D2 Sports The Boston Globe TUESDAY, AUGUST 13, 2019
The sun was shining, and so was the Patriots secondary, which
made life miserable for the quarterbacks and receivers for a good
portion of practice Monday morning. Here are some observations
from Day 12 of training camp:
ROLLCALL
RWR N’Keal Harry, TE Matt LaCosse, CB D’Angelo Ross, and OT
Yodny Cajuste (NFI) were absent. Harry (hamstring) and LaCosse
(undisclosed) were injured last week in Detroit.
RTE Lance Kendricks (red jersey) and RB Rex Burkhead returned
and were full participants.
RS Nate Ebner and CB Ken Webster, both of whom had been on
the PUP list, practiced for the first time this summer.
ROT Cole Croston was back after being cut two weeks ago.
RWR Cam Meredith (PUP) made his first camp appearance and
arrived with fellow receivers Julian Edelman (NFI) and Demaryius
Thomas (PUP). They weren’t in uniform, but worked out on their
own.
INJURIES: NT Danny Shelton left midway through for an undis-
closed reason, but returned before the practice ended.
DRESSCODE:Fullpads.
ACALLTOARMS
Tom Brady sizzled in full-team work, completing 14 of 18 passes.
He was just 2 of 5 during seven-on-sevens and was intercepted
twice, including back-to-backs thefts by Stephon Gilmore and Pat-
rick Chung. Brady was intercepted twice during one-on-ones. Bri-
an Hoyer was just 6 of 16 with an interception in 11-on-11s and
2 of 3 in the sevens. Jarrett Stidham was 8 of 14 with a pair of
picks in 11s. He was 2 of 3 in sevens.
RECEIVERSRACE
Maurice Harris made one of the toughest plays of the summer
when he high-pointed a medium Tom Brady pass over the middle
despite tight coverage from Stephon Gilmore. When you’ve beaten
Gilmore this summer, you’ve earned it... Jakobi Meyers continues
to impress, making a handful of catches, including a sneaky back-
shoulder seam snag from Brady with Jonathan Jones in coverage.
SECONDARYSCHOOL
A real nice day for cornerback Joejuan Williams, who had an inter-
ception during team drills (against Jarrett Stidham) and another in
individual drills (against Tom Brady). The second-round pick also
had a pass breakup during full-squad work... Stephon Gilmore
had two interceptions... Patrick Chung’s steal would have been a
pick-6... Jason McCourty had a pair of pass breakups, and J.C.
Jackson, Keion Crossen, and A.J. Howard had one each.
THEETLINGEXPERIMENT
Tough day for Danny Etling, the quarterback-turned-receiver. He
had a drop during team drills, and both of Joejuan Williams’s inter-
ceptions came while covering Etling.
ODDSANDENDS
RMichael Bennett smacked left tackle Dan Skipper in the helmet
after an intense one-on-one battle where it appeared Skipper got a
little grabby up high. Skipper responded with a double hand ges-
ture that’s familiar to everybody who’s ever driven down the
Southeast Expressway.
RIsaiah Wynn rotated in with Skipper at left tackle, as Wynn con-
tinues to ramp up his participation level coming off his injury-lost
rookie season.
RMarcus Cannon bested Bennett in an earlier duel, tossing the de-
fensive end to the ground with a powerful right arm shove.
RJamie Collins emerged from a traffic jam to swoop in and pick
off Tom Brady during full-team drills.
RLance Kendricks made a nice end-zone grab off a Jarrett Stidham
pass with J.C. Jackson in coverage. Much like Patrick Chung, Kend-
ricks didn’t appear limited in any way despite the red jersey.
RRookie Jake Bailey did all of the holding for Stephen Gostkows-
ki’s field goal attempts during individual and team drills. That’s
been Ryan Allen’s job the last six seasons.
RJon Bon Jovi made his first camp appearance, and the team
played “This House Is Not For Sale” (insert Brady real estate joke
here) and “Who Says You Can’t Go Home” during warm-ups. The
rocker chatted with Bill Belichick before practice and Robert Kraft
during the session.
RBruins coach Bruce Cassidy took in practice with his family and
chatted with Belichick afterward. Cassidy’s son, Cole, made a nifty
catch of one of Gostkowski’s long field goals into the VIP area.
POSTPRACTICEPORTRAITS
RKeion Crossen walked off with Bill Belichick as the two appeared
to discuss strategy.
ROffensive lineman Tyree St. Louis and defensive lineman Nick
Thurman got in a little extra one-on-one session that featured
some heavy hitting.
