Stephon Gilmore on Antonio Brown: ‘competitive, smart, can do it all'

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FOXBORO — Members of the media had an opportunity to see Antonio Brown catch a pass in a Patriots practice jersey for the first time on Thursday.

Immediately after the stretching-and-warmup period, Brown ran a fade to the back corner of the end zone. He faked an inward breaking route, moved to the outside, leaped and plucked a Tom Brady pass at the highest point he possibly could. Assistant Troy Brown shoved a pad up through Brown's hands as soon as the ball arrived, but Brown still appeared to come down with it.

That was about all members of the media had an opportunity to see. 

Teammates, meanwhile, have seen much more from the player who wore No. 17 at Thursday's workout. Brown has now had two full practices with the Patriots. 

"AB’s AB," Duron Harmon said. "We all know what he brings to the table. We’re excited to have him here."

"You see it," explained Stephon Gilmore. "He's a great player. Competitive. Smart. He can do it all. I'm happy to have him on our team."

It looks as though — barring any further information being released about Brown and the lawsuit he's facing in Florida — the Patriots will have their newest wideout available to them if they want when they take on the Dolphins on Sunday. The NFL could still place him on the commissioner's exempt list, but their investigation into the matter might not be comprehensive enough to take that step. (You can read about what being placed on the commissioner's exempt list entails here.)

If Brown is on the field, there are a variety of ways in which he'd be able to contribute Sunday even after just a few days in New England. It was less than a year ago that the team brought Josh Gordon aboard. He was held out of his first game as a member of the Patriots and then played in Week 4 against the Dolphins to catch two passes on two targets for 32 yards.

Harmon indicated that it's not all that unusual to see a new player come in and be inserted into the Patriots offense after having only known that player as an opponent for years. 

"But we did the same thing for Josh last year, and when Marty [Bennett] came," Harmon said. "There are new guys that come to our team each and every year. And a lot of great players. I mean, you see why they're great. You see how hard they work and you see why it carries over to why they've had success before."

Even if Brown doesn't play Sunday, it sounds as though he's provided the defense with a new challenge these last couple of days. There's typically a competitive atmosphere between the offense and defense during practice periods pitting the two sides against one another, and Harmon smiled when he was asked how the defense did against an offense that now was able to deploy someone of Brown's talent level.

"Eh, we did good," Harmon said. "We had some opportunities we got to go against the guys. We did good. But those guys are definitely making it hard on us and making sure that we come to work each and every day."

 

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