FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Dante Wesley made his reputation as a special teams player. He’s hoping to do more than that with the New England Patriots.

“I’ve always viewed myself as more than a special teams guy,” he said Wednesday, a day after he was acquired from the Chicago Bears for an undisclosed draft choice.

The 27-year-old cornerback arrived in the middle of practice on Tuesday, spending some time talking to his positional coaches and taking a few reps in the defensive backfield. “I didn’t know what they expected of me,” he said.

Wesley could provide the Patriots with some insurance for the continued holdout of cornerback Asante Samuel. Or he could give them some depth on the bench. But his easiest route to the roster will be blocking on special teams, where he helped open holes for Devin Hester on his NFL record six touchdowns on kick returns.

“He’s had most of his playing time on special teams. We’ll look at him as a defensive player. We’ll look at him in the game and go from there,” Patriots coach Bill Belichick said.

“He gives us depth at the position. We’ll evaluate him and see how it goes.”

Wesley also blocked for Hester when he ran back the opening kickoff for a touchdown in this year’s Super Bowl, which the Bears lost to the Indianapolis Colts 29-17.

“I remember making a block and hearing the crowd holler,” Wesley said. “I let go of my block and Devin was already past me.”

Wesley played his first four seasons with the Carolina Panthers and played on the team that lost the 2004 Super Bowl to New England.

“They have a tradition here of always winning the Super Bowl. I’m here now,” Wesley said. “I feel like if we make the Super Bowl, we’re going to win.”

The Patriots made Samuel their franchise player after he tied Denver’s Champ Bailey for the NFL regular-season lead with 10 interceptions last season. But Samuel refused to accept the tender offer of $7.79 million, skipped the team’s mandatory minicamp last month and has not appeared at training camp.

He has said he intends to hold out until the 10th week of the regular season.

Wesley said he didn’t know much about the holdout until he got to Foxborough.

Pats sign TE Rivers

In other developments, the Patriots also signed veteran tight end Marcellus Rivers on Wednesday.

Rivers, signed as an undrafted rookie free agent out of Oklahoma State by the New York Giants in April 2001, has played in 75 games in four seasons with the Giants and one season with the Houston Texans.

He has also spent time with the Oakland Raiders and the New Orleans Saints, but did not play in any games for either team.

The 6-foot-4, 250-pound Rivers has 51 career receptions for 395 yards and four touchdowns.