It might still be “teaching time” for the Patriots this early in spring practice, but Tuesday’s practice might have been the closest thing to real competitive football as it gets without pads.
The defense got after the offense on the first day of mandatory minicamp, in particular, though the offense had several highlight plays to brag about.
On top of that, a few notable names returned to practice, including Matthew Judon and Isaiah Wynn — the latter of which had an interesting first day back in uniform.
Takeaways
-Attendance: almost perfect. Belichick also said before practice that all absences had been communicated to the team and therefore likely won’t be considered unexcused.
Kendrick Bourne was the biggest name not at practice. Byron Cowart, Andrew Stueber, Nick Folk, and Quinn Nordin also weren’t spotted.
Trent Brown was limited but did participate in team drills toward the end of practice. Jakobi Meyers, Marcus Jones (red non-contact jersey), and James White were among those who didn’t practice.
That, of course, means offensive lineman Isaiah Wynn and receiver N’Keal Harry were back on the field, though Hardy might as well not have practiced for as much as he contributed.
-Without pads on, it’s hard to put too much stock in what goes on in competitive drills. But one thing you can say is the defense brought a bit more intensity to Tuesday’s practice than their counterparts on offense.
The defensive line got pressure on Mac Jones and the quarterbacks regularly, with Christian Barmore getting credit for collapsing the pocket for a “sack” on one team rep.
The defensive backs also made several big plays. Jack Jones had a pass breakup and stood out with some physical press coverage, including one rep in which he nearly put Kristian Wilkerson on the turf at the line of scrimmage. Kyler Dugger had a diving effort that might have been an interception in a game, scooping the ball off the turf just like he did against the New York Jets last season. Terrance Mitchell raked a ball out of Nelson Agholor’s hands on the last play of practice for what would’ve been a fumble in love action.
The intensity and contact may have even been borderline for a spring practice, including Jonnu Smith getting taken down during a pass breakup and Matthew Judon getting undercut accidentally by Cole Strange as the rookie tackle dived to grab that end-of-practice fumble. Jalen Mills even took a swipe at Strange for the play, resulting in a brief scrum and coaches calling for the end of practice.
On the other hand, though, Tuesday seemed to represent a clear difference from the tenor of OTAs while not quite going into Chicago Bears territory.
-Whatever the defense did on Tuesday, though, Mac Jones was in command and on point.
At one point, he had completed at least 20 straight passes, including the play of the day: a perfect deep corner route to Tre Nixon against Jonathan Jones. The best part, aside from making a pinpoint throw from about 50 yards out, was that Mac Jones came back to Nixon late in his progression and felt the confidence to let it fly. Last year, he seemed to pass up deep shots if they weren't his first read and probably would've checked that ball down even in a non-padded practice.
The second-year quarterback also had a big play to DeVante Parker on a fade route against Jalen Mills, with Parker using that big frame to hold Mills off and then reach up over him for the catch. There was a beautiful corner route to Jonnu Smith who went up for a contested catch and nice touch passes over the middle to JJ Taylor and Damien Harris for chunk plays.
-Wynn immediately jumped back in with the starting lineup on Tuesday, but not at the position he’s known for. The fifth-year offensive lineman lined up exclusively at right tackle in his first spring practice rather than his typical left tackle.
Trent Brown and Yodny Cajuste rotated with each other at left tackle, and Justin Herron went back to his backup swing tackle role. (Herron did sub in primarily for Wynn during full team drills.)
Right now, file this under “bears watching” rather than “red alert.” It’s not uncommon to see offensive linemen shuffling spots in OTAs and minicamp even when starters are present. But it remains interesting that Brown has played left tackle in both of the practices media has observed so far.
On another note, the offense continues to drill outside runs and zone principles with some of their old-school concepts sprinkled in. Brown and company have been on the move a lot up front, and, as Jakob Johnson hinted, there’s been minimal (if any) fullback usage in spring practice.
-Tyquan Thornton has definitely had his fair of rookie moments, from needing to be reminded to use his arms during his route breaks last week to apparently running a route incorrectly on Tuesday. The latter issue led him to Eden a frustrated yell from quarterback Brian Hoyer, who was looking to throw to him on the play.
But all in all, there was much more good than bad from Thornton on Tuesday. The second-round pick was open underneath constantly and showed off his knack for fitting into throwing windows against zone. The Patriots also used him as a deep threat in play-action to open things up underneath, and his magnetic effect was obvious.
Even if his play package is fairly limited to start things off, a more streamlined offensive game-plan and a committed effort to utilizing his speed could make him plenty useful in his rookie season.
-If you wanted evidence of Matt Patricia taking the lead in the play-caller competition, you might have seen some on Tuesday. Maybe.
Whereas he only seemed to call run plays when Mac Jones would go to him durinf team drills in previous weeks, which led to him looking like more of a run-game coordinator in the process, he clearly took the lead role for a complete team offensive drill reading off run and pass plays. While there were times when Mac Jones and Brian Hoyer seemed to be operating the offensive on their own during that segment, there were others where Jones clearly went to Patricia alone.
However, Belichick took over as the main voice in the huddle during the offense’s final team segment, suggesting they’re still experimenting with different play-calling configurations. Judge still had a big hand in running 7-on-7 segments with Mac Jones and the quarterbacks while Patricia was working someplace else with the offensive linemen. Also, Patricia and Judge both called plays during opening walkthroughs with the first- and second-team offensive units, respectively.
Bottom line: this continues to be a work in progress.
Extra notes
-Thornton stood out as a punt gunner, forcing punt returners into fair catches on multiple occasions because of his speed. He also ran under a punt and got his hands on it in the air before it could go into the end zone, though he couldn’t catch it cleanly. Next time, though, he’ll need to remember to down the ball when it’s on the ground. Still, his involvement on special teams is a good sign.
-Speaking of special teams: punter Jake Bailey looked like his old self on Tuesday, bombing several punts with tremendous distance (55-plus yards at least) and precision right along the sideline. He also hit a shorter punt into the red zone that hung up in the air for nearly six seconds.
-At this point, Bill Belichick might just call his own number if the Patriots have any roster holes this year. Tuesday’s practice featured the 70-year-old coach running in motion as an H-back, dropping into coverage, and shotgun-snapping as a center on scout teams.
-Both Tre Nixon and Ty Montgomery have been making themselves available to quarterbacks in passing segments and look like they'll have strong chances to make the back end of the roster as special teamers/occasional pass-catchers.
