It’s a 9:15 a.m. start time and you can expect the practice to last two hours. If you’re going, expect it to be thick on Route 1 approaching the stadium from 8:30 a.m. on. The practice lasts two hours and the meat of it really doesn’t start until around 9:45 when the warmup and stretching periods are complete.
WHAT TO EXPECT
Another day without pads. Bill Belichick said at the start of the week that the first two days of training camp would be like an extension of the non-contact, low-compete minicamp. The pads, the contact and the evaluations all come on Saturday.
STORYLINES
Center David Andrews and defensive end Michael Bennett were not on the field Thursday for the first open practice of training camp. Bennett, according to ESPN’s Field Yates, was excused for personal reasons. No word on Andrews’ situation. We’ll keep an eye out to see if they make an appearance on Friday. The other non-participants on Thursday were Yodny Cajuste, Julian Edelman, Nate Ebner, Ken Webster, Demaryius Thomas, Sony Michel and Deatrich Wise. They are in states of disrepair and will likely not take part on Friday either. Second-year tackle Isaiah Wynn had limited participation but seemed to move well when he was out there on his surgically repaired Achilles.
Even though they aren’t wearing pads, there are still plenty of opportunities for the players to compete. It’s worth keying in on the wide receiver crew as they take reps with Tom Brady, Brian Hoyer and rookie Jarrett Stidham. N’Keal Harry, the rookie first-rounder, newcomer Maurice Harris and returning wideout Phillip Dorsett have a lot on their plates as the players who’d probably be at the top of the wideout depth chart.
Defensively, the combinations at linebacker are interesting to give a sense of where the team may intend to slot in Jamie Collins.
COVERAGE
New England Patriots
Our Training Camp Postcard will be up on NBCSports.com soon after practice ends. Tune in for all our camp coverage beginning at 6 p.m. with Training Camp Central followed by more Patriots chatter on Early Edition beginning at 6:30 p.m. and Boston Sports Tonight starting at 9 p.m.
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