Tom Brady is in a unique position this summer. He's the Patriots starting quarterback, he just won't be starting the first four games of the season.
As such he's working to get himself ready while also observing and aiding Jimmy Garoppolo as the backup-turned-fill-in-starter gets prepared for the first four games of the year.
When Brady stepped in front of the microphone for a meeting with the gathered media after practice on Sunday, the first thing he did was acknowledge the heat, before he was asked about watching wife Gisele Bundchen in last week's Olympic opening ceremonies in her home country of Brazil.
"It was amazing to see her out there and do that," Brady said, as noted by the Boston Globe. "It was the best part of the Olympics for me, and it got over on opening night, so there hasn't been much reason for me to watch, outside of seeing her represent her country."
The Globe's Sunday practice report focused on the heat of Foxborough, which was hard to ignore. One player who didn't seem to be bothered by the heat was veteran receiver Nate Washington, who the Globe noted as having his best practice to date this summer.
[wysifield-embeddedaudio|eid="459361"|type="embeddedaudio"|view_mode="full"]The Boston Herald obeserves that Brady had some supportive words regarding Garoppolo, which the paper calls an endorsement of the third-year backup. The Herald's "Inside Track" has notes on Robert Kraft, Rob Gronkowski, Julian Edelman and Devin McCourty.
The* Herald* Patriots notebook has Bill Belichick welcoming back safety Nate Ebner from his Olympic rugby journey, while also looking at the shot that undrafted rookie cornerback Cre'Von LeBlanc - he of the one-handed exhibition interception -- is taking at a roster spot.
The Providence Journal says wide receiver Chris Harper is trying to carve out a spot for himself on the roster. The ProJo says that Brady and Garoppolo are "breaking the ice" in their post practice competitions throwing passes into a garbage barrel. The paper's practice observations focus on Rob Ninkovich's appearance on the practice field, while Jabaal Sheard was a notable absence.
ESPNBoston.com looks at the Bears coming to town for joint practices and preseason action, including Martellus Bennett reacquainting himself with his former team. ESPNBoston.com says Washington is trying to take advantage of an expanded workload after the veteran free agent addition missed time to open camp. The site also notes that the MRI on the left elbow of rookie wide receiver Malcolm Mitchell came back clean.
WEEI.com breaks down the Patriots roster, and the guys on the bubble, at this point in the camp process. The site believes running back James White is on the bubble. WEEI.com has Brady saying Garoppolo has the "respect of everybody."
Garoppolo made his first of what will be weekly appearances on WEEI radio Monday morning, saying it is "an honor" to have Brady say such nice things about him.
CSNNE.com believes that Brady is "at peace" now that there is some closure to the whole Deflategate fiasco. CSNNE.com also notes that the return of fullback James Develin - who missed all of 2015 with a broken leg - brings an added dimension to the Patriots offense.
While Ebner went from the NFL to the Olympics, hurdler and Oregon Ducks wide receiver Devon Allen may do the athletic double-dip in reverse order.
The Chicago Sun-Times has the Bears talking up the potential value of joint practices with the Patriots.
The Chicago Tribune also previews the joint practice action.
MassLive.com has a Patriots roster projection, touting tough calls on guys like Aaron Dobson and Geneo Grissom.
NESN.com also breaks down the Patriots roster battles at this point.
USA Today talks to Ebner about the Olympic experience and returning to New England to get back to his job playing football. "When my neck muscles get acclimated to wearing a helmet the whole time I think I'll be good to go," he said of his return to practice. "Probably gain a little bit of weight. But I'm just going to take it one day at a time. I'm not worried about things physically being a big problem."
