The Patriots wrapped up the summer with their 20th open practice, capping off a busy August as they prepare to face the Washington Commanders on Sunday night. Head coach Jerod Mayo confirmed that all four of the team's quarterbacks will play and praised the development that rookie Drake Maye has shown over the course of the summer.
"If you guys remember early on, he [Drake] would throw interceptions and he would get so down on himself," said Mayo. "I would say now, as we exit camp, he's done a lot better job being able to pull the nose up on the plane when it seems like it's going down. I think that's an important quality.
Maye has demonstrated both intriguing playmaking ability and, more importantly, consistent improvement. During the dialed-down session, Maye had nice touchdown throws in 7s to K.J. Osborn and Pop Douglas, while Jacoby Brissett hit Tyquan Thornton for a score. In red zone 11's, Maye hit Douglas, Ja'Lynn Polk and JaMycal Hasty for touchdowns on his only three passing attempts of the drill.
It was another solid day from Maye, who continued to feed Polk.
Of all the receivers, the second-rounder from Washington has had the most consistent camp. On Thursday, offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt praised Polk's hands.
"Whenever the ball is in the air, you got to have a certain type of mindset when it's up there," said Polk after capping off an impressive rookie summer. "And as I always see it, it's money in the air, it's free money. So, you know, you're either gonna go get it or your pockets are gonna be empty."
Friday wrapped three days of practice that closely mirrored a regular season week, providing valuable experience for younger players as they look to establish their routines. It was a lighter session with plenty of special teams mixed in and plenty of 7-on-7 in the red zone with full team work mixed in at the end but there was a notable lack of competitive edge. It felt like a practice of preparation not about roster battles.
"We had a good week of preparation," said Mayo before practice. "This was really the first opportunity that we've had to really go through how it's going to be during the regular season: a game week, as far as preparation, as far as running cards out here with the scout team and really just getting ready for an opposing team. So, it's been a great week."
With cutdown day looming Mayo shed some light on how the team will view their practice squad when they assemble it early next week after cutdown day.
"Our philosophy – when I say "our", I'm talking about Eliot [Wolf] and myself – the way we look at the practice squad is a development [unit]," said Mayo. "It's not a, 'Alright, this guy's just out here to take snaps.' We're going to depend on these guys, whether it's Week 1 or the end of the season. We look to develop these guys, so it's definitely important."
Practice Notes
Players were just in shells for the practice... Kenny Chesney's soundcheck created dueling soundtracks for the practice... Oshane Ximines and Deatrich Wise headed to the lower fields after team stretching... Hunter Henry was also spotted rehabbing and joined the team as an observer about 45 minutes in... Joshua Uche and Ximines' absences continue to stress the depth along the edge... With Vederian Lowe missing again the top offensive line was (l-r) Okorafor-Sow-Leverett-Robinson-Onwenu... David Andrews has had his snaps managed this summer, he's too important... Tight end Mitchell Wilcox continues to be a non-participant... Jaheim Bell, La'Michael Pettway and Jacob Warren will play a lot... Bell took first-team reps during the first 11-on-11 period in the red zone... There was a lot of players mixing in with the different units, perhaps a preview of Sunday night.
Quotes of Note
Jabrill Peppers on the final preseason game:
"I think we're in a pretty good spot. Obviously, this is still part of the evaluation process. So, you know, guys are on a cusp or, you know, guys that we think have a good chance of making a team, you want to see how they can execute a game plan. You know, we made this week as close to game week as possible, you know, and see how they perform Sunday night football. If you can't get up for that something is wrong, preseason or not."
Marcellas Dial on his first rookie camp:
"It's been ups and downs, but i feel like for the most part, it's been really good. I've made progress and developed in ways I wanted to, to earn trust in my coaches and my teammates. So I feel like it's been great."
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