Patriots Training Camp Observations: Everything We Saw On Day 3

FOXBORO, Mass. -- The New England Patriots wrapped up their first block of training camp practices Friday with another non-padded session outside Gillette Stadium.

Here's everything we observed on Day 3 of camp:

ATTIRE
Helmets and shells.

The Patriots still aren't in full pads (NFL rules prohibit that until next week) but they're inching closer. Players wore soft shoulder pads -- aka shells -- under their practice jerseys for the first time Thursday.

The first padded practice is set for Monday.

ATTENDANCE
There were two new player absences: defensive tackle Christian Barmore and receiver/running back Ty Montgomery.

Barmore shared a birth announcement on social media Wednesday night, which likely explained why he wasn't at practice.

This probably explains Christian Barmore’s absence from practice today. (via his IG) pic.twitter.com/VM9unJLMNu

— Zack Cox (@zm_cox) July 28, 2023

Montgomery suffered an injury in Wednesday's session while trying to catch a poorly thrown pass from third-string quarterback Trace McSorley. Head coach Bill Belichick described his status as "day to day."

Guard Mike Onwenu, offensive tackle Calvin Anderson and special teamer Cody Davis remained out. Onwenu and Davis are on the physically unable to perform list; Anderson is on the non-football injury list.

Rookie linebacker/safety Marte Mapu continued to practice in a red non-contact jersey.

Defensive lineman DaMarcus Mitchell and linebacker Terez Hall were limited.

One of the more notable developments of Day 3 was Matthew Judon's increased participation. He took reps in 11-on-11s for the first time this week after being heavily limited Wednesday and Thursday.

That was a positive sign amid rumors of a possible contract "hold-in," but Judon still was far from a full participant. He watched most of team drills from the sideline, logging only a handful of snaps.

Judon didn't want to talk about his contract after practice but said the coaches and training staff agreed for him to focus on conditioning work for the first few days of camp.

"Me and the guys talked about it, and we both felt like, 'All right, we can do that for two days,' " Judon said after practice. "Then we can ease into things."

Running back Rhamondre Stevenson was back to full-go after being held out of team drills Wednesday.

QB REPORT
Mac Jones: 3-for-6 in 7-on-7s; 5-for-10 in 11-on-11s

Bailey Zappe: 2-for-6; 4-for-11

Trace McSorley: 4-for-6; 2-for-6

ASSORTED OBSERVATIONS
-- Two of the top performers in this practice were the players most likely to start at outside cornerback this season: Jonathan Jones and rookie Christian Gonzalez.

Jones dominated in the opening period of 11-on-11s, blanketing DeVante Parker for two contested pass breakups in a four-play span. The veteran cover man, who switched back to an outside alignment after taking reps in the slot on Day 2, also had tight coverage on an end-zone incompletion to Tyquan Thornton.

Gonzalez, who's run with the first-team defense since the spring, also had a strong day in coverage after surrendering a couple of touchdowns on Tuesday. He broke up a pass intended for Thornton in 7-on-7s and helped force an incompletion to Kendrick Bourne with sticky coverage. There have been some expected growing pains for Gonzalez this week, but the Patriots have to be pleased with how the highly touted first-round pick has performed thus far.

Marcus Jones manned the slot with the top unit. He stumbled on a crossing-route touchdown to JuJu Smith-Schuster and lost Parker on a scramble-drill score, but later notched a pass breakup against Hunter Henry. Jones' 5-foot-8 stature was a detriment at times last season, but he was able to stick with New England's 6-foot-5 tight end on that play.

Jack Jones, awaiting his Aug. 18 court date following his June arrest on gun charges, continued to run with the second team. He's had a strong week in coverage, though many of his reps have come against backup receivers.

-- Bill Belichick had a clear priority in mind for this opening week of camp: red-zone work. Every competitive rep in each of these first three practices took place inside the 20-yard line, with a ton of low red-zone plays inside the 10.

With that limited scope, it's been difficult to properly evaluate the Patriots' new offense. But some of their top pass-catchers have not thrived in the red-zone setting. Bourne, Thornton and tight end Mike Gesicki all have yet to catch a pass in 11-on-11 drills.

