The New England Patriots were back to work on Monday following a weekend off. With the Indianapolis Colts coming to town on Tuesday for a joint practice, the Patriots just donned shells and worked the scout team before ending the day with some more competitive situational periods.
Here’s what went down throughout on the hot practice fields behind Gillette Stadium.
Attendance
Absent: DL Christian Barmore, CB Charles Woods, WR Kyle Dixon (new)
Limited: CB Carlton Davis, LS Julian Ashby
Returnee: WR Cameron Dorner,
FB Reggie Gilliam (rest)
PUP/NFI: ED Harold Landry III, S Brenden Schooler
Despite Mike Vrabel stating that Carlton Davis was expected to be out through this week, the cornerback returned to the practice field for the first time since suffering an injury on July 28. Davis returned in just a limited fashion and likely will keep that status for Tuesday’s joint practice.
New England remained with Christian Barmore and Charles Woods, while Kyle Dixon was a new absence after suffering an injury in Friday’s scrimmage. Fellow UDFA wide receiver Cameron Dorner did return.
Long snapper Julian Ashby was then limited as he deals with an ankle injury, which sparked the signing of Niko Lalos.
Takeaways
Offensive highlights: It was a day full of highlight reel catches from the Patriots wide receiving core — particularly in an end-of-practice hurry-up drill with 1:05 on the clock and the offense needing a touchdown. That started with Romeo Doubs high-pointing a goal line fade over Christian Gonzalez on third-down with just seconds remaining. Doubs also hauled in another back shoulder ball with Gonzalez in coverage during the day.
Doubs’ catch was quickly followed up by Efton Chism III, who went up-and-over Marcellas Dial Jr. in the corner of the end zone to haul in a touchdown from Tommy DeVito — a catch Chism seems to make on the regular. It was active day for Chism in general as the receiver caught seven combined passes in 7-on-7s and 11-on-11s, including one from Drake Maye as he continues to work in with the first-team offense.
DeVito kickstarted an early practice highlight as well, as the quarterback dropped a deep ball perfectly in the bucket to Kyle Williams, who tracked it nicely down the left sideline for an explosive gain. Williams, unfortunately, dropped a short target in the following period.
Lomu and the tackles: After mainly repping at right tackle throughout training camp, rookie first-round pick Caleb Lomu flipped back to his natural left tackle position on the second-string offensive line. That kicked Marcus Bryant back to the right side, although both players rotated in as the starting right tackle at times in place of Morgan Moses.
On the top unit, Will Campbell returned to being a full participant but still wore the arm brace on his left arm.
Defensive roles: With Christian Barmore and Charles Woods sidelined, a handful of defenders were elevated up the depth chart on Monday. Starting along the defensive line, Joshua Farmer, who has put together a strong camp to date, was first up next to Cory Durden and Milton Williams.
Back in the secondary, veteran cornerback Kindle Vildor started opposite of Christian Gonzalez. Vildor, who had two breakups on A.J. Brown during Friday’s scrimmage, was impressive again on Monday smothering Doubs on a deep target down the right sideline. Rookies Karon Prunty and Channing Canada (one pass breakup) would then work in behind Gonzalez and Vildor.
Other notes:
- Another impressive day for backup quarterback Tommy DeVito with a successful red zone and one-minute period after connecting on the deep ball with Kyle Williams.
- In his return, wide receiver Cameron Dorner caught a touchdown from Behren Morton.
- Rookie tight end Eli Raridon continues to be the top tight end behind Hunter Henry and often share the field with the veteran. On Monday, Raridon hauled in his two targets from Maye.
- Fellow tight end Jack Westover had three catches from DeVito and Morton in full-team periods.
- Gabe Jacas continues to mix in with the first-team offense, and was notable around the edge on one instance with the second unit flushing DeVito from the pocket.
- Rookie linebacker Khalil Jacobs had tight coverage on Lan Larison on a downfield wheel route to force an incompletion in the end zone.
- Before getting beat twice by Doubs, it was a lockdown day for Christian Gonzalez. He forced two incompletions while in coverage on A.J. Brown while breaking up a pass intended for Kayshon Boutte.
- Marcus Jones forced an incompletion in coverage on DeMario Douglas in the back corner of the end zone and also ran through untouched for a would-be sack in the hurry-up period.
- The Patriots will be back to work on Tuesday where they’ll face off against the Indianapolis Colts. Practice will start at 10:15 a.m. ET and Mike Vrabel will speak beforehand.
