9 things you should know from Day 1 of Patriots minicamp

6. Cyrus Jones was by far the best punt returner.

On a windy June day in which Ryan Allen was booting balls all over the field, Jones made his presence felt on punt returns in the first installment of Patriots minicamp. Competing with returning Patriots vet Keshawn Martin and undrafted rookie V’Angelo Bentley, Jones was the only one out of that group to not muff a punt.

Hopefully, Jones keeps up the good work and factors into the punt return role in the regular season so Edelman and Amendola don’t have to put their valuable bodies at further risk.

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5. Rookie wide receivers struggled.

While Jones excelled yesterday, his rookie counterparts at wide receiver did not. As noted by Perillo, it was a rough first outing for rookie wideouts Malcolm Mitchell and Devin Lucien.

Lucien in particular struggled, and then appeared to injure his right foot and sat out the remainder of the practice. Mitchell failed to secure a couple of catchable passes, and he appeared to be rather nonchalant after catching a few balls later in practice.

Both are rookies trying to learn their way so it’s far too early to make any judgements but Monday was not a great day for the pass-catching rookies.

As Perillo says, it’s way too early to give up on this pair of promising pass catchers. Hopefully, the nerves got worked out today and both Mitchell and Lucien do better today.

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4. Chris Harper and Lucien were the last off the field.

As noted by Reiss, Lucien walked off the field with Harper after practice. The two are old pals from their high school days at Crespi Carmelite High School in Encino, Calif.

Next: 3. Aaron Dobson was best receiver on the field