My reports from camp are a compilation of reports I review from the internet. I am not in attendance at the practices.
Top Story of the Day – Christian Gonzalez is a Full Participant
This is the most important item from Day 1. The 1st play of 11-on-11 was a pass from Maye to Brown with Gonzalez in tight coverage. Brown reached up one-handed but failed to bring the ball down. Gonzalez did everything in practice. No Hold-In! Gonzalez must feel the contract is close for him to go out and fully participate.
Kraft told the media the Patriots have offered Gonzalez the largest contract ever for the CB position and the largest in Patriots history. What that looks like is up for debate, but it will probably be in excess of $32M AAV. The problem may be that Gonzalez is represented by the same agent as Seattle’s Devon Witherspoon. Witherspoon was taken ahead of Gonzalez and has been selected to three Pro Bowls and a 2nd Team All-Pro. Gonzalez was a first-time Pro Bowler this past season and has also been 2nd Team All-Pro in 2024 (but oddly not selected to the Pro Bowl). In my opinion, his agent wants Gonzalez to sign 1st which sets the bar for Witherspoon to exceed it.
Gabe Jacas Signing Reported During the Practice
The good news keeps coming as Jordan Schultz reported that Jacas had signed his $8.6M contract. We are awaiting word why there was such a holdup in Jacas signing, especially because his draft slot ($8.6M) dictated what he was going to receive. Jacas is far behind because he was not participating in the off-season program. Once he passes his physical, he will have to complete 3 non-contact practices. He will probably be out there in helmet and shells while his teammates are in full pads and conducting a full-contact practice in practice #4.
Head Coach Vrabel Updates Harold Landry’s Status
In his pre-practice press conference, Vrabel stated that he can’t predict if Landry will be ready for the Opening Night game. This was a pretty evasive answer but opens the possibility that Landry may start the season on PUP.
Absent From Practice – Gabe Jacas
PUP – Harold Landry and CJ Dippre
NFI – Terrell Jennings and Brenden Schooler
Practice Highlights
Play of the Day -Kayshon Boutte came up with a 40-yard catch down the left sideline, in which he laid out to make the catch. When he hit the ground, his helmet flew off, but he got right up and just gloated.
Passing
Drake Maye 6 of 9
Tommy DeVito 3 of 6 (DeVito missed his 1st three passes)
Behren Morton 3 of 4
Starting O-Line – Campbell LT, Vera-Tucker LG, Wilson C, Owenu RG, Moses RT
Caleb Lomu subbed in for Moses in the 3rd period of competitive 11 on 11, James Hudson came in after Lomu at RT
Starting WR Group – AJ Brown, Romeo Doubs, and DeMario Douglas
Romeo Doubs had two catches, but Brown had none
Vrabel Emphasizes Zone Running Game – This is curious because Vrabel stated in his pre-practice Press Conference that he was going to wait until the pads were on to start the Zone Running Game. According to those on site, the offense ran quite a few Zone Runs in practice. There was also a heavy emphasis on Offensive Tempo. The Patriots don’t want to allow the opponents Defense to be able to make late defensive adjustments late in the play clock like the Seahawks did in the Super Bowl.
Big Nickel Defense – Featured Mike Brown as the 3rd safety, and he was playing in the slot. This indicates that Brown is going to have a more prominent role other than just a Special Teams player.
Pass Breakups – The Defense had no turnovers in the practice but Bradyn Swinson and DreMont Jones knocked down passes at the Line of Scrimmage.
Attendance – No Official number was given but the place was packed, being the Opening practice and on a Weekend day.
Pawtriots Pet Adoption – The event preceded the Practice. As they did last year, the players brought out the dogs to adoptive owners. The Patriots hoped to place 60 dogs at this year’s event.
Comings and Goings
The Patriots made a series of moves before Training Camp starts. They signed TE Mitchell Van Vooren and LB/EDGE Riley Wilson. Both players came in for tryouts with the team this week and were signed afterwards. FB Brock Lampe was released
Van Vooren has an interesting backstory. He signed with the Seattle Seahawks last season as an undrafted free agent out of Division III St. Norbert College in Wisconsin. He was released by Seattle last summer and spent the rest of training camp with the Cleveland Browns before being released on cut-down day.
