FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- So far, so good with veteran New England Patriots linebacker Jerod Mayo and his return to playing football after two injury-shortened seasons.

"Jerod's made progress day by day; nobody works harder than Jerod does," coach Bill Belichick said Monday. "We've asked him to do a little more, either by volume/the amount of work he does, or we've increased the intensity of it in the two-and-a-half weeks we've been in training camp, and I think he's handled all those well."

Linebacker Jerod Mayo has impressed Patriots coaches in his return to the field following two shortened NFL seasons. AP Photo/Charles Krupa

Mayo, whose 2014 season ended in October due to a torn patellar tendon and who tore a pectoral muscle in October 2013 to land on injured reserve that year, didn't play in the preseason opener against the Packers. But he hasn't missed a practice and his influence on the team remains strong.

"I think everybody looks up to Jerod," Belichick said. "He was a captain from his second year on, like Devin [McCourty]. It's a little bit unusual to see players be a captain their second year; I think that takes a special person to earn that much respect in a short period of time. Jerod did that. Devin did that. It's not really that long a list."

A few other nuggets from Belichick: