The Patriots offense began training camp with veteran Jacoby Brissett taking the first reps at quarterback, followed by third overall pick Drake Maye in a 90-minute session on Wednesday.

During the early days of camp, the NFL mandates that teams conduct a five-day acclimation period to ease players back into things before padded practices can begin. According to head coach Jerod Mayo, the Patriots won't put pads on for full contact until day seven of camp.

The Patriots, and every other team, have a long way to go. Now is not the time for any grand proclamations or jumping to conclusions. Still, you're here to read about Wednesday's practice, and it's my job to tell you what happened on day one of Pats camp, so that's what we'll do.

First, if you wanted a birds-eye view into practice for the Patriots offense, here goes: The Patriots began training camp between the 20s in team periods, rather than in the red zone, for the first time in eons. Former head coach Bill Belichick would begin camp in the red zone. The offense has an uphill battle in the red zone where space is at a premium, and running the ball is out without pads, so that would often lead to a bumpy start.

It's possible that Coach Mayo moved the action outside the red zone so that his offense could see a few shots go in to build confidence for a group starting from scratch. However, my read on it is that Mayo, and by extension, offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt, understand how critical early downs are for this offensive system to take hold.

The foundation of Van Pelt's scheme is marrying a wide zone-heavy run game with play-action passes. By designing plays to look the same, sequencing together successful runs with play-action fakes that look nearly identical to the defense will create explosive plays through the air. The Browns, Van Pelt's former team, ranked second in air yards per pass attempt on early downs in 2023 (8.4) – this isn't dink-and-dunk.

To that end, the way to build up this brand-new scheme in New England is through repetition. Reps are king in a zone-blocking scheme because the offensive line has to be in concert with the ball carrier like a dance number. Then, the initial steps need to blend with the play-action plays, which takes time. Some coaches from this system believe it can take two training camps to truly master the early-down pacing.

Knowing what we know about Van Pelt's version of the West Coast offense, one would expect a major emphasis on early downs in camp this summer. Once the pads go on next week, we can really evaluate the Patriots' progress as they transition to a new scheme this summer.

The other important note is, as expected, veteran Jacoby Brissett was the first quarterback in the huddle during team drills, with Maye second in line. In terms of reps, Brissett took 13 competitive reps, seven in 11-on-11s, to Maye's ten competitive reps (only four came in 11s). Bailey Zappe (five) and sixth-rounder Joe Milton (six) each took turns once in 11-on-11 and 7-on-7 drills. More or less, it's a similar script as spring OTAs.

Now that you have a practice overview, here are more detailed notes on the Patriots offense:

1. Rookie QB Drake Maye Reps Behind Jacoby Brissett, Makes Two Standout Throws

To continue our conversation about Van Pelt's early-down offense, this system is intriguing for Maye because he excels as a deep-ball thrower and is comfortable throwing on the move.

So far, we've seen flashes of what that looks like when firing on all cylinders. Although most of Maye's completions on Wednesday were of the shorter variety, his first downfield completion, followed by a well-blocked run, was exactly how AVP drew it up on the whiteboard.

With the Patriots selling an outside zone run with the stretch action flowing left, Maye executed a bootleg looping around to the right side of the field. At the same time, wideout JuJu Smith-Schuster ran across the field, going from left to right, and Maye connected with JuJu on a crossing pattern with an easy flick of the wrist on the move. On the following play, the Pats hit a successful outside zone (right) run, and boom! We are in business.

Maye's completion to Smith-Schuster was a great example of the Patriots early-down offense working as planned. However, the day's highlight came out of the gun in 7-on-7s. Maye completed a 40-plus yard bomb to wide receiver Jalen Reagor (see above). Reagor made a terrific one-handed grab on the play, but the arm talent is there. It's cool to have a quarterback whose ball explodes out of his hand. It's impressive.

The only minus plays for Maye were a hurried misfire into the dirt over the middle intended for Kayshon Boutte and an aborted snap from under center. Maye is still learning under-center fundamentals after barely taking any snaps under center in college, while New England is currently operating with guard Nick Leverett as the top backup to David Andrews (Jake Andrews is starting camp on the active/physically unable to perform list).

With more game-like practices on the horizon, we'll have a more concrete take on Maye. It's encouraging that he's flashing like a third-overall pick should, and his footwork is in good shape. We'll see if he can continue the good habits against a live pass rush.

2. QB Jacoby Brissett is the Patriots 'Starter' and More From His Day One

All signs point to the Patriots preparing Brissett as the team's starting quarterback. However, I need to see more to be convinced it isn't Maye's job in Week 1.

During his first press conference of training camp on Tuesday, Coach Mayo said Brissett is the starter "at this time" because he is the most "pro-ready" quarterback on the roster. After spending the 2022 season in Cleveland, Brissett knows this system better than anyone besides the coaching staff who followed AVP from the Browns to New England this offseason.

