Three Reasons For Positivity, Negativity As Patriots Hit Summer Break

The Patriots cleared some important checkpoints over the last few weeks.

Mac Jones and Bill O'Brien laid the foundation for what they hope will be a resurgent season on offense. Rookies, including a pair of tantalizing defensive prospects, got their feet wet in the NFL. New positional coaches got a feel for what it's like to work under Bill Belichick. The list goes on and on.

You never want to glean too much from voluntary OTAs and mandatory minicamp, as players aren't wearing pads and live contact is prohibited. Plus, New England exercises caution with players dealing with minor injuries, instead ensuring they're ready to go for training camp.

Nevertheless, reporters were granted access to five practices in Foxboro, Mass., giving all in attendance an opportunity to see where the Patriots stand after perhaps the most turbulent year in the Bill Belichick era. Things got off to a weird start with the Joe Judge-created OTA controversy, but the weeks that followed were relatively normal and productive.

With all that said, here are reasons to be both positive and negative about the Patriots as they hit their summer break:

POSITIVES
The offense is functional
Again, we're not going to get carried away about what happened in these practices. It's one thing to look good in shorts, it's another to do it in August when defenders are allowed to tackle. Still, compared to this time a year ago when the Patriots weren't able to string three plays together without self-imploding, the updated version of the offense looked, well, "normal" -- as Jones put it.

The ball rarely hit the ground, big plays were made during 11-on-11s and Jones looked far more comfortable than he did at any point last season. With O'Brien leading the way, the offense showed much-improved spacing, creativity and cohesion.

Will spring success translate to strong training camp performance? TBD, but Jones and company are off to an encouraging start.

Youth movement in full swing
The Patriots in recent years have done a great job of getting back on track with their drafting. They found some really good players in the last few drafts, and that trend appears to be continuing in 2023.

Christian Gonzalez, who was drafted 17th overall in April, looks the part of a top cornerback, even if he's young and lacks the alpha-dog mentality some teams look for. Second-round pick Keion White showed real promise before suffering a minor injury scare on the first day of minicamp and sitting out the finale. But, so far, the real star of New England's 2023 class is third-round hybrid defender Marte Mapu, who was all over the place during the spring and just oozes confidence. He might be a dynamic outside linebacker or Devin McCourty's replacement -- or both.

However, it's not just about the current crop of rookies. Second-year corner Jack Jones enjoyed a really good spring. Cole Strange looked like he added needed size and strength. Rhamondre Stevenson still looks like Rhamondre Stevenson. The Patriots are starting to build an impressive young core, which was sorely needed.

The defense already looks game-ready
The Patriots brought back nearly everyone, and you can just tell this group has been together for a while. Players like Jabrill Peppers -- a Belichick favorite -- believe the defense might actually be better without safety McCourty, who retired early in the offseason. Nearly every player on New England's defense is capable of playing multiple positions, and the group's athleticism is off the charts.

From veterans such as Ja'Whaun Bentley and Jonathan Jones to youngsters such as Christian Barmore and Kyle Dugger, the Patriots have a little bit of everything. And the group's cohesion should enable it to bring along Gonzalez and White at a natural pace. The linebacking corps still isn't great, but that's our only big concern.

Are we taking the cheese a little bit? Maybe. But this Patriots defense feels like it might be legitimately great, and not just against bad teams.

NEGATIVES
Trent Brown???
The veteran offensive tackle reportedly participated in an early OTA but was a no-show thereafter, fueling speculation about a contract dispute. Brown supposedly planned to report for Day 1 of minicamp but wound up not making it due to a hailstorm in Texas the previous day. Insert face-with-monacle emoji.

He showed up for the second and final day of minicamp but spent the vast majority of the afternoon on the lower rehab/conditioning field. We didn't get a great look at him, but other reporters felt he looked overweight and out of shape.

The biggest problem: The Patriots kinda need him. Their only other options at tackle are depth swing tackles Calvin Anderson and Conor McDermott, aging veteran Riley Reiff, 2022 seventh-round pick Andrew Stueber and rookie Sidy Sow, who played guard in college. You can scheme around one weakness at offensive tackle, but not two. Whatever's going on with Brown, he and the Patriots must get it figured out.

The house of cards at receiver
For now, we're going to leave out DeAndre Hopkins and New England's potential pursuit of the free agent receiver. You can click here to see where things stood on that front as of late Friday morning. Obviously, he'd change everything if he entered the fold.

If everyone stays relatively healthy and plays up to their abilities, the Patriots probably have enough at receiver. You could make a strong case their group ranks just inside the top half in the NFL. But the reality is that things rarely play out that way in the NFL, and New England has a ton of question marks in its receiving corps.

Can JuJu Smith-Schuster actually be an upgrade over Jakobi Meyers? He's more talented, but we never saw him practice during the spring and he reportedly still is nursing a knee injury suffered in the AFC title game. Can Tyquan Thornton make a Year 2 leap? The speedy wideout looks great virtually every time he practices, but he also can't stay on the field. Can Kendrick Bourne recapture his 2021 form after spending last season in the doghouse? How much does DeVante Parker have left in tank at 30 years old after all of those injuries? Do any of the rookie receivers have a realistic shot at making an impact?

This group could be sneaky-good in 2023. But it wouldn't take much for it to all fall apart.

Hard to shake feeling of QB drama
Allow us to channel our inner sports talk radio for a moment.

Overall, it's hard to be anything other than positive about Jones, considering all he went through last season. He played well during the spring and looked like the clear No. 1 quarterback, despite all the offseason talk of a QB controversy.

... But there was some stuff that felt weird.

Baily Zappe got more-than-interesting time with the first-team offense during the final minicamp practice, with Jones briefly playing with backups. If you parachuted in for just those series of 11-on-11 periods, you wouldn't know what to make of the Patriots' QB situation. Jones at times displayed a ton of good energy and vibes, but other times appeared distant and looked like a man apart. If he interacted with Belichick during any practice, it wasn't one that we watched.

Does any of this matter? It's hard to say. Tom Brady won a Super Bowl in 2018 despite apparently being at his wits end with Belichick -- but he's Tom Brady. All we're saying is that it didn't look as if everything was hunky-dory between Jones and Belichick, and that their relationship is something we're still monitoring.