The Patriots just completed the morning OTA session here at Gillette Stadium, the first full-squad passing camp workout that was open to the media. Not surprisingly a huge gathering of media – both local and national – was in attendance to see Tom Brady and Co. workout. Brady took part fully in the session that lasted a little over an hour and a half. The practice took place in cloudy, damp, cool conditions with players wearing helmets, jerseys and either shorts or sweats. Brady wore sweat pants, covering the knee brace he’s wearing on his surgically repaired left knee. To summarize his day – Brady looked pretty rusty and described himself as such in his extended meeting with the media after practice. For full coverage of Brady’s comments to the media, including a story, transcript, audio and video of the Q and A session, check Patriots.com later this afternoon.

Beyond that, here’s one man’s observations from the practice fields behind Gillette Stadium.

–Seventy-six players were on the field for the morning session – 43 on offense and 33 on defense. Those on the roster but not on the field were: WR Tyree Barnes, WR Shun White, WR Brandon Tate, DB Brandon Meriweather, RB Sammy Morris, CB Mike Richardson, DB Ray Ventrone, LB Jerod Mayo, LB Tyrone McKenzie, LB Tedy Bruschi, C/G Al Johnson, T Mark Levoir, NT Vince Wilfork, DE Ty Warren and DE Jarvis Green.

–I was glad to hear Brady say he was rusty, because I didn’t want to be characterized as Mr. Negative when I described him that way here on the blog. Many of his throws were off target, including a number of under thrown deep balls toward Randy Moss and Joey Galloway. Actually all the QBs seemed to struggle with a lot of their throws, maybe thanks to the wet conditions.

–I thought the most interesting answer from Brady was to a question wondering whether he was confident he could be the same player he was before last season’s major knee injury. He responded with “We’ll see….talk is cheap.” Interesting answer — check out the audio for yourself. It came late in the chat session.

I also like another answer he had saying the team was trying to do some thing special and that they haven’t had the season they’d like to have in going on five years now. It’s about the rings in Foxborough. Nothing less.

Brady also seemed genuinely excited to work with veteran offensive newcomers like Joey Galloway, Greg Lewis, Chris Baker, Fred Taylor and others. He said he likes having new veterans on the team and that their learning curve is generally accelerated thanks to their experience in the league.

–Leigh Bodden joked afterwards that he wasn’t surprised to see so much attention focused on Brady by the media saying, “I’d interview him if I could.”

–Nick Caserio, New England’s director of player personnel, continued to spend a lot of time working with the wide receivers in today’s OTA session. Caserio threw to the players during positional drills, working alongside wide receivers coach Chad O’Shea. During team offense work both quarterbacks coach Bill O’Brien and Caserio stood out, with O’Brien clearly was the guy sending in the plays, running the script and taking the lead with the group as a whole. Caserio spent time in group work talking one-on-one with Moss and some of the other receivers at various times.

–Joey Galloway is fast.

–Greg Lewis seemed to have a little trouble with the wet turf on a couple of occasions. He slipped and fell a couple times coming out of his breaks. He took a lot of reps on the outside, although I’d expect to see him work out of the slot at times down the road as well. He drew Brady’s praise for a great catch during the workout in which he extended deep for a ball, beating Shawn Springs to Kevin O’Connell’s throw. I really think Lewis could be an under-the-radar addition that could really help this offense this year.

–With Morris out of action, Laurence Maroney took the initial snaps behind Tom Brady in group work with the offense. He spoke with the media afterwards. One thing I found interesting was that he admitted he’s talked to Fred Taylor a little bit about the fact that the former Jaguar was once thought of an oft-injured player, something Maroney has been dealing with early in his career here.

–Sebastian “Sea Bass” Vollmer took reserve reps working at left tackle while George “Bus” Bussey worked at right tackle.

–PFW in Progress friend Alex Smith was right, he took reps throughout the day lined up at a variety of spots on offense, including in the backfield and in motion in a sort of H-back role. David Thomas also took reps from a variety of spots, including lined up in the backfield in a three-point stance.

–Bill Belichick wore a blue, Boston Patriots hooded sweatshirt with a 50th Anniversary logo for the session, proving it’s the offseason by forgoing the usual cut-sleeves, grey, hoodie that’s the game-ready norm.

