Welcome back!

Football will finally return to Foxboro this week, when the Patriots are scheduled to hold their first training camp practice Wednesday at 11 a.m.

Rookies have already reported to team headquarters, and veterans are required to report Tuesday morning. Expectations are low for the Pats, who remain widely expected to rank among the NFL’s worst teams thanks to a new head coach, quarterback, offensive coordinator and unthreatening skill-position talent. But why rush into the future?

Here are 14 Patriots thoughts at the dawn of training camp:

During spring practices, Drake Maye received a promotion. He went from the third quarterback in team drills to the No. 2 job. For the next couple weeks, Maye should stay put.

Until the preseason opener on Aug. 8, Jacoby Brissett ought to see all first-team reps during team periods, followed by Maye and the winner of a Bailey Zappe-Joe Milton III rock-paper-scissors marathon (kidding. Mostly.). It’s imperative Maye does not rush, and is not rushed in his development, even if the door remains open to a quarterback competition.

Offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt announced Brissett as the team’s starter in June, when he also said this about Maye’s development: “It’s a marathon over a sprint. You don’t just go out and run a marathon, you have to train properly for a marathon, and it’s the same with a quarterback. There’s a process, and we follow that process, trust that process.”

Now, if Maye proves to be Brissett’s equal early in camp, it will be time to divide those starting reps. But in the event Maye and Brissett finish in a dead heat to close camp, that tie should not go to the rookie, as will be the case at every other position.

The job should still belong to Brissett because he is here for three reasons: to play quarterback, help restore locker-room leadership and take the hits that might ruin Maye’s development behind one of the NFL’s leakiest offensive lines. For Maye to start Week 1, he should need to force Jerod Mayo’s hand by blowing Brissett away with a summer that makes clear to everyone watching he’s the best quarterback available.

Anything short of that, let Brissett take the snaps and punishment he’s being paid to take.

I’ll admit it: I watched the highlight a good dozen times. Maybe 20.

Two months ago, Maye whipped a no-look, sideline pass during an OTA practice the Patriots later splashed over all their social media feeds and web site. Good job by the social team.

But it will a bad job by us, media and fans, if we treat those plays as meaningful signals Maye is ready to start in the NFL. His progress will be measured by how consistently he nails the boring parts of the position: footwork, making proper reads and protecting the football. We know Maye can launch the football all over the field and create off-platform.

But no one knows, not even the Patriots, how close he is to mastering the finer, fundamental points of playing quarterback at the NFL level. The idea is Maye’s raw talent and playmaking will ultimately unlock new possibilities for this offense in the years to come; specifically throws and touchdowns that Mac Jones, a pocket-bound point guard without a 3-point shot, could never make.

But until then, let’s see Maye make the simple pass and the simple play over and over again.

For most of his career, Brissett has lived between the 25th and 35th-best quarterbacks in the league. He is not about to rocket through that ceiling and take the team with him to the playoffs.

But what Brissett will do, by simply protecting the ball, is allow this offense to further drives that imploded a year ago. In his worst starts, Jones looked like a mole for opposing defenses, tossing an interception every 28th pass attempt on average and losing killer fumbles. Zappe was hardly much better.

Brissett offers an upgrade over both, and you won’t have to expound on his intangibles to explain why. The improvement will be in plain sight, when the Patriots are still competitive in the fourth quarter against superior teams because Brissett hasn’t given the game away.

Matt Judon and Davon Godchaux are both multi-year defensive starters entering contract years.

Neither seems happy about it.

Judon has a strong case for a new deal, with a non-guaranteed, $6.5 million base salary, clean bill of health and the simple fact he is still the Patriots’ best player. Even if Judon doesn’t fit the front office’s rebuild timeline, it’s in the Patriots’ interest to retain him, as keep a locker room leader and blue-chip talent. The four-time Pro Bowler is indisputably underpaid.

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Meanwhile, Godchaux has a $7.15 million base salary, second-highest on the team, though none of it is guaranteed. The Pats don't have a backup nose tackle capable of replacing him, but should feel comfortable holding their ground in negotiations. Godchaux received a healthy raise two years ago that made him one of the highest-paid defensive tackles in the league, and it's hard to argue he deserves another such raise, after registering just four QB hits and a league-average 6.7% stop percentage when defending run plays in his 34 games played since, per Pro Football Focus.

In the end, whether Judon, Godchaux or both of them receive an extension, these disputes will resolve themselves. Contract issues arise every year, on some level, for every team. The bet here is Judon gets his raise, especially after suggesting in a recent radio interview he doesn't have the appetite to hold in like he did last summer.

Takitaki is a longtime favorite of Patriots vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf, as a tenacious, rangy linebacker of the good-not-great variety. He missed minicamp and most of OTAs due to injury. No worries.

Takitaki is expected to take at least some of the reins on third downs, after posting a 72% success rate in coverage last year with the Browns, per Next Gen Stats. He is not a pass defense unicorn, but he does represent a meaningful upgrade over Ja'Whaun Bentley in coverage, and will play in high-leverage moments, including third downs and, likely, two-minute drills.

