FOXBORO – The Patriots were without a star-studded cast of players on Tuesday as the team held their second session of OTAs, which was the first open to the media.


Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski highlighted the list of players who were either not present or limited during the team’s late morning practice. Also missing was Malcolm Mitchell, Trey Flowers, Dont’a Hightower, Jonathan Jones, Cody Hollister, Joe Thuney, Brandon Bolden and David Jones. Mitchell was absent [...]

Mark Daniels

FOXBORO – The Patriots were without a star-studded cast of players on Tuesday as the team held their second session of OTAs, which was the first open to the media.

Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski highlighted the list of players who were either not present or limited during the team’s late morning practice. Also missing was Malcolm Mitchell, Trey Flowers, Dont’a Hightower, Jonathan Jones, Cody Hollister, Joe Thuney, Brandon Bolden and David Jones. Mitchell was absent after practicing on Monday.

Players who were limited and spent their time on a lower field rehabbing included Malcolm Brown, Lawrence Guy, Cyrus Jones, Isaiah Wynn, Trent Brown, Nate Ebner and Marcus Cannon. Julian Edelman, who missed last year due to ACL surgery, was present at practice, but was limited as he mainly field punts and never participated in full-team drills.

Without Brady and Gronk, the Patriots’ defense had a field day against Brian Hoyer and the team’s first-team offense. Hoyer went 8-for-18 in full-team drills. He was also intercepted by rookie Keion Crossen. Hoyer also went 4-of-7 during 7-on-7s.

Rookie quarterback Danny Etling didn’t receive nearly as many reps as Hoyer, but when he did, he looked solid. The seventh rounder went 3-of-6 in 11-on-11s and 2/3 in 7-on-7s.

Overall, it was a tough start for the offense as the unit had trouble getting into rhythm. Hoyer started out 2/9 with an interception in full-team drills. Elting seemed more competitive in his limited snaps with the second-team unit.

Crossen was one of the biggest standouts on Tuesday and the seventh-round pick also finished with two deflections to go with his pick. Ryan Lewis also had a nice day and finished with a breakup while starting opposite of Stephon Gilmore at cornerback. Undrafted rookie JC Jackson also had a breakup.

Jacob Hollister also had a nice day. The second-year tight end caught two touchdown passes from Hoyer in 11-on-11s. Kenny Britt also had a very nice catch along the sideline.

The Patriots played with a makeshift offensive line due to all the injuries. With Thuney out, James Ferenez was up at left guard. With Cannon out, Cole Croston saw plenty of time at right tackle. LaAdrian Waddle also occupied the left tackle spot.

With Flowers and Hightower out, Adrian Clayborn and Derek Rivers saw a lot of reps at defensive end.

The Patriots have 11 practices left this spring. The next one open to the media is on May 31.