FOXBORO —  Quarterback play will look different for the Patriots this season.

That was the top takeaway from the second and final day of Patriots rookie minicamp, which was the first practice of the spring open to reporters.

The ball simply comes out of the hands of rookie quarterbacks Drake Maye and Joe Milton III differently than it has from any of the QBs in the Patriots’ post-Tom Brady era.

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There were 39 total players on the field for the Patriots and as many or more coaches and personnel evaluators on the field. The session was just under one hour in length, unpadded and not fully competitive.

The Patriots held individual drills early in practice before fractioning off into offense and defense. There were light speed 7-on-7 drills to finish out the practice before sprinting up the practice field hill.

This was the first rookie minicamp practice open to the media in recent history. The sessions were closed to reporters under former head coach Bill Belichick but have been reopened with Jerod Mayo taking over.

Attendance

Undrafted offensive tackle Zuri Henry (Texas El-Pas0 was the only player not spotted a practice. The 6-foot-6, 310-pound free-agent signing primarily played left tackle in college.
In attendance were the Patriots’ eight draft picks (Maye, Milton wide receiver Ja’Lynn Polk, offensive tackle Caedan Wallace, guard Layden Robinson, wide receiver Javon Baker, cornerback Marcellas Dial and tight end Jaheim Bell) and eight undrafted free-agent signings (cornerbacks Kaleb Ford-Dement and Mikey Victor, safety Dell Pettus, running back DeShaun Fenwick, tight end Jacob Warren, linebackers John Morgan and Jontrey Hunter and offensive lineman Charles Turner.
The Patriots also hosted 23 players on tryouts: wide receivers Beau Corrales, Rory Starkey and David Wallis, cornerbacks Kason McCullough-Cooper and John Davis Jr., safeties Tre’Vion Sherman-Green and John Pupel, kickers Vincent Blanchard and Noah Rauschenberg, running back Terrell Jennings, linebackers Jett Bush, Keontra Smith, Jotham Russell, Jay Person and Josh Carr, tight end Owen Glascoe, offensive linemen Hyrin White, Joey Ramos, Chris Murray, Tairiq Stewart and Ryan Johnson and defensive tackle Devin Adams.

QB Corner

Maye was 5-of-6 with completions to Wallis, Corrales, Baker and Polk in the 7-on-7 session. His first throw in the session was behind Bell.
Milton was 1-of-4 with a completion to Jennings. His incompletions to Wallis and Corrales were in front of the receivers. Jennings also dropped a pass.
Maye spent time with senior offensive assistant Ben McAdoo while Milton was throwing and offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt was calling the offense.
The quarterbacks began Satursday’s practice throwing at a net before working on handoffs to running backs.
The wide receivers then began throwing to wide receivers and tight end for an extended portion of time. On air, Maye was 13-of-15 while Milton was 10-of-12.
Maye has a live arm but has been a little “cautious” early in practice, according to one of the team’s evaluators. That likely stems from the information overload jumping from his college offense to the Patriots’ more complex system.

Offensive notes

The top wide receivers were Polk, Baker and Wallis, and Bell was the team’s top tight end. Polk typically aligned on the same side as Bell as the team’s “Z” receiver, Wallis was in the slot and Baker was the “X.”
Wallis, out of Randolph-Macon in Virginia, averaged 21.5 yards per reception in his Division-III college career. He caught 31 passes for 1,189 yards with 13 touchdowns as a junior in 2022.
Polk has been “smooth and steady,” per the evaluator, while Baker is “talented but a little out of control.” Baker did have a drop during individual drills but re-inserted himself at the end of the lineup to do it again correctly.
The team’s top offensive line consisted of Wallace at left tackle, Robinson at left guard, Johnson at center, Turner at right guard and White at right tackle. Wallace said after practice that he’s been comfortable switching back to left tackle, his high school position, after playing on the right side at Penn State.
White, at 6-foot-7, 323 pounds, stood out due to his size among tryout players. He started at right tackle for SMU.
There was a wide receiver drill that reporters hadn’t previously seen that had pass-catcher take a step, pause and then continue with their drill. It’s unclear if that’s something wide receivers coach Tyler Hughes is newly incorporating or if it’s a basic drill that we wouldn’t have previously observed since rookie minicamp was closed during head coach Belichick’s tenure.

Defensive notes

Defenders were clearly supposed to take it easy on the offense during team drill, per the NFL’s rookie minicamp drills.
Russell is a 6-foot-4, 239-pound former Rugby player from Australia. He was working as an edge defender in his conversion to the NFL.
Dial was the only Patriots draft pick on the defensive side of the ball.
Pupel played locally at Boston College.
Adams, at 6-feet, 283 pounds, played defensive tackle and punter at Peru State in Nebraska.

Special teams

Kickers Blanchard and Rauschenberg worked on a separate field.
Blanchard played at Laval University in Quebec City, where he kicked and punted.

Extra points

Former Patriots undrafted cornerback and defensive assistant V’Angelo Bentley, who’s now a defensive assistant/cornerbacks coach at Duke, was in attendance wearing sweats and a Blue Devils hat.
Maye, Polk, Wallace, Robinson, Dial and Bell spoke to reporters after the session.
Ramos was the first player on the practice field.