New England Patriots’ Bill Belichick Ready To Evaluate Without A Preseason Slate

The New England Patriots had four Thursday nights under the lights booked this summer.

But there will be no NFL preseason games played by a roster that preemptively reduced from 90 to 80 players last week, before an additional eight in Brandon Bolden, Danny Vitale, Marqise Lee, Matt LaCosse, Najee Toran, Marcus Cannon, Dont’a Hightower and Patrick Chung opted out. There will be no hosting of the Detroit Lions and Carolina Panthers at Gillette Stadium. No road trips to Lincoln Financial Field or MetLife Stadium to face the Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants, either.

The evaluation period is now part of the acclimation period for head coach Bill Belichick’s staff.

“We’ll just have to take advantage of our practice opportunities and create as much – a combination of – competition to evaluate the players and also situations to get our players ready to play in regular-season games,” Belichick said Friday during his first video conference with reporters since April’s draft. “Combine those things as we go forward.”

The Patriots, in line with the coronavirus protocols agreed to between the NFL and NFL Players Association, are scheduled to hold their first official practice of training camp on Aug. 12. The team won’t be in full pads until five days later.

Players who recorded three negative Covid-19 tests began to enter the facility for physicals and equipment distribution over the weekend. Strength and conditioning is ahead, similar to the initial phase of the spring workout program. Install on the Foxborough backfields will follow as if it were organized team activities ramping up to mandatory minicamp.

It is a small window for an undrafted rookie to continue a 16-year streak. Or, for a veteran on the bubble and working back from injured reserve. But it’s the play called. And Belichick, who hadn’t yet met face-to-face with all of New England’s offseason acquisitions, pointed out that it has been run before.

“It will be a little different setup, but that’s what college teams do every year,” Belichick said. “I think ever since the beginning of college football back in – well, I don’t know about all the way back when Rutgers started in the 1870s – but that’s the way it’s been. You go to camp for three weeks, then you start the season. There are no preseason games, and you evaluate your team and you get ready to play. I mean, that’s what all college football teams do. I don’t think it’s anything that’s revolutionary here. This is just we haven’t done it that way in the National Football League for a while, and I certainly haven’t done it that way.”

Belichick, 68, got his start in the league as a special assistant for the Baltimore Colts in 1975. Some years have brought different hurdles than others. The lockout of 2011 being one. Time has brought adaptation.

Even if it isn’t 1870.

“I mean, I haven’t coached in college,” Belichick added. “But as a college player and growing up around college programs, I can remember those periods of time leading up to the start of the season. Teams had their scrimmages – or whatever you want to call them – and ways to prepare their team and at the same time evaluate the players. It’s a process that certainly goes into the early part of the season. This is just football, that’s all. I don’t really see it any differently.”

What’s been seen virtually soon will be seen on the field. And all players have missed the same reps there, be it 2019 fourth-round pick Jarrett Stidham or former league MVP Cam Newton.

The active roster is set to go to 53 in September even so.

“There’s nothing we can do about that,” Belichick said. “We can’t change it, so we’ll just try to make the most out of every opportunity that we get going forward. That’s all we can do.”