FOXBORO – There was some offensive line attrition this morning at the first full-contact practice of training camp.
Most notably, guard Jonathan Cooper left the field on a cart.
Cooper, acquired from the Cardinals in the Chandler Jones trade, went down during a drill when the offensive line was firing off and hitting bags and carrying the blocks out. It appeared to be his right foot that was afflicted. He was down for a few minutes and the team had to move the drill away from him as he stayed down. Quarterback Tom Brady went over to check on Cooper before Cooper was helped gingerly to a cart alongside trainer Jim Whalen and was carted away.
Ian Rapoport from NFL Media reported after Cooper went down that the former first-rounder is battling plantar fascia, a painful foot ailment.
That’s what led to him needing to be held off, according to Rap.
Meanwhile, center Bryan Stork kinda just slipped out of practice. He was first noticed missing when he did not take part in 1-on-1s which came early in practice. He was out there for the beginning of practice so whether he was hurt, sent off for whacking people or had a dentist’s appointment isn’t known.
Bill Belichick wasn’t available after practice. Otherwise we’d have the full scoop.
New England Patriots
We’ll keep an eye on that for Sunday.
Running back D.J. Foster and guard Shaq Mason meanwhile didn’t take part in 1-on-1s and retired to a lower field for some conditioning. Guard Josh Kline’s workload is also a bit limited while guard Tre Jackson and tackle Sebastian Vollmer are on the PUP list still.
The Patriots have practice Sunday and are in the stadium for a night practice on Monday before getting Tuesday off.
Tom E. Curran can be followed on Twitter: @tomecurran