Former Patriots Go Behind The Scenes About Joint Practices

FOXBORO, MA. — What are the New England Patriots' joint practices truly like?

For the fans, it’s the best day of what can be a pretty exhausting few weeks of training camp clickbait and headlines. Finally, my team can beat up on another team and maybe, just maybe, a fight can break out.

Sorry to burst any bubbles — the players just view it as another, normal practice.

“I think it’s the same old business,” former Patriots quarterback Matt Cassel told Patriots on SI. “Most of it is controlled.”

The unsung hero of New England’s 2008 season is right. Both coaching staffs meet prior to the practice to lay out what they want their teams to do. There will be some meshing between units — especially when both sides begin one-on-one drills — however, it’s just more of a cluttered practice field.

The joint practice craze didn’t take off in Cassel’s experience until he joined the Buffalo Bills in 2015. Ahead of his lone season in Western New York, the Cleveland Browns came into town for a joint practice — “a very controlled setting,” Cassel reiterated.

So for a quarterback, Cassel says the prep work is already done ahead of time. He knows what kind of defense the other team is running before he straps the pads on that day. Maybe a coverage here and there might catch him by surprise, which he said he’ll hold onto come regular season play, though he’s not going to be spending all night flipping through the Browns’ defensive playsheet.

But Cassel had been in the league a long time at that point. What about someone fighting for a chance to remain in the NFL?

LeShun Daniels Jr. was an undrafted running back who spent his 2017 summer months with the defending Super Bowl champion Patriots. His first training camp was when his team played host to the Jaguars for a day of joint practices. The Iowa rookie knew it was just another practice, but for him, it did have a different feeling.

“Having the opportunity to go against someone else is an exciting opportunity,” Daniels Jr. told Patriots on SI. “Especially as a rookie, it’s your first chance to go against new talented players and put your skills on display in front of a new team.”

“There isn’t preparation in the traditional sense of game planning like during the season,” Daniels Jr. admitted. “It’s more of running through what to expect from the drills we will be working on, whether that is individual drills or group and team drills. Because for the most part, it is just a regular practice, just with the other team mixed in.”

There’s got to be some good stories that come out of these practices, though. Not so fast.

“The teams are separated, they do their own things, they go back to their own hotel,” Cassel said. “You’re part of a very restricted schedule. … The only time you really have to communicate with the other team is when you’re on the field.”

As an undrafted free agent, Daniels Jr. knew he had to make his mark somehow. He was in a running back room that included James White, Dion Lewis, Rex Burkhead and Mike Gillislee. Repping against Jacksonville’s defenders was the best way for him to try and get onto the field.

“There are going to be some areas of focus that the coaches want you to really hone in on, but mostly they want to see you compete, especially for the rookies and new faces,” Daniels Jr. said. “The coaches want to see you in a new environment and having a joint practice is a great way to do that.”

And then there’s the fights. Cassel could vividly remember the coaching staffs of Buffalo and Cleveland talking to the players about the fights pre-practice. The competitive juices are still there, though. The end-of-practice drills, the ones set up in the red zone, are the ones that get the blood pumping. If there’s any way to truly win a practice, it comes in these competitive, 11-on-11 sessions.

“Especially among the offensive and defensive linemen,” Cassel said. “Things ratchet up.”

So while the Patriots take the practice field with the Washington Commanders adjacent to Gillette Stadium in front of a packed house, remember this: It’s just another day at the office for these guys.

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