Bill Belichick downplays competitiveness of training camp practices without full pads

FOXBORO -- Football in New England is back. Sort of.

While the Patriots will be on the field on Wednesday for their first practice of training camp, it won't be football in its most traditional sense. Given the constraints and limitations on practices in the collective bargaining agreement, the Patriots -- like every team -- will not be wearing pads on Wednesday, Thursday or Friday, as the players get acclimated to football season. Full pads won't come on until next week, which is when Bill Belichick believes camp really begins.

"We have the schedule laid out with the league for, you know, what the time and practice protocols are. So, work through that and then next week we'll be ready to put on the pads and start real training camp," Belichick said Tuesday from Gillette Stadium.

The new protocols are nothing new, but considering Belichick is entering his 49th season in the NFL, the stark contrast to the days of yesteryear nevertheless remains a bit jarring for the Patriots' head coach.

"My first year in the league, we went to training camp on July 5th. First game was September 21st. We had six preseason games and three preseason scrimmages. So of course it's different," Belichick said. "The Giants, we had – I don't know – 50-some practices before our first game. Padded practices. So, it is what it is. Things have changed, so yeah, we change."

Throughout the spring, Belichick has stated numerous times in recent years that full evaluation on many players really can't take place until the pads are on.

"Once we can put on pads and start really competing against each other. I mean, we can't – you know, it's minimal contact on the line of scrimmage, which for those guys, that's their whole game. They don't have pads on, so the competitiveness of the passing game is not what it will be – jamming the receivers and things like that. Just can't … it's minimal," Belichick said. "We'll see. We'll see when the real competition starts. We've had a degree of that, but it's not what it's gonna be."