The Patriots just concluded the second practice of training camp Thursday afternoon in hot, sunny conditions on the practice fields behind Gillette Stadium. The workout again took place in full pads, running from about 3:30-5:30 pm.

Wes Welker remained in shorts and a cutoff t-shirt, continuing to workout with the teams training and rehab staff, although he didn’t do nearly the work on the field that he did in the morning session.

–The players not on the field again were Logan Mankins and Derrick Burgess. Welker, Darnell Jenkins, Ron Brace and Sam Aiken were in sweats/shorts and worked out with the training staff on the side.

–The team got together before and after practice in a large group huddle, the latter of which included signing Happy Birthday to defensive line coach Pepper Johnson. One of his players, Ty Warren, gave Johnson a birthday Gatorade bath during group stretching after the conclusion of practice. Warren even left the Gatorade cooler on top of Johnson’s head.

–During some pre-practice work rookie offensive lineman Thomas Welch took some snapping reps working with regular long snapper Jake Ingram and FG/PAT holder Zoltan Mesko.

–Just one of those funny observations in the big-money, high-tech world of the NFL – the defensive front uses garbage cans turned upside down to serve as mock offensive linemen in their pre-practice work.

–The wide receivers do a variety of drills in their early group work, and it looks like position coach Chad O’Shea might be putting his stamp on things in that area. The receivers made cuts out from behind large tackling dummy, attempting to make the blind grab and toe-tapping catch along the sidelines. The receivers did a few drills using the large bags to cut off of and serve as screens. Along the sideline, all the receivers seemed to find the drill pretty difficult as few, if any, both caught the ball and got their feet down.

–Brandon Tate made a great catch on a deep ball down the left sideline against air early in practice. While falling to the ground he reached up to first bring the ball in with one hand before securing it with the other as he went to the ground just inside the pylon for the touchdown.

–Fred Taylor had a dropped pass in the practice, this after fumbling in the morning. He hasn’t had the best start to camp, that coming on the heels of a tough spring in which he dropped a lot of passes in a couple different workouts.

–The running backs went one-on-one with the linebackers in a pass coverage drill early in practice. A very tough drill for the defenders, I thought they held their own often enough. The best series of reps involved Jerod Mayo and Kevin Faulk. On the first the linebacker got a great, legal bump on the veteran back to disrupt the play, nearly throwing him to the ground before the incompletion. Ever the competitor, Faulk immediately wanted another rep. He got his way and took advantage, shaking past Mayo with a swim move for an easy reception over the middle. Each side claimed a victory, probably what you’d want in a competitive, balanced camp.

Thomas Williams batted down a pass with a nice break to step in front of Thomas Clayton in the drill. Elsewhere, Brandon Spikes not only struggled in his coverage, but seemed to hold the receiver on each of his reps.

–While the backs and backers were going at it, the wide receivers/tight ends and safeties/corners were doing the same on the far end of the field. Though it was hard to keep track of reps in both areas, I did see Randy Moss beat Darius Butler badly, with the second-year player seemingly giving the All-Pro too much respect and cushion. Butler protected the deep ball to the point where Moss had a good 5-plus yards of separation on his in-cut.

–Owner Robert Kraft was in attendance for the second straight session.

–A number of players seemed to get shaken up during the workout, including Matthew Slater, Bret Lockett and Clayton. Lockett went to the locker room early.

–The sides broke up into two groups for some team work. With Brady and Hoyer leading one offense and Zac Robinson leading the other. In one running rep Tyrone McKenzie did a nice job taking on a pulling Nick Kaczur, fighting off the block and then wrapping up the running back. McKenzie certainly looks the part and has the hard-nosed style of a run-first inside linebacker.

–Kickoff return was once again the area of focus on special teams. There was a slight change, though, in the groupings at returner. Tate was joined by Faulk as the off returner for the first rep, possible due to Slater being out of action. Julian Edelman was alongside Sammy Morris, with the pair seemingly having a little miscommunication that led to a heart-stopping, last-minute return by Morris. Taylor Price and Devin McCourty manned the third group to take reps.

