After one day without an audience, the New England Patriots returned to the fields behind Gillette Stadium on Tuesday for their ninth practice of training camp. The fans were treated to an entertaining session.
To recap it, please visit our Patriots training camp notebook. In the meantime, here is who caught our eye during the two-hour session.
Standout of the day
The deep passing game: Kayshon Boutte, A.J. Brown and Mack Hollins, the biggest top-level receivers on New England’s roster, made several big plays on Tuesday.
Their stat lines show how involved they were: Boutte caught a team-leading five passes in team drills, followed by Brown and Hollins hauling in four receptions each.
Boutte did most of his damage against the second-string defense, and remains the factual WR4 behind Brown, Romeo Doubs and DeMario Douglas, but it is clear just how much trust both Drake Maye and Tommy DeVito have in him. He rewarded that trust with multiple downfield receptions on Tuesday — including in both QB’s two-minute drill situations.
The same was true for Hollins, whose most notable play was a deep sideline shot from DeVito for what would have been a 40-plus-yard touchdown in a true game setting. Overall, the veteran has been productive the last two days and continues to be a key target in select situations.
Brown, meanwhile, showed no signs of limitation from his dislocated thumb. In fact, the offseason trade pickup looked no less impressive than he had after suffering the injury on Monday. He did not have the same highlight-reel plays that Boutte and Hollins produced, but he still caught all four of his targets, including three on slants from Maye.
Other performances of note
RB Terrell Jennings: Outside of what was roughly a 15-yard run, Jennings did not have any true standout moments on Monday. What qualifies him for this here list is something else: in his second practice back from the non-football injury list, he was part of the top punt team and the first running back up with the second-stringers. This meant that he took the spot in the rotation previously held by Lan Larison, who himself remains ahead of Jam Miller. There is a long way to go still, but that appears to be the current pecking order in the team’s eyes.
ED Dre’Mont Jones and ED Elijah Ponder: New England’s top pass rush duo had a productive day on Tuesday. Dre’Mont Jones, who lined up all over the defensive line, registered a pair of would-be sacks and another pressure against Drake Maye, while Ponder brought consistent pressure from the edge as well and in addition broke up a Maye pass intended for Hunter Henry.
CB Channing Canada: The Patriots’ depth cornerback competition is one of the most intriguing on the roster, with nobody yet to truly elevate himself to earn a fifth and potential sixth spot behind Christian Gonzalez, Carlton Davis, Marcus Jones and Charles Woods. One of the issues is consistency, and Channing Canada fell victim to it on Tuesday. The undrafted free agent gave up big catches to both Mack Hollins and Kayshon Boutte as part of the second-string defense. Coming off a strong practice on Monday, it was a step back.
CB Kobee Minor: While he did give up a handful of catches including to Kayshon Boutte and A.J. Brown, Minor had a positive day overall Tuesday — a step in the right direction after a handful of challenging practices. He was competitive in coverage even on those receptions and also broke up a Behren Morton pass intended for Kyle Dixon. He later got his revenge on Boutte by forcing an incompletion on a curl route, and registered what would be a run stuff in a game situation. He also saw reps with the starter defense as well as the third-stringers.
K Andy Borregales: New England’s kicker continued his good training camp on Tuesday, splitting the uprights on all seven of his field goal attempts. He had five regular tries of up to 52 yards and later also a pair of “pressure” kicks in two-minute situations — one from 49 and the other from 54 yards. He was perfect on both and we now have the second-year kicker with 28 successful kicks this summer on 30 attempts.
Other players worth mentioning include linebackers Chad Muma and Khalil Jacobs. The former remains the third off-ball linebacker, while the latter appears to have overtaken veteran free agency pickup K.J. Britt in the race for the LB4 role. In front of them, second-year DT Joshua Farmer had arguably his most impactful practice of the summer.
The Patriots will hold their tenth practice of training camp on Wednesday, which is expected to be a walkthrough. Practice is scheduled to kick off at 10:00 a.m. ET.
