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Mike Reiss
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Quick-hit thoughts and notes around the New England Patriots and the NFL:
1. Game captains: Every Friday in the Patriots’ team meeting, coach Mike Vrabel showcases one player and puts their high school football highlights on the screen. The energy in the room usually rises as Vrabel asks the group if they know who it is.
This is what players describe as one of the highly anticipated parts of the week, with Vrabel revealing the pick for who will serve as a game captain.
In Week 3, for example, Vrabel selected defensive tackle Milton Williams, who was coming off a game in which he registered a game-clinching sack.
“It was cool. They pulled up my high school ‘Huddle’ highlight from back in the day and it was just funny, seeing how skinny I was back then,” Williams told ESPN.com. “They showed a pick or something, or a couple tackles clowning me, of course …
“People are wondering who it is, and then he’ll say, ‘This is …’ and everyone busts out laughing, trash-talking, saying ‘You suck!” or whatever. It’s a fun thing.”
The newest game captain will officially be revealed Sunday when the Patriots (3-2) visit the New Orleans Saints (1-4) at the Caesars Superdome (1 p.m. ET, CBS). The game captain joins most of the team’s permanent captains — tight end Hunter Henry, cornerback Marcus Jones, outside linebacker Harold Landry III, quarterback Drake Maye, special teamer Brenden Schooler and linebacker Robert Spillane — at midfield for the opening coin toss.
Game captains have been defensive end K’Lavon Chaisson, followed by offensive tackle Morgan Moses, Williams, safety Jaylinn Hawkins and receiver Stefon Diggs. They all noted the token of respect for being picked, which reflects, in part, an acknowledgement of their approach and commitment to the team.
The choice of Diggs — against one of his former teams, the Bills — highlights another theme to Vrabel’s selections.
“I think Vrabes pays attention to the details and he knows how personal this game can get for some of the players,” said Chaisson, who was picked in Week 1 as the Patriots faced one of his former teams (Las Vegas Raiders). “Outside of just the personal [side], there are ties that some people have to previous teams or certain cities or whatever it may be.”
Because of that, leading candidates to serve as Week 6 game captain include receiver Kayshon Boutte and offensive tackle Will Campbell, both of whom played at Louisiana State.
Often times, the pick is a surprise.
“I didn’t expect it. That’s the thing, nobody knows,” said Hawkins, the safety in his sixth NFL season. “You report to the meeting room Friday, you’re chilling, and all of a sudden he shows the highlight and it’s like, ‘Oh man, I’m the captain.’ Everyone applauds. It’s a dope thing.”
Vrabel showed Hawkins’ highlights from his sophomore season at Buena Park High School in California.
“It took me back,” Hawkins said, “and it makes you think, being here in the NFL, you can’t take these moments for granted.”
Williams attended Crowley High School in Texas and added: “You look back and see how far you’ve come to make it to this point.”
There was a light moment in Week 2 when Vrabel introduced the 34-year-old Moses as the game captain.
“He [usually] puts a little highlight film, [but] for me, he was like, ‘You’re too old to have highlights in high school!'” Moses said.
2. Stef’s chef: The weekly dinner that Patriots’ offensive linemen have each Thursday had a new twist to it last week, as receiver Stefon Diggs had his personal chef cook for the group. They all gathered at center Garrett Bradbury’s house.
“To be able to share something like that with us, it was very kind of him,” center/guard Ben Brown said of Diggs.
Brown said the menu included burgers, wings, steak, baked beans, salad and desserts, among other things. The idea came up over breakfast at the stadium, when Diggs mentioned he did something similar for the receivers and would like to do it for the linemen as well. He said the group could put together a custom menu.
“That food was phenomenal, smelled amazing right when we walked in,” Brown said. “A nice homecooked meal.”
3. Diggs in context: How impressive has Diggs’ production been in the past two games from a historical context?
In totaling six catches for 101 yards in a Week 4 win over the Panthers, and 10 receptions for 146 yards in a Week 5 win over the Bills, Diggs became just the second player to have consecutive games averaging more than 6 yards receiving per route run since ESPN began tracking the stat in 2007 (minimum 10 routes in each game).
Dolphins receiver Tyreek Hill is the only other player to accomplish the feat, in Weeks 5-6 of the 2023 season.
For further context, Seahawks receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba leads the NFL this season in averaging 4.31 yards receiving per route run.
“I think the biggest thing is that he’s a receiver that’s easy to throw to,” quarterback Drake Maye said of his growing connection with Diggs.
Question: How do you explain your connection with Stefon Diggs … how did that come together so quickly?
