Boot Camp Stock Watch: Polk Climbs Ladder to Get Highlight Reel

Boot Camp Stock Watch: Polk Climbs Ladder to Get Highlight Reel originally appeared in NBC Sports Boston

FOXBORO – It didn’t take long for DeMarcus Covington to respond when asked what he expected to see from his players at Tuesday’s joint practice with the Eagles.

“Hopefully,” he said Monday morning, “we can come out and dominate. That’s what we’re looking for, to be honest.”

In preparation for the unique joint practice the two teams will hold this week ahead of Thursday’s preseason game, the Patriots dialed back the intensity on Monday. Players wore small lightweight pads (shells) or no shoulder pads at all. The training session lasted around 90 minutes, making it one of the shortest training sessions of the summer.

But there was still a lot to observe, even though the team saw the last training camp as a warm-up for what’s to come. Let’s get into the details with our 13th edition of Stock Watch…

Stock up

Ja’Lynn Polk, wide receiver

DeMario Douglas is the Patriots receiver who is open more consistently than anyone else. But in terms of availability and reliability on the field, there is no Patriots pass catcher who has been more consistent than Polk.

Polk arguably made the play of the day on Monday, climbing the ladder to catch a jump ball from Joe Milton with corner Isaiah Bolden in tight coverage. He also got a quick touchdown set up to go his way.

He conquered several positions within the receiver umbrella and on the 13th he continued to be in the right place at the right time, executing when called upon.

“He wants it,” veteran QB Jacoby Brissett said of Polk. “And that’s all you can ask for.”

Joe Giles-Harris, linebacker

Patriots linebackers coach Dont’a Hightower couldn’t help but smile when asked about third-year linebacker Joe Giles-Harris before Monday’s practice. He filled the box score with four tackles and two pass breakups at the pre-season openingthen, in practice on Sunday, he picked off a pass from Drake Maye that was almost picked off.

“He has a really good sense of zone awareness, of being in the zone, just the concept of something below, something behind. On the communication side, he knows where to be,” Hightower said of Giles-Harris. “He’s just doing a good job.

“I joked with him yesterday: ‘If we make the impact plays, you’ll have one of those little fly swatters with you.’ I think he had two in the game, he had one the other day. He’s definitely had a lot of impact on defense now.”

About two hours later, Giles-Harris caught another pass – this one from Joe Milton – and it ricocheted into the hands of rookie safety Dell Pettus.

Young DBs

Dell Pettus made his pick on Monday after nearly taking a deflection from Giles-Harris on Sunday. A longtime starter at Troy (61 games), Pettus arrived at Patriots camp and appears to be playing beyond his years.

“Dell has done a good job of what newcomers should do,” security coach Brian Belichick said Monday. “They have a lot to learn and he’s trying to learn, and doing it the right way, like we tried to teach him… He’s still playing with himself, playing fast, aggressive, physical, tough, communicative. all very important to us in the security position. He just needs to keep piling up the days and see where he ends up.

Despite one issue – a defensive pass interference call to Alex Austin – the young defenders had a good day on Monday.

Christian Gonzalez almost took Maye down. Marco Wilson hung in KJ Osborn’s pocket on a kick to the corner of the end zone to help force an incompletion. Azizi Hearn stopped a deep Milton shot, and Mikey Victor stopped a Maye attempt to Javon Baker deep down the field. Victor got his hands on football twice in the pre-season and carried some of that positive momentum into training.

Low stock

Team discipline

While the intensity was a bit lower than most Patriots practices, that doesn’t mean the officiating crew in attendance wasn’t busy.

In the first 11-on-11 period of the session, there appeared to be an offside call for the defense. Then came Austin’s defensive pass interference. Soon after there was another offside penalty, and then the defense had just 10 men on the field when the attack broke the huddle.

Defensively, two laps were made and Jerod Mayo made a point of meeting the team after one of them. Offensively, the picture wasn’t much prettier. There were two false start penalties and two shaky center-to-fullback switches.

Screen Game

That was another problem on Sunday than it was Monday, but it was still a problem on Monday.

On the 12th, there were three screens called for Drake Maye that went nowhere. On the 13th, offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt asked for another one, which was promptly ruined by the Patriots defense when Oshane Ximines countered Maye’s attempt.

If the Patriots plan to be a running, ball-handling team in 2024 — if they want to protect their offensive line, which has some unproven pass protectors — then making the screen play work will be key. Despite putting up a solid gain against Carolina last week (13 yards on third to Antonio Gibson), it appears they still have some work to do on that front.

Joe Milton, quarterback

After him standout performance in the pre-season openerMilton grew cold. He only saw two reps on Sunday, but threw two incomplete reps. Combined with his competitive snaps on Monday in two practices, he went 2-for-5 with an interception and a sack.

He will also be able to hear his coaches preaching to him the importance of ball security after a mix-up on Monday. Mayo said one area he would like to see Milton improve after the Patriots-Panthers exhibition game was keeping the ball safe and tucked under his arm when he becomes a runner.

“Yeah, you know, just watching Joe run and that athleticism is always a welcome sight,” Mayo said before Sunday’s practice. “In saying that, there are still things for him to work on. One thing would be ball security. I know it looked cool, but it’s always a dangerous thing to swing the ball like that, but this is a guy who is working hard every day and improving.”

During Monday’s run, the ball was a little loose and away from Milton’s body in his right hand.