Another great time getting a behind-the-scenes glimpse courtesy of the Patriots today. This will be my only time playing a real journalist this training camp but I still plan to hit up a few practices from the fan stands, where I’m more comfortable anyway and am still able to see just as much as from the sun-baked hill in front of the media tent.
Anyway, here’s a few things I left out from the video, while also expanding a bit on some of the five main takeaways.
— Berrios is stocky but reps are really limited for him right now.
— Patterson made another tough catch today, he’s making one per day now and earning trust. He’ll be a valuable player and the Pats are using him in a variety of ways on offense. He took some punts after practice and they were ugly.
— Brett Bielema is an active voice that stands out. I heard him often yelling coaching points to Jomal Wiltz for whatever that is worth. Wiltz did have a nice pass break up on Chris Hogan but has otherwise been quiet. Bielema’s presence is noticeable, especially to former Arkansas players like Trey Flowers and Dietrich Wise I’m sure.
— Lots of trickeration practice in this session and I’ve been sworn to secrecy but it was interesting to see all the options that they have with so much vertical and horizontal speed.
— Christian Sam has seen some fringe meaningful linebacker coverage snaps, pairing with Elandon Roberts behind the top nickel LB pair Hightower-Van Noy.
— I’ve got somewhat of a new perspective on the depth chart now, as you get to see who are the first team rotational guys and who are the second-teamers and then the thirds, mostly rookies. One guy I haven’t noticed much is Vincent Valentine, he’s outside the first team reps right now. JC Jackson, Duke Dawson are the rookie DBs seeing some rotation into the first team, as is Sony Michel on offense. Didn’t notice Wynn get any LT snaps for Brown today.
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