Despite Fights, Bill Belichick Explains Love For Patriots Joint Training Camp Practices
FOXBORO -- The New England Patriots have always enjoyed the opportunity to participate in joint practices with NFL teams during training camp.
During his two-plus decade tenure with the team, head coach Bill Belichick has long been a proponent of holding such sessions. Not only have they provided invaluable learning opportunities for his team to test themselves against alternate strategies, but they also allow him to scout potential free agent targets in a more hands-on manner.
Therefore, it should come as no surprise that Belichick continues to consider joint practices as an invaluable part of preparing his players for the upcoming season. This, despite the multiple fights that marred last Summer's workouts with the Carolina Panthers.
“We have an opportunity to work with another team ... that helps players playing against different players, but it also helps us see different schemes,” Belichick said prior to the start of training camp in 2022. “The way another team does something is different than the way we do it, so it’s a great opportunity… to see things quickly, without knowing exactly what’s coming as a coach, figure it out, explain it to the players if it needs to be explained, and then make the right adjustment to handle it.”
The Patriots were among 23 teams who were involved with at least one joint practice session last season. New England hosted the Carolina Panthers for two practices in Foxboro ahead of their preseason matchup. Less than two weeks later, the team traveled to Las Vegas for a pair of sessions with the Raiders, led by ex-Pats offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels.
Apparently, the Pats will continue the practice during the summer of 2023. As previously reported, the Patriots will visit the Green Bay Packers for a set of joint practices this summer. The sessions will presumably take place in August and be followed by a preseason game between the two clubs.
New England has also been heavily rumored to have 'finalized' talks with the Tennessee Titans -- led by head coach and newly-elected Patriots Hall of Famer Mike Vrabel -- for joint practices in Nashville this summer. Should each set of plans come to fruition, it would mark the first time since 2019 that the Pats held both joint sessions outside of New England. During quarterback Tom Brady's final training camp with the Pats, the team traveled to Detroit for joint sessions with the Lions before visiting the Titans in Music City.
While neither the Packers nor the Titans are listed among New England's regular-season opponents in 2023, the team should find practicing against both teams beneficial -- especially Green Bay. For the first time since 2008, the Pack will be entering the season without the services of future Hall of Fame quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who was traded to the New York Jets just prior to the start of training camp. As such, new signal-caller Jordan Love and the new-look Packers offense should provide its share of challenges for the Pats defense.
In fact, Belichick believes that the joint sessions may actually be more beneficial than their preseason game counterparts.
“In some respects you get a lot more out of them,” Belichick said. “We can set up a lot more situations that aren’t going to come up in preseason games ... individual one-on-ones or two-on-twos, or those kind of individual match-ups that show up in a practice session."
With the NFL schedule expected to be released on Thursday, New England's proposed joint-practice plans are likely to be confirmed shortly thereafter.
For Bill Belichick and company, it will be just another day at the office.
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