Good morning, and a happy Sunday, and here is your Patriots news for 06-14, along with this week’s NFL notes.
The Patriots wrapped up their mandatory minicamp and spring workouts this week at the practice fields behind Gillette Stadium. The next time we see the team will be for the start of training camp at the end of July.
The veterans report on July 24, with the first training camp practice scheduled for Saturday, July 25 at 10:30 a.m. It should be packed this year.
This marks the beginning of the quiet time for football news as players and coaches take a last vacation before training camp and the season’s prep kicks into high gear.
But the team looks to be in pretty good shape for the 2026 season, albeit with a few concerns. We’ll dive into that below.
Quick Hitters For the Patriots and NFL News
Carmello Hayes: The WWE wrestling star was a visitor to the Patriots minicamp this week. Hayes said it was a “dream come true” in getting to visit the team. He is a Patriots fan.
He was in town to promote WWE’s Smackdown in Providence on Friday. Hayes isn’t the biggest wrestler (5’10, 176), and was encouraged by seeing Pop Douglas, who is one of the smaller players on the team, continue to thrive.
Training Camp Schedule: The Patriots announced the tentative dates and times for training camp practices open to the public. Parking and attendance are free, and the gates open about an hour before practice begins.
The team will also hold three joint practices with visiting teams before preseason games. Patriots.com posted the schedule for release.
Saturday, July 25 – 10:30-12:00 p.m.
Sunday, July 26 – 10:15-12:00 p.m.
Monday, July 27 – 10:00-11:30 a.m. (walkthrough)
Tuesday, July 28 – 10:15-12:15 p.m.
Thursday, July 30 – 10:15-12:00 p.m.
Friday, July 31 – 10:15-12:15 p.m.
Saturday, August 1 – 10:15-12:15 p.m.
Monday, August 3 – 10:15-12:15 p.m.
Tuesday, August 4 – 10:15-12:15 p.m.
Friday, August 7 – 10:15-12:15 p.m.
Tuesday, August 11 – 10:15-12:15 p.m. (Joint practice with the Indianapolis Colts)
Wednesday, August 19 – 10:15-12:15 p.m. (Joint practice with the Philadelphia Eagles)
Thursday, August 20 – 10:15-12:15 p.m. (Joint practice with the Philadelphia Eagles)
This will be the final training camp practice open to the public this summer. A few years ago, when the Eagles visited for training camp, the turnout was incredible; the Patriots opened the stadium concourses. Expect a similar turnout this summer, as many Philly fans will make the trek up 95.
Grass Vs. Turf: The Patriots’ turf field was removed after last season and replaced with a grass field for the ongoing FIFA World Cup soccer matches, the first of which was played on Friday night between Scotland and Haiti.
The grass field called “sod-on-plastic” is a rolled-up field that was installed over the last few months. The grass fields were installed in stadiums across the country for the games, only to be reverted to once the NFL season begins again.
Despite more than 90 percent of NFL players preferring to play on grass, the grass fields will be replaced with turf as soon as the last World Cup matches are played. At Gillette Stadium, it will be July 9.
Kayshon Boutte: Boutte, who hadn’t participated in voluntary OTAs, was in attendance for mandatory minicamp and made his presence felt, catching a nice deep pass from backup QB Tommy DeVito during an 11-on-11 period.
Boutte said to the media after Day 1 of minicamp that he wanted to remain with the Patriots in 2026, and perhaps the Patriots would like that as well, adding additional depth to a WR room that has been transformed in the past two years.
But the WR room is packed, and with Boutte on the last year of his rookie contract, he will need some production if he’s going to cash in next offseason. And the amount of targets he’d get probably won’t be enough in that regard.
Could a deal already be in the works? Possibly. Boutte didn’t participate in the final minicamp practice 11-on-11 drills on Thursday. CLNS’ Taylor Kyles reported that it was Boutte’s decision not to participate.
Patriots No Huddle Podcast: Derek, Mike, and I will be back later today to talk minicamp and the Christian Gonzalez situation (and a possible trade?) on the PatsFans.com website. You can always check out our other podcasts on our YouTube channel.
Please check it out. And be sure to like, share, and leave us a review.
Russ Francis/Chuck Fairbanks: The former Patriots tight end and head coach should be in the Patriots team Hall of Fame, and the fact that Francis isn’t is an absolute travesty. Francis and the Raiders’ Dave Casper changed how teams used the tight end position.
We will continue to display this in our Sunday posts until it happens. Casper is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Francis’ numbers stand up well against Casper’s, yet he isn’t even in the team’s HOF.
The Patriots Wrap Up A Productive Spring
The Patriots are now off until the end of July, when training camp begins on July 25 at the practice fields behind Gillette Stadium.
After winning 17 games and reaching the Super Bowl in 2025, the team did a good job of replacing departing free agents and adding impact players through both free agency and the draft.
Drake Maye seemed poised to have an even better 2026 than 2025. Josh McDaniels wanted Maye to take more charge at the line this year, calling, changing, or tweaking plays as needed. It is the next phase of a QB’s development, and with McDaniels at the helm of the offense for the second straight year, Maye should continue to improve. Getting Brown and Doubs at WR certainly doesn’t hurt.
Needing upgrades along an offensive line that struggled in the playoffs, the team moved Jared Wilson to center, signed LG Alijah Vera-Tucker, and drafted tackle Caleb Lomu, their eventual right tackle, with their first overall pick.
But their biggest upgrade came at wide receiver. While the team released Stefon Diggs after a productive season, they signed WR Romeo Doubs from the Packers. And then, with the worst-kept news this year, the team traded for WR A.J. Brown.
