FOXBOROUGH – Jabrill Peppers was one of a handful of Patriots who attempted to reel Jack Jones back to the field when the second-year corner abruptly walked out of Thursday’s practice midway through the session.
Speaking with the media on Sunday following the team’s non-padded workout, Peppers was asked what he said to Jones to try and get him to stay.
“I was just giving him some wisdom,” Peppers said. “He’s an ultra-competitive kid.”
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So was it a case of Jones’ competitiveness getting the best of him, Peppers was asked?
“I don’t really want to get too much into it, because it really wasn’t anything,” said Peppers. “It was training camp. I just wanted to give my guy some wisdom, and it all worked out. It is what it is.”
Jones did eventually return to the field, but didn’t participate for the remainder of Thursday’s practice.
On Friday, Jones spoke to the media for the first time since his arrest on gun charges in June.
To no surprise, the Patriots defender deferred all questions about that arrest to his attorney.
As for his odd departure from Thursday’s practice, when he left the field following a rep against Kendrick Bourne that didn’t go his way, Jones downplayed the incident, saying it wasn’t anything that should be construed as bad.
“Yesterday at practice? Just football,” said Jones, who addressed the media on the field following the in-stadium practice for season ticket-holders. “Today is today. It’s in the past. It’s nothing bad. We good today though.”
Jones repped with the second team for the most part on Sunday, although he also repped with the ones. He had one pass breakup on a pass from Bailey Zappe.
It seemed like business as usual.
Said Peppers: “It’s football, it’s training camp, you know what I mean? Things come up. Things happen. But that’s all part of football.”
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