FOXBORO — At the end of his first full practice as a Patriot, Drake Maye proved to be a walking cliche.

He was, indeed, the last player to leave the field.

Maye strolled off with fellow rookies Ja’Lynn Polk and Javon Baker, after they’d stayed late to throw together; a quarterback and his receivers teaching themselves to walk before they can run in the NFL. Their session followed a voluntary, two-hour practice in which all participating Patriots, rookies and veterans alike, took baby steps.

No pads. Basic play-calls and fundamental drills. No third-down or red-zone work. Just two competitive team periods.

This was not a day for evaluation. But it was a day for debuts.

Debuts for Maye, who followed veteran quarterbacks Jacoby Brissett and Bailey Zappe in every drill; for Alex Van Pelt’s new offense, finally unveiled under the Foxboro sun; for Jerod Mayo’s program, finally hitting the field in a small, but meaningful, test of his organization, plan and process.

Overall, Maye fit in, going 6-of-7 in full-speed, competitive team drills. He fired all of his completions within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage: two on out patterns, another couple on stop routes over the middle, one via checkdown and a curl route to his right.  Maye’s only misfire was a screen pass he hurried to start his only period of 11-on-11 play.

What else?

Well, a star defender returned, another may have tipped off a major schematic change, the offensive line was a moving puzzle and one weapon won Player of the Day.

Here are the Herald’s complete practice observations:

Attendance

Matthew Judon of the New England Patriots stretches during Friday’s training camp session at Gillette Stadium. (Matt Stone/Boston Herald)

Absent: OLB Matt Judon, DL Davon Godchaux, OLB Josh Uche, OLB Anfernee Jennings, OT Zuri Henry

Non-participants: WR Kendrick Bourne, LB Jahlani Tavai, OL Cole Strange

Notes: Mayo told reporters before practice that Judon has been “in and out” of the building lately …. Bourne continues to rehab from the torn ACL he suffered last October. Bourne, Tavai and Strange (knee) all attended practice and stood on the sidelines … It’s unknown why any of the other players missed, though Uche and Godchaux did participate in some of the team’s prior offseason workouts, which were also voluntary.

Play of the Day

Dugger’s PBU down the seam

If Kyle Dugger was any tighter to newly-signed tight end Austin Hooper on this pass breakup, he would’ve been in Hooper’s jersey,

The veteran safety ran step for step with Hooper up the right seam and casually reached his left arm up to knock away a Jacoby Brissett’s pass during the only live 7-on-7 period. Dugger’s pass breakup was the lone deflection of the day, but highlighted a strong showing for the defense against Brissett and Co. Dugger will need to make more plays like that this season to live up to his new 4-year, $58 million contract.

Player of the Day

RB Rhamondre Stevenson

Running back Rhamondre carries the ball during a drill Friday at New England’s training camp in Foxboro. (Matt Stone/Boston Herald)

Granted, in a non-padded practice, everyone looks trimmer.

But the Patriots’ top back both looked and ran lighter than he did a year ago. Could a Pro Bowl-caliber season be on the way?

If so, Stevenson should factor heavily into the Pats’ passing game, as he did Monday. He finished with three catches in team drills, a team high. Stevenson also led off those periods among the running backs and appears to be a natural fit for the Patriots’ new zone-blocked rushing attack.

QB Corner

Note: The passing stats below were tallied during competitive 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 periods only. 

