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Mandatory minicamp started for the Patriots on Tuesday, finally giving us a glimpse of the full 2018 squad for the first time. While the teaching period continues, there was was still plenty to digest from the live practice tweets.
Let’s dive into what stood out most to me!
[Read more…] about Patriots Tweets of Note from Minicamp Practice #1
Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski will be back on the practice field at Gillette Stadium this week as the Patriots host their three-day mandatory minicamp.
After choosing to spend their optional OTA days training on their own, the critical eyes will be closely monitoring the two Patriot stars for any signs of rust. Yes, as Tom Brady winds down his career on his own terms he’ll be increasingly under the microscope, especially as he crosses 41 this summer.
At least the “Where in the World is Tom Brady” storylines will be dead for this week. (Instead, we’ll get a Brady-missed-a-pass and Gronk-had-a-drop WHAT DOES IT MEAN!?!?!-athon)
My actual football thoughts in the Posits.
After a quiet week, unless you like playing Where in the World is Tom Brady, the Patriots were back in action for the media on Thursday. These brief glimpses in on the team only give us a taste of the excitement to come in less than two months at training camp.
Per the usual disclaimers, don’t get too worked up about anyone playing anywhere at this point. Sometimes it’s just a temporary look at how players fit surrounded by starters than it is necessarily them actually being considered as a starter. This is still a teaching phase.
Here are the tweets of note that keep us going through the May-Jun post-draft void.
[Read more…] about Tweets of Note from Patriots 2nd OTA Week
The media was allowed to peek behind the curtain today, sadly I was not there and thus must rely on their accounts of what went down. First, credit to Doug Kyed for figuring out the riddle behind the rookie numbers.
Gotta credit @DougKyed for his Robert Langdon work figuring out #Patriots draft picks are wearing numbers in 50s in order of their selection. That’s how Etling got 58. Well done.
— Andy Hart (@JumboHart) May 22, 2018
Always have to love when Belichick devises a new coaching scheme to remind players that it’s a new year and all that matters is what you do now.
Let’s jump into what went on at practice!
The doldrums of the offseason will be a bit alleviated this week as the Patriots host (optional) off-season team activities. Tom Brady has followed through on his commitment to spend more time with his family this offseason and won’t report until the mandatory mini-camp next month.
Of course, there will be plenty of interesting things to pick up for those who are paying attention to the football part of the thing. But expect most of the chatter and debate to continue to revolve around Brady’s absence and what it all means.
Aside from Brady (and Gronk) not being in attendance, are 20 things that will be interesting to me:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gh9lf3f5IY0
The Patriots announced today that Matt Light had been selected over Mike Vrabel and Richard Seymour to be inducted into the team’s Hall of Fame. While I was a Mike Vrabel voter, Light getting in makes a ton of sense. Of the trio he was by far the fan favorite and when the fans are voting you had to know he had a good chance to get in this year.
Light was one of the hearts of the personality of the 2000-2011 Patriots teams. His tenure perfectly matched the Patriots first Super Bowl win, finishing with the loss in Super Bowl 46. In that time, the Patriots saw much turnover, but Light was a constant, setting the tone for the “bearded brothers” up front who protected the GOAT.
Welcome to #TheHall, @LightFoundation!
Matt Light announced as 2018 @Patriots Hall of Fame Inductee: https://t.co/VfpSkVpIlk pic.twitter.com/AAH6bWskVl
— The Hall at Patriot Place presented by Raytheon (@TheHall) May 16, 2018
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One of my favorite annual articles to write is the Patriots Rookie Eyeball Test, where I take an in-depth look (literally) at the newest players to join the team and break down their numbers, facemasks and general aura in a hard-hitting article. However this year things were made nearly impossible after the photos were released from rookie mini-camp.
First, no one is actually labeled on the Patriots.com pics and randomly, all of the players seem to have been given nonsense numbers. This is a new development, as Belchick used to have the team often without numbers at all to improve communication. The NFL put the kibosh on that a couple seasons ago. For what it’s worth, the official team roster still has all the rookie numbers as “N/A”.
Let’s take a quick dive into the minicamp photos and do the best I can to identify who is who, while I’m forced to wait for actual numbers for each player.
[Read more…] about Help. Who’s Who at Patriots Rookie MiniCamp?