The Patriots were back on the practice field this morning for a lighter session after a day off yesterday. Here are the Tweets of Note from today.
A string of new players were added to the list of absentees from training today. It later turned out the Patriots had been affected by the false-positive COVID-19 tests connected to a New Jersey lab that hit multiple teams today.
Fingers crossed all of the new additions were just unlucky with a false positive, but even before the issue with tests today, the number of missing players was rather high. Some good news though, WR N’Keal Harry was back involved on the field, the team desperately need him to stay healthy and get a full season under his belt.
S Adrian Philips later arrived at camp as an observer, which indicates that he wasn’t involved in the false positive test issues.
RB’s Sony Michel and Lamar Miller remain on the PUP/active list.
For the Damien Harris fans out there, you’ll be pleased to hear that on top of what has already been a productive camp for the second-year RB, he was only 1 of 2 present in his position today, enabling him to get more reps. The more reps Harris gets will greatly improve his chances to be involved in the running game this year.
More unsettling news regarding rookie K Justin Rohrwasser, after a few days without the media being able to see him kick, he finally got back to it today, and it, well, it wasn’t great.
I fear this may be the beginning of the end for his time in New England, with the reports that K Nick Folk is going to re-sign with the team tomorrow, I can’t see a way where Rohrwasser wins the job with the time remaining.
I’ll be watching this develop closely over the next few days.
For the first time, the race for the starting QB job has a new leader, Cam Newton. Newton and Hoyer took most of the reps today with Stidham not getting involved much at all.
Jeff Howe also noted that Newton’s 39 throws today in team drills was the most he’d recorded in a practice session since 2016.
The increased interaction and bonding between Cam and the offensive players is also a sign of him becoming more comfortable with the team. Mike Reiss also noted the comfort level between Newton and Edelman is also growing. If he wins the job, being on the same level as the team’s main receiver is vital.
Some more good news coming from the defensive side of the ball, Wise making some plays today, not overly surprising, but exciting nonetheless to see what he brings in his fourth year with the team.
More Tweets of Note tomorrow, where I expect the team will be back in pads taking it up another level to begin the week.