Tuesday Patriots Notebook 5/21: News and Notes

More Patriots OTAs Notes

– Rhamondre Stevenson reportedly looked good on Monday, which is encouraging as the veteran continues his return after suffering a late-season ankle injury.  With Ezekiel Elliott returning to Dallas, Stevenson’s value to the team becomes that much greater as the club looks to hopefully see someone else emerge to compliment him.  Antonio Gibson is considered to be a player who might possibly provide that, with Kevin Harris hopefully emerging among New England’s running back group.

– Harris joined Deshaun Fenwick among backs who caught passes during team drills from Maye on Monday, with the team spending time working on screens at various points of the practice.  Overall, it seems like depth-wise it was both Gibson and Harris behind Stevenson, with those players appearing to be the players currently in the top spots on the depth chart at this point of the offseason.

– As for Maye, the rookie reportedly showed good poise and appeared comfortable in the offense.  Mayo credited Maye for spending a lot of time off the field trying to learn the offense. “You know, I walk by the quarterback meeting room, he’s just in there by himself watching film,” said Mayo.  “Those are the things you want to see.” So far, it looks like that work is paying off.

– Maye and the other quarterbacks spent time at the start of practice working on fundamentals, with footwork being one of the focuses.  Each spent time throwing into a target in a net, with each player holding their own.  For Maye, he showed off his athleticism and his arm strength on multiple occasions, which, based on all the videos posted Monday, was certainly good to see.  He dropped in a couple of nice balls on some deep throws, along with zinging a ball to the sideline on an out-route.

– Kyle Dugger had a nice pass breakup on Monday, and teammate Christian Gonzalez also looked solid in coverage.  New England’s secondary remains a quiet strength heading into this season, with a defense that was one of the better units in the NFL last season.

– Overall, the defense looked strong early on, which is to be expected given that the players coming back – and that represents a large portion of the group – have less of a learning curve.  Meanwhile, they’re going against an offense that is learning a brand new system with many new pieces in place compared to the same group we saw a year ago.

Former WR Parker Retires

Former Patriots receiver DeVante Parker has decided to hang up his cleats, with Parker walking away from the NFL just a few months after signing with the Eagles in Philadelphia.

According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Parker said he’s instead focused on spending more time with his family.  “I want to see my kids, spend quality time with them,” Parker said. “I want to be there for them whenever I can.”

Parker is barely a year removed from signing a three-year extension with New England, which reportedly came after the veteran seemingly became frustrated by the news the club was courting wideout DeAndre Hopkins.

Hopkins ended up signing with Tennessee, going on to finish with 75 receptions for 1,057 yards and seven touchdowns.  Meanwhile, Parker finished with one of the lowest reception totals on the team, catching just 33 passes for 394 yards and no touchdowns.

He’ll be remembered for one of the most irritating drops in recent memory, with a perfectly thrown ball by former quarterback Mac Jones going right through his hands in the final two minutes in Las Vegas where the Patriots trailed 19-17 with a chance to get into field goal range.

Parker would have been near midfield had he hauled in the reception, putting the club in position to pick up another 10-12 yards and possibly pulling off the come-from-behind win.

“I don’t know.  What did you see?” quipped Parker after the game when asked by a reporter about the miscue.

The reporter responded, “it looked like you got behind the coverage, the ball was there,” Parker came back with, “That’s just what happened.  I was behind the coverage.”

“Next.”

He was then asked if he got his fingers on the ball, and Parker claimed he thought it hit his fingers, but he couldn’t quite get his full hands on it.

“Probably, through my fingertips, I think,” he said.  “But I didn’t get to get a whole full grasp of it.”

When asked if he thought it was a ball he could catch, Parker again wasn’t sure.

“I think so,” he said.  “Fingertips … I don’t know.”

That lack of accountability was just a bookend to an irritating tenure for the veteran.  For someone that was considered to be a player who fought for contested throws certainly never seemed to come down with many of them.  It also makes the decision to essentially pick Parker over Hopkins that much more irritating.

Odds and Ends

Linebacker Matthew Judon wasn’t present for yesterday’s session, although Mayo didn’t seem too concerned.  “He’s not here today,” said Mayo.  “I’ll say he’s not here today. He has been in and out. At the same time, look, he’s one of those guys historically, he’s been in and out.  So not really a big story there.”  Judon is in the final year of his deal and is a player who Mike Reiss pointed out over the weekend could potentially be in line for an extension on his contract.  … Mayo was asked about Cole Strange’s timeline, with Mayo saying he’s progressing, but it sounds like it might be a while before he returns. “That’s an interesting one,” said Mayo.  “He’s another guy … normally, we say day by day. He’s more of a, let’s say, week by week, or we want to go month by month if you want to. But he’s working hard. He’s doing his rehab. He’s here every day. He’s in the meeting room, so I’m happy where he is.” Second-year lineman Sidy Sow was reportedly working in Strange’s spot at left guard on Monday. … Kendrick Bourne was present but didn’t practice Monday, with Mayo saying he won’t be out here this spring.  “Honestly, it’s a week-by-week type of thing,” he said. “We hope to get him out here. Well, he won’t be out here during the spring. I can tell you that. So we’ll see going forward. That’s more information than you normally would get, right?” … Marcus Jones told reporters he’s feeling good coming off the shoulder injury that sidelined him for 2023.  “I’m 100% ready,” he said.  That’s encouraging, especially knowing the speed he possesses both in the return game and should the team potentially use him on offense. … JuJu Smith-Schuster told reporters on Monday that last season he was at about “60%,” health-wise and now he’s “100%.”  He’s a player who will have to really show something, as it would be a surprise not to see the club head into the season putting its absolute best foot forward on offense. …  The left tackle spot seems to be Chukwuma Okorafor’s to lose, as he held the top spot, while rookie Caedan Wallace was behind Vederian Lowe on the depth chart as he begins working on transitioning from the right tackle spot he played in college.