With Saturday being an off-day for the Patriots, now's a good time for a quick reset on what we’ve seen so far over the first three days at training camp.
If you want a full recap from each practice, you can check out each of my notebooks below:
Day 1: Secondary shows out
Day 2: Offense bounces back
Day 3: Pass break-ups galore
It is, admittedly, a lot to take in. So if you'd prefer a quick hitter, here are three key takeaways from the first three days of #PatsCamp:
3 - Wide receiver is still a need, and the lack of production from Mike Gesicki is alarming.
As video comes out of Titans training camp of DeAndre Hopkins making highlight reel catches, the Patriots’ receivers are still struggling to get open. Sure, Thursday was a a decent day for the offense with JuJu Smith-Schuster showing off a bit of his worth, but overall, the defense has locked up New England’s pass catchers over a majority of the first three sessions.
The biggest eye-opener has been the lack of production from Mike Gesicki. The two players who’ve had an incredibly slow start to camp have been a) Tyquan Thorton and b) Gesicki. Thornton, however, has a built-in excuse.
He’s your prototypical deep threat. The reason the Patriots drafted him wasn't for his contested catch ability, it was for his 4.28 40-yard dash speed. When you’re working from the 20-yard line in, it’s impossible to get up to those RPMs.
Gesicki, however, was brought to New England to be a touchdown machine. The second coming of Rob Gronkowski in the end zone. Instead? He’s been virtually invisible.
Hopefully it’s as simple as ironing out the kinks, but it’s something to monitor moving forward if Mac Jones and the former Dolphin can’t get on the same page.
2 - The offense, while underwhelming, is at least under control by Bill O’Brien.
The Patriots offense hasn’t lived up to the hype. Like I said above, receivers are struggling to get open, and the lone playmaker has been Hunter Henry. A good sign, but it’s not enough.
The positive? Bill O’Brien has these guys under control. Something you can’t say Matt Patricia ever did last season. Here’s Gesicki on his first impressions of the offense so far:
“Definitely been disciplined,” The tight end explained. "Hasn’t been a lot of guys jumping offsides, hasn’t been a lot of guys, you know, lining up in the wrong spots or making mental errors, and I think that’s the biggest part… a lot of teams in the league will beat themselves so if we’re going to be one of the teams that’ll be disciplined and, you know, not be one of the teams that’s going to beat themselves, it will give you a much higher percentage chance of winning and I think that that’s what this place has prided themselves on for a long long time is being disciplined, being in the right spots, being where you’re supposed to be, and not beating yourself.”
A breath of fresh air compared to 2022.
One observation of mine that further proves that this offense is eons ahead of where they were a season ago was a simple mesh concept that O’Brien taught Jones, Gesicki, Henry, Smith-Schuster, Parker, Bourne, and Thornton on Thursday. The OC was teaching timing and spacing for when they want to run rub routes and picks near the goalline. A simple install drill, you would think, but it was something Patricia failed to implement last year.
The result? Teammates colliding with each other and getting injured. That won’t happen in 2023.
1 - The Patriots might have an immediate star in Christian Gonzalez.
Again, I want to preface this with the fact that they’ve done three days of strictly red zone work, but the Patriots have something in Christian Gonzalez.
Immediately slotting in as New England’s first cornerback on defense, the former Oregon Duck is as cool as the other side of the pillow, locking up fifth, sixth, and seventh-year NFL veterans with relative ease.
Don't get me wrong, the rookie hasn't been flawless, but his calm demeanor and quiet confidence shows that even if he does get beat, he'll flush it and move on to the next one.
The trickle-down effect of being able to plug Gonzo in on one side and workshop the other with the likes of Jonathan Jones, Marcus Jones, and Jack Jones has this room light years ahead of where it was a season ago.
Make sure to follow Mike on Twitter @mikekadlick, and follow @WEEI for the latest up-to-date Patriots and Boston sports news!
