GAFFNEY

FOXBORO — When the New England Patriots signed Jabar Gaffney last October, it seemed like one of those mid-season pickups every team makes to provide depth.

A former second-round draft pick of the Texans, Gaffney seemed like a classic underachiever: in four seasons in Houston, the former All-American averaged 43 catches a season and had just seven total touchdowns.

Signed by the Eagles as a free agent in 2006 only to be cut on the eve of the regular season, Gaffney was unemployed for a little more than a month before being picked up by New England.

It took him a while to get going — he had 11 catches in 10 games — but was a standout in the playoffs.

Against the Jets he had eight grabs for 104 yards, and the next week in San Diego he had 10 catches for 103 yards and a score, becoming the first player in league history to have back-to-back games of 8 or more receptions for more than 100 yards in the same postseason.

The good-natured Florida native has brought the confidence he gained in his first playoff appearance into this season.

Here’s this week’s Up Close.

• My first car: Was a 1996 Monte Carlo. At the time, I liked those cars. My uncles bought it for me.

• The last album I bought or downloaded: Was 50 Cent and Kanye (West; both artists released albums last Tuesday to a great deal of hype). I’ll have to listen to both again, but I’m leaning toward Kanye (being the better album).

• If I wasn’t in the NFL: I’d probably be playing basketball or baseball. Those were my first loves. (Why pick football?) I don’t know. It hit me in like my 12th-grade year – we won a state championship (at Jacksonville’s Raines High, with cousin and Philadelphia cornerback Lito Sheppard), the letters started coming in, and I followed my dad and three uncles to Florida.

• One job I’d never want: I think coaching NFL football. They’re here all day. It’s hard work coaches do.

• My favorite off-day activity: Going to the movies. I love, love movies; it’s my favorite pastime. The last movie I saw was “Superbad” (At this, Chad Jackson chimes in, “That movie was fun-ny!”)

• My hero: Is my mother, Ozetta. She worked hard for me and my sister, worked two jobs, and still got me to my sports and my sister to her sports.

• My guilty pleasure: Is Now & Laters. I love them. And Skittles.

smanza@projo.com