Patriots receiver Kendrick Bourne had 37 catches and 406 yards last season before suffering a torn ACL. He returned to practice on Wednesday. Lynne Sladky/Associated Press

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — The Patriots got their hype man back this week.

Patriots wide receiver Kendrick Bourne, one of the most high-spirited players on the roster, returned to practice Wednesday after spending the first four weeks of the season and all of training camp on the phsyically unable to perform list recovering from a torn ACL suffered last October.

“Man, the energy, the juice, you felt that immediately,” Patriots offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt said Thursday when asked about Bourne. “Practice was different when he stepped on the field. Just the way that he carries himself, the energy that he plays with will be a huge boost for us in the receiver room.”

Bourne said Thursday in the locker room that he’s just being himself.

The 29-year-old wide receiver felt like he would have been ready to play Week 1, but he believes the past four weeks have helped him move past the rehab phase and into his own mini-training camp. He feels like he’s been able to polish his routes since the start of the season, so he can potentially hit the ground running when he’s back on the field.

He did acknowledge that he’s still on a pitch count at practice, however, when asked how he sees his role in the offense this season.

“It’s tricky. But just trust (Van Pelt), so if he wants me to run this route, ‘OK, I see that he likes me on this route.’ If I struggle on this route, maybe not so much. So just learning as I go yesterday,” Bourne said.

“I’m kind of limited right now, so I can’t do everything – I can do everything, but I have a count, so I just have to trust the process, know what they want me to do, and then whatever it is that they want me to do. If they don’t like me somewhere, try to get better at it. If they like me on it, just keep getting better at it. So just growing as I keep going.”

He did say that his knee feels “really good” and that he took the rehab process the right way by strengthening his knee first before going head-on into his rehab.

Bourne signed a three-year, $19.5 million contract extension with the Patriots this offseason coming off of a 37-catch, 406-yard campaign with four touchdowns in eight games before hitting injured reserve.

He joins a wide receiver corps with Ja’Lynn Polk, DeMario Douglas, K.J. Osborn, Tyquan Thornton, Javon Baker and Kayshon Boutte already on the 53-man roster.

The Patriots could use an offensive boost. They’re currently last in passing yards through four weeks and 31st out of 32 teams in points per game. The only team worse is the Dolphins, their Week 5 opponents.

“I think I can help a lot. You know, just doing what I do best, trusting AVP’s plan and just the offense’s plan and doing what I can,” Bourne said. “Whatever they want to do with me. Let’s try to make it work and just do the best I can.”

THE PATRIOTS listed three starters as non-participants at Thursday’s practice, putting their availability for Sunday’s game in serious doubt.

Center David Andrews, safety Kyle Dugger and wide receiver K.J. Osborn were all non-participants, as was offensive tackle Caedan Wallace. Andrews is expected to miss the rest of the year with a shoulder injury.

Safety Jabrill Peppers, however, was upgraded to limited participation Thursday, when the team added defensive back Marcus Jones (groin) to its report and listed rookie tight end Jaheim Bell as a full participant.

In Miami, left tackle Terron Armstead was upgraded and safety Jordan Poyer missed a second straight game.