Taylor Swift is gone and football practice has commenced at Gillette Stadium.

The New England Patriots opened up organized team activities this week, and the first open practice of the spring is Thursday. That means reporters will be able to pass along their notes of what they saw at open OTAs, and some questions about the team will have a clearer focus.

Here are some positional battles we’ll be watching Thursday at the first open OTAs session.

QUARTERBACK

We know that Mac Jones will be taking the first snaps at quarterback in team drills during organized team activities Thursday. We don’t necessarily know if that will last into the season.

We also don’t know if the Patriots’ quarterback situation will look like a competition or if Jones will take all of the first-team reps and Bailey Zappe would only ascend into a battle if there are struggles from the 2021 first-round pick.

So, we’ll see. Everything is earned in New England, but it’s also pretty obvious even during spring practices who is being viewed as a starter based on when they’re getting reps and who they’re getting them with.

WIDE RECEIVER

We can pretty safely assume that JuJu Smith-Schuster and DeVante Parker will be two of the top three wide receivers during Patriots OTAs. What we don’t know is who will be the third player in that group. Based on snaps last season, it would be Tyquan Thornton over Kendrick Bourne. But Bourne is probably the better player than Thornton, at least based on how he played within the Patriots’ offense in 2021. Last season was odd. Bourne wound up in the dog house with Matt Patricia and Joe Judge and rarely emerged. We’ll see who new offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien prefers.

Thornton is the higher-upside player based on his speed and second-round pedigree. It’s also possible that the Patriots view tight end Mike Gesicki as a starter and that New England will roll with two wide receivers and two tight ends as their top offensive personnel package.

OFFENSIVE TACKLE

The biggest question is what side of the line Trent Brown and Riley Reiff will be playing on. We assume Trent Brown will stay at left tackle with Riley Reiff on the right side. But both players have played on both sides. The Patriots also have Calvin Anderson, Conor McDermott, Andrew Stueber and Sidy Sow as candidates or either position.

Complicating matters, right guard Michael Onwenu reportedly will not be practicing. So, we’ll if that also shakes up the line and puts someone in a position that they might not actually play at the start of the season.

For example, if the Patriots think their best starting five offensive linemen with Onwenu out are Brown, Reiff, Anderson, center David Andrews and left guard Cole Strange, then would Reiff kick inside for OTAs and then move back to right tackle when Onwenu is healthy?

CORNERBACK

The Patriots have five or six starting candidates at cornerback. Among them are 2023 first-round pick Christian Gonzalez, Jonathan Jones, Jack Jones and Marcus Jones, Myles Bryant and even potentially Jalen Mills, though it was reported that he’ll be moving from cornerback to safety.

The group with the highest upside would be Gonzalez, Jonathan Jones and one of Jack or Marcus Jones. But it wouldn’t be shocking to see the Patriots roll with Bryant as their starting slot cornerback at least early in spring camp before Jack Jones and Marcus Jones are further evaluated.

SAFETY

Longtime starting free safety Devin McCourty is retired, leaving a hole at an important position. The Patriots have a number of solid starting safety candidates in Mills, Kyle Dugger, Jabrill Peppers and Adrian Phillips. Bryant and Jonathan Jones have even played safety in New England before.

None of those players have the experience, leadership or range of McCourty. And none seem on the surface like ideal candidates to play as a single-high safety. We could see more split-safety looks in New England this season after McCourty’s departure.