In his first hours as a Patriot, running back Ezekiel Elliott met with Bill Belichick to cover the ins and outs of his new offense.

Days later, Belichick offered an update on Elliott’s progress as he acclimates to a new system and his new teammates.

“It’s been fine,” Belichick said Friday. “A couple days spending a lot of time with (running backs coach) Vinnie (Sunseri) and the ability in terms of just getting caught up on the terminology, things on the offense and all that. He took a few snaps yesterday. So, you know, we’ll work him into it here and see how it goes.”

The Patriots rotated Elliott into team periods during Thursday’s padded joint practice with the Packers. His increased participation was a notable difference from Wednesday, when he was limited to non-contact positional drills. Elliott took six hand-offs and caught one pass from Mac Jones.

“He’s done things,” Belichick added. “He worked out with the strength staff on Wednesday. So, it’s coming along. He’s definitely not there yet, but we’re getting there.”

Running backs coach Vinnie Sunseri dove a little deeper into Elliott’s time with the team. The 28-year-old former Cowboy projects to be the Patriots’ new No. 2 running back, a position that suddenly became a dire need after 2022 draft picks Pierre Strong and Kevin Harris failed to demonstrate they deserved to back up Rhamondre Stevenson. As for Stevenson, he expressed excitement Wednesday about working with Elliott, whom he met a few years ago upon entering the NFL.

According to Sunseri, Stevenson isn’t the only player happy to see Elliott in red, white and blue.

“As training camp continues to progress, as we get closer to the season, we’ll see how all this stuff unfolds,” Sunseri said Friday. “But I think everybody’s been pretty excited for Zeke to come in. Between the receivers, quarterbacks, and the defense, he’s brought a little bit of excitement. He’s brought a little bit of juice. He’s exciting on the football field.”