Complete New England Patriots Training-Camp Preview

The New England Patriots report to training camp on Wednesday, July 29, and their first open practice of the summer takes place the next day.

Yes, training camp is finally upon us. That means that the months of nauseating previews and predictions and the endless banter about position battles will finally come to a head. Instead of just asking questions, we'll finally get some answers.

Some of you may have chosen to take the offseason off from reading up on your team, but the NFL offseason stops for no one (and at this point, calling it an offseason is a misnomer). A lot has taken place since the Patriots hoisted their fourth Lombardi Trophy and took it on a tour of downtown Boston. 

So here's a complete primer on everything that is worth watching this summer as the Patriots whittle their roster down from 90 to 53 men before the start of the regular season. 

Key Storylines

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Tom Brady (above) will be the Patriots starting quarterback for as many games as he is available.

Quarterbacks

We're still awaiting word on Tom Brady's suspension. Until we find out whether Brady will miss any games, and how many he will miss, everything else is in a state of limbo. If he's not ready to go, though, the obvious move would be to call upon second-year quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo to fill in for however many games are needed. 

According to Doug Kyed of NESN.com, Garoppolo threw to tight end Rob Gronkowski and wide receiver Julian Edelman in 11-on-11 drills in June in an effort to build some chemistry and rapport with his pass-catchers in the event of an emergency. 

Defense

With sweeping changes in the secondary and bulk additions to the front seven, the Patriots defense will have a drastically different look from the one that took the field in 2014. Instead of a focus on tight man-to-man coverage, the Patriots are likely to rely on suffocating pressure from the front seven. 

Of course, the loss of so many vital pieces in the secondary (Darrelle Revis, Brandon Browner, Kyle Arrington, Alfonzo Dennard) could lead to major schematic changes. Chances are we won't know exactly what the Patriots are up to in the secondary until the bullets are real when the regular season rolls around. Until then, it will be worth watching how the Patriots employ their personnel and how they perform. 

Key Competitions

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Defensive ends Rob Ninkovich (50, left) and Chandler Jones (95, right) will probably be the starting defensive ends for the Patriots in 2015. But Ninkovich may be fighting for his job.

Cornerback

Every team deals with turnover every year. The most dramatic turnover for the Patriots has taken place at the cornerback spot, where they lost four of their top players and have replaced them with a group of young up-and-comers, rookies and veteran free-agent castoffs. 

The battle is quite deep: Logan Ryan, Malcolm Butler, Bradley Fletcher, Robert McClain, Daxton Swanson, Darryl Roberts, Tarell Brown and others will fight it out for starting lineup privileges, backup duty and roster spots. Ryan and Butler should be considered the early favorites for the starting lineup, but this battle is as wide-open as any battle in any camp across the NFL. 

The bigger question isn't who will be playing, but whether the players the Patriots pick will end up playing at a high enough level to keep the defense afloat this season.

Guard

With so much change and turbulence on the offensive line last year, it would seem to be in the Patriots' best interests to keep things copacetic this year; however, there appears to be as much change afoot as there was last year, with two guard spots up for grabs.

Dan Connolly has retired, and although Ryan Wendell returns to the roster in 2015, his spot as the starting right guard is far from guaranteed. There's been an influx of young talent at the guard spots, with Tre' Jackson and Shaq Mason added in the fourth round of the draft. Even third-year veteran Caylin Hauptmann could compete for a starting spot. 

Defensive End/Outside Linebacker

Chandler Jones will be one of the Patriots' two starting outside linebackers (or defensive ends, depending on the scheme). Rob Ninkovich has been the starter at the other spot for the past few years, but it appears he will be fighting for his job with veteran Jabaal Sheard in the fold. 

Sheard has proved to be much more effective in a 4-3 front (he notched 15.5 sacks in his first two years as a defensive end) than in a 3-4 front (he has notched 7.5 sacks in the past two seasons as an outside linebacker). That being said, he could be brought along slowly while Ninkovich resumes top duties in the defense. 

Bubble Players

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Jake Bequette (above) has been playing tight end for the Patriots this spring.

Tavon Wilson

The Patriots have made a habit of drafting safeties in the second round who aren't exactly big-name prospects. The latest is Jordan Richards, and the Stanford product could usurp the first in that lineage, Tavon Wilson. 

Wilson had been a starter for the Patriots defense in the past, but he has been relegated mainly to special teams duty at this point in his career. His role in that area is still valuable, but if the Patriots feel they have someone who can approximate his production on special teams and has higher long-term upside on defense, Wilson could be fighting for his job. 

Jake Bequette

We're entering the fourth year of the Jake Bequette project, and the latest developments have taken place at tight end. That should tell you all you need to know about the former defensive end who was drafted in the third round in 2012. 

