{"id":239539,"date":"2025-07-27T06:12:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-27T06:12:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/239539\/"},"modified":"2025-07-27T06:12:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-27T06:12:10","slug":"robert-spillane-makes-an-impact-nbc-sports-boston","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/239539\/","title":{"rendered":"Robert Spillane makes an impact \u2013 NBC Sports Boston"},"content":{"rendered":"

FOXBORO \u2014 Before the Patriots take a break from camp practice on Sunday, let\u2019s check in on which players saw their stock improve — or not — during Saturday\u2019s competitive shorts-and-shells session\u2026<\/p>\n

Stock Up<\/p>\n

DeMario Douglas, WR<\/p>\n

Not only was Douglas on the receiving end of two of Drake Maye\u2019s best throws of the day — which we detailed in today’s Maye Watch<\/a> — he ended up with three catches total from Maye in the practice, which was more than any other pass-catcher.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Douglas now has eight catches — more than any other Patriots player — on nine competitive targets from Maye in camp. Stefon Diggs has caught six of the team-leading 10 targets he\u2019s seen in three competitive practices.<\/p>\n

Robert Spillane, LB<\/p>\n

Spillane might be exerting a little more energy on Monday when pads are introduced, but he was busy in coverage on Saturday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The newly-acquired linebacker ran with Hunter Henry down the seam and physically broke up a Drake Maye pass that hit Henry\u2019s hands. <\/p>\n

On the next snap, he dropped into a zone and read Maye\u2019s eyes. When the quarterback tried to hit Douglas with a short throw, Spillane laid out to break it up and almost picked it off.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jack Gibbens, LB<\/p>\n

Spillane wasn\u2019t the only linebacker showing up in coverage on Day 4. Gibbens, who typically hits the field after Spillane and Christian Elliss, broke up a pair of passes himself.\u00a0<\/p>\n

One deflection, while in tight coverage on running back Lan Larison, ricocheted into the air and was picked off by Jabrill Peppers. He also batted a pass from Ben Wooldridge that was intended for rookie tight end Gee Scott.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Stock Down<\/p>\n

Stefon Diggs, WR<\/p>\n

Diggs was targeted six times Saturday but caught only two passes. His day got out to a slow start after catching the first throw of 7-on-7 work. (He\u2019s gotten the first competitive target in two of three competitive practices so far. In the practice he didn\u2019t get target No. 1, he got No. 2 and 3. Seems to be an emphasis on getting him the football early in practices.)\u00a0<\/p>\n

Maye missed Diggs on a crosser on the very next snap. One snap later, on what might\u2019ve been a late Maye attempt to the sideline, Christian Gonzalez broke up a Diggs target and sent the receiver tumbling into nearby Gatorade coolers. Diggs immediately asked for a substitution.\u00a0<\/p>\n

His next target came later in the practice and was popped out of his hands by Harold Landry. It looked like Diggs could\u2019ve come back to the ball on the short hook route, but he didn\u2019t, which allowed Landry to close ground on him as the pass approached.<\/p>\n

Kendrick Bourne, WR<\/p>\n

Drake Maye attempted 24 competitive throws on Saturday and only one of them went to Bourne. It came in 7-on-7 work. Compare that to Kayshon Boutte, who was targeted by Maye three times on Saturday, twice in 11-on-11 periods.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Boutte seems to have the upper hand on Bourne<\/a> to this point in camp. The third-year wideout has been out there more consistently with Maye, while Bourne seems to be getting more work with backup Joshua Dobbs. <\/p>\n

There\u2019s no smoking gun evidence as to why Bourne appears to be lower on the depth chart right now, but apparently he has some work to do to launch himself ahead of Boutte.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhil Perry breaks down a potential Patriots receiver battle on the latest Patriots Talk Podcast\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Carlton Davis III, CB<\/p>\n

Davis missed another practice Saturday, allowing Alex Austin to step in as the second corner opposite Christian Gonzalez. Because Friday\u2019s practice was a non-competitive walkthrough, Davis hasn\u2019t seen a real practice rep since Day 1.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Something to monitor. He entered camp on the non-football injury list. Mike Vrabel called his Day 2 absence \u201cmaintenance.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FOXBORO \u2014 Before the Patriots take a break from camp practice on Sunday, let\u2019s check in on which…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":239540,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2050],"tags":[7354,833,7,7352,1167,249,2326,2094,6,208,20419,5175,531],"class_list":{"0":"post-239539","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-england-patriots","8":"tag-demario-douglas","9":"tag-drake-maye","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-kendrick-bourne","12":"tag-new-england","13":"tag-new-england-patriots","14":"tag-newengland","15":"tag-newenglandpatriots","16":"tag-nfl","17":"tag-patriots","18":"tag-patriots-training-camp","19":"tag-phil-perry","20":"tag-stefon-diggs"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114923722937380454","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239539","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=239539"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239539\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/239540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=239539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=239539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=239539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}