The New England Patriots dialed back the tempo on Day 2 of their mandatory minicamp. Wednesday’s session on the fields behind Gillette Stadium took place at a walkthrough speed and featured no real competitive sessions worth obsessing over.
Naturally, our performances of note list also looks a bit different compared to Tuesday’s. For a more comprehensive recap of the session, meanwhile, please make sure to visit our Patriots minicamp notebook.
Standout of the day
N/A: Given the nature of Wednesday’s session, no single
player was in a position to stand out relative to his peers. That is why we are leaving this section empty. The pace should be picked up again on Thursday, though, which means that we will be on the lookout again for a standout performer.
Other performances of note
WR A.J. Brown: They didn’t get a ton of opportunities to connect considering the circumstances, but Drake Maye and A.J. Brown still continued building their chemistry on Wednesday. The QB-WR tandem connected on several passes, with Maye seemingly making it a point of emphasis to get his newest target involved as much as possible. Brown, who wore Matthew Judon-like red sleeves, also lined up in multiple spots again when the Patriots went through different personnel packages.
OT Caleb Lomu: With the team closely monitoring Morgan Moses’ workload and effectively holding the veteran out of minicamp, first-round rookie Caleb Lomu again repped as the first-team right tackle. When the second-stringers took the field, he moved back to his college position on the left side — a level of versatility head coach Mike Vrabel praised before the session. Lomu didn’t really do anything particularly noteworthy, but his usage the last two days makes it clear there probably won’t be much of a competition for the swing tackle job this summer.
CB Christian Gonzalez: The fact that the Patriots dialed back the intensity meant that their top cornerback was a full participant on Wednesday. While it would not be a surprise if he took a different approach again come Thursday — he sat out 11-on-11s during the first minicamp practice — it was still positive to see him handle a full workload in his second day back in action.
The Patriots will close out their mandatory minicamp and offseason workout program as a whole on Thursday. Pats Pulpit will again be at hand to provide wall-to-wall coverage.
