Gabe Jacas makes his Patriots debut and other takeaways from Day 7 of training camp
New England Patriots
After a stellar showing from New England’s offense on Friday, the Patriots’ defense recorded two interceptions on Saturday.
FOXBOROUGH — Mike Vrabel and the Patriots switched things up on Saturday morning in Foxborough.
In what stood as the third-straight day of padded practices, New England both opted to rest several veteran players — while also ripping up the script during team drills.
After several 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 drills where Vrabel and his staff ran through predetermined plays and scenarios with their players, Vrabel described Saturday’s session as a “call it” day during team periods — putting the onus on the likes of Drake Maye and Co. to call a drive live, similar to a real game scenario.
That unpredictability made for a tug-of-war between Maye and New England’s defense during drills on Saturday in front of a packed fan section in Foxborough.
Here are five takeaways from Saturday’s practice in the fields behind Gillette Stadium.
A back-and-forth battle
With no script in place for Saturday’s team drills, Drake Maye and the Patriots offense both got the better of New England’s defensive personnel at times — and were knocked for a few miscues.
Maye — who was a perfect 11-for-11 on throws during Friday’s 11-on-11 drills — started off Saturday’s session with a bang.
After changing up a call before the snap, Maye hit A.J. Brown with a nice back-shoulder throw — with the star wideout beating Christian Gonzalez in coverage for a gain of 20 yards. Gonzalez brought down Brown on the contested rep, but the wideout held onto the ball for the chunk-yardage gain.
But it wasn’t a perfect showing from Maye, who was knocked for his second interception of seven total days of camp — with safety Dell Pettus picking off Maye after he threw into a crowd of players while targeting Mack Hollins.
Rookie fifth-round pick Karon Prunty also had an interception after picking off Tommy Devito during 11-on-11 drills.
After Maye carved up the competition on Friday, several Patriots defenders made life a bit tougher for the Patriots QB on Saturday with some impressive individual effort — headlined by linebacker Christian Elliss.
A shifty wideout like DeMario Douglas has once again been a dependable target in camp, but his shot at a big gain off a crossing route was snuffed out by Elliss — who broke up the pass from Maye.
Elliss later punched out a ball that was seemingly reeled in by Romeo Doubs, forcing a fumble. Elliss’s continued ascension would be a welcome sight for a Patriots linebacker corps that starts to get pretty thin after Robert Spillane.
According to NBC Sports Boston’s Phil Perry, Maye finished 8-for-11 on throws during 11-on-11 drills.
Gabe Jacas arrives on practice field
New England’s full 2026 rookie class is finally accounted for on the gridiron.
Gabe Jacas — the Patriots’ 2026 second-round pick — was finally cleared to practice on Saturday, albeit in a limited role.
“We’ll get Gabe back today,” Vrabel said Saturday morning. “He’ll be out there in a limited role. We’ll talk to you about the return to play protocol that we have, and so now he gets handed over to the coaches, and being in a limited role, he won’t be involved in the team reps. But hopefully, Monday we’ll see him back out there.”
Jacas — who signed his rookie contract in New England last weekend after an extended holdout — has been sidelined for most of the offseason after undergoing a procedure to clean up a nagging knee issue.
After putting pen to paper on his rookie contract, the former Illinois edge rusher was immediately on the non-football injury list. Players on the NFI list are not allowed to practice and must go on injured reserve if they remain on the NFI list after roster cutdown day.
Jacas needed a longer runway to get ready, especially after missing mandatory minicamp and OTAs earlier this summer. But Vrabel stressed earlier this week that Jacas wasn’t expected to miss this season despite his injury woes.
Even though he was limited on Saturday, the twitchy edge rusher still made his presence felt — bowling over outside linebackers coach Mike Smith during a pass-rush drill.
Fair to say, Jacas was excited to get back on the football field.
“He loves football,” Vrabel said of Jacas. “He’s been itching to get back. He texts me all day. Text me late at night. ‘Hey, am I going to practice tomorrow?’ I’m like, no. Just like I told you at 6:30 last night or tonight that you weren’t going to practice tomorrow. You don’t have to text me at 10 and ask again. The answer is still no, not yet.”
