A massive brawl broke out in the Patriots-Panthers joint practice. Here's what happened

FOXBORO – Tension was high almost immediately when the Carolina Panthers and Patriots players began to practice on Tuesday. Panthers defensive players practiced with a chip on their shoulder and didn’t shy away from contact with Patriots receivers.

Before you knew it, mayhem ensued.

The first day of Patriots-Panthers joint practices saw two fights, including one giant brawl. The end result was five players, including three Patriots, ejected from Tuesday’s practice.

Tensions high as Patriots-Panthers start joint practice

Problems started during full-team drills. In the second period, Kristian Wilkerson caught a pass from Mac Jones. When the whistle blew, however, multiple defensive backs refused to let go of Wilkerson’s jersey and the receiver could be seen talking to both Panthers.

Inside Patriots training camp: Nelson Agholor steals the show on Day 12

In the next period, that continued. Wilkerson caught a pass from Jones near the left sideline. As he went out of bounds, a defensive player held on to his jersey. Wilkerson was clearly talking to the player and that’s when he was shoved by an unidentified Panthers assistant coach. As the receiver turned, he was grabbed by multiple Panthers players and was on the receiving end of multiple punches.

As that happened, Patriots offensive player rushed into the pile. Before you knew it, Kendrick Bourne was squaring up and throwing punches with another Panthers defensive back. It appeared as if two different players were throwing punches at Bourne.

When the dust settled, Bourne and Wilkerson were kicked out of practice along with Panthers safety Kenny Robinson.

“It’s all competition, but you can’t fight in a game,” said Patriots running back Damien Harris. “You can’t do it in practice as competitive as it is. We’ve got to play within the rule, be disciplined and we’ve got to go out there and do our jobs. Fighting is not a part of our job. We can’t do it in a game. We can’t do it in a practice.”

“You’ve got to control your temper, but if one of our players are over there (fighting), we’re going to go over there,” added Patriots receiver DeVante Parker.

The action didn’t stop there.

After the next play, it appeared that Trent Brown and Panthers defensive end Brian Burns were exchanging words. Coaches on both sides were screaming, “Just play football.”

The fun didn’t stop there, either.

Soon enough, Patriot center James Ferentz and Panthers defensive tackle Phil Hoskins were fighting after the whistle – again near the Carolina sideline. It appeared as if Hoskins slammed Ferentz to the ground. Patriots guard Arlington Hambright was the first Patriot player to jump in.

Ferentz and Hoskins were ejected after that.

“We came here not to fight. We came here to practice,” said Panthers head coach Matt Rhule. “It shows maturity in a lot of other guys that it didn’t escalate into a big thing.”

“Can’t happen on game day. That’s all I can say,” added Patriots tackle Yodny Cajuste.

Making the call: Who will call New England's offensive plays? It's Bill Belichick's latest Patriots mystery

Physical practice ends with fights

It wasn’t a surprise to see the fights happen. As practice began, Panthers players were very physical. When Patriots receivers caught passes, Carolina defensive players threw haymakers to knock the ball out. Carolina defensive backs punched out three footballs in four pass plays. Panthers defensive players were very loud and clearly trash talking the Patriots offense.

Practice cooled off a bit after that, but Patriots defensive players seemed to get the better of the Panthers offense at the end of practice. Jalen Mills and several other Patriots defensive players had to be pulled away from Panthers offensive players. At that point, Patriots defensive players were trash talking the Panthers, but no more fights ensued.

Behind the playbook: Patriots have completely changed their offense. Here's a look at the new scheme

Patriots offense looks solid while defense dominates Panthers

The first day of Patriots-Panthers joint practice was an eventful one.

After sitting out the preseason opener, Patriots starters saw their first real test on Tuesday. Other than the fights that broke up (as mentioned above), it was interesting to see Mac Jones and his offense as well as the Patriots starting defense go up against another team.

Jones handled himself well in this practice. It wasn’t perfect for the offense, but the Patriots quarterback finished throwing 21-of-30 (70%) to go with a late-practice interception. In 7-on-7s, Jones completed 6-of-9 passes.

Jones’ top targets on the day were DeVante Parker (five catches), Jakobi Meyers (four), Rhamondre Stevenson (four) and Ty Montgomery (three). He also hit Nelson Agholor (two), Jonnu Smith (two), Kendrick Bourne (two), Kristian Wilkerson (two), Tyquan Thornton (one), Devin Asiasi (one) and Matt Sokol (one). Out of his nine incomplete passes, four were deflected, two overthrown, one throwaway, one drop and one interception.

