5 takeaways from Day 2 of Patriots mandatory minicamp

FOXBOROUGH, Mass — It was a slower day at practice for the New England Patriots, who took the field on the second day of mandatory minicamp.

“Today will probably look a little different,” head coach Mike Vrabel told reporters before practice. “It probably won’t be as much speed stuff, but we will come back and get that same speed that we had yesterday further down in the red zone tomorrow. So, it will look a little different today, just by design, as far as the pace that you will see.”

But there was still plenty that we kept our eye on.

The pace was a lot slower on Wednesday as opposed to Tuesday, with the players doing the drills in more of a walkthrough style. However, they did have another large emphasis on red zone.
to A.J. Brown connection is already in full effect

While it might have been slower, there’s no denying that many of Maye’s passes ended up in the hands of A.J. Brown. He certainly spread the love, hitting different receivers over the course of practice, but early in the red zone drill, he hit Brown for three straight pass completions.

“It’s hard not to get excited; what a player he is,” Maye said of the star receiver. “What a great teammate so far. He’s eager to learn. He’s great with the guys in the locker room, and we just look forward to playing with a guy of that caliber. I know he’s been a great player in this league.”

There were a lot of changes and switch-ups on the offensive line during practice, but it is becoming increasingly clear how the depth chart in the room is looking. With starting right tackle Morgan Moses missing the second straight day of practice, it was Caleb Lomu who served as the right tackle with the top unit, with Mike Onwenu at right guard, Jared Wilson at center, Alijah Vera-Tucker at left guard, and Will Campbell at left tackle. But he then switched to the left side, taking over for Campbell.

Based on this, it seems that Lomu is training at both positions to serve as the top backup tackle this season. Behind him is Marcus Bryant.

At the end of the day, the Patriots took part in some competition as they were tasked with pushing several large wooden sleds that had three different slogans on them: “Belief and identity,” “Push the pile,” and “Finish longer than the guy with the ball.”

According to Maye, he said that this was just one of a larger team-bonding exercises the team has been doing this offseason.

“We split up into teams, split up from the families at the beginning of the offseason. Kind of had about 13 teams, had some captains in each team and have about seven players in each,” Maye said. “So we’re kind of keeping a point tally… I think my family may be in second. So, we got some work to do…

“Push some sleds and try to compete against each other. It’s just another way of team building and competing and having to strategize and kind of have something that may not go right and try to fix it.”

It was the same three players missing as the day before, with Moses, linebacker Harold Landy, and edge defender Gabe Jacas all missing.

Before practice, Vrabel provided an update on Moses.

“We are just managing Morgan and are excited that he is so committed to our football team and the people here,” Vrabel said. “It’s a long season. He was important to us, and he will be very important to us going forward. So, just trying to make sure that we manage him. Figure that every rep now is probably one less that he may take in the season.”

Also of note was Christian Gonzalez‘s participation. After being limited on Tuesday, making the decision to sit out of the team period amid his contract negotiation, he took part as a full participant on Wednesday. But that was likely due to the walkthrough speed.

And then there’s Rookie punter Devin Bale, who was back out there for the second day in a row.

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This article originally appeared on Patriots Wire: 5 takeaways from Day 2 of Patriots mandatory minicamp