Bequette has played in eight games over the past three seasons and didn't play at all in 2014. He has also participated on only 43 defensive snaps in that time, according to Pro Football Focus. With so many young additions to the roster in veteran Jabaal Sheard and rookies Geneo Grissom, Trey Flowers and Xzavier Dickson, there may not be room for Bequette on the 2015 roster. 

Joe Vellano

In 2013, defensive tackle Joe Vellano was thrust into a prominent role on the defensive line when veterans Vince Wilfork and Tommy Kelly were both placed on injured reserve. Fast forward to 2015, and Vellano's spot on the roster has dwindled into the background behind a group of young defensive linemen who could comprise the future of the defensive line. 

Vellano spent most of the 2014 season on the practice squad, but entering his third year, he is no longer practice-squad eligible. That means he'll have to beat out at least one of Malcom Brown, Dominique Easley, Alan Branch, Chris Jones and Sealver Siliga if he wants to make the final cut. It could be much easier said than done. 

Veterans to Watch

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Linebackers Jerod Mayo (51, top) and Dont'a Hightower (54, bottom) are both coming back from injuries.

Jerod Mayo

Jerod Mayo is no stranger to returning from injury. The Patriots' top veteran linebacker fought back from a torn pectoral muscle last offseason, and he's fighting back once again, only this time he is on the mend from a torn patellar tendon. Mayo agreed to a restructured deal that guarantees he'll remain with the Patriots for the 2015 season.

The bigger question is how much the Patriots will need him. They've gotten along just fine on defense without Mayo in the past two seasons, so this could be a contract year—unless he proves that he is still capable of being a highly productive player.

Dont'a Hightower

Over the past two years, Dont'a Hightower has gone from a sudden leader to a proven one. He was thrust into a leadership role when Mayo was injured during the 2013 season and was forced to play out of position, but when Mayo was injured again in 2014, he was ready for both his leadership role and his new role on the field.

Now, Hightower is rehabbing from surgery to repair a torn meniscus, which he suffered toward the end of the 2014 season. ESPN.com's Mike Reiss considers him questionable for Week 1, and we probably won't see much of him (if at all) this summer, but his recovery from surgery is a storyline worth watching.

Patrick Chung

The battle for the cornerback spots is going to be one of the hottest battles of the summer, but the competition at strong safety will bear watching as well. Patrick Chung is the incumbent starter, and although he had a tough start to his career in New England and a tough detour with the Philadelphia Eagles, he is coming off a redemption season in 2014. 

He can't afford to rest on his laurels, though. Third-year safety Duron Harmon is breathing down his neck and gunning for a starting spot in the secondary. It's possible that the two could once again share snaps at safety, but Harmon would be the better fit for the potential of a more zone-heavy defensive scheme in 2015.

That's not all. Rookie Jordan Richards has a similar skill set to Chung and could also steal snaps away from the veteran as a run-stuffing, in-the-box safety. 

Rookies to Watch

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Defensive tackle Malcom Brown (above) could have a very large role in the Patriots defense as a rookie.

Malcom Brown

Let's face it: No one can live up to Vince Wilfork's reputation, especially not a rookie like Malcom Brown, in 2015. What Brown can do, though, is replicate Wilfork's role and develop the skills to become the heir to that spot on the defensive line.

Even if Brown doesn't become a "true" nose tackle, his role on the defensive front will be similar to Wilfork's in that he will soak up multiple blockers at the same time. Brown has the versatility to play a variety of spots on the line, whether it's a 3-4 nose tackle (0-technique), defensive end spot (3- or 5-technique) or a 4-3 defensive tackle spot (1- or 3-technique). 

Geneo Grissom

Some of the most interesting players to watch this summer will be the ones whose positional designation is yet to be determined. Geneo Grissom is listed as a defensive lineman, but as we all know about defenders in the Patriots' front seven, a positional designation only goes so far. The 6'4", 252-pounder could be lining up as either a defensive end or an outside linebacker, depending on the scheme.

He'll probably be asked to do both, so it will be interesting to see where his skills translate best when he's rushing the passer in practice and in preseason games.

Tre' Jackson/Shaq Mason

With the aforementioned battle at the guard spots, the Patriots could be looking to their two youngest linemen to step up and fill in the gaps. The team could call upon fourth-round rookies Tre' Jackson and Shaq Mason to start right from the get-go. 

Former Patriots offensive line coach Dante Scarnecchia helped the Patriots scout offensive linemen this spring; that means both Jackson and Mason, presumably, come with Scarnecchia's stamp of approval. With Dan Connolly out of the picture and the right guard spot also up for grabs, there's no reason the Patriots shouldn't be looking for a youth movement on the offensive line.