Patriots training camp: Cam Newton steps up and stars on Day 6

FOXBORO – On Day 6 of Patriots training camp, a leader in the team’s quarterback competition emerged.

Sunday’s practice was the first session that we’ve seen where the majority of the quarterback reps went to Cam Newton. This also happened to be Newton’s strongest practice so far as a member of the Patriots. The veteran quarterback got off to a great hitting six of his first seven passes in 7-on-7s. He then completed his first seven passes in a row in [...]

FOXBORO – On Day 6 of Patriots training camp, a leader in the team’s quarterback competition emerged.

Sunday’s practice was the first session that we’ve seen where the majority of the quarterback reps went to Cam Newton. This also happened to be Newton’s strongest practice so far as a member of the Patriots. The veteran quarterback got off to a great hitting six of his first seven passes in 7-on-7s. He then completed his first seven passes in a row in full-team drills.

Overall, Newton went 28/39 in team drills. That included him going 8/12 in 7-on-7s and 20/27 in 11-on-11s. The 39 pass attempts were a high for Newton in training camp. His previous high was 17 pass attempts on Day 4 of camp.

Newton’s connection with Julian Edelman grew on Sunday. The receiver caught seven of Newton’s first 15 pass completions in full-team drills. Newton also made a really nice throw for a touchdown to Ryan Izzo. The tight end hauled the score in over safety Terrence Brooks.

By comparison, Brian Hoyer attempted 21 passes on Sunday. He went 15/21 overall with an interception by Justin Bethel. Hoyer was 3/6 in 7-on-7s and 12/15 with an interception in full-team drills.

Jarrett Stidham was still limited with a lower body injury. He participated in position drills, but not in team drills. With Stidham’s injury, Newton seems to be the clear favorite for the Patriots at quarterback.

Justin Rohrwasser kicked on Sunday for the first time since last Monday. The rookie had a tough showing. First, he worked with just the holder and snapper. In those drills, he had several clear ugly misses that were nowhere near the uprights. In team drills, the Pats had Rohrwasser attempted four kicks on skinnier uprights. He went 2/4. Had the field goals posts been regulation size, he likely would’ve went 3/4.

Rookie tight end Devin Asiasi had a nice catch over Devin McCourty in 7-on-7s. The rookie also had to run a lap after rookie linebacker Cassh Maluia forced a fumble on him.

Several defensive players had pass breakups on Sunday – Terez Hall, J.C. Jackson, Terrence Brooks, Myles Bryant, Jonathan Jones and Bethel.

Along with Stidham, Kyle Dugger and Will Hastings were limited on Sunday.

The Patriots had a training camp-high 12 players absent from practice on Sunday. That included Stephon Gilmore, Adrian Phillips, Sony Michel, James White, Lamar Miller, D’Angelo Ross, Michael Jackson, Jake Burt, J.J. Taylor, Jeff Thomas, Beau Allen and Tashawn Bower.

White, Jackson, Burt, Taylor and Thomas were new to the absent list, but it’s possible that not all of them are dealing with an injury. According to the NFL Network, the Patriots had a group of false-positive Covid-19 tests that plagued several team around the NFL. Several teams canceled practice on Sunday due to the positive tests.

The NFL issued a statement on Sunday morning said the league was looking into the issue:

"Saturday's daily COVID testing returned several positives tests from each of the clubs serviced by the same laboratory in New Jersey. We are working with our testing partner, BioReference, to investigate these results, while the clubs work to confirm or rule out the positive tests. Clubs are taking immediate precautionary measures as outlined in the NFL-NFLPA's health and safety protocols to include contact tracing, isolation of individuals and temporarily adjusting the schedule, where appropriate. The other laboratories used for NFL testing have not had similar results."

mdaniels@providencejournal.com

On Twitter: @MarkDanielsPJ