FOXBORO, Mass. — Watching New England Patriots training camp as a reporter typically requires some serious multitasking.
Close to 90 players take part in each camp practice, with various individual, positional and team drills often running concurrently as dictated by the Patriots’ precise schedule. Zero in on one position group for too long, and you’re bound to miss something newsworthy elsewhere.
And since reporters aren’t permitted to watch full Patriots practices during the regular season, it behooves us to take in as much information as possible during these open summer sessions.
The team’s annual primetime in-stadium practice is the notable exception to this rule.
While certainly a memorable experience for the season-ticket holders and Foxboro residents in attendance, this particular session tends to be pretty pointless for media members. It’s the players’ fifth consecutive day of on-field work to start camp — and it comes after back-to-back days in full pads — so the coaching staff dials the intensity way down, running drills at a walkthrough pace.
In an effort to liven up our coverage of this plodding annual affair, I decided last year to focus exclusively on head coach Bill Belichick rather than attempt to watch all 100-plus bodies (players, coaches, special guests, etc.) scattered across the Gillette Stadium game field.
I wanted to see exactly how Belichick divided his time during practice. Which position groups he gave hands-on instruction and which ones he observed from afar. Which players received special attention.
This year, I decided to reboot that format with a different — but equally prominent — subject: quarterback Tom Brady.
Below is a minute-by-minute breakdown of Brady’s routine during Monday night’s Patriots practice.
7:00 p.m. ET: After arriving on the field to raucous cheers a few minutes earlier, Brady steps into the huddle 7 o’clock sharp for the team walkthrough that opens each practice. The soon-to-be 42-year-old is wearing blue shorts, red-and-blue Under Armour cleats, white tape on both ankles, a sleeve on his left knee and a red undershirt beneath his matching No. 12 practice jersey. No pads for players in this session, just helmets.
Brady starts things off with a short completion to Phillip Dorsett. After a few snaps, he gives way to backup Brian Hoyer and plays catch with a team staffer behind the play until it’s his turn to step back in.
“Protecting” Brady during this period is New England’s starting offensive line, which includes Isaiah Wynn at left tackle. While notable in the moment, these prove to be the only reps Wynn, who’s sat out team drills throughout camp while he recovers from a torn Achilles suffered last August, will take all night.
7:09: A horn sounds. Time to stretch. Brady high-fives third-string quarterback Jarrett Stidham and several other offensive reserves — who had been working against a scout-team defense on the opposite end of the field — before taking his place on the 35-yard line with Stidham and Hoyer. Various warmup exercises ensue as players bounce from hash marks to sideline.
To Brady’s right as he begins his warmup are special teams ace Matthew Slater and undrafted rookie receiver Gunner Olszewski. To his left, a quartet of tight ends: Stephen Anderson, Ryan Izzo, Andrew Beck and Ben Watson.
7:16: Warmup over. Practice begins in earnest with an unopposed, six-man, two-minute drill. Brady takes control of the first group just outside the north end zone and guides it to midfield and back, huddling only at the turnaround point.
His personnel consists of running backs Rex Burkhead and James White, tight end Ben Watson and receivers Dorsett and N’Keal Harry. The two-back look would be prevalent throughout practice — a package many believe New England will rely more upon this season to help offset the loss of retired tight end Rob Gronkowski.
Brady completes his up-and-back with a touchdown pass to Harry, then pops his helmet off, takes a few swigs of water and watches Hoyer guide the next unit.
7:21: Brady checks back in. This time, the skeleton offense (still no O-linemen) operates at a more deliberate pace, huddling after each play. Receiver Maurice Harris, who’s been one of the standouts of camp thus far, gets some run during this series, as does Anderson.
Three balls sail downfield on each play: one from Brady to his intended target, one from Nick Caserio to another receiver and one from a team staffer to a third pass-catcher. Caserio, the Patriots’ director of player personnel and a former college quarterback, loves to show off his arm during practice.
7:24: While Stidham leads the offense through a run-game period (with other offensive players holding blocking pads and standing in as defenders) Brady and Hoyer converse beneath the goalposts.
