I attended the Kevin Faulk Patriots Hall of Fame induction and ensuing practice inside Gillette Stadium to cover it for us here at Pats Propaganda. This was my second time attending one of these inductions (the first being for Tedy Bruschi in 2013), so I went in with certain expectations for the event, and they were all met.
The Krafts really do go all out to help the fans and important players in team history connect and pay tribute to each other. They are model ownership, and other franchises should really take note. The red carpet, players from every era of Patriots football (the earliest players this time were from 1966), cheerleaders carrying out every Super Bowl trophy wearing white gloves ala Philip Pritchard (the keeper of the Stanley Cup), gun salutes from the minutemen, Bob Kraft himself presenting the players and putting the red jacket on them. Both this occasion and the Bruschi induction had fans spilling out as far as there was a viewpoint in all directions. Just a great environment.
Kevin’s speech was very direct, paying tribute to everyone in his life that helped him along the way…friends, families, teammates, coaches, ownership, etc. Not much in the way of stories from him, which seemed to be very fitting based on everyone else’s testaments to him during the ceremony.
After the speech, Bill Belichick came out and said some nice things about Kevin. Belichick rarely gets too candid or passionate about anything, so it’s great to see when it does happen, as it did here.
Following Belichick’s tribute to Kevin, there was a bit of a quick story time with other players that played alongside him. One of the striking things was that most of the other players on stage with him were defensive players, as they actually all worked against each other in practice every day and helped make each other great at what they did, and all constantly paid tribute to each other’s roles in drills, whether it was pass protection (Bruschi), or pass coverage (Willie McGinest and Ty Law). Patrick Pass was up there as well and discussed learning from Kevin. Ty Law also told a story about Kevin’s rookie year involving a little bit of hazing, in which the two of them and a few other players were at a bar doing copious amounts of shots, though Kevin wasn’t aware that he was the only one actually drinking liquor, everyone else had shots of water. Funny stuff.
Tom Brady showed up in a Faulk jersey and spoke as well! First time he has visibly been a part of any of these inductions, you could tell they had a great relationship.
Following the ceremony, there was practice inside of Gillette Stadium.
Here are some quick notes from my observations there:
-It was all helmets and shoulder pads, so there wasn’t much in the way of contact, but a lot of passing in 11 on 11s still occurred.
-Gronk. Gronk. Gronk. Seriously, Gronk. I’ve seen him in camp for many years now. This is the best and fastest I’ve ever seen him look (and it’s not even close). If the Patriots chose to run their offense in a way to make it happen and everyone stayed in good health, he could go for 2500 yards this year. Obviously, they won’t run it that way…rest of the NFL: you could be in some serious trouble.
-The Patriots appear to have three legitimate quarterbacks on the roster. Jacoby Brissett was exclusively working with guys that are likely to be fringe players, but his accuracy, delivery, and decision making looked like he is built for NFL success. Jimmy Garoppolo no longer has the throwing form of Uncle Rico, but lost nothing on his quick delivery or accuracy with the change. Tom Brady is Tom Brady.
-Among the standout guys working with Jacoby Brissett’s group in 11 on 11s were fellow rookies Malcolm Mitchell, DJ Foster, and Devin Lucien. Darryl Roberts was over there as well on defense. I couldn’t really get a good look at Kamu Grugier-Hill because of where he lined up most of the time, but other reports were that he looked solid on that end. I think some of those guys were over there to get in reps instead of rotate or to keep building playbook knowledge.
-The closest comparison I can make for Malcolm Mitchell that most people could gravitate to is when you’re playing varsity football, and see the first couple freshman practices of the year, and see that one guy that stands out so much that you think “oh wow, he might get some varsity snaps this year”. He was clearly the best player in that whole group. He needs to work on his sideline awareness (a few one-foot-in grabs), but his routes were tight, he was very quick, he went after the ball, and his hands were like glue.
-DJ Foster was lining up all over the place, more than any other runningback on either end of the field. Slot, split out wide, behind the quarterback under center, next to the quarterback in shotgun. He was running swings, screens, and wheel routes from behind the line, and gos, slants, and Z-outs when on the line. He could be the real deal if he’s a solid ball carrier as well. He and Darryl Roberts had great battles whenever lined up across from each other, but Foster was torching everyone else that was put on him.
-I said very nice things about my expectations for Devin Lucien last week. I’m going to simply say that I hope he’s somebody that shows up big time in games, because I wasn’t incredibly impressed by him in practice, unfortunately.
-As far as the bigger named talent and the people with them go, Jamie Collins looked strong in coverage, particularly on one pass breakup against James White. If he can get as strong in pass coverage as the rest of his game is, the Patriots will need to resign him before he wins Defensive MVP.
-Deandre Carter saw a lot of balls thrown his way in 11 on 11 with the first teamers. He’s building trust with both Tom and Jimmy, and that can’t be good for players deeper down the roster or currently injured receivers not at practice.
–Aaron Dobson seems to be having another “can he put it all together like this on gamedays and stay healthy?” camp, for the fourth consecutive year. I already feel like this is quite a dead horse, but I’d love to see this story end in a new way. He looked good.
-College highlight films of Cyrus Jones give the impression that he is a very Tyrann Mathieu-like player, so I’m excited to see him in full pads and full contact. He was certainly solid…but if his game is as chippy as it seems, you can’t really break that out in athletic shorts.
Overall, it was quite a fun day of revisiting football memories and getting excited for a potential future. I am certainly ready for preseason action to start!
