Patriots OTA notes: Backups see reps with starters absent
The New England Patriots held their first open-to-the-media practice of organized team activities (OTAs) on Friday.
Now is not the time to come to rash conclusions about the team’s chances of repeating as Super Bowl champions, but instead a time for teaching the basic concepts of the scheme for 2015. That being said, some prominent players were not a part of this session for one reason or another.
Here are some notes gathered during the session, which ran roughly one hour and 45 minutes in temperatures in the upper-70s to lower-80s.
– Attendance is usually very difficult during OTAs, but today it was nearly impossible. There are no jerseys, but typically, the players will be wearing helmets with their number on the back to help identify each one. This year, however, gave us a new twist as the players were not even wearing numbers on their helmets. This made it exceedingly difficult to keep track of who was who during the practice.
– Even without the benefit of numbers, there were still some notable absences: linebackers Jamie Collins, Jerod Mayo and Dont’a Hightower, right tackle Sebastian Vollmer, cornerback Malcolm Butler, defensive end Chandler Jones, defensive tackle Sealver Siliga, wide receiver Brandon LaFell, and special teams ace Matthew Slater were among the missing players.
– Linebacker Brandon Spikes got a ton of reps at linebacker due to all the absences, as did rookie Matthew Wells. Wide receivers Brian Tyms and Aaron Dobson got a lot of action as a result of LaFell’s absence from practice.
– Practice began with stretching before the players broke off into position groups for individual drills. The wide receivers and defensive backs were lined up against each other, practicing getting away from press coverage at the snap. Second-year cornerback Daxton Swanson had sticky coverage of Aaron Dobson during these drills, but Dobson came back the next time they faced and easily got away from Swanson. Undrafted rookie Jimmy Jean had good coverage on wide receiver Brian Tyms on one rep, as well.
– Tight end Scott Chandler is a big dude. He’s an inch taller than Rob Gronkowski at 6-foot-7, and weighing in at 260 pounds, he moves more fluidly than one would expect of a man his size. He showed off his nice catch radius; Tom Brady overthrew him on an in-breaking route, but Chandler was able to extend his arms and bobbled the pass toward his body to corral the pass.
– Early on in practice, Patriots head coach Bill Belichick was working with the defense during drills that were focused on gap discipline. The defenders in the front seven lined up across from upside-down trash cans aligned like an offensive line.
– In other defensive front-seven drills, the Patriots seemed to be experimenting with different combinations utilizing three- and four-man defensive lines. Jabaal Sheard was one player who was used in a variety of ways during these drills, as was Rob Ninkovich.
– Separately, Sheard got pressure on Brady during red zone drills and forced an errant pass that was thrown well out of bounds.
– Special teams drills saw a variety of players earn opportunities at gunner in Matthew Slater’s absence. Brian Tyms and Jimmy Jean were among the players running downfield to cover kicks as gunners. Wide receivers Julian Edelman, Danny Amendola, and Jonathan Krause were the players getting opportunities to return punts.
– Rookie linebacker Matthew Wells stepped in front of a Jimmy Garoppolo pass in the red zone for an interception.
– Patrick Chung defended a pass for Fred Davis in the red zone, breaking it up by making contact with Davis when the ball arrived. Daxton Swanson had sticky coverage on Scott Chandler in the red zone, forcing an overthrown pass by Brady.
– Julian Edelman and Aaron Dobson both made some nice grabs against cornerback Logan Ryan. Edelman was falling to the ground on a red zone drill, but was still able to make a nice back-shoulder catch. Dobson’s catch was in the middle of the field, but he was also able to make a nice falling catch despite tight coverage from Ryan.
– Brady finished the day 11-of-18 in 7-on-7 work and 7-of-11 in 11-on-11 work. Jimmy Garoppolo finished 7-of-11 in 7-on-7 and 8-of-11 in 11-on-11.
Patriots 2015 draft class
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