Cleaning out the New England Patriots minicamp notebook.
1. On a hot, humid day Wednesday, veteran defensive end Will Smith laughed when asked about the weather conditions. "What humidity?" he cracked. The longtime Saint, of course, is used to practicing in Louisiana.
2. Following up on second-year receiver Josh Boyce, who tweaked something early in Wednesday's practice and had members of the athletic training staff checking his left leg, my sense is that there is no cause for long-term alarm. While Boyce might not practice Thursday on the final day of minicamp, it would be a surprise if this is anything that keeps him out long-term.
3. Ditto for cornerback Darrelle Revis.
4. With one more practice Thursday, coach Bill Belichick seemed pleased with what the team has accomplished at this point. "I think overall the players have worked hard and are in relatively good condition," he said.
5. Rookie Cameron Fleming, the fourth-round pick from Stanford, got some work at left tackle when the team was doing some work with its lower-end-of-the-depth-chart linemen. He was exclusively a right tackle at Stanford. This ties in to the Patriots' strategy building some versatility/flexibility on the line.
6. At one point, all the offensive players huddled around coordinator Josh McDaniels and the quarterback, and went over some of the team's hand signals. It was synchronized signaling, with about 20 players all making the same signal at the same time.
7. When rookie quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo was taking a lap after a botched center/quarterback exchange, Tom Brady stepped in with some of the team's lesser experienced players and connected on a long bomb touchdown. It was a challenge to identify who caught the ball (players aren't wearing numbers on their jerseys), with our best guess being first-year speedster Reggie Dunn.
8. Veteran linebacker James Anderson seemed to show up with some more opportunities defensively (saw him rushing off the left edge at one point) and also in the punt-block drills.
9. We haven't focused much on punter Ryan Allen and kicker Stephen Gostkowski, who don't have competition on the roster. Both have displayed strong legs (no surprise), with Wednesday's practice concluding with some long-bomb Gostkowski field-goal attempts.
THURSDAY'S SCHEDULE
11 a.m. - 12:45 p.m. ET -- Media availability at practice
12:45 p.m. -- Player interviews (defensive lineman Vince Wilfork might be among those players speaking with reporters)