The New England Patriots were without fullback James Develin on Sunday, thus forcing them to call up Jakob Johnson from the practice squad. After playing on Sunday, Bill Belichick is impressed with the ‘remarkable' progress that Johnson has made.

“What he’s done has been remarkable and in a relatively short period of time,” Belichick said, via WEEI.com. “But he works extremely hard. He’s one of the first players here every morning. He studies his notecards. You see him in the dining room just studying notecards, going over his plays. He puts literally every ounce of energy he has into this job and into our team. He’s totally earned everybody’s respect for that. He’s a young player. He has a long way to go. There is a lot of room for improvement, but he works very hard at it.”

The Patriots are one of the few teams in the NFL who still utilize a fullback in their offense. Against the New York Jets in Week 3, Johnson saw most of his work on special teams despite being activated to the roster in place of Develin.

To begin training camp, Johnson was brought onto the team through the NFL's International Pathway Program. Johnson was born in Germany but he played his college football at Tennessee.

The fullback from Germany signed as an undrafted free agent but he earned his way to a spot on the practice squad after the preseason.

With Develin's status unknown for Week 4, Johnson could get another NFL game under his belt next Sunday.