FOXBOROUGH - Friday’s Patriots practice was by far the lightest of the week as the hour-and-a-half session was held without pads and appeared to be more of a teaching day ahead of the team’s off-day Saturday.
There were no full speed drills or even competitive 11-on-11 work, as it was a lot of installation for both units and full of teaching moments.
As for the quarterbacks, specifically Jarrett Stidham, the second-year player was definitely limited as he’s reportedly dealing with a hip injury. He was on the field, but didn’t do much besides a few throws early in the session with quarterback Brian Hoyer and then a few more check downs to running backs.
In terms of attendance, Stephon Gilmore, N’Keal Harry, Adrian Phillips, Sony Michel (PUP), Lamar Miller (PUP), D’Angelo Ross, Yodny Cajuste, Beau Allen, Derek Rovers and Tashawn Bower were all missing.
Ross is the only new one on this list.
Here are some observations from the session (which won’t be as long as usual based on the low-energy practice).
— Friday was a big teaching day as there were a lot of plays installed and fine-tuned on both sides of the ball with a lot of specific down-and-distance work getting done. Everything was held at half speed and often times players were taken aside by the coaches to go over things in more detail. Offensively, more plays seemed to be put in that we haven’t seen over the last several years with Tom Brady at quarterback and now having a player like Cam Newton.
— Despite the slower paced practice, Newton still brought the same energy and was the loudest player on the field from stretching right through the end. This is a trend and has seemed to have rubbed off on his teammates.
— As for Stidham, it’s clear he’s dealing with something to his lower body — reportedly a hip injury. He walked out to practice with a slight limp, threw some passes with Hoyer and then to a few running backs before shutting it down for the day. He watched all the slow-paced reps from behind the line of scrimmage. Afterwards, Josh McDaniels said he expects him to be “ready to roll” the next time the team takes the field, but that goes against NFL Media’s report of him not being 100 percent for several weeks. His situation is certainly worth paying attention to. If he will not be 100 percent for a few weeks then we will start to see things shift towards Newton getting starter reps.
— Julian Edelman bounced back from whatever was slowing him down Thursday as he was back to his usual self Friday, albeit competing against air. He was making his cuts with ease and also spent some time off to the side working with Newton during special teams drills. Also, for the first time this summer we saw him return a few punts.
— Undrafted rookie Jeff Thomas made a great catch early in the practice, but landed awkwardly on his leg. He got stretched out by the trainer and returned, but that could be worth watching in the coming days.
— Speaking of punts, Jake Bailey was able to showcase his monster leg as he kicked a ton. He was booming the ball as well as pinning the ball close to the goal-lone. One of his punts had to have traveled 60 yards in the air.
— For the fourth straight day we did not see rookie Justin Rohrwasser attempt any field goals.
— The Patriots will be off Saturday and likely back on the field Sunday. It seems like a scrimmage will be coming early next week given the no joint practices/preseason games.
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