The Facts: Edelman's return from a torn right ACL that sidelined him last season remains a work in progress. Edelman, who will serve a four-game suspension to open the season for violating the NFL's performance-enhancing drug policy, has been a full participant throughout training camp. But to this point in training camp, Edelman described his return as a "grind."

Diehards Line: "You get tired, you create bad habits, you don't run your routes right and you get yelled at in meetings for it. I'm expecting to do that because I got to pick it up," he said. "I wasn't as good as I want to be today and feeling that's because I'm not in the best shape right now." Edelman, who enters his 10th NFL season (all with the Patriots), believes he can get where he wants to be in time. Meanwhile, how the Patriots' receiving corps comes together without Edelman for the first four games of the season is one of the evolving top storylines for the team in training camp, as veteran Eric Decker is expected to join the mix, possibly as early as Saturday's practice. So far, it's been Edelman and Chris Hogan as the top two receivers in practice, with Phillip Dorsett and Cordarrelle Patterson also seeing significant repetitions. First-year player Riley McCarron (Iowa) is also getting a long look, followed by 2018 sixth-round pick Braxton Berrios (Miami) and long shots Devin Lucien and Paul Turner.