Observations from Day One of Patriots Minicamp

Bill Belichick called minicamp an extension of OTAs during his presser today, and that was reflected in the pace of practice. Once again, there wasn’t much to glean from a relatively slow-paced practice in shorts and t-shirts, with the team opening the day with what appeared to be conditioning drills with attendance now mandatory. But we did get some clarity regarding the depth chart at certain positions, as well as a couple of unexpected but notable absences.

Here are my biggest takeaways from the first day of minicamp.

ATTENDANCE
Absent

Mike Onwenu
Trent Brown
Tyquan Thornton
JuJu Smith-Schuster
James Robinson
Kayshon Boutte

Lawrence Guy
Tae Hayes
Quandre Mosely

KEY LINEMEN NOT PRESENT

Most of today’s notable absences were expected with Tyquan Thornton (soft tissue), JuJu Smith-Schuster (ACL), and Mike Onwenu (ankle) all working through injuries. But there were also some big surprises in the trenches.

Trent Brown wasn’t at practice after missing all of OTAs, though it’s been reported this was due to a flight cancellation. Brown is by far the team’s most talented tackle, but Belichick is notoriously unforgiving in these situations, so how the team responds will be interesting.

Lawrence Guy was also missing today, with Mike Reiss reporting it is contract related. Guy is a cog in the Patriots’ run defense as a two-gapping defensive tackle/end who can’t be blocked 1-on-1. He’s also a team captain and an active member of the community who’s received multiple awards for his efforts. But he’s also 33 years old and has missed multiple games in two of the past three seasons, so the veteran may not be in the best position to command a new deal.

Kayshon Boutte and James Robinson were other notable absences, though their reasonings are unknown.

SHADES OF THE 2011 OFFENSE (SORT OF)

The Patriots have featured 12 personnel in the vast majority of team reps, with Hunter Henry and Mike Gesicki spending plenty of time with Mac Jones. Most of Jones’ passes in front of the media have been quick hitters and short throws, which combined with New England’s choice of personnel is reminiscent of the 2011 “death by a thousand cuts” offense from Bill O’Brien’s first tenure in New England. It’s unclear how much this has to do with the lack of depth at receiver, but for now, the passing game is leaning more on methodical strikes than explosive plays downfield.

The unit started strong with Jones delivering a nice touch throw to Henry over Jalen Mills, but the unit struggled to keep momentum in team sessions. Two of the only downfield attempts were deflected on sideline throws to DeVante Parker, with Jack Jones and Christian Gonzalez each getting hands on a pass. That said, the nature of these practices makes it tough to put much blame on the quarterback. Jones also had a pair of interceptions, but Dugger seemed to know what was coming on the first and the second was an unserious throw under pressure that went behind the receiver and into Adrian Phillips’ arms.

Jones followed up his pick to Dugger by beating the blitz for what could’ve been a touchdown to Kendrick Bourne, and he delivered a sideline seed to Bourne against Cover 2 on the final rep of two-minute.

CLARITY ON THE CORNERBACK COMPETITION

Jack Jones and Marcus Jones were expected to battle for the third corner spot behind Christian Gonzalez and Jonathan Jones, and today provided some surprising insight into that competition. While many assumed Marcus would bump into the slot while on the field with Gonzalez and Jon, he actually rotated with Jack on the boundary while Jon was a mainstay inside.

Marcus was mainly an outside corner last season, so this isn’t a complete shock. But the undersized corner was exposed against the Bengals late last season, so the decision is questionable. Jack is a more natural fit despite being on the thinner side but fizzled out as the year progressed.

All that said, it’s still very early and we haven’t seen any high-quality reps, so take this with a grain of salt.

LEFTOVERS

Matt Judon participated in team drills after missing all of OTAs
Mac Jones’ cadence has been lethal in camp, catching defenders offside in every practice I’ve watched
Marte Mapu continues seeing reps at free safety and was an active communicator in the secondary
Ty Montgomery continues to see slot reps in 3-receiver sets
Tre Nixon caught a perfectly-thrown post from Trace McSorley during 7-on-7 drills with Shaun Wade close behind
Bailey Zappe saw reps with DeVante Parker and Kendrick Bourne late in 11-on-11s, dropping a pass in the bucket to Parker down the sideline
Bill Murray was at guard between Riley Reiff and David Andrews in team drills