Patriots: Is Adrian Phillips dominating Pats TEs in camp a good thing?

The story of New England Patriots training camp thus far has been the resurgence of wideout N’Keal Harry, who famously requested a trade in the days leading up to camp, as well as the open quarterback competition between Cam Newton and Mac Jones.

While those two storylines have consumed most of the headlines, a number of other intriguing narratives have been flying under the radar.

For starters, Josh Uche has been an absolute menace disrupting passing drills by blowing through his would-be blockers.

Elsewhere, Nelson Agholor has proved his doubters wrong, Sony Michel looks spry and out to prove a point after his fifth-year option was declined, and Raekwon McMillan seemed like a lock to become the top backup middle linebacker on the roster before he suffered a torn ACL.

You know who hasn’t gotten nearly enough recognition though? Adrian Phillips, who’s had a ridiculous knack for making plays on the ball at camp. The versatile safety has also been outright dominating the Patriots tight ends, including the now-injured Hunter Henry and Jonnu Smith.

While this looks great for Phillips, how should fans feel about it?

Are we sure Adrian Phillips owning the Patriots TEs is a good thing?

It’s probably both bad and good, if we’re being honest. Sorry to toe the line here.

For starters, Phillips’ emergence only means the secondary will have more depth. The 29-year-old vet impressed in his first season in Foxborough last year, but never looked fully comfortable in the Patriots system after he signed last offseason, which was mostly virtual before camp and had no preseason.

While Phillips will have to compete with Devin McCourty and Kyle Dugger for snaps, his performance at camp proves he deserves a starter’s share. Last season, Phillips posted 109 tackles, two interceptions and five pass breakups while logging healthy 73% snap share.

Barring a serious injury, he should see even more playing time in 2021.

With that settled, let’s turn our attention to Smith and Henry, the latter of whom will miss a couple weeks of action after sustaining a shoulder injury over the weekend. It simply can’t sit well with fans that the Pats’ prized free agent signings have found life so difficult against Phillips.

In their defense, Phillips has the ideal physique to lock down tight ends, and most teams likely don’t flaunt that kind of specialist. However, unless Phillips morphed into a superstar this offseason, Smith and Henry have no excuse to be getting bullied by the eighth-year pro.

Maybe the two tight ends are taking time to adjust to the physicality of Patriots camp? We all know Bill Belichick sets high expectations for his players, but that’s a lame excuse.

Perhaps we’re reading too much into this — and maybe their struggles have more to do with Phillips paying the best football of his career than them actually looking off the pace — but this still isn’t what we were hoping to hear with the preseason opener just days away.

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