Pats Posits: Monday Day Off Regroup

Finally, we’ve got a couple days off here without a bunch of new Patriots information coming at us fast and furious. Not that I’m complaining, but the first week-plus of camp is always a whirlwind of activity — finding out which guys might actually have a chance to contribute (hello Duke Dawson) and which guys we had far too high of expectations of (bye Jordan Matthews). A couple days to catch our breath and enjoy the old Randy Moss highlights has been nice.

The best news is that we get an actual preseason game this Thursday. Usually, these first preseason games are heavy on the mostly expendables, I wouldn’t be surprised if none of the key veterans took the field for any snaps. While this can be frustrating, it will also really give a chance to the lower end guys who are fighting for a roster spot to shine.

More than ever the sports talk radio points continue to chase their tail, trying like hell to get us concerned about the wide receiver position? Sometimes I’m just amazed at how little thought can go into these takes. Do they even watch practices? Do they pay attention to who comes and goes? It’s why I continue to just do my own thing, which is often way out of step with the narratives that the talking heads like to force down our throats.

Here are a bunch of regroup-y Posits as we get ready to see a Patriots football game this week.

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— You want something real to worry about? How about Marcus Cannon. Cannon has missed 14 games the last three seasons, including nine last year and has been in and out of practice twice already in a week-plus of training camp. We were hoping Cannon could return and lock down the right side like he did in 2016, when he was one of the best right tackles in the game, but now he appears headed to the injury management list for August. LaAdrian Waddle is a viable backup, and while Trent Brown has been excellent at left tackle so far in camp, the best offense would clearly feature Cannon and I’m starting to wonder if Cannon’s got a 16-game season in him.

— Left tackle was the biggest question surrounding the team and Brown has seamlessly fit into the role, which is a nice change even from last season when Nate Solder was in and out of practice all summer. I can’t say it enough, Brown is HUGE and he moves incredibly well for someone his size. I’m excited to see how the offense’s personality evolves with Brown.

— Here are the five players I’m most excited to see in game action Thursday:

1. Christian Sam — Sam looked more and more comfortable as training camp progressed, lining guys up, reacting quickly. He’s gotten some sub snaps with Dont’a Hightower, nothing that would lead me to believe he’s going to immediately play, but I think the Patriots know it as much as I do that all it would take is an injury to Dont’a Hightower or Kyle Van Noy and Sam would suddenly be thrown into a role on defense.
2. Riley McCarron — McCarron was the beneficiary of extra snaps after Matthews went down but I remain unconvinced he’s anything more than just a guy. How he (and Braxton Berrios) do in game action could determine if they have any shot at all at a roster spot, and that especially includes punt return duties where it’s near impossible to get a great read on how good guys are in practice.
3. Derek Rivers — Rivers would seem the fourth DE right now and he’s been okay, not really standing out good or bad in the snaps I’ve seen. As always, ACL recovery takes two years so we might not see the real Rivers until next season, but he has an inside job on a roster spot behind Trey Flowers, Wise and Clayborn. I am most curious to see if he has any pass rushing role. If not he might be a fringe gameday roster guy because I haven’t noticed him on any special teams. Seeing him in game action will give us a far better sense of what kind of player he is.
4. Vincent Valentine — Valentine really came on as a rookie before losing all of his second season. He’s a rotational guy behind the top trio of tackles now, but has a chance to carve out a roster spot with some extensive playing time in the preseason. Expect him to play a ton. He could be groomed to take the third tackle spot from Malcom Brown next season.
5. JC Jackson — Jackson has seen plenty of fringe roster snaps in training camp, going all the way back to OTAs when they threw him out there with the first team. Now we finally get to see the undrafted rookie in a game and I’d expect he’ll play most of the game along with Ryan Lewis and Jomal Wiltz.

— Disappointing news about Sony Michel getting his knee drained and likely putting him on the shelf for the preseason. On one hand it doesn’t matter a ton because the Pats have depth and competition with the rest of the backs healthy now. Both Jeremy Hill and Mike Gillislee look like NFL backs who can carry the rock, especially in September, which Gillislee did last year. So if you have to survive with Burkhead, White and Hill (my early favorite), they’ll be fine. But first-round picks with previous knee issues that pop up just a week into their first training camp do not give Patriots fans the warm and fuzzy feeling that’s for sure. All along I’ve just hoped Michel could progress and be a factor late in the season, and even this doesn’t really derail that.

— If/when Cyrus and Jonathan Jones return it could really shake up the slot corner spot, currently being held by Duke Dawson, as well as the punt return spot which feels like it has someone new trying out for it every day. I worried a lot about the punt return spot last season, but Amendola was able to avoid injury despite being forced to carry the load. Can Edelman do the same this year once he’s back? It’s a little scary and as much as Cyrus Jones has disappointed he’s still probably the second-best punt returner on the team. Jonathan was a really promising slot corner last year too. I think keeping at least one of them on PUP to start the season would be a good strategy to save some reinforcements for October once injuries usually start to mount.

— Lastly, if you haven’t checked them out yet I’ve started putting up video reports from my days at camp.