A.J. Derby continues his steady push for a roster spot
And other notes from Patriots' practice on Wednesday.
It’s easy to overlook A.J. Derby, the Patriots’ second-year tight end out of Arkansas.
He suffered an injury early in the 2015 preseason, and didn’t play during the regular season. His positionmates, Rob Gronkowski and Martellus Bennett, have attracted a lot of attention during training camp, and Bill Belichick has said this may be the deepest group of tight ends he’s ever coached. But Derby has been plugging along with tight end Clay Harbor in a competition to make the Patriots’ 53-man roster.
During Wednesday’s practice, Jimmy Garoppolo and the Patriots offense drilled goal-line passing plays against the Bears in 7-on-7’s. The Patriots offense played with only running backs and tight ends — no receivers. During those plays, Derby was very active, and caught at least three passes in the end zone.
Later in practice, while the Bears drilled onside kicks, Derby took Rob Gronkowski’s place on the hands team. Gronkowski usually stands behind the front line of blockers in a position where he can easily field the onside kick. No matter whether it’s on special teams or offense, it’s a big deal to get a role typically performed by Gronkowski. And Derby successfully recovered all of this kicks directed at him.
Wednesday’s practice was typical of Derby, who has been steady and durable during 2016 training camp.
Attendance:
Absent: Rob Gronkowski, Jabaal Sheard, Shea Mcclellan, Dion Lewis, Sebastian Vollmer, Jonathan Cooper and Tre’ Jackson.
Warm-ups only: Keshawn Martin, D.J. Foster, Donald Brown, Bryce Williams, Rob Nonkovich and Malcolm Mitchell.
No Shells: Danny Amendola.
Red non-contact jersey: Logan Ryan, and the quarterbacks.
Observations:
- Still no Gronkowski at practice Wednesday after he left practice on Monday with an apparently injury.
- The Bears and Patriots defenses were very relaxed for much of Wednesday’s team drills. At one point, Patriots cornerback Justin Coleman ducked out of the way so a Bears receiver could catch a poorly thrown football.
- Nate Ebner, who made his return to practice after competing in rugby in the 2016 Rio Games, warmed up with the team and participated in special teams drills. When the two teams moved to team drills like 11-on-11’s and 7-on-7’s, he spent time working alone with special teams coach Joe Judge.
- A day after Bryan Stork was ejected for fighting, David Andrews got work with the first team offensive line, which was as follows from left to right: Nate Solder, Joe Thuney, Andrews, Shaq Mason, and Marcus Cannon.
- Nate Washington played catch with Tom Brady at one point during the first half of practice. Julian Edelman and Chris Hogan later ran routes for Brady in the end zone. Edelman dropped a ball, and yelled a four-letter word. Even in a slow, quiet practice, Edelman was apparently holding himself to a high standard.
- The Bears receivers continued to maximize their down time. During special teams drills on Wednesday, the Bears wideouts were back at their 1-on-1 hands drills on the sideline. Over and over, a coach would throw a lob from 10 yards away. Alshon Jeffrey and Kevin White stood next to each other, and Jeffrey, pretending to be an opposing cornerback, held his hand over White’s eyes. As White corralled the catch, a coach smacked White’s hands with a pad.
- Patriots defensive tackle Anthony Johnson got extended work with the first-team defense during 11-on-11, 2-minute drills.
- In a scenario where Brady had 7 seconds left in the game, Brady targeted Julian Edelman in the end zone. On the next play under the same circumstances, he targeted Aaron Dobson.
- Martellus Bennet dropped a wide open pass from Garoppolo against a half-speed defense.
- Elandon Roberts, Darryl Roberts and Cre’Von LeBlanc had interceptions. Kamu Grugier-Hill got a pass breakup.
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