{"id":253919,"date":"2025-08-01T18:17:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-01T18:17:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/253919\/"},"modified":"2025-08-01T18:17:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-01T18:17:10","slug":"patriots-cb-d-j-james-is-making-the-most-of-his-opportunity-at-training-camp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/253919\/","title":{"rendered":"Patriots CB D.J. James is making the most of his opportunity at training camp"},"content":{"rendered":"

FOXBOROUGH \u2014 It’s safe to say that nobody probably had cornerback D.J. James recording the first interception of training camp on their bingo card. Well, except for the New England Patriots<\/a> cornerback himself.<\/p>\n

\u201cI manifested it,\u201d James said about the interception. \u201cThey say make plays on the ball, and I told myself make a play on the ball, and it just came to me.”<\/p>\n

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James was selected by the Seattle Seahawks<\/a> in the sixth round of the 2024 NFL draft out of Auburn, but was placed on the active\/NFI list in July and then was waived as part of final roster cuts. Shortly after, the Patriots signed the cornerback to the practice squad, where he spent the rest of the season.<\/p>\n

He credits that experience with helping him grow and improve.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a growing pain for me,\u201d James admitted. \u201cI sat back and learned from some great guys\u2026 I just sat back, watched them, learned from them, and took a lot of information from those guys.\u201d<\/p>\n

And now, with starting cornerbacks Christian Gonzalez and Carlton Davis III being sidelined with a hamstring and an undisclosed injury, respectively, James has taken advantage of every opportunity this summer. That’s all part of the next man up mentality.<\/p>\n

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\u201cKnowing that when those guys go down, there\u2019s no drop-off,\u201d he said. \u201c[I\u2019m] taking advantage of the opportunities that I get. I\u2019m thankful that my coaches gave me the opportunity to showcase myself and my talents, and just going out there every day and competing with some great guys.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even head coach Mike Vrabel took a moment to acknowledge all he’s done.<\/p>\n

\u201cD.J. is one of those players that\u2019s improved from the end of the spring until now,\u201d Vrabel said. \u201cHe\u2019s taken advantage of some players that aren\u2019t there, so then he moves up a group or whatever that may be, and therefore he\u2019s taking advantage of his opportunities, and he\u2019ll continue to earn more opportunities. But D.J. is an improved player through the short time that we\u2019ve been here.”<\/p>\n

Plus, he also has experience on special teams, which makes him even more valuable.<\/p>\n

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\u201cEvery aspect on the team is important to me,\u201d he said. \u201cIf it\u2019s special teams, I\u2019m ready to give 150 percent on special teams. Corner, I\u2019m ready for that as well. I just want to be a team player.\u201d<\/p>\n

While he might have been considered a long shot to make the 53-man roster at the start of camp, he is certainly making a strong case for a spot now.<\/p>\n

Follow Patriots Wire on\u00a0Twitter<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Facebook<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on Patriots Wire: Patriots’ D.J. James is making the most of his shot at training camp<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FOXBOROUGH \u2014 It’s safe to say that nobody probably had cornerback D.J. James recording the first interception of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":253920,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2050],"tags":[31300,6032,13516,7,469,838,1167,249,2326,2094,6,208,261,8896],"class_list":{"0":"post-253919","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-england-patriots","8":"tag-carlton-davis-iii","9":"tag-christian-gonzalez","10":"tag-d-j-james","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-james","13":"tag-mike-vrabel","14":"tag-new-england","15":"tag-new-england-patriots","16":"tag-newengland","17":"tag-newenglandpatriots","18":"tag-nfl","19":"tag-patriots","20":"tag-seattle-seahawks","21":"tag-training-camp"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114954885578205005","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253919","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=253919"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253919\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/253920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}