FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — Gabe Jacas wants to get to work and put everything else about his delayed journey to Patriots training camp in the past.
The New England rookie edge rusher was on the field for his third straight practice on Tuesday after being activated from the non-football injury list on Saturday.
“It was a long journey, but I’m just happy to be here,” Jacas said. “All that stuff is behind me. I’m 100% and whenever they tell me I’m good to go, I’ll just roll.”
The Patriots identified Jacas as someone who could improve their pass rush when they selected the former Illinois edge rusher in the second round, No. 55 overall in April’s NFL draft.
He was dealing with a hamstring issue during the draft process but then had what was described as a cleanup procedure on his left knee at some point. He attended rookie minicamp following the draft in May, but didn’t participate. He also sat out the team’s mandatory minicamp later that month.
As negotiations persisted, it opened up a wealth of questions regarding his health status.
Jacas missed the first six training camp workouts before officially signing his initial four-year rookie contract on July 26, the final second-round pick of this year’s class to do so.
But the $8.6 million pact included an injury waiver for the left knee which voids after the third year in 2028.
Jacas declined to elaborate on the timing or extent of the knee injury.
“The knee’s good and I’m out here now. That’s all I can say,” he said.
Any concerns about any long-term carryover?
“Not at all,” Jacas said.
The team has been intentional thus far with finding ways to help him make up for the time he’s missed. Along with going through normal drills alongside his teammates, Jacas has also gotten some 1-on-1 time with coach Mike Vrabel and outside linebackers coach Mike Smith.
"We’ve got some time to make up. We’ve got to make up for lost time, I think, a little bit with Gabe,” Vrabel said. “I’d say he’s working hard. I think he’s into it. He’s trying to learn, he’s focused. A lot of these things are new for him, and I think he has done a good job of controlling what he can control.”
Vrabel also noted that Jacas has been just as busy off the field, meeting with Smith frequently.
“Hopefully he can continue to keep adding things and figure out where he can help us defensively and really, special teams,” Vrabel said.
However long that takes, Jacas said he’s excited to eventually show what he can bring to the team.
“First and foremost I’m very physical, I’m very violent, explosive,” Jacas said.
That was on display on Saturday when Jacas planted Smith, who was holding a tackling pad, on his back during a pass rush drill.
“That wasn’t my intention,” Jacas said. “But when you’re just getting off the ball violently, stuff like that happens. That’s what happens when you’re an old coach like Mike Smith — who is a very good coach.”
Receiver A.J. Brown was recovering from an injury on Tuesday, but not one that Vrabel is going to lose any sleep over.
Brown dislocated his left thumb in Monday’s practice while hand fighting with cornerback Christian Gonzalez. The Patriots’ top offseason offensive acquisition popped the thumb back in and sat out a handful of plays while the training staff taped it. He then rejoined the team and finished the workout.
“Oh my God, I think this going to be OK,” Vrabel said with a smirk before practice Tuesday. “I told him the linemen, do that every other snap. And it’s not a national story when a linemen pops his finger back in place. But we had a little bit of fun with that.”
Brown was back on the field Tuesday, with the thumb wrapped in athletic tape.
“The game is what it is, you’re going to get bumps and bruises, and you have to keep going,” Brown said in an interview with NFL Network on Monday. “I know it’s practice, but I’m not coming out of practice. Thumb out of place? You keep going.”
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New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel, center, watches players during the team's NFL football training camp, Tuesday, July 28, 2026, in Foxborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche cleared a critical hurdle Tuesday in his bid to be confirmed to the post after swaying Republican holdouts on a Senate committee to advance his nomination for a floor vote.
The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 12-10 along party lines in support of the nomination of President Donald Trump’s former personal attorney, who has aggressively pushed the Republican administration’s priorities since taking over from Pam Bondi in April.
The vote followed a deal struck late Sunday between Blanche and two Republican senators — John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina — who had been threatening to block his confirmation over the settlement of Trump’s lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service regarding the president’s leaked tax returns.
The full Senate could vote later this week on Blanche’s nomination. If all Democrats oppose him, Blanche can only afford to lose two Republican votes if Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who was hospitalized after a fall, does not return before then.
