1. Something interesting caught our eye Thursday afternoon in the interview room at Gillette Stadium. Matthew Judon, who had spoken to reporters earlier in the day, went back in the room during Brandon Bolden’s press conference and stood off to the side. “I’m just here for moral support,” he said. While it seems minor, it’s an early indication that the 2021 Patriots are a close-knit group. It’s a rarity to see two players in the media room at the same time, especially one not even needing to be there. Adrian Phillips relayed the differences between last year and this year allow more bonds to be formed in the locker room. “It’s totally different between this year and last year,” he said. “Last year you had to deal with COVID and guys staying six feet apart and being in two separate locker rooms. But now you have everybody together. You’re able to talk to different sides of the ball and different position groups without having to just see them in passing because we couldn’t be around each other. Guys are getting closer. Conversations happen a lot more frequently and we can just talk about everything. It’s good to be able to know your teammates on a different level.” Yes, it’s not a huge deal, but more often than not teams that are close in the locker room carry that over to the field and it leads to more wins than losses.
2. Wide receiver Jakobi Meyers had a solid 2020 season and it seems like it could be even better in 2021 with Mac Jones at quarterback. What’s so different with Meyers now compared to two years ago as a rookie when he struggled to keep up with the offense? “He knows what he’s doing,” Meyers said Thursday. “That first year, I was just trying to survive, honestly. Just trying to make the roster every day. I would come in every day just feeling like it could be the day I lose my job. Now I’m a little bit, I wouldn’t wanna say comfortable, but I know what I’m doing, but I feel like I still got a lot to prove. I feel like I’m in a good spot and I’m exactly where I want to be.” The undrafted rookie figures to be the Patriots No. 1 receiver this year and get a ton of targets as he can line up both inside and outside.
3. Matt Patricia’s role may be even bigger than we imagined with the Patriots. In Cam Newton’s tell-all video released Friday, he said the former Lions head coach was in the room with Bill Belichick when they told him he was going to be released. Some said Patricia was going to help replace Ernie Adams, but Adams was never part of the process of releasing players. It’s unclear exactly what it means, just know that Patricia’s role with New England this year is bigger than maybe anyone imagined.
4. For the exact same reason why Newton was released from the Patriots, it’s unlikely he finds a job with another team as a backup. “It’s 100 percent right,” NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport said on Friday. “I was getting all these texts this morning from people wondering, ‘What does this mean for Cam’s career after these kind of comments? What team would sign him?’ He’s telling the truth. What do you want him to do? Everything Cam said is right. One of the reasons he got released — maybe the main reason he got released — by the Patriots is that when it’s time to hand the team over to a young quarterback, it is his. Essentially give him the team. You can’t do that if Cam Newton is looming, looking over his shoulder.” We’ll see what happens, but it’s hard to see him signing with a team any time soon.
5. With Nick Folk being elevated from the practice squad for Sunday’s game, it seems like the Patriots were worried about Quinn Nordin being exposed on waivers and that’s why he made the initial 53-man roster. The undrafted rookie will likely be transferred back to the practice squad in a week or two once all the other teams in the league figure out their kicking situations. Players can only be elevated from the practice squad twice over the course of the season.
6. With Jones being named the starting quarterback, it would not be a surprise to see the Patriots get some more primetime games. Right now, they only have three, but it wouldn’t be a shock to see a few flexed into Sunday Night Football. Cleveland in Week 10 and Tennessee in Week 12 jump out as possibilities.
7. Thursday night’s Buccaneers-Cowboys game only increased the hype for the Week 4 with Tom Brady returning to New England. The secondary ticket market has the cheapest ticket for the game at over $500. How expensive is that? The cheapest ticket for Sunday’s game — the first regular-season game at Gillette Stadium in more than a year — is just over $100.