Training camps rolled on today and as interesting as what happens on the field might be what the coaches have to say about their players. Of course, it's tough to take what they say seriously knowing they're going to try and talk up their roster more times that criticize the play of their players. There were some interesting tidbits to hear coming out of camp Tuesday.
- Bill O'Brien seems to be impressed with rookie Deshaun Watson. "Deshaun is ahead of any rookie quarterback I've ever been around," is the exact quote O'Brien gave reporters. Now, reading into that it could mean absolutely nothing if O'Brien has been around nothing but terrible rookies meaning this is a low bar to clear. Nothing was mentioned about Watson starting out of the gate although it's noted that almost every report of out camp so far has been glowing about him. The likely scenario is he gets eased into the role at some point early in the season. That timetable could be accelerated with poor quarterback play from Tom Savage or/and Brandon Weeden which is not a tough scenario to imagine.
- Bill Belichick made it obvious that the Patriots wanted to go a different direction this offseason at the running back position when he spoke on SiriusXM NFL Radio: "I would say that I think this year we're trying ... we have a little bit more versatility than we had in the past...I think Burkhead has ability on all four downs. I think Gillislee maybe has a little more overall versatility. Dion Lewis can play on all three downs. James White, as we saw later in the year last year, can play more on all three downs, although we used him more as a third-down player. [Brandon] Bolden can play on all three downs, so it will be interesting to see how all that competition unfolds." Trying to read between the tea leaves the Patriots obviously wanted to go a different direction than LeGarrette Blount and weren't thrilled with only Lewis, White, Bolden and whoever they drafted on the roster. Gillislee appears to be the main back here and when he's referred to having a little more overall versatility it suggests that he should be much more involved in the passing game than Blount was.
- Latavius Murray admits he's "behind the 8-ball" when it comes to participating in practice and still has no timetable for his return. Meanwhile rookie Dalvin Cook has been nothing but impressive and has taken most of the first team reps despite Jerick McKinnon returning to the fold. Cook should be bumped up a few spots as it appears he'll be the main ball carrier Week 1 short of a miraculous recovery by Murray in the near future.
-Ameer Abdullah is working in training camp without any restrictions. It's a great sign after last season's injury and he's not even wearing a non-contact jersey showing the confidence that he is 100 percent. Look for him to handle most of the early down work with Theo Riddick handling third-down pass-catching duties. Think of Abdullah as a low RB2/flex type of starter with a little more value in non-PPR formats.
- Cam Newton (sore shoulder) didn't throw at practice Tuesday. Nothing to worry about here as Riverboat Ron indicated the team was just being cautious and there was no reason to rush him. This shouldn't be a problem heading into the season and is a very different situation than the one Andrew Luck is in.
- Breshad Perriman left practice with a tight hamstring. While most would call this an injury, Perriman owners know this as "another season."