It’s an annual summertime training camp tradition unlike any other.
Maybe that’s overselling it, but watching rookie Patriots dive on the muddy, wet turf to recover a fumble is a funny sight in New England most summers on the practice fields behind Gillette Stadium.
That’s exactly what took place Saturday morning at the start of the fourth practice of Patriots training camp.
Though it’s a longstanding tradition in Foxborough, the rookies weren’t exactly sure what to expect.
“Honestly, I thought - a few vets told me we had it today. I was like, like, 'what's that?' Honestly, it was fun. It was like a fun way to start off practice,” rookie LB Ronnie Perkins said. “Just having everybody joking around and shooting water at us and having us dive in the puddle. It was just real fun, to see everybody in high spirits right before we got to work.”
A discussion point among the rookies that met with the media after practice, seventh-round receiver Tre Nixon was proud to say he went 2-for-2 in his attempts to recover the wet ball in slippery, muddy conditions.
Though he’s now a professional football player in the business-first world of life as a Patriot, Perkins admitted the New England tradition had him feeling like a kid again.
“A little bit. With me -- I love slip-n-slides especially because me, I can't swim so all I did was stay on the slide so that kind of just took me back to my childhood, me doing a spin in the mud and everything,” Perkins said with a smile.
Beyond the fun, wet start to the workout, here are one man’s practice observations from the grassy hill alongside the practice fields:
--Those players not seen on the field for the fourth practice of Patriots training camp 2021 included QB Jarrett Stidham, CB Stephon Gilmore, TE Dalton Keene, EDGE Chase Winovich, LB Cameron McGrone, LB Terez Hall, S Joshuah Bledsoe, OL Ted Karras, TE Devin Asiasi and DL Byron Cowart.
--Karras limped off the field midway through Friday’s practice after appearing to get his left leg/knee rolled up on. He reportedly avoided major injury, but was not in the practice mix on Saturday.
--Special teams veteran Brandon King was on the field and took part in practice for the first time after opening camp on PUP. Early in practice he did a lot of drill work alongside Matthew Slater.
--After Bill Belichick had declared his absence excused and for personal reasons, second-year linebacker Anfernee Jennings was on the field for his first practice of training camp.
--LB Kyle Van Noy continues to practice in a red, non-contact jersey.
--The practice once again took place without pads.
--Patriots Vice President Jonathan Kraft was on the practice field and watched the bulk of the session from the sidelines.
--Cam Newton had another impressive practice, making a number of strong, accurate throws. The last two days the veteran has been arguably better than he was at any point during the spring OTAs and minicamp.
--Newton obviously brings an energy to the practice field. That’s been written about often and noted by his teammates dating back to last summer. The former MVP also is very interactive with the crowd, probably as much or more so than any player in New England over the last two decades of training camp at Gillette Stadium.
--Mac Jones had another up-and-down day. The rookie held on to the ball too long on too many plays for the second straight practice.
There were a couple reps in the red zone where he, to put it mildly, looked like a chicken with his head cut off bouncing around the pocket. Jones needs things to slow down a bit and get back to the decision making and timely throws that were more the norm in the spring. Even though he did have a rushing touchdown on a scramble in the practice, that’s not going to be a big part of his game.
--The Patriots have an All-Pro punt returner in Gunner Olszewski, something the third-year player humorously reminded everyone of during a post-practice press conference when a reporter mistakenly called him a Pro Bowler. But the team is also building depth in the return game. J.J. Taylor continues to get reps on kickoffs. Early punt return work included rookie Tre Nixon, Isaiah Zuber, veteran Marvin Hall and even Sony Michel.
--During positional drills early in practice the kickers took some onside kick reps.
--Jonnu Smith is making a nice early impact on the practice field. The free agent addition continues to show his run-after-catch ability.
That was most obvious on an early slip screen to the left side in team action in which he turned on the jets and broke down the sideline. Smith’s athleticism and run-after-catch potential is as advertised, at least in the environment of shorts-and-jerseys work to open camp.
--Smith also drew the attention of the crowd in the bleachers.
A pretty loud “Jon-nu Smi-th!” chant broke out at one point.
--While fans and media are focused on Newton and Jones, the third and fourth quarterbacks on the practice field got some decent reps on Saturday. For the second-straight day Hoyer was very much in the mix in most drills, while even Jake Dolegala got some rotational chances.
--After one 11-on-11 drill in the red zone, an area Belichick noted the team has been focusing on early in training camp, the entire defense did pushups. A day earlier in the drill it was the offense left to the old-school physical “punishment,” so apparently the unit fared a little better today.
--Nixon and Hall also joined Taylor in some kickoff return work.
--The usual line of Isaiah Wynn, Mike Onwenu, David Andrews, Shaq Mason and Trent Brown got their usual reps together. With frequent interior backup Karras missing the action though, there were some new faces working together on interior rotational reps between Wynn and Brown. That included, at one point, Alex Redmond at left guard, James Ferentz at center and Marcus Martin at right guard. Different combinations in practice reps and building depth/versatility has long been a hallmark of the offensive line in New England, especially in training camp.
--Didn’t see who the long arm was attached to, but Jones had another pass batted away at the line. That has been a relatively consistent occurrence for the rookie to open camp and even dating back to spring. Finding the passing lanes at the NFL level is key, even for a passer with relatively good height being listed (maybe generously) at 6-3.
--During one of his team red zone reps Hoyer let leash a celebratory fist-pump after a touchdown pass to Kristian Wilkerson. The veteran has said a number of times that he’s still competing on the field even with his likelihood of earning significant playing time fading and this kind of emotion shows he’s not just talking the talk.
--There were a number of times during the practice where Jones was down on one knee with Newton standing next to him, seemingly chatting with the young passer as they watched reps together.
--Newton did miss an open Jakobi Meyers in the end zone, slamming both his hands against his helmet in mild frustration.
--Shortly thereafter Newton connected with running back Damien Harris on a similar route in the right back corner of the end zone. The workhorse runner caught the ball with momentum running out of bounds and leaped over a nearby trash can as he celebrated the impressive score.
--As they’ve done in most practices dating back to the spring, the defensive backs wore pads similar to what boxing sparing partners wear during some team drills.
--One of Jones’ better throws of the day came when he slid in the pocket to the left and then simultaneously found Meyers in the left side of the end zone for the touchdown beating Jonathan Jones.
--The field goal team worked on run-on tries late in practice. From the side view it appeared both Nick Folk and Quinn Nordin hit their attempts.
--Speaking of Nordin, there is no doubt the undrafted rookie has a big, strong leg. He does have some inconsistency striking the ball, which is normal for young kickers. While it’s unlikely he would unseat Folk for the job out of camp, keeping him around as a developmental option would seem to make a lot of sense. That’s especially true given how poorly things went with last year’s fifth-round pick Justin Rohrwasser.
--Heading into an off-day on Sunday and with four sessions in the books, the team did not do conditioning runs to end the workout as had been the case prior days.
--They may be competing for carries, but the running backs have always been a tight knit group under position coach Ivan Fears. Harris yelled, “Yeah Sony!” as Michel stepped to the microphone for his post-practice press conference.
--Players meeting with the media after practice included Michel, Olszewski, Nixon, J.C. Jackson and Perkins.
--The Patriots will return to the training camp practice field on Monday morning.