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.
2. Kayshon Boutte is rewriting his story with the Patriots
When the Patriots drafted Kayshon Boutte in the sixth round, they were taking a risk. Boutte had shown every bit of being at least a Day 2 pick early on in his LSU career, but inconsistencies overshadowed his talent for the majority of his time following that freshman year.
During training camp, though, Boutte has seemed to stay focused and is proving to be worthy of a roster spot. Who knows, maybe he'll become more than "just a roster spot" down the line.
John Tlumack of boston.com had this to say about Boutte's recent practices:
"Over the last week, Boutte has seemingly made the most of his reps, especially in wake of Tyquan Thornton getting relegated to more second-team work with Zappe.
"The 21-year-old receiver has continued to stack good days in camp with a few standout segments, including a nifty one-handed snag off a high throw from Malik Cunningham on Monday," Tlumacki wrote.
This is, so far, a best-case scenario for the rookie. Playing for a coach like Belichick, knowing he took a risk on you, isn't always easy. But, Boutte has worked hard and was even one who left Christian Gonzalez in the dust on a route in camp, with that video surfacing around social media and catching people's attention.
If the Patriots end up hitting a home run with this late-round pick, along with this next guy, fans are going to be thrilled to finally have some legitimate playmakers at the position.
3. Demario Douglas is making the Patriots wide receiver room tough to sort through
The starting wide receivers, right now, are pretty much set in stone. You have DeVante Parker and JuJu Smith-Schuster leading the way, with Tyquan Thornton also in there as the third starter. But, behind those three, Kendrick Bourne is truly the only one you could say has a spot locked down, and even he's seeing a lot of guys come up from behind him and compete.
Two of them happen to be sixth-round picks, in both Boutte and Demario Douglas. We highlighted Boutte, but Douglas is also having himself a fantastic camp. It's pretty rare that a team finds a future starting wideout in the sixth round, but the Patriots may have found themselves a pair of real good players here.
Douglas has been one of the talks of camp, thus far. Fans want to see more and more of him each day and are clamoring to get him on the field more often with the ones.
If you read any current "stock up, stock down" type of pieces coming out of Patriots sources, Douglas is usually first in line for those stock up sections. It sure looks like the Patriots found a steal with this sixth rounder.
4. Malik Cunningham wants a spot on this Patriots roster
One of the more intriguing undrafted free agents, this year, was Louisville quarterback Malik Cunningham. The Patriots probably didn't expect him to make such an impact, but he has been doing just that.
So far in camp, Cunningham has been playing all over the place. At one point, the former college quarterback was out there doing receiver drills. The next thing you know, he's operating as a gunner on special teams.
Then, he finally took some snaps under center. The kid is not only an undrafted rookie trying to make Bill Belichick's team, but he's also making an effort at multiple positions.
We are talking about a college quarterback ... playing multiple positions in his first NFL training camp.
"This ultra-athletic playmaker has quickly become the most intriguing prospect in a Patriots training camp in recent memory," Mass Live's Mark Daniels wrote recently.
Daniels also pulled this quote from Cunningham, himself:
“I’m just an athletic guy. Whatever the team needs me to do, I’m going to do it and try to do it to the best of my ability.”
It looks like New England has to either find a way to sneak him onto the practice squad, or keep him as their third quarterback over Trace McSorley.