Tomorrow, the New England Patriots will host the New Orleans Saints to kick off their joint practice sessions. Consequently, today’s practice was the Patriots’ last solo practice until Sunday.
As has been the case for most of training camp, conditions were perfect. The players were wearing shells and shorts as today’s session was a non-contact practice that focused mostly on situational work.
Attendance
The list of players that did not practice looked as follows: RB Dion Lewis (PUP), WR Danny Amendola (PUP), TE Bryce Williams, OT Sebastian Vollmer (PUP), OG Tre’ Jackson (PUP), OG Jonathan Cooper, SS Nate Ebner.
Martin and Jackson were spotted but did not participate in the session, together with running backs Donald Brown and D.J. Foster and wide receiver Keshawn Martin. The other players listed above were not seen on the field.
Center Bryan Stork returned to practice as did linebacker Jonathan Freeny, who joined cornerback Logan Ryan as a wearer of a red non-contact jersey. Meanwhile, safety Duron Harmon shed his.
Injuries
Alan Branch had to walk off the field slowly after tweaking his leg. Fellow defensive tackle Frank Kearse also left practice early and was spotted with a cast on his hand after the session.
Offense
The quarterbacks performed as follows:
11-vs-11:
Tom Brady: 12 of 18
Jimmy Garoppolo: 15 of 22, 1 INT
Julian Edelman has made his first catch of this year’s training camp, catching an intermediate crosser by Garoppolo between cornerbacks Cyrus Jones and Justin Coleman. Edelman also caught an impressive fade from Brady over Coleman in the back corner of the endzone.
Garoppolo, as he did the last two sessions, struggled a bit today. He held the ball too long and made some questionable decisions – for example on his lone interception, a pass he threw into traffic.
Tyler Gaffney saw a lot of reps as the featured running back.
James White still struggles with the wheel route, as he dropped a perfectly thrown pass despite being wide open.
Stork, David Andrews, Joe Thuney, Josh Kline, Ted Karras and Kyler Kerbyson all worked on snapping the football prior to the session.
Stork returned to practice but did not take part in team portions.
Chris Hogan continues his very good training camp, making a highlight-reel one-handed catch, while neither Aaron Dobson nor Malcolm Mitchell were targeted by the quarterbacks today.
Both Brady and Garoppolo worked with wideout Nate Washington after the session; they also tried the bucket-drill again.
Defense
Kamu Grugier-Hill picked off Jimmy Garoppolo during 11-vs-11 work; a bad decision to throw the ball by the quarterback.
Jonathan Jones continues his active training camp with another pass deflection. Jamie Collins also had one.
Defensive tackle Markus Kuhn continues to see reps along the first-team defensive line.
Special teams
The punt returners were as follows: Julian Edelman, Chris Hogan, Cyrus Jones, Chris Harper, DeAndre Carter and V’Angelo Bentley.
Onside kick coverage was a focus of today’s situational work.