Bill Belichick speaks highly of wide receiver Tre Nixon:

BOSTON — Outside of DeVante Parker at receiver, Malcolm Butler at cornerback, and maybe Jabrill Peppers at safety, the Patriots really didn’t sign any more veteran players who are expected to play big roles on either side of the ball. That’s led to some excitement — or at least hope — for some rapid growth in some young players who haven’t yet been on the field in the NFL.

On defense, those honors belong to linebacker Cameron McGrone, a fifth-round pick out of Michigan in 2021 who sat out his rookie season due to a torn ACL from college. And on offense, they belong to Tre Nixon.

Nixon was the Patriots’ final pick in the 2021 draft, a pick that was actually made by Ernie Adams as his final contribution to the Patriots organization. Nixon, who was drafted out of Central Florida, spent his rookie season on the practice squad. But he made some eye-catching plays in minicamp, and he’s generated a bit of a buzz among Patriots fans who are hoping the 24-year-old can come out of nowhere and be a contributor this season.

Head coach Bill Belichick wouldn’t go that far in projecting anything for Nixon this season, but he was very complimentary of the young player when speaking to the media on Tuesday morning.

“Yeah, Tre’s worked very hard, too. He’s one of the hardest working kids we have on our team,” Belichick said of Nixon. “Had a good spring, had a productive spring. Again, it’s the same things we’ve said about Mac [Jones] — he’s way ahead of where he was last year in terms of his physical strength, speed, quickness, route technique, understanding of the offense, defense, so forth. And so, hopefully he’ll continue to make progress as we transfer that into competitive, on-field situations, but he’s certainly prepared himself as well as he can to do that. And he’ll be in a good competitive situation.”