7:31: Once the second-team defense joins the drill, Brady checks back in. His first rep is a handoff to Sony Michel, and four additional running plays ensue before Hoyer takes his turn.
After checking out, Brady has brief conversations with several individuals, including receiver Demaryius Thomas, fullback James Develin, offensive lineman Ted Karras, offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels (with whom he confers several times over the course of the evening) and center David Andrews.
His chat with Andrews lasts the longest. The two have formed a tight bond over their four seasons together, and while Andrews has yet to take contact this summer after missing the first two days of camp with an undisclosed ailment, he was a full participant Monday night.
7:41: The first best-on-best team period (first-team offense vs. first-team defense) begins with Brady behind center, the Patriots in 20 personnel (two backs, no tight ends), Braxton Berrios in the slot and Dan Skipper — the 6-foot-10 behemoth who saw first-team reps on Sunday — in at left tackle.
Again running no-huddle, Brady finds Dorsett in the right corner of the end zone for a touchdown on the seventh play of the drive, then hits Berrios over the middle on the next play for an additional score. Eight passes, eight completions — the expected outcome against a walkthrough defense.
Brady fist-bumps Stidham and assistant quarterbacks coach Mick Lombardi — a new arrival this offseason — before watering up and watching Hoyer do his thing.
7:48: While Brady looks on from behind the line, Deion Branch jogs onto the field and wraps his old QB in a bear hug near midfield. Branch was one of several ex-Patriots back in town for Rodney Harrison’s Patriots Hall of Fame induction, and many stuck around to watch practice.
7:51: Next up: situational third downs. With the defense utilizing an extremely light front reminiscent of the “amoeba” package New England used with great success last season — Michael Bennett is playing the Trey Flowers role as the lone down lineman — Brady begins and ends his series by targeting Harry.
The first-round draft pick caught the first pass (a slant), but the second (a stop-and-go) bounced off his hands for the lone negative play of the night. Brady’s shoulders sag after Harry’s miscue, and he watches Hoyer’s first few reps in silence, hands on hips.
7:55: More talk with Andrews. This continues straight through the next period — third-and-long — during which Stidham takes every rep.
8:00: The horn sounds again, and Brady’s back on the field. The offense is working on short-yardage plays now. Brady takes just two snaps — both handoffs — before fist-bumping McDaniels, swigging some water and taking a knee.
8:03: Another ex-teammate wants to say hello. It’s Kevin Faulk, the invaluable third-down back from the early years of the Patriots dynasty. After a big hug and a quick chat, Brady whips a few warmup throws to Hoyer before taking the reins for the final period: red zone.
8:05: Brady hits Harry for a touchdown on a slant. It’s his last rep of the evening. After removing his helmet, he strolls over to greet yet another former Patriot: fullback Fred McCrary. McCrary played just six games for the Pats but the strong friendship he built with Harrison while the two were teammates in San Diego earned him an invite to Monday’s festivities.
8:08: Players disperse to stretch and debrief with their respective position groups. Brady, Hoyer, Stidham, McDaniels and Lombardi gather near the goal line. (Fourth-string QB Danny Etling, who’s in the midst of a position change, stays over with the receivers.)
8:11: Belichick calls the team together for a closing huddle and breakdown. The players’ first off-day of camp awaits.
8:13: After handing his helmet to Stidham (thanks, rookie!), Brady begins his long and winding path to the Patriots’ locker room. Now that official practice proceedings are over, everyone wants a piece of No. 12.
He stops for conversations with, in order, Branch, Robert Kraft, Ty Law, McCrary, Rob Ninkovich, Jermaine Wiggins, Willie McGinest and Matt Chatham, handing out hugs to each. He also poses for at least a dozen pictures, tosses passes to both of Wiggins’ sons and pauses to sign autographs for a few fortunate fans.
Finally, at 8:28 p.m., he turns away from the crowd, strides down the stairs and disappears into the bowels of the still-buzzing stadium.