–I thought both Leigh Bodden and Shawn Springs had a very practice, both guys making nice breaks on the ball at various times. Bodden talked afterwards of the advantage those guys have working against the likes of Moss, Wes Welker and Galloway and that they won’t face better receiving corps on game days very often. Jonathan Wilhite had a nice interception on a Brian Hoyer throw in team work. The competition already looks like it will be really strong for roster spots, jobs and playing time at cornerback.

–Chris Hanson was absolutely killing the ball for most of the day. Working in between the practice fields with his special teams buds and Scott O’Brien, Hanson got off one high, deep boomer after another. He then put in some pretty good efforts working on some coffin corner kicks as well.

–This time around it was veteran Nathan Hodel who had at least one bad snap. He bounced one to Hanson. Last week rookie Jake Ingram was off mark a couple times. Those guys need to tighten things up in the race to replace Lonie Paxton.

–Laurence Maroney and Matthew Slater (wearing a heavy wrap on his left wrist) were the first returners in line for kickoff return work. The next group included Terrence Wheatley and Darius Butler. Maroney misjudged one kickoff, allowing the ball to bounce off his hands and go over his head. Julian Edelman and Terrence Nunn also took reps returning kickoffs.

–With Mayo and Bruschi not on the field, Gary Guyton led the huddle and took the calls from the sidelines during team defense work. Newcomer Paris Lenon didn’t seem to take too many reps, seemingly spending most of the day with his helmet off and standing next to linebackers coach Matt Patricia.

–At the conclusion of the main practice, many of the young players on both sides of the ball kept working out while the more veteran players did a series of sprints on the other practice field. Notable in all sprints and pre-practice running is that rookie safety Patrick Chung seems to always lead the pack, bursting out well ahead of the rest of his teammates.

The story of Thursday’s OTA at Gillette Stadium was Tom Brady so obviously Team PFW chose to look in another direction and focused instead on a pair of his new receivers. Joey Galloway and Greg Lewis arrived in Foxborough during the offseason and were among the 76 players taking part in the voluntary workout. Judging strictly off first impressions, both figure to be part of Brady’s corps in 2009.

A few things jumped put at me while watching the two newcomers. First, Galloway is freakin fast. His birth certificate may say he’s 37, but he doesn’t look like he’s lost much in the way of his world-class speed. Asked after practice if he feels like he’s lost a step, Galloway simply responded, “I let you guys judge that.” If that’s the case, my verdict is in – No.

Galloway worked on the outside opposite Randy Moss with Wes Welker in the slot. Watching that trio practice brought back memories of 2007 when Donte’ Stallworth took on the Galloway role in what was a record-setting offense. If Galloway remains healthy, something that he’s struggled with on occasion, this group should be even more lethal.

Just the fact that Galloway was on the field in May has to be considered a positive sign. At his advanced age and with his history of leg problems it would have been understandable if Bill Belichick monitored his reps. But Galloway was clearly healthy and looked great and looking forward to his 15th season.

“I’m just trying to learn my position and get used to playing with these guys,” Galloway said. “I have to start with learning the offense. I’ve been through so many offenses in my career and this is as different as any of them. My job is to try to make the 53-man roster and from there Coach will make the decision of what I’m here to do.”

Lewis also spent most of his time lining up on the outside. He worked in a group that included rookie Julian Edelman in the slot and Sam Aiken on the opposite side. Later he replaced Galloway and took some reps with Moss and Welker as well.

He turned in the play of the day during a team period when he ran a deep slant and got a step on cornerback Shawn Springs, who actually had decent coverage on the play, and made a diving catch of a well-thrown Kevin O’Connell pass. Given the coverage, both throw and catch had to be almost flawless and Lewis and O’Connell were up to the task.

Brady later referenced Lewis’ terrific catch when addressed the media and joked that it was nice to have him on the team after his touchdown in Super Bowl XXXIX nearly allowed the Eagles to make a late comeback.

From a physical standpoint, Lewis wasn’t as impressive as Galloway. He wasn’t as sharp on his routes and the quickness and speed weren’t as evident. But Lewis showed good hands and certainly looks like another player who will contribute offensively.

I expected to see him working some in the slot, making he and Galloway sort of a poor man’s version of Moss and Welker on the others side. While we didn’t see that on Thursday, it’s possible that Lewis is still learning the offense and Belichick is looking for him to get settled on the outside before adding to his assignments.

“I’m really just trying to focus on learning what I’m supposed to do and everything the offense encompasses,” Lewis said. “If you know that, then you can do a lot of things. Right now I’m just focusing on learning what everything is before they decide where they want to put me.”

