Pats Posits: Mini Camp Week

Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski will be back on the practice field at Gillette Stadium this week as the Patriots host their three-day mandatory minicamp.

After choosing to spend their optional OTA days training on their own, the critical eyes will be closely monitoring the two Patriot stars for any signs of rust. Yes, as Tom Brady winds down his career on his own terms he’ll be increasingly under the microscope, especially as he crosses 41 this summer.

At least the “Where in the World is Tom Brady” storylines will be dead for this week. (Instead, we’ll get a Brady-missed-a-pass and Gronk-had-a-drop WHAT DOES IT MEAN!?!?!-athon)

My actual football thoughts in the Posits.

• Seeing Dont’a Hightower, Derek Rivers and Harvey Langi back on defense has me excited. Obviously, without Hightower they were scrambling last season. Putting him back in his various defensive roles and getting the big plays he’s legendary for will have the biggest overall new impact on the 2018 Patriots. But Rivers and Langi are unknowns in positions of need. If just one of them joins Dietrich Wise, Adam Butler and Eric Lee   the Pats will have themselves some very good young depth in the front seven.
• Rivers appears to be playing on the left defensive side in the Ninkovich, hybrid role that Cassius Marsh hated so much. While I usually reserve judgment until two years removed from an ACL tear, Rivers could quickly find himself as a core rotational defensive end and pass rush specialist. He was known for a quick get-off in college, but does he have it back yet? Can he set the edge? We’ll see.
• I looked back at how they used Langi last preseason and it was mostly as a left strongside linebacker. He played a ton of preseason snaps, which I usually view as giving rapid experience with a significant role in mind. He was active and quick enough to negate some of his lack of size. At 6’2″ 250 pounds I wonder if we start to see him playing inside in a move similar to the one Tedy Bruschi made early in his career. Langi seems similarly instinctive and aggressive and was initially viewed as a middle linebacker prospect after playing multiple positions in college.
• Adam Butler was used as an active interior pass rusher as a rookie. But with the return of Vincent Valentine, along with Rivers and Langi, he’ll have his work cut out for him in training camp to win a roster spot again just being a pass rusher. His play as a base defensive end in preseason, when the playbook is very simplistic, could make or break him.
• If Butler’s a lock it could mean Valentine and Lawrence Guy would be going for one roster spot. Valentine really came on as a rookie, making a critical stop on the goalline in the AFC Championship. Guy stayed healthy and was solid in his first season as a starter. Would love to keep all three of them.
• Who will emerge as Julian Edelman is brought slowly back along? That’s the big question and we could get an early glimpse of who’s leading the way this week. Jordan Matthews is the guy to watch. A bigger, experienced slot receiver, Matthews would give the Pats’ offense a much different dynamic than the Edelman/Amendola, Welker/Branch versions. If there’s one thing I’d love to hear about this week it’s Brady connecting with Matthews early and often.
• The offensive line experiment will extend into training camp as the Pats continue to juggle guys up front. At this point, the only thing I’m sure of is the Andrews-Mason duo. Leaving Marcus Cannon at right tackle also seems pretty much a slam dunk. Joe Thuney‘s been injured, while LaAdrian Waddle, Isaiah Wynn and Trent Brown rotated through the left side of the line. I’m sticking with Wynn-Thuney-Andrews-Mason-Cannon in Week 1.
• With Malcolm Mitchell continuing to be injury-managed I think there’s a legitimate chance Kenny Britt or Phillip Dorsett sees a lot of snaps out of the gate. They’re very different players, with Dorsett’s speed and Britt’s size, both interesting dimensions that could open things up for Gronk and Edelman.