The truth is in the trends.

If you want to know who the Patriots’ next breakout star will be, don’t pay attention to just one practice or preseason game.

Study reports of them all.

Want to know who will start at quarterback?

The Patriots won’t render their decision based on one practice or game, so why should you? Jerod Mayo and Co. will anoint Jacoby Brissett or Drake Maye after evaluating weeks of practice and a few games; every rep studied and charted, then compared to the other’s. The same holds for who starts next at receivers and left tackle, cornerback, kicker and more.

Lucky for you, that work, through the first week and a half, has been done.

After charting every rep in every team period of the Patriots’ nine training camp practices, here are the six trends that have defined their position battles and summer to date:

1. Jacoby Brissett charging toward a Week 1 start

Let’s review.

Offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt named Brissett the Patriots’ starting quarterback in the spring. On the eve of training camp, Jerod Mayo said, “Jacoby is the starting quarterback at this point in time.” Since then, Brissett has taken every first-team rep, while Drake Maye commands the second-string offense.

Any questions?

Of course. It’s a quarterback competition. Questions abound, always, even if Brissett has clearly maintained the head start he was afforded upon signing.

For example:

How far apart are Brissett and Maye?

Could Maye still start week 1?

Is it time to panic about Maye?

Quarterbacks Drake Maye (10) and Jacoby Brissett of the Patriots throw in tandem during training camp outside Gillette Stadium. (Photo By Matt Stone/Boston Herald)

To short-circuit any short-circuiting about Maye’s uneven, and perfectly normal, start to camp, the answer to the last question is no. Hell no.

As for the gap between them, that has grown. Slightly.

During competitive team periods – the only proper time to evaluate quarterbacks in training camp – Brissett is taking sacks at a higher rate than Maye. But aside from that, Brissett has been more accurate (a 67.5 completion percentage to 60.9), consistent and more aggressive downfield when passing. Maye has completed multiple throws that covered more than 10 yards in the air in just four of nine practices, thus far.

Brissett knows the offense better than his rookie competitor (and basically everyone on the roster, thanks to his year playing for Van Pelt and the Browns in 2022). He recently completed successful two-minute drills to cap back-to-back practices.

Brissett will be the Patriots’ Week 1 starter, barring injury or a massive Maye turnaround.

2. A new day, a new No. 1 receiver

In a big-picture sense, the Patriots’ wide receiver corps carries vibes identical to years past.

No obvious No. 1 receiver. Not even a proven No. 2. Just a collection of No. 3 and 4 targets bouncing around, while fans and coaches alike cross their fingers that they choose to break out on different Sundays this season and keep the passing game afloat until the rookies are ready to take over.

So far, that’s exactly how camp has unfolded.

Patriots training camp Day 9: Jacoby Brissett throws last-second TD, Drake Maye’s 2-minute drill stalls

Through nine days, eight different players – Ja’Lynn Polk (x2), K.J. Osborn, DeMario Douglas, Javon Baker, Tyquan Thornton, Hunter Henry, Austin Hooper and Rhamondre Stevenson – have led the Patriots in targets for one practice. Osborn, the Patriots’ top free-agent signing, waited until Day 9 to take the lead, catching a team-high five passes Saturday.

Meanwhile, Polk’s play can best be described as steady, but unspectacular. Polk’s caught multiple passes during competitive team periods in seven of nine practices, most on the team. He doesn’t move or separate like Baker, but while Baker teased a higher ceiling in the opening days of camp with sensational catches, he’s since cooled, going 4-of-11 on targets over the last five practices.

During that same stretch, the smallest receiver on the roster made the biggest splash.

Douglas, all 5-foot-8 and 180 pounds of him, changed the Patriots’ pass offense single-handedly Friday, catching five passes in team periods, including the touchdown that capped Brissett’s two-minute drill at the end of practice. The two also hooked up for another score down the seam, indicating Douglas may be able to bring a more vertical element to his game, which thus far has taken a traditional slot form (shifty, heavy on horizontal routes and strong over the middle of the field).

It was no accident Brissett enjoyed his best practice of training camp Friday, when Drake Maye continued to bounce back from a rough stretch of practices. That’s the power of a receiver who can separate quickly, threaten man coverage and win over the middle. Until proven otherwise, Douglas is the only Patriots wideout capable of all three, but even he needs more time (thanks to a minor hand injury that’s thus far limited him this summer) to prove he is New England’s new No. 1 for good.

Time to hurry up and wait.

3. Chukwuma Okorafor getting right

A year ago, the Patriots started a newly-signed veteran at right tackle over their first two training camp practices.