Van Vooren started his collegiate career as a standout track athlete at Marquette, setting a school record in the 400-meter hurdles. He transferred to St. Norbert to play football. The 6-foot-5, 245-pound athlete spent two seasons there, catching 22 passes for 1,045 yards and 13 touchdowns. He was a first-team All-NACC selection in 2024, finishing with 33 receptions, 510 yards and 10 touchdowns.
The 6’4.4” 237-pound TE ran a Van Vooren announced the Dolphins’ 2016 7th round pick at the NFL Draft.
I watched some videos of Van Vooren, and he is more like Mack Hollins than a TE. He could be moved all over the field and is a big target. There is no official 40 time but his school record time at Marquette for the 400 hurdles was 51.38.
Wilson played at Arizona, where he had 49 Tackles in 2025. The 6’1”, 226-pound converted Strong Safety ran a 4.58 40-yard dash at his pro Day. The undrafted rookie originally signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers following this year’s NFL Draft in April before eventually getting released.
Wilson, who also played for Hawaii and Montana during his college career, is an athletic prospect.
Ahead of the 2023 season, he transferred to Montana where he broke out in a larger role. He was the team leader in both sacks (8.5) and tackles for loss (15). Wilson ranked first in the Big Sky Conference in both TFLs and solo TFLs (13). He was named Second Team All-Big Sky.
Lampe was injured on the first day of Training Camp and spent the entire season on IR.
On Friday, the day before Training Camp was to start, the Patriots announced the following Transaction: Per Patriots.com, the “New England Patriots announced today the signing of rookie free agent TE Jeremiah Franklin from Boston College. The Patriots also placed rookie WR Jimmy Kibble on injured reserve.
Franklin, 22, played in 41 games during his four seasons at Boston College (2022-25) and finished with 93 receptions for 1,010 yards and 6 touchdowns. The 6-foot-3, 245-pounder, started all 12 games as a senior in 2025 and recorded 49 receptions for 506 yards and 2 touchdowns. He is ranked fifth all-time among Boston College tight ends in receptions.”
Kibble, 22, was originally signed by New England as a rookie free agent out of Georgetown on May 8, 2026. The 6-foot-1, 199-pounder, played in 39 games during his college career and finished with 149 receptions for 2,642 yards and 16 touchdowns.
The signing of Franklin was rumored on Thursday without any Official confirmation by the Patriots. The reason may have been the confusion surrounding Kibble. It was first reported that he had been waived. That is correct, but with an injury designation. When a rookie is hurt and a team wants to keep them on IR, they can’t just put them on IR. They must waive them with an injury designation, and if unclaimed, then the player reverts to IR. The other option is to reach a financial arrangement and essentially buy them out of the contract. This usually doesn’t occur unless the player is healthy again.
Former Patriots OT Jordan Devey Passes Away at 38
Devey appeared in 44 career games (21 starts) for five teams over seven seasons. He played in seven regular-season games for the Patriots when they won the Super Bowl in the 2014 season and 15 games with nine starts for the San Francisco 49ers the following year. He retired in 2021 after playing one game for the Buffalo Bills in 2020.
His family believed he was suffering from CTE brain damage that occurs in many Football Players, at all levels. This cannot be confirmed because they won’t be able to test for the neurodegenerative disease based on the way Devey died. Devey committed suicide. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family Linsey Devey, and their four children. Fundraiser for Linsey Devey by Megan Stenquist : Support for the Devey Family During Tragedy
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Merrimack Valley native and lifelong fan of the New England Patriots. My earliest memories of the Patriots were attending as a child with my dad, the off-season practice at Phillips Academy. I was at the Patriots game at Harvard Stadium in 1970 where Bob “Harpo” Gladieux was called out of the stands by the stadium announcer over the PA to play in the game. Analyzing the draft since ESPN first started to televise it in 1980 and former writer for the Lowell Sun Newspaper.
