Breaking Down What Ezekiel Elliott Did In First Patriots Practice
GREEN BAY, Wis. — The Patriots didn’t feed Ezekiel Elliott a full meal Wednesday, but they definitely gave him some appetizers.
The star running back finalized his one-year deal with New England early Wednesday morning and suited up with his new teammates shortly afterward. A post from NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport seemingly hinted at Elliott taking Wednesday off, so it was a surprise to see him in uniform and on the practice field in Green Bay.
However, all of Elliott’s participation took place during the first half-hour of practice. He saw zero competitive reps during Day 1 of joint sessions against the Packers, instead spending most of those periods watching from the sideline.
So, what did Elliott actually do?
Before joining the Packers on the main practice fields, the Patriots conducted walkthroughs, individual drills and strength/conditioning on a separate field, which is across the street from Lambeau Field. Elliott participated in all of those periods.
During the stretching portion, we saw Elliott chatting with Bill Belichick. Their conversation ended with a fist bump from the Patriots head coach.
Elliott then participated in a walkthrough/scout-team session, mostly with Bailey Zappe at quarterback. He took handoffs, ran routes in the flat and lined up in pass protection.
Additionally, Elliott ran through handoff drills with quarterbacks and also participated in a series of agility drills with other running backs.
We didn’t spot Elliott for a while after the Patriots joined the Packers on the other side of the complex. It’s possible he was present on the sideline, but our guess is he was doing some additional conditioning work inside the indoor facility, which separates the main practice fields from the one New England started on.
Either way, he did not see any 11-on-11 work against Green Bay. He did watch those periods from the Patriots sideline for at least the final hour of practice, possibly longer.
It’s possible Elliott sees his responsibilities increase in Thursday’s joint practice, although it would be a surprise if he plays in Saturday night’s preseason game. We’ll just have to wait and see.
The Patriots will travel to Tennessee next week for joint practices and a preseason game with the Titans. It probably is safe to assume Elliott will see a greater workload in those sessions.