While another sporting event has taken center stage at Gillette Stadium, the New England Patriots are on to their summer break. The team of head coach Mike Vrabel wrapped up its mandatory minicamp on Thursday, and with the exception of its rookie class is now officially in vacation mode.
Before we do the same — there are only so many Patriots talking points available between now and training camp — let’s clean out the notebook from the week that was. Welcome to the latest edition of our Sunday Patriots Notes.
Weaponizing the mind
Drake Maye was one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL in 2025, but as the playoffs in particular showed there is still plenty of room for growth for the 23-year-old. In order to help him take those next steps in his second year in the Patriots’ new offense, the coaching staff is trying to push his limits and explore one area in particular.
“We’re trying to weaponize Drake’s mind,” said quarterbacks coach Ashton Grant, “and all the quarterback’s minds. As opposed to just being throwers of the football, we want them to be operators of the offense.”
Mandatory minicamp saw multiple examples of that in practice, with the Patriots oftentimes pushing the tempo on offense while also having Maye assess the defense and make calls on the line. Operational speed and decision making were both focal points for Grant and offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels.
“If we’re going to put the onus on the quarterback to have more responsibility, let’s practice giving him the freedom to have that responsibility, just to exercise those things,” Grant explained. “When you’re a quarterback, and when you’re on the ball, and you have somebody telling you what to do, it’s easy to operate. You can tone the thinking down a little bit, so to speak.
“But when you’re in charge of the operation, the communication, getting all of the other 10 guys on the same page, but you have no play call, then it’s pretty cool to see him start to calculate, ‘OK, what is the matchup? Do I think a pressure is coming? Do I have time to get the ball off? What play do I want to get to?’ For him to tune in, it gives him some ownership of the offense as well.”
Maye himself is welcoming the increased pressure that was added to his practice routine.
“It’s trying to be a play caller,” the MVP runner-up said. “It’s tough in this environment when they’ve got 18 seconds on the clock in practice and I’m trying to do a hard count and trying to get us in a play that we like. I think it’s awesome to challenge me and to push my limits of knowing the offense, knowing what play looks good against what the defense has up.
“The best thing that we’ve been trying to focus on is limiting negative plays. Negative plays in this league put you behind the chains, whether it’s in the red zone, in base downs, and just trying to stay ahead of the chains and knowing that it’s really on me to put us in good plays, get us out of bad plays and, stay ahead of the chains.”
Jersey sales
The Patriots have a future superstar at the quarterback position, and his commercial value reflects that: Maye ranked second among all NFL players during the 2025 season — i.e. from March 1, 2025 to February 28, 2026 — in merchandise sale. Only Bills quarterback Josh Allen out-performed New England’s young QB:
Maye soared an astonishing 30 spots compared to the previous year’s ranking, according to data released by the NFLPA. A big part of his ranking was jersey sales: no player in the NFL sold more jerseys than the Patriots’ No. 10 during that time frame, putting him ahead of Allen, Saquon Barkley, and Jaxon Smith-Njigba.
Running back leadership
Entering his sixth year in the NFL, Rhamondre Stevenson is the elder statesman in the Patriots’ running back room. The closest teammates in terms of experience is Terrell Jennings, who arrived three years after the former fourth-round draft choice.
Naturally, his experience puts Stevenson in a unique position among his peers — one he has willingly accepted, according to his coach.
“He does a great job of sharing his experiences through the years, from when he’s talking to the rookies about, ‘Hey, this is something that happened when I was a rookie and how I dealt with things,’ all the way through when we’re watching film and I’m making a correction,” said Patriots RB coach Tony Dews.
“He may say, ‘Hey, TreVeyon, on this I look at this or saw that, and this is why I did this.’ Or it may be I’m showing a route or something he did, and he may be able to then say, ‘Hey, Rhamondre, why’d you do that?’ and then he can explain to the room why he did something and maybe something that they hadn’t thought about or they hadn’t experienced. And so, they do it. And if they can take that and put that into their toolbox, and it helps them, great.”
Family games
Competition and chemistry are two of the pillars of Mike Vrabel’s system, and he is trying to push those buttons constantly in hopes of improving his team. One example is the introduction of some extra games every Wednesday in the offseason ranging from sled-pushing to escape room challenges.
“I think it’s great. It just brings extra competition to the building, which I think is a great idea,” said guard Alijah Vera-Tucker, who joined the Patriots from the Jets this offseason. “I guarantee you, not every team in this league is thinking about little things like that.”
One of those games took place in minicamp, with the team splitting in 13 teams of around seven players each, trying to out-perform the others in pushing sleds down the practice fields.
