For the fourth straight day and eighth overall this summer, the New England Patriots
will take to the practice fields on Thursday. After starting the week with two sessions in full pads followed by another in shoulder pads and shorts, the team of head coach Mike Vrabel is going to take things a bit easier on Thursday: it’s walkthrough time.Here is everything else you need to know about today’s practice.
Schedule
The Patriots’ eighth training camp session will again take place on the practice fields behind
Gillette Stadium. As are most other sessions, it is open to the general public at no cost.
- 9:15 a.m. ET: Gates open
- 10:00 a.m. ET: Practice
- ca. 11:30 a.m. ET: Player availability (Drake Maye, Kyle Williams Efton Chism III, Austin Hooper, Morgan Moses, Parker Romo)
As always, the schedule is tentative and subject to change. For more information, please visit our Pats Pulpit Training Camp Guide.
Story of the day
As the Patriots are set to change the intensity of their practice on Thursday, we will change our focus. Instead of specific position groups and competition, our eyes will be on two closely-related things today: the depth chart and the participation.
The last walkthrough the team held last Friday gave a few clues about where certain players stand or might be headed. The expectation is that today’s session might provide similar insight, especially after three days of constant personnel shuffling in light of an ever-growing number of injuries.
Injuries to monitor
PUP: WR Mack Hollins, OT Vederian Lowe
DNP: CB Christian Gonzalez, C Garrett Bradbury, DT Joshua Farmer, LB Jahlani Tavai
Limited: CB Carlton Davis III, LB Harold Landry, DL Christian Barmore
Injured: RB Antonio Gibson, DE Keion White, OL Sidy Sow
The Patriots had a busy day on Wednesday, making six total roster moves including parting ways with three players not present at practice (RB Trayveon Williams, WR Demeer Blankumsee, OT Yasir Durant). Even with those no longer on the team, the list of those currently dealing with some ailments is significant.
The latest additions were Antonio Gibson, Keion White and Sidy Sow, who all exited Wednesday’s session for undisclosed reasons. Only Sow seemed to noticeably get banged up, but Gibson and White are definitely also players worth looking out for on Thursday.
Players to watch
RB TreVeyon Henderson: The last time the Patriots held a walkthrough, their second-round rookie did not see any meaningful action with the starting offense around quarterback Drake Maye. Will his usage change four practices and several full-speed starter-level reps later, or will the team continue to surround Maye mostly with veterans at the skill positions in a walkthrough setting?
OL Cole Strange: On Monday, Cole Strange was the Patriots’ starting left guard. By Wednesday, he had been relegated to second-string center behind Ben Brown (who himself was an injury replacement for Garrett Bradbury). Unless he manages to get back on track possibly starting Thursday, the clock might have started to tick when it comes to his roster outlook.
The DNPs: As noted above, the Patriots’ list of injuries grew significantly this week and now includes some of the team’s most important players. Tops among them is third-year cornerback Christian Gonzalez, who suffered a hamstring injury Tuesday. The expectation is that Gonzalez will not participate on Thursday, but he could very well be present again as a spectator. Others such as Christian Barmore and Carlton Davis might see their participation levels increase with the team shedding its pads for the day. Naturally, the three departees from Wednesday — Keion White, Antonio Gibson, Sidy Sow — also will be in the spotlight.
Pats Pulpit will have you covered throughout the day, so please make sure to regularly check back to patspulpit.com for all the latest news from camp. Credentialed Patriots beat writers Brian Hines (@iambrianhines) and Taylor Kyles (@tkyles39) will also bring you live updates on social media.
More from patspulpit.com:
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