Especially in 7-on-7s when you can't be as physical as you'd like to be with receivers, Jalen Mills has gotten "got" a couple of times in Patriots training camp so far.
Friday, it was Mills getting beaten by DeVante Parker on a jump ball in the end zone that Parker was able to adjust to quicker than the cornerback was. The day before, Mac Jones and Parker got him on an impressive back-shoulder catch and throw on the first play of 7-on-7s.
But Mills, who's arguably the Patriots' most surefire starting cornerback at the moment, also had his share of good moments, too.
His tight coverage on Kendrick Bourne forced an incompletion on a touch throw from Jones into the end zone, and he swiped an errant throw from Jones, who had a miscommunication with intended receiver Jakobi Meyers, during team drills. Thursday, he broke up an end-zone slant route intended for Nelson Agholor at the goal line as well.
The now-seventh-year NFL veteran told "1st and Foxborough" those play-to-play battles are what practice is all about after Friday's practice. (For more of "1st and Foxborough's" conversation with Mills, click here.)
"All those guys across the ball, they're challenging me, they're challenging us," Mills said of the receivers after practice. "They all have different skill sets…having DeVante, who's 6-3, going against KB [Kendrick Bourne], who's a little shiftier, him and Kobi [Jakobi Meyers]. Nelly's [Nelson Agholor] a little faster., same with Tre [Nixon]. They're making practice really fun and competitive."
Mills, meanwhile, enters his second season with the Patriots in a much different position than when he first signed a four-year, $24 million free-agent contract with New England in 2021.
Back then, the team still had J.C. Jackson and Stephon Gilmore on the roster, and Mills was thought of as likely being a jack-of-all-trades player that could play safety or in the slot rather than outside, where he struggled with the Philadelphia Eagles early in his career.
But Gilmore's absence during his contract dispute with New England and subsequent trade opened the door for Mills to start as an outside corner, which he performed admirably at for much of the season. Though he's still ready to play anywhere he's needed, he said he's grown into his role going into his second season.
"Definitely comfortable, for sure," Mills said. "Just the terminology: being somewhere for so long and then coming here. We're a defense where you have to have smart guys on the field. There's a lot of communication going on…
"Just chasing consistency each and every day. Last year was last year. I've grown off of that year. Every day, I'm just trying to get better."
With a lot of question marks in the cornerback group and a few new young faces in the mix in rookies Marcus and Jack Jones, whom Mills praised for their study happens, the Patriots will very much need Mills to play at a solid level once again in 2022.