Smith-Schuster and Parker have been more involved, but neither had an especially impressive day Friday. The former caught his lone targets in 7-on-7s and wasn't targeted in 11s, and Mac Jones went 2-for-5 when targeting the latter. Parker -- whose calling card is his contested-catch ability -- was unable to win two jump balls against the much shorter Jonathan Jones.

Henry has been Mac Jones' favorite target so far. His touchdown catch over Adrian Phillips was one of Friday’s standout offensive plays, and Jones looked his way on three consecutive reps late in practice. Across all three days, the QB is 7-for-10 (70%) when targeting the veteran tight end in competitive drills and 12-for-30 (40%) when throwing to anyone else.

Let's wait until things open up before drawing any conclusions about the Patriots' receiving corps. But so far, this looks like a group that could have used DeAndre Hopkins.

It's also worth reiterating that the Patriots had the NFL's worst red-zone offense last season. New coordinator Bill O'Brien clearly still has some work to do there.

-- Jones did spread the ball around Friday. His first five competitive passes of the day went to Henry, Parker, Smith-Schuster, Thornton and Bourne.

-- There's plenty of time for positional movement in the coming weeks, but three days in, there's a clear top tier of Patriots' skill players:

Running back: Stevenson, Pierre Strong

Tight end: Henry, Gesicki

Wide receiver: Smith-Schuster, Parker, Thornton, Bourne, Demario Douglas

Douglas hasn't seen much work with Jones and company during competitive drills, but he's stuck with the offensive regulars when the Patriots split their offense and defense into primary and scout teams.

The sixth-round rookie also gobbled up targets from Zappe on Thursday, accounting for three of the backup QB's four completions in 11-on-11 drills. His best moment came when he sped away from Myles Bryant on a crossing route for a touchdown.

There seems to be a fair bit of distance between Douglas and the Patriots' handful of other roster-hopeful wideouts (Kayshon Boutte, Tre Nixon, Malik Cunningham, Ed Lee, Raleigh Webb and Jalen Hurd), none of whom distinguished themselves in the first three practices.

-- Conor McDermott got first reps at right tackle, leapfrogging Riley Reiff. This could be part of a planned rotation as the Patriots evaluate their options there, but Reiff has not looked great so far in camp. Running with the second team Friday, he allowed "sacks" to Anfernee Jennings and rookie Keion White on back-to-back plays.

Anderson has yet to take the field in camp, so it's unclear how he'll factor into the tackle equation. Trent Brown has been the go-to guy on the left side.

-- Longtime practice squadder Bill Murray was the top-choice right guard in Onwenu's absence in all three practices this week.

-- Gesicki made a good point when he mentioned after practice how disciplined the Patriots have been on offense so far this summer. That's been an encouraging change compared to last year, when false starts, alignment errors and blown assignments were rampant within that unit.

-- In addition to the aforementioned pass breakups by Gonzalez and Jonathan Jones, we also saw PBUs by Isaiah Bolden (two), Jalen Mills, Joshuah Bledsoe and Calvin Munson.

-- We haven't seen any splash plays from Mapu, but the third-round rookie’s versatility is evident just by looking at him:

Marte Mapu’s versatility is instantly visible in practice. He’s the only player in safety drills wearing a guardian cap, because he also plays linebacker. pic.twitter.com/hSsfRq0b7C

— Zack Cox (@zm_cox) July 28, 2023

-- Douglas, wide receiver Ed Lee and running back J.J. Taylor returned kicks. Douglas also has worked as a punt returner in camp.

The Patriots had Corliss Waitman take a few kickoffs as the evaluate their punter options. Waitman is trying to beat out sixth-round rookie Bryce Baringer, who generates some impressive hang time with his punts.

-- There was one absence on New England's coaching staff: safeties coach Brian Belichick. Cornerbacks coach Mike Pellegrino and co-linebackers coach/play-caller Steve Belichick led safety drills in his absence, with V'Angelo Bentley coaching up the cornerbacks.

Patriots defensive backs meet together as a unit, so this likely wasn't a big change for players.

-- Mac Jones was the last player on the field after practice. Close to 30 minutes after things wrapped up, he was behind the far goal post working 1-on-1 with Patriots skills coach Joe Kim.

UP NEXT
Players will enjoy their first off-day of camp Saturday before returning to the field for six consecutive days of practice. Sunday's is scheduled to begin at 12:30 p.m. ET. All training camp practices are open to the public and free of charge.