For the second straight day, New England Patriots veteran quarterback Tom Brady had a strong showing despite the tight defense led by cornerback Stephon Gilmore in Day 2 of their minicamp. According to Doug Kyed of NESN, Brady went 10-of-16 in 11-on-11s and 13-of-19 overall in team drills. On the first day of minicamp, Kyed reported that Brady was 12-of-15 in 11-on-11s and 21-of-27 overall.

Brady played with the top-team offense during a two-minute drill, including running back James White, wide receivers Julian Edelman, Phillip Dorsett, and Maurice Harris and tight end Matt LaCosse. Brady’s offensive line includes left tackle Joe Thuney, left guard Brian Schwenke, center David Andrews, right guard Shaq Mason and tight tackle Marcus Cannon.

Brady completed two passes to Harris and one each to Ben Watson and Dorsett while dealing with the simulated crowd noise from the public address system. Despite Brady’s solid performance on Day 1, head coach Bill Belichick had an interesting assessment on his veteran quarterback, saying “There’s 90 guys out there so I can’t watch them all.” On the first day of minicamp, Brady made up for lost time connecting with rookie N’Keal Harry while working in a small group, together with Watson and White.

Gilmore continues impressive minicamp

Gilmore almost intercepted Brady’s pass during 11-on-11 drill and had two pass breakups for the day. The other Patriots’ cornerbacks -- Jonathan Jones and safeties Duron Harmon, Terrence Brooks and Malik Gant -- had one pass breakup apiece. Harry played with the second team, led by backup quarterback Brian Hoyer. Harry was primarily guarded by Gilmore, who effectively handled the rookie. For the rookie, being guarded by an All-Pro cornerback like Gilmore will make him a better player. “Getting to compete against somebody like (Gilmore) is just going to make me better,” said Harry, the first wide receiver taken by Belichick in the first round during his tenure.

As for the other quarterbacks, Hoyer went 9-of-14 in 11s and 15-of-20 overall while rookie quarterback Jarrett Stidham completed four of five passes in 11s and went 7-of-9 overall. Fourth-string signal caller Danny Etling was 1-of-3 in 4-on-4 drills. From the looks of it, Etling will be the odd man out for the Patriots after the team took Stidham in the fourth round of the 2019 NFL Draft.

Gronkowski to return?

Several days ago, tight end Rob Gronkowski has put all comeback rumors to rest, saying he’s happily retired. However, Mike Freeman of Bleacher Report is not buying Gronkowski’s declaration, saying he expects the tight end to return to the Patriots at some point next season. Freeman said only a few people, including his sources on the Patriots, believe Gronkowski’s statement.

“The belief is that once the season gets going, and Gronkowski starts missing football, he will rejoin the team,” said Freeman, adding that his sources told him to count the right end returning to the team. The Patriots have yet to fill the void left by Gronkowski. As of now, LaCosse is the top tight end for the Patriots after they released Austin Seferian-Jenkins while veteran Watson is suspended for the first four games.