Jason Webster, left, closes in on Chad Jackson during Patriots training camp at Gillette Stadium yesterday.

The Providence Journal / Bob Thayer

FOXBORO — Patriots receiver Chad Jackson hasn’t come close to his NFL potential. He’s hoping to change that this season.

The Patriots moved up 16 places to draft him 36th overall in the 2006 NFL Draft after his junior season at the University of Florida.

But he caught only 13 passes for 152 yards and three touchdowns his rookie season before suffering a tear of the anterior cruciate ligament in his knee during the Patriots AFC Championship loss to Indianapolis his rookie season.

He did not catch a pass last season, but this year, now that he is healthy, he has a chance to compete for a supporting role in the Patriots’ offense.

He said yesterday that he wanted to take full advantage of this opportunity.

“I feel like this is just a season where you just have to start all over again,” Jackson said. “I came in as a second-rounder and I had a lot of people looking forward to me getting out there. As a second-round pick, they want to see me out there and contribute to the team but right now, again, I finally have another chance to contribute to the team and that’s what I want to do.”

Patriots coach Bill Belichick said he was looking forward to seeing what Jackson can do.

“Chad is a terrific athlete,” Belichick said. “He has worked very hard even though he has had a few tough setbacks, particularly, coming back after the knee injury that he had at the end of his first season, so he didn’t have a good off-season to come into his second year. He has had a great off-season this year.

“His receiving skills have improved. He understands the offense obviously a lot better and he is still a very talented physical athlete who’s continued to work hard in that area, too. I think that he is off to a good start based on the spring and in-training camp. I am excited to see him out there.”

Jackson said it was difficult for him to watch from the sidelines last year, when the team was having such success. He said he wanted to help the team win but he wasn’t given the opportunity.

This year, he plans to contribute more.

“I’m just going to keep positive and keep everything focused on the things I need to do and just do my job and everything will be fine,” Jackson said.

Fewer players

The number of players NFL teams could start training camp with was reduced to 80 players this year, from 86, and some coaches have expressed their dislike for the new rule. When Belichick was asked about it yesterday, he gave a typically pragmatic answer.

“I think it is all relative. I think for right now it’s OK,” Belichick said. “I think for every team in training camp no matter how many players you have, even if you have 100 players, you will just have more players spread out at the different positions. If you were to have players injured at the same position no matter what your numbers were, you would create an imbalance.”

That imbalance is being seen a bit with the Patriots. Right guard Stephen Neal and right tackle Nick Kaczur are both on the physically unable-to-perform list, meaning that a combination of players are rotating into those spots when the first-team offense is on the field.

But Belichick noted that it almost always happens that injuries pile up at one position during camp, saying he couldn’t remember a camp he’d been involved in that didn’t have that problem at one point or another.

Camp notes

A few notes from the third session of training camp, which was the first in which the fans were able to attend:

•Offensive lineman Anthony Clement, who did not fare well in Thursday evening’s practice, didn’t seem to endear himself to offensive line coach Dante Scarnecchia yesterday, either. At one point, Clement had to run a lap.

•A popular drill is the pass-blocking drill, in which running backs take on linebackers, and yesterday some players shined while others didn’t fare well. Jerod Mayo overpowered Kyle Eckel on his first try, but Sammy Morris and Laurence Maroney both did a good job of keeping the rookie contained. Tedy Bruschi twice did well against Heath Evans, though Evans won the battle against the other linebackers.

There were a couple of “trick” plays practiced, one a double-fake and long pass attempt from Tom Brady to Randy Moss, and the other a fake field goal.

Between the lines

Yesterday’s session took place in full pads. Richard Seymour missed practice again, after having missed the session Thursday evening as well. Offensive lineman Gene Mruczkowski was not present. … Rookie RB BenJarvus Green-Ellis spent all of one day on the PUP; the team activated him yesterday and he took part in practice. Running backs coach Ivan Fears took the Mississippi product to task after he didn’t do well in the pass-blocking drill. … Today’s practice sessions are closed to the public because of the New England Country Music Festival happening at Gillette Stadium this afternoon.

smanza@projo.com