Patriots Minicamp Observations: Everything We Saw On Day 1

FOXBORO, Mass. — The New England Patriots kicked off their three-day mandatory minicamp Monday morning outside Gillette Stadium.

Here’s everything we observed in their latest practice:

ATTIRE
Helmets and shorts. Minicamp, like OTAs, is non-padded, with no live contact allowed until training camp begins in late July.

ATTENDANCE
The following players were not present at practice:

RB James Robinson
WR JuJu Smith-Schuster
WR Tyquan Thornton
CB Quandre Mosely
CB Tae Hayes
WR Kayshon Boutte
G Mike Onwenu
OT Trent Brown
DL Lawrence Guy

Smith-Schuster and Brown are the biggest names on that list. Neither has practiced in front of reporters this offseason.

Brown’s absence was especially notable, as The Athletic’s Jeff Howe reported before practice that the offensive tackle was expected to be at the team facility Monday. Those plans changed when Brown’s flight was canceled due to a hail storm, per a report from MassLive.com’s Mark Daniels.

Guy also did not practice with the media present in OTAs, and his absence reportedly was not the result of a freak weather event. He is believed to be holding out for contract-related reasons, ESPN’s Mike Reiss reported.

Smith-Schuster and Thornton are dealing with injuries, according to a separate report from Reiss. Head coach Bill Belichick called Smith-Schuster “day to day” in his pre-practice news conference.

“I don’t think everybody’s here,” Belichick said before practice. “We’re working through a couple things.”

Special teamer Cody Davis was limited. Rookies Marte Mapu and Atonio Mafi practiced in red non-contact jerseys.

Among the players who returned to the field Monday: Pro Bowl outside linebacker Matthew Judon, who was sporting his trademark red sleeves as he practiced in front of reporters for the first time this spring.

QB REPORT
The structure of Monday’s practice made it difficult to determine which periods were fully competitive, but our charting had Mac Jones a perfect 12-for-12 in 7-on-7 drills and 16-for-22 with two interceptions in 11-on-11s. Both of those picks — by safeties Kyle Dugger and Adrian Phillips — appeared to occur on plays where the defense was playing at full speed while the offense expected more of a walkthrough pace.

Jones looked frustrated in the moment but joked about the turnovers after practice.

“(Dugger) asked for an interception, so I just tossed it to him,” the QB said with a smile. “They always ask me for them, so I might give them to them in the walkthrough period.”

As he did throughout OTAs, Jones received the vast majority of reps with the first-team offense, though backup Bailey Zappe did get one round of 11-on-11s with the 1s. Jones stayed engaged during Zappe’s and third-stringer Trace McSorley’s turns by standing away from the group and taking mental reps complete with simulated hand signals.

“(Minicamp) is really just kind of a continuation of OTAs here, other than that we’ll watch some of the practice film after practice, which we haven’t done before. As far as the start of the day and all the way up through practice, we’re basically on the same schedule as OTAs.”

Head coach Bill Belichick before practice

ASSORTED NOTES
— Jones’ best pass of the day a perfectly placed ball to Hunter Henry over defensive back Jalen Mills. Jones fed his tight ends early and often, with Henry and Mike Gesicki combining for 12 receptions from the starting signal-caller in competitive team drills.

Based on what we’ve seen this spring, Bill O’Brien’s new Patriots offense should heavily rely on two-tight end looks.

— DeVante Parker and Kendrick Bourne dominated first-team receiver reps and caught seven of their eight combined targets. Jones’ final pass of the day was a slant to Bourne for a touchdown, which Bourne animatedly celebrated with Parker.

Ty Montgomery, who’s seen action at running back and receiver this spring, was the only other wideout to catch a pass from Jones in full-team drills.

— Two of the top plays of the day came courtesy of roster-long-shot pass-catchers. Tight end Scotty Washington and wide receiver Tre Nixon beat Joshuah Bledsoe and Shaun Wade, respectively, to haul in deep balls from McSorley in 7-on-7s. McSorley also had a couple of ugly overthrows in his limited action.

— The Patriots have trotted out a number of different defensive back combinations this spring, but we saw a couple of new and intriguing ones in this session.

One was what many believe would be the team’s ideal cornerback setup: rookie Christian Gonzalez and second-year Jack Jones on the outside with veteran Jonathan Jones in the slot. Jonathan Jones primarily was a slot defender before shifting into a perimeter role last season, but this was the first time we’d seen him line up inside this offseason.

Later, New England gave Gonzalez a look in the slot with the same unit. Marcus Jones, who upped his participation level after being limited in OTAs, also rotated in at all three spots.

With those top four cornerbacks and a squadron of versatile safeties, the Patriots should be able to field a highly unpredictable secondary this season.

— Jack Jones notched two pass breakups, getting a hand on one ball to Parker and another to Malik Cunningham. Marte Mapu, Isaiah Bolden, Josh Uche, Mack Wilson and Deatrich Wise also tallied PBUs. Uche delivered a heavier-than-allowed hit on Gesicki to force his, for which he appeared to apologize after the play.

— Second-round draft pick Keion White got checked out by team trainer Jim Whalen during 11-on-11 drills and watched the remaining competitive periods with his helmet off.

The edge rusher’s status will be worth monitoring over the next two days. White did speak with reporters after practice, however, suggesting he avoided any serious injury.

— Bill Murray continues to be the surprise top option at right guard with Onwenu recovering from offseason ankle surgery. Murray was a defensive tackle until last summer, and he’s played just one regular-season snap (on special teams) at the NFL level, but he’s been a staple on the first-team offense this spring.

With Mafi, who’s also worked in at that spot, dealing with some sort of injury, Murray took every first-team rep in 11-on-11 drills. The William & Mary product is just keeping that seat warm until Onwenu returns, but the Patriots are showing trust in him in a prominent role.

— Bourne, defensive tackle Carl Davis and cornerback Isaiah Bolden had to run penalty laps for jumping offsides.

— Rookie punter Bryce Baringer practiced in a tinted visor — an unusual look for a specialist — after missing multiple practices last week. Baringer, who wore glasses during games at Michigan State, didn’t want to reveal the reason for the helmet accessory but said it’s only temporary.

“Right now, me, the doctors, coaches, we’re just trying to work on some stuff right now,” he said after practice. “I’m not going to really get into too much specifics, but it’s definitely not a permanent thing.”

— The ex-Patriots reunion tour we saw in OTAs rolled on Monday. LeGarrette Blount and Aaron Dobson both were on hand again after watching multiple practices last week, and this time, they were joined by James White and the recently retired Devin McCourty.

Belichick said before practice that Blount and Dobson have been around as part of the Bill Walsh Coaching Fellowship.

Including the ones currently employed on the coaching staff (Jerod Mayo, Troy Brown, Vinnie Sunseri, Billy Yates and V’Angelo Bentley), there were at least nine former Patriots players in attendance. Ex-safety Patrick Chung also was at one practice last week.

— Penn State head coach James Franklin and two of his assistants also watched Monday’s practice, as did a member of Tufts’ coaching staff. Belichick spent several minutes in the middle of practice chatting with the Nittany Lions contingent and also shared some laughs with McCourty.