Jerod Mayo, hauling down the Jets’ Thomas Jones for a loss earlier this season, finished the season with 128 tackles.

The Providence Journal / Glenn Osmundson

When Jerod Mayo met with the Patriots media corps following this year’s draft, he likely wasn’t the only first-year player who declared that one of his goals for his first NFL season was to be the league’s defensive rookie of the year.

But Mayo is certainly the only one who made his goal a reality.

Receiving 49 of the 50 votes cast, Mayo yesterday became the second New England Patriots player to win the Defensive Rookie of the Year award, as presented by the Associated Press. Cornerback and Hall of Famer Mike Haynes won in 1976.

Even though he had his sights set on the honor, Mayo knows he didn’t do it alone.

“It means a lot. It’s a great honor,” he said yesterday. “I look at it more as a team award because I couldn’t have done it without 75 [Vince Wilfork] in front of me or 93 [Richard Seymour] — none of those big guys in front of me, the secondary keeping the ball in front of them.”

Mayo led the Patriots, and all rookies, with 128 tackles this season (100 solo), a number that was 10th in the NFL. He added four passes defensed and a forced fumble while starting every game at inside linebacker, once thought to be too difficult a position for a rookie to handle full-time in the Pats’ system.

That isn’t to say it wasn’t difficult, as Mayo will tell you.

“It was really tough, to be honest,” he said. “There were a lot of hours after practice with coach (Matt) Patricia, the linebackers coach, and a lot of hours with (Tedy) Bruschi. I couldn’t have done it without those guys spending extra time with me on and off the field.”

As he did throughout the season, Mayo mentioned Bruschi several times yesterday. The veteran became a big brother to the rookie, and he and the other Patriot linebackers embraced him from Day One, much to his surprise.

“Coming out of college, I had heard horror stories about coming in as a rookie — guys really wouldn’t help you. I came into the Patriots organization thinking the worst, that these guys weren’t going to help me and they aren’t going to want me to play, but it was the exact opposite,” he said. “From that day forward, older guys like Bruschi, Rodney Harrison, [Mike] Vrabel, Adalius Thomas, all of those guys have really taken me under their wing and I have tried to learn as much as I can from them — how to be a professional on and off the field.”

Mayo’s excitement over his personal success was tempered by the sting caused by New England’s absence from the postseason, mentioning that the team goal of making the playoffs and advancing to the Super Bowl came first.

The 22-year-old Virginia native said he will spend most of the offseason in Foxboro, learning from the season’s mistakes and finding out from Patriots coaches what he can do to become a better player.

smanza@projo.com