DBs know they cannot cut corners

Whatever the jersey number, the Patriots have had success inculcating first-year cornerbacks. In 2003, Samuel intercepted two passes and Eugene Wilson, who was switched from cornerback, emerged as the starting free safety. In 2004, undrafted free agent Randall Gay went on to start in the Super Bowl. In 2005, Ellis Hobbs developed into a starter midway through the season. Now, with Samuel taking his Pro Bowl play to Philadelphia and Gay, who signed with the New Orleans Saints, gone, the Patriots are hoping Wheatley and fellow first-year cornerback Jonathan Wilhite can be the latest quick studies.

Both Wheatley and Wilhite, a fourth-round selection out of Auburn, feigned ignorance when asked about the opportunity to compete for playing time in a crowded cornerback crop whose only returning starter, Hobbs, is coming off surgeries to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder and a sports hernia.

"I honestly don't even look at it," said Wheatley. "Maybe when I make the team I can worry about it, but until then I'm just trying to make the team first."

A noticeably nervous Wilhite, who donned No. 24, demurred, preferring to let his play do the talking.

The 5-foot-9 1/2-inch, 185-pound Wilhite got off to a good start, breaking up a few passes, cleanly intercepting one pass, and appearing to grab another - batting away a deep ball, then reeling in the deflection on his back - before it hit the turf. He looked nothing like a corner with "zero ball skills" and "stone hands," as one draft guide described him.

"I haven't had the chance in a while to go against some receivers. It was good," said Wilhite. "I enjoyed myself. I felt like I played well with the guys that we had out there. I felt overall as a defense for our first day we did good."