RChase Winovich, James Develin, and Deatrich Wise were among
those staying late on the back field working on drills with the tack-
ling dummies.
RThe Watson clan, complete with two baby strollers (Ben and his
wife Kristen have seven children), soaked in the atmosphere at the
second-to-last Foxborough camp practice.
SCHEDULE
Tuesday: Walkthrough open to the public, 10:30 a.m.
Wednesday: Joint practice with Titans in Nashville, 9:50 a.m.
Thursday: Joint practice with Titans in Nashville, 9:50 a.m.
Saturday: Exhibition game vs. Titans in Nashville, 7 p.m.
JIM MCBRIDEMonday’s Patriots practice report
AtBrady’sage,lifebiggerthangameto keep my body in physical
preparation, physical shape.
“That’s a big challenge. I’m
certainly not a robot. It’s just a
lot of time and energy to pre-
pare my body to play.”
Not only does it prevent
Gisele from doing everything
she wants to do, but Brady also
misses out on important time
with his children during foot-
ball season. It’s time you don’t
get to make up.
“I get to go off to work every
morning, and she gets to take
care of our beautiful kids,” Bra-
dy said. “I’m at a point in my
life where there’s a lot of consid-
erations that go into playing. I
have a very busy professional
life, I have a very busy personal
life. Any decision that’s made,
you know, has to consider ev-
erything.”
“Everything” includes Bra-
dy’s employer. If you didn’t no-
tice, the contract Brady signed
last week wasn’t a contract ex-
tension at all. It automatically
voids next March 17, meaninguONFOOTBALL
Continued from Page D1Brady is still in the final year of
his contract.
For Brady to play until he’s
45, the Patriots have to want
him first. The Patriots could
easily have given him an actual
two-year extension instead of a
fake one, but they want to see
how he plays at 42 before com-
mitting to anything in the fu-
ture. And they want to see if the
family strings finally tug Brady
away for good.
Brady tried to put a good
face on it Monday. He said he
doesn’t need any contract clari-
ty beyond this year, and that be-
ing in the last year of his deal
will help him focus on this sea-
son.
“I look at the glass is half-full
basically every day; I’m in a
good place,” he said. “There’s
just too much work to be done
between now and next season,
so there’s no point really worry-
ing about it. Because there’s so
many what-ifs and hypotheti-
cals.
“And if you spend all your
time and energy on those
things, you miss track of what’sreally most important, which is
what’s happening right now.”
“It takes a lot to get from
now to March, and I don’t want
to overlook the big challenge
we’re facing. I don’t want my
mind convoluted with thoughts
that are premature, or ones
that I’m worried about beyond
what the current situation is,
which is us trying to achieve
what we all hope we can
achieve.”
That answer doesn’t make
much sense, though. If Brady
really wants to play until he’s
45, wouldn’t it be much easier
to clear his mind and focus on
winning a Super Bowl in 2019
if he were under contract for
another three years? Instead,
he has the pressure of proving
that he can still play at an elite
level, and that his body isn’t
breaking down, and that he
doesn’t really know what the
future holds past this season.
Instead, Brady is detaching
a bit, and giving himself op-
tions. He’s not under contract
past March. He put his
Brookline house up for sale lastweek. Brady can always sign a
new deal (before or after the
current one voids), and he can
always find a place to live in
Boston if he’s back with the Pa-
triots next year. But now he has
flexibility — to move on to an-
other team should the situation
arise, or to move into the next
phase of his life with his wife
and family and off-field perso-
na.
But if Brady had his way,
he’d be all football, all the time.
For everything he has accom-
plished, it still killed him to sit
out the first preseason game in
Detroit last week.
“I’d much rather be out
there playing,” Brady said. “It’s
a great highlight of my life, so I
hate missing the opportunity to
do it. And hopefully I can lobby
for some playing time this week
down in Tennessee.”
Brady would play football
forever if he could. But the deci-
sion probably won’t be com-
pletely up to him.Ben Volin can be reached at
[email protected].Saubertoffersintriguingskillsetattightend
By Jim McBride and
Christopher Price
GLOBE STAFF
FOXBOROUGH — The Pa-
triots added another tight end
for the upcoming trip to Nash-
ville for joint
practices and
an exhibition
game with the
Titans.
The team acquiredEricSau-
bertfrom the Falcons for a con-
ditional seventh-round pick on
Monday. The move comes after
MattLaCossesuffered a
sprained ankle in last week’s
preseason win in Detroit, and,
according to a league source,
will not play against Tennessee
on Saturday night.
