Kevin Faulk says if the Patriots needed a big play, Troy Brown was the guy they looked to.

The Providence Journal / Bob Thayer

FOXBORO — At the sound of his name, Kevin Faulk looked across the Patriots’ locker room toward Troy Brown’s stall.

The stall is empty now, and the teammate Faulk admired and tried to emulate for nearly a decade isn’t around every day, but it’s still hard not to be on the lookout for Brown, the receiver thought to be too small and too slow to be an NFL wideout.

Brown retired yesterday after 192 games, 557 career receptions for 6,366 yards, 252 punt returns for 2,625 yards and three interceptions.

“Everything,” Faulk replied when asked what he’ll remember about No. 80. “Leadership. Need a big play, you know who to go to. He wasn’t one to talk a whole lot; he did a lot of his leadership on the field, by his play. I think that’s what made me have a lot of love for Troy is that we are similar. I’m similar to him in that aspect of not really saying too much but just going out there and doing what I need to do to help the team win. That’s the way he was.”

Brown was seven years into his career when the Patriots drafted Faulk in the second round in 1999.

With Brown’s retirement, Faulk and Tedy Bruschi are the longest-tenured Pats, the only players to predate Bill Belichick’s takeover of the team in 2000.

Rodney Harrison came to New England six years ago, and Brown made a quick impression on him.

“When I first came in, in ’03, he came across the middle (in practice) and I hit him; I hit him pretty hard. He got up and he threw the ball at me and he walked back to the huddle,” Harrison said, smiling at the memory. “But that’s Troy — tough as nails. Even though he was upset and maybe it was a little cheap shot, he still went back, got up and went back to the huddle. It shows he’s tough as nails, and he’s never going to let anybody keep him down.”

Harrison said Brown, who was elected a team captain by his peers for five consecutive seasons, is among the top two or three teammates he has had the most respect for.

Some of that comes from Brown’s consistency, both on the field and in the locker room, and the work ethic that set the standard for all of the Patriots, but much of it comes from a selfless attitude, which was Brown’s hallmark.

“Not many guys in the National Football League, especially at 35 years old, could actually play wide receiver, out wide, play the slot guy, and then come back and play defensive back,” Harrison said, alluding to Brown’s 2004 move to defensive back. “And not just defensive back on the outside, but on the inside, which is one of the toughest positions, against the slot guy. It’s so remarkable what he did, at his age, and it just shows you that Troy is so unselfish, and he was just a tremendous football player.”

Belichick called it “an honor and a privilege” to have had the opportunity to coach Brown.

If ever a prototype was created of the Perfect Patriot, the type of player Belichick and team owner Robert Kraft wants wearing the New England uniform, Brown would be the model.

But Mike Vrabel went a step further when he said, “If you wanted your son to play football, you’d want him to play like Troy Brown.”

smanza@projo.com