The Patriots dynasty has gone international.

When starting fullback James Develin suffered a neck injury ahead of Sunday’s victory over the Jets, coach Bill Belichick called upon Jakob Johnson. The 24-year-old born in Stuttgart, Germany became the first player from the NFL’s International Pathway program to be activated to a 53-man roster.

In the Patriots’ 30-14 win over the Jets, Johnson played two snaps on offense and six on special teams. His role may grow as he gets more comfortable, though, as Develin — who was placed on IR — was critical as a blocker for the Patriots’ run game.

Johnson was originally cut by New England before the regular season began and stashed on the practice squad.

“He was not on our radar,” Belichick said of Johnson during a conference call. “I don’t think we ever would have ever signed him. When the [international] players were listed, there were a group of players that fell into this category, and we looked at that group. It was kind of like, ‘Is there anybody here you want?’”

The undrafted fullback played four seasons under University of Tennessee coach Butch Jones, whom Belichick used as a source of information.

“Based on some research and follow-up at Tennessee, Butch [Jones] recommended him to me,” Belichick said. “We didn’t really know much about the other guys, and I can’t say that we were excited to have him. But based on what Butch said, it felt like he was a good player to work with, would work hard, would really try to get better, was a good teammate and all those things that he had showed at Tennessee.”

Belichick revealed that Johnson was a long shot to make the final roster at first, but his impressive play throughout training camp and the preseason drew some attention. The six-time Super Bowl-winning coach compared Johnson to wrestler-turned-lineman Steven Neal, who was a Patriot for 10 years.

“I wouldn’t say it was quite a Steve Neal rise but somewhere in that neighborhood,” Belichick said. “What he’s done has been remarkable in a relatively short period of time. He works extremely hard. He’s one of the first players here every morning. He puts literally every ounce of energy he has into this job and into our team and he’s totally earned everybody’s respect for that.”