–Sebastian Vollmer took a penalty lap during one drill. Robinson and Ryan Wendell took a penalty lap for a botched exchange in team action. The pair took a penalty lap in the morning session as well.

–Tom Brady had great practice in terms of his play-action fakes. At one point he held the ball on his hip for what seemed a like good two-count as the defense tried to catch up. Unfortunately Brady made a poor throw after the great fake.

–Brady seemed to get his foot stepped on after a throw in one drill. He limped around a bit after a couple reps thereafter.

–McCourty got even more significant reps in his second practice than he did in his first. At times he lined up opposite Leigh Bodden in place of Darius Butler. He also took reps on the left side at other times, with Butler getting some reps on the right side in place of Bodden.

–Brady had some real highs and lows during an exciting red zone segment late in practice. First, he hit Randy Moss for a score, beating McCourty. He also found rookie tight ends Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez for touchdowns, both coming at the expense of Patrick Chung. But in between he put a quick play action throw right into Gary Guyton’s hands for what would have been a potential 100-yard interception return for a touchdown. Guyton showed good hands and reflexes to make the play.

–Practice closed with the veterans doing a series of sprints while the younger and unproven players took more “opportunity” reps on the other end of the field. It’s interesting that guys like Price and McCourty get a ton of reps early in practice, but also get reps in the “opportunity” segment at the end.

–The Patriots will return to the field on Friday for another day of double sessions, with the morning workout getting underway at 9:30 a.m. The practice is open to the public, but be sure to check Patriots.com for any last-minute schedule changes or updates.

According to a report on ESPN.com, citing NFL sources, the reason for Derrick Burgess’ absence from the start of training camp is that the 10th-year veteran is considering retirement.

The report states that Burgess has not reported to Foxborough and “as recently as Wednesday, Burgess told associates that he was leaning toward retirement.”

In the wake of Wednesday’s release of Shawn Crable, Burgess’ potential retirement would leave an even larger hole on the outside linebacker depth chart in New England.

Though Burgess had just five sacks last season after joining the team via a summer trade from the Raiders, the veteran did see substantial playing time. Regardless of whether he lived up to expectations as a former Pro Bowl pass rusher, he was a known commodity at a position filled with mostly unknowns at this point. Aside from returning starter and 10-sack man Tully Banta-Cain, the rest of the depth chart includes Pierre Woods, Rob Ninkovich, rookie Jermaine Cunningham and first-year Pat Marques Murrell.

Burgess seemed to draw little interest this offseason in free agency and eventually re-signed with New England on a one-year deal. Now, it seems, the 31-year-old may decide to walk away from the game rather than return to the Patriots.

If Burgess does retire, what do you think about the depth at linebacker? Who will start? Is it now a necessity that the team go out and get added talent at the position through either free agency or a trade? Let us know with a comment below!

The Patriots opened training camp 2010 on the outdoor practice fields behind Gillette Stadium Thursday morning despite rain that fell on portions of the workout. During his morning press conference Bill Belichick said it was, “Time to get to work. Good to get on the field … hopefully we’ll get some heat going forward.”

Not surprisingly Logan Mankins was not on the field for the practice. “Logan’s not under contract,” Belichick said while saying that the players that are in Foxborough are the one’s who are under contract. The restricted free agent guard has not signed his RFA tender and voiced his desire to be traded earlier this offseason.

–Beyond Mankins the only other player not on the field for the morning session was veteran linebacker Derrick Burgess. A group of players including Wes Welker, Darnell Jenkins, Sam Aiken and Ron Brace were in attendance wearing shorts or sweats. They took part in stretching before moving to the side to work with the trainers and conditioning staff.

