New England Patriots Open Camp Week With A.J. Brown Aboard and a Super Bowl Grudge

For the first time since a February night in Santa Clara went sideways, the New England Patriots are about to put the pads back on. Veterans report to Gillette Stadium on Friday, July 24, rookies checked in two days earlier, and the first public practice of camp kicks off Saturday morning, July 25. That makes this the last quiet week of a year that has been anything but quiet: a 14-3 season, an AFC title, a Super Bowl LX loss to Seattle that still stings around here, and a June blockbuster that dropped A.J. Brown into Drake Maye's huddle. The New England Patriots news cycle this week is mostly housekeeping ahead of camp — but the housekeeping tells you plenty about where this team believes it is headed.

The week in Patriots news: report dates and a roster trim

The franchise's 67th training camp — and 24th straight at Gillette Stadium — officially opens with veterans reporting July 24 and the first practice open to fans on July 25 at 10:30 a.m. on the grass fields behind the stadium. The team has 13 free public practices scheduled between July 25 and August 20, with gates opening at 9:15 a.m. and most sessions running about two hours. If you want to watch this roster up close before September, this is the window.

The week's one actual transaction was a small one: undrafted rookie defensive tackle Travis Shaw was released, a standard bit of pre-camp math as the front office squares the 90-man roster. The more interesting non-move is the one that has not happened yet — second-round edge rusher Gabe Jacas remained unsigned heading into the weekend, which puts a mild clock on the next few days if New England wants its rookie class fully in the building when practice starts.

Contract watch: Gonzalez, Jacas and the Maye clock

The bigger money question hovering over camp involves Christian Gonzalez. The Patriots exercised his fifth-year option back on April 28, but the cornerback is scheduled to play 2026 on a $2.26 million base salary, which is comically light for a player who made the Pro Bowl last season. The expectation in Boston media circles is a new deal that resets the corner market — the comparable numbers point north of $30 million per year. Meanwhile, Drake Maye becomes extension-eligible for the first time next offseason, and nobody inside the building pretends that one is anything other than a formality once the rules allow it. Stack Maye, Gonzalez and A.J. Brown together and you get a projected commitment in the neighborhood of $135 million annually — a figure the front office has acknowledged is probably not sustainable under its cash-to-cap approach. Somebody eventually pays for that. For now, it is Robert Kraft's checkbook and everyone else's problem.

How the Patriots got here: 14-3 and one game short

A quick rewind for anyone who slept through the winter. The 2025 Patriots went 14-3, won the AFC East at 5-1 in the division, and turned in one of the sharpest single-season turnarounds the league has seen after back-to-back 13-loss years. The playoff run was pure Mike Vrabel: a 16-3 suffocation of the Chargers in the wild-card round, a 28-16 handling of Houston, and a 10-7 rock fight with Denver for the AFC Championship. Then came Super Bowl LX, where Seattle won 29-13 and Maye had the worst night of his season — three turnovers, including a pick-six, and his lowest passing output of the year. Vrabel collected his second NFL Coach of the Year award and offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels was named Assistant Coach of the Year, which is a lot of hardware for a team that ended its season furious. That fury is the organizing principle of this camp.

The offseason remodel: A.J. Brown headlines it

The front office did not treat 14-3 as a finished product. The headline move came June 1, when New England sent a first-round pick and a fifth to Philadelphia for A.J. Brown, who arrives on what has been reported as a two-year, $50 million arrangement in New England. Stefon Diggs was released, and the receiver room was further reshaped with free agent Romeo Doubs. The rest of the shopping list read like a team patching specific leaks:

• Edge rusher Dre'Mont Jones, signed to bolster a thin pass rush
• Veteran safety Kevin Byard, an All-Pro stabilizer on the back end
• Guard Alijah Vera-Tucker, added to an offensive line already viewed as a top-10 unit
• Fullback Reggie Gilliam, a nod to McDaniels' heavier packages

Out the door went K'Lavon Chaisson (Washington), Jaylinn Hawkins (Baltimore), Austin Hooper (Atlanta), plus linebackers Jahlani Tavai and Anfernee Jennings, both released. The draft brought nine picks, headlined by Utah tackle Caleb Lomu at No. 28, the still-unsigned Jacas off the edge, and tight end Eli Raridon. There was staff turnover too: Zak Kuhr was promoted to defensive coordinator in February, and Terrell Williams shifted to assistant head coach after completing treatment for prostate cancer — one of the genuinely good stories of the offseason.

Camp battles and players to watch

The receiver room is the fight worth your attention. Brown and Doubs are locked in, which leaves Kayshon Boutte in a strange spot: a contract-year player who led the NFL at 12 yards per target and averaged 16.7 yards a catch last season, yet spent the spring fielding questions about whether he would be traded. The latest reporting out of Foxborough suggests the team sees him as too useful to move — an explosive third option is a luxury most contenders would kill for — but a big camp from someone else could change that calculus fast. The someone else might be Kyle Williams, the second-year speedster who managed just 10 catches as a rookie despite housing a 72-yarder against Tampa Bay. He added eight pounds of muscle this offseason, and Vrabel has already noted publicly that his strength and route management have improved. On defense, the honest question is edge depth: Jones and a rookie in Jacas are being asked to replace real snaps, and if either stalls, that becomes the roster's soft spot. Keep an eye on the running back room too — it drew its own spotlight in this week's local coverage, with TreVeyon Henderson entering year two after an electric rookie summer and a concussion-marred December. A healthy Henderson gives McDaniels the kind of home-run threat this offense lacked in the biggest moments last February.

What's next on the Patriots calendar

Circle these dates:

• July 24-25: Veterans report; first public practice at Gillette
• August 11: Joint practice with the Colts, ahead of the preseason opener August 13
• August 19-20: Two joint sessions with the Eagles, before hosting Philadelphia August 22
• August 29: Preseason finale at Cleveland
• September 9: The NFL Kickoff game at Seattle — a Super Bowl LX rematch, and the first Wednesday game in franchise history
• September 20: Home opener vs. Pittsburgh

Those Eagles joint practices should be appointment viewing, if only for the sight of A.J. Brown lining up across from the team that traded him.

So that is where New England Patriots news stands this week: a champion-in-waiting's roster, a coach with two Coach of the Year trophies and zero patience, and a quarterback who has spent five months marinating on the worst game he ever played. The league did the Patriots one favor and one insult in the same breath, opening the season in Seattle against the team that beat them. Camp opens Saturday. The countdown to that Wednesday night runs through every practice rep between now and September 9.