Bill Belichick Acknowledges New England Patriots Rookies Are ‘In Deep Water’ This August

Members of the 2020 New England Patriots rookie class were scheduled to take their first preseason snaps on Thursday night.

But what was once penciled onto the calendar as a 7:30 p.m. ET kickoff at Gillette Stadium versus the Detroit Lions never took place. Neither did rookie minicamp, organized team activities or mandatory minicamp amid the coronavirus pandemic.

During his video conference on Friday, Patriots head coach Bill Belichick forewarned that it’s out of meetings and walkthroughs for first-year players.

It’s into the deep end.

“I think all of our rookies have worked extremely hard,” Belichick told reporters ahead of New England’s third practice of training camp and first with full-speed team drills. “I mean, they’re in deep water and turbulent water and it’s going to get rougher, just in terms of the volume and the level of competition and becoming a professional athlete and the full day and the consecutive days that get strung together with very high demands, both physically, mentally and rest and recovery and all that. I think all the guys are adjusting to it. They’re all working hard at it. It’s a really hardworking group. There haven’t been any problems. They’re just trying to do the best they can, but they’re swimming.”

New England’s initial padded practice of camp is set for next Monday. Another 13 sessions including contact will follow it.

A better glimpse into the acclimation of safety Kyle Dugger from Lenoir-Rhyne and linebacker Josh Uche from Michigan will, too. The same goes for former Alabama linebacker Anfernee Jennings and a pair of tight ends in UCLA’s Devin Asiasi and Virginia Tech’s Dalton Keene.

From Dugger to Keene, each had their names called between the second and third rounds in April. Each will have opportunity to take ground with the league’s Covid-19 opt-out deadline leaving room.

As will those on the fringe such as running back J.J. Taylor and wide receiver Jeff Thomas, who went undrafted by way of Arizona and Miami and drew signing bonuses of $7,500 and 2,500, respectively.

The arrival times vary.

But the Sept. 13 opener against the Miami Dolphins isn’t far away for New England’s rookie class.

“They’re in deep water, and their eyes get opened every day as we move up in the process,” Belichick said. “And we’re still a long way from anything close to real football, but we’re doing more now than we did before, so each day is an acclimation day and an adjustment day for them. I think they’re just trying to keep their head above water and try to swim or paddle in the right direction knowing that they’re not really able to keep up. But they’re doing the best they can and they’re way, way ahead of where they were a week ago, two weeks ago, a month ago, two months ago. So, a lot of progress there, but a long, long way to go. They’re really all in the same boat.”

Between draft picks and undrafted free agents, a total of 19 rookies remain on New England’s roster after center Dustin Woodard out of Memphis retired this week and defensive end Nick Coe out of Auburn was waived.

“It’s a hardworking, conscientious, diligent group and they have a lot that they’re going to have to absorb,” said Belichick. “We’ll get a much better evaluation of where they are in the next week to 10 days when things start happening on the football field and we start playing some football.”