–Welker was very active in his work with the medical staff. He did some running on the side with the other players who weren’t practicing before moving onto the field for some running work. He ran routes under the watchful eye, and sometimes tethered resistance, of director of rehabilitation Joe Van Allen. At times Welker was doing his work in between other drills taking place during the practice. It was the most aggressive, on-field rehab work I can remember seeing during any training camp practice. Welker put on knee brace after stretching and throughout his various running drills.

–Tom Brady, to no one’s surprise, was on the field for the opening practice. No. 12 has not cut his hair, as it continues to shaggily show itself from under his helmet. Brady did not wear a brace on his formerly repaired left knee, going with what looked to be a black, soft sleeve. Brady did not speak to the media afterwards, but is expected to do so sometime in the next couple days.

–A large crowd of fans took in the morning workout, despite the rain. The practice action took place in full pads, including some pretty good hitting during a few drills.

–At various points in drills both Matthew Slater and Brandon Tate struggled catching the ball, possibly thanks to some slick hands. Tate failed to haul in a Brady pass in some goal line work, a throw that while not perfect was certainly catchable.

–Mike Wright saw a lot of action during the workout at right defensive end in a group with Ty Warren and Vince Wilfork. Wright also threw Matt Light to the turf in a one-on-one pass blocking drill. Tully Banta-Cain and Wilfork both had to run penalty laps during that drill.

–At one point early in practice Belichick took a lot of time working with the defense, and the linebackers in particular. Belichick was discussing/showing some specific technique stuff with both Jerod Mayo and Gary Guyton.

–Kickoff return was the special teams area of focus for the morning. Tate and Slater (off returner), followed by Julian Edelman and Sammy Morris (off) and then Taylor Price and Devin McCourty (off). McCourty actually got the return job with Price on the next turn through the rotation.

–While the kickoff return work was going on, Randy Moss was on the opposite field as the only receiver with the quarterbacks – Brady, Brian Hoyer and Zac Robinson.

–The rest of the kickoff return unit had a front line of Bret Lockett, Pierre Woods, Eric Alexander, Patrick Chung, Tyrone McKenzie and James Sanders. Rob Gronkowski, Dan Connolly and Aaron Hernandez.

–When they went to team work on defense the linebacker group behind Wilfork, Warren and Wright included Rob Ninkovich on the left side, Guyton and Mayo in the middle and Banta-Cain on the right side.

–Nick Kaczur took plenty of reps at left guard in Mankins’ absence, including plenty or work with the offense running behind his side on the goal line.

–In that goal line drill the defense seemed to get the better of the action. Woods had a couple nice hits, knocking down Laurence Maroney. Wilfork also made a nice play in the drill.

–Morris got plenty of early reps in drills at running back, although he did get stuffed a couple times in the goal line drill.

–Fred Taylor had a fumble during a team segment, forcing the veteran to take a penalty lap.

–The play of the day came when Brady hit Moss deep down the middle of the field in team work, beating….Sanders. Moss made a beautiful hands-only grab. Not sure exactly what happened to the defense, but it seems hard to believe that having Sanders one-on-one with Moss deep was the plan.

–Brandon Meriweather and Patrick Chung took the early reps at safety. Sanders and McGowan rotated through, as did Lockett at times.

–Owner Robert Kraft was in attendance to take the latter portions of the practice.

–Hoyer had a nice completion in team work to a crossing Slater, beating Chung’s coverage in the intermediate area between the hashes. The ball was slightly behind Slater, who slowed down to make the catch. Chung pounded the ground in disgust after the play.

–Though Darius Butler continues to get the bulk of the reps at corner opposite Leigh Bodden, McCourty did get some action in that spot in his first pro practice.

–Linebacker Thomas Williams, who actually was a full-time fullback in college at USC, continued to take some reps at the position. He lined up in front of the running backs on the goal line, including the play that Wilfork blew up as Morris was stopped short of the goal line.

