FOXBORO — The Patriots are utilizing James White unlike any running back in the history of the NFL.

White is on pace this season to catch 92 passes for 736 yards and carry 64 times for 243 yards. If that holds up, he’d be the first back to ever catch at least 89 passes while running the ball fewer than 78 times.

Surely, Bill Belichick tries to carve out various roles for his running backs, but the pass-heavy usage of White has been unprecedented.

“I just want to go out there and work hard,” White said of his unique pace. “The more they put on my plate, the harder I want to work and show them I can do things. If the ball comes my direction, make sure I catch it, get as many yards as possible and just be a factor whenever I touch the football.”

White, who ranks eighth in the NFL in catches this season with 29, is second among running backs to Carolina’s Christian McCaffrey (37).

White’s career arc has been remarkable. He caught 60 passes last season, the third most for a running back in franchise history and the most ever in the Tom Brady era. The 2014 fourth-round pick was rarely used as a rookie before he made tangible strides in each season afterward.

If the Patriots have to pass, White will almost certainly be on the field, but the remarkable thing is that he leads the backs in playing time by a considerable margin. Despite a four-man rotation, White (182 snaps, 49.9 percent) played nearly as many snaps as the combined total of Mike Gillislee (117, 32.1), Dion Lewis (64, 17.5) and the on-the-mend Rex Burkhead (18, 4.9).

White has done a solid job to become a more competitive runner between the tackles, which is part of the equation in his usage. He is second on the Patriots with 76 rushing yards on 20 carries (3.8 per carry) and will likely break the personal records he set in both categories last season (39 carries, 166 yards).

White obviously isn’t a rushing workhorse, but he wouldn’t be on the field as much if it weren’t for those improvements. He credits the added strength to his annual offseason workouts at Bommarito Performance in Florida as well as his understanding of the entire running play as a whole, as opposed to the see-hole-hit-hole strategy that most young backs rely upon.

“I have a good trainer down in Florida who works me out as hard as possible,” White said. “When I come up here for OTAs and training camp, I’m always ready to go.”

White’s value is indisputably as a pass catcher, though. He leads the Patriots with those 29 receptions, though he’s fifth on the team in yardage (230, 7.9 per catch). White has a chance to become the first running back of the Brady era to lead the team in catches, and last season became the first back since Kevin Faulk in 2003 to finish second in receptions.

“We do a lot of different things in practice, try a lot of different things, different routes, all that jazz that we may not always call in a game,” White said. “But if you show them that you can do it in practice, they’ll call it in a game.”

White is also an important mark on third down, where he has seven receptions for 44 yards and five conversions. He is tied for second among all running backs in third-down catches, and fourth on the Pats behind tight end Rob Gronkowski (nine) and receivers Danny Amendola and Chris Hogan (eight each).

Similar to White’s record-setting performance in Super Bowl LI, he has proven his reliability when Brady has needed to look his way, and the 25-year-old validated the Patriots’ decision to offer him the three-year, $12.69 million extension in the offseason.

“I want to try to prove that every day,” White said. “I want to be a guy who works hard, who everyone in this locker room can trust. When my number is called, I want to be able to answer that call.”