Jacoby Brissett: 9-of-14

Drake Maye: 6-of-7

Bailey Zappe: 3-of-5

Joe Milton: 4-of-4

Jerod Mayo has seen encouraging early signs from Patriots rookie QB Drake Maye

Offensive notes

OK, back to Maye. The rookie showed sufficient poise and command during his team-period appearances. He didn’t take chances, as expected for a young quarterback, and threw on time, a pleasant surprise.
Over his three 11-on-11 snaps, Maye rushed a screen pass to backup running back Deshaun Fenwick, then completed an out-route pass and curl-route throw to reserve receivers T.J. Luther and Kawaan Baker, respectively. The Baker completion was a bit high, possibly indicative of nerves.
Later, after Jacoby Brissett and Bailey Zappe combined to take the first 12 reps in 7-on-7s, Maye connected on another out-route to Javon Baker, a checkdown to backup running back Kevin Harris and consecutive sitdown routes to Kayshon Boutte and new tight end Mitchell Wilcox.
Maye’s plus arm strength was evident on the out-breaking routes. In particular, he ripped the ball on his zinger completion to Javon Baker.
Beyond that? No major takeaways for Maye or any other player or group of players.
OTA practices are designed to lay a foundation for the summer, and that was evident, both in individual and team drills. This is simple, unspectacular stuff.
Structurally, however, offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt’s vision is already clear: the Patriots will pair a vertical passing scheme with an outside zone-focused run game that together births a downfield, play-action attack that should define this offense.
Van Pelt, and senior offensive assistant Ben McAdoo, spent virtually all of practice with the quarterbacks, who opened with a series of fundamental drills.  Most pertained to footwork.
To start, the quarterbacks took exaggerated drops from under center, pulling their left leg high and across as they dropped back almost 20 yards. Later, they held the ball and shuffled up and down a series of pads laid parallel on the ground while keeping their eyes up before throwing into a net with three target holes.
Van Pelt incorporated this net into most of his opening drills, a change from past Patriots offensive staffs. None of the quarterbacks — including sixth-round Joe Milton — looked out of place, which is to be more expected than celebrated given the pace and purpose of an opening OTA practice.

New England Patriots Jacoby Brissett throws as Drake Maye looks on during training camp at Gillette Stadium. (Matt Stone/Boston Herald)

So why did Maye follow Brissett and Zappe in every drill, if he’s competing for the starting job? Jerod Mayo is on the record several times stating it’s a competition at quarterback, and there is no timeline for Maye to play. So naturally, Brissett as the most experienced passer and has run this offense before, led off.
As for Zappe, the view here is experience, again, probably factored into the staff’s decision-making. Zappe went second, possibly, to ensure the team-period reps weren’t wasted for all other players involved on offense if/when the rookie quarterback didn’t know where to throw or what to do in what, essentially, was his first NFL practice.
That said, Maye attempted more passes than Zappe did and took just one fewer rep in team periods overall, which ultimately matters more than what order they took snaps. Plus, Zappe scrambled more in team drills than Maye did, a reflection of his inability to run the offense on time — at least comparatively, and at least on Monday.
In the backfield, Stevenson led off all periods, followed by Antonio Gibson and 2022 sixth-round pick Kevin Harris. Gibson came up a little gimpy running down the sideline late in practice, but did not leave the field.
Top targets in team drills: Kayshon Boutte 2/4, Rhamondre Stevenson 3/3, Austin Hooper 2/3, K.J. Osborn 1/3, Antonio Gibson 2/2
Drops: Osborn
Free-agent addition K.J. Osborn was the most common target on deeper targets, dropping a comeback throw and failing to reel in a go ball down the left sideline; both from Brissett. Osborn and disappointing former second-round pick Tyquan Thornton led most team periods among wide receivers.
With Kendrick Bourne absent, that left DeMario Douglas and JuJu Smith-Schuster soaking up most of the next available snaps. Rookie receivers Ja’Lynn Polk and Javon Baker shared most of their reps with the rookie quarterbacks. Both had a quiet day.

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Thornton, Douglas, Polk and Baker all finished 1-for-1 on targets in live team periods. Douglas’ catch was an underthrown hospital ball from Zappe down the right seam, where closing safety Jaylinn Hawkins pulled up to avoid a possible collision at that last second.
Monday’s starting offensive line: left tackle Chukwuma Okorafor, left guard Sidy Sow, center David Andrews, right guard Nick Leverett and right tackle Mike Onwenu.
Okorafor remains the odds-on favorite to start at left tackle Week 1, pending the development of third-round rookie Caedan Wallace, who worked with the third- and fourth-team offenses Monday.
Wallace is attempting to transition from playing on the right side in college to the left side in the NFL, something Sow did lining up at left guard for most, if not all, of practice Monday after spending most of the last five years at right guard.
The second-team O-line roll call went: left tackle Vederian Lowe, left guard Michael Jordan, center Jake Andrews, right guard Atonio Mafi and right tackle Calvin Anderson.
The offensive line mixed and matched all day, with Mafi, a career college guard, even playing some center later on. Leverett, a free-agent addition, starting at right guard was notable, though he will contend with Sow and fourth-round rookie Layden Robinson for snaps if/when Cole Strange returns from injury to start at left guard.
No notes on the tight ends, except veterans Hunter Henry and Austin Hooper started most team periods in a 12 personnel grouping.