Inside Patriots training camp: Patriots offense finally takes positive step forward

The interception happened during the Patriots 2-minute drill. Jones was 4-of-7 in this period. His final attempt was a ‘got-to-have-it’ situation where time was expiring and the offense needed a touchdown. It looked like he would’ve been sacked, but Jones tossed the ball up to the end zone – like a Hail Mary – and linebacker Frankie Luvu came down with the football.

Parker made the play of the day. The receiver jumped over Panthers cornerback Donte Jackson to haul in a 30-yard deep ball from Jones.

“If the ball is in the air, it’s mine,” said Parker, who noted his mindset with ‘50/50’ balls is that its “80/20” in his favor.

How did Baker Mayfield look against the Patriots defense?

The Patriots defense had their way with Baker Mayfield’s offense on Tuesday. It was clear the Pats defensive players were happy with their performance.

Mayfield completed 13-of-24 (54%) of his passes while backup Sam Darnold went 9-of-18 (50%) to go with an interception.

Jalen Mills was one of the stars of the show. The Patriots cornerback, who looks like their No. 1 corner, finished the day with three pass breakups and didn’t allow a catch during full-team drills. Mills’ top play came when he deflected a pass while covering Panthers No. 1 receiver D.J. Moore during the Panthers 2-minute drill.

Shaun Wade also had a nice practice. He finished with two pass breakups and intercepted Darnold in 11-on-11s. Marcus Jones and DeMarcus Mitchell also broke up passes.

The Patriots defensive line was also dominant. Matthew Judon and Deatrich Wise had two sacks in team drills. Christian Barmore, Daniel Ekuale, Justin Bethel and Kyle Dugger notched sacks as well.

"It’s a really good thing to see us come out here and do our thing," said Wise. "The most important thing for us is to keep building on what we did today. We did a great job, but the goal is tomorrow to come out and do it again."

The Patriots secondary is also taking shape. Jonathan Jones was at outside cornerback opposite of Mills, again. Myles Bryant is also playing ahead of rookie Marcus Jones as the Patriots top slot cornerback.

Malcolm Butler's season ends

Malcolm Butler won’t make his return to football after all.

The veteran cornerback was placed on the season-ending injured reserve on Tuesday. Butler was attempting to come back to football after sitting out last season.

Butler played in the Patriots preseason opener against the New York Giants last week, but hasn't been seen at training camp this week. Butler started the preseason opener at cornerback and played 23 defensive snaps and finished with a tackle and fumble recovery.

A feel-good story, Butler signed with the Patriots this offseason after briefly returning in 2021. The Super Bowl hero from the 2014 season returned to Foxboro after sitting out Super Bowl LII. Butler was hoping to make an impact on a Patriots defense that lost Pro Bowl cornerback J.C. Jackson.

It’s never easy for a player to return to football after sitting a year out. Butler struggled at times in camp this summer. It seemed like he was behind outside cornerbacks Jalen Mills, Jonathan Jones and Terrance Mitchell. There’s also rookie Jack Jones to make the depth chart deep and put Butler on the roster bubble. On top of that, cornerback Shaun Wade has had a strong summer and the Pats have young slot cornerbacks Myles Bryant and Marcus Jones.

The Patriots also placed cornerback Joejuan Williams on the injured reserve and released backup punter Jake Julian on Tuesday.

Panthers come to Foxboro for joint practices

For the Patriots, the real test starts when pads come on in training camp. This week, the competition gets pushed to greater heights with two days of joint practices against the Carolina Panthers.

Bill Belichick has become a big fan of these sessions. Last year, the Pats held joint practices against the Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants. It was those sessions against the Giants in which Mac Jones decisively beat out Cam Newton for the Patriots starting quarterback job. The Pats will hold two weeks of joint practices again this summer.

Tuesday, which is Day 13 of camp, marks the first practices against the Panthers. The team is expected to be in full pads, which should give us the best in-depth look at this Patriots roster. Belichick said that he’s started to get more out of these sessions than in the actual preseason games.

“Yeah, in some respects, you do,” Belichick said We had a couple of great situations come up in the (first preseason) game against the Giants: the Giants got the ball at the end of the half and they were backed up, and they drove the ball and got it around midfield and then they couldn’t quite get into field goal range and ultimately had a Hail Mary situation at the end of the half that they ended up scrambling on.

Patriots: 2022 success depends on the answers to these five training camp questions

“… The great thing about practice is our players get more opportunities in those situations, especially guys that probably have a higher chance of being in there during the regular season than were in there at those two points in the Giants game, as an example. So, a lot of reps out here for our players. Obviously more reps in practice – when you add all the practices up – than there are in the games. Just  more practice opportunities, more chances to get better, more ways to improve, and more things you can find that you need to work on.”

We’ll have you updated right here with everything that happens during today’s practice with the Panthers.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: New England Patriots brawl with Carolina Panthers in practice: Live