Few things in the NFL can be as misleading as training camp performance. Time and time again, players or entire teams seemed to show one thing during the summer, only to look completely different once the games started counting.

New England Patriots wide receiver Ja’Lynn Polk is a perfect and unfortunate example of this. After consistently running with the starters in training camp, the second-round draft pick appeared primed for a major role in the team’s offense.

Early in his rookie campaign, that seemed to be the case: Polk continued to see reps at the starter level, and by Week 4 he found himself at the top of the Patriots’ wide receiver depth chart in terms of playing time.

However, things have gone downhill for the young pass catcher since then.

Starting in Week 4, Polk was targeted for 20 passes. Only five of those resulted in receptions for 47 combined yards. Meanwhile, a pass hit him in the hands four times but still ended up incomplete — including twice on Sunday against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

That game in particular seemed to be a low point in Polk’s once-promising rookie campaign thus far. He played 57 percent of the snaps as the third wide receiver and failed to catch any of his four targets.

Polk was hit in the hands on a deep pass on the first drive of the game, but was unable to complete the catch due to contact; the same was true on a 3rd and 10 in the second quarter (the play just before Jacksonville’s 96-yard punt return touchdown). He was tight on an incompletion in the third period, and later slipped on a whip route on a two-point conversion attempt in the fourth.

That play was the last of Polk’s day. It was announced that he would return shortly afterwards as questionable with a head injury, and never returned.

And so both Polk and the Patriots are left with an all-encompassing question: What can be done to get him going again and prevent him from befalling a fate that has befallen several second-round wide receivers before him.

“We need more from Polk. We need more concentration. He will be a good player in this competition. I just have to keep working on it,” head coach Jerod Mayo said after the Patriots’ 32-16 loss to the Jaguars.

‘I have to remind him that he is a young footballer. I don’t use that as an excuse. This isn’t the final iteration or evolution of Ja’Lynn Polk. He just needs to get back in the meeting rooms and back on the field and get better.”

Drake Maye expressed similar optimism about his fellow rookie. Although New England’s starting quarterback only connected once on seven goals, including that two-point play, he believes the two can have a positive future together.

To achieve this, Maye also points to herself.

“I think JP is a great player. He makes plays,” he said. “I have to find ways to get him the football early. Involve him early in the game and he will feel involved. I’ve got to make a better throw to him on the corner route, drive first, little things like that, to get him involved. He’s a good player. We need him there. It’s up to me to get him going a little bit.

“During the week he always asks me to watch movies and stuff like that. He is always there after training. I have to do more. Whatever we do, do more.”

Whether this approach will bear fruit at some point in the future remains to be seen. The fact is, Polk has hit a roadblock after showing some promise early in his rookie season.

Now the pressure is on him and his Patriots support system to get him back on track.