Another warm day in Foxborough as the Patriots were back in pads to begin a new week. Before drills got underway, the yearly slip and slide welcoming show for the rookie coaches and players took place. Matthew Slater was on hose duty ensuring the newbies were well and truly drenched before practice started.
Here’s the Tweets of Note from today.
Good news for RB James White, CB Michael Jackson, and RB J.J. Taylor who all returned to practice today, likely caught up in the false-positive saga that made the news yesterday. Also back today was LB Tashawn Bower, whos return is a big plus, the position is already pretty thin, hopefully, he can get back on track for a good end to camp.
A side note to the above tweet, alongside S Kyle Dugger, CB Adrian Phillips was also present at practice.
RB’s Sony Michel and Lamar Miller remain on the PUP/active list.
Second-year WR N’Keal Harry had his best practice of the year today, catching touchdowns, blocking, and showing that he’s starting to get on the same page as Newton.
I can only imagine how frustrating the past year or so has been for Harry, this is what the fans have been waiting for, he’s showing glimpses of how he can be utilized this year, if he’s healthy, he’ll have a good season. Exciting stuff.
LB Chase Winovich had a good day today, had a couple of “sacks”, and was a real nuisance for Newton during his reps. Most of the news out of camp is regarding rookies, UDFA’s, or QB’s, some of the other performers fall by the wayside at times, not today, great practice for Wino. LB Josh Uche is another who seems to be finding his place within the defense, coming off the back of a solid week, he continues to show improvement daily.
The Michigan men will be involved in the pass-rush this year.
Rookie LB Cassh Maluia was the first player to sustain a worrying knock during camp so far following a hit by fellow rookie, TE Devin Asiasi. Fortunately, the news following training is that Maluia should be ok and it was more of a stinger than anything.
I’ve been intrigued by the reports on him so far this camp, and as Greg Bedard noted, he’s obvious Belichick favorite, which means he’s very coach-able.
Cam Newton led the offense for the majority of practice today, Stidham was in attendance and was easing back into things. I think now, given Stidham’s injury (still unsure how much it’s impacting him), we’ll see a more regular shift in the number of reps Newton is getting, Bill said that at some point they would be deciding the starter and focusing more with that player. Has this already happened?
Just a quick non-practice related tweet. News that more tryouts took place today, looking like the team could potentially add further depth to the guard position. With the roster now at the 80-man limit, some more transactions could be on the way.
The Patriots Unfiltered crew had some live video from camp earlier today, check it out here!