Saubert is a 6-foot-5-inch,
254-pound target out of Drake
who had five catches for 48
yards last season with the Fal-
cons. A fifth-round pick of At-
lanta in 2017, he’s known more
for his work as a pass-catcher
than a blocker; he finished his
college career with 190 recep-
tions at Drake.
While it’s unclear how he
might fit short-term with New
England, Saubert could see the
bulk of his reps as a replace-
mentforLaCosse.Theyhavea
similar skill set in that they are
more oversized receivers as op-
posed to in-line tight ends.
To that point, a source in the
Atlanta front office described
Saubert as “a very good athlete
with a high ceiling, but some-
one who needs to improve
when it comes to operating in
traffic. He could be an effective
weaponlinedoutwideasabig
body in the passing game.”
It’s also worth noting that
Saubert has terrific special
teams value. He was second on
the Falcons last year in special
teams snaps and cut his teeth
as a special-teamer in college.
“We used him in multiple
ways, both flexed out and as an
attached tight end,” said Drake
special teams coachWillie
Cashmore. “But because he
was so big and long and tall
and athletic, we really used him
a lot on special teams.
“He was part of three of our
four special teams units. He
blocked at least one punt for us
when he was here. After a
while, when he got older, he
was such a vital part of our of-
fense, we had to manage those
special teams reps.
“But he was a four-year
starter for us on special teams.
We had a pro-style punt team,
and so that worked well for
him when he got to Atlanta.
“When he was here, that
was just such a huge part of
things for us when it came to
building culture. To see your
best player playing special
teams, and wanting to do it, it
really helped us a lot. He put
great care and value into every-
thing he did, and that went a
long way toward impacting the
culture with us.”
BenWatsonprojects to be
the Patriots’ top tight end, but
the veteran will miss the first
four games because of a sus-pension for violating the
league’s policy on performance-
enhancing drugs.
New England also hasLance
Kendricks, who returned to
practice Monday after being
out a week with an undisclosed
injury, as well asStephenAn-
derson,RyanIzzo, andAndrew
Beckcompeting for snaps and
a roster spot. Beck has been
working with fullbacksJames
DevelinandJakobJohnson.Wynnisall-in
IsaiahWynnwas a big hit
Monday, as last year’s top pick
participated in competitive
team and individual drills for
the first time in camp.The projected left tackle,
who tore an Achilles’ tendon
last summer, held his own in a
nice battle with nose tackle
MikePennel, and then teamed
withTed Karrasto muteChase
WinovichandByronCowart.
The 6-2, 310-pound Wynn,
who rotated nearly snap-for-
snap withDanSkipper, ended
his most productive day by
playing left tackle on the first
unit asTomBradyran the two-
minute offense.
“I’m pretty good,’’ Wynn
said. “I’m back out there, so
that’s the biggest thing. Just
coming out here, taking it day
by day, and getting ready to
help any way I can.’’Though not a full partici-
pant until Monday, Wynn was
never far from the action dur-
ing drills and often would mim-
ic the action from the sideline,
working on his lateral move-
ment and backpedaling.
Asked about being rusty,
Wynn said, “You’re always
working to get better at tech-
nique. It’s never polished. So, if
you consider that knocking off
the rust, then yeah.”
Wynn could help fill the very
large void left byTrentBrown,
who did yeoman’s work at left
tackle last season before de-
parting for Oakland as a free
agent. The rest of the line re-
turns intact, and Wynn said
their experience has helped
him — and continues to help
him — immensely.
“You learn as you go,’’ said
Wynn. “You should never be
satisfied, so I’m always picking
the vets’ brains. Being able to
play next toJoe[Thuney],Da-
vid[Andrews],Shaq[Mason],
[Marcus]Cannon, and even
[Skipper], all those guys, they
have experience here.
