New England Patriots Minicamp: Darrelle Revis Returns, Dominique Easley Appears

Yesterday the New England Patriots completed their final minicamp practice of the year, and said goodbye for their ‘summer vacation’, as they now have a substantial break until training camp.

Here is the attendance report from the always reliable Jeff Howe:

"Absent: WR Josh Boyce (right leg), WR Aaron Dobson (foot surgery), CB Alfonzo Dennard, CB Malcolm Butler, DL Armond Armstead, WR Wilson Van Hooser"

This was easily the best attendance of the offseason for these New England Patriots, although as Howe mentions, this was not a normal practice, as it was held in the bubble, and the media was kicked out after 45 minutes so the team could do some conditioning drills.

The two biggest stories of this final practice were rookie Dominique Easley finally appearing, and star cornerback Darrelle Revis returning after a one day break. Nobody thought that the Revis situation was serious in any way at all, but it is good to hear that he was back.

As for Easley, every reporter there said he looked good, and was explosive in his cuts, just as we expected once he returned from injury. He was wearing a sleeve on his injured right leg, but there was no brace, which is a good sign for his recovery.

"He was a full participant, lining up in the walkthrough portion with the backups and then taking regular reps in positional drills."

One other note is wide receiver Josh Boyce, who injured his leg on Wednesday, missed yesterday’s session, which can’t bode well for him. Everybody had been saying that Boyce was having a great offseason, and I hope he can continue to build on that progress once he returns. Mike Reiss doesn’t think this will be a long-term issue:

"Early indications are that the injury isn’t expected to be a long-term situation with Boyce."

Now the team takes a little break, and prepare for training camp in late July, into August. The dates have yet to be released, but we will pass them along here on Musket Fire as soon as they are made public.

We hope you appreciated our OTA, and minicamp coverage these past few weeks. Be sure to stay here throughout the summer for analysis, and training camp updates once they begin.