Defensive notes

New England Patriots Kyle Dugger makes a catch during training camp at Gillette Stadium. (Matt Stone/Boston Herald)

Starting and second-team personnel during team periods: defensive linemen Christian Barmore, Deatrich Wise, Keion White, Daniel Ekuale, Armon Watts, Sam Roberts and Jeremiah Pharms Jr.; linebackers Ja’Whaun Bentley, Sione Takitaki, Raekwon McMillan, Christian Elliss, Joe Giles-Harris, Oshane Ximines; defensive backs Kyle Dugger, Jabrill Peppers, Marte Mapu, Christian Gonzalez, Jonathan Jones, Marcus Jones, Marco Wilson, Alex Austin, Marcellas Dial, Jaylinn Hawkins, Brenden Schooler, Azizi Hearn, Shaun Wade, Isaiah Bolden and Joshuah Bledsoe
Interceptions: N/A
Pass breakups: S Kyle Dugger
Welcome back, Christian Gonzalez! The Patriots’ projected No. 1 cornerback is back from his torn labrum, and blanketed deep routes in team periods Monday. He also repped with the first-team defense at the end of practice.
The rest of that starting defense: defensive linemen Keion White, Christian Barmore, Deatrich Wise and Daniel Ekuale, linebackers Ja’Whaun Bentley and Sione Takitaki and defensive backs Kyle Dugger, Jabrill Peppers Marte Mapu and Jonathan Jones.
That lineup will receive a shakeup whenever Matt Judon, Josh Uche and Davon Godchaux return to reinforce the front, but for now might offer some confirmation of what Barmore told reporters after practice: the Patriots plan to play more four-down defense this season.
Such a change, if true, would allow players like Barmore to rush freely and simply beat the man across from them in passing situations, as opposed to controlling rush lanes or blockers; a style that might suit pass-first players like Judon and Uche.
With Jahlani Tavai also missing Monday, free-agent addition Sione Takitaki stepped right in and looked at home next to Bentley.
Mapu also bounced between the second and third levels of the defense, even playing single-high safety at times. His playing style makes him more of a linebacker by nature, but his body type (listed 6-3, 230 pounds) projects him as more of a safety.
After Mapu, the Patriots’ fourth safety appears to be Jaylinn Hawkins, a free-agent signing who had stops with the Chargers and Falcons last year. Hawkins has started on defense and brings good speed to a room largely populated by hard-hitting box safeties (Dugger and Peppers).

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To offset that potential speed issue in the back, the Patriots could play more two-high coverage shells after ranking among the league leaders in single-high defense the last decade and give their free safeties less field to cover. The Pats ran both single-high and two-high coverages in 7-on-7s and 11-on-11s.
Backup corners Alex Austin and Marco Wilson took reps when Gonzalez and Jonathan Jones sat for the start of 11-on-11 work.

Special teams

Punt returners: Marcus Jones, DeMario Douglas, Ja’Lynn Polk, Jalen Reagor
No field goal attempts for embattled 2023 fourth-round pick Chad Ryland or recently signed veteran Joey Slye.

Extra points

Perfect weather. Temperatures hung in the mid-to-high 60s with a coat of clouds overhead.
Roughly 45 minutes into practice, before the Patriots broke into competitive team periods for the first time, Mayo gathered everyone at the center of the field in a team-wide huddle.
The Patriots’ next OTA practice is scheduled for Tuesday, though the next practice open to reporters will be held May 29.