Patriots Training Camp Observations: Everything We Saw On Day 17

FOXBORO, Mass. — The New England Patriots were supposed to practice in Tennessee on Tuesday. But after a Bill Belichick audible, they took the field at their home facility instead.

In the wake of Isaiah Bolden’s frightening head injury Saturday night in Green Bay, Belichick elected to cancel the Patriots’ scheduled joint practices with the Titans and replace them with two standard sessions outside Gillette Stadium.

The first of those took place Tuesday, exactly one week out from roster cutdown day. Here’s everything we observed in the two-hour practice:

ATTIRE
Helmets and shells.

ATTENDANCE
Absent:
CB Isaiah Bolden
WR Tyquan Thornton
ST Cody Davis
CB Jonathan Jones
DE Trey Flowers
G Cole Strange
G Mike Onwenu
OT Conor McDermott
OT Calvin Anderson
WR Tre Nixon

Limited:
TE Mike Gesicki
RB Pierre Strong
RB/WR Ty Montgomery
DE Keion White
WR Demario Douglas

Mike Gesicki, Pierre Strong and Ty Montgomery all returned to practice today. Gesicki and Strong not yet cleared for full contact.

Absent:
Isaiah Bolden
Tyquan Thornton
Cody Davis
Jon Jones
Trey Flowers
Cole Strange
Mike Onwenu
Conor McDermott
Calvin Anderson
Tre Nixon pic.twitter.com/flw0DuctoK

— Zack Cox (@ZackCoxNESN) August 22, 2023

— Gesicki’s return was the big news of practice. He suffered a mild dislocated shoulder last Sunday that put his Week 1 availability in question, so the fact that he already was back on the field nine days later was a great sign.

The tight end practiced in a red non-contact jersey but did see limited work in competitive drills, logging two reps in 11-on-11s. He looked fluid and appeared to have good range of motion for a player coming back from a shoulder injury.

— Strong, who missed the previous week with a concussion, also wore a non-contact jersey and was held out of team drills.

— Montgomery suited up for the first time since suffering an injury on Day 2 of training camp. He didn’t do much, though, working on a side rehab field for most of practice.

Douglas and later White joined him there. White is recovering from an injury that kept him out of Saturday night’s preseason game, but this was the first time Douglas — probably the single biggest star of camp — had been anything less than a full participant. He played three offensive snaps against the Packers.

— Head coach Bill Belichick said Bolden, who was carted off the field and hospitalized Saturday night, is in concussion protocol.

QB REPORT
Mac Jones: 18-for-23

Bailey Zappe: 14-for-20

Jones and Zappe took all of the competitive QB reps until a scout-team period at the end of practice. So, none for Trace McSorley or Malik Cunningham.

ASSORTED OBSERVATIONS
— Ezekiel Elliott practiced in Foxboro for the first time after joining the team in Green Bay last week. The former Dallas Cowboys star took three handoffs in 11-on-11s and was heavily involved in the passing game, catching three of the six passes thrown to running backs (two from Jones, one from Zappe).

“When you have a running back that’s able to go in the game and primarily you’re thinking, ‘OK, he’s a downhill runner. He’s a bruiser,’ then you split him out and you find out that he’s able to run routes at a high level, it makes the game that much harder,” safety Adrian Phillips said after practice. “… His ability to be able to go out there at that one position, two position, and be able to run good routes, it ain’t going to do nothing but help our offense.”

We’ll see if the Patriots opt to give Elliott any run in Friday night’s preseason finale. He dressed but did not play against the Packers.

— Jones’ favorite target by a mile Tuesday was JuJu Smith-Schuster, who received a deluge of targets from New England’s starting quarterback. Jones targeted Smith-Schuster on more than a third of his pass attempts, going 6-for-8 on throws to the Patriots’ prized free agent addition.

Smith-Schuster also caught his lone target from Zappe, making this one of the most productive days by any Patriots pass-catcher this summer.

— Jones’ final pass to Smith-Schuster, however, yielded the QB’s biggest mistake. He threw behind the crossing wideout, and the ball was intercepted by defensive back Myles Bryant.

Bryant, who made a couple of standout plays against Green Bay, also broke up a pass to tight end Hunter Henry one rep earlier. He’s not a popular player among Patriots fans, but he provides value as a smart veteran who can play multiple positions.

— With Douglas not on the field during team drills and Thornton and Nixon both sidelined, fellow rookie receiver Kayshon Boutte saw his targets increase. The LSU product received five in this practice (one from Jones, four from Zappe) and caught all of them, including a contested sideline touchdown on the final play of the day.

We wouldn’t consider Boutte a roster lock, but he’s very much in the mix for a spot on the 53.

— Cunningham, on the heels of a rough five-target, no-catch showing as a wideout against the Packers, caught a touchdown pass from Zappe late in practice. It was a rare receiving highlight for the athletic undrafted rookie, who remains a work in progress at the position.

If Cunningham makes any impact in his first NFL season, it almost certainly will be as a change-of-pace/gadget-play QB. His name is one to watch as final cuts approach.

— Cunningham’s and Boutte’s touchdowns both came against sixth-round rookie cornerback Ameer Speed, whom Belichick called “a developmental player” before practice.

Speed has a chance to stick on the roster as a core special teamer — we had him making the cut in our latest 53-man roster projection — but that review wasn’t especially encouraging.

— The play of the day came from an unexpected source: rookie receiver Thyrick Pitts. He hauled in a 40-yard touchdown pass from Zappe — and beat first-round draft pick Christian Gonzalez in the process.

Gonzalez tipped his cap to Pitts when speaking with reporters after practice, admitting the under-the-radar wideout won that rep.

— Tight end Scotty Washington had a bad drop on a red-zone target from Zappe.

— This was a rough practice for rookie kicker Chad Ryland. He missed three straight field goals, all wide left, including one shank that missed the screen. There hasn’t been a clear winner in the battle between Ryland and Nick Folk, so it will be fascinating to see how Belichick handles that position on cutdown day.

It would be very surprising if the Patriots cut Ryland after drafting him in the fourth round, and he’s had a good summer overall. But would they consider keeping Folk around, too? Belichick didn’t rule out carrying two kickers when he was asked about it a few months ago.

UP NEXT
The Patriots are scheduled to practice in Foxboro again Wednesday before flying to Nashville for Friday’s preseason finale at Nissan Stadium.