Sunday Patriots Notes: Ja’Lynn Polk showcases confidence, playmaking ability to end minicamp

Sunday Patriots Notes: Ja’Lynn Polk showcases confidence, playmaking ability to end minicamp

The New England Patriots are off on summer break as they are officially done with OTAs and mandatory minicamp.

With things quieting down until the start of training camp in late July, let’s clean out the notebook with our Sunday Patriots Notes.

1. Polk’s confidence: The Patriots offense needed one person to make a play.

With the ball spotted at the nine-yard line and one second left on the play clock, New England had one chance for a “game-winning” touchdown.

Second-round rookie wide receiver Ja’Lynn Polk wanted the ball.

That’s exactly what happened, as Drake Maye gave his fellow rookie a chance and lofted a ball to the back right pylon. A diving, full-extended Polk hauled in the pass and got both feet in bounds to give the offense the “win” to conclude practice — making the defense drop down to do push-ups.

“When the team is going out there on the last drive and counting on you, I want everybody to put that chip on my shoulder for me to go out there and make that play,” Polk said post-practice.

“I just saw myself going out there and competing for the ball. One second left, end of the game — I’m putting myself in those situations like it’s going to be in the season and feeling myself in those shoes and going up there and making a play for my team.”

“Ja’Lynn’s a ballplayer, man, just give him a chance,” Maye added. “That’s what we’re taught: Give him a chance. He says, ‘Give me a chance.’ That’s all he says. He made a nice play.”

It was quite the exclamation mark on Polk’s first offseason program, one that in fact started rather slowly. But, Polk finished strong beyond the last-second score as he hauled in a pair of touchdowns in each day of mandatory minicamp.

“It just shows you all the work I’ve been able to put in. All the coaching that I’ve been able to take. Learning from all the guys in the receiver room, leaning on each other. Going to be able to go out there and compete,” he said.

Polk will have to wait to build off his strong finish as the team is off the field until training camp in over a month. The work does not wait until then however, as Polk will soon get back to work with Maye and some of his other teammates after an upcoming Father’s Day trip.

“It’s straight to work,” Polk said. “We’re getting to work so going into training campo ready to go. Going into the season ready to go. Just keep stacking days and being great.”

2. Tracking well: New England saw a handful of players watch the majority of spring practices from the sideline due to injury. That included Jahlani Tavai, Sione Takitaki, Jake Andrews, Cole Strange, and Kendrick Bourne.

Speaking on Wednesday, head coach Jerod Mayo shared that each player, excluding Strange (knee), is tracking to be back on the field in the “first couple of weeks of training camp.”

3. Maye’s mentality: Things are not always going to go smoothly for rookies in the NFL, especially at the quarterback position. For a team deciding on when to plug their No. 3 overall pick into the starting lineup, they must feel confident in his mentality to not be bothered by a bad play or two.

So far, Maye’s ability to turn the page on the practice fields has stood out to his coaches.

“I would say the surprising thing is just the way he’s able to pull the nose up, right? What I mean by saying that is he makes a bad throw, it’s out of his head. Move on to the next play,” Mayo said of the rookie. “I think Jacoby’s [Brissett] done a great job, as well as [Alex Van Pelt] and the rest of the staff, really helping him out with that. You’re going to make mistakes, and this is the time to make those mistakes.”

4. Maye and Brady: Beyond the hundreds of former teammates back in town for Tom Brady night, plenty of current Patriots players and coaches stuck around for the ceremony. But as the group dwindled during the three-hour event, it was noteworthy to see Drake Maye remain as one of the handful of players to stay for its entirety.

Prior to the ceremony, Maye, who met Brady shortly after he was drafted in Los Angeles, shared that Brady’s mindset was one thing that stood out to him.

“I think the biggest thing to Tom is the way he’s wired,” he said. “[Brady] said his favorite ring is the next one. So that’s just his mindset. I think it’s pretty cool to get a chance to meet him and be able to see what he did here and watching old tape of him is pretty fun.”

5. Four QB’s: Much attention has rightfully been put on the reps taken by each quarterback throughout the spring. While it started with veterans Jacoby Brissett and Bailey Zappe seeing the most action, Maye ultimately leapfrogged Zappe near the end of spring.

With Jerod Mayo saying Wednesday that the plan is to now carry four quarterbacks into training camp, Brissett and Maye should continue to see the highest volume of work.

6. Kickoff twist: With the NFL’s new kickoff rules, teams like the Kansas City Chiefs have experimented with using a position player to handle kickoff duties in order to have a stronger tackler on the field. New England has not reached that point yet, but one player, who has kicking experience from playing rugby, has been campaigning for such duties.

“Jahlani [Tavai], he’s knocking on my door every day. ‘I can do it, coach. I can do it.,’” Mayo shared.

7. Finishing in Foxboro: Longtime captain David Andrews agreed to a contract extension this spring that will keep him in New England through the 2025 season — which would also mark his 10th year as a member of the organization. Finishing in Foxboro was something important to Andrews.

“Obviously, I want to finish my career here — finish it the right way,” Andrews said. said. “I care a lot about this organization, and to have it go both ways means a lot. I’m super-excited. I’m super-excited to be a part of the change and do whatever I can to help the organization, and for however long I can keep doing it.”

8. Kicker competition: The Patriots have themselves a kicker competition this offseason as veteran Joey Slye was signed to dual it out with Chad Ryland, who is coming off a disappointing rookie season. Throughout the media-attended practices in the spring, Ryland made 10-of-his-14 attempts while Slye went 8-of-8. Even the makes for both kickers were close calls at times.

It’s worth noting that teams can sign players from the UFL after the league’s championship game on Sunday, a league where several kickers have stood out this season.

9. Us: “To Coach Belichick,” Tom Brady addressed in his Patriots Hall of Fame speech. “Thank you for your tireless commitment to develop and push me to my best. It wasn’t me. It wasn’t you. It was us. Our hard work, our love of the game and the way we worked for one another — that’s what it was all about. Let me make something crystal clear: There is no coach in the world I would rather play for than Bill Belichick.”

10. Setting up the week ahead: It’s officially the quiet portion of the NFL offseason. While rookies will remain in the building over the next two weeks to continue to work, teams are off the field until the beginning of training camp in late July.