It was a dark, rainy morning at Patriots training camp, the team hitting the practice fields behind Gillette Stadium for the eighth time this summer, just the second workout in full pads.
It was an opportunity for Bill Belichick’s players to get accustomed to the bad weather that’s a pretty regular occurrence in New England, especially rookie-first round quarterback Mac Jones.
To say Jones took advantage of his chances would be an understatement. The No. 15 overall pick shined in the dreary weather.
Again getting increased reps -- following Cam Newton in 11-on-11 drills with the first unit taking reps and then remaining on the field when the next unit came on – Jones was impressive in his accuracy, decision making and execution of the offense in some pretty poor conditions.
Jones has actually gotten extended reps, nearly double what Newton has gotten, in each of the last two practices. And the rookie seems to be growing more comfortable and productive with what’s being thrown at him by the day. Thursday, that included his execution of a no-huddle, up-tempo drive with the second unit in 11-on-11 action that moved right down the field, even if the drill seemed to be at a slightly lesser tempo.
Despite the rain and wet-ball conditions that appeared to affect his teammates at times, Jones threw the ball extremely well throughout the two-plus-hour session. On two separate occasions Jones took more than a dozen straight reps, displaying obvious energy and leadership throughout. He mixed up short throws to the running backs, intermediate connections with the tight ends and receivers and occasional plays down the field.
It was, without a doubt, Jones’ best practice from start to finish of his young professional career. On the heels of his mostly-positive work from a day earlier, the young quarterback has now stacked productive days together as he continues to compete with Newton for the starting quarterback job in New England.
There is obviously a long way to go in the New England quarterback competition leading into the Sept. 12 opener against the Dolphins. But Jones is already showing he’s up to the challenge and the Patriots continue to throw a lot at the rookie to test his mettle early on in the process toward what Belichick expects will be a “hard decision.”
Beyond Jones’ extra reps and extra impressive day, here are one man’s observations from under an umbrella on the grassy hill at the end of the Patriots training camp practice fields:
--Those players not on the field for the eighth workout included Jarrett Stidham, Nick Folk, Devin Ross, Cody Davis, Stephon Gilmore, D’Angelo Ross, Dalton Keene, Raekwon McMillan, Chase Winovich, Christian Barmore, Akeem Spence, Cameron McGrone, Terez Hall, Ted Karras, Devin Asiasi and Byron Cowart.
It’s by far the largest absentee list of camp to date with Folk, Davis, Ross, Ross, McMillan and Barmore all new additions. Folk and Davis did not take part in conditioning work at the close of practice on Wednesday, instead doing ab work together. Barmore had his left foot area looked at and seemingly re-taped over the last couple practices before missing Thursday.
--A group of the absent players, including Folk, Karras, Winovich, Devin Ross and others, did some rehab work on the lower practice field during the rainy session. Devin Ross was the only one doing the work with helmet and pads on.
--Kyle Van Noy remains in a red, non-contact jersey that doesn’t really seem to limit the way he practices.
--There was a relatively small crowd of fans, not surprising given the very wet conditions.
--In early positional drills the defensive linemen worked on recovering fumbles, or at least batting the ball back inbounds.
--Newton arrived on the field without a hand warmer pouch on, but had a member of the equipment staff bring him one very early in practice.
Newton was the only of the four quarterbacks on the field to use the hand warmer pouch.
--N’Keal Harry, Kendrick Bourne and rookie Tre Nixon were the only receivers on the field without gloves on during the wet practice.
--Now-retired former Patriots safety Patrick Chung was on the field and saying hello to a number of former teammates during the latter part of the practice session.
--Harry had, for the most part, another impressive day of practice action. The former first-round pick has new strung three strong workouts together as he looks to carve out a bigger role for himself after his agent actually requested a trade this summer. Still a Patriot for now, Harry is practicing as well as he ever has.
--Punter Jake Bailey did a strange drill early in practice in which he stood near the sideline on 10-yard line and then worked on angled punts across the field toward the opposite upright on the goal posts. He actually nailed it a couple times and nearly all of his angled boots were pretty tight spirals. He also nearly nailed a couple members of the New England media relations staff with kicks as they stood on the sideline past the goal posts. The All-Pro came over to apologize afterwards. It’s also worth noting that while he was taking the snap for the angled short kicks, Bailey rubbed his helmet to seemingly get his hands as wet as possible before receiving the ball.
--The running backs were the group that appeared to be most affected trying to catch the ball in the rain. James White, Tyler Gaffney and rookie Rhamondre Stevenson all had really ugly drops in early drill work with the quarterbacks. White actually had an uncharacteristic drop while lined up wide in a team drill later in practice that drew the ire of veteran running backs coach Ivan Fears.
