“Disappointment” has been the name of the game for the New England Patriots so far this season. They have experienced their fair share of it on their road to a 3-10 record, with no individual area of the team immune to struggle.

As a result, there are multiple contenders for the top spot on the list of underwhelming performances. Ja’Lynn Polk might have as strong a case as anybody, though.

With 13 games in the books, the second-round draft pick has been a virtual non-factor for a Patriots offense in dire need of help at the wide receiver position. Polk has been targeted 30 times by quarterbacks Drake Maye and Jacoby Brissett, but he managed to catch only 12 passes for 87 yards.

While he did catch a pair of touchdowns — ranking second on the team in that statistic — he also dropped a pair of passes, has been the target on an interception, has managed to catch just 3 of 12 contested catches, and has just 11 yards after the catch. No one number sums his struggles up better than yards per route run, though.

Running 234 routes in his 401 offensive snaps, he averaged just 0.37 yards. That number has him ranked 101st among the 101 wide receivers in the NFL with at least 30 targets to their name.

The room for improvement is obvious, and the Patriots left searching for answers. For offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt, a multitude of factors contributed.

“Could be a combination of a few things,” he said during a press conference on Thursday. “The transition from the college game to the pro game is never easy, for any rookie. That’s part of it. The rookie wall. Not having success early, having some drops early, kind of set him back a little bit mentally. All lessons for him to fight through and keep pushing.”

Polk arrived in New England as the 37th overall selection in this year’s draft, and was considered a potential big slot/Z-receiver hybrid in the mold of ex-Patriot Jakobi Meyers. His hands and ability to win at the top of his routes even in contested situations were praised as his best traits coming out of the University of Washington.

Despite all that and his prior experience with Patriots wide receivers coach Tyler Hughes — an offensive analyst for the Huskies in 2023 — Polk has not been able to make his presence felt. He started off well, and looked like a potential contributor in training camp, but has not been able to build on his early momentum.

Nonetheless, Van Pelt still feels confident in his potential.

“I think he’s going to be a very good player for us,” he said. “He just has to continue to work, continue to improve each week.”

The Patriots, who have already been eliminated from playoff contention, will give him every chance to do that down the stretch. As part of that process, the team might be willing to increase his playing time after he was on the field for a combined 47 percent of offensive snaps before the bye week.

“At some point they just have to go and make those plays in the game,” Van Pelt said about the Patriots’ rookie usage in generalthe Patriots’ rookie usage in general. ““We see it in practice, and hopefully it carries over in the game. Every snap they take, whether it’s in practice or in the game, put in the bank for them and they’ll continue to grow as we talked about every day: getting better with every practice, and hopefully it carries over to the game for those young guys.”

In Polk’s case, it has not so far. And with only four games left in his rookie season, time to do that and turn the ship around in 2024 is running out.”