Tate stands out day 1

It was a nice sunny day when the second session started yesterday in Foxboro. Many questions surround the team in the preseason. Wide receiver is a position with many battling for position. Second year receiver Brandon Tate looked great. His speed and route running was better than I expected. Rookie Taylor Price showed very good speed. Both players returned kicks also. Veteran Torry Holt doesn't have the speed he once did but his cutting and routes were on point. Holt still has great hands. Wes Welker did not participate. No need to rush him back, he will be fine by week one. A guy who will struggle to make the cut is Matthew Slater. Slater went down with a calf injury yesterday and did not return. His main roll with the team is returning kicks. Price, Tate and Julian Edelman should all make the team and have return abilities. Sam Aiken may have a hard time making the team if Holt catches on quick and mentors the younger guys. Holt helped the Jacksonville receivers become standouts last season. his leadership could be invaluable. During a running drill yesterday, Rob Gronkowski looked like a school bus running through tall grass. With 5 players on each side holding bags, the players would run through them with getting hit by the bags. Fred Taylor and a few others fell. Gronk ran through them like they weren't there. We are going to see him running over many safeties down the field in his patriot career. I liked the way Zac Robinson looked. He threw a tight spiral and showed excellent form. On the defensive side, Johnathon Wilhite got burned continuously be Edelman and Price. he could be a camp casualty. The linebacking core was scary. Tully Banta-Cain started on the right side and Rob Ninkovich on the left. Banta-Cain is a nice situational pass rusher but now more than that. Rookie Jermaine Cunningham got a lot of work on the right side. Gary Guyton and Jerod Mayo in the middle. I fully expect rookie Brandon Spikes to be playing next to mayo at some point. Spikes by the way wearing long sleeves on a hot and somewhat muggy day. In the backfield Brandon McGowan, Patrick Chung and James Sanders all rotated at safety. So there are some big questions. Who gets cut? Who can rush the passer? These are the questions we hope will get answered in the coming weeks. only time will tell.