Today the members of the NFLPA ratified the NFL CBA and the new league year was officially started. With that newly signed free agents and players who restructured their contracts were officially able to practice.
One of the interesting components of the new CBA is that it allows for blood testing for HGH. The NFL is the first major professional sports league to have HGH testing included in their CBA with its players.
In New England that meant the return of OG Logan Mankins and OT Matt Light to the field. Mankins was involved in several heavy-hitting plays during practice with DT Albert Haynesworth. Both players got the best of each other more than once during the session as they beat the snot out of each other.
After the session Mankins spoke to the media and he wanted to clarify that “me and Mr. Kraft never had a problem. I never said he lied.” This was in reference to the contract dispute that led to a long hold out last season.
This year Mankins was tagged as the franchise player and he signed a tender worth $10.1 million for the season. He seems optimistic that a long-term contract can be worked out but he isn’t focusing on it. He added that his relationship with Robert Kraft is in a good place.
When asked why he decided to sign the tender and come to camp he said, “I figured I’m being paid a lot of money. I should put a full year in.”
Also during the practice the receivers had another tough day with several bad drops lead by newly acquired WR Chad Ochocinco. TE Rob Gronkowski though had several big catches in the practice. OL Sebastian Vollmer looked beastly beating on anyone who ventured in his space while on the defensive side of the ball DE Eric Moore was severely outplayed during the entire practice. He was so disappointing today that you have to wonder if the Patriots are looking for another defensive end.
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With that said, today the team worked out former New York Jets DE Shaun Ellis. The ironic thing there is the Jets selected Ellis with the supplemental pick they received from New England when the Patriots hired Bill Belichick as head coach.
Belichick commented prior to practice on Thursday that the team might end up having some scrimmages with another team. The speculation is that the team would be Detroit as he and Lions head coach Jim Schwartz are very close and the teams play each other in 3rd preseason game.
I wonder if the Patriots would have any interest in San Francisco 49ers S Taylor Mays. The Niners sent out a mass email to the other 31 NFL teams saying they were looking to trade Mays.
Another player of possible interest could be former Seattle Seahawks linebacker Lofa Tatupu. Tatupu, who started his collegiate career at Maine before transferring to Southern Cal, is familiar with the organization as his late father Mosi Tatupu was a Patriots running back for 13 seasons and was a member of the Patriots Super Bowl XX team.
DE Raheem Brock who worked out for the Patriots on Wednesday has decided to return to Seattle he signed a one-year contract with the Seahawks today.
Rookie RB Shane Vereen pulled a hamstring in the Wednesday night Gillette Stadium practice and will miss some time during camp.
18,334 season ticket holders showed up Wednesday night for the Gillette session it was the highest turnout for the event in 5 seasons.
The Patriots announced their practice schedule for the next two days.
Friday
Practice will be held from 1:30 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Patriots Experience will be open from Noon until 5 p.m.
Saturday
The team will practice in the early afternoon. Schedule TBA.
For all the latest training camp information go to patriots.com/trainingcamp or call 508.549.0041.
Stay with Sox & Dawgs for all the latest Patriots news. We will post larger signings and trades as soon as we can and will recap the minor moves near the end of the day.
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