FOXBORO — Imagine if everything you had ever learned as part of your professional life was suddenly wrong.

That’s what defensive tackle Eric Johnson II experienced after he was claimed off waivers by the Patriots from the Colts after roster cuts in late August. And it helps explain why it took him three weeks to make his Patriots debut, and why he only played 11 snaps in last Thursday night’s loss to the Jets.

Learning the Patriots’ scheme hasn’t been a major challenge for Johnson. It’s different terminology, but he knows the general concepts, and he can marry the different languages in his head.

How the Patriots teach technique, however, has almost zero carryover to the Colts.

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The Colts asked their defensive tackles to attack upfield. The Patriots want them to take on blocks and eat up space.

“They’re almost opposites,” Johnson told the Herald. “Like, the things that coach would get mad at you for here, in Indy, would be the things that they want you to do, and vice versa. So it’s like, basically unlearning and relearning everything I wasn’t supposed to do.”

Johnson credits defensive line coach Jerry Montgomery and defensive coaching assistant Keith Jones, Jr. for the progress he’s made so far, and he’s grateful to learn new techniques, because he believes it will make him a more well-rounded player.

“There’s a lot of growth with it, because it’s something new,” Johnson said.

It all starts with his stance. With the Colts, Johnson would start narrow so he could get off the line of scrimmage quickly and explode upfield. Now he needs to start off more square to take on blocks.

“So it’s unlearning that and then re-putting in something else,” Johnson said. “But the body mechanics behind it are the opposite. So that’s what I mean when it comes to flipping them, so everything where I’m supposed to be doing it this way is wrong.”

Johnson, who’s 6-foot-4, 299 pounds, was selected by the Colts in the fifth round of the 2022 NFL Draft out of Missouri State. The 26-year-old defender is the most athletic of the Patriots’ defensive tackles. He ran a 4.87-second 40-yard dash during the predraft process two years ago with a 1.70-second 10-yard split, 4.66-second short shuttle, 7.58-second 3-cone drill, 27.5-inch vertical leap, 8-feet, 11-inch broad jump and 20 bench press reps of 225 pounds.

He played 28 games with the Colts and registered 18 tackles, one sack and a fumble recovery before being waived in August.

The Patriots could use another rotational defensive tackle to give starters Davon Godchaux and Daniel Ekuale, both of whom are one pace for career-highs in defensive snaps, more rest.

Johnson said he’s not “all the way there yet” with learning the Patriots’ techniques at defending the run, but it’s “coming along.” And he can still use the Colts’ attacking style when being asked to play on third down as a pass rusher.

The third-year pro was one of four players claimed off waivers by the Patriots in late August along with offensive tackle Demontrey Jacobs, who could be asked to start at left tackle Sunday against the 49ers, guard Zach Thomas, who saw playing time in Week 3, and linebacker Curtis Jacobs, who’s played on special teams with his new squad.