Football players, particularly defensive linemen, are super-sized men.

But Terdell Sands is even larger than the average: the newest Patriot is listed at 6-foot-7 and 335 pounds.

Defensive coordinator Dean Pees joked during Tuesday's conference call that when he crossed paths with Sands at Gillette Stadium, he didn't actually see the eighth-year veteran. Rather, "I saw his shadow going down the hallway."

The Patriots brought Sands in for a workout last week, before the sprained ankle suffered by Vince Wilfork against the Falcons; director of player personnel Nick Caserio said he was not signed specifically because of Wilfork's injury.

"I think with Terdell, the mindset was he's been a productive player, he has good size, he has good playing strength. So there's an opportunity for us that we felt, ‘here's a guy with experience who's played competitively,' " Caserio said. "I would say it was separate from anything else that happened."

Caserio continued that Sands played over 400 snaps for Oakland last season as a reserve tackle. Bill Belichick, however, was not willing to say that Sands will step into that spot exclusively; New England has played predominantly with four down linemen this season.

"We'll see how it goes. He certainly has the frame to play end; he's tall and he's long and he's big," Belichick said. "[But] he's got the frame to play inside too. It's rare to see a player that's that size, that athletic and that long. I think on paper he has some flexibility, whether that is actually the case in our defense or not, we'll have to wait and see."

In signing Sands, the Patriots released linebacker Prescott Burgess, whom they had traded for less than a week earlier to shore up a thin corps at that position.

Belichick seemed to indicate that Burgess is now a "shadow roster"-type player for the Patriots.

"Terdell's a player that we wanted to add onto the roster and we needed to make a spot for him. Prescott, who we liked and wanted to work with, and still would like to work with, is the most available option to create a roster spot to bring Sands onto the team," he said. "So that's basically what it came down to. We would like to have both, but we had to make room, so we'll see what happens going forward with how the roster shapes up. We would like to continue to work with both players if possible."

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The North Attleboro police released a statement Tuesday about an incident just after 8 a.m. Sunday involving Patriots cornerback Jonathan Wilhite, which was initially thought to be a home invasion:

"On Sunday, September 27, 2009, the North Attleboro Police responded to the Cumberland Farms store in the Attleboro Falls area of town, after receiving a call from Jonathan Wilhite concerning suspicious activity. Mr. Wilhite stated that 2 subjects were in his parking lot when he arrived home, and one approached him on foot and yelled at him.

"Mr. Wilhite became concerned and ran to Cumberland Farms where he asked the clerk to call police. He did mention that he had pulled his groin while he was running. The matter remains under investigation by North Attleboro Detectives."

Wilhite was a surprise scratch from Sunday's Patriots-Falcons game, although he had not been listed on the injury report the previous week.

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After the Patriots' win over Atlanta on Sunday, Tom Brady revealed that Belichick had drawn up the touchdown pass to tight end Chris Baker on the sideline during the timeout that preceded the play.

It would be expected that Belichick might draw up a defensive play, as he is known for his smarts on that side of the ball. But as the head coach, Belichick oversees all aspects of the team.

He was asked on Tuesday if he was more involved with the offensive communication during the game against Atlanta than he normally is.

"I try to be involved in every game, and I try to do my best to help the team win," he said. "That's sometimes [being] involved in making decisions and sometimes involved in substitutions, sometimes it's involved in a particular play and how we're going to handle a situation.

"I would say last week's game was probably pretty similar to games I've coached here."

Generally, quarterbacks coach Bill O'Brien is calling the plays for the offense this season.

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While Joey Galloway continues to struggle and both Wes Welker and Julian Edelman have dealt with leg injuries, Caserio said not to read anything into the fact that New England brought several receivers in for workouts last week.

"I think that's more of a case of due diligence," Caserio said. "Those workouts had been scheduled ahead of time, so I think it's part of the process that you go through during the course of the fall, whether it's to update your records, update medical information, maybe the player's been out of camp for a period of time or maybe he hasn't been in camp, so you're trying to get an update on what his physical conditioning might be [and] if you do sign a player and put him out there to practice, you know that he's going to be able to make it through.

"So I would say that was more due diligence than anything else, and . . . [It's] just part of the process that goes on throughout the course of the league this time of year."

New England brought in former Titans wideout Chris Davis, as well as Anthony Armstong, Courtney Taylor and William Franklin.

smanza@projo.com