FOXBORO - The learning process continues this week, as the Patriots morph from "organized team activity" mode into their first and only mandatory, full-squad minicamp.

Actually, it's difficult to tell where the OTA ends and the minicamp begins. Practically all but a core group of about 13 Patriots have attended the most recent OTAs, those absentees including individuals rehabbing injuries from last season - or, in a more notable absence, veteran nose tackle Vince Wilfork, who has shied away while negotiations toward a new contract have stalemated.

The team will have a break from the OTA schedule Monday, but many of its members will assemble at the International in Bolton for the annual New England Patriots Charitable Foundation Golf Tournament. They will reconvene in Foxboro Tuesday for another OTA day before the beginning of the mandatory minicamp on Wednesday, running through Friday.

For newcomers like wide receiver Greg Lewis, every opportunity to be on the field as a Patriot is a step in the right direction.

"I'm just trying to learn what I'm supposed to be doing," the former Philadelphia Eagle said during last week's OTA. "The opportunity will present itself after that. Right now, I'm focusing on the playbook and learning what I need to do, and then getting out and letting my athletic ability take over." Lewis is expected to be an important part of a wide receiving corps that needed to be re-tooled at the end of the 2008 season. Veteran playmakers Randy Moss and Wes Welker are still front-and-center at the head of the pack, but Lewis and veteran Joey Galloway were brought in to add layers of talented depth behind the two starters.

Lewis, in his seventh NFL season out of Illinois, has been around long enough to know the ropes. But he's also still a second-tier receiver at best; his best season with Philadelphia was 2005, when he caught 48 passes for 561 yards, and he's had more than 20 catches in only one other season. So every moment he spends immersed in the Patriots' playbook will determine if he gives himself the opportunity to increase that productivity.

He took a brutally frank tack last week when asked what he might bring to the Patriots.

"As of right now, nothing," he said. "I don't know everything that I need to know. But once I get there, I think I'm a consistent guy ... I'll be where I'm supposed to be and do what I'm supposed to do, and hopefully that helps the team in some way."

He's been a target of Donovan McNabb's passes for some time now (including a touchdown reception of 30 yards for the last score of Super Bowl XXXIX against the Patriots), so it should be a smooth transition to another top-tier quarterback in Tom Brady.

"Any time you get the opportunity to play with a Pro Bowl-caliber quarterback, it's a great thing," Lewis said. "He's out here working hard and the rest of the guys are working hard, and it's just fun. It's a blast."

After the minicamp, the players will wrap up the offseason training program as well and be off for most of the remainder of June and the first three weeks of July. In the meantime, it's been a crash course in all things Patriot for Lewis since he joined the team in a March 5 trade for a conditional draft pick.

"It's a long offseason, really, just to get back out here with a new team and new guys, and to just get a feel for things are going here," he said.

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.