Mark your calendars: Patriots announce the date of their first 2018 training camp practice

The next time we will see the New England Patriots’ players and coaches take the practice fields behind Gillette Stadium – including star players Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski, who sat out voluntary offseason workouts – will be when the team kicks off its 2018 training camp. Earlier today, the Patriots announced a starting date for this year’s camp: New England will hold its first session on Thursday, July 26.

Players will report to camp in the days leading up to it. While rookie players will arrive in Foxboro on Sunday, July 22, veterans will report three days later on Wednesday, July 25 (via NFL football communications vice president Michael Signora). All players will then go through medical checks and once cleared will hit the practice fields on July 26, likely at around 9:00 a.m. ET.

As usual, the session as well as other subsequent practices will be open to fans and reporters – and if judged by the last few years there will be plenty of people in attendance. In 2017, for example, the team opted to open the ramps at Gillette Stadium so that all of the more than 15,000 spectators could have a chance to watch the action.

New England will announce more dates over the next few weeks, so make sure to check Pats Pulpit for all the latest updates.