“And you want that. You want guys that are you know looking for ways in as opposed to looking for ways out. And I think he just wants to get out there and get acclimated and be with his teammates. That’s all he wants to do.”
Attendance report
Even though Jacas made his practice debut, Vrabel and his staff opted to lighten the workload for a few veterans and established players on Saturday — especially on the third-straight day of physical, padded practices.
Carlton Davis, Reggie Gilliam, and Alijah Vera-Tucker didn’t participate, with Vrabel noting that Davis is still working his way back from an injury initially suffered on Tuesday during a 7-on-7 drill.
Veteran tackle Morgan Moses wasn’t present at the start of practice, but arrived later on once team drills began. Several other players had lighter days ahead of a scheduled off day on Sunday, including Christian Gonzalez, Rhamondre Stevenson, and Marcus Jones.
One thing worth following is A.J. Brown, who did leave practice about 30 minutes early. The veteran wideout jogged off on his own and didn’t appear to have any limp, so his early exit might be part of the lighter reps prescribed for several players on Saturday ahead of an off day.
As practice wound down, several other players like Gonzalez also left early.
Status quo on Gonzalez contract talks
Even though Saturday was a lighter day for Christian Gonzalez, the Patriots star corner has been a regular participant since camp commenced — even though the 24-year-old defensive back is still engaged in an extensive contract stalemate with New England.
Vrabel didn’t have much of an update on those negotiations — even after team owner Robert Kraft acknowledged last weekend that the Patriots have made an offer that would make Gonzalez the highest-paid corner in the NFL.
“When it gets done, that’ll be the progress that’s made. Everybody that’s involved is working hard,” Vrabel said of Gonzalez. “He wants to be the best at his craft and at his position. He’s made that known by the way he’s come out to practice.”
Vrabel was also asked about whether or not New England has a policy where they’ll only negotiate with players who are full participants during practices.
“We just want to have a policy that we want to re-sign players that we draft, who we covet. That’s our goal. We want to draft really good players and good people, develop them, have them play for us, re-sign them, build a team with them,” Vrabel said. “Whatever policies there are, a lot of things are on a case-by-case basis. I’ve talked about his professionalism and the way he’s started camp. You want your best players to show that on the football field.”
Undrafted free agent carving out role on tight-end depth chart
There’s been plenty of hype building around 2026 third-round pick Eli Raridon and his odds of carving out a spot as New England’s backup tight end behind Hunter Henry.
But another rookie tight end is also making a name for himself in undrafted college free agent Tanner Arkin.
Arkin — who signed with New England in May after three seasons at Illinois — may not be as dynamic and explosive as Raridon. But the hard-nosed tight end could hold value for New England as a punishing blocker who could help the Patriots in the run game.
On Saturday, Arkin earned regular reps with New England’s first-team unit as a blocker on early downs — while also reeling in a catch from Maye for a solid gain during team drills.
So far, Vrabel has been impressed with what he’s seen from Arkin during camp — especially when it comes to playing to his strengths.
“The competitive spirit, going against Dre [Dre’Mont Jones] and Elijah [Ponder], trying to block, be consistent and be physical. He’s learned what to do quickly,” Vrabel said. “I think sometimes, young players, when things start to pile on, they can slow down because they’re thinking a little bit. I haven’t seen that, so hopefully that continues.”
With free-agent pickup Julian Hill sidelined with a season-ending injury suffered during OTAs, Vrabel acknowledged that some of Hill’s responsibilities as both a blocker and pass-catcher will now fall on the likes of Raridon and Arkin — so long as they’re up to the task.
“I think that those guys are the ones that have the first crack at it,” Vrabel said of his rookie tight ends. “I mean, that’s who’s going to be out there today, and we’ll keep looking and seeing what’s available, who’s available, who we feel like could help us.
“[It’s] a long time before the start of the season, but you want to be able to put those guys in a position to try to earn a role, and then determine after that which direction we think is best for us to head. “
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