Getting newcomers up to speed

ANALYSIS

The Patriots are in the midst of a partial-team passing camp this week, which includes a limited number of veterans and many of the team’s 2008 newcomers. In all, there are about 35 players participating.

Media members will have access to sessions today and tomorrow -- from 10:45 a.m.-12:30 p.m. What we are likely to see is an extended version of the rookie minicamp from earlier this month.

The focus on newcomers in this week's passing camp appears to be part of the progression of building toward the full-team minicamp June 6-8, and then the start of training camp in late July.

The idea is to try to get newcomers up to speed, so when they mix with veterans, there isn't a noticeable difference.

Veterans took significant repetitions in last week's passing camp. This week, those reps go to the newcomers.

EXTRA POINT: The plan will be to check back with some observations from the passing camp in the early afternoon.