Red Zone Offense Should Improve Significantly
Brown is a big physical player, and pairing him with the 6’2, 205-pound Doubs gives the Patriots a pair of red-zone threats that should bear fruit in 2026. The red zone was an area that the offense struggled mightily in for much of the season.
Last season, the Patriots had the fifth-most red-zone trips in the league. But the team was 24th in converting those trips into touchdowns. Brown and Doubs are bigger, more physical receivers who thrive in red-zone opportunities. And both are very good at making contested catches, something that frequently is needed in the red area due to the compressed field.
Another significant factor in the red area struggles was the lack of a consistent running game.
The Patriots had an issue all season with negative plays, with 23 percent of their plays going for zero or negative yardage, which ranked 28th in the league. Their rushing yardage numbers were skewed a bit by some big explosive runs, but this was a big issue that needed to be addressed in 2026.
Getting last year’s rookies (Will Campbell and Jared Wilson) healthy and stronger for Year 2 was important. Campbell was reportedly looking a tad bigger this spring. If Vera-Tucker can stay healthy, he adds Pro Bowl-type talent to the interior of the offensive line.
Reggie Gilliam is an upgrade at FB, and may add some value as a receiver. It will be intriguing to see whether Brock Lampe backs up Gilliam this season, likely as a practice-squad player, or whether they use Jack Westover there again.
Losing Julian Hill so early in the spring to a knee injury is a big blow, however. He was expected to be a significant factor as a blocker in the running game. Now a big question for the coaching staff is, who will be the #2 tight end this year?
The team drafted TE Eli Raridon in the third round this year, but it generally takes time for in-line tight ends to learn the ropes in the NFL. Hill’s injury leaves a wide-open competition for the third tight end position to Jack Westover, C.J. Dippre, and rookie UDFA Tanner Arkin. The team may opt for bringing a veteran tight end here if they feel Raridon isn’t ready enough yet.
Offensive and Defensive Lines Must Wait For Training Camp
The spring doesn’t allow blocker types to show their stuff, and it goes the same for the defensive line, as there are no pads or contact allowed. And so spring workouts don’t tell you a thing about offensive or defensive line play, the running game, and of course pass protection.
It is mostly a passing camp, with the only thing of consequence being watching which players are playing where. For those who were predicting (wishing) for Will Campbell to move to guard, this spring, he didn’t take one snap (zero, zilch, nada, nicht) at anywhere but left tackle.
Caleb Lomu was almost exclusively at right tackle. He is the heir apparent to Morgan Moses there, but they moved him around a little bit to let him get his feet wet. They obviously have big plans for him in 2026 at swing tackle and as an extra offensive lineman/tight end.
Ben Brown seems like he’ll once again be the top option inside. It will be interesting to see if the Patriots can develop their two young tackles, Marcus Bryant and Dametrious Crownover, who are both big, but need work.
Because of the aforementioned lack of pads and hitting, getting a feel for who has the inside track for the third running back is impossible right now. Lan Larrison received the majority of the work, and he should have.
He was expected to make the roster last season before an injury sidelined him. Now he’s healthy, and it will make for an interesting preseason and joint practices to watch him, Jam Miller, and Myles Montgomery compete.
Other questions remain.
Although Mike Vrabel was optimistic about the edge position, two of their bigger pieces remain out. Harold Landry is still recovering from offseason knee surgery, and the team is taking a cautious approach with him.
2nd-Round draft pick Gabe Jacas didn’t take the field at all in the spring, and Vrabel told the media he had a procedure done in the spring. He still hasn’t signed his rookie contract. He is the only player drafted in the 2nd round who hasn’t signed a contract yet.
Vrabel, however, was upbeat about the room and backup edge rusher Christian Ponder, who played well, albeit sparingly, last year. “That’s a good group. I’m excited about adding Dre'[Mont Jones], the development of Ponder and Swinson,” Vrabel said.
“We added [Jesse] Luketa and some young guys. Again, we’ll continue to try to look at every position and make it stronger, but that group has done a nice job.”
Vrabel was also asked about Bradyn Swinson at his press conference. “He came back in shape, came back ready to go. I think he realized what professional football is after camp, where he was and what his role was, and he realized that maybe he wants a different role. I think he’s been conscientious with special teams.
“Sometimes you get these defensive ends that come in from college that are outside linebackers, and they haven’t done a lot of special teams. So, that’s a critical element. We need those players to be good on special teams. I think he improved over the course of last season and has certainly taken to that early in the spring, given what we have been able to do.
“So, I’m excited about what he’ll be able to do and excited to see him in training camp.”
Depth at linebacker is still an issue, although K.J. Britt played well this spring. So, we’ll see how that shakes out. But I wouldn’t be shocked to see the team add a veteran here sometime this summer.
And there still isn’t any news on a Christian Gonzalez extension. Let’s hope we’re not seeing another Sauce Gardner situation develop again.
Are we all stoked for training camp to begin yet?
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“Somebody asked me what success looks like, and I said, ‘Yeah, you can judge it by wins and losses during the season, but success for me in the offseason is going to be that the players believe in what we’re doing, and they believe in the message, they believe in the teaching, and they believe in the connections that we’re making.’” — Mike Vrabel
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A former US Army Special Forces NCO and Officer, Steve has been following the Patriots since their days at Fenway Park. Steve has worked in the film industry and wrote as an Military Editor at SpecialOperations.com, 1945.com as a reporter for the Millbury Daily Voice, Millbury-Sutton Chronicle, and the Grafton News. He's also a member of the Pro Football Writers of America (PFWA)
