Decker gets acquainted with offense
FOXBORO — Eric Decker’s first practice with the Patriots yielded zero competitive reps against defense, but it did provide him a chance to work closely with Tom Brady.
Decker, who signed a one-year contract, spent a portion of yesterday’s practice off to the side with Brady, offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels,
wide receivers coach Chad O’Shea, and several other players as the majority of the team focused on special teams work.
The 31-year-old Decker ran a handful of routes during the period, receiving instruction from O’Shea and McDaniels along the way. He rotated with some of Brady’s favorite targets, including Rob Gronkowski, Julian Edelman and James White, to run routes and catch passes.
After the session ended, Brady and Decker engaged in a lengthy chat.
Decker must play catch up, but he arrives with a solid foundation of NFL experience. He spent two seasons with Peyton Manning
in Denver, racking up 2,352 yards and 24 touchdowns. He’s played for five offensive coordinators in his career: Mike McCoy, Adam Gase, Marty Mornhinweg, Chan Gailey and Terry Robiskie.
“He’s a good player,” said Patriots receiver Chris Hogan. “I know he catches the ball well. Earlier on in my career, I tried to watch different guys and how they run routes. I definitely used to watch him. He’s a good route runner, (I’m) excited that he’s here.”
When the Patriots open the regular season without Edelman, Hogan will be the longest-tenured receiver on the roster (not counting special teams ace Matthew Slater). Entering his third season with the Pats, Hogan has taken on a leadership role. He has helped young receivers including Phillip Dorsett, who has “really impressed,” Hogan said. He’ll assist as Decker gets acclimated, too.
“For a guy like Eric who’s been in this league for a while, I’m sure he has a process of how he learns and he’s going to go about that the way he does it,” Hogan said. “And just be a guy that he can come to for questions and give him answers the best way I can.”
Hogan continued: “If he’s a little unsure of how to do things, try to be that guy in that room (to say), ‘This is how Tommy wants it done,’ or, ‘This is how we’ve done things in the past.’ For someone who’s been with a couple of different teams, they do it differently in different places. You just kind of show him the way of how we do it here.”
Even when Decker isn’t seeing competitive reps against the defense, as was the case yesterday, he can still make progress in the Patriots’ system.
As Hogan said, the offto-the-side sessions with Brady and McDaniels are “great.”
“You really get to work on stuff you’re not going to get in practice or you’re not going to get to rep in the team or live drills,” Hogan said. “Really try to take advantage of those couple of minutes, five, 10 minutes, whatever it is to work on
stuff that you can build off of leading up to the season.”
No days off
The Patriots will not practice today, but the grind of training camp persists.
“I’ll probably come in, get some treatment, get a little jog in, get some weights in, look at the film and see what I can get better in,” said linebacker Elandon Roberts.
“You don’t want to go into a day off and sit at home and eat ice cream and chips and things like that. Definitely you want to come in and you’ve got to be a pro about it,” said defensive end Trey Flowers. “You’ve got to take care of yourself. Like Elandon said, you’ve got to help your IQ of the game, watch film, and things like that.”
Flowers admitted he’ll sleep in, though.
Injury report
Running back Sony Michel, offensive lineman Marcus Cannon, linebacker Marquis Flowers and offensive lineman Jason King were absent. For Michel and Cannon, it was a third straight absence. . . . Receiver Kenny Britt participated in positional drills, but left practice early for the second straight day.
Britt, recovering from a hamstring injury suffered in minicamp, did not experience any setbacks, a source said. The Pats are bringing Britt along slowly, but he should factor into their plans.
‘Earlier on in my career, I tried to watch different guys and how they run routes. I definitely used to watch him.’ — CHRIS HOGAN, on new teammate Eric Decker