“So, just being able to pick
their brains and ask them any
type of question, I’m always ea-
ger to learn.’’Stockputinbonds
Much has been made about
the value of joint practices and
the benefit of competing
against new faces, butDevin
McCourtysaid there’s an addi-
tional benefit when the team
goes on the road for such prac-tices: Bonding. “We all spend a
lot of time together, even after
meetings being with each oth-
er,’’ he said. “I think the biggest
thing when you go on the road
like that for a week, it obviously
brings a lot from the football
side of being on the field, going
against another team’s schemes
and all that. But, even as a
team, we build relationships,
guys hang out. I think it just
grows our bond together as a
team.’’Tough break for Ross
Undrafted free agentD’An-
geloRosswas waived with an
injury designation. It’s a tough
break for the speedy corner-
back out of New Mexico, who
hadbeenplayingwell...Of-
fensive tackleColeCrostonwas
re-signed. Originally an un-
drafted free agent from Iowa,
Croston has flipped between
the active roster and practice
squadthelasttwoseasons
since originally being signed in
May 2017. He’s played in five
career games... McCourty had
a humorous take on what it
was like to play withMichael
Bennettafter playing with his
brother,Martellus. “It’s been
awesome — in a way,’’ he dead-
panned. “I told Mike I didn’t
think two people could be so
similar and I don’t know what I
did to have to deal with two
Bennetts like this. He’s very
similar to his brother, speaks
his mind, always fun to be
around him. He’s been, I think,
a really good teammate.’’PATRIOTS
NOTEBOOK
Brown loses grievance on outdated helmet
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Oakland Raiders receiver
AntonioBrownlost his griev-
ance with the NFL on Monday
over his use of
an old helmet
that is no lon-
ger certified as
safe to use for practice or play.
The arbitrator issued the
ruling after holding a hearing
last Friday with Brown, repre-
sentatives from the league, and
the players’ union.
‘‘While I disagree with the
arbitrator’s decision, I'm work-
ing on getting back to full
health and looking forward to
rejoining my teammates on the
field,’’ Brown said in a state-
ment on Instagram. ‘‘I'm excit-
ed about this season appreciate
all the concerns about my feet.’’
Brown has not participated
in a full practice for the Raiders
after starting training camp on
the non-football injury list with
injuries to his feet that report-
edly came from frostbite suf-
fered while getting cryotherapy
treatment in France. Brown
was cleared to practice July 28
and participated in part of two
sessions, but wasn’t around the
team last week when he had
the grievance hearing with the
NFL over his helmet.
Brown was one of 32 players
using helmets last season that
are now banned by the league
and players’ association. Those
players, includingTomBrady,
were able to use the helmets
last season under a grace peri-od but were required to make
the change in 2019.Lawsonsuspended
Raiders cornerbackNevin
Lawsonwas suspended four
games for violating the NFL’s
policy on performance-enhanc-
ing substances.
The league announced the
decision Monday, one week af-
ter Lawson revealed he had
tested positive for Ostarine de-
spite ‘‘never knowingly’’ taking
the substance.
Lawson will be allowed to
participate in the preseason
and training camp practices.
Lawson, who is in the mixfor one of the backup spots,
signed a one-year deal in March
after spending the past five sea-
sons with the Lions.Thomassuffersscare
Browns defensive endChad
Thomassustained a sprained
neck but avoided a more seri-
ous injury during a scary mo-
ment at training camp.
Thomas was immobilized
on the field and taken by ambu-
lance to University Hospitals.
A team spokesman said
Thomas, a third-round pick in
2018, was back at the Browns’
facility Monday evening. His
return to practice will be evalu-ated on a day-to-day basis.
Thomas appeared to absorb
a blow to his right shoulder and
head during a play. The 6-foot-
5-inch, 280-pounder stood up
but then went to the ground,
where he was treated by
Browns medical personnel.
As his teammates and fans
at camp watched somberly,
Thomas was put on a back-
board and carted away.Troubleoncorner
The Jets have quite a conun-
drum at cornerback. Injuries
are piling up at a position that
wasn’t very deep to begin with.
Top cornerbackTrumaine
Johnsonis the biggest name
and most experienced of the
Jets cornerbacks, but he is side-
lined indefinitely with a ham-
string injury suffered in prac-
tice Sunday.
But, he might not take the
field again for a while. He had
an MRI on his hamstring, and
coachAdamGasedidn’t sound
optimistic.
On Monday, the starting
cornerbacks were:DarrylRob-
erts, mostly a backup during
his first four NFL seasons; vet-
eranBrianPoole, whose role
will be primarily as the nickel
corner; and undrafted rookie
KyronBrown.
But Brown left practice with
a hamstring issue of his own af-
ter chasing downRobbyAnder-
sonduring drills. He clutched
the back of his left leg before
leaving the field with a trainer.NFL
NOTEBOOKJEFF CHIU/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Antonio Brown’s bluff was called on Monday when the NFL
denied his grievance to use his old helmet this season.NIC ANTAYA FOR THE GLOBE
Isaiah Wynn is the presumed starting left tackle this
season after missing his entire rookie campaign to injury.