Patriots training camp notebook: Full speed on Day 5 – 98.5 The Sports Hub

The second week of 2025 New England Patriots training camp started on Monday, with the tempo and intensity increasing. It was the first day of padded practices, which is the earliest the Patriots could hold such a practice according to the CBA.

It was a full two-hour session, that saw the focus of practice change. The run game was a significant feature with fewer pass plays – which were mostly play action calls supplementing the run.

Also for the first time this summer the team spent a significant amount of time working in the red zone. It was mainly high red zone work, but did move down by the goal line towards the end of practice.

With this being the first full-speed practice, much of the attention was on the line of scrimmage – on both sides of the ball.

Big-picture, it was a good back-and-forth up front during Monday’s practice, but when it comes to the first-team units it felt like the offense had a slight advantage. They opened more holes in the run game, and Drake Maye was only sacked once.

For the second unit, the defense had more success especially against the run. There was less room on the ground for the second-unit offense.

As for the individual players creating those results, we’ll start with the name most people were talking about heading into Monday, the Patriots’ first-round pick…

Will Campbell’s first padded practice in the NFL didn’t start on a high note. In his lone one-on-one rep, he got walked back by Keion White on a bull rush. It was a convincing win for White.

Once team drills started though Campbell steadied. He had multiple plus run blocks, twice putting Milton Williams on the ground to help set the edge on the left side. Later, he stood up White in pass pro on the backside of a play-action rollout.

Overall, Campbell recovered well after a rough start. The next test for him though will be when the team works on more traditional drop back passes, and he’ll be setting the pocket and not just buying time on play action.

Jared Wilson remains heavily involved. He once again got top reps at center and left guard.

As for the results, those were mixed. Wilson had a couple of big blocks in the run game, but also a botched center-quarterback exchange with Drake Maye. That’s the second time that’s happened for Wilson this camp. Those bad snaps will be something to keep an eye on, and if it becomes a regular occurrence we’ll see if there’s more of a focus on him playing left guard.

There was also a new name if the left guard rotation. At one point the top line had Wilson at center, with Caedan Wallace next to him at left guard. Wallace has worked with the second unit in that spot, but it had been Wilson or Cole Strange there with Maye to this point.

On defense, the big winner up front was K’Lavon Chaisson. He had a couple of one-on-one wins and then had multiple would-be sacks in team drills, including one with the top unit where he blew clean by right tackle Morgan Moses. Chaisson’s day is notable because he’s a pure speed rusher – the kind of player that usually is tested more when more contact is involved. With the second unit, it was rookie Joshua Farmer and Jaquelin Roy both had run stops.

It’s also worth going back to Milton Williams, who got moved a few times in run defense. In Philadelphia Williams was a rotational player who mainly played in passing situations, not focusing as much on run defense. He’ll do more of that in New England, and will look to bounce back after a tough day in that regard.

The other big story of the day was an injury suffered by star cornerback Christian Gonzalez. It happened early in practice during a one-on-one period, when Gonzalez stayed down for an extended period of time after a rep. He later limped back to the training area with members of the medical staff, appearing to favor his left leg. Gonzalez did not return to practice.

In addition to not having Gonzalez for most of the day, the Patriots were also without Carlton Davis. That opened up more opportunities for depth corners, with Marcellas Dial getting extended run opposite Alex Austin (who has been the next man up when Davis has missed previous practices). Second-year corner D.J. James also saw a bit of time. His highlight play came earlier in practice, when he broke up a pass in the end zone against Kyle Williams in 11-on-11s.

In another notable attendance/related story, Wide receiver Ja’Lynn Polk practiced for the first time this summer. Polk had missed the first four days despite passing his initial physical. Given his projected status as a bubble player in a crowded room, that felt like valuable time.

Polk showed urgency accordingly in his return. He did rotate in with the top offense and caught a touchdown pass from Drake Maye in the red zone. In the run game he also showed physicality as a blocker. At one point he and rookie safety Craig Woodson continued going at each other well after the whistle (but separated before teammates had to step in).

With Polk back the only players not present who are not on NFI were Carlton Davis and linebacker Jahlani Tavai, who suffered an injury late last week. Mack Hollins, Austin Hooper, and Vederian Lowe remain out, although rookie safety Josh Minkins was activated from NFI and took part in his first practice.

Checking in on the third unit real quick. While that group was on the field there were some heated reps between rookie UDFA wide receiver Jeremiah Webb and ‘Mr. Irrelevant‘ seventh-round pick Kobee Minor. Multiple times the two were jawing and shoving well after the whistle, and seemed to anticipate each play when lined up across from one another. Still, they made sure to stop before coaches had to get involved. Both showed a high level of competitiveness without crossing the line into being undisciplined.

Monday featured a new setup for the live field goal drills. Usually the Patriots do eight kicks, with each kicker getting four attempts. On Monday though it was all John Parker Romo, who got six kicks and hit them all between 30 and 52 yards. Andy Borregales did not get any kicks in team drills.

We’ll see if Borregales gets enough kicks to even things out the next time the Patriots have a team field goal drill. Through the first week Parker Romo was more accurate than Borregales on an even number of kicks after Borregales won the spring.

The Patriots will be back on the field on Tuesday for their sixth training camp practice. It’s the second of five days in a row of on-field work for the team, including the in-stadium practice coming up on Friday.