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FOXBORO - For those who believe the life of a professional football player is all glory, we submit the case of Deltha O'Neal, the newest member of the New England Patriots.

The ninth-year cornerback out of California was entering his fifth season with the Cincinnati Bengals, getting ready for a new year in a city that had become home to him and his family, when the unexpected word came from above that he would no longer be wearing a tiger-striped helmet.

"It was like Hurricane Katrina," he said Wednesday. "I had family out there, and I wasn't expecting this. Had I been expecting it, I would have been more prepared. It was on the fly. I found out I was released, and right there and then, I had to fly out.

"I left my family behind, and it's tough, especially for my little girls, because they won't get to see their daddy all year," he said. "My (oldest) girl just started school, so she's not coming out here. Other than that, I just knew it was part of the game. Being the vet that I am, I've been in the game a long time and I've seen people come and go, and I just had to prepare myself."

Fortunately for O'Neal, it's not as if he was about to become a member of the Oakland Raiders or some other moribund team at the bottom of the NFL totem pole. If there's a "gold standard" in the NFL, it's the Patriots, and the veteran cornerback is well aware of his good fortune to be a part of them. "This is an elite team and a great defense to be a part of," he said. "I saw the opportunity, and I ran with it."

O'Neal has some history with the Patriots, the sort that makes everyone in Foxboro happier that he's with them instead of against them.

He has two return touchdowns against them, both coming with the Denver Broncos. The first was in his rookie year and Bill Belichick's first season as the Patriots' head coach (2000), on a free kick following a safety that went for 87 yards. Two years later, he returned a punt 57 yards for a touchdown in a Monday Night Football game against the Patriots.

And in-between, he just happened to add two of the first interceptions in Tom Brady's career, both coming in the fourth quarter of a Denver win on Oct. 28, 2001.

"If you've got a high-caliber quarterback like that, he can make anything happen," O'Neal said. "I'm glad to be on the same side of the floor with him instead of trying to oppose him.

"Playing against him, he would always talk some as the play was going," O'Neal said. "When he threw a ball on my side, he'd look at me or wink his eye ... I've known about Tom since he was in high school. We both grew up around the Bay Area (O'Neal was born in Palo Alto, Calif.) and I played with him in the East-West Shrine Game our last year in college, and I'm happy to be part of this team with him."

But that was a totally unanticipated circumstance, he added. He fully expected to still be a Bengal this week.

"It was a shocker to me," he said. "But politics are part of the business of the game. As a player, you're going to have to go through stuff like this, and you move on."

Instead of being ready in a system in which he had played for several season, O'Neal has been undergoing a crash course - both under defensive backs coach Dom Capers and special-teams coach Brad Seely - to get him ready to contribute, possibly as early as Sunday in the season opener against the Kansas City Chiefs (1 p.m.; Ch. 4, 12).

"I'm still learning," O'Neal said. "There are more veteran guys around on this defense than Cincinnati, it's a lot of younger guys and rookies. But it's going to be fun, I'm happy to be here. I'm happy to be a part of something like this. "I've been excited since Sunday," he said. "You see me at home, walking around, I've got a big cheesy grin on my face because I'm happy to be here. I can't put it into words right now, but I'm just getting ready for it like I will be playing this weekend, just preparing myself well."

It does seem a little like a flashback to his early days with the Broncos, when he was a first-round draft pick.

"I'm just trying to fit in," he said. "They've been talented across the board for many years, and if I can learn just a few things they've been doing to be successful, I'm just going to try to be successful like them.

"As far as learning the defense, I'm still asking new questions like I'm a rookie," he said. "We've got Lewis Sanders, we've got Ellis Hobbs ... they've been in the game for a while, and they pretty much know what to do. As far as the younger guys, it's just, be patient and be ready for your turn because anything can happen. It's any given Sunday, and you know you're one play away from being the starter. Just prepare yourself ... that's the only thing I can tell them."

MARK FARINELLA may be reached at 508-236-0315 or via e-mail at mfarinel@thesunchronicle.com. Read Farinella's blog, "Blogging Fearlessly," at thesunchronicle.com/farinella.