–Stephen Gostkowski went six-for-seven on his field goal attempts to close out practice. He started around at around 27 yards and worked back to around 44. He missed on his attempt from about 44 yards from the right hash, going slightly wide left. It was tough to see from the media tent if he indeed miss, but thankfully defensive lineman Kyle Love signaled it no-good from his spot beneath the uprights.

–Many players drew large crowds after the workout including Kaczur, Stephen Neal, Light, Sebastian Vollmer, Kevin Faulk, Butler, Ty Warren and others.

–Former Belichick Cleveland Browns underlying and Raiders personnel man Michael Lombardi was in attendance in his new job working for NFL Network and NFL.com. Lombardi shared hugs and chats with both Belichick and Moss.

–Neal took note of the fact that the media cannot cross the sideline on the practice fields, even after practice to speak with players. “It’s like Field of Dreams. You can’t cross the line,” Neal said with a smile. Despite considering retirement last winter, Neal said he’s “5,000-percent committed” at this point.

–Some of the big topics the media discussed with the players included Mankins’ absence and the removal of the pictures of past players/success from the football offices in Gillette Stadium.

–New England will return to the field for its second workout of training camp at 3:45 p.m. That practice is also open to the public. As always, be sure to check Patriots.com for any schedule changes or updates.

Unfortunately for now former Patriots linebacker Shawn Crable he was just never able to stay healthy. Two-plus seasons into his NFL career, and with zero games played under his belt, the former 2008 third-round pick was cut on Wednesday.

The move is interesting in a lot of ways. It closes the door on the “career” in New England of a guy who looked and measured the part of the ideal 3-4 outside linebacker, but never lived up to the billing. He was inactive for half his rookie season and then spent the rest of his short stay on IR. He also was reportedly placed on PUP earlier this week for another injury. In the end, the time came to cut ties with Crable in order to sign Devin McCourty and get under the 80-man roster limit to start camp.

With Crable gone, both of New England’s pair of 2008 third-round picks are no longer with the team. The other, quarterback Kevin O’Connell, was cut last year. The second-round pick from that year, Terrence Wheatley, may also be in a battle for his roster life heading into his third training camp. He’s played more than Crable, but not enough to pencil himself into any role with the team entering his third season. The fourth-round pick from that year, cornerback Jonathan Wilhite, has also been seemingly working his way down the depth chart over the last year. Fifth-rounder Matthew Slater could be in a fight for his job as a core special teamer this summer. As it stands right now, that 2008 draft could yield Jerod Mayo – the 10th overall pick – and not much else of substance. Coming right after a 2008 draft that brought Brandon Meriweather and absolutely nothing else, that’s a pretty bad two-year draft take.

Crable’s exit also cuts down the competition and intrigue at outside linebacker. While he’d never stepped on the field, many still held out hope that he could give the pass rush a boost. That hope, is now dead. That may put that wild-card spotlight of hope at linebacker and a greater importance on 2010 second-round pick Jermaine Cunningham. If he can’t contribute right away the potential at the position in the near future would seem to be pretty limited.

One more thing that’s clear from Crable’s release – football is back, baby! Training camp, news, notes and daily action is here!

What do you think of Crable getting cut and not even making it to his third NFL training camp? What does that leave you feeling about the OLB competition? Let us know with a comment below!

Training camp 2010 has the makings to be one of the most competitive in recent memory in New England. Endless roster spots, roles and starting jobs will be on the line this July and August on the practice fields at Gillette Stadium. As we head toward the opening of training camp on July 29, PFW will take a closer look at some of the more competitive areas on the roster. We’ll map out the scenario and then offer our opinions on how the competition might play out. But, more importantly, we’ll open up debate to you, the reader. In the end, you make the call!

Today we look at the battle for the return jobs in the kicking game.

On the roster: Wes Welker, Kevin Faulk, Laurence Maroney, Julian Edelman, Darius Butler, Matthew Slater, Devin McCourty and others.

