Quick Takes On The Patriots Wednesday Mini-camp Practice
The Patriots conducted their second practice of mini-camp under hot, humid conditions at Foxboro. (SBalestrieri photo)
The Patriots conducted their second mini-camp practice under hot, humid conditions at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro.
Among the missing were Aaron Dobson, Alfonzo Dennard, Dominique Easley and Armond Armstead.
There were a group of players in the practice bubble. Among them Ryan Mallett who was spotted in a knee brace. However, Rob Gronkowski and Matthew Slater were running the hills at the rear of the practice fields with a member of the training staff and were working hard from the limited vantage point we had.
Josh Boyce spent the entire session on the sidelines. We didn’t witness his getting hurt so it may have been a leftover from yesterday’s session.
Garappolo Uneven: Rookie quarterback Jimmy Garappolo had a bit of a rough day. Our friend Erik Frenz from Boston.com was unofficially charting throws and had him a combined 9-19 on the day. While a couple of his throws were off the mark, he had a few receivers drop very catchable balls.
There were a couple of instances where he seemed to hang onto the ball too long but his release is crisp and he did make some really nice throws. He did hit a beauty down the seam to James Devlin in the red zone and a really nice deep ball to Reese Wiggins over Shamiel Gray. As well as a deep seam pattern to Justin Jones.
Speaking of Wiggins…he and CB Malcolm Butler had to be separated after a brief dustup. A little bit of tempers flaring in the competitive setting is a good thing.
No Revis: While it was hard to recognize players on the field with no numbers, it seemed that Darrelle Revis was a no-show. But trying to read a one inch number on the back of a player’s helmet across a football field isn’t easy. Bill Belichick declined to answer that after practice so one assumes he has been nicked up in some way.
Thompkins/Brady Shine: Kenbrell Thompkins had a very solid day. He was making some very tough catches all over the field, but the play of the day had to be his fade catch in the end zone over the outstretched arm of Brandon Browner. Tom Brady threw it perfectly with really nice touch.
Brady also had a really nice completion deep down the right seam to Michael Hoomanawanui over Jerod Mayo in coverage. Brady as always was very competitive and spoke to the media afterwards and scoffed at reports his play was in decline. He also praised the leadership of Jimmy Garappolo. Seemed to be a bit of a flashback for Brady, as at this time last year he was answering questions about quarterback Tim Tebow.
Keep An Eye on Swanson: After practice, we had a chance to chat with ESPN Boston’s Mike Reiss. Reiss mentioned a couple of plays made in the secondary by UDFA Daxton Swanson who spent time on the Niners practice squad. Reiss had mentioned Swanson prior to Wednesday as a player that had made some plays and he again was very active in the secondary. Swanson had two interceptions and defensed a couple of others. Reiss was correct in saying that at a minimum he’s not doing anything to hurt his chances moving forward.
Two things that stand out are the size of cornerback Brandon Browner and defensive lineman Tommy Kelly. Browner literally towers over the other corners and it is easy to see why he’s so effective at playing physical at the line of scrimmage. Kelly, whom we spoke to after the second session of training camp in 2013 has the wingspan of a condor. He was easily visible anywhere on the field and seems to be healthy and ready to go.
Besides Brady and Belichick, defensive end Will Smith, wide receiver Kenbrell Thompkins and defensive lineman Joe Vellano spoke at length with the assembled media after practice. We’ll have more on those interviews later today.
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