While I’ve been hitting on a few of the different Patriots noted in Sporting News’ RealScouts rankings in recent days, I figured I’d pull all the lists together to highlight each of New England’s players included in the various lists. No Patriots players made the cut at fullback, running back or center, but otherwise the team was represented in the top-20 (or for some spots the top-10) at all the other positions. Those rankings were as follows:

Quarterback
Tom Brady ranked second behind Peyton Manning.

Wide receiver
Randy Moss ranked fifth overall while Wes Welker just made the cut in the 20th and final spot on the list.

Tight end
Somewhat surprisingly, in my mind anyway, Benjamin Watson ranked as the 11th best tight end in football.

Tackle
Former All-Pro Matt Light slotted in the middle of the pack with a 16th ranking among all NFL tackles.

Guard
Logan Mankins ranked a respectable ninth.

Defensive tackle
Vince Wilfork comes in as the second highest rated Patriot behind Brady, earning the No. 3 slot among defensive tackles.

Defensive end
Richard Seymour takes RealScouts’ No. 5 slot at end, while Ty Warren doesn’t make the list.

Inside linebacker
Rookie of the Year Jerod Mayo sits in the 16th position, a ranking I think he’ll clearly improve on this season.

Outside linebacker
I was a little surprised to see Adalius Thomas as high as the sixth spot on this list.

Safety
Brandon Meriweather is considered by RealScouts to be the 17th best safety in the game, while James Sanders doesn’t get any love. No respect for Sanders.

Cornerback
First-year Patriot and presumed starter Leigh Bodden comes in as the 15th corner according to RealScouts. Imagine if he hadn’t spent last season playing for the worst team in football history.

Anyway, that’s where RealScouts ranks the top Patriots among their NFL peers. What do you think of the rankings? Who was too high? Who was too low? Who should have made a list but didn’t? Let us know with a comment below.

Sorry if this doesn’t interest everyone as much as it does me, but I find these Sporting News RealScouts lists fascinating.
The group has now gone through all the positions with various Patriots landing on the lists at their respective positions. The final list of the series came yesterday at safety. Not surprisingly, and I’m sure Bill Belichick would concur with the selection, RealScouts ranked Baltimore’s Ed Reed as the best safety in the game.

After Reed the rest of the top-5 included Pittsburgh’s Troy Polamalu, Arizona’s Adrian Wilson, Indy’s Bob Sanders and Tennessee’s Chris Hope.

Further down the rankings, I was a little surpised that New England’s Brandon Meriweather came in at 17th , just behind Washington’s LaRon Landry and ahead of New Orleans’ Darren Sharper. Here’s what RealScouts had to say about Meriweather:

“He came on strong late in 2008 as the injury replacement for Rodney Harrison. Meriweather is a tough, hard-working run defender who eventually will excel as a deep safety, where his explosive speed and ball skills will be highlighted.”

While I think Meriweather made a nice step forward in his development last season I find it hard to believe he ranks 17th among the top 64 starting safeties in the NFL. I’m also disappointed that James Sanders isn’t on the list. I think he’s a solid player who’s proven to be a more stable force in the New England secondary for a longer period of time than has Meriweather. As a big fan of Sanders’ play, I am biased. But I don’t think he gets the respect and positive press that he deserves.

Regardless I think fans should be excited about the safety spot moving forward with Sanders, Meriweather and Patrick Chung bringing a youthful talent to the spot that should serve the team well in the coming years.

What do you think about the safety rankings? Is Meriweather really the 17th safety in the game? Should Sanders be on the list? Let us know and leave a comment below.

 Due to the fact that Thursday’s OTAs at Gillette Stadium are open to the media, Thursday’s PFW in Progress radio show on Patriots.com will stream live from 2-4 p.m. Yours truly and the rest of the PFW boys (maybe even Fred!) will be out on the practice fields watching the practice action that is scheduled to take place from 11-12:30. After that time we’ll be talking to the players as they exit the field. We’ll then be posting multiple blog entries as well as a full practice/OTA update on Patriots.com.

Then, at 2 p.m., we’ll hit the radio show with some interesting talk breaking down all the action from the practice fields as well as the post-practice interviews. We’ll break down the practice work  like no one else does, I promise. So please join us Thursday afternoon from 2-4 p.m. or download the podcast shortly after the conclusion of the live show!