The New England Patriots kicked off their 2026 training camp on Saturday on the practice fields behind Gillette Stadium. The 90-minute session did not feature any pads and minimal contact while the focus of the day was the zone run game installation.
“There’ll be a few more runs. We have to get into that,” Mike Vrabel said before the session. “Admittedly there’ll be more zone runs, to take away some of those double teams that you have and some of the the gap scheme runs. We we’ll save pads for that… So, there’ll be some of that with the outside zone. We’ll work on first and second down. We’ll have tempo.”
Here’s what went down throughout the day.
PUP/NFI: RB Terrell Jennings, TE C.J. Dippre, ED Harold Landry III, S Brenden Schooler
Edge rusher Gabe Jacas continued to be away from the team on Saturday, but that may change soon. The Patriots’ second-round draft pick reportedly agreed to terms on his rookie contract earlier in the day, and might therefore make his practice debut before the start of full-pads sessions later in the week.
Outside of Jacas and the four players on the injury lists, the Patriots enjoyed perfect attendance on Day 1 of camp. They also suffered no notable injuries.
Gonzo participates: Shortly after owner Robert Kraft shared that his team had offered Christian Gonzalez a contract extension that would make him the highest-paid cornerback in NFL history, the 24-year-old was a full participant in Saturday’s session. That was a noteworthy change from the spring, when Gonzalez stayed away from a large portion of voluntary workouts and sat out of full-team drills during mandatory minicamp.
It took no time for him to be tested either, as Drake Maye‘s first pass of camp went to A.J. Brown with Gonzalez tight in coverage to help force an incompletion.
“I think I had too,” Maye said. “One-on-one over there with Gonzo. I was going to try to start off the camp with a little bang.”
Aggressive Drake: Outside of testing Gonzalez on his first pass of camp, Drake Maye was aggressive throwing the football in his four periods of work. With a focus on the run installation, Maye threw the ball just nine times in competitive work but quickly delivered the highlight of the day early connecting on a deep ball to a diving Kayshon Boutte.
Near the end of his day, Maye seemingly hand-delivered a seam ball to Hunter Henry just on top of Christian Elliss before hitting an open DeMario Douglas over the middle of the field for a chunk gain.
Receiver watch: A.J. Brown did not catch a pass on Day 1 of camp while Romeo Doubs and Maye connected on their lone target. But those two were stapled on Maye’s unit for much of the afternoon with DeMario Douglas often being the third receiver in 11-personnel.
As Kayshon Boutte worked in with both first and second units (catching just the deep ball from Maye), that left Kyle Williams, Mack Hollins, and Efton Chism III largely serving as Tommy DeVito and Behren Morton‘s receivers. Chism hauled in one catch from the latter and saw another open target sail far and high from DeVito.
O-line shuffle: The Patriots’ starting offensive line looked as expected with Will Campbell, Alijah Vera-Tucker, Jared Wilson, Mike Onwenu, and Morgan Moses aligning as the top unit from left to right. First-round rookie Caleb Lomu received reps as the sixth O-lineman and in place of Moses at right tackle, while veteran offseason signing James Hudson also saw time in that spot.
As he ended the spring, Alijah Vera-Tucker participated in full as he works back from last year’s season ending triceps injury. The end of practice also featured a bad snap between Jared Wilson and Maye, which the QB took the blame for.
Big Nickel: Carrying over from the spring, the Patriots defense continued to deploy more three-safety packages to open the summer. Joining regular starters Kevin Byard and Craig Woodson in the secondary was free agent addition Mike Brown, who moved into the slot in those looks. Dell Pettus held that role with the second defensive unit and also came onto the field when New England went big nickel.
- Backup QB Tommy DeVito opened with a rough first period as he misfired on all three of his attempts. DeVito settled down a bit in his second session while rookie Behren Morton had several nice completions to Efton Chism and stepping up in the pocket to find Myles Montgomery.
- Rookie tight end Eli Raridon sparingly worked in with the first unit behind Hunter Henry. His first target came from DeVito and was sailed high up the seam before the duo connected in the next period on a sail route.
With Harold Landry and Gabe Jacas sidelined, Dre’Mont Jones and Elijah Ponder continued to work as the top edge defenders. Bradyn Swinson mixed into the group and batted a pass down at the line of scrimmage.
As Vrabel hinted at, tempo was a key part of practice for the offense with the unit often hurrying to the line of scrimmage after big plays.
Coach DeAndre Hopkins was on scene and worked with the wide receivers ahead of practice.
The Patriots will be back on the practice fields on Sunday for Day 2 of camp which is set to begin at 10:30 a.m. ET.
Backup QB Tommy DeVito opened with a rough first period as he misfired on all three of his attempts. DeVito settled down a bit in his second session while rookie Behren Morton had several nice completions to Efton Chism and stepping up in the pocket to find Myles Montgomery.
Rookie tight end Eli Raridon sparingly worked in with the first unit behind Hunter Henry. His first target came from DeVito and was sailed high up the seam before the duo connected in the next period on a sail route.
With Harold Landry and Gabe Jacas sidelined, Dre’Mont Jones and Elijah Ponder continued to work as the top edge defenders. Bradyn Swinson mixed into the group and batted a pass down at the line of scrimmage.
As Vrabel hinted at, tempo was a key part of practice for the offense with the unit often hurrying to the line of scrimmage after big plays.
Coach DeAndre Hopkins was on scene and worked with the wide receivers ahead of practice.
The Patriots will be back on the practice fields on Sunday for Day 2 of camp which is set to begin at 10:30 a.m. ET.
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