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FOXBORO - He may be facing an uphill battle to retain his spot on the Patriots' 53-man regular-season roster, but Matt Gutierrez will make a lot of people stand up and take notice when he's the last fellow off the practice field.

Especially the reporters waiting to speak to him.

But that's what you have to do when you're a young quarterback on a team whose starter is two-time Super Bowl MVP Tom Brady, and whose other quarterbacks are just as young and just as hungry to keep their jobs.

Although he wasn't around back in 2000 when Brady was in the same situation, and showed the same dedication to self-improvement, Gutierrez said Wednesday that he certainly understands why Brady did it.

"I think this is his ninth year in the league," Gutierrez said, "and all the success he's had, he still grinds he still works hard every day and puts the time in, and he always seems to be trying to work to get the edge and to raise his game up a notch, and that's something to be respected." That's a good example to follow when you're in the position in which Gutierrez finds himself entering his second pro season. The Patriots selected Kevin O'Connell out of San Diego State in the third round of this year's draft, which basically puts Gutierrez and fourth-year veteran Matt Cassel at risk entering the 2008 campaign.

Cassel wasn't among the 36 rookies, short-termed veterans and others trying to get a jump on their preparation for the season at this week's "organized team activity" - the current euphemism in use to describe a limited-participation minicamp - but Gutierrez and O'Connell were, making it all the more important for the former to get everything he could out of the experience.

"It's a great opportunity to be around and to be able to work with these guys every day and to work with the coaches every day, and to learn from the guys who've been playing on Sundays," said Gutierrez, the Idaho State veteran who stuck with the team last year as an undrafted rookie free agent. "Now it's my job to take what I've learned and apply it, to try to improve my game and help the team out.

"These are valuable for me and everybody," he added. "Reps are reps. Any time we can get out and simulate some sort of football, and get reps in at that and play together, that's valuable."

If Gutierrez is feeling the pressure of having a highly-touted draftee as new competition for his roster spot, he isn't showing it.

"There's always competition, no matter what," he said. "The biggest thing is competing against yourself, seeing how much you can improve, how well I can do each day, and trying to improve upon the mistakes that I made the day before.

"The pressure is always what you throw on yourself, to compete and try to raise the bar for your level of play," he said.

Camps such as this one is where Gutierrez must show that he belongs, because it's a given that, unless the ultimate worse-case scenario befalls the Patriots, he's not going to get close to significant playing time in the regular season.

Last year, the 6-foot-4, 230-pound native of Concord, Calif., played in five regular-season games, completing his only pass attempt for 15 yards, in a 49-28 win at Miami on Oct. 21 - and even that limited opportunity for playing time was made possible only by the prodigious ability of the Patriots' offense to put points on the scoreboard in 2007, an ability that may not be duplicated in 2008.

Still, Gutierrez believes he benefited from the experience and stayed on a steady learning curve throughout last season. "Physically, I feel like I made a lot of strides, especially in knowing what to do and knowing the offense," he said. "Now it's just a matter of going out and applying that knowledge. Even though I've been around a year, there's still a lot to learn and a lot of progress to be made. I'm trying just to work hard every day and learn from the older guys that are around and improve my game."

This final "passing camp" will be followed by the full-squad minicamp June 6-8, and Gutierrez knows he'll get no breaks in the quest to continue his improvement.

"There are always ways to evaluate yourself," he said. "The coaches around here do a great job of always giving us things to work on. I don't think any of us should be looking ahead past tomorrow, or past the meeting that we have after this practice."

MARK FARINELLA may be reached at 508-236-0315 or via e-mail at mfarinel@thesunchronicle.com