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All right, welcome into another edition of the Patriots Training Camp Cast. I'm Mike do So, joined by Evan Lazar and Paul Perrillo. And guys, we just got off the field from the fourth practice the Patriots have had this summer. We made a day off yesterday, and guys, it kind of felt a little bit signs of life from the offense. I know it's been a little bit bumpy here early on, but Paul, I felt like the offense it made some place today. It wasn't overwhelming, but there were some moments. Yeah.
I thought the first time we got a chance to see some one on one work, and I thought the receivers did a pretty good job of consistently creating some separation. I thought Jalen Rager, Kayshaon Boody, a Javon Baker, I thought those guys were consistently getting open and making some catches in that setting. I think when it got to seven on seven and eleven on eleven, it was a little bit more on even the way we've kind of seen the first three days. But yeah, signs of life, I would I would agree.
Yeah, I talk about Javon Baker because I know he's standing out to you today. Yeah.
I thought he was open the entire practice, and I was actually watching him on a couple of the eleven on eleven reps away from the ball when he wasn't being targeted, and I thought he was giving defenders problems. And we've all said it and I feel like it holds true from what we thought in the draft. Just an explosive athlete kind of is a little bit twitchier, moves a little bit faster than some of the other
guys that have been out there. Nothing against Jalen Polk, who's been steady and has been able to eat up a little bit of that underneath coverage at times. But when you look for that big play down the field,
we saw it yesterday from Joe Milton. Today a crossing route from Drake May, you just start to see Javon Baker pop a little bit here, and I would say, you know, after the thumb injury in the spring, now we're getting to see him come on a little bit stronger, and this is kind of what we saw at the beginning of the spring until he started getting limited by that injury. So I'm encouraged.
So let's go through some housekeeping stuff. Just you know, Christian Barmore not spotted, wasn't active last couple of days. We had heard reports that he was sick. He came out last practice halfway through and Watch didn't even see him today. Marte Mapu though he did still have that same plan, came out halfway through watch practice, wasn't a participant. Sean Wade wearing a red jersey. We did see Antonio Gibson now officially involved in practice, so officially off the
NFI list. But guys, I go back to Barmore. I'm just you know, after that big contract this offseason, we know we're counting on him. Paul, I'm just a little disappointed not seeing him out there. Hopefully it's nothing major.
Yeah, I mean, it's hard to necessarily say I'm concerned or not concerned because you just don't really know exactly what's keeping him off. You hear illness and you're like, oh, okay, well you know he's not feeling great. Well, you know, not that I'm comparing the two, but last year Calvin Anderson was on the NFI list with an illness that no one knew anything about at the time, and it
turned out to be quite serious. So I don't want to just make nothing of it, but without knowing, it's hard to to necessarily get in a panic.
Yeah, just on a good news because that's kind of a downer. We have Antonio Gibson back in practice, and we've talked a ton about on the show running back depth and a lack thereof behind Ramandra Stevenson and Antonio Gibson. So definitely a sea legs practice for him. Felt like he was just getting his feet wet in practice. But it was good to see him back out there. He doesn't look any worse for the warry, so it looks like he's gonna be one hundred percent.
Yeah, and more good news injury wise. We saw Kendrick Bourne out there in his uniform, you know, just his normal sort of exuberant self. He was bouncing around having all kinds of fun. Still a ways away, more than likely from coming off pup, but seeing him out there getting ready with the pre practice warm up with the rest of his teammates, I would say that he's probably getting to the point where he can see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Now along the offensive line, we did see the same combination that we saw last practice, where we have Kaden Wallace the rookie on the left side, and over on the right side chooks of Corra four. So they've kind of flopped things. They've stayed there for a couple practices. We know the pads are going to come on tomorrow, so kind of hoping that maybe this is something that they feel like they can hang their hat on here early in practice and go with this unit.
Yeah, I think that would be a good development. And I did think, and you know, Evan charts all this stuff. I thought there were more plays today that weren't as disrupted by the pass rush as we've seen the first three days. So I think there was some positive signs there. And I probably think it's not a coincidence that you had the same five and maybe the cohesion was a little bit stronger.