Why the competition?:
Aside from Wes Welker’s work as a punter returner, New England return game was pretty underwhelming a year ago. And given that No. 83 is returning from major knee surgery even his status as a returner would seem to be very much up in the air.

Last season the Patriots finished fifth in the NFL on punt returns but only 15th in kickoff returns.

Welker led the AFC and ranked second in the league with a 12.5-yard average, although he was the only guy in the top four who didn’t have at least one touchdown. He and Faulk are the sure-handed veteran options in the return game, although neither is overly explosive.

Edelman was the only other Patriot to return a punt in 2009, with the rookie averaging 10.5 yards on six chances. He also had a punt return touchdown in the preseason. With Welker’s knee and importance to the offense, it would seem that Edelman would be the most likely candidate for the punt return job. Faulk is still a reliable option, while guys like Butler and McCourty might be younger, big-play possibilities.

Maroney had the most kickoff returns (13) last fall, but averaged just 21.5 per. That’s a far cry from the 28.0-yard average he put up as a rookie that ranked him second in the NFL. If Maroney doesn’t win the job as the lead kick returner, Edelman and Slater might be next in line. Both returned 11 kicks each a year ago, the former going for 21.9 per while the latter hit for 24.5 a return.

Maybe most disappointing last fall was that the kick return unit lacked the big plays that were relatively common in the past with Ellis Hobbs, Maroney and Bethel Johnson fielding game-changing returns. In fact it was the first year since 2005 and only the second since 2001 in which New England did not have a kickoff return for a touchdown.

Therefore, maybe the most intriguing option in the return game is second-year former third-round pick Tate. Tate left North Carolina as the NCAA record holder in combined kick and punt return yards. He had six career return touchdowns for the Tar Heels (three punts, three kickoffs) and after missing most of his rookie season with a knee injury could be an exciting injection of youth in the return game. Butler, and the first-round pick McCourty, might also fill that bill.

What do you think of the variety of options for the return roles? Will Welker’s likely absence from the mix hurt the punt return game? Can one of the young bodies give the team a boost in kick returns, or could Maroney be the guy?

Andy Hart says…
I think Tate is the most intriguing guy in the return game. Even if he’s slow to develop as a receiver, I’d love to see him takeover as the top returner on both punts and kicks. Bill Belichick always seems to go with a reliable vet on punts, but I’d like to see some one of the young guys step up and take the job. Maybe Maroney can return to his better days as a kicker returner, even if his development as a running back remains in question. I’ll be honest, though, I don’t have a great gut feeling right now about the return game. But hopefully it’s just the calamari I had last night.

Erik Scalavino says…
Edelman was hailed as “the new Welker” last year as a receiver. This year, he’ll emulate his All-Pro teammate even further by taking over for him as the Patriots punt returner. With Welker on the mend, Edelman is not only the primary option, but a potential threat to score as well, as we saw in the preseason last year. Edelman’s come a long way since dropping his first two NFL punts last training camp. On kickoff returns, the youth movement continues with another second-year player, Tate, assuming the lead role. Butler will be preoccupied with his role at cornerback, but may also get some reps on occasion. Tate’s explosiveness, however, will provide the Patriots with a legitimate weapon at the position.

Paul Perillo says…
The return jobs could be among the most competitive of camp with several players in the mix. Assuming Bill Belichick doesn’t want to risk Wes Welker on punt returns, finding a dependable replacement may be the top priority. Kevin Faulk is reliable but lacks the big-play ability of some of the younger guys. Julian Edelman showed potential last preseason and should be in the mix. My personal favorites are Darius Butler and Brandon Tate. Butler is probably better suited for kicks while Tate seems capable of doing both. Both are explosive and could develop into home run threats, but neither is tested at this point. It’s time to ignore the inexperience and let the athletes take over.

Now that you’ve read the predictions from the PFW boys, give us your thoughts on the seemingly wide-open competition for return jobs with a comment below!