Cornyn and Tillis backed Blanche's nomination after the Justice Department confirmed in writing that it wasn't moving forward with a $1.8 billion fund to compensate Trump allies who believe they were prosecuted for political purposes, which the administration announced as part of the settlement.
After days of negotiations, Blanche issued an order Sunday evening confirming “beyond any doubt, that there is no Fund.”
Democrats say Blanche’s order doesn’t go far enough to prevent the Trump administration from reviving the fund after the acting attorney general’s confirmation and have called for legislation to permanently bar it.
The order also doesn’t stop the administration from compensating Trump allies — including people who attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 — through a previously established process that allows people to file claims for damages if they believed they were wronged by the government.
The fund “can easily be revived with a new order from the Department of Justice 15 minutes after Mr. Blanche is confirmed as attorney general,” said Dick Durbin of Illinois, the top Democrat on the committee.
Cornyn and Tillis had also pressed for clarification on a separate part of the settlement that would grant Trump and members of his family immunity from tax audits.
Under the deal, the Justice Department clarified in writing that the tax audit immunity agreement applies only to claims open at the time of the settlement and does not protect Trump from examination of future tax filings. It also makes clear that only the parties that brought the lawsuit — Trump, two of his sons, and the Trump Organization — are covered by the tax agreement.
Cornyn said his reasons for backing Blanche go beyond the deal struck Sunday, adding that he believes the Justice Department needs a “stabilizing force" at the helm.
“The Department of Justice does not need a temporary, unconfirmed nominee as our nation’s top law enforcement official. Trump needs someone in this role, as well, with a strong legal mind," Cornyn said.
Blanche has faced intense scrutiny regarding his ability to maintain independence from the White House, the Justice Department’s pursuit of the president’s political foes and the agency’s handling of files related to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking investigation.
But it was the settlement of Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS that threatened to derail Blanche's nomination, forcing a delay in the committee vote last week amid pressure from the two Republican senators, who are not returning to Capitol Hill after their terms end in January.
Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley, who chairs the committee, said Tillis and Cornyn’s demands were “common sense.” Grassley said the senators’ concerns about the “Anti-Weaponization Fund” and the IRS settlement were shared by many other lawmakers, including himself.
“I’m grateful that they as well as Mr. Blanche and the White House worked in good faith to solve them, formally rescinding the fund, clarifying the scope of the release of claims has put this issue to bed once and for all," Grassley said.
Trump’s lawsuit has been sharply criticized because of the highly unusual way it was handled, with the president challenging an agency overseen by the executive branch he leads. A judge last month slammed the case as an improper exercise in self-dealing and referred one of Trump’s attorneys who filed it for potential disciplinary action.
Blanche, a former federal prosecutor and key member of Trump’s defense team as the Republican battled four indictments, arrived at the Justice Department last year as deputy attorney general. He was elevated to acting attorney general following Bondi’s failure to meet Trump’s demands to successfully prosecute his perceived political opponents.
While Blanche insisted he wasn’t auditioning for the permanent post, he moved swiftly to accelerate investigations into Trump foes and advance other White House priorities, drawing condemnation from critics who say he has not shed his title as Trump’s personal lawyer.
Shortly after Blanche took the top post, the Justice Department moved to indict longtime Trump adversary James Comey, the former FBI director, on charges of threatening the 47th president by posting a social media photograph of seashells in the numerical arrangement of “86 47.”
Comey’s lawyers have accused the Justice Department of misleading judges, submitting documents containing false statements and withholding key facts to bring what the defense described as a politically motivated prosecution.
Blanche separately appointed Joseph diGenova, a former Justice Department prosecutor from the Reagan administration, to oversee a Florida-based investigation into whether former law enforcement and intelligence officials conspired over the last decade to undermine Trump.
FILE - President Donald Trump speaks in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House after a shooting incident outside the ballroom at at the annual White House Correspondents' Association dinner in Washington, April 25, 2026, as acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, left, and FBI director Kash Patel listen. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., arrives for a hearing of the Senate Finance Committee on Capitol Hill, Thursday, July 30, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, arrives for a hearing of the Senate Finance Committee on Capitol Hill, Thursday, July 30, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
FILE - Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche speaks during a news conference on unaccompanied children at the Justice Department, June 11, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)
FILE - Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche is sworn in as he appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, July 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)
