The Patriots just completed another OTA workout on the practice fields behind Gillette Stadium, the only one this week that’s open to the media. The helmets, jerseys and shorts/sweats workout took place under cloudy/hazy skies in relatively warm conditions. Without further ado here are one man’s notes and thoughts from the session that lasted a little over an hour and a half.

–The workout had 78 players in attendance, two more than were on hand the last time the media was observing the work last Thursday. The two players not included in that workout who were there today were Tedy Bruschi and Al Johnson (with Tom Malone getting swapped in at backup punter in exchange for Aaron Perez). The thirteen players not see on the field (all of which also missed last Thursday’s workout) were Tyree Barnes, Shun White, Brandon Tate, Brandon Meriweather, Sammy Morris, Mike Richardson, Ray Ventrone, Jerod Mayo, Mark LeVoir, Vince Wilfork, Ty Warren and Jarvis Green..

–Tom Brady was once again in action and I thought he looked a bit less rusty this time around. He showed nice zip on many of his short and intermediate throws. He seemed, not surprisingly, to throw the bulk of his balls to Randy Moss and Wes Welker. Overall I thought he looked a lot sharper than last week’s workout. He once again wore sweat pants for the practice, in all likelihood covering a knee brace on his surgically repaired left knee.

–Sebastian “Sea Bass” Vollmer continues to work at left tackle opposite Ryan O’Callaghan with a group that generally follows tackle reps given to Matt Light (LT) and Nick Kaczur (RT). Wesley Britt often took the next reps on the left side with rookie George “Bus” Bussey on the right.

–The long snapping battle looks like it could be an interesting one to follow as the Patriots look to replace Lonie Paxton. Neither veteran Nathan Hodel nor rookie draft pick Jake Ingram has the constancy at this point that Paxton seemed to roll out of bed with. Hodel seems to be off the mark every so often, although he gets the ball back quicker than Ingram. My early nod in this race goes to Hodel.

–After booming his punts last Thursday veteran Chris Hanson had and up-and-down (see what I did there! Wouldn’t all punting be described as up-and-down?) morning workout. It was also interesting to see the punters and long snappers work at various depths with each other. While most punts in games have the punter lined up 15 yards from the snap, today’s practice work included reps ranging from 10-15 yards.

–TE Tyson DeVree may be a long shot to make the roster but he had a nice OTA workout. He made a nice falling catch in the end zone in some red zone work.

–Patriots owner Robert Kraft watched the bulk of the morning session. On the way off the field he did a short interview with Comcast SportsNet, so keep an eye out for that.

–Floyd Reese watched the entire practice.

–Nick Caserio, who served as the wide receivers coach two years, continues to take an active role working with the position at this point in the offseason. Much of the positional work with the receivers on Tuesday involved getting off the line against bump coverage with Caserio using pads to simulate a physical, press corer.

–From the Nothing New to Report Here Department Randy Moss made a number of nice catches and made them look almost effortless. He’s in his pretty, regular season form. He also once again declined to speak with the media following the practice, doing so with a big smile.

–While there were endless personnel groupings during the various passing segments of practice for the offense, Moss, Wes Welker and Joey Galloway spent a lot of time working together in a variety of sets.

–During special teams work Kevin Faulk, Welker and Galloway were back deep fielding punts. The trio also fielded punts with one and then two balls in their hands already as they fielded the kicks. Galloway seemed to struggle a bit in the drill that Faulk has made look ever so easy in his time as a Patriot. Galloway (who still looks fast by the way) has 141 career punt returns with a 9.6-yard average and five touchdowns. But he hasn’t had more than three punt returns in a season since he had 20 in 2004 for Tampa, including one touchdown. One side note, Galloway likes to run with the ball in one hand much like Walter Payton used to. As long as he gets in the open field, I don’t have a problem with it. And considering he could be a big-play guy for New England, he should have his chances to get behind defenses, haul in a long pass and run with the ball in his hand as he’s chased toward the end zone. Otherwise, hopefully he tucks the ball away in game action. We’ll see.

–Vince Redd doesn’t seem to be getting a ton of reps with the top groups on defense. Seems like Adalius Thomas, Pierre Woods and Shawn Crable get the bulk of the work in most group and team drills. In fact seems like Redd spends a lot of time doing scout work or working off to the side. At inside linebacker Bruschi, Gary Guyton, Eric Alexander and Paris Lenon took a bunch of reps inside. The late addition Lenon did a lot more in this practice than the one the media witnessed last week.

–Those players drawing large media crowds after practice included Bruschi, Woods, Galloway, Greg Lewis, James Sanders and others.

–One of the topics being discussed with players in the post-practice work was Rodney Harrison’s forthcoming conference call to announce his plans for his future. Harrison is reportedly going to have that call, set up by the Patriots, on Wednesday. To a man his former teammates seemed unanimous in their belief that Harrison will be successful in whatever he does in the short and long term, including as a media analyst. For what it’s worth the vibe I got talking to the players, including his budding understudy Sanders, was that Harrison is going to retire. Just a guess based on a vibe, but that’s the feeling I get.

–Sanders talked after practice of the fact that he’s now the most experienced defensive back in the New England system. Apparently defensive coordinator Dean Pees calls him the old guy to which he responds, “I’m only 25.” Sanders is the heart of what he thinks could be a very good young corps of safeties that includes Meriweather and top pick Patrick Chung. It’s going to be fun to what the three play together moving forward with Sanders serving as the veteran presence and communication leader.

–S Brandon McGowen seems to be getting a ton of reps in a variety of secondary packages. The free agent addition (who played his college ball at Maine) could be another intriguing young player to keep an eye on both in the secondary as well as on special teams.

–Richard Seymour had a nice athletic play late in practice where he jumped up into a passing line and would have had a great interception had he not failed to complete the catch on the far practice field. Another note on the defensive line, with Wilfork, Green and Warren out of action Mike Wright took early reps at nose with LeKevin Smith working at end. Rookie Ron Brace subbed in for Wright on the nose at times in team work.

–One play that stood out from Brady came in group work in the red zone. The quarterback pulled the ball down to run but then pulled up and hit Moss crossing the back of the end zone for the score. I don’t want to make too much out of it, but I thought Brady looked far more comfortable on Tuesday.

–That’s it for now, but tune in to PFW on Progress on Patriots.com to hear more information from the practice fields. And check back to the blog later today as I’ll do my best to post a few more notes and quotes from my post-practice chats with Sanders, Bruschi and others.