Thursday was one of the more interesting days of practice, and some early themes are starting to emerge for this edition of the Pats.
First, the good:
The young wide receivers, now reinforced by the return of Edelman, look strong. Amendola is the clear #1, but behind him are three rookies who have all consistently flashed in the first week of camp.
No major injuries yet, when ACLs have been popping off around the league. Fingers crossed it continues.
Looks like I need to get on the Chandler Jones bandwagon. I’ll admit I had concerns about a sophomore slump, but so far he’s proved me wrong.
Edge rushers. Marcus Benard seems to be emerging as the favorite for the DPR role. But will he be the third DE in to sub Ninkovich or Jones?
Now the bad. Unfortunately.:
Everyone was penciling in Jake Ballard but he’s still limping around out there. Unless he gets healthy quickly it looks like we’ll seeing plenty of Hoomanawanui and Fells. And maybe Jake Sudfeld.
Similarly, Armond Armstead seemed a lock as the third defensive tackle, but is now gone indefinitely as he recovers from surgery for an infection. Marcus Forston could be playing significant snaps this year.
Greg Bedard observed that there no clear cut favorite at starter next to McCourty at safety. Bedard said that Adrian Wilson has issues in coverage and could possibly be headed to the dime linebacker role. Duron Harmon got a chance with the starters on Thursday. This will be an interesting battle to monitor in the games. They could really use Tavon Wilson to step up.