Patriots 53-man roster projection: Where positional battles stand after minicamp

The Texas A&M product inspires a soft comparison to rookie Shaq Mason, as a fellow fourth-round pick and vicious run-blocking prospect who comes with obvious warts (pass protection and penalties). Both warts, with time and good coaching, can be removed. But will this summer be enough time for Robinson to start Week 1?

Maybe. If so, the Patriots may have their new right guard of the future, with 2023 starter Sidy Sow moving to the left side.

In 2022, Wilson enjoyed a Year 2 breakout with the Cardinals, posting 58 tackles, three interceptions, 10 pass deflections and a forced fumble over 14 games.

Late last season, he got waived, and landed in New England. His talent, as a six-foot, 191-pound former fourth-round pick out of Florida, is still plenty evident. Look for the unknown Wilson to emerge as the Patriots' No. 4 corner, behind Christian Gonzalez, Jonathan Jones and Marcus Jones.

If the Patriots cut Smith-Schuster, they will instantly absorb a dead cap hit of $9.6 million, per Over the Cap. I think they'd bite that bullet

Smith-Schuster lost all of his explosion to a nagging knee injury last year and did not look much improved this spring. Meanwhile, DeMario Douglas, Ja'Lynn Polk and Kendrick Bourne are roster locks. Newly-signed KJ Osborn isn't far behind, and then there's fourth-round rookie Javon Baker, and recent draft picks Kayshon Boutte and Tyquan Thornton.

For a team intent on playing youngsters, it's hard to imagine the Patriots force-feeding a diminished veteran entering Year 8 as they embrace Year 1 of a rebuild. Ideally, Smith-Schuster rehabs some of his trade value by playing well in the preseason and the front office offloads him in a pick-swap trade. If not, I'd expect a one-way ticket to the chopping block.

Thanks to all of the other turmoil and dysfunction last season, it's easy to forget the Patriots dealt with one of the worst kicking situations in the entire NFL.

Then rookie Chad Ryland hit 64% of his field goals, but never landed on the bench or the street. This summer, the former fourth-round pick is at risk of finding one or both, thanks to a position battle with veteran journeyman Joey Slye. However the competition unfolds, the Patriots are surely hoping for a quick resolution.

That is the combined distance all Browns pass attempts covered through the air last year at Van Pelt's direction, most in the NFL.

More than any other stat, that captures how Van Pelt's play-action pass offense operates. Whether it's Brissett or Maye at the controls, the Patriots are going deep this season, especially after drafting two receivers who thrive downfield. Bombs away.

The best time to visit training camp?

Not this Wednesday. Not this Thursday. Not even this week.

That will come next Tuesday, when the Patriots are allowed to their first padded practice, per the CBA.

Then, you'll hear the crunch of goal-line drills. Feel the heat of contentious 11-on-11 periods. Real, physical, punishing football.

Patriots officially announce front office hirings, promotions

So, swing by July 30, or Aug. 1-3 or for the Pats' joint practice with the Eagles on Aug. 13. There will be a few other padded practices in between, but those are your best bets as of today.

So, last year was rock bottom, right? Right?!

Well ...

The Patriots are facing the NFL's second-hardest schedule, according to opponents' projected win totals by Vegas oddsmakers. Last season, they finished 4-13 for a myriad of reasons, and fighting the NFL's hardest schedule was chief among them. Don't underestimate that slate this time around.

To be clear, this is not a prediction. It's a caution that because the franchise started over after a four-win season doesn't mean 3-14 is out of the question.

A final prediction: the Patriots pull off their biggest upset of the post-Brady era this year.

It's a shorter limb-walk than you think - the Pats will be underdogs in most, if not all, games this season; giving them perhaps a dozen bites at this upset apple. But, by virtue of having better quarterbacks, higher-end skill-position talent, these Patriots should have a higher ceiling than last year's team and most before them.

The big upset is coming.

It could be Week 1 at Cincinnati or when they take one of two shots at Buffalo in December. But one of these Sundays, the football world will turn to Foxboro and ask in united astonishment, "The Patriots did what?!"

Growing pains will be an inescapable part of being a Patriot this season.

That goes for Mayo, Maye, Polk and even Van Pelt, 54. Bad play-calls, challenges, drops, picks and losses all lie ahead. Practices, too.

That's OK.

Such is life in a rebuild, and Year 1 of any rebuild doubles as fact-finding mission for franchise leadership. Mayo and Wolf must determine which players are worthy building blocks for the team's future, which assistants can elevate this roster to the next level next year and how they can create an environment conducive to clear evaluation.

Not to mention, Mayo is far and away the least experienced coach in his position across the entire league. It's not even close. Maye is also 21. Polk just turned 22.

This isn't to excuse the expected losing or predict the Patriots' rebuild will even be successful. It's to remind, underscore and emphasize that re-establishing a winning program takes time.