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Patriots Tweets Of Note: Training Camp Day 1

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Camp is back! This offseason has dragged along since the Draft in April, but finally, we have some football again. If you’re new here, Tweets Of Note breaks down Twitter posts of note from Pats reporters in attendance at Training Camp.

Mike D posted his obligatory training field photo early this morning, showcasing the beautiful weather over Foxborough for the first day of Training Camp.

Donning some new ‘BB’ shorts, Bill opened up his morning presser by confirming the day would be spent focusing on redzone work along with confirming that pads wouldn’t be worn until next Monday.

Not totally uncommon for the odd few players to try out on the opposite side of the ball early on in Camp, so something to watch as the days merge together on how Murray progresses on the offensive line.

Good start with no new absences for the first day, here’s hoping David Andrews, Jon Jones, Jabrill Peppers and others can get back on the field soon. Some questions still linger about James White and if he’ll be able to play a role at all this season.

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Where Are They Now? The 2019 Patriots Draft Class

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Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY Sports

Following the departure of former first-round pick N’Keal Harry on Tuesday, I’ve decided to take a look at what’s happened to every Patriots pick from the 2019 NFL Draft.

N’Keal Harry – First Round – Pick 32

N’Keal Harry was chosen with the final pick of the first round by the Patriots which led to much excitement and optimism in the fanbase. The excitement stemmed from the choice of a player in a key position to try and supplement Tom Brady’s desire to have weapons at his disposal.

Unfortunately, it was clear by the end of his second year with the team that he was not going to live up to his Draft position and drifted down the depth chart. Along with his lack of production and being prone to injury, the writing was on the wall for Harry and he was eventually traded last week to Chicago for a conditional seventh-round pick in the 2024 Draft.

In three seasons, Harry finished with 57 receptions – 598 Yards – 4 Touchdowns

Not that you need reminding, but the Pats took Harry above the following receivers in the class:

Deebo Samuel (R2/36) // A.J. Brown (R2/51) // Mecole Hardman (R2/56) // DK Metcalf (R2/64) // Diontae Johnson (R2/66) // Terry McLaurin (R3/76) // Hunter Renfrow (R5/149)
*Players in bold have been selected for the Pro Bowl

Joejuan Williams – Second Round – Pick 45

Joejuan Williams is another pick that has turned out to be a disappointment. Taken in the second round, the hope was for Williams to be a key contributor in the secondary, coming off a decent College career at Vanderbilt. In reality, he’s only been able to carve out a role on special teams and as a depth option at cornerback so far after three seasons in New England.

Like Harry, Williams could also be gone by the start of the 2022 season.

Chase Winovich – Third Round – Pick 77

Ah, what could have been.

Chase Winovich was an exciting pick out of Michigan and had a solid rookie year, recording 5.5 sacks and contributing on defense for a Patriots side that made it to a Wildcard matchup. His second year continued along the same lines, however, he managed to start 9/16 games, again recording 5.5 sacks, and looked to be establishing himself as a starter on defense.

Unfortunately, his third and final season on the team wasn’t great. Winovich didn’t manage to record a sack or start any of the limited 13 games he suited up for in a year that was hampered by injury and lack of favor with Bill Belichick.

Winovich was traded to Cleveland in exchange for LB Mack Wilson in March 2022.

Damien Harris – Third Round – Pick 87

After having a quiet rookie season that saw him touch the ball only four times, Harris became more involved in 2020, before taking the lead back role last year in 2021.

Harris is coming off a very productive campaign which saw him rush for 929 yards and 15 touchdowns during the regular season. With his rookie deal up at the end of this year, a decision will have to be made on his future.

With Rhamondre Stevenson on the roster and the Patriots taking two running backs in the 2022 Draft, it could be Harris’ final year in New England.

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Patriots trade WR N’Keal Harry to Chicago

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It was only a matter of time before N’Keal Harry moved on from the Patriots, and now, the chapter of the former first-round pick from 2019, is over.

The Pats acquire a seventh-rounder in 2024 for Harry, which is surprisingly more than I thought we would get for him, meaning I believed the team would probably release him at the beginning of camp. Harry gets an opportunity with a new team, and the Patriots begin the task of trimming down a busy WR room.

Unfortunately, he will be remembered as a bust who never reached anywhere near the expectations set by the franchise, towards the end he asked for a trade and the writing was on the wall for a good portion of time. Personally, I’m pretty sad it didn’t work out with Harry, I was present in November 2019 when he scored his first NFL touchdown against Dallas. It seems that really was the height of his Patriots career.

Patriots Tweets Of Note: Mini Camp 06/08/22

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Day 2 of Mini Camp is in the books and there was plenty of interesting reports from those lucky enough to be in attendance, so let’s check out today’s Tweets Of Note!

Mike D’s daily vantage point picture shows a gloomy look over the Foxboro practice fields.

Jack Jones has certainly been the standout of the rookie class so far, he was around the ball a lot today making plays. I also watched his press conference after and seems like a good kid who has matured since his distractions in college.

Love to see this up close sled work, the big boys putting the work in.

The Jones-Nixon connection continues, and Ernie Adams’ final pick of the 2021 Draft is beginning to create a frenzy from his early camp performances, this is for sure a partnership to watch.

A bigger brace on for Mac today, always something of note when any mobility supports are changed on a QB, but it didn’t seem to impact his throwing that’s for sure.

Another narrative that’s running wild is who will be calling plays for the offense this season, Patricia seems to be the front runner, as he continued to call team drills, but I have a feeling we won’t be finding out officially anytime soon.

Some noted attendees by Mark Daniels with nothing too major to reflect on. Kendrick Bourne did return today as expected.

More tomorrow!

