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Some Patriots news and notes for this morning:
1) The Patriots suffered their first injury scare of the preseason on Monday, with defensive back Christian Gonzalez going down midway through the session.
Gonzalez was matched up against Stefon Diggs, and after Diggs made the play, the third-year cornerback came up lame. Gonzalez reached for the back of his leg before reportedly signaling to trainers, who then came out to assist him.
After spending some time on the ground, he later walked off under his own power and wasn’t carted off, but the veteran was clearly limping as he headed back inside.
The severity of his injury isn’t known, but the hope, based on how things appeared to play out, is that it’s just a hamstring injury and that it won’t have any effect on his status for the upcoming season.
In his absence, Marcellus Dial got additional reps and he ended up with a pretty good day on Monday, making multiple plays and looking like someone who appears to have taken a nice step forward this offseason.
As for Gonzalez, he’s a player they can ill-afford to lose, especially given how important this upcoming season is. Following two straight 4-13 campaigns, the Patriots have a decent amount of talent to be competitive in 2025, but being without Gonzalez would certainly be a big blow that they definitely don’t need.
2) Monday saw the return of wide receiver Ja’Lynn Polk, who participated for the first time this preseason.
Polk had a decent showing, with the young wideout hauling in a touchdown in the end zone while having a few nice moments.
The fact that he was out there was significant, especially considering the fact the club has 12 players at his position all vying for a roster spot.
He didn’t appear to show any signs of being hampered physically, so the expectation now is that he’ll hopefully continue participating as he tries to rebound from a disappointing rookie campaign.
3) Demario Douglas spoke to reporters on Monday, and his growth so far has been pretty noticeable to this point in camp.
Douglas looked solid again on Monday, with the young wideout seizing the role as one of the club’s best receivers.
Right now, Diggs is expected to be the lead player for the group, with the veteran likely set to draw a fair amount of attention this season. Given what we’ve seen so far from Douglas, having someone like that out there may end up making the third-year receiver even that much more dangerous in 2025, and he’s excited about that prospect.
“It’s going to be good,” said Douglas. “They’re going to have to put whoever their dog is on him or whoever their dog is on me or whoever their dog is on… So I feel like either way, we’re going to come out to play. Whoever game plan is to cover Steph or cover me, I feel like we’re going to have something to dial it up.”
One thing that’s stood out is how comfortable and confident he looks, and when asked about how much he’s grown, he believes he’s coming along as a leader among this current group of receivers.
“I feel like, for me, I’ll say leadership,” said Douglas, who we also learned was an offseason award winner this spring. “I’ve been growing in the classroom, helping others out. I feel like that was what I needed as a part of my game. As I teach somebody else, I’m learning myself. I feel like when I’m out there and I see something somebody else does, I’ll be like, I can coach it up now. I feel like I got in that playbook a lot.”
He did get some praise from head coach Mike Vrabel ahead of practice, noting that Douglas is a hard worker and he loves how he handles himself.
“Great energy, great demeanor, very coachable,” said Vrabel. “One of our offseason award winners, so he obviously worked extremely hard, was here every day, ready to learn, ready to earn a role.”
“Loved being around Pop. He’s got a great energy, and he’s got a lot of respect from everybody around here.”
4) Rookie lineman Jared Wilson had a solid day along the offensive line and appears to be in position to make a run at a starting role, but the rookie still has one issue that has shown up that he’s yet to overcome.
He had two bad exchanges with Drake Maye at center on Monday, which adds to others he’s run into during the early portion of training camp.
That is something that is certainly going to play into whether or not he can ultimately step into the position at center. He’s been in the mix at left guard, but according to Phil Perry of NBC Sports Boston, Cole Strange had a solid showing there and appears to be moving well after a full offseason where he was healthy coming back from the knee injury he had from a year ago.
“Yeah, with Cole Strange, I thought he won his one-on-one rep against Milton Williams, so that’s a big check for me in a pass protection situation,” said Perry. “But I also saw him just moving well on the field, Tom [Curran]. For a guy who had a devastating knee injury, we know a couple of years ago, they’re going to ask him – Josh McDaniels is a big fan of this gap scheme type of running game. It’s not the zone running game necessarily, although he’ll sprinkle some of that in well, where you’re hauling tail to the sideline in a full sprint if you’re playing on the offensive line. But he will ask you to pull.”
“And we saw Cole Strange pull today, and I thought he moved great. I thought he got to the second level, sealed off a block for a nice chunk in the run game. So he’s strung together a bunch of good practices, and that left guard job, in my opinion, is his to lose.”
Cornerback D.J. James finished Monday making a couple of nice plays, with the young defensive back stringing together some good showings so far this preseason. He remains someone to keep an eye on in the coming weeks. … According to Greg Bedard of the Boston Sports Journal, Caedan Wallace had a tough day out there Monday, which apparently saw defensive end Isaiah Iton come out on the right side of that match-up. Jahvaree Ritzie also apparently got the better of him on another rep, with Wallace also missing one block during the period. … Kayshon Boutte reportedly had a good day, with Boutte beating Gonzalez on a couple of plays earlier in the practice prior to his injury. “Iron sharpens iron every day,” said Boutte. “My focus is just getting better every day. I’m working towards the best players and just getting sharp every day.” … Rookie TreVeyon Henderson made a nice play on Monday where he made a cutback against Marte Mapu that left the linebacker in the dust. Henderson’s speed and change of direction is ridiculous, and he remains someone who should be fun to watch this season. … Vrabel had a good comment on Hunter Henry, with the head coach pointing out Henry’s calm demeanor as a big asset for the veteran. “He’s a very comfortable player,” said Vrabel. “Very similar to Kevin Byard. You know I’m not big on comparisons. Just talking about personalities, right? Kevin was really confident and comfortable. He never looked stressed. You would look and see some younger players maybe at the same position, and they’d be sweating before the play. They were making checks and everything else, and running, and Kevin just always had a very calm, confident demeanor and was an excellent player for us. I feel the same about Hunter.”
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