Biggest Surprises Spotted on Patriots' First Preseason Depth Chart

Terrell Jennings as RB4

Jennings was absent to open up the summer while he nursed an ailment on the non-football injury list. In his place was second-year Lan Larison, who's currently named the RB3 on the Patriots. Larison might have gotten reps as the third back earlier in camp, but since Jennings has returned, it's been all him.

There's a clear drop-off between Jennings' skillset and the rest of the running back room (Larison, and rookies Jam Miller and Myles Montgomery). It's safe to say that Jennings will earn that RB3 spot, although the depth chart doesn't reflect that just yet.

C.J. Dippre as TE2

Maybe it's because he's a veteran and Eli Raridon is a rookie, but Dippre is certainly not the Patriots' second tight end right now. The second-year player missed most of training camp to this point while on the physically unable to perform list, and since he's returned, he's been repping mostly with the backups as a blocker.

On the other hand, Raridon has become one of the stars of camp . It doesn't matter if he's with the starting offense or with the backups, the Notre Dame rookie has become a reliable target in the passing game. Additionally, rookie Tanner Arkin has gotten a lot more reps than his "TE5" status suggests.

Caleb Lomu as RT3

It hasn't been the strongest start to Lomu's first training camp, but the tackle has gotten plenty of reps to learn. Whether it's been on the left side or the right, the Utah rookie has been moved around a lot throughout the offense.

Despite that, he's consistently repped as the second right tackle behind Morgan Moses in team drills. Sure, second-year Marcus Bryant got a few more of those reps this week, but Lomu has been a constant name etched into the second-string offense. Having him as the RT3 doesn't match how much playing time he's been getting to this point in time.

Kyle Williams as KR1

The Patriots struggled at the kick returner position last year, and it's led to plenty of competition this summer. Jennings, Miller, Larison, Efton Chism III, Kobe Prentice and Channing Canada have all gotten time returning kicks. So has Williams (who returned some last season), who was up first in Tuesday's joint practice.

Right now, if it was up to me, I'd assign the top kick returning duties to both Jennings and Chism III. Both of those players have lived up to expectations on both offense and special teams, and have popped when given the chance to run with the ball in their hands. Williams' speed is a plus, but Jennings has looked smoother returning kicks.