4 early standouts at New England Patriots training camp

The 2023 New England Patriots aren't garnering much attention in terms of potentially holding the AFC East crown at season's end.

But, training camp has proven to give us a lot of positives, including quarterback Mac Jones firmly grasping the starting quarterback spot and commanding the offense like a true veteran.

Aside from Jones, though, the Patriots have seen a lot of positives coming out of camp. Here are four early standouts and how each player has impacted practices.

1. Christian Gonzalez is looking every bit of the first-round pick the Patriots knew they selected

Although first-round pick Christian Gonzalez has had a couple of notable times where he's been beaten in training camp so far, for the most part, he has been excellent.

Evan Lazar of the Patriots' official team site had this to say about Gonzalez so far:

"Look, it's early, and I try not to overreact to practice or put unfair expectations on guys. But Gonzalez looks like a stud. He lives in the receivers' hip pockets in man coverage and is making more plays on the ball from off-coverage and zone as he learns how to convert his tight coverage into pass breakups."

If you have seen the videos floating around where Gonzalez gets beat by a fellow rookie, those videos are also evidence of two other players on this list that are worthy of some props. The Patriots' rookie class has looked strong, starting with Gonzalez, but let's move on to another one that's surprised us a little bit.