Drake Maye: “I think the biggest thing is that he’s a receiver that’s easy to throw to. He has great hands. He catches different ways – with his body, he turns with the… pic.twitter.com/8QO8Gd7veR
— Mike Reiss (@MikeReiss) October 8, 2025
4. Rookie returners? With running back/top kickoff returner Antonio Gibson on the IR after tearing his right ACL last week, it creates a dilemma for Vrabel and special teams coaches Jeremy Springer and Tom Quinn.
The Patriots are thin at running back with just Rhamondre Stevenson (6-0, 227), TreVeyon Henderson (5-10, 202) and practice-squad player Terrell Jennings (6-0, 217), so also using them as a kickoff returner — which is preferred because of the big hits that occur on the play — is an added injury risk that might best be avoided.
That could open the door for rookie receivers Kyle Williams (5-11, 190) and/or Efton Chism III (5-10, 198) to step in.
“Everyone on our depth has to have a role — if you’re a receiver or running back,” Springer said. “You always like a bigger guy back there because they’re taking a lot of hits because [teams] are covering every kick, but at the same time, you can’t miss out on guys’ dynamic ability.”
5. Beware speed: Saints receiver Rashid Shaheed reached a top speed of 21.72 miles per hour on his 87-yard catch-and-run touchdown last week, which is the fastest speed recorded on an offensive touchdown this season, according to NFL Next Gen Stats.
That naturally caught the Patriots’ attention this week, especially as they’ll be without starting safety Jaylinn Hawkins (hamstring).
“Their strength is the ability to run away and take the top off the defense,” cornerbacks coach Justin Hamilton said. “It’s not going to be every play, but the ones that are we have to be on it. We always have to limit explosives, but in the case of these guys if you let them get going in the dome, you’re in for a long day.”
Hamilton said another point of emphasis is better communication among defensive backs in the low red zone, as that was an area that faltered at times last week as the Bills had passing touchdowns from the 2- and 6-yard lines.
“We have to tighten that up,” Hamilton said, making a comparison to basketball and fighting through screens in coverage. “We say in the red zone, we don’t want to let teams run it in [so] then we have to execute 1-on-1, 2-on-2, 3-on-3 cover situations. We have to own that and get that fixed.”
The Patriots rank 30th in the NFL in red zone defense (based on TD percentage allowed, 75%), and opponents are 6-of-6 in goal-to-go situations.
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6. Campbell/Boutte homecomings: Returning to play at the Caesars Superdome brings rookie left tackle Will Campbell full circle.
His first college game at LSU was played there — a 24-23 loss to Florida State to open the 2022 season — and he would attend Louisiana state championship high school games there.
Campbell, who was born in Monroe, Louisiana, said he attended some games as a kid with his father, Brian. He’s expecting a “packed house” of family and friends at Sunday’s game.
Campbell’s return to Louisiana resulted in a large media crowd around his locker on Thursday, while receiver Kayshon Boutte — who grew up closer to New Orleans in New Iberia — somehow flew under the radar all week.
7. Gonzo’s status: The hamstring injury that sidelined cornerback Christian Gonzalez for most of training camp and through the first three weeks of the season is not fully in the rearview mirror.
Vrabel, director of sports performance Frank Piraino and head athletic trainer Jim Whalen put together a plan Thursday that had Gonzalez loosening up away from the team during the earlier/slower parts of practice so he could be at peak levels for the full-speed parts of practice, according to Justin Hamilton, the team’s cornerbacks coach.
“We’re going to monitor and see how he feels, and if he’s feels good to go and confident — which I hope that he is — then he’s going to play in the game,” Vrabel said after the team’s final practice of the week.
8. Curtis and Parcells: One poignant leftover from the Patriots Hall of Fame inductions of Julian Edelman and Bill Parcells last month came from Parcells during an appearance on the “Pats from the Past” podcast.
Parcells’ eyes began to well as he shared that running back Curtis Martin calls him every Father’s Day. Parcells said gestures like that are one of the most gratifying parts of the coaching profession.
“A special kid in my life,” the 84-year-old Parcells said. “Where he came from, and what he became, that will make me cry.”
9. Gibbens fifth: Linebacker Jack Gibbens ranks fifth in the NFL with nine special teams tackles (a career high), as he’s picked up three apiece in each of the past two games. The Giants’ Dane Belton leads the league with 11.
The Patriots’ record for most special teams tackles through the first six games of a season is 11, set by safety Corwin Brown (1994) and linebacker Larry Izzo (2002, 2005).
Patriots special teams coordinator Jeremy Springer said Gibbens’ intelligence stands out, which makes sense since he previously earned the nickname “Dr. Gibby” from Vrabel for how quickly he picked up the defense as a rookie in Tennessee in 2022.
10. Did you know? Since Week 2, Maye leads all NFL quarterbacks in completion percentage (77.6%) and is second in yards per attempt (9.1) behind the Seahawks’ Sam Darnold (9.9).
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