FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Jerod Mayo figures his immediate impact will be limited on a New England Patriots team that came within one minute of an unbeaten season.
The tradeoff is pretty good, though. The 10th player picked in Saturday's NFL draft can still be a contributor to one of the best teams instead of a cornerstone of a rebuilding project.
And with New England's linebacker corps having at least three players who will be 31 or older when the season starts, he may not have to wait many seasons to fill a major role.