Yesterday, the New England Patriots returned to practice after their day off and had an eventful fifth training camp session – one that saw two star players get ejected and two youngsters suffer injuries. And while the former did not happen today, the latter very much did.
Let's recap what happened during today's practice session (via our live news feed).
Attendance
Safety Duron Harmon returned to practice, leaving two active absentees in rookies Cody Hollister and - for the first time - Josh Augusta.
Harmon was one of the players working on a separate field. He was joined by Mike Gillislee, Danny Amendola, Malcolm Mitchell, David Jones and James O'Shaughnessy.
Dont'a Hightower and Alan Branch remain on PUP; Andrew Jelks on NFI.
Injuries
Core special teamer/part time wide receiver Matthew Slater walked off to the medical tent early in the session and did not return.
Wide receiver Chris Hogan appeared to be shaken up. Trainers looked at his knee and iced it up – and the second-year Patriot did not return to the session. Instead, he finished the day riding a stationary bike.
Furthermore, Julian Edelman also was quickly off to the sidelines after injuring his foot following a long pass completion. He did, however, return to practice quickly.
On top of all that starting center David Andrews was also slow to get up at one point but the training staff did not attend him and he returned to practice.
Offense
Per the Providence Journal's Mark Daniels, the quarterbacks performed as follows:
11-on-11s: Tom Brady 13/22, INT; Jimmy Garoppolo 10/13; Jacoby Brissett 6/9
After a sub-par practice yesterday, Jimmy Garoppolo looked better today in terms of accuracy, ball placement and rhythm.
Brady and Chris Hogan connected on a deep sideline pass. Eric Rowe, who was able to get his hands on some of those passes the past few sessions, was beaten by a hair. Hogan also called a long ball from Garoppolo at one point.
Julian Edelman and Stephon Gilmore once again had a heated one-on-one battle. As opposed to yesterday, however, they kept it clean today.
K.J. Maye, the newest member of the Patriots' receiving corps, made a spectacular catch in double coverage. Generally, with some of the top wideouts injured, the younger/less experienced players on the roster saw more chances.
With Mike Gillislee a virtual no-show, fellow free agency signing Rex Burkhead saw more practice reps alongside James White and Dion Lewis.
Ted Karras was able to get fellow second-year man Woodrow Hamilton to the ground in one-on-ones. Joe Thuney was solid when going against Trey Flowers.
Defense
Recently retired Rob Ninkovich was on the practice fields working as a quasi-coach with the front seven, particularly young guys like Deatrich Wise Jr. and Harvey Langi – two players projected to fill his void.
The aforementioned Wise Jr. once again saw snaps with the first-team defense, starting opposite Trey Flowers. Fellow rookie Harvey Langi did too and, at one point, Adam Butler.
Wise and fellow rookie defensive edge Derek Rivers took some extra reps following practice to work on their pass-rushing moves.
Jordan Richards, meanwhile, was given opportunities to play alongside Devin McCourty in the secondary – a group that also saw Jonathan Jones at slot cornerback (a role he has held throughout spring and camp so far).
Speaking of Jones, he had an endzone interception off Tom Brady (intended for Julian Edelman). Prior to that he also broke up a Brady pass attempt to Dwayne Allen.
One of the first-week standouts, undrafted rookie Kenny Moore II, registered a pass deflection intended to Julian Edelman.
With Stephon Gilmore back in the first team lineup, Cyrus Jones was again relegated to a backup role.
Fellow starting cornerback Malcolm Butler had one great one-on-one rep against offseason acquisition Brandin Cooks. Quarterback Jacoby Brissett did not even try to throw the football.
Lawrence Guy beat Shaq Mason during one-on-ones; Derek Rivers beat LaAdrian Waddle. Both plays would have resulted in sacks.
Special teams
Brandin Cooks, Will Likely, K.J. Maye and Cyrus Jones worked as the punt returners. Late during the session, Danny Amendola was also fielding kicks.
Cyrus Jones once again looked good fielding kicks – as he did all camp long after muffing one of the first kicks he fielded last week.
Ryan Allen looked good with his punt placement, placing multiple kicks inside the 5-yard line.
The Patriots will return to practice on tomorrow at 9:15 a.m. ET. Make sure to check out our training camp guide in case you want to visit the session.