What Patriots Coaches Have Seen From Ezekiel Elliott Since Signing

The Patriots' joint practices against the Packers gave New England's coaches a valuable opportunity to evaluate how their players performed against a different team.

The two days in Green Bay also gave them their first look at New England's newest offensive weapon.

Running back Ezekiel Elliott participated in both practices after signing with the Patriots earlier this week. The former Dallas Cowboys star repped in unopposed positional drills and walkthroughs Wednesday before seeing his first competitive reps on Thursday.

Elliott wasn't a full participant in either session, and he still has work to do as he learns the Patriots' playbook and gets his body back into game shape after seven months away from the field. But early reviews from his teammates and coaches were universally positive.

"I'm familiar with Zeke," offensive coordinator Bill O'Brien said Friday in a video conference. "When he was at Ohio State, I coached against him. I was familiar with him in the draft when he came out. So I've known Zeke for a while. Zeke just got here, (but) one thing you see right away is he's smart. He's been in different systems. He understands football.

"Maybe they called it apples and we call it oranges -- it's still football, and he gets it. He picks up on it really quick. We've seen him out on the field a little bit -- not enough to really give you a breakdown of his skill set and all that. I do think he's a three-down back, and he's been a really good addition the last two days to our football team. We're really happy to have him."

Elliott is coming off the least productive season of his NFL career, but he still finished with nearly 1,000 yards from scrimmage and scored 12 touchdowns. The 28-year-old's skill set as an effective short-yardage rusher who also can play in the passing game should mesh well with Rhamondre Stevenson's, giving the Patriots a formidable backfield tandem if both can stay healthy.

"He's been a really good addition the last two days to our football team."

Bill O'Brien on Ezekiel Elliott

Asked Wednesday how much Elliott will help New England's offense, Stevenson replied: "Tremendously."

Running backs coach Vinnie Sunseri said the Patriots hadn't yet discussed how they'll split snaps and touches between their two veteran backs this season.

"I'm excited to have him here, excited to work with him," Sunseri said. "He's excited, and everybody in the room's excited, so it's been good to work with him. He's a smart guy, and he came in and is working hard. That's what we want here."

Head coach Bill Belichick said Elliott has "spent a lot of time" with O'Brien and Sunseri since he joined the team on Tuesday, "

"Kust getting caught up on terminology and things on the offense and all that," Belichick said. "He took a few snaps (Thursday). So we'll work him into it here and see how it goes."

As for where Elliott is at physically, Belichick added:

"He's only been here two days. We haven't really been able to practice with him because we've had so much team work. But he worked out with the strength staff on Wednesday, so it's coming along. It's definitely not there yet, but we're getting there."

It's unclear whether the Patriots plan to give Elliott any playing time in Saturday night's preseason matchup against the Packers at Lambeau Field. New England will travel to Nashville after that game for a round of joint practices with the Tennessee Titans.