Patriots

Tyquan Thornton stands out on Day 7, and other takeaways from Patriots training camp

Thornton caught a pair of TDs against Christian Gonzalez in 1-on-1s and added another during red zone scrimmages.

By Khari Thompson

August 1, 2024

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The Patriots returned to practice in shorts and shells on Thursday after taking the day off on Wednesday.

Matthew Judon, who had missed the prior two practices, was a full participant on Thursday.

Without full pads on, the Patriots ran through extra conditioning drills at the beginning of practice, spent a good chunk of time working on red-zone offense, and practiced kickoffs.

Here are five takeaways from the action.

Drake Maye bounces back.

Drake Maye bounced back nicely on Thursday after a rough couple of days.

His two best throws were a long pass to Pop Douglas, and a TD pass to a sliding KJ Obsborn to close out his red-zone 7-on-7 reps.

He had a couple of throws that were off target, one that went too high for Osborn to get his hands on and another on a short route to Douglas that bounced before it reached its target.

He also appeared to throw a TD pass to JuJu Smith-Schuster. The throw was right there in Smith-Schuster’s hands but Smith-Schuster bobbled it and Marcus Jones was able to knock the ball away for an incompletion.

It was a solid showing overall for the rookie QB.

Big day for Tyquan Thornton

Tyquan Thornton snagged a pair of TD catches against Christian Gonzalez during red-zone 1-on-1s and another from Jacoby Brissett during the team red-zone session.

On one of the routes, Thornton gave Gonzalez a stutter-step and cut toward the middle of the field before shifting back toward the back corner of the end zone and hauling in a well-placed throw from [resumed quarterback starter Jacoby Brissett.

This was one of Thornton’s better days during this training camp.

Mini dustup involving Hunter Henry

There was a handoff to Antonio Gibson during the red-zone drills that led to a brief dustup.

It was tough to see exactly how it started, but it ended with Anfernee Jennings being led away by a staffer and Hunter Henry getting shoved by a defensive player after the play.

Nobody got ejected, so it doesn’t appear that any punches were thrown. Just some pushing and shoving and general chippiness on a day that wasn’t very chippy overall.

David Andrews returns

Center David Andrews, who had also missed the previous two practices, returned to action on Thursday.

He spent the time at Hasbro Children’s Hospital in Providence, where one of his children is being treated.

“It’s good to be back out here Our baby has actually been in the hospital,” Andrews said. “I think he’s going home today but everything is good and I’ve just been down at Hasbro so I just want to thank all the ER nurses, ICU nurses, doctors, everybody down there. I’m going to try to go in and see, hopefully get some good news from the wife.”

Players hope Matthew Judon situation will be resolved soon

Judon is back at practice, but there’s no word of a deal being done yet.

Davon Godchaux, who inked a two-year contract extension with the Patriots on Wednesday, said he hopes Judon is able to work things out with the team.

“I still want to see my brother Matthew Judon get his contract,” Godchaux said. “We all know it’s a business but he deserves to have a new contract. We’re all pulling for him because this guy has been a relentless pass-rusher for us the past three years. We came in together. I would love to keep building with him but we all know this is a business.”