FOXBORO, Mass. (AP) – The New England Patriots go into the draft with a team that already looks different than last season’s champions.

Ty Law and Troy Brown were released and Tedy Bruschi had a mild stroke that could sideline him at least for this season. Still, coach Bill Belichick isn’t counting on immediate contributions from the players he picks this weekend.

“It is not always what a guy can do on the first opening day of his rookie year,” he said. “We have seen a lot of players that have changed their value to the team as they have improved, whether it be after the first year or after the second year.”

That growth process worked so well that the Patriots won three of the last four Super Bowls, an amazing accomplishment, but one that extends their season and cuts into their time to plan for the draft.

“I’m glad that that was the situation,” Belichick said. “But it is still putting three months worth of work into two or two-and-a-half,” he said. “There is nothing we can do about it.”

He and his staff haven’t had to spend much time studying the top 10 to 15 players available because the Patriots have the last picks of the first and second rounds. That gives them fewer options to trade for a better pick than they had last year, when they had the 21st and 32nd picks but kept both.

Their third pick is the 100th overall, a compensatory choice for losing free agents. Their own third-round choice was traded to Arizona for cornerback Duane Starks. They’re not allowed to trade the compensatory pick.

“That really limits what you can do in the first two rounds,” Belichick said.

The key for Belichick is how a drafted player performs within the Patriots’ system once he becomes familiar with it. And that player could be chosen in a late round rather than on Saturday’s first day of the draft, when the first three rounds will take place.

The Patriots took quarterback Tom Brady in the sixth round in 2000, a choice Belichick called the best of his career.

But he also took wide receiver David Givens in the seventh round in 2002 and center Dan Koppen in the fifth round in 2003. Then there’s Brown, an eighth-round pick in 1993 who turned into an outstanding wide receiver and even saw considerable action at defensive back last season.

With an eye toward controlling their salary cap, the Patriots released Brown and should be set at wide receiver after signing veterans David Terrell and Tim Dwight. Belichick said Brown could be re-signed.

“I don’t want to comment on any of those personal conversations,” he may have had concerning that possibility, he said.

The Patriots could use help in the draft at defensive back after releasing Law following 10 years with the team. And Bruschi’s condition – along with the release of linebacker Roman Phifer – creates a need at that position.

Belichick shed no light on the likelihood of Bruschi playing this year.

“I think that Tedy has made a number of comments about his situation, and I would just defer to him on any of those. I don’t have anything to add,” he said.

Even if Belichick isn’t counting on Bruschi for the coming season, that may not influence him to draft a linebacker.

“If you are looking for a certain type of player, there is going to be a group that really appeals to you,” he said, “and there is going to be another group that you just really don’t have much use for, but are going to be drafted because other teams will be looking for those types of players.”

Since the Super Bowl, the team has added linebackers Monty Beisel from Kansas City and Wesly Mallard from the New York Giants.

But Belichick said his current roster doesn’t have much of an impact on his draft plans.

“I don’t think if you start drafting by need or try to come out of the draft and say, Well, we needed a guard and we got a guard. We needed a receiver and we got a receiver,’ ” he said. “But, if they can’t perform and fill that role for you competitively on the field, then you really haven’t done anything.”

Even if he doesn’t pick a linebacker or defensive back, he can still add productive young players. Before last season the Patriots signed free agent rookie Randall Gay and he ended up starting most of the games at cornerback.

“We are just trying to improve the team as much as we can between now and when we go to training camp,” Belichick said. “It is not going to be finished after this weekend.”

AP-ES-04-20-05 1713EDT