FOXBORO — A relatively subdued Chad Ochocinco met the New England media for the first time following his first padded practice with the Patriots on Saturday morning, and while he was his usual quotable self — “Can I get a group hug, real quick from everybody?” he asked at the end of his six-minute Q&A with reporters — it sounded like the colorful wide receiver about to undergo a serious personality transplant.

“This is a new chapter in my life and I’m happy to be here. I’ll be a little quiet. You won’t get the same Chad that you’re used to. I probably won’t be talking to the media much — not at all, probably. I just want to play ball and just ride the wave, man.”

That would be a considerable change from his usual routine. The Twitter fiend, occasional reality show star and purveyor of some of the most over-the-top touchdown celebrations the game has ever seen has never been at a loss for words.

“I’m going to always be me. I’ll always be me,” he said. “But there’s a certain way that the Patriots do it, and I’ve always been a chameleon, so I’m going to blend in and do it the Patriots way, which is win, you know?” Ochocinco said (for the complete transcript of his Q&A with reporters, click here). “I think [Patriots coach] Bill [Belichick], we had our talk, and without him having to even say anything, [I know] there’s no need for me to do some of the stuff I did before.”

To that end, the usual flow of Tweets from the receiver has slowed to a veritable trickle in recent days. (While the Patriots do not bar their players from tweeting, they don’t exactly encourage the process either.) When told that Ochocinco wasn’t tweeting the last few days — especially since the trade was first revealed earlier in the week — as much as he had in the past, Belichick responded with a small smile.

“That’s not something I follow, as you know,” said Belichick. “I don’t Twitter, I don’t MyFace, I don’t do any of those things, so I’d probably be the last to know.”

Ochocinco spent much of the last year openly pining for a trade to New England and the chance to play for Belichick, someone who he has had a relationship with dating back to 2001.

“It’s exactly what I thought it was, me being able to come here,” he said. “The first meeting, as soon as I got here, was with Mr. Kraft. Unbelievable. Unbelievable. He welcomed me with open arms. I talked with coach Belichick, and he did the same. We had our normal talk, our normal chat. Other than that, I’m ready to rock and roll.

“Once I walked in here, and Mr. Kraft and Belichick gave me my angel wings, I was set. I’m going to soar.”

In his first padded practice with the team Saturday morning, Ochocinco looked to be new to the system. As was the case on Friday, he spent lots of time talking with quarterbacks and receivers in hopes of getting up to speed on the New England offense as fast as possible. And he said the process will be accelerated because of the opportunity to work with a quarterback like Tom Brady.

“Me and Tom are cool. Me and Tom are really cool. It’s just been a joy, man,” Ochocinco said. “We’ve had conversations on the field, off the field, and I respect him. He’s the best at his craft. I’ve always called him ‘surgeon.’ It’ll be fun being one of his patients, so I’ll enjoy it.”

As for the receivers, he joins a group that includes veterans Wes Welker and Deion Branch, as well as youngsters Julian Edelman and Taylor Price.

“They’re good,” he said of his fellow pass catchers. “All of us have different styles of play. All of us bring something different to the table. They’re really good. Everybody’s proven. Everybody’s proven here, even myself. But I still have to come in and prove that I can play in this offense and just have fun quietly, and that’s about it.”

He’s already gotten off on a good foot with one of his offensive teammates: Tight end Aaron Hernandez, who wore No. 85 last season, willingly surrendered the number to Ochocinco when the newcomer first arrived. Ochocinco originally said he would pay whatever it took to get the number back, but Hernandez gave it up without asking for anything, apparently.

“This was Mr. Hernandez’ way of greeting me here. He gave me the number. I didn’t have to say anything. I shook his hand and said, ‘Thank you,’“ Ochocinco said. “I drive a Toyota Prius, so I was going to let him use my Prius on the weekends. That’s about the best I can do right now. And I have some leftover McDonald’s coupons.”

“We’re playing at a high level, so all of us have a decent amount of money, but I definitely should have, but I didn’t and it was just a welcome to the team,” Hernandez said. “I’m glad to have him [Chad Ochocinco]. Hopefully we can get some big things out of him this year, like everybody else. And I thought he may look better and play better in 85 since that’s his last name, so why not give it to him.

“As soon as he came in, I saw him smiling. I knew he was going to talk to me about the number. I already knew as soon as they took him that there was a chance he would to want the number. I obviously could have been like, ‘No, I don’t want to give it up,’ but I’m not that type of person. There was 81, the jersey I wanted when I came here, but [Randy] Moss had it so it actually worked out perfectly.”