Patriots offensive tackle Chukwuma Okorafor figures to play a prominent role with the team this season. (Matt Stone/Boston Herald)

Upon signing him, they planned to treat Riley Reiff as their permanent starter. But after those first two days, Reiff flipped to the left side, then kicked inside to guard, got hurt in the preseason finale, played one regular-season game, and that was that.

Now, Chukwuma Okorafor, 26, won’t meet the same washed fate, though it’s certainly curious that after starting camp at left tackle for two practices, the coaches moved him back to the right side, and he hasn’t moved since.

That’s seven practices at his old position, including three in pads, and two at a new one.

To be clear, the Patriots’ offensive line is a jumbled mess of codependent parts, so Okorafor’s position change may be less a direct reflection on his performance at left tackle than how offensive line coach Scott Peters is trying to plug holes in a leaky unit. Peters is also known for cross-training his linemen, something he’s done throughout camp. But if the Pats believe the ex-Steeler can truly convert to left tackle in time for Week 1, why flip Okorafor back, with Mike Onwenu, Calvin Anderson and third-round rookie Caedan Wallace all boasting serious right tackle experience?

Okorafor has long known he needs his blind-side reps.

“I’ve been in the NFL for a while now. If I knew I couldn’t do it, I wouldn’t have chosen to do it,” Okorafor said this spring. “It will take time, but I know who I am and what I can do. …I played right my whole time in Pitt. It’s obviously new. I’m trying to learn left as of now. I’m just trying to learn a whole new playbook. I’m trying to learn a whole new city, a whole new town. So, everything is kind of new to me now but I’m blessed.”

Of note: Okorafor did not participate in the Patriots’ last practice Saturday, when Wallace worked at right tackle and projected roster cut Vederian Lowe continued repping on the left side.

4. Disappearing pass rush

First came Christian Barmore’s case of blood clots that have sidelined him indefinitely last weekend.

Then Matt Judon’s messy Monday practice.

Next, the Patriots failed to “sack” Maye or Brissett for the first time on Friday, a positive for the quarterbacks but scary prospect for a defense that is being asked to carry the team for a third straight season.

And all along, Josh Uche (one “sack” in nine practices) has been a no-show. Uche can’t even get going in 1-on-1 pass rush drills, where he’s been uncharacteristically stonewalled, including by Lowe. Uche didn’t offer much about his camp struggles in a recent interview, but like everyone else on the Patriots’ defensive front will need to step up in Barmore’s absence.

Good news: Keion White, the burly second-round pick, looks primed for not a step, but a leap. He’s recorded multiple sacks and pressures, working off the edge and as an interior rusher.

5. Sticky young corners

Be honest: did you know who Azizi Hearn was before training camp?

How about Marco Wilson?

Did you know they were both on the Patriots last year?

Practice squad, technically, as was Alex Austin in Houston before the Pats signed him midseason. Austin made a name for himself later in the year, intercepting Josh Allen at Buffalo last December, and more recently became a popular sleeper pick to make the 53-man roster.

But based on their play in camp, all of them could make the team.

All of the Patriots’ young corners have run with the starting defense and registered multiple pass breakups in team drills. Hearn teed up new veteran safety Jaylinn Hawkins for an interception Saturday, when Austin later picked a pass of his own. Opposite them, Christian Gonzalez has gone quiet in team periods, while Jonathan Jones is serving as the glue of a secondary that lost Jabrill Peppers and Marcus Jones for separate stretches; playing outside corner, nickelback and free safety during team drills.

And don’t forget athletic 2023 seventh-round pick Isaiah Bolden, who missed all of last year with a concussion and might offer value as a returner.

6. Chad Ryland settling in

Second-year kicker Chad Ryland during Patriots practice in Foxboro. He’s coming off a tough rookie season. (Photo By Matt Stone/Boston Herald)

This is the kicker the Patriots believed they were drafting a year ago.

A confident, powerful player who could boom 60-yard field goals as easily as he could send kickoffs through the end zone. On field goal tries, Ryland believes he’s turned a corner from making 64% of his attempts by tweaking his approach.

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“I think over the last month between OTAs to now I’ve grown significantly in terms of what my fundamentals are and my core fundamentals,” Ryland said this week. “And I’m not going to, like, give (the media) a dissertation on that, but I know what I do. I know it works and I know how I want to attack each kick and I think just the mental approach of last year to now, it certainly hardened me and I feel like I’m in a really good spot, both mentally and physically.”

Making 20 of his 22 field goals so far in training camp, Ryland seems to have found something. But don’t forget about journeyman Joey Slye, who’s on his heels at 19-of-23, including a make from beyond 50 yards Saturday.

Quote of the Week

“I feel like I throw the football well down the field and still don’t feel I’ve really aired it out yet, but I think it’s coming.” – Drake Maye