“Just group family sled pushes. Best family with the best time gets the most points,” explained Vera-Tucker. “All these competitions we have throughout the offseason, all the points add up. Obviously, you want to put on for your group and your family. So, good competition.”
Rookie tight end Eli Raridon said that it was his team that won the competition. Raridon was joined by fellow tight end Jack Westover as well as wide receiver Efton Chism, offensive tackle Marcus Bryant, defensive tackle Milton Williams and cornerback Kindle Vildor.
Henry helping Hill
The Patriots lost their nominal No. 2 tight end, Julian Hill, to a season-ending injury during organized team activities. While the team is trying to figure out how to replace him on the field — Jack Westover and Eli Raridon appeared to lead the charge in minicamp — his teammates want to make sure Hill gets through the ordeal as well as possible.
“I actually had a similar thing happen,” said fellow TE Hunter Henry. “My third year I got hurt in OTAs as well, it was a freak thing that put me out for a year. So, I’ve communicated that I’ve been through it and I’ve come out on the other side, obviously. Hopefully, I can just be there for him and be someone he can rely on through this rehab process and the coming-back process.”
Hill joined the Patriots on a three-year, $15 million free agency pact in March and was projected to serve as New England’s second option at the position alongside Henry. However, that plan will not be set into motion until 2027 now.
“It’s tough to lose a guy like that,” Henry said. “I really enjoyed being around Julian these past few months and getting to know him just as a guy. His locker was actually right next to mine, so I got to spend a lot of time with him day in and day out. What an unfortunate thing.”
Kick returner search
The Patriots’ special teams operation had a good 2025 season, but one big area where it was still lacking was the kickoff return game. The Patriots finished the regular season ranked only 19th in the NFL with an average of 25.5 yards per runback and nobody truly emerging as a viable long-term option particularly after Antonio Gibson’s season-ending ACL tear.
With Gibson since released, the Patriots are looking for a new returner to take over. According to special teams coordinator Jeremy Springer every wide receiver and running back on the roster is a candidate for the vacant role, because those positions are best suited to fill it under the league’s new kickoff rules.
“Definitely a guy that’s going to make every catch and is going to make really good decisions back there, and a guy that is going to go straight fast,” Springer said. “Not a lot of cuts. Not a lot of movements. Not a lot of reading. It’s one read and go.”
One player mentioned by Springer to possibly compete for the job was second-year wide receiver Kyle Williams.
Punter workout
The Patriots invited undrafted rookie free agent Devin Bale to their mandatory minicamp, and the former Arkansas punter participated in all three days of the event. That speaks for a certain level of interest, but at the moment the team is not signing Bale to a contract.
The circumstances could change at some point in the future, but as things currently stand fourth-year man Bryce Baringer will remain as New England’s lone punter heading toward training camp.
First big investment
First-round draft pick Caleb Lomu signed his rookie contract with the Patriots before minicamp, and promptly received a $10.2 million signing bonus as part of it. Despite his new-found wealth, the youngster did not go around to lavishly spend money. Instead, his first investment went into his hobby.
“I’m not really a guy who spends too much money,” he said. “One of the first thingsI got was just a new golf set. I’m big into golf. I love playing some golf, so I had to get some longer ones, kind of outgrew my old set. So, that was really the big purchase that I’ve made.”
Parting words
Before the Patriots left for their summer break, Mike Vrabel left them with a pretty simple message: don’t underestimate the importance of the next few weeks.
“Those weeks from the end of their time here until training camp are some of the most important days of the entire season. That is just what it is,” he recalled as his parting message for the team. “I think that it’s human nature to go harder and to compete. When you’re in a schedule and you’re next to guys that you are going to be competing with for spots or play time and everything that goes along with the NFL and the process, you work a little harder.
“They have to somehow either be around guys or other players that are doing the same thing and getting ready for the same thing they’re getting ready for, or they have to put themselves in the mindset of, “Hey, what was it like on Thursday when I lifted? The guy to my position was lifting and he was running or training.” That’s what they have to try to do. That’s the balance that we wage. Some of the guys that have come from college, they get a week off, and then they’re in their summer conditioning program on campus. This is just a little different, and we understand that. Those are important days that they maintain and be ready to go so that we can be ready to go in training camp.”
Week ahead
The Patriots’ offseason workout program was originally scheduled to extend into this coming week, but Mike Vrabel decided to cut it short by scrapping three OTA practices and moving mandatory minicamp up a week. This means that the veteran players are now already on their summer break while rookies will stay behind to finish up their developmental program.
At Pats Pulpit, meanwhile, we will tone things down a bit, too. That said, we will still provide you with daily coverage, including additional offseason wrap-up coverage, training camp previews, and our roster scouting report series. So, make sure to stay tuned.