--With the pads on and allowing full hitting and blocking, there was once again a focus on the running game. That included a drill of half-line running plays in which essentially half an offensive line battled half a defensive front with the running back trying to find room to run. The drill actually seemed to create quite a bit of vocal competition, with both sides yelling loudly at various points. On one especially physical rep backup veteran offensive lineman Alex Redwood not only got thrown to the ground but also had his helmet knocked off his head.
--Stevenson may have a long way to go in many of the more mental, technical aspects of the running back position but he certainly shows upside with the ball in his hands. He has pretty quick lateral cuts for a back listed at nearly 250 pounds.
--There continues to be a ton of laps run by players serving some sort of penalty for in-practice infractions. Marcus Martin and Jonnu Smith both took laps during the half-line running game segment. There have been more penalty laps in this camp than ever before. Either the standard for a lap has been changed or things have been way too sloppy early on in camp.
--Midway through the practice there were 1-on-1s taking place on each of the fields. The offensive and defensive linemen battled on one field while the receivers and defensive backs went at it on the other.
--The wide receivers got the better of the defensive backs in nearly all the 1-on-1 reps. Kristian Wilkerson absolutely toasted J.C.
Jackson for an easy catch down the field from Jones on one rep. Nelson Agholor easily beat Jalen Mills for a touchdown from Jones on another.
--Special teams are always key for any Belichick team and can become a deciding factor in the competition for roster spots. With that in mind the first unit of the kickoff coverage team during a special teams segment included Adrian Phillips, Gunner Olsweski, Bourne, Kyle Dugger, Matthew Slater, Jonathan Jones, Myles Bryant, Rashod Berry, Joejuan Williams and Jistin Bethel.
--Bryant had an interesting practice. A couple days after getting run over by Stevenson, Bryant returned the favor with full tackles all the way to the ground of the big back on two different plays in 11-on-11 action on Thursday. A few different times, Bryant actually subbed in for both Devin McCourty and Dugger at the safety position as he appears to be building some position flexibility as a developmental defensive back to very much keep an eye on.
--J.J. Taylor and Marvin Hall alternated the scout kickoff returner reps during the special teams work.
--Martin continues to be the first guy rotating in for backup interior line reps. As we’ve seen Karras do this offseason, Martin took consecutive reps moving from right guard to center and then left guard. Likewise, as Justin Herron battles for the backup swing tackle role, he subbed in for Trent Brown and then Isaiah Wynn on consecutive reps.
--The focus at times in the running game once again displayed would-be lead back Damien Harris’ potential. The third-year runner looks like he may be even more explosive in his third NFL season and certainly is practicing with a lot of energy and effort this summer.
--While Jones had a great day throwing the ball, Newton did not. The veteran held onto the ball too long at times and had some really off-target throws in his relatively limited reps through the air.
--At one point, Belichick had a chat with Jones and put his hand on the young quarterback’s shoulder. Jones also spent a lot of time next to Josh McDaniels watching from behind when he wasn’t actually involved in plays/drills. He says he wants to be a sponge trying to soak up anything he can mentally and that’s evident on the practice field.
--All players worked on recovering loose balls during a quick drill at one point in the far end zone, even the quarterbacks diving to secure a wet ball on the turf.
--During the kickoff work, the quarterbacks were on the other field throwing passes to just two targets – tight ends Hunter Henry and Smith.
--Jones had a pretty throw to Henry down the right sideline. As has been the case most of the camp – and not surprising given the financial investment – the tight ends were frequent targets on Thursday.
--Rookie Ronnie Perkins left the field shaking his left hand/wrist at one point. He went to a knee on the sideline and was attended to by the training staff.
--The veteran safety Colbert left practice early and retreated to Gillette. He walked off the field with a staffer and showed no obvious sign of injury.
--Mills takes most of the cornerback reps opposite J.C.
Jackson in the backfield that also includes McCourty. Depending on what happens with Gilmore and his contract, it appears the versatile veteran free agent newcomer Mills could be a starting option on the outside at cornerback.
--Practice concluded with undrafted rookie Quinn Nordin handling the field goal attempts from various distances and hash marks.
--Given the bad weather, post-practice interviews were conducted via Zoom. Those players meeting with the media included Newton, Jones and Brian Hoyer, who saw less practice reps today than had been the case earlier in the week.
--New England will return to the practice field on Friday night, a session schedule to take place inside of Gillette Stadium.