Patriots Blog: Camp Set To Kick Off
FOXBORO (CBS) - The first day of Patriots training camp is here and fitting, the weather outside is football weather.
With gloomy skies, the Patriots could be having their first practice indoors, but time (and Mother Nature) will tell.
Bill Belichick will hold a "welcome to camp" press conference at 1pm and then practice goes from 1:30-4:00pm, which is open to the public. Players will address the media as they make their way off the field.
Read: Guide To Training Camp
Here are a couple of early items to pay attention to as camp gets going:
1. Wes Welker took the franchise tag, but he wanted a long term contract. Wes is a professional and this is not going to hurt his game on the field, but sooner or later the Pats are going to have to address this. They can't work out an extension until after the season, but if Welker is part of their future, a deal has to get done.
View: 10 Storylines For Pats Camp
2. Just yesterday the Pats let go veteran running back Joseph Addai. Word is Addai failed his physical. Now the depth at running back is only four players (Stevan Ridley, Shane Vereen, Eric Kettani, and Brandon Bolden) and that is going to be a very contested battle. The Pats have beefed up at fullback and that may be a direction they plan on using more of this year.
3. The "Summer of Gronk" is over. The Pats all-pro tight end has been a party animal all off season. He says his ankle is fine and Gronk is opening camp on the field. It's going to be interesting to see the type of shape he's in and where his head is at.
4. There are too many wide receivers on the roster to count. This will be the battle in camp , about 10 guys and essentially there are are only about 2 spots up for grabs. Deion Branch may be the odd player out when all is said and done.
Read: Patriots Position Previews
5. The preseason game schedule is crazy. The Pats play on the 9th of August and then they have 10 days off. After that they play on the 20th, the 24, and the 29th. That's 3 games in ten days. Going to be hard to evaluate tired and sore players.
Bill Belichick will hold a welcome to camp press conference at 1pm and then practice is at 1:30-4. It's also open to the public.
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