"Fernando Bryant has spent nine years in the NFL without receiving much notice.

The problem is Bryant hasn't played on a winning team since his first season in 1999, the year he was drafted in the first round by the Jaguars. He then spent four consecutive losing seasons in Jacksonville before signing with the Detroit Lions as a free agent for four more losing years.

That's all about to change.

When the Lions released him last spring rather than pay him $3.35 million in base salary, Bryant signed a one-year deal with the New England Patriots.

Suddenly, Bryant is on a high-profile team at a high-profile position. And he seems to be on his way to winning the cornerback job vacated by Asante Samuel, who signed a six-year, $57 million deal with the Philadelphia Eagles.

Bryant has been the Patriots' starter since the opening day of training camp and appears likely to keep the job. He's just the latest in the long line of veteran players - linebacker Junior Seau and safety Rodney Harrison are other examples - New England has signed to fill holes.

"The coaching staff is pretty upfront about everything, and the best player's going to play," Bryant said, according to the Detroit Free Press. "That was one of the reasons I came here. It doesn't matter about age. It doesn't matter about years or Pro Bowls or anything like that. The bottom line in this organization is about winning."

Bryant has started in 109 of his 110 career games, but he has been plagued by injuries. He missed six games because of a foot injury in 2001 with the Jaguars and six more in 2004 with the Lions, including the final four due to an ankle injury. He played in just two games in 2005 before he was placed on injured reserve with a broken clavicle and then missed the final four games in 2006 after suffering a concussion.

Last season marked the first time since 2003 - his final year with the Jaguars - that Bryant played in all 16 games.

If he can stay healthy, this is Bryant's shot to finally win a Super Bowl ring, but there's a downside to the spotlight. If he makes a mistake in a key game on national television for the Patriots, he'll be noticed the way he wasn't in Jacksonville or Detroit.

"There's a lot of expectations on the outside, and you can't really listen to that," Bryant said. "It's what we do here. From the outside looking in, you're looking at Sunday's game, and you think everything is great. Then you come back in here, and we look at things, and everything doesn't go as smooth as everybody thinks it does."

Speaking of expectations, the Lions lost nine games last season. By contrast, the Patriots have lost just 10 regular-season games the past three seasons and own a streak of 19 consecutive regular-season victories."