Training camp stock watch: Douglas pops in return to full contact

The Patriots had a two-hour, fully-padded practice that began Sunday morning at 11 a.m. ET.

With the Philadelphia Eagles coming in Tuesday for what should be an intense workout, the Patriots will probably be in shells on Monday.

Let's get to the Stock Watch for the 12^th practice of training camp.

Stock Up

DeMario Douglas, wide receiver

The perpetually open Pop Douglas was the preferred target of Jacoby Brissett during 11-on-11s and 7-on-7s, and the geometry-changing receiver hauled in virtually every throw. Even better news, Douglas shed the red non-contact jersey he’s been wearing as he comes back from a hand injury.

So now he’s full-go this week against the Eagles in the joint practice and (presumably) for Thursday night's preseason game, which should help a TON against a very active Eagles defense. The quarterbacks need safety valves and Douglas is that.

Drake Maye to Ja'Lynn Polk

The best throw of Maye’s uneven day came when he rolled hard to his left and hit a crossing Ja'Lynn Polk with an off-platform dart for about a 15-yard gain near the sideline.

The throw came off bootleg action (play-action to the right, quarterback keeps and rolls left) and saw Maye whip his torso around like a shortstop going through the bag and throwing to first to complete a double-play. Nice, athletic play.

Later, after a sloppy red zone pick that got tipped at the line, Maye seemed to redouble his efforts to be decisive and made a nice, anticipatory throw to Polk inside the 5-yard line as Polk was screaming toward the sideline. The officials ruled Polk didn’t have both feet in, but again, it was an indicator of the two rookies getting on the same page.

Joey Slye, kicker

The free agent kicker signed to compete with second-year player Chad Ryland made four of his five kicks in a raucous head-to-head competition against the incumbent.

This came at the end of practice and the entire team gathered around the kickers to heckle, wave arms, scream and otherwise distract from what looked to be about 10 feet away. Slye hit a couple outside 50 yards in the competition. Ryland was 3-for-5 with one heinous miss.

Stock Down

Mitchell Wilcox, tight end

The depth tight end has way too many throws that go kabonging off his hands. We saw that on Thursday night in the preseason game as well. He seems to know where he’s going and gets some separation but the whole catching-of-the-ball portion of the program needs work.

Maye's decisiveness

“Throw it. THROW IT! JAYSUS!”

I find those words repeating in my mind far too often as the rookie quarterback tries to master the nuances of Alex Van Pelt’s offense.

It’s a process. We all agree. And if it takes too long on a Sunday morning in August of 2025, it is what it is. BE THAT AS IT MAY … the processing frequently upsets the timing of the routes and causes Maye to throw a beat late, which results in either incompletions, balls that are a touch behind or no throw at all.

Interestingly, after the tipped pick I mentioned earlier, Maye had that throw to Polk and another nice one to Kayshon Boutte. Both of them were first-read throws where Maye had his back foot hit and the ball come out fast and on-target.

The process of determining if his first read is really covered or not and the brief hesitation necessary that comes with it could be part of it. There’s an acclimation, we’ve been told, to understanding what “NFL open” is, and Maye is likely adjusting.

Christian Gonzalez, cornerback

No need to hammer the panic button, but Gonzalez has a surprising number of throws completed on him.

One in particular Sunday came when Jacoby Brissett found a seemingly covered K.J. Osborn at the back right pylon on a little in-and-out route near the back of the end zone. It was a great throw, but Gonzalez seemed in position and then kind of let Osborn finish the route and the catch.

The “nobody catches anything on me at any time” mentality we’ve seen from some of the great Patriots corners over the years wasn’t really present on that play. Bears watching.