and will be lost for the season. The Patriots could reach an injury settlement with Wheatley and then release him.
Jake Andrews Moved to IR
Andrews season is over as the Patriots have placed him on IR. In turn, they signed Tucker Addington (LS) to replace him on the roster. Are they unhappy with Joe Cardona? Cardona is 32 and getting up there in age. That’s not old for a Longsnapper. Cardona was a bit inconsistent last season. Addington has bounced around the league (Dallas, Hoston and Washington), and this is his second stint with the Patriots (2022). He was an UDFA in 2020 after playing at Sam Houston State.
Practice 10 Featured Live Tackling to the Ground
In a rare Training Camp practice, Jerod Mayo had the Defense tackling the Offensive players to the ground. Of note were two hits that Hunter Henry took during the practice.
Dell Petus Making Waves
A player getting noticed is UDFA Dell Petus. It will be interesting to see him on Thursday as he should get plenty of playing time with Bledsoe and Mapu out. Petus has stacked three consecutive practices together with a pass breakup on Tuesday. He even got some reps with the 1st team Defense.
It appears the Patriots have broken off negotiations with the San Francisco 49’ers on a possible trade for WR Brandon Aiyuk. At least that was what was posted by ESPNs Adam Schefter. This is a day after NBC Sports Bay Area 49’ers beat reporter Mike Maiocco posted on X that the Patriots and Browns had reached an agreement with the 49’ers on trade parameters to acquire Aiyuk. The ball was now in Aiyuk’s court on which team he wanted to sign with.
Reports indicated that the Patriots had the highest offer, well in excess of $30M a year, and an undetermined length of contract of between 4 and 5 years. That would make him a salary in the top 3 WRs in the league. The Patriots’ statement they had broken off negotiations was nice way of saying that Aiyuk didn’t want to play for the Patriots. Even overpaying a stud receiver like Aiyuk isn’t enough for the lowly Patriots to bring a star player to the team.
Per ESPN’s Adana Schefter, the Patriots weren’t getting a great vibe from Aiyuk’s camp, and they eventually thought it would be best to back out and focus on the talent already on their roster.
“New England had the parameters of a trade in place. That wasn’t the issue,” said Schefter. “They weren’t getting a great vibe here. as they tried to conduct communication with Brandon Aiyuk and his agent. And the longer it went on, the worse they felt about it. And eventually they said, ‘What are we doing here? Let’s just focus in on the young receivers that we have.'”
The reported agreed to compensation was a 2025 2nd round pick (probably in the top 5), Matthew Judon and Kendrick Bourne. It was interesting that Judon didn’t really practice yesterday and Bourne didn’t even do stretching which he has been doing while on PUP. If that was in fact the compensation, it was way too high a price to pay for Aiyuk and then have to pay that salary too.
I do find it interesting that SF thinks so highly of Bourne that he would be included in the compensation despite the fact that he hasn’t practiced since his ACL surgery last year. Do they know something we don’t?
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Smart move walking away from that trade. Overall cost way too high. Still in a rebuild mode. Next year’s #1 and 2 could be crucial to a quick rebuild. Must get a top OT.
Yup. Right on. If the oats make a big move now, it s/b to trade for a LT. The pats are so thin to cover RT/LT, they need a lot to go right in terms of not having injuries there and getting two guys that can be adequate starters. Conversely, there’s 6 WR’s getting solid press-ink almost daily. The WR position is at least adequately covered and staffed. Regardless of having some impact #1 class guy. This isn’t fantasy football. The line is key. Haven’t we seen that the last 2 years? The issue was the line and the QB… Read more »