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'On the treadmill'

FOXBOROUGH –- The Patriots’ first practice of training camp has concluded, players have conducted interviews with the media, and coach Bill Belichick just wrapped up his press conference.

Here are Belichick’s opening remarks:

“It’s exciting to get back out on the field. It’s been quite a while since the last time we were out there. It’s good to see the players back out there with pads, going through plays the way we talk about them and work on them in the offseason to get to this point. It’s an exciting time of year. We obviously have a long way to go. From a coaching standpoint, it was good to see some heat out there, to see the players get pushed a little bit. I thought overall the team was in pretty good condition based on the tests we did earlier in the week. We’ll see how we hold up here as the practices and the days mount up.

“A couple of players aren’t here -- Brandon [Meriweather] and Asante [Samuel] -- [due to] contract situations. I don’t really have anything to say about that, but hopefully those will be resolved. We have some other players who are in various stages of rehab -- whether it be [wearing, non-contact] red jerseys, not practicing, practicing on a limited basis, what have you. We’ll work those players in when they’re ready. We have a lot of guys out there who are working hard and a lot of new faces -- both veteran players and rookies -- that we want to try to evaluate and of course integrate them with the guys who were here last year and guys we know a little more about. Certainly, there are things for all us to work on and improve on, and that’s the focus of this camp: individual improvement and bringing the team together and trying to get ready not only for the opener but the 16-game regular season schedule. We try to blend all that together. We’re on the treadmill.”

After practice, receivers Randy Moss and Wes Welker; cornerback Ellis Hobbs; running back Laurence Maroney; defensive linemen Ty Warren and Vince Wilfork; and safety Rodney Harrison were a few players drawing larger media crowds.

We’ll be back with some practice notes and observations in a bit.