Yeah, I'm one hundred percent with you, Paul I don't necessarily agree with the combination, but that's not my job to tell them which combination to go with, So I don't necessarily agree with the combination. I probably would have the tackles flipped. But the most important thing is having the same five guys out there. That's definitely the most important thing. And go back to an old scarnekieism, see
it through the same set of eyes. And in order to build that kind of continuity that all five guys are on one string and they're all pulling the rope at the same time, you have to start repping it time and time and time again. So two days in a row now, and then we get into the pads tomorrow, hopefully it's the same five and we start to really build something there. And to Paul's point, I charted three pressures in fifteen reps during team drills. The other day
it was six and fifteen, so twice as many. And then granted it's we're using our eyes and judging, and I don't have film to watch it back or anything like that, so that's all live. But I thought that there were some mishaps, but for the most part it was much cleaner.
One more point for me to talk about guys is just we mentioned a few of the receivers that have been, you know, just getting open, making catches. You mentioned Baker had a good day again. Jalen Pole continues to just be targeted involved get some catches. I mean he's probably been I'd say, I mean, maybe you have it having the most targeted guy so far. But the guy I just want to talk about not really be getting much mentioned as Austin Hooper second tight end. You know, we've
seen this for a few years now. They've had Hunter Henry, who's a reliable kind of guy. We've seen Mike Kasiki, We've seen John Hu Smith never really been able to find a complimentary second guy. And I don't want to buy the foolst goal because let's face it, we saw some place from John hu and Kasiki and training camp as well. But hey, let's just call it out. Nice day for Austin Hooper.
I thought, yeah, I thought he was active throughout. I thought one of the best plays probably that I can remember in all four days was a scene route to him in one of the team periods today. Just looked really smooth running down. There was another ball that even caught that was not anything that you would necessarily want to see in a game. It's a play that was kind of blown up, but it was about forty forty five yards downfield, tracking a ball, kind of high pointing.
It really athletic play for a tight end that far downfield. So I do think you're right. You know, we said a lot of this stuff about John Ui Smith a couple of years ago. We said a lot of it last year about Mike Kasiki.
Definitely Kiki.
Hopefully we're talking about it in a different way with Austin Hooper.
Yeah.
The hope is that he's a little bit of a better blocker than Kasiki has been throughout his entire career, and he's got a lot of familiarity in this scheme with Alex van Pelt, so we started to talk about guys learning and having a little bit of an adjustment or in a learning curve. He's one of the guys like Jacoby Brissett that probably has no problem stepping right
back to this offense. And you see that that he's in the right places and it's in rhythm, and I agree with Paul, the right over the middle of the field off play action was the cleanest play that we've seen the offense make probably in four days.
Yeah, so I don't know anything I missed you, guys. I mean I do want to say a new signing announced this morning to Ziah Brunson from the UFL, so adding some defensive line depth. We think hopefully that doesn't say anything about Christian Barmore's health. But otherwise, the pads are due to come on tomorrow. I anticipate it'll be an active week. We're expecting Wednesday will be the off day, so we're thinking two more days of practice, off day
and then three more straight days of practice. So it's not quite real football yet, guys. But the pads coming on anything specifically you're kind of looking forward to tomorrow.
For me, the number one thing I'm looking for isn't necessarily anything individual. It's how Mayo handles the pads. Yeah, you know, is it going to be similar so the way Bill did, because certainly toward the end there was very little contact at Patriots practices. I'll be curious to see how Girod handles it.
Yeah. I will obviously be looking on the offensive line and defensive line now more than we did before, and I'll have the trench reports and all that kind of stuff that I love doing. But with the receivers, I am curious to see how some of these guys that have flashed when we get to the pads, are they still productive? Are they still flashing? Jalen Rager is a guy that I think has been involved and has been active, but he tends to be a player throughout his career.
Looks great in the spring, looks great in these non padded practices, and the pads come on and it's a totally different ballgame. And we were just talking to Taekwon Thornton after practice who said that he put on about seven eight pounds of muscle this offseason. He's trying to bulk up those two speed receivers. How do they look once the pads come on and the corners can get their hands on them and things like that. That's going to decide that battle at the back end of the
depth chart. Not these practices. It's going to be the ones in the deep summer, you know, padded ones.
Well, pads tomorrow, preseason next week. It's coming fast and furious now, folks, But be sure to stick with us. We got you covered and we'll be back tomorrow with another training camp. Training, but the Patriots Training Camp post recapping Recapping nailed it, recapping all the first day of padded practice. Thank you for downloading this podcast, Subscribe on Apple, google Play, and everywhere else you listen. Like the show,
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