01:00 AM EDT on Wednesday, April 21, 2004

You like to think that people can change.

That they can work on their character flaws, solve personality problems, overcome difficult backgrounds, exorcise whatever demons trouble them, and become better people -- happier, easier to get along with, less self-centered, more productive, more content.

Sometimes they do. Just not, it seems, very often.

Whether it's Vin Baker or Terry Glenn, Albert Belle or Steve Howe or Lawrence Phillips, the problems never seem to go away, no matter where the player goes.

So you have to wonder if a change of teams will result in a significant change in Corey Dillon, the record-setting running back obtained Monday by the New England Patriots from the Cincinnati Bengals in exchange for a second-round pick in this weekend's draft.

Among the words used yesterday in various publications to describe Dillon were "frustrated," "malcontent," and, more than once, "disgruntled." He was considered a "major distraction" in Cincinnati, where his seven seasons with the Bengals were called "tumultuous." Most disturbingly, he was referred to as a "cancer" on the team.

"I wasn't a cancer," Dillon insisted in a conference call Monday night. "I'm not a bad person. I'm a good person."

And Richard Nixon was not a crook, Bill Clinton did not have sex with that woman, and this will be the week O.J. will find the real killers.

While Pats coach Bill Belichick said he was "very excited about Corey Dillon becoming a Patriot," Bengals coach Marvin Lewis said the trade was "clearly a move that's in our team's best interests."

The Patriots obviously feel the acquisition of Dillon is cause for rejoicing. But, when the Bengals' high-character coach feels that dumping the best running back in franchise history -- and remember, even though Cincinnati has been terrible for more than a decade now, the Bengals also have been to two Super Bowls -- is "clearly in the team's best interests," that's a cause for concern.

Dillon, like Glenn, had a difficult childhood that resulted in an extensive juvenile arrest record.

But he set numerous rushing records in Cincinnati after coming to the Bengals in 1997 as a second-round draft choice out of the University of Washington.

He is one of just four players in NFL history to rush for more than 1,000 yards in each of his first six seasons. The others are Curtis Martin, Barry Sanders and Eric Dickerson. In 2000, against Denver, Dillon ran for what at the time was a single-game record of 278 yards.

He could be the answer to the Patriots' prayers at running back. At 6-foot-1, 225 pounds, he possesses both size and speed. He is a receiving threat -- 43 catches in 2002 -- and is more than willing to block incoming blitzers. He also is durable. Until sidelined by a groin injury in the third game last year, he had had missed just two games in his first six seasons.

But Dillon also could cause the Patriots to wonder why in heaven's name they traded for him.

Although Dillon claims the frustration of so many losing seasons in Cincinnati is what got to him, what wore him down, that doesn't explain his behavior last season when Lewis, in his first year as head coach, began to turn the team around.

Lewis tried -- unsuccessfully -- to convince Dillon to assume more of a leadership role on the team. When Dillon was injured, Rudi Johnson filled in capably. Lewis didn't want to relegate Johnson to the bench after Dillon returned, prompting Dillon to complain about a lack of playing time and carries.

Dillon demanded to be traded. After the final game, he threw his helmet, shoulder pads and cleats into the stands. Called "selfish" by the Bengals' all-pro offensive tackle, Willie Anderson, Dillon appeared on a nationally televised sports-talk show wearing a Raiders jersey and called Anderson "a bum."

Ty Law's recent tirades aside, such behavior is atypical for Patriots players in the Belichick regime.

High on the list of the many things that made last season's lengthy winning streak, culminating in the Patriots' second Super Bowl victory in three years, so wonderful was the selfless attitude that prevailed among the New England players. There truly was a feeling of "all for one and one for all." It was clear that no one player was bigger than the team.

Scott Pioli, the Patriots' vice president of player personnel, has often said how important it is for a player to have the right attitude to play for, and be productive under, Belichick.

It was a lesson both men learned during Belichick's less-than-successful tenure in Cleveland.

Belichick and Pioli have talked with Dillon and are confident he'll fit in with the Patriots, that the problems he had in Cincinnati won't reappear in New England.

Belichick also says frequently that every year is very different, that no two teams are the same, that change is inevitable.

Let's hope, in Dillon's case, he's right.