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[I]t was hard not to notice the presence of rookie Dominique Easley, as well as veterans Tommy Kelly, Vince Wilfork and Will Smith all cutting and bursting in a series of footwork drills. All four — who are coming off season-ending injuries last year — appeared to be moving smoothly.
News in June doesn’t get much better than this…
Well, it’s the dead part of the offseason now so anything that can be made into news will be. Really not all that surprising. The tin foil hat crowd, who still think the Patriots are cheating their way to unprecedented win totals, will latch onto it, but in reality, it’s not that big of a deal.
Even yours truly has seen parts of the Jets defensive playbook. There are also plenty of old playbooks available online but it’s not the playbooks that win games. That is about execution. Always has been. Always will be.
Dominique Easley appeared at OTAs today and Jeff Howe of the Boston Herald got some video of it. Looks to like the ACL isn’t going to keep him back too long. Really can’t contain my excitement about what this guy could bring to the defense.
Pettine told a story of how, at Wes Welker’s wedding, Tom Brady bragged a little bit to Jets outside linebackers coach Mike Smith, who was Welker’s college roommate, that the Patriots may or may not have had possession of a couple Jets defensive playbooks. “It didn’t shock me because Rex would give them out like candy anyway,” Pettine says. “He gave one out to [Alabama coach Nick] Saban and I was like, ‘Don’t you know Saban and Bill [Belichick] are pretty good friends? I have a feeling it’s going to end up in New England.’”
Mike Pettine, Cleveland Browns coach, ready to unleash complex defense | The MMQB with Peter King
Good read from old friend Greg Bedard, with a few Pats mentions.
https://www.patspropaganda.com/pettine-told-a-story-of-how-at-wes-welkers/
On the field, one of the biggest surprises involved Jamie Collins. The linebacker, at one point, switched his blue defensive t-shirt for a gray offensive one and lined up with the offense. Tom Brady event through one pass his way.
“I asked if he felt a little smarter when he got in the offensive huddle,” Brady said. “And Vince [Wilfork] heard me and said, ‘Well, he’s definitely not as tough.’”
Interesting. Normally we don’t get much insight into unique personnel packages like this but Brady commented on it so it became fair game. Collins has great size and athleticism, though depth at tight end is razor-thin right now and this could just be a move to build emergency depth which we hopefully won’t need.
Still, we saw what Vrabel did as a goalline tight end. If Gronk is limited in the season we could see Collins grab a touchdown pass.
I still say Nate Solder will get at least one touchdown grab before he’s done.
https://www.patspropaganda.com/jamie-collins-patriots-blog-2/
The superstar of the summer, at least from this view, has been Kenbrell Tompkins. The wide receiver continued a strong run of practices Wednesday by beating Brandon Browner twice on the left sideline, then again in the end zone on a beautiful fade from Tom Brady. He then caught a back-shoulder pass down the right sideline. If anyone has benefitted from Aaron Dobson and Brandon LaFell being limited this summer, it’s certainly Thompkins.
New England Patriots minicamp observations: Kenbrell Thompkins shines | masslive.com
Thompkins was the talk of camp last year and he certainly made some good plays early last season, peaking with the game-winning touchdown catch against the Saints. But he faded down the stretch whether it was due to injuries or defenses starting to catch on to him. It was crazy to see an undrafted rookie come out and see significant snaps as the Pats X-receiver and now with a full year under his belt, it seems that Thompkins is thinking less and playing faster.
Was impressed by his ability to get off the line of scrimmage last year, but he left his feet a lot when making catches and also had a lot of drops. As he gets more comfortable I think we’ll see less of those kind of bad plays.
Dobson better be ready to bring it once his foot is healed.
Quarterback Tom Brady delivered two plays that stood out – a beautiful fade pass to receiver Kenbrell Thompkins on the left side of the end zone (cornerback Brandon Browner in coverage) in red-zone drills, and a sweet throw to tight end Michael Hoomanawanui up the right seam (linebacker Jerod Mayo in coverage). Brady, who turns 37 in August, looks like he’s on top of his game as those weren’t the only plays that made us take note.
https://www.patspropaganda.com/quarterback-tom-brady-delivered-two-plays-that/