Derrick Burgess is not expected to start for New England, but he could be a key situational player.

AP photo / Paul Sakuma

FOXBORO – The New England Patriots got some much-needed pass-rushing help on Thursday, acquiring eight-year veteran Derrick Burgess from the Oakland Raiders.

A two-time Pro Bowler who amassed 27 sacks in his first two years with Oakland, Burgess – like so many before him – had grown tired of the Raiders, and had not yet shown up to training camp despite still being under contract with the team.

That the Patriots pulled the trigger on a trade for him is not surprising; there have been rumblings for months that the deal was probable. In doing so, they helped shore up the biggest question mark on an otherwise strong team.

Multiple reports Wednesday night said that New England sent its 2010 third-round draft pick and a fifth-round pick in 2011 to Oakland; however, the Boston Herald reported that both of the picks are for 2010.

Adam Schefter, soon of ESPN, reported that the Pats had competition from the Eagles for Burgess, but clearly theirs was a better offer.

Listed at 6-foot-2, 260 pounds, the 30-year-old (he turns 31 on Wednesday) was a third-round pick of the Eagles in 2001 out of Mississippi. Playing defensive end for Philadelphia, he had a successful rookie season, playing in all 16 games and posting six sacks, but essentially lost the next two years to injury. In 2002, he broke his foot in the first game of the regular season and needed two surgeries to get it corrected. A torn Achilles in 2003 training camp put him on the shelf again.

He returned in 2004 and was able to turn a solid postseason –– he had three sacks, including one of Tom Brady in Super Bowl XXXIX –– into a five-year, $17.5-million free-agent deal with Oakland.

Burgess certainly produced out West, with a league-best and Raider-record 16 sacks in 2005; he followed that performance with 11 more quarterback takedowns in 2006. He was named to the Pro Bowl both years.

But perhaps because he is undersized for a defensive end and was on the field for nearly every down because of the Raiders’ thin defensive line, Burgess’ numbers have declined in recent years. Two seasons ago, he had eight sacks in 14 games, while last year he played in 10 games with 3½ sacks.

Burgess does have some experience as an outside linebacker in a 3-4 alignment, as he did play some of that in Rex Ryan’s Oakland defense.

In a nutshell, when he’s healthy Burgess can flat-out get to the quarterback.

Which is exactly what New England needs. That Pats last year were 26th in the league in third-down defense, allowing opponents to convert on that critical down over 44 percent of the time. They recorded 31 sacks, placing them in the middle of the pack in that category. While Bill Belichick feels that sack numbers aren’t a true barometer of the pressure a team gets on quarterbacks, that stat combined with the third-down number certainly does not paint a pretty picture.

After trading mainstay Mike Vrabel to Kansas City during the offseason and failing to entice Jason Taylor to New England, the Patriots were seemingly thin at outside linebacker. While the team has professed confidence in the group of ’backers it had on the roster – as recently as Wednesday afternoon director of player personnel Nick Caserio said as much in a press conference – it clearly felt it was lacking a bit.

Burgess is not expected to be a starter, but rather a situational player.

Mike Tanier, of statistical analysis group Football Outsiders, told weei.com this spring that he believes Burgess can still be effective in certain situations.

“He should probably be thought of as a situational pass rusher who gets 25 to 30 snaps at this point in his career,” Tanier said. “With that kind of workload, he can register six to seven sacks.”

To make room for Burgess on the roster, center/guard Al Johnson was released.

smanza@projo.com