Along with 11 starts for the Browns in 2022, Brissett has 48 career starts in the NFL under his belt. He's pro-ready because he's a pro and is repping as the starter. But it's too soon to call this competition for Brissett because Maye is making strides, and the rookie taking over is inevitable.

With that said, Brissett has his moments as well. Mainly, he connected with tight end Austin Hooper on a nice throw during a 7-on-7 period. Hooper ran a stick-nod rod, where he'll fake a stop route over the middle, then break upfield on a vertical route. Brissett fit the ball between safety Marte Mapu and the deep safety over the top. He also feathered a nice throw on a shallow wheel route to Rhamondre Stevenson, showing nice touch into tighter passing windows.

Although there were positives, Brissett threw the lone interception of practice. Brissett threw late over the middle to wideout K.J. Osborn, allowing starting CB Jonathan Jones to break up the pass, and the deflection landed in the lap of safety Kyle Dugger, who is a ball magnet.

My main takeaway from watching Brissett practice as the current QB1 is that it's fine. Brissett is mostly in rhythm, sans the Dugger pick, and has a knack for fitting throws into tighter windows in the 8-12-yard range. However, the offense doesn't have the juice it does with Maye.

Due to his superior physical traits, Maye is a more dangerous playmaker than Brissett, but that doesn't necessarily mean that playing the rookie right away is the correct thing to do for his long-term development.

3. O-Line Opens Camp With Mike Onwenu (RG) and Calvin Anderson (RT) on the Right Side

In a mild surprise, the Patriots opened training camp with the following five-man unit as the top offensive line: LT Okorafor, LG Sow, C Andrews, RG Onwenu, and RT Anderson.

By the looks of it, the offseason talk about Onwenu being the starting right tackle was short-lived internally. Onwenu primarily sliding back inside began in the spring and now has carried over into the summer. As a made man with a three-year contract extension, it doesn't seem to phase Onwenu where he plays. Why would it? He's getting paid well either way. Still, it never felt right that the Pats were going to make Onwenu a full-time tackle, and that plan seems to be already falling apart before the Patriots even put the pads on this summer.

To start, New England is going with experience over upside, with Anderson drawing in as the top right tackle. However, the hope is that third-rounder Caedan Wallace will overtake Anderson. Anderson is a slimmer tackle with plus-athletic traits, though. His skill set fits an outside zone scheme, and he had starting-caliber tape with the Broncos in 2022. Anderson could push for a starting role with his off-field illness that derailed his 2023 season behind him.

On the left side, Okorafor is pretty safely the best option at left tackle for this team. Okorafor seems to be their guy at left tackle, barring a major development to the point where it's not worth even questioning who's at left tackle on a day-to-day basis until something changes.

As for the backups, Vederian Lowe got some run at left tackle, while Nick Leverett is in the mix at both right guard and backup center. The two rookies, Wallace and fourth-round pick Layden Robinson, are learning behind the vets right now. That'll change deeper into camp.

Without pads, we can't assess the offensive line's performance. Right now, it's about who is lining up where with Brissett and Maye.

4. WR Jalen Reagor is the Practice Player of the Day and Other Wide Receiver Notes

Despite other receivers on the roster making offseason headlines, Reagor stole the show with a slick one-handed grab and two other catches in full-team drills. The former first-rounder gave roster longshot Azizi Hearn fits with his burst off the line of scrimmage, catching another deep ball on Hearn later in practice from Bailey Zappe. There's a role for Reagor on this team as a contributor to special teams (returner) and a speedy "X" receiver. Until we see it from Tyquan Thornton or someone else, Reagor's speed is an element the Pats need offensively.

Second-rounder Ja'Lynn Polk was also targeted a handful of times during team drills. Polk caught the first pass of practice with a good-looking route on Marcus Jones in the slot, but his deep targets fell incomplete. Polk is the type of receiver where QBs need to trust his sure-handedness by putting the ball in his catch radius rather than banking on him running by defenders. The chemistry required on those plays will come with more reps.

As for fourth-round pick Javon Baker, Baker is catching up after missing time in the spring, reportedly due to a thumb injury. It was good to see Baker participating in team drills, but he's further down the depth chart than Polk because he was limited in the spring.

The Patriots leaned on a wide receiver rotation that saw Polk, Smith-Schuster, Reagor, and Osborn working with their top two quarterbacks.

5. Second-Year WR DeMario Douglas Limited in First Training Camp Practice

Lastly, second-year wideout DeMario Douglas was a limited participant in practice on Wednesday. Douglas was seen with head trainer Jim Whalen testing something off to the side, signaling he might've tweaked something during drills. Hopefully, it's nothing serious for Pop.

DISCLAIMER: The views and thoughts expressed in this article are those of the writer and don't necessarily reflect those of the organization. Read Full Disclaimer