Patriots Tweets Of Note: OTAs 06/07/22

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Tweets Of Note is back! I’ll be covering tweets from reporters present at all three OTA practices this week starting with what went down at today’s first mandatory session.

Mike D offers a great view from his vantage point today, covering the action for Patriots Unfiltered!

An interesting note by Mike Onwenu is that he’s been continuing to work at both guard and tackle during his time away, it could be a big year for him in the offensive front.

Bourne was one of the most notable absentees from today’s first mandatory session, although the consensus is that he’ll be back on the field in the coming days. I thought Harry may have sat out, but he was also there, but I think he’ll be traded by the start of Training Camp.

It will be interesting to see if this is a thing Mac keeps going throughout the summer, or if it’s more of an OTA pre-camp thing, but the extra work won’t hurt, and it sounded like he made some nice plays today. Expectations are tempered here, no pads, it’s not real football yet.

Some nice action shots on the Spanish Pats account!

A lot of reports mentioned this play from Jones to Nixon, the latter of which spent his rookie season on the practice squad.

An interesting bit from Bill’s presser today, I wonder if Cam Newton wished they would have done this when he was in New England?

Yes! A bit of aggression early on, involving this year’s first-round pick Cole Strange.

This is indeed new, something to watch as the summer rolls on, Wynn is heading into the final year of his contract, having really underwhelmed by my expectations in a Patriots uniform, I don’t really know what his season is shaping up to be. We’ll see.

More tomorrow, Go Pats!

Addition by Subtraction? A Pats recap by Clazzy Clare

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Credit: Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY Sports

Obviously, following the draft the Patriots have added to their roster with several of the draft selections already signing contracts, but is it the players who have left that’s of more significance?

(For a full draft recap see the great work from Tom Shaw-Mellors https://www.patspropaganda.com/patriots-2022-draft-recap/)

Going back aways the Patriots said bye bye to Chase Winovich for Mack Wilson — bit of addition by subtraction — kinda. Maybe just a like for like in regards to player talent, but time will tell. It would seem both guys needed a change of scenery so expectation may not be too high. 

Ted Karras and Shaq Mason — you know what, it’s still too fresh, I can’t talk about their departure from Foxborough just yet…

But the Patriots and the NFL, did poach a shining prospect in Drew Desjarlais, top offensive lineman from the CFL. They also added depth to the wide receiver room with DeVante Parker heading over from Miami. 

Terrence Mitchell, Jabrill Peppers, and Malcom Butler came over to put a bit of extra experience in the defence, with the Patriots not signing one linebacker in the draft. They picked up the UDFA DaMarcus Mitchell, who is noted as a DE, but did play in the linebacker position at Purdue, but it’s looking like all those year two chaps might have some time to shine in 2022. 

Jarrett Stidham recently joined the slew of participants on the bus to Las Vegas, catching up with the likes of Brandon Bolden and Jakob Johnson who departed New England as free agents. And whilst we are talking about it, other past Patriots have been drawn to the bright lights of Sin City and Josh McDaniels, with the Raiders signing Chandler Jones, Duron Harmon, Jacob Hollister, Tashawn Bower and Cre’van LeBlanc. Not to mention a stack of coach and personnel peeps too! 

And how can I forget, the release of the very versatile Devine Ozigbo, who was another casualty of the draft with running back being a double dip position. 

But you know what they did bring in !?!?!? A tight end!! Yeah okay, I’m not that excited by Matt Sokol really, yet, he hasn’t played many games in the NFL after being picked up as an UDFA by the Chargers in 2018, but he’s said to be a great blocker and we all know how much I like those! Probably a bit of a practice squad addition really, indicating it’s a good chance Troy Fumagali isn’t on his return stint to New England, but with the revolving door that is training camp, you never know. 

Whilst some fans wait to see if N’Keal Harry gets on the Vegas bus, or any other for that matter, some of us wonder if Devin Asiasi has a ticket out of Foxborough too. Some even believe Nelson Agholor could be another candidate for exit. Agholor did help the offence last year by drawing coverage, but there’s a possibility that role could be filled with the addition of the speedy receiver in the draft of Tyquan Thornton. I feel it’s a catch-22 situation, they spent a lot of cap on him to give up after just one year, but there’s the catch, spent a lot. So moving on from him could free up some cap. According the fantastic @patscap Miguel Benzan, releasing Nelson Agholor in 2022 could create $3.9M, trading him opens $8.9M and extending him (I know, I know that’s the opposite, but it’s for informational purposes!) $3.94M. 

It’s still all kinds of “ifs and butts and candy and nuts” right now, but the schedule is out and we have games on the calendar, it’s beginning to smell a lot like football!

Patriots 2022 Draft Recap

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Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Well the 2022 NFL Draft has been and gone, let’s take a look at every pick made by the Patriots!

Round 1 – Pick 29 – C/G Cole Strange (Chattanooga)

Many were surprised (me included) that the Patriots went with Strange, not so much the guard position itself, I just didn’t think the team would go with him in the first round. I think a defensive player such as Trent McDuffie, who was available before the Patriots traded down from 21, would have been a better pick in terms of value.

But, the pick was made and Strange will head into Training Camp with the expectation of being a day 1 starter for the franchise at the guard position.

Mike Reiss’ Bio:

Round 2 – Pick 50 – WR Tyquan Thornton (Baylor)

A speedy WR for the Patriots? YUP! The Pats traded up four spots to land the fastest wideout in the entire draft, taking Tyquan Thornton out of Baylor. I’m intrigued by this pick, Thornton has elite speed but comes with some questions about his catch/route run ability.

With good production last year, Thornton could become the go-to deep threat option, especially with Nelson Agholor’s contract up at the end of the 2022 season.

Mike Reiss’ Bio:

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