After spending their first 13 sessions of training camp competing again themselves, the New England Patriots are getting some company: the Indianapolis Colts are in town for one joint practice ahead of the two teams’ preseason opener on Thursday.
Here is everything you need to know about the session.
Schedule
Unlike Monday’s session, the joint practice with the Colts is open to fans. As usual, attendance and parking are free.
- 9:30 a.m. ET: Mike Vrabel press conference
- 10:15 a.m. ET: Joint practice with Colts
- ca. 12:15 p.m. ET: Player availability (QB Drake Maye, QB Tommy DeVito, WR Efton Chism III, WR Kyle Williams, OT Morgan Moses, S Dell Pettus)
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
Competition is the name of the game at training camp, but you can only get so much out of going up against the same players and scheme time and again. The Colts’ visit is therefore a welcome change for the Patriots: they will get to measure their progress against another team and get a first feel where they might be headed.
That is true both for the team overall and its individual players. Some, such as rookies Caleb Lomu, Gabe Jacas and Eli Raridon will get their first taste of real NFL competition. Others will get to see where they might still have room for growth. Needless to say, Tuesday’s practice will provide plenty of data points for the team to work with.
Injuries to monitor
PUP/NFI: ED Harold Landry III, S Brenden Schooler
DNP (8/10): DT Christian Barmore, CB Charles Woods, WR Kyle Dixon (new)
Even though five players were missing from Monday’s practice with two others — CB Carlton Davis, LS Julian Ashby — limited, the Patriots are in decent shape ahead of their joint session with the Colts. They nonetheless might try to limit the exposure for some players such as as tight end Hunter Henry or offensive linemen Alijah Vera-Tucker and Morgan Moses.
Players to watch
QB Drake Maye: The Patriots’ starting quarterback has looked good so far this summer, and is seemingly ready to pick up where he left off last season. Of course, Tuesday will be the most concrete confirmation of his progress yet. The Colts defense, headed by standouts such as DeForest Buckner, Arden Key and Sauce Gardner, is a solid unit in its own right. Whether it is better than New England’s can be debated, but it very much is different. That in itself brings a challenge for the third-year QB.
WR A.J. Brown: The high-prized offseason acquisition has looked as expected since joining New England via trade from the Eagles, and his battles with Christian Gonzalez have been entertaining. Now, however, Brown will get a chance to compete against the aforementioned Sauce Gardner and company, and to show for the first time that his underwhelming 2025 season in Philadelphia was a fluke.
LT Will Campbell and C Jared Wilson: The Patriots’ two youngest starting offensive linemen have had a solid start to their sophomore training camp, but now the first real test awaits. Going against a team with little reason to hold back, Campbell and Wilson need to be on their A-game to prove that they are indeed in the midst of making a sizable Year 2 jump.
ED Gabe Jacas: The second-round rookie has increased his workload steadily since returning from the non-football injury list, and the Patriots will need him to develop quickly given their questions along the edge as well as Harold Landry’s continued absence. Going against a different opponent for the first time in his career will help with this development, and help show just how ready for a prominent role Jacas truly is at this point.
CB Christian Gonzalez: Colts starting quarterback Daniel Jones is not expected to play on Thursday night, which means that most of the work this week might come on the practice field. If so, it will be interesting to see how actively he will target the Patriots’ No. 1 cornerback, and how he will look against a receiver corps that is missing its own No. 1, Alec Pierce. Gonzalez has been arguably the best player on the field this summer for New England and now will get a chance to continue his hot streak against another team.
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), Andrew Guindon (@NestPgs) and Taylor Kyles (@tkyles39) will bring you live updates from camp on their Twitter/X feeds, so please make sure to give them a follow.
